~Goodbye 2010~

I was that woman, but I am not that woman now! I may not feel royal and certainly do not look it yet. Nevertheless, I have been stamped with the mark and will never be the same again. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. –my summary of some statements I loved in Hinds Feet on High Places

Another year is coming to an end. This year has brought many changes, as every year does. We have had highs and lows like everyone, but God has always proven faithful.

We moved into our new house and are daily working on making it our home. MaMaw and PaPaw had a hard time letting us go (the grand babies anyway). We are very thankful that they allowed us to stay with them while we searched and then built.

Our boys are growing too quickly for me. Seems like no matter how hard I try to soak in every moment, the moments slip away too quickly. They still amaze me in a million different ways and I love hearing how they soak in the things of God. Thomas constantly reminds me that it is Jesus’ way, not my way, every time we are at an intersection and Eddie ask if it’s OK my way. I say “It’s OK my way.” Thomas replies with, “No it’s not your way! It’s always Jesus’ way.” Zach is now singing with me in church. He loves it and even if he doesn’t know the song, he still wants to go up with me. Andrew dances at our feet, claps his hands and then raises them up in the air. I am standing on the promise that if we raise them up in the way they should go they will not depart.

I reflect back on 2010 and I see areas that I have failed miserably and areas that I have overcome with the help of Jesus. I have been considered rude at times, but God knows my heart and that I desire to see everyone walk into what God has for their life. Walking in God’s will bring true happiness. I am fully persuaded and stand firm on my convictions. I don’t feel like God wants us to continually put ourselves in situations where we are put down and run over. We cannot change people’s minds or make their decisions for them. We can live our lives as the best example we know how. What we give to God he works out for the best every time.

God has called some precious children home to be with him this year. We miss them dearly and are very thankful for the positive impact they had on our lives. God has blessed us with many AWESOME examples. We have more to go to heaven for and oh, what a reunion it is going to be! We do not sorrow as those who have no hope.

God has been moving in our lives this past year. I am so thankful for a home church that stands firmly on the word of God. We were blessed to be able to attend a camp meeting at Mt Airy, North Carolina. We witnessed a sovereign move of God and will be forever changed. Eddie received the Holy Ghost along with over 40 others. My husband then made a way for us to go to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee so I could attend a Ladies Retreat. God showed up in a mighty way. I went in one way and left with more hunger for the things of God than ever before. God is so good!

I’ve been asking the Lord what he would have me do differently in 2011. I want to know areas I can improve on that will benefit my relationship with Him. Not that I could do anything to earn his love, but I feel like his heart is touched when we put ourselves aside. He tells us to take up our cross and follow him. It isn’t always about what I want, what feels good or what’s easiest for me to do. There are some things that I feel like he has impressed upon my heart to do and I am going to do my best to follow through. More than anything in this world I long to please Him, I want my Savior satisfied with me.

I pray God bless you in 2011 and that you will have a desire burn in your soul to know Jesus in a way you have never known him before. I pray that Jesus be as real to you as the breath you breathe. May you become stronger in the Lord and grow in wisdom. I pray that no matter what 2011 brings that you will be amazed at the strength He gives you to make it through and that you get so close that turning back is not an option.

Open the eyes of our hearts Lord and open our ears to hear you. You are the one we desire above everything else. Lord, search our hearts and make us new; forever desiring to be closer to you.

‘The greater, the wider, the more majestic my concept is of the Christ- the more vital will be my relationship to Him.’ –W. Phillip Keller

‘I belong to Him simply because He deliberately chose to create me as the object of His own affection.’ –W. Phillip Keller

My Jesus, I Love Thee

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;

For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;

My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,

And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,

And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,

I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;

I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

~Solomon Prays~

I was reading in 2 Chronicles today and the prayer Solomon said in chapter 6 captured me. What an amazing prayer. What a great example of how to pray. The King kneeling before the alter of the Lord while the congregation of Israel is standing. What a statement in itself! Solomon knelt before his God, showing respect and submission to the King of Kings. He reached for those he didn’t even know, asking God to listen to the cry and prayer of those calling out to him and to forgive them. He covered sin, crime, enemy attacks, drought, famine, war, sickness and ‘strangers’ in his prayer. I don’t believe any stone was left unturned.

2 Chronicles 6:12-42

12And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands: 13For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. 14And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts: 15Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. 16Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. 17Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.

18But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! 19Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee: 20That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. 21Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

22If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; 23Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.

24And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house; 25Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

26When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them; 27Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance. 28If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be: 29Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house: 30Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:) 31That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

32Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house; 33Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

34If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name; 35Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

36If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near; 37Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; 38If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name: 39Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee.

40Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 41Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. 42O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

I can just hear Solomon dedicating the temple to God. Do you know what happened next? HEAVEN CAME DOWN!! God’s glory filled the temple to such an extent that the priests could not even enter into the house. They bowed down and worshipped God from the outside of the building! Talk about having church.

2 Chronicles 7:1-3

1Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house. 2And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD's house. 3And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Praise the Lord! For HE is GOOD and HIS mercy endures forever!!

I wanted to turn this prayer personal. After all, we are the temple of the Holy Ghost.

O Lord, my God, there is NO God like you. You have always kept your word and your mercies are new every day. Lord walk before me, lead my footsteps and let me follow in the way you would have me go. Hide your words in my heart Jesus. You are bigger than any problem I face; you are bigger than ANYTHING Lord. Hear my prayer! Incline your ear to the cry and the prayer of my heart. Wash me in your blood and forgive all my sins.

If something happens in any of our lives that we have caused because of our sin, Lord open our eyes that we may see our sin. Let us leave it behind and turn to you. Please hear us when we turn to you, Jesus, and restore us!

Lord when we lift our hands to you let us rest assure that you have inclined your ear to our cry and you are working all things for our good. You know our hearts Lord. Nothing is hid from you. Help us to fear you and to walk in your ways.

Let your presence dwell continually with me Lord. Let those I come in contact with or pass on the street be healed, set free and delivered. Let them turn their attention to you and hear their cry. All for your glory, Lord, that you may be lifted up and feared.

Maintain my cause Lord. Keep me, sustain me, defend me, and uphold me with your mighty hand. Help me to remember you are fighting my battles and that my submission to you will bring a win every time.

If anyone is entangled in sin and have a change of heart. Let them leave sin behind. Hear their prayer Jesus! Let them hear from heaven, maintain their cause and forgive them. Let them walk in the old paths no longer.

My Jesus, my Savior, let your eyes be opened to us and let your ears be attentive to our prayers. Make your abode in our hearts and be our strength. Clothe us with salvation and let us rejoice in your goodness. Lord turn not your face from us! Consume us with the fire of the Holy Ghost. Be everything we are and all that we want to be! AMEN!

~People Talk~

People talk

Always have, always will

Doesn’t change who I am

Doesn’t change how I feel

God is keeping record

Every thought and every word

He is fighting my battles

On that I can rest assured

No one can change what he has done within

You cannot take what you did not give

I’m blood bought and forgiven

Jesus washed away my sin

He saved me

He forgave me

He gave me love inside

Peace, joy and happiness now abide

Keep on talking and keep on mocking

For I do not stand alone

What you do to me

You do to the King sitting on the Throne

-Angela Backe