BREAKTHROUGH PRAYER!

Dear Reader,
After the past two postings and the comments received and my own personal prayers that I've been praying, I sense in the Spirit that MANY in the Body of Christ have been praying prayers for years and have still not seen the long awaited breakthrough.  Many of you are holding God's promises in your hearts of what you have heard from the Lord and seen in visions which He has given you....and still you wait.  You KNOW that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD....and you wait.  I wait for answers to prayers too, just like you....some have been prayed for 15 years or more....


Well today...we're praying for BREAKTHROUGH!  Through Christ, we are His children and by the Blood of Christ, we may come boldly before His Throne in time of need.  Within many of us, He's put the yearning and the longing for expansion....for more than where we are right now....We know we are to be content in Christ; but there exists this passion within us to expand....to bless others in far greater measure than where we are right now.  As Jabez prayed, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!", you want this with your whole heart.  Jabez's name meant: "Pain".  His mother born him in pain, and named him pain.  Some of us feel as if all we've ever had to deal with is the pain of not being what we would have liked, the pain of our past staring us full in the heart, the pain of unanswered prayer....for hope deferred makes the heart sick.


God has given you a promise for expansion and even told you to enlarge the place of your tent, but you have YET to experience His promise that He gives us in Isaiah 54:1-4 "Sing, O barren, You who have not borne!  Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child!  For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the Lord.  Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strenthen your stakes, for you shall expand to the right and to the left, ......" 


No longer are we content to hear.....we want to EXPERIENCE THE BLESSINGS OF GOD TO BLESS OTHERS IN GREATER MEASURE....IN OVERFLOW.   We are praying for breakthrough in that as the Song of Solomon states in Chapter 2:11-12...."For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.".....You want to hear the voice of the Lord afresh....You want to KNOW that the winter of your prayer time is over and now there will come forth A BURST OF NEW LIFE into the winter of your prayers!  You long to hear the voice of the turtledove announcing Springtime to the situation for which you have labored and travailed.  "GOD!  HEAR MY PRAYER!", you have cried.


As Psalm 123:1-3 declares, your heart cries out, "Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.  Behold, as the eyes of the servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us.  Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us."


This morning, the Lord took me to the following verses from the Amplified:
Ps. 34:4 "I sought (inquired of) the Lord and required Him [of necessity and on the authority of His Word], and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
Ps. 33: 18-22 "Behold, the Lord's eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and lovingkindness.  To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.  Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield.  For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted (relied on and been confident) in His holy name.  Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You." 


We have prayed....We have hoped....and now, we are going to go boldly before His Throne of grace this day, to pray for His breakthrough anointing in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit, because His Word in Zech. 4:4 declares, "Not by might nor power, but by My Spirit....says the Lord of hosts."


Let us pray:
"Father, I come boldly before Your Throne of Grace in time of need through the Name of Your Son Jesus Christ whose Blood redeemed us and paid for our sins. 
I come Father on behalf of Your Sons and Daughters and myself who have been praying long and travailing prayers for years.  Lord, we know that You are sovereign and we do not attempt to know Your plans, but Lord, You have given us promises....year after year...and we have yet to see the fulfillment of Your promises.  Lord, we have been faithful to ask, seek and knock....and to pray in the Spirit with groans that we cannot understand...but Lord, it has still remained winter to our prayers and we long to hear the turtledove once more in the land.  Lord, we long for Spring to come to our prayers for which we have labored.  Lord, You have told us to ask.  So Lord, we are asking.
As Moses stretched out his rod over the Red Sea and it parted, so do I, right now in the Spirit realm, by the Person and Power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, stretch out the Rod of Righteousness, Who IS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, over each and every unanswered prayer of your saints, myself included, to declare BREAKTHROUGH IN THE HEAVENLY REALM FOR YOUR ANSWERS TO COME TO THE EARTH TO PART THE WATERS FOR LONG AWAITED BARREN ANSWERS TO PRAYERS TO BE MANIFESTED ON THE EARTH - FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINICPALITIES AND POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS AGE, AGAINST THE SPIRITUAL HOSTS OF WICKEDNESS IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES.  THEREFORE, I LIFT THE SHIELD OF FAITH ABOVE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO QUENCH ALL THE FIREY DARTS OF THE EVIL ONE AND I TAKE THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT TO SEVER ALL PLANS OF THE ENEMY AGAINST YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS AND PLEAD THE BLOOD OF JESUS OVER EACH AND EVERY PRAYER PRAYED THAT LORD, YOU YOURSELF WILL INTERVENE AND MANIFEST YOUR ANSWER ON THE EARTH AS IT IS DONE IN HEAVEN.  LORD, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, I DECLARE THAT HEAVEN SHALL INVADE EARTH WITH THE MIGHT AND POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SPLIT THE RED SEAS AND THAT OUR ENEMIES WHOM WE SEE THIS DAY, WE SHALL SEE NO MORE, FOREVER IN JESUS NAME!

In completion, as the priests raised the trumpets to their mouths and blew at the Lord's command through Joshua, so do I life the trumpet to my mouth to blow the wind of the Holy Spirit into your situation....I sound the trumpet to announce in the heavenly realm to our enemies that they ARE DEFEATED IN JESUS' NAME...THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES WHO HUMILIATED THEM AT THE CROSS IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM!  HALLELUJAH!  I BLOW THE TRUMPET - THE SHOFOR OVER YOU AND YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!

Father, I pray You loving-kindness and mercy be displayed to each and every person reading this prayer, this day, in Jesus' Name, so be it.  Amen and Amen, Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.  To God be the Glory, both now and forevermore.  Amen!'


God bless you, dear one.  God bless you.
Ever yours in Christ,
Crista
CMSimmons52@aol.com

Out of Your Belly Shall Flow Rivers of Living Water!

Sometimes we're just sailing along in life....and whoosh....the skies are blue, the breeze is gentle and the waters calm....and then something comes along to change all that....Now, I'm not talking about the turbulent, tornadic water spouts that spring up out of nowhere.....It's not that we find our boat capsized and we're choking on life's onslaught.....No, it is just those times in life that we take a time out and ask for God's clarification for His further direction. "Lord, am I on course?"

I'm talking about those nagging rubs which happen along the way in life where we stop to ask, "God? Am I really doing what You have intended for my life? Is this it?" Added to all of this is the fact that I'll be entering my next "mile marker decade" this year, and it has given me pause to consider the time the Lord will allow me to fullfill on this earth and what He wants from me....What do I do with today? Lord, am I fulfilling what YOU want....or just what pleases me?

For those who've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I am not an "expository" writer.  I don't take scripture and dissect it into little teeny, tiny pieces parts to examine every jot and tittle.  That is just NOT my calling....and I will leave that to the experts!  (Whew!  Thank you very much!)

I'm just not one of those persons who delights in diagramming a sentence.  Oh my goodness!  Poor Mrs. Hufnagle - our seventh grade English teacher.....Having to teach dissection of the written human language to teenagers!  I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy!  I'm sure I would cause heart palpitations to the the most precise writers of the English language!  But, please pardon me while my participles dangle and my adverbs jump the proverbial grammatical curbs!  (I think this is why I enjoy blogging....No editorial red lines!)

In fact, I'm reminded of Erma Bombeck's writings.  I cut my teeth as a mother on the humor of "Erm".  She was THE reason I subscribed to our local newspaper....What did Erma have to tell me today that would help me to laugh my way through diapers, teething and toddling?  There was a quality to Erma's writing that I thorougly enjoyed...and so did her multitudes of readers....We KNEW her, because she was us!  She wrote in a way that shared the pithiness and poignancy of life with "Bombeckian humor" that was uniquely hers.  She came "into her own".

Whether it be literature or film, music or canvas...we know there are those "artists" who are uniquely their own.  When we see or hear their particular style, there is something that lights up within us that goes "Aha....that's ___________" and a smile eases its way into our hearts as a soothing, warm, gently scented oil or with a grandiose fortissimo!

Well back to my opening thought...I think we can find comfort in those times of self-introspection and evaluation.  I think the Lord causes these "rubs" as I call them, to help us to know more fully our calling and sense of direction to which He's called us....for if we don't know....Well, as they say, "If you don't know where you're going....You'll never get there."  And it is the desire of my heart to one day hear the Lord say, "Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your Lord."  And this has been one of those times....that I wanted to know that I know that I know that I know that I was "on track" and not missing the mark.

So it is that it has been just such a time....searching...asking....waiting for His answer.  Not agonizing...but waiting....And just as a summer breeze sweeps through the window to refresh our soul....sometimes almost unperceptible....the Lord brought His answer.
I was writing to a friend from church who'd prayed for me this past Sunday at the altar.  She specifically asked the Lord to reveal His answer within one week, and wrote yesterday to ask how I was doing....I replied that I was writing again after having not feeling well for about a month, and wrote that writing for me is as a composer would put to paper that which has been formulating in his mind and heart....perhaps not totally distinguishable, but in skeleton form, until the work begins...and that which seems elusive begins to evolve....melody and harmony in synch with one another....at times in a minor key...at times up an octave....dipping and curving....intertwining....until that which the composer had only at one point known needed to be expressed....even though perhaps not seeing the finished product at the time....took the step of faith to put pencil to paper and begin....one note at a time....until the piece slowed for its final ritardando....and final notes - whether sung as a solo....or in harmony with its musical companions.

I guess I realized in greater depth what a creative outlet writing really is for me...and what gives me the greatest sense of fulfillment is "writing from the gut"....coloring "outside the lines"....where the rawness of life meets the Glory of God...That place where God blows His Spirit into the dust of the earth and gives life and meaning the ashes of our lives....the miracles that are birthed out of the grit of a seeming void....that place where God creates....that place where we become His hands and His heart....His encouragement....His hope to someone who needs what He wants to give to them through us this day....because He knows they need a lifeline and He wants to use us to do it! 

I finished my email and clicked "send"....not fully realizing what the Lord had revealed to me...It wasn't until this morning that He brought His Word of confirmation...to make sure I really "got it".  (Oh...the long-suffering of the Lord!  His mercies are new every morning!)....And this morning it was that He wakened my sleep with this scripture from John 7:38 "....out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."  Some versions use the word belly to describe...the gut....the core of our innermost being.
There was the completion to His answer!  It was as if the Lord said, "Now, just in case you missed it (which I had!), I'm going to give you My Word to confirm what I revealed to you yesterday." 

Maybe you're content in life....and you're doing just fine.  But maybe you've found yourself asking the same question of late.  And so I encourage you today....What is it that flows out of your innermost being?  What is it that you love to do?  What is it that gives you joy when you do that particular task?  What is it that "describes" you?  That is what the Lord has given you to do at this particular time in your life. 

So often, I believe especially as women....we compare ourselves to others....But may I encourage your heart to just be you....just you?  Maybe you love to clean (which is TOTALLY beyond my comprehension!)....and you would be able to help someone who has special needs....Maybe the Lord has called you to pray and love on your grandchildren in a special way for this time in their life....Perhaps you could be a helper to a single mother....or a mother who has no family members to call upon to give her some "time off".....

Whatever this may be for you....even if you don't know....perhaps you want to start by just listing a couple items....and title it: "Things I Like to Do".  Ask God to take those gifts that He's given just to you and to multiply them for His glory.
You know, Jabez prayed a prayer like that in I Chronicles 4:10 "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!"  So God granted him what he requested."

So whatever your point in life, let's close in prayer together shall we.....trusting that as we come humbly before Him that He will hear and He will answer.

"Father, we come to You in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  And Lord, You see the gifts You have put within each one of us to bring glory to Your Name.  Lord, maybe we don't even see them right now, but You do.  Help us to know what You know fully well about who you made us to be.  As one snowflake is different from another, so have you made us.  Lord, our desire is to serve You.  We ask You Father to take these gifts and cause Your living water to flow out of us to others as You so desire.  Bless us indeed that You may bless others through us, that we may not cause anyone harm, but ever live to bring Glory to Your Name.  Amen."

Someone needs Him today...and He wants to use you to touch their lives and hearts for His Glory....You are the vessel He has chosen for such a time as this....for out of your belly shall flow rivers of His Living water.....
God bless you always~ 
Ever yours in Christ,
Crista
Numbers 6:24-26
CMSimmons52@aol.com

She's Not Here, She Is Risen, Indeed!

What I'm about to write to you....well, I've never put in print before...but have told this to many a person.  Today...I feel I must write.

It was just a month ago that I drove to my hometown of Lowell, Michigan to attend the funeral of my sister-in-law's father.  Everything seemed to be going as expected....
Rolling down my window to find out where the parking attendant wanted me to park my car...."Hey, Don!  Great to see you!" I chatted.  (Always nice to be back in my hometown to see friendly folks that I hadn't seen in a long time.)
Don knew I was part of the family....It was my brother's wife's father who had passed away...."Hey Cris!  How's my girl?"....Now at my age, if anyone wants to call me a girl, I have absolutely no problem with that!  I'd known Don for years.  He was a close friend of my cousin and her husband, and he knew both my brother, Gary and I since we were just little squirts. 
"You going to the cemetery?"
"Sure am, Don."
"Well then, he said pointing to my left, "You just take your place behind this red truck where your brother will be."
This necessitated a U-turn in order to get my car into position.....but as I wheeled around, I was totally unprepared for what happened next.....
There...at the rear of the funeral home....sat the white hearse poised and stationed to carry Connie's father's body to his earthly resting place....And unexpectedly, I came stone cold face to face with the same white hearse that carried my mother's body 16 years prior.  In the flash of a nanosecond, I whirled back to her funeral.  It took all I had to keep myself together.  Fumbling for my keys and purse, I set about to enter the funeral home.  It was as if I were dazed and in shock; fighting back tears.  What had just happened?  Why?
My brother greeted me with his tender,  "Hey Sis, how ya' doing?"
Fighting back a flood of emotion, I choked, "Not too bad - until I saw that white hearse!  Gary, it brought it all back!"
Mom's funeral: April 24rd, 1996  So many people had gathered at her visitation....Business associates dating back 35 years....Townspeople who had known mom since childhood....my personal friends....
And there was that white hearse...Couldn't the funeral home at least bought a different color since '96?  I don't even remember what kind of car we rode in to the cemetery....All I remember is those long two miles to her grave ite....and the back end of that hearse!

Remembering back.....In the Fall of 1995, I had just returned from a three week trip to Germany in August; during which time, my mother-in-law had passed away...."Don't come home", my husband told me.  "Mom wouldn't have wanted you to." 

My mother-in-law, Marg....One who had so faithfully prayed for my salvation. 
Lung cancer was diagnosed in the early part of the year....(She'd never been a smoker, but her deceased husband had.)  I was planning my trip to Germany to visit my birth family and friends.  I asked my husband, "What if your mother passes away while I'm gone."  "Oh, that's not going to happen." he replied nonchalantly.  Probably his own defense mechanism, but in my heart, I wasn't too sure.....One week after I arrived in Germany, I received the phone call that she'd passed into Heaven.
Mom Hull didn't want any one to come visit her after her diagnosis....I never got a chance to tell her how much she meant to me...or say "Good-bye", but I think she knew.

Now, less than a year later, I was burying my mother.....
About two week's after arriving back home from Germany that August, and still not quite recovered from my trip, I received a phone call that my mother had fallen and broken her shoulder.  Her cancer had now spread to her bones.  She not only required physical assistance, but my background in nursing to help with obtaining home medical equipment and care.
On top of all this, my father had also been diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer and required immediate surgery.
Life from that point on became a blur.  Hour long trips to Lowell to get mom settled into her "new" hospital bed.  The dining room became her bedroom.
As I wrote in a previous blog, this was when my mom accepted the Lord as her Savior; asking Jesus into her heart....My mother who never "needed" any one's help and would do just fine - alone, thank you very much....until she realized that she needed Jesus.
The looming sense of eternity smacked her full in the face....Where would she spend it?  Jesus came into her "bedroom" that evening in a gentle, tender way that is all His own, to invite my mother to take His hand and as a result, invite Him into her heart....She bent her heart before Him that evening to ask, "Jesus, come into my heart.  I need You."  The promise of a new, heavenly body and eternity in Heaven with Him now rested peacefully in her heart.
The months passed....My dad uncharacteristically slipping away out of the house when I came to care for mom....

We decided to give mom a surprise 75th birthday party in November and invited absolutely everyone we could think of!  It was such a joyous time!  She truly felt like "Queen for a Day".  We could think of no way better to honor her.
By December, neither mom or dad were doing very well, and I was afraid that they would both pass away during this time.  The blessing of having a caretaker in the house 24/7 relieved many a family's mind during this stressful time.  Dad had seen to it that mom had round the clock care since her September fall.
By Christmas, I was praying the Lord would not allow my mom to suffer; asking Him to take her Home before her condition deteriorated to the point of agony for both herself and our family.  During my prayer time, I saw Jesus walking toward my mother and saying simply, "Ida.  It's time to take My hand.  It's time to go Home now."  I felt such peace in my heart.
Comforted by this vision, I shared with mom what the Lord had shown me.  Yet ever the skeptic, she pointedly asked, "How will you know if you're right?"
"Well, mom.  I don't, but if the Lord wants me to know, I'm sure He'll do it somehow."

Wed., April 17th, 1996.  I made the hour drive for my weekly visit.  Our Hospice nurse would be making her rounds, and I wanted to be there.  The minute I went to my mother's bedside, she said, "Cristy, don't leave me."
"I won't, Mom." I assured her.  (I wasn't sure what she was telling me at the time, but it became clear within 24 hours.  A severe head injury from a car crash in 1972 left my mother's communication skills in a challenging state.)

Mom and I had quite the discussion that day.....Looking about her at the pool and spa that lay in the backyard and motioning to the vast expanse of their house, she remarked in the way a person who has seen Heaven would talk, "Cristy.  None of this means anything."...."I know, Mom....I know."......This, coming from the mouth of my mother who had wanted nothing more than to be a self-made millionaire in her life, had acknowledged that NONE of her earthly possessions amounted to a hill of beans.

We never really ever had a family....We had an existence in a house....and the business was always the reason for every disappointment. 

By Thursday morning, my mother announced after her meager breakfast of Jell-O and juice, "I want to say 'Good-bye'"...."You do, Mom?  To whom?"....."Everyone", came her matter of fact reply.
We called the family together.....

Later that Thursday evening in a scene that I shall never forget....my mother in a coma....my father sat reading at her bedside....spending time with my mother....That was the only thing in life she really ever wanted in their almost 50 years of marriage....and now, when it was too late...he sat with her....The agony and tragedy of it all.

That night I lay on the living room couch in the next room....listening as her breathing stopped...and then start again.....
Friday morning, mom's eyes were opened, but she was no longer seeing in this world.
"Mom.  What are you seeing?", I asked her gently.
"I see God.  I see the Lord," she replied.  My mother had never before in her life, ever used the term "the Lord".  I knew what she was seeing was real!
"Is He coming to get you?  Is He holding out His hand to you?"
"Yes." was all she replied.
"Then, Mom....take His hand and go."
Her eyes remained closed....she continued to breathe.....
By the next morning, her nurse's aid had arrived to care for her that day.....
As God is my witness, and Elizabeth (her Tech. who is also a Christian) who stood by, my mother stated in the most robotic voice I have ever heard, "I died.  I died yesterday."  Elizabeth and I just stared at each other at what we'd just heard.
Absolutely incredulous!  Elizabeth continued her care.
At 6:24 pm the next evening, my mother's body died....and the crystal on her best friend's watch broke.
The funeral visitation....the service....and procession to the cemetery....the graveside service....then time to walk away from her grave....Her life on earth was over.

And then the Lord spoke so clearly that I can still hear Him today...."Why do you seek the living among the dead?  She is not here.  She is risen.  She is risen, indeed!"
Oh....blessed assurance.  Thank You, Jesus!
"So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory."  "O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory."  I Cor. 15:54-55

"Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.  But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.  Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen!'"  Luke 24:1-6

"I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."  John 11:26

"I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.  And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."  Revelation 1:18

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Ever yours in Christ,
Crista
CMSimmons52@aol.com

Our Ever Present Help in Trouble!

It was May of 2010.  My husband, Steve, and I just sat facing one another in a type of shocked stillness.  We'd just received the report that his PSA was elevated - again!  And I was only days away from surgery to correct a severe spinal cord compression in my neck; the description from one of my physicians was that my spinal cord looked like "a twisted garden hose".  So when we received his news, we just sat staring at one another.  What now?  The potential of what we were facing at that immediate time seemed overwhelming....surgery for both of us....now? 
I can't tell you that we calmly looked at each other; joining hands for a time of prayerful eloquence.  No, instead it was a Jesus "Help!" moment.  And in the twinkling of an eye, as the Holy Spirit gave it to me in an instant, I asked Steve to grab his Bible which sat next to his chair and turn to Psalm 57.  We had absolutely no idea what this Psalm said, but God did!
Psalm 57:1 "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!  For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by."
This was most certainly a prayer of desperation!  The very exclamation marks themselves accentuated the intense need expressed in this prayer! 
Our hearts rejoiced at the compassion expressed to us by the Lord in such a suddenly.  Oh God!  Your goodness and your mercies fail not!  They are new every morning!  Our hearts were comforted in a nanosecond by God's goodness.  God renewed our confidence for the days ahead.....
And then it hit me - alone - in the stillness of the night...the time when our most pressing fears come upon us.......about three - five days before my spinal cord surgery....I became overcome with fear in the middle of the night.  Steve lay asleep by my side.  The seriousness of my approaching surgery put me into full panic mode.  My thoughts raced and swirled into a collage of scenes, and I just lie there rehearsing my funeral; seeing my husband and sons....I didn't even pray.  I was just plain scared spitless!
But all of a sudden, with absolutely no conscious intent on my part, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: "Psalm 118!"  
The Holy Spirit spoke with such a command in His voice to get up and read the Word He'd given me.  I had no conscious remembrance of Psalm 118 and wondered what this might be.  I felt my heart jump with anticipation.....Padding out to the living room and opening my Bible, I read the Lord's reassurance that His mercies endure forever and further encouragement not to fear.  I just felt in my heart...."yes..yes...yes" as I read along.

But then, there it was, verse 17!  "I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord."  Praise God!  Praise God!  Praise God!  There is was!  The reason the Lord got me up!  He knew my anxieties and calmed all my fears!  He answered a prayer....but it was not I who did the praying.  He did!  Jesus was praying for me when I was just an emotional wreck!  He ever lives to make intercession for the saints before the throne of God!
Dear Reader, This is Jesus.  His mercies and compassions they fail not; for they are new every morning.  He doesn't run out of mercy and compassion like we do....His are endless.  He is no respecter of persons.  He does not leave us, nor forsake us....even when we have nothing to offer Him, but this lump of clay in which we live.
Ps. 103:14 says, "For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." 
And aren't we thankful for that?!  He remembers that He made us out of dust.  Jesus came to the earth and lived in a human body and He knows what it is like to face the things we face and to walk through the things we do.
Ps. 46:1 states, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
O Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow!
Life just hits us and many are dealing with all sorts of troubles.  And truth be known, there are those times when we just feel helpless to pray.  But the Lord would say to you this day to, "Take heart, dear one, because there is One Who knows all your needs and His Name is Jesus Christ.   Look up, for Your Deliverer draws nigh!"
But before we go, let's pray, "Lord, I come before Your Throne of grace and mercy; before Your mercy seat, to find help in time of trouble.  You know my thoughts.  You know my anxieties and my fears.  Right now, I choose to cast them upon You for You care for me.  Thank You that You are with me always and You never leave me nor forsake me.  Thank You that You remember You made me out of dust.  Thank You that Your Holy Spirit resides within me through Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior, and that even now, You are interceding before the Throne of God the Father on my behalf.  Thank You that when I don't see the solution, You do.  Thank You for Your mercy, grace and compassion upon me in my time of need to relieve all my fears.  And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Thank You, Jesus....Thank You.  Amen."
Love and blessings always,
Crista

Pure Worship and Christopher Duffley

There is so much these days that is posted on Facebook that one can really be overwhelmed by it all.  There just is no time to look at everything and of course, it's not necessary.....    

But there are those times that the Holy Spirit of God whispers, "Stop and look." So I did...and what I experienced was a heart of worship so pure that God and Jesus must have had front row seats and their angels must have filled the room!

It made me pause - take time out - to have a "selah" moment - to reflect on what is true worship....I'm not sure I can truly define it, but only to say that it is not what one does, but the very spirit of God rising out of a pure and holy vessel....a broken or weak vessel.  It is the Holy Spirit in a person communing with God Himself in Heaven....It is Heaven coming to earth....the Spirit of God reaching to Heaven...and the two meet on the earth.  Oh my!  THAT IS THE BLESSEDNESS OF HIS GLORY!

Christopher Duffley is both blind and autistic....yet when he sings, "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord; Open the eyes of my heart.  I want to see You....."....Heaven, itself, comes down to meet earth.

For it really does not matter how man may judge our "talent"....because what really matters is our heart before Him. God wrote in His Word that He uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise...The Amplified version writes it this way: "[This is] because the foolish thing [that has its source in] God is wiser than men, and the weak thing [that springs] from God is stronger than men....[No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame." (I Cor. 1: 25, 27)

Oh be blessed....and enter into worship which is pure and holy....unadulterated, uncluttered....weak in the flesh/in the eyes of man, but strong and mighty in God.

Sing Christopher!  Sing!  For we are in such need of vessels such as you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPTMA7HIIyk&feature=share

Thanksgiving Ponderings - Beauty for the Ashes

A couple of divine appointments last week gave me pause to stop and consider how God has taken our family from the ashes of nothingness to now reflecting His beauty and glory....We haven't always been who we are today....There was a point in time when all looked hopeless for my two sons, Brandon and Trevor, and myself....But God.....~  Let me share.....~
Last week my oldest son, Brandon, who is a pastor...brought a group of 90 to "The Call" in Detroit.  My husband and I were blessed with the opportunity to join him for dinner; however with his responsibility for that size group of adults and youth, I was a bit dubious as to how much time we'd get to spend with him.  God saw to it that we had the time.....(Brandon, now 33/blue check and Trevor, now 30 and grey shirt, live 800 miles away so we only get the opportunity to visit face to face about one time per year, which makes our times together even more precious.)

One table over, not wanting to miss an opportunity to gab, I took the chance of introducing myself to one young man, "Hi.  I'm Brandon's mom."

"I'm honored, " he immediately replied.  "I'm Paul."  (My mother's heart thumped.  This young man was honored to meet me!  God's restorative work through Brandon was the reason for his comment.)  We shared a brief discussion and I returned to join my husband and son.

And then an adult who is an instructor in the ministries school stopped by our table to chat.  Brandon introduced us, "Ruth, this is my mother."

Ruth sweetly offered,  "We just love Brandon.  When he speaks, the presence of God comes into the room.  We are so blessed to have him."

At this point, I could not hold back my tears....."Thank you", I choked.  "What a blessing to hear this, because God restored our family.  We were just trashed; just trashed as a family...but God restored us."  Memories of the past overwhelmed me....where we were then....where we are now.  Who would have thought?.....Only God!

TRASHED....ASHES...BOTTOM OF THE BARREL....BOTTOM OF THE HEAP....You name it, we were there.

Brandon and Trevor were both in the mid/later teens, yet still in high school when their father and I divorced.  They chose to live with their father....which collapsed my heart to shreds.  I felt as if they'd both died in a car accident.  My depression turned suicidal and I entered a local psychiatric unit for a week.
During this time, I had also become sexually involved with a former boyfriend.  The emotional emptiness in my 21 year marriage and my own issues made me vulnerable to Satan's pit into which I had willingly walked.  I submitted myself to the comfort of a married man's arms. 
I knew that I was wrong before the Lord and with His conviction, forgiveness, grace, mercy and strength later on, I stopped the sexual involvement, but the emotional attachment still existed.  We were planning to one day be married.   However, after discovering four years later that I'd been believing a lie, it was revealed that he'd never filed for divorce.  The ring and the dress which waited in my closet would one day belong to someone else....and my house of 22 years would belong to someone else, too. 
It was during this mess in my life that Brandon, in Feb. '99 - 18 years old and 8 mos. post graduation, showed up on my doorstep at 7:30 AM coming down from an LSD trip.  "Mom, do you believe in Jesus?" he asked.
"Of course I do, Brandon.  He's the only way."
Brandon continued, "I was in a battle for my soul for the past six hours, and it was only my faith that saved me.  I saw demons.  I saw angels.  I saw the Kingdom of Heaven."
Two weeks later, I had the opportunity to ask Brandon if he'd had a type of out of body experience....He replied, "Mom, Satan showed up that night and said, 'You're going to die tonight and I'm taking you with me.'  I even saw the demons attached to the posters that I had in my room!" 
He immediately moved back into my home.  Sleeping on the floor in the hallway next to my bedroom he shared, "Mom, when I sleep downstairs the demons come after me, but when I sleep up here next to you, I'm at peace."

Brandon turned his back 180 degrees on the lifestyle he'd been living, but I'd had no idea of the drug and pornography world that had taken hold of him.  It was while living with their father that Brandon, while in high school, began dealing marijuana out of their home.  Trevor got involved in this hell hole, too, even though their father was a lieutenant of road patrol in our regional sheriff's department.  
But God performed a miracle in Brandon as he came back to Him with his whole heart and gradually grew spiritually and emotionally stronger.
The fight at times was intense...and I got a crash course in spiritual warfare!  Yet, one more great battle had yet to be fought....Fast forward six months.  I was now living in a temporary place.  I'd brought Brandon home with me after he'd been at his father's.  The Lord had told me there was going to be a battle, and I prayed in tongues the entire 30 minute drive to pick him up.  

Not more than a half hour after returning to my place did the battle begin and continued for the next three hours.   I cannot remember it all, but what I do remember is this:  There came a point at about three o'clock in the morning when standing directly above my son, who lie spewing vile and vulgar obscenities in a voice I did not know, I called upon Jesus and His angels to intercede and help with a passion and a fervor never before known to me.  I could feel Him at my right side.  Brandon no longer looked to me, but to my right.....I cannot tell you what I said, I only knew that He was there....and my son was delivered that night.

Brandon will tell you the same thing.  He saw Jesus standing to my right.  Having gotten involved again with marijuana that evening at his father's, the demons had returned, seven times stronger than before....but Jesus delivered my son.  Hallelujah!  Praise God!  That was 12 years ago.
While living with their father, my sons wanted little to do with me....I knew enough about their living conditions to be very concerned....There was nothing I could do legally.  All I could do was pray.  And pray I did!
Then in 2000, while I was 800 miles away in Michigan having just returned from a 5 week visit to Germany, Brandon experienced a car crash in which the oncoming car T-boned his car on the passenger side.  He was airlifted to a larger hospital, because there was so much blood.  His car looked as if God, Himself had wrapped His hands around the driver's seat where Brandon had sat.  Brandon was discharged from ER that evening with a mild concusion and a cracked rib.  Someone from the flight staff visited him in ER before his discharge, "Dude, you shouldn't even be alive!!!!"

Then on a visit to Brandon's, gasping, I stared at his car photos for the first time.  It looked as if God, Himself, had wrapped His hands around the driver's seat where Brandon had sat. Stuttering through my tears, "Brandon, this is the type of wrecks that only drunks walk away from!"

"Mom," he replied, "It was as if an angel knocked me out just prior to the impact."
.....But God.....

Then last year, while camping in the northern wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Steve and I made our way into a local village to secure more staples.  My cell phone indicated I had some voice mails.

Trevor's voice...weak, but there....."Mom, I'm in the hospital.  Remember the dream you told me about where you saw me in the hospital and I was calling out to God, well...it's happening now...."......and his voice trailed off......My heart stopped and I burst into tears....
I could barely get the words out to my husband....Just holding my phone up in the air to his face, I choked, "That was Trevor.  I don't know if he's dead or alive....."

And because there was no cell phone coverage where we were camping, this voice mail was 24 hours old!!!!!  OH GOD!!!!!

Frantically I called Trevor....no answer......then Brandon....no answer.....All I could do was wait and pray....Within a half hour, Brandon called....Trevor had made some bad choices the night before....Knowing that he was medically crashing, Trevor had called 911 for himself....He was admitted to ER at about midnight.  All I know is that his condition was not good.  Brandon arrived and prayed for Trevor....Trevor vomited into the wastebasket....He was released to go home at approximately 5:30 AM.  The doctor stated, "You should not have gotten better this quickly.  This just doesn't happen."  Trevor made it into work that morning....from one foot in the grave to fully restored.
There had been a time when in the midst of losing my 3500 sq. ft. home on a spacious, country 10 acres and everything I owned with the exception of 10 plastic storage bins containing my "savings" that I cried out to God.  "Lord, please, I beg of You, may I never have to bury either of my sons!"  I had nothing....but I had my salvation and my sons were alive.  I vowed that I could weather whatever further came my way....

God has blessed me with a wonderful husband  ...and my sons have bought a house together in the Carolinas.  Trevor manages a successful restaurant deli (and is a fantastic, creative chef when left to his own devices) and Brandon (also a fantastic culinary artist) continues in ministry.

Thanksgiving....Yes, thank You, Lord for restoring our family and giving us Your beauty for the ashes.  Isaiah 61:3.  

Thank You that in the Valley of Achor...that place of death....You ARE Our Door of Hope. (Hosea 2:14 and You became My Husband...Hosea 2:16)

Lord, I pray that this testimony of how You have worked in our lives will encourage someone else today who needs to know You ARE with them and You ARE mighty in battle and Your arm is not too short that it cannot save. (Isaiah 59:1)

"Lord God, I come before You in the mighty Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ and I pray that since You know exactly how You want to reveal Yourself to the person reading this testimony of Your Goodness, Glory and Strength that You show Yourself strong on their behalf.  Lord, when we are weak, then are You strong and You've told us that Your Grace is sufficient for us.  Father, I pray Your Grace be revealed for Your Glory in each and every person who reads this today....for Lord, we need You.  I pray Your Peace which surpasses understanding to cover the heart and mind of every person who reads this testimony....knowing that we overcome the evil one by the word of our testimony and the Blood of the Lamb.  Glory to Your Name!  Amen and amen."

Be blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Ever yours in Christ,
Crista 

CMSimmons52@aol.com 

God's Purpose in a Sporting Goods Store....Nonna Bannister

There are those times in life when we search out a particular book, and then there are the times when it is as if God puts the book into our hands, Himself.  The second method is how I came to purchase "The Secret Holocaust Diaries - The untold story of Nonna Bannister" by Nonna Bannister, Denise George and Carolyn Tomlin; available through Amazon.com via the link provided.  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_28?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+secret+holocaust+diaries+the+untold+story+of+nonna+bannister&sprefix=The+Secret+Holocaust+Diaries


My husband and I live in Michigan and we love to fish in the lush Upper Peninsula.  Our summer trek is an annual event the end of August as the U.P. has usually "warmed up" by then!  And so it is that we have begun to include a stop at "Jay's Sporting Goods" shop; just a short hop from the Mackinac Bridge.


What is the likelihood of finding a Christian book in a sporting goods store?  But that is exactly what happened.  "Jay's" in Gaylord, Michigan offers a wide variety of hunting, fishing, clothing and home items; devoting one very minor section to a rack of Christian books.  We've been there so often that its not unusual for us to make a beeline for our favorite sections.  He enjoys checking out guns and fish lures, and I tend toward sniffing various candle scents, checking out the Woolrich brand sales rack and "testing" hand creams.

Window shopping in my corner of the store, I made my way to the Christian book rack....My eyes fell upon Nonna's book....a brownish black and grey cover....Nonna's photo of her girlish face...haunting eyes staring out over a lined linen cloth....hair parted....pigtails decorated with bows...The title: "the secret HOLOCAUST DIARIES - The untold story of Nonna Bannister".....


.....I picked it up...looked it over...read the description on the back cover....flipped through some of the pages...and set it back neatly in the rack....Slowly twirling the rack around and perusing the other selections, I came back to Nonna's book....I felt drawn to this book....I read further....
Nonna had written an account of her life through the Holocaust and never revealed her story to her husband or family until much, much later in life.  And now after her passing, her story has been revealed for us. 

The back cover reads: "The Secret Holocaust Diaries is a haunting eyewitness account of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, a remarkable Russian American woman who saw and survived unspeakable evils as a young girl.  For half a century she kept her story secret while living a normal American life.  She locked all her photos, documents, diaries, and dark memories from World War II in a trunk.  Late in life she unlocked the trunk, first for herself, then for her husband, and now for the rest of the world.
     Nonna's story is one of suffering, torture, and death - but also of incredible acts of kindness that show the ultimate triumph of faith and love over despair and evil.  The Secret Holocaust Diaries is in part a tragedy, yet it's also an unforgettable true story about forgiveness, courage, and hope."


I was hooked.  A story of another over comer!  I wanted to know more.......


And then "more" happened; more than I had ever anticipated.....Throughout the past 20 years of my life, multiple people have encouraged me to write my story of adoption from Germany...finding my birth mother...and siblings...and the abuse which existed in my adoptive home and how the Lord healed me. 


This Fall was no exception....Having connected with other writers through the internet, women who had never met me personally were now encouraging me to write.  And God was letting me know that now is the time.  "Lord, I will need Your grace and mercy and strength"; for multiple times before I'd sat to write and gotten stuck in the thick sludge of memories and feelings.....How to write and not be overwhelmed?


And then I read Nonna's book....Her courage blazes across each page....Raw courage of survival....God triumphing with His goodness over all the evil which had happened in her life.  God's restoration for a past which had been ripped from her tender hands.....She hadn't signed up for this tragedy in her life.  Nobody signs up for a tragedy; for it is the result of something which is totally out of your control!  

However, God showed Himself strong on her behalf.  He gave her His beauty for the ashes.  Nonna's past did not determine her future.


I purposed anew that if Nonna Bannister could write her book.....so could I!



Thank you, Nonna Bannister; Thank you to your family for the countless hours you spent organizing, etc; Thank you Denise and Carol; but most of all, Thank You, Lord~

Tenderly yours,
Crista~