TRUSTING HIS WORDS!

THAT'S ALL I CAN COUNT ON...

MOMENT-BY-MOMENT,

DAY-BY-DAY,

FOREVER AND EVER.

I TRUST HIS INSIGHT AND HE'S 

SPREADING ME AROUND AND ABOUT

TO SERVE HIM AND, THROUGH HIS INSIGHT, 

TO  PROTECT AND SERVE OTHERS.

ETERNAL SALVATION!

OH, YES!!!

AND TODAY IS MY RE-BIRTHDAY OF 49 YEARS

DRAWN INTO THE LORD VERY STRONGLY

APRIL 15, 1966.

HALLELUJAH!!

49TH RE-BIRTHDAY! HALLELUJAH!!

 

One year before the Lord broke into me!

 I've shared this every year on the blogging.  So, can't not share it again.  It hits my heart every April 15th.  I rejoice for the Lord and thank Him overwhelmingly.  Because He truly is the joyfulness of my heart, soul, and spirit.

To share it, as I often say, it ain't short, but is truthful.

Bless you on my most blessed day.  My salvation changed my world, obviously, and the world of many others connected to me through my God-seed-planting since then.
 
                              =================

For most of us U.S. folks April 15th is IRS day, for better or worse, refund or payment. However, in my heart, it is MY day. On April 15, 1966, at 6:30 PM, I asked Christ into my life. Four months shy of my 21st birthday, living a life of heavy-duty sin and headed towards a significant amount of trouble, the Lord broke through. I have never doubted or questioned or regretted it. He had arranged for seed to be planted in my heart off and on since I had been very young, by school teachers, neighbors, or someone who just walked past me and said "God bless you", but the seed hardly survived. And then...

I was living in Tacoma, WA. Towards mid-March a young woman at work, Carol, 18, was suddenly without a place to live and couldn't afford to fly back to her family in the St. Louis area. Donna hollered at work, "Hey, Joanne, you have place in your apartment. Let her move in with you." I didn't know Carol very well, but knew she was a sweet person -- and I WAS NOT!!! I knew it was the right thing to do, so agreed that she could, but I also said to her: You can move in with me. But I go out when I want to go out, I come back when I want to come back, and if you don't like it, you can leave.

 Amazingly, even hearing that "jerky" statement, Carol moved in. What I didn't know was that she was a Born-Again Christian. I didn't know what that was, anyhow, so it wouldn't have sunk in. Over the next couple of weeks we yammered about religion for hours nearly every night. She couldn't always come up with answers for me, so she connected me to Stan, a man in her church, and he would hammer topics out with me on the phone. Very straight-forward, which is what works best with me most of the time. I decided to go to church with her -- Portland Avenue Baptist Church. My second Sunday, on April 10th, it was Easter.  At the end of the service, there was an altar call and I knew I was supposed to go forward. I could feel the pressure in my heart ... my whole body ... in a way I had never experienced before... but I held on tight to the back of the pew in front of me so I would be able to not step forward and give in. I left church feeling pleased that "I won the battle."

 The next Thursday, at work, Carol banged her head at a desk in our office and ended up in the hospital. She would there until Saturday. I was invited to dinner at Stan's house on Friday, and enjoyed dinner with him and his wife and four sons. After we finished eating, and Anita had cleared the table, and the boys had disappeared to the living room, Stan had me stay in the kitchen with him and he laid the facts of Christ's sacrifice out for me very clearly. Stan knew how sinful I was ... he had a similar history ... and he didn't look down his nose at me at all. He knew God could turn my awful life around, no question. I told him that I believed what he was telling me about Jesus and His sacrifice and the possibility of salvation, but I said I needed to straighten up first or I couldn't come to Him. Stan, of course, said it was the other way around -- come to Christ and the changes would start to take place. I knew he was right, and I made the commitment and invited Christ into my life. In my mind, because of all the abuse I had experienced from many others, mostly men, this was simply a "contract"... no emotional attachment to the Father or Son, just an agreement to follow the rules He laid down and, if I messed up, take the punishment that would hit me. After my prayer, Stan and I went to a young adult Bible study, so only an hour after I was saved I made the public statement and they rejoiced. I remember that the next morning when I woke up my first thoughts were about the new life I had before me.

And it was then, and has always been. Even though I was far from perfect, the Lord kept moving me along; He didn't give up on me. Stan wrote an article for a Baptist teachers magazine a year later and described someone who walked with the Lord, fell on her face in the mud, and climbed back to her feet again, and went forward and... fell on her face in the mud. How often this took place. He also said it was the climbing out of the mud and back onto her feet that made the difference. And that he trusted that as she grew in the Lord the pattern would simply be the walking.

After all these years, most of the time I can say that is true. Occasionally, I do end up with a little mud on my face, but it wipes off thoroughly ... by the blood of Jesus.

Where would I be if this all had not come to pass 49 years ago? Most certainly no one would know me today. I would have been continuing to be involved with much of the sinfulness, and would have died from violence, alcoholism, or suicide. No friends, no family, and, most certainly, no hope for my future.

So the key word every time I have during my Re-birthday is HALLELUJAH!!

===================================================
Last August, when in Tacoma with a friend, and showing her the church I had been at when coming to the Lord, she wanted to take a picture of me at it.  It has had many different church groups and much of it has needed to be rebuilt.  But 49 years ago, it was my special place.  They truly put up with me and I was there for about 4 years until I was in California, and even visited there for several more years if visiting Tacoma.  The church members also were wonderful for my sisters who are younger than I am and they were cared for and loved.  Anyhow can't not show the photo.  It's a blessing to have it with me on it last summer.

 

=================
Oh, and a month or so later after my salvation I sang a solo during the Sunday evening service.  [Yes, used to be a singer when a young 'un.]  This song had entered my heart.  A Jim Reeves fan, I bought hymns album, immediately after my salvation.  Fell in love with this and couldn't not share it then.  And will share it now.  It's definitely my heart-focus even today. [If this, somehow, doesn't go through, just look up Jim Reeves and choose the song, "I'd Rather Have Jesus".  It's a treat!]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgwGiF0-mlE

TRUSTING HIM IS WHAT COUNTS!

AM I NAMING THE CITY OR THE STATE OF THIS PHOTO?

NO!

WHY?

BECAUSE THE UNUSUAL "WISDOM" OF THE WORLD

IS DEMONICALLY BROKEN INTO 

A VARIETY OF NATIONS AND CITIES.

ALL WE CAN COUNT ON IS 

OUR HEAVENLY FATHER AND LORD 

BREAKING AROUND AND ABOUT

 TO THE TRUTHFULNESS.

WE CAN TRUST HIM.

THAT IS ALL.

I'M HEAVILY HEARTBROKEN BY WHAT IS OCCURRING NOW IN OUR PRESENT DAY WORLD, IN SPITE OF WHAT ST. PAUL WAS SHARING 

THIS INFORMATION WAY BACK THEN.

ALL WE CAN COUNT ON IS BEING IN HEAVEN

AND BURIED IN TRUTHFULNESS. 

 I WAS A SIGNIFICANTLY SINFUL KID FROM ABOUT 5 TO 20.  THEN THE LORD BROKE IN STRONGLY AND I ACCEPTED HIM,

I TRULY KNEW AS I WAS IN SCHOOL OR IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS

OR JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE,  THAT I WAS MUCH MORE

SINFUL THAN THE NORMAL PEOPLE.

  I'M A VERY "GRATEFUL COOKIE".

I'M ALIVE STILL AND SERVING HIM.

I WOULD HAVE DIED FROM MY SINFULNESS

ALMOST 50 YEARS AGO.

HE IS ALL I CAN COUNT ON FOREVER. 

MARY MAGDALENE AND ME...

     Well, when reading of Mary Magdalene when I was simply reading the Bible years and years ago, I thought of what she was doing that was similar to what was going on in my life as a kid.  As I've often said, I was blessed when the Lord broke into my life.  This is filled with seriousness and sinfulness, so if you want to skip it, that would be fine, too.  But this was in the last portion of my Mary Magdalene book.  [OH, and on April 15th, that will be the 49th birthday of me through accepting the Lord.  I'll be sharing pieces then, as I do every year on the writing possibilities.  Makes me rejoice and smile!]
===========================================================

Just turning 5; Kenton, WA, 1950.

                                          TESTIMONY

     I’ve described myself in testimonies for the last forty-plus years so many times in ways that I’ve described Mary Magdalene.  Especially anger.  Anger buried deeply in my heart.
     I was not an official prostitute – harlot – as Mary is often described in the thoughts of many people throughout the centuries, but I was just like that when heading to my late teens.  As a molested girl, from pre-school age, regularly abused from the age of 5 through high school, both physically and verbally, I left home filled with furiousness.  Yes, I had seed planted in my life by good people in my schools, through  churches, and with friends who accepted me in spite of my outlook on life.
     But, when I left home, after a short time in college, I ended up with a job in Seattle when 18 years old, no help or family or friends anywhere nearby.  I entered heavily into alcohol.  Then, prior-to and after a date-rape, the anger filled me again ... way over the top.  And I entered the “harlot” world and was there for nearly 2 years.
     I’ve often said that if the Lord had not broken into my life, especially as I was heading for 21, I would have died from alcoholism, violence, or suicide.
     But He did break into my life with great kindness, mercy, love, and grace.
     Now, I rarely am angry.  I’m rarely ready to fight, physically.  But often am ready to “fight” when I’m trying to protect other people and plant seed of the Lord into their lives.  And I am not at all headed to suicide.  I want only my life, my time here on earth and for eternity, with my Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, and my Holy Spirit.
     I’m very thankful that, just the same as the result for Mary Magdalene, God is BIGGER than any people who live in the world and who attempt to draw us to the wrong direction.
     So, that is my forever life here and there ... filled with gratefulness.

One portion of Uganda where Dave and I were serving

the Lord for several years.  I was significantly different

before then and since then.  Now we're home, but both

of us are serving for the Lord and doing whatever He says.

I'm very blessed, filled with rejoicing.

 

HEAVENS ARE HIGHER...

I TRULY RELY AND REJOICE UPON ALL OF THIS!

AND MOMENT-BY-MOMENT,

DAY-BY-DAY,

I AM FOCUSING ON ETERNITY! 

JEHOVAH IS OUR LIGHT!

WHERE MY HEART IS TODAY AND FOREVER!

[PICTURE SHARED RE: PSALM 84:11]