Thoughtful Thursday – Reminiscing – God’s Working In My Life

I have been going through old writings. Some of them I may have already posted, but I feel as though I should start re-posting them as they are still relevant today and may be needed by someone new to this site. I am going to put these under the heading of Reminiscing. You can find them in the menu (under the picture above) if you miss any. Today’s is from August 27, 2020.

I come this morning, in humble joyousness for the work that the Lord God has done in my life. Our God is awesome. Powerful. Loving. Merciful. Gracious.

He has given me the love and power to overcome a past filled with pain and heartache. He has led me through battles that, without Him, would have crushed my soul. He has strengthened me as I faced this hostile world with only Him at my back. He has held me up as I faced down the lies and deception that were perpetrated against me.

He has wrapped me in His arms as I have cried out the tears and anguish that have overwhelmed me more times than I can count. He has given me the courage to face down my fears and hand them over to Him, conquering what Satan would have used for my destruction.

He has been my rock and my shield. My strength and my Hope.

He brought me through a childhood brain injury that the doctors said should have killed me, and, at the very least should have left me mentally impaired. He has brought me through subsequent injuries that, though not yet healed, I have full hope and expectation that He will deal with in His good time and pleasure.

I am sure of this, and declare His healing power as I sit now and listen to Lauren Daigle with an ear that had been completely deaf.

I had suffered from an ear infection while in Elementary School, and a burst ear drum in my right ear as a result of that infection. He healed that burst eardrum, not allowing it to take my hearing. Then as an adult, I had been to too many rock concerts, listened to too much music with headphones on, and had destroyed my hearing completely in my right ear.

Recently I had begun to ask for restoration of my hearing and began to listen to old Hymns, and Praise and Worship music more than ever. I felt led to pray that the power of the words and the praise in those songs would work through my ears and heal the damage. I had noticed a slight change, but nothing really significant.

It was Sunday, as I listened to the live streaming service from Faith Chapel in Syracuse, that I realized there was a wall between me and my Savior. I tried to feel Him with me and couldn‘t.

“Why can’t I feel You?’ I cried.

And right then Pastor Kelly took the stage and began to talk about fear, and the fact that we have not been given a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Even though I had thought I had already dealt with the fear, I felt a check in my spirit and felt the Spirit of God urging me to let go. I held my hands out and felt the fear leave me. The presence of the Lord, His love and strength filled me, and I was finally able to submit to Him in complete surrender.

Then Pastor Kelly walked to the woman playing the piano and this woman said that she had been given a word from the Lord. There was someone that was having a tickling, something, in their right ear; and the Lord wanted to heal it. My hands shot up as if on a string and I said, “That’s me, Lord. I claim this healing.”

A couple hours later, I was talking to my brother on the phone and as a test I put the phone to my right ear. I could hear him!

The level of his voice was loud, but the words were muffled, as if he was yelling through a wall. BUT I COULD HEAR HIM!

A little later, I was praying and thanking God for His answer to my prayer; and I asked Him why He had not restored my hearing completely. He reminded me of all the times that I had said I did not want to take so many pain pills that the pain from the aforementioned injuries would be dulled so much I would forget about the injury and do something to re-injure it or make it worse. (Been there, done that. Too many times to count.)

So I asked Him, “But what does that have to do with my ear?”

The answer that I got was “Because I don’t want you to forget Me.”

The words were as clear as if He had actually spoken them out loud and I knew immediately what He meant.

I become so engrossed with my day-to-day living that quite often God is relegated to the back of my thoughts – there should I need Him, but not front and center in my thoughts the way He deserves to be.

He was telling me that if He healed me completely, my past history showed that I would not be as focused on Him as I have been for the past few weeks; and He did not want to lose that immediate, unending connection that we have been having.

Tears rolled down my face as His love and concern for me filled me.

I had the TV on as I sat there, and within minutes of this exchange, I heard the pastor that was on ask the question “Why doesn’t God heal you completely?” And then he answered the question with: “Because He doesn’t want you to forget Him.”

I was overwhelmed at this affirmation of what He had just said to me. I hit the record button and saved the program onto the DVR.

Since then, I have been periodically covering my left ear, testing my hearing to see if there is any other improvement. I must say that I have had a constant earache since Sunday, but I am able to hear things that I would not have been able to hear before — the sound of the fan motor, the TV and of course the praise and worship songs.

And then yesterday my husband was telling me something and I plugged my left ear with a finger and asked him to continue talking to me in a normal voice. His voice was muffled, but where I would not have been able to hear anything a week ago, I could hear him enough to be able to repeat his question back to him and answer him.

And as I postscript …

I decided to play back the TV recording from Sunday as I was writing this to make sure I got the pastor’s exact words. I discovered the sermon was about forgetting God in our day to day living — and nowhere can I find the question and following answer that I heard Sunday afternoon.

© Drusilla Mott and https://drusillamott.wordpress.com, 2020, 2022

What Do We Do Now?

My last post was written a year and a half ago and concerned verses in the first chapter of Isaiah. The sins of Israel were about to be judged and the description given showed an amazing parallel to these United States. I likened it to the fifty years of abortion that was adopted and fought for in this country, lining this nation up in the crosshairs of God’s wrath and judgment.

Now that the federal law has been overturned, what does it mean for us as a people? I don’t have a definitive answer to that, but I want to share my thoughts and my recent impressions on what I feel God is showing us.

As I stated above, the ruling from the 70’s put the US dead center in God’s crosshairs. We deserve His righteous wrath and judgment for what we have allowed, and we might just get some of it still.

But I firmly believe that God is a God of justice, judgment and mercy; and that He would rather give mercy than wrath and judgment. Time and time again, Israel turned from Him and followed after other gods and committed abominations, bringing his judgment on them. And time and time again. He heard the cries of the people and He forgave and showed mercy.

I believe, especially after reading the Harbinger books by Jonathan Cahn, that 9/11 and Covid are both judgments that God used to try and wake this country up to its impending doom. Signs were numerous of this nation’s flaunting of its sins, adding nail after nail to this nation’s coffin.

Thankfully, a remnant of God’s people were awakened to the situation and humbled themselves and cried out. We prayed in agreement for the abomination to be overturned and God heard our prayers.

As I watched the verdict overturning a federal right to an abortion, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders and I felt, for the first time in years, an actual physical feeling of … I am not sure how to describe it … it was a feeling of relief, but also a knowledge that the nation as a whole would not now be under the weight of the murders of more innocent babies.

I still believe that we may, in fact, still be facing more of God’s wrath with judgment against the innocent blood that has been shed already, but I feel as though we can now ask for His mercy and begin to heal.

The fight will now be at the state level and it will be the individual states that either feel God’s harsh judgment or His merciful blessing, depending on their decisions concerning this issue. It will now be those leaders that continue to push for this right to be legalized that will now face His wrath and anger.

I feel as though He will bring blessing to that faithful remnant while at the same time bring judgment and condemnation to those that continue to shake their fists in His face.

I will go back to the book of Isaiah as my reasoning for this thought – well I could use quite a bit of the Old Testament as my basis – because God’s promise is that if we seek Him and following His laws, He will bless. If we turn from Him and sin against Him, He will curse.

But in Isaiah chapter 26 it says:

“20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. 21 For behold, the LORD comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.”

I think it was Jonathan Cahn that pointed out these verses in comparison to Covid and the killing of innocents.

And before that, at the beginning of chapter 26 it reads:

“1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. 2Open the gates, That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. 3You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 4Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength. 5For He brings down those who dwell on high, The lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust. 6The foot shall tread it down— The feet of the poor And the steps of the needy.” 7The way of the just is uprightness; O Most Upright, You weigh the path of the just. 8Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You; The desire of our soul is for Your name And for the remembrance of You. 9With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 10Let grace be shown to the wicked, Yet he will not learn righteousness; In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, And will not behold the majesty of the LORD. 11LORD, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed For their envy of people; Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them. 12LORD, You will establish peace for us, For You have also done all our works in us. 13O LORD our God, masters besides You Have had dominion over us; But by You only we make mention of Your name. 14They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish. 15You have increased the nation, O LORD, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have expanded all the borders of the land.“

Wow.

What promises. What assurances.

He will uphold the righteous. He will strengthen those that trust in Him.

So….

What do we do now?

We continue to pray. To press into Him. To seek out His plan and His purpose.

We ask Him to guide us. To strengthen us. To surround us.

We ask Him to continue to move. We ask Him to continue to draw the lost into His kingdom.

We ask for Him to accomplish His will here on earth, as it is in heaven.

We cannot grow weary. We cannot give up. We cannot stop.

It is more important now than it ever was for His people to rise up and stand strong.

Lift up your heads and watch.

The King is moving on behalf of His people.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

© Drusilla Mott and https://drusillamott.wordpress.com, 2022