Houston, we have a problem!  Gulp!  Houston and I had a big problem last week.

Last weekend, I was scheduled to speak in Spring, TX, which is a suburb of Houston.  When finalizing arrangements, I was considering flying into Houston Lobby International.    In talking with my hosts, I discovered that Hobby was a long way from their destination, so we agreed I’d fly to Bush International.  My preferred airline does not fly to Bush International; therefore, I booked with a different airline, and completed travel arrangements for Spring, TX.

This past Thursday,  I was completing all the things that I needed to get accomplished prior to leaving on Friday morning.  I had all my messages done and in my brief case, along with my Bible and computer.  My boarding pass was downloaded.  I had most of my clothes packed, and the rest laid out and ready to go.  I sat down to do my nails. (Hey, I am a woman speaker, who talks with her hands, so nails are a must do!)

I was feeling so good that I was organized, and on target for an early bedtime.  Yay me!

As I was sitting, waiting for my nails to dry, I received a message from a friend, who wanted to know where I was going to be in the Dallas area.  I told her I would be in Spring, TX. She informed me that was near Houston.

With panic in my heart, I looked back, and sure enough, I had booked the wrong airport.  What was I thinking!  The Dallas airport was a four-hour drive from Spring, TX.  If I rented a car, I might make the evening meeting on Friday, but there was no way I could get back to Dallas in time to fly home.

I feverishly began to try to change my ticket, but after a while, it was evident, that I could not get there in time for the evening service, and it would cost me about a thousand dollars.  Gulp!  So, Gaylon and I decided we would get up at 4:00 a.m and make the ten-hour drive.   I am a woman of my word, and I was going to Houston to honor my commitment. There was no way I was leaving that church in a bind!

How I hated to inform Rachel, my hostess, about what I had done.  I had never, in all my years of ministry, made such a blunder.   What would she think?  I hated to put her in a stressful thought pattern.

Rachel was beyond gracious.   She insisted that we reschedule, and that God would provide for the weekend.  I tried every way I could to persuade her to let me drive, and get there.  She assured me that she was not stressed at all, and that God would take care of things.  So, I stayed home, with a red face!  I still could not believe I made such a blunder.

During the weekend, I read Facebook posts, and texted with Rachel. They had a wonderful weekend.  (How could they have a wonderful weekend without me?)  Yes, God provided, and Rachel has given me a rain check to reschedule.

What did I learn from this?

1. We are all subject to error even if we are diligent, honorable people. We must forgive ourselves for our errors.  Even in our mistakes, God can provide.
2. While God will use us, we are not indispensable to His plan.  He can work when we are present, and when we are not.  It’s not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit.
3. Thank God for the “Rachels” of life, who don’t fume, go into a rage or disown a person when an error is made. Rachel was quick to realize that this was not a surprise to God, and He would provide.

When you are in a situation in life that screams, “Houston, we have a problem,” stop, breathe and look to the One who has the power to work despite our problems.  After all, heaven does not have a problem!

“So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” – Genesis 22:24

To protect the privacy of others, I’ll change details slightly, but this is a true story, and happened within the last thirty days.

Friends that I love deeply have gone through a difficult time, that has lasted a very long time.  It has been a matter of prayer every day for way more than a year.  Sometimes the burden has felt heavy, and sometimes, I have wanted to cry out like Habakkuk, “How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” 

As I have walked with the Lord God for fifty years, one of the things I have learned, is to be faithful – faithful when I feel like it, faithful when I don’t feel like it, faithful when I see God at work, faithful when I am seeing nothing, faithful when I am hearing from heaven, faithful when it seems heaven is brazen and my prayers are falling right back into my lap.

Months and months have gone by, as we have cried out to God with, and in behalf of, our friends. Hearing nothing, and seeing little, we faithfully obeyed, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:18

Then … SUDDENLY!  (Suddenly after months of prayer.)  SUDDENLY, God intervened in the situation and did wonders.  I have cried tears.  I have laughed. I have knelt before God in thanksgiving.  But most of all, I have been reminded that the God of “suddenlies” can show up, and instantly change situations.

Never did I dream, that I’d wake up that morning, and before the sunset, God would suddenly change things.  SUDDENLY.

When Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, he could not have imagined how long his trial would last.  Then “suddenly” he woke up in his prison cell, never realizing this was the day God would fulfill destiny.  SUDDENLY, after thirteen years of faithfulness.

When the Jesus told the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come, they faithfully went to Jerusalem.  The story is recorded in the book of Acts.  They began to pray and wait upon God. Then “suddenly” the Holy Spirit fell upon them – SUDDENLY after ten days.

How long  does suddenly take to appear?  That is up to God. Nevertheless,  we do serve the God who hears, and suddenly shows up.  Many times, we have sat in God’s waiting room, doing what He told us to do.  Often we have done it faithfully, but frustrated.  It is in those moments that God shows up when we least expect it, and SUDDENLY He throws us a game changer.

Are you frustrated today?  Are you wondering if God is even hearing you?

Many times, those mountains that seem to consume us are just little mole hills that the devil has magnified.  Feed your faith, connect with God and wait for the SUDDENLY.  It is coming.

“And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.” –  Acts 16:26

For years, two of my aunts stopped speaking to one another.  I don’t know exactly what the issue was, but I was sitting in the living room, as my mother and one of her sisters talked.  Aunt “Sue” was telling my mom that while visiting their mother earlier, Aunt “Sally” came by the house.  As soon as Aunt “Sally” realized Aunt “Sue” was there, she sped off in her car and refused to come inside.

My mom never told me the whole story, but I knew enough to know that it was not a big incident that caused this division. It was a case of harsh words because of a disagreement.  Disagreement had divided the family.

America is in an election such as we have never seen.  There are enough lies, exaggerations and scandals to last a lifetime.  We are a very divided country. We seem divided along gender, racial and party lines.

Yet, for me the most troubling division is that which has risen in the Body of Christ.  It doesn’t take long to read social media, internet articles, and periodicals to see just how divided we have become.  There are competing prophets telling us who is to be elected and/or who is of the devil.   Christians loudly declare:  you cannot be a Christian and vote for him; you cannot be a Christian and vote for her.    Insults are hurled a mile a minute. One woman deleted me from social media because I did not support her candidate. Before deleting me from her life, she made sure to let me know I was not a woman of God.

One of the jobs of Satan is to divide the church.   Yes, we’ve always had some division, but the divide is so much deeper now.  The enemy did not just get a foothold in the door; it seems he has almost gotten his whole body in the door.

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” – Galatians 5:19-21

As we look at the above list, most of us who try to live by biblical truth, would never think of getting drunk, being sexually immoral, playing with sorcery and throwing wild parties.  (I said MOST of us!)  Yet, God took the time to add to that list: hostility, outbursts of anger and division.

The enemy must be smiling, because he thinks he is fulfilling scripture, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” – Mark 3:25.    The New Living Translation says it profoundly, “Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.”

It’s time to stop the angry words towards each other.  It’s time to stop finger-pointing and speaking evil against one another.  The wounding has to stop.  Three weeks from today, we will have a president-elect.  In three weeks, many will be disappointed, and many will be jubilant.  The question is, “In three weeks, what kind of Church will we have?”  I hope and pray that we will have a Church that is not strife-filled.  Proverbs 6:16 tells us that God hates strife.

While many of us have been praying for repentance in this nation, it’s time to repent for letting down our guards, and allowing such ugliness to develop between us.  “If my people …”

Three weeks from today, I still plan to serve God.  Three weeks from today, I still plan to evangelize.  Three weeks from today, I still plan to help those who are in the midst of life’s pain.  Three weeks from today, I still plan to love God’s people.  Three weeks from today, I still plan to have faith in God.  Three weeks from today, I still plan to have kind words coming from my mouth.  Three weeks from today, I still plan to pray for a move of God in the United States of America.

What will you be doing three weeks from today?

The words were stunning and shocking. The doctor, after much testing said to me, “Mrs. Benton, we are 99% sure you have ovarian cancer, and it has already spread to nearby lymph nodes. You will need surgery to remove all the disease, and by my side will be a surgical oncologist, who will check all the organs to see how much the disease has spread.”  That was more than twenty years ago, and praise be to God, I am still here!  He still works miracles!

The Sunday after my surgery, I was not able to be in the church service. A friend of mine was so grateful for the miracle God had done in my body that she began to dance with the joy of the Lord. Others began to join in and celebration erupted in the house. Then, an unbelievable thing happened. One man looked with disdain upon the celebration, citing that my friend had never danced this way before, so why today?   He could not celebrate the great victory because he was too busy being a Pharisee – righteous enough to dance when he wanted, but eager to tell others why they shouldn’t or couldn’t!

Please don’t think my intention is to be hard on my fellow believer.  We all have some Pharisee in us, and when it shows its face, religion can get real ugly real fast.

“On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. (Luke 6:6-7)

Jesus showed up in church one day and saw a man with a withered hand. Jesus just can’t help being Jesus – filled with compassion and eager to heal. It was a beautiful thing Jesus did as he healed that man’s hand and set him free. What God did that day was incredible. Yet, in that same service, some of the “church” folks were watching, not to celebrate what was right, but to point out what was wrong.

It is so easy to sit in a church gathering looking for what we don’t like, or seething over the one thing we disagreed with in the sermon. In our minds, we can turn the beautiful things of God into something ugly real fast if we let the Pharisee take over.

Pharisees don’t seek to love and heal those around them, but to show them every little thing that is wrong with them. Pharisees could never enjoy the presence of Jesus because they were always trying to make sure every “i” was dotted and every “t” was crossed just right. If even one thing wasn’t like they thought it should be, church was over for them. How many times did they miss the presence of Jesus touching them because somebody offended them by the way they did something?  Pharisees loved the best seats. They wanted to be seen. How many times do we walk away from the things of God because no one noticed me, or no one spoke to me?

Beloved, the presence of Jesus is always where two are three are gathered in His name. He is there to touch us, cleanse us, renew us and empower us. Don’t miss out on what God is doing because you see someone who is not quite living up to your standards, or, you see a leader that has done you wrong, so no way are you rejoicing in that service!

The Pharisaical spirit is from Satan to keep us from entering into the life-changing work of the Spirit. That spirit is determined to kill the life of Christ in you. As a born-again, Spirit-filled child of God declare boldly, “Pharisaical spirit, get out of me. You will not rule my worship or my ability to enter into God this day!  You will not destroy me or hinder the work of God in my life, my family or in my church.”

How well I know that I must be careful about the Pharisee in me.

Let God arise and His enemies be scattered!

Over twenty years ago, the odds were stacked against me.  I had gone for a routine exam with the doctor, and suddenly things spiraled downhill.  Without giving a play-by-play of the next three weeks, let me just say it was challenging.  After much testing, the doctor determined I was in the highest of categories to have ovarian cancer, and it had spread to nearby lymph nodes.   The odds were not in my favor.

I knew I was ready to meet the Lord, but I still wanted to see my children get married, and meet my grandchildren one day.  We simply called upon the Lord, asking Him for total healing, and left it in His hands.  For me, that was not a magic formula guaranteeing that I would live many more years.  For me, it was a truth that I was going to be healed on this side, or the other side, but regardless, my life was in His hands.

Today, more than twenty years later, I am a grandmother to six, a minister of the Gospel and a child of God!

In chapter three of Daniel, there is a story of three young men who, from a human perspective, faced insurmountable odds.   These men had a choice, bow and go along with the culture, or face grave consequences.

In the face of such odds, their confession was, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’” – Daniel 3:16-18

Because of the present culture, many Christians are fearful because the odds seemed to be stacked against us. Those in power seem to continue to pressure God’s people to bow to the culture.  The heat is being intensified.

When we walk with God, we are not controlled by the “odds.” When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood before a fiery furnace that had been made seven times hotter than normal, the king who was in authority, said, “They are going to die! They will bow to what I say, or they will die.”

Odds were not in the three young men’s favor. But, who ended up being destroyed by the fire? The ones who put the three men in the fire.

Often, as believers, it feels the odds are against us in our society. God is not controlled by odds or the law of averages. In summary: God rules. The process might be uncomfortable and challenging. But … GOD RULES. This I believe.

The odds might not be in my favor, but I am in God’s favor!

This is my confession, “My God whom I serve is able to deliver me from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver me out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that I will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’”

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31

If you know me at all, you know I like a good cup of coffee in the mornings.  The coffee pot is brewing within minutes, after I arise for the day.  Coffee just has an anointing on it!  Can I get an AMEN! Panera Bread is a very anointed place.  When people give me Panera cards, I am happy, happy, happy!  If you were to ask me how I take my coffee, I’d answer, “Seriously, very seriously.”

We live in interesting and challenging times.  As I listen to so many people, I hear story after story of situations that are incredibly difficult.  Sometimes I wish I could have a cup of coffee with those who write me notes, or tell me their stories.  Since I can’t do that, let’s have a cup of coffee right here.

To those in pain, what would I say over a cup of coffee? I would say, “God is close even when you are hurting.”

God is not a tyrant sitting on His throne enjoying the pain you go through.  He is not in heaven, trying to chart out when He can throw the next painful event your way.  God has actually promised to bring you through the pain.

 “I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20). God is with you when you’re hurting. He says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you!” (Isaiah 43:2). 

I know sometimes it seems God is far away, but He is not.

“God, did You see that doctor’s report? Don’t You care? Do You see what a mess my marriage is in? Don’t You care? Do you see how little money we have in the bank? Don’t You care? Do you see my infertility?  Don’t You care?  Do You see the pain I have after the loss of my loved one? Don’t You care? Do You see the division in my family?  Don’t You care?   Do you see the abuse that I suffered? Don’t you care?

I simply say, “God cares.”

When our son Bryan died, it was probably the darkest period in my life.   Some things have no explanation, and for me, this is one of them.  Here we are, almost five years later, and we still miss him so much.  Here we are, almost five years later, and I can say that God has been faithful to His Word, and He has been with us.  He has been close.  He has collected our tears.   He has renewed our joy.

Sometimes when we are in difficult life situations, it is hard to see clearly, and it is hard to sense God.  Job, who was a man of God, went through unfathomable pain, facing sickness and losing everything he had, including his children.  Here is what Job said during his difficult times: “If I go to the east, God is not there; if I go to the west, I do not see Him. When He is at work in the north, I catch no sight of Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.” (Job 23:8-9)

It wasn’t until much later that Job could testify that God was watching over him, and  that God renewed his life.  Job could testify later, that no matter what he felt, God existed, and God deeply loved him.

As I sat today, with tears and a heavy heart, thinking of all that people are going through, God reminded me of all He has brought me through:  childhood abuse, poverty, miscarriage, a child with cancer, hurt from Church folks, unfairness in life, near bankruptcy, grandchildren facing pain and the death of a son.   He reminded me that He never left me, and He never will.

Do I have all the answers?  NO!  Do I wish I could stop everyone’s pain?  YES!   But, the reality is that I cannot.  We all suffer grief.  We all suffer pain.   Don’t judge God or the remainder of your life, by what you are experiencing today.

I didn’t invite you to coffee so I could say I have all the answers; I just came to testify!  I didn’t come to make little of life’s pain; I just came to testify!  I can truly testify that God is faithful to meet us in the mess and in the pain.

“The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.” – Job 42:12

In the third grade, I was not one of the popular girls.  I was poor, dirty and lived on the wrong side of the tracks!  I didn’t seem to have a lot going for me, but I was a good athlete compared to many of my peers.  Every day at recess, we divided into teams and played kickball.  Usually all the popular girls would be on a team, and the rest of us were on a team. We always lost!

One day I was appointed to be captain of a team, so we began to choose people to be on our team.  To the dismay of many, I did not do the normal choosing.  I began to actually choose people who could play kickball.  This meant that there was a mixture of “popular” and “unpopular” on each team.  One girl got so mad at me, and gave me a piece of her mind.  I looked at her and said,  **** you, and I don’t really care what you think.”  I threw in a few more ****s.  She was utterly shocked.

In 1960 foul language was not the norm.  Oh, it was the norm at my home, so I was an expert “cusser” at a very young age; but, still, almost no one just went around cursing in public.  Even I did not, and I knew it was inappropriate!    I paid the price!  I was in soooooo much trouble at school, and my seat was taught that my mouth needed to control what it said.

When I met Jesus Christ as my Savior, one of the first things I did, was work on my language.  I knew that it just did not represent Christ well.  It was a hard habit to break, but with God’s help, and my determination, it was a struggle I overcame.  I did not want my mouth to negate my ability to honor God and represent Him well.

While I don’t expect this to be my most popular blog, I think it’s time to discuss the issue.  What issue?  The issue of believers using profanity.  There was a time when language that we now hear in groups, in movies or posted on social media, would have been totally unacceptable.  Even presidents and politicians think little of throwing out a good old four-letter word.  The culture, over time, has shifted; and now any words are just fine!  Once again, I hope we realize that we are allowing the culture to influence us, rather than God’s people influencing the culture.

Although the Bible doesn’t explicitly ban the use of profanity, there are scriptures that seem to discourage it.

Here are a couple of those scriptures:

“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” Ephesians 4:29 (NLT)  “Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior.” 2 Timothy 2:16 (NLT)

There are many others.  Just do some research on talk, mouth, tongue, language, etc.

Let’s be honest.  If at my next speaking engagement, I dropped a &*#@!  while teaching, there would be shock waves across the auditorium, and my influence level would drop significantly.  You might say, “Yes, but that’s in Church, and that is unacceptable.”  We so easily compartmentalize life, yet God should govern all parts of our lives.

Long ago, I knew that foul language was of no benefit to me as a Christian.  The Bible is very clear about the power of words.     I want my words to honor God, and bring life to people.  For me, profanity does neither.

By the way, there are many other wrong uses of the tongue, and I do realize that many non-cursers, say hateful, bitter, demeaning things.  That needs to be cleaned up also!

Although I’m convinced that “cussing” isn’t glorifying to God, let those of us who have cleaned up our mouths, realize we are all still overcoming things as we walk with God.  So, let’s not be all self-righteous because we don’t use profanity.  This blog is not meant to condemn anyone, but it is meant to encourage believers to give a good look at the subject of the mouth, and how it is used.

“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” – Ephesians 4:29

I wish I could say that as I have walked with God for the past forty-seven years, I have had a detailed blueprint of everything.  Why can’t God be like the old Mission Impossible program, where a recording is played, saying, “Here is what your assignment is today!”   Actually, even better, I want the cruise itinerary that is left on your bed each night.  The brochure tells you where you will be each hour, and what you can do in that hour.  “C’mon, God! That would be quite helpful.”

Psalm 119 contains a very famous verse, which you may have heard before. Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path”.  That verse gives us a lot more knowledge than we might think.

Today we have powerful lights that shine for a great distance.  My neighborhood has many street lights, and I can stand in my front yard and see a long way down the street.   In Biblical days, lanterns, candles and torches were used; therefore, only a short distance at a time had light.  But, with each step taken, there was light for more steps.   There was no seeing the entire path, just the step needed at the moment.

Joseph, our precious grandson who is on the autism spectrum, is a great example of this.   Joseph just stayed with us for a couple of days.  There were several times, that Joseph caught my eye, and my mind would go back to life two years ago.  The progress we have seen in this little boy is wonderful, but the progress came through small steps.  At times very small, time-consuming, laborious steps.   All these small steps have changed Joseph so much – one victory at a time!  And believe me, we celebrate EVERY little victory, and those little victories are now adding up to big victories – one step at a time.

Like most of you, I want God to reveal His whole, “big” plan to me TODAY!  How will I get there?  Where will I be in six months?  What is my five-year plan?  The truth is, my walk with God has been steps at a time, often small steps.  I look back on the forty-seven years of steps, and I realize that I am miles down the road with God!

In a time when we want instant miracles (which He certainly does at times), everything done after one minute of praying and no waiting, we have to stand on the Bible, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, and a light on my path.”

Just take a step.

“The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night.”  (Exodus 13:21).

Maybe it’s my age.  Maybe it’s not being able to turn my mind away from all the things I must do before leaving for Ecuador.  Whatever it is – I hate when it shows up!  Insomnia!   I commanded my body to sleep.  I claimed sleep.  I rebuked lack of sleep.  I even rebuked my husband who dared to sleep!

Alas, I got up and went to the living room, and dropped on the sofa.  Sleep still stayed as far away as possible, so I decided to turn on the television to see if it would put me to sleep.  (Yes, I know I could pray and read, but I wanted to veg out!)

There is little that I care to watch, but I saw “The Match Game” was an option.  I remember as a child watching the “The Match Game,” so I thought I would check it out.   Let me speak in the Amplified Version:  I was shocked, appalled, disturbed, astonished, and stunned!

This one-hour game show would have been “R” rated when I was a child.  The filth that was so funny and acceptable to everyone, was distressing to me.   At first, as a nation, we slowly walked to  the edge, and now it seems we are in full-blown free fall in accepting the unacceptable.

Am I here to bash the USA?  NEVER!  I love this country.  I lead a daily prayer group of about two hundred and fifty people, and our sole purpose is to pray for the United States of America.  I still get tears in my eyes when I see Olympians from the USA win a medal, and stand on a podium while The Star Spangled Banner is played.  I cry when I see vets come home to reunite with their loved ones.   I love this country.

It is also true that, as a nation, we have gone in directions that God never intended, and we are paying the price.  Let’s not beat the obvious problem to death.  What is the answer?

God’s people are the answer.

When Our Lord, Jesus Christ, came to this earth, He didn’t start  a club.  He started the Church.  Oh, I know, it technically was birthed on the day of Pentecost, but without Jesus, there would be no Church.  Jesus began changing people, who began changing their world.

Jesus said it this way, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18).   Jesus declared that He was building a Church, strong enough to have victory over death, hell and the grave.

If you have accepted Christ as Savior, you are part of the Church, the called out ones. Jesus, in essence, said, “I am going to change the lives of people, and build my Church (the called out) with them, and they will be called out and different from the culture.   It will be a Church that can stand against all that hell represents.”

What if the Church became the Church that Jesus described?  What if I became the Christian Jesus described?  If we stopped blending in with the culture, and become those Christians, what difference would it make in the Church?  And, if the Church began to walk closely with God, what difference would it make in the city … the state … the nation?

God said this is how a nation is healed: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV).

If we want to see our land healed, God says that it starts with His people.  The hope for America is God, and God works through His Church.

Oh how her words stung my heart!  Eventually her words found residence in my heart, and I let them live there for a long time.

As believers, we are all going to have hurtful things said to us, or done to us.  One of the reasons so many give up on the Church, or even on God, is because a fellow believer wounded them.   I wish these things did not happen, but they absolutely do!

For blog purposes, we’ll call her Alice.  Alice was a strong believer, strong prayer warrior and even strong in the prophetic.    Alice did not like something I did as a leader, and as far as she was concerned it was war.   Her attacks on me were ferocious and unrelenting.   I was devastated.  How could a person, with such devotion, do this to a sister in Christ?

Rather than take her words to God, I took them to heart.  They had their own room in my heart for several months.  I would visit that room every day, and finally that room became the living room of my heart.  It became a place where I spent way too much time.   It wasn’t long before my hurt turned to anger, and my anger turned to bitterness.

My husband and I were scheduled to attend a conference on Power and Prayer.    As I packed for the trip, I made sure to take my bitterness with me.  After all, I had been wronged and maligned!   We arrived at the conference, but I’d already made up my mind to play the wounded card.  So much so, that in the group of over five thousand people, I had my husband sit way up in the nose bleed section.  My gift of the Spirit that weekend was going to be sulking!

Where was God?  How could He let her get away with treating me this way?

As I sat high up in the balcony of that church, totally withdrawn from what was happening, a woman came over to me.  She did not introduce herself, and neither did I.  She said to me, “God sent me to give you a word.  He said that you are a wounded pastor’s wife, and to tell you that He has not forgotten you.  He said to trust Him to make it up to you.”

I gave her a perfunctory smile as she walked away, but I was stunned.    Stunned that the God of the universe picked me out of thousands that day. That He saw me in the crowd.  That He cared enough to not clobber me over the head, but to say, “Trust me.  I’ll make it up to you.”

While at that conference, I redecorated the living room of my heart.  I took down the black curtains and let the light shine into the places that had been hidden.   It was a life-changing moment from the lips of God.

Are you wounded?  Have you been hurt?  How is the living room of your heart decorated?

God  had me write this today, to say: He sees you.  He picks you out of the crowd.  He hasn’t forgotten you.  He knows what has happened to you, and if you will walk with Him, He will make it up to you.  He will give you a healed heart, and an abundant life in Him.  He is the God who sees.

Is it time to redecorate the living room of your heart?  The Master Decorator is waiting.

“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” –  2 Chronicles 16:9a