The following song expresses my heart desire in the last few days after listening to it in Dave's car. I am seeing that I thought MY plans are what was important in life. Believe Me - I had a lot of plans! Enjoy the song!
Give it All Away by Aaron Shust ( www.aaronshust.com)
Search my heart, search my mind, search my soul
Make me clean, make me new, make me whole
All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay them down before Your feet
All of my time, all that was mine, I now submit to Your design
'Cause You are the one who can make my life complete
You are the one who can give light to my feet
You are the one and only one who dared to give it all away for me
You are my strength, You are my God, you are my King
You make me laugh, You make me dance, You make me sing
Everything inside, everything outside, I give it all away
You never change, but You rearrange my heart more everyday
God is truly rearranging my heart more everyday. Kate
6 comments:
Kate,
This morning I returned to work, leaving home while it was still very dark. I have about a 10 minute drive to my "work" truck and about 20 more minutes to get to the office where I generally check in before I go out hunting for business. Today was different... dispatch was quiet, nothing seemed to be awake and I was pretty somber after hearing your news this week. The sun was still not up and I decided to post myself above Truman lake with breakfast and watch the sun come up over the Ozarks. Usually I would be busying myself with plans for the day and persons/situations to check on and would not be paying attention to the scenery. Today somehow I just needed to see that the sun would rise again just as it always has. God of course blessed the Ozarks with another picture perfect sunrise and I was comforted to know that the same God that created sunrises and the wonderous complexities of nature has you also in His hands.
Kate, I dont know what will happen but there are some constants here:
1. God and the unchanging nature of His love for us/you.
2. Your fighting spirit and love for Dave and the boys.
3. and the certainty that there will always be another sunrise.
Am I torn up and hurting inside? Yes I am. But a loving God has control and I am in His world and I have His promises on my heart.
We love you and are praying for you, Dave and the boys. Focus on the fight now and we will support you as best we can.
Love,
AJ
Prayers from First Baptist Church Ellisville
Dear Kate and Dave,
Good morning! As usual, thoughts of you are ever-present in my mind, and I continue to pray. Some verses keep coming to mind that have brought me great comfort in times of loss (my brother) and other difficulties. The night before my brother died, we had studied them at BSF. God brought them to my mind as I was on my way to be with my sister-in-law immediately after I had been told Trent died. Perhaps they will encourage you as well:
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."
I hope you have a great day with your family. Soccer Gram and Aunt DeeDee, I pray for you two and think of you almost as much as I do Kate, Dave and the boys.
Love, Tiffani Gibbs
Dearest Kate and Dave,
I am sorry that you didn't get better news, but our God is big isn't He? I felt prompted to share with you the devotion I read last night.
Isaiah 40:25-31 The Message
"So—who is like me? Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy. Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!— and never overlooks a single one?
Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying,
"God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"?
Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind."
"It is comforting to have God, Who is as much at home on one end of the earth as the other. Where is the end of the earth? To me, it may be in China or Africa; to a Chinese or African, it may be New York. Physically, the world has no end. But...when I come to the end of myself, wherever I am in the world, God is there. And from that seeming dead end He can create new life, and give new strength. I never need fear that I have not taken him along."
Praying with you all.
Love,
Lisa Mann
(from EFree and before that Impact/Ranch and before that camp and before that various other places we used to hang out)
Kate, it's me!!! I've missed blogging terribly, and I TRULY almost kissed the cable guy who came to fix our internet issues...but I refrained (shocking, but true!) I just spent 30 minutes reading the blog and catching up on all that's happened since I've had access. Bless Mike for holding down the fort w/ the little 'un's for me while I'm holed up in the office reaching out to you somewhere in cyberspace. I wanted to remind you about the analogy of the refiner's fire (see Malachi 3) that images God purifying us, "watching closely as the dross is burned away." Did you know that when the Goldsmith refines his PRECIOUS metal (that's you, dear) that He heats it blisteringly hot, peers into the pot, stirs, sits back, stokes the fire, and peers again...waiting as impurities rise to the top. Perhaps the impurities here are "our" plans, "our" will, "our" timing, "our" way. You know what He's waiting for?... Until the moment that He can see the reflection of His own face...THEN he knows that the trial for the precious metal is complete. I'm trying to picture God bending over you, watching you and Dave struggle and triumph, at times, during this saga. He knows the temperature is "hot, hot" (as we would say to the boys) , knows there is much discomfort in becoming a reflection of Him, but He is there, nevertheless, "watching closely." (New Living Translation). He is BIGGER than any median statistic, CREATED the stars you gazed at on your "tracTOR" ride, and sturdied up the limbs you set foot on as you climbed down from the highest branches as a little girl. Though we don't know His purposes in all of this (YET...they WILL be revealed in time), we know what kind of a God He is! That statement from the Aaron Shust song, saying, "submit to YOUR design..." Yes, hard to submit to something that REALLY makes you squirm, BUT, then again, the Designer and Master Crafstman who refines you now, is making a BEAUTIFUL thing out of the gold and silver that you call "life." Sitting fireside watching and praying...your missing blogger to you, my precious blog-ee! Laura
P.S.: At Thanksgiving, we all went around, in the corny way we do, and said what we were thankful for. There was the usual "family," "good food," blah, blah, blah. Mom was thankful for orthopedic shoes. Hmmm. Sad. Isaac was thankful for "knives." Totally random, totally inconceivable, totally whatEVER! Hope that three-year-old-tidbit made you smile. That night at bedtime when we prayed, Isaac piped up, interrupted me, and said, "Mommy, don't forget to pray for Kate." AS IF!!!! You are on his heart, so, these days, Kate. The average malady of the Little People, the Veggie Tales guys, and the gamepieces to the Arthur Goes to the Library game is an "owie" in the head...he's trying to process things, I guess! From all of us to all of you!
(p.s.: glad to be back, sorry to be so verbose, but you've known me for YEARS...and I'm sure you're used to it!) Laura
Dear Kate,
Since our conversation today, I re-read my post about 2 Cor. 1, and am mortified to think that my reference to my brother was misinterpreted. For you and anyone reading this--my point was/is to encourage you with God's promise of comfort in the midst of trials. I have thought many times that He will likely use you to comfort/encourage someone else who is struggling as He delivers you from this.
I'm praying for great sleep for your family tonight!
Love, Tiffani G
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