Participants: Janet Page, Kathy Matthews, Jerry Page
Series Code: TAH
Program Code: TAH000149
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00:33 Welcome again to Thinking About Home.
00:35 I'm Kathy Matthews and I'm glad you've joined us. 00:37 Today we have with us Janet and Jerry Page 00:40 from the Central California Conference of 00:41 Seventh-day Adventists and I want to thank you 00:43 for being with us. Thank you. 00:45 Janet is a part of women's ministries 00:48 there and she is really enjoying a prayer 00:52 ministry there. I think you've gotten a little 00:54 pushed into it at one time didn't you? Or was 00:56 that the other way around with the women's 00:58 ministry, wasn't that? The women's ministry. 00:59 Oh! That's right. And it developed into 01:01 the prayer ministry I suppose and it's become 01:03 a very important thing in your life, 01:04 hasn't it Janet? Yeah. Why do you think 01:06 the power of praise is so important? If you 01:10 read scripture you'll find that is the thing 01:12 we're commanded the most to do, is to praise God, 01:14 to give thanks and everything. 01:16 And yet one time in talking about this at 01:18 church I had a lady come up to me 01:20 afterwards and she said, 01:21 Janet really what is the big deal, 01:23 why do we need to spend this time praising God? 01:26 God knows I love him. And I know I love God, 01:29 why not get down to that laundry list, 01:30 those wants and those needs 01:31 and be done with it. And at the time 01:34 I didn't, I didn't know why? 01:35 I really didn't and as I thought about it 01:37 and prayed about it and the months later. 01:40 I started thinking about it, 01:41 it reminded me the first probably seven, 01:43 eight months Jerry and I were married, really. 01:45 And Jerry came up to me one day 01:48 I was busy folding, putting laundry away 01:50 and he came up to me and he said, Janet, 01:51 can't you tell me once in a while 01:54 that you love me? And I looked at him 01:56 and I said, tell you that 01:57 I love you, well I married you 01:58 didn't I Jerry? Oh! I know you 01:59 sound like a man, not a woman. 02:01 Poor sick man. You know 02:02 that's all I can say. And I said, you know, 02:05 hey if it changes I'll let you know, 02:06 but I love you. And but he kept following me, 02:09 I was putting the laundry away 02:10 and he said, but I need to hear, 02:12 I need to hear once in a while that you love me 02:13 and I need to hear nice things about myself. 02:16 And I thought hey, you know 02:17 the guy's good looking, what could happen 02:18 if you start telling him those kind of things. 02:20 But he kept after me and kept telling me 02:23 you know he needed to hear these things, 02:24 so I started reading some of these books 02:26 on marriage and found that it can be 02:28 really important to your mate to 02:29 tell them that you love them. Amen. 02:31 Once in a while tell them 02:32 nice things about themselves. 02:33 Well, he'd already told you that, 02:34 you didn't have to look that up in a book. 02:36 Well, the book was more convincing. 02:37 So I started trying to do that. 02:41 I know it was difficult at first but as I did 02:44 that what I found was that as much as 02:46 I already love Jerry, it made my love for him 02:48 increase and just grow and it made me 02:51 appreciate him all the more. 02:52 And that's when it dawned on me as 02:55 I thought back about that experience 02:57 of why it's so important 02:58 to praise God. It's not that God's got 03:00 some big ego that needs to be stroked. 03:03 It's that, it's for our benefit. 03:05 That as we spend time focusing 03:07 and praising God, it helps us. Yeah. 03:10 It helps us to love God more, 03:13 to appreciate him and to want to obey him 03:16 and to realize how much he loves us 03:18 and that he is a God that wants to answer 03:19 our prayers and he is in the business 03:21 of answering them. But it has made a 03:23 big difference and if you look at Psalms 22:3 03:26 it tells you the secret of how to have 03:28 God's presence with you throughout the day. 03:30 And in Psalms 22:3, it says, thou art holy, 03:33 O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel. 03:36 And if we want God's presence with us 03:39 throughout the day praise Him, 03:40 praise Him throughout the day. 03:42 He inhabits us as we do that. Amen. 03:45 And another one though in talking about 03:49 that lot of times people say you know 03:50 I gotta be real with God, 03:51 I can't just be praising Him all the time. 03:53 Well, God tells us to be real with Him 03:55 if you look at Psalms 62:7 and 8 it says 03:57 O people; pour out your hearts to Him, 04:00 for God is our refuge. 04:02 To pour our hearts to Him, 04:03 God wants to be the one 04:05 we go to and pour out our hearts to. 04:08 And if you read the Psalms, 04:09 you read things, a lot of things 04:11 we don't talk about much, right. 04:13 Like where it says, God killed their babies, 04:14 make their house into a dunghill. 04:16 You know, and he would say wake up God, 04:18 where are you, why don't you move, 04:20 why don't act. The people who 04:23 wrote the Psalms were very 04:24 open and honest with God, 04:25 right. And I found that 04:26 God wants that in my life and at times 04:29 when I don't, I don't know how 04:31 it is for you but I will at times, 04:34 even though I know I need to be 04:35 open and honest with him, 04:36 I won't be like, why go tell him 04:38 that I don't like Sally or that she irritates me 04:40 because he'll just tell me to love her right. 04:43 And so I would find myself withdrawing 04:46 or not telling God these things. 04:48 Or even if I maybe upset with God 04:50 it's kind of hard to tell him that, 04:52 but what I read in the Psalms is we need to. 04:55 Because if we don't an emotional wall goes up 04:58 between us and God, 04:59 that we don't want there, 05:00 right. But it comes up 05:02 and it separates us. And it's so important 05:05 that we be open and honest 05:06 with him and tell him how it is. 05:08 That's really true in our marriage too, 05:10 I mean there is, we don't share openly 05:12 with each other, eventually there's such 05:14 barriers there that we really don't know 05:17 each other and we drift apart thing. 05:18 Janet, did you learn a lot 05:20 of this from reading or you just learned it 05:22 on your own experience? In my own experience, 05:24 through that devotional time, 05:26 spending that time with God. 05:28 It's been amazing to me in the last few years 05:30 I hear it and if seen it printed up. 05:33 And it's incredible to me the times that 05:36 we spent with God, God teaches us so much. 05:39 We don't really need to read a whole lot of 05:41 other books, we can stay in. 05:43 my favorite is Spirit of Prophecy in the Bible 05:45 but stay in God's word and he will 05:47 teach us so much. Amen. You know you have a 05:50 story about, there's kind of sad 05:52 from your past and, it's about your 05:55 first husband and what happened to him, 05:57 can you share that with us? 05:58 Are you ready to share that with us, almost, 06:01 or do you want to say something else? 06:02 I just, But I wanna say 06:03 one more thing about the Psalms that 06:04 when life is so bad and we just 06:07 feel like is God alive, why doesn't he move? 06:10 David gives the answer of what to do? 06:12 In Psalm 77 and I, but I won't read it all 06:15 but just parts of it, he talks about I cried 06:17 out to God with my voice and in my 06:20 day of trouble I sought the Lord, 06:22 my soul refuses to be comforted, 06:24 I remembered God and was troubled. 06:26 You know he just, he couldn't sleep 06:28 at night, in verse 4, he talks about it. 06:31 And if you feel like that you would just, 06:33 just, yes I had, God where are you? 06:34 Why don't you move? Are you rejecting 06:37 me or what? But on down he 06:40 gives the answer of what to do when things 06:42 seems so bad and you think God's just 06:44 doesn't care or he's asleep, 06:45 something's wrong. But in verse 10 and 11 06:48 he gives the answer, he says, 06:49 and I said this is my anguish, 06:50 but I will remember the years of the right hand 06:53 of the most high, I will remember the 06:55 works of the Lord, surely I'll remember 06:57 your wonders of old, I will meditate on 06:59 all of your work and talk of your deeds. 07:01 So what I see there is that he has cried out 07:04 but then he's come back to the thought of 07:08 what God has done for me in the past. 07:10 Right. And one of the things that Jerry and 07:12 I found that really helps us with that, 07:14 is to journal. And we write down 07:16 prayer requests and the answers, 07:19 the blessings of surprises God does 07:21 in our lives and the more we journal those 07:23 and write them down, the more you see 07:25 them happen. Right. That's really important 07:27 for me because, I'm sorry. 07:28 I'm sorry I just tend to forget what 07:31 God has done. That's just what 07:32 I was gonna say. Yeah. And I need to write 07:33 them down when I get to the end of the year, 07:35 for instance on the first day of January 07:37 I always sit down and go over the whole 07:38 year and. Well that's good idea. 07:40 And I just end up, just flying high 07:41 praising Lord because all the things he did 07:43 and some of the worse trials I was facing 07:46 have become the greatest praises 07:47 by that point. Amen. It may seem 07:50 boring or redundant, but literally to take 07:52 that journal before God when you are so 07:54 low and depressed and down. 07:56 And say God remember when you 07:59 did this in 1999 I wanna praise you 08:01 and thank you for that. Amen. 08:03 God, remember when you did this in 94 08:04 or 95 whatever it is but to say it out loud 08:06 and say Lord, I wanna praise you 08:08 and thank you for the way you moved, 08:09 your God is so faithful and trustworthy. 08:12 It helps to increase our faith to trust him 08:15 for the future and what he wants to do. 08:18 The beautiful thing is, is like with our kids. 08:21 First, a lot of years our family worships 08:23 or it seem like it's a lot of years, 08:24 I felt like something was missing and 08:26 I didn't know what it was but as I got to 08:28 studying Psalm 77 and 78 and on in 145 08:32 it talks about it too. It talks about a 08:36 secret, it was to me, what's so important 08:39 and that is to bring out praise with our 08:40 kids in our worship. It talks about 08:44 teaching our kids the praiseworthy deeds to 08:47 the next generation. And before our 08:50 prayers have been Lord, help so and so. 08:52 So and so has got cancer. 08:53 Lord, we need a new washing machine, 08:54 God we need a new house, 08:56 God we need this, we need that, 08:57 Lord please help this, please forgive us 08:58 of our sins and amen. But now we had in the 09:02 last several years turned it around, 09:04 God we just wanna thank you that we're 09:05 alive today, amen. We wanna thank you 09:07 we have two legs that work, absolutely, 09:08 or eyes that see. A warm bread and 09:11 some food, and a roof over your head, 09:12 exactly. And it, what it does for you kids 09:14 to teach them that gratitude for the 09:16 just the simple things instead of all these 09:18 give me, give me, give me. Right, right. 09:20 But in Psalms 145 it again talks about it 09:22 too, how much important it is that we 09:24 teach the next generation. 09:25 There are so many teenagers who say 09:28 I don't know that God exists, 09:29 he's never done anything for me 09:30 and I think the reason is, 09:32 nobody keeps bringing it to their attention, 09:33 they forget of how he moved in the past. Yes. 09:36 What was Israel's biggest problem? 09:38 Because they constantly forgot how Lord 09:40 had lead them in the past. 09:42 That's right. It was always they forgot, 09:44 they forgot what God had done and I know 09:47 I can have some miracle happen 09:49 today and tomorrow, I forget how 09:51 powerful God is. Because it is too easy, 09:53 isn't it. It's just so human, it's so human. 09:56 It is. And really is. Yeah. 10:00 Those scriptures like rejoice in the Lord 10:05 always in Philippians 4:4 or in James 10:10 1 verse 1 where it says, Consider it pure joy 10:13 when you face trials of many kinds. 10:14 Count it all joy. Yeah, count it all joy. 10:16 I used to think these guys are crazy 10:19 Paul and James 'cause consider it pure joy, 10:21 rejoice always and everything you think 10:23 about your life just this last week. 10:25 The things that have happened and to 10:27 consider those pure joy, embrace it. 10:29 Yeah. We found that people can get 10:31 very angry when you start saying that, 10:32 when they're going through real trials 10:34 and traumas, it's frustrating to them. 10:36 Yes, it can be. It can seem very trite. 10:38 That's right. It's almost as if its, 10:40 you don't really understand what 10:41 I'm going through, you can't understand 10:43 what I'm going through. And I feel that way, so. 10:45 But, well yeah I think we all have at times, 10:48 but I understand that to try to learn, 10:53 to embrace the thing that humbles you or 10:56 to try to learn to grasp and hold on 10:59 and to praise anyway when everything 11:01 seems dark around you. 11:03 That's character development. 11:04 That's true. And there is 11:06 joy in the morning, so to speak. 11:08 I'm convinced that God's power is released 11:13 when we choose to praise Him, 11:14 we choose to surrender to Him that 11:16 whole thing, it releases a power 11:18 that's not released a grace that's poured out 11:21 to bring healing that I don't think happens 11:23 if we don't choose to praise and obey 11:25 as scripture says. In the last two 11:26 sentences you've used the word choose, 11:28 that we must choose to do that. 11:31 It's not an automatic thing it's not a 11:33 comfortable thing it's not a thing that comes 11:36 so easily for us or naturally, 11:38 you must choose to do it. 11:41 Right along with that I so many, 11:43 I've different ones say to me you know 11:45 I can't praise Him for that, 11:47 that would be of being a hypocrite 11:48 'cause I don't feel it. 11:49 It's not going on feelings. 11:51 Yes. I know. It's an act of obedience, 11:53 to choose to obey God. Yes. 11:55 That's what can bring the joy. Oh yeah. 11:57 That's what can bring the joy. 11:58 But the joy may come down the road 12:00 not immediately, not immediately yes. 12:03 But I'm glad you said that because 12:05 there's probably going to be those who were 12:07 going to question what you're saying. 12:09 But to understand that it can come 12:12 if I choose. It can come 12:15 maybe not now, but it will. In his time, 12:17 yes, in his time. And, the thing is 12:19 to get the focus onto God and off of 12:22 the problem, onto just the 12:24 wonderful God we have to really spend 12:26 more time getting to know him. 12:27 But I had something happen several 12:29 years ago, many years ago 12:30 that really helped me to see the difference 12:33 I think that it makes and, 12:35 I was previously married to 12:37 young minister, we're pretty fresh 12:39 out of school and we were actually in our 12:41 first district I had been there 12:43 two and half months when he blacked out 12:48 in a swimming pool accident. 12:49 And they, at the hospital when they 12:52 told me you know there's 12:53 nothing we can do. There's nothing we can 12:55 do to revive him. First thing that came 12:58 into my mind was Romans 8:28 expect of that time 13:01 I couldn't even tell you where it was found, 13:02 which is the first of all things worked 13:04 together for good. I just started 13:06 saying that out loud, all the things worked 13:07 together for good. And I'm so thankful 13:10 about six, seven months or so before this some 13:13 meeting we were at, the speakers suddenly 13:16 switched from what they were talking about, 13:17 they started talking about praise, 13:18 praising all things and we thought this 13:20 is a little strange. But we started 13:23 studying it and we started 13:24 trying to practice it and found that it 13:25 really did make a difference. 13:27 So I know some people don't understand 13:29 this but when they told me that my husband 13:31 had died I started praising God. 13:34 Not that I wanted him dead because 13:36 I loved him very much, you know he was 13:39 a wonderful man. But I, and I don't 13:42 believe that God caused the death, 13:44 that God was wanting that but he 13:47 could have stopped it. God is all sovereign 13:50 and he could have stopped it and he for 13:52 some reason has allowed it which I won't 13:53 understand till I get to heaven. 13:55 So I chose to praise Him for what had happened. 13:59 And I started also just focusing on the fact 14:01 that we'd had five years together 14:03 and I had a little boy by him and just the 14:05 good times we'd had. 14:06 And it was a difficult because we 14:09 just started the ministry and as I was 14:12 trying to revive him back at the swimming 14:13 pool I was telling the Lord you know 14:14 this can't be we just started the 14:16 ministry together, we got a little child 14:18 and we're gonna serve you and help people. 14:20 So I knew it was a nightmare, 14:22 but it turned to be reality. Yeah. 14:25 I'm sure you had to sort through all 14:26 that to be able to praise. 14:28 I can't imagine that it just came off your lips. 14:30 To begin with it did though, yeah. 14:33 It was, that's hard for me to imagine 14:34 but especially in a moment like that. Yeah, 14:37 it is really I believe because God 14:39 had prepared me, I had by that seminar he 14:41 had already gotten us into it and it was just 14:43 kind of an automatic response, 14:45 it started coming out of me, 14:46 not some that I had to force. 14:48 And that first night the first person 14:51 to show up was my brother, 14:52 it was like 1 O'clock in the morning and he 14:54 was exhausted and when I would try 14:56 to go to sleep you know the horribleness of 14:58 seeing my husband like that which 14:59 was just awful. Your husband, 15:01 he's big and strong, you depend on him 15:02 and to find him lifeless 15:04 like that is awful. And so I told 15:06 my brother, we went and laid down 15:07 on this king size waterbed I had and 15:09 I said just talk to me till I go to sleep. 15:11 And then you know he could go in 15:13 the other room go to sleep; 15:14 well he probably fell asleep on 15:15 me right there. So I went in 15:18 the other room and crawled to bed 15:19 next to my little boy, my toddler. 15:21 And I shut my eyes to go to sleep in the 15:23 horribleness of the whole thing came back 15:25 and so I started saying Lord, I need sleep, 15:28 I got to face, make decisions. Yes. 15:30 And I said I choose to praise You, 15:32 I choose to surrender this whole 15:34 situation to You, I praise You for 15:35 what's happened Lord, for whatever reason 15:38 but I need sleep. And before I can hardly 15:40 get that prayer out I suddenly felt like 15:42 somebody was holding me and just this 15:45 peace came over me and I wasn't taking any 15:48 medication at all. But I fell right to 15:51 sleep and slept the whole night. Amen. 15:53 And as I started waking up in the morning 15:54 I thought this has been a nightmare, 15:56 this isn't real. And when I reached 15:58 out for my husband it was 15:59 my little boy and I knew, 16:01 you know it was reality. Oh! I see. 16:03 But that first day when I called and told 16:07 my parents what had happened, 16:09 they lived three states away, and, and said 16:11 don't do anything till we get there. 16:13 I don't know what they thought we would do 16:14 or what I do, we owned a rusty VW and a canoe. 16:17 But anyway they wanted me to be careful, 16:20 so they said just don't do anything 16:22 until we get there. I said okay I won't. 16:23 So that morning waited for them to show up, 16:25 I'm pacing back and forth in 16:27 that apartment. And my brother and I 16:28 were talking, and as we are and 16:30 I'm just talking about my husband and 16:32 the good times we had together, this book, 16:34 it was a devotional book that had been 16:35 printed for that year, it was laying on 16:37 the in-table. And I kept 16:39 having this impression to pick it up 16:40 and read it, that day was July 4. 16:42 And, and I didn't think about it being from God 16:46 I don't know if you think to ask God 16:48 about those impressions Lord, 16:50 is this from you or not, 16:51 but I don't always remember to do that, 16:53 I need to do it more. I've done it 16:55 and not enough. You know, 16:57 I find out later I should have, yes, 16:58 yeah times. Well, that day 17:00 I kept having several times to 17:02 pick it up reading, I kept thinking 17:03 I wanna read, I don't wanna talk 17:04 about my husband, I don't wanna talk 17:06 about what's happened. Right. And I didn't. 17:08 Ten days later after everything was over, 17:10 my parents, my brothers stayed and helped me 17:13 pack up my apartment then they had to 17:14 get back to work. Well, I had one other 17:16 place to be packed up and that was a garage 17:18 where we had a lot of stuff stored. 17:20 And that morning before going there 17:22 I picked up this book and started to have 17:26 my devotions, I started reading. 17:27 At that time it was ten days later 17:29 which is July 14. And as I read it 17:31 was so good I kept reading and kept 17:34 reading maybe as procrastinating packing 17:35 'cause I hate the pack. 17:36 I know the feeling. You were in the 17:40 middle of that. But I got to July 18 and 19 17:43 and I looked at the clock and I said oh, 17:44 I got to go pack, 'cause the mover's 17:46 coming and I have to be ready. 17:48 And I wanted to keep reading this 17:50 'cause it was so good so I took it and I laid 17:52 it upside down this on the end-table 17:54 by my bed. And I grabbed my 17:56 little toddler and we took off to go 17:57 pack up the garage. Now, the garage when 18:00 I got in there was just full of my husband's 18:02 things and you know pulled out of the 18:04 boxes everywhere and after I started trying 18:06 to pack these up I became overwhelmed 18:08 with how much I missed him and just 18:10 overwhelmed with what that happened 18:12 and I started to crying out to God. 18:13 I said, God why did you let this happened, 18:16 we just started the ministry together, 18:17 to serve you together and I have a little boy 18:21 by him, how am I gonna raise 18:22 this little boy without his daddy. You know, 18:24 what I'm supposed to do with my life God 18:26 and I was just kind of went deeper and deeper 18:28 into this pit of despair, yeah. 18:30 And so when I got through packing up 18:33 we went to a church member's home 18:34 for dinner and when I finished there 18:37 you know I didn't even, they didn't know 18:38 what was happening. When I got home, 18:40 it was late and I put my little boy to bed 18:42 and I went into my room and just float across 18:45 my bed and just started crying and crying, 18:47 just sobbing and as I laid there 18:48 sobbing this urge comes on me, 18:51 pick up this book and read it. 18:52 And I'm going, I don't wanna read it. 18:54 You know I wanna cry, 18:56 I'm miserable. And as I did that, 19:00 it's just that urge again, 19:01 pick it up and read it. 19:02 And finally I realized you know crying, 19:05 and I was kind of cried out, 19:06 and it was getting boring 19:07 and it wasn't helping anything, 19:08 so I thought well I might just well 19:09 pick it up and read it. 19:10 Now, I'm the kind of person who 19:12 likes me things left alone. Amen. 19:15 And even if, if there maybe messy. 19:16 Don't want them touched. 19:17 They maybe messy but I know if they've 19:18 been touched. You know, 19:19 just leave my stuff alone, 19:20 and maybe it's 'cause I was almost 19:22 an only child I don't know. 19:23 But I picked it up, I, planning to read 19:27 while I left it at July 18 and 19 19:29 and it's no longer there. 19:30 It's now at July 4 and 5 and I'm just in 19:33 shock, who touched my book? 19:35 But I knew nobody been in there, 19:37 my toddler had not been near it 19:39 but it was now July 4 and 5 and 19:40 my eyes just fell on July 4 and the 19:43 title of it is Jesus cares and on down 19:46 it says, God, your heavenly Father, 19:48 will be your husband at hand, 19:49 take counsel to direct and comfort 19:51 as you need. Oh wow! 19:52 And as I read I thought what was this about, 19:55 why was it written, 'cause in this 19:56 particular devotional book it tells at the 19:59 end why a lot of them are written, 20:00 at the bottom it says it was written on 20:03 July 4, 1875 to a sister who 20:06 had recently lost her husband, oh my. 20:09 And it was a book this day we got 20:11 by Ellen White and I, I never thought 20:16 about God being my husband. 20:17 And on down it said, it quotes 20:19 Lamentations 3:33 that He does not willingly 20:21 afflict and on down it says that I don't need 20:24 to be concerned, that you know God will 20:26 take care of me, cling to him. 20:28 It's just incredible to me, 20:29 I don't know if he had an angel come in there 20:31 and turn that book or zapped it or what. 20:33 You know but ten days before he tried 20:35 to get me to read it, right. 20:36 And I didn't think about it being God. 20:38 And even now it was back there again. Yeah. 20:40 So he tried to get you to read it and now it 20:42 was back there, that's powerful. 20:45 We do, going through my husband's death maybe 20:48 realized how much, how powerful God is 20:52 and how much he can move in our lives, 20:53 amen, to show us that he cares. 20:55 And there's just story after story of, 20:58 then I found I believe because I chose to 21:00 praise God with it, that opened the doors 21:03 for him to do things I mean like we had done, 21:06 canceled our life insurance policy about 21:09 seven or eight months before and the reason 21:11 was we were fresh out of school, 21:12 we had always students loans and money was 21:14 just so tight and I wanted to stay home 21:15 with my kid. And I canceled the 21:18 policy because my husband never 21:19 wanted it, he just says 21:20 I don't need that you know 21:21 we're gonna go to heaven soon, 21:22 we don't need that. And I started reading 21:25 some of these books about you need to be 21:26 submissive to your husband, 21:27 and be obedient where it talks about in the 21:29 New Testament and I thought well you're 21:30 amazed 'cause I haven't been submissive, 21:31 maybe that's why this is happening. 21:33 So I told him that and we canceled it out, 21:36 just so we can make ends meet every month. 21:38 And then he goes and dies on me. 21:42 Well, before my dad left we're sitting on 21:45 the couch there and he said to me, 21:47 I don't know Janet how you are gonna make 21:49 in the future but at least you have your 21:50 life insurance policy to tied you 21:51 over for a while. And I had to tell dad, 21:54 I said dad no, I don't have it but dad is 21:56 like me, he can get kind of excited, 21:57 he jumps off the couch. 21:58 What! You don't have it! 21:59 What did you do? He says, 22:00 why didn't you tell me, 22:01 your mom and I both work we 22:03 could have helped you. 22:04 And I say well you know I just didn't 22:06 think about that, while I went into 22:08 the bedroom crying. And I kneeled down 22:11 there by my bed and I took my Bible 22:13 and I opened it up to those scriptures 22:15 that say be submissive to your husband. 22:16 And I said Lord I've done everything that 22:19 I knew to do right. I've tried to stay home 22:22 and be a mother to my little boy, 22:24 I tried to obey my husband and I 22:25 canceled that life insurance policy, 22:27 I've tried to meet our financial needs. 22:29 I said look where I'm now, 22:30 look at the problem I got. 22:31 I said God I really think 22:32 this is your problem. 22:33 Do you know from that moment on people 22:37 started sending me money from 22:39 all over this country, all over the US, 22:41 when they'd hear about Mike dying 22:43 and they would send me money. 22:44 And some of them I knew couldn't afford it 22:46 I'd send it back I said they don't do that 22:48 and they'd send it back and look 22:49 God told us do, 22:50 you keep it we don't want it. 22:51 And at the end of one I kept track of 22:55 everything that came into me because 22:56 I was just so grateful in my journal. 22:58 At the end of one year I had this impression, 23:00 add up what's coming to you, and I did. 23:03 And do you know that it came to the 23:04 exact penny of that life insurance policy, 23:07 oh wow! That's our God. 23:08 Praise the Lord. 23:09 Even before things happened, 23:11 you know he's got things planned 23:13 how he's gonna take care of us. 23:14 My parents nine months before my husband died 23:17 and moved into a new house. 23:19 And now when they had this house built, 23:20 it was in the suburb you've chose, 23:22 there's three pair of plants to choose from 23:23 because it was only the two of them 23:25 they said we'll do a two bedroom. 23:26 But they kept having this impression, 23:28 no build a four bedroom and they thought 23:29 no that's poor stewardship, 23:31 we don't need it. Right. 23:32 But they had such an impression, 23:34 an urgency to do it they built 23:35 a four bedroom. Nine months later, 23:37 there you are. My husband dies 23:38 and then they know why 23:40 'cause it gave dad a study as well as 23:41 everybody a bedroom. I see. 23:43 But God had it planned even before. 23:44 But the beautiful thing is in scripture God 23:49 talks about that he will be a husband to 23:52 the widows and I plead that applies not only 23:55 to women whose husbands have died but 23:57 women whose husbands have left them. 23:59 Who divorced them or even in your home 24:02 if your husband's not the 24:03 spiritual leader, that's right. 24:04 That's just what I was thinking. 24:05 God will be your husband and he'll 24:06 be a father to your children, 24:08 it tells you that in scripture. 24:09 And I've just found it happened over and over 24:13 not in my life but in other woman as I get 24:15 them to chose to praise God when their husbands 24:17 start running around or whatever you know we 24:20 pray for it to stop, we also choose 24:22 to praise Him. And leave it up 24:25 to God to be their husband 24:26 He should be and just incredible stories. 24:29 God gave this woman a car off a car lot 24:32 when her car broke down to get her home, 24:34 and she tells the car dealer, 24:36 you don't know me, 24:37 he says I don't know you lady but 24:38 you need help. You take this car. 24:40 Really? Literally. But things like that 24:42 when we choose to praise him, amen. 24:44 Wow! But I just like to tell you one, 24:46 Janet's excited. Isn't she, 24:48 I wanna tell you one of how God can be 24:50 that husband and then I'll quit. 24:53 I was traveling my little boy and we 24:56 got into this motel room, 24:57 pretty fairly late and I had this 24:59 wide mouth thermos I needed to get open, 25:01 it had the cereal in it. 25:02 And I sat down there on the edge 25:03 of the bed trying to open, 25:04 I couldn't get open and I said God, 25:06 if my husband were here he could open it. 25:08 You're my husband, what are you gonna do, 25:11 you know my husband was big and strong. 25:13 Right then somebody tried to come in the 25:15 motel room door and they had been assigned 25:19 the wrong room and they apologized said 25:20 we're sorry lady and I immediately tried 25:23 to shut the door to close them out 25:24 and I'm leaning against the door it's just that 25:26 urgency get them to open your thermos. 25:28 And I said, no I'm shy I can't do that 25:30 you know get them to open your thermos, 25:31 so I opened the door I said, 25:32 Mister, can you help me? 25:33 In one quick turn he had it opened. 25:35 That's our God. Simple. Amen. 25:37 He's got a sense of humor. 25:38 And what he'll do. Amen. 25:40 And you know Lord has brought me Jerry, 25:42 which is a precious blessing and 25:45 he doesn't, God doesn't always 25:47 work that way but what God does is he 25:49 will give a such a peace and a joy. 25:51 In the midst of these trials when we choose 25:55 to focus on him and praise him. 25:56 To focus on the cross, 25:58 it makes such a difference. Oh! My. 26:01 You've got quite a story there. 26:03 Made me had tears in my eyes, 26:04 as well as I was getting a little 26:06 choked up, I hope it wasn't 26:08 disturbance but to hear a story like 26:12 that just touches my heart, 26:13 and needing a mate or needing someone 26:19 to do these things for you 26:20 I can just identify. You've got something. 26:23 That was so good in all the trials, 26:25 you know, I just praising for Janet, 26:27 she has been such a bless in my life. 26:28 I tell her though that you know every trial 26:30 is so we'll grow in character 26:32 and God gave her me, 26:33 so she would grew in character that's what. 26:35 But Isaiah 43 I wanted to, it says now, 26:39 thus says the Lord, who created you, 26:41 O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 26:42 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; 26:44 I have called you by your name; you're Mine. 26:46 When you pass through the waters, 26:48 I will be with you; and through the rivers, 26:49 they will not overflow you. 26:51 When you walk through the fire, 26:52 you will not be burned, 26:53 nor shall the flame scorch you. 26:55 I understand that this promise, 26:58 Ellen White says this promise was sent to 26:59 the friends of Daniel in Babylon before 27:03 they went on in the fiery furnace. 27:04 When you walk through the fire, 27:06 I'll be with you, right, right. 27:07 And so that's the way it is, 27:08 our trials and if I got time to read this 27:11 one statement from Ministry Healing 474, 27:13 it's just beautiful, In the future life 27:14 the mysterious that here have annoyed and 27:16 disappointed us will be made plain. 27:18 We shall see that our seemingly unanswered 27:20 prayers and disappointed hopes 27:22 have been among our greatest blessings. 27:24 I've got a whole list of shut doors, 27:25 of things I wanted so much in my life, 27:27 I prayed for, but one guy said, 27:29 if God really wanted to punish me he would 27:30 answer all my prayers yes, 27:32 and God has shut many doors for 27:33 my good and my blessing 27:34 and I'll understand in eternity. Oh wow! 27:36 Our time now has all run out and 27:40 I want to invite our guests back with us 27:42 again and I think I'll ask Janet to 27:44 lead us out in prayer. 27:47 Father, I wanna thank you for all the people 27:49 that have prayed for me through the grief of 27:52 my husband dying all across this country. 27:54 Lord, help us to support others as they 27:57 go through tragedies not just to pray, 27:59 during the time. |
Revised 2014-12-17