A series of amazing things has happened in our family over the past couple of weeks and I am so excited to share what God has done!

Many of you have followed the adventure of Felicity’s health struggle and have stood in faith with us for a long time for her healing.  In August she was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and our lives since then have been an amazingly, exciting journey!

A couple of weeks ago Felicity got an ear infection…I know, I said she was getting well and then started with that!  Here is the great part…typically by the last week in January she has had several illnesses and hospitalizations.  Typically an ear infection would last her several weeks to a month.  NOT THIS TIME!  She made it until the last week of January without illness and within 2 days of the antibiotics she felt healthy!!!!

Last Friday, Felicity and I went to the mall to get some clothes; the plan was to hit a couple of stores and eat lunch.  Felicity and I spent at least and hour in the mall and Felicity did so WITHOUT her wheelchair!  For her this is huge because up until this time, she needed a wheelchair if she was going to be walking for more than 15-20 minutes because she would be in so much pain with her joints.

Saturday, Felicity was able to play in the snow for an hour (she only came in because I made her)!  To most, this is no big deal because your child can play in the snow with no problems.  For Felicity, this was the first time she was able to play in the cold for more than 5 minutes without extreme pain!

These 3 things don’t seem like much to most of you so then…What does all of this mean?!  It means that her body is coming into alignment with what the Word of God says!  We have believed that “by His stripes she is healed”, “no weapon formed against her will prosper” and so on and her body is finally lining up with that Word! 

A friend reminded me this past Sunday of something that I know, but needed to be reminded of…the enemy doesn’t like what is going on in her body; he will fight hard to make us think that she is not getting well.  Our job is to continue to stand on the Word because we know the TRUTH…she IS healed and whole!  As a Christian, this gives us proof that God is still in the miracle business and miracles are not just for the Bible times, but for today and tomorrow and every tomorrow yet to come!  As a mother, this is exciting because my daughter can experience a little more what being a “regular” 13 year old is all about!  For the first time in over 6 years…we get to consider what extracurricular activities she wants to be involved in!  Felicity can pick a sport to play!  Felicity can be a kid!!!!

What do I want you all to take from this?! 

1. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER lose hope!  If you are believing for something that will require a miracle…DO NOT give up!  Continue to stand in faith, quote the Word over the situation and know that God knows what He is doing…He wrote the rules and the rules say that you win!
2. Don’t allow the enemy to come in and lie to you and tell you that a miracle didn’t or couldn’t really happen!  It can and it will! 
3. Don’t ever take for granted the simple things in your life!  Your children playing in the snow is just an everyday “normal” thing…my kid playing in the snow is a sign of a miracle!  Your kid getting over an illness in a day or two is “normal”…for my kid it is a sign of a miracle!  Does your kid play a sport?  To you that is normal…to us, it is a sign of a miracle!

For those of you who do not know Felicity’s whole miracle FILLED story and would like to hear it, please e-mail me at talksstraightfromtheheart@gmail.com I love to share all of the amazing GOD-THINGS that have happened in our lives…it truly ministers to people and ministers to me when lives are touched because of our lives!

Please continue to stand in faith with us that the Celiac Disease will miraculously go away too!  I know that my God is big enough and powerful enough…Do you? 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.....

Sunday, in our first service, Pastor Ray led us in a familiar song…”Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…”  During the song I really felt a stirring inside of me about that one line.  I know there is so much more to that song, but that one line kept sticking in my head and sinking down deep inside of me.  I pulled my prayer journal out of my purse and decided to just write what came to mind.  I was amazed at what flowed from my pen.  So, I am going to share these thoughts that are on paper and that I cannot seem to get out of my head!

The song starts by saying that the sound of the word “grace” is a “sweet” sound.  How often, though, in our day to day lives does the sound of grace become bitter rather than sweet?!  We talk about our car dying, pipes freezing, pipes bursting, having to pay bills, having to eat food we don’t like (one I struggled with several times this week), having to do housework, doing laundry, and the list goes on.  The more we complain or dread these things the more our attitude changes and before we realize it, we don’t speak or act with grace at all.  We try to justify our behavior by saying “You don’t know what I am dealing with.”  “You just don’t understand.”  “If you only knew what my day or week was like.”  Really?!  God sent His Son to earth to die for YOU.  Jesus endured unimaginable ridicule and ultimately the worst imaginable death…for YOU.  All to show YOU grace…you know…the one with a sweet sound?!  As we get wrapped up in our own lives the word grace seems to flee our vocabulary and we begin to feel like someone, somewhere owes us something because our life is so horrible.  Really?!  At least you have a car to break down…some don’t.  At least you have pipes to freeze or burst…some people can’t even get clean water and have disease and illness because of it.  Praise God for the bills because it means you have a roof over your head, heat to stay warm, air to stay cool and electric…somewhere, even here in Oklahoma City, someone is living in a cardboard box (if they’re lucky) under a bridge.  Some people would kill for food and many actually die because they don’t have it and we complain because we don’t like what is on our plates?!  I could go on, but I think you get the point.  At what point did we become so much better than everyone that we think we deserve a perfect, foolproof life?!  I am talking to myself here too…this has gotten so deep inside of me that I have caught myself almost in tears thinking about it.  I even caught myself today, hours before writing this, getting upset with someone because they were slow in service and didn’t listen when I was calling them for customer service.  I felt pretty convicted because I was acting like a brat over internet…how many people would love to have that?!  How often do we take the attitude that grace is meant for us, but not for anyone else?  Why are we so quick to think that the sweet sound of the word “grace” is meant to cover us and all of our mistakes, but not anyone else’s?  It isn’t just about God having grace for us, but it is meant for us to pass along to others.  Has the sweet sound of grace become the bitter sound of grace in your life?!  Sadly, sometimes it is a bitter sound in my life.  Is there a magic trick to change the bitter sound back into a sweet sound?!  Not really, we just have to always remember the grace that God has given us and remember that God gave it to us with the purpose to pass it along to others that we come into contact with.  “Amazing Grace how ______ the sound, that saved a wretch like me….”  Kinda hard to fill that blank with the word “bitter” once you continue the song…it doesn’t make sense and it shouldn’t make sense in our lives either! 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost,

But now I’m found

Was blind

But now I see!