The Ezra Fast

There by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions….So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8: 21,23


"Faced with a significant problem, Ezra called for a fast. Notice that the problem was more than a personal matter. It involved all of God’s people who were traveling across the wilderness, plus all of the thousands remaining in Babylon who had given gold & other treasure to him. The fast that Ezra called for was not an attempt to escape problems but to enlist the Holy Spirit’s aid in tackling them."  Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough, Elmer Towns

Yesterday, God's church at Faith fasted and prayed from daylight to dusk to enlist the Holy Spirit's aid in tackling some specific financial issues.  We concluded the fast with a prayer service in which we offered up prayers taken from the text of a book, Acts 29 by Dr. Terry Teykl, that we had been using to pray through the book of Acts following Easter. It was a powerful service as members of God's church at Faith gave lay witnesses,  went to the altar to ask for healing and asked for forgiveness for those we had wronged in the past.
  
This was my first experience with a fast.  I had felt God calling me to fast for some time as He peeked my curiosity over the last several months.  I started my day by offering the day and fast to God, with no expectations.  As I drank diluted fruit juice and some herbal tea throughout the day, I found that it wasn't that difficult to go without solid foods.  I used the time following our morning worship to be still, read and pray.  I was reminded that this was what God meant by Sabbath rest.  Using the time that He provides to still our bodies and spirit to receive the rest that only He can provide. 

I AM and a loving mother

There's a bigger picture you can't see.

You don't have to change the world, just trust in me.
'Cause I am your creator, I am working out my plan,
And through you I will show them, I Am.

As I listened to "I AM" by Ginny Owens this morning, I thought about the testimony of the beautiful daughter of one of the ladies in our Women's group at church.

Only a few weeks after the tragic death of her father, she was invited on a mission trip to Mexico.  This trip set the stage for a series of events orchestrated by God to take her by herself at 21 years of age on a later trip to meet a couple serving God in Burkina Faso, Africa. While there, she contracted malaria and was forced to cut her trip short.

After she talked about how they were able to share with those teaching them the language, teach some basic hygiene to those in the villages and worshipwith a group of people without being able to understand anything (now that's worshiping in spirit and truth), she was asked what had inspired her to answer God's call to go.

With the most tender words and glances toward her Mom, she shared how her Mom had single-handedly carried she and her three brothers to church her whole life, despite the efforts on their part to resist.  She also shared that, during her teenage and young-adult life, her Mom had "given her the space" to find her own faith and that she just knew in her heart that church was where she belonged.

As I think about all the years that her Mom got up each Sunday morning, got her FOUR children dressed, got them in the car, carried them to church, corraled them after church, got them home, I know that God must have been smiling....because He knew that one day, her daughter would "find her way" to answer His call to go far away to carry His message to people in a small, poor country in Africa. 

Yes, there is a bigger picture that we can't see.  We must continue to be faithful to what He is calling us to be each day....and through each of us, He will show them that "I AM". 

It's the Little Things......

My husband and I returned home last night after a long trip to Missouri and back to Birmingham via Kentucky to drop off my Mom and brother-in-law's mother after my nephew's wedding. On our way home, I had a brief conversation with a friend.  Big Red (a.k.a., Satan), used the topic of this conversation to turn my thoughts to places that I had thought I had left behind over the last couple of weeks.  Interesting, how Satan can take anything and turn it around...I'm convinced he knows our weaknesses and is just waiting to attack.  So, I started praying and asking God to take these thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).  I must admit that I had to battle thoughts of unworthiness.  I even questioned whether I should "lay low" (meaning, not go to church) for a couple of Sundays...

Then, we got home and I listened to the messages on the answering machine.  There was one from a fellow in our church that simply said, "Just wanted you to know that I missed seeing you today.  With my work schedule, I don't get to come that often, but wanted you to know that I missed you at church."

I have no doubt that my heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed to hear and used this phone call to let me know how much He loves and cares for me (and where my place is suppossed to be).  God connected my heart to this sweet couple in our church a couple of years ago when the husband lost his job.  There's no way to explain the connection except it was an act of God...I was even honored to be part of the ceremony when they recently renewed their wedding vows. 

This is evidence of how much our heavenly Father cares for us and how He will use relationships in our lives to show us His love.....even a little thing like a phone call.