The sound of our weeping...

Join me at my blog "walkin' it out"!

bethandjimherring.com 

grace during tragedy

Our little town suffered a major blow Wednesday night. We had just finished our prayer services and about 12 of us were still in the parking lot visiting when we got a call that a church van belonging to one of  our sister churches in our area had just been in a terrible accident. And that there were fatalities. The church van had just left their church loaded with 9 children and 2 adults after their Wednesday night services to take them home. The van left the road on the drivers side, hit a concrete culvert and flipped around causing extreme damage to the van and the passengers.  

We immediately headed to the site to be available for our friend and his wife who pastor that church and for the families of those involved. I have never seen anything so surreal in all my life. There were more red and blue lights flashing than I thought existed. There were ambulances and police cars and helicopters overhead and the sounds were almost unbearable. My heart was just torn in two for those involved and I was almost paralyzed with fear for what was to come. My first reaction was to call my mom to get her to pray. She was just leaving her church in Shreveport and there were still some people around so they immediately stopped to pray for all involved.

As I began to see the funeral home cars arrive, all I could do was cry out to God to send His sweet Spirit of comfort and peace. At times when there are no thoughts to be formed, God in His Sovereignty knows. Our precious Jesus intercedes for us and the Holy Spirit gives us utterance. We serve an awesome God.

We lost 5 precious people in the van accident. But praise God, all of them had personal relationships with the Lord. Even the little 4 year old girl did because she was secure in His Grace. There are 6 children and teenagers still in the hospital. Most have suffered many broken bones and have had surgery and still have more surgery to come. One young man has suffered brain trauma and needs our prayers desperately. Please lift up all these families to the Lord. 

I love our little town. I have never experienced the outpouring of love from so many people as I have from the   folks that make up our small community. People loving people. People loving God. People willing to sacrifice of their own for others. 

As we had children in 3 different hospitals in 3 different cities and even 1 different state, my husband and a few other pastors stepped in to help relieve the burden from the pastor of the church. We had a chance to minister to several different families and God just showed up in those visits and gave us the opportunity to share Him in a powerful way. He is so good.

As our town is still in shock over this tragedy, continue to pray that we will give God the praise for His goodness. Pray that we won't lose sight of our purpose here on earth. He is still faithful. His purpose is still Sovereign and Good. He is still on the Throne.  He is still God.

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through

Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,

nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,

nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other

creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,

which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"

(Romans 8:37-39)

Even in the face of tragedy God has a plan. He has been gracious to those in need and has enabled His love to be shown to those that needed a glimpse of who He is. May He continue to wrap those families up in His loving embrace and dispense His mercy and grace to their spirits. May He lavish His love on each person that they feel an unspeakable peace and presence of Him in their hearts. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pray for those in the hospital: 

Kierra Wilcher

Olivia Oneal

Dalton Williams

Samantha Thornton

Jake Thornton

Aaron Copes

Pray for families of those who lost their lives:

Emma Adams (4)

Brittany Thornton (12)

Kaitlyn Thornton (19)

Portia Thornton (53) 

Joey McKann (30)

encouragement - a TT praise!

 Join Greg for another TT.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart

they should continue with the Lord."

(Acts 11:23)

I am so thankful for the gift of encouragement.  There is never a time that somebody doesn't need a little encouraging word. An encouraging hug. An encouraging smile. Everyone, at some time or another, needs a little encouragement!

I am so thankful for family. Yesterday, as my sister was having surgery to fuse a few vertebrae in her neck, remove bone spurs and put a metal plate in for stability, I saw the word encouragement come to life in that hospital. Many friends from their church were there just to be supportive and show their love.  My brother-in-law received many calls during that time from people checking in on the progress. My mom, Mr. Al, my brother and myself were there to let my sister know how much we love her and to be a support system for Cari's husband and son. Encouragement was being lived out before my very eyes and it was so precious!

I saw the light in people's eyes as others reached out in true love. I saw the word 'encourage' become a very active verb. I felt the impact of how a little encouragement goes a long way to lifting someones spirit.

I saw God's presence in a mighty and powerful way yesterday. I felt His Hand. I felt His touch. I felt Him encouraging us as we were encouraging others. His love and tender care was everywhere. It was being poured out from many different directions through many different people and it was amazing.

God is the ultimate encourager. He is cheering us on and He is standing at that finish line telling us that we can do it! We are almost there! He is giving us great encouragement as we live our lives for Him.

Oh, Lord, encourage me today. Show me that I have a divine purpose in your kingdom. Guide me. Lead me. Strengthen me.  Help me to be an encourager to others. A kind word. An authentic smile. A prayer. Help me to give of myself that others might receive that gift of love and encouragement and feel a touch from You. You are worthy to be praised and exalted in all things. Thank you, Lord, for life.

A prayer for all of us... pray for my husband...

The glorious majesty and beauty of our God!

+++++++++++++++++

Precious Lord,

We women desire a closer walk with You. Allow Your Word to speak to the very depths of our souls. Soak our spirits with wonder and awe. Fill us with love unspeakable. Let it drench us with peace unfathomable. Let it water those dry and thirsty places in our lives with such overflowing abundance.

We seek Your Presence with all that we are. Oh, Father, as we search for You, help us to find You. We long to bask in the shadow of Your glorious splendor.

As You lovingly tuck us under your protective wing, nestle us close in the sweet comfort of your unconditional love.

We long to hear your mighty voice. We long to feel your gentle but powerful touch.

We yearn for our hearts to beat in tandem with yours. We want the cry of our hearts to resound with the echoes of your heart.

As we search the scriptures, speak to us through your written word. Give us the discernment to know your voice and hear from you. Give us that desire to obey you.

Grow us, Lord. Fill us so full that the overflow just bubbles forth and envelopes others. Pour in that we may pour out.

We want to be women after your heart. We want to be servants used mightily in your kingdom.

Meet with us, Lord. Meet with us in such a way that we experience a true and life-changing encounter. Help us to discover new things. Help us to uncover old truths. Help us dare to be different.

Oh, Lord, send your presence to cover and protect us. Intrigue us. Delight us. Empower us.

Use us for the glory of You.  May all we do and all we say only bring You honor and glory.

We love you Lord and we give you all the praise that is due You.

In your precious and holy name, Amen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As I write this post, my sweet fella (Jimbo) is 4 1/2 hours away from landing in Mumbai, India. They left almost 24 hours ago and I know that they are exhausted. He will then have another 2 short airplane trips to reach their final destination which I cannot disclose. Please be in prayer for this team that will be ministering in some very dangerous and volatile places. They will be working about 18 hours a day on the ground doing various types of ministry. They will be discipling new christian men and helping the set up churches and helping to teach them how to disciple others. One of the churches that this group helped to build a few years ago, was just recently burned by arsonists. The pastor and his wife were locked inside the church and the congregation was forced to watch the burn alive. PLEASE pray for my husband and the others. They are literally risking their lives and they are doing it only for the glory of God. Pray for their protection and pray for God to work mightily through them during their trip.

Thank you so much!

Beth

THANKful Thursday is Awesome!

I join Sonya today for her Thankful Thursday and am so glad that she hosts this each week.

Megan, Melissa, Ashlie

1. I am so thankful for my 3 precious daughters. God richly blessed me with sweet girls who love the Lord and I am so thankful that they all call me their best friend.

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.." (Psalms 127:3)

2. I am so thankful that Megan and Ashlie are raising their children (my precious little grandbabies) in the admonition of the Lord. They both began teaching them the truths of God's Word when they were just babies and they continue to help their children grow in Him as they get older.

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6)

Thank you Lord for the Truth of your Word.

3. I am so thankful for something called "skype" so I can talk to my daughter Melissa while she is in Africa. What a blessing modern technology can be!

Thank you Lord for your mercy!

4. I am so thankful that Melissa is feeling so much better. Nothing is worse than knowing your child is very sick and that she is on another continent, far away from home. She has been so sick for the last week and it was so awesome to answer the phone last night and NOT hear her crying. She was happy and laughing and it did this mama a world of good to hear that!

"For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds",says the Lord. (Jeremiah 30:17)

Thank you Lord for your healing hand upon my sweet Melissa! You are so good! Nothing is too hard for you!

5. I am so thankful for prayer. There are times when I feel like I am on my face ALL the time and I am so thankful that God hears my cry and that He answers me!

"In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me" (Psalm 120:1)

Thank you Lord for the power and privilege of PRAYER!

Saturday Steps of Faith - Believing God/ Melissa!

"And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9)

His Grace is sufficient .
He strengthens.
He upholds.

His mercy is unending.
He is gracious.
He forgives.

His majesty is matchless.
He is glorious.
He reigns.

When I feel as if the world is closing in -

I look up.

When I feel like I'm at the end of my rope -

I reach out.

When I'm not sure of my next step -

I call to Him.

When I feel like the waters are rising and the deep has closed around me, I turn to the one thing that I know -

PRAYER

When all else escapes me - I have prayer.

When I am void of a clear thought - I have prayer.

When I'm tired or lonely. When I'm overwhelmed or misunderstood - I have prayer.

I commune with Him in prayer and He consumes me.

I commit to Him in prayer and He covers me.

God is faithful.

At my lowest - He is the highest.
At my worst - He is the best.
At my ending - He is the beginning.

His sufficiency reigns omnipotent. His mercies reign immeasureable. He is God. He is worthy of our Praise. Hallelujah! He reigns!!

Thank you Lord for prayer. I am believing that You hear my prayer. I am believing that You hear my cry. Thank you precious Father, that our prayers connect us to You. Thank you that prayer is the beginning of our worship. Thank you that prayer is healing, restoring, cleansing and renewing.

I'm believing God.

++++++++++++++++++++++

I am thankful today that my daughter Melissa is better. She has been in Africa for 2 weeks now and for the past 5 days she has been very ill. The last I heard on Wednesday, they were going to test her for Malaria yesterday if she wasn't better, but I didn't hear from her until late last night. They didn't do the test, because she felt better. (the don't have an abundance of supplies, so they try to save if at all possible.) Not only was she better, but The Lord provided a window unit AC for her little home. Praise You Jesus!! She sounded stronger and will be back working at the hospital today or Monday. Please continue to be in much prayer for her. She has 7 more weeks and I miss her terribly.

Is Prayer supposed to be Hard?

It always amazes me how many times I have heard people say “Praying is hard”, or “I don’t pray very good.” It is quite amusing that we tend to put prayer into a category to be judged like it is a contest or something.

Prayer is NOT something that is done good or bad. It is not something that God is going to grade us on. We can’t fail AT prayer. The only we can do is fail TO pray.

I know that it seems like some people are more ‘gifted’ in the area of prayer. There are some who are very eloquent with their words. Their prayers seem to just flow like a peaceful river. Their prayers are almost poetic in nature. We think that their prayers are more effective because of the beauty of them. When we are truly talking to God, it doesn’t matter if our sentences are grammatically correct. It doesn’t matter if our words are poetic. It doesn’t matter if we don’t even know what to say. What matters is that we are in the process of communing with our heavenly Father. We are pouring out from within our soul to God.

Psalm 120:1 tells us “In my distress I cried to the Lord, And He heard me.”

He hears us precious ones! It doesn’t matter if all we can utter is “Oh, Lord, I need you!”. He listens – He hears – He responds.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:26 that we don’t know how to pray but that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. The Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Last night in worship, my nephew made this statement. ‘We love to come and take part in praise and worship, because that is easy. We don’t commit to pray because it takes effort and we THINK it is hard.’

I have about 30 names on my prayer cards that I keep with me at all times. I also have almost that many on my prayer page. I have committed to the Lord to pray at least once daily for each name individually. It’s not always convenient and it’s not always easy. But that is what the Lord has called me to do and I must be obedient to Him. It is the least I can do for others. I can’t change their situation, but I can intercede on their behalf and lift them up to the Throne of Grace. I don't say this to give myself credit for anything. I do it for accountability. It's being required of me and I want to be obedient.

I want my prayer page to be more effective. I will be making some changes, but PLEASE stop over to it and read the names on the list and agree with me in prayer for those listed there. If you have ANY need – no matter how great or small – or just need to add someone you know, please either leave a comment on the prayer page post or send me an email.

Prayer is simply our way of communicating with our God. It is our way of expressing our gratitude to our Creator. Prayer is our response to God’s grace. When we cry out… when we lift our heads toward heaven… when we focus on Him… God hears. He breathes in our prayers like air and exhales His Spirit to cover us.

Almighty God, thank you for the gift of prayer. Thank you for the ability to lift our every thought up to you. Whether it be praise, adoration, thanksgiving, confession or request. You hear and you care and you respond. Praise you Lord for who you are.

Be Effective in Christ

Prayer is probably the most difficult exercise in a Christian’s life. It takes the most discipline. It has the most rewards. It suffers the most neglect.

Prayer is our connection between Heaven and earth. Between the Creator and the Creation. Between our Father and us.

We ought to desire to spend more time in prayer. Our hearts should burst with excitement at the mere thought of being able to talk to God. So, why do we overlook the area that God ordained as the one-on-one time of communion with Him? Why do we put off prayer time until we are so tired and half asleep? Why do we make prayer the last thing we do at night? It can become an “oh, I need to say my prayers” type of activity in our lives.

When we allow prayer to fall to the bottom of our priority list, we open the door to the devil and temptation. No - I’m sorry - we roll out the red carpet for the him and invite him in! If the devil can keep us from praying, he has achieved the first step in creating a gap between us and God. He has misaligned our connection with God. He has won the first battle in taking over our lives.

If he can render our prayer lives ineffective, then he is on the way to rendering us ineffective. He absolutely doesn’t want us to access the power we have in prayer. You know how I know this? Because on Saturday night girls, after my prayer page debuted and I spent time in fervent prayer, the devil was ALL over me ALL night with a spirit of fear. But you know how I conquered him?? I rebuked him and I prayed!

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind.“ 2 Timothy 1:7

There is definite power in prayer. We need to make prayer a priority in our lives. We need to make God a priority in our lives. Prayer will:

* Deepen our knowledge
* Increase our worship
* Broaden our commitment
* Show our allegiance
* Strengthen our relationship

Let's hit our knees and our faces,

The Prayer Page

When I began this adventure in blogging about 3 months ago, I had no idea what I was doing other than following a prompt of the Holy Spirit. The only thing I DID know, was that whatever I did, I wanted to do it for the glory of God.

God has been so good to me and my family. As far back as I can recall, I have known about Jesus. I was taught as a child about being a Christian and was led by example. I have loved Jesus since I was old enough to love. Many times I have felt like I didn't really have a "good enough" testimony, because I had never experienced some of the things that others had. I realize now that I should be thankful for that. God gave me a testimony of a different kind.

I was healed from asthma when I was 10 years old. I am not talking about just a mild form of asthma, I am talking about a early onset, lung damaging, life threatening form of asthma. I was a very sick child starting from the age of 18 months. I should not be here at the age of 46. But I can testify that through the grace of my Lord and through the mercy that he had upon my life, Christ imparted His healing power on my life when I was 10 years old. I will never forget it. I prayed for healing and I had NO DOUBT that the Lord healed me. I went from taking lots of medication and shots, to taking NOTHING! I went from many visits to the ER for breathing treatments to NONE! Hallelujah!

The power of prayer is something that we can't take lightly. There is definite victory in prayer. I have felt the Lord gently nudging me in these last few months toward being a Prayer Warrior. I wasn't quite sure how to go about it, but then the Lord just showed me a way. His way. This way. He burdened my heart and then broadened my thinking. The Prayer Page is what came of that. I tossed some ideas toward Edie and she just came through like a champ!

If you have ANY needs at all. No matter if you think they are small or perhaps too large. Please click on the Prayer Warrior button and it will take you to the prayer page. Leave a request in the comments section. If you want the request to be private, then click on the email button. I am setting aside a specific time each day to pray for these needs. Not collectively, but individually. Calling out each name - each need. I am preparing a prayer book with the names and needs in them so I can pray scripture pertaining to those needs. I am so excited about what the Lord is going to do! I want prayer requests and of course I want Praises to the King! Our God can do anything. Our God is bigger than our biggest need.

Thank you for each one of you that read this blog. You will never know how you have all just brightened my days and inspired me. I want us to all go deeper. Step higher. Pray broader. Praise longer.

On my Face

I read a comment by Kay Arthur yesterday in my bible study. She asked, "Have you ever finished your prayer time feeling like it was useless?" She then assured the readers that she had felt just that way which made me feel just a little bit better. Because:

Yes! That is exactly how I have felt these last few days and I was getting a little worried about myself... I love how the Lord saved this lesson for me for just this day! He knew I was going to need it.

I have learned that prayer is the area in a Christians life that takes the most discipline. It is the most difficult exercise in our walk. It is like the part of our journey that is "uphill". (both ways :) )

When the mundane details of life get a little out of hand or things get tough - the first thing that usually suffers is our prayer life. The thing that is probably the most important to keep going is the thing that we often neglect. Prayer is the main resource we have to communicate with God. Prayer is the area that we really need to focus on during these times. Yet, we let it suffer. Why do we do that?

Prayer is what connects heaven and earth. It is our lifeline to the Throne of Grace. Sometimes when there is nothing else... there is prayer. Through prayer we:

1. show our allegiance to Christ
2. worship Him
3. thank Him
4. commit to His will
5. bare our emotions in repentance
6. cry out

Prayer is how we communicate with Christ. It is what enables us to make it through our day. It is that one-on-one time in our realtionship with God. So why would we ever let that part of our life go unattended? I can't think of any good reason why I let that happen.

Perhaps laziness. Perhaps procrastination. Perhaps irresponsibility. Not prioritizing correctly. Lack of discipline. Whatever the reason, I realize that's what has taken place these last few days in my life and thats why I have felt the way I have.

Empty. Like the power has been shut off to me. Like I have run out of gas. I don't ever want to feel like this again. Praise God, I don't have to! I am so thankful that God allowed me to feel this way for just a few days so I could really see what I was missing and resolve to never go there again.

I need more prayer time. More fervent, effective prayer time. On my face prayer time.

Thank you Lord for being patient. Thank you for wanting good things for me. Thank you for allowing me to recommit myself to spend more time in prayer with you so I can hear you speak to my heart.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."


James 5:16

"'... The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."


Thankfully, prayerfully, joyfully His!
Beth