Greetings Internet Campus family,
“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.” 1 Chronicles 16:8
Today, as we dig into God's word...I want us to focus on one (seemingly) simple thing...God's accomplishments in your life.
The verse says that we should "make known among the nations" what God has done...my question is...what has He done in your life? Look closely. It's there...
What is it that God and only God could have made happen in your life? One of the most challenging things that we face as Christians is remembering to focus on what God IS doing rather than what we still want Him to do.
Take this morning's quiet time to journal 5 things that God has done in your life that only He could do...
Once you get your list...post all (or some) of it here in the comments (if you are comfortable doing so)...
I promise you that when you focus on those 5 things...and tell others about what He has done...your entire picture of God will change.
Have a blessed Thursday!
Pastor Brian
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Devotions Delivery
Looking for a Topic?
- approval (1)
- argument (4)
- armor of God (2)
- authenticity (2)
- baptism (1)
- belief (1)
- Bible (1)
- breaking bread (1)
- budget (1)
- Christian (1)
- church (3)
- Collaboration (1)
- commitment (1)
- community (1)
- conflict (5)
- courage (1)
- creativity (1)
- details (1)
- devotion (1)
- discipline (1)
- Diversity (1)
- empathy (1)
- eternity (1)
- Ethos (3)
- evaluation (1)
- example (2)
- faith (12)
- fasting (1)
- fear (6)
- fellowship (1)
- fighting (1)
- Flamingo Road Church Internet Campus (142)
- focus (1)
- forgiveness (1)
- found (1)
- fruits of the spirit (1)
- frustration (1)
- fulfillment (1)
- genuine (1)
- giants (2)
- gifts (1)
- giving (5)
- God's character (6)
- God's direction (4)
- God's laws (1)
- God's love (3)
- God's power (5)
- God's role (2)
- God's will (1)
- gratefulness (2)
- Gre (1)
- Heaven (1)
- hell (1)
- holy life (1)
- hope (1)
- humble (1)
- identity (1)
- integrity (1)
- isolation (1)
- joy (3)
- kindness (4)
- legacy (2)
- Lies (1)
- lost (1)
- love (6)
- love languages (1)
- marriage (7)
- miracles (2)
- money (2)
- nakedness (3)
- one heart (2)
- one soul (1)
- one strength (2)
- partnering (1)
- passion (1)
- peace (1)
- personal growth (4)
- physical (1)
- prayer (4)
- protection (2)
- purpose (3)
- rejection (1)
- relationships (5)
- Relevant (1)
- Repentance (1)
- right vs. wrong (1)
- righteousness (1)
- romance (2)
- sacrifice (1)
- salt (1)
- salvation (4)
- Seeking God (2)
- selfishness (2)
- servanthood (3)
- sharing your story (1)
- sheep (6)
- Shepherd (5)
- simplify (1)
- sin (2)
- stress (1)
- teaching (1)
- tenderheartedness (1)
- thankfulness (4)
- Thinking (1)
- tithe (1)
- trials (1)
- trust (1)
- Truth (1)
- values (1)
- words (1)
- worry (1)
9 comments:
5 things... this one is hard... because God does so many things for us. Here goes... though I know after I send this I will think of different things that I should have said.
1. When I was a young girl (5 years old), I had my tonsils removed, I was home healing, they told us that I should not be eating anything sharp. It was near Christmas and we were at a family gathering and I was given a Hershey's kiss by a relative. They told me to suck on it so the chocolate would get all smooth and creamy and melt.... I did, but the tip broke off and somehow managed to cut into my healing throat. We didn't know at the time, but later that night I began hemorraging. I came out of my room and stood in the hallway... as my mother describes it... and blood was just gushing out of my mouth. My soon to be step father was there and reacted fast. Told my mother to grab blankets and ran me to the car. He and my mother sped me to the hospital... the blood loss continued all the way. They got me to the hospital and after I was stabilized and the tear in my throat was repaired the doctors told my mother that if they had gotten me there just one minute later or called an ambulance instead of racing me there themselves... I would have died. My blood loss was so extreme that they had to cut into a main artery that runs in your legs to pump blood back into me rapidly. I still have a scar there to this day.
I know this miracle in my life was God's doing. My step father is not normally a man of quick action.... my mother... I am sure was paralyzed with the image of her daughter hemoragging such large amounts of blood.... it is my firm belief that God took over for them both and used them to get me to the hospital in enough time to save my life.
2. When I was in the end of my pregnancy with my daughter, Amanda Hope, I was sent to the hospital to induce labor. It was 3 days before her due date, but there was some concern that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid with her. This causes babies respiratory distress and all sorts of problems. So we checked in and they began inducing labor. 1 day later my body still was not ready for her birth. My doctor left the decision up to me... since they could not prove there was meconium in the fluid with 100% certainty and Amanda seemed to be doing fine I could either go home and wait for natural labor to take place or I could allow them to perform a C-section. I was very distraught... I so badly wanted to have her naturally. But something inside nudged me and told me I needed to let them do the C-Section. Turns out I made the right decision, because they found meconium in the fluid. She was born amazingly healthy... C-section babies do not normally score very high on their agpar tests (test for health at birth) because they have not gone through the birthing canal and had that pressure clear their lungs of fluid. But Amanda was a beautiful pink perfect baby and her 1 minute agpar was a 9, her 5 minute agpar was a 10 (perfect score). She was the picture of health. I remember touching her little cheek while I was strapped down to the table and they were trying to put me back together. She was amazing and I fell in total love with her the moment I saw her. What a gift!
Now, I am someone that reads up on everything... I had read all the pregnancy books and I knew a C-section without complications took only a few minutes after the baby was born to sew mommy's tummy back up. Mine however, was not going that way. The doctors and nurses around me began to move frantically, they had to give me another shot of medication so the pain meds would stay constant. They were talking in hushed tones... my obstetrician was white as a ghost... he was a young doctor and hadn't had a lot of practice delivering via C-section before. The older doctor assisting him, I didn't know. I heard the older doctor tell him they needed to remove my uterus. My doctor refused! He said "no, she is too young." The most ODD thing about all of this... I am a very anxiety ridden person... calm and peace... especially at that point in my life were not common feelings for me. Yet while all that hustle and bustle was going on... I had this overwhelming sensation of CALM and PEACE. I didn't cry out or fret it in any way. I knew laying there I might die or loose my uterus. But somehow I was okay with whatever was going to happen. I knew either way I was going to be fine. Looking back now... I know that calm and peace was God. He was there with me that day as He is always... but that day He took over completely and filled me with peace.
After another set of blood transfusions my doctor managed to get my uterus to cooperate and contract back to it's normal size. I made it out of surgery in tact, after a few days in ICU I was reunited with my baby. Those few days without her were so difficult for me. I worried about bonding and all of that stuff. But when we were finally reunited those bonds were just there... as if we had been together all along. We came home from the hospital a few days after that... together!
I have a sense of peace in my life that I have never felt before since coming to God..A peace I never even thought existed...
God, through his grace and mercy, has healed my cancer..he has given me the most amazing family anyone could ask for, including my family at FRC...and most of all he has given me the ability to see how awesome He is every day...
3. When I was about 13.. my mother was a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. She was in a car with a friend after coming in from a boat trip. They were trying to decide where to go for a bite to eat. The air conditioning was running and they suddenly fell asleep. Someone noticed them slumped over in their seats and pulled them both from the car. They were both gone.. eyes rolled back in their heads, hearts not beating. CPR was performed... my mother came back... her friend passed away. My mother was all I had. I hadn't seen my real father since I was 2 years old and my step father had long since gone away. She was my everything... I don't know what I would have done if she had slipped away that night. The doctors all said she certainly shouldn't have come back... that she had inhaled enough carbon monoxide to kill a person. Indeed the same inhaled amounts killed her friend... but she was still here... with me and my little brother... God left her here with us... her work was not done. I am forever grateful that He did!
4. About 4 years ago I broke my leg. Snapped it it two places, at the ankle joint, tore through all the ligaments and muscles. I had to have it surgically repaired. I have 2 metal plates and 9 screws holding my ankle together. After the surgery they hooked me up to a morphene pump. I don't really remember this part of the story so I am going on what little my husband has shared. He doesn't like to talk about it... his eyes fill with tears when he does. I was so out of it that I would wake up screaming in pain and even though they would explain to me that I needed to push the button to get pain meds I just wouldn't do it. The nurses told my husband it was okay if he helped me do this. That it would be okay... he could help me push it as often as I needed it and didn't have to worry about me getting too much medicine. The pump was set to deliver x amount of meds each hour and wouldn't go over that no matter how many times it was pushed. So my husband helped me and as the day wore on my blood oxegyn level dropped. Suddenly there were frantic nurses scrambling to the room. They called for help... the crash cart was wheeled in.. my husband was sent to the doorway... He was a mess. He works for the hospital system so he is fully aware of all the codes and numbers they spout off and what they mean. Then suddenly... just as a nurse was about to call for them to begin using the crash cart paddles to bring me back... my blood oxegyn levels started to lift. I woke up a day later and have had no negative side effects from the event. Again, God had come to my rescue.
5. My family and I have been happy members of Flamingo Road Church for a little over a year now. We had spent many years looking for a church to call our own. We were dissapointed and felt pretty let down. We found Flamingo, by accident or so it seemed. My mother lived in Ivanhoe and I would go and visit her several times a week. I saw FRC's billboard in front of the church. I always told myself I need to TIVO that and see what its all about. But I kept forgetting. That billboard kept getting more and more prominent to me... till eventually it was as if it was screaming at me or flashing in neon lights "hey you.... watch this." I jotted the service times and channels down one day and set it up. I LOVED it! I asked my husband to watch it too... He LOVED it! But we were both intimidated by the size of the church and weren't sure we would fit in.
My daughter's fourth grade teacher was Abel Garcia. He is involved in the Youth Ministry at the Sawgrass campus now. I was Room Mom for his class that year. He would often mentioned this great church he went to. One day... I felt this nudge to ask the name of it. When he said Flamingo Road I almost fell out of my chair. I asked him a ton of questions about it. He made my fears about GOING to the church subside. We went... and I can't tell you what a difference it has made in our lives. We have gone from doing life pretty much ALONE and truly thinking we wanted it that way. We were pretty jaded. To doing life with so many amazing people. We laugh longer and harder... we smile constantly... not that surfacy fake one you put on to be nice... smiles that come from our hearts. We were baptized on the beach on a cold Easter morning last year. We began volunteering shortly thereafter. At first we thought... look at all these people that spend their whole weekends here. We could never do that. Then God began His nudging and before we knew it, we were gladly committing to more and more time at Flamingo. The people that have come into our lives are irreplaceable! I can't imagine doing life without them now. The teachings are useful and pertinent... we can use them the second we walk out the door. It is impossible to accurately describe what drastic change our lives have encountered since coming to Flamingo. Looking back now... pre-Flamingo.... we were dying... post-Flamingo... we are LIVING! And I don't know where this path will lead... but I know it's going to be an awesome ride. Every week inside that auditorium I feel God like I have never felt Him before. My faith has grown from this tiny almost not noticeable thing to this amazing peace and fulfillment. I know in my heart God put us there... I know it was yet another miracle He blessed my life with. I TOTALLY CANNOT imagine my life now without Flamingo Road CHurch and the people in it!
Pastor Brian,
Sorry for my REALLY long posts. I don't have that gift of saying a lot with a few words like you do. I am totally long winded as I'm sure you know from our conversations! But I wanted to let you know YOU are one of those people I couldn't imagine my life without. You are a total gift in my life and I count myself as blessed to know you. You are so approachable and kind. I know if I ever have an issue I am struggling with I can come to you for sound advice. Thank you for your never ending enthusaism and your heart of GOLD!
Thanks Tami,
I am moved by your kind comments. God is so good and I am honored to serve Him.
Pastor Brian
One of the biggest thing God has done in my life really involves my wife. You see back in January she was diagnose with stage 4 lung cancer.The doctors were not really optimistic one of them told us that what they where doing was not to cure but to improve quality of life. Well 8 month later the PET scan showed no cancer activity. This can only be our God's work.
Post a Comment