Mark 10:13-16
“One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.15 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
Last night, I was asked…”How are your girls doing?”
I sat in silence.
“How do you think they are?” in a sarcastic tone came over my head – (not out my mouth).
We are approaching 3 weeks that we have been away from them. It stinks. It stinks. It stinks.
The grandparents assure us how strong and solid they are in their faith. I believe it.
They are like us – they have moments of tears, questions, and frustration.
They are also like anyone else, in that they are excited to be at home with friends and soon to be with cousins.
They BELIEVE in the incredible God that we have taught them about through countless hours of prayers and devotionals.
Proverbs 22:6
“Train a child in the way he should go,and even when he is old he will not turn away from it.”
We talk to them daily and tell them that we love them and how grateful we are of all the pictures they send us. But that doesn’t take away the void we feel as a family for being separated during this time.
This morning, Kevin and I were reflecting and remembering ten years ago when Emilie Grace was 4 and going through us being away from her for 8 weeks. Then, for the next month after I returned, we all lived with my parents. Things took a while to be back to normal.
We saw for many years after that how God had supernaturally protected both Emilie-Grace and Carson. (Even though Carson was only 2 weeks old.)
We still in the last couple of years have received visions of God protecting their eyes and ears from things around them. We are praying that those Big…Godly…Loving hands of our Father are covering all 3 girls as they process this now.
It is not just Kevin and I that are in that shelter of the Most High God…It is all of us. (Psalm 91)
The children, the grandparents, the aunt, uncles and cousins. Even the pets.
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Ok…On to other things…if I focus on the down and out then it is hard to get back up…so…
To Kevin’s new (non) Hairdo…
He was worried that you guys didn’t see the finished product, but we did think it was funny to wonder how many of you actually thought he was still sportin’ his mohawk Texas Style!
I think we look quite handsome! His awesome smile is still the same and we have had some great laughs in the meantime.
He says, his hair just dries too quickly before he can style it! 🙂
We have spent this week mainly relaxing, reading and catching up with some phone calls to family and friends. We are still in that “Be still” season. (I will update tomorrow next weeks plans).
We are journaling and making notes of all the phenomenal scripture God is revealing to us on so many different topics.
I think I have shared before that we are in AWE at how God has brought many people that we don’t even know, to read about our story on this blog. Many that we do know are speechless that we are being so transparent. But in that transparency we are witnessing God being glorified because they are learning how to walk in faith.
Do we do it all the time? Not necessarily. But we do try.
Ten years ago, God began us on this journey of walking in faith. It didn’t stop there when the complete healing occurred. We have continually been poured out upon by the Holy Spirit to see how Great and Mighty our God is.
The last 4 years have probably actually been harder for us and more revealing to us about how faithful our God really is…but that is another story for another day…possibly told by Kevin.
One of these surprise new friends is a gal that lives in Canada and she and I both are contributing writers to a group I became apart of in the last year. We had never really connected until 2 weeks ago. Her story is similar to ours. Her husband has just been diagnosed with Prostate cancer.
Jeannie Pallett’s faith is as solid as a mountain. She and I just resonate together that God is Almighty and so much bigger than anything many of us give Him credit for.
Today, I want to share with you one of her writings. I will post portions of it here but you can visit her blog HERE. Let her know THIS body of Christ is also praying for her and healing for her husband. Her devotionals are amazing and have lifted our hopes many days in the last 2 weeks. Tell her you are a friend of Amy and Kevin’s!
Sometimes His Hands Move First:
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes Lord that I might see wondrous things from Your Word.
It truly is wonderful to know that when we talk to the Lord He hears us and answers us. We can share the most intimate secrets of our hearts with Him and He never turns His back on us, He never ignores our heart cry. He does not have an attitude of superiority even though He is holy and pure, true and altogether lovely, completely without sin…and expects us to be the same.
He is amazing the way He takes our lives and creates something of great beauty. He never leaves us alone while we go through our fiery trials, He is right there in the fire with us and His gentle hand is refining us, shaping us, and perfecting us that we might reflect the fullness of the Image of the Son. He is with us in the fire. He is with us and turns us at just the right moment when it feels like the fire is too hot.
He is walking with us as we go through the times of flood. In the rush of the mighty waters, He scoops us up into His arms and we stand, held upright as we push through the waters. We are never overcome! Our flesh may feel weak but He always strengthens us with the power of His mighty right hand.
There is a saying “seek His Face and not His hand”. While I was gazing into His holy Word and seeking His Face, He showed me how sometimes His hands move first in our behalf and we are not even aware of it!
His Hands Move First
Isaiah 26:7 The path of the righteous is level; O Upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.
This is the effect of God’s hand upon our lives, moving and coordinating events for our blessing and benefit and many times, we are unaware of the hand of God moving on our behalf.
My heart is crying out, “Yes Lord! I will walk in the ways of your Law, I will obey your Word, and I will live in the perfect will you have planned for me. It may be hard to find the way sometimes but as I keep your Word in front of me, you will shine light upon the path you want me to take. In every circumstance of my life, it is your desire that I am successful.”
It is as if God is rolling out the red carpet for us – the Highway of Holiness…
If we choose to walk the bloodstained path, He will teach us to see life from a higher perspective.
Will you walk with me and allow Him to constrain you, to yield to His hand that is leveling out the way before us as we walk our journey together?
Will you wait for Him to complete the necessary work He needs to do in you in order to present you as perfect and spotless before the Father?
As we wait, He will reveal His Name, His Renown; He will show us the greatness of His strength and power. His glory will cover the bloodstained path we walk.
I am inclined; I am inclined to incline my ear to hear His heart. My desires in life are being fulfilled as I make Him my greatest desire and seek His face with all my heart.
When my spirit longs for fellowship with Him each day, I need to keep a picture of the bloodstained Highway of Holiness before me. This is where He wants and expects me to walk.
I must enter into fellowship with Him, with joy, gladness and thanksgiving. With a heart that understands and perceives that as my life aligns to the plumb line of His Word, so He makes my way level and smooth.
My soul therefore waits and hopes in the promises of God. My Father, Abba, Papa, the One who promises to keep me in perfect peace and keep my mind steadfastly trusting in Him; He establishes peace for me.
Humbly I recognize the power of His mighty right hand at work in me. All that I can ever hope to accomplish – He has done for me.
I wait on Him. His Face is turned towards me and joy and pleasure are radiating from Him. My Father loves me, desires me, is pleased with me, and is glad to be spending time with me!
Our hearts are knit in love and beat with desire for one another. Oh Lord, You are my God. I will exalt you and praise Your Name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. I am your beloved and you are mine. Your banner over us is Love.
Surely, Jesus, You do all things well.
Wasn’t that PHENOMENAL???
Now… I need to go and figure out what veggies and protein I can fix my handsome fella! Tomorrow, check back…I want to tell you the most amazing part of her writing and why it resonated with us so strongly!
Blessings my friends!
Strong Tower 
Lifting you guys up right now. Thank you for your beautiful transparency. I love you!
Hi Kevin and Amy,
I just wanted to let you all know that I’m praying hard for you and the family. Thanks for keeping us up to date with this wonderful blog. You guys are amazing. Sincerely, Brian
You guys are great!
Hey! 🙂 Love the no-hair Kevin !!!! Kinda mkes you look like your up to something. 🙂 Cute!!!
Love you guys, praying for you and girls.
Hey Guys: Love the look!!!!
Have not been praying for the girls…but I sure will now…..and the grandparents that Rusty and Barbara continue the great job you guys are doing in raising those girls up to be righteous women of God.
Amy – Your blog is so uplifting and inspirational to all of us who are following/going along on this journey God has planned out – even before the foundations of the world HE KNEW all about this cancer and HE has it under control and HE will lead and guide ya’ll through this valley. God has filled you mightly with HIS spirit and HIS word and your are doing an amazing job of letting his love and light flow through you to others. Praising GOD for your Servant Heart!
I truly feel God’s face is shining upon you, Kevin and your family!! God has GREAT things in store for ya’ll. Praying for HIS Presence, His Healing Touch, HIS Power, HIS Mercy, HIS Grace, and HIS Love to be richly poured out upon ya’ll during this season. PRAYING!!!
Your girls are beautiful! And Kevin doesn’t look bad with a shiny head! 🙂 Prayers, prayers, prayers everyday here on your behalf. Love you all!
Catherine
Saw your precious family last night at dinner in Valdosta.
This message was composed by an anointed writer I know who service to the Lord is without equal. I hope this message bless you the way it has blessed me.
As a believer, do you really want to know God and learn His ways? Are you after His heart (true love and relationship) or His hand (only what he can do for you)? The bible says in Psalm 103:7 that “God made his ways known to Moses, but His acts to the people of Israel” Why did Moses know God’s ways and not the people of Israel? Moses sought after God’s heart and wanted to learn His ways, while the people of Israel only wanted to know God’s acts. Many of us aren’t much different today. In moments of reflection, I catch myself trying to understand how God may feel. In this instance, I ask how it would feel to be in a relationship with someone you absolutely love while that person is only in it to use you. You’re not in that person’s heart. He/she isn’t trying or willing to learn about you or your ways to know how to please you or love you. That would hurt, wouldn’t it? It would hurt me – to love someone with all of my heart and their heart is not in it.
With that in mind, let’s take a step back and examine what is meant by ‘God’s ways’. In Isaiah 55:8-9 the Lord declares “For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways; as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God’s ways is God’s timing. One of the challenges I’ve come to learn believers have is the ability to wait on God to do what He promised. We have grown so accustomed to a culture and society of immediate gratification. We want everything quickly. Everything is catered to making things convenient for us despite our patience or dislike for it. Somewhere in all of the quickness, we’ve been led to believe that slow isn’t good. However, some things ARE good when slow, especially when you understand the power of process. There lies a blessing even in the process – in ‘the meantime’ where you’re waiting for that thing to come to pass. Your process is important because once God gives you a dream, an anointing – when he has placed something inside of you to work through you and use you – He needs to sharpen in you the necessary lessons you need to handle and maintain the blessings he pours into your life. Job understood this, he says, “But God knows the way that I take; when he has tested me I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
As believers, we are to wait with confident expectation. We are to wait with our faith. Although the result of manifestation is not yet seen, we believe it to be. Since we believe ‘it’ to be, we should put our faith to action by preparing for the thing/s we wait for. It’s no different from a pregnant woman who knows that ‘life’ is inside of her. She has not yet seen her child, but she waits with expectation and believes God for a healthy baby. As she is waiting, she is preparing her nursery and buying things for the baby. When the baby actually manifests, she is ready to handle and maintain the new change in her life.
It is critical to understand God’s ways because if we don’t we will get ahead of God. Timing is important. If you don’t understand God’s ways and all you look for are His acts, you’ll get frustrated while you’re waiting. You may then be led to take matters into your own hands and there can be a danger in getting things before you’re ready for them. You may lack the skill, wisdom and ability to handle and maintain that next level. King Saul is a perfect example of doing things too quickly, outside of God’s timing. We learn in the story of King Saul how things can start good, but end bad when we do not wait on God. Because Saul didn’t continue to go through God’s ways, he couldn’t maintain what God had given him and lost his kingdom. Saul was immature in his relationship with Christ. He feared the people and gave them what they wanted which threw off his timing. He stopped waiting on God, took matters into his own hands and ended up losing everything he once gained. Instead, God rose up David, who eventually obtained the kingdom and was known as a man after God’s own heart.
It is true that life has a way of beating us up sometimes. It has its sharp corners, twists & turns and delays & detours. Many of us want our dreams and desires to happen NOW and we get tired of waiting. But understand that your process develops your testimony. It gives proof that God has manifested in your life, so you can help someone else. Naturally, there are lessons we need to learn through experience. Take the time to experience them. When you learn God’s ways, you’ll know how to get God to move on your behalf through patience and obedience. When you learn His ways, you don’t have to worry about his acts. We are to be made perfect in God as we continue to walk with Him and mature in Him. As we consistently allow God to wash us with His Word, renew our minds and manifest in our lives by our faith, bit by bit, we become perfect in Him. This is a process.
When we, like the guards of the city, wait for the morning we are waiting for more than simply time to pass. We are waiting for the sun to rise and day to break, for the light to replace the darkness and the cold to be replaced with the warmth of the sun.It is time for us all to move to a deeper place in God. The world needs to be touched by those who really know God. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4).
God bless mt friend!!