Hello Friends,
I hope your Easter Celebration — Resurrection Day — was a time of gratefulness to the Lord for all He’s done for you. I’ve been so grateful for the Lord’s sacrifice so I could live for Him with His grace and power, for it would be impossible to live for Him in my own abilities.
I wanted to share about my dear friend, Barbie, and how she inspired me when we celebrated my birthday last week. She made a meaningful card, which she always does, and wrote an encouraging letter, which she always does. ; ) But this time it was on the theme of the resurrection, a favorite word of mine, because it is a word the Lord gave to me for my personal life way back in April 2003, and I’ve had several lessons, answers to prayer, and much hope in the Lord out of this one word He gave to me.
Barbie studied it and formed this definition from various reference books: It means: to rise again; to begin again after interruption; to bring back into use, or practice active strength or force of body or mind; and capacity for exertion, physically, intellectually, or morally; to return to force or energy; to be reinvigorated.
I love the part about “to begin again after interruption”! I had a major life interruption to my work many years ago due to serious health issues. While I never wandered away from God through all the trials of that season, and continued to minister to others through my sufferings, I did experience the sad death of my purpose and vision (a lifetime of work that was yet to be completed) and for five years I had no idea if it would be resurrected in my lifetime. But the Lord had it in mind all along and chose the timing of resurrection for my purpose and Lifestyle of Learning™ Ministries!
I thought about so many of you who, having wandered away from God’s work years ago thinking you were going in the right direction, came back after realizing you really didn’t understand what He was after in you, but now you do! What a hope to cling to! Even after “interruption” to a path of life for whatever reason, God will resurrect and bring strength and power. The Gospel message is about power [moral power and excellence of soul]. Can you see this? Can you grasp it for yourself? He wants you to tap into this power by faith, trusting Him to do real things in your life!
Here’s my favorite Scripture about the resurrection promise for us. It’s been my verse of promise for nine years, and I’ve quoted it in prayer many times:
“If the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived), perishable) bodies through His Holy Spirit who dwells within you.” ~ Romans 8:11
As I pondered the word “resurrection”, while celebrating Resurrection Day with my family, I was reminded of a very personal experience of Christ’s Resurrection power. This Easter Sunday was the 5-year anniversary of a miracle healing the Good Lord gave me that I’ll never forget!
I had experienced a constant severe pain in my brain for 9 months, caused by a series of traumas, which included a grand mall seizure, stroke, and multiple additional seizures over that time period. But resurrection morning when I woke up, it was miraculously and completely gone!
It all started two weeks earlier when I decided to ask the Lord in prayer to remove it. I knew He was giving me faith for this prayer, and that night during my sleep, I had a spiritual vision of two sunnyside up eggs that morphed into a brain. The vision provided confirmation the Lord would heal me, and strengthened my belief. I knew the Lord would give new life to my brain but I didn’t know when. I clung to the promise He would heal me in His good time, and thanked Him daily with full expectation and anticipation.
It wasn’t enough that the Lord healed me, He made sure the details of His handiwork unmistakenly pointed to Him. On that Easter morning 2007 I was in such awe when the pain was gone. I couldn’t wait to tell my family that the Lord had removed the brain pain. The girls and I went about preparing our family’s celebration breakfast, which included a favorite egg dish I liked to make. The very first egg I cracked open had two yolks in it! What are the chances of that?! I had only ever had a double-yoked egg one time in all the many years my family raised chickens! God loves to show Himself in the details when He answers our prayers. Jesus is so alive and His power is real! Our Lord Jesus is deserving of all honor and praise!
The most amazing thing to me about the Resurrection isn’t that Jesus raised Himself from the dead (after all He is God!), but that He shares this same power with us, not just on Easter Sunday but everyday! He is alive today and tomorrow as well, and His power lives in us through the Holy Spirit He sent to us. Won’t you believe with me this week to trust God for some area of your life that needs His “super” to be added to your “natural”?
Making Heart-Level Connections ~ 5 Mini Coaching Programs
As I wrote about last week, don’t forget to get your complementary 5-page eArticle. The message, “Five God-Given Forces for Growth” identifies five areas of inner movements God gave to us so we would not miss out on the healing work He wants to do in us.
If you could use some focused instruction or even just a bit more clarity for how to correct the relational foundation in your family relationships, then the five programs in “Making Heart-Level Connections” will help you to cooperate more fully with the Lord’s work in you and your children so your training of them will reflect God’s wisdom and Christlike character.
Click Here to Learn More about the programs, Making Heart-Level Connections
2nd Mini Coaching Program ~ “God’s Moral Law”
The 2nd mini coaching program in the set of five of “Making Heart-Level Connections” is about “God’s Moral Law,” and it is now available for registration.
Mark the Dates!
Mark the dates for “God’s Moral Law”—April 26th and May 10th, Thursday 2:00pm Pacific time. Deadline for registering for “God’s Moral Law” is Monday, April 16th.
Is your family’s relational foundation sure? If you see cracks in it and want to build happier relationships then this program is for you. There is no other program like this around, and it’s only being held “live” for a short time, so act fast now!
You may have been one who’s been presented with a false standard for righteousness that pretends to be scriptural, but only serves the ways of man. Your conscience will only respond to that false standard instead of to the true standard God gave you for righteousness. In this case, you need to renew your mind to God’s true and holy standard for righteosness—His ways of LOVE to reset your conscience.
This message will leave you no doubt as to what God’s standard is for true righteousness, and how He wants you to reconcile your relationships in love’s holiness so you can begin to cooperate with Him.
Go here to register for the Mini-Coaching Program!
I hope to be talking to you soon!
Grateful to be in the Lord’s service,
Marilyn Howshall for Lifestyle of Learning™ Ministries
[Lifestyle of Learning™/LOLACHE eNewsletter ~ April 11, 2012, Issue 19]