Blog # 34 OFFENSES WILL COME….

I recently had the Lord reveal something to me that has really changed my life.  I talk a lot about offense and unforgiveness because it seems to be something in my life I struggle with.  To be brutally honest, I couldn’t even pray for one particular couple because of the intense anger I had toward them.  I actually had a list of people’s names that I was offended with!   Now, you may not be dealing with being offended or walking in unforgiveness, but one thing is certain—you might not be dealing with it now, but you will be confronted with hurt by another individual and you will have to make a decision right then—will I choose to be bitter and critical and judgmental OR will I pray for my friends or family that have hurt or angered me?  You may feel justified like I did; but the bottom line is this--if you are critical, judgmental, angry, bitter and unforgiving that is sin on your part.  Period.  

I had to be completely honest and transparent with a dear friend about it and ask her to pray through it with me.  I named each person and repented of how I was in sin over my feelings.  I mean; if we hate our brother, (and I had strong dislike for a few particular people) then can we really serve and love Jesus like we need to?  No.  None of us can read God’s word and disregard the things we don’t want to surrender to.  If it says pray for your enemies then it is that simple…pray for your enemies.   Family and friends can be seen as enemies in your life.  Look around…we live in a world operating out of offense.  It doesn’t take much to set people off these days…and once that door is open, it allows other sins to operate freely in our lives.  

It is so important to have someone that will speak truth into your life.  My friend who prays with me through issues I may be dealing with isn’t a yes person.  She doesn’t just tell me what I want to hear and I have given her the freedom to speak truth into my life.  We all NEED that in our lives.  We need someone we can talk to.  She happened to contact me one day and give me a scripture that changed my life.  She was praying for me and the Lord brought a scripture to her mind that she thought was pertinent to my situation that I was trying to work through.  It was Job 42:10. When I read that, I wasn’t excited.  Reading Job has never excited me and is kind of depressing…so I really was kind of bummed about it…until I read it.  It says:  10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before (ESV). When I read that, the Lord highlighted the word “when”.  That might be a little word, but it has HUGE implications here. Things did not change for Job until he prayed.

First, I want to look at the beginning of Job and look at what His friend’s intentions were.  Job was a very rich man.  I mean he was one wealthy guy, but the Lord allowed Satan to take everything from him except his life (SATAN) hoping he would curse the Lord.  You can read the entire book and see the dialogue that Job has with his well-meaning friends.  It specifically states in Job 2 that three friends decided to go visit him and comfort him…like well-meaning friends do; however, as you look further into the book of Job you can quickly see that isn’t what happens.  It quickly goes south so much so, that in Job 13 (paraphrased of course) he is like I am not inferior to you and I know what you know.   Job honors the Lord in all his responses, but that statement right there makes me think that Job was having a hard time with his friends.  I mean, I don’t know that for sure, but there is more to this book of the Bible than just boils, death and destruction.  I think Job was really struggling with what his friends had said to him. 

God is wanting us to get something more out of this particular book of the Bible.  I never really wanted to read it because it was depressing, but now I just want to learn more about how friends should interact and how we should pray for those that offend us.  There was something about the friends and their conversation with Job that you can see in chapter 42…and how it wasn’t until Job prayed for them that everything that was taken from him was doubly restored.  “And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, WHEN he prayed for his friends.  Nothing happened really good until Job repented and then prayed for his friends that probably hurt and offended him.  Then the book ends.  Wow.  There is so much more in this book than I ever realized. 

 So, what does that have to do with us now?  Instead of me being bitter and critical and unforgiving (which is hard) I am prompted to pray for my friends…or family.  Negative thoughts and feelings WILL rise up.  They will.  Period.  People will disappoint, hurt, let us down; however, WE all have a choice…I had a choice. Man, I was sick of feeling the way I did.  I knew being angry and constantly talking about these people to Whit wasn’t good.  It was affecting my health and my family…I desperately told the Lord I needed His help and HE has helped me.   When we acknowledge that we need HIS help, HE is more than willing to help us overcome and set us free.  I wish I could say that after reading that scripture that I haven’t had an issue since.  I shared what the Lord had showed me to a group a while back and immediately after church we decided to go eat at a local restaurant.   A lady that had really hurt me years ago came up to me and chatted…it was a test for sure…later I did pray for her.  I was like, “LORD, bless my friend.”  Sometimes that is all I can pray.   Now when I am tempted to talk about someone that I still struggle with or have negative feelings for, I try to remind myself to pray instead of criticize or talk about them.  

            Holding on to unforgiveness for a long time can become part of your DNA and it can be really hard to change old habits… and when it is with family, it is even harder sometimes to work through.  You may feel justified in your anger like I did, but the Lord still wants us to pray for the people we have been hurt by.  The entire book of Job is more than just a book about suffering.  It is about praying for those that hurt you.  It is about well-meaning friends that do not represent the Lord well.  It is about guarding our mouths, restoration, forgiveness, prayer and how if we are obedient to the Father he will restore back to us more than we ever imagined.  I encourage you to pray for your friends.  I encourage you to be the kind of friend that speaks what the Lord wants you to speak.  I am praying that right now for my own life; because there is MUCH freedom in praying and forgiving others, instead of holding on to the offense.  

MICHELLE BASS

 Blog # 33 WHEN THE STORM RAGES….

A storm was raging all around me—wind was blowing and sky was dark gray;  but there I was standing with my arms raised, and my eyes fixed above and I was still standing.  (This statement is a glimpse of what the Lord showed me in a picture - Michelle).

            In the midst of great challenges and difficult circumstances the Lord wants us to remember all the times He has been faithful and how good He has been to us.  Last year I felt like the Lord was saying to me to get focused on Him.  So, when January came around, I just knew 2020 was going to be a good year.  Now, my idea of what a good year is, is not what is going on now.  However, God can and will make something good come out of what is going on right now.   Hannah was leaving for 6 months to New Zealand, I was starting a bible study in my home with several ladies from my area and for a little while it was good; then all of a sudden in a matter of a week-- all of our lives changed in March.   Hannah and missionaries all over the world serving with YWAM were sent home due to what we have called Covid-19.  Airports shut down.  Borders and countries closed.  We were put on lockdown for weeks and made to stay at home…wondering what in the world was and is still going on.  I have tried to take this opportunity to really grow close to the Lord, but man…distractions are ever present.  Real and serious distractions and I am not even really talking about the virus.  It has been a daily struggle to just be reminded that Jesus is not going to leave me and that He has been faithful to me.  Daily I wake up with anxiety and fears of what I anticipate coming in the future…trying to figure out—God are you there?  God do you care?  Our lives really haven’t changed that much because I homeschool, but I have still struggled.  Our world has changed in an instant…and I’m not even going to talk about physically…but spiritually, I have been in a battle from day one…trying to figure out the difference between what I see and what God is saying in the midst of all this.  Am I going to trust HIM or not?  Am I willing to get to the point that whether I live or die, I will not live in fear or live anxiously…it is a daily battle that I feel like I am in constantly. 

 I have told the Lord that I just need to know He is here.  I need a supernatural touch and visitation from HIM.  I need Him to show up in my life like never before.  What does that mean?  It means I desperately need HIS peace and presence in my life so I know I can persevere and obtain that prize at the finish line.  I need to know I can and will stand in the midst of the storm.  The world has changed.  Our lives will not be the same, but God has not changed.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever and He wants us to surrender all of ourselves to HIM. He is saying, “Come”.  I heard the word come one day so much so it startled me. IT was really strange to me…Jesus wants me to come to HIM.  Get close to HIM and spend time with HIM…so HE can speak clearly and give me peace.   I am reminded of how God has taken care of my family and I have to think of all the times He has showed up in so many ways. I have dealt with more anxiety than ever before, but that is neither Godly nor beneficial to me…a never ending feeling of not being settled.  To be honest, it is sin.  Either you and I will choose to believe what God says or we won’t.  HE is either faithful or a liar and God can not lie.   It is not a fun place to have to work out in my life, but God is working something out and that is good, but it is not pleasant, but life is not pleasant when God is cleaning house.  HE is preparing all of us for something greater than what we see with our physical eyes.  Whit said the other day, “Michelle, we were born for such a time as this.”  We were born during this time and hopefully we will be able to see the greatest revival of all times.  You were born for this time…don’t let the enemy steal your joy, traumatize you with fear or make you believe HE is not present.  

I choose to believe that HE Is present, HE will not leave me, and HE is moving on our behalf—regardless of what I see or how I feel.   There is a song that Chris McClarney sings called God of Miracles and I want to say this to all out there that are struggling…and I know people are.  WE have to believe that what God says is true.  In a time where nothing is certain, HE is. Hold on to what He states in His word.  The words in the song say, “This world is shaking, but you can’t be shaken.  My heart is breaking, but I’M not broken yeah.  YOUR love is fearless..help me to be courageous too.  There is nothing impossible for the god of miracles…we need your supernatural love to break through…nothing is impossible you are the God of miracles….”  I don’t know about you but I need to know that God is the God of miracles and during this time I want to be courageous and at the end still be standing. I choose Jesus…even if I don’t feel anything.  Choose Christ today…HE is our only HOPE in uncertain times.  We need to trust HIM in the middle of the storm…hold on to his promises and what he says in his word.  Jesus says in Matthew 6 ESV “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on.  Is life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air:  they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”  

AS the storm rages all around me, I will lift my eyes to Him who holds it all in HIS hands and raise my hands in the midst of it all.  I will stand. 

            As Maverick City Music sings, “I remember I was afraid, oh the hand I felt lead the way, Oh the first time in my life, I felt safe.  Oh God now that I am older will you lead me again.  Oh when the storms out on the ocean, and the violent wind gets to going oh take me back-  back all the way back oh take me back to my first love…you are real to me—I have known it from the start and there is no space between the heaven and my heart.  You are near to me and I have never been too far. and in the in between you brought heaven to my heart”

Stand.  Lift your eyes to the one who loves you and I both more than we can imagine.  Let the Lord heal you and fill you for such a time as this…so that you can stand

Blog # 32 TIME

May 14, 2019

Today is my baby’s eleventh birthday.  I ask my self so many times where has the time gone?  It seems like yesterday I was pushing her around in her stroller all over the place and sitting in the chair rocking her.  Aaron-Sophia has always been a good baby and such a joy.  She is my absolute favorite red head…born a red head and still a red head!   In fact, Hannah was taking ballet from Linda Lavender and I missed the recital because she was born on rehearsal night eleven years ago.  She is funny and nurturing and innocent…something I wish I could protect her the rest of my life, but I know I can’t keep her from the hurt and pain of life.  There is something about birthdays though that makes you sit and think about time.  Where does it go?  Where has it been?  What am I doing with it that matters?

The sobering thing is, is that time doesn’t stop for anyone.  As the years go by,  Whit and I get older and not younger.  Birth and death force you to realize that we as humans are immortal and our time here on this earth is fleeting…we are here for a moment and gone.  I wish I didn’t think about such things, but the question of will my life mattering haunts me every day; and birthdays and deaths make me question it even more…riding by the fig tree; while I mow every year,  is a constant reminder that another year has come and gone and I feel stuck in my own life sometimes.  I see relationships broken, people not forgiving, families not talking and all the while the time of that day has been gone and never can one get it back.  I keep telling the Lord I want my life to matter.  I want to make a difference…and sometimes I find myself  spending precious time the Lord has given me looking at the time that others spend living theirs.  It seems like such a waste to compare my own life to the life of others, but it happens every day— with not just me, but others as well.   

I’m afraid social media has created a life of lies that doesn’t even exist.   I wonder what Jesus thinks about what we do with our time.  I guess we all need to wake up and ask HIM what HE thinks about our time management.   We wake up and start our day doing our own thing and never once acknowledge the one who is giving us the ability to even breathe.  We don’t thank Him…we don’t spend time with Him….we sit and sit and never talk to Him.  The other night I was sitting in a service and it was like the Lord said very sweetly, “Gosh, Michelle rest in me.  Aren’t you exhausted and tired?”  I think I’m just tired.   I’m tired of all the wasted energy that is expended on things I either can’t control or that I am allowing to control my own life.

Time is a gauge for us…telling us to be wise…don’t look at others lives and compare yours.  Take advantage of opportunities that come up.  Enjoy the people that are placed in your life.  Put down the phone.  The busyness of life will suck up the time in our lives and we can build this empire on earth without leaving any kind of legacy with the time we have.  Ask yourself these questions:  What does Christ think about what I do with my time?  Am I spending my time on things that are good and not great?  Am I focused on setting my mind on things above and not on earth?  Am I consumed with things that have no eternal value?  Am I constantly comparing my life with others?  Listen, social media will make you think your life sucks.  It will make you discontent and unhappy.  It will steal your time and joy…all the while believers in other parts of the world are dying for the name of Christ.   Am I doing what the Lord wants me to do today?  Do I make him happy and bring a smile to his face?  Is what I am doing pleasing to him?  

There is no better time well spent than with Christ, those you love; and those He has called us to invest our time in…. listen, I have never felt like I was great at much of anything.  I have struggled with being a stay at home mom… I have struggled with having a child that is on a different path than other 19 year olds…I have struggled with comparing my life and journey to what I see on social media.  I have struggled with wasting time that I can’t get back…I just want to be great at doing what the Lord has called me to do with the time He has given me.  When a birthday rolls around or someone dear to you passes away, ask yourself what can I do different with my time that will honor the Lord?

In a few months it will be three years since my dad passed away.  One thing I have realized watching him during his sickness and never coming out of the hospital is this—life is fleeting.  Time comes and it goes and we can’t get it back.  It is hard to think where the three years have gone… we all need to use our time wisely…effectively…so today I’m going to enjoy my eleven year old who the Lord gave to me for a period of time.  I am not sure I will ever think I have arrived when it comes to my walk with the Lord…I joke about having a shack in Heaven while Whit has a mansion, but I do know this…I have tried.  I have also wasted a lot of time...we have to stay outward focused and aware of the fact that we don’t know how much time we have on this earth.  Give your day to Christ…tell HIM you love him and how thankful you are to even be able to express that!  Spend your time wisely today!  

Blog #31     IS JESUS REALLY ENOUGH?

June 13, 2018

It is 8:36 in the morning and the snow is coming down, fire is going and I am having a cup of coffee with this amazing organic creamer Whit picked up while at the store.  My birthday was this week and turning 44 up in the mountains with just my family has been a birthday for the books…Whit even bought me some orange tulips- which are my absolute favorite and baklava.  I have literally almost eaten the whole box… No candles.  No cake.   It has been amazing!  I wish at this very moment I could freeze time…it is beautiful and peaceful.  

Turning 44 makes me realize that I am only 6 years from 50.  I sometimes feel like the Heck family on the show called The Middle when they look at their lives and feel like they should have more or have done more with their lives at their age.  I am constantly at war with the MORE that this world has to offer and always ask what is MORE?  Will I ever be satisfied?  Why does social media bother me when I see perfection in pictures—which really doesn’t exist.  I find that social media feeds a dis-satisfaction in our lives—mine in particular, something I find lures me in on a daily basis if I let it.  Social Media is a false reality that promotes all the good and never the bad, so I look at people’s pages and feel somewhat less than for some reason.  When on earth did we accept social media as a personal litmus test for success?  

I have a child that struggles with friendships and having discernment in certain social settings.  So, I see kids in pictures with lots of friends, or checking out colleges, or going to prom or homecoming and then I see my child…the fear of my kids not being successful clouds my thoughts…  I wish I could say social media brings out the best in me, but it does not.  It may for you and that is great, but all I see is what I don’t have, what I am not doing, where I am not going.  I ask myself all the time when will this comparison trap end?  If our lives don’t measure up or we don’t have a lot of material items will we believe that Jesus is all we need and HIM still use us?  Is Jesus all I need?  Do I trust him enough with my children and future?  There are many lies that crop up when we get our eyes off of Jesus…if I don’t have a lot, or certain connections, or a certain last name or whatever-- I start to compare my life with others.  I compare my kids with others.  I compare my home with others.  I compare my vehicle with others and the truth is—we think all that matters and that God can’t move in our lives if we don’t have all that or I need moreto get ahead in life.  Does any of this matter?  God doesn’t care how many likes you have on IG, or how much is in your bank account or how many degrees you have.  Satan will tell you constantly you are not good enough.  Jesus will tell you that you are good enough…because of HIM.  You are enough because Jesus is enough in and through you.  Not because of anything you have or do, but because He lives in you. 

As I write this the group Simple Gospel is playing.  The words that Jesus is all I need are being sung over and over.  At this moment I am reminded that Jesus is all I need.   We serve a God that is bigger than our stuff and our connections here on this earth.  Jesus is the great connector, provider and sustainer.  

BLOG #30       It's NOT About Us.        

May 7, 2018 

I love how simple Jesus is and I hate how ridiculously hard it is for us to follow HIM.  Our flesh desires that which goes against everything that Jesus is and is about. If we were all to be honest, our sinful nature is always at war with Godly living.  Living for Christ requires us to deny ourselves and follow HIM; but at the same time REST in HIM.  We work so hard (on our own and out of our flesh) to live like Christ-- it is exhausting and becomes something we do out of duty and Jesus is saying to us to love him and serve because you do it out of desire for me.    I LOVE this passage in Philippians 2: 5, “Our attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”   

Wow.  We live in a very self-centered world and it is seeping into the church and I’m not talking about the building.  I’m talking about you and I.   American Christianity has become a cheap version of what is real—an imposter and unfortunately being seen and wanting to lead without any personal intimacy with Christ is shallow at best.  See, Jesus led powerfully; but he served. He became human and did not have to.  That scripture is so powerful considering how society operates…everyone wants to lead and not serve.  Serving is viewed low class at best.  All that Jesus did and was really goes against what the world says.  The world says do whatever you have to do to get ahead, compromise, ignore personal accountability and integrity.  The world says gain all the knowledge you can and work hard to acquire all you can that is materialistic; all the while Jesus just wants to serve folks, love HIM, and come to HIM as a child.  Stuff is ok to have as long as stuff doesn’t have us. Work is good and beneficial as long as work doesn’t have us.  Knowledge is good as long as we don’t pride ourselves in our limited knowledge that God has given us in the first place.  God doesn’t care about all that…He cares about us and how we love Him and how we love other people.   

            He says in Luke 18:16, “ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  Folks, we are being distracted and deceived.  Our lives are meant to mimic Jesus, but we seem to have forgotten that we are not only to read the word, but actually believe it.  WE read it and forget it.  We strive and pride ourselves in knowledge, but deny the power that He has given us to live victoriously and we come to HIM like religious adults and He just wants us to sit at HIS feet and trust HIM.  I told Whit today that even though we don’t live in Heaven, Jesus brought an aspect of Heaven here.  NO we can’t see heaven, but when we pray the Lord’s prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” well, if this is all there is…if we get saved only to go to heaven…that can’t be all there is to what God has for us.  Salvation is only the beginning…we are to be conduits of Christ. I have Christ living in me…to touch another person’s life here on earth.  Yes, we are to evangelize, but we are also to do what Jesus did…Just like in Luke 4:18-19, “ The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”( NIV)  Here is another translation: 

            “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to be hope for the poor, freedom for the broken hearted, and new eyes for the blind, and to preach to prisoners, “you are set free!”  Luke 4:18-19 (The Passion Translation)  

            Salvation is just the beginning of this incredible journey that Christ has in front of us.  We are to preach the good news, bring freedom to those bound in chains, and help people see the truth.  Jesus was a man…not some wimp.  He walked in power…and don’t ever forget the demons tremble at HIS name.  WE serve a KING…the least we can do is walk in humility, serve those that God places in front of us, come to HIM as a child—remember what it was like when you were a kid?  Just trust him.  Don’t get caught up in the deception of the humanistic world in which we live…be like Jesus.  Don’t just read the word and then think you can walk however you want.  It is more than just a history lesson…its LIFE and inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Relationship with Jesus is more than a production filled Sunday morning and baby food to eat…we are to be intimate with the Father on our own.  Please don’t expect a pastor to give you what you should be getting in time alone with JESUS.  You will die.  Just like if you go without food and water—HE is our food and water spiritually.  We cannot survive without Jesus everyday.  

Love Ya'll,

Michelle!

BLOG #29   "WHO IS REALLY YOUR FRIEND?"

I recently ran across a quote (and I LOVE a good quote) from @the goodquote on Instagram and this is what it said:

“THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS UNTIL THEY DEFEND YOU IN YOUR ABSENCE”

             I am sure you are wondering why I would write a blog about this, but I really haven’t come across another quote quite as thought provoking since I read this, and really I am thinking I could apply some Biblical principle to it and a personal example as well.  I’m just keeping it real and will start with the personal example of this quote.  Hannah and I were talking about an incident that happened last year that I had no idea Hannah was even present when it occurred, but she was.  I was telling her about a conversation between fellow Christians (Christ followers and you know Jesus likes good gossip because HE trashed folks—insert eye roll here) and how they were discussing another longtime friend of mine—negatively.  I don’t think either of the two individuals knew that I was as good of a friend with the person they were discussing, but I was and still am friends with her… and Hannah was listening to the conversation, but I didn’t know till today. 

             The day the conversation happened I was in an unfamiliar home with an unfamiliar family with another friend…I was invited under the pretenses that we would talk about our desires to write and common interest in writing a book, but it wasn’t about that.  I am not sure why I was invited honestly, but it was pleasant UNTIL they started talking about my friend that I have known since 7th grade.  I was beyond ready to go after the conversation started about my friend…my friend isn’t perfect.  She has issues just like you and I.  Yeah, you have issues.  I do too.   She is someone that I have known most of my life…someone that I fought with…someone who is truly a beautiful and giving individual inside and out…. supposedly a friend that I would defend in her absence.  I did.  My daughter heard it…I’m proud I did. 

             See, we use the word “friend” very loosely.  Let’s ALL be honest…we all have been there.  WE have talked about our friends, gossiped about our friends, trashed our friends, ignored and hurt our friends…and I could go on and on, but this blog today isn’t really about that.  It’s about how good of “friends” are we really?  How good of a friend am I?  Well, I can tell you this much—I took up for my friend that day.  See, what the individuals didn’t know that JUST THAT WEEK my friends divorce had been final, she was moving and had she still been married it would have been her 25 year anniversary…all in the same time period.  That is A LOT of sadness!  It was not a good time in my friend’s life. I distinctly remember telling them, “You really need to pray for her…she has a lot going on in her personal life and she does love the Lord.  I have known her most of my life.   I shouldn’t have had to tell these educated folks that in the first place; but I have to say I’m glad I took up for my friend, because my daughter told me today, “I heard them trashing so and so and I heard you take up for her.”  Isn’t that sad.  We never know what our children are listening to. 

            Now, let me be real with you…I don’t take up for my “friends” all the time.  Which has made me really re-evaluate who my friends are and if I would defend them in their absence.  Are they really someone I value in the first place?  There are some folks I probably wouldn’t defend…which makes me realize they probably aren’t my friend.  True Godly friendships are few and far between.  Sometimes I wonder who my friends are, but that day I knew I was doing the right thing by speaking up for her in her absence.  In reality, we are all drawn to gossip.  It is our nature.  IT is our sin nature.  We have to die to it and be a true Christian or follower of Christ.  Jesus didn’t gossip.  I’m pretty sure He defended HIS friends if HE needed to…but we ALL have to be mindful of the snare of Satan that would like to draw us in when talking bad about folks.  I am guilty of it…why on earth do you think I am writing this?  It is an issue for all of us---ME included.  Gossip is harmful. 

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Hey, you can insert “my” for “your”!  My prayer should be this, “Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips”. Psalm 141:3.  Listen, I got it right this time…but I am not writing this because I have it right every time and if you are reading this, neither have you…

            So, defend your true friends.  Speak up for someone if you see him or her trashing someone that is dear to you. Do the right thing.  Meditate on those scriptures.  You and I may get it wrong tomorrow or the next second or minute, but I am glad that day my child saw me do something right.  People sit around in their religiousness wanting to point out the sin in other people’s lives while not ever taking the time to get to know the person they are discussing…Christians can be the worst.  IT is Ugly and Jesus doesn’t like it…He doesn’t like it in me or in you.  WE can study till the cows come home.  We can obtain all this knowledge and never have the HOLY SPIRIT’s power flowing through us to take the head knowledge and help us WALK IT OUT IN POWER.  Knowledge without the power of the Holy Spirit is nothing…it’s just knowledge.   You can pride yourself in your degrees and knowledge, and never walk in it.  So think about this quote and the scriptures the next time you are around folks talking about someone or you find yourself doing the talking… and I will too!

“THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS UNTIL THEY DEFEND YOU IN YOUR ABSENCE”. 

Love Ya'll

Michelle

BLOG #28

I am back to writing and it feels good! 

It has been a very long time since I have written ANYTHING.  I sit down and write and then get distracted or interrupted…like right now, Aaron-Sophia is calling my name telling me she is done taking a bath!  I wouldn’t change it for anything, but in order to write one has to have peace and quiet!  In fact, I have not written since at least April.  I know that may not matter to you, but I feel like I have been on this personal journey of more healing from things that I have been holding on to for years.  God has a way of getting us whole in order to use us more for the Kingdom!  He prepares us for more. 

What a year this has been!  In a way, it has been truly wonderful and the best year so far, but with the death of my dad and the one year anniversary on Thanksgiving it has also been somber… I think the one-year anniversary is more painful than the actual day my dad passed; however, I am amazed at how Jesus shows up and gives us strength when we need it.  In the midst of pain, grief, and EVERYTHING else, He shows up and does the impossible.  Grief is one crazy thing…one day you are fine and the next you are sad and emotional.  Whit keeps telling me that these traits are normal when grieving.  Thank goodness I am married to a hospice chaplain to help me maneuver through the emotional chaos grief brings about.  Emotional chaos…that is what it is when death occurs and the people left behind are forced to come to grips with it.  It STINKS.  I miss my dad, but out of this year some amazing things have happened. 

I realize I am a much stronger person than I realized.  I also realized there was somethings that Jesus had to bring to the surface and force me to deal with.  Broken relationships and un-forgiveness are two of them.  Hey, I am just being transparent.  I have gone long enough wishing I spoke eloquently or that I was like someone else.  I am me and Christ just wants me to be me.  If I am not in your “tribe” that is ok.  I really don’t like that phrase anyway…it is so exclusive and I don’t like exclusivity.  I have seen that far too often with church folks.  Isn’t it sad that the world is much more inclusive than the church?  Let’s be real…the church is a mess.  The Body of Christ is broken and in need of a touch from Jesus.  WE are that church and body of Christ that needs healing.  WE ARE THOSE PEOPLE.  Christ has really done a work in me.

I love the saying that goes like this, “I am not where I want to be, but I am not where I used to be!”  Thank you Jesus!!!!!  I am more healed of the things I had been holding on to for years.  I realized one day that I was so tired of hanging on to hurts.  I was at home group two months ago and had a couple of men (Mike Clark and Garyl Lively) who I respect and love along with Whit pray for me about the unforgiveness I was holding on to and Mike asked me if it was worth the cost.  I said NO!  Jesus broke some stuff off of me that very night.  I have not been the same since—in a more excellent way.  See, unforgiveness, hurt and bitterness from unmet expectations will eat you up.  I never really hear folks talk about unforgiveness,  preach on it or even admit they deal with unforgivness.  They walk around wanting some move of God or some great revelation, but they want to deal with their junk.   I didn’t want to deal with my junk either because it was so apart of me.  Sin can be so apart of our DNA that Satan has us deceived into thinking we are ok.  Jesus likes real. 

Jesus is attracted to real.  HE is attracted to brokenness…where we realize that we NEED HIM because we are so very broken.  I heard Shelly Tomlinson say this at an event I was apart of at First Baptist Olla…and this is paraphrased, but it was something like this,  “The problem lies when we don’t recognize we are broken.” I was like, wow…when we are blinded by the enemy and don’t see our brokenness---that is the problem.  We can’t be free and whole and healed.  Jesus wants us aware of our constant brokenness and NEED for HIM, but at the same time HE DOES NOT WANT US TO WALK AROUND IN A CONSTANT STATE OF BROKENNESS…. There is a big difference.  HE wants us free from fear, unforgiveness, bitterness and jealousy and the list goes on.  He wants us walking in victory and NOT bound by sin. 

Jesus wants us healed and whole so HE can use us.  He wants us to let things go.  So, get before Him and be honest and just tell HIM how you feel.  HE loves that.  HE LOVES US!!!  He loves us even though we are imperfect human beings…HE still loves us and what is even more amazing is HE STILL USES US!!!!  For HIS Glory!  So, I will be writing more this next year.  I DESIRE to write a book this year…It is what the LORD wants me to do.  I may not be an expert writer or a great orator or a great whatever, but I will give HIM what I have and HE chooses to use it for HIM.  It is funny how ego driven and self-driven we are in this world…it makes me tired.  My prayer is that JESUS will use me and it will be for HIS glory.  The rest is fluff.  I just need to make sure my heart and motives are right…you can study the scriptures and know all about the Greek and Hebrew language, but if you can’t be real with Jesus…it is all in vain.  Until next time…

Love yall!!!

Michelle

BLOG #27

I WILL NOT CEASE TO SPEAK OF HIS WONDROUS WORKS

My heart has been heavy lately and I am realizing more and more that my HOPE is in Christ.  Period.  A few months ago someone that has a child with autism posted an article basically talking about “giving up hope that their child would change or be healed.”  It so grieved me that it has continued to bother me today.   I’m not sure why God heals some and not others and that is something that I will ask Jesus, because I am NOT GOD.  I think it bothered me, because I immediately thought, “Wow, God healed Hannah, but am I supposed to be sad that He did because maybe that has not happened to someone else’s child?”  Should I not talk about it because it makes them feel even more hopeless?  Do they really even want to know?  Does it make them feel bad?  Have I projected a false sense of hope for others because of what God has done in my child?  I guess I began to think maybe I didn’t need to say anything for fear of offending someone, but I am being reminded EVERY DAY that my hope is in Christ and what God has done is part of OUR story…God doesn’t want me to be quiet about it.

Let me give you a little picture of when I felt like there was no hope…There was a time that I was so angry that things did not turn out the way I had…hoped…that I really felt one option to bring peace into my home was send Hannah off to a mental institution or anywhere that Hannah didn’t have to be with me.  The strife and lack of peace in our home was overwhelming… Couple that with depression, not really knowing how to parent her, having another child and arguing and fighting in our home on a constant basis; well, that will make you feel pretty hopeless.  It almost destroyed my marriage—the stress of having a child with a disability was sometimes more than I could handle.  I didn’t really have a good support system at the time either.    It…was…the….WORST… and I have cried MANY a tear, but God intervened and extended HIS hand of hope and rescued my family.  My family has been through hell at times, but my hope is in Christ…not in changing my kids or my circumstances, but in Christ.  Our story of rescue is part of the hope inside me.  It is part of our story and journey of healing.  So, for that reason I will share it and point people to Christ through it.  I can’t remain silent…

Christ is our source and the perfecter of our faith.  He is there and present in our lives even in the most difficult of circumstances.  Do I have the answers for everything?  No.  I don’t understand a lot of scripture and why things happen and why God does what HE does, but I have to boast about what Christ has done and extend HOPE IN HIM to others.  Goodness, we will doubt, we will fear, we will struggle with fear, WE WILL FEEL HOPELESS, BUT JESUS CAN GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE IN HIM.  He has risen and that same power that raised him from the dead lives in you if you are a believer.  Does our hope in HIM do away with our pain and troubles that may come our way?  No…but it helps keep our focus on HIM. 

I encourage you today to realize that this road and journey you are on is making you more like Christ.  Is it painful and do you feel hopeless at times? I do, but I have been reminded a lot to keep my eyes on Christ.  Turn your eyes to HIM and keep your focus on HIM.  Be reminded today that your hope is in Christ alone.  Not a diagnosis.  Not people.  Not your job.  Not friends.  Not in anything that will pass away, but in Christ.   Tell your story. 

Revelation 12:11 says this, “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (NIV)  We overcome Satan and his wiles by being victorious and declaring and testifying what Christ has done and what He has rescued us from. 

In Christ,

Michelle

BLOG 26         A POST FATHERS DAY......      JUNE 20, 2017

REMINDER

I have been a father now for 17 years myself.  I have two daughters.  Hannah who turned 17 in March and Aaron Sophia who turned 9 in May.  Dads, if you are like me and many other dads you probably feel that twinge of guilt when you think of your children.  That guilt that comes when you think of whether you have spent enough time with your child.  Did I teach them enough?   Did I show more attention to one child over the other?  I often feel this way about my youngest daughter Aaron Sophia.  Hannah and I spend more time together at this point because she and I minister together often.  So, I've made a conscious effort to spend 10-15 minutes at bedtime each night with Aaron Sophia.  She has an Action Adventure Bible that we read together each night and I've also gotten her hooked on the bedtime prayer by John Eldredge.  These prayers are comforting to her.  They can be found on www.ransomedheart.com but I've loaded them on the app for my smart phone - Ransomed Heart.  Six of these prayers are audio which helps most of us men.  We feel so inadequate and ill equipped to give our children what they really need. 

I recently watched an elderly father speak a blessing over his adult daughter at the Piccadilly.  There were about 7 men at the table and one adult daughter.  Each man spoke a word of blessing and encouragement to this adult daughter.  When it came time for the Father of the adult daughter who had joined us for lunch he struggled  to say a word of blessing.  We encouraged him to just open his mouth.  When he did he said about 30 seconds worth of encouragement but the adult daughter was moved to tears because what she cherished most was that her Father spoke the blessing.  Men, let's step out in FAITH.  I believe that we have a power within us to bless our children immensely.  

GIFT

I received a phone call from Michael Stephens on Saturday evening of 6-17-17 but I was ministering at Arden Chapman's home and couldn't receive Michael's call.  I called Michael back on Sunday the next day to find out what he needed.  Michael said, "Whit, I wanted to share a testimony with you that will encourage you."  Michael proceeded to share with me what happened.  His wife Rebecca and Hannah were at the mall Friday night at the same time in the same store.  I had taken Hannah and Aaron Sophia with another friend of mine and his daughter.  While Hannah and her friend were shopping at a boutique for women they ran into Michael's wife Rebecca at the same store.  As Hannah was leaving the store the employee at this particular store asked Rebecca if she knew that girl - referring to Hannah.  Rebecca said yes, she knew Hannah.  The employee proceeded to tell Rebecca that Hannah had prayed with her about a year ago.  She said Hannah asked her if she could pray for her and the employee agreed to receive Hannah's prayer.  The employee at the time of Hannah's prayer had suffered multiple miscarriages and was currently pregnant having difficulties with her pregnancy. Hannah was able to pray for the employee whose name is Ginger.  Ginger was able to have her baby and had no more complications with her pregnancy from the point that Hannah prayed for her.  

This is the testimony that the employee shared with Rebecca that Michael Stephens shared with me today on Father’s Day!!! What a great gift.  Here is the question to pose for each of us.  How many people are waiting to be prayed for?  How many prayers are waiting to be answered?  Are we willing and ready to be "KINGDOM" and the literal answer to someone's need and prayer by offering ourselves as we go out each day from our homes.  WE ARE ON MISSION EACH TIME WE LEAVE OUR HOME.  MISSION TRIPS ARE GREAT AND NEEDED.  HOWEVER, IF IT TAKES A MISSION TRIP TO GET US TO PRAY FOR OTHERS AND WHEN WE RETURN HOME AND PUT OUR MISSION MODE ASIDE WE ARE MISSING OPPORTUNITIES LIKE THIS ONE SHARED BY A LOCAL EMPLOYEE THAT WAS TOUCHED AND WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.  LET'S BE KINGDOM.  LETS BE THE CHURCH.  

Happy Post Father's Day!!!

Whit

BLOG 25   NICARAGUAN MISSION TRIP REPORT    JUNE 9, 2017

MONDAY - We went to a private school on Monday evening. Hannah led worship and Erica McNease shared her testimony.  Our first outing was a tough crowd since we saw no visible response.  We know and believe that seeds were planted.  Erica is a dear and eternal friend of ours that we shared about in one of our stories recently entitled, "From the Prison Cell to the Mission Field."

TUESDAY our team went out first thing that morning to serve by taking baby gift packs to the hospital in Ocotal Nicaragua. Hannah, Erica and Jackie were able to hand many packs to many of the young mothers there. Rayland, Hannah, Jackie, Erica and I were also able to pray for one of the ladies who had cancer for healing. 

Later that same day our team visited a transition home for ladies with newborn babies. We ministered to a lady who was a dwarf who did not know Christ. Rayland began to share the gospel with this lady. Our interpreter Heidel took an espanol Gideon's Bible and continued sharing the gospel with this lady. She decided to trust in Jesus as her Savior. This was a powerful moment as it was our first convert.  We were also able to pray that her baby be dedicated to the service of the Lord. 

Then on the same day our team had the opportunity to sing and share a brief testimony about what Celebrate Recovery is all about as well as Jackie Wood sharing her testimony to be recorded for a local sports channel that was broadcasted out to reach 60,000 potential viewers. Hannah was able to lead five different songs during this recording and the sports caster recording us made a comment after he heard someone say the guitar sounded really good – he said "it's the person playing the guitar that makes the guitar sound really good".  Rayland also gave a summary about Celebrate Recovery - Jackie shared her story of encounter with the Lord from hopelessness to hope in Jesus.  We are hopeful that this msg was received by many.

WEDNESDAY morning (which I later discovered was the day of Pentecost on the Hebraic Calendar by Susan Jones) our team went to go and eat breakfast - Hannah looked at me across the table while we were eating and said "I feel pain in my neck"  and she pointed to the side of her neck.  I told her to just wait until we finished eating breakfast and then we would look into it. I went and spoke to Heidal the interpreter and I asked him if he would go and ask any of the workers that worked at the restaurant if anyone had pain in their neck. He agreed to do this. He went and spoke to the different workers and two of the ladies the owner and her sister have been having pain in their neck. The lady who owned the restaurant said that her neck had been hurting her for about 1 year now.  This step of faith allowed our team to demonstrate to the KINGDOM of GOD here on earth as in Heaven to these local missionaries.  We checked back with the restaurant owner the next day or so and she said that while she was preparing a chicken to cook that she felt all the pain leave her neck.  

OUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT ON WEDNESDAY:  Luz and Saida both received Christ today as Savior. We visited the Program of Hope and Life home for High Risk Teens where violence and potential sexual abuse has been taking place.  Luz (means Light) is a 13-year-old teenage girl.  Today as we arrived all the other students had been called out to court. So there was only one child teen here -  luz. It was obvious that the Lord wanted it this way. We were able to share the love of Christ with her. Hannah shared how she had gone through difficult times in her own life. Then Hannah sang two songs to her along with our group. Luz was moved with compassion.  She surrendered her life today to receive Christ. After she received Christ I asked if I could walk over and lay hands on her. Our whole team surrounded her as we proclaimed and declared the freedom that Jesus brings through his blood, his resurrection power and his name. I canceled curses adn assignments over her life as well as any generational bloodline curses.  We prayed for Luz to be clothed and endued with POWER from on High - Luke 24:49.  Before our team arrived Seida and the other worker had prayed for Luz. Seida said she was moved with a burning in her heart yet an emptiness all at the same time. Little did we know that the Holy Spirit would move on Seida's heart that she needed to receive Jesus Christ also as her Savior. Our team leader Terry Parks was moved with tears when he looked to the Volunteer Adult and asked if she fully knew Jesus as her Savior. With tears Seida responded that she needed Jesus and we all were able to pray for her and lead her to Christ.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT CHURCH SERVICE we implemented a Celebrate Recovery Program: 

Earlier in the service the children were gathered in the back of the church where the entrance of the church is located. They were getting louder and louder as the service went on probably for 30 minutes - it was very loud and disruptive.  The Pastor stood up from the front row of the church and walked to the back of the church to try and get the children to quiet down and they did momentarily but then they got loud again and the pastor eventually walked back into church and sat down midway into the sanctuary against the wall. I felt led to pray a prayer that the Lord send Angels to quieten the children. The results were immediate. The children got quiet and still within seconds of that prayer. Jackie was able to share her testimony with no distractions. Even when people who were passing on the outside of the church that were loud would quieten down - I prayed and ask the Lord to quieten the people and they would get quiet immediately.  This truly AMAZED me how the Lord gave us this type AUTHORITY over all distractions this night. 

As the testimony would close we had an Altar time.  At the beginning of the altar time, I felt led to go and pray for the pastor of the church while he was standing to receive his congregation. I felt like I needed to pray for him to be clothed and endued with power in order to be able to equip his people for the Celebrate Recovery Program. As soon as I prayed for him it was as if a dam broke.  We then prayed for a man who needed healing from acid reflux and whose son had a drug addiction.  Then another lady prayed to receive Christ as Savior - So after praying and receiving Christ, Rayland Trisler called me back to where she was located to pray for her to be healed in her back from pain and also from knee pain. We prayed and God immediately took away her pain.  We also prayed for what looked to be a teenage girls mother who suffered from dizziness and other health problems. We prayed with a teen for her mother who suffers from dizziness and arthritic pain and the teen was moved to tears.  We then prayed with three young girls all appearing to be preteen. All three girls prayed to receive Christ led by Heidel our interpreter. One of the girls was moved to tears because she was concerned about her mother who is sick with arthritis and other health problems. So we prayed for the Lord to touch her mother and heal her as well but the mother was not present.   The Spirit of the Lord was powerfully moving throughout the church this night. We felt led to leave one of our guitars with the local pastor. He was very very encouraged and excited to receive the guitar.  I later discovered by Susan Jones that this day - Tuesday Night - Wednesday Night was Pentecost - A day where we saw these 6 salvations, Authority to see immediate shift in the atmosphere - one from Disruption and Unrest - to Peace, Healings and Salvation.

On THURSDAY morning we visited another school. Hannah was asked to share her testimony. We ministered to the children that were at a higher risk. We had a large classroom full of students. Hannah led worship. She then began to share her story. The kids were somewhat resistant at first. Then they began to soften up as the testimony continued and then I finished up the testimony of Hannah's story of freedom and deliverance. I shared some of the specific details of the demonic leaving Hannah when I prayed prayers of freedom for Hannah.  The students and adults were visibly moved.  I called for any who wanted to follow Jesus to stand.  No one stood. It appeared that no one would respond. 

The principal then brought in one of their students with two other singers that sang and played guitar to show our group that the Nicaraguan people could sing and play as well.   Before we left I felt led to pray for the principal and all of the teachers. The Principal called all the teachers forward for prayer as our team surrounded them. This opened up the door for the Lord to move in with Power. Some were moved to tears. This opened the door for students to receive prayer at this point from our Mission Team. The teachers began bringing groups of students up for prayer. We prayed for about 30 students that were in groups of 8 to 10 at a time. Hannah spoke words over one entire group saying she saw each one doing a specific thing - dancers, missionaries, etc. 

We went back to the Teen home that we visited yesterday where Luz was located. Today all the youth were there back from court. There was a very hard shell around the hearts of the young men - It was difficult to get them to open up and receive. Hannah led worship and shared her testimony. Before Hannah began to share her testimony Rayland walked over and we allowed a girl who is deaf and mute to touch the guitar while Hannah was singing and playing guitar. The girl commented through sign language that she could feel God's presence and could hear some while Hannah was playing the guitar. We prayed for the Lord to touch her ears and heal her speech. We asked her if she could hear any better at all and she said "piquito" which means a little bit. We continued to pray and we will continue to pray for God to fully heal her ears and speech. Hannah gave a word to one of the young men who visibly seemed to be the most resistant. Her word to him was that he would be used by God to pray for others on the streets that God had big plans for him.

THURSDAY NIGHT we visited another church in order to implement the celebrate recovery program. The church was filled with children and a few women and men. It appeared that the night would be harder than what we expected.  After Hannah led worship - Rayland gave an overview of the CR Program. Erica Shared her testimony - then we opened up the altar. No one came forward in the beginning. I asked the Pastor if there was anyone who needed prayer in his congregation and he took me to a man who was addicted to crack cocaine in the very back of the church. We spoke with him and led him to Christ and we also led him through some prayers to renounce a spirit bondage and the specific bondage of crack cocaine.  This man's wife was not a Christian - I had visited with her before speaking to her husband and she said that she was not yet ready to receive Christ as her Savior yet.   I had spoken to her before I spoke to him about accepting Jesus Christ and while I was leading her husband to Christ, there was a lady who began to confess her sins at the front of the church. I heard her cry out to the Lord loudly.    She was so overcome and overwhelmed by God's presence that she fell out according to Rayland Trisler.  Later after the lady fell out I heard my name called out by Rayland to come pray for a little girl who was deaf and mute.  We gathered around the young girl and prayed for her but did not see the healing for her in that moment.

On Friday Morning we gave the other guitar made available by Curt Eberts and some of our other Men of Covenant Life Fellowship to the church where the missionaries attend. They each know how to play te guitar.

BLOG 24         THE POWER OF STILL         May 25, 2017

Being still is such a foreign concept because of the society in which we live.   WE are so busy trying to fill our lives with worthless things that in the end have no eternal bearing on our lives, but somehow make us feel good for only a moment.   We scurry around with no real purpose and no real connection with God himself; yet, we want to see revival.   WE are bombarded with instant results and constant media drowning out the voice of the Lord that “being still” before the Lord is something that we honestly have to fight for everyday.  Satan hates when we are still.  He hates it because He knows that when we are still and contemplating scripture and trying to focus on HIM that the Lord will show up and speak truth that will change our lives…but you and I must get still and drown out the voices that steal our time and energy that should be focused on Christ in order to hear HIM.

Whit and I were studying a course together called “Deepen Your Prayer Life” by Monty Peregrine.  This is a course offered for the XMA – CR trip to Nicaragua that he and Hannah will leave for on Saturday May 27. As I was listening to Whit read and focus on what He was saying there was a point where we stopped to just try and listen for the voice of the Lord.  It is hard to sit still.  It is hard to refocus my thoughts when I begin to think about all the things I need to do, or things that bother me or things that constantly distract me.  Some things good… Some things worthless…  I write this not because I have it all together, but because it is a very real struggle for me.  We must be still to hear God speak into our lives what we need to hear in order to be effective this side of Heaven.  The Father is more than willing to speak truth.  He wants that time with us and even though I know this to be true—I still have to take a moment to spend time with Christ just like everybody else and sometimes I don’t do it.   It is in the stillness He speaks and moves.  WE find freedom in these moments and HE is gracious to extend HIS presence to us. 

So, back to Whit and I sitting still and trying to focus on hearing God speak.   Instantly I heard this:  “You can’t base what I am doing on how you feel, Michelle.  I am doing things regardless of how you feel and how you perceive things.  I am moving.”  See, we are distracted and full of things that steal our time and are so moved by our circumstances, which can have an effect on how we feel.  Feelings will change in an instant.  A friend of mine was telling me that a study was done on how in 30 seconds our feelings can change.  We as humans forget that there is a supernatural world that we cannot see, but can certainly affect us.  Circumstances are only that which we can see right in front of us.  We have to keep our eyes focused on Christ and not allow our selves to be sucked into all the distractions the world is full of and not be moved by our feelings. 

Before this the Lord was really convicting me about the amount of time I spent on Social Media.  I was trying to think of a date to quit and I knew the Lord was saying quit now, so I did.  I have been on FB briefly, but I felt like it was stealing my time, so I got off.  I think we can all agree that social media is a distraction and a time stealer and we have to guard our time so that it is not wasted on worthless things…In Psalm 119: 37 it states, “ Turn my eyes from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.” (NIV)  When we are consumed with “worthless things” they can bring ruin to our lives rather than preservation.  The word “worthless” or “vanity” in other translations means this—evil, morally, idolatry, uselessness, false, vain, lying…vanity.  The Lord and the word of God “preserve” us or help us remain alive, live prosperously, be restored to life or health.  We cannot be moved by what we see around us or how we feel.  The Father wants us to keep our eyes FIXED on him and not on things that will bring us ruin, but that which will bring us life.  There is so much that Christ wants to say to us…if only you and I would just be still. 

REFLECT – BE STILL – SILENCE – READ SCRIPTURE SLOWLY – MEDITATE – CONTEMPLATE – LISTEN – OBEY - RESPOND

Love Ya'll,

Michelle

BLOG #23"THANKFULNESS THIS MOTHER'S DAY" MAY 10, 2017

The reason I usually write about Hannah is because it is through her dramatic change that God birthed our ministry.  My husband and I took a leap of faith and God has been faithful to us.  I was reminded recently of something specific about Hannah’s story I wanted to share, especially with Mother’s Day coming up in a few days. 

About a week ago, Hannah had the privilege to sing and play with the amazing band ODE pronounced ODAY.  They met Hannah at an event in Jonesboro a month ago and just connected with her.  Such a talented group of people that love the Lord and were gracious to ask her to join them for the BILL BRITT CRUSADE.  So, we are under the persuasion when an opportunity arises we generally say, “Yes Lord”!  So off we went to Winnfield, Louisiana with about 700 other folks that showed up in the storm!  Hannah sang three songs as a Pre-service set before worship and then performed with the band for their worship set.  Hannah sang a song vocally on her own during worship while ODE accompanied her…it truly was beautiful.  I don’t get the chance to see her play with a band on stage a lot, but I am always amazed at how she has grown and where she has come from and just how good she is.  How precious she is, because there was a time in her life that it was not like this. 

The Lord wants us to always remember where we came from and to be thankful for what HE has done, which reminded me after my precious friend Amanda Reed said about Hannah, “I love not only how He has healed her, changed her, but how He literally decided to give her a voice and a heart to worship Him.”  This comment reminded me of how there was a time she never sang a song or played an instrument.  If someone would have said four years ago that your child will be praying for folks, be asked to minister and sing and that she will be play the guitar, I would have laughed.  See, four years ago Hannah had never sang.  She had never played the guitar or piano.  GOD SUPERNATURALLY set her free and healed her. Then God literally dropped a gift in her lap to worship HIM and bring others closer to Him.  I probably have mentioned how when Whit told me one day that she could sing…I literally laughed out loud and said whatever.  Then I heard her sing…and I really was shocked.  The father gave her a voice and a heart to worship Him and to encourage others to do the same. 

This really isn’t about Hannah’s singing and playing an instrument, but more about How the Lord rescued my family.  As I watched her sing, I was a little shocked.  I am always amazed when I see that and I don’t know why, but I am quickly reminded at where our family could have been HAD THE SWEET INTERVENTION OF CHRIST NOT TAKEN PLACE.  Oh gosh…it brings me to tears being reminded of how things were before Jesus intervened.  Christ rescued my entire family.  So when people see her sing, there is a vital part of the story that folks don’t hear.  Seeing her sing and play is a miracle in and of itself.  People don’t know the whole story that we will share in its entirety when the time is right.  When God does something it is for HIS glory and to bring others to HIM.  God doesn’t move in our lives to keep it all to ourselves!!!  The Father moves in our lives to bring GLORY to HIM and so we have no choice but to boast in HIM.   

 As a mom, I sometimes focus on the negative, so it only takes a moment for me to think back and be reminded of God’s goodness and for that goodness I am truly thankful.  Thankfulness is something that should automatically be part of us. Thankfulness is such a beautiful thing to the Lord…we should never forget what HE has done in our lives, how He continues to be faithful, how HE IS OUR HOPE and we can lift our heads up to him and be thankful.  Be thankful today.  Be reminded of All HE has done today! 

To all of the mother’s out there…don’t be too hard on yourself.  Allow the Lord to remind you of what He has done in and through you and praise Him when HE reminds you of how HE rescued your own child or family.  If you are a mom that is still praying…don’t quit.  We serve a God that still rescues! 

Love Ya'll,

Michelle

BLOG #22              ARE YOU FAT?                    March 28, 2017

I like to think that living a life of obedience is simple and easy, but it is not.  If it were easy, Saul in 1 Samuel 15 would have done what he was told to do.  He didn’t.  He flat out didn’t.  What’s my point?  Every day we walk around ignoring the voice of God and what He is telling us to do.  What HE is telling me to do.  God is very simple and we as people tend to complicate things.  We justify why we do what we do…even if it’s not what God really even cares about.  See, if you read 1 Samuel, Israel wanted a king.  They were miserable and unhappy and saw all the other countries with kings and they had to have one.  So…God gave them one.  He gave them Saul, but Saul would not do what the Lord said.  He was disobedient. 

I used to hear growing up that “obedience is better than sacrifice” without any one really explaining that to me.  See, we walk around thinking that our “best” that we think is best is what God cares about.  He doesn’t care about your best…He wants us all to live a life of obedience everyday.  Somehow we have resolved that going to church, sitting in the pew, listening to all that amazing worship music, and hearing endless sermons on how to live our life as “obedience”.   Doing all the stuff that keeps us busy without ever tuning in to the voice of the Lord and really hearing what HE is calling us to do. 

See, church attendance has done a great job teaching us how to live without demonstrating how to live a Godly and obedient life.  We go and sit and get spiritually FAT until we are so big we can’t even get around.  God wants us to be the church and to demonstrate HIS power.  To be an extension of hope to people that we come in contact with in the store, the bank, to the mall…wherever.  I mean, we can’t sit and ignore the quiet whispers of the LORD every day and think that we are living a life of obedience.  HE does not care how many conferences you attend, how many Beth Moore studies you do, how many times you go to church, how may times you greet people, how many times you serve food to the poor…HE cares about you and I living a life of obedience.   It is that simple, but Saul didn’t get it.   I want you to really read 1Samuel 15…the whole story is there.  God asks him to kill all the Amalekites.  He kills everything, but keeps the best.  He keeps what HE deems as best…the king, the best cattle, sheep and cattle.  Samuel is angry and tells Saul that God is sad he even made him king and that obedience is better than sacrifice. 

 In verses 10-16:  “Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following ME and has not carried out MY instructions.  So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night.  Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself.  Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.” When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the Lord bless you.  I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.  Samuel replied, “Then what is the sound of sheep and cattle I hear?”  Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we destroyed.”  “Stop!” exclaimed Samuel.  “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”….  It goes on to say in verse 22-23:   “Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the Lord?  Look, to obey is better than sacrifice; to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king. 

 See, our best is nothing if we can’t do the simple things the LORD asks of us.  WE are truly amiss if we go about our day doing what we want without ever considering what it is God wants us to do that requires us listening and being sensitive to HIS voice and acting on what HE says.   I write about this because for me, it’s challenging.  This life of OBEDIENCE is about us getting out of our comfort zone and being the hands and feet of Jesus when it doesn’t fit in our already filled schedule.  WE are too BUSY and we are FAT with too much information, but we just sit on it.  Doing nothing with it.  My husband has a phrase he likes to use spiritually:  PONTIFICATION without DEMONSTRATION leads to CONSTIPATION.  However, INTIMACY with Christ produces OBEDIENCE and out of obedience we are able to extend HOPE to others.

Love Yall,

Michelle

BLOG #21   I Am Not Less Than                  March 15, 2017

I have to be honest, I had no idea my latest blog would have struck such a cord with people, but it did.  I have had people text me privately and tell me they had no idea what we had been through or maybe I missed my calling in writing.  I guess writing for me is a release for me in a way.  I feel that sometimes in the past and even now that I have to be really careful with what I say and I have a tendency to over analyze everything…and I mean everything, so writing and then forgetting about it, works for me.  I really made a decision for 2017 to take better care of my body and my mind…at least, be more intentional about things. 

There are so many great writers that I can not compete with them…but this is what I have done in the past…I will see something that some famous minister or writer has done and then immediately have a thought, “see, your work is just not as good or you don’t have the resources to get your story out or this is a big one… nobody will read your stuff.”    I know this thought likely comes from Satan.  We know Satan is a liar.  He puts thoughts in our heads.  Well, maybe not yours, but mine he does.  IT is a constant battle.  I have realized that I have dreamed too little.  I have allowed fear to dictate what I can and cannot do.  I have thought too little of myself and haven’t done things because of various reasons.  So, I have chosen to write because I feel like God has something for me to say and regardless if anyone reads it, that He wants me to write and my husband is a great editor!  LOL! It is only recently that I am realizing that God really has got something really special that only I can do. 

When my father first went in the hospital last fall, I made him tell me the story about how I got my name.  He told it to me all my life, but I knew for some reason I needed to get it…not knowing eight weeks later HE would be with the LORD.  Now, you may not believe this or not, but I am 43 years old (I know I don’t look it J) and when I was born they did not have ultrasounds to tell you what the gender was, but when my mom was pregnant my dad just knew he was going to have a boy.  It is funny how God has HIS own plans…anyway, my dad was working for a relative and was in the building alone and he heard an audible voice tell him that he was going to have a girl and her name would be Michelle.  My dad said he looked around to see if anyone was there and no one was there.  I can’t tell you how many times my dad told me this story, but I heard it all my life and he was so proud to tell it.  Sometimes I would be like yeah dad…lol, but here I am and my name is Michelle.

 It has only been recently that one of my best friends who challenges me spiritually, Mei, said to me one day in her Vietnamese voice, “Wow Michelle…God must have something really special for you for HIM to speak to your dad like that.”  It dawned on me for the first time that God speaking to my dad about my name was a big deal.  IT has only been since my dad’s death that I realize how much time Satan has stolen from me as far as time and a vision for the future and dreams.  All my life I have felt as though I didn’t quite measure up with other people.  I wasn’t quite good enough.  My dreams were silly because people would not be interested in what I had to say.  I didn’t go to law school because I didn’t think I was smart enough even though I have a MA in history.  I stay home and my life doesn’t matter…these are all things I have dealt with all my life at one time or another or like I mentioned earlier people won’t read my stuff because its not good enough.  All of it is such a lie.

Satan wants to keep us silent.  He wants to paralyze us with fear so that we do nothing for the kingdom of God.  Or lie and tell us things like, “You are not rich enough to have backing to do anything of substance.  No one will read your stuff because it isn’t as good as so and so…so we sit there and do nothing.  Regardless the enemy wants to get us to a place where are efforts are minimal.  I want to make a difference.  I want to tell our personal story.  I want to dream big and see God do the impossible.  I don’t want to get twenty years down the road and have done nothing…regardless of my economic background.  God owns it all.  He can do whatever and use us if we are willing.  I want my kids to be passionate about the Lord and seek him wholeheartedly and our family just wants to be obedient. 

All our sacrifices will not matter to the LORD if we aren’t obedient.  Even in 1 Samuel the prophet tells that to King Saul because He did not obey the lord… The Lord had instructed King Saul not to bring anything back from the Amalekites after the war, yet Saul brought the fatted lambs to offer as a sacrifice for the Lord to Samuel.  This was one of the ways in which Saul failed the Lord.  Here is how Aaron Sophia’s Action Bible recorded the instance in 1 Samuel 15:  Samuel instructs Saul to destroy the evil Amalekites an enemy of Israel forever.  DO NOT BRING ANYTHING BACK.  THIS IS NOT A BATTLE TO GATHER RICHES.  Saul DISOBEYS.  He brings the best of the sheep and oxen back with him.  Saul tells Samuel that he would bring the best animals to SACRIFICE to God.  Samuel tells SAUL that obedience is better than sacrifice.  Samuel states… “This is the second time you have disobeyed the Lord.  This time The Lord will reject you."  Samuel never returns to visit Saul again. 

The scriptures even end up stating how the LORD regretted making Saul king. Verse 22-23 says this:  “Then Samuel said:  Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the Lord?  Look:  to obey is better than sacrifice; to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you. I want to be obedient to what the Lord is calling me to do…even if I feel inadequate or I don’t have enough IG likes or people don’t say one word to me.  I need to know that what I am doing is pleasing to the LORD and HE is happy with me…because in the end that is what is going to matter.   Whatever we sacrifice is nothing if we can’t walk in obedience.

You might not have had a dad that the Lord spoke to about your name, and that doesn’t matter for you.  That is part of my story, but what you need to know is this:  Don’t let Satan himself steal anymore of your time or dreams.  Don’t compare your life or journey to anyone else.  Live in freedom and keep your eyes on Him.  Be obedient in the little things.  Just be obedient in what HE is calling you to do and don’t feel less than others for any reason. 

Love yall…

Michelle

BLOG #20   Rescued From The Pit

I wanted to blog tonight and talk about something that may help someone... for those of you who have been HURT to see how Christ can heal and move you forward in life and not remain in the PIT.  I have so many different emotions about things that Hannah was exposed to or that happened to her, but there is HEALING in sharing a small portion of our story.   Thankfully, I have seen the hand of God touch her and totally change her life…100%.  I see Hannah as someone that does not see herself as a VICTIM. 

When Hannah was about 8-10 years old another female introduced her to porn and sexually abused her…did things that are too painful for me to know about.  Whit knows.  She and Whit are very close and for that I am truly thankful.  When she got to 5th or 6th grade a boy did things to her that shouldn’t be done at school.  I wondered where the teachers were when it was going on…a Christian School at that.  Of course…she wasn’t a Christian and at the age of 11 she was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.  So…all those times during this timeframe Hannah took out her frustration on me…I had no idea that any of this had happened.  Nothing.  So, you can imagine how I felt when she told me these things about three years ago…I still don’t know everything, but there are times I see her pain with things that Satan himself torments her with and I am moved with compassion and want to see the enemy defeated, but I also see the seriousness of this walk we are on….

See, we know for a fact that Satan wanted her to commit SUICIDE… to have an ABORTION… to be committed to a MENTAL FACILITY… he told us these things.  Through Hannah… Satan spoke it and told us in a manifested way when these events were to happen in her life as if it were all mapped out to happen at designated times.  He wanted to KILL her and HE hates what God is doing in her life.  When she told me three years ago, I was ANGRY and felt so GUILTY.   God had already started the process of healing and delivering her, but I was so sad and angry as a mom because we didn’t protect her.  Our job as parents is to protect our children because we love them.   Whit and I tried to do everything right…or so we thought. 

As a parent you will not be able to protect your kids from everything…you can’t and I can’t.   Even when you are the most Godly parent and present parent…things happen out of your control.   Things happen that can destroy your life, your marriage and then in the midst of all the chaos and turmoil…Jesus shows up on your behalf and RESCUES your loved one or you or me…  That is exactly what HE did…He RESCUED Hannah.  Now we are at that place where we don’t care if people choose to believe OR not to believe in the SUPERNATURAL…but the supernatural EXISTS.  We were exposed to it first hand.  There is good and evil and both desire your loved ones…God himself desires you and your family…Satan himself desires that we die in a pit with despair…he wants you and I unable to be used for the Glory of God.  When God rescues you…and sets you free…you are a force for the KINGDOM OF GOD HERE ON EARTH. 

There are times that I am overwhelmed with life…with the future…with all the things the enemy would like to distract me with.  With what happened to Hannah…from early on trying to raise Hannah things were so difficult that there were times I wanted to leave and never come back again because I really felt hopeless…but the LORD in HIS KINDNESS and LOVE for my family RESCUED all of us.  If I think long and hard about what has happened to my child…from a boy threatening her and blackmailing her for several years because of pictures he had that she gave him willingly; to a woman calling her and telling her she was filthy and dirty  (yes…that really happened) because of what women gossiped about.  Yes…Christian women gossiped about her…I can get really angry…but then I look at my child and she says to me, “mom, you have to forgive them”…what does a parent say to that? I am the adult. 

I’m amazed as I write this…Jesus cleans us up.  He heals us.  JESUS.   Hannah doesn’t let what has happened to her keep her from moving forward…from keeping her eyes off the finish line.  See, those that have been forgiven much…and she is much more of a mature believer than I am.  She isn’t using that as an excuse.  I see her every day spend quality time with the LORD.  I am not bragging…I am just stating a fact.  It’s challenging for me…its convicting that I can’t sit here and say I give Christ what is due him everyday…but there are sacrifices that go with being so sold out to HIM.  Not everyone is walking this journey or understands her.  Even Jesus was misunderstood and the religious hated HIM.   

WE must not sacrifice Jesus for stuff or people or anything…I must not either.    We should not let our pasts define us…we should move forward with the LORD…with our eyes fixed on HIM.  FIXED.  We should not be distracted with what the enemy says to us or lies we believe that can torment us.   See the world may remind you of your past…but JESUS WON’T.  He wants you FREE.  He wants your eyes and affections on HIM.  Don’t let people define who you are.  Don’t let your past define who you are.  To the mom out there, don’t let GUILT define who you are or keep you from focusing on JESUS.  Jesus is here…He loves you and I.  IT is HIS desire you become free and live victoriously.  You don’t have to stay in the pit…Jesus is there to extend HIS hand to pull you out…even if indescribable things have happened to you.  He is with you…  NOW.

Love yall…

Michelle

Blog #19    My Valentines Day Thoughts...

Sometimes I feel like the things I write and say need a disclaimer.  Like “Please don’t feel bad today if you have been through a divorce or you are struggling today…Jesus wants to meet you where you are at and show you HIS LOVE”…This is my take on Valentine’s Day and since Whit and I will reach our 20 year anniversary this year these are my thoughts today.  Today is Valentine’s Day, so hopefully this will get posted before the day is over.  I always feel kind of bad that our family really doesn’t do a whole lot for this day…but today I am reminded of all the good things about LOVE.  One thing that I have noticed is how important Valentine’s Day is to Aaron-Sophia.  She wants to take her money and go get gifts today and I plan on taking her.  Whit and I and Hannah like to get candy 50% off the next day.  Lol.  I am not really a mushy person…so…here goes my version of love and mushiness. 

Whit and I will reach our 20 year anniversary this August.  I would say that is a huge accomplishment considering all we have been through.  I feel like at times that its such a long time, and most of the time I am saddened by how much time has gone by and how much time I have wasted energy on things that don’t really matter.  Love is more than Valentine’s Day.  I LOVE flowers…love them, but it takes a whole lot more than flowers and cards to keep a marriage together. 

There have been times that I have wanted to leave and give up, but LOVE is a commitment.  It’s a choice.  A choice to love even in the most difficult circumstances.  LOVE is cleaning up throw up.  IT is staying up late with sick kids or a sick spouse.  Love - loves someone when they are dealing with depression or dealing with a child that is on the Autism Spectrum.  Love is crying with each other and finding the good in your spouse.  LOVE is sticking it out.  LOVE is sacrifice.  IT isn’t selfish, although a lot of times I am selfish.  Love is sharing dreams and doing life together…even when you are tired and don’t have much left to give…I am reminded of how good a husband Whit is and how much he loves me and our two girls.  He works hard and spends MUCH time with our girls.  I can tell you right now we need more date nights…we do, but that is something we have to work on, but we can work on that together! 

  Success and favor isn’t based on materialistic stuff and how much you can accomplish on this side of Heaven.  I am reminded today that success it listening and hearing and acting on the voice of God.  Success is investing in your children and spouse and showing them what LOVE IS ALL ABOUT.  Love - loves in good times and bad…success is showing your kids and spouse the LOVE of Christ…even when you feel like you fail miserably.   

 I wish I could say that I show love all the time…because I do not.   I could sit here and tell you all the things that torment me and make me feel like a failure, but I am reminded today that Jesus is our greatest example of LOVE.  HE showed us how to love others and be an example of LOVE to our families and honestly, I don’t know about you; but I can’t LOVE without the help of Christ. 

Love is a choice and couples that pray every day are 98% more likely to last according to marriage expert Jimmy Evans.  If we don’t respond in love we just sound like a loud noise.   I have heard a gong and cymbals and they are both extremely annoying.   In 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 (NIV) it talks about what love is. 

“ IF I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.” 

            Wow…as I type this I am reminded it is because of Christ that I can love the way I need to everyday.  OH my!!!  My prayer today is that the LORD would help me love the way I am supposed to.  I think of all the times I could be more loving, more patient, more kind, less jealous, less angry, less proud, less boastful…I pray today that you will be reminded what true love is…enjoy the flowers, the cards and the candy!   Even though those are sweet and loving things to do for someone, it is the everyday actions toward your friends and family that shows what true love is.  None of us can LOVE without recognizing Christ’s love for us first.  We need HIM to show us how to love others.  Tell your kids, your spouse, your friends, your parents, and whoever else is special to you how much you love them and how much more Christ loves them today and everyday! 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Michelle

Church Is Not A Building by John Eldredge

Church is not a building. Church is not an event that takes place on Sundays. I know, it's how we think of it. "I go to First Baptist." "We are members of St. Luke's." "Is it time to go to church?" Much to our surprise, that is not how the Bible uses the term. Not at all. When the Scripture talks about church, it means community. The little fellowships of the heart that are outposts of the kingdom. A shared life. They worship together, eat together, pray for one another, go on quests together. They hang out together, in each other's homes. When Peter is sprung from prison, "he went to the house of Mary the mother of John…where many people had gathered and were praying" (Acts 12:12).

Anytime an army goes to war or an expedition takes to the field, it breaks down into little platoons and squads. And every chronicle of war or quest will tell you that the men and women who fought so bravely fought for each other. That's where the acts of heroism and sacrifice take place, because that's where the devotion is. You simply can't be devoted to a mass of people; devotion takes place in small units, just like a family.

We have stopped short of being an organization; we are an organism instead, a living and spontaneous association of individuals who know one another intimately, care for each other deeply, and feel a kind of respect for one another that makes rules and bylaws unnecessary. A group is the right size, I would guess, when each member can pray for every other member, individually and by name.

This is the wisdom of Brother Andrew, who smuggled Bibles into communist countries for decades. It's the model, frankly, of the church in nearly every country but the U.S. Now, I'm not suggesting you don't do whatever it is you do on Sunday mornings. I'm simply helping you accept reality—that whatever else you do, you must have a small fellowship to walk with you and fight with you and bandage your wounds. This is essential.

BLOG #18 TOO BUSY FOR JESUS?  JANUARY 16, 2017

As a mom I get tired and today has definitely been one of those days.  I have somehow gotten school done with my kids and clothes washed and most on my list checked off, but when I woke up I was irritated and stressed and felt that during the whole day I was walking in mud.  I’m not sure there was any real pressing reason for me to feel that way, but I did.  I was irritated with Whit.  Sometimes I am just irritated period, but I knew I needed to read HIS word.  Even if in the moment I didn’t feel like it…I needed to.  I NEED JESUS TO FUNCTION PROPERLY! 

 Things get in the way of relationship and time with Christ…being busy, scheduling being overbooked, kids going in different directions, events and anything that would steal our attention and time to keep us from spending time with HIM.  We ALL have something that will steal our time…wayward kids, divorce, difficult kids…the list goes on.  Honestly, we cannot be the wives and mothers and fathers and husbands that God wants us to be unless we open HIS word and read about HIM and spend time with him.   Everything on this earth will try to distract you and I from making time to be with our SAVIOR!  We can’t possibly be a people of FAITH and POWER if we don’t give HIM a place in our lives and I don’t mean just checking HIM off our list either.   The enemy does NOT want us to read HIS word or WORSHIP or FOCUS our attention on HIM at all. 

Believe it or not, spending time with HIM is not anything new and what I am saying isn’t anything profound; however, many of us—and let me emphasize ME--- skip reading his word or worshiping HIM or just sitting still to see if HE will speak to us.  The lies of the enemy and busyness of life crowds our minds and lives in such a way that we squeeze JESUS right out of our schedules.   We sometimes spend all of our time and energy on things that don’t matter.  Spending time reading HIS word may not make circumstances change, but it will shift our focus.  Our eyes should be fixed on HIM.  Sometimes we spend time doing great things and Godly things, but we can miss opportunities to simply sit at the feet of Jesus.  Since Jesus is OMNIPRESENT HE is right there.  Right there beside you and I…HE sits there and is desiring to talk with us and for us to tell HIM what is going on with us; What is bothering us and what is breaking our heart.  WE think that since we can’t see him, what affects us doesn’t bother him…but HE sees everything along with all the tears we shed.

  I remember a time with Hannah when we had first moved into a different home while we were serving at a different church.  Hannah was about 3 and I remember sitting in my bedroom by the window… Crying.  Broken.  Lonely.  Hurt… Asking God why He gave Hannah to us.  Christ was just as moved and present right there with me…even though I might not have felt it.  There were so many times when Hannah was little that I felt alone, angry, sad, depressed…I have felt it ALL, but Whit would always say Christ is making you more like him through Hannah.  I didn’t like that, but it was true.  In my moments of DESPAIR, or moments that I didn’t give HIM the time of day… HE was still working on me and loving me and moving in my life…Even now HE is working on me and loving me.  Even when I fall short of being the great wife and mom HE desires.  

He does the impossible!  He draws us to him and sits there waiting for us.  HE Waits for us to just give HIM the TIME OF DAY.  Now, I’m not talking about “working till Jesus comes back”…I am not talking about RELIGION…I’m talking RELATIONSHIP.  INTIMACY.  DEVOTION.  When we spend time with HIM, read HIS word…we are more sensitive to the Holy Spirit and are able to be that mom and wife or father and husband that God desires.  We are able to be a POWERFUL people of God for the KINGDOM.   WE can’t do it.  NO matter how hard we try…we can’t be all that Christ desires unless we spend time with HIM.

I was reminded of the following story in the Bible and I will end on this…but know, we can do good things…we can do great things…we can do Godly things, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the best thing…

“Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home “

She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word.

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”

But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;

but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42 NASB

I have always thought that this related to cleaning, but this has to do with ALL and EVERYTHING that would keep our focus off of CHRIST.  In the end, sitting at the feet of Jesus is the most important thing, and when we do that, our worries and fears and distractions fade away.  One thing is for sure! Jesus will NOT be taken from us. 

Love ya’ll!

Michelle

BLOG # 17 He Still Rescues “YEAR IN REVIEW 2016”     

January 1, 2017

It is hard to believe that we launched our own ministry a year ago…we had no idea what we were getting our selves into, but now that we have jumped off the cliff of faith…there is absolutely no turning back for the Bass family.   It has been, by far, the most exciting AND most fulfilling year of our lives; however, a great year does not come with out difficulties and we have seen those as well. 

            Over a year ago, we felt the Lord directing us to minister and step out in faith.  We went to a bootcamp in San Francisco for a few days and that really launched us out and I really felt like if we were going to do this, we needed to do this right.  Now, does that mean we know everything about starting a ministry?  NO.  Do we have everything right and exactly how we want it?  NEVER.  Have we arrived?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  None of us should ever get to a point where we stop growing and learning! 

            There is a lot that goes in to starting your own ministry.  You need to have people that love you and believe in what you are doing to come on board and constantly stay in touch and keep supporters abreast on what is going on.   It is a lot of work…and ministry never stops.  Whit and Hannah usually do a lot of ministry together.  So they are out a lot.  I am so proud of her.  She will go wherever God leads and He truly has blessed her and anointed her.  IT is all because of HIM for sure! 

            March was a month of moving in and out of our home due to flooding…thankfully no water got in our home, but it literally took me 6 months to get back to normal…I still have about ten sand bags at the back of the house that need to be put in the flower bed or somewhere!  We had some really special people help both my family and my mother and father as well.  IT was truly a blessing and for those folks…thank you doesn’t seem adequate.  WE truly saw the body of Christ work together…but I was glad when I was able to get back in my home and settled! 

            The summer was busy with trips out of the country and in the USA as well.  Hannah was able to go to a worship academy in Kansas City, Missouri for a week that was truly life changing.  It really helped her learn how to work with a band and other musicians.   We drove her up there one weekend and went back the next to pick her up…. about 2000+ miles.  That is such a long drive to me!!!!  IT was so worth it.  God continues to use her mightily.  Then there was Honduras and Peru…Whit and Hannah were super busy, but what great trips for a 16 year old and her dad!

            Like I mentioned earlier, a GREAT and FAITH-FILLED year sometimes is coupled with sadness and loss…my sweet dad got sick and within eight LONG weeks was home with the father.  That was the most difficult eight weeks, but the most amazing as well.  God did so many wonderful things during that time as well…meeting family that you didn’t know existed…feeling the prayers of many…Hannah singing with my dad in the hospital room and feeling the presence of the father right there…people showing up at the most important moments…I could go on and on.  So, even though 2016 brought pain and uncertainty…it brought another level of faith and trusting in the ONE who holds us in the palm of HIS hands. 

Our family cannot thank enough the people that have invested in us, believed in us, given to us…our faithful supporters and givers and prayer partners.  We are so very grateful.  You have allowed our family to minister in ways that we were not able to before and for believing in what God is doing in and through our family.  The doors that are already opening up for Hannah…well…we cannot wait to share in 2017!!!  We are excited to see what God does and how he changes us for the better this year.  So…I want to leave you with this…I had already posted it to FB, but felt it was necessary to share on our blog. 

My resolution for 2017 is not to set one, but to look back on 2016 and see what I can do differently. May I believe more and not doubt God's goodness or provisions. May I be prompted more by love and less by fear. May I seek to be closer to Christ...not by more head knowledge, but more by sitting and listening to hear HIS voice. May I be more kind to my family...and be more intentional with those relationships I hold very dear. May I worry less about other's opinion of me or my family and just seek to find the opinion of Christ and how HE views me more important than anything or anyone else. May I do what HE has called me to do even if I lack the confidence and trust that God is more than capable of perfecting in me that which is imperfect. May I speak more gracious and less harsh and may I always value more that which cannot be replaced with earthly possessions. May I be more grateful for what I have and where God has me and may I seek to sit at the feet of Jesus more and hear HIS heartbeat...the heartbeat that gives me life and breath every second of the day. May I choose to forgive...even when my flesh does not want to. May obedience far supersede the sacrifice and may I keep my eyes focused on HIM so much more than what I did in 2016 and finally, may I always remember more that Christ is right here with me and HE will NOT leave me. Ever. EVER...Michelle2016

May 2017 be a year of revival. May it be a year of us becoming more and more like Christ.  May we invest in the eternal.  May we pursue the dreams that are in us and not look to the left or right, but keep our eyes fixed on Christ.  Do what God has called you to do…regardless.  Don’t look at others and what they are doing or what they have and allow that determine the path God desires for you to take.  Look to Jesus himself…the one who owns it ALL.  The great provider…the great healer…may 2017 be one of MORE of HIM.   I can’t wait to see what Christ has in store for our family this year, in you and in our community!!!   

Love ya’ll!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Michelle

Blog #16   “Shackles and Chains”

October 2016

Oh what a Savior!  Isn’t HE wonderful!  We have much to be thankful for!  Sometimes it is hard to see HIS goodness because of the circumstances we are surrounded with, but I am here to encourage and say…He is good.  He is here and HE is present right now in your situation.  He desires freedom from bondage! 

I have had to make several trips to the hospital recently and one particular day I passed the courthouse in Monroe and saw several men.  Their orange suits caught my attention, but even more so, it was the chains and shackles around the hands and ankles that really stuck out.  In that moment--just a few seconds of driving by, it was like the LORD immediately spoke to my heart and said, “That is how people look every day.  Their hands and feet bound by sin and moral defeat that they are unable to do the work I have called them to do…they are bound spiritually and emotionally.”

I have thought about that a lot since I saw those men, and really felt like the Lord wanted me to say… there is hope and freedom in Christ.  WE as believers have got to get our personal lives in order.  Our time with HIM is what overflows in our daily lives.  WE can’t speak on things or expect God to move in our lives and be free, if we are not willing to give the Lord our time and have a relationship with him…that is all He wants…is us and our attention and our affections.    Luke 4:18 says, “ The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” KJV  

Before that scripture, Jesus had been in the wilderness for forty days and had gone back to Nazareth, walked into the synagogue on the Sabbath and read from Isaiah 61 in this Luke 4 passage.  If we are going to follow Christ and do what Jesus did…preach the gospel, heal the broken, preach freedom; then we ourselves must be free of the chains and shackles that keep us bound…spiritually and emotionally.  If we are bound by sin then how will be able to preach to those that are bound as well?  We can’t.  My family was invited by Gary Lively and Michael Clark to join them at a women’s prison in Tallulah earlier this week.  I had never done that, and really was not going to speak, but as Whit spoke and Hannah sang, I felt impressed by the Lord to really speak to the moms that were there.  Do you know that at least 75% of the women in that open-air facility were moms?  Moms like me.  Mom’s who made mistakes.  Mom’s who made bad choices.  Mom’s that have been tormented by fear and guilt because of the choices and mistakes they’ve made.  Mothers who were in a physical prison…some in physical, emotional and spiritual prison.  I don’t know what it is like to be in a physical prison, but I can relate to the torment of fear and guilt and other lies that the enemy bombards me with.  Christ wants us ALL free. 

The hope is…Christ is here.  Christ desires us to be free.  You may not be in the four walls of a physical prison, but you can be in an emotional or spiritual prison with no power—blinded and bound by sin.  I pray as you read this that you will be reminded that even though you may or may not be in a physical prison, but are bound by sin there is hope in Christ.  The power that raised HIM from the dead lives in you…lives in me and I have moral power to be victorious and not walk around defeated.  I think everyone who reads this can agree; Christians or “Christ-followers” are walking around defeated by whatever keeps them in chains!  Dr. Billy Graham stated that, according to his research, at least 90 percent of all Christians in America are living defeated lives… “The Coming Revival” – Bill Bright p192. 

I was really humbled to talk to those precious women in Tallulah.  I was moved with compassion.  I was there to help give hope to those women that were hopeless and tormented by guilt—especially those that were moms.  IT was wonderful…and to think I was NOT even going to share…but they needed to hear what I had to say.  God wants us to be free so that we can share freedom with others -- even those in the most unlikely places.  Go.  Seek freedom.  There is hope.  Jesus is that hope.  Allow your hands and feet to be free so that you may be the “hands and feet of Jesus.”

Much Love,

Michelle

Blog #15 Isaiah 55:3 “Hear, and your soul shall live” KJV

October 2016

I have probably mentioned this, but I love when the house is quiet and I have some worship music on…helps me focus and keeps my thoughts and mind toward Christ.  That is very hard for me, because when I have slowed down for the day or I have a moment of quiet, my mind begins to wander and the lies begin to flood my mind.  I think about all the things I want to do, the things I have worried about and the fears I have and then Satan and all his forces come against my mind.  I worry about Hannah, I worry about my little one, I worry about finances, I worry I am being left behind, I worry I am not good enough, I worry about not being valued because of this or that…and of course Satan says, you will not amount to this, your kids will not do this, you aren’t good enough… and when difficult circumstances arise, honestly my mind works overtime just to focus on the Lord.  The struggle is real…but God reminds me through a song or scripture or a timely phone call or text that HE is bigger than the struggle, and reminds me of who HE is and what HE is doing.

You know, I didn’t come from a broken home, nor did I suffer from unimaginable abuse, haven’t experimented with drugs, and sometimes I think what I deal with is really insignificant…However, pain from unfulfilled dreams, loneliness, people’s hurtful words, disappointment in “church” and painful experiences over the years with Hannah have been so painful for me that sometimes I want to leave or move or run away and never come back.  I tend to withdraw from folks, not open up and I have a trust issue with folks.  Sometimes life is like that…it makes us shut down, shut off, and turn inward.  Turning inward and not keeping our eyes focused on the ONE who owns it all is exactly what Satan wants. 

Christ, regardless of what is going on around us wants us to keep our eyes focused on HIM.  Our pain, un-forgiveness, bitterness, envy or whatever it is that torments us, keeps us in the ashes and God wants us to rise out of the ashes and stand.  I get this picture of those that are dead rising up with armor on and fighting against Satan himself.  We are at war with Satan and all his demonic forces and let me tell you he wants us distracted, defeated or dead.  Period.  Be a force for the kingdom.  Stay focused on the LORD and realize that faith is the opposite of fear or worry…. at some point we have to get to a point that we believe God is who He says He is.  Even when I question what is going on, HE still shows me how faithful HE is even when I doubt or complain.  IT seems a bit cliché to say, “Stay focused on the Lord”…but it is that simple.  When our thoughts and mind are fixed on HIM…we forget about the things that Satan torments us with.  Worry leaves.  Fear leaves.  God wants us to trust in HIM and He wants us to listen.  Listen for HIS voice.  Listen for the truth of what scripture says. Listen for that still small voice that reminds us that HE is victorious.  He fights our battles and the truth is… We must know HIS voice and recognize it over all the sounds that would distract us and lie to us. 

I hear a lot about intimacy with the father and proximity with Christ, and in order to overcome the lies of the enemy, we have to spend time with HIM and be still.   If we aren’t still, we will miss what HE is saying and HE is saying to all of us…. Listen so that you may live.  Listen to me… Listen to what the truth says so you will know when Satan comes against you, you will know immediately how to fight the lies that bombard you.  My prayer for all of us, and I am talking to me…is very simple -- We get close to the father, so we hear HIM, we feel HIS heartbeat and we are able to stand against the enemy…mentally and spiritually.  We can’t do that if we aren’t spending time with HIM.   

Much Love!

Michelle 

Blog #14 HE STILL RESCUES AUGUST 2016

For the past few months the Lord has really been dealing with me concerning un-forgiveness.  Like, it just keeps being brought up and I am forced to deal with the people or issues that have bothered me or continue to bother me.  It isn’t fun to dig deep and realize that you have an issue with not only that, but also questioning and making opinions about people’s motives that just might not be true because I have been hurt or am still hurting.  This is how one would define Judgment according to the book, “How To Stop The Pain” written by author Dr. James B. Richards. The Lord will bring it up and HE will bring the people across your path…it will not go away.  You know why?  Because He wants me totally healed up. He wants His children to be free of pain and hurt and bondage.  He wants me free.  Free to do amazing things for HIM…

The crazy thing about un-forgiveness, that I have had to just accept; is that as much as I want the person who hurt me or rejected me to suffer or be in pain as well, they usually aren’t suffering at all.  They usually don’t care or have any idea what I feel or am dealing with.  The truth is, they probably have no idea that you or I are even upset.  Can you believe that?  They just might not have any clue that anything is wrong or you are mad!  Sometimes we walk by a person and they don’t speak and we think automatically something negative and the truth is, we have no idea what is going on in that person.  You may already know all this.  You may not deal with this at all, but there has been some freedom for me knowing that if I just stick to the facts and not form an opinion, my emotions are not riled up and those feelings of un-forgiveness or rejection don’t surface.  Forgiving people is about me.  It’s about you.  It’s not about the other person.  It is about learning to not hold on to un-forgiveness and becoming bitter.  Because you know what?  Being hurt and dealing with feelings of rejection can happen every day.  Every day.  Forgiveness is hard.  It is a choice that we have to make if we want to be all that Christ wants us to be.  The alternative is sickness spiritually and physically….

Whit is always suggesting I deal with un-forgiveness and I don’t like it any time he has said it.  Someone recently handed Whit a CD dealing with forgiveness and it talked about taking the person off my hook and putting them on the Lords…of course I listened to it.  Whit also ordered me a book by Rodney Hogue titled Forgiveness and it really got my attention.  It is a small book with great information and an easy read… No one really wants to think they are unforgiving and judgmental, but in some ways I really have been.  I can remember things that happened twenty years ago.  I remember everything negative a person has done and I have assumed the worst out of people…Forgiving people and then bringing that issue up again and again is wrong.  Making opinions about people’s motives when we don’t know why they do what they do is wrong.  The truth is you don’t know why I do what I do…unless you ask or get to know me and even then, it is sin to form an opinion about me without really knowing my heart.  It is sin for me to make a judgment or form an opinion about something concerning you when I don’t know what is going on.  So, why not let the Lord deal with the heart and us just deal with the facts.  

Recently, I was in the dentist office and our entire family went…we made it a family affair and honestly I thought Aaron-Sophia would have to have the most extensive work done that particular day.  Unfortunately, I was the one that had the most work done and they were all waiting on the dentist to get done with me.  While she was digging out old filling and putting in the new, the Lord showed me that He is like a dentist with instruments in His hands.  He does the same type work with our heart.  Digs out the old and puts in the new.  It was like he was saying…”I am getting all the junk out of your life Michelle and putting in new…and as painful as it is, I have to do it for you to be where you need to be.”   It is painful to go to the dentist and get shots and them work and drill and make our teeth not only beautiful but healthy, but it is also painful for the Lord to dig and clean out all the junk in our lives and hurt and un-forgiveness and make us beautiful…and healthy.  The Lord deals with us and reveals to us things that need to be healed in our lives because HE loves you and I. 

Love Ya’ll!

Michelle 

BLOG #13 he Still Rescues august 2016

What a great day to blog and write.  It is not often that my family is gone for the weekend and its quiet at the Bass house.  Today it just happens to be raining and raining on a metal roof, which is heavenly… I homeschool and with us having our own ministry you can imagine that there is more “togetherness” than most families.  So, honestly, I really like being at home alone.  It is nice…maybe I am selfish, but I need the down time.  It gives me a chance to turn on worship music and think…and write and watch endless episodes of The Middle.  

This upcoming week my husband and I will celebrate 19 years of marriage!  In three days to be exact!!!  Now, if you are going through a difficult time in your own marriage please don’t let this blog today make you feel bad.  I like it when people are honest and transparent.  I can’t relate to the perfect image some folks put out there…it makes me wonder if it’s really real.   See, because there have been times in my own marriage that I did not like Whit, I have said things I wish I could take back and even at our lowest point with Hannah and a difficult time in ministry; I wanted to hit him with a weed eater.  Thankfully there was a big bush that was between us and I did not hit him.  Honestly, between ministry and a child that was diagnosed at age 11 with Asperger’s, it was more than I could deal with.   There were times that I felt “ministry” sucked the good life out of me and then add a child that we didn’t really understand what was going on in her and this added high stress to our marriage…it was not a good combination.  I really did not have any support with Hannah…as far as reaching out to a friend that I knew that had a child like her or understood us.  For years the loneliness was too much for me… I have had much counseling and prayer due to having a child with a diagnosis and being on staff at a few churches trying to hold everything together. 

This is where the goodness of God comes in.  I probably write about this quite a bit, but its true…God’s goodness isn’t based on us and our own limited view of what goodness should be.  We will not get it right all the time in marriage or parenting…but Jesus comes in and really makes up the difference even with all our flaws and imperfections… God. Is. Good.  He gives us strength to learn to love our spouse…really we can’t love or parent the way He wants without His help anyway.  I mean, we can get by, but He wants us to live life more than surviving or getting by.  I grieve for friends I know who are going through very difficult times in their own marriages and I never want to portray something that isn’t reality for my family.  I think people relate to flaws and difficult times… I mean, when someone tells me they say something bad or got into an argument with their spouse or child it makes me feel better.  I know that isn’t spiritual lol, but it helps me to see their flawed humanity.  I remind myself that the perfect perception on Facebook or Instagram isn’t reality most of the time. 

Marriage is a commitment.  It is a choice to stay together -- even when the pressure is on…I encourage you that if you are in that season when you feel like running away…yes, I have felt like running away; run to Jesus.  If your kids make you feel like running away for a very long time…run to HIM.  For those of you going through extremely difficult times in your marriage…run to Christ.   If your marriage is beyond hope, run to HIM.  I write this blog nineteen years and two kids into this relationship… I had no idea what I was getting into at twenty-three.  Whit is a great man and I’m not too shabby either, but we are both flawed and have to keep our eyes on Christ…and run to HIM to keep this partnership going.  I can’t imagine doing life without him…the influence on my girls that he has, no amount of money can replace that.  He is present in our family…and sometimes when couples are present that means arguments, words, yelling, and wanting to throw weed eaters.   So today, I honor my husband and our commitment we made almost nineteen years ago.  Here is to commitment to us and to our girls -- Hannah and Aaron-Sophia who bring so much joy to our lives…there have been times I wanted to leave and I am reminded what that would do to them…today I honor Christ…the one who has kept my family together and given me sanity and peace and continued to heal me…if it wasn’t for HIM I honestly don’t know where I would be or my marriage would be…we truly are a miracle.  Whit, I love you and you are my closest friend who has loved me through all my ugliness and I feel safe with you…here is to the rest of our lives together….Happy 19th!!! 

blog # 12 - He Still Rescues August 2016

Starting a new ministry involves a lot more than what I realized.  There are things I feel like we are doing right, and then there are things I feel like we really need to work on or change.  There are dreams our family has and things we want to do.  It is definitely a process.  A journey.  Our journey and our days are filling up with appointments and opportunities to minister. 

Our summer has been very busy.  Hannah and Whit went to Honduras with Celebrate Recovery from Rayville and as soon as Hannah got back she went to a worship academy in Kansas City and then started drivers ed!  We are in the process of working on a logo for all of our correspondence and our website, and Whit and Hannah have been busier than ever.  School has started for my girls, and a mission trip to Peru is on the calendar for later this month for Whit and Hannah.  Ministering as a family and making that leap of faith to start our own ministry has been the best decision and most rewarding one that Whit and I have ever made.  There are so many valuable lessons that the Lord is teaching each one of us. 

Recently, Hannah and I had the opportunity to minister together at a Bible study at Selene Rea’s home.  She and her husband John have been supportive of our family and Hannah since we began attending First Baptist West Monroe.  Ministering together with Hannah was my first time to do this.  She and Whit minister all the time together, but it was a first for us.  She led worship and spoke.  I spoke and shared and then we prayed for the women there.  It was powerful.  I was amazed at how much Hannah has grown in her ability to lead worship.  She learned so much from the worship academy she attended and was chosen (after she tried out and only seven were picked out of all who auditioned) to attend a more intensive class on worship leading.  God used that time to help her in the area of worship leading and it was evident her time there wasn’t wasted.   The women at the home lined up for us to pray for them…for Hannah to pray for them.  It was beautiful.  The presence of the Lord was so sweet and I was amazed at how Hannah spoke and took time with each one.  I told Whit that it was the most rewarding and fulfilling thing I have been a part of.  To minister with my child is the ultimate. 

For many years, I have felt that what I have been doing didn’t mean much or I wasn’t as successful as someone I was comparing myself to; who in my eyes, seemed more successful.   For many years I never even would have believed that Hannah and I would be doing anything like that together, and if you know our story then you know why.   It is only recently, that I am more content knowing that my first priority is being wife and mom and if my children grow up passionate about the Lord, then that means more to me than any amount of money I can have here on earth.  Honestly, the state of our children’s soul is much more valuable than all the riches here on earth.  Period.  So, if you stay home with your kids, know your job is the most important here on earth.  If you work full time and have children it’s the same. 

I am reminded constantly of God’s goodness.  I wish I could say that I remember reading the following scripture and (I probably have), but recently the pastor of FBC Rayville, Dr. Eddie Wren was speaking on this topic.  Psalms 119:68 states, “You are good, and You do what is good…”  We as humans aren’t born good.  God is good.  All HE does is good.  If there is any goodness in us, it is only because of HIM.  If good things happen and our lives prosper it is because of HIM.  If we succeed in business or are blessed monetarily it is because of HIS goodness.  I look at the miracle that has taken place in our family and in Hannah and God quickly reminds me that HE is good and what HE does is good.  Sometimes we want to take the credit for what only God can do and God wants to remind us of HIS goodness and not ours.  May I never forget all that I have and do is because of Christ.  Today, be reminded of God’s goodness in your own life and never forget or be tempted to take credit for all your successes. 

Love yall!

Michelle

He still rescues blog #11 - testimony by hannah & Whit

Hannah’s Testimony at a Local Restaurant…

Hey guys its Hannah! I have another testimony for you to read.  I really hope this helps you in your walk with Christ because Jesus is real. He is NOT dead and neither are his power or miracles.

Sooo! Over a month ago, I was at a local restaurant in West Monroe and I was honestly just blessing people, seeing whom God could touch there.  There was a woman who was leaving, and I could tell she was hurting on the inside. And so I felt impressed by the Lord that she feels like a failure;  “let her know I’m proud of her and that’s she’s doing a great job with her kids.” So that’s when I decided to walk out when she and her kids were walking out and I said, “Maam, I just feel like the lord wants you to know you are doing a great job with your kids and that he is proud of you and loves you. Could I pray with you?” She was shocked I think and she said no for prayer but at least I could share that encouraging word with her. So a little while after I was just chillin’ with my dad outside of the local restaurant and she came over and said “I just want you to know what you said really meant a lot to me. I needed to hear that.”

The Rest of this story came to my dad 3 weeks or so later…

Whit’s part…

So I was helping out with a local church in West Monroe with a student retreat weekend recently.  While serving as a bus driver for this event for the teens, I came to know the host homeowner of this event.  He and I were visiting over the course of the evening.  After a good while of our visiting, the father asks me… “Were you and your daughter at a restaurant in West Monroe late one night about 3 weeks ago?”  To this question I responded yes.  This man proceeded to tell me that his daughter was the girlfriend to the son of the lady that Hannah shared the encouraging word to. 

Here is the reason the lady had a hard time just accepting that Hannah was impressed by the Lord.  This mother that Hannah encouraged at the restaurant lost her husband over 2 years ago.  Ever since she lost her husband she has prayed continuously that the Lord would make her a good mother since she was raising her children without her husband.  So when Hannah confirmed to her that the Lord impressed on Hannah’s heart to tell her that she was a good mother it really touched her deeply.  The mom after hearing this word from Hannah wept as she drove home that night.  The host homeowner’s wife was also moved by Hannah’s obedience to step out in faith when Hannah shared her personal word of encouragement with a total stranger.  The wife of the host homeowner shared with her husband that she desired to have more boldness like Hannah.  Then the host homeowner’s daughter that dates the son of the mother Hannah encouraged said this about Hannah.  “Daddy, that girl is Hannah Bass.  She hears from Heaven.”  These words were very encouraging to hear because so often we step out in faith and never know whether we were able to bless the person or not.  In this case the Lord blessed Hannah and I both to hear how the simple obedience of encouraging a mother really was an impression that came to Hannah from the Holy Spirit. 

In His Service,

Hannah and Whit Bass

He Still Rescues Blog #10

Freedom once gained is a prize never to be lost.  –Expositors Commentary - 

It’s hard to believe I have written ten blogs…that’s not much I know, but still…ten is a great number!!!  This past weekend we had the privilege of spending time with a missionary woman from Pennsylvania-- Trina Olson.  What an amazing woman of God!  Such a precious person and fireball for Jesus!  We had the opportunity to go to a great little restaurant called Latin Foods (the best coffee in Northeast Louisiana) and afterwards decided to do some ministry.  What better place to do ministry with your entire family huh?  So... a group of us headed to Latin Foods and Dollar General!  Ministry is to be done outside the four walls of a church.  That’s not a new idea at all.  We had the privilege to pray for people at both places and I can assure you there were plenty of people in both places that were willing to be prayed for…there were a few that weren’t interested, but most were receptive.  How else will people find freedom and even physical healing?  Christ wants us to be the church and offer hope and healing to people that he brings in our path, as we become atmosphere changers. We live in a day where people are desperate for a touch from the Lord…desperate with no hope and who the heck is going to be the church?  Church needs to be more than sitting on the pew.  Religion sits on a pew and does nothing.  Oh, religion may do a lot in the church…work until Jesus comes back, but keeping busy and doing stuff doesn’t equal obedience.  Religion doesn’t equate relationship with the creator and people need an encounter with the creator and the Lord desires freedom and salvation for all of us. 

I was recently spending time in the Bible and I came across this scripture, which I am sure you have read a gazillion times and some maybe not.  Galatians 5:1 ESV states, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”  Believers and non-believers alike walk around in spiritual slavery and once you are free-- you don’t want to be yoked together to sin again.  I wanted to dig a bit deeper and what I found was, the greek word yoke is zygos:  means a yoke put on a draught cattle.  It’s a picture of two cattle chained together.  Christ has set us free from being chained together to a bondage of sin.  He has broken those chains of sin and bondage…we don’t have to be chained to that bondage anymore!  So re-read that scripture like this:  “For freedom in Christ has set us free (set at liberty from the dominion of sin); stand firm (persevere or persist) therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke (a yoke put on a draught cattle) of slavery (burden or bondage).  Christ is the freedom giver…something so precious that you can only come about it through a relationship with Christ.  Relationship is intimacy with Christ…getting to know HIM.  There is no way we can know Christ and who He is if we don’t spend time with HIM.  It would be like your dearest friend never hearing from you… Which, I am guilty of. 

The great news is…people were encouraged when we were at Latin Foods and Dollar General…they felt healing in their bodies and we were obedient and being the church.  It’s about being free and being obedient.  I encourage you (and me too…I don’t write this for everyone else but for me too!) to walk in obedience and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and offer hope to those that you clearly see need a touch from God himself.  Step out.  Live life.  Do ministry with your family.  Be obedient.  Listen to HIS voice.  Be busy about what HE wants…He has called us to live a life of obedience and through that we will hear his voice and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and we won’t miss opportunities!  I don’t want to miss opportunities to offer hope and be hope to the hopeless.  Christ the Hope of Glory lives in us.  Let’s extend HIM and HIS KINGDOM everywhere we go. 

BLOG #9 April 26, 2016 

PERFECTION ... UNATTAINABLE...

Wow…a lot has happened since I wrote last…the floods came, we were out of our home for almost a month and in less than 3 weeks my husband will graduate…finally…Praise the Lord…graduate from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary…FINALLY!  He has worked hard…juggled several jobs…ministry…family…A LOT…so we are beyond proud and thrilled!  Aaron-Sophia is doing great and will have her ballet recital with A Time To Dance this weekend and Hannah entered the Mrpstees Brand Rep 2016 contest and was chosen!!  She will be modeling along with two others for 6 months!  So, we have a lot to rejoice about!!!

Back to the flood…  Thankfully, Big Creek didn’t go over the banks and we did not get water in our home…but so many people were not as fortunate and my heart goes out to them.  There is something about being encouraged by police to get out of your home and do what you can with all your stuff that somewhat changes your perspective on things.  What is important?  Who is important?  The Lord is trying to get our attention in some way…He is speaking and the question is are we looking and are we listening?  Being distracted from what is important is what the enemy wants. 

As I sit here, I am listing to Jesus Culture’s song Fill Me Up…Fill me up Lord.  Isn’t that what we really want as believers?  For there to be less of us and MORE OF HIM?  My desire is to be full of CHRIST where it is overflowing…is that always the case?  No.  I…fall…short…every…day.  Of course we can’t use that as an excuse to sin, but that is the beauty of our relationship with Christ…we can’t attain perfection.  No matter how hard we try…we still lack…we lack; because if we did attain IT ALL, we would NOT need Christ.  I will give you an example in my own life.   Everyone likes personal examples…because we can relate to that. 

My sixteen year old got saved about two years ago and the transformation has truly been miraculous…people that see her now can tell a difference.  I am absolutely not talking about being religious and there being a “form of Godliness”…I’m talking about you can see in her eyes that the Lord has gotten a HOLD of her.  It is evident in how she carries herself…how she responds to people…how she prays for people…how she is FULL of HIM.  I would love to tell you that it was because of me and my amazing and perfect parenting skills…but it’s not.  In fact, if I look back on all the things I did wrong…logic would say…there is no way that she has turned out the way she has.  Because I really did respond wrong and immaturely when dealing with her…I really did not know how to parent her and just like other people…I…did…not…get…her…God has had to teach me how to re-parent her and understand her.   

The beautiful thing about our relationship with the Lord is…He does the miraculous…we do our part and HE does the rest.  HE SOZO’S:  Saves, Heals and Delivers! HE gets us…  Why?  So HE will get the GLORY.  He wants and deserves the glory and the praise for what HE has done not only in Hannah’s life…but our family as well.   We can’t share the glory or take it away from HIM…because it is only because of HIM that we are in the place we are…at some point we have to trust HIM, believe HIM and pray for the souls of our kids and the salvation of our families.  We can’t do it in our strength…As parents we would like to say it’s because of me and my parenting style that my child has turned out the way they have…and I am absolutely not taking away from Godly influence at all…mom’s and dad’s, you do have a vital role…what I am saying is…when we strive for perfection in our walk…well…it’s a lie.  PERFECTIONISM is a lie and a trap that will keep you entangled all your life…we can’t get it right every day.  We really can’t take the glory for what God is doing in our lives, our children, our marriages…or anything really. 

People will not always understand you.  People may talk about you.  People may not like what’s going on in your life.  People may hold your past over you.  People…but not the LORD.  We will stand before HIM and be held accountable for what we did with our lives, thoughts, emotions, feelings, spoken words…everything.  See what I am saying?  We can’t possibly get it right all the time…thankfully, when Christ getssomeone to SURRENDER TO HIM -- Scripture states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) So, what is important is what Christ thinks of us and the freedom and mercy we have in HIM…that when we make mistakes and we repent—HE is there to extend grace and mercy…which we should do for others, but often times do not... 

Love ya’ll!

Michelle 

Blog #8  February 20, 2016

REMEMBER GOD'S GOODNESS

Over the past four years, my family has had the privilege of being apart of a home group that meets on Sunday nights.  It’s not a church, but a group of believers that are being equipped to go out and be the church.  Without sounding “churchy” the people in that group have become some of my closest friends and people that my family feels safe and loved and apart.   I can’t really speak for anyone else, but I long for those nights of community of worship, prayer and sharing.  It’s just raw and real and the power of God is present and moving!  I want to be where the power of God is allowed to flow freely and not stifled or hindered in anyway.  I want to see people healed and be in worship that connects me to the father.  Everyone has their own opinion about church and worship…this is just family to me that I have grown to love.  I have realized that we really do have something pretty special and I never want to take that for granted.   When we have opportunity to brag about the goodness of God—we need to do that!! 

This past Sunday we met in Michael and Amy Clark’s home and some new friends we’ve made from Ruston were there to share and see how our group flowed since they also meet in Ruston and equip one another as well.  While we were sitting there in the meeting, a precious couple, Rich and Lindsey Nadler was leading us in worship.  I was reminded about the Story in Joshua 3 & 4 where we see the whole nation of Israel cross the flooded Jordan with the ark and it parts like the Red Sea.   Now, I have been to the Jordan and I can tell you it wasn’t dry when I was there.  It did NOT part like the Red Sea.   You couldn’t cross over it; however, I really encourage you to read the two chapters in their entirety and see what God Almighty did!!  So, we see the Lord dry up the flooded Jordan in order to pass through it and take the ark of the covenant to the other side…just like what happened at the Red Sea.  They then leave 12 stones at the spot where they stayed.  They left rocks…why did they leave rocks?

In Joshua 4:4-7 it says this:  “So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “ Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan.  Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you.  In the future, when your children ask you, ‘what do these stones mean?’ Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the lord.  When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.  These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

The Israelites were commanded to leave the rocks as a memorial.  We live in a society where we suffer from spiritual amnesia.  We quickly forget the good things that God has done for us and most of the time its not intentional…we get distracted, or difficult circumstances arise or we listen to the lies of the enemy or we are just tired from life period.  I have been so bombarded with the lies of the enemy that I have forgotten and had to be reminded what God has done in my own life.  That is why HE was so kind to remind me Sunday…HEY MICHELLE…remember when I provided for you and your family unexpectedly?  Or look at what I have done in your child’s life?  God wants us to be reminded of His goodness…His love for us and his care for us.   When we are bombarded with life, He wants us to be reminded of HIM…not our circumstances.  Go back to that time that you saw the hand of God and thank HIM for what HE did.  We all have “memorials” in our own lives…maybe not rocks set up to remind us, but in our hearts and minds we can look back on His goodness and kindness…We need to be reminded and thankful, so we can move forward and press into Him during those difficult or distracting times.   Amen!

Love Ya’ll!

Michelle

BLOG # 7 FEBRUARY 13, 2016

DO YOU EVER NOT WANT TO COME HOME WHEN YOU ARE ON A TRIP?

Whit and I have been really fortunate to do a little traveling over the years and when God opens that door it’s such a fun and eye opening event!  I have talked about Brazil in almost every blog I write, but I want to mention something about the Israel trip that was the beginning of God doing an amazing work in my life.  If you have the opportunity to ever go to Israel…Go!  I was able to go in November of 2014.  I loved every minute of it and being able to walk where Jesus walked was something that changed me… If you have gone on an international trip you know how expensive they can be.  The cost is high!  The planning is a lot of work, organizing care for the kiddos (if you have children), requires work and time!  What I have learned is that if the Lord wants you to go, He will provide AND work out the details!

The Lord really spoke to my heart as we were on the Mount of Olives.  We had the chance to get away in a spot and sit…be still…and listen.  I am sure you already know this but the Lord is always speaking.  The question is are we listening?  We just have to be still long enough to listen and hear…which, I am not always doing.  It takes time.  Planning.  Work.  Anyway, back to the Mount of Olives…I sat there really trying to just be open if the Lord wanted to speak.  That’s hard for me.  I am busy. Whit would say I’m a MARTHA!   I am moving all the time and so to sit and listen is challenging, but how else will I hear His voice if I am not open and still?  The day was beautiful and I sat there.  I could here the business of the city right there.  You know what it sounds like…cars honking, dogs barking and other sounds.  However, in that moment the Lord gently spoke to my heart…not audibly, but HE just said something to this extent:  The busyness keeps you from hearing me and you will hear clearer and see clearer than ever before.  Busyness can keep us from doing what the Lord really wants.

You may never have the chance to go to Israel or anywhere else.  The cost to go is great, but I recently heard a sermon where the speaker talked about the cost of doing that.  He recommended that instead of seeking to go where Jesus once walked (which is great if you do), we need to invite HIM here to walk with us.  The expense to walk out our faith is the greater cost.  Yes, it costs to go overseas or on a trip period, but the greater expense is when you get back. What’s the cost or What does that look like?  It’s seeing people the way God does.  It’s choosing not to be offended.  It’s living a pure life and keeping our eyes on HIM.  It’s forgiving when we don’t feel like it.  It’s pressing in when you don’t feel like it.  It’s walking out what we say we believe everyday and being sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit.  It’s constantly fighting against the lies of the enemy that bombard our minds.  It’s being slow to anger.  It’s doing what Jesus did.   It's getting still in the midst of the busyness...

Our spiritual walk might be recharged on a trip, but WOW…the real cost is the daily walking it out.   WE don’t get a “spiritual” break.  Satan never rests.  He is constantly seeking all who he can distract and lead away from God.  In John 9 and 10, we see the Lord heal a blind man and the religious argue with him about that and then in chapter 10, we read in Jesus’ own words how His sheep hear his voice, He calls them by name and leads them out.  We see Satan’s tactics of stealing, killing and destroying.  Satan, believe it or not, still wants to be God and he will do anything to shift our focus, energies, time and thoughts away from God.  We MUST ask the LORD TO COME AND WALK WITH US HERE EVERYDAY. 

Love ya'll!

Michelle

January 22, 2016 Blog #6

OFFENSE can cause WOUNDS; WOUNDS can cause LIES...

We live in a society where being offended is the norm now.  There are all sorts of reasons that I personally think that can cause me to continue to be offended.  It is like it permeates our society…inside and outside of the church.  In fact, it’s really something that the enemy comes against my mind on a regular basis that I actively have to pray against.  What I know as truth is this—when I don’t keep my eyes focused on the Lord, when I don’t spend time with Him and when I am not in community with other likeminded believers who truly love and care for me that speak truth in my life — I find myself falling into the trap of becoming offended and believing the lies that go along with that open door.  Yes…being offended is an open door to Satan’s lies.  What do I mean open door?  Well…here is a story that I have held on to for years and this is how it happens. 

Whit was on staff at a very large church several years back and during church Hannah (when she was little one particular year) would be in Sunday School for two hours back to back because Whit and I would be serving in another capacity during that time frame.  There was a lot during that time I don’t remember at the church…mainly because Hannah was challenging and consumed my thoughts…it would be when she was eleven that we would find out by two doctors that she had Aspbergers Syndrome, which means Hannah was on the Autism Spectrum.  At the time when Hannah was attending the Sunday School classes we didn’t know what was going on…we just knew our child did NOT fit in the box…whatever box it is we put our kids in.  And let me add this…”normal” is overrated and God is bigger than any diagnosis.  I would have to go get her from Sunday school after church was over and every Sunday the teacher would tell me something negative Hannah had done.  Not one Sunday, but EVERY Sunday.  

To this day, it has been something that I look back on and was traumatic for me.  I have told the story…I have talked about it, only to realize that this ongoing event that took place was an open door for me to be offended.  The funny thing is, is that person to this day probably has no idea the effect that her weekly comment about Hannah had on me as a young mother.  As I type this, it brings back so many difficult memories for me to process.  People that have known us a long time and have walked with us during those difficult times and can now see the miracle working power in Hannah’s life now know exactly what I am talking about.  

If there are parents that have children with certain disabilities they can likely relate when I say…the stress of having a child with a disability can put stress on a marriage and then to serve in the “ministry” only adds another measure of stress.  For years, when someone would walk up to me and say, “I need to talk to you” I would immediately take a deep breath and ask what did Hannah do this time.   Many times I should have asked what happened instead of immediately think that what Hannah did was so bad or her fault.  So, for years… YEARS…. I never forgot that.  It really wounded me.  People, even with the best intentions can be insensitive to others.  But guess what?  My offense and being wounded did not hurt the person I was offended at or bother them or concern them.   They went on with their life, but it affected me.  ME.  Offense hurts US…not the person we are mad at. 

In Matthew 14, there are several events that take place…John the Baptist is beheaded, Jesus—even in His grief attempts to get away and is followed by the masses then feeds the five thousand and then we see Peter walk on water.  I am sure you have heard or read the story…the disciples were in the boat and a storm comes…then Jesus appears and walks toward them and in verses 26-33 we see Peter walk on water and it specifically in verse 30 states when he SAW the wind he became afraid.  When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink.  When we take our eyes off Jesus we sink.  We sink in all sorts of ways…even in the pit of offense.  When we take our eyes off of Jesus our focus shifts to our problems or circumstances.  Keeping our eyes on Jesus keeps our mind focused on Him and not being offended or deceived by the lies associated with the offense. 

What is traumatic for me, will be different for you but the issue is the same and your choice is the same as mine…to stay focused on Christ OR allow the offense to overtake our thought process.   Offense hurts us and the lies we believe hurt us…not those that hurt us.  It’s like a vicious cycle…we become wounded and offended and then the enemy lies to us in that painful event.  I believed for years that something I did or my poor parenting skills were at fault and I also believed that things would never change.  Boy was I wrong!!  Today, Hannah is a living testament to the power of God and His healing touch and thankfully I don’t believe that I was such a terrible parent.   If I had the chance I would do many things differently regarding Hannah, but thankfully the Lord is much bigger than my imperfections and shortcomings!  We must keep our eyes on HIM to not be offended by things. 

Our journey is not over!  Our kids are not grown and so my writings are not from the perspective of a parent with older kids that have already walked through and gotten to the other side!  I’m in the now…so, hopefully these blogs will encourage or challenge you in your walk with the Lord…like the Lord is constantly challenging me to be more like HIM!  The struggle is real when it comes to actively NOT being offended. God can heal and deliver and help us in our weakness!  That’s how much HE loves us!

2 Corintians 12:9 states:  But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”   Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

Love ya’ll!

Michelle

January 18, 2016  Blog #5

Recent Happenings From Whit Since January 1!

I've been afforded the opportunity to preach at two churches since January 1, 2016.  Hannah has accompanied me in leading music and worship both times.  In each church service we have been able to minister to congregants at the church ALTAR through the ministry of PRAYER.  While serving at Lone Pine Baptist Church we were able to bless and pray over Jill Rowan’s new granddaughter and her daughter-in-law.  We also prayed for direction concerning their church, since they do not have a pastor right now.  We were honored to serve them last Sunday Morning.

Thank you brother Joey for extending an invitation to Hannah and I to minister with him today in Monterey, Louisiana at Eva Church of God.  The congregation was well attended and many were expectant for a move of God.  The church service lasted almost 2 hours this Sunday morning.  Carol Fairbanks shared her testimony of how God has RESCUED her from the perils of Addiction from substances.  She appealed to those in the congregation to SURRENDER their life FULLY to GOD.  Before even preaching a word, I had a strong sense from the Holy Spirit to open the ALTAR up before the song service was complete.  Hannah led us in worship to the song, “I Surrender All To You” by Lincoln Brewster.  My cousin Creighton who is now a young man came forward to SURRENDER his life fully to the Lord.  It was a beautiful picture of what surrender looks like!  As many of us prayed with and over him he cried out to the Lord as he received CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND LORD of his life. 

There were others who came to the altar.  I think there were 5 different men and 2 women who came to receive prayer at the TWO ALTAR CALLS.  My brother Will came to ask to be a better father to his children as well after I appealed to the men in the congregation, “Who wants to be a better father to their children?”  There was another REDEDICATION as well.  I heard numerous responses of how God moved in the service and there were comments from some of how they had never attended a service quite like it.  GOD IS GOOD.  2 Altar calls and many lives touched today by Abba Father!!! 

This is a response about the Eva Church of God Service at Monterey by Tammy S. Thompson from a Facebook post:  “Went to church with Jo Anna this morning to the Eva Church of God. Got such a blessing to be there with all of her church family.  There were special speakers there today, and wow!!! They touched my heart and soul.  People, think about what the drugs do to your family. It does not only affect you. Men, love your daughters and talk to them and allow them to talk to you and really listen to them.” 

Another comment made by Carol Fairbanks about today’s service… “The message this morning spoke so LOUD to me.  We are the KINGDOM COME.  We all have a PURPOSE according to the KINGDOM of GOD.  We all should be SEEKING His will for us and taking ACTION on that WILL.  Also, the role of daddy’s with their daughters was really good.  Daddy’s set the standard by which their daughters choose a husband.  Daddy’s have to love their daughters and teach them their value.  I was truly blessed by the message this morning.”

Beyond the church….

I also had the opportunity to pray for folks outside of the church house.  I joined Tim Smith, Neil Powers, Mike Clark, Jonathan Tucker and Clay Corley in the Rayville area to minister on January 1.  We prayed for the Lord to heal a lady of shoulder pain that also had a restriction of range of motion who lives in Rayville, Louisiana.  We each began to worship in the home and the Lord gave this lady the ability to move her arm in a full range of motion -- Pain Free!!!   I also ministered to a man in Tallulah this past week that had Rheumatoid Arthritis in his neck and shoulders.  Again, I played worship music in his home and began asking Father God to remove pain in his shoulders and neck.  After he and I worshipped, prayed and asked for healing - in the span of about 30 minutes - all pain left the man’s shoulders and he had full range of motion without pain. 

Michelle:  Thanks Whit for your contribution this week!  LOL.  I wanted to share one thing…one thing the Lord is teaching me is that if a door opens, just walk through it…whether you feel like you are good at it or not.  If the Lord opens the door…just be obedient and do it.  I had the opportunity to share at a get together with a group of women and men in Monroe that Gloria Steele puts together.   I shared what the Lord had done in Brazil and had the chance to visit and pray with a few of the people there.  I am so thankful that I went…it really was a blessing to go and be apart of a wonderful group! 

Love ya’ll!

Whit & Michelle Bass

January 9, 2016  Blog #4

Yes, but…I don’t want to!

     This week Whit was gone to New Orleans to attend a “Defend the Faith Conference” for a Christian Ethics class a.k.a one of his last two seminary classes to graduate on May 14.   I had the chance to take Hannah to go with me to pray with a friend of mine, which gave us forty minutes to talk.  In the car, we started to pray and I mentioned a family that I struggle to fully forgive.  Yes…I admit… I honestly still struggle to really have fond thoughts about them.  I’m just being honest and transparent…so, you can pray for me!  I am sure you are wondering why I am sharing that for a blog in hopes to lift others up in the Lord.  Well, I am getting to the point; actually points of this story.  Sometimes the Lord uses our own children to challenge and make us really think about why we feel the way we do and it brings out things in our own lives that the Lord reveals to us that still needs healing.  We tell the Lord (when we don’t want to do something) yes, but…

     Back to our conversation in the car, we were talking and I just basically told her how I felt.  She flatly said, “Mom, God tells us to pray for people we don’t like and that’s just what the Bible says.”  I didn’t say anything because I was beginning to feel convicted and the crazy thing is…she did not stop with just that one statement.  I knew when she said it that I couldn’t really say with sincerity I would pray for them.  I wish that the conversation had ended there, but it didn’t.  She took it a step further and said, “I have been praying for them for a while now”.  I was like really?  Really?  You have been praying for them?  I couldn’t say I had been praying for them.  Now the Lord was getting my attention.  A family I didn’t have fond feelings for, my child had been praying for them for a while.  Hmm…yes, but…Lord…I don’t want to do that.   She took it even a step further than that and said; “I really think God is going to use one of them for His Kingdom”.  Ok.  That’s just craziness.  The one Hannah says God will use for His Kingdom is the very one that I struggle most to forgive and the one Hannah should struggle most to forgive.  I couldn’t believe that she actually said that. 

     Wow.  So, here is my fifteen-year-old saying…The Bible says this and I have been praying and I even believe that God will use one of them…I know…we should all really think about what she was saying.   I really didn’t know what to say to her.   It wasn’t that I was shocked that she said what she did, it was more like I didn’t want to do that…What she was willing to do….I felt justified in my ill will toward them.   I can tell you that the Lord and I were having our own conversation.  I was saying yes, but…and HE was saying Michelle, there is no “yes, but” when it comes to obedience.  Hannah’s philosophy is pretty simple:  Just do what the Lord says…it’s that simple.  Do what the Lord says… Loving those that are kind to us and loving those we are friends with is ordinary.  Loving people that we have issues with and are cruel or hateful or whatever it is that has caused offense in your own life…is extraordinary.  God is calling US (His Body) to be extraordinary in every aspect of our lives.  HE can help us do the extraordinary and only through Him can we forgive and pray for people we don’t care for or that have hurt us.

     Matthew 5:47 says, “And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary?”  (HCSB version) You are not doing one thing out of the ordinary if you only pray and love those that you are “fond” of.  HE wants us to pray and love those that are unlovable or don’t deserve it.  Is it easy?  No.  I think I already stated I didn’t care much for this commandment and principle of forgiveness and pray for your enemy business and I haven’t been praying for them.  This simple conversation turned into a BIG DEAL for me and the Lord was getting my attention.  So, the next time something happens and you begin to say, “Yes, but…” just remember the Lord says there is no “yes, but…” and go ahead and read and reread Matthew 5:43-47!  Extraordinary Obedience leads to Extraordinary Living.  My motto this year is to Live life…. so you can REALLY LIVE LIFE. 

LOVE YOU ALL!

MICHELLE

January 2, 2016

Happy 2016 from the BASS FAMILY! 

            Wow! 2015 flew by and now we are in day two of 2016.  My family seems to want to take over“Michelle’s Blog”, so from time to time they will contribute!  I know everyone makes New Year’s resolutions and my resolution is not to make one!  I do; however, see this year as one of excitement and expectation!  Charles Spurgeon, an influential British minister in the 1800’s said, “You might not always get what you want, but you always get what you expect.” I expect great things and MORE from the Lord.  I am primarily talking spiritually.  I want more of the goodness of the Lord…I want there to be more of Jesus in me on January 2, 2017 than there was today.  I am going to be 42 in February, and I just keep thinking…IT’S TIME.  It’s time to really live life…it’s time to step into the destiny God has for me and It’s time to finally walk in freedom from fear of man that has kept me from really living an adventure…If you read Whit’s post on Facebook, then you know his word for this year is “ADVENTURE”.  Shouldn’t our lives be lived to the fullest?  Making an impact on others?  Doing something you have never done before?  Whit has served as a hospice chaplain the past 4 years and he constantly reminds me that life is short and that we shouldn’t play it safe.  The Lord wants us to step out in faith and not live a life that we look back on with regret.   Hebrews 11:6 states, And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (ESV).  Our calendar is already marked with events we have never done before and I will not look back on 2016 with sadness…God wrecked me in Brazil!  Brazil was just as much for me as it was for the people we ministered to.  My life was changed and I am not the same.  Live life-- so you can really LIVE LIFE.  I sure don’t want to be the same a year from now and I am quite certain if you are reading this…you don’t want to either!  My prayer for you and our family is in Colossians 1:9-13:

“For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you.  We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of HIS will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.  May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father who has enabled you to share in the saints inheritance in the light.  He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.”

(The following is what the Lord is doing in my 15 year old, Hannah.) Enjoy! 

Hannah's Recent Stories of Intercession

            Recently I was shopping in the mall and I saw a friend of mine with his family. They all came and gave me hugs and we ended up talking a good bit. The mother told me her Thanksgiving was ruined by something that happened and her sister was having chest pains.  So I asked if I could pray for both of them.  I prayed for the mother’s sister who was having chest pains and she said she felt no more pain after we prayed. It was outstanding!  She even said she felt peace after we prayed. I never knew serving Jesus looked like this.  When people tell me that what I do is dangerous since I sometimes pray for people I don’t know very well, I remind them of this simple verse in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”  This life is not about me.  It’s about Jesus.  I have fasted Saturday December 26-28 for 3 full days. I realized that there was a reason behind the fast; for preparation, for trials and to bless others. When I prayed for people during the fast, I was blessed to witness 2 physical healings and 4 Intercessory prayer opportunities.  (My paw paw was having pain in his side and my cousin was having a headache and stomach ache and both found relief after we prayed)  How cool is that? What’s funny is that I’m not in some big country doing all of this. I’m still in LA and basically doing what I did in Birmingham, Alabama at the Power & Love Conference.  I’m serving him and trusting Christ with my life.  Never let anyone bash the instructions the Lord may give you. They may not fully understand the greater picture of what God is painting.  Ephesians 6:12 KJV makes a clear point when people are hateful. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Love Y’all! 

Michelle

December 26, 2015

Brazil or Bust Part 2

            Praying for people has always been out of my comfort zone.  I don’t know why that has been the case for me, but until my trip to Brazil I just wasn’t excited about that being the primary thing I would be doing on the trip.  I learned real quick when I made the decision to go that a lot of praying was going to be going on…more than what I felt comfortable with.  Now, before you may be tempted to criticize or judge me let me clarify…I didn’t have a problem praying…I just didn’t want to really pray for someone I didn’t know out loud.  Sounds silly, but I bet someone who reads this feels uncomfortable doing that too.  Isn’t that funny how the Lord puts us in positions where our comfort levels are challenged in order for us to become more like Him.  That’s what this journey is all about, right?  Becoming more like him?  If we are comfortable and we are just living life as normal -without being stretched- I’m not really sure the change we really want occurs.  We live life as usual…missing opportunities to be used for Him.

            Several days into the trip we were at a church and I had gotten past the I-am-too-scared-to-pray-for-someone-point…a young couple came up to me and they were holding a sick child.  Lucas, my interpreter asked them what they needed prayer for.  The mother proceeded to ask for me to pray because the baby was burning up with a fever due to a virus.  So, guess what I did?  I started praying and Lucas interpreted.  When someone asks you for prayer, you pray.  You don’t worry about what someone thinks or anything…you pray.   I had already seen the Lord move, so I was obedient and began to pray for healing.  I continued to pray and touch the baby to see what the Lord was doing.  The dad in the meantime was standing there…standing quietly.  My friend Abby who was in our group came up and asked if the mom needed prayer for anything.  She had something wrong with her hands so as she handed the baby to the father and Abby began to pray for the mother’s hands…I continued to pray and touch the baby and could actually tell the baby’s fever was subsiding.  I’m not totally sure that the dad was fond of me touching the baby’s forehead, but I did!  Not long after, I saw the dad strangely poke around on the sixteen month olds stomach, which I thought, was very odd.  The dad said something to his wife and Lucas interpreted…while we were praying for healing of a fever and virus, the Lord (without anyone mentioning a thing) decided to heal a hernia that the baby had dealt with since birth!   No one mentioned it!   We didn’t pray for that specifically, but God healed it!   It was gone and He also touched the mom’s hands as well.  Abby and I were just being available and obedient.

            You know what that tells me?  God is bigger than the box we put Him in.  He does things for His glory.    We don’t heal.  He heals.  We pray!  God choses to move and heal, as He desires and He just wants our willingness and obedience…He does the rest.  We have to realize that fear of making a mistake, not sounding right or whatever it is that fear keeps us from doing is a tactic of the enemy.  He wants us to live in fear, keep our mouths shut and live life as usual.   Life as usual isn’t going to cut it anymore…my prayer for my family and for whoever reads this…is that more of Christ will flood our lives and that we would not let fear or anything else keep us from fulfilling Christ’s destiny for our lives.  Wow.  What if I had not prayed?  What if I had let fear keep me from going on the trip because I was afraid of what people would think?  I would still be in the same position I was in before…worried about what people thought and not really praying.  I’m thankful God isn’t in a box.  I’m thankful He set me free of fear…and those He sets free are free indeed.

Love Yall!!!

Michelle

December 19, 2015

Mission Trip with Global Awakening to Londrina Brazil

Brazil or Bust…literally!

            This is my first ever blog!!!  God is so good!  Whit was so excited about the new website, he was like…come write your blog!  I have no idea how to write a blog….but the Holy Spirit does!  Here ya go!  Mais fogo (More Power)!  Mais Gloria (More Glory)! 

            The moment I decided to go to Brazil the stress began.  I have to say that the Lord has a funny way of stretching us….Even when we really are not interested in being stretched.  I mean, who wants to be stretched???  My friend, Mei Powers asked me back in August about possibly going to Brazil with Global Awakening…well, she didn’t really ASK…it was more like-- let’s go to Brazil, it will be fun and the food is soooo goooood.  Two things about Mei that you may not know is… one, she loves JESUS and  secondly, she really enjoys good food.  I love Jesus, food and love to travel when given the opportunity!   I excitedly said, “YES!”  I quickly paid my deposit and then began to realize exactly what kind of trip this was going to be.  It was if the Lord set me up!   I began to realize that there was going to be A LOT OF PRAYING FOR PEOPLE.  Well, first of all…praying for people that I didn’t know was uncomfortable.  I then found out how taxing the schedule would be--I don’t like to go all the time…and on top of that, I don’t like hot weather.  Period.  For some reason I thought Brazil would be cool…I have no idea why I thought that, because Brazil is NOT cool in the sense of temperature J.  So, I found out that this trip was going to consist of hot, late nights praying for people.  Honestly, I thought that doesn’t sound like much fun...but at this point I could not get out of the trip.  It really was a situation I could not get out of, however, the Lord had other plans for me. 

Now, I was thankful to be able to go, but the stress and anxiety of going for three months is what consumed my mind.   I actually thought maybe things will be so serious that Global Awakening would be concerned for our lives due to ISIS and cancel the trip.  Yes, I really thought that.  I know it sounds silly, but that is what I thought.  I am so thankful that the trip wasn’t cancelled and even more thankful to Christ for loving me enough to supernaturally heal, deliver and show me how much He really did love me.  It is amazing to me how the Lord wants us out of our comfort zone…He just wants to use us.  He wants to use desperate and hungry people for the Kingdom.  I have to say…I was desperate.  I didn’t want to come back home the same way and I knew I had to be 100% on board with the ministry Whit was starting…I was on board mentally, but not really on board emotionally and spiritually.  If that even makes sense.  

I am sure you are wondering what happened, what I saw, what did He do…that sort of thing.  Well, I can tell you many stories of seeing the Lord heal physically and emotionally….I saw salvations, supernatural touches from the Lord and I could go on and on, but I want to share this one thing that will forever be part of my personal testimony.  The Lord changed my life.  Isn’t that what we really want?  We really want to be changed and touched by the Lord?   We want to be changed but without a price.  We exchange something for radical change.  If you want radical change, you have to be willing to let go of pride, fear, dignity, and anything else that may be a barrier between you and the Lord.  Christ wants ALL of us.  He wants our obedience and we have to be willing to “let go” of things for the change.

 We were in a Presbyterian church every morning for worship, teaching and prayer; but as Randy Clark began to teach, I began to feel the Lord minister to me and it just intensified over the next hour and a half.  As time goes on for me, I will go into more detail, but for two hours, I felt His presence like never before (well, I had a brief encounter with two ladies in the lobby—Jo and Katherine and it lasted about 15 minutes—this encounter would be just the beginning). This encounter in the church happened with no one praying or touching me and in church!  During this time the Lord showed me how much HE loved me and how I would be totally set free of fear of man that had plagued me all my life and I will share two things I remember.  ONE—I saw Hannah and I ministering together and TWO—the Lord gently and sweetly said to me that Aaron-Sophia would not be left behind and that she would be apart of what the Lord had for our family.  I knew that Aaron-Sophia would be passionate about Him and serve Him along side of us…something I worried about.  This encounter totally changed my life…we have to know our purpose and know He loves us as well…

 If we don’t really believe….I mean, really  believe that HE loves us then how can we minister HIS love to others?  We can’t.  I now know without a doubt that He loves me.  HE loves me.  The Creator of ALL things…Loves me. ME!!!  I also have been freed of fear that has kept me from my destiny.  I have missed many opportunities because I was worried about what people thought or was afraid at failing miserably trying something new.  One more thing, I was raised in church all my life and loved the Lord since a young age, but something always has held me back.  Now, being confident in the Lord and His love for me and his deliverance of fear, I can honestly say…I am just now stepping into the destiny He has for me and the ride has just begun—not just for me but our entire family.  I pray that the Lord show you just how much HE loves you….

  I pray that in the months to come that something that is written in this blog will encourage you even more to seek the Lord.

Love Yall!!!

Michelle