Nothing is Impossible with God by Teresa

My husband of nearly 30 years passed away from cancer in 2010.  Since then I have had to make many decisions. One of those decision was what to do with his precious 24 foot cabin cruiser.  He just loved that boat and took very good care of it.  I was very hesitant to sell it because of the sentimental value I had put on it.  However, I knew I could not just let it sit there and slowly deteriorate.  So in 2012 I decided I was going to sell it.  I licensed the boat and I started to clean it.  I talked to some coworkers and did some research on what it was worth, searching to see if anyone was interested in it.  I had a couple of people come and look at it.  A couple of weeks passed and the anxiety I felt over selling the book took over my emotions and I could not sell.  I believed God wanted me to let go, but I just could not do it.  I was very upset over the anxiety I was experiencing. I was very upset with myself that I could not go forward with what God was putting in my heart.

In 2014, once again, I felt God put on my heart that it was time to sell the boat.  I felt God gently pushing me to let go of the boat.  I knew it wasn’t about selling the boat, but it was about healing my heart, letting go and moving forward.  I realized I could not move out of the mourning phase. I also realized God was thinking of my emotional health.

So, of course, I made a deal with God.  I told Him that if He wanted me to sell it, He was going to have to help me make it happen.  All the anxiety I felt in 2012 came back.  I really didn’t think I could sell it.  I made a to-do list in order to prepare the boat.  The boat was stored in our 40’x36’ barn so I had to work out a plan to pull it out.  I needed to find someone to pull it to a boat shop, so I could have it thoroughly gone through.  I was going to have to post an ad.  Then there would be the test drives, which meant I would have to have help pulling the boat to the river.  Who knows how many times I would have to do this?  Further, in my heart, I had 3 issues I was concerned with.  I never shared these 3 concerns with anyone, they were just heavy on my heart.  The first one was my concern whether someone would want me to finance it, or pay with a check, because I preferred to receive cash and not worry about receiving a bad check.  My second concern was that the name of the boat would very likely be changed.  You see, the boat was named after me, so it was special.  My third concern was that some individual would buy it and not take good care of it.  I was hoping it would end up with a nice family with children and they would truly enjoy it like we had.

Through everyone one of these steps, I would ask God to help me because inside I wanted to back out.  Let’s just say that I was digging my heels every step of the way.  One day I made the comment to God, that “if I could only find a boat mechanic that would come to my house”.  I was not having any luck finding someone who could pull the boat out of the barn and haul it to a boat shop.  The boat shops I had spoken to were not willing to come and pick it up. 

A few days later, out of know where, I received a call from a young man.  He introduced himself and told me that he had acquired my cell number from my son.  This young man had stopped at Office Depot to have business cards printed up for his new business.  It just happened that my son was working at Office Depot in the print shop and he assisted this young man (who also had attended high school with my older son).  It also happened that this young man had been recently laid-off from work and he was starting a mobile boat mechanic business.  My son shared with him that I was looking for someone to help me with preparing my boat to sell.  We settled on a time for him to come over to my house.  He truly was a God sent!  He pulled the boat out of the barn.  He went thoroughly through the boat and completed all the needed maintenance.  He then offered to meet with any of the potential buyers and if necessary, take them out for a test drive.  I offered to give him a commission, but he did not want one.  Of course, he was going to get a commission even though he did not want one.  I felt blessed by his presence and he felt blessed by my presence because he was trying to get his new business off the ground.

I was preparing to go on a month long vacation at the beginning of June, so I had decided that if I did not sell the boat by then, I was taking it off the market.  I placed an ad at my place of employment.  After 1 week, I decided to put it on Craigslist. I was very reluctant to do this just because I was not familiar with it and felt uncomfortable dealing with a broad audience of strangers.

So Easter Sunday was right around the corner and I had many activities I was involved in at church and had not checked my e-mail for days.  Saturday night (day before Easter) when I arrived home and was getting ready for bed I decided to quickly check my e-mails.  There I found several e-mails from the same individual very interested in the boat.  He had been e-mailing me since early Thursday.  Though, since Easter and all the activities leading to Easter were very special to me, I had already decided that I was not going to deal with the boat during this time frame.   I just felt it was not appropriate.  However, God had another plan.  It was 9:45 pm when I e-mailed this individual that if he wanted to get a hold of me he was going to have to call my cell phone, however I did not want to deal with the boat until after Easter.  It must have been 3 minutes within the time I sent the e-mail he was calling me.  I could not believe that he was on-line at the exact time I e-mailed him.  He was very persuasive and I agreed that I would meet him at 6:00 Sunday afternoon.  At least my Easter Sunday activities would be coming to an end by then.

When I arrived at my house at 6:00 pm, he was already waiting for me.  He was so excited going through the boat.  However, he was asking me questions that I could not answer.  I called the young boat mechanic who had helped me prepare the boat.  After apologizing to him for bothering him on Easter, I asked him if he would talk to the man over the phone.  He instead said he just happened to be near my home visiting family and he was just going to come over to my house.   The mechanic hooked the hose up to the boat and ran the motor. There was no need to take the boat to the river for a test drive.  The man made me an offer, which I accepted.  He offered all cash.  At this point his wife got off their vehicle to look over the boat. While the buyer was walking around the boat, he made a comment to his wife that the boat was already named after her.  It just happened that she and I shared the same name.  His wife shared with me that they were wanting a larger boat so they could take their adult children and grandchildren out boating and spend the night on it.

I was in complete awe on how God’s hand was in selling this boat.  I was so touched that God addressed all three concerns I held in my heart.  This entire process started mid-March and on 2014 Easter Sunday the boat sold. Nothing is impossible with God.  I learned that God gives us the ability to do things that we believe are impossible. I learned that when God is for me, nothing can come against me. I learned that God cares about every aspect of my life.  I can’t even express in words the growth I made in my walk with God because of His hand on my life.  There were so many others little things that occurred that I did not mention that were evidence of God’s love and presence in my life.

September 11 by Lavera Wade

To begin today I want to speak to you about events of 9/11 2001 that you may not know.

Most of us remember that 2606 people died at the twin towers that day, this number includes 71 law enforcement officers and 343 firemen.

The twin tower memorial foundation states that on an average day there were 40,000 people working in the twin towers, visitors could increase the number of people in the towers upwards toward 100,000.

September 11, 2001 was the first day of school for many, there was a primary election that day, there had been an NFL football game the night before, and a large electrical storm.  As a result, many people were late for work that morning many offices did not open until 9:00 am and visitors had not yet begun to arrive. 

 

As a result, when the planes hit instead of 40 to 100 thousand people in the towers there were approximately 14,000 people in the towers. This means almost 12,000 people escaped the towers that day nearly 6000 were injured but most of these survived

A coincidence maybe, but I am reminded of Romans 8 :28

    We know that all things work together for good……..

Our scripture today is Luke 15:1-10 

In one way or another we have all lost something that we treasured.  We are left to grieve our loss,

As I researched the events of 9/11 I read several stories of those who survived, everyone who worked in the towers lost their jobs that day, all of them suffered post traumatic stress issues to various degrees. When we lose someone unexpectedly, before their natural life expectancy we mourn not only the loss of the beloved person but the loss of the dreams of future joyful times that will not be shared.

Today as we observe the 15^th anniversary if the terrible loss our country suffered that day,    the majority of us also experience the loss in one way or another, as do the family, friends, co-workers and an army of volunteers who raced to New York to assist.  Like one Red Cross volunteer here today who’s assigned task was to compile a complete list of all the personal information on all of the fireman lost that day, for use by charity organizations wishing to help.

Just as we grieve us loses when we wander away from God he grieves for us, and I believe he searches for us and calls us to return and draw close to him. 

I have shared with you I am in recovery from alcohol abuse and 36 years ago this month God spoke to me and I surrendered my alcohol problem to him I have no trouble believing that the angels celebrated with Joy that day as I walked out of the gates of Hell and into the life God meant for me to live.   

Rob Bell in his book “Love wins” states that he does not believe there really is a Hell, that we create it here on earth when we wander away from God. I know from my experience when I did not believe God Loved me I lost the Hope that radiates from his love and that truly is Hell. God wants us to be happy and joyful as we serve him and so the heavens rejoice when we are found and return to his flock.

I am going to share another little story of how I found my way back to God’s fold, when I did not really know I was lost. 

The second step of the 12 steps of recovery is “Came to Believe that a power greater then ourselves could restore us to sanity” This step is my favorite and the word believe is the symbol that reminds me I must rely on God for my recovery. 

SO I see this soap dispenser one day with the word Believe on it and home it comes. 

Awhile later I am in Walmart and I see there is a bathroom set that goes with the soap dispenser so I decide to buy it for my birthday.  I load the toothbrush holder with the word Praise and the soap dish with the word Serve and reach for the cup with the word Trust.

I stand there with the cup almost shocked…. I cannot take it home.  My life story has pretty much removed trust from my vocabulary.      So I put the cup back on the shelf and continue my shopping.

But I cannot get the cup out of my mind. And I cannot seem leave the store. At last it comes to me, yes I think the Holy Spirit speaks to us in Walmart if there is something we need to know,  as I returned to collect the cup with the word trust on it,   I realized I had trusted God with my salvation, I had trusted him with my recovery, but I had not trusted him with my life, the good and the bad. I could almost hear the angels singing as I approached the check stand.

When I lost my grandson two years ago tomorrow I was faced with my children’s grief and there was nothing I could do to comfort them accept pray. And ask you to pray for them.

I watched them fill the empty hole in their lives with their efforts to fight texting and driving and knew it was God’s answer to our prayers.  

I had lunch with my daughter-in-law Lisa Thursday as I was leaving I said “my whole congregation is praying for you and Jim every day.”  She replied people ask me often how I can cope with loosing Sam so well and she tells them it is because lots of wonderful people are praying for them and she knows they are loved.  

I believe we can trust that when we get lost be it due to anger, fear, hurt, sorrow and even just plain old forgetfulness of how important it is to be grateful for God’s Love. God will come searching for us and when we are ready to let him find us the heavens will rejoice that we are found.