Praise....

With the struggles intensifying, I haven't been faithful in writing to this blog, but today, my friends, God showed up in a big way in the form of a friend of a friend of a friend. I trust that this testimony of God's graciousness will give you a taste of peace for today.

Friends,

Today God showed up in a big way and a surprising way, a way that I had always 'heard' happens to others but never had experienced myself.

I received a call from a sister in Christ who said that she was a friend of a friend who has been receiving my prayer request and she wanted to bring something to me. As I was at work, she travelled out here to meet with me. The blessing was two-fold; one that God revealed in a BIG way that the prayers I've requested from those in the body weren't just sent out without finding fertile soil in which to find roots, but that they've landed in the hands of many, many warriors who haven't hesitated to lift up the needs of a brother. This sister sat with me and gave me blessings after blessings in encouragment and inspiration. That alone, to have it affirmed that I am not alone in these struggles, that there are true believers who will stand in the battlefields of this world and defy the enemy's efforts to defeat another, even one unknown to them, just makes me feel God's grace and peace in a real way.

She also left me a card, which I was afraid (for some reason) to open until a few minutes ago. Inside was another blessing that will help in the situations that I'm facing right now in a big way. I have always, as I said, heard of others who listen to the voice of God speaking and do what He wills as He wills and today He showed me that indeed, like the birds of the sky and the flowers of the fields, that He will take care of me and my family because we all are more valuable than those and I am His Beloved Son.

I got the impression, maybe incorrectly, that this person who gave me this blessing might not want to be 'identified' and I want to honor that 'assumption' until otherwise informed, but I wanted my friends, the ones who sent the emails to other prayer warriors to pray and the ones who have stood with me in such harrowing times, to know that God has moved and God has answered in a powerful way my cries. Funny, the verse I was going to write on today speaks of this too…..

"O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:19-21

God has heard my cry for help and has been so gracious in His response to it. Not only in the prayers of the many, many faithful who have devoted their time to lifting me and my family to His ears, but in the blessing this sister brought to me today. He has fed me bread of adversity and water of affliction but has given me the teachers, the wise elders, to stand behind me and give me the direction and the strength in which to walk this path that He has chosen for me.

Sometimes in the struggles, as this dear sister said, you need others to help point out the blessings that lie in abundance around you because you are simply overwhelmed by the menancing trees that surround you. Sometimes, when the winds are strong and the decay of this world is overpowering, you need to just keep plogging on, even though you may be weary and fatigued with the constant struggle. But, at those moments, when the world seems to have captured your attention and drawn you away from the path, God drops a hint (either through another, through a whisper, or through a vision) that He is waiting just around the corner with arms open and full of love if you will just take one more step in His direction. He isn't hiding from you, but like a father who stands with his arms outstretched and with words of encouragment coaxing his young child in their first steps, so God is…..a big smile plastering His beautiful face, and arms miles wide, giving you the encouragement you need to overcome that fearful step into the unknown.

He always wants to give us more than we could ever want from Him and He wants to spend more time with us than we will ever want to give Him.

I would ask, and covet, the continued prayers that God will continue to provide what He has in mind for me and my family. Please remember that I am not alone in my struggles, as many other families are finding themselves in positions financially and emotionally that they never imagined themselves to be. Lift up those in your communities, in your neighborhoods, and in your churches and please show them the grace of God's love by reaching out to them with words of encouragement and affirmation that they are not alone.

I wish I would've saved the phone number so I could call this person back and try, in some small way, to express what the blessing given means and the testimony to God's movement that it sings loud and clear of. Unfortunately I am typically in the habit of erasing the phone logs, and erased her phone number before I thought of it. So, if you know her, please pass this on. If you don't, please pass it on to the ones who've you have sent my prayer requests to in the past. God is faithful and I'm sure she will get this thanks.

I would ask that you lift up that sister in Christ, if you know who she is or not, with a mighty shout of praise and glory to the Father, who worked through her today. Please pass this on to the others that you have before so that the sister who delivered a blessing from God today would know that I cannot express the words of thanks strong enough to convey what a blessing it was. I wish I could express the appreciation in a beautifully written poem, but words escape me. I stand in awe of her blessing to me and mine.

May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit, counsellor to us all bless and keep you, my brothers and sisters, and return your faithfulness seventy times seven as you continue your faithful service to Him.

Because of each of you, with your encouragement and prayers, I am still in this fight and will continue to struggle towards that finish line hand-in-hand with all of you. I still have a long way to go, but God is good and I know whatever the future He has planned, He will provide the means and the call to get there.

In God's grace,

Jim Hutson,