Danny Singleton delivered the message last night, and it was just phenomenal! God is truly speaking to the members and guests at Clearwater this week, including me. He has shown me that there are still hurt feelings there between my parents and I over all the problems we had with my brother and his drug addiction while we were still living there. Let me tell you that if Satan can get a strong foothold in a family it’s through drugs and alcohol. He sneaks in quietly, and before you know it, he’s got a very strong grasp on your family and it’s trying very hard to pull it apart at the seams! It’s not a situation that I would wish on anyone.

I know that a lot of hurt comes from my parents and I seeing things very differently. In a lot of ways, Satan has allowed them to see me as the enemy because I do not agree with them, but I have come to terms with that, and it’s OK. I still love them no matter how they view me, and I know they still love me, but our relationship is very strained now due to our different views. What people don’t realize is that a drug addicts addictions don’t affect just him/her, it affects their entire family, and it can consume them all before they even realize it. My husband and I went through a lot. There were a few times when I was very worried about our relationship. But, I thank God that we had Him to rely on because, even though it took me longer to come around because it is my brother and my parents, we finally had to say, “Rob, we love you but we are not going to help you any more. We’re here for you when you’re ready to get help, but we’re not giving you anything else but love.” I’ll admit it was not in those exact words (there were some pretty ugly times), but that pretty much sums it up. We also had to tell my parents that we did not agree with how they were handling things, and that did not go over well at all. They keep saying “What Would Jesus Do?” and I tell them, Jesus will always love, Rob, but he would not support what he does. God showed me that, by the way. It was a hard lesson for me to learn as a sister, so I’m sure it’s an even harder lesson as a parent. I know our relationship will never be the same, but I pray for healing all the time.

But, God knew what he was doing and opened a door for us to move. That was almost 2 years ago now, and God has truly blessed us. We have a wonderful home in the country with land that we would not have been able to afford if it was not through Him. We have a great God-fearing, God-loving, pastor and church that we love. Most of all, we have each other and God. And an extra bonus to it all is that Brian and I are more deeply in love than ever before. I fear that if we had stayed in that situation much longer, it would not be this way.

As for the message last night, it was on John 20:30-31; 21:1-13 with the focus being on John 21:1-13. His message was titled: M & M = Miracle & a Moment

Some thoughts that I jotted down were:

• You have to wait patiently on God and not try to do it yourself. (How many of us get tired of waiting and just say, “I’ll do it myself”? I know I’ve been guilty of it myself.)
• When you get outside the providence of God, you can’t see things very clearly. (God is omnipotent and knows all – we don’t. We can’t see past the here and now – God can see it all. That’s why it’s so important for us to learn to wait on him.
• Tell Him the truth, listen for His instructions, and follow His commands. (Not hard to understand, but we sure do make it hard. He already knows the truth, he just wants us to say it. He also wants us to obey. God it not a mean God, but He is just, and He knows what’s best for us better than we know what’s best for us.)
• You need to put on the cloak of humility before approaching God in prayer. (How many times have we approached God with an attitude of “give me” or “I deserve”? We (and I do mean me) should be more humble and thankful, and come seeking guidance instead of making demands. We’re supposed to mature not immature. We know that life’s not always fair and that we don’t deserve everything we want. It’s time that we started acting like it.)

He summed it up like this:

• Be Honest in Reply – God already knows the truth so you might as well admit it.
• Be Ready to Obey – whatever God says and asks of you, be ready to do it.
• Be Quick to Closeness – He wants you to be close to Him, not withdrawn.
• Be Quiet for Restoration – pretty simple. Just be still and listen.

The miracle was in that after fishing all night they had not caught anything, but then Jesus appeared and instructed them to cast their nets on the other side and they caught so many fish that they could not pull the nets in.

The moment is when they realized who it was who spoke to them. None of them doubted or even asked. They knew in their hearts who He was. When was the last time you heard your Savior’s voice and knew it was Him?