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?

Our church, Clearwater Baptist Church in Athens, TN, is having revival this week.  It started yesterday and goes through Wednesday.  It’s been a while since I’ve been to a revival, and I have to say that, for me, it’s long over due.  We’ve had the privilege to have Evangelist Dwight Singleton speak and both services yesterday.  I’m not sure that I can convey all that I’m getting all out of this already, but I can tell you that I feel a refreshing breeze in my soul.  I’ve been reminded of several things, and I would like to share some thoughts and sermon notes with you.

Yesterday morning, Dwight Singleton preached on Hebrews 12:1-2:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I also want to add verse 3:

“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

I added verse 3 because it tells me that when I grow weary of the daily battles/valleys/sorrows,  if I fix my eyes on Him and keep my faith, He will give me the strength to carry on and make it through each and every hardship. 

Here are the points that I wrote down:

• If we want God to be victorious in our lives, we must be willing to get ALL the junk (sin) out of our lives so that He can work through us.
• God is not in a partnership with us.  God is God ALL BY HIMSELF.
• The word of God will always rule and reign.  He will always be right.
• The worst thing about sin is that we lose our ability to influence.
• God wants us to be holy.  When we become holy, we’ll be happy.
• Let us throw off the junk that hinders before it so easily entangles, & let us cast our eyes on Jesus and keep our focus on Him.

His evening sermon was on Matthew 15:29-31:

“Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee.  Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down.  Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.   The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing.  And they praised the God of Israel.”

Here, Jesus went up on the mountain to spend some alone time with God, and the crowds followed him up the mountain. 

Here are the important points that I wrote down:

• Our power comes from spending time in prayer.  When we spend time in God’s word and in prayer, we have the strength to carry on and make it through anything this world can throw at us. 
• God is an extraordinary God who wants to do extraordinary things.  We just need to ask and simply believe that He can do anything. 
• God is good ALL the time.
• We don’t need to worry about God’s business. No matter what we’re going through, we need to leave it in God’s hands and have the faith that He will take care of things as He sees fit.  As Dwight so simply put it, “We need to stay out of God’s business!”.
• Quit whining when things get tough.  God is still God and is always faithful.  There’s nothing that He can’t do.  We need to have the same faith in God through the bad times as we do through the good times.  He’s still God no matter what we’re going through, and nothing happens to us that he does not allow to happen. 

My soul feels so fresh this morning.  I really hate when I allow life to get in the way of my faith in God.  I still have the faith, but when I try to do things on my own, I’m telling God that I don’t think he can take care of things when I really know that He can.  How about you?  Have you been allowing your lack of faith control your life instead of keeping your eyes focused on God and allowing Him to take care of His business?