A Healing Called Beautiful Acts 3: 1-18

A Healing Called Beautiful  Acts 3: 1-18

This man, just like all the others that God healed, was healed completely. Understand this...they did not have to learn to walk...or talk...or understand words. Once the Lord healed them, they no longer had any excuse to grope around, crawl, have others carry them, let others support them, none of that.

When the Lord saves us it is completely. We are the ones still walking with the limp of sin. Blind, only because we are not looking at the Lord...we are blinded by the devil and this world. We are healed, we just don't act like it. We still have on our unclean leper clothing. We are still laying in our bed of infirmities. Begging for help when He has already helped us. (John 8:36)

Keeping by Day and by Night II Samuel 21:10-11

Keeping by day and by night     
II Samuel 21: 10-11

Rizpah means glowing coal. Can her life shine a warning to us?

We don't know what kind of mother Rizpah was before her sons were taken. We do know she was the daughter of Aiah grand-daughter of Zibeon who was either a Hivite or a Horite, but was not of the house of Israel. She was a concubine...So with that said she was taken care of...but not as a complete family...her children's father was not a fully active part of their lives.

I cannot imagine how this poor mother felt. Here her sons had been taken to pay a debt that wasn't even theirs to pay. But the Bible says the sins of the fathers are past onto the children for generations.

My Dad: Fred Spears

My dad was born in 1931 and like my mom lived in West Virginia's post depression. He went to school with a boy who was older than he and came from money. This boy was very kind to my dad...he always had big juicy apples and would share with my dad. When my dad speaks of this I can see his eye shine from the held back tears.

My dad told me about the time that he and his brothers pushed over the outhouse with granny in it...and then he told me of the tanned hide he received afterwards.

Behind the house he grew up in was a train (coal) track. The kids would follow the train and collect coal and sell it for a little bit of cash.

It was there on those same train tracks that my Uncle Ronnie got born again. They were walking along the track whose knows where and uncle Ronnie and this boy were talking about the Lord...it wasn't long and they both knelt down where they were and Uncle Ronnie asked Jesus into his heart to save him. They ran up and told my dad what he had done. He understood what Ronnie was doing when he did it but wasn't saved himself...It would be many years later and many more chances before he would trust the Lord.

My Mom: Kathryn Spears

My mom was born in 1938 and she grew up post great depression. I don't know if the people of West Virginia got the memo about the depression ending though. When my mom was in school she had a friend, a little redheaded girl, she would come to school everyday without shoes. Her family couldn't afford them. My mom would tell me about this and said how much she had felt sorry for her. I have seen the picture of my mom and uncles from that time...they didn't have much themselves but they did have shoes.

My mom's best friend was Francis...and boy did they find themselves in trouble quite a few times. One time mom and Francis went to her house without telling her mom. When mamaw found her she whipped her all the way home. Mom never did that again.

My mom's papaw owned a grocery store that had a little movie house in the basement...they sold popcorn and soda's. Mom and Francis used to sneak in to the movies.

Mom had a very rough life, I won't go into details. When I was about 12 years old my mom worked at an auto parts in Lorain Oh. She Had a friend, Gail, that worked with her and invited us to be her guest at church, Victory Baptist Temple when it was on Cooper Foster in Lorain OH. The first time my mom went to church there she said it felt like something was pushing her out. Well she tried to keep going anyway.  The church moved to Elyria OH and we stopped going for awhile. Then We started going with Gail again to Tower Baptist Lorain OH. It was here that my mom finally got saved. Thank God for friends inviting friends to church. I CANNOT even begin to imagine where life would have taken me without the Lord in my life. Now I wasn't always perfect and have a lot of scars from running head long into sin. But, that's another story....

5-12-14
Carabineers are wonderful to have with you. I have two hooked to my purse strap. One holds my hand sanitizer and hair bands. The other I attach my keys to and then my purse to the shopping cart, so if someone goes to grab my purse it will slow them down. The other day at church I used it to keep my moms oxygen tank from falling over in case it got bumped. I a public bathroom I will NOT sit my purse on the floor. If there is not a hook but a hand hold I can hook it to that or wrap the strap around the handicap bar and hook it to itself.
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Plastic shower caps come 8 - 12 in a package for a $1 at the dollar store. These make great bowl covers...and are much cheaper than the Saran bowl covers.

9-17-13 Onion bag scrubbers - If you buy onions in those plastic mesh bags, cut the ends off where the metal is and ball up to use as a pot scrubber. It's free and works great.
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Cooking oil - Put in a squeeze bottle to use while cooking...it is more manageable. Also, don't peel the seal off the top of the oil bottle when you get it home. If you peel it back just a small amount then you will have better control over how much you pour.
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Keeping the car clean - I brought a small foldable duster to store in the car and use when I have a minute. Our dash is black and shows every little speck of dust.

5-21-13

Being a grand parent is SO much more than I ever thought it would be. It is an opportunity to watch those adults that we raised to put into action all that we taught them. The good, bad, and the educated. We hope that “the bad” they realize and correct, but it is the educated I want to reflect on now.

All three of our children are smart...not just book smart...not just common sense smart...not just street smart...and not just Bible smart. They are all three, all of these...just not all the time or at the same time. They educate each other too, I love that about them. They also educate us. For my husband that is not easy, he is very intelligent. Like all of us though, we don't know everything. So, we are glad our children are learners. The internet is such a great tool to learn and do research...and to find trivial facts. Vacations with the kids was always the best. We would go somewhere and hear...”Did you know...?” from one of them all the time. What was really cool was when one would start the ball rolling and the next would say, “and did you know...?” I would ask where did you hear that, and they would tell us that they read it somewhere.

The Ring

THE RING

3/7/2013
Okay, so I must give a little background to this story. Years ago we attend a church in Tyler Tx. The pastor was a great man of God by the name of Wiley Bennet. Boy did we love going soul-winning with that man. He was a dynamo for sure. One day we, Me, my husband and our two youngest children (Katrina and Jacob) were out knocking doors with him on a Saturday. Jacob was my partner that day. He had found a metal washer in the dirt as we were walking down the street and was playing with it. I felt it could be a distraction to those who we would get to speak with so I took it from him and put it on my pinky finger. (Boys will be boys and pick up treasure along their way in life) I had told him I would give it back later. After soul-winning we went to eat and I went into a restroom to wash my hands. I had forgotten about the washer on my finger and as I was washing my hands all the dirt on it came off and I realized it was actually a silver ring. Jacob had told me he wanted me to keep it and it just became my soul-winners ring. Roll ahead to 2012...

THE BRAID - by Diane Loy

THE BRAID - by Diane Loy

When you look upon a braided strand you'll see

It appears there is only two not three

Without the third and most important one

The little strand would soon come undone

 

When you look upon a Bride and Groom you'll see

It appears there is only two not three

Without God, the third and most important one

The Man and Wife would soon come undone

 

When this special day began

You were just a woman and a man

As you say, "I do", and this day comes to an end

You will forevermore be one with your best friend.

-Based on Gen. 2:24 and Ecc. 4:12

5-12-14 I have this thing I do to make sure kids are listening to me. I will snap my fingers and point to my nose while I say look right here. I do this when I am trying to get them to focus on what I am saying. Like repeating a memory verse...or giving them instruction. I feel it is vital to have a child focus on what's important I have even almost done this to adults...almost!!

During class time I am watching the children to see who is getting restless. Then I will say their name and ask a question about the story. While teaching on the Crucifixion of Christ I would say “April it wasn't nice for them to lie about Jesus was it?” This helps pull them back into the classroom.

I will keep teaching while sitting a child back in their seat or moving their legs to the front of the chair. This makes the distraction less.

I move around a lot. When we taught on the Whole Armor of God and that weeks lesson was on having your Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace...I walked around the class knocking on the walls to show door knocking.

I picked up one of the boys and laid him on the piano to show Lazarus being raised from the dead.

I turn off the lights and have the kids say “Let there be light” to show them that that was all God did to bring the light.

With everything this world has to offer these little ones in ways of entertainment it is hard to keep them focused. But it is so important and rewarding. Come out of your comfort zone and be crazy and fun. Make it a BIG deal...they will remember.

The B-i-b-l-e

9-7-13 When will a child learn how to treat his Bible? First off they are learning from the womb. I know of  several mom's who read to their babies while pregnant. They are learning now. Every class time we go over the Word of God:

Q: What is this? (holding up the Word) A: The Bible

Q: Who wrote the Bible? (pointing to Heaven) A: God did

Q: Who did He write it to? (pointing to them and then myself) A: To you and to me

Q: The Bible talks about God's son Jesus, and He died on the? A: Cross

Q: So we could go where someday? A: Heaven

Q: Should we...color in our Bibles? A: No

Church and How to Help Your Child See it Differently

9-6-13 While we were raising our children, one thing we wanted them to realize was that we were never going to let them play us against each other or come between us. We took that to the pew at church. We would never sit the kids between us. We just wanted them to see us as a force undivided. Speaking about church and sitting in the pew....

If you are looking for ways to help your child pay attention during preaching:

First try to position them so they can see the pastor. It is hard to listen when you are looking at the back of someone's head.

How to Rear Church Kids

6-14-13 I think because we head up the Zaccheus Class at church people come to us with questions about their kids. I hope it's not because we have become one of the gray heads. LOL

I have had mom's come up to me a few months before their little one turns 2 and moves up to the class to apologies for their child. They will say that they are sorry for the problems that their child has. They are not alone...I never expect a 2 year old to act like a 4 year old. So we are used to this. That is why we (ZC) are here. It is a teaching time. I will tell the mom's what they can do to help is start playing "church" at home. Put in a preaching CD and have the child sit with no TV on and look at the CD player with their hands in their laps for a few minutes. Going over church behavior each time.

Corrie ten BOOM

*Corrie ten BOOM*

Corrie ten BOOM has to be my first Christian hero. Her story is amazing. I had in my possession for a time a cassette tape with her speaking at a meeting. Powerful! http://www.tenboom.org/ She has had many great quotes attributed to her. One of my favorite parts of her story is when her and her father would board the train to go to Amsterdam so her father (a watch maker) could set his watch by the BIG clock and would be able to come back and make sure his clocks were all set with the correct time. This one trip Corrie, who was an old maid at the time, tells her dad that she doesn't know how she will make it without him when he dies. He ask her, "When we get on the train...when do I give you your ticket?" She replied, "Right before we get on the train." He then tells her that's when God will give her the grace she needs to deal with him going home to Heaven the same way...right before she needs it. It is hard knowing that our loved ones will die someday...but we have a loving Father that will give us the grace when we need it. God's love is so amazing. If you have never read anything of hers please do, it is very exciting how God worked and moved in her life.

Cynthia Bell

*Cynthia Bell*

Mrs. Bell is married to Pastor George Bell, Anchor Baptist Church, Columbus Ohio. Years ago when we attended Victory Baptist Temple in Elyria Oh, Pastor Bell and his church people would attend a lot of the same conferences that we did. I had known that the Lord called my husband into the ministry and was concerned because I did not feel I could ever be a pastors wife. I looked around at so many great men of God and saw their lovely, meek, and humble wives standing behind them...doing everything right. I thought well Lord that is NOT me...sorry! Then Mrs. Bell came to speak at a ladies meeting at VBT. WOW! It made all the difference to me...Mrs. Bell wasn't only lovely, meek, and humble...she was more. She was funny, she spoke about things that was real and genuine. She really let me see that to be a pastors wife...you could be human. Thank you Mrs. Bell.