Gifted Hands

Called

Gifted

Hands used by God

An instrument of His healing

Equipped

Learned

A faithful steward

Of talents and abilities entrusted by Lord

Wisdom

Experience

Hands that bring healing

Skillfully guided by the Great Physician

by Susan Bunts Wachtel

June 4, 2011

This poem is dedicated to Dr. Tina Lin who will be performing my back surgery this morning and to Jesus Christ my Great Physician and Healer.

Thank you to the many people who have been praying. The Lord has been so merciful and good in answer your prayers. I have the peace of God that passes all understanding.

Erasing Hell - Francis Chan

Hard Reading

Last night, before going to sleep, I picked up my Bible to read from Matthew.  I don’t think I realized it until afterwards, when I started reading one of my favorite books “At Home in Mitford”, how challenging it can be to read Bible.

When I read the Bible, I’m examining myself in light of God’s word and that can be hard work!  While my outward actions and words might seem okay, God looks at my heart.  God uses His word to expose the thoughts and intentions of my heart and sometimes it’s not pretty. 

Praise God that I feel that conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Praise God that He is at work in me.  Praise God that when I submit to God in obedience, He changes and molds me into the person He designed me to be, making me into the image and likeness of Christ.  That work will continue until I die.

While I’ll enjoy reading books, fiction and non-fiction, it can be a way to escape and to not confront myself with the mirror of God’s word.  That’s not to say I shouldn’t read books other than the Bible, but I need to put the word of God first in my life.  I need to be ready and willing to let God do the hard work of shining the Light into the dark recesses of my heart and mind and clean out the uglies. 

99 Balloons - Every Life is Precious in the Eyes of the Lord

Today I stopped by Joshua's blog "A Warrior's Heart" and found this video "99 Balloons".  Take a few minutes and watch it.  The video is about the life of Baby Elliot will be a reminder that every life is precious in the eyes of the Lord.

Please stop by Joshua's blog and read his post on prayer.  Joshua is a man after God's own heart.  He loves the Lord and is filled with love and compassion for people.  He is a passionate prayer warrior and shares the Word of God.

Prayer as a Way of Walking in Love: A Personal Journey

Do you love to pray or do you struggle with prayer?  Do you want to grow closer to the Lord?  Do you want to have a heart like David who was a man after God's own heart?  Be sure to listen to Francis Chan's message at this year's Desiring God Conference for Pastors.  It's one you may want to download and listen to again. 

The Eastman Chronicles…Convicting

I love reading other blogger’s writings, especially Christian bloggers.  I love hearing what the Lord is teaching them through the study of God’s or about the work He is doing in their lives. 

One of my favorite bloggers is Michelle Eastman at “The Eastman Chronicles”.  Michelle is an amazing woman of God, wife, mother, daughter and friend.  She is open and transparent about her life and her love for the Lord and His word is evident in what she writes and how she lives her life. 

Click on over to “The Eastman Chronicles” and be challenged by today’s post “Incredibly Convicting”. 

Just Thinking...Trials & Tribulations

It’s easy to love the Lord when things are going good in our lives.  But I find out if I really love the Him during difficult times and trials and tribulations. 

Fear is unbelief in action.  It reveals who my focus is on, is it on the Lord or is it on me?  Do I depend upon the Lord or rely on my strength? 

Trials and tribulations are instruments God uses for good in our lives.  If I trust God during hard times my faith is strengthened.  My love for Christ Jesus grows.

Do I really believe, do my thoughts and actions reflect the truth of Scripture that He is the Potter and I am the clay?  Clay being molded doesn’t get off the Potter’s wheel and protest, whine and complain.  Instead the clay submits to the skillful hands of the Potter.

But now, O LORD,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
Isaiah 64:8

Selfish & Fickle

Recently when struggling with God about something that I didn’t think was fair, I felt as if the Holy Spirit rebuked me.  He challenged my thinking which was focused on me, how I felt and what I wanted. 

It’s hard, if not impossible, to love someone else when I put myself first.  When I make my feelings the measuring rod by which I determine if someone is right or wrong or good or bad, they will always fall short in my estimation. 

That doesn’t even take into account the fickleness of my feelings.  I need to remember God’s counsel that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. 

Words of a Gossip

Words of a gossip
Go down with ease
Taste sweet to the hearer delighted to partake

Pride
Arrogance
Judgment abounds

Two or three gathered together
Words said in a whisper
Lest anyone else should overhear

Ugly heart
Ill intentions
Calculated and designed to raise themselves up

Beware to the one who listens
Soon you will be the topic of conversation
Your name will be bandied about in a whisper

Instead step away
Shut your mouth
Lock your ears

Know there is One who overhears it all
He knows the thoughts and intentions
Of our sinful, wicked hearts


By Susan Bunts Wachtel
June 3, 2010


Oh how I hate gossip and know its destructive force.  If find it amazing that people are so easily lured in to the conversation of a gossip.  Do they really think that the person with whom they are conversing won’t do the same thing to them at an opportune time?  If someone was gossiping about a loved one…how would they feel?  Angry, upset over the injustice and judgmental attitude from the ignorant, wicked heart?  There is nothing good about gossip! 

12 Who is the man who desires life,
         And loves many days, that he may see good?
 13 Keep your tongue from evil,
         And your lips from speaking deceit.
 14 Depart from evil and do good;
         Seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 34: 12-14

  16 These six things the LORD hates,
      Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
       17 A proud look,
      A lying tongue,
      Hands that shed innocent blood,
       18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
      Feet that are swift in running to evil,
       19 A false witness who speaks lies,
      And one who sows discord among brethren.
Proverbs 6:16-19

 
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. – James 3:6-9

Just Thinking…About the Lord

I find comfort and assurance in knowing that the Lord never wrings His hands in worry.  Nothing takes Him by surprise.  God never has an anxious thought.  He doesn’t toss and turn all night or need an extra cup of coffee to get through the day.  He’s never weary.  God never wonders “what if”.