Monday, January 29, 2007

Miracle on 300th Street




Thought I would share the newsletter for the boys ranch that I just sent out. The last newsletter that was sent out in November I stated that a company backed out of a committment of triple matching a golf outing someone put on for us last June, 2006. We were suppose to receive the triple match in October and this was going to finish purchasing the cows to fill the dairy barn. The company decided to back out on this committment due to the fact that our website states that we hold bible study with the boys. This company had given already in January of 2006 to this ministry.
Here is a portion of the newsletter I just sent out on Friday. God is an Awesome God!

The last newsletter we sent out we ask you to join us in prayer and start believing that this ministry would not only receive a triple match, that would equal the $18,000.00 but God is going to double that triple match, because our God is a God who still performs miracles today, and he is going to display his power among the people. Well, we are excited to share that your prayers have been heard and MIRACLES DO HAPPEN! Since the last newsletter when I ask you to start believing to receiving, we have received the $36,000.00. Isn’t He an AWESOME God! The cows are completely paid for and $9,000.00 worth of corn is paid for to feed the cows. Our God is in the miracle business and He is using great people to help perform miracles in young men’s lives by keeping the doors of Miracles Can Happen Boys Ranch, open another year. We made it through another year and we are starting the 15th year, in 2007. We would like our thanks be made known for everyone that had a part in the miracles taking place in the year 2006 and as our Pastor put it on New Years Eve, may we hear from HEAVEN in 2007! I believe due to your prayers and support, we’ve already started to hear from HEAVEN. We are excited for what God has in store for 2007.



Testimony of 2006: Jim say’s “What is going on, why are you acting like this?” Boy says, “Okay, I’ll tell you why I’m acting like this because I don’t want to go home, I just want you and Cathy to adopt me, you are the only one’s that have ever made me do the right things. I’m scared that when I go home, somebody will lie or do something to make me mad because it’s wrong, and I will end up losing my temper.” This boy has told us several times that he feels good about himself for once. There is no way we could start to adopt the boys because it would be never ending but with your help in this ministry we can continue to bring more boys into this home and share the love of Jesus with them. Thank you for making a difference!


Friday, January 26, 2007

If we're wrong, just wasted words!


About 10 days ago I posted Jesus is the only way asking all believers who read this to lift boy #32 at the boys ranch up in prayer. Last night this boy was on his way to work and he was in a little wreck. He told us later that if he was 5 seconds earlier, the other vehicle could have hit him in the drivers door, and possibly could have killed him. We ask him if he thought about where he might spend eternity, if that would have happened. We told him if he wanted us to pray with him we were here, but we were not going to force Jesus on Him. My husband said, "I'm not going to get any extra crown or anything by you praying because I've already done my job with your life. I have shared with you what you need to do to have eternal life." He just fidgeted a little more. Then I said, "You know if we are wrong then the words you would have said in a prayer to ask Jesus into your life would just be wasted, but if we are right then where would you spend eternity?" Once again we assured him though that it needed to be his decision, and not ours, and it also had to be from his heart. He was very emotional, but never mentioned anything to us about praying with him. So we gave him his hug good night and went to bed ourselves with heavy hearts. God is definitely working on this young man's heart, and I'm asking again please join us in prayer for this young man's soul, my heart hurt for him when he was scared about his life and how he is struggling to accept God's Grace.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

My pesky bugs!


II Corinthians 4:13 "It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken. With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,"

I just got done listening to one of my online lessons with Beth Moore "Believing God", she told me to tell that mountain to move and if God doesn't move that mountain, climb that thang! My mountain right now are these bugs on my bathroom floor everyday! I just swept my floor about 4 hours before I took this picture. Why can't my bugs look pretty like the other bugs in the picture above? I was sitting on my toilet today looking at my daily bugs, and thinking that is just like the enemy to rob me of my joy, I just swept the floor and there are the bugs again. So figure it up if I had 6 bugs on my floor after 4 hours, if I only swept my floor once a week I would have 252 bugs on my bathroom floor. I'm so sick of these bugs! Just like I'm so sick of the enemy robbing me of my joy and trying to send other bugs in my life, to keep me focusing on the bugs instead of focusing on the beauty of the one that created the bugs. I'm going to tell that mountain to move and if it doesn't move, because it might be stubborn like me, then I'm gonna climb that thang! I believe those bugs are going to leave! Thank you Jesus for loving me, even when I'm kind of pesky like the bugs in my life right now! Thank you for forgiving me when I let you down, and thank you for using people in my life to teach me. I love you Jesus!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Part one "My Story"


Mark 11:22 "Have faith in God, " Jesus answered.

Have you ever felt like your faith is sometimes wavy like it looks in this graphic? In the past 16 1/2 years my husband and I have been on a path of living by faith. I will admit it hasn't always been easy and there have been times I wanted to throw in the towel. I want to write a book someday, so I will practice with little clips here on my blog. So here is part 1 of my story. Not sure when the next part will come but keep visiting and in the mean time keep wondering.... to be continued!

Where are you God? I remember wondering this back in 1990 when God moved my husband, our three children ages 3, 5 & 6 and me about 500 miles away from my family that I had never been away from, the whole 26 years of my life. My husband and I decided that we were going to be the chess pieces and He, God, would be the master chess player, and where He would move us we would go.

Approximately a month before we moved we had visited a ranch for troubled boys. We heard about the ranch through, Intercristo, a Christian job placement network. After looking at the run down ranch, and talking to the program director, we left the property and fell silent. We were in awe after hearing the faith stories the program director shared with us, and couldn’t even talk. About 5 or 10 miles down the road, we both said at the same time. "What did you think?" Then at almost the exact same time again, we said, "Our house!" While we were there we were shown this run down three- bedroom trailer house that we would be moving into, while working with the boys on this ranch, if we took the job.

At this time my husband and I were doing pretty well. We married right out of high school, started a family not even a year into our marriage, and didn’t have any college degree. My husband was working in a factory making about $14.00 an hour back in 1990, I was doing in home day care, with several children, and my husband also was running a mechanic shop out of our two car garage. We had bought our first house 5 years prior when we were 21 years old, and it was on a corner lot, with a swimming pool in our back yard and a big fenced in yard for the children.

Guess what, my husband said, "are we sounding a little like the rich guy in the bible? We want to serve God but are we really willing to give up our earthly possessions to serve Him?" Wow did he step on my toes or my heart? Actually it hit both of us, and we both agreed that if God wanted us to serve Him then He would have to sell our home, because renting was not an option for us. So we called the realtor on a Tuesday, we talked, he came by and put a sign in the yard. This happened the day before the small town newspaper came out. We were thinking we have plenty of time, because this house was on the market a year and a half before we bought it and we were selling it for more than what we bought it for 5 years prior. I have something to tell you. If you are not willing to be used by God don’t tell him you are ready, if you really aren’t because he works fast. You see, the very day the sign was put in our yard the realtor called to show our house but we told him to wait until Saturday to show it because we had some painting to do. Is our God awesome or what? The couple that came to look at our house that Saturday bought our house and we moved within the next month.

So there we were packing up, and the program director of the ranch we were moving to called us. He said, "The couple that was living in the farmhouse about 2 miles away from the ranch just left today so you won’t be moving into the three-bedroom trailer house, you can move into the two story farmhouse." Is that just like Our God to try to out Bless us? Here we were trying to be a blessing and following His calling on our life. Instead He had to turn around and out Bless us by giving us the two-story farmhouse to move into. Wow, that just gives me the holy bumps all over again just reminiscing about the whole thing. Where are you God? He was right there all the time. The whole year and a half we were at that ranch, learning what ministry was all about, before He, the master Chess player, moved his players again. You want us to what? Where are you God?

Monday, January 15, 2007

Jesus is the Only Way!


1 John 4:15-17 "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him." NIV

My husband and I have had 34 at - risk boys come live in our home in the last 14 years, we are so blessed to be able to share the love of Jesus with these boys. I will be honest it hasn't been an easy road, however, it has been a road to remember. God has used us as his tool, he is the master gardner and we are just the hoe that try's to turn up the top soil that has become so hard. We try to keep the boys with us approxiamately 2 - 2 1/2 years, because we feel if we get them around 14, and it took them this many years to get where they are, God needs some time to use us to build a firm foundation under their feet when they leave.


We have had boys here anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 1/2 years. As of right now every one of the 34 boys except one, which is living with us right now, has made a profession of faith. This is what brings me to write this post. My heart is hurting right now for this boy, because he has been with us for a year and a half and I realize the time is almost running out. As I'm writing this I'm thinking shouldn't our hearts hurt every day for loved ones that don't know Jesus, because our time is running out. No one knows the day or the hour. Wow, I don't know about you but what about your family members, are you constantly trying to reach them? I will have to say family is the hardest to witness to, but as I yearn for this boys salvation it is really making me think of my family members.
This young man refuses to ask Jesus to come into his life, he is probably the easiest boy we have worked with regarding attitude. He will also be the first to answer questions in morning devotions, and the first to ask questions in Bible Study at night. When we memorize scripture, he will be the first to have it memorized. Just the other day, he was getting ready to go for a job interview and he has been looking for a job for about a month, so as he was getting his keys to his car from me. I said, "Would you like me to pray for you?" He said, "sure", with no hesitation. When he came home with paperwork and a job, he was very excited. I shared with his excitement and then God gave me these words. "If you don't believe in Jesus, why did you not hesitate at all when I ask if you wanted me to pray before you left for this job interview." He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders and walked to his room.
So this post is to ask every believer in Christ that reads this to please lift boy #32 at the Miracles Can Happen Boys Ranch up in prayer that he will quit running from God and just hand the baton over to Jesus. After all God is still in the miracle working business here at Miracles Can Happen Boys Ranch.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Too young to be a Grandma?


Proverbs 29:17 "Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul." I don't feel too young to be a grandma today! Our youngest son, whom will be 20 in February, has joined up with us in our ministry, which we are very excited about, he is a great mentor to the young boys we work with. However, I don't quite understand this verse right now. Could you try to help me understand it? My son thinks he can discipline me now and he is not giving me peace or bringing delight to my soul. He is bringing aches and pains to my body because for some reason he thinks that his mom and dad need to do a work out with him 3 days a week. Ohhhhhh, am I sore but ohhhhhhh do I need this! So I guess I have handed the baton over to Jesus with Curtis because now he is raising me and teaching me what is right for me. But this isn't fair, I'm suppose to hand the baton over to Jesus not Curtis. Did it hurt Curtis this much when I was disciplining him? Yeah, I'm sure it did only instead of his back hurting his behind was hurting.
To be honest my son is giving me great peace and delight to my soul, because he feels that God wants him to be a mentor to young men right now in his life. It brings great joy to know that even though our son watched us struggle in this ministry, for the past 15 years, he must of seen the joy we have sharing the love of Jesus with these young men.
So even though I'm hurting right now, I know I need this discipline of exercising. I have struggled with back pain since I was 25, have spent several days down in bed because of my back, so my back does need strengthened and this is the only way it's going to happen.
Proverbs 15:32 "He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding."
Lord,
Help me not to ignore this discipline, because I do want to gain
understanding, even if it is taking my baby to show me true discipline.
Thank you for disciplining me as your child when I need it, you are a
great Father and I love you. I want to praise you in advance for the
way you are going to help me feel young again! Thank you for bringing
Curtis, here, to join up with us in this ministry.
In Jesus Name,
Amen

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

2007 New Years Meditations!

Laurel Wreath invited us to post on our site about our hopes, dreams, and goals for the next year. What a great way to look at New years resolutions in a much different way.
I have been struggling with my prayer life for quite sometime and I have been so excited since Sunday morning service about the year 2007 and my prayer life. Since then, I have been reading What Happens When Women Pray by Evelyn Christenson and Too Busy Not To Pray by Bill Hybels and also the Busy Grandma's Guide to Prayer by Lisa Whelchel & Gentry Coleman, which I mentioned in my previous post "I will always be a mom but now I'm a Grandma!" The funny thing is I have already read the first two books I mentioned here and done a bible study on both of them. However, it's time to blow the dust off them and study them again, because I'm ready to Hear from Heaven in 2007! Our Pastor challenged us on New Years Eve to Discover the Dynamite and pray like we have never prayed before and Hear from Heaven in 2007. I'm excited because I believe that prayer is dynamite when it is lit on fire, and I'm ready for my pray life to explode in 2007, because I do want to hear from Heaven in 2007! My hope is that my prayer life will do what I'm dreaming it's going to do as I reach my goal of Hearing from Heaven in 2007!
Thank you God for the excitement you have put back in my life, as you carried us through 2006 in our ministry my husband and I are in, struggling financially to keep the doors open, and the way you ended our year with great encouragement financially. God is good and still in the Miracle working business so if you would like to read about some miracles take a look at our ministries website Miracles Can Happen Boys Ranch, Inc. Where Miracles are still happening Today!

Climb that "thang!"

I wrote this post back in January of 2007  and I still have those pesky bugs and the enemy is still trying to rob me of my joy on a weekly ...