Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised Hebrew 6:12

I'm continually amazed at how God can allow a book such as The Streams in the Dessert, to minister to me time and time again. God is so faithful to remind me of His promises, which are written all through out the Bible. Today I want to share with you the reading from March 4th.

The biblical heroes of faith call to us from the heights they have won, encouraging us that what man once did, man can do again. They remind us not only of the necessity of faith but also of the patience required for faith's work to be perfected. May we fear attempting to remove ourselves from the hands of our heavenly Guide, or missing even one lesson of His loving discipline due to our discouragement or doubt.

An old village blacksmith once said, "there is only one thing I fear: being thrown onto the scrap heap. You see, in order to strengthen a piece of steel, I must first temper it. I heat it, hammer it, and then quickly plunge it into a bucket of cold water. Very soon I know whether it will accept the tempering process or simply fall to pieces. If, after one or two test, I see it will not allow itself to be tempered, I throw it onto the scrap heap, only to later sell it to the junkman for a few cents per pound.

I realize the Lord tests me in the same way: through fire, water, and heavy blows of His hammer. If I am unwilling to withstand the test, or prove to be unfit for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me onto the scrap heap."

When fire in your life is the hottest, stand still, for "later on . . . it produces a harvest" (Heb. 12:11) of blessings. Then we will be able to say with Job, "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold: (Job 23:10). selected

Sainthood finds its source in suffering. Remember, it requires eleven tons of pressure on a piano's strings for it to be tuned. And God will tune you to perfect harmony with heaven's theme if you will withstand the strain.

Things that hurt and things that mar
Shape the man for perfect praise;
Shock and strain and ruin are
Friendlier than the smiling days.

After reading this entry in this precious book that has ministered to my heart so many times, I was once again reminded that God allows us to go through the fire so that we can come out stronger and to remind us that He has a plan for our lives. The time spent in the Hospital with Luke was unbearably hard at times. I kept asking God what his purpose in taking us back there was? But was unable to hear Him clearly during those extremely stressful days, I just knew that I needed to trust Him alone to bring Luke through another life threatening trial. I am so thankful that God's presence is so strong and that His peace and joy can sustain us through out our most challenging days and times.

Luke is doing so much better, he is getting more verbal all the time, I know that he calls out to us in his own way when he wants one of us to come to him, either to help him or just to be with him. Lately Lily has been expressing to me daily that she wants Luke to walk and talk, I keep reminding her that is exactly what we are praying for daily and believing with all our hearts it will happen soon.

Luke turns 8 on Thursday, March 10th, it's so hard to believe he is getting so old, but you can tell by looking at him he is definitely not that little boy he once was. His birthday is usually a hard time for me, as I so desperately want to keep him small enough to be able to hold him and carry him, but on the other hand I'm happy that he is turning another year older, one more year to be thankful to God for allowing Luke to still be with us here on earth.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS Would you please pray for Annie today, her blog site is posted over to the left in the Prayer links, she has spent the last two weeks in the hospital and her body is currently rejecting any food they give her, she is in desperate need of a miracle today. Also keep Caleb in your prayers, he suffered from a severe seizure two weeks ago and his poor little body still keeps tremoring almost constantly.