This is the Day

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

 Psalm 118:24

This is the day the Lord has made. I will-- I make a choice-- to rejoice and be glad in it.

Whatever the circumstance, whatever the challenge, the fact remains that this is the day the Lord has made. He saw it in eternity and no matter what the circumstance, challenge, triumph, tragedy or ordinary regularity, He is in control.

He is sovereign.

He knows the plans He has for me--plans for a future and a hope.

He sees me.

He loves me.

He's not asleep on the job, but He watches over me.

Surely goodness and mercy are following me.

So why wouldn't I rejoice?

He saved me.

He delivered me.

He loves me.

He takes care of me.

This is His day. Nothing in it will take Him by surprise and with Him I can do all things because He strengthens me.

It's not by might or by my power but by His Spirit.

In my weakness, He is strong.

And He will fulfill the plans He has for me.

Why wouldn't I make a choice to rejoice? No matter what the circumstance, no matter what the challenge. I can have joy. Because while "happiness" may depend on what's "happening", my joy is in Jesus and He is the same.

Yesterday. Today. Forever.

This is His day so I can rejoice and be glad in the fact that He will never change. He promised me that He would never leave me nor forsake me. and He is not a man that He should lie.

He is God. He is all powerful. He speaks and things come into existence. He speaks and there is healing. He is the Creator.

The Savior.

The Deliverer.

This is His day and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

A Life Well Lived

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

 

Two years ago, a dear sister in Christ, Virginia Higgins, lost her battle to breast cancer. I really can't say that Virginia or Jenny as she was known to her friends and family "lost" because she was more than a conqueror through Christ. And I can't say that she is "lost" because we know where she is because we know her faith was in Christ Jesus. So she is in her heavenly home. But it really was our "loss" here on earth because although Jenny lived only 45 years, she lived well. She made an impact. Her presence, wisdom, kindness and praise are sorely missed by all who knew her. 

 

I will always remember her smiling face, her encouraging words, her praise and love for God and her love for her daughter. She did not have "success" as far as fame or fortune, but she had something much more important--significance. She lived a life that made a difference. She made an impact on people's lives in the here and now and for eternity. She was a wonderful mother, sister, daughter and friend. She was one of my special sisters. One of my parents special daughters in the ministry.

 

Jenny fought the fight against breast cancer valiantly. But she was a casualty of a disease that takes the lives of thousands of women every year and is the second leading cause of cancer death in women.

 

In 2012, the American Cancer Society estimates:

 
• About 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women.
• About 63,300 new cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS) will be diagnosed (CIS is non-invasive and is the earliest form of breast cancer).
• About 39,510 women will die from breast cancer

Death rates from breast cancer have been declining since about 1990, with larger decreases in women younger than 50. These decreases are believed to be the result of earlier detection through screening and increased awareness, as well as improved treatment. Make sure you check your breast regularly and schedule your mammogram. Early detection saves lives.

In honor of Jenny and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I am reposting a post I wrote about Jenny not long after her passing and also a video of her testimony.



 

“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children…” 

Proverbs 13:22

I read the posting on Facebook. It was a posting from the daughter of a friend. My friend, Jenny, passed away this fall. Her daughter commented on how she could still hear her mother’s words and even found herself saying her mother’s very words sometimes.

“Never stoop to their level,” is one of the lessons she could hear her mother saying.

Freedom from Domestic Violence

One mother's mission to teach and save others from her tragedy

 

By Monica Fountain

 

 

I’ve had a 3 years of confusion, frustration, and exhaustion. But along with that have come many blessings received and given. It seems like just yesterday I was calling you to tell you that I was on my way to come do your hair and help get the kids ready. As usual I had a last minute change in schedule but when I tried to call you back I got no answer.  Being the persistent mom that I am, I decided that I was coming anyway, maybe you were just out at the store.—a letter from Yolan  Henry to her daughter, written on the anniversary of her death.

 

Yolan Henry will never forget the day her daughter died-- January 24, 2009. She doesn’t talk about it every day. But it is always there.

Sitting in a suburban coffee shop, tears well up in her eyes as she describes her daughter, Nova, her shining star.

“I try to put it aside so that I’m not thinking about her every single day but I can’t help it,” Henry said. “I just loved her. That was my daughter.”

 I’ll see you later, Mom

 Opening the door to your house changed my life forever in the worse way! I try not to see that door but it’s always there. I just know that God opened his door as well and took you and Ava to live with him.

 

Noah knows this too. That’s what I’ve told him.  I’m sorry that you had to encounter such a demon that couldn’t understand your light that shone so bright, that’s why your Name was NOVA (SUPERNOVA: THE BRIGHTEST SHINING STAR!)…and Ava…I guess she was just here for a short while to come and get you cause God saw your pain and struggles, and he said NO MORE.

 Her name said it all. Nova. Supernova. A star. She was beautiful. She loved to dance. She loved to have fun. She was a mother who loved her children. She was her mother’s firstborn child.

Henry was a teenage mother. She found out she was pregnant her last semester of her senior year in high school.

“I just had to have her and let my life go on from there,” she said. “Nova was very fun loving. She loved music. She loved to dance. When she was a baby she always would just get up and dance for me and make me laugh.”

Life went on. Henry got married and had a son and another daughter. Her marriage ended after 25 years. Henry said her marriage relationship was abusive. She thought because they didn’t fight in front of the children that they didn’t see it, hear it or were affected by it.

Now that her daughter is gone, a fatal victim of domestic violence, she thinks different.

To read more click on the photo and read the full article in The Well Magazine Summer 2012

 

 

 

 To order a print copy of the magazine or to subscribe for a year, click here.

 





Top At the Well Postings for September 2012

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