Pillars of Faith

I got a Christmas email from a dear lady that we met when we were living in Alaska ('93-'97). She is an older lady, and in recent years her husband and sister have gone to be with the Lord. I mentioned her email to hubby last night while we were in bed, and then I started thinking about the many people that have gone a bit of the way on this journey of life I'm on. I couldn't help but thank God for the priviledge of knowing some of these people. I KNEW that our meeting was by God's design, and though at the time I didn't necessarily recognize them as "pillars" (was I looking for stunning marble or something), last night as I laid in bed thinking, I knew that these people truly were pillars of faith in my life. I want to try to share just a bit about some of them with you (there were many, but several specifics crossed my mind last night)
Bob: We met this man the first Easter Sunday that we spent in Alaska. My Mom convinced me to get in touch with a 4th cousin living in a neighboring Alaska town. When I called, this cousin I hardly knew invited me to his church for Easter. Little did I know how that phonecall would change the course of my life. When I first met Bob, I have to confess, I wasn't so impressed, but over a very short time I saw Bob's heart, which was probably the most beautiful heart I have ever seen. This man was quiet and yet powerful, truly a friend of God. His influence on my husband's life is stilling going strong though this dear man passed several years ago. I doubt he even realized the incredible witness he was to my husband.
Doc :We met this man at that first church visit as well. An older man that one might easily pass up, but when you took the time to sit quietly and listen to this man, he truly was a man of faith, a strong, quiet faith. Nothing showy about it, it just was there....kinda makes me think of a lighthouse, just there, giving out light, seemingly nothing special, and yet the many lives that have been saved.... Though my fondest memory of the man wasn't necessarily "spiritual" (but reminds me that God has a sense of humor)...the church we attended served lunch after the service and Doc would start off with a small plate of food, but always go back for any leftovers. He told me that leftovers had no calories! :)
Another sweet pillar of faith, Miss Ruth was Doc's sister-in-law. She lived with he and his wife. Yet another person that could easily be passed by, but when you stopped for just a minute, oh the beauty revealed....beauty that can come only from Christ in one's life. Miss Ruth was nearly blind and had a speech impediment, but just taking the time....you always came away richer after being with her. I remember visiting her at their home one time and she asked me to read a letter to her. It was then I discovered that she had a gift of letter writing. I don't even remember the number of people, missionaries and family and friends, I just remember it was an incredibly large number. The lady was nearly blind and yet she had this ministry!! She was quite a character too, something you wouldn't find out unless you slowed down and cherished this precious lady.
Mrs. White was a dear lady from my childhood. She was the "flower lady" at our little congregational church. However, I RARELY remember a floral arrangement that she simply bought. Her arrangements went with the season, simply because she would go out walking and just gather things up. The exception to this was Easter Sunday. I was too little to know exactly how it happened (donations, flower funds, etc) but opening the narthex doors on Easter Sunday at that little church is still one of my fondest memories. The entire front of the stage was filled with an incredible display of flowers! Lilies, hyacinth, daffodils, tulips....I can't even name them all. And the smell that wrapped around you as the doors open...when I read in the Bible about a sweet fragrance offered to the Lord, this is what I think of. Life burst forth from that little church on Easter Sunday! And I saw in dear Mrs. White that worship comes in so many different forms. I know she is joyfully tending gardens and gathering beautiful bouquets in heaven!

There are SO many other people that God has placed in my path, so many jewels. I am so thankful for each and every one of them,and for the portion of my journey that they joined me on. God is good ALL the time! Check out the jewels He's sprinkled around you and thank Him for the pillars of faith that He has gathered unto Himself.

Tozer Devotional

I really enjoy Tozer's writing...it is very rich and yet understandable. May you be blessed!

Tozer Devotional
Collective Writings from the Books of A.W. Tozer
That Incredible Christian
Chapter # Eight
Living an Exhanged Life
Live by the Spirit
Actually the purest saint at the moment of his greatest strength is as weak as he was before his conversion. What has happened is that he has switched from his little human battery to the infinite power of God. He has quite literally exchanged weakness for strength, but the strength is not his; it flows into him from God as long as he abides in Christ. One of the heaviest problems in the Christian life is that of sanctification: how to become as pure as we know we ought to be and must be if we are to enjoy intimate communion with a holy God. The classic expression of this problem and its solution is found in Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapters seven and eight. The cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (7:24) receives the triumphant answer, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (8:2). No one who has given attention to the facts will deny that it is altogether possible for a man to attain to a high degree of external morality if he sets his heart to it. Marcus Aurelius, the pagan emperor, for instance, lived a life of such exalted morality as to make most of us Christians ashamed, as did also the lowly slave Epictetus; but holiness was something of which they were totally ignorant. And it is holiness that the Christian heart yearns for above all else, and holiness the human heart can never capture by itself.
Prayer
You know my weakness, Lord, far better than I do. But You give me Your strength. Yours! I breathe it in today as I live this day for You. That Incredible Christian
Scripture
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.— Galatians 5:16
Thought
We can live today by the Spirit. In ourselves we are hopelessly weak failures. In Christ we are strong because of His strength. Let's live today by the Spirit!