Healing Prayer

A friend let me borrow a book called Healing Prayer by David Chotka and Maxie Dunham.  I have just started it, but I am already inspired and scared.  I am inspired as each of them shared their personal experiences with healing prayer in the first chapter.  David had an acquaintance that had ridiculed him for his Christian belief.  The acquaintance was diagnosed with phlebitis and had asked through a mutual friend for David to pray for him.  He stated, "David is the only one I know that believes."   Based on the history, David initially rejected the request, but later was convinced that he needed to be faithful to God and to the request.  David visited the acquaintance in the hospital, laid his hands on the diseased area, and prayed for healing for the first time in his life.  He felt a warmth go from his arm into the diseased shoulder.  The next day multiple doctors confirmed that there was no sign of the phlebitis.  Maxie's story was different in that his family and church community was praying for his grandson who had multiple issues with his vision over several years.  Doctors said he would never be able to see normally, but after multiple years, his vision was almost completely restored.  These stories are inspirational, but the scary part to me is that I know I have prayed prayers for healing that have not been answered immediately, and most have still not been answered to my knowledge.   I know that this is true for many of my friends who have done the same.  That makes me question both my level of faith and my capacity to pray "correctly".  I hope this book is going to help me with both of those fears.  I would love to hear your experiences with healing prayer.

Extended Family

 

My earthly family is the second most important thing in my life after my relationship with my heavenly Father.  I am fortunate that my two brothers, my mom and both of my children's families are all in the Atlanta area.  I get to see all of them regularly.  But time away from work is pretty rare.  Over the last six weeks, both of my children, and Caroline and I, have had couples-only trips, and all of us just completed four days with the grandkids at Disney.  We had a blast.  Since Michael and I work together in real estate, one might have expected the extended time off to take a toll on the business.  But somehow, out of hundreds of Keller Williams teams in the southeast region, our team was number 4 in April, and May will be the best month in the history of our company.  All of this build up is to let you know that there is another important member of our extended family.  Janet Jeanes has been the Client Services Manager for Spot On The Lake since 2007, and she has stuck with us through thick and thin.  Her title describes her role perfectly, as she is responsible for serving our clients in the best way that she can.   Many times when I show up for closings, the client will say, "oh, we hoped Janet would be here."  Her dedication to our clients and her faithfulness to our small company are two of the primary reasons that we continue to have success.  And with Michael and I being gone recently, it is obvious that she has everything that she needs to handle things beautifully while we are out.  I count myself very fortunate to have Janet as a part of our extended family.  Thank you Janet for all you do for us.

P119

 JC is a good friend that I have written about in the past. (John Crawfrord, not Jesus Christ).  I first met JC in the Redcoat Band at UGA in 1980.  We both played trumpet in that band and in the UGA Jazz Band.  We were more acquaintances than good friends at that time.  After college, JC joined Northwestern Mutual and Caroline and I eventually became his clients for life insurance.  Caroline became his office manager about the time I changed careers to go into real estate.  We both like to waterski, and JC eventually became my client for real estate when he bought a home at Lake Hartwell.  We have watched our kids grow up loving the lake and for several years met for boat church at the lake on Sundays.  JC is one of the most generous people I have ever known, and I happen to know his secret.  He is a fervent reader of the Bible, and he consistently reminds me that I need to be one, too.  I have a long way to go.  This week he encouraged me to read Psalm 119.  I'm sure I have read what turns out to be the longest book of the Bible in the past, but it has been a while.  It is packed with truth, and you could spend hours meditating on just a few verses.  If you haven't read it in a while, I want to follow JC's lead and encourage you to read it today.  

"Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands." v73

The Other Brother (update)

 

On January 11th of this year, I posted about Jeymes Samuel, who wrote, produced and composed the score for the movie, The Book of Clarence.  I had not seen the movie yet at that time, and this week, I finally had the opportunity to see it.  The movie presents Clarence as the undocumented brother of Thomas from the Bible.  Clarence is a street-wise man with a disreputable past, who after hearing about the growing popularity of Jesus, decides he should be a Messiah, too.  His interactions with other characters from the Bible artfully blend truth with what "could be true" to deliver a very compelling story.  But it is the change that takes place in Clarence that turns a story that could be considered by some to be a spoof,  into a true reflection of the power of the one and only God.  If  you have seen it, I would love to hear what you think.  If you haven't, I strongly recommend it.

The Seventh of June

 

On 6/7/2017, when Anne was 15 years old, she received the news that nobody wants to get.  Her older brother, Jacob, had been killed in a car accident.  She had been very close to her brother, and of course, she was traumatized.  In planning the funeral, Anne's mother asked her if she would sing, and Anne agreed to sing one of her favorite songs, "What a beautiful name" from Hillsong Worship.  This was the first time that she had sung publicly.  During and after the service, Anne realized that singing, and especially singing worship music, was something that she felt called to do.  Afterwards, she was encouraged by friends to record this video, and posted it to YouTube.  Over a million people watched it, and one of those people was a talent scout for Capitol Christian Music Group, who signed Anne to that label in 2019.  Two years later, at the age of 19, Anne Wilson's debut song, My Jesus, was nominated for the Billboard Music Award for Top Christian Song.  Last year, Anne released The Seventh of June as a tribute to her brother and a statement of God's presence while she was dealing with her grief.  Praise God for bringing healing from sadness, and thanks to Anne for sharing her gift to bring Him glory.