DALE

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I received word at 4:35 A.M. this morning that my mother-in-law, Dale Stevens, went home to be with Jesus.

I cannot say she passed away, because for Dale, while death was a moment of weakness,I know it was also the moment that led to her greatest strength. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body..’ Death has been swallowed up in victory.‘.” 1 Cor. 15:42-44, 54

I have to say, Dale was a wonderful mother-in-law. She cared for her family with an indefatigable passion and a living faith and she accepted me into her family and cared for me as a member of that family. Even after my wife and I divorced Dale never cut me out. She always left a door open for me and kept relationship with me even across the miles. I will always be thankful for her love and care. I am praying now for my ex wife, her sisters and all their husbands, their children and my children and all that extended family as they mourn this foundational loss.

Tina (my ex wife) called from South Carolina, the other day and asked if I would sing over Dale in her hospice bed. I had the opportunity to sing over her twice and each time I sang songs of our hope in Heaven. As I sang, I was reminded that we may be parted for some moments now, but soon we shall all be reunited around the throne of the Living God.

SURVEY

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I visited town hall the other day. I needed to renew Snug’s dog license and to check in with the Planning Commission to see if our building project was even viable.

Snug’s dog license was a quick matter. He just had a rabies shot in the fall, so he is good through next year. After the town clerk’s office I stopped over to see Nicole Roberts at the planning commission and I spent about twenty minutes telling her about our plans.

The Vicarage sits on two pieces of property which my father acquired at different times in the 1970’s. The property we are planning on building the cottage on has plenty of frontage and set back so the building project is a go, but on further inspection it was discovered that the main house of the Vicarage, while grandfathered in, is not actually a buildable lot any longer. It is short by three feet of being buildable.

The advice is to have the lots surveyed so we can build on the empty lot and then give some frontage to the main lot so that also become buildable so we can add a garage or something in the future.

A PLACE OF PRAYER

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One of the things I am believing for our region is that prayer…and answered prayer will become a hallmark of this place.

I am seeing such an increase of the corporate prayer space and it is very encouraging.

The churches of our region are beginning to come together more and more in corporate prayer. Our church has just completed 21 days of fasting and prayer and now two other churches are walking through the lenten fasting season. In addition we now have daily prayer time established in our town through THE WORSHIP ROOM HOUSE OF PRAYER

You can click that icon for more information.

That’s not all. People are gathering in churches throughout our region for congregational prayer several times a week. We are going to be taking out an ad in the local paper to make the community aware of how much prayer is going on. And we have built a web page to promote those times of prayer.

Click that icon to get more info.

In the days ahead we will see many answers to prayer and great encouragement of faith in our region.

WHAT IS ENCOURAGING ABOUT THE PLACE YOU LIVE IN?

GRAMPA IN THE BONES

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I recently had an opportunity to attend a forum on minster’s health. I was struck by a statement that was made by the forum director. It resonated deeply with me.

YOU CAN HAVE JESUS IN YOUR HEART, BUT STILL HAVE GRAMPA IN YOUR BONES.

The idea is that even after receiving Jesus we all have strongholds. Paul the apostle wrote, ” For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:3-5

I have been left wondering what strongholds were erected in my life simply because I was born into the family I was born into. But it is not just the negative things I am thinking about either. What advantages did my family of origin plant inside of me?

I am praying through that I might capitalize on the latter while tearing down the former.

HOW ABOUT YOU? WHAT ADVANTAGES COME FROM YOUR FAMILY OF ORIGIN THAT YOU CAN CAPITALIZE ON? WHAT STRONGHOLDS NEED TO BE TORN DOWN?