Since my retirement from full-time Pastoral Ministry a few years ago, I have had the privilege of serving several churches in the role of Interim Pastor. Not long ago, after finishing my Sunday morning message in just such a capacity, a lady gave me a picture along with an accompanying document she had typed up titled “OUR MIRACLE HEART”.
With her permission, I share them here…
First the picture… On the left is the picture as she delivered it to me. On the right is the same picture, only rotated and cropped to emphasize the subject at hand.
With her permission, I share them here…
First the picture… On the left is the picture as she delivered it to me. On the right is the same picture, only rotated and cropped to emphasize the subject at hand.
And now, her verbatim explanation …
I’d like to share the blessing I received on February 27, 2020. It was the day after my 77th birthday and although I had had cards, calls, and flowers from my family and friends I was feeling a little blue. Cleat was 77 when he passed in 2015 and I missed him. That cold and frosty morning seemed just like any other, til Geary called me to look out the bathroom window, there on the roof of my carport, was this Beautiful Heart. I felt like I had just received a Big Hug from Cleat.
I was on the way to church to help set up for our Second Harvest food distribution on Saturday. So I told everyone about Heart and showed them the picture on Geary’s I-pad.
Little did I suspect the Blessing that God sent me that day, and the strength I would receive from that Heart, in the days to follow.
On February 29th we had just returned home from a birthday dinner with my grand-daughter and husband. As we approached the house, Pastor Matt Reed was just leaving, he came back and gave me the bad news. As we were talking, I got a call from my daughter Shelly, she was crying as she told me that her husband Brad had died in a tragic accident at home, when a tree he was cutting fell on him. She had lost her husband, I had lost my wonderful son-in-law! I looked out at the roof and the Heart was still there.
March 2nd the big tornado hit Nashville, and by Monday morning, as we were getting ready to leave for N.C. the winds and rain hit us hard. We waited until almost noon, as the storm passed we left and followed it all the way to Asheville. The Heart was still on the roof, reminding that God was watching over us. We were gone 3 days and when we arrive home late on Thursday, the Heart was still there. It stayed on the roof for a month, during many spring storms, it was always there comforting us. Then one morning the end of March we got up and looked out as we always did, and it had silently slid into the gutter.
“GOD IS SO GOOD” He is always there, even before we know we need him!!
For my part, I was touched – both by the picture she shared and by her accompanying written testimony. Most likely, you were as well. After all, who among us had not had a succession of difficult circumstances with which we have had to deal?
I know I have. If you have as well, then do not despair. Our Lord Himself once told us (in the New Testament Gospel of John, chapter 16, verse 33) that “In the world ye shall have tribulation”. Modern English translations word this as: “here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows”.
For my part, I have heard this verse cited many times. Maybe you have as well. But it is worth taking the time to quote the whole verse and not just part of it. In its entirety, John 16:33 reads: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Did you catch it? Jesus’ exact words were “Take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Clearly, the precious lady who shared the above testimony with me was reminded by our Lord to “take heart” in the midst of “many trials and sorrows”. And through her testimony, I too have been reminded to do the same thing. I trust you have been as well.
More to the point, I trust that, whatever you may be facing, the Lord will bring to your mind the picture you have now seen above. For ensconced in that heart is a powerful symbol - of God’s love, God’s presence, and God’s strength, no matter what you may be called upon to face or endure!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/john/16-33.htm.
I’d like to share the blessing I received on February 27, 2020. It was the day after my 77th birthday and although I had had cards, calls, and flowers from my family and friends I was feeling a little blue. Cleat was 77 when he passed in 2015 and I missed him. That cold and frosty morning seemed just like any other, til Geary called me to look out the bathroom window, there on the roof of my carport, was this Beautiful Heart. I felt like I had just received a Big Hug from Cleat.
I was on the way to church to help set up for our Second Harvest food distribution on Saturday. So I told everyone about Heart and showed them the picture on Geary’s I-pad.
Little did I suspect the Blessing that God sent me that day, and the strength I would receive from that Heart, in the days to follow.
On February 29th we had just returned home from a birthday dinner with my grand-daughter and husband. As we approached the house, Pastor Matt Reed was just leaving, he came back and gave me the bad news. As we were talking, I got a call from my daughter Shelly, she was crying as she told me that her husband Brad had died in a tragic accident at home, when a tree he was cutting fell on him. She had lost her husband, I had lost my wonderful son-in-law! I looked out at the roof and the Heart was still there.
March 2nd the big tornado hit Nashville, and by Monday morning, as we were getting ready to leave for N.C. the winds and rain hit us hard. We waited until almost noon, as the storm passed we left and followed it all the way to Asheville. The Heart was still on the roof, reminding that God was watching over us. We were gone 3 days and when we arrive home late on Thursday, the Heart was still there. It stayed on the roof for a month, during many spring storms, it was always there comforting us. Then one morning the end of March we got up and looked out as we always did, and it had silently slid into the gutter.
“GOD IS SO GOOD” He is always there, even before we know we need him!!
For my part, I was touched – both by the picture she shared and by her accompanying written testimony. Most likely, you were as well. After all, who among us had not had a succession of difficult circumstances with which we have had to deal?
I know I have. If you have as well, then do not despair. Our Lord Himself once told us (in the New Testament Gospel of John, chapter 16, verse 33) that “In the world ye shall have tribulation”. Modern English translations word this as: “here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows”.
For my part, I have heard this verse cited many times. Maybe you have as well. But it is worth taking the time to quote the whole verse and not just part of it. In its entirety, John 16:33 reads: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Did you catch it? Jesus’ exact words were “Take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Clearly, the precious lady who shared the above testimony with me was reminded by our Lord to “take heart” in the midst of “many trials and sorrows”. And through her testimony, I too have been reminded to do the same thing. I trust you have been as well.
More to the point, I trust that, whatever you may be facing, the Lord will bring to your mind the picture you have now seen above. For ensconced in that heart is a powerful symbol - of God’s love, God’s presence, and God’s strength, no matter what you may be called upon to face or endure!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/john/16-33.htm.