My Mum's amazing message

I was the most fortunate of kids!

I was brought up with a Mum and Dad who loved God.

Being the youngest of five, (I had twin sisters but sadly one died of TB when she was only one year old) I guess things monetary wise were a bit stretched, but we certainly never went without the essentials and we certainly had plenty of love handed out liberally, especially by my hard-working and devoted Mum.

BUT

That didn't stop us going off the rails - (well the boys that is) unfortunately when we became of age and even had families of our own, the world and it's lures were all too much and even though I personally put on the face of a Christian and did all the 'Christian" things - I was far off from the Lord.

But Mum and Dad kept on praying for us - determined and sure that God would bring us back to Him.

Personally for me their prayers have been answered.

Dad died in 1998 and our Dear Mum passed away in 2000. Before they died they both recorded a message to us from "beyond the grave" sort of thing and re-listening to them again recently I was staggered at Mum's simple yet solid faith in God - determined that her sons would come back to the Lord.

She says at some point that she has never stopped praying for us even before we were born. And in another part that "It doesn't matter if Dad and I don't see it for we have prayed fervently for you all."

Well I'm afraid they didn't see it - But I know that one day we will ALL meet around the throne of God in unity and love of our Lord and Saviour.

Here is a transcript of her message - I pray that you will be blessed as you read it as I was to hear it.

The prayers of a faithful Mum and Dad for their kids is awesome in it's simplicity and mighty in it's outcome - Praise God.

 As my Savior has said - Weep not for me for I have only gone ahead to rest and wait for you in a place where there is no more pain or loss.

My children, when you were under our care your Dad and I endeavoured under the scant knowledge that was ours to show you that God has an infinite plan for us.

That plan of God's was to bring home to us the amazing power and love that is available to anyone who has surrendered their hearts and love to the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit which is the gift from God to those, when in faith believe in the hearts and confess with their mouths that Jesus is the Messiah, died to pay the price of our sins and that He rose again.

I tried to teach you of The advantages of a committed life, of the security we have knowing that what ever happens we are the children of the Almighty God and nothing can separate us from Him - we have someone to go to when we are in trouble - and who isn't in this sad world of ours.

Our God is a prayer answering and miracle working God - how many times have we proven that - over and over again.

He has promised never to fail or forsake those who put their trust in Him.

Sin unconfessed is the only thing that can disturb that relationship which exists between man and His maker for sin uncovered by the sacrifice of the Son of God CANNOT, literally CANNOT, exist in the presence of the glory and holiness of the Father.

So that those who have not come in faith to the Father find that sin puts a barrier between them.

Sin estranges God and Man  - for the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ happened only that man may be restored to the relationship that should exist between the creature and his creator.

Gods greatest miracle is not the creation of the world, the suspension of the sun, the ceaselessness of the tide, Gods greatest miracle is the salvation of the human soul that all people should be saved and is unwilling that any should be lost and He has bound up the salvation of men and women with the prayerful ministry of his own people.

There is no doubt that the prayers for the salvation of others are well within the will of God. Your Dad and I have prayed fervently for the salvation of all our family - and this type of prayer is never in doubt and being the will of God shall in is own good time be fulfilled.

It doesn't matter if your Dad and I don't see it, for we have prayed for you all and these are just some of these promises we have held for you all.

Isaiah 54:13 That you all will be "taught of the Lord" and great will be your peace.
Psalm 119:11 That you all will "hide God's word in your hearts."
Colossians 1:9 That God will fill you all with the knowledge of His will so that you can walk in a way that's pleasing to Him and that your lives will bear fruit.
Proverbs 3: 5-6 That your hearts will trust in the Lord and not lean on your own understanding
Psalm 5:12 That God's favour will surround you all like a shield.

I can assure you, my children, that you were prayed for and committed unto the Lord before you were born- the Grandchildren also - and Gods promises are true.

The salvation of a soul is a mighty BIG undertaking for it just doesn't include cleansing from sin but a full commitment of a life to God's will and the receiving of a place in the family of God and the freely given gift of a life everlasting to Christians of all ages - there is no generation gap here - and also the presence of our beloved Lord Himself.

No one can be saved unless they are convicted or conscious of sin and when that consciousness of sin is present the way is opened to bring that one to the feet of the Saviour.

To confess and repent, that is being sorry for sins committed, and being determined to turn to Christs way of living will enable us to partake freely of the peace, joy and love that can be found in this earth.

Turning from sin and trusting Jesus also includes safety and perfection in the next world when our Lords presents us faultless before the presence of His Father and ours.

Now I know we have enjoyed a happy life together in spite of troubles that may have sunk the ship, but we also shared the gift of laughter, a sense of fun, of little private jokes as well as tears and I am very pleased to have loved you all and I am so looking forward to a wonderful reunion with you ALL in our Lord's good time.

Your dad and I praying that you all will see the value of sins forgiven, a walk in a plain path, and a keeping in a world of sorrow and danger.

May God bless you all my darlings from the eldest to the youngest child and may He give through you the answer to our continual prayer.

Will the circle be unbroken? - God grant that it may - see you in the morning - Love you - Mum.

Against all odds

Amazing and extraordinary things happen to all of us through our journey here on earth; some very good and some very very bad.

In January this year I wrote a blog entitled "Consequences". In that blog I fictionalised a story set in World War 2 - a story where our hero or anti-hero killed a man who was looting from his friends home during the blitz.

It wasn't until the man actually came face to face with an encounter with God that he realised his need of forgiveness and 'owned-up' to his crime

The consequences of our past sins, although forgiven by God can still have far-reaching effects on our lives as well as those who may have been hurt in the process.

In this blog I would like to relate the true story of George Anderson Hopper and where I will not dwell on the "consequences" of sin, I would like to emphasise the utter forgiveness of our gracious and merciful Lord; also try to come to terms with the age old question "where was God in all of this?"

George Anderson Hopper was born on the 10th June, 1955 and was executed by lethal injection on 8th March, 2005 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder-for-hire of 33 year old Ms Rozanne Gailiunas.

Hopper was sentenced to death in 1988 for the October 1983 murder of Ms Gailinuas who at 33 was the mother of a 4 year old son.

Ms Gailinuas was found still alive by her young son, but died two days after being admitted to hospital.

Hopper was 'hired' to kill Ms Gailinuas by William Garland who had been paid $5,000 by Dallas socialite Joy David Aylor whose husband Larry was allegedly planning to marry Ms Gailinuas and had filed for divorce from his wife.

Mrs Aylor who was ultimately convicted of capital murder in 1994 and who is now serving a life sentence.

Hopper's life and the tragic events leading up to and after the murder of Ms Gailinuas has been the subject of two book and a tele-movie but they don't tell of his obvious conversion to Christianity at sometime during his time on death row.

After searching the net and pouring over heaps of information on Hopper, the only evidence I have of a changed life of this man is in his final words before the lethal injection did it's work.

His final words as he lay on the table that day in 2005 were and I quote:-

"I want to apologize to you, and I am sorry, I have made a lot of mistakes in my life. The things I did changed so many lives. I can't take it back, it was an atrocity. I am sorry. I beg your forgiveness, I know I am not worthy of it. I love you Mom and Dad, and all my family. Thank you for everything. Jesus, thank you for your love and saving grace. Thank you for shedding your blood on Calvary for me. Thank you Jesus for the love you have shown me." 

(http://222.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/dr_info/hoppergeorgelast.html)

Obviously some unknown person has shared the gospel with this guy and obviously he has made a commitment to Christ. From his last words it would appear that he had accepted Jesus as his Saviour and Lord.

Against all odds, this man who was so vicious; so hard; so calculating; so cruel as to murder this young woman and mother of a 4 year old child, in such an horrendous manner, had been touched by the hand of Jesus even as he sat in death row in that jail in Huntsville Texas.

We will never understand exactly how God works and how exactly this man had been changed, or for that matter who it was that brought the good news into that jail for him to hear.

What we do know is that if he was sincere in his repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Lord, then he would have been forgiven his sins for as it says in John 6:37b "....and he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out"

So glad that this verse is in the Bible because there have been many times that I failed our Lord so miserably.

There have been times when I have honestly come to Him wondering how and why He could ever forgive me.

Hopper was a wicked and vile sinner who deserved nothing from God or man BUT aren't we all?

God was merciful to Hopper even after all of what he did - Yes, he still had to pay the consequences of his sin as we all do and yes, his life was forfeit here on earth according to Texan law; but God says "I will in no wise cast out". Full stop. Thank you Lord for that full stop because there was no "unless" after it.

There are no conditions put on coming to Christ; no provisos; nothing we can do; we just come to Him, repent and accept His gracious gift.

So if I come to Jesus; He will not cast me out. Hopper came to Jesus and I am sure that Jesus, true to His word would not cast Him out.

All of salvation is GRACE . It is the GRACE that God chose to save the ungodly; it is GRACE that Jesus came to earth to secure our salvation by dying at Calvary, and it is GRACE that changes stony old hearts to hearts of flesh; all through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can come to Jesus at all. It was only through that same Spirit that Hopper came to Jesus too.

The Bible makes that perfectly clear in 1 Corinthians 12: 3 it says:- "Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed,' and no one can say 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit."

So George Anderson Hopper, convicted murderer was led by the Spirit to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and he had accepted Him to be his Saviour before his execution date on 8th March, 2005.

Amazing news, incredible and awesome - everybody, no matter who we are or what we have done can come to Jesus, repent of our sins and claim forgiveness through the blood of His sacrifice.

But what about Hopper's innocent victim, Rozanne Gailiunas, her young son and her family and extended family?

Where was God in all of that; where was He when she was dying an horrific death?

It is so hard for us to get our minds around this eternal question!

What about the parents who pray and pray for the sick child and yet their child never gets well; how about broken relationships that never come back together; how about businesses that fail; and how about horrendous murders like Rozanne's?

Life, it seems is just made up of tribulations and trials of every sort; situations completely out of control; completely out of left wing; everything going pear-shaped; Where is God?

There are some things that we will never understand; there are some things about God's will that we will never understand.

But, what God does do through our trials is to give us a perspective as to how to handle our situation when bad things happen.

What would it be like if my greatest crisis become my greatest opportunity; not so much in the crisis
itself but in my very life?

What if a miracle took place through my crisis? Again, not so much in the actual crisis, but in me?

What if God used my crisis as a blessing to others and in so doing became a blessing to me also? In other words what if the Miracle in the crisis was ME?

I wonder what it would be like to seize the opportunity of my crisis to actually SEE God's glory?

After all of that I still have no idea How Rozanne's family and extended family coped with that tragedy; or for that matter where they all stood with God.

All I know is whatever happens, our God is just and merciful and whatever he decides will be fair and accurate.

So when things go pear-shaped, frustrating and confusing; I wonder if it would be possible to seize the opportunity to see the potential to trust in Jesus more instead of blaming Him for whatever it is that is sinking our ship.

Thinking like that makes me wonder; just maybe our greatest set-backs may become our greatest building blocks to a miraculous and super natural relationship with our Heavenly Father.