A Quick and Sincere Thank-you

God used those of you who prayed for me to lift me up. Truly He is the Lifter of my Head. I think your prayers must've included not letting me despair. I didn't reach that point, but if anyone who has experienced depression knows, the downward spiral can be fast and furious. God spared me from that. Yesterday at Bible study we had an intense time of prayer, using the acrostic ACTS (Adoration, Confession/contrition, Thanksgiving, Supplication).In our group we went about praying through the alphabet to adore God for his attributes or names (Almighty, Bright & Morning Star, Compassion, Deliverer, etc). By the time we got to "O" our time was almost up. Someone squeezed in Omniscient!

Then Marilyn, our youth pastor's wife and dear friend of mine who prays earnestly and purposefully and with deep faith, held my head front and back and prayed for me when I requested that God bring me out of it and not let me suffer as I have perenially from March to Mother's Day. She prayed that I would experience joy that very day. While she was praying, Daryl spoke an encouragement to the whole group that really zeroed in on my problem: I had been listening to the lies of the Enemy. He has no other power than that of deception. I had let him tell me things like "You're a bad mother," "You're a big hypocrite," "You'll never change." and so on.

Truth #1 Sometimes I do bad things as a mother. And when tempted to call myself good, remember even Jesus asked,"Why call Me good? There is only one that is good, and that is my Father." So I am a work in progress as a mother.

Truth #2: I am often a hypocrite but don't know a single soul who isn't, or hasn't been, at one time. If you're human, you've been a hypocrite. And by God's grace, I have changed and am being changed from glory to glory. The only one who will never change is God. Other sisters in the prayer circle also laid hands on me and prayed. Marilyn added that she sees me walking in newness of life this year. What hope!

I walked out of there different, I'm telling you. I was able to eat my lunch in peace. My children looked especially beautiful to me. I came home and took a much-needed nap, then went shopping at Tuesday Morning (a fave store of ours) to buy a new journal and some springtime kitchen towels. Then went to JoAnn's with Sarah and found some lovely fabric--though,in the end, when I couldn't find an internationally flavored print, I abandoned my quest for that and found one colors that goes with my decor. By the time I was done, I had 4.75 yards of a gorgeous floral fabric for my sliding glass door valance, a homey plaid for a pillow and beautiful twisting cording for it. The employee at the home dec counter was most generous; when she saw I had no coupon, she went to her purse in the back and fetched her personal one for me. I told her she's such a blessing. So I got 50% off the trim. The floral print was $3 a yard on closeout, and the 2/3 yd of plaid was a Supervalue at $3.96 a yard. So I have a couple projects before me that I now have the peace to proceed through. All for under 20 bucks!

I must emphasize that the peace and joy did not come while or after I was shopping. It came while and just immediately after praying. You might say the joy happened Tuesday morning, but not at Tuesday Morning:).

So today I continued this prayer through the alphabet, praising God. He is my Prince of Peace .