Vicki Pooley

A Miracle in the Making

One of the joys of watching little children grow, is to see the awe and wonder that is in their eyes. They look at life differently, and they have this incredible ability to believe.

As we grow older, we often lose that sense of wonder. Maybe we even become somewhat cynical, and we lose the power to believe in miracles.

I still believe in miracles, and I know this...I want to see more of them. As I press into the Lord, I see Him doing mighty miracles in the lives of people. I've also had the joy of going on mission's trip's and seeing people physcially healed.

If you ask a child if they can paint they say, "Yes!" If you ask a child if they can sing they say, "Yes!" If you ask a child if they can climb the tallest mountain ever ever they say, "Yes!"

I don't know about you, but I am believing God for some big things, and I want to have that child-like faith to just trust and believe. To know that Jesus is bigger than my mountains, too.

The greatest killer to believing is the loss of hope...never lose hope. Jesus said, be not afraid just believe. If we allow fear to come in, it will kill the hope within us.

Let's turn our faces to Jesus and say, "Yes, I believe!" Come on, let's give Him something to work with!!

Beast of Burden

I have some friends who were missionaries to Thailand for a season. On one of their visits home, they brought back gifts for our family. One of the gifts they brought back still causes me to think deeply. It is called a beast of burden...wood carved into an ox with a limp, lifeless, man draped across the back of the ox.

When we are feeling lifeless, without hope, sorrow, or whatever causes the strength to leave our body, and feel we can't go on any longer, we need a beast of burden. Someone to carry us when we can't carry ourselves. All we have to do is fall on to the back of the ox, and let the ox do the work, and carry us to a place where we can get the help we need.

To me this is Jesus. He is our beast of burden..."come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

There's a story about a little girl who became frightened by a thunderstorm. She ran into her parent's room, jumped in the middle of their bed, and said, "I am scared!!!!" Daddy said, "honey, you don't need to be scared, you know you have Jesus!" She said, yes, I know...but right now I need Jesus with skin on Him!" You and I can be Jesus with skin on Him, by loving others and being there for some when they are feeling overwhelmed.

We also have to know that we can fall into the arms of Jesus and share our deepest needs, and He will meet us at the point of that deepest need. He is our beast of burden no matter how He shows himself to us.

Our family has some friends who are very dear to us. They called us and some other friends together and said, "we have something that has been weighing heavy on our hearts and we can't carry this alone anymore. We have tried to shoulder this by ourselves, and now we feel the Lord wants us to have others to share this load. We feel honored that we would be considered worthy to help share this load. It wasn't that our friends had not been praying and crying out to God, but there is something about knowing that you have people standing in the gap for one another.

Some people are too weak to even call out for help...so keep your eyes open! Watch and pray. God may need you to be as the beast of burden.

Jesus said, "Pray for your enemies!"

When my daughter was little, I spent one afternoon crying my eyes out. I had taken her to school that morning, and my daughter saw two of her little friends. Usually my daughter called their names, and they would run with glee to see her, they would often even hug each other, and then zoom to class.

On this particular day, these two friends of my daughter, acted in a way that made my heart sink. We pulled up, my daughter called out to them, and one little girl said to the other little girl, "run!" They took off running and left my daughter standing there with this look on her face that made me cry off and on for the rest of the day whenever it would cross my mind.

Wow! What happened between yesterday, and the next day? Actually, it wasn't anything, and I found out on any given day the best friend would change. It seemed so fickle, but it was the dynamics of this relationship between second grader's

As I observe other other Christians, I often see things that make me cry off and on when I think about it. What happened between one day and the next?

After the shock, of seeing my daughter's little friends leave my daughter standing there with her teeth hanging out, I found out something very important. The kids learned on a daily basis to forgive each other, and to work things out.

Why does this come naturally to children, but not adults?

My heart is breaking because I see the "forgiveness meter" has risen very little. How could God give "His only"...His only begotten son, and we can hold grudges, bitterness, hatred, and basically renounce one another????

I think our heavenly Father is looking upon this, as I did the day I saw what happened to my daughter, it was total disbelief.

The bible says, they (the world) will know we are Christians by our LOVE. However, I don't see enough of that these days, and I wonder how some people can say they are even Christians, when the foundation of their Christianity is not love and forgiveness.

I've shed some tears over this, and I know Jesus has too. We need to get a hold of the building blocks of a real relationship with Jesus and other's, and we MUST learn to forgive. We MUST come to the point of letting  LOVE and FORGIVNESS be among the top things we strive for. Without it, we have NO foundation.

I will never be convinced that it's how much people say they know the bible, that's important. Knowing the bible is important, but it's LOVE and FORGIVENESS that I see as top things to strive for.

Now, because of this I have to pray for my enemies. We all have people out there that when you strip away all the reasons, justifications, excuses, and why they feel the way they do...it's some form of hatred! Our prayer should always be that our enemies let their hatred go. If they say they love Jesus, then prove it! I dare my enemies to pray for me in a way that Jesus will bless me.

Jesus challenged me...instead of praying imprecatory prayers (I never really prayed for that, but I didn't want them to be blessed either) over your enemies...Jesus said, "pray that I will bless them." But I don't want them to be blessed...I want you to erase them. Wrong answer!

If you have children, and even if you don't, you have some kind of idea of what it means to give "your only...." fill in the blank. Jesus gave His ONLY son, and it wasn't just for all these people who loved and adored Him, but it was also for the people who talked behind His back, those who hated Him healing on the Sabbath and calling Himself the Son of God, and a myriad of other things they could hate Him for.

We need a change of heart and the mind of Christ to get a handle on this...let's pray for that!

A Matter of Importance

I recently watched an interview on ABC News about a man named, Randy Pausch. It was quite an interesting interiview. Randy Pausch looks incredibly healthy, but he is dying of pancreatic cancer. However, he is forging ahead with a great attitude, and he is a man with a message of importance. He talks about how we need to be positive no matter what situation we may find ourself in, and to not give up on life and those who are in our lives. He also suggests making memories, and capturing those memories on film and video. He says he feels it's okay to talk to a counselor or someone to help you to sort through your thoughts and fears, and that we should know that isn't a bad thing. But most of all, his message is live your life in a way that has a positive impact on people.

Randy Pausch spoke at the university he works for, his talk was shown on television, at a later time. Viewer's were so touched by what he had to say. They began writing in, and asking questions. One question and his answer made a impact on me. Someone asked, "If you could ask any question, after you have been gone awhile...what would it be?" His first answer was, "Are people still squabbling over the same old things?" It hit me. This is a matter of importance! I guess on any given day we can find things to squabble with people about, but this man is about encouragement and lifting others up. This is the greater thing, the higher road to take. I believe if we love God, He will work on our hearts and issues. There are people out there that make it their mission in life to drag others down, point out their faults, while thinking they are perfect in every way. Against the holiness of God, we all fall short. I don't want to focus on the ignorance of some, but rather the message to encourage one another. I believe we can make such a difference in the lives of other's by being there for them, and by giving them enouragement. I think of teacher's who believed in a student when other teacher's had given up on them. Over the years of schooling they kept encouraging, and the student excelled, and became something great, in spite of the odds. Years later student's will find those teacher's and thank them for believing in them when no one else would give them the time of day. My challenge for you, and myself is to pick out a couple of people you tend to find fault with on a regular basis, and instead of being critical of them, give them encouragement, and stop thinking the worst of them. You and I could be a world changer with a few small words of kindness, and a big dose of humility.