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| Jewel 3/14/16 at Vets |
She had her first round of meds for the day when I
noticed two men walking down the alley behind our house. One was several feet ahead of the other. From the looks of it I wasn’t sure if they
were together.
About five minutes later they were walking the road in
the opposite direction, but this time they were side-by-side and carrying on a
conversation. When I saw them it
reminded me of what I’d been doing for several days. Let me take you back to last Tuesday (April 26th,
2016).
Welcome new friends this week from:
See if your city/state/country made the list.
New on DFB – Somalia; Nepal; Tenambit,
NSW, Australia; Nakambala, Southern Province, Zambia; Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh,
India; Innisfil, ON, Canada; Indonesia; Motunui, Taranaki, New Zealand; Ukraine;
Apata Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria; Namibia.
USA
– Luling, LA; Glassboro,
NJ; Brookings, OR; Clovis & Culver City, CA; DesMoines, IA; Kabetogama, MN;
Johnson, FL.
I am so happy for your visit and hope that you come back
each week to participate in the weekly challenges. God has been faithful and we expect His favor
to abound in the lives of those who chose to Journey with Jesus on Daily Favor
Blog.
You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below. All are private. I would love to hear from
you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life. Contact me by leaving a message in the box at
the bottom of this week’s post.
Don't miss out on this week's challenge
(below).
No More Reports
Taking care of special needs cats is a blessing, but
sometimes it can be quite daunting. In
the past few months two have crossed over to Heaven, rehabilitating one who was
shot is a major handful (thankfully the cast is now off), and getting a report
on Jewel’s condition took a toll on our emotions.
Jewel is no stranger to the power and favor of God when
it comes to healing. She has lived with
Feline Herpes all her life, which puts her in the “unadoptable” category. At one time her leg was supposed to be
amputated. We convinced the doctor not
to operate and let God work. After six
weeks or so in the hospital and through fervent prayer, God saved her leg and
life. Six years have passed since!
Several weeks ago Jewel suddenly went totally blind from
high blood pressure and somehow scratched the cornea of her left eye. This tiny six pound wonder had been losing
weight rapidly, and when she began drinking more than usual we had an idea that
her kidneys were shutting down.
A Comforting Word
Caring for pets in need of hospice care is really hard. Just
because it’s an animal doesn’t mean it’s less painful. It takes favor, grace and mercy from God to
stand in faith as His plan unfolds.
On Tuesday a blood test verified our suspicions
concerning Jewel. Having been through
this twice before we recognized the symptoms she was displaying.
We thanked God for the ability He has given us, and by
faith planted our feet firmly on the Solid Ground of His Word.
That night I couldn’t sleep and was up checking on this little kitty. It
felt like Jesus was taking a side trip on our journey together and I was way
ahead of him trying to figure out what to do.
By now it was hard to hold back tears, my pulse felt like the Indy 500, and
my stomach was haven to a kaleidoscope of butterflies.
Realizing that I was about to give fear a place I looked
up the word “comfort” in the Bible taking into consideration last week’s Daily Favor challenge about speaking life. Having
read through the Bible many times I knew passages that dealt with comfort, but
at the time they all escaped my thinking except for the Holy Spirit who is our
comforter.
I found 129 verses that dealt with comfort and wouldn’t
you know the first one was Psalm 23? When
I saw it I said out loud (so that the devil could hear me) “We don’t need that one because by faith we are speaking life for
Jewel.”
Reading down my list of comfort scriptures Psalm 119:76
gave me the message I needed to embrace from the Lord.
“Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort,
according to Your Word to Your servant.”
It was a confirmation of what I’d been studying over the
week, with the Word of God being our comfort in any situation.
He Hears Us
After checking on hubby and Jewel, I sat at the kitchen
table and opened the mail for that day. The
room was dark except for a small light over the counter. It seemed really quiet with no heaters roaring,
but I could hear hubby breathing through the BiPap machine.
Shuffling through the pieces I noticed one addressed
specifically to me. A ministry sent a
thank you note, and enclosed with their letter was a card that read Jeremiah
29:11-13. It’s one of my favorite
passages, but rarely do I continue reading past the eleventh verse unless I’m
reading through the chapter.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future
and a hope.
12-13 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to
Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you seach for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah
29:11-13 NKJV)
As children of God we have the blessing
of the Holy Spirit and God’s grace (favor) to see us through each situation. Walking side-by-side with Jesus we are in
continual conversation with Him, so we know He’s listening (if He wasn’t He’d
be like us).
It was if the Lord was speaking
directly to me and said, “I’ve been
listening to your prayers and know that you were expecting to get an answer. You
know what I’m thinking about you right now?
My thoughts are peaceful with a future full of hope and promise for good
things.”
I read the passage several times,
turned off the light and went to sleep.
Spiritually Jesus and I were side-by-side again and I was able to receive the
promise of rest.
Tailing Tales
It’s been a few days since we got the
report on Jewel. Notice I said we “got”
the report, rather than “received” it.
The reason being, we don’t receive that bad report and know that according
to the Word of God our prayers have been heard.
It’s not that we are denying what the doctor said, because he is merely
reporting findings, but that we choose to believe God will answer our request.
Thursday morning my husband shared with me how he was
comforted in his spirit when Jewel decided to come lay on his chest and go to
sleep. This was a clear sign of her
feeling better.
When hubby opened his eyes he realized he hadn’t exactly been
cuddling her head. Nope, Jewel backed up to his face and settled in for a long
nap! Need I say more? I can tell you this, I laughed a lot! Since
then she has been spending more nap time in the other room.
“A righteous man
regards (values and shows compassion on) the life of his animal. But the tender
mercies of the wicked are cruel.” (Proverbs 12:10 NKJV)
Some may not understand why it is important for believers
to place so much importance on the life of an animal, but I believe we need to value
what God values if we are to journey with Jesus. Only when we see things
through His eyes and have the compassion of Christ will we receive the full
blessings and benefits of the Cross.
When we value and have compassion on the life of an animal,
God bestows favor on that individual and makes reference to it as an act of
righteousness.
“Animals and humans
play different roles both in the Bible
and in our world today. It is clear from the
text that our lives have been interconnected with the lives of animals from the
very start of creation, and that they can show us new ways of understanding
God. Observing the role of animals it
helps us understand the compassion of Jesus on all of His creation.” – Jenny Phillips
for the American Bible Society.
I don’t know how God is going to work things out for good
like He’s promised, but I’m glad that Jewel and all the others He brings our
way are part of the journey.
For now we’ll keep “juicing” Jewel as we watch God work
through her life, and chase after Victory (the cat who doesn’t realize he’s
been shot) while he heals. As long as we’re
walking with Jesus, His favor will surely follow.
Victory March 4th, 2016
The cast is finally off but he won't hold still for a pic!
 |
Jewel on May 5th, 2016 eating! This is where she wants to do it, so we gladly accommodated. |
Wonderful Words
When I think about how easy it is to get separated from the
Lord along our journey, it’s amazing that He ever wants to join up with us
again. I was telling a friend of mine
that I cannot imagine how anyone can live without the favor of God on their
lives through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Watching the two men in the alley walking and talking was
a reminder of just how close a relationship with Jesus can be. No matter what we are experiencing, He is always
there with wonderful comforting words that we need for the moment.
This Week’s Challenge:
Speak Comforting Words
While scrolling down my Twitter feed I noticed a woman
who was asking for prayer for her dog who was diagnosed with tumors. I watched to see if anyone would answer her
with comforting words; no one did. It was
an opportunity missed by those who read her plea and did nothing.
Throughout the life of Jesus we know, through scriptures,
that He ministered to thousands of people from all walks of life concerning a
number of issues. Not only did the Lord
speak life into a situation, but He also spoke words of comfort to boost people
in their faith walk. As Christ’s disciples
we must do the same with those we come in contact with on our journey.
In continuing with the ”Speaking Words of Life” challenge,
this week we are going to Speak Words of Comfort. Recognizing that someone is in need of
comfort is one thing, but knowing the right words to say is entirely different.
So that we don’t say the wrong thing at the wrong time,
this week we’ll ask the Holy Spirit what He would have us say to those He puts
in our path BEFORE it happens. That means
we have to research what scripture says on the subject of comfort. Be mindful not to take passages out of
context. Comfort and edify one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians
4:18; 5:11)
To those who read that woman’s request for prayer
concerning her pet, it will be counted as sin if they knew to do “good” and
didn’t (James 4:17). Let’s not take that
kind of path, but stay close by Jesus that we may utter the right words of
comfort when the opportunity comes.
“Now may the God of
patience and comfort grant you to be like minded toward one another, according
to Christ Jesus.”
(Romans 15:5 NKJV)
O God of My Comfort - Maranatha!
International Singers
(Australia
Worships from Beautiful Savior CD
If this article has encouraged or helped you, please
consider sharing it by using the social media icons provided at the end of this
post.
Until next time,
God’s favor is comforting!
“Comfort one another with these words on favor.”
Jesus Christ
*Unless
noted, the names in articles are changed to protect the individual(s) privacy.
Note: The
words satan or devil are not capitalized deliberately, because we give him no
place in our lives.
Disclaimer:
Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical
issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.
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Scripture reference was taken from the New King James
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Notes: Results may vary due to lack of belief.
Note: from American Bible Society: Jesus & Animals
Tags: Words of Comfort, Holy Spirit, Compassion, Animals, Favored1, Daily Favor Blog, Speak Life, Cats with Kidney Failure, God of All Comfort, Hannah Whitall Smith Speak Life: Daily Favor Blog
