Thursday, August 30, 2012

Ps 91:10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

The Hantavirus causes two deaths and two others contracted the disease which led to the CDC issuing a warning to 1700 people that they may have come in contact with this potentially deadly disease. This form of the virus affects the respiratory system but there is a much more menacing form of the virus that cause internal bleeding. This is spread by rodents, in particular the deer mouse.

1,590 people have contracted the West Nile virus and 66 people have died. Texas is being hit hard this year but I remember the first couple years that the West Nile virus appeared, there were several cases in KY. I took care of a couple of patients that had contracted West Nile. One beautiful elderly lady died rather quickly. Another middle age man became completely confused and unable to care for himself. It was quite scary to think a mosquito bite could cause such a serious disease.

H1N1 has mutated into H3N2 this year and so far 153 people have become ill with this form of pig flu. When H1N1 first came out a beautiful little girl in our church came down with it and was quickly quarantined into the ICU where not only she, but then her mother teetered between life and death with this flu. When I worked in the hospital people would come in a get ill suddenly! Again it was quite a scary disease.  The mother in our church, Judy, would declare that her daughter was healed in the name of Jesus and in a week they were out of ICU and back in church.

The flu season is suppose to be earlier this year and seems like every year gets more virulent. So what are we to do?  Of course we do all the common sense things, wash our hands, sneeze into your sleeve, stay home if you are ill, but we come in contact with germs daily. Deadly germs that are all around us. As a nurse I work with all kinds of deadly diseases.

That is why we claim the blood of Jesus for our healing. Once I became very ill, I was running a fever and was in the bed for three days. That is when we had an apartment in the converted school building that we made into a church. A service was going on down the hall way and I was drawn by the Spirit of God. I went into the sanctuary and straight up to the altar to be anointed. I immediately had a vision of the Lord. It was Jesus with the stripes on his back. As the blood ran down I saw the names of diseases flowing down these stripes as they were flowing like 39 rivers of blood. Every disease known and unknown to man was flowing down these rivers of blood. It was such an amazing vision and it built my faith in healing. I think of it often.

So do the common sense physical things, keep your hand sanitizer with you, eat right, sleep well, drink your orange juice, but then cover yourself and your family with prayer.

 In Jesus Name we pray for you all,

 Amen

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me.........

I am soooooo excited! Why? My son and his family are coming home to visit! If I can get so excited to see my first born son, how excited does God get when we come back to him?

We do so much all day long without thinking about God, without remembering to thank Him, without remembering from where all our sustenance comes from.

Thankfulness is the initial phase of praise! Ps 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving....

I have so much to be thankful for, my sons and their families are all healthy and safe.

If you have been keeping up with Melv's son Paul he is recovering quickly now as he is in a rehab hospital in Indianapolis after sustaining a terrible head injury when those terrible storms came through. When they initially picked his broken body up off they road they never thought he would make it to South Bend alive. Now he is joking and laughing with his family as he works on his full healing. Praise God!

I just got done visiting with a minister who has been blessed with a good job after his plant down sized 3 years ago! Praise God

So back to my son coming home... there is a story in the Bible well known to most called the Prodigal Son. In this story a son who asked for his inheritance was given it by his father. He took the inheritance and wasted it and found himself in a terrible mess. He thought about the goodness of his father's home, the comfort and the love that abounded there. He decided to return home. All his father had to do was catch a glimpse of him coming up the road and he met him with new clothing and a beautiful ring to welcome him home.

Are you a prodigal son? Did you once know the love of God but went out and tried to do things on your own and found yourself in a mess? Turn around.... It's as simple as that. Turn around and the love of God is waiting on you to return. It doesn't matter how entangled your life may have gotten, God is there for you! It doesn't matter how hopeless the situation seems, God is there for you!

We are here at Rachel's Heart praying for you! Feel free to write in the comments. We have prayer warriors here for you.

When I was in New York I was so moved by a young woman that I saw sleeping on the thresh hold of a church. It was early in the morning and it appeared she had been there all night. There is a story in the Bible where a young woman crawled to the thresh hold of door where her master was after she had been beaten and abused. She clung to the thresh hold of the door and died. I cannot see anyone reaching for the ark of safety and not getting the help they need in time. My heart goes out to those who are seeking for the safety and peace from an angry world.

We are here for you, write us and we will pray for you. I have a prayer for the lost here as my initial blog. Let us know that you have prayed and returned to your Father's House.

Praying for you,

Heidi

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Find your Passion

I am really, really tired of politics. I do not share my husband's exuberance of the whole political process! I cannot help but become jaded when listening to the propaganda of the media. Is this really what George Washington had in mind when he started this whole process of leading this great America so long ago?

George Washington was a man who led a group of people, passionate about their quest for freedom, and even more passionate about their ability to serve God in freedom. Abraham Lincoln was passionate about keeping a union together despite his even greater passion to deliver fellow human beings from slavery. Where is the passion in our delegates? Is Romney passionate enough to deliver the country from the slavery of debt? Is Obama passionate enough to overcome the shortcomings of his promises?

Who is passionate enough to stand in the face of adversity as we encounter sign after sign of the end times? Who can lead us as birds fall from the sky? Who can lead us as fish wash ashore; crops dry up and the mighty Mississippi is reduced to a muddy mess? There is trouble on every hand; who will take notice and lead us through these troubled times?

What are you passionate about? As a nurse I have worked in some hard places that have broadened my awareness for the need of compassion. I have always worked with the elderly. Today we have elders that cannot afford their medicine, have families across the country and neighbors that no longer know their names. I have held so many wrinkled hands and looked in so many tear dimmed eyes of elders. Did you realize that depression is rampant among the elderly and elderly white men are the most likely to commit suicide?

When I lived in Louisville I was privileged to work with children ages 3 to 12 with acute psychiatric problems. Yes, children that small were hospitalized with various problems including autism, being born as crack babies and severe cases of neglect and abuse. How many children need the love of God in thier lives?

Now I am privileged to take care of wounded warriors. Our motto is we serve those who served us.

Find your passion!!!! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you? There are so many works of Jesus to do.
James tells us to take care of the widows and orphans! Are we taking care of our widows? Do you check on them, call them, send them a card or pick up a few groceries? Do you know a child that could use a little encouragement? Do you know an orphan? I know of orphans in Pakistan that Pastor Atif Raza is trying to care for.

What about the homeless? Did you realize that 70% of all homeless are either veterans or dealing with some sort of mental illness?

I am finalzing my book Finding My Father. It will tell you of the miraculous journey that the Holy Spirit took me through to find my biological father who was homeless on Venice Beach, CA. It was truly a miracle and opened my eyes to the humaness of homelessness.

I love the song by Matthew West  I Don't Want to Go Through the Motions.

Here are the instructions of Jesus:

Matthew 25:35-40

 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Be passionate about Jesus!
 Remember to look at each person and keep in mind that Jesus is looking back at you through their eyes.
 
 

Monday, August 27, 2012

Military Families' Prayers

I was listening to the atrocities taking place in Afghanistan, Syria and Egypt and my heart is poured out upon the ground. I just can't understand how one human can treat another human so barbarically. The tears cannot stop streaming down my walls of my heart.

As most of you know, my son serves in the US Army and has served a year in Afghanistan. Thank  God for bringing him safely home. Until then I had very little knowledge of what really went on in the military. I remember going to his graduation from boot camp and was met with a skit of the maneuvers they had learned in war. I was not ready to see such a thing and it struck my heart with fear, I must admit. We were able to tour the barracks and I started to come to an understanding when I saw the floor designed with war logos and the saying that went something like, "the elixir of freedom is the blood of the soldier." Wow.....

As I watched the bleachers fill up it was mostly young wives and small children and pregnant mothers. I was overcome with what a sacrifice was being made by the families. The day came for his brigade to deploy and again the grounds were covered with young mothers, toddlers, school age children and pregnant mothers. The heaviness of the atmosphere was filled with the occasional streaming down of tears.

This led me to start the Military Mom's of Rachel's Heart. Not only my son, but others' sons and grandsons, husbands, fathers, and even daughters, nieces, mothers were deployed at different times. I would receive their pictures with their names and set them on our piano at our church so we could keep them covered in prayer.

We currently are await the safe return of Jesse, Adam and others that you have written me about.

When we hear these atrocities it urges us again to keep our sons and daughters serving in prayer.

Father God,

 We pray Ps 91 over them:
2I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

In Jesus Name Amen

When I was mourning over my son getting ready to deploy, I was driving to work before dawn, so it was still dark. I was driving through the country side where a field full of windmills had been put in. They would light up with red lights and then they would all go dark. I would wonder how if you didn't know those huge windmills were there you would not think it was anything but an empty field.

Then God spoke to me and said, Just like those windmills are hidden I will hide your son from the face of the enemy and I will keep him safe. That was a huge confirmation for me. I am praying for you military families, that you will find peace in your prayers as your await the return of your loved ones.

Bless you all <3

Heidi

Sunday, August 26, 2012

We pray for those in the path of Issac. We pray that God will be merciful and provide peace and safety to those in the path of the storm. We pray that the floods will not overtake us as we view the mighty watering from the heavens.

The clouds roll in so ominously, we pray that our fears be removed.

Job 26:8-14
8He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. 9He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. 10He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. 11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. 12He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. 13By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 14Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

For those in the midst of the earthquakes we pray for your peace and safety as well. We pray that we take each and every opportunity of the signs of the times to witness for You!

Matthew 24: 7 & 8
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen

Prayer for the Lost

Father God,

We cry out to you from the depths of our hearts. There are so many lost and so many hurting people. So many souls that cling to the threshold of the church, knowing that help lies just inside but too weak to reach out.

 Father we pray that right now if they find this blog, this prayer that they reach out to you. We pray that this can be a well spring of hope in their day. We pray that this is a place to pour out our hearts as the Holy Spirit sweeps in to bind up the broken hearted.

Father we pray the sinners prayer with all that may enter here:

Father I have sought for you with my whole heart.
I lay my life, my heart, my soul before you.
Father forgive me of my sins,
Wash me with the blood of Jesus,
I confess that Jesus is Lord.
I declare my intentions to live for Jesus.

I praise you for a God that hears my prayers.
I praise you for a God that knows my needs.
I praise you for a God that saves!

I thank you that you are making me a new creature.
I thank you for the saving blood of Jesus.
I thank you that I am saved by grace.
I thank you that you accept me as I am.

In Jesus Name I pray

Amen