Come As Little Children

A friend/pastor of mine recently used this illustration by Charles Spurgeon in a message he gave. Spurgeon helps us take a different look at the story of the prodigal son, and it so affected me that I wanted to share it with the rest of the world. ;)

This poor young man, in his hungry, faint, and wretched state, having come a very long way, had not much heart in him. His hunger had taken all energy out of him, and he was so conscious of his guilt that he had hardly the courage to face his father; so his father gives him a kiss, as much as to say, "Come, boy, do not be cast down; I love you."

"Oh, the past, the past, my father!" he might moan, as he thought of his wasted years; but he had no sooner said that than he received another kiss, as if his father said, "Never mind the past; I have forgotten all about that." This is the Lord's way with His saved ones. Their past lies hidden under the blood of atonement. The Lord saith by His servant Jeremiah, "the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve."

But then, perhaps, the young man looked down on his foul garments, and said, "The present, my father, the present, what a dreadful state I am in!" And with another kiss would come the answer, "Never mind the present, my boy. I am content to have thee as thou art. I love thee." This, too, is God's word to those who are "accepted in the Beloved". In spite of all their vileness, they are pure and spotless in Christ, and God says of each one of them, "Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore, though in thyself thou art unworthy, through My dear Son thou art welcome to My home."

"Oh, but," the boy might have said, "the future, my father, the future! What would you think if I should ever go astray again?" Then would come another holy kiss, and his father would say, "I will see to the future, my boy; I will make home so bright for you that you will never want to go away again."

Whatever there was to trouble the son, the father gave him a kiss to set it all right; and, in like manner, our God has a love-token for every time of doubt and dismay which may come to His reconciled sons. Perhaps one whom I am addressing says, "Even though I confess my sin, and seek God's mercy, I shall still be in sore trouble, for through my sin, I have brought myself down to poverty."

"But I have even brought disease upon myself by sin," says another. "There is a kiss for you, for I am Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thine diseases."

"But I am dreadfully down at the heel," says another. The Lord gives you also a kiss, and says, "I will lift you up, and provide for all your needs. No good thing will I withhold from them that walk uprightly." All the promises in this Book belong to every repentant sinner, who returns to God believing in Jesus Christ, His Son.

The father of the prodigal kissed his son much, and thus made him feel happy there and then. Poor souls, when they come to Christ, are in a dreadful plight, and some of them hardly know where they are. I have heard them talk a lot of nonsense in their despair, and say hard and wicked things of God in their dreadful doubt. The Lord gives no answer to all that, except a kiss, and then another kiss. Nothing puts the penitent so much at rest as the Lord's repeated assurance of His unchanging love. Such a one the Lord has often received, "and kissed him much," that He might fetch him up even from the horrible pit, and set his feet upon a rock, and establish his goings."

The Dearest Place on Earth

I want to share with you a radical change of heart that has taken place in my life in the past few months.

Since the beginning of this year, my local church has been going through some really tough changes on the heels of a tumultuous, challenging season. I've never experienced the emotions, good and bad, towards my church family that I have in the past few months. I've been confused, anxious, and scared...all of which are evidences of my LACK of trust in God's sovereign plan over my life. Sadly, I chose to first distance myself from my Savior instead of first crying out to Him for faith and direction. I caused myself hours of needless worry and anxiety...not because I now realize I can put my full trust in the leaders at my church, because I can't. They are sinners saved by grace, just like me. But the anxiety and worry was needless because I CAN and should put my full trust in the sovereign God of the universe...the One who has full authority over my life, over the life of the church, and over its' leaders.

I feel like God suddenly lifted the veil from my eyes to see my OWN self-righteousness in how i was responding to these past few months. What He's revealed to me, is this: if I believe God called me to this local church, and the Church is the Bride of Christ, then why would I not treat the bride of Christ as I would my own earthly spouse? If my spouse, whom I made a covenant to stick with 'for better or WORSE', has sinned against me but is now showing signs of repentance and humility, who am I to cast judgment on them and say they don't DESERVE my forgiveness and then walk away from that covenant? If we as Christians firmly believe that a husband should not leave his wife even if she sinned against him, but that he should stand by her side and lead her to genuine repentance...why would we not take on the same attitude within the Church? Yes, a pastor has more spiritual responsibility weighing on his conscience because God has anointed him to shepherd a flock, but that pastor is STILL just a man. So for me to not forgive, or to pass judgment, or to 'flee when things get hard' is to ultimately say (I believe) that God's grace is sufficient for MY sins, but not for my pastor's. God opened my eyes to see that I was headed down a road where I was quickly allowing my heart to be governed by pride and my own judgments, rather than be governed and led by the Gospel. Praise be to God that He stopped me in my tracks!

I want to thank the pastors at my local church for how, though they are still sinners, they continue to pursue humility no matter how difficult things become.

In looking for some form of encouragement, I came across Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening for today. =)

The King's Highway

The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. (Isaiah 35:8)

The way of holiness is so straight and plain that the simplest minds cannot go astray if they constantly follow it. The worldly wise have many twists and turns, and yet they make terrible blunders and generally miss their end. Worldly policy is a poor, shortsighted thing, and when men choose it as their road, it leads them over dark mountains. Gracious minds know no better than to do as the Lord bids them; but this keeps them in the King's highway and under royal protection.

Let the reader never for a moment attempt to help himself out of a difficulty by a falsehood or by a questionable act; but let him keep in the middle of the high road of truth and integrity, and he will be following the best possible course. In our lives we must never practice circular sailing nor dream of shuffling. Be just and fear not, Follow Jesus and heed no evil consequences. If the worst of ills could be avoided by wrongdoing, we should, in the very attempt, have fallen into an evil worse than any other ill could be. God's way must be the very best way. Follow it though men think you a fool, and you will be truly wise.

Lord, lead Thy servants in a plain path because of their enemies.

I Can Hear the Bells...

Well my sister FINALLY got married! =) And OH, what a beautiful, joyous, anointed occasion it was!

I am so very happy for my sister and new bro-in-law, though I'm still getting used to the idea of them being married. My sister was THE most beautiful bride I've ever seen. Truly. And I've seen a few. But no amount of makeup, hairspray, or curls can even compare to the kind of beauty that radiates from the soul! My sis has truly found the man of her dreams and you couldn't have contained her excitement that day even if you had held her down. ;) Her attitude throughout the whole day was amazing. Not once did she turn into "bridezilla".

Emotionally, I did fine all day...then the wedding started. :) I got goosebumps as the Pride & Prejudice music crescendoed (sp?), and then...I saw my dad walking Jenn up the aisle. Yup. I lost it at that point. My big sis was ACTUALLY getting married. This wasn't just a dream I was having because she and I had stayed up late the night before plotting and scheming our "future weddings". This was real. Dad was REALLY giving her away, they were REALLY saying their vows to each other (which also made me cry), and Jenn REALLY became Mrs Jennifer Fountain. =) What a blessing to be involved in such a glorious event as this. WHAT a blessing to be able to stand by a friend and your sister, in full confidence that God had brought these two together...not just their emotions. My sister and new brother-in-law officially began their life together on February 5, 2010 and I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for their future together, as a married couple. =)

Please go to Kristen's Blog to get a taste of what the wedding was like!

P.s. Even though they got married in the spring, you'll notice Jenn still got to have her fall/winter wedding that she's always wanted. Just thought I'd point that out. =)

Yes2Marriage

Wow...I have not been involved in something as interesting as what happened yesterday in a long time! Yesterday after church, my best friend put on a wedding dress and one of the guys in our church wore a suit. The two of them represented marriage between one man and one woman as a caravan of cars decorated with Yes2Marriage signs, Vote Yes On 2 bumper stickers, slogans painted on the windows, balloons, and streamers. We decorated most of the cars to look like someone had just gotten married (hanging plastic cups from the trunks so they bounced along the road behind the car), and Ariel and David (the representing couple) rode in the back of a convertible with the top down, waving at people and holding up signs.

Even though it only lasted a little over an hour, I was unprepared for the adrenaline rush of being in a line of 12 cars driving down 17-92, Colonial, and 436. =) Janelle Phillips rode in my car as I drove. I think we were either the 9th or 10th car in line, with the convertible at the very front of the caravan. Fortunately there was no violence...Though, as Christians we're called to NOT shrink back from standing up for what God says is right in His scripture. We encountered a few unhappy/rude people, but we also encountered a lot of supporters!

Personal story: I was nervous about honking the horn (to get people's attention) even though everyone else in our caravan was honking, because I've been taught to never honk my horn. ;) But finally I caved, and then I had so much fun honking that I would bounce up and down every time I honked the horn! Janelle laughed at me. Oh, and Janelle and I came up with a little song/chant to sing to the people out the windows while we were driving (and to keep ourselves entertained). "Vote Yes on 2! It helps protect our ch-children! Vote Yes on 2! It helps protect our ch-children!" Yah, very simple but it was fun! PLEASE remember to vote tomorrow, on Election Day, and regardless of which candidate you vote for, PLEASE vote YES on Amendment 2! If you are unsure of WHY I'm asking you to vote yes on 2, you can click HERE for FAQ's or just general information about the Amendment. There's more at stake here than most people realize, so please take the time to be informed before you go to the polls.

Below are a few pictures from yesterday's event!

Great is Your Faithfulness!

Wow, today marks eleven years since Josh's accident at Chimney Rock! For those of you who don't know, here's the story:

My entire family went up to North Carolina for my mom's birthday. But on October 7th, 1997, we planned to just spend the day at Chimney Rock (a national park) and then return home a day or two after that. Little did we know that our all-knowing God was going to test our faith and trust in Him...in a way we never would've dreamed. Josh was 12 at the time. I don't believe our entire family (plus my mom's parents) had ever been to Chimney Rock, so we were all excited. We climbed all around to the different viewpoints and finally reached the biggest look-out area, which we had to use a wooden staircase to get to. Most of us stayed on the flat part, taking pictures, admiring the beauty of the surrounding forests and mountains. Josh however, got restless and went down the wooden spiral staircase ahead of us to 'explore'. While waiting for us to come down, he decided he would try to climb up the outside of the spiral staircase, since the boards seemed to be close enough together. He got about 20 feet up when the board he'd grabbed onto broke and he fell onto hard rock, on his back. Note: had he chosen to climb a little over to the left of the staircase, he would've fallen over a cliff...and this would be a very different post.

Meanwhile, he didn't scream, and there were other people milling about, so the rest of our family was unaware of what had happened. As we made our way to the staircase, my mom looked over the edge and saw Josh lying on his back. She jokingly exclaimed, "look guys, Josh is dead. Steph, take a picture!" I didn't. My dad got down there and saw that Josh's head was bleeding and told my mom that he wasn't okay. The next thing I remember, Jenn and Granddaddy were gone looking for help, I was sitting at the bottom of the stairs w/ my grandmother (praying softly), my mom (crying), and my 2 little brothers (who started screaming once my mom started crying). My dad kept asking Josh questions but he mostly responded w/ "what?"..."I don't know"..."my head hurts". When the on-call paramedics FINALLY got there, that's when the real stress set in! (What SHOULD have happened, is they should've airlifted him where we were at because 1. this was a head trauma, and 2. we were so far down the path that the EMT's had to carry Josh on FOOT all the way back to the parking lot where the ambulance was. But God is sovereign, and He's the One who ultimately sustained Josh's life.)

So before the paramedics put him in the stretcher to carry him, they had to put a neck brace on him...easy enough, right? Um, yah. They had to read the INSTRUCTIONS as to HOW you put a neck brace on someone! Yah, just a little pent-up frustration...;) So once they put the neck brace on, they carried him down the trail/mountain to the ambulance...with the entire Lightfoot/Smith family trailing behind.

He got to the hospital and they ran tests. They found a blood clot on his brain. The doctors told us they would need to remove the blood clot but it was a very dangerous procedure, because they would literally have to scrape the blood clot off, and if they scraped even the tiniest bit too hard, he would end up with some memory loss or even some form of handicap. This was a roller-coaster week for the Lightfoot family.

To make a long story short (and because I can't remember the details), Josh was in the hospital past our vacation, so dad ended up driving the rest of us kids home while mom stayed with Josh in the hospital...then they stayed with Grandpa (my dad's dad) after the surgery, then he went back into the hospital due to complications, and then he was able to recover.

*due to graphic content, proceed with caution*Josh has a scar that goes from the top front of his skull down to his ear where the doctors made the incision. They basically made a flap to pull back part of his scalp, and then part of his skull so they could get to the blood clot. By God's grace, they were able to scrape out the blood clot without causing any damage (though it can be a good excuse sometimes)! They actually GAVE the blood clot to Josh in a jar of formaldehyde that he kept for a few years till it disintigrated. =)All along, we had so many people praying for Josh and our family. We had only been going to Metro for about 2 years when Josh's accident happened, but were immediately surrounded by the love of our church family, walked out in numerous tangible ways! People continue to tell Josh (since the accident) that God must have a plan for his life, to have brought him through an incident like that, virtually unscathed. How neat to see God's plan for Josh's life slowly unfolding, even now! Below are some pictures of Josh/our family, with in the last couple years. =)

Freedom From These Chains!

God has been SO gracious to my family, but particularly my 23 year old brother Josh. =) I know my sis has already posted on all this, but I wanted to share with you all as well.

This year's theme for our statewide conference 'Celebration' was sovereignly titled "Freedom". The logo that was used for the conference is a beautiful picture of a wooden cross with severed ropes hanging off it, symbolizing the freedom Christ gained for us on the cross! I went into the weekend, knowing God was going to set me free from some personal sins, I just wasn't fully aware of WHAT He was going to do that weekend. God was so gracious to soften my heart (in the week leading up to the conference) in specific areas of sin that I was so blind to, and He continued pursuing my soul throughout the weekend, all the while drawing me closer to Him. =)

Unbeknownst to me, my brother Josh was at home realizing the much bigger battle...the battle for his soul! Josh was 16 (seven years ago) when he verbally realized he was not a Christian, and chose to follow the desires of his flesh, rather than pursue God's call on his life. Since then, my family and countless friends have interceded for my lost brother. I remember at first, praying for God to protect Josh from the 'evils' of this world, keeping him safe from bodily harm. But as Josh continued to be seduced by the lurings of this world, my prayers turned from self-righteous sighs of protection from physical harm, to desparate cries to guard his soul above all else. Over the years, I've received countless prophetic words, encouraging thoughts, and scripture to continue interceding for my prodigal brother. Only my Saviour knows the number of tears I've cried to Him, begging Him to at last woo Josh's soul over. On Saturday August 30th, my brother's soul was finally captivated by the King. Josh spent a lot of time on his knees that day in our living room, weeping. Not because he was crying out to a God who had turned a deaf ear! Not because Josh was asking God for things He would not give him. But because the scales on Josh's eyes had fallen, and he was seeing Christ for who He really is! He was experiencing the unfathomable forgiveness from his Heavenly Father!

I have been overwhelmed at all the people that are pursuing genuine relationships with Josh since Celebration. Side note: My parents drove back on Sunday during the conference to pick Josh up and bring him back in time for the ministry session that night, where tons of people (not knowing the status of his soul yet) came up to him, chatted, exchanged numbers with him, etc. I am so grateful for the local church's commitment to reach out to the lost AND the newly converted! What a blessing!

Please continue to pray for Josh, only now, pray for the Holy Spirit's voice to be loud and clear to Josh so that he will not give in to temptation. =) Josh has already shown much fruit in the way he's responded to different situations in his life. And I can already see God using him in the lives of his unsaved friends. Praise the Lord for His saving work on the cross! Hallelujah! Our God IS mighty to save! =)

Below is a picture of Josh at Celebration the first night, reading a letter Todd had given him.