Have you ever felt a little sick, but waited to do anything about it because you weren’t really sure you were truly sick? Waiting too long to take medicine can complicate your symptoms and worsen the condition. I hate what happens to me and around me when I feel sick.

• I don’t feel like doing anything.
• I don’t have much of a concern for anything going on outside of my household
• I’m focused on my pain or discomfort
• I lose my appetite
• I get very little accomplished in a day
• I can’t enjoy being with people
• I sleep more
• I need to be revived
  

When I think about my response to physical sickness I realize that when you and I are spiritually sick we have many of the same symptoms in our spiritual life.

• We don’t feel like doing anything – going to church, witnessing, praying, reading our Bible
• We don’t have a concern for lost souls
• We are focused on the little hurts we experience by others so much so that they become big hurts
• We have no appetite for spiritual food – preaching, God’s Word, godly music
• We accomplish nothing that counts for eternity
• We don’t enjoy being with God’s people
• We are spiritually sleepy
• We need revival!
  

When even one or two of the physical symptoms show up in my life I begin looking for what it is that’s making me sick. Did I pick up a cold germ at the grocery store? Is it the flu? Is a migraine coming on? I call it what it is, then I seek a remedy – medicine, rest, heating pad, anything that will help.

When you and I have one or two of the spiritual sickness symptoms we should wisely seek a cure before it worsens. The cure isn’t a pill or heating pad, it’s confession; calling our sin what God calls it. Did it begin with me being bitter towards someone? Am I being selfish? I must call it what it is, then ask God’s forgiveness. Waiting too long causes more symptoms to appear. It’s wise to catch it early and make it right so the healing process is quicker. Revival comes to the heart that wants to be clean.

I trust you’re feeling well today, but more than your physical well-being, I pray that you’re spiritually healthy. As you look over the list of symptoms how are you doing, really? If any of those point to your current condition, run to the Great Physician and let Him heal you before it worsens.

Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. This verse has been my prayer in recent days. No, let me restate that – it has been my heart’s cry in recent days.

Do you ever come to the place where you realize that you have nothing of value to say? I am becoming more and more aware of that truth every single day, and hence, I’ve pleaded with the Lord to give me the tongue of the learned so I can speak a word in season (at the right time) to him who is weary. I didn’t realize that He would at the same time give me the “ears of the learned to hear” what He wanted to say to me.

Last week I spoke a word out of season and it caused friction. I chafed under the strain I caused. The conviction of the Spirit was at work in my heart and it was not pleasant. After making it right with the Lord and those I’d sinned against, a bright light turned on as the Spirit of God spoke to my heart. It was time to listen and have the ears of the learned. The conviction of speaking a word out of season was God answering my prayer about my speech. How often I share what I’m thinking or feeling when it would be better to keep it to myself! Proverbs 17:27 He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

While I have prayed for a wise tongue, I just assumed that Lord would help me to have the right words to say – I didn’t think about how He would strongly convict me when I was using words that were sinful and hurtful instead. I’ve learned that God answers our prayers differently then we think He’s going to, but it’s always the right way. I’ve learned that wise words are sometimes no words at all. This isn’t an easy lesson and I’m sure I’m only at the beginning of learning this, but I continue to ask God for the tongue of learned…and for ears to hear and heed His correction.

Yesterday began a week of revival meetings with Dr. Ron Comfort at Boones Creek Bible Church. What a wonderful day we had! We heard the Word preached without apology and with great power. I’m excited about a great week of meetings to come. Please join us, if you’re able!

Having meetings means the blessing of having the evangelist and his wife in our home for Sunday dinner. We loved having the Comforts here with us to enjoy a time of fellowship and food. Having guests over isn’t about having a huge, beautiful home, or having a perfect meal, it’s about extending to others the gift of hospitality; offering a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name.

No meal at my house is perfect – that’s for sure! I’m sure I scared my guests as they were waiting for me to finish the details of the meal – the smoke detector kept going off! I assured them nothing was burning (though I’ve had my share of burned food in the past!). My husband had put new batteries in the smoke alarm and then hung it very close to the stove. Every time I opened the oven door it sounded! =0 My husband took it off the wall after the third time the crazy thing went off!

Here’s what was cookin’ at my house yesterday:

The salad recipe is from a church member who’s a great cook. If you’re looking for a salad for Thanksgiving, this one doesn’t require lots of steps and is really good! It’s also especially pretty for Christmas dinner. I serve it on a salad plate with lettuce as a garnish beneath it.
The chicken casserole is a new one for me. A wonderful cook at church makes this and I always look for it at our church dinners. It was a great do-ahead dish for Sunday. I made the dish on Saturday and then on Sunday I added the cracker topping and put it in the oven on time bake.

The sweet potato casserole is from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and is one of the best I’ve tried. One night while we were having dinner there (the only time I’ve ever been there!) we commented to our server how much we loved the sweet potatoes and he brought out a copy of the recipe for us to take home! The fresh sweet potatoes make a huge difference, plus it’s not as heavy as most of the casseroles I’ve made in the past. I made the whole dish on Saturday and placed it in the oven on time bake with the chicken dish.

This cake recipe can be made ahead of time and frozen. The caramel sauce can also be made ahead and warmed up (gently) in the microwave. This is so yummy and simple.

Of my heroines in the faith, two would be Elisabeth Elliot and Amy Carmichael. I have a copy of Elizabeth’s devotional book entitled, Keep a Quiet Heart. For years I have reviewed it and always been encouraged by her teaching. Today let me share one of my favorite entries from her book in which she quotes Amy Carmichael. The entry reads:

“Some of you are perhaps feeling that you are voyaging just now on a moonless sea. Uncertainty surrounds you. There seem to be no signs to follow. Perhaps you feel about to be engulfed by loneliness. There is no one to whom you can speak of your need. Amy Carmichael wrote of such a feeling when, as a missionary of twenty-six, she had to leave Japan because of poor health, then travel to China for recuperation, but then realized God was telling her to go to Ceylon. (All this preceded her going to India, where she stayed for fifty-three years.) I have on my desk her original handwritten letter of August 25, 1894, as she was en route to Colombo.

‘All day long, let us remember we are not asked to understand, but simply to obey…On July 28, Saturday, I sailed. We had to come on board ton Friday night, and just as the tender (a small boat) where were the dear friends who had come to say goodbye was moving off, and the chill of loneliness shivered through me, like a warm love-clasp came the long-loved lines–‘And only Heaven is better than to walk with Christ at midnight, over moonless seas.” I couldn’t feel frightened then. Praise Him for the moonless seas-all the better opportunity for proving Him to be indeed the El Shaddai, the God who is Enough.'”

If you’re traveling on moonless seas today, remember that He is with you to guide you in the darkness and lead you to the next place He wants you to be. “When you get to the place where you find there’s nothing left but God, you will find that He is enough.”

When you have an identical twin, you just get used to people staring at you and comparing you to your twin; it’s happened all our lives. When we were growing up people would line us up, shoulder to shoulder to see how we were alike and how we were different. They were trying to find a way to tell us apart, and hence, the comparisons. Many times I’ve been mistaken for Dianne because people couldn’t tell the difference.