Roslyn M. Nevers 11/05/75-01/08/11

I've been doing a lot of reading the last few days as I don't have much to say. So I'll share the song that the Lord blessed me with that has kept me as I mourn the loss of my siblings. I continue to listen to it to this day when the pain sets in and I pray the lyrics will bless you as it has comforted me. Pray for me and my family as we continue to mourn.

Wonderful, Merciful Savior

Wonderful, merciful Savior
Precious Redeemer and Friend
Who would have thought that a Lamb
Could rescue the souls of men
Oh you rescue the souls of men

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
Spirit we long to embrace
You offer hope when our hearts have
Hopelessly lost the way
Oh, we hopelessly lost the way

You are the One that we praise
You are the One we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for

Almighty, infinite Father
Faithfully loving Your own
Here in our weakness You find us
Falling before Your throne
Oh, we're falling before Your throne

Piles of Ashes

This week was an extremely rough week. However I received this AW Tozer devotional from a co-laborer in the Lord (co-worker at my place of employment as well) and it provided much needed comfort. So for those who have lost someone close to you or may be suffering in other areas, I pray you would be encouraged as well.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. --Hebrews 12:11

If God has singled you out to be a special object of His grace you may expect Him to honor you with stricter discipline and greater suffering than less favored ones are called upon to endure....

If God sets out to make you an unusual Christian He is not likely to be as gentle as He is usually pictured by the popular teachers. A sculptor does not use a manicure set to reduce the rude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful. To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be.

"Lord, give me the grace to withstand 'the saw, the hammer and the chisel.' I want the finished product; I often chafe under the process. I submit myself today to Your working. Amen!"

Lessons

There isn’t much that I can say about my relationship with Levar that many of you don’t already know. We were twins and so inseparable that many people believed we were married in our adult life only to discover we were twins who were very close. He was many things a sweet, sweet man who was there for me through many difficult times and circumstances that only we knew about. I have never had a closer friend even to this day and never loved anyone but God more. No one could ever take his place or be who he was to me, and for that I will never be the same. And despite the fact that we talked very few times over the last five years I thank God we were able to repent to one another two years ago for things we had done and said that were wrong that caused the rift in our relationship. Right now my heart is broken but I know that God is still able so I praise Him and I know He is sovereign and Levar is no longer with us for that was the will of God. I praise Jesus that I was able to see him, kiss him, tell him I love him forever, say goodbye and pray blessings over him before he passed.

My heart is also heavy for Levar now because I cannot say with great assurance that he is with the Lord and that is destroying me right now. (I have many biblical reasons why I feel that way) However when I go through difficult situations I now ask the Lord in light of said suffering or pain… “Lord what are you trying to teach me through this situation?” I honestly believe it’s a lesson for many who are reading this today. My prayer is that you would be concerned about where you would be if you passed today. We sit in many many funerals listening to religious platitudes about people being in heaven who showed no real proof of salvation, no scriptural proof of good fruit in their lives to attest such statements, rebellion, and willful disobedience to God. We cannot witness people transgressing God’s Law habitually, living for themselves, living out of their own so called “goodness” (Rom 3:10 NO one is good no not one) and then when they pass assume they are in heaven because that is what we would like. How many of us have lied, stolen, used the Lord’s name in vain, dishonored our parents? We are all guilty of breaking the Law (Deut 5:6-21) and if you have broken one part of the Law you are guilty of breaking the whole law (James 2:10). So my questions to you AGAIN in light of Levar’s untimely death…if you left the earth today would you go to heaven or hell? Are you innocent or guilty before a holy God? And if you cannot say with total assurance that you are covered by the blood and your life is a testimony to that…does this fact concern you? And more importantly are you willing to admit that you need a Savior to stand in your place before a holy God that will judge you and find you guilty, for no one is able to keep the Law (1Jn 1:8,10)?

You are still here today reading this, alive and able to get right with God and put on the Lord Jesus. Pray earnestly that He may call you to repentance; call you to truly be one of His own and LIVE FOR HIM. Do it today because as you can see tomorrow is not guaranteed! And a man who everyone would say is a nice/good person, loved others, did good works, lived a healthy life-never drunk never smoked is now gone and we don’t know with great assurance if he is with the Lord or in Hell. Is that a chance that you want to take with your eternal destination? I love Levar I would say more than anyone else that will set eyes on this and I am sorry if what I have shared upsets you but the reality is this, the lesson we should take from this is to… assess our lives and be honest about if we are truly living for ourselves or living for Christ.

• Does your life reflect the life of someone that is a child of God?
• Children look and act like their parents, do you look, act, and live like your heavenly Father would want you to, according to the Holy Scriptures?
• Do you love what He loves and hate what He hates?
• Do you keep His commandments (John 14:15) or abuse His grace (Rom 6:1)?
• Do you say Lord Lord and do not do the things He says, hearers of the Word and not doers only deceiving yourself (James 1:22)?
• Did you walk an aisle one day and make a profession of faith and you think that covers you as you continue to live like you do not know the Lord (1J0hn 1:6)?
• Do you go to church every Sunday and live like you do not know Him the rest of the week?

Scripture says you will know my disciples by their fruit (Jn 15:18) and that a student will be like their teacher (Matt 10:25). Please I pray don’t let this lesson escape you today. Take time with the Lord, open a Bible, and be honest with Him about who you are and where you are with Him. Repent and believe the Gospel. Jesus is God and became flesh simply to deal with the sin problem, He was crucified, buried, rose again on the 3rd day so that by His sacrifice we one day could be redeemed and be His disciples (1 Corin 15:1-5, Matt 28:18-20). As you ponder these things, I pray that it would be the will of the Lord for you to be redeemed today.

Peace and Hope in Suffering

Hello to my people out in the blogosphere! I know it has been a WHILE! However never fear I have LOTS to talk about after the last several months of my life. Many may not know that my sister Roslyn went home to be with the Lord on January 8, 2011. I have had great days since then, knowing she is no longer suffering and no longer in pain, however I am still grieving. Oh I miss her so much it hurts, especially during those times when I need to talk to my big sister, and she is no longer here.

As I read this Bible study this morning it broke me down because it was truly the voice of the Lord speaking to me and many others who are in pain and are suffering for many reasons. Some because of the Gospel some because of bad decisions that they made and many, many other reasons I am sure. I pray that as you read this you will feel the Holy Spirit comforting you, as I did. Enjoy :-)

Peace and Hope in Suffering by Pastor John Piper

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” – Hebrews 11:1

The great chapter on faith in the Bible is Hebrews, chapter 11. It begins, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

What is often overlooked in this chapter, though, is the final eight verses where we get the balanced picture of faith as that which lays hold on God for rescue from suffering and as that which lays hold on God for peace and hope in suffering.

Verse 33 says “By faith they conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection…”

Now if we stopped reading here our conception of how the quality of faith manifests itself would be very distorted, because here it sounds as if faith always wins in this life.

But here a shift occurs and we find that faith is also the power to lose our life: “By faith … others were tortured, not accepting release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; others experienced mocking and scourging, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheep skins, in goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy) wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground . . . And all these gained approval through their faith. . . ”

The glory of God is manifested when He heals, and when he gives a sweet spirit of hope and peace to the person that He does not heal, for that, too, is a miracle of grace! O, that we might be a people among whom God is often healing our sicknesses, but is always causing us to be full of joy and peace while our sickness remains.

If we are a humble and childlike people who cry out to God in our need and trust in His promises, the Holy Spirit will help us and God will bless us with every possible blessing. He will, as the text says, work everything together for our good.

- John Piper