"Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus."
Last year, at my brother’s invitation, David and I drove to
Birmingham, Alabama, to a faith-and-healing conference. Due to
diabetes, my sister-in-law, Mary Burton, has struggled with several
small strokes that have left her disabled in some ways. Walking is
perilous, and she uses a walker to stabilize her mobility.
Our
circles of faith are not centered in the faith and healing ministries.
No one I know would deny that being made whole, in a variety of ways,
is a possible, or even imminent, work of the Holy Spirit. Right now,
however, this is not the foremost emphasis of the theology of people
who make up the devout circles of our friends and acquaintances.
However, David and I always attempt to be open to learning from the experiences of other believers.
Observers
like ourselves at the Birmingham healing conference could not deny that
there was a movement of the Lord. People were “slain in the Spirit.”
There were overt and deeply felt exclamations of faith and praise. My
husband and my brother even went forward for the laying on of hands as
an expression of openness to God’s potential work in their lives, but
nothing that we could identify happened for them. People with the
legitimate gift of healing laid hands on my sister-in-law, and again,
no healing that we could identify occurred. Yet, we were all glad we
had made the effort to attend, traveling several hundred miles, just to
be reminded that Christianity is broad and provides an umbrella for a
wide variety of sincere expressions of belief practices.
One
takeaway from this conference, however, was the prayer of a woman whose
name I can’t remember and whose book I can’t find! She had been
unusually used of the Lord to establish a home in Africa for hundreds
of abandoned children. This evening, she shared how God had led her
(with no funds and few backers) to establish a grade school, then a
high school, for these street kids. Next, she was given the faith to
believe that she could leverage scholarship positions for many of these
kids at Stanford University in California. Which she did!
This
was a remarkable faith-building story for all her listeners, but what I
remember most is that upon being introduced to the audience, she fell
to her knees and all she could say for a long five to seven minutes
was, “Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus…” She was filled with an
unaccountable love for our Lord. This moment for her was a visitation
of praise. I had no doubt, as an observer, that she was authentic and
had, in that moment, been overcome by the Holy Spirit.
This last month, on our podcast, Before We Go,
we have been highlighting interviews conducted over the years with
religious leaders from past years who are all now in heaven (probably
praying the same prayer of worship themselves, “Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus…”). It was my husband’s privilege over twenty years
of daily broadcasting nationwide through our past radio ministry, The Chapel of the Air, to interview extraordinary leaders of faith. Francis Schaeffer and J. Edwin Orr. Leonard Ravenhill and Helen Roseveare.
I
have been deeply, deeply moved by listening again to these powerful
interviews and so grateful that we have radio archives that allow us to
again review the passion and love of Jesus of these past Christian
leaders. Listening to the interviews with Helen Roseveare again made me
examine my own faith. I confess that in light of her extraordinary
emphasis on living a life, daily and in every moment, filled with the
reality of Jesus Christ as its primary passion, I have needed to
undergo some Holy Spirit-led self-examination.
I want a soul that sings, cries, exclaims Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
I want in these last days of my life to have all the passions for God
renewed that I’ve had in previous decades. I want to live, no matter
the cost, with Him as the heart-throbbing center of my soul.
In
comparison to these stalwart ancestors of faith, I’m a wimp. Thank God
we have some of the voices of the past to remind us of the driving
dedication they experienced that is somewhat farther afield than the
frankly all-too-contented disposition of many of us in American
Christendom.
If you, too, want to be deeply moved,
poignantly reminded, and stirred to a more passionate discipleship
desire, click this link — www.deankwilson.com/Before_We_Go.html — and
give yourself time over a few weeks to listen to these podcasts. Then,
given the isolation in this COVID-19 pause, ask God’s Spirit to whisper
His meanings into your own soul.
We desperately need a nation of believers who are stirred to live and pray, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Karen Mains
NOTICESHEADS-UP: 2021 Memoir Class
This
spring of 2020, I offered a memoir-writing class and have some twelve
people journeying with me as I learn with them about the profound
possibilities of writing out our own stories. I charged $500 for
several months of what has become ZOOM-centered coaching. Believe me,
the interaction, the reviewing of written submissions, the personal
exchanges have all made me believe that my time is worth every penny of
that $500 fee!!
Needless to say, I have loved this journey
with my writing friends. I find that I am learning a great deal myself
about this particular kind of autobiographical effort and will be
redesigning the classes so that I can more effectively help people tell
their story in the future.
These memoir-writing classes will
be offered again, God willing, starting in the spring of 2021. Knowing
what I now know, I will be asking each participant to frame what is
called a “coherent narrative” of his/her life. And, I will want that
narrative submitted BEFORE the classes begin. If you are interested,
start thinking of what your life-story summary might be.
The ZOOM app allows us to have a general meeting of many participants, then break into “pods” with smaller groups interacting.
In
addition, although I don’t have much extra time, I am considering a
manuscript-consulting outreach. There are various levels from
“idea-only” to actual written pages to a pretty-much-finished draft
product that I would be happy to look over. If you are interested, send
me what is called a “query”—a page-long (or thereabouts) description of
your idea. Then I can give you an estimate of what it will cost to give
you professional coaching to bring your draft concept to a finished
state.
I love seeing good ideas find fruition. Don't Forget!
David and Karen Mains are podcasting. Their new show is called Before We Go. You can find more info about the podcast, and where to listen to it, at www.BeforeWeGo.show. Reminder!
The Soulish Food e-mails are
being
posted biweekly on the Hungry Souls Web
site. Newcomers can look that over and decide if they want to
register on the Web site to receive the biweekly newsletter. You might
want to recommend this to friends also. They can go to www.HungrySouls.org.
Hungry Souls Contact InformationADDRESS: 29W377 Hawthorne Lane
West Chicago, IL 60185
PHONE: 630-293-4500
EMAIL: karen@hungrysouls.org
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Karen Mains
I want in these last
days of my life to have all the passions for God renewed that I’ve had
in previous decades. I want to live, no matter the cost, with Him as
the heart-throbbing center of my soul.
BOOK CORNER
 Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption
by Katie Davis Majors
This
beautifully told story is a contemporary chronicle of one young woman’s
life, turned upside-down by her love of Jesus and her love for the
world. The back-cover copy reads:
“Katie Davis Majors left
her Christmas break of her senior year for a short mission trip to
Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself
so moved by the people of Uganda and the needs she saw that she knew
her calling was to return and are for them. Katie, a charismatic and
articulate young woman, adopted thirteen children in Uganda and has
established a ministry, Amazima, that feeds and sends hundreds more to
school while teaching them the Word of Jesus Christ. Kisses From Katie invites readers on a journey of radical love down the red dirt roads of Uganda…"
Book on Amazon.com
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