AT-ONE-MENT

This last week has been an interesting week... My daughter moved back on Sunday afternoon and we spent all day going back and forth to get her stuff. The next day, My husband and I went to a funeral of my niece's grandmother whom she never met who's son has never acknowledged her as her father and my niece then calls me on my cell ph0ne on the way there. The woman who died was a believer ( I didn't know that) She was a gracious and beautiful woman with a smile that lit up a room. My niece called to tell me that she got the job she had been praying for. She will be working with troubled youth. This is such a praise! The Lord has transformed her life from being a homeless drug addict to a woman of purpose & passion for helping others with the same grace she has been given! I thank the Lord for the fruit she is now producing for Him! The funeral was in the town my husband and I first built our dream home on the 200 acre farm land. We were the 5th generation to live on the farm. Now, just staring this year,they are drilling for natural gas on the property. The woman who's funeral we went to was the wife of Steve's father's childhood best friend. It sure brought out old memories of the old days gone by. We stopped by to look at the old house still standing. I imagined opening up the front door to watch the roof fall in! You could see holes in it.
The next day, the Katrina refugee was released and is now living at our home. He has nowhere to stay & is living with us & sleeping on the couch & is awaiting his court date they have scheduled for him. I went to my theology class that night and got some clarity about what it is I do believe about "Does God still speak today?" I've discovered that I view that the miraculous sign gifts could still be given today, but I need to be careful about outright acceptance of people's claims of possession of them. So, you could say I adhere to the soft cessationist view of prophesy. So therefore, I do not believe that the gifts of the spirit ceased with the death of the last apostle and the completion of the New Testament.
I so looked forward to the Holy Thursday service. It felt so good to unleash praise to the Lord... to worship, sing & pray in the spirit, & take part in the communion with the body of Christ. I prayed for forgiveness for some slips of my tongue. I praised the Lord for his endless and enduring love and for shedding His blood so that I could live. I praised Him for laying down His life for His friends & it struck me how His love was being poured into that place and into each one of us, His children.