Tomorrow is promised to noone.......

Life is shorter than anyone would think. I have already had probably several close calls and yet, I still think I will live to be a very old person. But really, how do I really know? Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. My first time that I realized this, was over 26 years ago, when my twin sons were born 3 months premature, and I was hemorrhaging, and not only did I almost lose the boys, but I too was at great risk.
But really, I had some close calls, and angels watching over me, I believe, when I was a teenager and a very young adult. I was a very crazy driver, and I look back and shudder at a few instances in particular, when I could have been killed with my reckless driving and certainly could have killed others.

Then, several years ago, there was the time that I almost drowned in a river, when we were tubing, a river currant pulled me under. I really thought, "This could be it". Then, by instinct, I let go of the log that I was trying to climb, and went with the flow of the water, and was pulled up".
Six years ago, when I had not just one cancer, thyroid, and unrelated to my breast cancer that year, at first the doctor said that it was 4th stage, making my husband really scared, in particular. I was just worried that I would have to have a traceodomy, but than found out it was just 2nd stage. I'm a cancer survivor, with continuing good reports, thank God!

So, what does this all mean? It means, am I ready to die? Am I sure that there is an eternal life, and this is not all that there is? Am I ready to meet my maker?

When I was driving like a nut, with no fear of death, I wasn't ready, nor had I even thought about life or death. I was too young, I was going to live forever.....

When my boys were born, and I realized that tomorrow wasn't promised to anyone, I didn't feel ready to go yet. I wanted to raise my boys, and wasn't quite ready to meet Jesus yet.

When I had my cancers, I felt, "My life is in Your hands dear God". I have found that whatever years I have left, I am here to serve God, and tell others about Him. "Have you thought about if you're ready to meet your maker? Have you thought about the deeper questions in life. Asking questions is very important, and if one is sincere, he will get the answers.

Am I ready to die? Do I want to go? I could be ready, but would like to live longer. I want to enjoy my grandchildren, the ones that aren't here yet, and it will be a few years longer before that will happen. I enjoy my husband, he's difinitely a God sent; I love my kids, and want to see them all grow, prosper and mostly, love Jesus deeply. And, I do want God to use me to tell others about the hope that lies within me, and the only wonderful hope there is in this world. In this messed up world, God is here. He has just let strong willed people to their own devices, and not needing God, and look what has happened. "Come quickly Lord Jesus, come". Please be ready, you are so very loved!!!

God with us, and hearing His voice, sermon

Tomorrow I will be preaching to the senior citizens that live upstairs at Jesus People USA. I have copied my sermon to be read by anyone that wants. It would be my desire that you would be blessed. Carol

"God, with us, and hearing His voice......" Carol Trott, August 6, 2006

(Read Psalm 139:1-10) Have you ever felt the absence of God, or at least, really wanted to hear from Him and it seemed as if He was not speaking, or around? Most often that is how it seems or feels. Often, He is very silent. He wants us to come to Him in faith, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". Hebrews 11:1. "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible". Hebrews 11:3

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him". Hebrews 11:6.

God does not jump the second we ask,"show Yourself". He hides Himself, but when we show God that we mean business and really want to hear from Him, as we earnestly search for Him, continue to look for Him, He will show us Himself, or speak to us in some way. No matter if it is in the slightest way, and we feel confident that we received something from Him, it is one of the most gratifying experiences that we can have. "If you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul". Deuteronomy 4:29.

God speaks to us in many ways. Through nature, through the stars, moon and sun, the universe, all being held in place. Through His word, through other people, and through circumstances. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse". Romans 1:20.

We know that God has spoken to different men and women in the bible. Moses and the burning bush; to Aaron, who said 'send Me Lord'; through angels, in the telling of the coming of Jesus. But what about us? Will God speak to us too? Maybe not in the way we want, but if we're listening, we'll hear Him. Through the beauty of a flower; through a newborn baby, through the wind blowing through the trees, through a kind act done by someone else, or through a loved one, as I have been blessed through, a wonderful Christian husband, Jon, where God has done much healing in me, I do hear God's voice often.

I would like to share a few other times that I feel God spoke to me personally, or was there helping me, and I didn't even know it at the time. When I was in the third grade, and standing on the school playground watching the other girls jumping rope. I was a very shy child and didn't know how to mingle with others. As I was standing there, feeling all sad and shy, the thought was impressed on me, "You are loved". Someone or something was telling me that I was loved. My parents were having alot of kids, sicknesses in the family, little money or anything left over to pour over to us kids. That Someone, now I know, was God. It was God, when I went to Catholic church everyday, Mass, where I decided at the same age that I was only going to pray to God, not the saints. When I was 15 yrs old, and experiencing a traumatic time, and had noone to talk to about it, years later I figured out that it was God who pulled me out of months of depression.

I was always a hard worker and paid my way through Beautician and Airline Schools after high school. When I got a job at O'Hare Airport near Chicago, that's when I really started asking questions, "Why are we here?" "What is this all about?" "Is God real?"

Once, in my search for God, I heard that some people were having experiences with God through using drugs. So I thought, I’ll use marijuana and maybe have an experience with God too. I did have an experience with God. I kept hearing, No! No! No! It was God saying no to me. That was the last time I ever tryed anything like that!

After about a year of these agonizing questions, and searching for God, when I was driving to visit relatives in Milwaukee one day, all of a sudden the trees and everything became very vibrant to me, and as if God said, no screamed it, "I'm real". In my heart then, not just my head, I knew God was real!

About a year later, I had an unforgettable conversion experience in my apartment bedroom. All I remember saying to God was, "Take my life. Give me faith". A tremendous peace came over me, I was filled with unspeakable joy, and everything seemed unbelievably brighter, as I went around the apartment trying to turn all the light switches off.

A few months after becoming a Christian I went to Israel a couple of times, as I got very cheap airline tickets with my job. The first time there I had an 'on top of the mountain Moses experience'. Maybe that was what I needed, or maybe it was the time. In the early 70's there was truly a revival time, with many young people becoming Christians, and many people having such experiences.

But what about now? What about people who haven't had deep religious experiences or touches from God that they wanted? I don't know all the answers, but I do know that God does want us to come to Him in faith, not with our feelings. Feelings can, and often do come along later. Being single minded for God also helps! I have had many experiences in my life with God to build my faith, but much of my Christian life of 35 yrs.plus, I have had to walk in faith. I am not always hearing God's voice, because I am too busy and not sitting still long enough, or not seeking God earnestly enough. Or sometimes God is speaking and I just don't identify that it is Him speaking. Remember, if we seek Him earnestly, He will show Himself.

Recently I was going through a moment of pain, in a social situation, which at different times has happened to me. I am a wounded soul, from many past hurts in my life, and so, God is still healing me. I called out to God. "I need to hear from You God', and really meant it. The next day I read Psalm 139. God is with me, and He is with me in those moments of pain. I also read in Isaiah 53:3 & 4, "He is familiar with pain. Surely, He took up our pain and bore our sufferings". God is with us always and understands our pain. Then I read something that can help me in different social situations that I don't want to be in, "in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others". Philippians 2:3b & 4. I heard God's voice in those different passages and have read them several times since, wanting to hear God through these words, because that is where life changes lie. God is with us. He longs for us to be still and know that He is God. He longs to have fellowship with us. "Here I am"! (Jesus said). "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with Me". Revelations 3:20

So, if you want to hear God's voice, seek Him earnestly, continually. And remember, there are two reasons a person cannot see something. The first reason is that it is invisible, or at least very hard to see unless we look very carefully. But the second reason is that we are blind, all of us at times. Scripture says that by nature most of us have serious vision problems when it comes to seeing God. The way to overcome our blindness is to submit to God, obey the truth of His Word, and watch as our eyesight gets better and better. Sometimes it turns out God was in plain sight all along.

[prayer]