His Good and Perfect Gift ~ Johnny and Brittany's Engagement Story

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

~ Ephesians 3:20-21 ~

Ten months ago marked the visible beginning of one of the most amazing things that will ever happen in my life.  That was a courtship with Johnny Ingalls.  But the Lord was working out details quite a while before that.

I and my family have prayed for years, asking the Lord to send the godly man into our lives that He intends me to be a helpmeet to, and praying for that young man, even though I never knew his name.

We met Johnny when we started attending church full time at Collins Road Baptist Church in the fall of 2014, but it wasn't until 2015 that we started getting to know him.  We talked with him at church and he came to our home several times.  He expressed interest to Dad in possibly courting me.  After a good bit of talking with Dad, and some conversations between us at church, I felt fearful of possible differences between us and didn't have a peace about beginning a courtship with him.  That was in May of 2016.

After that we still talked with Johnny at church, and were beginning to get to know him pretty well, but it was free of any expectations of anything more transpiring.  During this time however, the Lord began to open my eyes to take more notice of this young man.  I began to see more of his exceptional character, his true love and sincerity towards the Lord, his humility, and his honorableness.  I came to see and appreciate very much that I could actually have an encouraging spiritual conversation with him, truly focused on the Lord.  It only took a few months before I began feeling very sorry that I hadn't wanted to court this young man.  He was amazing!  I had never seen another young man like him!  What had I done!?!

At that point I began praying.  And Mom and Dad were praying too.  They had been observing Johnny more as well during those months, and were thinking the same way I was about him.  So we committed it to the Lord, and asked Him to send Johnny back if he was the right one.  I was praying very specifically during that time.  I was praying that the Lord would send Johnny back only if he was the right man for me, and that He would only send the young man to court me who He intended me to marry.  It seemed like a bold prayer, almost too much to ask.  How would Johnny ever know that I had had a change of thought towards him?  I was determined not to indicate it in any way to him, so that he would only come back if the Lord placed those thoughts in his mind.  So, I was asking, requesting from my heavenly Father what felt to me nearly impossible.

Little did I know until later that Johnny had been thinking and praying about me as well.  The more he observed me the more he felt like I was the right girl for him.

On January first, 2017 Johnny asked to talk with Dad after church.  He wanted to know if there was any possibility at all of courting me.  Dad, Mom, and I talked on our way home from church about it.  We all knew that the answer was yes.  We had been praying for this.  We knew that this was from the Lord, and we all had a complete peace about it.  So, Dad called Johnny and said that we could begin a courtship.  He had that Monday off, so he came to our house and we began talking.  There were just a few things we knew we needed to talk about and make sure we were on the same page, that we really believed the same things about, and we were relieved after talking through them all that first day that we really were on the same page on all the important things.

We spent the next two weeks talking very seriously about what we believe and what is important to each of us.  After those two weeks Dad and Mom and Johnny and I sat down and decided that we had discussed everything that was necessary and important and that we were free to begin developing a friendship.

The months that followed of developing a true friendship went very well.  We found friendship and really connected because of our similar hearts spiritually and in many tastes and preferences.  Our friendship was moving along so well that on May 27th Johnny told me that he loved me, and I told him that I loved him too.

Our relationship continued to blossom over next couple of months, and then, on August 2nd, with Dad's permission, Johnny asked me to marry him.

Johnny came over for dinner that evening, and after the meal he and I and Breanna and Mark went to a beautiful little place about twenty minutes from our house.  Johnny and I walked up on the walk way overlooking the river.  He got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him.  I said yes, and he gave me the most beautiful ring I've ever seen that he picked out for me.  We smiled, I cried, we laughed, we talked.  We stood there, just amazed at all the Lord had done.

And we still stand amazed, at how our Lord and Father has and is working out all the details.  Details that we could have never known.  He had been preparing us for each other long ago.  He orchestrated every circumstance to bring us together.  And now, after all those years of waiting, He has brought about what He intended.  And it was well worth waiting for.

It's easy to lose perspective short term, but we are told in the Word: "that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.  Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1,8).  Will we trust Him, even when we can't see the end of the road, or even what's around the next bend?  Or when we don't understand things that happen in our lives?  Will we trust that it is all part of His beautiful, perfect plan?

A verse that I have clung to for several years has been, "Do not err, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:16-17).  By the Lord's grace, I have sought to wait patiently and to trust Him to bring the right young man at the right time, knowing that when He did, it would be exactly what it was suppose to be.  And now I can see clearly that the Lord has brought my good and perfect gift into my life in Johnny.  He is not perfect, and neither am I, but I am so thankful that together we are able to seek to walk faithfully with the Lord, to obey Him and to love Him, and that we can be an encouragement to each other in walking through this life for His glory and honor, as we are both recipients of His grace and love.

"This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes."

~ Psalm 118:23 ~

~Brittany

Welcoming Fall

So happy to see the first day of fall!  Fall is such a peaceful, refreshing, encouraging time.  I am very much looking forward to seeing how the Lord continues to work His perfect, beautiful plan in this season!  He is at work everywhere in everything!

~Brittany

Rejoice in the LORD!

A beautiful, precious song shared with me by a 'big sister' in the Lord.  God has a perfect plan.  If we just trust and rest in Him He will bring us His perfect peace and we will be able to rejoice abundantly as we see His plans unfold and the fruit that He brings in our lives!

"Rejoice in the LORD"

by Ron Hamilton

God never moves without purpose or plan
When trying His servant and molding a man.
Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long;
In darkness He giveth a song.

I could not see through the shadows ahead;
So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.
I bowed to the will of the Master that day;
Then peace came and tears fled away.

Now I can see testing comes from above;
God strengthens His children and purges in love.
My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;
Through purging more fruit I will bear.

O Rejoice in the LORD
He makes no mistake,
He knoweth the end of each path that I take,
For when I am tried
And purified,
I shall come forth as gold.

"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice."

~ Philippians 4:4 ~

"But He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me,

I shall come forth as gold."

~ Job 23:10 ~

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;

and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

"O taste and see that the LORD is good:

blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."

~ Psalm 34:8 ~

"Being confident of this very thing,

that He which hath begun a good work in you

will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

~ Philippians 1:6 ~

May the Lord help us each to trust and rejoice in Him as He directs each little step along our way.  He is doing His perfect work!

~Brittany

God Moves In A Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain:

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

- Poem by William Cowper, 1731-1800

~Brittany

My Deepest Desire - His Plan, His Design

My Deepest Desire – His Plan, His Design

I do not need to understand His plan

I need only to trust His hand.

Around every corner and bend in the road

It is enough that He knows.

It is His will that I desire

In this confidence I cannot expire.

Through these years He has always faithful been

And He will see my journey to its end.

Beyond all hopes and dreams of mine

It is His will and His design.

His hand has beset me before and behind

And I know in the end I will see His design.

My deepest desire His glory to fulfill

I know He will give me peace in His blessed will.

And as I keep trusting His hand to guide

His plan will unfold before my eyes.

~B.A.A.

~Brittany

Dealing with the Harder Things of Life ~ Faith, Hope, Trust, Purpose, Peace, and Joy

These are just a few things that I've read recently that have been an encouragement to me.  I hope they will be to some of you as well.

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, according to the will of God.  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Romans 8: 18, 24-26, 27b, 28, 31, 37b

 

“Today as I sit in my lonely room, this passage of God's Word flies in like a white dove through the window, "And now men see not the sun which is in the clouds; but the wind passes and clears them." Job 37:21. To my weak vision, dimmed with tears, the cloud is exceeding dark, but through it stream some rays from the infinite love which fills the Throne with an exceeding and eternal brightness of glory. By-and-by we may get above and behind that cloud—into the overwhelming light. We shall not need comfort then; but we do need it now. And for our present consolation, God lets through the clouds some clear, strong, distinct rays of love and gladness.

One truth which beams in through the vapors is this—God not only reigns, but He governs His world by a most beautiful law of compensations. He sets one thing over against another. Faith loves to study the illustrations of this law, notes them in her diary, and rears her pillars of praise for every fresh discovery. I have noticed that the deaf often have an unusual quickness of eyesight; the blind are often gifted with an increased capacity for hearing; and sometimes when the eye is darkened and the ear is closed, the sense of touch becomes so exquisite that we are able to converse with the sufferer through that sense alone.

This law explains why God put so many of His people under a sharp regimen of hardship and burden-bearing in order that they may be sinewed into strength; why a Joseph must be shut into a prison in order that he may be trained for a palace and for the premiership of the kingdom.”

Theodore Cuyler

"Those who dive into the sea of affliction, bring up rare pearls!"

Charles Spurgeon

"Afflictions tend to wean us from the world--and to fix our affections on things above."

John Angell James

 

Do you ever wonder what Paul’s thorn in his side was (2 Corinthians 12:8)?

I wonder all the time. Did he have this thorn before he was a believer? And, if so, how long had he had it? Or, did his thorn enter his life after it changed forever on the road to Damascus?

All I know is that Paul does not say what his thorn was. How mysterious of him!

I think we all have thorns that we’ve wished we could pray away. I know I’m guilty of it.

How many times I’ve come before the Lord and asked him why he’s allowed certain things to happen in my life.

While God is more than capable of erasing history, He doesn’t.  Why doesn’t He make exceptions…?

I think it’s because He calls us to be strong and courageous. (Joshua 1:9) He knows that we have His strength to handle whatever life throws our way, even if we don’t think we’re strong enough.

The Courage to Trust

We need to trust His strength, because God wouldn’t have allowed us to endure this pain otherwise. We can stand tall and be courageous…because it takes courage to trust.

While we may not have been given the ability to change our history and rid ourselves of our thorns, we have been given the power to embrace them…which is hard (I know).

It is possible to make lemonade out of those flying life-lemons.

It begins with the trusting choice of saying, “This will not defeat me.” Christ has already won the biggest battle of our lives (Romans 8:37), but the deceiver will do anything he can to convince us that we don’t have the strength to win the smaller ones.

But quite the opposite is true. God is in the business of making beautiful things . . . and every rose has its thorn.

~ Chels {Catz in the Kitchen}

http://club31women.com/

~Brittany

"All of the past, I believe, is a part of God's story for each child of His - a mystery of love and sovereignty, written before the foundation of the world, never a hindrance to the task He has designed for us, but rather the very preparation suited to our particular personality's need."  ~ Elisabeth Elliot

~Brittany

Open and Closed Doors ~ Listening for God's Perfect Plan

"They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia."

~ Acts 16:6 ~ 

It is interesting to study the methods of His guidance as it was extended towards these early heralds of the Cross. It consisted largely in prohibitions, when they attempted to take another course than the right. When they would turn to the left, to Asia, He stayed them. When they sought to turn to the right, to Bithynia, again He stayed them. In after years Paul would do some of the greatest work of his life in that very region; but just now the door was closed against him by the Holy Spirit. The time was not yet ripe for the attack on these apparently impregnable bastions of the kingdom of Satan. Apollos must come there for pioneer work. Paul and Barnabas are needed yet more urgently elsewhere, and must receive further training before undertaking this responsible task.
Beloved, whenever you are doubtful as to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one. Say, "Blessed Spirit, I cast on Thee the entire responsibility of closing against my steps any and every course which is not of God. Let me hear Thy voice behind me whenever I turn to the right hand or the left."
In the meanwhile, continue along the path which you have been already treading. Abide in the calling in which you are called, unless you are clearly told to do something else. The Spirit of Jesus waits to be to you, O pilgrim, what He was to Paul. Only be careful to obey His least prohibition; and where, after believing prayer, there are no apparent hindrances, go forward with enlarged heart. Do not be surprised if the answer comes in closed doors. But when doors are shut right and left, an open road is sure to lead to Troas. There Luke awaits, and visions will point the way, where vast opportunities stand open, and faithful friends are waiting.  --Paul, by Meyer

Is there some problem in your life to solve,
Some passage seeming full of mystery?
God knows, who brings the hidden things to light.
He keeps the key.

Is there some door closed by the Father's hand
Which widely opened you had hoped to see?
Trust God and wait--for when He shuts the door
He keeps the key.

Is there some earnest prayer unanswered yet,
Or answered NOT as you had thought 'twould be?
God will make clear His purpose by-and-by.
He keeps the key.

Have patience with your God, your patient God,
All wise, all knowing, no long tarrier He,
And of the door of all thy future life
He keeps the key.

Unfailing comfort, sweet and blessed rest,
To know of EVERY door He keeps the key.
That He at last when just HE sees 'tis best,
Will give it THEE.
- Anonymous -

- Streams in the Dessert, January 10th, Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

~Brittany

We Glory...Because the Love of God

“…We glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

and patience, experience; and experience, hope:

and hope maketh not ashamed;

because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts...”

Romans 5:3b,4,5a

Tribulation

pressure (literally or figuratively): - afflicted, (-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble.

Patience

cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).

Experience

test (abstractly or concretely); by implication trustiness: - experience (-riment), proof, trial.

Hope

(to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstract or concrete) or confidence: - faith, hope.

We read this passage during our family devotions this morning.  I was blessed and encouraged as I did a little studying of it during my personal devotions.  If we will submit ourselves to the Lord, and to His will, then He can use tribulations in our lives to strengthen and build our trust and confidence in Him, to increase our love for Him as we see His love for us, and it can make us stronger and better able to serve the Lord and be a blessing and encouragement to others.  If we don't submit ourselves to trusting the Lord, we can become distracted and discouraged, and even bitter and angry.  This will only lead us away from the Lord, and down a path certainly not leading to victory and joy in Christ.  May we put our confidence in the Captain of our salvation and may He do His glorious work in our lives to exalt His name and fulfill His purposes!

~Brittany

His Greatest Mercies--His Meaning is Always Love

"Here is a little story about a simple answer to prayer.  Lars was away.  I had to take the car to the repairman’s house.  Li Zeng, our live-in student, followed me in his car to bring me home.  Directions to the house had been ambiguous, and Gloucester, Massachusetts gets the prize for town-easiest-to-get-lost-in.  I prayed that I might not get lost—Li had to get to class, the repairman had to leave at 7:15.  I got lost, made a quick turn without checking to see that Li was still with me.  He wasn’t.  “Lord, Li will be late for class, the man will leave in a few minutes—what shall I do?”  It’s a long story, but after a phone call I found the house, left the car, declined the man’s kind offer to take me home because I wanted to find Li so he would not miss his class.  How was I to find him?  “Lord, help me.”  I stood at an intersection and prayed that he would come along—an absurd request in a place like Gloucester.  He’d been on a one-way street which would take him far out around the shore drive, with no reason to happen upon the intersection where I stood.  Within five minutes there he was!  God teaches us to ask so that He may answer our prayers.  This reminds us of the source of our blessings.  The answer to my prayer not to get lost was No—in order that I might be specially blessed in the way I was found.

Remember how the Lord brought Israel out (of Egypt) in order to bring them in (to Canaan)?  He got me lost that He might get me found!  Let’s never forget that some of His greatest mercies are His refusals.  He says no in order that he may, in some way we cannot imagine, say yes.  All His ways with us are merciful.  His meaning is always love."

~Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart

~Brittany

Beauty in the Broken~Song

Someone had recently shared this song with me and I was very blessed by the truth in the lyrics of this song.  I hope you are blessed and encouraged by it as well!