Are you praying for someone or something in your life or maybe someone else’s life? Do you feel like you are not seeing answers? Don’t give up! This week’s podcast covers the story of Zechariah. Hear how he and his wife, Elizabeth had their prayers answered.Contributor: This week Amie shares a story that happened to her when she was asked to step outside of her comfort zone and to do what she felt was impossible but God asked her to be his hands. When she followed and obeyed, God did the impossible.

Are you praying for someone or something in your life or maybe someone else’s life? Do you feel like you are not seeing answers? Don’t give up! This week’s podcast covers the story of Zechariah. Hear how he and his wife, Elizabeth had their prayers answered.Contributor: This week Amie shares a story that happened to her when she was asked to step outside of her comfort zone and to do what she felt was impossible but God asked her to be his hands. When she followed and obeyed, God did the impossible.

Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.

Starting with Jesus

Reflect and Renew July 2023

Heather Bennett

God’s Happy Surprise

An Angel’s Special Secret


The cook who planned to prepare the food for you pecan meeting in a couple of weeks is unable to be there. Would you be willing to cook? I'll let you know. Lord, Don't you know this is a bad idea?" And then that sweet voice that has challenged me so many times. Can I just use your hands, Amy?

Welcome to Reflect and Renew. Hey, I'm Katie. I'm so glad that you'll be joining me today. We will be learning and growing together in our walk with Jesus. You will surely be encouraged and challenged as we study week by week and hear from the experiences of others.

As a child, I saw the life that my aunt was living, and I would pray for her to return to Jesus. I loved my aunt. We would rarely see her because she lived so far away, but she was my favorite aunt because each birthday and every single Christmas without fail, she would send a homemade gift to me and my sister. And you know, when you're 678, 10, gifts are definitely a way to a child's heart. She is extremely creative and so it might be a porcelain doll that she cast and painted by hand or the most exquisite hand-sewn ball gowns for our Barbies, complete with lace, sequins, and silk.

I remember praying almost every day for years that she would love Jesus, that she would give her heart to Jesus, that she would go back to church. I would pray before I went to bed, at the breakfast table, probably even driving in the car, but nothing seemed to happen. And as I became older, the prayers became less frequent, until finally, they stopped. But you know, those prayers didn't stop working. And just because I had gradually given up praying for her, those prayers were still making a difference.

Little by little, God was drawing my aunt back to Him. And when I was in my early 20s, she came back to Jesus. Just a few years ago when my aunt's visit and my visit to my parents' house coincided, she shared that someone must have been praying for her to come back to God. And I smiled as I realized that my prayers, though prayed long ago, made a difference in her life. And that's what we're talking about today.

Zacharias. How God was going to do the impossible in his life. But we'll get to that in just a minute. Have you read the devotional for yourself? Each week we have a new devotional that goes right along with our kids lessons, but it's for adults.

And we use that devotional kind of as a springboard for this podcast. So if you want to read it for yourself, you can go to our website startingwithjesus.com slash renew to read it. Or you can always email us, renew at startingwithjesus.com and let us know that you would like the devotional sent right to your inbox each Sunday morning. I've heard that 1 of our listeners has it delivered to their inbox and then they read through it and then they listen to the podcast each week and it's been a huge blessing in their lives. The Bible gives us many clues about Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth.

He was a priest. Both of them were righteous. And the Bible even says blameless, which just boggles my mind. Blameless. They kept the commandments and the ordinances, but they didn't have any children.

She was barren, and they were both advanced in years, which is a nice way of saying that they couldn't have children because they were old. Do you think they prayed for a child? I'm sure of it. Probably month after month, year after year. And you can pretty much tell that they had given up because when Gabriel tells Zacharias that they will have a son, Zacharias doesn't know how this will happen because they are old.

He says it. How can this be? We are old. It seems impossible. But his prayers had been working.

All those prayers, all those years were now to be answered and Zacharias was going to have a part in the answer to those prayers. Isn't that amazing? Although on his own it would be impossible, God was going to make it possible. He needed to trust. How is it with us today?

What are the impossibilities in our lives? What are we struggling with? What are we praying about? Or maybe we've given up praying and forgotten. God wants to work in each 1 of our lives, if we'll let him.

This week, Amy shares a story that happened to her when she was asked to step outside of her comfort zone and to do what she felt was impossible. But God asked her to be His hands, and when she followed, when she obeyed, God did the impossible. I remember the day I received a phone call from Pastor Nephew. UP Camp meeting was just around the corner. Our family had recently accepted the call from the Lord to move north to Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula and serve him in the Wilson and Menominee SDA churches.

My husband, pastor, dad of 5, and best friend was working diligently to encourage our Wilson church family due to the recent loss of our church building to a fire. Our lives honestly felt like they've been turned upside down. A new school for the kids, new friends to make, new towns to navigate, new church family to love, and now a new church to build. Oh yes, the phone call. Pastor Nephew's voice came over the cell waves.

The cook who planned to prepare the food for UP Camp Meeting in a couple of weeks is unable to be there. He called others to no avail. Would you be willing to cook? My mind was whirling only 2 weeks to camp meeting, meals from Thursday supper through Sunday lunch. While it's true I am well accustomed to cooking for a crowd of hungry teens which do eat like a whole army, but I've never cooked for anything like this.

How many would be attending, I asked him. He didn't know for sure. Last year there were about, well, it's kind of a mystery. Maybe plan on 50? 70?

Oh, man. My mind was swirling. I'll have to talk to my husband and the Lord, I told him. I'll let you know. I have to know, my husband Tom Hubbard is a very logical man.

He also thinks I get myself into way too many projects with completely unrealistic deadlines. Surely my husband will see that this would be crazy. Besides, I don't know anything about cooking at Camp Segola where you heap pecan meat in his hell. I pray that the Lord would see how crazy this was too. We talked about the call, Tom and I.

I couldn't believe my ears when he said, You probably should do it. There's no 1 else. Oh my heart. Lord, don't you know this is a bad idea? I have less than 2 weeks, Lord.

At least you have less time to worry, drifted through my panicked mind. But Lord, I've never done anything like this before. I only know how to cook vegan for the most part anyway. I don't even know how many to cook for. Lord, surely you can see this is crazy.

And then, you know, that still small voice, do you think I know how many to cook for? I have to admit, I felt a bit like Moses at the burning bush when he was arguing with God about his ability, or rather, inability to speak, and God reminding him that he was the 1 who made his tongue. Yes, Lord, I said reluctantly. I know that you know how many to cook for. And then that sweet voice that has challenged me so many times.

Can I just use your hands, Amy? I can't tell you how grateful I am that there was less than 2 weeks to worry about cooking for that event. I'm ashamed to say I don't know if I could have taken it for longer. Isn't the Lord so kind? He truly knows our frame and remembers that we are dust.

I don't remember the details of that first cooking event. I don't remember the menu or even all the wonderful people who popped into the kitchen to give me a hand. But I will never forget the drive home from Camp Segola on Sunday after leaving behind the most beautiful camp kitchen in the world. That sweet voice spoke to my heart. How did I do?

My heart and soul joyfully replied, Lord, you were amazing, incredible, so perfect, Lord. There was just the right amount of food. Every meal turned out delicious. Your people were blessed and happy, and I was able to experience you. You working through me to do what I could never do on my own.

Thank you, Lord. That was the first of many years of wonderful opportunities to experience God's miraculous power cooking for his camp, for his children in the beautiful kitchen at Camp Segola. I had the privilege of working with other delightful people who volunteer their time in the kitchen, who are now dear friends. Oh, the blessings that have been mine, because I was a willing to allow God to use my hands. Reminds me of a verse in Psalms 27, verse 1, the Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? And then the last verse of that very same chapter, Psalm 27, verse 14, wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, wait on the Lord. He is a God of doing the impossible." Aren't those Bible verses encouraging that Amy shared with us?

When God asks us to do the impossible, He is the 1 who can give us the strength. He can give us the courage to do it. Has God ever asked you to do something that seems impossible, but then he sees you through? Have you ever prayed a seemingly impossible prayer or prayed for years and not seen an answer, but now God has answered. We would love to hear your story.

Would you write to us and share it with us? You can write to us at renew at starting with Jesus dot com. And when we collect these stories, I want to share them with our listeners. It can be anonymous, that's fine, but we want to create a community right here where we can share and encourage each other through God's providences, his working in our lives. This week we have some questions to think about and you might want to write them down in your devotional journal for another time when you have a break and you can really think about it.

Or maybe just think about it today when you're going about your work, your housework, your kids, all of that. Maybe you want to write it down and think about it today. But here's our questions from our devotional. What difference does it make to you when you learn that God remembers our prayers, those that we've prayed for so long ago but have yet to see an answer? So what difference does that make in your life when you know that prayers prayed a long time ago can be answered and will be answered in the future?

God remembers those prayers. What does that tell us about God? How does that change our thoughts or our opinions about God? What have you prayed for recently that might be answered by you deciding to be used by God as part of the solution? I know that I was really praying and struggling with wanting to start a youth program at 1 of our churches.

But there were a lot of obstacles in the way. And I'm 1 of those people that I usually commit to something and I'll see it through, but I might get chewed up and spit out in the process, maybe emotionally or even physically. Well, this particular time I was praying and praying about this youth program and I really wanted to start it, but I didn't want to do it all by myself, but I just didn't see any option. I mean who else was there to do it with me? But just the other night 1 of our church members in a different church was talking about how she got a new job and she's going to have all of her weekends free.

And all of a sudden in my mind I heard God saying, that's your answer. And so I talked to her, I said, hey, I really want to start this youth program, but I need help and I know you have a lot of experience in this and I don't would you be willing to help me and you know what she got this big smile on her face and she's like I'm really excited let's do it and so we're gonna be starting that God placed that burden on my heart and then he provided a way for me to be able to do it and I'm so excited and so thankful for how he works. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we just ask that you will help us today to trust you, to trust you with the outcomes, that when we pray, when we ask that we will rely on you, know that you remember and you're going to take care of it. Help us to rest in that trust.

And Lord, maybe we're praying for something specific and you want us to be the answer to that prayer. I ask that you will make that abundantly clear that you will lead and guide. In Jesus' name, Amen. This podcast is sponsored by Starting with Jesus. To find out more about other programs or to find out the links that were shared in this podcast, just check out the description box below.

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Reflect and Renew July 2023

God’s Happy Surprise

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God’s Happy Surprise

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An Angel’s Special Secret

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