Prayer: The Creator listens to you

 

By Ada Brownell 

“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us; and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”[1]

A strong wind propelled a raging forest fire up the side of Grand Mesa in Colorado, leaving blackness and ashes in its wake. Grand Mesa is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world.

The billowing smoke and hungry flames came into view of a mother and three children, alone in a white two-story house. The roaring mass of flames raced directly toward their home.

 The father had gone to help fight the fire, which erupted near Cedaredge. He had no idea the wind would take the fire to his family—now stranded without a car or any other means of escape.

Inside the house the mother and children ran to the bedroom, took the Bible and read the Ninety-first Psalm, which talks about God’s protection for His children. Then they knelt and prayed fervently. Still praying, they went back to the living room and watched the fire, now almost upon them.

While they stared, the flames turned away as the direction of the wind changed. Their prayers had reached God, and He answered!

IMAGINE PRAYER POWER

This true experience is one of several miraculous answers to prayer shared by members of a church I attended in Lakewood, Colorado, several years ago. I was asked to speak in the youth service about prayer. While meditating and praying for the service, I felt I should let people in our church tell from their own experience what prayer can do.

So I asked people to help me. My only problem was choosing which miraculous answers to prayer to use! I found so many examples of the power of prayer I couldn’t use all of them.

IMAGINE CONNECTING WITH GOD

One woman said she uttered a simple prayer as their family’s truck, loaded with apples, rolled over the side of a mountain. Her children were riding on top of apple boxes. After she scrambled out of the truck, crushed by huge boulders, she called her children’s names.

“Tim? Are you alright?”

“Yes,” a voice answered from beneath the boxes.

“Steve?”

“Here!”

“Connie?”

“Here, Mom!”

The entire family escaped uninjured.

“Sometime let me tell how the Lord made an empty fuel barrel keep the house warm for a week,” she added.

A deacon told how he prayed and God stopped the rain so he could work on a road construction project. The deacon had five children to feed. If it rained, he couldn’t work and didn’t get paid.

It was the deacon’s job to send supplies to the men on the paving machine. For three days the rain followed close behind the road crew. They could see storm clouds dumping rain behind them, but it never reached where the men worked. Occasionally the showers came right up to where they were, and then would go back again.

Many persons told of being delivered from alcohol or cigarettes. Outstanding physical healings included a baby healed of hydrocephalus. The doctor wrote “absolute miracle” across the child’s medical records.

God wants us to talk to Him. If we have a problem, He will answer. That’s one reason why He’s important to our future. See more answers to prayer in Imagine the Future You.

--Excerpt from Ada Brownell’s book, Imagine the Future You, copyright 2013

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

 

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[1]1 John 5:14-15

Is there evidence for life after death?

Excerpt from Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal

By Ada Brownell

The best court cases depend on physical evidence and, hopefully, truthful eyewitnesses’ testimony.

I decided to go to eyewitnesses’ writings contained in the Bible to determine the truth about Jesus’s Resurrection, which is what gives Christians the hope of eternal life.

The Bible is an amazing book, written by forty different authors with varying occupations over a period of one thousand five hundred years, on three continents, and in three languages.  More historical manuscripts are available on the New Testament than any book of antiquity, and it’s difficult to doubt the divine inspiration of the Bible because the forty authors  all agree on hundreds of controversial subjects, although they were imperfect humans.

In contrast, the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith and the Koran by Mohammad, with some additions by his followers.

I read through the New Testament and underlined every scripture pertaining to eternal life and resurrection.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:12–14).

          When Carolyn died, I had the advantage of having not only read and studied the Bible for years, but having taught classes from Josh McDowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict, a book that examines facts about the Christian faith. One significant part of McDowell’s work is to determine whether the Resurrection is historical fact or a mere hoax.[1]

          The author wrote, “After more than 700 hours of studying this subject, and thoroughly investigating its foundation, I have come to the conclusion that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the ‘most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, or it is the most fantastic fact of history.’”

          When a student asked McDowell why he couldn’t refute Christianity, the author answered, “For a very simple reason. I am not able to explain away an event in history--the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

 McDowell’s first two books were his attempts to refute Christianity. When he couldn’t, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and became a Christian.[2]

          I knew the Bible has several internal claims that it is the Word of God. For instance, 2 Peter 1:21 says the Bible was written by holy men of God as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost.

I’d already read the testimony of many witnesses, but I needed to read them again. I decided to look again at the Bible’s authenticity, at the divinity of Jesus, at His miracles, and at why we can believe He was dead but came out of the tomb alive.

Several biblical writers witnessed the dead raised to life and saw Jesus’ victory over the tomb.

          I noticed what John says: “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us” (1 John 1:1–3).

          Luke also pointed out he was an eyewitness: “Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses…” (Luke 1:2).

The Apostle Peter wrote: “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

          Josh McDowell points out the lives of the apostles were transformed after the Resurrection. According to scripture and biblical historians, every one of the apostles, with the exception of John, who died as a prisoner on Patmos, and Judas, who killed himself, gave their lives because they preached that Jesus rose from the dead. McDowell adds people often become martyrs because of their beliefs—but no one would give his life for something he knew was a lie. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, the disciples would have known it.

          Yet, even with eyewitnesses' testimony, we can't prove events in the past. We had to decide whether to believe the evidence, and there is a reason for that. Faith is necessary for Salvation.

          "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Note: There is much more evidence for faith in the book, Swallowed by Life  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

-- Copyright Ada Brownell, 2011

[1] Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Here’s Life Publishers,  (Campus Crusade for Christ, San Bernadino, Calif., 1979), Revised Edition, page 179.

[2]Ibid , page 365.

Is abortion murder?

Melissa and her daughter, Layla

Melissa Salazar is my granddaughter. In college she wrote such a powerful argument against abortion her professor used her paper as a legitimate argument against the legal procedure. She put out her paper this week on Facebook. Check out her list of sources at the end. ____________________________________________ Melissa Salazar Melissa Salazar updated her status: "There is a big vote in ABQ this week! I pasted my paper below from my biomedical ethics class I took a few semesters ago. I am for the ban, and this hopefully explains my thoughts on the subject. It's rather long, but I told Anna I would share it. Melissa PHIL 2247 Melissa's husband, Gabe,  and son, Stone May 5, 2011 Pro-Life View of Abortion In 1997, an eighteen-year-old girl in New Jersey gave birth in the bathroom stall at her senior prom. Within minutes of giving birth, the teen manually strangled and suffocated the newborn and threw him in the dumpster. The teen, Melissa Drexler, was charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child (Hanley). When the story hit the news, many people were horrified that a mother could end the life of her own child and discard him with the trash. The innocence of that newborn child broke the hearts of many Americans, while the mother did not receive the same sympathy. Before that child made the eight-inch journey through the birth canal, he would have been considered a fetus rather than a newborn child. If the mother had ended his life while still in the womb, it would have been considered abortion instead of murder. What is the difference? What changed in those few short moments? Abortion is not considered murder by law because a fetus is not considered a living person with constitutional rights. (Hinkson-Craig and O'Brien) The abortion debate has been the source of extreme controversy in the US since the Supreme Court passed Roe v Wade in 1973 (Feldt). Groups have rallied for and against abortion, even to the point of violence. It is an ongoing political issue, and a major topic of election campaigns. The dividing line between viewpoints is vast with no signs of resolution (Hinkson-Craig and O'Brien). The beginning of life is one of the issues on abortion that is cause for much of the debate. To define when life begins we must look at scientific evidence to debate the issue. When the sperm fertilizes the egg and creates a zygote, it is an individual life. It has unique chromosomes from its mother and father. As the zygote travels to the uterus it continues to grow and divide independently from the mother. This is confirmed with in-vitro fertilization. The donor’s egg is fertilized with the sperm and left to grow on its own to Melissa and her daughter, Layla ensure that it is an actively growing embryo. Then, the woman receiving the embryo must be in a certain stage in her cycle in order to receive the embryo in her uterus. Eventually, 3-5 days after fertilization, implantation occurs giving the embryo nutrients from the mother (Storck). Because an embryo has unique chromosomes separate from his parents, and can actively divide on its own for several days without being implanted in the uterus, it is a separate being from the mother from the time of conception. It is true that it does eventually need to implant for growth and nutrition, but it is still a separate person. For the mother pregnancy begins at implantation, but for the embryo it begins at conception. The first major event in the development of an embryo is neurulation. During neurulation the brain and the spinal cord develop. By the end of the first month of gestation the primary brain vesicles are developed. By the end of the second month, actual brain waves can be recorded. At three and a half weeks of gestation, the heart begins to pump blood within the embryo. At seven weeks voluntary skeletal muscles have the ability to contract causing fetal movement (Marieb and Hoehn). An undeniable sign of life is brain activity. Psychologists argue death occurs with loss of brainwaves because all cortical functions, response to stimuli, motor reflexes, and other signs have ceased; therefore, the person is no longer able to function other than simple vital functions typically driven by machines (Kail and Cavanaugh). If the absence of detectable brainwaves is a sign of death, would the presence of brain wave not be a sign of life? The brain is functioning to contract skeletal muscles as early as 7 weeks (Marieb and Hoehn). That movement is quite some time before the mother can feel the movement known as quickening that some pro-choice advocates claim is the beginning of life (Hendershott). Melissa's son, Stone, in the womb A fetal heartbeat can be one of the most precious signs of life. Parents can see the heart beating even at the first ultra sound performed during the pregnancy. Throughout the pregnancy physicians check the heartbeat to ensure that the fetus is still strong and healthy. Through the advancement of technology parents can even use a device to hear the heartbeat from their own home to have the assurance that everything is still ok. If the heartbeat has stopped then the fetus is no longer living. Abortion stops a beating heart (Hendershott). Even with scientific evidence available for abortion debates, most will argue purely on the basis of morality. The concept of ensoulment cannot be clearly defined since it isn’t on a biological level. There is no medical test that can be done proving one does or doesn’t have a soul. Therefore, this topic is left to moral debate. The Pro-Life movement is backed by many Christian organizations including the Catholic Church and other private organizations such as Focus on the Family. God, as the creator of life, is the foundation of their beliefs (Focus on the Family). “At Focus on the Family, we are dedicated to defending the sanctity of human life, and by human life we mean God's creation from fertilization to natural death. In the beginning, God created the earth and everything in it, including humans. As it says in Psalm 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." We believe that every human, in every condition from the single cell stage of development to natural death, is made in God's image and possesses inestimable worth. Abortion runs contrary to these beliefs.” (Focus on the Family) Pro-Life groups focus is on the fetuses right to life. That life is as sacred and unique from any other life. The smallest zygote is regarded with the same view and care as a newborn child. While the mother’s safety is a factor in some cases, the mother’s financial, marital, or social status is not a factor in whether or not her unborn child should live. Wanted or not, the fetus is a living human being created by God in the care of a woman. In rare cases, a pregnancy has resulted from rape, or in a young girl not ready or equipped to care for a child. Even in these extreme cases, Pro-life groups still do not endorse abortion. They do sympathize with those women and provide programs to assist with their situations, but believe that in crimes such as that there are two victims. One crime doesn’t justify another (Hendershott). In efforts to persuade women not to have an abortion, Pro-Life groups have set up crisis pregnancy centers to give women pregnancy tests and, if an unwanted pregnancy is discovered, give out information about adoption agencies. The most effective method in deterring abortion is letting the mother view her child through ultra sound technology at the clinic. Technology has advanced so much with the GE 4D imaging that a mother can actually view the face of her unborn child. Many women who had originally decided to abort the fetus decided against it after seeing the ultra sound. Many women justify abortions because the fetus is so small it is easy to pretend it doesn’t exist. If that woman is given the opportunity to look at her child she can no longer pretend it doesn’t exist. Senator Hillary Clinton is a well-known Pro-Choice activist. In 2008 she spoke at a Democratic Compassion forum on the topic: “I think abortion should remain legal, but it needs to be safe and rare. And I have spent many years now, as a private citizen, as first lady, and now as a senator, trying to make it rare, trying to create conditions where women had other choices (Issues2000).” The tag line “legal, safe, and rare” has become a common response for the Democratic Party (Issues2000). When looking at it from a moral standpoint, one could ask if it is not wrong then why does it need to be rare? If it is indeed a non-living cluster of cells as Pro-Choice advocates say, then why does it need to be a rare practice? Could it be that some Pro-Choice advocates, including Hillary Clinton, may acknowledge that it is a living human being, but regard the mother’s situation as the ultimate deciding factor especially in extenuating circumstances? Women such as Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood, have a more extreme stance on abortion. She advocates abortion of all levels, for any reason, at any time. She believes women should have complete control over their body at any stage of pregnancy. Laws restricting abortion are an invasion of women’s privacy (Feldt). One of the major reasons that people would take a Pro-Choice stance is because of the fear that a young teen may get pregnant and not be at a place in life to care for the child. That does happen in rare cases, but the CDC reports that girls younger than 15 account for only .5% of the abortions nationwide. The majority of abortions are being done on women age 20-29 for social reasons (Center for Disease Control). Many women who have an abortion procedure suffer from emotional trauma afterwards. Guilt and regret are often overwhelming. A lot of women chose abortion because they didn’t see any other way out of the situation. Frederica Matthews-Green has said, “A woman doesn’t want an abortion like she wants an ice-cream cone or a Porsche. She wants it like an animal caught in a trap who gnaws off its own leg.” (Nicholson-Brownell) I strongly believe Roe v Wade should be overturned. I believe abortion is the tragic loss of innocent human life. The rights of a fetus should be protected the same as children who have already been born. While many pregnancies are unplanned and unwanted, the risk of pregnancy comes with choosing to be sexually active and women have to step up and take responsibility. Contraception has advanced with many options available to reduce the risk of pregnancy when used properly. Therefore, I believe that “choice” should be made prior to becoming pregnant. A woman can “choose” to take control of her body by taking appropriate measures to prevent pregnancy. Not all birth control methods are 100% effective, however, for many methods the risk is lower than 1% when used as directed (Planned Parenthood). In order for Roe v Wade to be overturned, I submit that the procedures for adoption should be improved in order to encourage women with unwanted pregnancies to carry the child to term and give him/her to a family who is willing and able to love and care for that child. In the US adoptions currently can cost up to $40,000. In addition to the cost, an adoption agency can’t guarantee how long the waiting period to get a baby will be (Hendershott). In order to be effective, the Pro-Life groups must take a stronger stand to make adoptions in the US less costly. Women in situations in which they can’t raise a child must have an alternative. Families who want to adopt children shouldn’t be prohibited because of the costs. If the cost of adopting a child wasn’t such a burden on the average family, more families may adopt multiple children. It would also open up the possibility to adopt for families with limited financial resources. Works Cited Center for Disease Control. “Abortion Surveilance US 2007.” Statistics. Center for Disease Control, 2007. Feldt, Gloria. The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back. New York: Bantam Dell A Division of Random House, Inc, 2004. Focus on the Family. Our Position (Abortion). 2009. 2011 йил 1-May . Hanley, Robert. “New Jersey Charges Woman, 18, With Killing Baby Born at Prom .” New Jersey Charges Woman, 18, With Killing Baby Born at Prom . New York: New York Times, 1997 йил 25-June. Hendershott, Anne. The Politics of Abortion. New York: Encounter Books, 2006. Hinkson-Craig, Barbara and David M. O'Brien. Abortion and American Politics. Chatham: Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1993. Issues2000. Hillary Clinton on Abortion. 2008 йил 13-April. . Kail, Robert V. and John C. Cavanaugh. Human Development A Life-Span View. 5th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Marieb, Elaine N and Katja Hoehn. Human Anatomy and Physiology. Ed. Serina Beauparlant. 8th Edition. Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2011. Nicholson-Brownell, Ada. “Pentecostal Evangel.” Finding Forgiveness 2000 йил 16-January: 7-13. Planned Parenthood. Birth Control. 2011. 2011 йил 1-May . Storck, MD, Susan. In Vitro Fertalization. 2010 йил 10-Feb. National Library of Medicine. 2011 йил 1-May . Wyatt, John. “Medical Paternalism and the Fetus.” Journal of Medical Ethics 27.5 (2001)." You are receiving this email because you've listed Melissa Salazar as a close friend. Change Close

Excerpt from Swallowed by Life

7. Anybody in There?

     One day a neurosurgeon that often makes the determination of brain death sat down in the hospital lobby with me and began talking about the soul. Still clothed in the green scrubs and fabric shoe covers from a recently completed surgery, he shared that he recently lost his father.

     “It was the first time I’ve ever come that close to death personally,” he said. “I believe in an afterlife, and it was a much more peaceful experience than I had supposed. Although my father had cancer and had been sick for a long time, my dad died so quickly. One minute he was there, and the next minute he was gone. The shell where he lived was all that was left.”

     We went on to discuss spiritual things and how they relate to the intricacies of the brain.

“I believe the brain is the residence of the soul, and when a person is brain dead, the soul has gone on to its reward,” the neurosurgeon explained.

     The soul’s residence can be debated. We often think the soul resides in our chest area near the heart, partly because of how the heart responds to emotion, but also because the Bible mentions so many things about the heart. A few of these are a “pure heart,” “believing heart,” “unrepentant heart,” “imagining heart,” “stubborn heart,” “grieving heart,” “loving heart,” and “joyful heart.”

Despite even many more examples, I don’t believe scripture speaks of our heart as a flesh-and-blood organ, but the “heart of us.” Like an apple core where the seeds are. Or a watermelon’s sweet heart that has no seeds. More accurately, our heart is the center of who we are.

     Many Bible scholars define the soul as the residence of our mind, will, and emotions. That certainly describes the center of who we are and gives some credence to the idea that the soul’s residence is in the brain.

Copyright Ada Brownell 2011

THE WOMB OF THE DAWN

                                          By Ada Brownell

When I get up early in the morning and draw back the blinds in our family room, I love seeing the sun pour in warmth and light. I often stand there looking out in the back yard, thanking the Lord for the day He has made.

But I never actually greeted the day with intense expectancy until I noticed Psalm 110:3 which mentions “the womb of the dawn” in the NIV, and “the womb of the morning” in the King James.

God. The womb of the dawn holds promise to help us conquer our enemies each day.  If I have personal enemies in the traditional sense, I guess I don’t know it. Yet, there are little enemies that steal my time, steal my attention, wound my desire to do God’s will, and things like that.

A womb is where new life lives. Every day dawns with new challenges, new adventures and an allotment of time. Why hadn’t I noticed each new morning is pregnant with opportunity? Am I going to allow these things to be stillborn? Or am I going to nourish them with prayer, study and diligence?

I get up before my husband most days and start with scripture and prayer. It’s a fine time to be alone with God. Sometimes the Lord gives me writing ideas, or sends me to my desk scribbling a passage to give something else I’m working on more clarity. Perhaps I’ll think of someone I need to contact—often for encouragement.

 The time on my knees is when the seeds often are planted that grow into something for the Kingdom. But then, just as with farming, often that means hard work.

The womb of the morning delivers all day—people that need a smile, even husbands and children that need attention. Somehow God gives strength for them all. The scripture that speaks of the “womb of the dawn” goes on to say, “You will receive the dew of your youth.”

Now I realize not everyone who reads this will be as old as I am. But think. Even if you’re in your 20s, do you have the energy of a four- or five-year-old who can run and run, burning energy from the time they get up until they drop for a brief nap and start all over again? I never walked anywhere when I was a kid. I ran everywhere.

            I still enjoy exercise, but by the time I get through with my walk, I’m ready to sit in a recliner. But I’m taking God’s encouragement and look expectantly to the dawn of every morning, using the strength He gives.

©Ada Brownell 2013

What other say about SWALLOWED BY LIFE

COMMENTS FROM REVIEWERS OF SWALLOWED BY LIFE

five-star review.”Thought provoking chapters good discussion questions. Swallowed by LIFE http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

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A LOVE MESSAGE

The following is an excerpt from Ada Brownell's book, Swallowed by Life.

Link: http://buff.ly/TLkr0a

 One time as we were traveling, I was in the back seat resting with my eyes closed and began thinking about how Carolyn’s young life was cut short.

          Previously when grief hit me, I’d often catch my breath and begin whispering the name of Jesus. This day, however, tears oozed through my eyelids.

          “Lord, heaven is so silent!” I complained.

          I had prayed for months, grasping onto God in faith, continually staying in the Word and prayer. Most of the time, peace filled me. That day, a poisonous bitterness erupted instead as I complained about feeling forsaken.

          Then, I felt rebuke.

          It wasn’t an audible voice, but in my spirit I could hear Jesus tell me, “I made a statement about my love for you two thousand years ago on the cross that still echoes around the world. That is enough.”

          Just as quickly as I felt anger, which is one of the stages of grief, I felt overwhelmed with God’s love for me. Yes! The cross was enough. It not only was enough to show God’s love for me and my daughter, but it also gave anyone who will accept His love hope because death will be swallowed by life for all eternity.

          No wonder people can face death with peace. No wonder there is joy, even when we know life on earth is temporary. No wonder sin holds no attraction for many! No wonder people rejoice that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6–8).

          Many people have an erroneous view of God.

          One time my coworkers were in a discussion in which I didn’t participate because I was busy at my desk. Then one of those entrenched in the debate paused long enough to ask me, “Isn’t that right, Ada? God carries a big stick.”

          “I don’t know how you can say that and look at the cross,” I responded.

          If you want to know about God, read the Bible for yourself. Beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelation, it is a story about redemption—for you. Redemption from sins, which means when you repent they’re wiped out—erased from the record (Micah 7:17-19). Redemption from Satan, who would like to have you (Luke 22:31). Redemption from the eternal death sentence on your head (John 5:23-25).

          “For it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear the second time, without sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:27).

 To get an idea of salvation in a nutshell, start with John’s Gospel.

          Hearing the Word, reading the Word, and keeping a prayer on our lips is how we get to know God better. We can talk to God when we’re angry with Him or people around us. We can talk to God when all we can think of is, “Why?”

          When grief hits us like a huge wave of the sea, we can get up and purpose to know God better. Through our trials, we learn God is faithful. In our struggling and in our weakness, suddenly we understand we can ride grief’s thunderous waters instead of letting them knock us off our feet.

          We find that God’s grace and love come like waves, too, lifting us up with joy as we learn that He created us for eternal life in the beginning, and the miracle still happens. Death is swallowed by life.

©Copyright Ada Brownell October 2011