Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. Luke 1:45 We are blessed when we believe. We must walk out into what God has promised. Knowing in our spirits that He is for us and has gone before us to make a way, and yet somehow He's right there beside us keeping pace and providing sign posts to encourage along the path. In Luke chapter one we hear about a young girl named Mary who was visited by an angel and informed that she would become pregnant and bear a son who would rule over the everlasting kingdom. She was also told that God had provided her with a partner for this gestational journey, and her name is Elizabeth. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and God uses her voice to confirm what He has all ready told her. Elizabeth, who clearly has a gift of encouragement, emphasizes to Mary just how blessed she is because she was chosen, because she carries the Lord, and that even Elizabeth's own baby was leaping for joy in her womb. Most of all Mary is blessed, Elizabeth explains, because she has believed. So what has the Lord placed before you that you must believe in order to move forward?This week a friend of mine is on the road traveling across Texas as she escorts her dying brother to the Panhandle where he plans to spend the time he has left. She knows by going she will walk closer with him to the end of his journey on this earth, and she fears she lacks the strength to accomplish this. She fears that this maybe their last shared road trip this side of Heaven. However, today she chooses to believe and go because God is still in control, and He holds her brother in His hand. She chooses to give all she has knowing that He will provide her a way forward and a way back.

A Word from Brad Crain

Hey friends,

My mom published my dad's latest books: "Your Dad Wants to Bless You". My dad believed in the importance and power of giving and receiving blessings. This book is a collection of some of those blessings (53 to be exact), written from the perspective that God, as our Dad, wants to encourage us with the expression of His love in a blessing. He sent us blessings every Monday by email for about 2.5 to 3 years. If you want to purchase a book, it's $15 (cash or check written out to Jennifer Lowe). I have a few books with me or I can have my mom ship them to you. Let me know.

Thanks,

Brad Crain

Dreaming of Blessings

Several weeks ago when I discovered you had published the book," Your Dad Wants to Bless You" I was excited because several years ago I was privileged to work with Billy at church.I had read some of his "Blessings" and they had always touched me with our Heavenly Father's love for us. So I had called you at the time and let you know I wanted one.
Then, Saturday December 10th I had a dream. In the dream Billy was there. He was in a very clear room that had clear glass walls. There were people there, including me, but I don't remember their faces. Billy was speaking/sharing, but I don't remember what he was saying. But as I "heard" him and looked at him, I started "crying" deep within my spirit. It was a good kind of crying--kind of a release. Then the dream ended.
The next morning I prayed asking the Lord to give me an interpretation. The clear room and clear glass walls represented that I was seeing in the Spirit. I didn't hear what Billy was saying in the dream because he was speaking to my spirit. When Billy was on earth he had had anointing from God to bring people into intimacy with their Father in heaven. I feel like the reason I started crying was because the Holy Spirit through Billy's words was touching and opening up my heart to receive more from the Lord. Then the Lord reminded me about the book you published Jennifer "Your Dad Wants to Bless You" which contains Billy's written blessings (I think the book is so appropriately named), and He told me He wanted me to get the book because He would use it to bless me and bring me closer to Him.
I hope this encourages you. You have been faithful to see that Billy's legacy was brought forth and that the anointing on His life will live on!
Love you,

Lucy

Lucy Cook Deliganis worked as the secretary and bookkeeper at Abiding Life Christian Fellowship/Joshua House while Billy was working there.

This dream made me think about the verses in the second chapter of Acts.

Peter Speaks Up

14-21 That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren't drunk as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk—it's only nine o'clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

"In the Last Days," God says,
"I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes,
I'll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they'll prophesy.
I'll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved." (The Message)

Recycle

Recycle

” No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5)

I grew up in the 40’s and 50’s with practical parents. A mother, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then re-used it. A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones. They were the original re-cycle geeks before they had a name for it.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, casual shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, iron in one hand and dish towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, a screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress…the things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All the re-fixing, eating leftovers, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there’d always be more.

But then they died and in the warmth of hospital rooms, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn’t any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away. So while we have it, it is best we love it, care for it, fix it when it’s broken, and heal it when it’s sick.

This is true for marriages, old cars, children with bad report cards, dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it and because we are worth it. Some things we keep: a best friend that moved away or a classmate from high school or college.

Family and good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there. There are just some things that make life important. People we know who are special, so we keep them close.

YOU ARE A “KEEPER” AND I CHOOSE TO KEEP YOU CLOSE!

Lord, bless us to love each other, forgive and hold on to each other in times of plenty and times of lack.

AMEN

I love you,

Dad

Excerpt from "Your Dad Wants To Bless You: Monday Morning Blessings" by Bill and Jennifer Crain

Ministry of Blessing

Our words are so powerful. What we say can build up or tear
down in a moment. Did you know that we
are all called to the ministry of blessing? I Peter 3:9 says: “Do not repay
evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with
blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
In his article, “Rediscovering the Ministry of Blessing,”
Russ Parker says: He (Peter) tells us
that this is not only a holy attitude we cultivate but it is a calling, it is
our ministry as believers in Jesus. We all, therefore, have this calling. This ministry
was formerly limited as a mandate to the priestly tribe of Levi. Part of the
temple ministry was to stand before the Lord and Bless people and things in God’s
name and authority (Deuteronomy 1:8). Now, it is the birthright and calling of
all Jesus’ disciples.

Who is God calling you to bless today?

The Healing Line (Nov/Dec 2011)
www.christianhealingmin.org

Labor of Love

It has taken months of work and finally I have in my hand the book that Jennifer Crain Lowe co-authored with her first husband Billy Crain: Your Dad Wants To Bless You: Monday Morning Blessings. I walked with Jennifer on this journey of gathering, ordering and editing those blessings that her husband Billy shared for almost three years before he went to be with his Lord and Savior on June 3rd 2008. The book contains fifty two entries that feature a scripture, a short teaching and a prayer.