This is a picture of FBC in Reserve, where I am so very blessed to serve. Catron County surely is God’s Country……so beautiful, so peaceful…….I love all the folks in Catron County!
As many of you know my second home is the First Baptist Church in Reserve, NM, so very special to me and Sharon……
Wednesday night the power went out in the Reserve area. I have not had a report as to what caused the outage and how wide spread it was. I kept thinking it would be back on soon. I monitored Facebook to see if it was back on and it was not. I read posts from my Dear friends Eddilu Brown and Jo Park. Yesterday I got a text from another precocious friend, JoAnn Young who said the power was still off! My prayers increased. JoAnn said that there is “mud everywhere” because of the rain.
I posted a prayer need on Facebook.
I called Deacon Charles and Joan McCargish to check in on them and they were praying for the linemen. The linemen have a very dangerous job.
I called KOB TV news to make them aware of the problem out in Reserve. The young man was very nice but he had never heard of Reserve before or Catron County. It was nice to talk to him a little bit and give him a bit of information on the Reserve area, which I love so very much.
This morning when I awoke at 2:30am I saw that Jo Park had posted the power was back on. PTL!!!!
Many folks in the Reserve area have generators because of power outages such as this and they also have fireplaces and wood stoves.
Catron County is New Mexico’s largest County, but the population is only 3,700 according
to this report: Information on Catron County
Maybe the Lord will have me and Sharon live in Reserve someday.
The folks in Catron County are very self reliant…They find a way to get the job done whatever it is. They use what they got. They are community in a way that I pray all of America would be. They care for each other.
As Deacon Charles says, “The Cowboy Way”…..Charles is 85 and still rides horseback.
We just had a awesome Revival in Reserve at FBC. So many in the community came!
Next month will mark 7 years of my service to Catron County. I started serving at FBC in Reserve 7 years ago when Pastor Garland Moore of Grants/Milan called me and asked if I could preach the Christmas service at FBC in Reserve. He asked me to call Deacon Charles. The rest is history. For about 2 years or more FBC in Reserve had a full-time Preacher, I then served in Quemado as a Circuit Preacher for a little over 2 years and a few times in Glenwood. FBC in Reserve has become my second home. I love all the folks there!
Let me share with you this morning a devotional that we just received from Diana Navarre………very timely as always……….
This wonderful devotional is written by Pastor Leonard Navarre’s wife Diana.
Give Thanks
Devotional thoughts by Diana Navarre, Lubbock TX
Ever had a time when you gave of yourself to someone and they failed to thank you? Or when you gave someone something very meaningful and you never received a thank you? It happens to all of us and/or we are all guilty of this lack of thankfulness.
Recently when it happened to me, it made the rest of my day really stink. I kept dwelling on it and thinking how I was not appreciated and I was taken for granted.
Then I realized that I do that to God almost every day. I fail to thank Him for the million things He gives me every day. And it is not just neglect on my part but actually disobedience. God has asked us to to be thankful…
“Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always be thankful.” Colossians 2:7 (NCV)
AND…”give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NCV)
God doesn’t have a bad day when I am not thankful, He doesn’t look down at me and wish I was like someone else that does give thanks. He just continues to love me and then He leads me to realize how much better my life would be if I were continually thankful… to Him, for all that He does and gives me every day, and also to others who give to me and love me when I don’t deserve it. Thankfulness changes me. It is not for God. It is not for those that I thank. But, God knows that it changes me. It makes me more aware of what I have and all those who help me every day to have what I could never have completely on my own.
“Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking, because you were all called together in one body to have peace. Always be thankful.” Colossians 3:15 (NCV)
PLUS, thankfulness activates peacefulness in my life, the peace and contentment that can only come from trusting God for everything and everyone in my life. When I am thankful I am acknowledging the one or ones that have contributed to my life. I am acknowledging that I would have nothing without God…He is the source of everything that comes to me, even those things that I don’t see as the best – He has allowed them for a reason.
And we certainly aren’t thankful in order to get more, but, are we much more willing to give to others when they acknowledge your gift to them?
We know it pleases God when we are thankful to Him because He is always pleased with our obedience.
I hope it doesn’t take you a whole day or more, like it did me, to realize what God wants. As we stay connected to Him and His Word, we KNOW what He wants and He takes down the blinders that we have put up because of our own pride. Our pride makes us only think of ourselves and the thanks we think we deserve. But, God’s Spirit makes us aware of the thanks that ONLY HE deserves for every blessing in our lives and even the ways that we can bless others.
HE deserves ALL the THANKS and ALL THE PRAISE.
