If you don’t know what scuttlebutt is, please check out

Intro, part one, part two, part three and part four

If you want a great book to help you prepare for, and recover with, please check out Help and Hope by Christine Carter. Tell her Christi sent you!

Tomorrow is S-day! my surgery. 

In part four, I talked about finding(being led to) our new church, and being blessed by the current sermon series.
I mentioned that I prayed that Pastor Keith would continue for this past Sunday.
AND HE DID!

He taught out of Psalm 91….

If you have never read Psalm 91, please bless yourself and do so now! I’ll wait! This blog will be here when you come back!

I wrote this blog in 2011 – What does Sonic Flood and Psalm 91 have in common?

This blog talks about how important it is that we confess with our mouth to obtain salvation.

That was the focus yesterday of Pastor Keith’s message….
SAY –
life and death are in the power of the tongue.

Proverbs 18:21 King James Version (KJV)

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

There were four points to his sermon, but SAY – SPEAK were the big take aways for me!  There was faith not fear…and two others…but, SAY!!!

Jesus said speak to this mountain and it shall be removed.

Mark 11:23 King James Version (KJV)

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

• shall say….
• and not doubt….but believe
• HE SHALL HAVE WHATSOEVER HE SAITH!

Now – this is not a name it claim it thing…been there, done that. Never got the t-shirt! But, I did get burned!
God is bound to His word and His plans…it’s not saying I have a Ferrari and poof – I have a Ferrari….
No – it must line up with the promises that GOD has given us…AND, that the devil wants to steal, kill and destroy!

1 Peter 5:8-9 King James Version (KJV)

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

John 10:10 King James Version (KJV)

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Jesus was giving us power – over the enemy! Not to get rich!

Luke 10:19 King James Version (KJV)

19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Dear ones, we have an enemy…but Jesus has defeated him, and IN CHRIST… we have victory!

• We can claim the promises of Abraham…
• We can speak life to the death he wants to cause.
• We can speak peace to the chaos that he wants to cause.
• We can speak faith to the fear he wants to cause.
• We can speak truth to the lies that he wants to make us believe.

we can…
WE CAN…
WE CAN…

IT’S A CHOICE!!!

We choose whom we listen to! – I wrote about this in Are you a Judas?

We have to choose Christ – I wrote about this in Lent day eight.

This past year, as I did the study on Lent, I studied Peter – and his choices.

The thing is…

• • we have a choice what comes out of our mouth.
  • we have a choice what goes into our minds AND STAYS!
  • we do have a choice what WE put into our minds!

Looking at this upcoming surgery..I HAVE A CHOICE!
I can be Christ like or I can be Christi like.
I can serve Christ or I can serve Christi.
Christi needs to be CHRISTi…Christ is greater, i am lesser.

Psalm 19:14 King James Version (KJV)

14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Jesus said that I could speak to a mountain, and it would be removed.
I don’t have a mountain that needs to be moved…I have a cyst…a mass…a ‘suspicious’ mass that off the record has been called cancer. (legalese about why they can’t call it cancer without a biopsy, which won’t happen until after the surgery).

Yesterday, as the pastor was preaching about life and death in our tongues…I received a word…I believe…for me.

This preparation for surgery has been very interesting.

• FIRST – God waited until the demon of suicide was defeated in my life(well, until I let go of that demon I’d known for many years…sometimes we become familiar with our demons and don’t know how to let go!)
• SECOND – God waited until I was settled in with wanting to LIVE! (there is a difference between not wanting to die and wanting to live).
• THIRD – God waited until I was ready to give up everything to follow his call – back to Ohio – to Youngstown, Ohio! (seriously, from my hometown, we didn’t have much good to say about Youngstown – and if I was coming back to Ohio, I was expecting to go back to MY hometown)
• FOURTH – God timed the whole thing, from Faith’s house, to the timing of finding the mass, to finding the doctor that is the most experienced in the nation with this type of specialized removal of the mass and saving the kidney.
• FIFTH – HE BROUGHT ME TO THE CHURCH HE CALLED ME TO 2 YEARS AGO JUST AS THEY ARE ABOUT TO MOVE INTO THE FULFILLMENT OF THE VISION OF A BUILDING…which I was a part of the announcement meeting!( I have to write up an update…because the Lord has orchestrated so much more since April!)

The word I received was to speak to the cyst that it would be removed.
I asked God to heal me…and that took a work of God to get me to the point that I even asked for that!
He didn’t “poof” heal me…and I have experienced that before, but rather, he orchestrated the above steps to get me to this doctor!
If he’d wanted the whole kidney out…he could have just had me do the surgery in January in Florida!
No, HE orchestrated events so that I met THIS doctor, that has THIS skill, and I am here.
I speak to the mass – MOVE!
I speak to the cancer – LEAVE!
I speak to all those that are involved in my surgery and care tomorrow – PEACE – CLARITY – WISDOM
and I speak to the enemy – GET THEE BEHIND ME SATAN – YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN THIS STORY OTHER THAN THE BEATEN FALLEN FOE.
IN JESUS’ NAME
BY JESUS’ BLOOD
BECAUSE GOD PROMISED ME, IN CHRIST, BECAUSE OF THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM AND HIS SEED!

Back to Sunday’s sermon. Pastor Keith shared a vision, very similar to a vision that I have had about that church…meaning that this is where I belong, for such a time as this! I can join in with the vision, but the reason I am sharing this is that Pastor sharing His vision, that was so similar to the one I’ve been given, just confirms that I am right in the middle of the will of God! That’s not always the case… it’s is what my heart desires, but, my flesh often sways my off track. I AM WHERE I AM SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE TIME IN WHICH I AM TO BE!

I want to do a study on Psalm 91…but, my pastor just did an amazing one! In Part four, I gave all the instructions on how to find that sermon. look at the podcasts at Your Greater Life.

Better yet – read Psalm 91. IN THE AMPLIFIED VERSION!

And here’s a few bits that are crucial:
HE THAT DWELLS… do you dwell in the secret place of the most high? He is preparing a place in his mansion for me. Are you even invited into His presence? I was. and am. Do you know what that means? Do you think you are going to heaven?

I WILL SAY…I think I’ve covered that above.
TRUST …believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16:11

Here’s the thing I’m getting at. Death is a risk whenever anyone goes into surgery.
I am at peace. I don’t fear the surgery, I don’t fear death. Why not? because I know where I am going!
Philippians 1:21 King James Version (KJV)

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Go ahead, read it in context….and for more info, I have shared my thoughts on Philippians 1:18-21.

YOU CAN KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING! I pray that each one that reads this will take this seriously.
Got Questions provides a detailed explanation of The Roman’s Road.
Billy Graham’s version of the Plan of salvation

Now, I do not believe that I will die…but rather live to declare the glory of God!

Psalm 118:17 King James Version (KJV)

17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

God has not given me a spirit of fear….
2 Timothy 1:7 King James Version (KJV)

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1 John 4:18 New International Version (NIV)

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

And God is perfect in Love!
Proverbs 18:10 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

10 The name of Yahweh is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are protected.

It is in the name of Jesus that I dwell in the secret place of the most high, and I am protected.

I pray that each person that reads this will also know the name of Jesus, by inviting HIM into your heart to be Lord and Savior, and to choose to dwell in HIS secret place.
He is my hiding place! And he can be yours!
Psalm 32:7 New International Version (NIV)

7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.

You are my Hiding place

He that dwelleth in the Secret Place.

A song to help memorize Psalm 91:

In looking for a Psalm 91 image, I ran across this lady’s blog about Psalm 91 – with free lock screens for your phone!

here’s an example

I also found this art by Hannah Pagel – that is absolutely beautiful…please check it out! And, yes, I did order one to keep in my bible!

I also found the image for ordering small cards of Psalm 91 at the Father’s Business. Great to have in your purse to share with those you pray for!

I also found a place for Bible Verse art….called, the Bible Verse Images!

another way that I have made images is via the youversion app. GREAT app for having your bible at your fingertips and bible studies, and our pastor puts our sermon series notes in there so that we can take notes right on the phone with the scriptures! woo hoo!

Freedom Word Ministries has a beautiful depiction of Psalm 91 – pray it out loud!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

Copyrights and Legal-eze
There are many organizations that support children and families. Here are ones that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

• Naomi’s Heart Ministries
• Obed’s House Ministries
• Project Based Missions, Global
• The son of a friend will be interning with CRU – previously known as Campus Crusades for Christ. If you’d like to support someone I can vouch for in this area, please consider going to Matthew Plant’s donation page.
• Compassion