$10 Million WINNER! A WHAT IF...

Because of the $500-plus million lotto jackpot frenzy, Kathy Garzon and i got into a discussion:

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD $10-MILLION?

My initial response was that i would donate towards the Second-Step Home ministry of taking in homeless men, women and children; of helping to provide a safe haven for them as they get back up on their own feet. i would give to a CHRIST-centered ministry where the loving ways of GOD are the rule, not the exception.

Kathy’s question stayed on my mind…even this thought – Being a follower of CHRIST, would i even buy a ticket for this megabucks lotto?

i entertained the thought – this temptation to gamble, of grasping at straws. i thought that i would buy just one, if it were a California lotto. Sin was knocking at the door!

But i did NOT buy even one.

But WHAT IF by GOD’s miraculous provision, i was granted $10 million? Here is my heart’s desire…

1) Tithe off the gross amount for CHRISTian Fellowship Church, then pay all necessary taxes.
2) Keep $100,000 for personal use.

3) Give $1 million to Second-Step Home, or a like ministry for the homeless.
4) Give to an organization which helps rebuild the lives of children who have been rescued from the sex slavery/ trade or who have been forced to become child-soldiers in war-torn countries.
5) Give to Gospel for Asia, K. P. Yohannan’s ministry in India.
6) Give to Voice of the Martyrs to help persecuted CHRISTians worldwide.

7) Give to CHRISTian church planters who build in Third-world countries.

8) Plant a nondenominational CHRISTian church in Matei (Taveuni, Fiji). 
9) Build wells to provide clean drinking water in impoverished communities.

10) Give sewing machines to women to earn legitimate income. 

Give 20% to Ocean View Church for overseas missions;

Assembly of GOD in Matei (Taveuni, Fiji), to build a proper kitchen for Radini Selina and to complete Pastor Pauliasi's church building; and Impacting Asia missions in the Philippines.

And IF ever i receive by GOD’s miraculous and gracious providence any lesser or greater amount, i hold firm and steadfast in this Way of sharing GOD’s material and spiritual riches, for i have purposed in my heart to serve CHRIST JESUS, Who is my precious Utmost ALL in all.

“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted tone and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of GOD and of money.” (Matthew 6:24, HCSB)

SO THERE! This blog-note is the written witness to that WHAT IF!

PERSONAL Testimony - Pruning For My GOOD

I Chronicles 16: 8 -- Oh, GIVE THANKS to The LORD!  Call upon His Name; make known His deeds among the peoples!

THANK YOU, Most Precious FATHER – Awesome Sovereign GOD that You are, LORD of my body, heart and soul!  VINAKA VAKA LEVU, TURAGA.  JISU SA RAUTI au!  MUCHAS GRACIAS, mi DIOS Todo Poderoso – El PASTOR de todos que Refugiarse.  MARAMING SALAMAT na aking DIOS!  Ikaw ang aking talagang Buhay!

  

THANK YOU for causing me to love paradisiacal islands and for providing Taveuni as the tropical garden for my pruning; for gifting me with a loving Fijian family through my farmer-husband, Your providential catalyst for change and growth in me.

THANK YOU for ALL You’ve already done and continue to do in Maia’s Life – for providing her LIFE-SAVING medicine, a job that employs the half-blind, our healed mother-daughter relationship, and best of all -- her SAVING FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS, our INfinitely Precious Savior, our AWEsome LORD!

THANK YOU, O Holy SPIRIT, for not leaving me to continue in my SINs so as to flounder helplessly without direction or purpose.  THANK YOU, FATHER, for Your SON, whom You GAVE to us SO freely and who DIED for us SO awfully so that we may have LIFE SO awesomely!

I Chronicles 16:9 – Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of ALL His wondrous works!

SHOUT i to The LORD a JOYful hymn of PRAISE –

To The HOLY One Whom GOD The SPIRIT did RAISE!

Declaring HIM to be my Strength, my Strong Tower –

In Whom i cling to for SUPERnatural POWER!

So on bended knees i bow to JESUS, my LORD and Friend –

HE is my Faithful Shepherd, so His WORD do i defend.

HE bought me with His BLOOD, SO Precious and SO Dear –

Neither fears nor doubts have i – JESUS, The CHRIST, IS HERE!

I Chronicles 16:10 --  Glory in His HOLY Name!  Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek The LORD!

GOD is HOLY, and i glory and exult in HIS holiness.  i rest secure that He will not allow any INjustice, large or small, to go UNpunished.  Yet paradoxically, HE WILL PARDON REPENTANT SINNERs like me who TURN to CHRIST for FORGIVENESS.  i am SO grateful that because GOD is my FATHER, He will NOT allow any UNungodliness INin me to remain UNunchecked.  He WILL continue to wash me clean with His WORD.  Of this REALITY, i am confident!  HALLELUJAH!              

FatherGOD knows me SO intimately, even of my delight for mangoes. In His Providence, He caused a sweet mango to fall directly in my path at the exact moment He knew i would be there.  He knew how it would lift up my downcast spirit, so heavy was my heart.  How i rejoice at His timely gifts!  How grateful i am for His tender loving kindnesses.

How perfectly GOD’s Providence sustains me – causing me to delight IN Him even more.  He provided Matthew Henry’s Commentary On The Whole Bible the week i returned to San Diego – leading me to search His Word with renewed enthusiasm, as i pored over pages of very small print, praying that SPIRIT will fatten my soul with such nourishing Bread.  YES, i want to get very fat in my soul! 

How grateFUL and amazed i am at His wondrous acts – the miracles wrought withIN that no one can discern with the naked eye.  In the day-to-day busyness of village-life, marital ups and downs, and clashing cultures and personalities – at times i was like a thorny cactus, thirsting for the Living Water – causing discomfiture to those around me, including myself!

Bitter Melon -- Ampalaya

Yet what was gripping my heart – UNforgiveness and BITTERNESS – has vanished.  GOD -- the indwelling Holy SPIRIT -- has somehow vanquished these INternal enemies that have plagued me for SO long!  PRAISES be to GOD – the GREAT Physician – who has healed me of these deadly maladies of the heart and soul.

I Chronicles 16:11 – SEEK The LORD and His strength; SEEK His Face forEVERmore!

Because i NEED GOD’s Grace for EVERY moment He allows me to live, because i NEED His SUPERnatural POWER to continually help me overcome my weaknesses, and simply, because i LOVE Him – i SEEK His Face IN CHRIST, through His WORD, through prayer, through glad obedience to His PERFECT will.

Oh LORD, Your command is that i be CONFORMED to the likeness of Your SON, and You promised to provide ALL that i NEED so that at ALL times i may abound in EVERY good work to the GLORY of Your Name – therefore, Almighty Heavenly FATHER…

Command what You will –

Grant what You command. 

LORD JESUS, the Altogether Lovely ONE – it matters not WHAT You do with my life; it matters only WHO You are!