Welcoming Hannah Joy

Hello Everyone, 

I know it's been quite a while since my last blogpost and I've got some I will be posting this week before I head back to work. For today, I wanted to share my account of we welcomed a beautiful little girl, Hannah Joy Elliott, into our family this past week and it was a miracle to say the least.

As many of you know we usually plan to have home births, both Leyla and Caleb were born in the comfort of our home and we had planned to do the same with Hannah. However, there were some unforeseen complications with her delivery. These complications we completely unexpected, both the good and the bad.

My wife, Traci, went into Labor at home around 10:30pm on September 21st and was doing quite well. We were only 6 hours in and we thought that Hannah was going to be here with in the next hour, but for what ever reason she could not get any further. No matter how hard Traci tried over the next several hours nothing changed.  She was bleeding pretty badly and it seemed to be getting worse. WORRY!!

So, in the blink of an instant we were talking about having to go to the Hospital. As we arrived at the hospital, it was about 10:30am on September 22nd.  The Doctor on duty met with us and checked everything out and said that she wanted to wait for a while before making any major decisions. While we waited nothing changed, what ever was keeping baby Hannah from coming into this world was not letting up. FEAR!!

While we waited, we heard of the arrival of other babies in the maternity ward and discouragement sank in. My mind began to wonder both about the baby and about Traci. Her lips had turned pale blue and her skin as pale as could be. The blood loss continued to control the entire birth. It was not a very easy feeling.  I could do nothing but pray and ask others to do the same. DISCOURAGED!!

Finally, the Doctors were able to get the bleeding to stop but Hannah still had not come down enough.  We sent out mass amounts of texts to those we could get a hold of and asked them to pray. Others called us saying things that were beyond comprehension as they prayed for us. It was as if the Lord God had moved in the hearts of Men and Women all over and that a war was waging, Satan would not take the life of our little Hannah or my beloved wife Traci. PRAYER!!

The prayers of the people spoke louder than all the discouragement around us and we were not about to give up. Some of those that prayed, shared of the promises that God had given them about our daughter and little by little the light began to gain the ground discouragement and worry has taken. Little glimmers of hope surrounded us all and unknowingly, God continued to work HOPE!! 

Our hearts slowly began to sparkle with peace and even in the midst of despair we knew we'd see our little Hannah that day. ENCOURAGED!!

Finally the Doctors had chosen, "We are going to prep you for a C-Section." Preparations began and while our hearts desire was that God would work a miracle WE WERE AT PEACE!! As they came in to take us into surgery, the doctor said to the nurse, "lets check her out one more time." Immediately Every thing changed...  PEACE!!

Close to 8pm on the 22nd the nurse stopped everything that she was doing. "Your going to give birth in the next hour or so." WHAT?? WE THOUGHT?? Well, not any more. At first we doubted but then the doctor confirmed and after just one push, our little Hannah was coming out all on her own. With in the hour, Traci held our beautiful daughter in her pale skinned arms and kissed her with her pale blue lips. REST!! 

IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!

We found out later that the situation was more dangerous that we thought, Traci had a partial placental abruption. This was what they assume had stopped Labor, if it had gotten worse things would have been a lot different. It could have been very serious and it was for a while, but God spoke life into both Traci and little Hannah through the prayers of the people and the knowledge of his peace within our hearts. JOY!!

God's hand was upon us and everyone involved, Satan's hold was vanquished and life truly prevailed. I will always remember that day and that God watches over us and that His glory will always win. LIFE!!

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, I hope and pray it will bring encouragement to all who read it. God is always with you and to those who claim God does not exist, you weren't there but HE WAS!!

Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."

"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 1:20-22

Greetings Everyone,

Here is the next segment of my Journey with ACTS, I know it's been a while since my last post and I am sorry for those of you that were on the edge of your seat waiting to see what I find next. I've been in a bit of a loll recently, but more on that another time. Feel free to share your thoughts.

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Peter continued, “This was written in the book of Psalms, where it says, ‘Let his home become desolate, with no one living in it.’ It also says, ‘Let someone else take his position. “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus— from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.” - Acts 1:20-22 NLT

Peter had moved to replace the one that had betrayed them. He saw that everyone was in need of something to do and gave them a task to complete. Was it from God? We don’t really know but he used some compelling proof and it worked. The believers were reassured so much so that they felt this was indeed the next step. Replacing the betrayer was a reasonable step to take in preparation for what was to come.

Together, they outline a criteria for this replacement and then begin to make their way through the candidates. In modern terms, they were interviewing and narrowing down their search. All the while hoping that God would lead them to the right person. If you think about it, this is a great example of how to proceed when we aren’t really sure what’s next.

I’d like to think this would help us determine what God’s is when we are unsure. Peter does this quite well and we can learn from his example, but we must always remember to seek guidance when we find ourselves in such a scenario.  God’s plan may not always be clear to us, as it was in this instance for Peter and the others, but they are there. It’s usually just a matter of narrowing down the possibilities.

We are never promised that His will just be revealed to us, but we are promised that if we seek him, we will indeed find him. Now is the time for us to step out and do so.

Yes, Judas had betrayed them and yes, there was a need to bring someone new into the fold, so to speak. But there is a time and a place for that. Peter may have thought that the present moment was the right time for that, and it may have been, but there is also the possibility that it wasn’t. No one truly knows, what the next step was meant to be.

I would like to believe that replacing Judas was God’s will at this point for the disciples but something tells me, He had something else in mind.

5/23/16

Revised 6/24/16

Blessings in Christ and thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room,"

Stand Strong and continue to beleive the teachings given to you...(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV)

M.J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 1:16-19

Greetings Everyone, 

Here is the next segment in my Journey with ACTS.  This one was a pretty big eye opener for me and I'm really excited to share it with you all.  It may be a bit unconventional but, it's what I feel was placed upon my heart to write. One thing I'd like to remind everyone at this point is that everything posted here will be a rough draft and has not been edited as thoroughly as it probably should be. With that in mind feel free to share your comments and suggestions in the comments below.

Blessings, 

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Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us. (Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines. The news of his death spread to all the people of Jerusalem, and they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which means “Field of Blood.”)” -Acts 1:16-19 NLT

Often we take the mistakes of the past and turn them into something they are not meant to be. We see that something needs to be done and despite what we may be feeling on the inside, we act. This is what I believe Peter was doing in this instance. God had promised him and everyone else that he would sent another and instead of waiting for whomever was to come, The Holy Spirit, he moves, he acts, and he may actually have been making another mistake. But we’ll get to that in a few moments…

For now let’s direct our focus back to Judas, he is after all the one who betrayed Jesus and for all intensive purposes, Peter and the other disciples. The passage above is a pretty crude sight to think about but it can serve as a reminder of how horrible Judas’ act was and teach us that there are consequences for our actions.

From what we can tell in biblical history, Judas thought that Jesus had come to lead a rebellion. When he came offering love instead of war, my guess would be that Judas betrayed him thinking that Jesus would finally act.

Instead of waiting to see what God had planned Judas basically took things into his own hands. His intention may have been to give Jesus a reason to act but that was not what God had already planned. Sometimes we too can take things into our own hands and instead of waiting for God to act, we take it upon ourselves to change the outcome.

We forget all too easily, that our job is to trust in God’s plan and let Him do the heavy lifting. Our job is to embrace God’s plan knowing that we may not always like the direction He takes us.

Judas failed to realize was that God’s plan was bigger than any war that could have been fought. My guess is that Judas didn’t actually realize this until everything had been said and done already. We all make mistakes, if there is anything that can be learned from these few verses, it would be that God’s plan may come into fruition the way we expect it to.

You may also say that all mistakes come with their own consequences, for Judas betraying the savior lead to one of the worst. But I’d like to think that the lesson is more about trusting God with the desires of our heart and understanding that He sees things come a much bigger perspective than we ever will.

5/23/16 1:30am Revised 6/08/16 2:30am

A Journey with ACTS 1:12-15

Greetings,

Here is the next segment of my Journey with ACTS. For me these few verses reminded me of how easily it can be to forget the importance of spending time with our Great God in prayer. Sometimes we just simply get in way deeper that we should without seeking God's direction. Let me know what you think of these few verses. Blessings,

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Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. -Acts 1:12-14 NLT

There isn’t much to say about a bunch of names, is there? Well, there is another aspect to these verses though. If you keep reading until verse 14 you see they all continued to meet together and that they were constantly in prayer. This is a great word of encouragement.

Think about the previous verses for a moment, the disciples were distracted by seeing Jesus ascend. Suddenly two angels tell them to get going, so they do. They head right back to the upper room and begin to pray. I’d like to think they went there seeking direction. There wasn't really any real reason to stay close by but they did and they did so by with drawing to a safe place. Sometimes all we can do when it comes to seeking God is withdraw.

We are told in other places in scripture to ‘go into the closet and pray (Mt. 6:6). Scripture doesn't say God runaround like a cry person. It say's pray. That same verse also tells us to seek a quiet place. Finding a quite place can help you find your focus and I'd like to think that is what the disciples were doing in this instance. 

Maybe this is a message about how we should pray today. God has so many wonderful things to offer us and when we get distracted we can lose sight of those things. Finding time to dedicate to praying with God can help bring our lives to where they need to be in order to move forward.

5/15/16 12:45am

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During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them. - Acts 1:15 NLT

It’s hard to believe that pretty much every time the apostles came together and prayed, they were in the upper room and many times I’d imagine that they were quite crowded. People were looking for a safe place. To be honest, there were still those who sought to hurt those that followed the way of Jesus, but something was coming. 

Here in this passage, we begin to see just what Jesus was saying when he said ‘another is coming.' It was the beginning of one of the most amazing scenes I've ever read about in the scripture. However, something else was coming as well. Something that might even have send the disciples the wrong way.

Now there are times when we are meant to keep praying and there are times when we need to act. I’d like to believe this moment was one of the latter but I’d be wrong. Many believe this instance was meant to be the former. Peter stood up, and on his own addressed the crowd. He knew many felt lost and probably thought to himself, ‘I know let’s act’ when holding off might have been the better thing to do.

Truthfully, these 120 people weren't just sitting there doing nothing. They were acting, through prayer, and maybe just maybe, they needed to act in that fashion a little bit longer. Why? Well, because God doesn't always speak to us right away. Sometimes what he really wants from us is to simply wait. Let's be honest though, if we know anything, we know that as humans we are often impatient and do act on our own. It's part of our sinful nature.

This can often lead to making a few mistakes.

5/22/16 1:05am

Blessings in Christ and thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room" Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you... (2 Thes. 2:15b NCV), M.E