Eddie and Martha Marie Smith

Every stock shareholder likes to see what kind of dividend their investment produces.  I thought you would like to see some of the eternal dividends that your prayers have produced as you are a shareholder in our current situation.

1. We are encouraged.
2. We currently feel peace.
3. We believe that God will heal Martha Marie through His hand or medical practices.
4. We feel an extra anointing during this time.
5. We are sleeping well.

Thank you for being a link in the chain of our life changing process.  Every time you invest in prayer for us or any one else, you invest in an endless chain of influence for someone elses eternity.  Thank you!

Matthew 6:20
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Bill Gaither wrote the famous song we usually sing on Easter Sunday morning in our churches called Because He lives (lyrics below).

I am not normally a southern gospel fan, nor a big fan of hymns played to piano and organ (love them with the guitar), but ole Billy G tore it up this morning.

I know that Because He Lives I can…

• be the man God wants me to be as a husband, father, son, employee, leader, etc.
• overcome many obstacles
• live in victory
• pursue His dreams for me
• make a difference in this world

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” - 1 Corinthians 15:55

Christ overcame the grave! 

Because He Lives Lyrics 

God sent His son, they called Him, Jesus;
He came to love, heal and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives!

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

And then one day, I’ll cross the river,
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain;
And then, as death gives way to vict’ry,
I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives!

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

Martha Marie and I are crazy about each other and our little girl Selah.  Selah has been such a joy in our lives and is so cute and sweet and she knows it.

As parents we are striving to ”Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)  What this does not mean is that she has a reservation in heaven just because:

• we “raise her right” or
• she is “sweet and cute” or
• “her daddy is a pastor” or
• she “goes to church” or
• she is “a good girl”.

Matthew 7:21 says ”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Selah, like everyone else, will be held accountable to ”do the will of the Father” as she nears the ability to discern right and wrong and to choose to accept or reject Christ as her savior.  Our “sweet little girl” is just as sinful as the rest of us and has no hope for heaven without the saving grace of Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him.

In the mean time, Martha Marie and I will continue to “raise her in the way she should go so she will not depart from it” and pray that she would choose to let Jesus Christ forgive her for her sins.

Ever thought about where you will be in 1 year?  How about 5 years?  10 years?  100 years?

We have no control where we will be on earth in any given time as any circumstance could come up to make us have to be either here or there.

We do however have control of where we will be in 100 years by the choices we make today for eternity.

Jesus Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  Jesus Christ is also the hardest thing that has ever happened to me (even harder than life’s set backs) because of the commitment it takes.  Being a follower of Christ has been very hard work (I will write more about this later sometime), but I know that it will all be worth the hard work 100, 1,000, and 1 million years from now.

Philippians 3:13-14
13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.