Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

EARTHQUAKE!!

Posted by Virgil and Jeri Holt on Monday, February 21st, 2011

I’ve been thinking and observing these days the situation we find ourselves in both personally, and as a nation.  It reminded me of the early 70’s when Jeri and I were living in Southern California.  I was awakened one morning to the sensation that the bed was moving.  My first thought was that Jeri was shaking the bed, but as the sleep cleared from my mind, I realized that not only was the bed moving, the swag lamp was bouncing on the chain right above my head.   Being from Nebraska, I was experiencing my first earthquake.  I tried to get up and get to safety, but every time I moved the bed moved and I couldn’t get out.  I felt helpless.  Fortunately the tremors, centered off Point Mugu, lasted only a few seconds, and everything returned to normal… except my heart rate.

These last few weeks have been kind of an earthquake for us.  We are facing decisions in our lives that leave us unsure of what the future holds.  The death of Jeri’s dad has necessitated that we spend some time with her mom helping arrange things for her.  We battle with what is best for her… and what the Lord is desiring from us. In addition, the violence in Mexico continues to cause fear for us and our loved ones.  The economy isn’t helping either.  The little church that dad was pastoring is suffering through the economic woes of this area, and many are without work.  These things and many others have the same effect on us that the earthquake did many years ago.  Everything we tend to lean on for stability is shaky at best.  Jeri and I find ourselves unsure of just what our next step is, and frankly our appeals for direction seem cloudy at best.   You would think that after 35 years looking to Him for direction it would be easier to just wait patiently but it isn’t.  Jeri has started writing down the encouraging verses from her devotions and sticking them on the bathroom mirror.  The other day she put up Psalm 100:5…

For the LORD is good;

His lovingkindness is everlasting

And His faithfulness to all generations.

We are strengthened by your partnership and we meditate on His absolute sovereignty in our lives.  The absence of clear direction from Him does NOT mean He has abandoned us.   His love for us and His faithfulness to us is never affected by our feelings, or even our behavior.  NOTHING surprises Him.    NOTHING escapes His knowledge and authority.  He is incapable of failure.  We need to simply trust Him as my kids used to when we were traveling.  They had no idea which route we would take.  They never worried when there was snow on the road.  They simply trusted my choices and rested in being my child. We deeply appreciate your prayers for us these days.

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I’m not from here!

Posted by Virgil and Jeri Holt on Friday, May 7th, 2010

A couple of weeks ago the pastor of our church was looking at Philippians 3 and talking about our citizenship in heaven.

Just today I read the testimony of one of our missionaries, Maxine Morarie, who worked many years in Bolivia.  While translating the Bible to Ayoré, she had trouble finding an adequate translation for the concept of being “born again.”  It seems that in Ayoré, the term “born” means “to fall,” and would NOT work as a literal translation.  Her language helper finally came up with a very good translation.  He said “It’s like being washed into another clan.  You are changed completely and all the things of the new clan are now for you to partake of.”  What a GREAT way to express it!  She goes on to say that after that her language helper would always close his letter to her with “Your fellow clan-washed one by the Holy Spirit.

It was a good reminder to me of just how temporary our time here in this world is.  There’s an old hymn that my cousin Gene Purcell and I used to sing together called This World Is Not My Home.’   The words go…

This world is not my home I’m just passing through
my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
the angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

We truly do belong to another family… citizens of Heaven, and co-heirs of the riches of Christ.  These are encouraging words for us these days as we will be saying good bye in the next two months and head back to Mexico.  Leaving family behind is always hard… but it is extremely hard when it is aging parents, and beautiful grandchildren.   Please pray for safety and direction.

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SPIRITUAL THERAPY

Posted by Virgil and Jeri Holt on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

As I write this I’m sitting beside my wife’s bed in the hospital where she is recovering from knee replacement surgery.  I’m amazed at how much they can do now that even 30 years ago would have only been a dream.

Still, as I waited in the waiting room yesterday the time in surgery doubled the time expected.  I sat and prayed, walked and prayed, cried and prayed.  As I prayed I found myself repeating carefully the same phrases over and over again.  I was being so careful because I didn’t want to word something wrong or omit anything.  I realized that I was praying like an animist.  An animist believes that his repetition and the wording of his chants or prayers have the power to manipulate his god into doing certain things.  Although it’s true that God wants us to ask, our prayers are effective not because of wording, but because we have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father.  My Father God was caring for Jeri, not because I was so careful not to omit something, but because she is His daughter.  It is impossible for Him to miss anything, and He loves her so much, he will protect her from anything that wasn’t His perfect will.  As you can imagine, she was fine and the delay had nothing to do with the procedure itself.

Later yesterday, I had a conversation with my son about Matthew 6:33 and “putting first the kingdom of God.”  We talked about how His kingdom has to do with a relationship that results in our in submission to His will.  I’m reminded now about the words of Peter… “casting all your cares upon Him fore He cares for you.”

Jeri is now starting therapy… another chance to see Father God work in her behalf.  Just a short time ago the therapist came in and began the painful process of physical therapy.  What we understand is two weeks of hating the therapist followed by a life of appreciation.  We appreciate your prayers.

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What happens when you pray?

Posted by Virgil and Jeri Holt on Friday, October 9th, 2009

We recently sent out a prayer request asking everyone to pray regarding Jeri’s appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. This is the “longer” version of what happened.

Our daughter Gina is expecting and had her appointment as scheduled. To her surprise the Doctor told her that the baby had turned and was no longer head down and ready for her Oct.10th due date. She was now lying kind of side-ways, in a position (footling breech) that put her in danger of delivering the umbilical cord first. That would have put the baby in danger. The doctor advised them that they might want to do a cesarean delivery on Friday the 9th. Gina came home (pretty discouraged) and decided to lay down. The doctor had told her that she could kind of push where the baby’s head was and see if she would move. When Gina lay down, there was no lump… in fact it seemed to be back where it was supposed to be.
I know I told you this was about Jeri’s appointment with the surgeon… I’m getting there. :D   Gina and Ben called the doctor and were told to come back and check it out. When they got there they discovered that the baby HAD turned.  The Doctor said, “let’s go ahead and induce labor tomorrow morning, today-Oct.8th, the day of Jeri’s appointment. We decided that would still work, after all, induced labor is certainly controlled to some degree isn’t it. Well, this morning at 5:30, Gina’s water broke and they took off for the hospital, leaving us to take care of Atalie their first daughter.

To add to the excitement, today they are forecasting from 4-12 inches of rain for this area. So today has been a bit wild. We took Atalie to Jeri’s appointment with us, and Ben met us there to take her while we were with the Doctor. Meanwhile Gina was there in the hospital moving along all alone with the delivery.   Praise the Lord, Jeri’s clinic is close to the hospital where Gina was so poor Ben didn’t to have to fight that much with the traffic and rain.

We had to wait for almost an hour to see Jeri’s doctor but when he got there, we told him of our need to get this resolved to some degree before June. He immediately said he would work something out. So, thanks to your prayers, Jeri has an appointment for her first knee on Dec. 2, and the second tentatively scheduled for March 2. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS. GOD HAS TRULY WORKED IN OUR BEHALF.

PS… Carly Anne was born today (10/8/2009) at 3:52 P.M. 7 lbs. 1 oz. 21 inches long. Mom, baby, Daddy, big sister, Grandpa and Grandpa doing GREAT! Here are a couple of photos.

   

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