Bonnie J Martin

Archives for November 2016

Black Friday?

by Leave a Comment

Lines galore. Some smiles; some frowns. Pushing and shoving and arguing over who will get that last cheap gadget from the shelf. Exploding wallets leaking useful resources into sewage spills of waste. Within hours of using for the first time the novelty wears off and it is left to collect dust or head to the landfill or counted as a tax deduction on Schedule A. Really?

The International Mission Board has this list of areas around the world of people groups that have no clue that salvation can be theirs. Take a look at this massive list. 
http://public.imb.org/globalresearch/Documents/GSEC2016-09/2016-09_GSEC_Listing_of_Unengaged_Unreached_People_Groups.xls
This is a spreadsheet I can relate to!!  But this list is not just data that has no meaning. The implications within this sub-set of facts equates to millions of souls never knowing the eternal love of God. 

While the coffers of big commerce grow today from the frenzy of deal-getting consumers, many are being consumed by hell. Talk about a “Black Friday”!!!

The latest, greatest deal of the day will be useless tomorrow. 

But the souls of those represented by the great big spreadsheet will forever be tortured and tormented because today’s deal was just too good to pass up. 

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a project organized a long time ago for the sole purpose of saving souls internationally. You can learn more about it here.

You get to choose how to use the resources God has given you. Choose wisely. 

My Strength Comes from the Lord

by Leave a Comment

Waiting. Waiting for the doctor. Waiting for results from the hole poked in my chest.  Waiting to know what will be my next course of action. Will the results change what will be happening over the future of me?  Will I still run with endurance the race set before me?  Or will I collapse into a heap of senselessness?
I waited with my mama almost six years ago. Waited on results from holes poked in her body and bones. How did she face it?  I sat in the room with her. Did she hold in emotion for the protection of her child?  She faced it with a brave face and determined her course of action because of her family. She decided the option that gave hope of a little more time with family.  Hers became fatal. 
But this one is mine. And I have kept quiet about it for the most part.  
I don’t want attention directed at me. I just might be a complete failure and really don’t want to let you down. Because falling into a senseless heap goes against everything I know!  It doesn’t represent the strength I have because of the One that placed it in me because of my weakness. 
Oh for grace!  Blessed mercy I don’t deserve!  Healing and health that happens everyday to my mind and heart and soul and body. 
This hole in my chest was determined to be needed just before my much anticipated half-marathon.  So I ran thinking my running would end that day.  How can you continuing running with something dreaded hanging over your head? How do you even continue at all?


I have a young friend that is a courageous man. His brain is bringing about physical challenges that should hold him down and make him want to crumple into a senseless heap. But he doesn’t. He has a testimony to live out loud. He shares his condition and learns all he can so he can help the next person. He knows he is in the Hand of God and welcomes the opportunity to share what God is doing in and through him. God shows His strength through this young man. And many stand in awe of God’s handiwork with this beautiful person. It is a marvelous sight!
So my waiting ends.  The doctor enters with a different face than what I had seen prior to this hole being poked in me. His eyes reflect the news he has. And I begin to think of him and how he has to give good and bad. But he delivers good  to me. 
What praise is adequate to offer the King of Kings?  And I just hope and pray I could say the same exact thing if the news had been different. But for today He offered me one more chance to live without  cancer. 
So instead of staying silent any longer, the words of my daddy ring in my head, “Has God chose you to be tested before all people in your life.”  Life worth living is bound to show our failures. Isn’t that the point of this clicking of thoughts? So that all of life is pointed to a Redeemer?  This vapor of life is not our own but lived for our Creator. Regardless of worldly diagnosis. Sin is the world’s diagnosis. Forgiveness is God’s gift to the world. But a gift must be accepted!  I pray you have accepted His gift for you.  In accepting His gift, there is hope.



by Leave a Comment

Is it in that picture hung on the freshly painted wall?  Or is it in that work project that seemed to take forever but is done?  Is it that clean sink just scrubbed to look like new?  Is it crossing a finish line in a much anticipated race?  Perhaps it is found in that prized car so desperately longed for. Or in the face of a newborn child?  Maybe it is in that newly wed spouse or the one that has been around for decades now. Is it the house?  The sunrise?  The sunset?  A fresh bouquet of flowers?  That new outfit complete with the perfect accessories?  That dish you just prepared that is tantalizingly beautiful and delicious. A song. A poem. A book. Physical attributes. Intelligence. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. 

Where is it found?  

Can it be found anywhere?

Is it known at the diagnosis of a disease?  Can it exist as a coffin is lowered in the ground as thoughts of continuing seem impossible in that moment?  Is it in a hospital bed with needles and cords and beeps of life hanging on?  Is it in the uncertainty of tomorrow when the struggle just seems too great?  Is it in the anger of knowing abuse?  Is it in the death of another unborn child because it just wasn’t wanted?  Can it possibly exist in a nation torn and ripped and bleeding to death from an election?  

Oh!  It can be found in all of those places. Because it isn’t situations, circumstances, things, or people that cause it to exist. Not an election. Not an abortion. Not abuse. Not the sunrise nor the sunset. Not flowers or landscapes. Not family or friends or enemies. Neither drugs nor alcohol can bring it into being. 

It is only found in the depth of knowing God. To sit still and quiet just to hear silence. In the silence the listening echoes only Him. Removing all hindrances. Draining life’s battles so that all is left is all that is important. 

Realizing the worries of yesterday are minuscule and ridiculous. And isn’t the worry of the MINUScule the subtraction of joy. That equation doesn’t add up. 

To live with the contentment of knowing God both in the depths of silence and in the chaos of life’s freeway of hills and valleys and bumps and crashes is the longing of my soul. He brings contentment. Only Him. 

https://bonniejmartin.com/2016/11/05/49/