GOSPEL OUTREACH CHURCH

Melissa's Story! 4/19/17
Melissa's Story! 4/19/17



I am SO excited to present to you my guest PREACHER for today, Ms. Melissa Butler/RN!!!

She is a true warrior and bearer of the Cross of Calvary.

I will never forget the Sunday morning, December 19, 2011-SIX days before Christmas!

I arose and saw in the news the "story" of a small aircraft crash in Texas and passed right by it!

" FIVE people perished in the horrific accident."

As I began typing my sermon, my home phone began to ring incessantly!

OVER and OVER it rang but my wife noted the caller ID and assumed it was just her friend confirming a lunch date later in the week.

But then my cell phone lit up with the horrific news-

ALL of our dear lifelong friend Melissa's children were DEAD!!!

SUDDEN/UNSPEAKABLE TRAGEDY!!!



Here is HER story:


John the Baptist.

We are all familiar with this man in the New Testament.

He was called by God while still in his mother's womb.

His life was foretold in Isaiah.

He was a forerunner to Jesus, even baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River.

His whole life was dedicated to following God's plan, he had known no other way.

Jesus Himself called him the greatest prophet that had ever lived.

At one point in his life this man faced an extremely hard place.

We will learn more about this great man of God a little later.

Have you faced an extremely hard place in your life; are you now facing hard times?

It's all relative!!!!!

In years past what I THOUGHT were hard times now seem like a walk in the park, but at the time I was on my knees crying out to God, and that's okay as He wants us to do just that.

But you may be facing storms that are like Hurricane Katrina, leaving what seems to be a path of destruction everywhere you look.

I faced a divorce 11 years ago that I thought would never happen;

You marry in God's will and live happily for many years, and then things change.

I thought and even said to a few friends,

" I've faced my Hurricane Katrina so I will never have to weather a storm that bad again"!!!

Little did I know the big one was in my future.

December 19, 2011 was the worst day of my now long life!

It was the day that forever changed EVERYTHING and EVERYTHING changed!!!

It was the day I received a call that my 2 (and ONLY children) sons, 2 grandchildren and daughter-in-law had died in a plane crash.

Just typing this makes me sick to my stomach this morning.

I have had so many people encourage me to write my story,.....

BUT with this kind of tragedy I just can't find adequate words to describe this kind of pain and suffering.

I know there are many of you that have lost a child which I had always heard and now have come to know as the worst grief imaginable.

You may not have lost a child but are facing a divorce, an illness, the illness of a family member and so many other things that cause pain and suffering in our lives.

I watched a special about a year ago about former network news anchor Tom Brokow.

He was telling his PERSONAL story about cancer and he said the following,

" Things like having dinner or reading a book are no longer routine!

It is as if a screen came down and everything was now seen through the cancer screen."

When he said those words I had to write them down!

I so identified!!!,

For me the screen is GRIEF!

EVERYTHING is lived and viewed through this screen of grief.

I also want to share another man's thoughts on grief.

I use these quotes because these people have been able to find such adequate words to try and describe their pain and suffering.

This man also lost a child and had the following to say,

" In some aspects, losing a child is like a wall, but instead of getting over it you must carry the wall with you, wherever you go, for as long as you live.

The wall is immovable!

You can't go anywhere until you learn to move the wall.

You are just stuck in the same place, forever.

You can tug and tug all you want, there are days when the wall will not move.

And there are days that it moves ever so slightly.

Over time I have realized that in order to move forward, knowing that I must bring this wall with me, that the best way to do so is to metaphorically flood the soil near the wall with water, and have the wall float with me, instead of having to carry it.

Every act of love and kindness turns to water.

Water and love can penetrate and move anything.

It just takes time.

I need to turn my wall into a raft.

(John A. Passaro )

I also hesitate to write my story because I don't want to be a bearer of doom and gloom.

BUT no matter the lot of our life as Christians, there IS a blessed HOPE.

I say often that the best is yet to come and it is.

We are just passing through, our life is but a vapor.

This life is not even a second in time when compared to the the glorious eternity that awaits.

But in the meantime while we are on this journey, WHAT do WE do with all of our suffering.

I'll go back to john the Baptist.

In The Book of Matthew we read:

Matthew 11:2-6 (KJV)
2  Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,  

3  And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?  

4  Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:  

5  The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  

6  And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

And in Verse 11 Jesus said:

Matthew 11:11 (KJV)
11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

I had read this scripture so many, many times before, but in 2005 it came ALIVE in a new way.

John the Baptist, as stated above, had spent his entire life in service to God and now he was in prison!?

You can read this account In Matthew 14:3-5.

He was put in prison because King Herod did not like John's word to him regarding his wrong relationship with the king's brother's wife.

So he was in prison for nothing he had done wrong.

I don't doubt that John was thinking how he had served God his entire life and now he sat in this dungeon of a prison.

In the dark and misery of the dungeon, he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask Him if He was the ONE or should he expect another?????

Wait, what??

John the Baptist was asking if Jesus was really the Messiah!? I

n our darkest moments we ask questions too!

Like, " Lord are You there, do You know what's going on here, do You even care????

I love the answer that Jesus gave to John!

He simply told him of his miraculous works, basically saying "I am still God".

I have asked many questions, been angry, and at times said nothing to the Lord.

But the greatest part of this whole story is that after John's disciples asked John's question, asking if He was even the Messiah, Jesus turned to the crowd and said something I find amazing!

Matthew 11:11 (KJV)
11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Wow!!

In our darkest times, when we may be doubting the most, even feeling angry, Jesus still loves us and sees us as the best we can be in Him.

In Matthew 11:6 in the KJV Jesus says, "And blessed is he, whoever shall not be offended in me".

This may be one of the most important messages to Christians!

Don't be offended with Jesus when things don't make sense.

To quote Matthew Henry,

" The remaining unbelief of good men may sometimes, in an hour of temptation, call in question the most important truths".

I have a very dear friend who often says:

" remember what you know to be true about God".

Often that's exactly what I do!

I look at the Scriptures and remember the powerful truths that I know are true, which can so change our perspective.

I watched a movie a few months agoerntitled "AN UNFISNISHED LIFE."

The last line of the movie was a conversation between two characters, Einar and Mitch which goes like this:

" Einar: Griff said you had a dream about flying.

Mitch: yeah, I got so high, Einar, i could see where the blue turns black.

From up there, you could see all there is.

And it looked like there was a reason for everything."

When we look in God's word and remember the truths He has given us we can alsofly high and get a different perspective.

OUR SUFFERINGS AND TROUBLES CAN SEEM MUCH SMALLER ASWE SPEND TIME WITH OUR BIG GOD!!!!

GOD BLESS YOU!

Melissa Butler/RN

PASTOR DOUG

Please feel free to contact me anytime at  DOUGGHC@AOL.COM or  by phone:

404-295-5644 or 

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McDonough, GA. 30253

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GOSPEL OUTREACH CHURCH
70 STONE RD.
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