Tag Archives: Families

May 8, 2019 · 3:11 am

A Story about my Mother

Dad and mom

On May 11, 2014, my sister Linda phoned. “Larry, Mom is not doing very well. Maybe you’d better fly home as soon as possible.”

I made reservations to fly back to Freeport, Illinois, as soon as I hung up.

Now, let me set the stage here:

My mom had celebrated her ninetieth birthday just four months earlier. She had lived in the Stephenson Counting Nursing Home for four years. She could not walk, suffered from advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and arthritis, but yet, she still enjoyed watching TV, reading, and talking with whomever stuck a head inside her room. She had just suffered from a severe pneumonia/COPD infection and had spent nine days in the Freeport Hospital.

I lived in Temecula, California. My sister, Linda, and her husband, Dennis, lived a few miles from the nursing home on the outskirts of Freeport. Before retirement, Linda had been the head of nursing at the nursing home for over thirty years.  So, she knew the staff at the nursing home quite well and carefully watched over Mom’s daily care.

After I made the flight reservations, I slid off my desk chair and bowed my knees on the floor.

“Lord, I have believed for a long time that Mom gave her life to You at a Lowell Lundstrom Crusade in Polo, Illinois, many years ago. She never told me that, but I believed the vision You gave me about her conversion. If I am wrong, then You need to tell me because You are the Redeemer and love her more than I do.”

I remained on my knees for forty-five minutes or so.  The Lord spoke some words to my heart for Mom.

I flew back to Illinois the next morning. Linda met me in Rockford and drove me to Freeport in her red Chevrolet. Because it was still early, I drove Linda’s car to the nursing home to see Mom.

I walked into Room 242. Mom was asleep and I sat down on a chair at the foot of her bed. I read a book. A few minutes later, she stirred and saw me.

“Son, how was your flight?” she asked.

“Okay.”

I stood up and kissed her. Then, I sat down again.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“Better.”

We small talked about her stay in the hospital and how she hated being there. Then, I spoke the words that the Lord gave me for her.

“What did you think when you went into the hospital?

“Well, you know…”

“No, I don’t know. What did you think?”

“I did not think I would ever leave the hospital again.”

“You thought you were going to die?”

“Yes.”

“Mom, if I could, I would change places with you right now. You could have the years remaining in my life and I would take the little bit of time you have left in your life. Heaven is that great and I’d like to be there right now with Dad and Grandma and the others.”

“Oh, Larry, you wouldn’t do that!”

“Yes, I would. Heaven is that great a place.”

Mom looked at me for a moment.

“Larry, is heaven that good? Is that really so?”

Our conversation changed. We never again talked about heaven or death.

I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law home for a week. Each day, I spent hours with Mom, feeding her and doing whatever she wanted. We enjoyed our time together.

As I left her room for the last time, she said, “Larry, I love you.”

“Mom, I love you. You’re the greatest.”

When I left for California, I thought maybe she had dodged another bullet and would last a few years, but a month later, the Lord spoke to my heart.

“I am taking your mom home.”

Two days later, Linda phoned to tell me that Mom passed away that morning.

Once again, I want to remind everyone that the Lord spoke to me ahead of time about taking my mom home because of our friendship. It had nothing to do with my being a prophetic voice. Anyone can have this type of relationship with the Lord. All you have to do is spend quality time with Him.

(Taken from my memoir, The Hunt for Larry Who, by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2014, Amazon eBook)

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January 24, 2019 · 10:38 am

Prayers for Families (1/24/2019)

When Jesus returned to Nazareth with His disciples and taught in the local synagogue, His neighbors were astonished at His wisdom and understanding and said, “Isn’t He a carpenter? Isn’t He the son of Mary?”

Both of these statements were putdowns.

By saying Jesus was a carpenter, they inferred that He had no formal theological training under a rabbi. So, how could people pay attention to His words without a proper resume?

And son of Mary? By not referring to Him as the son of Joseph, the people alluded to the rumors that Jesus was an illegitimate son.

Jesus looked at the crowd and said, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” (Mark 6:4 NLT)

Shouldn’t Jesus’ family have honored Him? They had watched Him grow up into being a strong man of faith and saw His godly wisdom displayed over and over again. And He most likely supported His family by being a carpenter after Joseph’s death.

Plus, Joseph and Mary would have told their family about Jesus’ birth, the shepherds, the star, the three wisemen, the prophetic words by Simeon and Anna, Joseph’s visions and more.

Yet, with all of this, Jesus’ family did not honor Him during His earthly ministry.

My prayer today:

Lord, help us to love and honor our families on their good days, on their bad days, on the days when we haven’t a clue about why they’re doing something or whatever because You love families and consider Your children a heavenly family for You. (Based on Ephesians 3:15)

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for our families.

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January 17, 2019 · 11:28 am

Prayers for Families (1/17/2019)

At Thanksgiving, we love to see those advertisements with a happy family sitting around a big table enjoying their turkey feast and fellowshipping with each other. This is a part of our American tradition where families love to get together, especially during the holidays.

But what about dysfunctional families?

A friend recalls his childhood family experiences with horror. His mom adored his older brother, but from his earliest years onward, he can only remember his mom’s contempt for him. She would punish him for the smallest infractions by spanking him always hard enough to make him cry. Then she would continue spanking him until he would quit crying. A no-win situation for a four or five year old child.

“You will never amount to anything in your life!” his mom proclaimed to him over and over again.

And guess what?

His brother grew up to be a wealthy businessman, but my friend was always in trouble. First, in elementary school and then later on as a juvenile delinquent. At 18 years of age, my friend forged a check for ten dollars. The judge sentenced him to ten years in prison for his crime.

His mom never once wrote him a letter or visited him while he was in prison.

When I first met my friend, he was thirty-five years old and had spent half his life in prison. He had become a Christian, had joined a church once, had been on fire for the Lord, but the church had treated him poorly. So, as you can imagine, my friend had trust issues.

I prayed over him once and had a quick vision. In it, I saw him sitting on a cot in a prison cell. He was weeping buckets of tears as he faced a brick wall. The vision panned outward, revealing that the prison door was wide open. All he had to do was stand up, turn around and walk out the door to his freedom.

To this day, my friend is still sitting in bondage to his childhood past.

This is an extreme example, but there are thousands of others that are much, much worse.

My prayer today:

Lord, send Your Spirit to bring Good News to families and their members, to proclaim liberty to any captives, to open blind eyes and free those who might be suffering from ill treatment by their families. (Based on Luke 4:18)

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for our families.

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January 10, 2019 · 11:43 am

Prayers for Families (1/10/2019)

There was a time when I thought that if I ever got my finances in shape, my health issues under control, my relationships all healed, my sin problems handled and my spiritual life raised to a higher level, I would do amazing things for God.

My focus was spent on reigning over these five areas of my life. But guess what?

No matter how hard I tried, there were always one or two of these five areas that were shipwrecked at any given time. My frustrations agreed with the Apostle Paul when he wrote: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

It took a few years, but I finally decided to check out how Jesus handled stressful circumstances.

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. (Luke 23:34)

Then the thief said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43)

When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:26-27)

Jesus on the cross, which had to be His worse time of stress, did not consider His painful circumstances, but cared about others more than Himself. He was a servant to the end and trusted that His Father would deliver Him out of His troubles.

A light turned on inside me when I saw this and thought: “If it worked for Jesus, it will work for me.”

Today, I spend very little time praying for my own issues and most of my time praying for others. It’s not that my problems aren’t big because like yours, they are, but I want to please Him, the One who with just a blink of His eye can turn all of my problems around in a nanosecond.

Okay, for the next few weeks, I plan on praying for families. If yours are like mine, then there are sick members, unsaved ones, troubled marriages and more. If you can, join me.

My prayer today:

Lord, stir up our love for our family members so that we are willing to lay our lives down for them, whether it’s in prayer, fasting or taking a bullet for them. And as You work Your love in us for them, I remind You that Your Word says, “Love never fails.” (Based on 1 Corinthians 13)

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for our families.

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