He Wouldn’t Stay Dead - Easter 2017

Easter 2016 we were in Quartzsite, Arizona. 







Easter 2015 we were in Evansville, Indiana. 







Easter 2014 was the last Easter we were home. 







We were home unexpectedly that Easter because Odie had gone completely blind in her left eye. We had canceled revivals to come home in order for Odie to seek medical help. Easter Sunday was the eighth day of her blindness. 

It was a dark and difficult week for us. We were never more aware of the biblical fact that "fear hath torment." What did we do? We went to church and celebrated the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in spite of the darkness. He rose from the dead and conquered death, hell and the grave and our personal circumstances will never change that fact!

By Monday night, God began to turn the situation around and the resurrected Savior brought victory once again! We praised Him for the resurrection even though we felt more like cowering in fear. He turned our mourning to dancing and we are still rejoicing. Thanks be unto God for our resurrected Lord! 

Odie told about all of that from her perspective yesterday.

Today we bring you our Easter tradition on Boggsblogs.com. I am posting our annual Easter poem on this beautiful Resurrection Sunday. I hope you enjoy it!

I have quoted this poem in my preaching for many, many years and it thrills me yet today. It was written by a Baptist preacher named Willard G. Thomas from Georgia. I heard him quote it in person long years ago. It spoke to me then and it speaks to me every time I think of it. I love this poem. I added the last stanza when I started quoting it myself.

May God bless you on this Easter. 

If you are not a Christian, may you be moved by the fact that Jesus Christ died for you and then got up out of the grave for you as well. Thank God! He arose! Take a moment to think about it all.

Davy

He Wouldn’t Stay Dead

by:Willard G. Thomas

They laid His body in Joseph’s new tomb

And filled His disciples with sorrow and gloom

They did not remember what He had said

That He would die, but He wouldn’t stay dead

Mary came at the break of day

And found the stone was rolled away

She saw an angel and in terror fled

And told His disciples that He didn’t stay dead

In that cold dark tomb He would not stay

He conquered death and walked away

And now that old grave has lost it’s fear and dread

He lives again! He wouldn’t stay dead

Full atonement and pardon were made

And forever the sin debt was marked fully paid

The price was His blood as it flowed crimson red

And I’m thankful today that He didn’t stay dead!

Let’s go to our churches and cry aloud

Let’s go to the marketplace and talk to the crowd

Let’s go to the mission fields that lie up ahead

And tell the whole world that He didn’t stay dead!

Because if Jesus Christ had only died

Then the gulf between us and God would still be wide

But thank God He did what He said

He got up out of the ground, He couldn’t stay dead!

Last Stanza by Davy Boggs

Three Years Of Thanking God

Hello Friends, This is Odie reporting in from Ohio. We are excited to be home. Our home church, Dryden Road Pentecotsal Church, is celebrating 60 years on Dryden Road and 70 years as a church this week. I am glad Dad was able to work our schedule where we could be home for this special week of celebration!

 I want to wish you a Happy Easter!  I am so thankful we serve a Risen Savior! He is definitely alive and still working for His children in 2017! If you are not a Christian, today is a good day for you to get to know my Jesus. He is amazing and He died for us. On the 3rd day He Arose from the grave!

We had a fantastic week in Central City, Kentucky!  It is always wonderful to be with Pastor Alan and Sister Tammy Harris and all our great friends at Trinity Pentecostal Church! I am so thankful God placed these friends in our lives. The services during revival were so good. The presence of the Lord is so sweet and precious!

Thursday morning, April 13th, marked 3 years since I woke up to a blind left eye. For any new readers let me testify to you. April 13th 2014, I woke up blind in my left eye. It came on without warning and I was terrified that my new normal would be both blind and crippled. 

We also worried the blindness would spread to both eyes. Over the next 9 days it was a roller coaster of emotions. I can not put it all into one post. We were trying to figure out what exactly was happening. Click here to read a synopsis of those days and beyond.

Doctors concluded it was most likely Optic Neuritis, the optic nerve was inflamed. The doctor began treating it the best they could but could not promise that my vision would return. If it did return, they could not give time estimation or how much sight I would regain. 

Throughout the 9 days we prayed and believed God for a miracle. On the evening of the 9th we received a word we felt like was from God. We prayed again and began rebuking the devil and pleading the blood of Jesus over me. 

From that very moment, my vision began returning. Three hours later I was able to see the E on top of the eye chart. My vision was completely restored over the next several days but I immediately began praising God for a miracle. Now three years later my vision is 20/20!!  My vision is better than it ever was! God gave me the miracle we prayed for. 

The last few days I have re-read several of our blog posts from that scary 9 days of zero vision in my left eye. I can still remember the feelings of fear and uncertainty that plagued me during that period of time. But I will NEVER FORGET the peace of God that carried me through that valley of the unknown. 

I know God is good no matter what the outcome could have been!  I thank God daily for healing me! There is not a way possible for me to thank Him enough. I have shared my testimony from Coast to Coast and I am thankful to be able to share it today.

Today I am reminiscing of the Lord's faithfulness. Also I want to encourage you and me to believe God for a miracle in the impossible situations. No matter how long we have to wait remember God is still concerned about us and He is an "On Time God". He will bring us "Through It All". 

We survived that awful trial because number one, God is good and number two, because the people of God helped us fight the battle through prayer!  I am still overwhelmed when I think of all our amazing family and friends who helped us and encourage us, when the light at the end was nowhere in sight. Thank you again to each of you for being our support team. 

We were preaching that week at Faith Church in Salem, Kentucky for Pastor Phillip Sanders. Bro. Sanders and his church rallied around us and loved on us during that difficult time. They prayed for me fervently and allowed us to close revival early in order to deal with my blindness at home. They were great to us.

Bro. Larry and Sis. Rosemary Landress came to us in Salem. They prayed and cried with us and distracted me when I needed to be distracted. It was an encouragement to have them by our side for a couple days. Thank you, Bro. Larry and Sis. Rosemary! We love you!

 

My friend Brentni Hrapeck was a God send. She got me in to see the Retnal specialist she works for in Paducah, Kentucky. She answer many questions and helped me so much! I will forever be grateful for your help, Brentni!

 

Thanks for stopping by and reading today. I pray you have a fabulous weekend. 

Odie

Revival In Pictures - Central City, Kentucky

Revival in Central City is winding up tonight and it is time to post pictures from the week so far. We have had wonderful services every night with the altar service being the best part. I love that! I love watching folks respond to the Word of God and then watching as God responds to them. It has been tremendous.

We will never be able to repay Pastor Alan Harris and the Trinity Pentecostal Church for all of their kindness toward us and prayer for us. What they did in support of City Reach was phenomenal but their friendship goes back way farther than that. May God bless them for their gracious hospitality toward us.

We have enjoyed this week and here are the pictures to prove it. I hope you enjoy this Revival In Pictures post.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy