I am very grateful to Cindy Dawson at realchristianwomen.com for nominating me for this challenge.

I nominate Sue Love at runwithit.blog.  I will be contacting her with the information about the challenge.

My commentary on the quotation:  Keep flying!  God won’t let you down!

I have been nominated by Cindy Dawson at realchristianwomen.blog for this challenge. Thank you, Cindy for giving me another outlet for my beliefs.

This is my quote for today because it reminds me of God’s commandment to love.  We never know what others are going through, so just be kind, always.

I nominate Pastor Unlikely at pastorunlikely.com for this challenge.

God says that he is always our refuge and will be with us no matter where we are. So when I’m feeling like I’ve dropped into a big, dark hole of discouragement, God is right there with me. In my loneliness and times of absolute frustration, God has been there with me. He is with me now. He was close beside me when I was so desolate that I could not be with my father when he was dying. The Father who always loves and understands has been with me when I raised against death and the other circumstances of life over which I have no control. Do you know the One who is always a refuge and who tells you to be strong because He is with you? There is nothing like having God as a friend!

These two topics do not seem to go together, but I will try to explain how my mind is working this morning to make the connection.  The Bible says that “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  (Proverbs 9:10). This is not the fear you feel when you hear a strange sound at night that awakens you and makes your heart beat fast.  No, I’m referring to reverence for the Lord, the respect due Him because He is the Creator and the one who hears and answers our prayers.

How does this kind of fear help us to escape the snare of death?  Well, if we fear the Lord, then we follow what He has told us to do.  And one of the things that the Lord emphasized during His ministry was to forgive others.

If you want God to forgive your sins, then you have to forgive others.  When I think about all that Jesus has forgiven me, it makes it easier to forgive others.  The Lord didn’t say that forgiveness was an option if you felt like it.  No, he stated that if you refuse to forgive others, then Your Father won’t forgive your sins.  And Colossians says you MUST forgive one another AS the Lord as forgiven you.  “Must” is something you have to do.  For example, if you want to arrive safely at your destination when you are driving, you must stop at the stop signs.  That is not a stop if you feel like it.  It’s a warning to do it in order to save your life, just in case another car is coming at the same time.  Likewise, having bitterness in your heart is like going through a stop sign.  You are taking unnecessary chances with your life.  Who does unforgiveness hurt?  Not the person you are angry with!  It hurts you!  Don’t you think your Heavenly Father knows the stress that bitterness and anger against someone causes you?  So, He who knows you best and loves you most has told you to fear HIm and in so doing to follow His advice that leads to life, i.e. forgive.  Don’t hold grudges.  I speak from experience because I used to say as a matter of routine, “Yes, of course, I have forgiven (fill in the blank), but I am not forgetting what they did to me.”  Sounds good, right?  I forgive, so I am doing what God told me to do.  Not really.  When God forgives our sins, they are removed from His memory.  He sees us through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.  (Psalm 103:12 says God removes our sins “as far as the east is from the west.”). Now, if you are honest, then you know that true forgiveness is hard.  Each time a person who has offended you comes to your mind, you should be saying to yourself that you have forgiven him or her.  Then, move on with your life and don’t dwell on the offense.  Who is helped by forgiveness?  You are! Physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Do you want to feel better?  Fear the Lord and forgive!  Over and over again…as many times as you are offended, forgive and you will reap the benefits of freedom from holding a grudge.  And perhaps in so doing, you will save a friendship or a marriage or another important relationship. Doing God’s will is always what is best for us!

I have been young and now and I old and I have enjoyed the presence of God in my life for over forty years.  He has always been there for me, just as you have been there for your children or special friends.  When I first had a newborn baby, I was amazed that she would cry and the crying would cease when I picked her up.  It was my presence that comforted her.  Likewise, when you cry out to God, His presence comforts you.  In His presence, you can have joy, knowing that God loves you and will comfort and care for you and all of your needs.  If you don’t know the path to life, it’s an easy one to find.  Just pray for Jesus to forgive your sins and come into your heart.  The real journey of life starts there; that is when you begin your journey to eternal life with the Savior of the world leading you and holding your hand.  Do you know what it’s like to be in the presence of God?  Come to Him and find Him at the end of your questions and your cry for someone to hold you.  He has been there the whole time, waiting for you to admit that you need Him to guide you on the path to life.

This was the first book that I have read by Rachel Dylan and it was a very good book with realistic characters and scenes from current events.  I liked getting to know the prosecutor Sophie through the pages of the book.  She was determined to continue to work on her case in spite of having her life threatened by a local gang boss.  The secondary plot of a threat from a totally different direction was an unexpected surprise.  The details about the possible corruption at a financial institution that Sophie was investigating and getting ready to prosecute was rather ho-hum, but when I got to the end, I saw the need for it.  Readers who enjoy a clean read with a little romance and some suspense will like this book.  I enjoy more suspense, but I was satisfied with the conclusion so I do recommend this book.  

Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

God must really be trying to get this verse into my heart because it was in my devotional and again in the Bible study that I am doing (“In the Middle of the Mess” with Shelia Walsh on StudyGateway.com) and again in a song I listened to as I did my devotional. I must confess that although I love the premise of the verse, when God points it out to me so repeatedly, I start getting anxious about what is going to happen that I need the evidence of God’s love.  I guess  that is just the real me coming out, and I need to have more faith and lesss fear.

This is how the passage continues, i.e. nothing can separate us from God’s love.  When I doubt, He still loves me.  When I rage (as I did when my best friend died), He is still with me.  When I am feeling weak in my faith, He is still with me.  I love God and trust that no matter how I feel,  He is with me and loves me.  When I was a little girl, my mom used to tell me all the time how ugly I was.  In fact, she told me that I needed to go to college and have a good career because no one would ever marry me since I was so ugly.  Alone in the bathroom, I would cry and sing the song that I remembered from visits to Sunday school with a neighbor, “Jesus Loves Me.”  I did not know about Jesus’s free gift of salvation, but even as a young child, I knew deep in my heart that Jesus loves me.  By the way, now that I am an adult and married for forty-five years, I look in the mirror and see a reflection of my mother.  So maybe it was herself that she didn’t like.  I’m not a psychologist and my mom died over thirty years ago, but I do know that I do look just like she did before she died.  I’m really happy to say that God has come through for me and shown me His love and acceptance, healing a lot of wounds from my childhood.  I didn’t know this verse when I was all alone and singing my song, but God knew my heart and my need for love and sent the Lord to be with me and comfort me.

Sometimes bad things happen, even in the lives of Christians.  My beloved father became a drug addict and he also sold drugs.  I still loved him but after his first arrest, I didn’t trust him.  Can you imagine having the man who held you and told you that “everything will be okay” changing so much that it was hard to even see him?  But I promised my Aunt Loree (his sister) when she was dying that I would keep in touch with daddy and talk to Him about the Lord.  So, I did.  When daddy was out of prison and I could contact him more easily, we talked every week, sometimes twice a week.  I did my best to tell him about Jesus and His love for him.  My brother had been separated from daddy for about twenty years, and I told him that he needed to forgive daddy and move on because the bitterness in his heart was not hurting daddy but it was hurting him.  So, he did talk to daddy, visited him and began to love him again.  In fact, he was the one with daddy when he took his last breath.  And guess what?  James was talking to daddy about death and Heaven and daddy professed his belief.  So, in the end, He had victory over the drugs and over death.  Praise be to God that I will see daddy again in Heaven!  I never thought that was possible, but Aunt Loree knew that the seeds had been planted when he was a young boy.  I watered a little weekly and James got to see the fruit at daddy’s bedside when he was dying.  God is faithful and always loves us.  Don’t you want that kind of never-ending love in your life?  It is an awesome feeling to know that the God who created the whole Universe loves ME!  And He loves YOU, too!  Just accept His forgiveness and love and know that He is always with you.

I really enjoyed this new romantic suspense by Patricia Bradley, even though I have not read the first two books in the Memphis Cold Case series.  This could easily be a standalone book.  The story is memorable because the author draws you into the tale of Rachel, an intelligent and strong young woman who lost her mother at an early age and blames herself for her mother’s murder.  Her love interest is her boss in the police station, so their interaction is emotionally charged but manages to stay “clean.” It is is engaging because Rachel is so determined to find the truth, and the reader is brought along on her journey there.  The fact that there were Elvis impersonators being killed was especially interesting to me because I have visited Memphis and Graceland and know that the city is filed with Elvis wannabes.  I loved that the entire book was written without any bad language or steamy bedroom scenes, not even any bleeps.  Christian fiction is the best!  Fans of Patricia Bradley and romantic suspense will thoroughly enjoy this book.  It has a twist at the end that you won’t see coming, so that makes it even better for the diehard mystery fans who try to figure it out before the killer is revealed.  I don’t think you’ll be able to figure out this one, even though Ms. Bradley does leave bread crumbs along the way to try to help us along the way.  Excellent book with memorable characters and a flowing and satisfying plot and conclusion!  

Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

After my stroke in January 2015, I came to a startling revelation.  I am not going to live forever.  This life is temporary.  So, after my stroke, my life became more precious to me because I was no longer taking it for granted.  I know that my days are numbered by the Lord and since I know Jesus as my Savior, I know that when I die I will go to be with Him.  But these “numbered” days are the ones I need to use to make sure that the new generation coming after me knows about all the Lord has done for me.  For example, when I gave birth to my second son Scott, I was all alone in a military hospital and bleeding profusely.  The nurse unwisely told me, “You’re dying.”  I had a three year old daughter at home and a newborn baby and I was told that I was “bleeding out” and would die.  I don’t recall praying but I do remember calling out the name of the the Lord.  Then a doctor that I had never seen before stopped by my bedside, balled up his fist and before I knew what was happening, he socked me hard in my abdomen.  A huge clot came out, and my life was saved.  He told me I would be fine now and walked away.  The nurse said he couldn’t tell me beforehand what he was going to do because I would have tensed up and his technique would not have worked.  I just called it a miracle!  Later, when I had my stroke and could not speak, I was crying out to God in the ambulance.  Again, he spared my life.  Another miracle!  These are the big ones that I can tell about but there are small ones every day.  I have severe allergies, but I wanted a kitty, so my husband indulged me (after all, I had survived a stroke) and I am pleased to report that I have not suffered any ill effects at all.  Daisy is in my lap now and stays there a lot, to keep me company and just to be with me.  When our daughter Hope was just a baby, only a few months old, our family was on the way to a prayer group meeting when a truck crossed the center line and hit us head-on.  I had just finished nursing Hope and put her back into her car seat when the accident occurred.  The car was totaled.  My husband and I were all bruised up, but not badly.  And miracle of miracles, Hope was fine!  No bumps, bruises, scrapes, nothing.  God is good, isn’t He? We need to tell others daily about what He has done in our lives, not just to remind us and to testify to them, but also to leave a legacy to our children, grandchildren and friends about the power of God and His love for us in all situations.  I want to tell of God’s love for as long as I live.  What legacy do you want to leave behind for your loved ones?  I hope that it is a tale of God’s goodness and grace and mercy, because those are the stories that will live forever.

 

Visual is courtesy of the You Version Bible App.