Resting

On October 31, 2022 By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

My husband and I both got sick this week. We have some kind of flu, with coughing and sneezing and a low fever. In short, we have been pretty miserable. Harry got sick first, starting with symptoms on Wednesday night. My heart clutched once I heard him coughing because I just about always catch any germs that float around me since my immune system is compromised. Well, I lasted until Friday and then came the drainage down my throat and the plethora of asthma meds that I take so that I can breathe without struggling.

As I prepared for bed last night, I was concerned that I would not be able to sleep since breathing is more difficult once I lie down. I left my husband in the den watching his game and taking his med, used my nebulizer and headed to bed. It was amazing! After praying for all the Lord brought to my mind, I said a simple prayer asking God to give me the rest I needed to get stronger. I was amazed (I guess I should have not been so surprised) when I awakened this morning after having more sleep than I normally get when I am well. Rest is a gift from the Lord, just as each breath we take.

I awoke coughing, but I also awoke feeling rested. Praise God for His answer to prayer!

God gave us the example of resting and knows that our bodies need it. As I have aged, I have found that by late afternoon just about daily, I need a nap. It’s not just that I want to take a nap. I get a little fuzzy brained and I know that I really need to lie down and refresh my body. Yesterday, I tried to take a nap but I coughed too much and couldn’t really rest. So, I was somewhat surprised that I was able to rest all night without choking and grabbing my rescue inhaler. God is so good! He answers prayers for the weak, the weary and even those who don’t have high expectations for the answer.

My testimony is that of Jeremiah the prophet. God satisfied me with a pleasant sleep and I feel better today. I am still taking all of my meds, using my nebulizer and inhalers and nasal spray, but I am feeling stronger. I am so thankful that the Lord who created me knows what I need and provides it for me. Peaceful rest, away from the feelings of gasping for air and gagging on mucus. God loves me, even when I am too weary to exercise my faith properly.

May the Lord bless you with His rest and His peace today and throughout the week.

Real Hope

On October 29, 2022 By vickleaIn ScriptureLeave a comment

As humans, we have a tendency to wake up each day and hope for a good day with good things to happen in our lives. God wants that for us, too, but more importantly, He wants us to realize and to tell others that the only hope we have is in Jesus.

God spoke the world into existence and Jesus was right there with Him. Then, when God sent His Son to earth, He did not come to save us because of our own worthiness. Rather, we are saved only because of God’s great mercy. He sent and He saved.

We cannot overcome the sin in our own lives by just hoping that it will go away. We have to believe that Jesus delivered us from that sin on the cross and that we don’t have to bow to sin any longer. We are children of the Most High God, not slaves to sin as we once were. There is where our real hope lies, for today and for eternity.

If we awaken and have hope in things or events coming to pass, then our hope is misplaced. We need to fix our hope on the grace that Jesus gives us each day and the grace that will be ultimately revealed when He returns and takes us to be with Him. That is our real hope.

When I awakened this morning, I was thankful for a new day and hopeful for what it would bring. With my devotional completed and my meditation on the word “hope”, God has shown me that He is my hope and things that happen are just circumstances that change from moment to moment. But His love, grace and mercy in my life stand forever. Real hope!

May each of you know the real hope that is only found in the person of Christ Jesus. God bless you!

Focusing on God

On October 29, 2022 By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

I know that you are aware that the more problems you have in life, the more your focus is turned towards the problems. I am a walking, talking testimony that focusing on the issues does no good, but focusing on God gives new insight into the problems, whatever they may be.

This Scripture seems to promise deliverance from all trouble. But it doesn’t say that the troubles won’t come, just that God will deliver us from them. Nor does the verse explain exactly how that deliverance will come. I think that is because the Lord has already provided an answer to all of our troubles (problems) through His Son that He sent to save us from our sins. At the root of most, if not all of our troubles, lies sin. We live in a fallen world. Lots of sickness? Lots of financial troubles? Lots of…you fill in the blank. The bottom line is sin and God has already provided the answer. However, Jesus is not a magic genie that you rub the bottle and get an immediate response that solves all of your problems. The troubles we face or ones that we have to deal with just like the rest of humanity, because the world is one that has turned its back on God. But unlike the unsaved, we still have hope, the assurance that no matter what is going on in our lives, God is in control and will ultimately take care of us. He will either take us out of the situation (rare, in my experience) or will lead us through it in a way that will give glory to Him if we will only be patient and follow the path He establishes for us.

As I stated in a previous post, God has not moved. It is up to us to acknowledge His sovereignty and to wait for Him to act. We need to be mature enough to wait quietly before Him, constant in our faith and in our total assurance that He is already acting on our behalf.

No crops, no food, no animals to provide skins for clothing and meat to eat? Is the answer to throw a pity party and rail against God? Of course not! The answer comes after the word “yet.” It means “despite anything to the contrary” according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. A synonym is “nevertheless.” I think of it as “in spite of all that has come before.” So, the verse is “In spite of no buds on the fig tree, no grapes on the vines, no olives, no food and no livestock, I will, nevertheless, rejoice in the Lord.” We don’t rejoice because we have troubles. We keep our focus on God and rejoice in spite of them. When we keep our focus on God and not the problems, then we can focus on how He is is acting on our behalf, not on how everything is wrong and seems against us. God is always for us, but sometimes we focus on the problems and cannot see that God is working out a solution that makes more sense for us than anything we could come up with using our finite minds and resources.

The conclusion is that troubles will come because we live in a fallen world. But that is not the end of the story. The “rest of the story” (as a great radio personality named Paul Harvey used to say) is the most important part. God is on His throne and acting for us; our part is to wait and to rejoice. The waiting is hard and the rejoicing may be even more difficult sometimes, but the alternative is hopelessness as we focus on problems instead of on God. May we ever remember that as long as we have breath to pray and praise, we have hope! But God…

May you have a blessed day, filled with the promise of God’s solution to all of your problems.

Running the Race

On October 28, 2022 By vickleaIn Scripture8 Comments

I have heard most of my life as a Christian that life is like a race that we are running, towards the prize of eternal life.

I do believe that the race analogy is true. But something in my devotional this morning led me to open my eyes to a different observation about this truth.

Our life is not meant to be a race to the finish line, in my opinion. Rather, we are part of a relay race and are supposed to pass the baton of our faith on to the next generation. They will continue to run the race themselves, sharing the Gospel and spreading the good news that eternal life is the prize at the end of each individual’s race. It puts a smile on my face to know that when my life is over, others will continue to carry the banner of faith that has been shared with them by the saints who went before them. This is not a profound revelation, but it is one that opened my eyes to the kind of race I am running. Life with Jesus is not a sprint, but it is a relay race. The “leg” that I am running is only part of the race and I will one day leave the baton behind for others. That is why it is so important to share the Gospel message, so that the baton of His love, mercy and grace will not be dropped in mid-race, but it will continue to be passed on to the younger generations, those who need to hear and believe.

May you continue to run the race with persistence and consistent faith until the day that the Lord calls you to pass on the baton.

Just Be Quiet

On October 27, 2022 By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

I know that I talk too much, not to strangers, but to friends. I get on the phone with one particular friend and we can talk for an hour or more. The same is true of my chats with our daughter. Recently, the Lord has been telling me to be quiet more and to just listen. I’m not the only one bursting with things I want to share, but I am aware that at times, I ramble and the other person doesn’t get a chance to share what is on their hearts. Imagine if God never listened to us how frustrating that would be!

People do not ask for or desire that I tell them all that I am thinking or my opinion about everything. Mostly, they just want a listening ear. Of course, if they are sharing something that is against my moral code, I will speak up, but my new thing to do is just to listen. Did you know that there are studies about being quiet and letting the other person fill the silence? How much we can learn about what is going on in another person’s life is dependent on our truly listening.

We are repeatedly admonished in the Scripture to listen and to think before we speak. I think it would solve a lot of relationship problems if we would make following this verse a habit. It’s hard to argue with someone who isn’t arguing back but is remaining silent, isn’t it?

May we all be blessed today with the reminder to listen carefully and to just be quiet.

Review: EXPLOSIVE CHRISTMAS SHOWDOWN by Darlene L. Turner

On October 26, 2022 By vickleaIn Book Review, JustRead Publicity Tour5 Comments

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Explosive Christmas Showdown by Darlene L. Turner, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours.

About the Book

Title: Explosive Christmas Showdown

Series: Crisis Rescue Team #2

Author: Darlene L. Turner

Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense

Release Date: October 25, 2022

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

A bomber brings terror to Christmas

as the presents go tick…tick…boom.

With criminal investigative analyst Olive Wells at the center of a bomber’s dangerous game, she’ll do anything to catch the culprit—even work with her ex-fiancé and his K-9 detector dog. But with the Christmas rampage drawing ever closer, Zac Turner’s convinced the attacks are personal. Can they piece together their ties to the bomber…before another gift explodes?

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

About the Author

Darlene L. Turner is an award-winning author and lives with her husband, Jeff in Ontario, Canada. Her love of suspense began when she read her first Nancy Drew book. She’s turned that passion into her writing and believes readers will be captured by her plots, inspired by her strong characters, and moved by her inspirational message.

Connect with Darlene by visiting darlenelturner.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

My thoughts on the book:

The Jingle Bell Bomber is actively seeking victims to target and the team has to rush from one place to another trying to defuse bombs before they harm people. This is a love story as well an an intriguing suspense tale of bodies piling up and a team of experts stymied about where to go next to stop his vicious attacks. Olive Wells is an analyst and her colleague Zac Turner is an expert at finding and defusing bombs. Zac’s intelligent and intuitive dog Ziva made this book for me! She knew just where to go and when and also knew who needed her gentle presence to calm them. She is a trained bomb sniffing dog as well as a tracker, but she is so much more. Her personality stood out in the book to me and I really enjoyed getting to know her and her people. The characters were all well developed and the pace was fast, with action that was non-stop as the team raced from one place to another, following clues left by the JB, their term for the Jingle Bell Bomber. There are also sub-plots about secrets that Olive and Zac have that eventually have to be revealed for them to try to have a relationship. Faith is also a strong element in the story as the characters who have moved away from God ultimately decide that they need to totally depend on Him to keep them safe and to help them plan a future. The credible characters and their quest to save lives had me mesmerized from beginning to end. I should also note that the weather was almost a character by itself as it kept snowing and interfering with the investigation and the team’s ability to get to places quickly. This was very realistic as the book was set in Canada at Christmas time and added to the emotional turmoil of finding a deadly bomber before he strikes again. Fans of clean romantic suspense will enjoy the story of Zac, Olive and Ziva. I would rate the book with five stars for entertaining and clean content.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Tour Giveaway

(3) winners will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight October 24, 2022 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on October 31, 2022. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

Words Matter

On October 26, 2022 By vickleaIn Scripture6 Comments

Have you ever thought of how many words you say every day? Ponder that. Then, think about how many of them are kind words, words that build up and encourage.

Encouragement should be as much a part of our being as Christians as reading God’s Word for the encouragement that we get from that. Consider that many do not read His Word (although we are in absolute agreement that they should), and the only encouragement that some may get is from what may come out of your mouth. The clerk is slow and you’re in a hurry. Be gracious anyway. The traffic is backed up and you feel like you’re going to explode with anger. The passengers in your car need to hear gracious words instead. In whatever situation we find ourselves, we can choose to use grace in our words. Give love with your words, not judgment and condemnation. It’s your opportunity that God has given you to represent how He would respond to frustrations and challenges. Just be kind. I saw a sign that had a familiar saying on it, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” You don’t have to accept sin. I am not saying that by any means. But no matter what is happening in someone’s life, you can make a difference with a kind word, just noticing that the other person needs your encouragement just as much as you need to take in the manna from God’s Word daily.

May your day be filled with the opportunity to reach out to others with kind words, offering needed encouragement and a picture of what kindness looks like.

And So We Bring Judgment

On October 25, 2022 By vickleaIn Reblog1 Comment

And So We Bring Judgment

https://maggietiggles.wordpress.com/2022/10/25/and-so-we-bring-judgment/
— Read on maggietiggles.wordpress.com/2022/10/25/and-so-we-bring-judgment/

Please go to the original post and follow Kathy. She has so much wisdom and this post is timely and necessary!

Review of VANISHING HOUR by Laura Griffin

On October 25, 2022 By vickleaIn Book ReviewLeave a comment

I didn’t think it was possible, but the story in this romantic thriller is just as delightfully delicious and inviting as the gorgeous cover! Ava Burch is a corporate lawyer who is new to the small Texas town of Cuervo. She is accompanied by her search and rescue dog Huck, a dog with plenty of intuition and personality. On a SAR mission, Ava becomes aware that women are missing annually from the hostile desert environment around the town and decides to pursue her own investigation. She is kind of, sort of and reluctantly paired with deputy sheriff and lead investigator Grant Wycoff who does not want her endangering herself by getting into the middle of the case he is trying to solve. The two of them don’t see eye to eye about the case, but they do have sparks flying between them. The mystery in the book is what is happening to these women and why. There are many red herrings placed strategically throughout the story and real clues, too. Perfect for a mystery lover like me! The pace races at a breakneck speed as Grant and Ava seek to find the perpetrators before they kill again. When Ava herself is in the crosshairs of the villain, she shows herself to be a strong and worthy opponent. I love strong female protagonists who can be like melted honey in the arms of a strong male protagonist! The energy between these two characters flames occasionally and is almost a relief from the tension building in the case. This is a brilliantly crafted story with an intriguing plot and a propulsive mystery. The clever descriptions of the characters gave me insight into the fascinating characters and the satisfying misdirection had me reading long into the night to find out the real bad guy. The book crackled with tension, not just in the bedroom, but out in the desert where shots are fired and heroes are injured. The plot was intense and captivating, with a story that held me in its magnetic spell from beginning to end. I loved this book and highly recommend it to those looking for a thriller and a romance with some steam to it that is not offensive or over the top.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

***Author’s photo and bio are from her webpage*** http://www.lauragriffin.com

Happy Release Day to Laura Griffin! Here are purchase links for your convenience:

For heart-pounding thrills with a beautiful natural setting, get this book today! Many thanks to autor Laura Griffin for the hours of mesmerizing entertainment!

Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner

Month: October 2022