I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
Author: vicklea
I love to read! I’m a retired teacher with a spouse of 45 years, three amazing children and nine wonderful grandchildren. I am blessed!
As a retired teacher, I think it is of the utmost importance that you commit each school year to the Lord. Public school, private school, homeschool…it doesn’t matter. The students and teachers need to be covered in prayer. There is a lot of evil in the public school system these days, with a lot being taught that young minds take as truth when they are being indoctrinated with lies. So, pray, pray, pray. And, also, advice from this former teacher, be aware of what your child is being taught. Don’t just ask how their day was and half listen. Ask specific questions about various subjects. What was the topic in history today? Science? Literature? You have the responsibility to train your child, to pray for them when you send them into the world and believe me, the world will train them if you don’t. So…pray, pray, pray and watch and listen!
Yesterday I had a scheduled appointment with my neurologist. He has always been one of my favorite doctors to visit because of his compassion and genuine ability to listen. Yesterday ended up being a big disappointment for me and in my devotionals this morning, God opened my eyes as to why I left feeling frustrated.
First, the doctor is usually on time or only a few minutes late. Yesterday, the nurse told me that he was running about ten minutes late. An hour later, he arrived. Usually, he asks me questions about my health and then examines me. Yesterday, the first thing he did was take out his reflex hammer and hit my left knee, the one I fell on three weeks ago that is still healing. OUCH! Right after that, still no questions, but he wanted me to get up and walk without my rollator. He walked beside me and just observed my unsteady, ambling gait. At that point, I told him I had fallen and was still healing and both of my ankles are swollen due to the congestive heart failure diagnosis. When he sat at the desk, he looked through some records, asked me a few questions about my visits with the orthopedist and nephrologist and then said, in all seriousness, “You can’t have injections for your bones because they affect your kidney. You can’t take pain medications for your arthritis for the same reason. Basically, there is nothing else we can do for you, so all I can say is ‘Good luck.’” No words of compassion or any kind of understanding for what I have been going through…just a “good luck.”
I went outside to call my husband to pick me up in front of the building and told him what he had said. He reminded me that one of the kidney doctors I had visited told me, “You have stage 3 kidney disease. You’re going to die.” And then he walked out of the room. Needless to say, I found a different kidney doctor. That is not because I don’t believe that he was telling the truth since we are all going to die, but because his bedside manner was seriously lacking.
I am not planning on changing my neurologist because of his lack of empathy yesterday. He has been my doctor since my stroke almost twelve years ago and yesterday was an anomaly for which I am forgiving him and moving on. But that is not without some insight into why his words upset me.
You see, I visit a lot of specialists because I do have a lot of physical ailments. I was born with one kidney that is failing, I was born with asthma so my lungs are not in great shape, and now I have a recent diagnosis of congestive heart failure. But in my quiet time this morning, the Lord spoke gently to my spirit and asked me about my trust. In whom do I trust? What am I depending on? If I am depending on doctors for answers, He reminded me that they are called “practitioners” because they are practicing. They don’t know everything nor will they ever. But…big but, if I am truly leaning on God to help me through all of this, then I will be fine. (After all, I do know where I am going when I do die, so that is a great consolation.) He knows what is going on and he truly cares. He isn’t going to pronounce a death sentence or tell me “good luck” as he heads out the door. He is walking beside me all the way. God opened my eyes to the fact that I have been trusting in chariots. During the Roman era, they were the sleekest, fastest and most reliable way to storm into battle and conquer the foe. But they could break down or be covered by flood waters just as the Egyptian army that was drowned in the Red Sea. So, trusting in chariots isn’t going to be what will carry me through these trials, But God will.
I need to re-focus and trust in God to heal me, not just physically but spiritually and emotionally too. What is trust? According to the Cambridge English dictionary, trust is:
It all comes down to faith, to believing that God is good and He will not harm me. He is reliable, totally trustworthy, even with my impossibly complicated health issues. Meds won’t help, but God can, and I choose to believe that He is helping me and He will continue to help me. He encourages me daily to get out of bed and start moving, even as my body protests. I wake up each day thanking Him for the new day and for whatever it may bring. Some days are harder than others, but God is always present and always there to quietly remind me of His love and presence.
Are you trusting in chariots? Not the ones you see in museums, of course. What I mean is, are you trusting in anything or anyone who is not God? Don’t wait until you are gobsmacked by a doctor who nonchalantly tells you “good luck.” Trust God today and know that you don’t need luck…you have God in your corner, wiping away the tears and telling you that He is always with you.
Passing Along God’s Wisdom (Daily Refresh, 10-12-26)
What if the choices you make today could shape someone else’s life for years to come?
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”
It reminds us that our actions don’t just affect us—they also act as an example, guiding and directing others, whether we realize it or not. And which direction we guide others… matters.
When you trust Him, God can use your consistent acts of faithfulness over time to plant His wisdom deep in a person’s heart.
The book of Proverbs is a powerful collection of wisdom meant to teach people how to live well and thrive according to God’s values. Throughout Proverbs, parents are encouraged to pass that wisdom on to their children. It’s one of the clearest examples of the Bible telling us exactly what Scripture is for. The goal is not simply to pass on rules to follow, but to train others to see clearly so they can recognize the difference between the path of wisdom and the path of foolishness.
Proverbs 22:6 isn’t saying that parents can control the choices their children make. Instead, it points to the lasting influence of faithful, consistent guidance.
This kind of influence takes time and genuine care. It happens through repeated conversations, everyday choices, Scripture, prayer, correction, encouragement, and setting an example. If you’re not sure where to start, consider inviting a child, friend, or family member to begin a simple practice with you: reading one chapter of the book of Proverbs each day. It is full of God’s powerful wisdom for a thriving life.
Whether you’re guiding a child, mentoring someone younger, or simply trying to live faithfully before others, remember this: you may not see the results of your faithfulness today. That doesn’t mean you aren’t making an impact. Keep going. Trust God with what you cannot see. Trust that when you plant God’s wisdom, over time, it will take root and grow.
My Thoughts
In our Monday night Bible Study Group, we are studying the Book of Proverbs, and Chapter 22 was our study for last week. This verse is a principle, not a promise. God doesn’t force our children to make right choices and to follow Him and neither can we force them. But we can trust that God will bring a harvest from the seeds that we sow. Even when we don’t see the change that we want to see or the life we expect our children to live, we can still know that God is being faithful. We have three children. The oldest, our daughter, left following the Lord for a while. But then, she returned and has led her husband and family to faith in the Only One who can save and make a difference in people’s lives. Our middle son goes to a traditional, old-fashioned church, following the lead of his wife who grew up in that denomination. I have nothing against the denomination, but I know that our son does not have the relationship with God that I would like for him and his children to have. I cannot change choices, but I can continue to scatter seeds. Our youngest son is not going to church, not following God and not really including God in his life, at least not as far as I can see. His life is the product of busyness, so many activities for the children, but church is not one of them. I pray daily that he and his wife will return to the faith roots in which they were both raised. The seeds were sown, but they only found fertile ground for a while. The “cares of this world” took over and that’s where we are today. Have I given up? No. I throw out seeds when I can, especially to the grandchildren, telling them Bible stories and teaching them children’s songs about the Lord. My heart’s desire is for all of them to return to the Lord, but that is their choice. I can only scatter the seeds and say what the Spirit prompts me to say.
All of this is to say that we should not be discouraged when the seeds we sow don’t seem to be growing. God knows what is happening in the root system and He can bring about unexpected and marvelous changes. God is good, and He loves each of my children much more than I do. So I am entrusting their eternity to Him, even as I do my part to remind them of the seeds of their childhood and scatter new seeds for them to ponder.
Do you have someone in your family that needs the Lord? God’s Word will not return to Him void but will accomplish what HE has purposed, not necessarily what we expect to happen. So, sow and water and wait. In God’s timing, the blooming will come. I truly believe that. Do you?
The title to today’s post is not just a group of words I say, but it is a belief that I truly hold. God has blessed me with so many years on earth, years in which I got married, had three children and ten grandchildren. These were all unexpected blessings for me. I am still here on earth, with congestive heart failure, compromised lungs, one kidney and bones that constantly ache. Nevertheless, I am here to do what I can, when I can, for whomever I can. And so are you. Here are some reminders about blessings and some blessings to encourage you.
The last concert I was able to attend before my stroke was with Steven Curtis Chapman and Laura Story was also there. These words are from her song, “Blessings.”
Most people will read this question and immediately reply “of course not.” They think of the thieves that roam the towns and cities of our nations, usually under cover of darkness. They break in when the residents are not home, or they quietly sneak in during the wee hours of the morning, taking as many valuables as they can without getting caught. Thankfully, I have never been a victim of those kinds of thieves. But I think all of us have been a subjected to the thievery to which I am actually referring.
The evil one is the thief and he wants to steal our joy, our faith, our trust in the Father. He wants to kill our relationship with the Father and to destroy our families, our hope and our happiness. But the only way he can do that is if we turn to him and give him the keys. That means we make wrong choices and fail to honor God with our lives. That thief rules lives by trickery and deceit and many of us have fallen for those lies at sometime or another.
Jesus doesn’t come into our lives to take things from us. He wants us to be happy, fulfilled and complete in Him. After all, He sends His Holy Spirit to walk with us and to live with us daily, teaching and reminding us of what Jesus would want us to do and say. Our choices will always be our choices and each time we make the right one, we are choosing that abundant life He promised. Life isn’t always easy when we walk with the Lord, but it can always be full of hope for a future with Him and a knowledge that He is walking with us no matter what we are going through. Just a side note: the thief takes us into what looks like a beautiful flower garden, we look again and it’s a desert wasteland, and he abandons us there, laughing as he makes his way to the next person he can trap with his lies. Jesus gives us choices, we make choices (sometimes the wrong ones) and He walks with us through those choices. Right or wrong, His love is ever present.
Every morning should start with a prayer of commitment and trust. Our lives are in the hands of the One who loves us most and knows us best.
This prayer is from the YouVersion daily devotional for today. It goes along with the theme. Notice that the enemy’s attacks aren’t always a direct assault on us. Instead, he tries to divert our attention, take our time, sap our energy with meaningless pursuits, etc. He is cunning, but he is also defeated. When we look to Jesus, we will find the way to the life that we really need. Under His protection, we don’t have to be concerned about the attacks of the enemy because God is our strength and fortress, if we allow Him to be.
Now go back and read the title again. I hope it makes more sense to you now and speaks to your heart. Have a blessed day!
Self-sufficient Penelope Reid has her life completely mapped outa necessity after surviving foster care. Now she’s on a mission to prove that she’s capable of managing a halfway house at Twelve Bluebells Ranch. The last thing she needs is hindrance from the charming Luke Granger, who asked her to dance three years ago, then disappeared before the music began.
Luke lives a nomadic lifestyle as a security specialist and has never found a reason to put down roots. So when the ranch neighboring Twelve Bluebells is vandalized, securing the area is just another gig for him before he hits the roaduntil he’s reunited with the bossy brunette and her generous heart.
As Luke and Penelope work alongside each other to care for the ranch’s halfway house residents, Penelope makes a mistake she might not recover from. Her careful walls begin to crack, and Luke’s restless heart finds reasons to stay. But when tragedy strikes, they must decide if it’s worth the risk to lower their guards for a love that could give them the home they’ve always longed for.
For content warnings, go to this book’s page on the author’s website. Note that there may be spoilers in these warnings. Deborah Clack After We Fall
My Thoughts
After We Fall is one of the best contemporary romance books that I have ever read, dealing with some difficult topics in a sensitive way that demonstrated the author’s attention to detail and her compassion for those who have suffered from abuse and trauma. Penelope is a feisty and courageous young woman who wants to become the program director for the Twelve Bluebells Ranch, a home for girls who have aged out of foster care but who still need a place to live and supervision. When her boss Harlan and his new wife Meredith leave for their honeymoon, Penelope thinks that she has the perfect opportunity to show what a great candidate she would be for the job. Unfortunately, she has to deal with Luke Granger, the security consultant that Harlan hired since there was some mischief right before the wedding. Luke and Penelope clash heads in the most adorable and humorous ways, making this book funny as well as a serious look at some hard topics. Luke is relaxed but always does what he promises. Penelope is ultra-organized to the point that when she gets injured and cannot fulfill her responsibilities she almost has a meltdown. The story is perfectly paced, with lots of drama happening with the residents of the Bluebells as well as between Luke and Penelope. The characters are relatable and it was easy for me to have empathy for Penelope after she got a TBI since I had a stroke and still suffer from similar symptoms. Luke is the “bad boy” who is really a good guy hero and was my favorite character. I was charmed by his constant use of toothpicks, much to the chagrin of Penelope and by his desire to pitch in and help out at the ranch by not only providing protection but also drum lessons. There are some tense scenes with one of the residents who makes poor choices against the advice of everyone and ends up paying severe consequences for those choices. This novel touched me in all of the right places, warming my heart as it also made me think about choices and how they not only affect me but others as well. With themes of learning to trust and finding love when you aren’t looking for it, this masterfully crafted and totally clean novel is a slam dunk winner for me and deserves much more than the five stars that I can give it. I voluntarily received a complimentary copy of this book from Baker Publishing Group. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own.
Rated PG-13 for some sensitive topics
About the Author
Deborah Clack is a native Texan, non-recovering chocolate addict, and contemporary romance author.
Her titles include Odyssey of the Mind World Champion, Orthodontist Patient of the Month, and Most Improved Player at the Rolando Blackmon Basketball Camp.
A high school AP history teacher for 10 years, Deborah earned a Masters Degree in Education and was awarded Teacher of the Year for Arts in Education. Now she creates stories of her own filled with struggle, laughter, and a hard-fought romance. She asks her heroines, as well as her readers, to dig deep, play hard, and laugh often.
She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, DFW Ready Writers, and the Faith, Hope, & Love Christian Writers. Her work won both the ACFW Genesis Contest and the ACFW First Impressions Contest in Romance. She received First Place in the Contemporary Romance and Flash Fiction categories in the Foundations Contest at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.
As a short story writer, she has sold flash fiction romance to Woman’s World Magazine.
Deborah can lip-sync the heck out of Barbara Streisand’s “Jingle Bells” and is a fan of the original romantic suspense movie, Star Wars. She lives in The Lone Star State with her family where they cheer for the Dallas Cowboys.
Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that’s often slapped onto journals, etched into coffee mugs, and printed on t-shirts.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
And God does have a plan for you.
God does want to bless you.
God does want to give you hope and a future.
But—we should also pay attention to the original context …
In this case, God was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah—people who’d recently been exiled to Babylon for 70 years.
The Jewish people were banished to a foreign land because of their insatiable appetite for sin. In fact, for 23 years Jeremiah had been warning them to stop rebelling against God or prepare to face the consequences.
God is patient, but He is also just.
In other words, the Jews were sent to timeout. And as you can read in the preceding chapters, God made a case against His beloved people …
They’d exploited foreigners, orphans, and widows. They’d denied the rights of the poor. They’d refused to stand up for truth or obey God’s instructions. They’d murdered the innocent and committed adultery. They’d rejoiced in doing evil and their lives were ruled by greed. They’d even built pagan shrines, sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fires. It was a dark time. And yet, somehow, God’s mercy always extends to the darkest places on earth.
That’s why, just a few verses later, God said they could seek Him and find Him, and He’d bring them back from captivity (Jeremiah 29:13-14).
That’s why he encouraged them—while in exile—to build houses, plant gardens, get married, have babies, and work for the peace and prosperity of their temporary home (Jeremiah 29:5-7).
He wanted them to know: He hadn’t forgotten them. He still wanted good for them. He still had plans to restore them.
God is serious about sin, but He’s just as passionate about redemption.
Though Jeremiah 29:11 was meant for a specific people at a specific time, God’s heart for the restoration of broken people is generationally timeless.
Even when we feel stuck in the process, God still has a plan.
We can put our trust in the God whose goal is always redemption.
My Thoughts
When I saw the verse for today, I was a little anxious about how the verse would be interpreted. Several years ago, a friend in the blogosphere who is a Messianic Jew told me the background of this verse and that it shouldn’t be used to liberally to apply to everyone at all times. Since then, I always point out the context of the verse to those using it for other purposes. I like how this exposition of the verse points out that God’s restoration and plan for redemption is for everyone and His plan for each of us is timeless. In context this verse applies to the nation of Judah at a time when they were exiled and as this author points out “in time out from God.” But we can still hold on to the promise that God does have a good plan for our lives, no matter where we find ourselves today.
I am reflecting today on the Hamas attack against the nation of Israel three years ago. So many innocents died, others captured and tortured and later died at the hands of Hamas. It is hard for me to conceive that we have a mayor of a major U.S. city who supports such an evil organization as Hamas. Such are our times. We are definitely calling evil good and good evil. It was prophesied and it is coming to pass. I think this, too, is part of God’s plan. What do you think?
Have you ever just sat before the Lord and didn’t know where to begin or what to say? That is where I have found myself today. In my desire to quiet my mind, I turned to my devotionals and one of the books I read today was the beginning of Philippians. Did you know that Paul starts this book with a prayer? I am used to seeing prayers at the end of his epistles, but it struck me that he started the letter with a prayer. I ended up saying Paul’s words as a prayer for friends, family and online friends, like you who are reading these words. The following images are what I prayed. May they bless you and quiet your heart as they have done for me.
Amen and amen! To God be all the honor, power and praise!
Have you ever prayed the scriptures as you read them? It really is a blessing to use God’s Word to pray for others.
I thought I had forgiven everyone who had offended me. Then I had my quiet time, and God’s word to me was, “Really? Have you really?” Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of how angry I am at the mothers recently who killed their children. No, I don’t personally know them, but I am offended at their actions and excuses. He reminded me of the Fox News host who had been fired for inappropriate behavior with women. This was in the forefront of my mind today because one of the women he victimized committed suicide this weekend. Did I know this commentator personally? No, but I was incensed at his actions and would have called hell fire down on him if that had been in my power to do so. Finally, He brought to mind the commentators (two of them) who broke up their families when they committed adultery and married each other. Again, not personal acquaintances but still a thorn burrowing beneath my skin that makes it hard for me to see either one of them on the TV.
Jesus died for everyone, not just the ones that I personally consider worthy. He wants to give those mother-murderers the chance to be saved. He wants to forgive the man who used his power in the network to abuse women. And He wants me to forgive those who committed adultery and then broadcast their actions on the network. He already forgave, but have I? Have I let it go? I truly am working on that so that bile doesn’t rise up when I hear their stories again and again. I will be honest and say that I don’t watch any of the celebrities or join in the excuses for the mothers. I will, however, according to God’s instructions, pray that He will gently lead each of them to Himself so that they can find mercy and forgiveness just as I did.
God reminded me that He forgave ALL of my sins. No, I didn’t kill an innocent child, abuse another person or commit adultery. But God doesn’t have degrees of sin. Every sin is just sin to Him and keeps the sinners out of His presence, doomed for an eternity without Him. Do I want them to be saved? That’s a hard question, isn’t it? I want to say that I don’t want anyone to perish, just as God says. But, again, I am working on that attitude in my heart. It is all starting with my attitude of forgiveness, so each time some heinous act and the actor come to my mind, I am asking God to bring His love and mercy and forgiveness to that situation. I am not the final judge and God doesn’t want my opinion; He wants me to be right with Him by forgiving even when I don’t think others deserve it. I didn’t either.
The first image is the reason I pray for forgiveness for all and the second image is why. There is no hope without God, and in this perplexing world of values turned upside down, God is still King of Kings and still offers the free gift of His forgiveness to all, to every single person regardless of what they have done. We can do no less than follow His example.
