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!

Helping the Poor

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture1 Comment

What Does the Bible Say About Poverty?

What does the Bible say about faith in the context of giving? About God’s heart for the poor?

The Bible is rich in wisdom about God’s love for people living in poverty — and about our responsibility to help. We love the way Jesus showed us how to care for vulnerable and marginalized people. Reflect on these Bible verses about giving and pray for children, families, and communities in need. Here’s what the Bible says about poverty.

“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.”
Deuteronomy 15:10 (NIV)

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”
Proverbs 19:17 (NIV)

“The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”
Proverbs 22:9 (NIV)

“And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
Isaiah 58:10 (NIV)

“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Luke 14:13–14 (NIV)

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:6–7 (NIV)

In reflecting on what the Bible says about faith, let these Scriptures on giving guide our actions and hearts toward compassion and generosity.

My Thoughts

I prefer to give the poor a “hand up” instead of a “handout.” I am firmly ensconced in the middle class and have been in this social position for most of my life. I have never had to go without necessities, nor have any of our children. But I have seen poverty up close and it is not a pretty sight. When my husband and I were gifted with money from my deceased aunt, we used it to take the trip I had dreamed about since I was a teen and we went to Spain. Part of the tour we were in had an excursion to Morocco. There on a hill overlooking one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen was a huge palace, spread out on several city blocks and a gleaming white that seemed to say, “look at me.” But just outside of the palace there were so many poor people, dressed in rags and begging for whatever you could give them. I was struck by the great disparity in wealth here that was so prominent that no one could miss it. The king enriched himself and seemed to have built a showcase home to boast about himself. I was outraged that such poverty like this could even exist in a county that has the kind of riches displayed by the king. But I should not have been surprised since I saw the same kind of poverty in Guatemala when I went on a missions trip there as well as in every large city I have visited. I wish that there were a solution to poverty, but the only solution I know is when God lifted up poor Lazarus and condemned the rich man who did not help him. We need to have the Lord’s eyes for the poor and see them as people just like ourselves who may have made some wrong choices and as a result they are homeless, impoverished and without hope. The hope that we can offer is not just monetary; we offer them a hope for eternity if we will just speak up and truly give them a “hand up” towards heaven.

Going Home

On By vickleaIn promises, Scripture7 Comments

I am very excited about going home today. I can’t wait to be in my warm house again, with my familiar things and my cat. I always enjoy visiting family, especially grandchildren, but with health issues, this visit has been a rough one. And yesterday, the day of the birthday party that we came for, two of the three grandchildren started with fevers and a stomach bug. Poor babies! I prayed for them and their mommy and daddy took care of them, just as it should be. But it’s another sign that this is not my home.

When I return to Virginia, that is not really my home either. My true home is in heaven and nothing makes that more real than a stay in the hospital where the doctors and nurses are calling your case urgent and rushing you around for testing. I know in my heart that I am ready for heaven whenever God calls me there and my excitement about being with the Lord Jesus and all who have gone before me overwhelms me sometimes. We have to always keep in mind that the home we have on earth is temporary, just a tent dwelling while we wait for the real home Jesus has prepared for us in heaven. Glorious thoughts!

You Version Daily Refresh and Answered Prayers

On By vickleaIn promises, Scripture, testimonyLeave a comment

A Peace that Never Leaves You

Think about a time when you were worried. How did you deal with it? Maybe you tried to distract yourself, or perhaps you let your mind race through your problems. It’s natural to want to respond to our worries this way, but God shows us a better way to respond. 

Not long before Jesus went to the cross, He told His disciples that He would be leaving them. Worried about experiencing life without Him, the disciples wanted answers. But instead of giving them the response they hoped for, Jesus told His disciples to be at peace and not let their hearts be troubled. 

Imagine how frustrating this must have been for His followers. They sensed that Jesus was leaving, but they were trying to align what He was saying with their ideas for the future.

They questioned His words because they couldn’t understand them. 

In the same way, we can also be quick to try to find solutions to our problems when we’re worried. We can let our understanding of current events cloud our thinking and influence our conversations with God. But God’s purposes are beyond what we can see and understand. 

When Jesus told the disciples to be at peace and not worry, Jesus saw beyond the cross—He saw His resurrection, His return to heaven, and the arrival of God’s Holy Spirit.

In the same way, He sees beyond our situations. 

Because we live in an imperfect world, we will experience disappointments and hardships—but because we serve a good God, He sees beyond the bad things we go through. He sees our future filled with hope.

Jesus told His disciples to be at peace because He wanted them to trust in Him. Similarly, God wants us to be at peace in every situation as we trust Him to work things out for our good and His glory. 

So take some time today to reflect on some of the situations that are causing you to worry. Then, take a moment to tell God that you trust Him with each of these circumstances. Imagine handing Him each concern, and allow Him to hand you His peace in return.

My Thoughts

My latest visit to MD has been one filled with worries and stressed. It has been very cold here and our room, the one for guests, is in the basement. We have a space heater here, the basement is finished and furnished well, but it is cold here when the weather is cold. It was in the teens here all week, so, that space heater ran a lot, like almost constantly. It’s dry heat so I kept waking up with a headache. Then my blood pressure started rising. I tried to think of other things, scripture verses, praise songs, to distract me from the fact that my BP was higher each day, starting on Wednesday. When it went up to 178/110 and then to 198/108 I asked my husband to take me to the ER. I had tried unsuccessfully to get advice from my cardiologist in VA, but he never responded. His nurse told me to drink more water. I was already drinking 5-6 glasses a day, but I increased it, to no avail. Anyway, to make a long story short, I was treated in the ER for Hypertensive Urgent and then a migraine. My BP when I got there was over 200, concerning for me as a stroke survivor. The doctor ordered medication in my IV that brought the pressure down, then it bounced around a bit and my headache was worse. So, the doctor decided I had a migraine. She said the migraine may have caused the BP or the BP caused the migraine, but her next step was to give me meds for a migraine. That seemed to work well, my BP was more or less stable, so a little after midnight, she discharged me and my husband brought me home to our son’s house to rest. I was thankful to be in bed and able to sleep without the constant hospital noises and lights. I am very thankful for a friend who was praying for me and sent me several scriptures to meditate on while I was feeling so bad. One of them was the verse in the devotional above. Another was the same thought was Psalm 94:19: “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” I kept telling myself that God was surrounding me, and once again, He came through for me. I was disturbed with my husband’s attitude. He told me just to take deep breaths and not think about my BP numbers and I would be fine. When I asked him to please pray with me, he didn’t. He was distracted with talking to our daughter-in-law’s parents who were also here. Anyway, I was distraught that he wouldn’t pray, so I contacted our daughter to pray and she put me on a prayer chain. That didn’t help the disappointment that I felt with my husband, so I am sure that didn’t help my stress either. I would like to thank all of you who took time to pray for me and especially praise be to God our Father who never left me.

In news about Dave, for whom I also asked for prayer: he is still in the hospital and has a lot of what his wife is calling “gunk” around his lungs. He is somewhat depressed because they first told him he would go home on Sunday and now they have moved it to Friday, so he has another week in the hospital. He is very ill and continues to need your prayers. He is having a front chest tube inserted today, so please pray specifically that procedure goes well.

Thank you all for your faithfulness and concern. You are friends, even though you are online, and I appreciate each of you. May God’s peace surround you all.

Prayer Requests

On By vickleaIn prayer request, Scripture22 Comments

I feel the need to share two prayer requests with you all and to also ask that you share any prayer requests with me.

God gives us each other for a reason, and at least one of them is so that we can walk this way together.

So, prayer requests. I am in MD visiting my son and his family. Unfortunately, my body’s reaction to the stress of the trip and being here has been to have high blood pressure for three days in a row. I have taken all of the extra medicine I am allowed to take, but it hasn’t gone down. So, I called my cardiologist today and they want me to drink a lot of water (for my headache) and call back in about an hour and a half, after I take my BP again. I would appreciate prayers.

My second prayer request is for a friend who has been in the hospital since Monday. He has pneumonia and fluid around his lungs. They have done two procedures to take the fluid off and he has one more today. He is breathing better, he says, but not doing great. Please pray for Dave for healing and that the doctors will have wisdom.

Now, your turn. Share and we will pray. God does answer prayer!

You Version Daily Devotional, The Power of Stillness

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

The Power of Stillness

We’re busy people.

Between work and home, family and friends, full schedules and unending tasks, it’s tempting to hurry through our days without even stopping to look up. 

But, speaking through the psalmist, God said: 

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

When was the last time you were intentionally still (and not just when you were sleeping)? When was your body and mind quiet enough to acknowledge that God is God? 

Regardless of the past, what will you choose today? You can close this app, check “time with God” off your to-do list, and continue on with business as usual. Or, you can allow the knowledge and truth of God to bring peace to your restless heart.

There’s something about stillness that compels us beyond ourselves. There’s something about stillness that heightens our awareness of and need for God. 

It’s one thing to acknowledge God with our words, but another to put Him above every other good, bad, and distracting thing in our lives—to live in a way that honors and magnifies Him.

There will come a day when, ready or not, God will reveal Himself fully. There will come a day when, willing or not, every secret will come to light. There will come a day when, like it or not, He will be exalted above the nations and honored throughout the world. 

But you don’t have to wait to worship Him. You don’t have to wait to call Him your God. You don’t have to wait to make Him the Lord and King of your life.

You can be still —right now—and know that He is God.

My Thoughts

When I listened to the daily refresh this morning, the lady speaking said something that really spoke to me. She said that being still isn’t just a passive action, waiting for God to move. Rather, it is active, trusting that He will act. For me, it is knowing that God’s answer is just exactly what I will need, although it may not be what I wanted. God, our Creator, sees everything about our lives and answers according to what we truly need, not just for the present but for the future that we face. It gives me hope and comfort to know how totally trustworthy God is.

Review of STORM WARNING by Elizabeth Goddard

On By vickleaIn Book Promo, Book Review4 Comments

ABOUT THE BOOK

Product Details

ISBN-13:9780800746148

Publisher:Baker Publishing Group

Publication date:02/18/2025

Series:Hidden Bay , #1

Pages:352

Synopsis

Haunted by a half-forgotten past, former army photographer Remi Grant is working at an isolated storm-watching lodge on the rocky Washington coast when she receives a mysterious puzzle piece. The piece may be the catalyst to unlock a disturbing incident she struggles to remember—the event that sent her into hiding. But with heavy storms rolling in, she must focus on the present, not get caught up in the past.

When a mysterious man at the lodge saves her life—more than once—Remi becomes suspicious and confronts him. After a catastrophic event in his own life, former military pilot Hawk Beckett is trying to get some perspective at the suggestion of his former commanding officer. Faced with the fiercest storm to hit the coast in a decade, Remi and Hawk are forced into survival mode. 

But they’re not alone at the lodge. Someone doesn’t want Remi to remember what happened—and they will stop at nothing to see her dead.

MY THOUGHTS

The setting of a stormy coast in Washington state is perfect for the suspense that ramps up constantly in this book, even as the intensity of the storm increases. Remi Grant has lost a significant part of her memory and has sought refuge in a lodge on the coast, helping to manage the lodge while she tries to recover from amnesia. When she realizes that someone wants her to remember what happened on that army helicopter, she also starts to face danger from an unknown assailant. Hawk Beckett is staying at the lodge while he recovers from his own mishap in a helicopter and becomes Remi’s rescuer from several life-threatening situations. Together, the two of them set out to determine what has made Remi a threat to unknown powers and how they can neutralize that threat. The pace of this book is as fast as the powerful storm in the story and the characters are realistically portrayed and dynamic. I particularly enjoyed the research that the author included about the possible source of the villains and why they were coming after Remi. These details enriched the story with authenticity and added to the immersive drama. There are so many head-spinning twists and well-placed red herrings that I was thrilled to read a book that I could not guess what would happen next. The author is known for her riveting suspense and this heart-in-your-throat book did not disappoint. The romance is woven well into the story, but the main thrust of the book is the gripping suspense and the escalating tension that kept me completely engrossed by the story from beginning to end.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Rated PG-Intense Suspense

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Goddard is the PW, ECPA, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of over sixty novels, including the Missing in Alaska and Rocky Mountain Courage series. Her books have sold more than 1.5 million copies. She is a Christy Award, Carol Award and two-time Reader’s Choice Award winner and a Daphne du Maurier Award and HOLT Medallion finalist. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, traveling to find inspiration for her next book, and serving with her husband in ministry. For more information about her books, visit her website at http://elizabethgoddard.com

Purchase Links

Baker Book House: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/598766

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4hHBtfc

CBD: https://tinyurl.com/StormWarningCBD

B&N: https://tinyurl.com/StormWarningBN

BAM: https://tinyurl.com/StormWarningBAM

Powell’s : bit.ly/3WcFI9g

Audible:  adbl.co/427nxFT

Apple Books:  apple.co/40qNBdN

Note: I highly recommend this new book in a brand new series by Elizabeth Goddard. She is a master of romantic suspense and writes compelling novels.

Imitating God

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture, testimony1 Comment

I used to watch the people that I admired closely so that I could be more like them. One particular person comes to mind immediately. My high school Spanish teacher was Sra. Mary Smith. She was my teacher for four years and I learned some important lessons by watching her. I learned to look for the good things students were doing and praising them for that before I offered any criticism or instruction. I learned to smile no matter how challenging a day was, with a smile that I hoped others would see sparkling from my eyes. And I learned that the louder students got, the softer I should speak. Those were important lessons for me to learn, especially since Sra. Smith is the teacher who encouraged me to study languages and I became a Spanish teacher for over thirty years myself.

These days my focus is more about wanting to be more Christ-like, so I am learning to imitate God. How do I do that?

I try to do good for others, as much as I can. I want other people to see proof that God lives inside me. I may be the only representative of God they see that day. Children imitate what they see and hear. Go to a grocery store, for example, and listen to the words children say. If a bunch of expletives come out of a small child’s mouth, it is imitation of what they have heard. The child needs to be corrected (not by a stranger, of course), but the behavior doesn’t change unless the source that they are imitating changes. Whether they are imitating words from the TV or from the parents, they are saying what they have heard repeatedly.

As Christians we are being trained daily to speak and act as the Father does. The only way to do that is to spend time with Him, praying, worshipping and reading and studying His Word. We don’t become more like Christ by watching TV or (alas!) by reading books that are not the Bible. My priority time each day is spent with God. Am I succeeding? Well, some days more than others, to be honest. But I am trying every day and God rewards my efforts with a peace that I can’t explain and by answering prayers that may seem small to others, but they are big to me because they show how faithful to details God is if we are watching for His hand at work in our lives.

My prayer for each of my readers is that you will strive to imitate Christ because even if we are not aware of it, others are watching us and may want to be more like us. Let’s be the good example for them to follow and let’s lead them to be more like Christ, not more like our worldly selves.

Growing or Withering

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture2 Comments

Many of us who are Christians have come to the realization that the process of being more like Christ is one that takes time, a daily choice to follow Him and to be more like Him. In a world of instant oatmeal, coffee and fast food places on every block, a relationship with Jesus is not something we can just pick up one day and say it’s done. Like a baby plant, it has to be watered, nurtured and coaxed to flower.

We grow by feeding ourselves from God’s word and by spending time with Him daily, praying and worshiping.

We also grow by establishing relationships with other Christians in church. I am glad today is church day. I have been awake since 3:30 a.m. and I am tired, but I am excited about seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing words of encouragement with them and helping one another to grow. Fellowship is an important part of growing as we hold each other up and don’t allow one another to wither.

I hope you have a blessed Sunday and take time to grow closer to God today.

🌷

Leading or Being Led?

On By vickleaIn Admonition, promises, Scripture1 Comment

Throughout life, we make choices. One of the most important ones, of course, is to accept the free gift of salvation and enter into the promise of eternal salvation. But God doesn’t save us and immediately take us to Heaven. Instead, we are left here on earth to do the work of He who died for us and to follow Him where He leads.

I have been reading the story of the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. A lot of things have caused me to ponder but none more than the fact that God led them. They didn’t tell God, “Yeh, we have the map. We know where we’re going, so follow us.” God led them, on a circuitous route to be certain, but on the way He wanted them to go so that they could learn the lessons He needed them to learn.

God does the same for us. He will lead us as surely as He led the Israelites, away from sin and closer to our Promised Land, closer to Him. We have a tendency to get impatient and want to strike out on our own. Like an untamed horse, we don’t want a bridle or reins to guide us. Or like a toddler, we say to God, “I can do it myself.” But when we try and fail, we end up turning back to the place where we started and starting again. God is the leader, and we are not.

How do you know where God is leading you? You train yourself to listen and to hear His voice. He is as close as our next prayer, waiting for us to be still enough to hear Him. Instead, we have the television on or the music blaring from our device. The ads tell us we need a certain product, so we either rush to buy it or put it on our list of things to look for. Who’s leading us in these times of overwhelming noise? God is the leader, if we will listen for His voice to tell us the direction to go in.

I am short and getting shorter, and my stride has never been long. Often, I accuse my husband of not even realizing I am fallen far behind him because his stride is longer and his pace is brisk. I tell him that if I fall, he won’t even know it unless I shout out because he stays so far ahead of me. I like this verse because it reminds me that the Holy Spirit never walks too fast for me; rather, He walks with me every step of the way. He is there to help me to follow the Father, the leader of my life.

I am sure everyone reading this remembers playing the childhood game of “Follow the Leader.” The position of leader was held in esteem because they were the one who had us crawling on the ground, going down slides and swinging from monkey bars. God is the leader of our lives, always, if we give up the position of wanting to lead for ourselves or letting other people lead us. We can go astray; others may lead us astray. But God leads us in the way He wants us to go so that we will learn the lessons He needs us to learn. I am being led by a loving Father who knows what is best for me, and I hope that you are, too. This is not a once and done choice but a choice I make daily, to be still before God and find out His marching orders for me for that day.