Well, the election in the United States is over.  Finally!  After months of negative ads and attacks, now we know who will hold seats in Congress.  I am personally dismayed because most, if not all, of the candidates forgot in whom they should have their hope and seemed to strike out on their own to claim their own victory.  My prayer is that I will never seek my own will and my own victory, but I want to always have my hope in Him who holds my future in His hands.

One of my favorite Christian musicians, and the last concert that I attended before my stroke, is Steven Curtis Chapman.  His testimony is one of unbelievable trials and mountains to climb, yet his faith has not wavered.  That is what I want to be like, not blown in the wind with every new thing that tries to attract me, but steadfastly holding on to the Lord.  I know that most everyone knows the story of Abraham.  Do you realize that he waited over a decade for the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled, for his son Isaac to be born?

While Abraham waited, he also got off track, much like many of us do.  He accepted Sarah’s offer of her servant girl Hagar, impregnated her and had a son Ishmael.  His impatience has led to a lot of wars in the Middle East since Ishmael’s decendants are the Arab nations, whereas the true heir that God promised, Isaac, beget the Hebrew nation.  But I am getting off of my topic.  Just so you know, God did not just abandon Abraham since Abraham decided to “do his own thing.”  No, God blessed Ishmael too but He clearly told Abraham that he would be the “father or many nations” through a son that he would have with Sarah.  Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born!  But, he waited and he received.

I I love this Scripture verse in Hebrews!  I know that I have read it many times before since I read through the Bible annually.  But this time during my devotions, this verse jumped off the page at me.  I have taken my refuge in the Lord, the One who cannot lie.  Since He told me that He will take care of me, my hope lies in Him.  After all, He sent His Only Son to die for me, so I can rest in His great love for me.  Do I sometimes make poor choices?  Yes, of course I do.  But I always return to my rock and fortress, my refuge through all the storms of my life.  I reflect on my life and I can see God at work during each stressful move to a new place.  He provided friends, a church, activities for me to be involved in, and in most places a job for me to do that used the skills that He has blessed me with.  In Arkansas, I was unemployed for a year, but I got involved with the other officers’ wives and ended up learning how to crochet.  I made blankets for newborns at the military hospital.  And I used that skill to make blankets for several of my grandchildren.  In Maine, during that first winter when I was unemployed and feeling very bitter about being in the coldest place I have ever lived, I sat in front of my window, watched it snow and poured out my dismay to the Lord as I crocheted a blanket that would fit a king-sized bed.  I call it the “blanket of the winter of my discontent.”  I was not a happy camper there!  But God showed me His favor my giving me the only Spanish teaching job in the county.  The teacher there retired the year I arrived, so I got the job the following fall.  But that was not all God did for me.  As I told him in my complaints to Him, I did not think that I could drive on those icy, snowy roads in the far north, so getting a job would have its own challenges.  God sent Joanne, a chaplain’s wife who taught math at the same school and who lived very close to me on the base.  Joanne offered to take me to school each day.  Unexpected blessings came into my life many times!  I would be willing to guess that many of you have unexpected blessings from your Heavenly Father who is your refuge and strength. Many times, God blessed me when I felt totally unworthy because all I had been doing was complaining.  But God loves me enough to listen to my whining and then bless me beyond what I could ever hope!  And you know what is amazing?  God loves you the same way…enough to bless you and give you hope.

Steven Curtis Chapman lost his little girl when she was only five years old.  It was a double tragedy because his teen-aged son did not see her in the driveway and ran over her with the family car.  Mr. Chapman could have thrown up his hands and said, “That’s it!  I’m done!  It’s too much, Lord!”  Instead, he poured his heart into his music.  His lovely wife wrote a book about this testimony and what their family went through.  Check out the book CHOOSING TO SEE by Mary Beth Chapman if you need inspiration for the tough times in your life.  Mr. Chapman continues to write beautiful worship songs to the Lord, knowing that one day he will see his beloved daughter again.  The song that I have included here is one of his newer ones and totally expresses what I am trying to say.

God has been faithful; He will be faithful.  Just believe and tell Him how you are feeling.  God can take your complaints and turn them into prayers from your heart.  Then, He can fulfill your heart’s desires even while you are afraid to reach out and believe any more.  I am not saying in any way that God is a fairy godfather, waiting to grant your wishes.  No!  There were many times in my life when I didn’t get want I wanted and was praying for, but instead I got what God wanted me to have, what was best for me at the time.  When I couldn’t find a job teaching in a public school in Pennsylvania, I taught in a Christian school there.  I stil feel the touch of two of the young teens I taught there:  Jamie and her brother Brandon were special students who loved the Lord but who struggled academically.  I was there for them because God sent me there.  He doesn’t just know my needs; He also knows the needs of others.  I was blessed beyond measure by being able to meet students like Jamie and Brandon and touch their lives just as they touched mine.  Yes, God is faithful. He is good!  His love for me will never end!  My confidence is in Him.  I pray that you know the freedom that comes from knowing God’s faithfulness and love for you.

Do you ever think about the fact that God created you for a purpose? He put you on earth to fulfill a specific purpose and it is up to you to find out what that purpose is and to work on carrying it out? That is not to say that we are little puppets on a string. Absolutely not! One of the things that distinguishes us from the animal kingdom is our ability to reason and make choices. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. He didn’t force them to do so. Daily, we make choices and sometimes they are good ones and we get rewards; other times, we make bad choices and reap consequences. Nevertheless, God is always in charge of our entire world. As I told my Sunday school students who asked why God does not always answer their prayers,” You may be praying for a sunny day because you want to go to the lake. Another person is praying for rain because their crops need it. It rains for most of the day, and you are disappointed because God didn’t answer your prayer. But He did answer a prayer! God is in charge of the whole universe, not just your little world!” That is a simplistic example, but one that made my students think.

I do not pretend to understand the mystery of how God creates or moves in this world. But I do believe that He makes a difference in my life daily. He keeps me moving, physically and emotionally. He embraces me with His presence when I am feeling low about myself or my circumstances. He gives me hope for a future with Him and with my loved ones who have already crossed the great divide into His Kingdom. I am totally blessed my His love for me and His leading me to make good choices. I hope that you have found His love and His forgiveness in your life. The God who created you wants you to make the choice that will change your whole life. Choose Life! Choose Jesus! He died for you so you could live for Him. That’s more than a fair exchange. It’s amazing!

https://youtu.be/Jbe7OruLk8I

On Tablets of Human Hearts

On Tablets of Human Hearts

— Read on runwithit.blog/2018/11/04/on-tablets-of-human-hearts/

This blog was written by my online sister in Christ, Sue Love. I hope you will read it and take it to heart.

If you are like me, you are absolutely tired of political commercials. Probably also like me, you have already decided who will have your vote, so the commercials are not effective anyway. They are just irritating. Hard as it is for us to imagine here in the U.S., there is a decision that people are making daily that is far more important than who is going to win the next election and control Congress.

Jesus is coming back, maybe not today or tomorrow, but He is returning because His Word says He is and His Word is true. Did you know that thousands today are facing eternity without Him because they have made the decision to turn their backs on Him? There are people, some of them my own family members, who consider the Lord a nice story and believe that there is no such thing as Heaven or Hell. Or, they believe that everyone goes to Heaven as long as they are a “good” person. Unfortunately for them and others who believe likewise, that is not what the Bible says. It clearly tells us that there is one way to Heaven and that is through accepting Jesus. So, how do we change the path that they are on? We use our stories, our own testimony of how God has changed our lives. Yes, it is difficult to do this, especially with family. But do you want to see them for eternity? Then you need to share what has changed your life…actually WHO has changed your life. I was a brand new teacher, minding my own business and unlocking the door to my apartment when the next-door neighbor, a lady a few years older than I, started talking to me about Jesus, her testimony and salvation. She wasn’t pushy, just honest. She encouraged me to read the Bible for myself and she gave me a copy of “THE WAY’, a Bible that was very popular at the time. She told me to read the Book of John, so on Friday night of that long week of teaching, I found myself alone in my tiny apartment, so I started reading the Book of John. Honestly, I am sure that I had read parts of it before because my neighbor in my hometown had frequently taken me to church with her. But this time was different for me. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes and my heart to my sin and Jesus’s sacrifice. I fell on my knees next to my bed, crying and begging God to forgive me and accept me as His child. That night, I was born again. I didn’t feel any great change, but I did feel loved, really loved for the first time in my life. I shared with Verna, my neighbor, what had happened and she invited me to church with her. I told my fiancé what had happened and he was totally opposed to “religion.” He told me that I could forget this “Jesus thing” or I could forget him because He didn’t want any part of it. My response to him was that Jesus had died for me and although I didn’t want to lose my relationship with him, I wasn’t going to turn my back on the Lord. I invited him to church with me. The pastor invited us to his house and there he led Harry to the Lord. So, that is my salvation testimony. I got saved, and I have been doing my best to live for the Lord since then. There have been some really rough times during the years when we were moving repeatedly for the military. I was left alone a lot with small children, but you know what? God always sent a Christian friend and I always sought out a church to attend in the new place. I was never really alone because my Lord made sure that I wasn’t. Even now, in a home that is an “empty nest,” I am never alone because I have my Bible and my family a phone call away. I’m living in a new world in which technology has opened the door for me to have new Christian friends online! But, back to the point of this blog today. We are all living in a lost world and we all know someone who is lost. Some of our friends are seeking salvation, others are running from it. No matter what their condition, they are lost without the Savior and need to hear your testimony, from you, from your heart.

Casting Crowns is one of my favorite vocal groups, and they have a new album coming out soon. I think it’s called “Only Jesus.” Anyway, in my inbox today, I got a copy of one of their new songs on their new album and it goes well with the message that I am trying to get across to you today. People need Jesus, even if it means going through an “Awkward Moment” to tell them about the only One who can change their lives and take them to Heaven with Him. Thousands are in a “valley of decision” and although we can’t do ads on TV and in magazines because that is not our strength, we can tell others personally about the Lord and how He has changed our lives. Don’t let your loved ones, or even strangers and new acquaintances, enter the valley without the Lord. Give them the same chance that my neighbor gave me. She faced that “awkward moment” and those minutes that she spent with me changed my life forever. Please click on the link below to listen to Casting Crown’s new song. I think it may inspire you!

https://youtu.be/rFrO9dIuSe4

Children are always asking questions. Do you remember when you were little and you just had this thirst to know so many things? So you asked questions all the time. Or maybe you remember your own children asking you: “Why is the sky blue?” You gave the best answer you could. Mine was usually along the lines of, “Well, God made the sky and He decided that He wanted it to be blue.” Followed by the next question,
“Why are there white clouds?” Not being a scientist, I fell back on my old answer that always seemed to work, “Because God made the clouds and put them in the sky.” Do you remember the “how’ questions you were asked, “How does a light work?” My answers to the how questions were usually along the lines of confessing my ignorance and encouraging my child to come with me to our set of encyclopedias to look it up. (Yes, I actually had a set of World Book Encyclopedias that were well-used!). Now I am all grown up, and I am the one with questions. “Why, Lord, is there evil in the world?” “Why, Lord, must people suffer and die?” “How, Lord, does this whole living for You work?” And you know what? God always has an answer ready for me in His Word. He speaks to my softly, calling out to my heart that He is near and that He hears the cry of my heart. Everyone in the world is seeking answers, and we, the Christians of the world, have the answer. It is the seed that that Lord has planted in our hearts and in His Word that we have grown there.

Earlier this week, I was so sad because I had lost another friend to the fight against death. But her funeral was an affirmation of how much she loved the Lord and that she is with Him in Heaven now. The pastor and her daughter read from her journal and her diary, all about her close relationship to Jesus. So, I know for sure that she is at peace and that I can put my hope for my future in the Lord. My husband is very pragmatic about death; his answer is that we are getting older so we can expect to see more of our friends die. True statement, but not very comforting! Good thing that I have God’s Word to depend on, to take me over this hump.

But God does more than give me hope. He also calls me to tell others about the hope that I have in me. He has me reading in the Old Testament about God’s call to His people for repentance. God loves all the people in the world just as much as He loves you and me. He doesn’t want anyone to die without knowing Him. He created a Heaven and a Hell, but Hell was never meant for man. It was for the fallen angels, but if we go through life without accepting Him as our Savior, then we are choosing to go to Hell. I don’t want that for anyone I love, anyone I know, anyone I just speak to casually. Like my Lord and Savior, I want everyone to know Him, to have a relationship with Him that will give them the same hope that I have.

God is full of mercy and grace and love and calls out to His people to repent. I think that is why Jesus hasn’t returned yet. He wants as many people as possible to know Him and His resurrection power. God’s love will never end, it will never fail. He doesnt’ want to punish anyone. I remember when my children were small and did something that they knew they were not supposed to do, I felt compelled to punish them. Often, the punishment was a spanking with a paddle. (Yes, I believed in corporal punishment and still do.). Anyway, I spanked and then I cuddled and we talked about the bad choice that my child had made and how to make better choices. I discovered that as my children aged, they did not need to be disciplined by me as much because they were being trained to make good choices from the beginning. That’s what God’s discipline is like; it’s training to lead us down the road of making better choices, the road to life and hope for a future with Him. I hope that all of my readers have made that choice, but if you haven’t, I implore you to read the Book of John in the Holy Bible. Discover God’s love for you and accept Him as Your Savior. Blessings and prayers.

This is a really fascinating tag for me and I would like to thank Stu at Something to Stu Over for the nomination.  This tag was created by Everyday Magic with Jubilee and Mom Life with Chiari.  Please click on these links and check out these blogs.  Make sure to tag them in your posts so that they can read your letters of encouragaement to yourself.

RULES:

• Post the tag and image above.
• Mention the creators of the tag and link back to their blog.
• Thank whoever nominated you and link back to their blog.
• Nominate 5 other bloggers that you love and notify them by commenting on their latest blog post.

 

Oftentimes we may wish that we could go back in time and give our former selves advice and words of wisdom.  If you could go back in time, what advice or encouragement would you give to yourself?

Oh, my!  That would have been my sophomore year in high school.  Since then, I have lived over half a century and during that time I had a stroke and have lost a lot of my memories.  But I will attempt to give myself advice and encouragement.

Dear 15 year-old me,

1. Don’t forget to thank people.  Everyone is doing something for someone every day and the forgotten people need to be encouraged with a thank you and a smile.  I remember being more than a little self-centered when I was a teen.  I went into the “best” shops at the time with my mom and I was snotty.  I would tell myself to be kind.
2. Listen to what the pastor is saying in church.  I attended church with a friend when I was in my teens and I paid little or no attention to what the pastor was saying because I was talking to my friend.  This was way before the time of cell phones, so we just sat in the balcony and whispered to each other.  I look back on it and know that I could have learned a lot if I had only paid attention.
3. Have fun!  Don’t take everything so seriously!  When I was fifteen, I was determined to make all A’s all the time.  For one thing, it made my mom happy and or another, that was part of my identity.  I was a nerd, the girl who spent as much time as possible behind a book.  The fun that I had was with my sister or sometimes with a friend who had a sleepover.  I ended up almost having a nervous breakdown the following year, spending time in bed and not allowed to study until I was calmer.  So, I would tell myself to relax and enjoy my young life more and not be so concerned with my grades.
4. I would tell my young self that I was accepted just as I was by my Father in Heaven.  I never felt very loved or accepted in my teens.  You see, my mom told me from a very young age that she didn’t want me.  Then, in my teens, she told me almost daily how ugly I was.  My acne didn’t help my self-image, but that was just part of being a teen.  I worked about every blemish, fretted in front of the mirror and cried more than one time as I prepared to go to school.  My clothes were perfect.  My hair was as good as I could make it look.  But, still I felt that something was always wrong with me.  After all, my own mother didn’t like me.  Since then, I have discovered that it was probably herself that my mom didn’t like since as I aged, I have grown to look exactly like her.  Beauty is not everything; in fact, it is such a small part of life.  So, I would tell myself to accept myself, that I was indeed loved by my Heavenly Father.  (Just so you know, I was not a Christian at the time.  I attended church sporadically with my neighbor-friend.  But I would sing “Jesus Loves Me” to myself in the bathroom after being told once again how ugly I was.)
5. FInally, I would read my Bible more.  What young teen thinks that reading the Bible is important?  Let’s face it.  I was a child of the 60’s and I was more concerned with my face than my faith. But reading and studying the Bible would have helped my self-worth, kept me focused on the right things and repaired my hurting heart. I know that the Bible is worth more than gold and it holds the wisdom that I needed then and that I still depend on today.

 

My nominees are:

The Audacity of Faith

David Ettinger

Lisa Blair

Sue Love

Puzzles of the Soul

Mohammed uproots his family of six and leaves Syria, fleeing the bombs and danger there. First, they go to Jordan, but there is no freedom or acceptance there. So, he completed all of the necessary paperwork to immigrate to the United States. His story is one of hope and friendship. He and his family end up in the small town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania and his new friend there is Shawn Smucker. I am not sure who learned more from this friendship, but I was fascinated by the way that Shawn took Mohammed into his family life, accepted him and his family just as they were and tried to help them assimilate to the new customs and lifestyle of the U.S. Rather than fearing Mohammed because he was Muslim, Shawn tried to understand him and his unique needs. He helped Mohammed and Moradi find jobs. He helped get the children into school. He understood Mohammed’s need to be in open space because that was more like home to him. This was an intriguing story of friendship that accepts, meets the person where they are and tries to help them.

Disclosure

Disclaimer of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher Revell. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions 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 Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

 

Okay, let me be honest.  I have had a rough year or so.  Without belaboring the point too much, let me just simply say that my father died, my best friend died six months later and now another friend has died.  But the Lord spoke strongly to me yesterday that He is enough.  I just have to stand on my faith and continue to believe.

God’s love for me (and you) has not changed.  He has not moved farther away from me.  This has been a hard realization for me, but I am the one who has moved.  As circumstances have assailed me, I have begun to look inward at my own strength.  Yesterday was a revelation that I am fighting a spiritual battle and today has been the comfort that He is close beside me through everything.  There is nothing happening in my life that my dear Lord is not aware of and fully able to walk through with me.  I have had a tendency lately to do just as Peter did and take my eyes off the Lord.  I know that you remember that Bible story.  Peter wanted to walk on water to the Lord and the Lord bade him to step out of the boat and come.  Peter was doing just fine as he approached the Lord until he took his eyes off of the Lord and looked at the waves instead.  Then, he started to sink.  That has been me.  I was sinking in despair until the Lord took my hand and told me just to keep my eyes on Him.  He is the “author and finisher of my faith.”  (Hebrews 12:2, paraphrased) Life is full of hardships.  That’s the honest truth.  But faith in God will take me through it, and it will take you there, too.  No matter what the circumstances may be, no matter what we may face in this life, God is enough.  His love is enough.  His power in me is enough.  His strength is enough.  And my faith has to be enough.  Do I struggle with questions?  Yes.  I think that we all do sometimes.  But I will not let go of my belief in my God who is bigger and higher and whose love is so deep that I cannot fathom it.

God didn’t give up on me even as I questioned Him.  I recall Job who lost everything that he had and was then struck with physical ailments himself.  I am no Job; I have not begun to reach the depth of his suffering.  No matter what Job went through, he would not turn away from God.  He knew that therein lay his salvation, in this world and eternally.  The good news is that every day is a new day with the Lord.   His mercies are indeed new every morning.  So, with that said, I start a new day with God, with determination in my heart to seek Him and to worship Him as the Lord of my life, the Lord of all that I have, the master of my fate.  He is the One who calms the storms in my life.  So, I keep pressing on because I know He loves me…through the valleys and on the mountains.  He loves me with an everlasting love.  I pray that you, my readers, have found that love, the faithfulness that is a part of God’s character that will take you through all that life brings.

Unless you have had your head in the sand and earplugs in your ears for the last week or so, you know that we live in a lost world.   The only hope that any of us has is our redemption in Jesus Christ.   I mourn for the loss of those innocents worshipping in the synagogue and gunned down by a madman who had already lost all hope in his ability to reason.  Can you imagine?  Someone so filled with hatred that he guns down a 97 year old Jewish woman?  What a nightmare of a world that we live in!  Politicians who don’t think the way others do are being attacked in restaurants.  There is so much frustration in our society that we don’t need to know all of the details…only the headlines will open our eyes to the world’s need for Jesus.  I have been reading my Bible more and praying more.  We need to have a total devotion to God and His principles of love and forgiveness.  Thus we can survive the onslaught of evil in our land.  Our hope is in the Lord who will one day return in glory to take us to be with Him.  In the meantime, we need to pray for our nation and for the souls of those who are lost.  We need to gird ourselves with the full armor of God and stand against the attacks of Satan; the evil that threatens us and our way of life is straight from the pits of hell and I, for one, stand against it.  With my helmet of salvation and my breastplate of rightoueous, with my shoes being the gospel of peace, I confront the evil that is prevalent and say that it has no place in our world!  I pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the safety of Jewish people everywhere.  I pray for evil to be cast into the light so that people can clearly see it for what it is and  stand against it.  There is nothing that can stop the Army of God if we stand strong!  So far, all I have heard and seen is about the evil in the world and how it seems to be winning.  But I know that God is the Victor, and we are part of His victory by being a part of His army.  We are on the move, my friends.  We are no longer standing still and waiting for the evil to come to us; it is all around us and we must put on our armor and prepare for the fight.

No more excuses!  You are either for God or against Him.  There is no fence to sit upon.  Join God’s army of warriors today and speak up for the truth.  Be strong and devoted to His Word and the truth that is in it.  Share the gospel as God leads you.  And don’t be discouraged.  Satan would have you believe that he is winning.  Don’t be deceived.  We know that God wins in the end.  It’s this middle part called our life that may be hard to go through sometimes.  But we must go through whatever God has called us to endure.  We must continue to live with wisdom and righteousness, knowing that our day of ultimate victory is coming.  So, I am calling on my friends online to move with the army of the Risen Lord, to conquer our fears of speaking out and to conquer evil wherever we see it.  Don’t let small seeds of evil generate themselves in your life.  Rather, water the good that comes from God that is in your life.  Read and study the Bible daily.  Pray daily.  Listen for God to speak to you daily.  I encourage you that the battle is ours to win!

AVAILABLE TODAY!  Don’t miss this heart-touching book!  

This sequel to the author’s previous book THE STORY OF ARTHUR TRULUV makes much more sense to the reader who has read the first book.  This book tells the reader more about the characters in the previous book and how their lives have continued after Arthur’s death.  I fell in love with Lucille again.  She is a feisty, older lady who bakes well and uses that talent to teach others.  She is also the quintessential good neighbor, looking out for the needs of her neighbors as well as holding a special place in her heart for Maddy and Nola, her “adopted” daughter and granddaughter.  The theme of the book is heart-warming and inspiring.  It is one of community coming together when they face hard choices and helping each other through hard times.  It is a story of acts of kindness that roll from one person who is touched by kindness to the next one that he or she does likewise for.  This is a timely novel, with a theme of love and giving that is needed in today’s divided world.

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.  The opinions 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 Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”