A thought has been in my mind for quite some time. A thought that seems to judge, but I am just as guilty. A thought about parenting, about the past, about what my spirit is teaching, and about what I am learning… a thought about truth. You see I look around and see. I see more deeply than before. I see what my past has done to me; the thoughts, the inescapable connections in my brain that have been hard wired because of a choice or a thought, whichever it may be, that occurred a long time ago. Sometimes I …
Alone With Our Thoughts
The enemy comes to seek, kill and destroy. This is true, but sometimes we don’t make his job very hard. We can also seek, kill and destroy ourselves and others with our thoughts and our words. I wake up every morning with thoughts in my mind, and I go to bed every evening with them as well. Throughout the day, my thoughts can motivate me to do good deeds or threaten to tangle and trip me up and cause others to stumble because of them. Words can be used like weapons. Our tongue is the hardest …
Narrow Gate Of A New Year
It’s a new year. The other night as I was contemplating this new year I heard the words “narrow gate of a new year”. And I like that idea. The Narrow Gate in Scripture referred to Jesus as being the Only Way to salvation. But this morning the Lord refers to this new year as a narrow gate as well. It’s time to drop anything that held you back in 2021. Oh beloved, what held you back last year? What kept you from moving on in your life? What stopped you from fulfilling God’s purpose for your life? What caused …
Serving Our Country
I drive in my car today and watch the sun dance across my windshield. It is cold outside, and the extra warmth from the light feels good. I am on my way home from a special presentation by some military people on Veteran’s Day. I am so thankful for life in a free country. I heard some interesting information. One surprising fact was that only one percent of the population in our country has direct experience with the military. This creates a gap in community understanding. Used to be a person served a tour and then was back home, but …
How Heavy Is That You’re Carrying
One of our grands’ backpacks has a strap that is fraying loose. I’ve got to sew it back tightly. The weight of what is carried in that backpack has found a weak spot. Without sewing it back the strap will eventually come totally loose. Oh beloved, God reminds me to sew that backpack. And He remind us all that sometimes the contents we carry is so heavy that our faith starts to fray. We’ve all tried to carry more than we were meant to. We can even get bent over with the heaviness of it all. Pretty soon we think …
Filled to Overflowing
For years, I was a stale and stagnate Christian. Christ had deposited His living water within my sole, but it was more like a trickling creek than the gushing river He desired. I wasn’t thriving. In many ways, I was barely surviving. Then one weekend, I went on a women’s retreat and heard the account of the Samaritan woman (John 4) who’d gone through a string of relationships and, I felt certain, lived as empty as I was. She may have been widowed numerous times, abandoned by her past husbands, or she may have chosen divorce. Regardless, she’d …
Freed from Guilt
Psalm 51:1-2 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Psalm 32:5 “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Whenever I make mistakes, I would often feel guilty, more so when …
No Condemnation
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 Condemnation. We’ve all experienced it. Sometimes it surprises us … catches us off guard. But where does it come from? Friend and family? Neighbors and co-workers? Sometimes we find it online and other times on social media. But the worst is perhaps when it bubbles up in our own head and heart. Have you ever found yourself condemning yourself? Paul reminds us in Romans 8 what our enemy wants us to forget: we are no longer condemned! Our identity in Christ has set us free from the …
Motivation
People are motivated by two things: They’re motivated by principle and pleasure, or they are motivated by pain. We create our own jail cells, where bars are made of anger, bitterness, resentment and grudges. What’s the key to all of this? Forgiveness. It’s your choice. Do you want to stay where you are, in misery, or do you want to be free of this state of mind? When we’re hurting it’s only human to want to blame someone else. Quit running away from it. Face the fear. Forgive. Once you forgive you’re given the opportunity to live an amazing life …
Paralyzed
When my husband was temporarily paralyzed from a stroke, I got paralyzed too – by fear. Although hubby’s paralysis left and it’s never recurred, my paralysis tries to come back on occasion. Can anyone relate? Oh beloved, fear is the ultimate “paralyzer”. It will grab you and keep you from moving forward. It will tie you to the bed of sorrow and cause you to remain immobile and unmovable. But our God is a forward God. His momentum is to compel us to live a forward facing, continually moving in the Spirit life. No one is ever meant to succumb …
Embrace Your Beauty In Christ
We were in the giant discount store trying to find some discounts we really needed when a friend called out my name. I had already told Danny that because I had my hair up, I would see people. Self-conscious about the hair in a pony tail I laughed and told her about it. She responded by telling me she liked it and I ought to wear my hair up more often. We visited a moment longer and she I we were on our separate ways. That one statement changed the rest of my trip to the big store. We saw …
Becoming a Slave and Gaining Freedom
Freedom is, by definition, the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Slavery is, by definition, a relationship where one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty and fortune. As a teenager I had been engulfed in a life of sin. I was captivated by its lure and enticed by its stronghold. I was a slave to sin, until freedom pursued me and I began to allow God to draw me to Him. As I entered adulthood, I aspired to be happy. I longed for all the …