Morning Thoughts

It’s Thursday and I cannot get off my mind the New York decisión to allow babies to be slaughtered up to 1 minute before birth. It is so barbaric it reminds me of the ancient civilizations who sacrificed infants. Society is moving as far away as possible from the standards set by God. Nothing good can come of that. Our core values matter—they make a difference.  Remember Daniel? When he was taken to Babylon as a teenager, he was completely immersed in that culture: food, religion, dress, language, politics, education...he was saturated and brainwashed according to the king’s decree. Yet Daniel chose to live by the values that had been established by God. When his enemies had the king make prayer illegal, Daniel did not waiver nor did he hide. He continued to pray three times each day before an open window and it cost him—he was thrown into the lions’ den. Since Daniel had honored the Lord his God, the mouths of the lions were shut and he was unharmed. The king was so over taken tha...

Happy Wednesday to you! I hope your week is going well and it’s not terrible cold where you are. I had such a good day yesterday. I had lunch with my grandson Braden, who is stationed at the Navel base in Connecticut. He’s had a little time off and I was so glad to be able to put my arms around him. Then, I had dinner with two wonderful friends from high school. We talked half the night.  It’s sometimes amazing how connected we are to other people especially our family and friends. We make time to see them and spend time together when we have an attachment to them. I realized (while I was talking to after 1:00) when ever to I spend hours talking to God? I want share the same connection with God, to feel I am so attached that I make lots of time to talk to Him and make sure I have enough quiet to let Him talk to me.  “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So...

Happy Tuesday. I hope you had a good Monday and to start the week off right, spent some time with God and His Word.  Yesterday I had partners for my mall walk. I had picked up kids after school and we went to eat before the mile. The food court has several choices but we usually pick Chick-fil-A. Ozzie however was wanting pepperoni pizza. He saw a pizza sign at the bar-b-cue place and was all about that. When it came, he just kept looking at it. Then he looked at me and said “This is not what I expected.”  As he was explaining to me what he thought it should have been, I heard the small still voice of God whispering in my ear “He sounds like you.” And isn’t that exactly how it is? We pray and pray for answers and when they come, we might not even realize it’s the answer because it wasn’t what we expected. We have a mental picture of how we want God to answer (of how our pizza should be) and when it’s different, we think “That can’t be the answer!” But God is God and He does ...

Happy Monday. I’m writing to you this morning on a brand new phone. One that is neither water damaged nor broken. My other phone just couldn’t make a full recovery after it’s bathtub fiasco, so I had to bite the bullet and get a new one. It took most of Saturday and two trips to the phone store, but yes...it works!  Isn’t it great that we don’t have to be traded in every time something happens to us? When we fall short of what God would want from us or we just physically fall. Generally get up, dust ourselves off and keep going. I have friends who have worn out their knees, so they get a new one put in. When you consider all your body has to do to accommodate that piece of metal it seems like there is no way that could work. But amazingly, after a few weeks, they’re walking pretty well.  We are an engineering marvel. From the way our cells reproduce, to repairing, to sensing; to feeding every tiny part; to the intricacies of our blood; to our physical brains making spiritual d...

Happy Friday! Last night I dropped my phone in the bathtub so I’m praying it’s not going to have any lasting side effects. Today is also the anniversary of Bob’s passing-it’s a tough day for me and my family. Mercy...nothing like a little stress to start the day.  What happens when we get stressed, when we feel like we are pushed from all sides? When you put pressure on an orange, orange juice comes out because that was what was inside the orange. When we are under pressure, slammed if you will, by outside forces, what is squeezed out of us? Is it Jesus or is it us and our old hateful selves? I’d have to say for me, it might depend on the day or the amount of stress I’m under but I try really hard to show Christ more when I’m stressed or angry or under pressure. If people can see us respond in bad situations differently than they are expecting, they can start to believe this Jesus is real and that we are genuine.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old t...

Happy Thursday. I just read an article about positive and negative thoughts and how those affect our DNA. There is evidence to support that hearing and thinking negative reduces our overall wellness. Conversely? Thinking and hearing positive contributes to our wellness. It seems as if we think or hear lots of things that are negative or cause increased stress, we are much more likely to weaken parts of our chromosomes and make ourselves less healthy. Likewise, if we hear and think positive things, it strengthens our chromosomes. I immediately thought of Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”  ‭‭ We’ve all known that cancer patients with a positive attitude have a much greater chance of beating cancer. But I think there is a bigger a...

Happy Wednesday. It’s a good day to have a good day, right? Sometimes, it’s all about how we approach the day and sometimes, the day just takes us over. We can begin one task and all of a sudden there are three more things that demand our attention. Before you know it, our minds are filled with the things of the day rather than the things of God. We might go through a whole day and never think about listening for God’s voice or asking Him for guidance.  How incredible is it though, that our God never forgets about us? No matter where we are, what we are doing, or who we are with, our God never forgets us.  “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— ...

Happy Tuesday. I hope you had a good Monday. I sure did. Eight year old Ozzie and I spent the day together. We went to the mall to walk (we got in a mile) then we had lunch, and we still had time to get to the theater to see a movie! We had quite the day. I love spending one-on-one time with him.  And if I being just a person loves that kind of relationship, how much more does the God who loves us more than human hearts could ever fathom enjoy spending time with us? He loves to hear from us and to commune with us. He inhabits our praise—lives right in the middle of it!  “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our L...

Happy Monday and I hope you had a great weekend and experienced a great time in the Lord. Most everyone here was rooting for Kansas City to knock off the Patriots, but it just wasn’t to be. It was a hard fought game that went to overtime. The main problem was a lack of defense on the part of the Chiefs. Isn’t it great as a Christian you don’t have to worry about that? As we play out our game, we only need to yield to our Maker and He will make sure our defense is impenetrable. “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.””  ‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬ The Mighty Warrior takes great delight in us. Sometimes we feel like He has forgotten we are on the field and sometimes we just can’t hear Him. Does that mean He really has forgotten us or that He has quit loving us? Never.  I love that this passage talks about the King singing over us. I can almost...

It’s the weekend and it’s going to be terrible weather where I am, but that gives time for all sorts of in-the-house things—cleaning, organizing, couch potato-ing. Yesterday mom was re-admitted to the hospital. While I was driving back there, I couldn’t help but think how like our Christian lives—we improve and are doing well and we think we can do it on our own. Then, we step away and quickly we regress and if we are smart, go right back to where things are good—connected to Jesus. God will give us enough rope to let us get to the end of ourself so we will come back to Him. And how often do we have to get to the end before we realize where our real strength lies? “The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God’s Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and...

Happy Friday to you! I hope you’ve had a good week and that you have spent some time with God’s Word. I heard a noise last night that caused me to sit straight up in bed. After getting my wits about me, I realized it was just the ice machine dropping some cubes. But before that, I was a bit startled and my heart was beating faster. Fear can take us over pretty quickly.  “Fear not” is found 365 times in the Bible (one for every day of the year). Over and over and over again God tells His people to not be afraid. Some of us are afraid of everything from the boogeymen to the economy to messing up dinner. Others of us are rarely afraid. But which ever it is, our God doesn’t want His people to have any part of it. And the reason we can live without fear is because we have been made Children of God, we have the Holy Spirit—our Comforter, Advocate, the one who sticks closer than our skin. He is not the spirit of fear, but of the spirit of peace, contentment, courage, and confidence. ...

Happy Thursday and my mom is much better. The consensus is that it was all caused by the antibiotic she was taking. Isn’t it amazing how a little pill, just a few chemicals, can make such huge changes in our physical bodies. Its the same for us spiritually; little changes in our behavior can have big effects on us.  If we do something like read and meditate on one verse or passage of scripture each day (10 minutes out of 24 hours); reread it and think about how that speaks to us; read it again and imagine what would happen if we really believe it; and reread it once more and imagine practicing it. Then, throughout the day, recall it. We are promised that the Holy Spirit not only teaches us, but helps us to remember God’s word. A little change, a little time, big results.  “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May the God who gives endura...

Happy Wednesday and how are you doing? Yesterday morning my 91-yr old mom had a full-blown seizure. I spent the day at the hospital with her and her wonderful, caring healthcare professionals. Since mom has Alzheimer’s, she doesn’t understand the “why” of anything so when they were starting her IV, she was beside herself. Afterwards, she pointed her finger and called one of the nurses a bad name! I wouldn’t have even thought my mom knew that word.  But in truth, most of my mom, who she was, is gone. Her memories, her ability to know people and talk with them, to think about life, just isn’t there. It is a part of mortality that as time goes by, these bodies of ours begin to fade away and less of who we are remains. Sometimes it’s the mind, sometimes it’s the body and sometimes, it’s both that fails us. We simply were not meant to live forever. These tents where our souls reside get ragged and torn and begin to dissolve. But God has promised us a new body that is incorruptible; my m...

Happy Tuesday to you. I hope your week has started off well. I’m headed to a high-school friend’s funeral today. I remember him as a happy go lucky guy with long blonde hair. He was smart and was ready to take on the world after graduation. Today, he will be laid to rest.  It’s a hard crash course in reality when death comes to a peer. You begin to really understand life is short and exactly how short it is. We know that if the Lord doesn’t return, all of us will be closing our eyes for the last time. “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” ‭‭James‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ For those of us who know Christ, though, there is great news. Even though we close our eyes in this body, we will live forever. Our eyes will open again and we will be present with God Almighty. So in truth, our soul’s eternity has already begun this side of the grave.  “In his kindness God called you to shar...

Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a great time in the Lord this weekend. We studied the story of Blind Bartimaeus yesterday. He was the beggar who lived in Jericho and when he heard Jesus was passing by, screamed over the top of the crowd for Jesus to have mercy on him. Even though the people around him tried to tell him to hush, he screamed even louder. When Jesus heard him, He said “Bring him here.” So the same folks who’d tried to shush him, were helping him to go see Jesus.   “Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” Mark‬ ‭10:49-52‬ ‭NIV‬‬ There are two things I find most remarkable in this story (besides the miracle)...

It’s the weekend! Ours is set to be a wet one. Yesterday, i got a text from my 18-year old granddaughter asking how I make cookies, because she needed about 3 dozen for homecoming. I said “Come by and I’ll help you make them.” But she only had about an hour between school and work (of course), so I said “You just come by and I’ll have them ready for you.” It was the least veiled hint I’d had in a long time! I loved it, because that’s exactly what grandmas are for.  How often though do we do that to God? That’s not what He’s for. We ask Him to help us learn when we really just want Him to impart that knowledge with no work (or very little) on our parts. Paul told Timothy to study. He didn’t say “Ask God and He will give you everything instantly.” Obviously, He’s God, so he very well could, but walking through, doing the work is how we learn and it teaches us self-discipline, among everything else.  “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so y...

Happy Friday and the weekend is almost here. Do you have big plans? Mine are ro make cookies for my grandkids today. In my study on prayer, I began reading on fasting. Often, when our Bible heros prayed, they prayed and fasted—they were together.When Jesus was preparing for His ministry, He went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days (a month and half!) Have you ever fasted? From anything?  Most often we associate fasting with food, but fasting really means to go without anything and everything to make time to pray. It could be food, but it could also be abstaining from business, phone calls, emails, texts, entertainment, meetings, shopping, cooking, housework, or just talking. While in prayer, we turn to God; in fasting, we turn away from everything else.  It’s not something we do to show God how good we are, or to make Him love us more, but to reveal how serious we are as we approach the throne of God. It’s important to notice that we are given instructions on fasting as...

Happy Thursday to you. I hope you’re doing well. I told my friend Dana last night that nearly everyone I know is sick or has been sick and it’s pretty much the same symptoms. If you’ve not been sick then do as my friend Bill said and sanitize those hands when you’ve been in public. It’s time we were all well!  Do you ever just feel sick in spirit? You know you’ve done or said the wrong thing or just as bad, knew you should have done or said something and neglected it. Of course you have. We all have. (“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” 1 John‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬)  The good news is Jesus made confession easier and more effective than any antibiotic or steroid. We just have to tell him we are sorry and ask Him to forgive us. Confession is key to living a life in strong relationship with the Father. We may even have sins that we are not even aware of, we just know we are not spiritually well.  I just read that as our sins ar...

Happy Wednesday to you. I’ve been in bed for the last two days trying to get over whatever invaded me. Today, I’m going to be brave and courageously get up and get dressed! And I want to be just as courageous when I come to places where I am called on to defend my faith. It’s not hard to be brave when we are convinced of the truth and the solid belief that there is only one God who holds the past, present, and future in His hands.  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord.” 2 Timothy‬ ‭1:7-8‬a NLT‬ Courage is the fruit of a deeply held conviction. We know that when we are afraid, it’s not from God. He gives us a spirit of power. In this politically correct world, how convicted of the truth are we? Are we sure that regardless of the consequences, we will choose to proclaim the truth of the cross? We can and we will when we are convinced that the God of Heaven and Earth is the ...

It’s Tuesday and I think I’m better this morning. Yesterday was a big day for missionary friends of mine. In the mountains of Mexico, they had their 6th baby. It’s pretty amazing to think about where and how they live (2.5 hours on foot from the closest “road”). God has continued to bless them exactly where they are as they continue to serve Him. Their focus remains on what is important, not fancy houses or new cars or even electricity, but on bringing the lost to Christ and discipling the new Christians.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” ‭...

Happy Monday to you. I woke up yesterday sick..bad cold and achy body. But a few days of rest and I’ll be fit. I don’t even mind too much because Saturday I was witness to the sweetest reunion. My mom’s sister who is 94 was able to visit my mom (who is late stages Alzheimer’s). My Aunt Dorthy hasn’t seen mom for 4 years. Even though mom wasn’t able to communicate very well, she responded in a most loving way. The love between sisters was an amazing thing to witness.  “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Love endures through every circumstance... even memory loss. In my mom’s unit is a sign that says “love is not a memory, it’s a feeling” bit it’s more than than a feeling. We know that to please God, we must love—our neighbors, our family, our enemies and especially our God. But, how do we define this noun and verb? We read that love is one of the 10 most looked up words in the dictionary...

It’s the weekend! (Aren’t those good words?). Last night my sister and I were talking about all of the times we have seen God’s hand in our lives and how we have witnessed Him move in great and small ways. I’ve been reading in Daniel, and his faithfulness to pray is remarkable. When he was cast into the lions den because he refused to forsake his prayer time, God shut the lions’ mouths. The next morning when King Darius (who liked Daniel) rushed to check on him, he was so surprised to find him safe. He understood how powerful the God of Daniel was. Right then, he had Daniel’s accusers and their families thrown to the lions and they were eaten by the same lions before they hit the floor! But maybe the most remarkable thing about this story is the pagan king’s response.  “Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world: “Peace and prosperity to you! “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear befo...

Happy Friday! Yesterday a friend of mine in his 40s was having a heart procedure and many of us were calling out to the Father and earnestly praying for him. He had an attack and found out he had big blockages that were definitely life threatening. One doctor made the statement “Things just worked out so we could save his life.” We know the power is in prayer, not in chance. Earnest, fervent prayers by the children of God make a difference. “Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” ‭‭James‬ ‭5:15-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Desperate, earnest prayers make a difference—they hold great power. When we are in that place—the place where we know there is no one else to turn to—God is there and He honors our crying out to Him. When we are i...

Happy Thursday to you! I’ve been reading about prayer lately and one thing I’ve come across that I never really considered before is that when we pray, we are entering into a realm of spiritual warfare with the enemy. Wow, right? This thing we do called prayer is serious business—we can’t take it too lightly—and this realm is invisible.  “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” ‭‭Ephesians...

Happy Wednesday to you. I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season. Has anyone been trying to cram every minute of the bowl games in? All of us football fans are a little conflicted during this season—we love all the bowl game matchups, but we know football is nearly over! I wonder if we would show the same kind of fervor if we knew time was about over. Would we be studying and praying and sharing with great urgency? Jesus tells us that the time for that is now. .  ““And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭21:25-28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ “...

Happy New Year to you! Are you fixing black eyed peas? (Not me!) But, what are your plans for 2019? Have you made resolutions to do something different this year? You know the old axiom, “If you keep doing what your doing, you’ll keep getting what your getting” tells us that if we want to be more, we have to change something. One thing I’m committed to this year is a specific time each morning to pray. I function much better on routine, but for some reason, I have difficulty keeping a specific time in the morning to pray. There is something very special and very powerful that happens when we establish our prayer time. If we keep a regular rhythm, it becomes our spiritual heartbeat.  “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭5:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:35‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Even though we know that it’s important to start the day with ...