Morning Thoughts

Happy Thursday! Well, I’m back on antibiotics again with an upper respiratory and sinus infection and oh boy am I having fun! But I am getting all studies up for my trip to Jerusalem. I have learned that Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Philip all came from the same little fishing village of Bethsaida. It was a little fishing village of only about 500-600 people right on the Sea of Galilee. It amazes me that He didn’t pick a even a few from the modern cities with running water and universities and amphitheaters. But no...tiny little communities.  But in these places people lived in community—in extended family, they supported one another, worshipped together, ate together, helped each other. They understood that the community is more important than the individual. The Synagogue was the center of the town, the place for worship, meeting and for school.  The first level of curriculum was the Torah. Student would memorize the first five books of the Bible and the best students w...

Happy Wednesday. Ive been asked how to know God’s will or in trying to make a life choice, can we determine the will of God. I think so many times we just want a warm and fuzzy feeling to fill us as we decide, but those feelings are fickle. Most of the time if we make decisions based on feelings, we make the ones we just want to make and not necessarily the ones that line up with the Word of God—the only true test.  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians‬ ‭3:15-17‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Many believers look for a sense of peace as a sign to help them determine God’s will in their li...

Happy Tuesday. I hope you have managed to stay away from all the flues and colds that have been running rampant the last couple of months. Everywhere I go I hear some one talking about having a terrible cough for the last month or they’ve had the flu for the last two weeks or bronchitis or some terrible something—it seems that everyone has been sick. My little mother-in-law was hospitalized with flu A and B and a UTI. As far as I know, it’s her first hospital visit since her children were born and that was 63.5 years ago. It’s been a rough, sickly year.  In times of trouble, I love to turn to Psalm 91 as a Psalm of hope and a Psalm to demonstrate the greatness of God.  “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”...Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will a...

Happy Tuesday. I hope you have managed to stay away from all the flues and colds that have been running rampant the last couple of months. Everywhere I go I hear some one talking about having a terrible cough for the last month or they’ve had the flu for the last two weeks or bronchitis or some terrible something—it seems that everyone has been sick. My little mother-in-law was hospitalized with flu A and B and a UTI. As far as I know, it’s her first hospital visit since her children were born and that was 63.5 years ago. It’s been a rough, sickly year.  In times of trouble, I love to turn to Psalm 91 as a Psalm of hope and a Psalm to demonstrate the greatness of God.  “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”...Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will a...

Happy Monday! As much as I love warm weather, the erratic weather patterns of the spring wreak havoc with my head. I fought a headache this weekend that turned to a full blown migraine yesterday. When that happens, I really can’t think well. Sometimes, they get out of my control and I have to turn them over to the experts and get a shot (or three) to manage the pain.  That’s the way my spiritual life can get. Sometimes in the matter of a few days, I’ve messed it up badly enough that you’d have thought it would have taken 30 years instead of 3 days. And I am in such pain that I realize I’m not thinking correctly about the situation nor is there any way I can fix it. I need THE expert who in the blink of an eye can straighten me out.  When I’m down and out, one of my go-to places is right here. And it’s like God reminds me with just a touch of sarcasm “Don’t you know? Haven’t I told you over and over?” “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the C...

It’s the weekend. I hope you are ready for good fellowship with friends and time spent in corporate worship with fellow believers.  Over this last week I’ve had a few things come up that just seemed to be completely at opposite ends of the spectrum. I tried to make sense of it and figure out how on earth they could both be right or even both be in the the same conversation. During the last week of Jesus’ life, John records Jesus talking about a couple of contradictory thoughts.  “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”” John‬ ‭16:33‬ ‭NLT I think the thing that I love the most In this verse is that Jesus doesn’t say He is GOING to over come but that he HAS over come the world. It’s already a done-deal—Before the crucifixion and the resurrection, He knows how this story plays out. Is He a great God or what?  So here, without any contradiction, our Lo...

Happy Friday! I sure hope you’ve had a good week. We are having a little warmer weather here, hip hip hurray! I’ve been doing a lot of studying practices and processes at my new job—it’s different from anything I’ve ever done before, so I’ve been learning a lot. I’ve had several people teach me and what is interesting is every person is able to teach me in a little different way, so I gain a perspective depending on who I am learning from and some are better than others. A great thing about being in a relationship with Jesus is that we learn from Him—the perfect teacher.  ““Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Jesús never intends for our learning to be heavy, but He does intend for us to be learners and I believe He intends for us to be life-long learners....

Happy Thursday. I’ve been inundated lately about having the love of Jesus and showing it to those around us. Last night in my class we talked a lot about what it means to love your enemies. What does it look like to be Jesus to those who treat you really badly? In the podcast I listened to while I was walking yesterday, I heard about showing the love of Jesus to a lost a dying world—being the right Jesus in a wrong world. And then, as I watched the second part of the John outline, (you guessed it) begins about love and how the followers of Jesus would be able to show a ridiculous love to those around them because of the Spirit that would abide within them.  As I read the second part of the book of John, the thing that stuck with me was Jesus telling His disciples not to worry, that He was going to leave them with peace, His peace. It’s not a peace that the world can give you, but it’s a peace that only He could give them. And when He imparts that peace on us, His love can naturall...

Happy Wednesday to you. I hope it’s not terrible weather where you are. I think north of me was pretty slammed last night. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for summer. I was asked yesterday, “What do you write about?” And it always makes me stop and think because I’m never sure how to answer that question. I always go straight to John and I think how he answered. “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John‬ ‭20:31‬ ‭NIV‬‬ I’m not so bold as to believe that what I write is as life changing as what the apostle wrote, but I want to try to write things that support and reinforce the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God and that we can have a life more abundant when we live for Him and with Him day by day. Maybe that goal is a little lofty, but that’s what I’m aiming for.  John writes his book to the next generation—those who didn’t have an opportunity to see ...

Good Tuesday to you. I hope your week started off well. I spent my Monday watching training videos and taking quizzes over them. It’s been quite some time since I was held accountable for learning material and since I have the attention span of a 5 year old, it was a challenge. However, I did learn quite a bit. It made me wonder how much more I would know if I was taking quizzes on scripture as I study.  Do you ever find your mind wondering as you read the most important book ever written? The ancient words that change our lives? The book that blood stains on each page so that we might be free? It’s crazy I know, but sometimes it’s hard to read. I have found though that before I start if I use the map of it to get a good overview I do much better. The Bible Project has developed really good video maps of each book and section. (You can find them on YouTube). https://youtu.be/1fNWTZZwgbs Once I get a better grasp of the overview, my understanding is much improved.  I love the S...

Happy Monday. I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to hit the ground running this week. At church yesterday I was reminded again that no matter how good we think we have been, we could never do enough on our own to deserve heaven. It’s a gift of God to us and we either accept it or reject it. We are invited into heaven not because we are good but because He is good. It is only by God’s mercy that we enter in. There are some who don’t think they need mercy and they will never receive it but those of us who realize we need it, may receive it. We know that nothing happens without it.  A parable that has always left me scratching my head is in Matthew 22:1-17. Jesus told this parable of judgement during his last few days on earth. It is the one where the king goes to great trouble and expense to prepare a banquet. When it was ready, the people who were invited decided they didn’t want to come, they were too busy with the other things in life that had become more important tha...

Happy Saturday! I hope it is warmer where you are than it is at my house. Yesterday, our streets were so slick we were under Emergency Road Conditions. The whole town was a mess and most everything closed early to get people home. Isn’t it amazing how the weather can put a grinding-halt to our best laid plans? No matter how well thought-out, our intentions just stop when things like a blanket of ice appears.  There are times we have our life’s course laid out and we are able to follow each step on our objective plan. However, more often than not, life happens, as we say—Babies come along, we get sick, we lose a loved one...and we have to re-group an re-analyze what we are doing and why we were doing it. After spending lots of time in prayer, we can decide on the next steps God would have us to take and our new course of action begins to develop.  We are wise to understand that we really aren’t in control, but the Creator of the Universe has the master plan in His hand. His way...

Happy Friday. I hope you had a good Valentine’s Day. Yesterday, I took my mom (91) and my mother-in-law (95) some flowers and my mother-in-law wanted to go out for lunch at her favorite little place. She always has the Number 6 (chicken salad on a croissant). As we were leaving, she caught her toe on the curb and even though I was holding her, she fell. She skinned her hand but other than that, she seemed to be fine. Once she was down though, she couldn’t get up. I tried to help her, but I couldn’t lift her. I went to get help and the first person I saw was a nurse who knew exactly how to lift her and asked all the right questions. She was a God-sent without a doubt.  I thought about Millie on that sidewalk all afternoon. She was completely helpless. Aren’t we like that sometimes? Coasting through life, getting all our favorite things, and suddenly, we faced with a curb in our path and we just fall and sometimes we fall hard. All kinds of things can trip us up—it’s different for ev...

Happy Friday. I hope you had a good Valentine’s Day. Yesterday, I took my mom (91) and my mother-in-law (95) some flowers and my mother-in-law wanted to go out for lunch at her favorite little place. She always has the Number 6 (chicken salad on a croissant). As we were leaving, she caught her toe on the curb and even though I was holding her, she fell. She skinned her hand but other than that, she seemed to be fine. Once she was down though, she couldn’t get up. I tried to help her, but I couldn’t lift her. I went to get help and the first person I saw was a nurse who knew exactly how to lift her and asked all the right questions. She was a God-sent without a doubt.  I thought about Millie on that sidewalk all afternoon. She was completely helpless. Aren’t we like that sometimes? Coasting through life, getting all our favorite things, and suddenly, we faced with a curb in our path and we just fall and sometimes we fall hard. All kinds of things can trip us up—it’s different for ev...

Happy Valentines Day! I hope you have someone or lots of someones you love who you can share how you feel about them. It’s a day for celebrating all kinds of love—mothers, fathers, children, grandkids, friends, and anyone else you care deeply for. Let them all know it today. I intend to be outside today as often as possible because our high is supposed to be 60 and tomorrow morning we are predicted to get freezing rain with a high temperature of 29. Warm, windy, bitter cold...February just can’t decide what to do.  Sometimes that’s the way I am —on fire for God and His Word one day and the next, something silly puts me back in freezing rain. Does that ever happen to you? I just praise God for His understanding, mercy and grace upon my life.  This life of following Jesus, means we are striving to be His disciples. I looked up the word “disciple” and Webster’s says it is “a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosopher.” If we are to be disciples, we must realize we ...

Happy Wednesday. Yesterday, I picked up grandkids after school. My house was anything but quiet. But after they’d gone, mercy...it was silent. I probably really noticed it because I’ve been reading lately on the importance of silence in our time with God. (That’s why it’s called “quiet time.”) The first skill we should develop as Christians is to be quiet before God so we can hear His voice, but in this crazy noise-filled world we live in, we are not always comfortable with quiet. “Silence is required for complete solitude, for until we enter quietness, the world still lays hold of us. When we go into solitude and silence we stop making demands on God. It is enough that God is God and we are His.”(Dallas Willard) We can only practice the presence of God by quieting ourselves and there are certain things that can and will only happen in that holy presence. I’m noisy by nature and I like noise around me. But when I quiet myself before the Throne, it’s amazing.  One of the best ways t...

It’s Tuesday and yesterday I learned all about Diamonds—cut, color, clarity, carat, credit and cost as well as types and settings. It boggles my mind but I’m trying hard to learn it all. I was a bit surprised to find out how many different kinds there are.  All the while, that little song ran through my mind:  “He's making diamonds, diamonds Making diamonds out of dust He is refining and in His timing He's making diamonds out of us” But even through the dust and the ashes and as I learned today, intense heat, the diamonds that are us are all different, too. Each of us are unique individuals with gifts and abilities in a plethora of areas. Paul tells us that we are the body of Christ and every part of the body is necessary.  “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of he...

It’s Monday and here begins another week. Today, I am starting a new part time job in retail. I’m pretty excited about it because it will be very different than anything I’ve done before—a new adventure.   Right behind my house there are multiple new houses that have started. Two weeks ago, they were just a pile of gravel and now the foundations are standing. It is kind of amazing to watch the building process.  In the days of Jesus, the foundation began by the selection of a very large, square rock to be the cornerstone. All the other rocks of the house were cut to “fit” the cornerstone. “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:20-21‬ ‭NLT‬‬ To be a part of His house, we are carefully moulded to fit our Cornerstone, Jesus Christ, not the other way around. Jesus is the piece that holds the enti...

It’s the weekend. I hope you’ve had a great week and have found time to be quiet with the Lord. I’ve been praying for gentleness lately. Sometimes I think I’m never going to have a good handle on all the fruit of the Spirit at the same time. I pray for patience, I will work on that and just about the time I think I’m doing OK with that, My self control or kindness falls backward.  “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians‬ ‭5:22-23 NLT‬‬   Now I understand we will never be fully complete until we reach heaven, but I must be the chiefest of sinners when I try to discern the fruit I bear. But one thing I have learned is that sometimes the Lord lets us stay weak in an area so we can practice trusting Him. Jesús tells us that the glory of the Father is shown by the fruit we bear. But sometimes The Spirit works on our cor...

It’s Friday! Yesterday, was a snow day and I cleaned house...pretty much the whole day and who would have thought that so much dust and dirt could gather under my bed, under the dresser, under books even. But alas, it does. Most often I’m a “quick clean” sort of gal but yesterday, I tried hard to get all the nooks and crannies. Sometimes it’s just necessary. And sometimes it’s just necessary in my life, too.  I try to spend time with God and listening to Him—I have quiet time, corporate worship time, study time and just meditation time. When that is all in sync, I do well, but sometimes, I start to clean with a “lick and a promise” in my spiritual life and the corners start to collect dust. I overlook things in my life that the Lord would have me working on to improve; I forget to ask Him to connect me, to help me move toward a holy life. Sometimes I need to spend a day and clean my heart.  “Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where...

It’s Friday! Yesterday, was a snow day and I cleaned house...pretty much the whole day and who would have thought that so much dust and dirt could gather under my bed, under the dresser, under books even. But alas, it does. Most often I’m a “quick clean” sort of gal but yesterday, I tried hard to get all the nooks and crannies. Sometimes it’s just necessary. And sometimes it’s just necessary in my life, too.  I try to spend time with God and listening to Him—I have quiet time, corporate worship time, study time and just meditation time. When that is all in sync, I do well, but sometimes, I start to clean with a “lick and a promise” in my spiritual life and the corners start to collect dust. I overlook things in my life that the Lord would have me working on to improve; I forget to ask Him to connect me, to help me move toward a holy life. Sometimes I need to spend a day and clean my heart.  “Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where...

Happy Thursday! Do you ever feel just drained? Out of gas and not sure how much longer you can do everything? Sometimes we get in those places because we haven’t had a Sabbath in too long. God speaks clearly in telling us to set aside one day out of seven to rest. The word “Sabbath” means “to cease”, but it includes more than just not working and an afternoon nap. It’s a day to truly enjoy being in the presence of God and do something you didn’t do on the other six days.  Traditionally we think of Sabbath as being Sunday, but God doesn’t tell us “when” it should be but rather that it should be once a week. I heard last night than maybe the reason God didn’t give us a specific day was so we would know that any day can be a day to enjoy His presence. If we want to have a relationship with Jesus, we have to step away and spend time with just Him. What kind of a relationship do you have with a friend or spouse if you never spend time together? ““If you watch your step on the Sabbath a...

Happy Wednesday. Are you doing well? Have you spent time in study and pray with God this week? There just is no substitute for quiet time alone with our Lord. Monday, I had Mia and Ozzie for a little bit and we ran through McDonalds and to pick them up some chicken nuggets and fries. (Side note, If you know me very well, you know I love Chick-Fil-A—I’ll grab those grilled nuggets two or three times a week). When we got home I asked them “Are the fries as good as waffle fries?” They answers together, “Nope. Waffle fries are the best.” Then Mia asked “Do you have any Chick-Fil-A sauce for these nuggets? You know...there’s just no substitute for the best. Anything else is just a fill-in and it certainly isn’t the same.  “Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s...

It’s Tuesday! I hope your Monday was good. I’m still fighting a nasty cold, and it has slowed me down a bit. But last night I got to have dinner with some of my good friends from working days—The Circle. We talked about lots of things, some serious and some just funny. On my way home, I thought about how so many times when Jesus was with people, He was eating with them. Even after His resurrection He was eating with the disciples. He must have loved to eat and then after a good meal and relaxing, most people were in the right frame of mind for that perfect teaching moment.  “When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he...

Happy Monday. I hope you had a great weekend. Did you see the Super Bowl? It wasn’t a great game, but we did see a couple of legends make history. After the game, the reporters surrounded Tom Brady and were just nearly crushing him. Brady was trying to congratulate the players and he couldn’t get close to them for all the cameras. Other than the microphones, that must have been what it was like for Jesus when the crowds were following Him and everyone wanted a part of Him.  When Jesus went through Jericho (on His way to Jerusalem), the crowds around Him were significant. When the blind man, Bartemaeus heard the crowds coming by him, he realized Jesus was right there, so he begn to scream incessantly for “Jesus, Son of David.” The people closest to him told him to shut up, but he just screamed louder. And of course, Jesus heard him and said “Tell him to come to me.” The blind beggar jumped up threw off everything he had and went to the Savior. Jesus asked him a great question. “What...

It’s the weekend! I hope you have a chance to rest a little and to spend some quality time with God. I need to clean my garage as I think it should be a nice day here. However, lots of the things I need to move around are heavy—too heavy for me. I can’t really do it alone so I guess I’ll have to wait for help.  Living a life without sin is too heavy for me too. It’s impossible. That is if I don’t have someone working with me that is stronger and much more adept at it. Someone to guide me and fill me with His perfect Spirit. Only through Jesus do I have a shot at right living. It’s what Paul was trying to tell the church at Colosse. A group of people he’d never met but he was in prison so He couldn’t go there in person. They were mostly Gentile converts who the Jews were trying to make live according to Jewish law—all earthly things. And so he writes.  “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the pla...

Happy Friday! Do you already have weekend plans? My weekends are a little different now since I’m doing church on Thursday nights...and since I have an awful cold! So I may cuddle up with a blanket and a cup of tea. I have some desk work I get to get on, but I don’t like that very much.  Do you ever lose focus on what you’re trying to do? Daydream or drift off? I have such a bad attention span with things I don’t like doing—like paperwork. I just dread it and consequently, I can only do a little a day because I can’t keep focused.  The focus of our lives determines our priorities. If we focus on anything other than glorifying and pleasing God, we are told the light within us is darkness. If we try to please God but we are also try to please people, we end up with no real priority. We can’t be divided in our focus—we can’t serve two masters—we’ll end up cross eyed.  Jesus said: ““The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of lig...