Well, at least there’s that...

I sent this picture to my kids with the comment, “Daniel wants to play, but I’m a little hung up,” lol   Courage is not being brave, it is not denying the problem, it’s not seeing the problem as less of a struggle than it is. If courage could be gained doing any of those thugs courage would lack it’s greatest advantage,”faith.”  Have you ever felt like the struggles have been so hard that you start to believe the struggle is the outcome? In other words , struggling just to struggle more.  The problem with the conclusion that the struggle and the reward are the same is becoming battle weary. Suddenly everything is a struggle.  I’ve been there  Over two years ago someone told my mother that they believed wouldn’t be on oxygen for the rest of my life. The struggle to breathe was hard and I had no courage or faith to believe one day I wouldn’t need it anymore.  became  very angry with God. The only thing that’s bad about being angry with God, is not admitting it to him. He already knows. 

 Call to action!  The scripture says that we should be :Wise as a serpent (that sees everything on its belly. ) It sees the dirt, the earth, the obvious. And tells us to be as Harmless (wrong word) as a dove! Doves master what the serpent sees! We’re doing this wrong! Reptiles live a lot longer than birds. Eagles rise! Snakes have had centuries to shed skin and become something else. If we (Eagles) crawl the ground with them, they will always win.  Here’s my call to action. Eagles rise! The view is delusional from the serpents angle. They see everything in front of them. They manipulate their environment from the filth of their own creation.  We’re doing this from the wrong angle. One snake yells to the other “snake “ then laughs .  They laugh because it’s obvious to them .  The Eagles are screaming “snake “ and trying to point those snakes out to other eagles . We’ve been trained to think that if Eagles are aware of snakes others eagles will join the band and call out the snakes behav

 “ yeah though I walk THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death ”’. Ps 23.  I’ve heard this scripture and totally missed the point.  I had an interesting revelation.  I read it again and realized that the scripture doesn’t say “ yeah though I get over the valley of the shadow of death because death doesn’t matter, it won’t make any difference in your future . “ Jesus never told anyone to “get over it “ He said to go through it, he said not to be afraid only because He’s there.  Wow! Jesus is in the Valley of the shadow of death!  He himself didn’t avoid that valley at the cross. Wow! You know what else he didn’t do?  He didn’t dismiss the Valley, he didn’t tell his disciples it was no big deal! He told them to remember his death, burial and resurrection. Two of the three above mentioned were horrible. If he denied the first two the third wouldn’t have made a difference. What did Jesus do with grief? I was reminded that Jesus, at the tomb of Lazerous wept. Why? He knew he was going to r

https://pin.it/41j24Zw Being raised in church has a lot of advantages. However there is a problem. There are some scriptures that I heard so many times and so many ways that those scriptures became “sayings”.  They sound good, even churchy, but they don’t mean anything. I don’t have televisions. 😱.  It’s not a religious or moral decision. I limit things that terrify me.  Have you read the news lately? Jesus come quickly. Anyway, this gives me more time to just think.   I’ve heard the saying “don’t cast your pearls before swine,” that became a “saying “. Yes it’s a scripture.  This thought never made sense to me.  What are pearls and who the heck are pigs and how do you recognize a pig ? I mean, we’re taking about people, right? The pearls part was always pretty obvious, until I thought about it.  But I missed something very important about oysters and even clams   Do you know how these crustaceans make pearls? Here's the process I read online:   "The formation of a natural pe

 I’ve often heard the saying “ keep the peace”. How do you do that? Recently I encountered an unacceptable situation. One person was disturbing the peace of many. It really made me angry.  I’m 1/2 Irish and 1/2 English. For the most part the English keeps the Irish in check. So, I don’t get angry very often.  When I do get angry it’s best to leave me alone. Anyone else?  Don’t try to talk me out of it and certainly don’t try to prove your point.  This particular situation caused me to get so angry that I wrote a complaint and signed a petition. I know, how horrific… not.  I started thinking what does keeping  the peace mean? I had it in my head that keeping the peace meant keeping quiet; tolerance.  I think our world is full of peace keepers that just don’t cause or point out trouble.   My source for reason is always the Bible.  The beatitudes do not say “blessed are the peace keepers” That was a stunning thought. The blessing comes to the PEACE MAKERS”.  How in the world do you make p

This has to be one of the most important blogs I've written. Please read it carefully and prayerfully. It's easy to believe in righteousness when everything is going the way we expect it to, when it makes sense. But what about when it doesn't make sense? What if all the promises of God seem to fall around us? Can we believe when things go wrong? There's one scripture that has been repeated over and over again in the Christian news. "There's another in the fire." Those three men said this before they were thrown into the fire... "If He does not, we will still not bow."  Can we do that? The enemy has a plan. He wants us to take up arms and fight the same way the world does in anger. Do we have reason to be angry? Has wrong been done on every front? Is the Devil on the loose and speaking very loudly? Is he mocking God and us? Yes, absolutely! Someone said this today and it made complete sense... "Do not let them provoke you!" You see the D

The purpose of this blog is to pose a question....what can't you buy? Yes, I know, money can't buy me love...lol.  Can money buy loyalty? Can fear buy loyalty? Can bullying change a persons heart?  It's not an understatement to say that I've been concerned for this nation. I've looked back through history and seen many nations, if not all nations bow to "power", the rich, the most violent or loudest voices. It's frightening to know that the nation of Germany, that was once a Christian nation fell to become a nation that exterminated Jews (God's chosen people). How did they get that far away from their foundation? What we are facing now is not new. What are we facing? Let me be clear. I am not into conspiracy theories, I am a good listener. If you listen you will find out the intent of a person's heart and actions. So, what have I been hearing?  The agenda.... 1) Kill babies even up to and after they are born. 2) Take away every "American&q

Let me say first that the only thing that will keep you out of Heaven is not recognizing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But I found this interesting... Who and when did Jesus not forgive by his own name ? He said the following words: New International Version Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots." I noticed this the other day. If you look throughout the New Testament life of Jesus you see him constantly say, "I forgive you." Look up the references. It's amazing.He also did not plainly give his forgiveness to the Scribes or Pharisees, because they did know better or should have known Him. In His humanity....we forget that part. He was God and  man . Was He God and Man at the Cross? Yes. The sacrifice would not have been enough unless God himself shed his own blood. WOW!! But on the cross...  Take note of who He was asking God to forgive and what they were doing at th

As you can imagine I have had very little to write about lately. I, like everyone, have a lot on my mind, but nothing noteworthy. I try to keep social distancing from the news . 😱😱 Since I am single I have quite a lot of time on my hands. Thank God I can work from home, but home is like being trapped in "Groundhog Day". I wish I still had the underwear with the days on it so I could keep track. So, I had a thought today....yes, it still happens. What do we do now? There is no absolute answer for that question, just ask anybody. I watched Elevation Church's service last weekend (I think) and it was precious to my soul. The pastor spoke about the "New Normal" and how Israel faced a new normal when they stood between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's Army. They had been slaves for over 400 years! They had no idea what "normal" looked like. People often judge the children of Israel harshly for their doubt, but I get it. I mean, they had not experien

I've often wondered..."Is it better to have loved and lost than never to love at all?" I've asked several people who have lost a loved one and now I understand. I found him or he found me, when he was 2 years old. He wandered around my feet scrawny and scared. Suddenly an impulse hit me. "This is my dog." He was with me for ten years... he was precious, he was annoying, he was loving, but no matter what....he was always mine.  After 5 flee baths I took him home. My life had changed and the family I once had was now gone. I loved.... I didn't know if  he was housebroken or what his personality was like... It was so unlike me to just grab him and take him to my heart. I thought to myself, "What if I lose him?" Not like loosing property, but losing his unconditional love. I wondered if I'd grow to regret giving this animal so much of my heart. I wondered, "is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?&

I was taught that JOY stood for three words. 1) Jesus first 2) Others  second  3) Yourself last "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Mark:12:3 Sounds good, right?  Believing that a selfless life is what is required has been a key ingredient to my story. Loving myself? That was just selfish. But Jesus thought it  was so important that he made it number two on the list. So, Love God! That's a given, but how do I love myself? 1) Selfishness is preferring yourself over others in an unhealthy manner. 2) Loving yourself is taking care of yourself so you can help others. Wow! See what I mean? It sounds so much different than what I  believed.  No wonder I found it hard to find joy. I thought that "sacrifice" was the motto of all Christian. You know... be miserable so others can be happy? When you're on an airplane and the stewardess/steward says,  "Please put your mask on first; then assist others around you." WOW! Isn&

All my life I've heard the saying, "Be grateful, it could have been worse."  That never sounded quite right to me. Why? Because a lot of times worse was compared to something horrific that happened to someone else. There is no comfort in someone else's pain.  I literally had a Dr tell me once, "Be grateful that you re not a child going through cancer!"WHAT???? So, I have to "one up" my praise because I'm not a suffering child? If you're a parent let me ask you this....is it more painful for you to be ill or for you to watch your child suffer? I can be grateful for what I'm not suffering anymore . I'm grateful that it's not 17 years ago when I was given a death sentence of 6 months. I'm grateful that it's not 10 years ago when I was told I may never walk again. I'm grateful for things I have discovered were lies that I thought was truth. I bet I got you on that one! Have you ever known down in your hear

I know I said I’d write about adult coloring books and I will. But I read an article today that changed my way of thinking. I’m sharing it with you here. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-games/201809/abused-women-are-not-codependent-and-heres-why I’ve heard the term codependent and tried to swallow it with all humility expected. But I always felt like being “codependent “ was my choice or fault. This article clearly states the difference between being codependent and a survivor of abuse. I hope you’ll read it. Let me give you some highlights.  Codependent = it’s all about me and I need your approval to survive.   The mind of an abuse victim is trained “if I say or do the wrong thing I will pay for it. My survival depends on my ability to monitor the situation and try to avoid what will inevitably happen. “. You see victimization is all about surviving today in hopes that tomorrow will be better,  but it rarely is... better. I was trained to believe that something I

Dear Pastors' Kids, Due to circumstances beyond my control I have lived a life of invisibility. It's weird isn't it? I grew up believing that "People are watching me". "I must be an example" only to wish I were invisible. So, what did I do? I became invisible. This has been a very long journey, but somebody needs to hear this. I needed to hear this. You know the old saying that everyone has new shoes except for the shoe makers children? It's true of so many career babies. We are loved, we are important but what our parents did/do came/comes before us. They loved people with all of their hearts. Don't get me wrong, But there must be a balance. What do I mean by that? I've seen it happen more often in the church world of recent times. I've seen Preacher's put their families first. Isn't that wrong? No, it's absolutely correct. Church people leave and go home, preachers meet their need, they give them good information and

Okay, so the Bible clearly says to "pray for those who spitefully use you."  I thought that meant that I was supposed to pray that the Lord would bless them. But lately I've been thinking. If Jesus told the disciples to "dust off their feet" from the towns that did not accept them coming in his name, why would he want me to bless those who use me with an evil purpose? I've also heard to "Bless those that curse you." How do you do that? I've heard people "bless people out" that cursed them... ha! But how do you bless someone that curses you? Do you give them stuff? Do you pray that their enemies fall at their feet? Do you ask God to make them rich and add no sorrow to it? .....umm...NO! I've also heard scripture taken out of context saying that "Job's difficulties turned around after he prayed for his friends."  So, how do I bless them?  See, it's confusing. Here's the scripture references: Matthew 5