Autumn morning

Good morning, and my God bless you richly on this beautiful October morning.  Here in the mountains of east Tennessee, the sun is shining and the air is already starting to warm.  I love the beautiful blue of the October sky.

Today, I am asking for your prayers: on Monday, October 29, I will be having surgery on my right hand, to relieve the pain from osteoarthritis.  The surgeon will be removing a bone from my thumb and reattaching a tendon to make my hand useful again.  I know that this is a routine procedure, but I covet your prayers as I go into the hospital and then go through the recovery period.  I am not a patient, sit and relax person, so I’m afraid I’ll have trouble not being able to get up and do all the things I usually do.

As we go through this glorious day, please remember also to pray for our country and its leaders.  We are in the most tumultuous time in our history and we desperately need the blessing of our Lord and Savior.

 

Two weeks until the election

It’s finally here: the countdown to the national elections.  I, for one, am so tired of hearing back biting and mud slinging advertising from the candidates.

I have prayed about my decisions and I believe that I have been led to the votes that I am planning to cast.  (My husband and I don’t go to the early voting; we prefer to go to the polls together on election day.)  This is the most important election that our country has seen in my lifetime, and I can’t urge you strongly enough to exercise your right and privilege and vote.

There is a website which has rated the candidates according to their stated views on a variety of issues.  When you go to  www.AFAAction.net you will be asked for your address, and you will see a list of all the candidates for all the races in which you can vote, from the Presidential election, down to state senate and representative races.

I am so happy to see that Timothy Hill, a candidate for state representative in our district, had been given an A rating, but I am very unhappy that we don’t have any other candidates who rated an A.

Please pray for guidance and let the spirit lead you as you go to the polls.  Remember that if we don’t turn this country back to the Lord, we soon won’t have a country at all.

I had a conversation this morning about the NBC series, “Revolution”, and I think we should be prepared for something just as bad or worse that what is depicted in that show if the United States continues on the path we are on.

God bless each of you.

Look at the nations and watch

Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV)  Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

This is from the oracle which Habakkuk the prophet received.  It is the beginning of God’s answer to the prophet’s complaint.

In verses 3 and 4, Habakkuk wrote, “Why do you make me look at injustice?  Why do you tolerate wrong?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.  Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.  The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”

Throughout the Old Testament, we see, time after time, how God tolerated the wickedness of His people for as long as he could stand it, then He punished them for their evil ways.  They would turn and follow Him for a while, but gradually would drift back to sin.

If He punished His chosen people, the children of Israel, what could possibly make us think that the same thing will not happen now?

Yes, we live under the New Testament law, but the Old Law was also passed down so that we could learn from it.

The Creator destroyed Sodom andGomorrah because of their hideous actions.  Homosexuality was so characteristic of the men of Sodom that their behavior was known  far and wide.  If their lifestyle was an abomination to God all those thousands of years ago, why do people today believe that it is no longer a sin?

Proverbs 6:17 tells us that “the Lord hates…hands that shed innocent blood.”  There is no more innocent life on this earth than a preborn baby.  You can call it a fetus if you wish, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a sweet, innocent child, and to abort that life is murder.

Our heavenly Father is waiting patiently for us to turn from our wicked ways, but His patience has a limit.

Do not be surprised when the earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes and tsunamis and other disasters continue to take their toll of human life.  If we do not turn, as a nation, back to the Lord, we have no hope that He will heal our land.

Look at your feet

How often do you think about your feet?  When you are in the shower, when you put on shoes, and obviously, if they hurt, you notice your feet.  Have you ever thought of your feet as beautiful?

I have ugly feet.  My nails are strange because I had to have them surgically removed a few years ago, due to ingrown nails.  And my skin is dry, no matter how much I  scrub and how much lotion I use.

But did you know that your feet are beautiful to God?  And they can be beautiful to the people around you, too.

Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) says: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’.”

Isn’t it amazing to think that God pays attention to your feet, as well as to your heart and your soul?

I am going to challenge myself to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to more people every day than I ever have before.  I want to be an example of the life the Christ wants us to live.  If you are too shy to talk to strangers about the gift that God has given you, you can share that good news by things that you do.  People will notice and they will ask questions about the change in your life.

My faults are many; I would never attempt to list them here, but just take my word for it, there are a lot of them.  I don’t think I’m better than anyone.  Rather, I like to think that I can learn something about the Christian walk from everyone I meet.

We all have people in our lives who are like a thorn in our skin.  Someone calls them “sandpaper people” because they rub us the wrong way.

I have one of those people in my life.  He tries my patience almost every time I have any contact with him.  And so, today, I am going to pray for the Holy Spirit to help me to be nicer and to have more patience with this man.  I don’t have to deal with him every day, and that helps tremendously.

I want to be able to look down at my feet, after every encounter with my thorn, and know that, in God’s eyes, my feet are beautiful.

God bless you today.

Things the Lord Hates

“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV)

As I read my Bible each morning, I read one chapter of Proverbs, along with whatever other passage of scripture that I am currently studying.  Proverbs is one of those books in the Bible which is particularly edifying for me.  I read through the book every month, one chapter each day, and every time I read, I uncover something new.

In the verses above, I have always just understood that haughty eyes are those who look down on others who are not so fortunate.  But with some study, I have realized that it also means that having a proud heart is one of the things the Lord hates.  I am no better or worse than the people around me.  It does not matter what we own or where we live, we are still the creation of a loving God and how we serve him and our fellow man is what matters while we are living on the earth.

A lying tongue is pretty plain and easily understood.  One lie is just as bad as another; whether it is “a little white lie” or some big untruth, it is still a lie and the Lord hates it.

Hands that shed innocent blood does not just refer to murderers, but also to those who kill unborn babies.  I can’t imagine any thing the Lord would hate more than the shedding of the blood of innocent babies.  When Jesus was on the earth, during his ministry, he told the disciples to allow the little children to come to him and he told them that we must become as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Sweet, little, trusting, innocent children; how can anyong harm one of these and possibly think that God will not repay  them?

A heart that devises wicked schemes: plotting against your fellowman, taking advantage of the people around you, using your family or friends for your own selfish gain.  This, too, is pretty self-explanatory.  It’s hard to misunderstand what is wrong with wicked schemes.

Sometimes I have trouble not rushing into situations before I have given thought to what the consequences of my actions might be.  I speak before I think and it gets me into trouble.  That is the same kind of thing that can happen when your feet rush into evil.  We need to stop and consider what will happen as a result of whatever we are about to do.  The Lord is watching and listening to everything and if you think He is too busy to notice what you are doing, just remember that if a sparrow falls to the earth, the Father in heaven is aware of it.

A false witness who pours out lies, one who causes trouble for an innocent person by telling false stories about them is another of the things the Lord hates.  In our own community, we have seen the misery and trouble that a false witness, especially a trusted, well-known person, can cause.  You can destroy a life and a career with lies.  The Lord will be taking control of such a situation and we have to wait for Him to act in His own, good time.

The person who stirs up dissension among brothers can also cause a great amount of trouble.  This can vary from actual family relationships to the family of church members to the members of a community.  Someone who spreads gossip with the intention of causing trouble is guilty of stirring up dissension.  James wrote:” Likewise thetongue is a small partof the body, but it makes great boasts.  Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.”  James 3:5 (NIV)  Your Mommy was probably like mine and said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”  There is great wisdom in those few words.

The Bible tells us that if we call upon the name of the Lord and ask for forgiveness from our sins and obey Him, we can live for Him and have a home in heaven when this life is over.  No matter how bad we have been, no matter what we have done, God is waiting to welcome us into His loving arms.  Hear the Word, Believe the Word, Repent of your sins, Confess that you believe that Jesus is the son of God, and be baptized for the remission of your sins.  Live the remainder of your years serving God and you will have a crown of life.

I hope I have given you something to think about today; I have certainly had plenty to consider as I have been writing this morning.

God bless you as you go about your day.

Minimalism and service

Luke 9:23 -25 (NIV)  Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?:

For several months I have been reading blogs and web-sites which promote the idea of minimalism.  I find the whole idea fascinating.  Minimalism means paring down the amount of things that we have in our environment and learning to live with what is actually needed.  (How many pairs of jeans does one person actually need?)

It seems to me that if someone else can eliminate excess from their life, I should also be able to get rid of massive amounts of “stuff”.  And I realized that the money which I had been spending accumulating all this stuff could be put to better use: paying off debt, helping someone else in a time of crisis, buying food for the church pantry, or in any number of other ways.

Now, I am not saying that I have gotten rid of all my “stuff”.  I am,  however, working through the process.  There are some totally useless items that I havae not been able to let go, yet, but I am spending a little time each day making decisions that will gradually clear more space in our house.

My husband is not on board with the whole minimalism idea.  His “stuff” isn’t going anywhere!  So, I have to do this on my own, with my own things.  This is fine with me because sometimes my things start to pile up and I start to smother.

You can’t organize clutter and that’s what it amounts to when you have more stuff than you will ever need.

What do you think about minimalism?  Have you eliminated anything from your life to make more room to just breathe and enjoy your life?  Have you donated or sold or just thrown away some of your stuff?

What good does it do if we have all these possessions and don’t take time to see the need of others around us?  And how can we expect to have a home in heaven if we prize our possessions more than we value our soul and the souls of others around us?

 

 

Sunday morning. Where will you spend the day?

“Come, let us go into the house of the Lord.”  It’s time to come together with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for worship, learning and fellowship.  I look forward all week to the time when we sing and pray and listen to prepared Bible lessons and a sermon from a Godly man.  The Sunday evening and Wednesday evening Bible studies are good, but this day is the Lord’s Day and that makes it special.

My heart has been led today to Proverbs, chapter 2.  It begins: “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” (NIV)

My prayer is that I will always be open to the leading of the Spirit and that I will seek wisdom and understanding, and that I will find the knowledge of God.  I also pray for the people who may read this blog and for all the people with whom I come into contact: that you may also see the importance of the written word in the Bible and the necessity of seeking guidance from the Lord, through study and prayer.

Don’t forget today to pray for our country and our leaders, and for the people who will go to vote and elect the next president of the United States.

God bless you today.

How lazy we have become!

There are somewhere around 169,000.000 registered voters in the United States.  We are blessed to be able to go out and vote for the candidate of our choice, from local council representatives, all the way to President of the United States.  The person who holds that office is often referred to as the most powerful person on the planet.

Don’t you think it is important to help decide who will lead our nation for the next four years?  There is so much information (and disinformation) available to help us learn about the candidates.  It is our individual responsibility to study each candidate and learn the truth about where they stand on the issues that matter to us. Historically, the percentage of actual voters is very low, but this is the year that we need to change the numbers and help decide our path.

So much attention has been given this year to the economy, which is very important.  But very little has been said about the moral stand of each man who has been nominated by his party.

I believe that it is your duty as a citizen to vote in each election when you have the opportunity.  The election coming up in November is extremely important.

Our leader who is in the oval office right now has turned his back on our ally, Israel.  The Bible clearly states that the Jewish people are the Lord’s elect.  We are allowing the terrorist nations in the middle-East to build nuclear weapons and threaten and wage war against our long time friends and allies.

Just this week, Syria began firing weapons at Turkey.  Which country will be next?  What are we going to do about the terrorism that continually threatens us and our friends?

The president has taken credit for killing Osama bin Laden.  As far as I have been able to determine, he was not anywhere close to the action when the Seal team went in and killed bin Laden.  President Obama was in the situation room of the White House, protected by the Secret Service agents assigned to him.

As I read and listen to the candidates, I have to remember to pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit as I get ready to go cast my ballot.  I do not believe that Barack Hussein Obama is the right person to lead our nation.  He has made clear his support of abortion, homosexual marriage and every liberal cause that comes up.

This is my personal opinion, and the Constitution of the United States guarantees all of us the right to speak our opinion, or to write it, as the case may be.

I hope I have given you something to think about.  I look forward to your comments on the blog posts.

God bless you as you go about your day.

My new blog

I have prayed about writing this blog for a while now, and I feel led by the Holy Spirit to do it at this time.  Our country is at a crossroads and the decisions that we make now will determine the future for us, as well as for our children and grandchildren for many years to come.

My background is very simple: I am from a small town in east Tennessee and I was raised by hardworking parents.  We were poor, but most of the time, I didn’t realize it.  I have made some incredibly stupid decisions in my life, but the best thing I have ever done was to accept Jesus as my Saviour and to turn my life over to Him.  I believe that I am led by the Holy Spirit to do the best that I can for my church, my family and my community.

As the election of 2012 nears, I have had this blog on my mind and heart every day.  I know that a lot of people will disagree with what I write, and a lot of people will be angered by my words.  We are a nation of free speech and I value your right to say whatever you think, and I also value my right to write and speak as I am led.

We, as a nation, have turned away from the God who created us.  We have allowed the murder of pre-born babies to become an every-day occurrence.  We have allowed the abomination of homosexuality to become legal and accepted.  We are in the process of allowing Muslims to take over our nation.  No matter what our president says, WE ARE A CHRISTIAN NATION, and we have to stand up NOW and make a stand for what we believe in.

I grew up hearing about the silent majority, and it is time for the silent majority to become the vocal majority.

II Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) says: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek mly face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

It is time TODAY for us to do exactly that: humble ourselve and pray and turn from the wickedness that we have allowed to take over our nation.  We need the healing that God is promising us. 

Please take some time today to consider what I have written and let me know what you think.  I respect your right to disagree; it is not necessary to be nasty with your comments.

God bless you.

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