Inspirations

Let the  peace  of Christ rule in your hearts. Colossians 3:15 When we think of peace, the first thing that comes to mind is the absence of strife. It's hard to find peace in our world today. We talk of peace; nations want it; Everyone wants it. Most of us are looking for something that will bring just a little peace. There are so many things in our day that can cause us stress and worry. Our health, or finances. Relationships at work; with parents, with spouses with siblings. they all can rob us of our peace. This is true, particularly at Christmas. Just when we should be celebrating The Prince of Peace we find our own peace gone.  As we travel back to that very first Christmas, we see a scene that could very easily steal peace. First,  an angel appears to Mary, and informs her that she will have a baby. The problem is that she was not married. Yikes!! This was scandalous! However, Mary finds peace and says. "Ok,...

he will crush [ b ]  your head,      and you will strike his heel.”  Genesis 3:15 As we begin the Christmas season,   I think it's appropriate to look at the beginning of the Christmas story See, the story begins way back in the  garden of Eden when Eve introduced sin into the world, God had a plan. A plan to correct the sin problem that we all have. We see it in the promise he made in this verse.  "H e will crush   your head,   and you will strike his heel.” I love that, God, knowing we would sin, set a plan in motion.   But the plan, though set in motion in Eden, spanned thousands of years. Things had to be just right, and the timing had to be perfect.  His plan was simple a sinless man, taking on the sins of the world. Adam and Eve had long since died, and there was no sign of a plan. nothing to even hint that God had even remembered the plan or the promise. D...

When my daughter was home, she drove our car to visit a friend. When she got home, she informed me that the brakes on the car did not seem to be working right. So, I took the car to the garage, and had the mechanic check it out. Since we have not had to change the breaks in a long while, I was sure that I would be paying for breaks and maybe springs or shocks. I was calling the car squeaky. After about an hour, the mechanic returned and said that the back breaks were frozen. We had been driving the car with only the front breaks. Yow! I was prepared for him to say they were worn, but not that they were not working at all. I am thankful that, with all of the extra driving, God was protecting us even when we did not know, we needed protecting. Yes, I can recount many times when I know that God was protecting me and my family; bears jumping the median, driving too fast on a dirt road, and driving with no back...

For the next few days, I am going to write about some things that we say, but that God will not or does not say.      Figure it out yourself.    Have you ever had someone say that to you?  I have, and I imagine that you have had someone say it to you as well.    For me, it was in school when I didn’t understand a problem or concept.  The teacher would say, figure it out for yourself,  and I was left starring at a blackboard with no idea where to start  or how to finish the problem.  Sometimes at work, they will say,  “Make it happen” this is the adult equivalent of “Figure it out.”    However, or whenever we hear these words,  they leave us frustrated, disappointed, and overwhelmed.  We may even think I don’t know how to figure this out.    The good news is that God doesn’t say, “You figure it out.”  But rather, “I already...

For the next few days, I am going to write about some things that we say, but that God will not or does not say. God does not say “whoops" nor does he say, “I didn’t see that coming.”  You and I are often surprised by the twists and turns in life,  but the all-knowing God never is.  When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden,  God was not surprised.    Nor was he astounded when a shepherd boy became a king.    And when the King of Assyria invaded, he was not blindsided in the least.  In fact, he was working His plan even in the things that no one could have expected  or seen happening.  James puts it like this, “Now listen, you who say,  “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city,  spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is yo...

For the next few days I am going to write about some things that we say, but that God will not or does not say. Whoops!    It's that word you use when you realize you’ve made a mistake.    It’s that moment when you realize you put in a cup and not a ½ cup of sugar.     It’s when you forgot to the car payment was due, yesterday.    Maybe you forgot a birthday.    Whoops.    There are other times when that is the last thing we want to hear.     On the operating table hearing whoops is not cool.     In an airplane, I never want the pilot to say, “Yikes!”    When I’m driving on an interstate and the next exit is 80 miles away,  I don’t want to hear, “Oh no.”   But the ugly truth is that we are human.  and even the best of us are prone to mistakes.    We can’t help it.    I...

I was taking my aunt to see my mom in the hospital.   As I drove, our conversation turned to spiritual things.  As we talked she said, “How can I know I’m going to heaven?”  Wow!!!  Talk about an open door! This opportunity does not happen every day.  I began to explain that the only thing we need to do is believe and trust God.   Then it happened.  She said, “Well, I already believe in God."   I thought this is going to be easy.  Nope!   I asked, “Well, do you trust God?   Will you let him direct your life?  Suddenly she had a billion excuses for why that was impossible.  I would love to tell you she committed her life to Christ that day, but she didn’t.  Yes, I was sad and disappointed that I could not make her understand that believing IN God was not enough.  Since then I have heard many others say I believe in God yet, sadly, their life tells another story.  As I read James, I come to a verse tha...

What a roller coaster ride the last twenty-four hours has been! I found out yesterday that my son-in-law is going to join the navy.  When I found out, my heart sank.  They have only been married a short time, and now they are going to be making more adjustments.  I  immediately started praying thinking  "nothing good can come from this".  I tossed and turned all night.  My peace was gone.  I had let Satan steal my peace.  This morning, the anxiety was still there. I know because there was a knot in my stomach and my deep breathing techniques from Lamaze kicked in.  Today at work, I was talking with a friend about the situation, and as I was talking to her; God used my own words to restore my peace.  I was reminded that my older daughter and her husband started out in a their married life, in the military, and they weathered it just fine.  Sometimes just a little talking it out can shed new light on the situation. We ended our c...

I am a “fixer” by nature.  “Fixers” want to fix things; it’s what we do.  This is especially true when it comes to people.  If they are hurting, I want to “fix” what made them hurt.  In short, I want them to stop hurting.  This is not always bad, but it can lead to one huge problem.  I tend to “take on” other people’s pain and make it my responsibility; that is never a good thing.  The other day I was in the process of thinking about a friend of mine; more importantly what he/she should do about a problem when God revealed something to me. It stopped me, mid-thought.  Are you ready for this? I can’t fix people. Big surprise, right; and yes I knew this but I definitely needed a reminder.  The fact is it’s not even my job to fix people. That’s God’s work. He fixes people!  I can pray for them; point them toward the solution but I CAN’T fix them.  God wants us to care about people; love them; help when we can.  The very best that...

I spent some time yesterday booking hotel rooms for a trip we are planning.  I have done this before, so I’m not completely new to the process, and I usually get through the process without complications; until yesterday.  Somehow, as I was booking the rooms, I did not check over the information as thoroughly as I should have checked.  Later, I was informed that the arrival date was wrong.  Oops!  Not a huge problem, I just have to call and change the date.  When I called to change the date, I found that I had also chosen the smoking section of the hotel.  OOPS!  This apparently cannot be corrected; now I’m stuck.  I also found that the insurance I thought I paid when I booked the rooms did not go through. This means that if we have to cancel we get nothing back.  OOPS!  This time, I failed miserably.   Who among us has not had at least one time when we fail?  We think we are doing well, and then we realize that, f...

Tonight at work, we were changing the oil in the fryer.  We got the fryer all cleaned, went to get the oil and realized that there was no oil.  Now we had a problem because we can’t fry food if there is no oil.  Normally, this would really bother me, and I would be upset because it was my idea to change the oil tonight and I should have checked first to make sure we had the oil we needed.  Lately, I’ve been making a conscious effort to be bold about my faith at work.  I decided to pray that there would be oil.  My coworkers saw me and thought I was crying.  I explained that I was not upset; I was praying that, somehow, we would have enough oil to fill the fryer.  Less than five minutes later, another coworker came with the oil.  It had been left in another part of the store.  I praise God that he cares about even the little details.  How encouraging it is that if I can go to him with small things; then it shouldn't be a problem ...

I decided to go for a walk tonight.  As I was walking God reminded me that when I was younger, I was horribly afraid of the dark.  Yet, here I am now walking after dark and loving it. There is something almost calming about watching the night come alive; the crickets singing and the fireflies and stars lighting up the night.  I’m not sure when I stopped being afraid of the dark, but tonight as I was walking; I realized two things that made me see how silly it was for me to be scared.  There was nothing in the dark that was not in the light. I know that sounds funny, but it is true. The other thing I realized was that God was the same during the day as he was at night.  He  didn't  change or go anywhere.  If I could trust him during the day with what I could see, then I could trust him at night with what I could not see. What an amazing truth! The God of the Universe does not change.  He is the same today as he was yesterday, and He wil...