Inspirations

You,  God , are my  God , earnestly I  seek  you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. My dad had a dog named Tipper.  This was definitely my dad’s dog.  He would follow my dad anywhere.  We lived on a farm; if my dad went out to fix the fence the dog would follow him.    At night, the dog would wait for my dad to sit down and then come and sit right beside him in the chair.  This dog was not a small dog, and yet he had to share the chair with my dad.  If we were eating, the dog would come and lay right at the table beside him. There were very few times that you would see my dad and the dog was not close by.   Tipper liked all of us, but he loved my dad.  He loved him so much that he wanted to be close to him.  He wasn't content to sit and wait for my dad.  He had to be wherever my dad was.  We had chickens that we h...

because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.  Mercy triumphs over judgment. A few weeks ago I walked into a local fast food place hoping for a quick meal.  As I entered, there were few customers, so I was in luck, or so I thought. The people behind the counter looked up saw me waiting; even acknowledged me and went on with their work.  After waiting eons longer for someone to wait on me, God reminded me of a verse in James “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”. I decided to change my lunch plans.  As I left, I was quite annoyed and hurt.  After all, they should have waited on me.  Is that any way to run a business?  I was still a little “put out” about the situation when I got back home.  I decided that I should let the manager know what happened.  It was only reasonable to expect prompt service and the employees completely ignored me.  Who would ...

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...

My brothers,  show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ  Recently, I took a trip that required flying.   When they called our flight, I was at the gate ready to board.  Do you know I had to wait!  See I thought that the first ones there boarded first.  As it turns out, the “preferred” customers got to board first.  Since I was not a preferred customer, I had to wait while the special customers got on the plane, and I had to “get my tail on the tail”.  The airline made distinctions and treated some customers better because they had more money and could pay for better treatment.  It doesn't just happen at airlines; it happens at school when some kids are treated differently by other kids because they can’t afford designer clothes, or aren't as smart as others, so teachers treat them differently.  Perhaps it’s a theater or a ball game, and you can’t afford a nice box seat, so you have to sit in the no...

We all make New Years resolutions.  If you're like me, they go something like this.  I want to lose weight.  I want to save more money this year than I did last year.  If I'm feeling really "spiritual", I want to read through my Bible, be kinder to others, listen to God and the list goes on.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with resolutions and setting goals.  In past years,  I have made them myself. Lately, God has shown me some problems with this way of setting goals. First, why are you waiting untl New Years Day to change a habit.  If God has convicted you about a problem in your life in July are you going to tell God, "sorry I can't do anything about this because it's not January yet"; of course you wouldn't.  If God shows us a problem, we need to set about correcting it right then, not later. Later is simply another way of putting off what we don't really want to deal with. Second, We end up feeling one hundred per...

This will be a sign  to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:12 Christmas is almost over.  We scoured the malls for the perfect gifts. Stood in the freezing weather to sing carols. We went to the Christmas parties; stayed up late wrapping gifts that will be unwrapped way quicker than they were wrapped. We planned and cooked a dinner. We have eaten way more than any one person ought to eat; yet, when dessert is brought out we quickly partake.  We have visited with family.  If you're like me, these are the things we think of when we think about Christmas.  This year God has challenged me to reevaluate my ideas about Christmas.  We all have heard the phrase, "Jesus is the reason for the season".   Yet, it's easy to get sidetracked.  To lose sight of the stable in search of a perfect Christmas.  So this year God challenged me to stop trying to make Christmas perfect and let each Christmas be uni...

This year, I have had to adjust my own expectations for Christmas.  Our youngest daughter is getting married. So, while others are thinking Christmas decorations; I'm trying to help a daughter with wedding decorations, long distance.  This Christmas has been anything but typical.  While we put the tree up as usual, I have found myself enjoying the carols more this year.  Because of the finances involved in  paying for a wedding, we have had to scale back what we are buying for Christmas.  Since I have not had a lot of time, I have not made Christmas cards, which I love.  At first, I was feeling down because it didn't "feel" like Christmas.  So God reminded me that Christmas was really about a baby in a manger; not about gifts under a tree.  Christmas this year has been a reminder for me to focus on Jesus and not on the things that we usually zoom in on at Christmas.  Yes, God has given peace even in the knowledge that this will be the fi...