Make Others Shine

Hi everyone!  We just got back from our trip to Tampa, Florida, where it was sunny and 81 degrees!  It felt like summer time.  Sunset one evening consisted of a pinkish backdrop next to a black silhouette of a lone palm tree.  It was gorgeous.

Needless to say, we're now wanting to pack up our RV and head to sunny, balmy Florida to stay.  BTW, there are plenty of RV parks all across Florida.

We had a good time and now it's time to unpack and get ready for our next trip in just a few weeks.  It's nice to be retired, or refired, as I like to say.

We listened to Joel Osteen on Sirius radio coming home and I want to leave you with a quote from him that I really liked.  "True greatness is not how much you shine, but how much you make others shine."  Isn't that good?   He is such a positive, encouraging speaker.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  2015 is going to be a year full of God's Blessings!

Christmas Blessings

Climbing up on a chair to dust the light fixture hanging above our dining room table, I could now see the top of the bookshelf and all the dust that had collected there too.  Dust, dust everywhere it seems!  And how appropriate!  Especially this morning, because I received a text as I was struggling to awaken that another marriage had bit the dust.  How sad, because it seems just about everyday there's news that another marriage has ended in divorce.  (I hate that word.) 

Yesterday, after lunch I told my husband I was going to lie down on the sofa and watch Hallmark Christmas movies.  The reason being, I was feeling a little down and alright, a little depressed.  The tears were just on the rim and I knew if I blinked, they would begin to flow...so, my goal was to not blink!

I grabbed my new, gray, fleece throw, and flipped to the Hallmark channel and I was not disappointed.  There were plenty of sad, love relationships gone awry, nothing turning out right for Christmas, movies, that I could sob right along to in silence, beneath my fleece blanket of gray.  How appropriate again!  My blanket was gray and I was feeling gray, but I digress.  (Love that word, by the way:)

After watching three of these heart wrenching stories back to back, I decided enough was enough. I felt I had overdosed on depression a wee bit too long.  It was time to shift gears and be happy.  I could do it.  I just had to decide to be happy.  

So, I threw back my fleece blanket of gray, inwardly and outwardly, so to speak and got up off my sofa.  After a dinner of Pizza Hut cheese sticks and vegetables, I felt much better.  It's all a matter of mind over matter and it does matter what you mind.  

Back to this morning's dust.  Yes, we all have dust and I'm not talking about just the dust on our furniture.  I'm talking about the dust in our minds.  Sometimes, life's dust, clouds our thinking and that's when we need to count our blessings.  The best thing to sweep away the dust from our thinking is to sweep our minds with the Word.  I mean His Word.  The living Word of God.

Psalm 73:26 reads like this:  "My flesh and my heart faileth:  but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."  Isn't that good?  God's Word works.  It cleans those ugly cobwebs right off of our hearts and minds.  His Word also tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength!

Many of my friends are facing some really difficult situations this Christmas season.  A young man's mother passed away a few weeks ago and his father's ailing health is something he must decide on how best to care for him, while caring for his own little family.  A wife, just found out her husband has cancer and their facing difficult days ahead.  A couple who have been married several years are facing divorce.  A woman in her retirement years is now facing it alone because her spouse died a few years ago.  Another family is dealing day to day with a special needs child and another family with a special needs child are having to explain why he can't get his driver's license without injuring his feelings.  A grandmother cries, because she feels sorry for her grandson and her son.  Another has made mistakes for which they are sorry, but the damage has been done.  A man is struggling with alcohol addiction and he's losing everything he holds dear, but this demon has him in his grasp and won't let him go.  Another, has committed adultery and because of that his marriage has ended.  On and on the list goes.  

The problem is a SIN problem!  There, I've said it.   A SIN problem is what we have, but there is answer.  People don't want to hear they have a sin problem.  Oh, it's something I can handle.  I just need counseling or vacation time or more sleep.  No!  You've tried all that and how is it working for you?  Be honest, it's not.  The answer to our sin problem, our loneliness, our health issues are all found wrapped up in a little baby boy long, long ago, born in Bethlehem of Judea, one dark, starry night.  His name is Jesus!  He's the answer to any problem your dealing with this Christmas season. 

This is why Jesus came..."Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."  Jeremiah 33:3   Jesus Christ is the answer.  Call upon Him today. Let Him show Himself mighty on your behalf.

Merry Christmas Blessings to all!

So Thankful For The Blood!

When I was a little girl a missionary visited our church every year.  I always looked forward to hearing him because he told such wonderful stories about what Jesus was doing in foreign lands.  

I will never forget him speaking one night about the blood of Jesus.  He said in some countries talking about blood was the same as cursing and that some translations of the Bible were taking the word blood out of the Holy Scriptures.  

But for Believers the blood of Jesus is power.  In fact, as a child we sang, There Is Power In The Blood quite often.  It was one of our Top Ten Tunes!

Without the blood of Jesus being shed, there would be no remission of sins.  That's why I'm so thankful for the blood!  It has power to wash and make the vilest sinner clean.  There truly is power in the blood of Jesus, so I will not stop talking about the blood.  I will forever praise the One who shed His blood for me, because the blood of Jesus is yours, mine, and the whole wide world's victory!

Mississippi Moon

Uncle Arthur and Dad

The above picture was taken when my dad was a ten year old boy on his family's farm in Mississippi.  That's where he was born and grew up until age 15 when he left home and headed north.  He said he left because... "I didn't want to pick cotton the rest of my life."  I picked cotton half a day one time, so I can totally relate to my dad's reason for leaving and looking for greener pastures.  Picking cotton was the hardest work I've ever done.  It was cotton pickin', back breakin' work.  None of it was for me either!

This picture gives me a happy feeling, because it shows my dad as a little boy with his family and his dogs, Mattie, Mutt and Jeff, doing what boys do, hunting being one of them.  That's his older brother, Arthur beside him and his older sister, Miffie is standing on the porch holding her baby girl, Martha.  This photo brings back fond memories of visiting his family in Mississippi.

We would leave home in Indiana as soon as dad got off from work at the plant.  We'd load our clothes,snacks, pillows, and blankets into the old family Chevrolet and head south.  It was at the end of summer, extremely hot and humid and we had no air conditioning in cars back then. It was in the 1950's.  Dad liked to drive at night because it was cooler and all of us children would sleep.  Except for me.  I was the oldest of 7 children and I could never sleep.  It was too hot and too crowded in that car.  However, I'd pretend to be asleep.  I still remember the hum of the car engine, fumes burning my eyeballs because we drove with the windows down, and the whir of passing cars.  Other than that, it was dark and quiet except for the country songs playing on the radio. Dad liked country music, especially the Grand Ole Opry. He was wearing his white cowboy hat.  My dad was tan, with curly black hair and green eyes and his first name was Kelley.  That was his mother's maiden name and her family was of Irish descent.

We'd drive for hours until dad would turn right and start down a long, dirt road passing through cotton fields on both sides.  Then he'd pull the car to a stop and get out.  I peeked over the front seat to see what he was doing.  In the still darkness of the night I could see him by way of the car headlights opening a metal gate and swinging it back.  He then got back in the car and pulled it through the opening.  He got back out of the car.  I peeked out the back window and saw him shut that metal gate and walk back to the car and drive on down that country road.  It all seemed surreal.  A huge white moon hung above the white cotton fields on both sides, illuminating them in such beautiful simplicity.  It's kind of ironic that I still find cotton fields so beautiful to this day after the fact that dad left his home state because he didn't want to pick cotton. I call cotton, "southern snow".

Soon we pulled up in front of a small, country farmhouse and dad honked the horn.  I can still hear the creaking of that old screen door as it swung open and pa and ma came out to greet us with smiling faces. Soon children were wiping their sleepy eyes, laughter and warmth was spreading around like warm butter dripping off a hot biscuit as we entered that little abode and laid our tired bodies down on those huge feather beds.

I looked out through the window after everyone was asleep and again I think I was the only one awake, but I felt that peaceful feeling covering me like a warm cloak.  In the sky I saw that big, happy, Mississippi moon and a million twinkling little stars in the sky smiling and I smiled right back!

God Uses Ordinary People

Are you ordinary?  Yes?  Then, I've got good news for you!  God can use you!  Yes, you!  Just look at the 12 Jesus choose.  Peter, Perpetuous Peter.  He stuck his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion.  The Sons of Zebedee, or Sons of Thunder.  They wanted to call fire down from Heaven on some people, one time.  Have you ever wanted to do that?  Judas, who was a thief and the one who betrayed Jesus.  Just a word of advice for you Pastors.  Don't ever choose a thief for your Church Treasurer.


The point is, these were ordinary people that Jesus chose.  Why?  Because that's all He had to choose from.  We're all ordinary.  There were and still aren't any extraordinary men, or women.  He has to use ordinary men.  Jesus prayed all night about His choices.  The next day He called them.  They were ordinary, but chosen men of God.


There are no supermen, except in comic book's and men's imaginations.  Jesus chooses ordinary people, then equips them with His power and might  to do extraordinary things!  He turns the ordinary into extraordinary.  The Holy Ghost is the extra---the Power!  This Power from on High gives us the anointing to do great and mighty things for the King of Glory.  It's the greatest honor to be used of God. 


Just think about it.  Mortal hands build His immortal Kingdom.  Mortal lips, speak His immortal words of life.  When Jesus is number one in our lives, we who were once a 0, become a 10, with Him beside us. 


Seek the honor of God and not the honor of men.  Please God and not man.  All the wisdom of man will not save man.  Become immune to the praises of man and become immune to the criticisms of man also. 


God recognizes the human factor, that's why He factored in the Jesus factor.  Be faithful unto death and He will give you the crown of life.  It will be worth it all!

Praise Him, Not Man

How many times have you been to church and during worship time you just got tired, bored, and wanted to sit down?  It's happened to me more times than it should and I think the reason is because the worship is not on God, it's on the Praise Team or Worship Leader.

Worship is about praising God for who He is.  It's entering in to the Holy of Holies, the very throne room of Almighty God.  Too many times, however, it's about the performers (whoops, did I say that?), I mean people on the stage.  They may be jumping around, dressed inappropriately, singing songs that are in a key too high to sing, or singing songs that are not focused on God, or songs that are just too difficult to sing.  When anyone of these things happen, it's easy for the congregation to loose interest and just sit down.

Male worship leaders don't need to be up on stage in too tight jeans, or with the the top 2 or 3 buttons not buttoned.  Female worship leaders should make sure their dresses or tops are not so low they are showing cleavage, or that their pants, or dresses are too tight.  Please make sure to dress modestly.  You don't want to bring attention to yourself.

Make sure you pick songs that are focused on Christ and what He did at Calvary.  He is the only One worthy of praise.  The songs should lift Him up.  The song key should also be where most of the congregation can sing it.  The songs should also be fairly easy so the congregation can join in and sing.  Too many times, the song choices are so difficult that it ends up just being a performance.

We come together to worship God, the Creator of Heaven and earth and Jesus Christ, so let's make it about the Holy Trinity of God.  A good worship leader will pray and select songs accordingly.  When this happens it will truly be a time of worship.

You've Already Got It!

Andrew Wommack

This is a great sermon by Andrew Wommack, entitled, "You've Already Got It."  It's part one of a series of messages he's done and I have listened to it a dozen times.  It has blessed me.  Andrew is a mighty teacher of the Word of God.  I invite you to listen to it.  I believe it will bless you also.

It's funny that some people on the internet are calling him a dangerous man!  To me that's just proof that he's on the right track.  The devil is mad and doesn't want the truth of God's Word preached.

This type of teaching is foreign to the church world today, but it is truth and the truth will set you free.

Family~A Beautiful Thing

My dad, mom, me and little sister

There's nothing more beautiful in my eyes than a man who is priest of his home, a loving, faithful wife, and their precious little children sitting together in God's house worshiping Him.  God made and ordained the family.  It was His idea, therefore, it was a God idea-a good idea.

God created a man and a woman to live together in a covenant relationship with each other with total devotion to Him.  That's the Biblical way.  With Him as the center of that relationship, all is right with the world.  Children are happy and secure.  When earthly father's lead in the ways of God and love their wives as Christ loved the church, then children have a model, a concept of what their Heavenly Father is like.  They see that God is love and God is good.

My heart is so burdened today for the family.  There are broken families all around us lying in ruins.  Why?  Because individuals make choices.  They make selfish choices.  It's about "me" in this day and age.  That's why we have millions of babies aborted, divorce is rampant, people are addicted to drugs, pornography.

The good news is you can change!  When individuals humbly bow and admit they need a Savior, who is Christ Jesus, He can restore that individual back to Him and thus restore the family.    When America has strong families, America will be strong.

Take Me To The King (a beautiful song)

I heard this song only a few weeks ago while listening to an online radio station.  I went around the house humming this tune all day.  That very night one of the contestants sang it on American Idol.  She did a fairly good rendition of it, (much better than I could do), but Tamela Mann sings it perfect and with much feeling.

If you haven't heard this song, give it a listening ear.  I believe it will bless you too.  We need King Jesus.  He's our only help and our only hope in this world.

Why It's Called Good Friday

What is Good Friday and why is it called Good Friday, when Jesus, the only Son of God died a bloody, gruesome death on Calvary's cruel cross.  What's good about that?

Good Friday is a religious holiday, observed mostly by Christians to remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and His death at Calvary.  The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover.  Good Friday is a widely-instituted legal holiday in many national governments around the world, including in most Western countries as well as in 12 U.S. states.

Crucifixion is a form of slow and painful execution in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead.  This type of execution has been since antiquity and is still practiced in some countries today.

Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb when the Holy Ghost overshadowed her.  She had never known a man, thus His birth was a Virgin birth.  He came to this earth to take back what the devil had stolen from the first man, Adam.  When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command, the devil became the ruler, prince of this world.  Sin ushered in pain, death, and dying for all mankind, thus, when you and I were born, we were born sinners into a sinful, dying world.  Christ came to save us.  "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."  Phillipians 2:8  He was the perfect, sinless, Son of God.  A lamb without spot or wrinkle.  The perfect sacrifice.  The only One who could take away our sins, which were crimson, and make us white as snow!

Although, He had never sinned, (the Bible says, no guile was found in his mouth), He became sin for us.  He took our sins upon Himself at Calvary and the full wrath of God was poured out on Him!  That's why He cried, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me!"  He knew what it was like to be totally separated at that moment from His loving, Heavenly Father.

We know what that feels like.  We are all sinners and in need of Savior.  We have one in Jesus Christ.  He became sin, so we could be righteous.  He died, so we could live.  He was separated from His Father, so we could be reconciled back to Him.  He won the battle for us.  He died in our place, though us dying could never purchase our salvation.

The cross, represents punishment, cruelty, suffering, shame, guilt, blood, and death, but that's the irony of the cross.  To the Christian it represents freedom, love, life, and not only life, but abundant life.  That's why the Apostle Paul says, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."  I Corinthians 1:18

Stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, wounded, bruised, He died so that we might live.  Thank you Lord.

Minister or Ministry?

It seems like everyone these days feel they have to have a big time ministry in order to minister for the kingdom of God and that's not so.  Now God does call some into national or international ministries and they are big.  There's nothing wrong with a big ministry if that's what God's called you to do, but I think some feel they can't minister in the kingdom if they don't have a pulpit.

God can use the little grandmas who are teaching their grandchildren the ways of the Lord.  He can use the mechanic working on cars to witness to his customers.  He can use the receptionist at the front desk of a big corporation.  He can use a teacher in the classroom.  A doctor.  A nurse and even a child.  God can use anyone who will allow Him to minister to others.  

We all need to let our life shine for Him.  I Timothy 4:12 says, "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."  One thing the world needs to see is good examples.  They need to see believers walk in love and purity and faith in their homes, in their schools, and in their businesses.

The Apostle Paul exhorts in Romans 12:17 to live above reproach in the sight of all men.  Other scriptures teach us to shun the very appearance of evil.  You should conduct yourself in a way that no one will have any doubt that you are a child of God.  Your example will go a lot further than your words.  The place where you work or go to school or even in your neighborhood might reject or argue with the words you say, but they'll never refute or forget your acts of love.

Bloom where your planted and let your light shine so that men may see your good works and glorify God.  You can be a minister of the Gospel wherever you go or whatever your doing.  You don't have to Pastor a church or have a pulpit to minister the Gospel.

Little ways to encourage others in those "down" times

Have you ever been down?  I mean really down?  I'm not talking about lying down on a bed, or in the bed sick, or falling down on the floor.  No, I'm talking about those days when you feel lower than a snake's belly.  I'm talking about those periods in life when we feel just down right depressed! Can anyone relate?  We all can, because life has a way of just knocking our legs out from under us at times.  Thankfully, it's not all the time, but it does happen and sometimes when we least expect it!

When your depressed the last thing you want is to be around people, especially happy people.  Why?  Because they just remind you of how unhappy you really are!  And they make you envious because you want to laugh and enjoy life once again.

If you have been feeling depressed for more than a few weeks, I would highly encourage you to see a doctor.  You need a complete physical exam to rule out any health problems.  Also, if your clinically depressed you may need counseling and even medication to help you through this dark time.  Depression is totally the pits!  I know.  I've been there!  But I would like to offer you encouragement today and say, "don't give up!"  There is hope and you can get better.

If you see someone who seems to be a little "down", here are some suggestions to brighten up their day.

1.  Invite them to go with you for a cup of coffee.  Talking over a cup of coffee can lift someone's
     spirit.  They may just need a listening ear.  Who doesn't in this day and time!  Everyone is so
     wrapped up in their own lives.  Learn to be a good listener and just sharing really helps.
2.  Send them a card to let them know your thinking of them.  Jot down some things you like
     about your friend.  This will encourage them.
3.  Pick up the phone and call them.  Again, be sure to listen and ask about them.  Let them talk.
     This is not the time to share all your operations or the trouble you've been having lately.
4.  Go for a walk with them at the park.  Just getting out of the house helps and this is usually the
     last thing they want, but it's what a depressed person needs.

Depression hurts.  It feels like a black cloud is hanging over your head raining only on you, while the rest of the world is experiencing sunshine and roses.  We all have our bad times, but if you have
a friend, you can make it.

Some symptoms of depression are:

1.   Doing things slowly.
2.   Your future seems hopeless.
3.    It's hard to concentrate.
4.   The joy has gone out of your life.
5.   Difficulty making decisions.
6.   Feeling sad, blue, and unhappy.
7.   Feeling fatigued.
8.   Feeling like a failure.
9.   Sleeping too much, or too little.
10. Spending time thinking about how you might kill yourself.

Again, if you have any of the above symptoms, you need to see a doctor right away!

This article is meant to raise awareness of depression and it's symptoms, but is also to offer suggestions about how to help other people through those "down" times that will pass.

Do you have any suggestions, not listed?  If so, please feel free to comment and share.