I don’t know of a time of year that has more potential to be more oppressive, more directive, or more influential regarding thoughts and emotions than this time of year — this “holiday season.” [cp_quote style=”quote_left_dark”]My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear… Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life… and health… Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life… and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on… Ponder the path of thy feet, and…
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Are you having a difficult time seeing and believing that the grace of the Lord is sufficient for you — for whatever concerns you — for the circumstances in which you find yourself today? Do you long to know — to see and believe — that His grace is enough? [cp_quote style=”quote_left_dark”]And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12.9[/cp_quote] * [cp_dropcaps]I[/cp_dropcaps]n seeking to rest in knowing that…
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Nancy's Beau-az, the wedding of Nancy and Robert Wolgemuth, witnessing the commitment they made to one another and the intended picture they represented. It was awe inspiring to experience the magnificent picture and the great-great blessing of the anticipation and hope we have for the ultimate wedding: the soon coming marriage supper of the Lamb.
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And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I…
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Giving up is not an option. Cutting off all contact is not an option. Negating or negotiating wrong choices is not an option. Reversing the damages is not an option — that is to say, whatever precipitated the wrong choices is done. You cannot recreate the past. If you made stupid parenting decisions, if you weren’t there as a parent, if you messed up — whatever — you have to get past the idea that you can, today, make your yesterdays or their yesterdays any different. But you can walk on in obedience and faith today. Only the devil will…
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Every seed grows. In the midst of everyday life, seeds are planted. A lot of the time — perhaps most of the time — we don’t even notice the seeds that are planted. Ideas. Pictures. Envy. Desires. Regrets. Pride. Shame. Hope. Doubt. All sorts of seeds drop, drop, drop into the soil of our lives. Good seeds, bad seeds… whatever they are, they grow. The more we feed them, the more they grow. Interestingly, we might believe the only things we plant are things we intend to grow — you know, like seeds that are purposely planted in gardens or…
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Do you ever feel like your feelings or your emotions are in a spin cycle — as if life’s experiences or circumstances are spinning out all your feelings or emotions? Sometimes my washer spins so long I wonder how in the world there’s any moisture at all left in the clothing or the towels or whatever. That’s how some days feel to me emotionally. Sometimes. Emotions completely spun out. I remember feeling like that when I had babies and children to care for each day — only it wasn’t emotions, necessarily, it was energy — that, or collapsing into bed…
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I thought of the Scripture today where Paul is talking about pressing on and is saying, “… I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” And I found myself saying, but I just can’t seem to do that. You know, the forgetting what’s behind and pressing on. O, it’s easy to realize I haven’t attained to something or haven’t apprehended something—that’s easy to…
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The more time passes, the more I realize how much I need “relating” affirmation or validation. It’s not that I need affirmation in order to do something so much as affirmation that what I’ve done (or am doing) matters. I find myself asking (either literally or mentally), can you relate? or know-what-I-mean? Validation, kwim? For the last month or so, I’ve been mulling over the thought of “validation” the need/desire for validation. It’s sort of an assurance of being on the right track, or having done something well, or, in some cases, assurance that you’re not alone in whatever failure…
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That's what missing in the Planned Parenthood equation: Love. That life is precious, that man was made in God's image and that God in His great love and mercy created us all. All of us. May we stand for life and do so in Love.