Posted in Musings

I Don’t Like February


It’s not often that I bear my heart. It’s not exactly “who I am” as a person. I’m quiet, I will never be accused of oversharing, though I do tell stories from time to time  🙂  but when things hurt, I put them in my emotional basement and leave them there.

I’m an introvert. I always have been, though there have been times I’ve hidden it better than others. I’m not really comfortable around new people if there’s a chance I’ll have to do very much talking and I’ll avoid large groups every chance I get. It’s not that I don’t want anything to do with people in general, it’s just that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix” kind of mentality.

But then there are those handful of precious few people who have dragged me from my shell, accepting nothing less than my being a part of their life. And I’m so thankful for the precious few of them. And they are all sisters to me, always have been always will be. I don’t even have the room to talk about each and every one, but THEY know who they are. They always have.

One of them, I met almost 15 years ago, a wonderful Christian woman from my own home state of Kentucky, back in the hills. We met online on a Christian women’s group, laughed that we had the same accent and God bonded us as sisters from that point on. As we got to know one another better, we found more and more things that we had in common and we wound up starting a Christian ministry online for women who had been through abuse. She taught me pray out loud and has stood with me when no one else would. I love her.

Another, a lady a bit younger than myself, I also met about 15 years ago. She was younger than me, was a single mom, and we met at a church where my husband and I were worship leaders at the time. I can’t even remember what pulled us together so strongly, other than God, but she was like a ray of sunshine in my life and still is to this day. She taught me many things, not the least of which being that we are mothers, we are daughters of God, and we are stronger than we feel most of the time. We’ve been together through thick and thin and time nor distance has ever separated us very long, even though she’s a globe-trotter. I love her.

Another lady, and another a little younger than I, I met at a grocery store I worked at, as she did too. It was a hard time in my life and I had determined not to get to close to anyone else, because as I had come to find out, that never ended well. She wouldn’t have it though. Her smile and her elusive, addictive love of life simply made me feel that she was someone who could be trusted, someone I could be friends with.

She was a hugger. I was not. I had to be for her though  🙂  And that was okay. Days turned into weeks turned into months and I was a hugger too, pretty much just for her, but a hugger I had become  🙂  We spent a lot of time together. She would come to my house and we would go places together and when she wasn’t around, I missed her like crazy.

She loved to sing, but it scared her something awful. I would get up to sing with her and she would hold on to my hand and stare right into my eyes while she sang, ever so softly. She was a great singer. She should have belted ’em out, but she didn’t. That wasn’t who she was. Oh, she would belt them out if it were just us and we were sitting in the living room or in her truck, but even though she was as outgoing as she was, singing in front of people still scared her. I thought it was adorable. And I relished all those times. More than she knew, I think.

She taught me that smiles don’t hurt, tears don’t last forever, and it’s okay to call people “puddin”. And I loved her. I still love her. I will always love her.

But…

Early in the second month of 2015, when everything was already cold anyway, her life was brought to a tragic and senseless end by a mentally unstable boyfriend. How do I know he was mentally unstable? Because he pointed a gun at her chest while she stood on his porch, and he ruthlessly shot her through the heart and ended one of the most beautiful lives that God had ever graced this earth with. A short while later, he shot and killed himself. Doesn’t that sound mentally unstable?

She was to turn 31 that November. She had two precious babies that were left behind, along with more people that loved and cherished her than I could possibly ever count. I know there are a lot of people that were much closer to her than I was: a mother, her children, her sisters and other family and friends… but she was a huge part of my life, my world that I let so few people into in the first place. I guess that’s what makes it so hard.

Some days I can think about her and laugh, remembering all the good times, the deep conversations and all the smiles, hugs and laughs that we shared. I think about the way I use to come into the store on my off days, when she was working, and I would slip her snacks as I went through her line. I think about her kids calling me down if I “talked mean” 🙂

Other days, I think about too many things I shouldn’t, and all the questions I will never have an answer to, and the pain seems almost too heavy. Sometimes, it’s almost like the grieving process starts all over, as I wonder why. So many times, the slightest thing will happen, and for a split second, the thought will flit across my mind, “Hey, she would LOVE that!” or “Wow, she HAS to hear this song, she’ll love it!” … and then I remember…

I miss her every day and I know I always will. She will be a part of my heart forever and she will most certainly NEVER be forgotten.

I love and miss you SO MUCH, JuLee…so much!

julee2julee

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Posted in Faith

Thank God For The Rainbow


Just a little forewarning that I may very well repeat something I’ve said before in this post. Not that I’m trying to, just that I might.

I don’t watch television. We have cable, but just the most basic package we could get that would allow for internet as well. I always call it “the internet bill” because that’s literally all we get out of it, and I’m fine with that. I had to go through all the eye rolling and sighing when we moved here and my son started talking about wanting cable. Great, I thought, 200 channels of sports we don’t watch, digital music and all the television we don’t watch either! No one in our family cares for it at all, to be honest. We have Netflix, so we basically watch what we want to, when we want to. The kids each have a Wii and television so they can so watch it through that, or play online or whatever.

But I guess I’m pretty lucky when it comes to my children and television. My son is a musician, so he hardly ever turns it on except for a couple hours at night. Other than that, he’s practicing guitar, drums or bass, at least 6 hours a day, sometimes more. Yes, he’s serious 🙂  And my daughter is an artist and writer, so that’s what she spends her time on after school. I wound up having to get her something like an engineer’s table last year, with the tilted top and all, and she really enjoys that. It’s incredibly roomy!

Anyways, I was saying that I don’t watch television. Still, somehow, the media news usually seeps through after a week or so. I’ve just heard the latest round about police shootings, riots, looting, violence towards people because of which side they believe in, religious intolerance, deplorable people and on and on and on and on and on…

Frankly, I’m just wondering when they’re going to set up and equip a lion’s den and a Colosseum!

Seriously though…

What are we doing? I realize we all have our own belief set and all that, but after hearing some of the things that are going on lately, I’m just sure this has to be the last days we’re living in! Every time I hear a news story, I can only think about how it must grieve God’s heart. We should be thankful that He said He would never destroy the earth again because of the wickedness of man, because I’m pretty sure the world we’re living in today is much worse than before the flood, or even Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 6:5-7 … And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord…

And so a remnant was saved. Snap forward all these thousands of years, and we find ourselves back at square one, but THANK GOD for His mercy!

I always pray for peace, I pray for the people involved in these sorts of things, and it’s always in my mind when I speak to God. Pastors need strength as well, so don’t forget to pray for them as they try to shepherd their flocks through a world like this. Pray for parents who try to teach their children right from wrong when the whole world, and many of the authority figures in it, steer them away from God, whether they realize it or not. It’s not an easy job to try to remain right with God, not in this world, not with the standards that are being set, not when people are saying, much like Job’s friends said to him, to forsake God and enjoy life. As if to walk with God means that we cannot.

But I digress…

I sure am thankful for that rainbow, though.

Genesis 9:14-16 … 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

Posted in Faith

Hear and Heed


I’m so thankful that I had a Mom who listened when God spoke! Can I get an Amen? I wouldn’t be here if not for her hearing and heeding.

Satan tried to take my life at least twice that I know of, and probably more that I’m not aware of. Two particular instances come to mind, not that I remember them in great detail because I was so young, but they were relayed to me by my Mom…

Once, when I was maybe three years old, we had a dog that was chained to his dog house outside in the front yard. My family was never really a fan of keeping a dog tied up, but we lived in the mountains in Eastern Kentucky and at that particular time there had been sightings of both bears and big mountain cats and my parents didn’t want the poor dog wondering off and getting eaten.

So on one particular day, I went outside to play while my Mom worked in the house. I sat down fairly close to the dog house to play in the dirt and while I sat there, the dog walked around me, several times, and wound up getting his chain looped around my neck. I was helpless and choking by the time my Mom came flying out the door.

She said that she had been working and suddenly God spoke and told her to get outside immediately! When she got out there, she found me sitting there choking, and ran to try to help. She got her fingers underneath the chain and loosened it enough so that I could breathe, but the dog had pulled so far away that she couldn’t reach it without leaving me, which she didn’t feel safe doing either. She said she didn’t know what she was going to do and it was at that time that my brother came walking around the corner, up the holler, and quite unexpectedly. And so I was saved.

Another time, Mom had went to her bedroom to rest a bit and watch TV. I might have been four, or maybe five, at the time. I was playing in the kitchen, apparently as if I were a dog, and had made my own “leash” from a jump rope. I tied the jump rope to the top of the sink and the other end around my neck and when I got down, I slipped. My feet flew back out from underneath me, the rope caught me by the neck and went taut, while my hands wouldn’t quite reach the floor. I was flailing and trying to grab hold of something, that much I do barely remember, when once again, Mom came running in.

Again, God had told her that if she wanted to see me alive to GO NOW! She said I was blue when she got there and saved me.

I shudder to think what would have happened if she had simply thought, “Oh, that’s probably just my overactive imagination,” or “I shouldn’t be such an overprotective parent, that’s what the books say”. Too often, these days, we are led to believe and sometimes taught outright, to suppress any thought that we are hearing God’s voice. What a dangerous time to live!

If you read the third chapter of 1 Samuel, you find the Lord calling to Samuel as a child, but Samuel thinks that it is his mentor, Eli calling him. He goes to Eli who tells the child Samuel to go and lie back down, because he had not called him. But the third time Samuel came and answered the call, Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. This is what Samuel told Eli…

Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak Lord, for they servant heareth. (1 Samuel 3:9)

I believe that God will still speak to a person who is willing to take the time to listen. But how many of us actually do that? We live in a time when praying is all about “I, Me, and Mine” but how many people actually tell God that they will listen when He speaks? How many actually put themselves in a place of calm and quiet, where He can even be heard?

I have been very guilty of this myself, and it has been my prayer lately, that if He has something to say, then I will listen. And He never disappoints!

Now I find myself in a place where I’m wondering if what I think I heard was actually what I really did hear, and whether or not it was from Him, or something that I made up in my own mind. I don’t know if that constitutes doubt or not, but I sure hope not. Then again, what I think I heard carries big implications at a time when I already – as my Mom use to say – have too many irons in the fire! I mean, I know that where God leads, He will make a way, so right now I am just prayerfully considering. I dare not be caught saying, “But, God, I don’t want to do that…” because I’ve already told Him I would!

What about you? Have you ever heeded God’s Word on something important? How has it changed your life?

Posted in Faith

The True Nature Of God – Andrew Wommack Ministries


This is an amazing read from Andrew Wommack’s ministry website. I especially like the way he explains the difference between being “under law” and being “under grace”. So many people today seem to have the idea that we are still under the law and reaping all the same things for our wrongdoings. Just have a read here and be encouraged today by the True Nature of God!

Stacey~

 

Recently the Lord woke me up at 3:30 a.m. with the words, “I have raised you up to change people’s opinion of Me. That will change their lives, and then they will change the world.” Wow! That pretty much sums it up. If people knew how good God is, they would love Him and live for Him. That in turn would solve all the problems of the world. But God has been so slandered that most people don’t know Him as the good God He really is. Why is that? One of the biggest problems is religion’s misuse of the Law. This has done tremendous damage to God’s image. The Law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The Law wasn’t inaccurate but incomplete. And if it is not properly applied, it gives a wrong representation of God. Jesus was the perfect representation of God (Heb. 1:3). He said if we have seen Him, then we have seen the Father (John 14:9). He did exactly what He saw His Father do (John 5:19). Jesus showed us that God is love (1 John 4:8). Yet He was constantly accused of breaking the Law. Of course, Jesus didn’t break the Law. He’s the only One who ever truly kept the Law. But the mercy and grace Jesus extended toward people was radically different from the “eye for eye” and “tooth for tooth” of the Old Testament Law. Jesus forgave a woman whom the Law condemned to death (John 8:1-11). Jesus ate and fellowshipped with publicans and sinners, which the legalistic Jews of His day wouldn’t do (Matt. 9:11). Jesus touched the untouchable (Matt. 8:3) and loved the unlovable (Luke 8:2). He showed us grace and mercy, which the Old Testament Law didn’t do. A wrong understanding of the purpose of the Old Testament Law leads to a misunderstanding of the nature of God. Most people believe God gave the Law to show us what we needed to do to obtain relationship with Him. But the Law was never intended to bring us into relationship with our heavenly Father. It was intended to show us our sin and our need for God. It was given to show us how unholy we were so we would despair of trying to earn salvation and just receive it as a gift by faith. It was to turn us from self-righteousness to a faith-righteousness that could only come through a Savior (Rom. 10:3-4). Consider some of the things the Scripture says about the Law: • The Law strengthened sin (1 Cor. 15:56). • The Law was a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7 and 9). • The Law gave guilt and knowledge of sin, not salvation (Rom. 3:19-20). • The Law made sin come alive, and killed us (Rom. 7:9). • The Law magnified sin and produced hopelessness (Rom. 7:13-25). Why would God give us something with all these negative effects? It was because we were already beaten by… Read More

Source: The True Nature Of God – Andrew Wommack Ministries

Posted in Musings

Raising Awareness


I’ve noticed a trend lately, especially among non-profit sectors. It’s these organizations that stand for a specific cause or need and there’s so much rhetoric about “raising awareness” and “creating dialogue” and so forth. On the same note, there is so little that actually gets done, if anything at all.

Thing is, they’re causes that need to have something DONE, actually creating a purpose driven action that accumulates results.

Don’t get me wrong, please. I know that to do anything, there must first be an awareness of the problem. I probably know that more than a lot of other people, just from lessons learned the hard way, to be honest. But even the Bible says: For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:18

If we leave a cause with only having an awareness of it, personally, that DOES leave me with a whole lot of grief and sorrow! Just knowing about and being aware of a problem isn’t the way to fix it.

Take bullies in school, for instance. There have been many movements and campaigns that have risen up to try to combat the problem, but there are as many, if not more, bullied children that are committing suicide now than there was before the whole thing got so much awareness! Just as many teenagers that are deep in the throes of depression and anxiety, just as many girls that see no worth in themselves at all, just as many boys who think they’ll never be man enough or good enough…

And this is our future! How long does it take for something that’s not working to be stopped, traded in for something new, something that might actually work? Is anybody even giving any thought to it, or is it that people aren’t listening to the ones who HAVE thought about and have new ideas?

And it’s just an example. How many more causes have we been made aware of, and yet they are as much a problem now as they ever were? How many causes are there in relation to the outcome-based success stories?

How long before we realize that it is time to DO something and stop wasting so much breath creating a dialogue? If the dialogue leads to action that gets something done, BRAVO! That, my friends, is success! If the rhetoric changes lives, then we have arrived! If just one person takes the first step, what would see then?

Again, in the Bible, in the book of James, we find that it says: But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? James 2:20 Leaving a thing at only knowing about it is a completely dead work.

There are a lot of things in this world today that need some real action to be changed. The awareness is already there, and I could spend the rest of the night writing the “laundry list” type of post that would call them all out by name. But we each have a cause that means something to us, that’s so near and dear to our heart that it almost brings us to tears to even sit and contemplate it.

May I just ask you today: Is there anything that you can DO about something you feel vehemently about?

In reality, there may not be. A lot of the things that absolutely hurt my heart are things I’m too little and insignificant to change. But if there ever comes a time, if there’s ever a way in front of me that will allow me to move on something that means that much to me, then BY GOD, and I do mean BY THE GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD, I will.

And so should you.

As always, I appreciate your stopping by and hope that you do so again. Be blessed!

Posted in Schooling

Math, Historically Speaking…


I’ve been searching high and low for ways to teach my daughter math. She is, as I was at her age, behind in math. In speaking with a great many acquaintances of mine, I find that it’s a common thing for children to struggle with math, and so I’ve really been doing my own homework about it all.

I absolutely love Project Gutenberg. For those of you who may not already be familiar with it, it’s a site devoted to making available every book that has a public domain status. If you are a lover of books, and more specifically, of old, old books, then you absolutely HAVE to check out this site. You surely won’t regret it.

Anyway, I love it for so many reasons! I use to teach my daughter from spelling and history books I got from the site and the teaching styles are SO different and make SO much more sense than what we have today that it’s absolutely astounding. To teach from a book rated for a fifth grader in the late 1800’s was about the same as teaching something in high school these days. And let’s not even talk about the spelling words! That’s crazy stuff, but you’ll just have to check it out for yourself as opposed to taking my word for it.

I finally decided to turn to Project Gutenberg after being disappointed by so many of today’s theories for teaching math. I wanted to see how they taught math a hundred years ago, and MAN was I surprised! We’re doing it all wrong, folks!

I realized the difference right away when I saw that yesteryear’s math books were more words and instruction than numbers and figures and so on. Apparently, there is a psychology to math, one that today is not even figured into teaching math. In an hour’s worth of reading, I now understand more about math than I have in my whole lifetime, even with all the tutoring I took both as a child and as an adult in college math classes.

Why did they stop doing this? I don’t have the answer for that, but whoever came up with the idea of forsaking the psychology of math for this common core crap should be reprimanded in the highest fashion.

And did you know that there is an “addition table” just like there is a “multiplication table”? Well, I surely didn’t, until tonight. Apparently it’s something that is only taught in business math, but I am of the opinion that it would greatly help children today. Anything that boosts the mental fortitude in relation to math, which in turn boosts self-esteem and therefore makes better students, is something that should be in every classroom, every time numbers are dealt with.

I may not know very much, currently, about math. But this I do know – there IS an easier way. And to teach it, I must first learn it, and that’s just what I intend to do. If what I’ve learned tonight is an indicator, then I stand to learn a great deal and so does my girl.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by. Your visit is appreciated and I do hope you’ll return again. Be blessed, my friends!

Posted in Schooling

The History of Public Education


This is something I’ve been meaning to do some research on for some time, but I just haven’t had the free time to set aside for it as of yet. The beginning of public education, it really makes me wonder. I mean, I can certainly see, when it all got started, how important it was for children to learn to read and write and so on. That’s how it all started, right? The three “R”‘s… readin’, ritin’ and rithmathic?

Yes, very funny…but still…

I know that government and civics are taught to “make better citizens”… or is it? Just this year, or was it the one past, they decided to take out the part in history books where George Washington said his trip across the Delaware was by “Divine Intervention”. Lord knows what else they’ve taken out and not made a public spectacle of.

I don’t know, I guess I just think about it because it has failed my own children so. My son, a high functioning autistic, who was allowed to misspell words, so long as they were “phonetically correct”, although I believe he would have learned, had someone taken the time to teach him. But, how can we expect most public school teachers to do something like that? They are overrun every single day with overcrowded classrooms and a list of demands from the higher up’s that dictates what they can and cannot do. OH the rounds I’ve went with special needs supervisors and principals and tutors and on and on and on.

And my daughter, who suffers from SEVERE social anxiety was labeled DEFIANT because she wouldn’t do her work. Even when her therapist and case worker came to the school and were present at meetings I asked for, they only responded that they were following protocol. Well, I could easily turn that into a rant, but I’ll not, for now.

Anyway, please enjoy this read, as I did. It contains some information I was unaware of, which only leads the way for more questions…we may have a topic miniseries on our hands here, lol.

As always, thanks for stopping by and do share your thoughts in the comments. Any other good reads like this out there? I’ll be researching myself later, as I said, but right now with homeschool and writing and music and all the house stuff that’s always on the list, I’m just strapped for time 🙂

Source: The History of Public Education – Practical Homeschooling Magazine

Posted in Writing

Something New Every Day


I am a Freelance Writer. I write all kinds of things on a billion different topics on a regular basis, and I really enjoy what I do. When I first got started down this road, though, I have to admit that I had no idea what it was going to be like!

Writing for personal goals is one thing. I’ve written successful grant proposals, genealogical pieces, various journals, and entered a good many creative writing competitions (I won my first one in the eighth grade). But it wasn’t until I began writing content as a freelancer that I found out the true meaning of “you learn something new everyday”!

In a lot of ways, freelancing can be that dream job where you can be a stay at home mom and work all from the same place, and it is most definitely rewarding in that regard. My first writing projects were pieces that I had bid on because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I could do a great job on with little effort. I thought that’s how it worked. And really, it can be, if that’s you want. As a freelance writer, you get to accept, turn down and turn in whatever your heart desires. But that doesn’t leave much room for advancement and yes, even as a freelancer, you can advance.

Then the job offers started coming in. I would get requests to write “this” or “that” and I would always write them back and let them know that I was very new to the freelancing world but that I could certainly give it a shot. So far, all but a precious few have taken me up on the offer and what a ride it has been!

My first writing piece that came to me that way was for dog food. When the request came in, I wrote back and said that I didn’t have a lot of experience with, or knowledge about, dog food. We’re from the mountains where we feed them the same thing we eat! But I did relate the story of how we had to buy dog food to mix with baby bird food for our rescue starlings, and how I had to search high and low for the proper protein to fat ratio. I guess that was enough 🙂 I got that job and wrote for this client for about 2 months. Not only did I write about the dog foods with high protein content, but every other kind you could imagine! Let’s just say I know my way around a bag of dog food now 🙂

So far, I’ve built up a pretty extensive list of topics I’ve written about; I’ve researched everything from electric companies and home improvement websites to cosmetic dental procedures and bone broth. And the list goes on and on…tree and yard care, software data recovery, maid services, custom glass works, WiFi advertising, water quality, tax service, etc., etc.

I think it’s safe to say, with the right amount of time and research, I could probably write on just about any topic you want to put in front of me.

And I honestly do learn something new…every day!

 

Posted in Musings

Sleepy Time ….


I remember I use to complain that I couldn’t sleep. And it hasn’t been that very long ago! At least, it doesn’t seem like it. Nowadays it’s all I can do to make it past supper time without crashing out. Then sometimes, I can be so tired I feel like I could sleep standing up and then I get into bed and, as my mother use to always say, I got a case of the “big eye”.

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Well, I highly doubt that tonight I’ll have that big eye. It has been one exhausting week. School started for us on Monday and that means my days now start somewhere between 6-7 am, depending on how late the dog and the bird sleep 🙂 Which isn’t very late when they hear my alarm go off. In addition to school, there is my writing, which has picked up, thank God! And then there’s the seventy-nine times a day that Layla has to go outside because, Lord knows, she can’t live another minute without chasing a butterfly or a grasshopper or a lady bug or a leaf that falls out of a tree! And what would the neighbors do if they didn’t get to see her throughout the day?? I shudder to think…. 🙂

This whole week long I’ve thought back on those nights when I thought I couldn’t sleep, and I have to laugh. Now I’m begging for the chance to drag my butt into the bed by ten o’clock, because I know when I get there, I might not even hold on to consciousness long enough to feel my head hit the pillow. What I’d give for a good solid 8 hours of sleep. So I’m gonna give it a go tonight! I haven’t drank anything since supper and hopefully nothing else will roust me from sleep.

So good night my friends, and as always, thanks so much for stopping by, even if for a silly tale like this one. Maybe I’ll have something more profound tomorrow? Maybe I have something profound right now, I’m just too tired to put the words together 🙂 At any rate, I’m off and I wish you all a good night and good rest. As for me…

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety… Psalm 4:8

Posted in Faith

Forgetting and Letting Go


Sometimes, we are our own worst enemy. I think I mentioned that recently. We have a way of doing to ourselves what no one else can do because who knows US better than WE? Only God. But He is not in the habit of knocking us down with things that have already knocked us down. Maybe He, in His sovereignty, knows that we will do that job well enough without any help at all!

Maybe that’s why He told us not to think about the past. Isaiah 43:18-19 says: Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Really, I suggest reading that entire chapter. It’s really uplifting especially if we’re going through some things. He reminds us that WHEN – NOT IF – we go through things, it won’t be more than we can bear, that He makes a way of escape, or triumph, or some manner of coming away a little better off than most.

Remember a while back, when I talked about the Scripture that tells us His mercies are new every morning? Well, I think it’s an ongoing theme that He would like us to keep in mind. What’s behind us is past and gone and truly, only the memory remains. Tomorrow is forever a day a way, and Jesus says we shouldn’t waste our time worrying about it. But every new day, every single one, is full of mercy and the opportunity to do it all over again, with a better outcome.

Thanks again for stopping by! Have a great day!