Broken Back

Lifting a load of stored clothes In the house 

Crack went the back What a terrible noise 

All the way up

The spine it went

A terrible feeling 

All over my being

Something terribly wrong 

With full bodily sound

Woe filled my soul

With a heart filled bound

With a sound that could be heard

All around the town

The doctors could only wonder

Why I wasn't in pain

As later that day

So close to the spine 

Inches from the backbone

The vertebrae they found

CHOICES

     When God made man he gave him choices. If we had not been given choices, we would not know how good God is. We can either choose to do evil or good. We would just take it for granted everything is going to be perfect today. We wouldn’t be able to know the really good feeling of helping another.Without bad things happening to us, we would not be grateful for God being good to us.

     Without choices we would be robots walking about doing as God pleases. We would not know freedom. God would not have created us human.  To be human is to be human.  If not, then we would be wooden statues to move about as if on a game board. We can only know the really good things because God is good. He is our leader and we desire to please him. God desires a relationship, not someone to order around.

     We don’t want to make bad choices. We need others to share our thoughts with and confer with. That is what makes a relationship a relationship; making decisions together. Diversity makes us different from one another and that helps us make choices together.

     My prayer is that you make a choice to serve God today and everyday. By doing so you will know the good relationship you will know the goodness of God.

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

Ring of Years Gone By

Dinner rings, popular then

Mom saw that I had one on my birthday

Long ago a a thirteen year old

I admired it from then on

And 50 years later

In a drawer it lays

For some unsuspecting girl to hold

For future generations to admire

The Vase

A vase from Grandpa Scott's family

Of the 1850's era 

On the dinning table 

In the middle of the house 

It's familiar placement lay.

Memories of years gone by

Made special as life goes on

Those "golden years" and simpler times 

A home quaint with possessions old and dear

OPEN DOORS

     We will find the answers to life’s questions by opening the door of our minds and hearts to Christ and we will find Him in the open pages of the Bible. There is a way that leads to understanding God’s gift that is lying just beyond the door. Doors are opening for people each day. We just have to recognize the signal.

     Every situation that you face is addressed in the Bible. When we need to hear from God turn its pages and you will find answers to life’s questions. Keep asking for in seeking you will find.

     When in doubt if you are hearing God right when we read; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)

     When we are ill or depressed we have 2 Corinthians 12:9: “…My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made in weakness.”

     When we are miserable and feeling bad, we hear God say, “The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18 NIV).  When we are looking for direct in our life we see: Ask, seek, and knock. For all who seek find, for all who knock the door shall be opened. For everyone who asks receives.

     When we question God and ask Him in which direction we should go, we can be sure He knows the way and we can find answers in the Bible. For direction God says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8 NIV)  

     We must keep seeking new doors to open. The next door that opens for you may be a new world of possibilities.

GOD'S PRESENCE

“The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1 NIV)

     God is not just almighty but, all mighty; mighty in all; most high. He is above all, the power and strength of the mightiest of all creation. He is over all creation. He speaks and mighty are His words. Just a word from His mouth He spoke the world into existence. Talk about the power of the spoken word. This was power above all powers.

     He protects us with His presence. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s presence and gives us power when we have meditated on His word we would not otherwise have. He welcomes us into His presence by His power and might.

     We know the presence of the Lord when we reach deeply into the word of God. Even when hard times come we know He is with us. Because the Bible tells us, “He Himself will deliver you from the ….the destructive plague. His faithfulness will be a protective shield”(Psalm 91:3and 4b NIV)

     When we talk to people, how influential are we? Are we just making conversation or are we influencing them for our benefit or for theirs? Our words are very important. Someone once said, “She doesn’t talk very much”, to which she replied from another person’s quote, “I would rather keep my mouth shut and have people think I’m a fool than open it and prove it.” (Sometimes quoted from Abraham Lincoln, sometimes Mark Twain).

     Our words are a powerful force. They can make someone’s countenance fall are rise. They can lift spirits or bring them down. We have choices to make everyday. We must choose what words are we speaking today and make God’s presence known among the people we meet.

     Do we experience God’s presence every day or just on Sunday when the preacher preaches a sermon. Do we experience God within ourselves then reach others by our words?

     God’s presence is all around us when we just look for it. God’s presence can be in the people we meet. God’s presence is wherever we are. We just have to look for it. If we never reach up, nothing can ever come down.  We look upward for God and He comes downward and lives in our hearts.

Strongholds of Life

Strongholds of Life

By Lanell Stuart

        My daughter was telling me about a house she bought (to resell). There were two fences side by side that held underbrush and trees of all kinds. As the man she hired began to clear the underbrush, he found that they had a stronghold on the fence, in the ground and surrounding area.

     We can find ourselves in strongholds of our life; a place where something annoys us to the point of distraction. There are many strongholds in our life that are negative. Those things that keep us captive from knowing God’s will for our life. Those things that keep us from being happy; that keep us from having a fulfilling life; that rob us of God’s best for us. We can take a curve in the road that leads us to distraction.

       We can drive ourselves into physical disabilities just by becoming too busy. We try to accomplish what God should be doing in our lives. Then life becomes so difficult to live that we give up in despair. Doubts can creep into our thoughts about how capable we are. Then we turn to God as a last resort.

      We may go through perilous times and our journey will be difficult but in the end God’s plan will be fulfilled. I would like to bring to your attention that our strengths can bring us to fulfill our lives for God’s glory. No matter what circumstances we find ourselves, we can be sure God has a plan for our lives. 

       We can turn to a friend and discover she or he is in more dire circumstances than we are. We finally come to the conclusion that we too, can overcome the circumstances of life when others are seeking their strength in the Lord.

      No one had more reason to complain to God about his circumstances than David, being anointed king by Samuel, God’s spokesman. Yet, King Saul would not relinquish his throne to the better and chosen one of God. Saul pursued David many years.

      Our own thoughts can make us strong or defeat us. Turning to the scriptures we see David saying, “…when my enemies and my foes attack me they will stumble and fall.” Verse three: “though an army besiege me my heart will not fear.” Verse one: “the Lord is my light and my salvation.”

     I can relate to these circumstances because my own health having failed me the past year. I see now that there are more dire circumstances others face. I am not feeling as sorry for myself as I once did. I am increasingly turning to friends to help me. Prayer is helping see me through some bad times.

     There is no answer to why God chooses to heal some and not others. But we must try to depend on God through every circumstance we face. Otherwise we would lose hope. Even when we face the New Year our hope is to lean more on the Lord today than we did yesterday. (Psalm 27:1-3 “The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?”)