I made spaghetti with angel hair pasta and garlic butter biscuits for supper tonight.
I love these biscuits.
I don’t measure anything. I just dump a couple cups of self rising flour in a bowl, squish in a heap of Crisco (or lard if you have it), add milk until it’s a thick consistency but still wet enough to be light after baking, and add garlic salt.
While you’re prepping that, set a cast iron skillet with 1/2 stick butter or margarine in the oven while it preheats to 425°.
Once the butter or margarine is melted and bubbly, pull out the pan and drop your mix by heaping spoonfuls.
You can’t tell, but these baked up about the size of my palm. I have no idea how long they were in the oven.
I just eyeball the top.
The bottoms come out tasting buttery and crisp. mmmm
If you like Red Lobster’s biscuits, you can add some grated cheddar to the mix. But I was out of cheese tonight.
Didn’t matter. They were still yummy!
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4
Our family had a very Merry Christmas and we hope you and yours did as well.
We began our celebration Christmas Eve with my children here. You may have experienced the frigid temperatures over the holiday and you may currently be involved in anything to do with wells and pipes on the blackmarket. I’ve never heard of so many pipes freezing and bursting in all my born days. But that’s certainly what happened here in the Carolinas. As a matter of fact, frozen pipes kept my mom and brother from stopping in Christmas Eve. I admit I was saddened by that but I did enjoy the time with my children.
As Bruce and I were doing the final wrapping of gifts before the kids arrived, I noticed a bag with some stocking stuffers in it that I had bought at our church expo in November. On the bag was stamped “You are loved” along with the Scripture reference, Isaiah 41:10. I smiled because I think of my dad a lot, but definitely at Christmas. He loved Christmas and always did his best to make each one better than the last. Isaiah 41:10 was his life verse and seeing “You are loved” on the bag, I just felt the Lord allowed my daddy to send me a hug. I’m thankful for my friend, Janna, at Mama J’s Candles https://mamajcandleco.com/ for always using this stamp on her bags. She wants people to know they’re loved and that GOD loves them. Her candles and waxes are AMAZING. They smell EXACTLY like what they say they are. Be sure to check out her website.
I felt sorry for Hannah. Her sweetheart is a police officer so he wasn’t able to join us. He was working. But not only that, we all shared Amazon Wish Lists and tried to buy each other at least one or two things on that wish list. The way it works, is items on the list will disappear as they are purchased. But for some reason, Justin’s list was leaving in items I had purchased from the list and when Hannah viewed the items, she purchased the same things I did. So he received double the books he wanted and there was one item on Brittany’s list that she ended up doubling up on. Hannah was not a happy camper and I don’t blame her. We’re not sure what happened but we’ll most likely not use that tool next year.
I can’t go into detail but Justin mistakenly ordered something for Hannah that was NOT on her list, nor would she ever put one on her list and that had her laughing so hard she almost couldn’t breathe. We were ALL laughing! Please forgive the Christmas mess, but this picture makes me giggle every time I look at it.
For Christmas dinner I baked a spiral ham with green beans, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, crockpot Mac-n-cheese, and yeast rolls. That was the first time in our marriage I have baked a ham for Christmas. You might have it every year. And we do too at his mom’s. But we usually do pick-ups at my family’s gathering. I enjoyed our sit down supper.
The girls and I had all made our favorite Christmas treats to share with each other and there was so much we decided to make treat bags for people in our churches. Hannah just so happened to have clear treat bags in her car. I loved that we were able to do that.
We started our Christmas morning with a breakfast/brunch at church. I enjoyed that fellowship. It was nice seeing all the people that were able to show up. They had tables out but had to put out more. Isn’t that a good problem to have on a Christmas Sunday!
After a sweet service we we visited with Bruce’s family at his mom’s house. He had one brother and their family that wasn’t able to make it, and we missed them but their family has grown with lots of daughters, son-in-laws, and grandchildren. So they have their time at their home and I love that for them. Maybe some day we’ll have the same at our home.
Big brother Bryan had all the daughters while his three brothers had all the sons. So these are the boy cousins. Hannah was there too, but she had to go to work so I wasn’t able to get her in the pic.
Bruce’s big brother, Barry, made it with his beautiful and sweet wife, two sons, their girlfriends, and children. It’s always a good time when his family is around.
And Bruce’s baby brother, Mitch is here with his precious wife and sons. Mitch is a jokester and there’s no telling what he’ll say. We laugh a lot when he’s around.
And then of course, my brood: Justin, Britt, Harry, and Hannah.
Best of all, we got to see the newest family member. Is he not so handsome? Grandmother wouldn’t let me take her picture, but she did ok the one of her giving him sugars! He just smiled. He tried real hard to eat a slice of his mama’s ham, but after prying it from his clinched fist, he did let me feed him about two tbs of mashed up green beans, mashed dressing, and mashed deviled egg. He was pretty happy about all that. Ha!
Since my mom and brother couldn’t make it Christmas Eve, Bruce and I took their gifts to them. We had a terrific visit. By this time their pipes had thawed and we were all happy about that. My nephew Mikey was there too. We all sat around telling old stories about dad and my brother that passed away in 2004. We laughed a long time that night. It was fun. Mom didn’t want her picture taken, so here’s one of John and Mikey. Betcha can’t guess who they cheer for.
I’m so thankful for the goodness of God on my family. We are truly blessed. We deserve NOTHING. And yet God continues to bless.
This year is coming to a rest and as we prepare to enter the new year, I want to encourage you… and MYSELF… that God is good. He is faithful. And He loves you.
As my friend, Connie, says without fail, every time I see her… “I love you! But God loves you more”
As I am typing it is Dec 20, 2022. WOW! Social media has won over blogging the last couple of years and there have been a lot of changes since I’ve visited this old stomping ground.
The biggest change that has affected everyone, including yourself, no doubt, was C-19. That was the longest two week curve of my life. We lost several friends and family during the labeled pandemic and they are all missed.
Bruce now works for Raush Yates Manufacturing because the job he was working the last 15 years closed last year. Just days of that, we both became ill with the “C” word and he ended up in the hospital for a week long stay. Praise the Lord he came home. We were both afraid during that time but God brought him home.
I finally had surgery in July of 2019. Originally I was scheduled for March but that’s when the you-know-what happened and the night before my surgery I received a call that my doctor had it so it was postponed four months. Which was fine because I was scared anyway. But alas the day came to face my fears and my ankle is now fused. Which makes it more difficult to find shoes, but I’m hooked on Hey Dude’s now. They seem to work the best for me. I also started working outside the home after thirty years. My first day on the job my appendix decided to break up with me so we’re no longer together. Two surgeries in less than a year. I do not recommend. I’m teaching first through fourth grade at a local Christian school. They are doing Abeka video learning but the plan is to eventually move to regular classroom teaching. To be honest, I can not wait for that! I love my job. But those younguns sure run me ragged.haha
Justin and Brittany are doing well. He’s selling homes with Oakwood and she’s still serving at the mission board. Both are helping with the youth at church and busy in the work of the Lord. They took an Alaskan cruise earlier this year and had a wonderful time.
Hannah is working at our local hospital pharmacy and still enjoying her job. She’s met a very nice young man and they seem happy together. She’s also lost well over 100 lbs and looking and feeling great! She bought her a house in 2019 and has loved being a homeowner. She took SIMBA the fat cat with her and adopted him a brother cat named Max. It’s been an interesting relationship for the cats. She was blessed to serve in Hungary over the summer with her church.
Harrison is a barber now and currently working on buying an established shop right here in out small town. The owners of the establishment are the kindest people and Harrison loves them like family. God has blessed him there. He got saved and baptized last year and is a member of First Baptist here in town, alongside Hannah, where they are faithfully serving in music and other facets where they may be needed.
Bruce and I will be celebrating our 32nd Anniversary this Thursday. He usually gets home late but we did make reservations for supper at one of our favorite restaurants, Webb’s Custom Kitchen. It’s built inside a landmark movie theater and a pretty cool place to eat. I am forever thankful for God’s blessings on our marriage. I married a truly unique and wonderful man. There is no one like him.
We joined Cornerstone Baptist Church back in the spring of this year and last night we had our Christmas play where I played Sally Beth. One of five women and best friends on a gospel cruise that end up on a deserted island foraging weekly. Each of us finding goods from the ship wreck and hiding them from each other until the inevitable when we all discover we’ve not been sharing. It was funny with a good message of forgiveness and loving one another and giving Christ His place at Christmas during difficult times.
Something I heard this morning on the radio said, “Christmas isn’t about our feelings. It’s about Christ. It’s not about the presents. It’s about His presence.” Without Christ, there is no Christmas. All the things we love about the holidays are great, but it’s not about those things. Not having those things is ok as long as you have Christ because He’s the reason for this time we celebrate. If you don’t know Christ, you can’t know Christmas, because Christ *IS* CHRISTmas!
I’ve been reading through the book of Joshua and tonight was in chapter 22 where the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar. But in Deuteronomy chapter 12, altars were strictly forbidden unless otherwise commanded by God to build it.
Being on the east side of the Jordan River and away from the other tribes, rumors began to spread through the west side tribes about an altar that was built on the east side.
Uh-oh! There go those nasty rumors! Rumors will absolutely kill the kindred spirit among God’s people. And you know what? This rumor almost did that to the whole tribe of the children of Israel. The west side tribes were ready to go down and fight the east side tribes because in Deuteronomy 13, God told the children of Israel that if they heard one of their towns God had given them was going astray building altars and sacrificing to other gods, they were to investigate it and if it were true, destroy that town completely. They were to kill everyone in it, burn the tents, and bring the plunder to the middle of the city and burn it as well.
So when the west side tribes heard of an altar that had not been commanded to be built, they knew they needed to investigate this. They were ready to go to war.
But as it turned out, upon further investigation, the altar built by the east side tribes (Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh), was set as a memorial to the Lord. They were on the other side of Jordan from the other tribes of Israel and wanted to show they were all one spiritually, by building this memorial.
It wasn’t a sign of rebellion after all!
But it was a sign to signify their unity with each other.
As children of God, Satan would love nothing more than to drive a wedge between God’s people. It’s good to investigate things we’re unsure of. But don’t be quick to jump to conclusions and write off Brothers and Sisters in Christ because of something you hear or read or even see (in this modern day of social media.) We can end up destroying someone because of that.
I’ve been guilty of jumping to conclusions. It’s not a good place to be. And it only hurt others.
Here’s the ending to chapter 22… People get their feelings hurt when they feel they’re under investigation. But guess what? The high priest, Phinehas, told the leaders that they all knew the LORD was with them because the west side tribe meant to see if the east side tribes were being unfaithful to God. They were doing what they were supposed to do to protect the name and reputation of the nation and of their God. Because the east side tribe had no unfaithful spirit, they were fine with the west side’s inquiry into allegations of idolatry.
Everybody hugged and made up. No war. The end.
Can’t you see a couple of the west side tribe members on their camels and one sees the memorial across the Jordan River and says, “Hey, remember that time we almost went to war with our own people over something that wasn’t true?”
When my mother fell in 2013, beside breaking her femur, she cut a very deep gash in her chin and needed stitches. When the doctor came in he told us he was going to put a few stitches on the inside before he stitched the outside. That way there would be minimal scarring and may not even be noticed at all once the healing was finished. The doctor was right! Here in 2018 you can barely see any scarring from that very deep gash.
This was brought to mind today when I was thinking about sin and what our Great Physician has to do from the inside, out in order for us to heal.
Of course we all sin. But I think it’s safe to say that each of us, individually, have a sin that we deal with and need victory over. How do we achieve the victory? We have to renew our minds daily through God’s Word and through prayer.
For me it was bitterness and hatred. Have you been there? ARE you there? You know where the mere mention of a person’s name will cause a dark storm over your day. Quite possibly your week. You think about that person and about things they said and did to you and the people you love and you have some of the most terrible thoughts about them you would NEVER speak aloud to anyone.
I felt that way for nearly twelve years about someone. Then one day I was at a ladies conference and the speaker spoke on pouring our hearts out to the Lord. She said that God knows everything. Therefore, He knows our thoughts and He knows how we feel. He knows when we’re bitter and when we hate someone. But being our Heavenly Father, He wants us to talk to him about it and be honest with Him. And once we do that, eventually we can start praying for that person. And when you start praying for that person it becomes impossible to hate them.
You know what? She was right.
I went home and did just that. I poured my heart to God and told Him how I truly felt about that person. How I truly hated them with every fiber in my body and how I wanted them to be completely miserable in every aspect of their lives and the only way I would get over it was with His help. I told Him a lot more than that, but I’ll keep that between me and Him. I prayed that prayer many times and eventually I was able to speak their name to Him in prayer for them. After praying their name I couldn’t hate them any more. If I saw them out in public today I’d be ok. I could greet them with a smile (cautiously) and have a conversation. I suspect we’ll never be bff’s. Or even just friends. But I can say I don’t hate her and I’m no longer bitter.
Isn’t it interesting how easy it is to hate and how difficult it is to love sometimes? But if God can take out the hate, He can surely fill us with love.
As with any sin in which we need to claim victory, it takes a deep and very personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, our Great Physician, to daily renew our minds in Word and prayer.
Sin is on the inside and can sometimes manifest itself on the outside. But truly it beings in the heart and mind and sometimes God is the only One Who sees and knows the sin battle that rages within us. Our healing begins on the inside and sometimes it’s a hard and long road to a healthy mind and heart in our relationship to God and claiming that victory.
One thing I’ve learned through my experience is to be a friend and keep my mouth shut. Pray for those who are struggling. Be an encourager and an edifier. When you know something is going on in someone’s life, don’t sit down with others and discuss it. Like our Pastor said, no one ever knows the whole and true story and if you feel the need to talk about it, talk it over with the Lord. Because if you don’t, you’re not being a friend. You’re being a hindrance.
Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Ephesians 4:31, 32 “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Proverbs 16:28 “A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.
Hebrews 10:24, 25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
Facebook asks the question everyone wants to know, “What’s on your mind?”
What’s on my mind? The goodness of God! We have experienced Hurricane Florence. She started out as a massive Category 5 and slowly downgraded to a Tropical depression by the time it hit us here. We were expecting Hurricane Hugo results and experienced no more than a summer storm in our area. We were truly thankful for that.
We had to postpone our vacation that we were looking forward to. This would be our very first year without any of our children. We were sad about that fact, but were anticipating a week long trip, just the two of us. It’s ok. For whatever reason the Lord knows best. He saw us through, what could have been, a very difficult time since we have several big trees around our house that could have caused major problems. But we didn’t experience anything more than a lot of small branches and leaves that were blown onto our porch and scattered in the yard. So for that, we are truly thankful. And we’re planning another trip for the near future. We know the Lord has something really wonderful waiting on us!
What’s on my mind? I have several things swirling around in my head. Burdens that I have for my children and a heavy heart about situations that I can’t do anything about but pray. So I’m thankful for prayer. Prayer is a release of our burdens and worries. I remember as a child my daddy would ask what was troubling me. He’d say, “Tell daddy” and I crawl up in his lap or pull my chair up next to his and I’d pour my heart out to him. That’s exactly what God wants from us.
I’ll never forget Mrs. Cindy Owen speaking at a meeting and telling us that God already knows exactly what we’re thinking and feeling, but He wants us to say it to Him. To be honest about how we’re feeling concerning situations and people and circumstances beyond our control. If we’re mad, tell Him. If we’re feeling hate toward someone, tell Him. If we’re concerned, tell Him. And you know what, that really changed my prayer time and how I pray. It truly makes it easier to pray for someone you have aught against when you’re honest with the Lord because saying it to Him helps put our attitude in check. The next time you pray, just tell your Heavenly Father exactly what’s on your heart and mind. It’s so good to snuggle up next to Him and feel His presence when we pray.
What’s on my mind? That Jesus never fails. A young lady in our church sings this song with the Young Adult Choir and it’s a blessing, “Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails, You might as well, get thee behind me, Satan, you can not prevail, because Jesus never fails.” I’m thankful that Jesus never fails. I fail Him every single day. But there has never been a day that He has failed me. Satan can stir up the worries in my head. He can cause a Spiritual storm inside of me. But He can not prevail against the Master of the sea that speaks “Peace. Be still” to my soul.
What’s on my mind? Things that are broken. When Hannah was little she had a horse on a stick that she loved dearly. She’d run all over the house with it and make horse sounds. One day her stick horse broke and she brought it to me and asked if daddy would fix it when he got home from work. She broke it a very bad place and I said, “Baby, I don’t think daddy can fix that.” She replied very matter of fact, “Daddy can fix anything!” When Bruce came home from work she presented her broken stick horse to her daddy and told him, “You can fix it, daddy.” As not to disappoint his “Little Hannah” he took it out to his woodshop, cut off the jagged edge, sanded it smooth and handed it back to her. There was only about a foot of stick left, but she didn’t notice that. All she saw was that her daddy came through for her and fixed her stick horse so she could ride it again. Off she ran with a smile on her face yelling over her shoulder, “I knew you could fix it, daddy!” Sometimes, ONLY our Heavenly Father can fix what’s broken. But the good news about it is, our Heavenly Father…..CAN fix what’s broken.
What’s on my mind? Too much to post on Facebook, but plenty to share with my Father. He never keeps scrolling. He never shares with other people. And He always likes to hear from me.
Our church was honored to host the annual Family Week for World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions. We had many missionaries coming from all over the world to be there.
I helped in the nursery every day for the morning sessions and I’m going to miss those little munchkins.
We tried to keep the older children busy with fun activities this week, like roller skating, laser tag, putt putt, and bowling at the Big E in Gaffney, and water day! Mrs. Janet got two water slides for them and, from what I hear, a lot of fun was had by children and our adult workers, alike!
I believe I heard them say it would be seven years before we hosted again. That kind of made me sad because all those little babies that I got to love on this week will all be in first grade by then. Although in seven years there will be a whole new batch of missionaries coming for Family Week and with them will be a whole new batch of babies to love.
I enjoyed the evening services as well. Our choir sang each night except Wednesday night when our young adult choir sang. We heard singing and instrumentals from a few missionaries and from our own church people as well. And there was great preaching!
The theme for this week was “The Power of the Cross.” Brother John O’Malley’s sermon Monday night was on “Where Would You Be Without the Cross?” We have a Manager (Christ) that sends us to the Multitudes, to give the Message, which is Mandated by Christ.
Brother Wingard (and I have probably spelled his name wrong) preached Tuesday night on “Pure Hearts and Fervent Love.” It is great to serve God, but if love is not in our heart for one another, our service is void.
Wednesday night we got to hear from Caleb Rollins, one of our own young adults at church that just came back from preaching two weeks in the Philippines. His sermon was, “Missions in the Modern Generation.” He used the lives of young people from the Bible to show how we need to have a vision, we need to keep listening, and we need to act upon our calling. I was so proud of him!
And then last night we heard from one of my favorites! I could listen to Brother Danny Whetstone preach all day. He preached from Ephesians 3 on “Beyond Our Fondest Dreams.” When it comes to God’s work, never be afraid to dream big because God can do “…exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…” Whatever it is we want to see of God’s will and in His work, He can make it so much bigger than what we could ever hope to even imagine.
I know this week was all about serving the missionaries and being a help and blessing to them, but I feel I was helped and I know I was blessed this week. I’m thankful we have a mission-minded church and I’m thankful for our Pastor who loves missions enough to open our church doors for World Wide Family Week.
I think one of the biggest and best decisions Bruce and I made as parents was making our children admit and accept responsibility for their actions and attitudes as they were growing up. Even at the ages of three to five (ages of reasoning) when they were tired or hungry I would never let them misbehave and have bad attitudes or make excuses for them in public. If they were tired I would tell them to sleep. If they were hungry I would get them something to eat. But even if conditions were not good for those remedies, they were not allowed to behave badly and we took steps to make sure they didn’t.
As they grew older, if they denied their wrong behavior we made them verbally say it out loud that they were wrong and why they were wrong. It wasn’t often, but when it was needed that’s what we did.
Too many parents today are patting their children on the head and sweeping their bad behavior and attitudes under the carpet. Can I just say that we parents do our children a favor when we teach them to take responsibility for their actions and attitudes toward others and in life’s difficult situations.
Learning to take responsibility helps our relationship with the Lord and we, as individuals, are responsible for our relationship with God. I can’t make my children have a good relationship with Him. I can help them develop a responsible attitude toward their behavior, which I believe benefits their relationship with others and especially with God.
I’ve had to put this lesson into practice recently. I’ve been harboring hurt and angry feelings toward someone to where it was affecting my relationship with Christ. In my heart I’ve been making excuses to God for those feelings and why I’ve had a bad attitude toward them. But you know what? God doesn’t really care what so-and-so said and did to me because my relationship with Him doesn’t have anything to do with them. My relationship with Him is personal, between me and God alone. And having bad feelings toward anyone can hurt that relationship.
That being said, Brother Larry Brown from Iowa preached a message years ago I will NEVER forget called “Then Came Amalek.” In a nutshell it was a sermon on recognizing when Satan is stirring up trouble. It’s usually when things are going on for the Lord.
It took me a few days to realize what was happening was our church just took on a ministry with thirteen churches in the Philippines. What better way to destroy this ministry than to stir up trouble between God’s children?
When my kids are arguing and fighting with one another it causes strife in the whole house. That’s the way it is with God’s people too.
As Christians, we have an opportunity to recognize conflict and to make up our minds to decide we are NOT going to fall for Satan’s divisiveness. But rather forgive and let go of what is going on between ourselves and others. To take responsibility and know that God will bless us for loving one another, even through conflict and disagreement. Because forgiveness breaks chains that hold us back from serving God in the capacity He desires for us.
A few verses came to mind… Mark 11:25, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” See there? When we have bad feelings against someone it creates a bad prayer life between us and the Lord. Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” If Christ can forgive us ALL of our trespasses against Him, then surely we can and should forgive others their trespasses against us.
No one can make our relationship with God good or bad except our own selves. The Bible says in Philippians 2:12 to “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” OUR OWN salvation. I can’t control anyone else’s behavior and attitudes. But I CAN control my own. I can choose to walk away from conflict. I can recognize when the devil is stirring up strife. And I can choose to forgive and love those who hurt me, never looking back and only moving forward.
It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon here in our little home. I only hear the sounds of birds outside and fans blowing in the bedrooms of those taking naps.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. A day we celebrate the memory of those who have fought and died in the service of the United States. Because it’s Memorial Day, we heard a Sunday School lesson and a sermon based around memorials.
As I sat here in the quiet of my living room while the family is resting before the evening service I was reading in a book that I have come to most thoroughly enjoy. It’s pages are short but gives interesting facts about things in history the average person has never heard.
As I was reading this book I came across “Given the Boot.” It’s a story about Benedict Arnold, whom we all know as a traitor. That’s a nice way to be remembered, right? (Insert Sarcasm and a roll of the eyes.)
There’s a boot monument located in Saratoga National Historical Park in New York. It was actually erected in honor of Benedict Arnold’s heroism and his victories in the Battles of Saratoga and for the injuries he sustained to his leg and foot during the battle. To be honest, I don’t recall hearing much about his heroism or his victories. Only that he was once a soldier that became a traitor. Yet, this monument… this memorial… is dedicated “to the most brilliant soldier of the Continental army…winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution and for himself the rank of Major General.” That’s pretty impressive, wouldn’t you agree? However, the sad ending to this memorial is that because he later became a turncoat, the monument does not mention his name and is distinguished as the only war memorial in the entire United States that does not say WHOM it commemorates.
I hope that when this life passes and I am no longer here, that I will be remembered as someone who was in the Lord’s Army, fighting the good fight of faith for the cause of Christ all the way to my very last breath.
Psalm 101:2 “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”
Have you ever read a verse and just one part jumps out at you? For me it was “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.”
I enjoy Facebook and Instagram. Mainly because I can keep in touch with family and friends that don’t live close by. Some are Christian and some are not Christian. I see things on my friends/family’s posts, who do not profess Christianity, that break my heart but don’t necessarily surprise me. And then I see things on the friend/family’s posts, who do profess Christianity that break my heart and do surprise me.
I’ve always told my children, “You can’t expect an unsaved man to live a saved man’s life.”
On the flip side of that, as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we *can* expect a saved man to live a saved man’s life and we are to judge righteously on those actions. For the Christian we have many instructions, warnings, and commands on how to live the Christian life. How to die daily to self. How to behave ourselves wisely in this perverse and crooked world.
It’s heartbreaking to see when Christians try to hold on to the world while professing to the world their Christianity. It’s confusing to the unbeliever what it means to live a life contrary to the world if we, as Christians, are acting like the world. We end up giving off a false sense of what the Christian walk is all about.
Yes, Christians sin. We don’t “make mistakes.” We don’t “mess up.” We sin.
It’s no secret that the words we use in our daily lives makes a difference in how we think and how we react or behave. That’s even more true in the “Christian language.” So lets just call it what it is. Just say it, “I sinned.” It seems to be that we, as a society, do not accept sin. But we do accept mistakes and mess ups. This way of thinking has crept into our churches so that sin (mistakes and mess ups) are becoming more accepting.
Drinking alcohol (warning after warning after warning in Scripture), immodest dress, our loose language, what we watch on television, immoral lifestyles, disrespecting those in authority over us whether it be Physical or Spiritual, etc… What used to be unaccepted in the common Christian home is now widely accepted in the common Christian home.
I was speaking to my friend, Naomi, the other week and we were discussing the lack of personal Bible study in the lives of Christians today. She made a point I hadn’t thought of and that was the internet has made it so easy to have a quick devotion. How true is that? We receive a daily Bible verse or a short devotion for the day in our email and that’s the extent of our daily time with God. Or maybe we just rely on the daily devotional we get from church but we aren’t really getting into the Word of God and studying it like we should for ourselves. Or maybe we’re reading too many man-authored books based on man’s opinions of Scripture and not enough of the God-inspired Book, which is the Holy Word of God.
We have Pastors and Sunday school teachers that preach to us and teach us and they’re spending time in the Word of God each week to do this, but we, as Christians, in our own personal lives outside of the church, don’t spend twenty minutes a day just studying on our own. And I’m not talking about getting our Bibles down and reading a chapter or two a day as if that’s the epitome of Bible study. I’m talking about real study of the Word of God because what good is reading a couple of chapters a day if you’re not really studying and taking it into your heart and mind? I’ve actually known several people that have claimed to have read through the bible several times. Which sounds impressive until you realize they’re clueless to what the Bible actually says.
I read something World Wide Missions posted on their Instagram that said, “If you study God’s Word you will have a good ministry. But if you fall in love with God’s Word you have a great ministry.”
I believe that every Saint of God has a responsibility to study the Word of God. And when we study the Word of God we will fall in love with it, we will desire to follow it’s precepts and its principles, producing a great testimony and a great ministry, whatever that might be.
When I read that verse and those words jumped out at me I had to ask myself, “Do I study enough to fall in love with God’s Word that I behave myself wisely? Am I confusing a lost and dying world into believing that Jesus saves us, but does not change us? Or that He does not call us out from that which He saved us? Am I the stumbling block to those unwilling to accept Jesus as their Savior? Am I a stumbling block to my Brothers and Sisters in Christ? Am I an example of the true believer? Am I the reason my Brothers and Sisters in Christ are chasing more after the world instead of chasing after Christ? Is it me, Lord?”
I think one of the biggest and best decisions Bruce and I made as parents was making our children admit and accept responsibility for their actions and attitudes as they were growing up. Even at the ages of three to five (ages of reasoning) when they were tired or hungry I would never let them misbehave and have bad attitudes or make excuses for them in public. If they were tired I would tell them to sleep. If they were hungry I would get them something to eat. But even if conditions were not good for those remedies, they were not allowed to behave badly and we took steps to make sure they didn’t.
Happy Mama 