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My Circumstances Made Me Do It

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A quick study of the line of Kings (and a Queen) who ruled Israel and Judah shows that each ruler had a sentence that summed up their lives:  Either they did right in the eyes of the Lord  or  they had done evil in the eyes of the Lord. King Ahaziah ruled in Judah for a single year and the summary of his life was that he did evil. Ahaziah’s circumstances strongly prepared him for failure.  His father had been king before him and did evil. His mother was Athalia, the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in Israel. (In case their names don’t ring a bell: they were evil and murdered hundreds of God’s servants and prophets. They were the epitome of evil rulers.) 2 Chronicles 22:3 says, “ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly .” (Emphasis added.) Verse 4 continues, “ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done. For after the death of his father they were

Perfection or Bust?

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What is with this tendency I have with the need to get something just right, or giving up altogether? I struggle with this ALL the time! I set a goal, and if I fall even a little short, I throw my hands in the air and say, “Oh well, that’s over.” I am approaching my 40 th birthday and decided to do a specific workout and nutrition plan that is 21 days long. My birthday is on the 21 st , so starting on the 1 st of the month seemed like the perfect (there’s that word again) fit. The goal for me was to greet 40 feeling strong. Week one went really well. This is a big deal to me. It’s about more than weight or jean size. I have a history of back problems and recently had a flare up that had me walking with a cane and in constant pain for several weeks. I had to work hard to get back from that, and I know from getting it right in the past (why did I ever give up?!) that having a strong core keeps the back flares away. Well, then this week hit, and I lost som

Free Proverbs Study Guide, Plus That Time My Bible Told Me To Shut Up!

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After a very busy, ministry-filled summer, I have a gift for you! The first half of this post is a Bible Study Guide for personal use or Small Group use. The second part will share what I learned when my Bible told me to shut up! I am a Bible colorer. Not like the pretty Bible journaling you may have seen, but I mark it up as I read. I have ADD, and while I love to read, I found myself reading entire passages and having no idea what I’d just read because I was also thinking about my to-do list. So I started reading with a box of colored pencils at hand. As I read, I look for things I may come back to, and things that were significant for any number of reasons. This all started when I was learning inductive Bible study from Kay Arthur’s books and found that marking Scripture made focus much easier. So a while ago I was reading through Proverbs and found that I was marking pretty much every verse, which leads to pretty pages but nothing standing out. A few chapters in, I

Seizing God's Promises Fearlessly

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Oh, how this verse has ministered to my soul! In January of 2018, my son swore into the U.S Navy. I was filled with pride followed by waves of fear and worry. That's when God whispered the promise found in Joshua 1:9 right to my spirit. Be strong and courageous, for I am with you wherever you go...  I am with him wherever he goes. I needed those words that day. I needed to be reminded of what I already knew: that I can trust God with my children's futures. I can trust that He loves them even more than I do and that He knows the perfect plan for them. That's a promise I cling to and God helps me to do that without living in fear. For a good while, I saw that verse everywhere - it was quoted in sermons, mentioned on the radio, painted on signs all over, printed on t-shirts... everywhere! After a while, either my sensitivity lessened, or it really did lose frequency, but I didn't see it as often. Like manna, it was there when I needed it. It turns out that l