Poetry Sunday ~ Why... die

Nebraska sky by Adam

Matt.  26:35 “Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.”

I don’t wanna die

don’t wanna cry

I want to live

I don’t know why…

I’m in a world

Fingers curled

Words hurled

Clouds unfurled

On a throne

I call my own

Never sown

Always shown

Fluttering mind

Winds unkind

Hard to find

Soul entwined

Button eyes

Starry skies

Sudden cries

Then she dies

Quotation Saturday

1 Sam. 2:3 “Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”

DELUSION

“You will never find the real truth among people that are insecure or have egos to protect. Truth over time becomes either guarded or twisted as their perspective changes; it changes with the seasons of their shame, love, hope or pride.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“In reading The History of Nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities, their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.” 
― Charles Mackay

“My father taught me that you can you read a hundred books on wisdom and write a hundred books on wisdom, but unless you apply what you learned then its only words on a page. Life is not lived with intentions, but action.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“In dream, delusion, and fantasy, exist man’s next best reality: that place where he is the creator of his own worlds; where he builds, learns, discovers and entertains; is master of all outcomes, his own god of destiny, and thus the student of his own evolving and ever uncertain truth.” 
― Duane Hewitt

ARROGANCE

“When you think yours is the only true path you forever chain yourself to judging others and narrow the vision of God. The road to righteousness and arrogance is a parallel road that can intersect each other several times throughout a person's life. It’s often hard to recognize one road from another. What makes them different is the road to righteousness is paved with the love of humanity. The road to arrogance is paved with the love of self.” 
~ Shannon L. Alder

“Arrogance is a creature. It does not have senses.
It has only a sharp tongue and the pointing finger.” 
~ Toba Beta

“Be careful not to mistake insecurity and inadequacy for humility! Humility has nothing to do with the insecure and inadequate! Just like arrogance has nothing to do with greatness!” 
― C. JoyBell C.

“Patriotism ... is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.” 
― Emma Goldman

“Arrogance is someone claiming to have come to Christ, but they won't spend more than five minutes listening to your journey because they are more concerned about their own well being, rather than being a true disciple of Christ. Blessed is the person that takes the time to heal and hear another person so they can move on.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

CONCEIT

“Time and time again does the pride of man influence his very own fall. While denying it, one gradually starts to believe that he is the authority, or that he possesses great moral dominion over others, yet it is spiritually unwarranted. By that point he loses steam; in result, he falsely begins trying to prove that unwarranted dominion by seizing the role of a condemner.” 
― Criss Jami

“If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.” 
― C.S. Lewis

“He thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow.” 
― Charles Martin

“Why did you come in to-night with your heads in the air? 'Make way, we are coming! Give us every right and don't you dare breathe a word before us. Pay us every sort of respect, such as no one's ever heard of, and we shall treat you worse than the lowest lackey!' They strive for justice, they stand on their rights, and yet they've slandered him like infidels in their article. We demand, we don't ask, and you will get no gratitude from us, because you are acting for the satisfaction of your own conscience! Queer sort of reasoning!... He has not borrowed money from you, he doesn't owe you anything, so what are you reckoning on, if not his gratitude? So how can you repudiate it? Lunatics! They regard society as savage and inhuman, because it cries shame on the seduced girl; but if you think society inhuman, you must think that the girl suffers from the censure of society, and if she does, how is it you expose her to society in the newspapers and expect her not to suffer? Lunatics! Vain creatures! They don't believe in God, they don't believe in Christ! Why, you are so eaten up with pride and vanity that you'll end by eating up one another, that's what I prophesy. Isn't that topsy-turvydom, isn't it infamy?” 
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Arrogance is perhaps the most socially acceptable form of sin in the church today. In this culture of abundance, one of the only ways Satan can keep Christians neutralized is to wrap us up in pride. Conceit slips in like drafts of cold air in the winter. We don't see it, but outsiders can sense it.” 
― David Kinnaman

HYPOCRISY

“Often those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion -- against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas.” 
― Johnny Cash

“He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” 
― George Orwell

“Those who plead their cause in the absence of an opponent can invent to their heart's content, can pontificate without taking into account the opposite point of view and keep the best arguments for themselves, for aggressors are always quick to attack those who have no means of defence.” 
― Christine de Pizan

“To pretend, I actually do the thing: I have therefore only pretended to pretend.” 
― Jacques Derrida

ACTION

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe.” 
― Mitch Albom

“People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear, and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that sometimes the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action.” 
― Steve Maraboli

Prophecy - End Times

Ezek. 12:2 “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.”

I know quite a few people who see the prophecy of the Bible for them and not us. For them I mean the people ‘over there’ and not here, in America. Do you really think that one of the most powerful countries in the world was left out of biblical prophecy? Why, because it was written so long ago? In the book of Revelation God spoke of the ‘End Times’ and you think he was talking just about the people in ‘other’ countries? Israel alone?

Do you believe the God who breathed the world into existence, knew the beginning and the end, would leave a country, a nation so full of sin out of the end times? So you think the end is only going to come to the other countries and God will spare America? Because we’re all that? I’m not a realist and even I can think in realistic terms concerning the end. America is not exempt!

In all my years of reading, studying and trying to understand the vast amount of truth in the writings of the Bible, I never one time thought that America was going to be excluded from the End Times. God did not specifically say the word America but He alludes to it in many references.

Haggai 2:[6] “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
[7] And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Isa. 66:18-20 [18] For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
[19] And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. [20] And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

Zech. 12:[2] “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
[3] And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Just as when he said “an eye for an eye” did NOT mean to pluck out the eye of another, the use of metaphors are rampant in the written word of thousands of years ago. To understand prophecy in the Bible you must understand metaphors and their meaning. Maybe this is why I’ve been a poet since as young as I can remember, I understand the difference in a metaphor and literal meaning.

Ezekiel 38 is full of end time prophecy and understanding this book with eyes wide open, not sleeping, you might see what God is trying to tell you. After some digging and research, I found that my thoughts are not mine alone. Now that I have the internet, my thoughts have reached a reality shared by other men and women who see.

Again, while granted I may be thought a strange one, these thoughts were in my mind before I could ever understand what they meant. My heart knew America was not exempt from End Times, my soul knew where I’d be in the End Times, and the momentum of my thoughts finally caught up with other people who see the same thing. Praise be to God!

While man is distracted with satans willpower by having them enmeshed in the here and now, worrying about idle chit-chat, engaging in senseless banter, he sweeps the shores and you’re caught unaware. He has you not believing in angels because he has unleashed a legion to thrive here on earth with you and you drink from the bath of his deceit.

There’s a reason I don’t tie myself up in prophecy and it’s because I’m awake, I see and am not blind to the truth right under my nose. Do you think our ‘nation’ is covered in evil because that is just the way humans evolved not ape to man but from good to evil? No, it’s because satan veiled our eyesight so we see only what he wants us to see. Is it a coincidence that veil is an anagram of evil? I don’t believe in coincidence.

Ecc.3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
[2] A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
[3] A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
[4] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
[5] A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
[6] A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
[7] A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
[8] A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

May the Light of the Lord shine on you all and give every one of you a reason, a season, a lifetime.

God Bless you!

1 Pet. 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Praise and Worship

google image

When I was but six years old I decided I wanted to praise and worship God. Six, you might ask? Yes! I went to Catholic school and my very first teacher was a nun, Sr. Kathleen. I asked her why she was a nun and she told me, “Because I wanted to give my life to God.”

As you can imagine, at the time I didn’t understand what she was saying but I too wanted ‘to give my life to God’, I had to learn about Him more first. And learn I did! By second grade we were allowed our first Holy Communion and I, in my hand-me-down white lace dress that was first worn by my much shorter sister, proudly felt like a princess and gave my life to God after all, I did get to eat his Body. I knew in a lightning-flash instant that God was not looking at my dress or knobby knees, He was looking at my soul!

Rom 7:4 “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

1 Cor. 10:16 “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

1Cor.12:27 “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

Eph.4:12 “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”

Besides learning from the nuns about God, my most prized memories were our praise and worship in church. Hymns seemed to me to be like a direct connection to God Himself because when I sang I felt something move inside, it wasn’t hunger pains per se, it was the Holy Spirit gurgling in there and I knew this! I was hungering for Him!

Eph.1:13 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

Eph.4:30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

1 Thes. 4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

Then by the eighth grade I was well on my way to having a deep crush on Jesus. He was my first love. Not in a sexual way like other crushes, no, this was a deep love and I knew then that I was His and He was mine for life, for eternity. Praise and worship took on a new shape, form and meaning. 

Sure I strayed down the wrong path a few times but He always guided me in the right direction and led me to a song in my heart and music for my soul, the wonderful sound that rang in his ear. After I got over wanting to be a nun, I was led to different churches and many different religions but what was strong in each was the praise and worship music.

Hymns in the Catholic church, semi-hymns in the UCC church, then Grace church had an entire different meaning in praise and worship, one that God led me to knowing I thirsted for more; hand raising and Lord praising. I found a place where there was no shame in loving God. We didn’t just stare at each other like we’d all gone mad, we were united in Christ, in our love of Christ! We praised our God and  connected on the love for Him that we all shared.

Judges 5:3 “Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.”

1Chr. 23:5 “Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the LORD with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.” 
[30] And to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at even;

See that? EVERY MORNING! Not once a week. 

2 Chron. 5:13 “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;”

Pss.9:1 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
[2] I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.
[11] Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
[14] That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.

Pss. 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Pss. 35:28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.  
(not just DAILY but all day long!)

Pss 71:8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

Pss. 28:2 “Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.”

Pss 63:4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

Granted I may be strange to many but not to my Lord and Savior. He made me perfect in his sight so I will praise and worship Him and all His creation! It is the LEAST I can do for a God who sent His Son to shed blood for lil’ ol’ me! I close my eyes and open my heart and rejoice in praising His name.

False Prophets

Discernment comes when you meditate on the word of God day and night. The Spirit reaches into your soul and fills you with the truth that only He can give. False prophets tell you what you want to hear and more times than not, it is lies.

“An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign…. “ (Matthew 12:39)

Matt. 12:39 (KJV) But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas”

“…I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119:128b)

Pss.119:126 (KJV) It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
[127] Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
[128] Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
[129] Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.
[130] The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
[131] I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
[132] Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
[133] Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
[134] Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.
[135] Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
[136] Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.
[137] Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

People seem to tune into every wind of doctrine that a pastor, leader or Church sermon can lay at their feet. If we are so easily swayed how then will we know when it is the Lord who is speaking to us?

I see so many boasting the word of God, but very few living the Word of God! The first to come to mind is say, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen. They seem to be the false prophets of the day while there is many more leading you to believe what they’re selling. You unwillingly saunter right into their puffed up vanities and feed their ego allowing them to believe that they ARE spewing the Word. It is their truth, not the biblical doctrine I have come to know, love and live.

2 Cor. 10: [3] For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
[4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
[5] Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
[6] And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
[7] Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

Oh foolish nation…

Deut. 32:21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

How to spot a false prophet?

When their outward appearance is more important than their inner self.

When they can dwell in a mansion and have the poor at their gates. Take notice!

When the cost of their shoes was more than your last meal. 

When they ask for money, all in the name of God, and call it tithing to make you feel guilty. (Tithing is done from the heart, not out of guilt)

When they tell you that tithing will bring you closer to God. (this is the biggest lie!)

My friends, allow me to say, there is no way a minister, a church or a religion will bring you closer to God unless you seek Him first from the inside of YOU! The way to God is to pray and meditate on His word day and night and allowing Him to LIVE through you DAILY. (Notice I didn’t say weekly?)

Pss. 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Pss.63:6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Pss.77:12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Pss.119:15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
[23] Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
[48] My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.
[78] Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
[148] Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

1 Tim 4:15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

Listening to a minister or pastor is all well and good, but not meditating on what they are saying and taking the words spoken to God, leaves you an open doorway for False Prophets to walk right in and deceive you. When you TALK with God, you learn to WALK with God and all without one ounce of boasting will the world see the benefits. 

May the Light of the Lord bless you all on your journey!

Sight

Sometimes we see only what we want to see. I try to see what God sees when looking out at mankind. I’m as discouraged as Him.

Ruth 2:13 “Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.”

1 Chron. 22:8 But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

Neh. 1:11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

Pss. 9:19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

Pss. 76:7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

Pss. 101:7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

Ecc. 2: 26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecc. 8:6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

Isa. 38:3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

Mal. 2:17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Rom. 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

2 Cor. 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)   <--- b="" emoticon="" first="" found="" here="" in="" is="" kjv.="" smiley="" the="">

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[13] Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Heb 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

May God bless you all!

Faith

God, like faith, cannot be seen or proven, it must be felt within and carried with you daily. Allow your testimony of His blessings be your proof!

Heb. 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Heb 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Pss. 12:1 “Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.”

Pss 89: [1] I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
[2] For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
[5] And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
[8] O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
[24] But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
[33] Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
[37] It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

Isa. 25:1 “O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.”

Matt. 6: 30 “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

Matt. 17:17 “Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.”
[20] “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Acts 16:5 “And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.”

Acts 26:18 “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Rom 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
[12] That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
[17] For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

God Bless you all!

Quotation Saturday

Job 16:20 “My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.”

DONE

“Thy will be done, my Lord. Because you know the weakness in the heart of your

children, and you assign each of them only the burden they can bear. May you

understand my love–because it is the only thing I have that is really mine, the only thing that I will be able to take with me into the next life. Please allow it to be courageous and pure; please make it capable of surviving the snares of the world.” 

― Paulo Coelho

“There are greater things to be achieved in every new year, and each and everyone must prepare themselves to be great, not by words of the mouth, but by alot of sacrifices.” 

― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Only one life, it will soon be past,

only what’s done for Christ will last.” 

― Elizabeth George

“Every work you do should be done unto the Lord and your love to God must show in the quality of your product” 

― Sunday Adelaja

“I climb mountains, while you keep sinking in sand.” 

― Jenna Karel

FINISHED

“What's done is done. Say good-bye to the past, and hello to the future And we're

wasting time, when already we've wasted enough. We've got everything

ahead, waiting for us. "Just the right words to make me feel real, alive, free! Free enough to forget thoughts of revenge.” 

― V.C. Andrews

“I decree and I declare that I am not a raw material but rather a finished product. God knows me and knows the reason for which he created me. I am not here on earth to merely live and depart.” 

― Israelmore Ayivor

“I am committed to my dreams.

It does not matter how slow, I am moving towards my dreams, I will get to the finish line.” 

― Lailah Gifty Akita

“It's over. Absolutely, completely, eternally over” 

― Alyson Noel

THE END

“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun! Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!” 

― C. JoyBell C.

“the nurse smiled and patted my arm. “Don’t give up yet. Sometimes when we think God has written The End, what he really means is The Beginning.” 

― Rachel Van Dyken, Ruin

“So this is how it ends, she thought, when the call was over, and she was soothed by the banality of it.” 

― Emily St. John Mandel

“Regardless of how important we are, our importance is made important in the impacts we make on earth” 

― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

GOODBYE

“What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” 

― Jack Kerouac,

“The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. Maybe they always have been and will be. Maybe we've lived a thousand lives before this one and in each of them we've found each other. And maybe each time, we've been forced apart for the same reasons. That means that this goodbye is both a goodbye for the past ten thousand years and a prelude to what will come.” 

― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“I hope no one who reads this book has been quite as miserable as Susan and Lucy were that night; but if you have been - if you've been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you - you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness. You feel as if nothing is ever going to happen again.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

“I was trying to feel some kind of good-bye. I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don’t care if it’s a sad good-bye or a bad good-bye, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t you feel even worse.” 

― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

“Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.” 

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

“Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry.” 

― Dr. Seuss

The Snowstorm

Luke 8:23 “But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.”

The impending storm has the media all up in arms causing people to panic using words like historic, devastating, menacing and catastrophic. While the media likes to blow things out of proportion I personally, having lived on the east coast for 37 years of my life, can add simple words to tell the truth of the matter like immobilizing, standstill and simply put, a snowstorm.

My mother tells me they have already closed schools for the day (Friday) and the storm isn’t going to hit until tonight! They are calling for one inch of snow today, 8-12 this evening with high winds, and tomorrow an additional 10-14 inches! While this storm will put traffic at a standstill and immobilize the millions that are crammed into Maryland it is also going to affect millions of others from the surrounding states. While a lot of people are joking saying:
“It’s a snowstorm deal with it.”
“So much for Global Warming!”
“I guess Climate Change was a farce.” And the ever popular,
“You haven’t seen a snowstorm until you lived in ______!” put any northern state in the blank.

What will be on the rise during this storm I can assure you, will be ignorance, speed demons, hurried people, car wrecks, selfish antics and greed.

What I’d like to SEE during this storm and will happen but on rare occasions is compassion, concern and consideration. Trust me, I’ve lived through quite a few of these colossal blizzards in my lifetime. 

The people in the North will make fun of the people in the South for their inability to handle ice and snow as if they deal with that stuff all the time. I lived in Texas a few years and no, they can’t handle snow and ice only because they’re lucky (or not) to see the stuff maybe once in ten years! Where the people in the North have had to deal with storms of massive proportions yearly.

When Steven bought his Ford Explorer years ago in Texas, it wasn’t a four-wheel drive but when we got to Nebraska and had to buy a new truck it is all they sold, 4 wheel drives. When asked WHY the difference, the seller simply put, ‘they don’t need 4 wheel drives in the south.’

As our self-centered ME generation plows ahead all that they can think to do is make fun of people? Seriously? Every storm is different but rest assured there WILL be casualties, there will be homes, houses and cars destroyed, backs will be injured, elderly will be left powerless and the homeless will suffocate and die. And all you can do is poke fun? Maybe you’re also proud of the person you’ve become?

It seems like an all to often knee jerk reaction making fun of the less fortunate but it is getting really old this day and age, in my book. I remember more times than once taking eight hours to shovel out a car and its parking spot only to move the car and someone else jump into your hard work. I remember bailing out three, four, ten neighbors at a time so they could see the outside world in the midst of a two foot snow barrier and yes I remember taking the elderly food during these rough storms! 

But today? People will shoot you for a parking spot, elderly will be left to die, neighbors will build walls of discontent to have everything THEIR way. That’s just the way the world is these days.

Eight inches of snow in Nashville Tennessee? While all of you Climate Change scoffers sit there and laugh please be aware of the drastic changes going on around you that you can SEE if only you had eyes to see. Climate Change by definition states: a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.

Now I have not done any scientific research on Climate Change but I am not so stupid that I can’t SEE visually what is going on around me! Let me just say, the week of December 25th, Baltimore saw temps in the seventies and had people jogging around the Inner Harbor in shorts and tank tops and note that this current blizzard is the FIRST snowstorm of their winter season!

Hurricanes raging in the Atlantic in January, snow in Texas, El Paso no less, tornadoes in many places that’s not normal for JANUARY, Fracking causing earthquakes in Oklahoma and yet you still laugh?

We the people are destroying the earth and all you can do is sit and frantically post silly BS on facebook and twitter? I sit in awe of your selfish ego. Compassion is more than just reading and reposting what you can on the internet. Loving God is more than just spouting a few words of praise. Being Christ-like is more than just being nice to a person. It SHOULD be a way of life and for some it IS a way of life. 

My prayers go out to the people in the midst of the storms. My prayer is for them to look at the world and slow down. The world, hopefully, will still be here next week so what is the hurry to grab bread, milk and toilet paper? Remember, to love one another as you love yourself! If you can’t love someone you’ve never met, you have very little love for yourself. 

Mark 12:31 “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

Going Deeper with God

Isa 33:19 “Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.”

Going Deeper with God

My New Year desktop image is of a sunrise peeking over the horizon. The words on the page are Happy New Year; Go deeper with God this year. I chose this image because every morning I wake and see the sunrise in a new light. This is my hope for this year, that I may see God in a new light also, instead of the same old God that I’ve spent time with in years past.

The same old God, you might ask? Sometimes we get too comfortable with our knowing God and sometimes we need to be shaken out of our comfort zone to see Him in a new light. We go through the motions day after day, read our bible in the same old way, get cozy within our skin and continue on our path of sin because, well we’re comfortable in knowing that we’ll be forgiven. 

This comfort zone should scare many. When you get too comfortable, God usually throws something out there to shake you up a bit, to wake you up and say wait a minute! I found this to be true thirteen years ago when I was too comfortable in my marriage and my relationship with God. So comfortable I allowed myself to be used and abused so much so I became a broken shard of glass seeking anything to save me and put me back together.

My family was consumed with their own lives to worry about lil ol me and God gave me the shake up of my life that would alter who I was and who I was about to become. No, God doesn’t send you a married man but he does witness a broken soul and will bring two broken souls together to become one fixable piece of artwork, His work. 

Pastor Mike said something that struck me. Someone had asked him why God protected her while not protecting others. He said, ‘because you’re a child of God, the other person had nothing to do with Him.’

When we become a child of God, we fall under the protection of a Father, a heavenly Father who will watch over us from above. Just like our dad on earth, we become too comfortable in knowing he’ll take care of us when we get in trouble but when God calls him home, we feel we’re out here on our own depending solely on God to protect us. He is our only resource.

Our mother is the nurturer while our father is the strength we turn to in our time of need. If our father has passed away, we rely on God to be our strength when we need Him. Again, we tend to get too comfortable figuring He’ll bail us out; sin or no sin, He’s got our back. 

With all of the deaths happening recently, it had me thinking, was God protecting those people from all the evil in the world and were they children of God? I don’t know, which gives rise to my second question, are they all basking in the glory of Heaven? Had they gotten so comfortable with their belief in God that they forgot to think of Him in recent months before their death?
This is why we need God daily and not just casual weekly visits to a church. This weekly visit does not absolve you of the daily need to bring Him into your day. We need to go deeper with God and that doesn’t mean memorize scripture verses, post more Godly memes or try to appear to be one with God. Going deeper with God means just that, to know Him deeply, understand His ways, live His truth and be like the Son he sent to die for you. When you get too comfortable, you begin to show signs of straying.

When I see people rambling on with hate in their mouths and conveying negative thoughts I think what that person must be suffering from. Why does he or she hold onto so much hate and ignorance while claiming to love God? I never understood the imbalance that goes on in the world and as * I * go deeper with God, I can see that even He scratches His head watching his kids destroy this beautiful creation.

Even as He placed a warm blanket of protection over me many years ago, I still fall and His fatherly strength picks me up and moves me along the way. As I shuffle forward, I realize I am going deeper with God, in meaning, in understanding, in hope and in faith. 

1 Peter 4:10, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." (NIV)

A few pics

2 Chron. 20:21 "And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever."

I'd like to share some of my pics I never use. They have beauty that needs to be shared!

This one was from our days in Texas. No, not my home but I would've loved to live in these days where life was much simpler.

This is one from the Moody Gardens in Houston Texas.

As is this one.

I don't share these pics as often as I should. Hope you enjoy the blessing from God that we embrace daily. 

See beauty in ALL of the world!

God Bless you!

Poetry Sunday ~ Stardust Sand

google image

Job 38:7 “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

Stardust Sand

Friends often come and go

Acquaintances pass you by

Souls that meet on stardust sand

Will give you wings to fly.

Land is stiff yet supple

Footprints dot the path

Darting here and over there

Meeting raindrops wrath

God extends his hand to you

And pats you on your way

He never lets your fall 

Define who you are today

A friend is one you turn to

When soaring through the sky

You're souls that met on stardust sand

God gives you wings to fly.

Quotation Saturday

Luke 8:10 “And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.”

HOPE

“The purest moment, tranquil hour of Earth's expectancy. We lay on the soft rose sands beside the sleeping sea in happy land of fragrant meadows I dreamed a dream of. The whisper of the tide, the sighing of the trees. You gentle silver song births my soul aloft upon the inspiration of your nurturing verse with sweet devotion, and flames before me like a holy vision, initiating me into life's beauty and comforting with quiet hope and ease... I feel the ardent flutter your heart gives for delight; you know how Earth is glad and hushed under the tent of purple night that soon to cover us. It glimpses fate's sacred essence with only God to witness...” 
― Oksana Rus

“If you see the world and yourself through a lens smudged by negativity then you’ll find much misery. If you look outwards and inwards through lens brightened by positivity you’ll find much to be happy and appreciative about.” 
― Henrik Edberg

“Those who look behind will never see beyond.” 
― Sherry K. White

“While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.” 
― Dorothea Lange

SPIRIT

“Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time. Our inner lives are eternal, which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous as when we were in full bloom. Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything, but the alpha and omega. An end in itself.” 
― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

“We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.” 
― Hermann Hesse

“It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,” 
― Amit Ray

“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.” 
― Albert Einstein

TREASURE

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 
Luke 12:34 King James Version

“A star falls from the sky and into your hands. Then it seeps through your veins and swims inside your blood and becomes every part of you. And then you have to put it back into the sky. And it's the most painful thing you'll ever have to do and that you've ever done. But what's yours is yours. Whether it’s up in the sky or here in your hands. And one day, it'll fall from the sky and hit you in the head real hard and that time, you won't have to put it back in the sky again.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.” 
― L. Frank Baum

“Ours is a culture and a time immensely rich in trash as it is in treasures.” 
― Ray Bradbury

ANGELS

It's so dark right now, I can't see any light around me. 
That's because the light is coming from you. You can't see it but everyone else can.” 
― Lang Leav, Love & Misadventure

“Nobody's perfect. We're all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels.” 
― Jeannette Walls, Half Broke Horses

Mark 12:25 “For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.”

Heb. 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Thumbprint On My Soul

Acts 2: 26 “Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:”

Yesterday my day was going along normally with me pitter-pattering around. I left to go to the store and in this small town that takes an hour or so. The drive was nice, the scenery was beautiful as the sun blemished the brown fields, and gas is a pretty low penny so the fill-up meant my day was going nicely as I silently rejoiced in all of God’s blessings. 

I returned home to see a package on my steps. Another praise Jesus moment because the postman usually takes it back to the Post Office and leaves me a note to pick up the parcel. Not this day and I was so glad because I had been waiting for this package for four whole days!

If you remember back in December when I received a box, there was some damage in the way that the Old Bay had exploded all over everything and left all of the contents smelling, how shall I say – seasonal? After all, it was Christmas and the rush to get packages delivered probably became a hurried chore and boxes got damaged.

Not this box though, no way, this was the box with my necklace that my mother purchased for me (and one for my sister) when my father passed away. It is a beautiful shiny pendant that not only has my fathers’ actual thumbprint on the front, it has my dads date of birth and death on the back along with his name. Talk about holding a part of my father in my hand. My eyes overflowed with tears as I held it to my heart and wept. 

Earlier in the day when my mother left me a message that she took her medicine, (this is my way of making sure she takes her medicine every day, because I NEED her alive) she said my father woke her up. I chuckled. So here my dad woke her up, made sure my package was on my steps, and when I called mother last evening our nightly ritual began. 

We started talking about my dad waking her up. She said, “Joni, I was sound asleep and I hear a tap tap tap on the bedroom door and I jumped up.” She went on to tell me how my dad always came to check on her by eleven in the morning to make sure she was alive? And he’d do so by tapping on the bedroom door. 

This isn’t the first instance that my dad has made himself known to her. There are just too many times to mention and no, my mother is not insane, she is in love and misses her best lifelong friend and he lets her know he is ever present in their home. I don’t judge because I’ve had my own experiences with my dad in some form communicating to me. 

For instance, I was in my laundry room talking to my mother. We were talking about the necklace and the box and all that was in the box and at that moment, all the lights on my washing machine lit up as if it was going into cycle. No, it was off, but all of the lights blinked on and chills ran up my arm and I just smiled because to me, my father was letting me know that he was there. 

I have a friend who just lost her father and I bet she has the same instances where her dad is letting her know and the rest of her family know, that he is a okay! I have a lot of friends actually who know what to look for in seeing their loved ones who have passed. I also know a lot of folks never see anything and I think it is because they’re just not believers in anything spiritual or supernatural, you know, things you can’t explain? Well, to non-believers nothing ever happens. To believers, we see everything!

My father left a thumbprint on my soul and now I carry his very thumbprint next to my heart. And coincidentally, there’s a hurricane out in the Atlantic. The first time in January since… the year my dad was born. They even named it after him, Alex! *wink wink*

God rest your soul, Dad!

Mark 8:18 “Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?”

I Love My Friends

I love my friends

I have a virtual family that lives inside my computer. I’ve known them for quite a few years and we’re often bouncing around the virtual walls and I have come to call them dear friends. They share snappy images of their treasured children, their beloved pets, their charming homes, their snow-laden paths, and their flower-filled gardens; they even get personal and share their intimate life of ups and downs.

Some of these friends are recent acquaintances while others are years long writing friends. Some are battling illness while others are rejoicing in health, others have parents or children that have passed, and others have parents/friends/family in the hospital. Many seek prayer, some seek peace and more times than not they just want to share their life with the world or a small portion of the world anyway. All in all they have become my virtual spiritual family whom I love dearly, enough to trust and give my physical address.

Some of my friends though, I suspect of being possessed by spybots. I haven’t been a part of the virtual world for too long but I learned quickly what spybots were, in essence making me set moderating comments here on my blog because they inundated the comment section with spam, not the kind you eat either.

Some of these suspected spybots over on facebook rarely have an actual thought. They smear the walls with other people’s pets, artistic homes and fatty food, while washing their mouth out with dirty laundry by posting anything and everything political that runs across their screen. These droids fill the airwaves with what they THINK we want to hear and see. Following the doo-doo wherever it may lead. It’s a conspiracy, man!

The spybot villains enlisted me also, I was thinking maybe that is how people really are supposed to portray themselves in the social media world, but it came back to bite me and I made certainly clear that I wanted no part in their shenanigans, and that’s that!

In my spirit-filled life-altering bout of change I see things differently now. I can see also that some of my compadres have seen the light too and have altered their change so that we can all illuminate the world together! BooYa!

I do have some of the wackiest, weirdest, strangest, lovable, fun-loving, God-fearing, compassionate and most awesome friends on the net and I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world… okay maybe one. No, seriously, I love them all dearly! I just had to put that out there in case they don’t already know that they change my world and make it feel right. They’re the bubblewrap that puts a pop in my day! Just sayin’.

Continued Change

Pss. 55:19 “God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.”

Change…I can smell it in the air.

Ah, the year of change has commenced. I can smell the aroma as it drifts in my window, I can see it pass me by in my words, I can feel it erupting in the core of my being, change the ever fearful stir. 

Some people face change like a thick wall of mud, they can feel the impending surge coming but they’d rather walk through the wet clingy mud and drag their feet along until it hardens on their feet leaving them growing stagnant stuck in nothingness. In other words, they stay the same never embracing change and turn into a rock-solid mudpack.

The moist stench that this unchanging community leaves behind is nothing to be reckoned with. They will spout the darkened soil, cling to the cracks in the road and try to move into a positive sand-filled vicinity but would much rather just linger with their shoes stuck in the mire.

Rom. 1:25 “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”

This change I sense is not one of my own making. I didn’t set a date and say, this is it, this is the year of change. No, it bubbled down inside of me around September and built itself into a surge that was released by the end of the year. I felt the geyser of emotions inside and knew I had to take a form of action. I’m not one to allow my soul to stagnate because I fear change, I embrace the force that calls me into an active pursuit of positive energy, meaning change is inevitable; cradle and nurture it until something beautiful forms. 

If we cling to the negative energy that is released in the world, and it is there, we cling to a darkness that envelops our soul and never allows streams of change into our being. If we allow the negative influx to win, we are allowing our ego to take the reins and put its own spin of confusion on the table. Our babbling becomes just that, babble that no one wants to hear. Everyone sees the walls of gibberish and passes by quickly so as not to be affected by the negative overtone.

Now, take the reins of change and put them through a whirlwind of a positive nature, then people stand up and take notice, they listen to what you have to say, are delighted by your presence instead of being filled with emotional turbulence. No longer driven by the ego, the world around you takes on a different form. It begins to be satisfied with the change that surged within you and surfaced on the path of honor. You find contentment with the light of each new day because within you is sheltered the glorious light of God. 

Can the world run on light alone? No, there needs to be darkness so we can see the tiny glimmer of hope in the stellar nation that emits light. Can the world run on change? Yes, as long as it is not a forced change and allowed to flow from within, the world could be a beautiful effervescent place. Will it ever be content? No, because people want what they want when THEY want it and there is NO change in that position, stagnant. The earth becomes a gurgling cesspool of mudslides and the people of the earth become mummified. 

Change, it can only happen from within. That is our greatest challenge.

1 Cor. 15:51-52 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Beauty

Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

A visiting bunny

An Egret       

 Cows in the Field (Nebraska)

Life!

Questioning Everything

1 Tim 1:4 “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.”

When I was little I was always questioning everything from why the earth was round to why trees grow upward toward the heavens. Yeah, my quizzical mind sought God from the very early breaths of living and to this day I still question God about everything relying not on my own understanding.

Some people are a little uneasy with the winds of change, afraid of being put out of their comfort zone. While others embrace the change and actively pursue answers (not via the net mind you) to all of their questions. Some even pretend to be seeking all the while clinging to what they only think to be true when in reality they never sought the REAL truth.

Pastor Mike said, “God uses you to bring people to Him.” That really hit home since the New Year has brought about change, I can see Him working through my delicate words to reach you, my avid reader. I’m not here to judge you or change you; I’m here to reach you in places you might need to be reached. 

God is not on a lot of people’s minds these days and that is understandably so since they’re consumed in the here and now and not what was and always will be. They’re busy wondering what they’ll wear for the day, what shoes look right with that shirt, what’s happening on the net and there you have it, a world being eaten alive by the internet. 

If I had the power, I would obliterate the communications called the internet for at least a year and watch the world scramble with what to eat or what to wear or maybe be forced to read the newspaper to see what politician is doing what. I almost feel as though I time-warped from another century and was placed here and surely don’t fit in anywhere. This finds me questioning everything.

Yes, I USE the internet and I like the speed of finding answers to my questioning. Yes, I blog but do not allow the net to own me. I don’t carry the world in a palm-sized instrument or feel the need to hold one in my hand and tell the outside world what every second of my day consists of.

My niece, who is sixteen, received a $200 dollar phone for Christmas and just this weekend the phone was stolen while at a friend’s party. My sister’s logic is ‘she HAS to have a phone’, and my logic is WHY??? Why do kids NEED these phones when they’re not mature enough to take care of them or handle them responsibly?

We’re living in a generation of at your fingertip technology and it is being abused in more ways than one. While I would miss it for a year, the kids today could not even function without their phones or the net for a year. I wonder how many honestly could. The generation who never had it all of their lives will say they could function without the net for a year but I wonder, could they really?

I question why some people believe the earth is only 6000 years old while others believe it to be millions of years old. Even with the age of scientific proof we’re still uncertain? Truth at our bloody fingertips, literally tapping out the questions to find the truth and believing the answers we receive? Why hasn’t the TRUTH been revealed within you instead of the endless seeking for truth from outside sources? Because life is and always will be a mystery shrouded in our questioning. That is the secret in a nutshell, you can’t find the answers in the cluttered world of information, the truth is found within you and if you can’t physically touch it or read it in your hand, then it must not be true.

Faith is exactly the same way. You rely on what you feel not what you see or read to know what is the truth. It might only be your truth but you found it from within you not from the stirring confusion in the outside world. While that might not make sense to many, it WILL make sense to a few. We’re all given the talents to use but not all use them. Me, I’m forever questioning everything, seeking and finding. Not in the superficial realm, in the spiritual realm where all questions are answered. 

Go with God and may He be with you all!

Pss. 119:59 “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”