Sunday, June 30, 2019
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Thursday, June 27, 2019
The Deep State
Someone asked me to define the deep state the other night. It is hard to define it succinctly. There are levels, layers, of the deep state.
I like the video by Carl Gallups which I posted below. He does an excellent job of trying to define it. He's come to the same conclusions that I have.
1. Lucifer
2. Those who serve Lucifer
3. Secret Societies---Rosicrucians, Freemason, Skull and Bones, Illuminati, Bilderburgs, Bohemian Grove....
4. Demonic Entity Followers (Joseph Smith, Ignatius Loyola, Mohammed...
5. Baal/New Age Worshipers, technology, demonic intelligence
6. Globalist Groups: Council on Foreign Relations, United Nations, ...(huge list here!)
7. Marxist/Socialist/Communist proponents
8. Spiritual influence within the "Christian" church
______________
Watch the video. Everything is working itself into a global antichrist system. Conspiracy? You bet.
Satan is a liar and a cheater, too.
I like the video by Carl Gallups which I posted below. He does an excellent job of trying to define it. He's come to the same conclusions that I have.
1. Lucifer
2. Those who serve Lucifer
3. Secret Societies---Rosicrucians, Freemason, Skull and Bones, Illuminati, Bilderburgs, Bohemian Grove....
4. Demonic Entity Followers (Joseph Smith, Ignatius Loyola, Mohammed...
5. Baal/New Age Worshipers, technology, demonic intelligence
6. Globalist Groups: Council on Foreign Relations, United Nations, ...(huge list here!)
7. Marxist/Socialist/Communist proponents
8. Spiritual influence within the "Christian" church
______________
Watch the video. Everything is working itself into a global antichrist system. Conspiracy? You bet.
Satan is a liar and a cheater, too.
Sibling Reunion
My parents are pretty old. They are in excellent health, but their age is starting to limit their activities.
My mom has 3 siblings, and they live a fair distance apart---so much that they rarely see each other.
This week my aunt flew in from Washington, and my mom's other sister came for a sister's reunion. It was a wonderful time for the three of them, they laughed and reminisced. All three sisters have health issues which prevent them from frequent visits.
You can imagine how special it is for them. My mom came over this morning to borrow a few things for breakfast. She exclaimed over the different perspective each one of the sisters had growing up. They were all finding out things that they had never known before.
I guess that is logical, but it is also surprising. Different ages, different perspectives.
My own five children each had a unique time of upbringing. Each one, with a different personality, a different perspective, different circumstances----especially my firstborn compared to my last---has had completely individual experiences. Each one is then completely an individual! Perhaps Margaret, middle child, has the most perspective on how her parents raised children.
She's the one who does not fear adventure, has been a high achiever, and weighs all things carefully.
I guess she is the balance of our children.
Anyway, it is interesting to hear the conversation, it's special to have a perspective of family, and it's bittersweet to know that this is probably the last time they will ever be together this side of heaven.
Heaven always looks sweeter every day.
It can't be long, now, right, Lord?
Thankful for His forgiveness, for His love, for His promises. He is merciful and good.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Examples From an Ancient Text, Applicable to Today
https://bible.org/article/which-son-obeyed-his-father-textual-problem-matthew-2129-31
Let's look at Matthew 21. There is a really interesting story that Jesus presents.
A father asks his two sons to do something. One says no, then does it. One says yes, then doesn't do it.
Jesus says that the one who actually did what the Father asks (but said he wouldn't) did the Father's will.
I see a likening to our current political situation here in the United States.
Everyone I know is a critic of President Donald Trump: his personal life, his past, his brashness, his manner.
I too am not a fan.
But I am a fan of his accomplishments as president. I think he has demonstrated that he is pro-life. He has attempted to uncover and dismantle the leftist deep state (which has been proven to exist). He has attempted peace in the Middle East, and has called out those who have encouraged perpetual war there. He has a way with the British monarchy, and his wife is certainly a class act THESE days.
He's tried to fix the North Korea problem, the Russia problem, the economy, the military, the immigration problem, and who knows WHAT ELSE?
He's been an incredible friend to those who are pro-life, pro-Israel, and pro-faith.
I see him as the first son: the one who has the veneer of rebellion but actually does WHAT IS RIGHT.
Do I approve sexual immorality? No, in every case I do not approve it. King David himself MUST be criticized for his immoral acts. Am I a "better sinner" than Donald Trump or King David?
No. Never. All sin separates from God.
I find it laughable that the baby-killing, social justice warriors of the Left think they have the moral high ground. We are all sinners in the hands of a just God.
They actually think that God doesn't care about the life in the wombs of promiscuous women.
God is the creator of life. All life. There would not be life without God. Ask Richard Dawkins, profound atheist: he says that life was "seeded" here on earth, but refuses to say it was God who "seeded" it. It had to be aliens, something physically (laws of science) impossible.
God cares about life. He weeps over the rebellion in his creation. His justice will reign, but he is patient, wanting everyone to come to REPENTANCE.
Too many "Social Gospel" folk like to leave that hard word out. They find it loathsome. I had a conversation once with one of them who said you have to just BELIEVE.
I go to Michaels, and Jo-Ann Fabrics, wander through the clearance aisle and see the little doo-dads that say "believe" on them.
It's rather empty to just "believe."
Yes, there is the verse in Scripture that says: "Believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST and Thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31
To call Him LORD is to repent and follow Him. One must weigh all Scripture by all Scripture. One must never pick and choose the phrase to suit one's own worldview.
We must have God's worldview to be truly saved. We may not fully comprehend God's worldview, but we can certainly learn of Him. God knows our hearts and it is GOD'S doing to open the gates of understanding. You must be touched by and filled with the Spirit to even start to understand God's Word.
Enter by the narrow gate. Enter by the Strait gate. The way is narrow. There are many injunctions that warn about the closeness of the way to salvation. We must weigh these with the general invitations to become believers.
Believing costs. First and foremost it cost Jesus' precious blood on the cross. Those that follow Him must expect persecution and torment.
This world is, after all, in the power of the evil one.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All. Everyone is born into sin, a sinful nature. We all sin. We all must be saved through Jesus Christ.
He said so.
Ask for forgiveness for your sin. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with power and understanding. Repent from your sin. Humble yourself before the Most High.
Your pride, your own version of God, will be the hardest thing for you to overcome. Trust me on this. I know. God is who He says He is in the Bible. The Bible either IS His word, or not.
What do you believe?
I choose to believe the Bible. I believe that God wrote it, his invitation to come out of this dark and sin-filled existence. It is the only way, the way of truth and life.
Choose today whom you would serve.
The Devil is a liar, and a cheater too...
Keep that in mind. He sure makes your current state seem inviting.
Let's look at Matthew 21. There is a really interesting story that Jesus presents.
A father asks his two sons to do something. One says no, then does it. One says yes, then doesn't do it.
Jesus says that the one who actually did what the Father asks (but said he wouldn't) did the Father's will.
I see a likening to our current political situation here in the United States.
Everyone I know is a critic of President Donald Trump: his personal life, his past, his brashness, his manner.
I too am not a fan.
But I am a fan of his accomplishments as president. I think he has demonstrated that he is pro-life. He has attempted to uncover and dismantle the leftist deep state (which has been proven to exist). He has attempted peace in the Middle East, and has called out those who have encouraged perpetual war there. He has a way with the British monarchy, and his wife is certainly a class act THESE days.
He's tried to fix the North Korea problem, the Russia problem, the economy, the military, the immigration problem, and who knows WHAT ELSE?
He's been an incredible friend to those who are pro-life, pro-Israel, and pro-faith.
I see him as the first son: the one who has the veneer of rebellion but actually does WHAT IS RIGHT.
Do I approve sexual immorality? No, in every case I do not approve it. King David himself MUST be criticized for his immoral acts. Am I a "better sinner" than Donald Trump or King David?
No. Never. All sin separates from God.
I find it laughable that the baby-killing, social justice warriors of the Left think they have the moral high ground. We are all sinners in the hands of a just God.
They actually think that God doesn't care about the life in the wombs of promiscuous women.
God is the creator of life. All life. There would not be life without God. Ask Richard Dawkins, profound atheist: he says that life was "seeded" here on earth, but refuses to say it was God who "seeded" it. It had to be aliens, something physically (laws of science) impossible.
God cares about life. He weeps over the rebellion in his creation. His justice will reign, but he is patient, wanting everyone to come to REPENTANCE.
Too many "Social Gospel" folk like to leave that hard word out. They find it loathsome. I had a conversation once with one of them who said you have to just BELIEVE.
I go to Michaels, and Jo-Ann Fabrics, wander through the clearance aisle and see the little doo-dads that say "believe" on them.
It's rather empty to just "believe."
Yes, there is the verse in Scripture that says: "Believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST and Thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31
To call Him LORD is to repent and follow Him. One must weigh all Scripture by all Scripture. One must never pick and choose the phrase to suit one's own worldview.
We must have God's worldview to be truly saved. We may not fully comprehend God's worldview, but we can certainly learn of Him. God knows our hearts and it is GOD'S doing to open the gates of understanding. You must be touched by and filled with the Spirit to even start to understand God's Word.
Enter by the narrow gate. Enter by the Strait gate. The way is narrow. There are many injunctions that warn about the closeness of the way to salvation. We must weigh these with the general invitations to become believers.
Believing costs. First and foremost it cost Jesus' precious blood on the cross. Those that follow Him must expect persecution and torment.
This world is, after all, in the power of the evil one.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All. Everyone is born into sin, a sinful nature. We all sin. We all must be saved through Jesus Christ.
He said so.
Ask for forgiveness for your sin. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with power and understanding. Repent from your sin. Humble yourself before the Most High.
Your pride, your own version of God, will be the hardest thing for you to overcome. Trust me on this. I know. God is who He says He is in the Bible. The Bible either IS His word, or not.
What do you believe?
I choose to believe the Bible. I believe that God wrote it, his invitation to come out of this dark and sin-filled existence. It is the only way, the way of truth and life.
Choose today whom you would serve.
The Devil is a liar, and a cheater too...
Keep that in mind. He sure makes your current state seem inviting.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Coming Up for Air
When you go through a crisis, like cancer, or someone dear's death, or any big thing, life naturally stratifies into levels of urgent, important, must, should, well----duh!----, maybe, and just can't.
After the crisis is over you see the glimmer of normalcy way above your head, and you start the slow rise to the surface through mountains of neglected mail, neglected projects, neglected duty.
This is a word to those in the middle of it, to those in the support system, to those observing: Nothing makes sense to anyone but the one in the middle.
There should be no judging, but inevitably we do.
I was plunged into a different world Friday, June 13th, 2014. Ed was dying from leukemia and in a fifteen minute span we made a decision and chose to get on a train that wasn't stopping for ten years, three and a half years of daily chemotherapy, followed by six and a half years of follow-up and repercussions. (Double knee replacement, et. al....)
Ed was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder just months before his cancer diagnosis, so that, of course, was a significant part of the equation as well.
When I look back I wonder how anyone survives the stresses and the tensions of acute or chronic illness, pain and mental distress. Although I am just the mom, I see the miraculous power of God in every single day.
It's amazing. It's God's grace. It's His help and healing, in even the small things.
As I begin to pick up where we left off five years ago I did a little inventory on what I'd left out.
Christmas/holiday stuff went out the window. We barely celebrated. I got rid of most of my holiday decorations. I still celebrate Jesus' birth, his resurrection, and other hallmarks of the year, but it involves so little preparation that I barely notice any difference.
Holidays simply mark the passing of time.
People, dear friends, sent me invitations to weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, baby showers, and graduations. I loved being included. Rarely could I even answer the RSVP. It was just too much. I "just couldn't." When it did fit in for Cherie or my husband, or even for me, I gladly participated. It was often as much a distraction as anything for me, I felt shell-shocked most of the time.
I know it appeared rude when I didn't respond. Believe me, my conscience was pricked, but I had three piles of things to do that screamed for my attention as well, and that invitation was just the thing that sort of tipped them over.
You can't imagine the paper that arrives at the home of someone in medical treatment.
Just last summer I was able to file three filing containers with most of what was already accumulated.
More has come since.
Distractions are welcome, but they don't always lend to the help of issues at hand. I welcomed distractions! I didn't do so well with integrating the outcomes with my tasks to be done already.
One must eat, one must dress, one must maintain a house with certain cleanliness. One must care for pets and yards. One must drive hundreds and thousands of miles. One must earn enough to keep things normal.
And now we start to breathe again.
Slowly, but surely, the piles are getting whittled down, the projects are begun again, and the lives of other people and their families are coming into focus.
This is crisis management, I'm convinced.
It seems selfish, but the burden to "be normal" really does weigh heavily on the minds of those dealing with desperate things.
One tries to manage.
I found that each day I had to spend time in God's Word. I had to rely on His strength. I had to focus on the tasks that were urgent and important, and my energy was directed at the day's plan. I could not have managed without God.
I could not.
I hope that I have learned that even in the midst of "normal" I cannot manage without God. I know this, but it's so easy to get distracted by the daily barrage of stuff and let God take a back seat.
It's ridiculous, but it happens.
I plead with you to learn from me! You need God to help you through each minute of each day. You may not believe me, but I tell you absolute truth.
"In Him we live and move and have our being."
This is the normal, the crisis, the final end: death. It's all in Him, and it is so sweet to trust in Jesus.
P.S. The seeds in the kitchen garden have sprouted. They need thinning.
After the crisis is over you see the glimmer of normalcy way above your head, and you start the slow rise to the surface through mountains of neglected mail, neglected projects, neglected duty.
This is a word to those in the middle of it, to those in the support system, to those observing: Nothing makes sense to anyone but the one in the middle.
There should be no judging, but inevitably we do.
I was plunged into a different world Friday, June 13th, 2014. Ed was dying from leukemia and in a fifteen minute span we made a decision and chose to get on a train that wasn't stopping for ten years, three and a half years of daily chemotherapy, followed by six and a half years of follow-up and repercussions. (Double knee replacement, et. al....)
Ed was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder just months before his cancer diagnosis, so that, of course, was a significant part of the equation as well.
When I look back I wonder how anyone survives the stresses and the tensions of acute or chronic illness, pain and mental distress. Although I am just the mom, I see the miraculous power of God in every single day.
It's amazing. It's God's grace. It's His help and healing, in even the small things.
As I begin to pick up where we left off five years ago I did a little inventory on what I'd left out.
Christmas/holiday stuff went out the window. We barely celebrated. I got rid of most of my holiday decorations. I still celebrate Jesus' birth, his resurrection, and other hallmarks of the year, but it involves so little preparation that I barely notice any difference.
Holidays simply mark the passing of time.
People, dear friends, sent me invitations to weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, baby showers, and graduations. I loved being included. Rarely could I even answer the RSVP. It was just too much. I "just couldn't." When it did fit in for Cherie or my husband, or even for me, I gladly participated. It was often as much a distraction as anything for me, I felt shell-shocked most of the time.
I know it appeared rude when I didn't respond. Believe me, my conscience was pricked, but I had three piles of things to do that screamed for my attention as well, and that invitation was just the thing that sort of tipped them over.
You can't imagine the paper that arrives at the home of someone in medical treatment.
Just last summer I was able to file three filing containers with most of what was already accumulated.
More has come since.
Distractions are welcome, but they don't always lend to the help of issues at hand. I welcomed distractions! I didn't do so well with integrating the outcomes with my tasks to be done already.
One must eat, one must dress, one must maintain a house with certain cleanliness. One must care for pets and yards. One must drive hundreds and thousands of miles. One must earn enough to keep things normal.
And now we start to breathe again.
Slowly, but surely, the piles are getting whittled down, the projects are begun again, and the lives of other people and their families are coming into focus.
This is crisis management, I'm convinced.
It seems selfish, but the burden to "be normal" really does weigh heavily on the minds of those dealing with desperate things.
One tries to manage.
I found that each day I had to spend time in God's Word. I had to rely on His strength. I had to focus on the tasks that were urgent and important, and my energy was directed at the day's plan. I could not have managed without God.
I could not.
I hope that I have learned that even in the midst of "normal" I cannot manage without God. I know this, but it's so easy to get distracted by the daily barrage of stuff and let God take a back seat.
It's ridiculous, but it happens.
I plead with you to learn from me! You need God to help you through each minute of each day. You may not believe me, but I tell you absolute truth.
"In Him we live and move and have our being."
This is the normal, the crisis, the final end: death. It's all in Him, and it is so sweet to trust in Jesus.
P.S. The seeds in the kitchen garden have sprouted. They need thinning.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Monday, June 17, 2019
Monday Morning Musings
I love these June Mondays. My shifts at the hotel are in the distance of the week, busy Sundays are through, it's quiet around here, no supper plans needed because my husband has Monday night softball games. Cherie is taking a math class that meets evenings, so she's busy doing her assignments.
Ed works at his bank. Margaret is ascending to high snows with our Abby on their epic adventure. She tells us that they are walking with two young Israelis these days, fresh out of IDF service. Joe and Jim are busy with school, work, and their beautiful families. We've been in touch. It was Fathers' Day yesterday...
It's quiet. Today it is a misty, moisty Monday. The cats are out already, (the boy cats) and picking through the wet grass. Corwyn is content to be inside. Predicate is being sociable for once, making little half purrs and meows---sort of a flutter tongue. She's hungry, and I will feed her shortly.
Yesterday we were sociable, celebrating Fathers' Day. Ed picked up some Buster Bars from the Dairy Queen and we sat and chatted over at the neighbors' porch in the golden sun.
After two years of planning and prepping we readied the Kitchen Garden. Today is the day to plant it.
I am a Tasha Tudor fan, and I collect her books. (I have collections of books by different favorite authors, a veritable library, you know.) Tasha Tudor illustrated a book called "Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens."
In it is a perfect little lay-out for a manageable garden, something Corgi Hollows has needed since relocating to the country from the suburbs.
A garden too big is discouraging. A garden too small is not worth the time. This is a "just right" garden, and its location is perfectly sun-filled, close to water, and remarkably designed for ease in weeding.
It took a lot of time to figure out exactly where it should go, and assemble the materials. I had to specially order a couple of the seeds to plant: lovage and burnet.
Ed is on board, manufacturing a watering system and contributing his own tomatoes and pepper plants.
We all helped fill the beds with five cubic yards of dirt----especially delivered last week by a dump truck. I managed to fill a wheel barrow with fifteen shovelfuls of dirt. I would then fill ten barrows, and dump them into the raised bed area. By then this old gal was DONE, and I'd wait for the next day. It took awhile to fill those beds! My husband was the main filler of the beds, but Cherie and Ed did their part too.
Lots of work, and the work is just beginning.
I am not a gardener. When I was a child our friends, Ginger and Dick, had a huge garden where rows of beans grew, Swiss Chard, everything....
My mom and I would go over and help weed and water in order to share the fruits. I hated weeding. I preferred to spend time with their dog, Taffy, who I considered to be one of my best friends. Taffy thought the same of me, I think. She was a purebred Chesapeake.
I didn't like the heat or the dirt of the garden, but I do now appreciate the produce and the opportunity for sunshine and vitamin D----and all the other vitamins being produced!
I needed a manageable garden that would invite all family members into the project. When I discovered the book illustrated by Tasha Tudor I was intrigued. This might just be it!
The garden has a mixture of herbs and vegetables. There are not many plants, but enough to glean a good crop. Lots of Rosemary, mint, thyme, chives and onions, and some different lettuces.
I'm excited about it!
This garden is getting in late, but it's at least getting in! I've been working on the planning for so long I know that if we are all still here next year we can get a much earlier start! These are long-term projects!
My peonies are all coming up beautifully this year. Last year I planted a Sarah Bernhardt, and it is doing well, having survived the long and hard winter.
The older peonies are all doing wonderfully well too. They are just starting to bloom now, and I'm thrilled with their color and health.
Things do grow well here in this Minnesota black dirt. These lands west of the Mississippi are famous for their fertility and their ease of producing ANYTHING! This was the beginning of the great Plains, and formerly grassland, old oak and maple forest. Swamps and bogs, wetlands and marsh meadows lace the hummocks of land in this gently rolling landscape. Water is really everywhere this year. The arable land is dotted throughout the territory.
Everything is SO green.
I'm interested in how our plants will thrive----and I'm resolving to keep the weeds at a minimum.
No easy task.
The time of the singing of birds is come. The winter is past. Soon it will be just the jays crying about the swift passing of summer.
Then it's orientations and school for three of us in the house---
The job at the hotel is fascinating, I must admit. I'm learning it, slowly but surely. I get to fold all the sheets and towels, so I'm always checking for cleanliness. You can stay at "my" hotel and be assured that all is well. People are mostly nice. Some are tired and crabby, but you have to be nice to them anyway. There are those that are terse, and I try to be professional with them. Jokers. It's always interesting to help a terse guest, then switch to a joker! Give and take...
The hospitality industry is quite the art!
The other day two of my students from subbing came through the door. "I KNOW YOU!" said the young one, smiling broadly! Surprise!
I do miss the kids.
But I'm glad for the time to catch up here at home. Projects have laid untouched for nine months, and I need to get things together. I'm still working on my book about the Kensington Runestone, and it is coming along slowly. I have the text almost done, and the first illustrations.
So much more to do!
I'm cleaning out cupboards and vacuuming up shedding hair. The porch is an oasis that beckons on the warmer days. The english ivy has covered the screens already, so it is green and inviting out there. I want to just sit and drink tea and have "biscuits."
I'd love to have you over and talk about the Rapture, coming so soon, politics, current events! Our friend, Carl Teichrib, who stayed with us while he attended Paganicon in Minneapolis, has his book "Game of Gods" out, and it is worth much discussion.
Let's have "book club!"
I'd like to discuss how to handle controversies. We are in an age of persecution like never before. There is a spiritual blindness that is thick as a fog you could cut with a knife! How do you manage to be a loving light of Jesus Christ, a believer who clings to God's Word with tenacity, and live and move in a world that hates the Truth?
I'm guessing that if you are a believer you may have the same concerns.
How do we then live?
Where are we to go?
What are we to be doing?
What is the meaning of everything?
Naturally I look to my faith to guide me, but there are always the specific circumstances of daily life to navigate and manage. People bring their own experiences and personalities to us and each one is endlessly fascinating and worth helping.
At the hotel I am seeing a side of the population that is desperately needy. I wonder if you even realize, in your comfortable abode, how the "other side" is faring. I'm seeing it. I saw some of it working at the deli (now closed) but much more at this hotel, and this is a "NICE" hotel.
Pray for the hurting. I can only do so much, with encouraging or directing to sources that may or may not help. It is still the choice of the one who needs to accept it or not. Sometimes people choose to not be helped and we all must suffer the witnessing of their demise.
It's so hard. Everyone has problems. They are all just a hair's breadth different in nature and severity. We are all blessed, in so many ways, but our issues can cloud the blessings.
Poverty, disease, death, addictions, ---these are plaguing all of us in some way.
The only way to deal with them is constant prayer and trust in the God who can heal. We can make better choices, too.
Let's do it.
Off to put those seeds in!
Ed works at his bank. Margaret is ascending to high snows with our Abby on their epic adventure. She tells us that they are walking with two young Israelis these days, fresh out of IDF service. Joe and Jim are busy with school, work, and their beautiful families. We've been in touch. It was Fathers' Day yesterday...
It's quiet. Today it is a misty, moisty Monday. The cats are out already, (the boy cats) and picking through the wet grass. Corwyn is content to be inside. Predicate is being sociable for once, making little half purrs and meows---sort of a flutter tongue. She's hungry, and I will feed her shortly.
Yesterday we were sociable, celebrating Fathers' Day. Ed picked up some Buster Bars from the Dairy Queen and we sat and chatted over at the neighbors' porch in the golden sun.
After two years of planning and prepping we readied the Kitchen Garden. Today is the day to plant it.
I am a Tasha Tudor fan, and I collect her books. (I have collections of books by different favorite authors, a veritable library, you know.) Tasha Tudor illustrated a book called "Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens."
In it is a perfect little lay-out for a manageable garden, something Corgi Hollows has needed since relocating to the country from the suburbs.
A garden too big is discouraging. A garden too small is not worth the time. This is a "just right" garden, and its location is perfectly sun-filled, close to water, and remarkably designed for ease in weeding.
It took a lot of time to figure out exactly where it should go, and assemble the materials. I had to specially order a couple of the seeds to plant: lovage and burnet.
Ed is on board, manufacturing a watering system and contributing his own tomatoes and pepper plants.
We all helped fill the beds with five cubic yards of dirt----especially delivered last week by a dump truck. I managed to fill a wheel barrow with fifteen shovelfuls of dirt. I would then fill ten barrows, and dump them into the raised bed area. By then this old gal was DONE, and I'd wait for the next day. It took awhile to fill those beds! My husband was the main filler of the beds, but Cherie and Ed did their part too.
Lots of work, and the work is just beginning.
I am not a gardener. When I was a child our friends, Ginger and Dick, had a huge garden where rows of beans grew, Swiss Chard, everything....
My mom and I would go over and help weed and water in order to share the fruits. I hated weeding. I preferred to spend time with their dog, Taffy, who I considered to be one of my best friends. Taffy thought the same of me, I think. She was a purebred Chesapeake.
I didn't like the heat or the dirt of the garden, but I do now appreciate the produce and the opportunity for sunshine and vitamin D----and all the other vitamins being produced!
I needed a manageable garden that would invite all family members into the project. When I discovered the book illustrated by Tasha Tudor I was intrigued. This might just be it!
The garden has a mixture of herbs and vegetables. There are not many plants, but enough to glean a good crop. Lots of Rosemary, mint, thyme, chives and onions, and some different lettuces.
I'm excited about it!
This garden is getting in late, but it's at least getting in! I've been working on the planning for so long I know that if we are all still here next year we can get a much earlier start! These are long-term projects!
My peonies are all coming up beautifully this year. Last year I planted a Sarah Bernhardt, and it is doing well, having survived the long and hard winter.
The older peonies are all doing wonderfully well too. They are just starting to bloom now, and I'm thrilled with their color and health.
Things do grow well here in this Minnesota black dirt. These lands west of the Mississippi are famous for their fertility and their ease of producing ANYTHING! This was the beginning of the great Plains, and formerly grassland, old oak and maple forest. Swamps and bogs, wetlands and marsh meadows lace the hummocks of land in this gently rolling landscape. Water is really everywhere this year. The arable land is dotted throughout the territory.
Everything is SO green.
I'm interested in how our plants will thrive----and I'm resolving to keep the weeds at a minimum.
No easy task.
The time of the singing of birds is come. The winter is past. Soon it will be just the jays crying about the swift passing of summer.
Then it's orientations and school for three of us in the house---
The job at the hotel is fascinating, I must admit. I'm learning it, slowly but surely. I get to fold all the sheets and towels, so I'm always checking for cleanliness. You can stay at "my" hotel and be assured that all is well. People are mostly nice. Some are tired and crabby, but you have to be nice to them anyway. There are those that are terse, and I try to be professional with them. Jokers. It's always interesting to help a terse guest, then switch to a joker! Give and take...
The hospitality industry is quite the art!
The other day two of my students from subbing came through the door. "I KNOW YOU!" said the young one, smiling broadly! Surprise!
I do miss the kids.
But I'm glad for the time to catch up here at home. Projects have laid untouched for nine months, and I need to get things together. I'm still working on my book about the Kensington Runestone, and it is coming along slowly. I have the text almost done, and the first illustrations.
So much more to do!
I'm cleaning out cupboards and vacuuming up shedding hair. The porch is an oasis that beckons on the warmer days. The english ivy has covered the screens already, so it is green and inviting out there. I want to just sit and drink tea and have "biscuits."
I'd love to have you over and talk about the Rapture, coming so soon, politics, current events! Our friend, Carl Teichrib, who stayed with us while he attended Paganicon in Minneapolis, has his book "Game of Gods" out, and it is worth much discussion.
Let's have "book club!"
I'd like to discuss how to handle controversies. We are in an age of persecution like never before. There is a spiritual blindness that is thick as a fog you could cut with a knife! How do you manage to be a loving light of Jesus Christ, a believer who clings to God's Word with tenacity, and live and move in a world that hates the Truth?
I'm guessing that if you are a believer you may have the same concerns.
How do we then live?
Where are we to go?
What are we to be doing?
What is the meaning of everything?
Naturally I look to my faith to guide me, but there are always the specific circumstances of daily life to navigate and manage. People bring their own experiences and personalities to us and each one is endlessly fascinating and worth helping.
At the hotel I am seeing a side of the population that is desperately needy. I wonder if you even realize, in your comfortable abode, how the "other side" is faring. I'm seeing it. I saw some of it working at the deli (now closed) but much more at this hotel, and this is a "NICE" hotel.
Pray for the hurting. I can only do so much, with encouraging or directing to sources that may or may not help. It is still the choice of the one who needs to accept it or not. Sometimes people choose to not be helped and we all must suffer the witnessing of their demise.
It's so hard. Everyone has problems. They are all just a hair's breadth different in nature and severity. We are all blessed, in so many ways, but our issues can cloud the blessings.
Poverty, disease, death, addictions, ---these are plaguing all of us in some way.
The only way to deal with them is constant prayer and trust in the God who can heal. We can make better choices, too.
Let's do it.
Off to put those seeds in!
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Thursday, June 6, 2019
A Prayer For Today
Heavenly Father,
I thank you for Who you are, and all you do. I thank you for the many blessings you have sent us, sent me. I look around and see the sun and the green grass, the blue sky, and even on cloudy days you provide.
You have provided heat in the cold.
You have provided clothes and food.
You have provided shelter and means to live here, in the blessed USA.
You are great and wonderful, and I praise your Name.
I commit my thoughts and anxieties to you, Dear Lord. I think of my children and all the challenges they face, even today.
Life and death, sickness, despair, hard things, hard decisions, safety---harm, growth, sadness, illness, futures, love, plans.
Each one, Lord, each one faces these things, some especially today. Work in their hearts and lives, Lord. Please help them to look to you in all things.
Provide for them. Help them. Be close to them. Show them your paths of righteousness, for your name's sake. Lead them.
Help me to give them to you daily, to trust you for them.
Thank you for your help, in my job, in my home, in my plans and prayers.
Lord, bless our country, our president, our government. Help these people follow your ways, and stop any sin.
Help them to find you, and repent.
Help my family and friends who don't know you, who are confused about you, to find you and love you with their whole hearts. Help them to repent of sin in their lives and turn toward you. Save their souls, LORD. Snatch them from the fire. Clear up their false notions about you, who they think you are. Help them to overcome.
Come soon, Jesus, Lord. Maranatha. We wait for that glad reunion in the sky. Come soon, quickly.
Help us prepare even today for that moment.
Bless our parents, who are getting feeble in body. Help them to get through this day.
Help us to honor them, to love them as you do.
Help us at our work places. Help us to do everything as unto You, Lord. Give us the strength to do our jobs well and to be light in this darkening world. We look to you for your help.
Forgive me, Lord, my failures----as a wife, daughter, mother, sister, and friend. Forgive me my sin, Lord. Help me to do better to glorify You.
IT's all about you, Lord. Help me to live that out.
Help me follow you every moment. Hear my prayer, Father. Protect my heart, and help me through this day.
Amen. Amen.
I thank you for Who you are, and all you do. I thank you for the many blessings you have sent us, sent me. I look around and see the sun and the green grass, the blue sky, and even on cloudy days you provide.
You have provided heat in the cold.
You have provided clothes and food.
You have provided shelter and means to live here, in the blessed USA.
You are great and wonderful, and I praise your Name.
I commit my thoughts and anxieties to you, Dear Lord. I think of my children and all the challenges they face, even today.
Life and death, sickness, despair, hard things, hard decisions, safety---harm, growth, sadness, illness, futures, love, plans.
Each one, Lord, each one faces these things, some especially today. Work in their hearts and lives, Lord. Please help them to look to you in all things.
Provide for them. Help them. Be close to them. Show them your paths of righteousness, for your name's sake. Lead them.
Help me to give them to you daily, to trust you for them.
Thank you for your help, in my job, in my home, in my plans and prayers.
Lord, bless our country, our president, our government. Help these people follow your ways, and stop any sin.
Help them to find you, and repent.
Help my family and friends who don't know you, who are confused about you, to find you and love you with their whole hearts. Help them to repent of sin in their lives and turn toward you. Save their souls, LORD. Snatch them from the fire. Clear up their false notions about you, who they think you are. Help them to overcome.
Come soon, Jesus, Lord. Maranatha. We wait for that glad reunion in the sky. Come soon, quickly.
Help us prepare even today for that moment.
Bless our parents, who are getting feeble in body. Help them to get through this day.
Help us to honor them, to love them as you do.
Help us at our work places. Help us to do everything as unto You, Lord. Give us the strength to do our jobs well and to be light in this darkening world. We look to you for your help.
Forgive me, Lord, my failures----as a wife, daughter, mother, sister, and friend. Forgive me my sin, Lord. Help me to do better to glorify You.
IT's all about you, Lord. Help me to live that out.
Help me follow you every moment. Hear my prayer, Father. Protect my heart, and help me through this day.
Amen. Amen.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Truth Wins, Ultimately
I'm in my mini vacation right now, only because it is the last four days of school and no calls for subbing have come, and my hotel job is a weekend thing.
So, lots of reading, lots of thoughts, lots of posting on social media...
lots of cleaning, lawn work (mowing), and planning ahead.
I've been thinking about truth.
For each of us it seems that truth is different; it's colored by our experience. My truth is different from your truth.
I love my charismatic friends, I remember my "charismatic" days fondly, with a memory of great spiritual power. This is my truth. I know that Satan is a deceiver and some spiritual experiences are of the devil, but I know that God's Spirit is also at work around the globe.
I have had truths that were real, truths that colored my walk with Christ, doctrine and dogma that formed my worldview.
Objective truth is something more. By God's grace we can truly experience objective truth, or truths.
He gave us the Bible, His Word, Scripture for truth and edification. This is, above all, our only reliable source of His truth. Therefore we must measure all other truth by its words.
Not an easy task, especially without the Holy Spirit and a constant saturation in much of it.
Last night I was reading a book about geology by a young earth scientist. He mentioned several scholars and preachers of a past era where the age of the earth was brought into question. These scholars, in their limited scientific knowledge, became convinced of alternate "truths."
Naturally we know more now, scientifically, than "we" knew then. We have technology that reveals so much more about the earth and the world we live in.
Truth is changing, right?
No. Truth is always truth, and a profound truth (as my father-in-law says) is the opposite of another profound truth. Truth is the question in every heart. What is truth?
Pilate asked Jesus, and it is not recorded if Jesus answered him.
Let's step it back, though. If God created us, and we can deduce that He did, apologetically and reasonably, He has given us an aspect of our being that is a help to knowing truth.
Our conscience.
The conscience speaks to the mind and heart. It cries out that there is more... that there is reason. God pricks it when we hear truth. It convicts us when we do wrong. (Don't deny it!)
You can murder your conscience by repeatedly ignoring it.
But it still persists, born again, when faced with a new situation. It's remarkable. Scientists have tried to explain the conscience through biology and psychiatry, but there is no real explanation except the one I gave you: God made it.
It is to the conscience that I appeal, to every reader of this blog, to my own!
God gives that pin prick of conscience regarding His own infinite truth. We can try to argue, to deny, to ignore, to put off, to run from it.
God invites. He does not force. He is the God of free will. He encourages and loves, but he ultimately judges our own murder of our own conscience.
So, when truth is spoken my conscience listens.
Does yours?
It can be born again, even as you ask the Lord to save you.
So, lots of reading, lots of thoughts, lots of posting on social media...
lots of cleaning, lawn work (mowing), and planning ahead.
I've been thinking about truth.
For each of us it seems that truth is different; it's colored by our experience. My truth is different from your truth.
I love my charismatic friends, I remember my "charismatic" days fondly, with a memory of great spiritual power. This is my truth. I know that Satan is a deceiver and some spiritual experiences are of the devil, but I know that God's Spirit is also at work around the globe.
I have had truths that were real, truths that colored my walk with Christ, doctrine and dogma that formed my worldview.
Objective truth is something more. By God's grace we can truly experience objective truth, or truths.
He gave us the Bible, His Word, Scripture for truth and edification. This is, above all, our only reliable source of His truth. Therefore we must measure all other truth by its words.
Not an easy task, especially without the Holy Spirit and a constant saturation in much of it.
Last night I was reading a book about geology by a young earth scientist. He mentioned several scholars and preachers of a past era where the age of the earth was brought into question. These scholars, in their limited scientific knowledge, became convinced of alternate "truths."
Naturally we know more now, scientifically, than "we" knew then. We have technology that reveals so much more about the earth and the world we live in.
Truth is changing, right?
No. Truth is always truth, and a profound truth (as my father-in-law says) is the opposite of another profound truth. Truth is the question in every heart. What is truth?
Pilate asked Jesus, and it is not recorded if Jesus answered him.
Let's step it back, though. If God created us, and we can deduce that He did, apologetically and reasonably, He has given us an aspect of our being that is a help to knowing truth.
Our conscience.
The conscience speaks to the mind and heart. It cries out that there is more... that there is reason. God pricks it when we hear truth. It convicts us when we do wrong. (Don't deny it!)
You can murder your conscience by repeatedly ignoring it.
But it still persists, born again, when faced with a new situation. It's remarkable. Scientists have tried to explain the conscience through biology and psychiatry, but there is no real explanation except the one I gave you: God made it.
It is to the conscience that I appeal, to every reader of this blog, to my own!
God gives that pin prick of conscience regarding His own infinite truth. We can try to argue, to deny, to ignore, to put off, to run from it.
God invites. He does not force. He is the God of free will. He encourages and loves, but he ultimately judges our own murder of our own conscience.
So, when truth is spoken my conscience listens.
Does yours?
It can be born again, even as you ask the Lord to save you.
Monday, June 3, 2019
Test the Spirits
Recently there was column in the New York Times by an "evangelical" pastor claiming to have switched his views regarding abortion.
Sadly, he had been ardently pro-life. Now he is pro death.
His name is Rob Schenk, if you want to look him up. He thinks that babies should die because poor women can't afford to raise them.
Beloved, we are always asked to "test the spirits." This man claims to be a pastor, yet he defies the living God with his views on killing children.
To test a spirit we must always ask, "Is this view in alignment with the whole word of God?"
How can we know?
WE MUST READ THE BIBLE!
We must read the Bible daily, infusing our spirits and souls with its comprehensive truths. We must glean its wisdom constantly, weighing each passage against others, knowing the context, seeing the commands and the admonitions for what and who they are for.
This is testing the spirit, does it conflict or support the word of God?
This is why we can tell that people promoting a LGTB lifestyle are not in sync with God's Word, therefore we cannot see them as being in line with a right spirit.
Apply this to abortion and we see the same thing.
Anyone promoting any type of abortion is not in line with the Word of God. Test the spirits, beloved.
You may address a spirit, asking if Jesus is LORD, and claiming the blood of Christ over it, but the truest form of testing supernatural encounters is knowing and applying God's Word to the situation.
God is so gentle with new believers. He can give them real understanding of truth, even right away, without extensive Bible knowledge. This is always so wonderful to see. I think of Caryl Matrisciana's testimony in particular. After receiving Christ as her savior she was immediately convicted of the sin in her life, that she and her boyfriend were living together, and that it was wrong. She said no one told her this, but her conscience----God's Spirit---convicted her heart.
I read testimonies like this all the time. God's Spirit is a Convictor.
But for those of us who know enough, have been believers for a time, must measure all things in light of Scriptural truths. It is the "meat" that Paul talks about, Hebrews 5:12.
Yes, there are hard things to understand in Scripture. That is obvious. Many things need deeper study and research, and times of meditation. God is not silent. He never was.
We do know that He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, forever. We can trust that he is not the mercurial personality of Allah.
He defines Himself for us in Scripture, and if your god doesn't look like the God of the Bible you have "another god."
I am convicted by my own need to show love to those who aren't saved. I am meeting the "lost" everyday at my new job, and my heart is so filled with love for these people. I have such compassion on them and the inevitable eternal destiny they face.
I am practicing a loving spirit, a kindness, an invitation to become different.
When the Spirit truly convicts and washes the soul in the blood of Christ, there is a transformation that is like the power of dynamite. Those of us who have experienced it recognize it in each other. WE see it. God is important in everything, He becomes our very reason for living.
The Spirit is powerful!
Do you want it? Do you want a right Spirit? Cry out to God! Repent from sin. Immerse yourself in the reading of Scripture! You will show an insatiable desire to read the Bible for a time. I haven't met any believer who hasn't shown this thirst at some point. God gives it as a sign!
Test the spirit, beloved. If you are not saved, pray now to receive Christ as you savior and Lord. Prepare to give everything (including family and friends) to Him.
It's hard, but it's good. Very good.
Sadly, he had been ardently pro-life. Now he is pro death.
His name is Rob Schenk, if you want to look him up. He thinks that babies should die because poor women can't afford to raise them.
Beloved, we are always asked to "test the spirits." This man claims to be a pastor, yet he defies the living God with his views on killing children.
To test a spirit we must always ask, "Is this view in alignment with the whole word of God?"
How can we know?
WE MUST READ THE BIBLE!
We must read the Bible daily, infusing our spirits and souls with its comprehensive truths. We must glean its wisdom constantly, weighing each passage against others, knowing the context, seeing the commands and the admonitions for what and who they are for.
This is testing the spirit, does it conflict or support the word of God?
This is why we can tell that people promoting a LGTB lifestyle are not in sync with God's Word, therefore we cannot see them as being in line with a right spirit.
Apply this to abortion and we see the same thing.
Anyone promoting any type of abortion is not in line with the Word of God. Test the spirits, beloved.
You may address a spirit, asking if Jesus is LORD, and claiming the blood of Christ over it, but the truest form of testing supernatural encounters is knowing and applying God's Word to the situation.
God is so gentle with new believers. He can give them real understanding of truth, even right away, without extensive Bible knowledge. This is always so wonderful to see. I think of Caryl Matrisciana's testimony in particular. After receiving Christ as her savior she was immediately convicted of the sin in her life, that she and her boyfriend were living together, and that it was wrong. She said no one told her this, but her conscience----God's Spirit---convicted her heart.
I read testimonies like this all the time. God's Spirit is a Convictor.
But for those of us who know enough, have been believers for a time, must measure all things in light of Scriptural truths. It is the "meat" that Paul talks about, Hebrews 5:12.
Yes, there are hard things to understand in Scripture. That is obvious. Many things need deeper study and research, and times of meditation. God is not silent. He never was.
We do know that He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, forever. We can trust that he is not the mercurial personality of Allah.
He defines Himself for us in Scripture, and if your god doesn't look like the God of the Bible you have "another god."
I am convicted by my own need to show love to those who aren't saved. I am meeting the "lost" everyday at my new job, and my heart is so filled with love for these people. I have such compassion on them and the inevitable eternal destiny they face.
I am practicing a loving spirit, a kindness, an invitation to become different.
When the Spirit truly convicts and washes the soul in the blood of Christ, there is a transformation that is like the power of dynamite. Those of us who have experienced it recognize it in each other. WE see it. God is important in everything, He becomes our very reason for living.
The Spirit is powerful!
Do you want it? Do you want a right Spirit? Cry out to God! Repent from sin. Immerse yourself in the reading of Scripture! You will show an insatiable desire to read the Bible for a time. I haven't met any believer who hasn't shown this thirst at some point. God gives it as a sign!
Test the spirit, beloved. If you are not saved, pray now to receive Christ as you savior and Lord. Prepare to give everything (including family and friends) to Him.
It's hard, but it's good. Very good.
Sunday, June 2, 2019
David and Goliath...and uh, Marriage....
This morning, at the nursing home, where I am playing the piano accompaniment to the hymns some Sundays this summer, the sermon by old friend Dean was about the Biblical hero, David.
I was thought-provoked.
We've all heard the story of David and Goliath a million times. I have a love/hate attitude toward David, for good reason. He's a paradox, an irritant, an inspiration, a hero.
Actually, he's like most of us in many respects: a sinner with weaknesses and a love for God.
And God saw that love and commended it, especially in Hebrews.
I read the Psalms, and my heart echos David's in all of my love for God and pleading for help. I am glad he wrote those words, because I can pray them and sing them with understanding. His Psalms speak to me. Jesus quoted them, too, even in his last moments.
I love that a young shepherd boy came to a battle with advanced war tactics, defeated a formidable enemy, and then parlayed his way through difficult relationships to become king with God's anointing.
I am irritated that he struggled with his relationships with women.
But no one's perfect, including David.
I should take comfort in that, as it sets a precedent for most marriages. There's give and take, difficulties, annoyances, moments of sin, failures. Most marriages are like that, if we are truthful.
I like a good, old-fashioned Jane Austen romance as much as anyone: Perfect spunky heroine, perfect dashing hero, perfect relationship; happily ever after!
Oh, sure, I'm betting there are marriages out there where everything is done perfectly, total congruence, rightly measured affection, good relationship! There is forgiveness and ease in the give and take.
But I'm betting there are more marriages where the struggles are real, and forgiveness and patience are daily practiced, often.
It's a two-way street. It's never a one-sided problem. It takes two...
David's weakness and consequent God-given victory over Goliath was an incredible lesson for life early on. If he had applied his knowledge of being weak and relying on God's strength in his relationships with women he may have succeeded there, too. But he ended up failing miserably.
Come on, we have to admit it. For me, this inability of his to manage marriage has always ruined him for me. In my own failures I looked to this "man after God's heart" to be an example. He isn't.
But what a picture of God's grace! David loved God. He loved God more than He loved his wives. God recognized that. God forgave him. God made him a picture of Christ, an integral part of Christ's lineage. Nothing David did stopped him from being used by God. God's grace extended beyond David's sin.
When I look at marriage, and all of its joys and sorrows, I see a relationship that is ordained by God. I see a difficult path that is full of unexpected turns and bumps, mountains to navigate, valleys to forge through. There are the cool springs of good rapport and love, but there are the deserts of problems as well. There are the pinnacles of success and happiness, but also the bogs of relentless commitment to a vow made through sickness or perhaps infidelity----until death.
When I am weak, He is strong. That is a true picture of marriage, and every difficulty we encounter within that relationship.
David and Goliath. We face a formidable foe every day.
What is your Goliath?
Have you thought of these things being giant issues:
Comparing your own relationships with other people's relationships?
(You do know that you probably only ever see the positive aspects of most relationships.)
Comparing yourself to a standard laid out by some preacher or teacher you (mostly) admire?
(These are standards to strive for, to keep before one's eyes, but let's be real! We all fall short of the mark!)
Comparing yourself to the perfection of God's standards?
(You've already failed!)
Expecting something remarkable from a (sinful) human being?
After almost 30 years of marriage I confess that these battles of strength and weakness still wage war in my own mind. I am daily evaluating my own behavior and working to forgive those that I must, others including my own long-suffering husband!
I fight those standards and those examples that "live inside my head rent free."
I must always remember that God uses these weaknesses of mine to demonstrate HIS STRENGTH.
I am not living the life I pictured for myself in my teens and early twenties, but who does, really?
I can take the many good things and rejoice with thankfulness at God's abundant blessings, and they are truly magnificent, or I can bring myself to a place of bitterness at all of my failures and lost dreams. Being real is seeing God's strength in my own weakness.
Okay! I love David! I can't wait to meet him in heaven. He was an animal lover, probably good looking, musical, smart, and he had incredible passion for God. He's my kind of guy.
It was probably a real disappointment to be married to him, but now he's perfect---with the LORD.
So much to learn from his life! I need to readjust my thoughts regarding him.
I was provoked today.
I was thought-provoked.
We've all heard the story of David and Goliath a million times. I have a love/hate attitude toward David, for good reason. He's a paradox, an irritant, an inspiration, a hero.
Actually, he's like most of us in many respects: a sinner with weaknesses and a love for God.
And God saw that love and commended it, especially in Hebrews.
I read the Psalms, and my heart echos David's in all of my love for God and pleading for help. I am glad he wrote those words, because I can pray them and sing them with understanding. His Psalms speak to me. Jesus quoted them, too, even in his last moments.
I love that a young shepherd boy came to a battle with advanced war tactics, defeated a formidable enemy, and then parlayed his way through difficult relationships to become king with God's anointing.
I am irritated that he struggled with his relationships with women.
But no one's perfect, including David.
I should take comfort in that, as it sets a precedent for most marriages. There's give and take, difficulties, annoyances, moments of sin, failures. Most marriages are like that, if we are truthful.
I like a good, old-fashioned Jane Austen romance as much as anyone: Perfect spunky heroine, perfect dashing hero, perfect relationship; happily ever after!
Oh, sure, I'm betting there are marriages out there where everything is done perfectly, total congruence, rightly measured affection, good relationship! There is forgiveness and ease in the give and take.
But I'm betting there are more marriages where the struggles are real, and forgiveness and patience are daily practiced, often.
It's a two-way street. It's never a one-sided problem. It takes two...
David's weakness and consequent God-given victory over Goliath was an incredible lesson for life early on. If he had applied his knowledge of being weak and relying on God's strength in his relationships with women he may have succeeded there, too. But he ended up failing miserably.
Come on, we have to admit it. For me, this inability of his to manage marriage has always ruined him for me. In my own failures I looked to this "man after God's heart" to be an example. He isn't.
But what a picture of God's grace! David loved God. He loved God more than He loved his wives. God recognized that. God forgave him. God made him a picture of Christ, an integral part of Christ's lineage. Nothing David did stopped him from being used by God. God's grace extended beyond David's sin.
When I look at marriage, and all of its joys and sorrows, I see a relationship that is ordained by God. I see a difficult path that is full of unexpected turns and bumps, mountains to navigate, valleys to forge through. There are the cool springs of good rapport and love, but there are the deserts of problems as well. There are the pinnacles of success and happiness, but also the bogs of relentless commitment to a vow made through sickness or perhaps infidelity----until death.
When I am weak, He is strong. That is a true picture of marriage, and every difficulty we encounter within that relationship.
David and Goliath. We face a formidable foe every day.
What is your Goliath?
Have you thought of these things being giant issues:
Comparing your own relationships with other people's relationships?
(You do know that you probably only ever see the positive aspects of most relationships.)
Comparing yourself to a standard laid out by some preacher or teacher you (mostly) admire?
(These are standards to strive for, to keep before one's eyes, but let's be real! We all fall short of the mark!)
Comparing yourself to the perfection of God's standards?
(You've already failed!)
Expecting something remarkable from a (sinful) human being?
After almost 30 years of marriage I confess that these battles of strength and weakness still wage war in my own mind. I am daily evaluating my own behavior and working to forgive those that I must, others including my own long-suffering husband!
I fight those standards and those examples that "live inside my head rent free."
I must always remember that God uses these weaknesses of mine to demonstrate HIS STRENGTH.
I am not living the life I pictured for myself in my teens and early twenties, but who does, really?
I can take the many good things and rejoice with thankfulness at God's abundant blessings, and they are truly magnificent, or I can bring myself to a place of bitterness at all of my failures and lost dreams. Being real is seeing God's strength in my own weakness.
Okay! I love David! I can't wait to meet him in heaven. He was an animal lover, probably good looking, musical, smart, and he had incredible passion for God. He's my kind of guy.
It was probably a real disappointment to be married to him, but now he's perfect---with the LORD.
So much to learn from his life! I need to readjust my thoughts regarding him.
I was provoked today.
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