A Crazy, Holy Grace
The author's knows what it means to deal with pain, grief, and grace from a child after his father committed suicide. He shares that God is near even when He is silent.
The author's best writings covering such topic as loss of a loved one.
Loss/death will come to all of us, but we are not alone. God's holy healing grace is always present and available if we are quiet enough to receive it.
Through the gates of pain we enter into joy.
It seems that pain and death are on the rise, lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce, ready or not. Our lives are filled with freak accidents, cancer, and the steady decay of time. Stories of destruction and pain come at us from everywhere - our news, TV shows, movies, and social media sites - because fear and death seem to sell.
Simply put, suffering is universal.
We all have different ways of dealing with our pain, depending on what day it happens to be and how we happen to be feeling.
The author's mother had not only the suicide of his father but two other unsuccessful marriages. She lived to be a great age, and in many ways she remained a valuable person.
The author shares there could be a hundred and six other ways we have of coping with pain.
You don't have to talk about pain, but you have to live out of your pain.
Through the gates of pain we enter into joy.
God says He is with us on our journeys. He says he has been with us since each of our journeys began. Listen for God.
It is to choose to believe that the truth of our story is contained in Jesus's story, which is a love story. Jesus's story is the truth about who we are and who the God is who Jesus says loves us.
"And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the the way, and when you rise."
Frederick Buechner is the author of more than 30 books and has been important source of inspiration and learning for many readers. He has been awarded honorary degrees from institutions institutions including Yale University and Virginia Theological Seminary.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Monday, November 27, 2017
The Remarkable Ordinary - Book Review
How to Stop, Look, & Listen to Life.
Listening For God In Stories We Tell:
The author first met Maya Angelou when the Trinity Institute brought them together to speak for a series of lectures. The Institute does this every year, and the lectures are frankly geared for burned - out Episcopal clergy - men and women who simply have had it.
The author had recently published two books, one of them called The Sacred Journey and one of them called Now and Then, in which he was about to set a sort of spiritual autobiography in the sense that he simply looked back on his life from its very beginning to listen to moments when he thought God had spoken to him.
They always have two people giving these lectures, and the other person they got was this extraordinary woman named Maya Angelou, who has told her story in not two but he think something like five volumes, the first of which is a marvelous book called I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings.
Maya Angelou was a large woman about the author height, black, beautiful, and so full of energy you can warm your hands in front of her. She was born in the South and brought up in great poverty by her grandmother in the little town of Stamps, Arkansas. Awful things happened to her. She was raped at the age of eight, not a violent rape but a sort of one-thing-leads-to-another rape by a boyfriend of her mother whom she'd gone to visit. She came back from that experience afraid to tell anybody about it, but she eventually told her little brother Bailey that this thing had happened. By a fluke, within a couple of days of the incident, word came that the man who'd raped her had died, and she was terrified that her words had killed him. So she was mute for five years - didn't say anything for five years. Well, she grew up, became a dancer, became a waitress, became a cook, and for a brief time she was a prostitute. She fell on evil times - the man whom she was with at the time said he needed some money and, if she wouldn't mind, could she entertain some of his friends, and she did for a time. Then she started to write and one thing led to another - acclaimed books, operas, films, and TV shows. She was a Renaissance woman, in other words.
Then Maya recalled the really marvelous high church Episcopal service that took place before the lectures began - there was incense and there was chanting and there were vestments, "she looked at the service, and she told the Episcopalians do it so well."
The wonderful truth of that, of course, is we act in these religious traditions and rituals as if we know what we're doing. Some of us think a church service is when we sing this, pray that, read this, and stand here and stand there.
The next day she had started her lecture reflecting on a story about racism, saying, "As I left the room yesterday, a man stood up and said, 'Here I am!'"
No sooner had these words left her lips when this small, bearded, white Episcopal clergyman suddenly stood up in their midst of a few rows behind her and walked down the aisle, up onto the platform, and put his arms around him. He was, of course, her friend who had been too embarrassed to talk to here anymore. And she cried and he cried all of them cried because they just got a glimpse of the kingdom of God. So moving. So gorgeous.
The author had given his lecture first, which was based, as he said, on his spiritual autobiography, and after he was done, he introduced Maya saying, "Ms. Angelou will now get up and tell your story, and it will be a very different story from the one that you just heard. As he said that Maya Angelou, who was sitting in the front row and shaking her head from side to side, got up, and she said he was wrong. She was very touched by that because in so many ways, what stories could be more different? I'm a man and and she's a woman, I'm white, she's black, she grew up in dire poverty while by comparison he grew up with riches, though God knows we weren't rich, and yet she said it's the same story. And she meant he think it is that at a certain level we do, all of us, with all the differences, we do all have the same story. When it comes to the business of how do you have faith in a world that gives you reasons every week not to believe, how do you survive - especially surviving our own childhoods as Maya Angelou survived hers and we've all survived ours - at that level we all have the same story, and therefore anybody's story can illuminate our own.
Better Than I Used to Be, but Far from Well:
His three daughters, his wife, and the author were living in this beautiful part of Vermont, rich, blessed, everybody healthy, very close, loving, did things together; and he always thought, This won't last, because that was what he learned in his childhood, that good things don't last, that there is always something waiting. There was a green hill as you looked out east from their house over the Green Mountains on the property of a neighbor of theirs, which had sort of a spine down one end.
Their oldest daughter, in her late teens he guess, became anorexic, a gradual process of not eating much. They would say, "Oh, for heaven's sake, you ought to have another piece of that," or "You can't go without breakfast," and so on. She went away to college, to Princeton, for a while and it got worst. Anyway, he would not go through all the details but she was married in the process of this to a boy they loved. And as it turned out, the anorexia destroyed the marriage.
You love all your children equally, I suppose, but she was his first child. She had made him a father, and he loved her as much as he had ever loved anybody. His love for her was like sort of his mother's love for him, too possessive, too much for his sake. The people who loved her right because they weren't emotionally involved were the hospital people, the psychiatrist, the one who fed her through her hose, and the people in AA because anorexia led to alcoholism as well.
She survived, and better than survived. One day she told him that she had so much help from AA that he really ought to try one of the twelve-step programs.
She said she was better than she use to be, but far from well. The journey continues; he does what he can. The great problem is to try to live in the present, not the past, not the future, but in the now.
Frederick Buechner is the author of more than 30 books and has been an important source of inspiration and learning for many readers. His books has been translated into 27 languages. He has been awarded honorary degrees from institutions including Yale University and Virginia Theological Seminary.
Listening For God In Stories We Tell:
The author first met Maya Angelou when the Trinity Institute brought them together to speak for a series of lectures. The Institute does this every year, and the lectures are frankly geared for burned - out Episcopal clergy - men and women who simply have had it.
The author had recently published two books, one of them called The Sacred Journey and one of them called Now and Then, in which he was about to set a sort of spiritual autobiography in the sense that he simply looked back on his life from its very beginning to listen to moments when he thought God had spoken to him.
They always have two people giving these lectures, and the other person they got was this extraordinary woman named Maya Angelou, who has told her story in not two but he think something like five volumes, the first of which is a marvelous book called I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings.
Maya Angelou was a large woman about the author height, black, beautiful, and so full of energy you can warm your hands in front of her. She was born in the South and brought up in great poverty by her grandmother in the little town of Stamps, Arkansas. Awful things happened to her. She was raped at the age of eight, not a violent rape but a sort of one-thing-leads-to-another rape by a boyfriend of her mother whom she'd gone to visit. She came back from that experience afraid to tell anybody about it, but she eventually told her little brother Bailey that this thing had happened. By a fluke, within a couple of days of the incident, word came that the man who'd raped her had died, and she was terrified that her words had killed him. So she was mute for five years - didn't say anything for five years. Well, she grew up, became a dancer, became a waitress, became a cook, and for a brief time she was a prostitute. She fell on evil times - the man whom she was with at the time said he needed some money and, if she wouldn't mind, could she entertain some of his friends, and she did for a time. Then she started to write and one thing led to another - acclaimed books, operas, films, and TV shows. She was a Renaissance woman, in other words.
Then Maya recalled the really marvelous high church Episcopal service that took place before the lectures began - there was incense and there was chanting and there were vestments, "she looked at the service, and she told the Episcopalians do it so well."
The wonderful truth of that, of course, is we act in these religious traditions and rituals as if we know what we're doing. Some of us think a church service is when we sing this, pray that, read this, and stand here and stand there.
The next day she had started her lecture reflecting on a story about racism, saying, "As I left the room yesterday, a man stood up and said, 'Here I am!'"
No sooner had these words left her lips when this small, bearded, white Episcopal clergyman suddenly stood up in their midst of a few rows behind her and walked down the aisle, up onto the platform, and put his arms around him. He was, of course, her friend who had been too embarrassed to talk to here anymore. And she cried and he cried all of them cried because they just got a glimpse of the kingdom of God. So moving. So gorgeous.
The author had given his lecture first, which was based, as he said, on his spiritual autobiography, and after he was done, he introduced Maya saying, "Ms. Angelou will now get up and tell your story, and it will be a very different story from the one that you just heard. As he said that Maya Angelou, who was sitting in the front row and shaking her head from side to side, got up, and she said he was wrong. She was very touched by that because in so many ways, what stories could be more different? I'm a man and and she's a woman, I'm white, she's black, she grew up in dire poverty while by comparison he grew up with riches, though God knows we weren't rich, and yet she said it's the same story. And she meant he think it is that at a certain level we do, all of us, with all the differences, we do all have the same story. When it comes to the business of how do you have faith in a world that gives you reasons every week not to believe, how do you survive - especially surviving our own childhoods as Maya Angelou survived hers and we've all survived ours - at that level we all have the same story, and therefore anybody's story can illuminate our own.
Better Than I Used to Be, but Far from Well:
His three daughters, his wife, and the author were living in this beautiful part of Vermont, rich, blessed, everybody healthy, very close, loving, did things together; and he always thought, This won't last, because that was what he learned in his childhood, that good things don't last, that there is always something waiting. There was a green hill as you looked out east from their house over the Green Mountains on the property of a neighbor of theirs, which had sort of a spine down one end.
Their oldest daughter, in her late teens he guess, became anorexic, a gradual process of not eating much. They would say, "Oh, for heaven's sake, you ought to have another piece of that," or "You can't go without breakfast," and so on. She went away to college, to Princeton, for a while and it got worst. Anyway, he would not go through all the details but she was married in the process of this to a boy they loved. And as it turned out, the anorexia destroyed the marriage.
You love all your children equally, I suppose, but she was his first child. She had made him a father, and he loved her as much as he had ever loved anybody. His love for her was like sort of his mother's love for him, too possessive, too much for his sake. The people who loved her right because they weren't emotionally involved were the hospital people, the psychiatrist, the one who fed her through her hose, and the people in AA because anorexia led to alcoholism as well.
She survived, and better than survived. One day she told him that she had so much help from AA that he really ought to try one of the twelve-step programs.
She said she was better than she use to be, but far from well. The journey continues; he does what he can. The great problem is to try to live in the present, not the past, not the future, but in the now.
Frederick Buechner is the author of more than 30 books and has been an important source of inspiration and learning for many readers. His books has been translated into 27 languages. He has been awarded honorary degrees from institutions including Yale University and Virginia Theological Seminary.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Brave Beauty - Book Review
Brave Beauty will take you on a journey for girls. It would be a good teaching book for girls and a book to give to girls. It has 100 mini chapters in the book about God.
Lynn Cowell discovered that writing helped her figure out herself. That's why she wrote this book; she wanted to take her readers on a journey to becoming a brave and fearless you!
This book has 100 mini chapters and it would be a good teaching book for girls.
We will see:
who God says you are
Look at people in the Bible and see how they handled hard things
Get to know more about God and how He can help us
Learn how God words can help us become fearless and brave
There are quizzes and questions throughout the book.
When Lynn was in the third grade, someone gave her a little gold book that read "Five Year Diary" on the outside. If she could remember who gave her, her first diary she would thank them.
At the end of each mini Chapter is a courageous call, is a prayer, "In Jesus' name, Amen."
Have you already asked God to make you a part of his family? If you haven't yet, you can simply ask God to make you His child and you, too, will belong.
There was a man in the Bible named Nicodemus, who felt a little confused. He heard about Jesus and saw miracles Jesus was doing, but he didn't really understand who Jesus was. He decided to go directly to Jesus and ask Him to explain.
Nicodemus was a leader in the church, but that didn't mean he had all the answers. Nicodemus approached Jesus at night, with questions and that was a brave approach.
The first thing Nicodemus wanted to know was who Jesus was.
Now Nicodemus was even more confused than when he came. He asked Jesus, "How can a man be born again when he is already old? He cannot get inside his mother's body again!"
Jesus explained to Nicodemus he could choose to become a part of God's family.
Jesus shared that when God's son, Jesus, came to earth, He made it possible for all of Nicodemus's sins to be forgiven. Then he could become a part of God's family and join God in heaven one day.
The price of our sins has already been paid (John 3:16). Jesus did that for you and me! It's a gift He gave us because He loves us so much.
When a family decides to adopt a child, they make that choice because they have a lot of love in their hearts and they want to share that love.
The Bible explains it this way: "God decided in advance, before we were born, to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
One of the promises that God made to us is that He will never leave us or forsake us.
As our father, God promises to take care of our needs. (Matthew 6:32) God already knows the things we need and He will take care of those needs.
God gives every person, including you, the ability to make a choice. You can decide whether or not you obey Him and experience His blessings. This decision is completely yours whether you are going to be a part of God's family or not.
I'm a part of God's family and I want you to be a part of it too.
Lynn shared when she would read her diary, it was fun reading about when she was younger.
Maybe when she talked about her struggles you would think, "Me too!" Your personality, body, even your family isn't the same as others so sometimes you have a hard time liking yourself just the way you are.
When God created you, He made you great from the very beginning.
Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV), says "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."
If you read through the Bible, you'll find lots of people who at one point or another felt unloved or rejected. Even Jesus was "looked down on and passed over." Isaiah 53:3 (MSG)
Remembering who we are in God's eyes help to heal the hurt that comes from meanness.
When Lynn was younger, she would often forget to do the chores her mom asked her to do. (Or was that really Lynn putting it off until she forgot on purpose?)
Lynn shares their has been times, that she felt like God has forgotten her.
You, too, know what it is like to feel like you haven't been remembered; left behind and left out.
God will never forget you!
When Lynn was younger she didn't mind being sick. When she was sick it meant she was able to stay at home from school with her Mom. All day long, her mom would bring her food and drinks to help her feel better.
In Matthew 14, we can read a story about Jesus meeting a lot of sick people. Jesus cousin, John the Baptist had just died. He wanted to be alone, but His boat landed, where there were many people, thousands of people, waiting for Him. They had heard He could heal their illnesses. Instead of wishing they would go away, verse 14 tells us, "... he had compassion on them and healed their sick."
After Jesus healed them, they didn't go away. His disciples told Jesus, "Send these people away so they can go and buy food for themselves." Jesus didn't want them to be sent away. Instead, He told the disciples to figure out a way to feed them; all 5,000 of them. All they found were five loaves and two fish. Jesus took what they had and miraculously fed everyone.
Jesus wants to protect you as you keep your eyes on Him each and every day.
When Lynn was a young woman her daddy passed away.
One day when her dad was getting ready to die, she was staying with him at the hospital. It was her birthday and her heart was sad to know that she was saying goo-bye to her dad. When she was going home from the hospital, she heard a song on the radio that talked about being completely healed and the way that healing came was by going to heaven and getting a new body.
Her daddy was dying, but her heart felt peaceful.
Just because you are young, doesn't mean you don't experience hard things in life. Parents divorce, love ones die, moves take us from our friends, and people do hurtful things. God is your refuge, strength, and help in trouble.
One day during fourth grade, Lynn's friend Liz asked her to come over after school. Lynn's mom had a rule that she couldn't go to anyone's house if there wasn't a parent there. Both of Liz's parents worked away from the home during the day. Lynn's mom had told her to never mess around with cigarettes.
Why didn't she listen to her mom's wise advice?
She didn't listen because she wanted Liz to like her.
At some point, you could find yourself in a situation similar to Liz. It might involve a TV show, a computer, a movie, a video, a friend, or a boy. There will be pressure, just like King Neb put pressure on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to bow down to his statue in Daniel 3.
The girl who is brave finds God's best; His plans for good for her life. The girl who runs with the "in" crowd all too often will miss it.
In fact, some friends might completely turn off the road of choosing what is right. You may have fewer friends or for a time, you may feel alone.
The tests of our character - the tests that we are taking and passing to become a brave beauty - can be the same way.
Passing tests isn't a school thing, it's a life thing.
At eight years old, Justine wasn't exactly sure what cancer was. But she did know her parents told her that her brother, who was only eighteen months old, had this thing called cancer.
Justine may not have understood how serious this illness was, but she did understand one thing: her family needed God to heal her brother.
God answered their prayers; God did heal her brother. Yes, God performed miracles in the Bible and He still performs miracles today!
In fact, Jesus says that if we only have faith the size of a tiny seed, nothing will be impossible for us.
Small people can see God do big things. Justine did!
There was a woman in the Bible who had an illness that was worst than Lynn's little cold. Her story is told in Mark 5:25-34 (NIV). This woman had been bleeding for twelve years. "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." (verse 26)
"When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If she touch his clothes, she would be healed." (verses 27-28) Immediately, Jesus' power went out of Him and into her. Her bleeding quit and her suffering stopped.
The woman had shown great bravery when she made her way through the crowd and touched Jesus' clothing. She had shown confidence in God, believing she would be healed.
The woman extended her faith when she reached out her arm. God met her; her prayers were answered.
As Lynn read her journals, she saw how God answered her prayers.
Ephesians 3:20 (MSG) Whatever big thing you can dream, God can do bigger.
Too often social media is all about making us feel good and important. We were made for one reason: to point others to the way, the truth, and the life: Jesus.
You need to be brave: brave enough to believe God has a big purpose for you.
Ella had broken one of her family's technology rules, watching a video she knew was wrong. Being ten was hard sometimes.
Ella couldn't sleep at night and her stomach had been hurting for days.
She went to her mom, sobbing, and confessed what she had done wrong.
Ella's mom hugged her and thanked her for being honest. She told Ella how brave she was to come and tell the truth. That didn't mean that honesty was a guarantee there would be no consequences or punishment for her actions.
The most important truth we need to know is that Jesus died to forgive us for our sins.
Lynn found a story in the Bible that doesn't get told much, probably because the names are so hard to pronounce.
Take a few minutes and read Exodus 1:15-17.
The women in this passage, Shiphrah and Puah, unlike Lynn, had every reason to be terrified. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt was ruthless. These two women were trained midwives - they were trained to help women through childbirth. Pharaoh was trying to get rid of the Israelite people. Pharaoh's plan was to command the women to destroy the little boys when they were born.
These women didn't care who was making the command. They feared God and did not do what the King of Egypt told them to do. They let every baby live; girl or boy.
Exodus 1:17 says the women "feared God." What the women felt toward God was respect and awe because of His power and holiness.
Shiphrah and Puah chose to obey God over fearing Pharaoh.
The author, Lynn Cowell is a part of the Proverbs 31 Ministries, speaking and writing to women of all ages. Lynn and her husband Greg have been married over 30 years and are parents of Zach, Mariah, and Madi.
Lynn Cowell discovered that writing helped her figure out herself. That's why she wrote this book; she wanted to take her readers on a journey to becoming a brave and fearless you!
This book has 100 mini chapters and it would be a good teaching book for girls.
We will see:
who God says you are
Look at people in the Bible and see how they handled hard things
Get to know more about God and how He can help us
Learn how God words can help us become fearless and brave
There are quizzes and questions throughout the book.
When Lynn was in the third grade, someone gave her a little gold book that read "Five Year Diary" on the outside. If she could remember who gave her, her first diary she would thank them.
At the end of each mini Chapter is a courageous call, is a prayer, "In Jesus' name, Amen."
Have you already asked God to make you a part of his family? If you haven't yet, you can simply ask God to make you His child and you, too, will belong.
There was a man in the Bible named Nicodemus, who felt a little confused. He heard about Jesus and saw miracles Jesus was doing, but he didn't really understand who Jesus was. He decided to go directly to Jesus and ask Him to explain.
Nicodemus was a leader in the church, but that didn't mean he had all the answers. Nicodemus approached Jesus at night, with questions and that was a brave approach.
The first thing Nicodemus wanted to know was who Jesus was.
Now Nicodemus was even more confused than when he came. He asked Jesus, "How can a man be born again when he is already old? He cannot get inside his mother's body again!"
Jesus explained to Nicodemus he could choose to become a part of God's family.
Jesus shared that when God's son, Jesus, came to earth, He made it possible for all of Nicodemus's sins to be forgiven. Then he could become a part of God's family and join God in heaven one day.
The price of our sins has already been paid (John 3:16). Jesus did that for you and me! It's a gift He gave us because He loves us so much.
When a family decides to adopt a child, they make that choice because they have a lot of love in their hearts and they want to share that love.
The Bible explains it this way: "God decided in advance, before we were born, to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
One of the promises that God made to us is that He will never leave us or forsake us.
As our father, God promises to take care of our needs. (Matthew 6:32) God already knows the things we need and He will take care of those needs.
God gives every person, including you, the ability to make a choice. You can decide whether or not you obey Him and experience His blessings. This decision is completely yours whether you are going to be a part of God's family or not.
I'm a part of God's family and I want you to be a part of it too.
Lynn shared when she would read her diary, it was fun reading about when she was younger.
Maybe when she talked about her struggles you would think, "Me too!" Your personality, body, even your family isn't the same as others so sometimes you have a hard time liking yourself just the way you are.
When God created you, He made you great from the very beginning.
Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV), says "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."
If you read through the Bible, you'll find lots of people who at one point or another felt unloved or rejected. Even Jesus was "looked down on and passed over." Isaiah 53:3 (MSG)
Remembering who we are in God's eyes help to heal the hurt that comes from meanness.
When Lynn was younger, she would often forget to do the chores her mom asked her to do. (Or was that really Lynn putting it off until she forgot on purpose?)
Lynn shares their has been times, that she felt like God has forgotten her.
You, too, know what it is like to feel like you haven't been remembered; left behind and left out.
God will never forget you!
When Lynn was younger she didn't mind being sick. When she was sick it meant she was able to stay at home from school with her Mom. All day long, her mom would bring her food and drinks to help her feel better.
In Matthew 14, we can read a story about Jesus meeting a lot of sick people. Jesus cousin, John the Baptist had just died. He wanted to be alone, but His boat landed, where there were many people, thousands of people, waiting for Him. They had heard He could heal their illnesses. Instead of wishing they would go away, verse 14 tells us, "... he had compassion on them and healed their sick."
After Jesus healed them, they didn't go away. His disciples told Jesus, "Send these people away so they can go and buy food for themselves." Jesus didn't want them to be sent away. Instead, He told the disciples to figure out a way to feed them; all 5,000 of them. All they found were five loaves and two fish. Jesus took what they had and miraculously fed everyone.
Jesus wants to protect you as you keep your eyes on Him each and every day.
When Lynn was a young woman her daddy passed away.
One day when her dad was getting ready to die, she was staying with him at the hospital. It was her birthday and her heart was sad to know that she was saying goo-bye to her dad. When she was going home from the hospital, she heard a song on the radio that talked about being completely healed and the way that healing came was by going to heaven and getting a new body.
Her daddy was dying, but her heart felt peaceful.
Just because you are young, doesn't mean you don't experience hard things in life. Parents divorce, love ones die, moves take us from our friends, and people do hurtful things. God is your refuge, strength, and help in trouble.
One day during fourth grade, Lynn's friend Liz asked her to come over after school. Lynn's mom had a rule that she couldn't go to anyone's house if there wasn't a parent there. Both of Liz's parents worked away from the home during the day. Lynn's mom had told her to never mess around with cigarettes.
Why didn't she listen to her mom's wise advice?
She didn't listen because she wanted Liz to like her.
At some point, you could find yourself in a situation similar to Liz. It might involve a TV show, a computer, a movie, a video, a friend, or a boy. There will be pressure, just like King Neb put pressure on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to bow down to his statue in Daniel 3.
The girl who is brave finds God's best; His plans for good for her life. The girl who runs with the "in" crowd all too often will miss it.
In fact, some friends might completely turn off the road of choosing what is right. You may have fewer friends or for a time, you may feel alone.
The tests of our character - the tests that we are taking and passing to become a brave beauty - can be the same way.
Passing tests isn't a school thing, it's a life thing.
At eight years old, Justine wasn't exactly sure what cancer was. But she did know her parents told her that her brother, who was only eighteen months old, had this thing called cancer.
Justine may not have understood how serious this illness was, but she did understand one thing: her family needed God to heal her brother.
God answered their prayers; God did heal her brother. Yes, God performed miracles in the Bible and He still performs miracles today!
In fact, Jesus says that if we only have faith the size of a tiny seed, nothing will be impossible for us.
Small people can see God do big things. Justine did!
There was a woman in the Bible who had an illness that was worst than Lynn's little cold. Her story is told in Mark 5:25-34 (NIV). This woman had been bleeding for twelve years. "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." (verse 26)
"When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If she touch his clothes, she would be healed." (verses 27-28) Immediately, Jesus' power went out of Him and into her. Her bleeding quit and her suffering stopped.
The woman had shown great bravery when she made her way through the crowd and touched Jesus' clothing. She had shown confidence in God, believing she would be healed.
The woman extended her faith when she reached out her arm. God met her; her prayers were answered.
As Lynn read her journals, she saw how God answered her prayers.
Ephesians 3:20 (MSG) Whatever big thing you can dream, God can do bigger.
Too often social media is all about making us feel good and important. We were made for one reason: to point others to the way, the truth, and the life: Jesus.
You need to be brave: brave enough to believe God has a big purpose for you.
Ella had broken one of her family's technology rules, watching a video she knew was wrong. Being ten was hard sometimes.
Ella couldn't sleep at night and her stomach had been hurting for days.
She went to her mom, sobbing, and confessed what she had done wrong.
Ella's mom hugged her and thanked her for being honest. She told Ella how brave she was to come and tell the truth. That didn't mean that honesty was a guarantee there would be no consequences or punishment for her actions.
The most important truth we need to know is that Jesus died to forgive us for our sins.
Lynn found a story in the Bible that doesn't get told much, probably because the names are so hard to pronounce.
Take a few minutes and read Exodus 1:15-17.
The women in this passage, Shiphrah and Puah, unlike Lynn, had every reason to be terrified. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt was ruthless. These two women were trained midwives - they were trained to help women through childbirth. Pharaoh was trying to get rid of the Israelite people. Pharaoh's plan was to command the women to destroy the little boys when they were born.
These women didn't care who was making the command. They feared God and did not do what the King of Egypt told them to do. They let every baby live; girl or boy.
Exodus 1:17 says the women "feared God." What the women felt toward God was respect and awe because of His power and holiness.
Shiphrah and Puah chose to obey God over fearing Pharaoh.
The author, Lynn Cowell is a part of the Proverbs 31 Ministries, speaking and writing to women of all ages. Lynn and her husband Greg have been married over 30 years and are parents of Zach, Mariah, and Madi.
Saturday, October 7, 2017
People and Creatures Enter the Ark - Genesis 7:1-10
God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family out of everyone in this generation you're the righteous one.
"Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female to insure their survival on earth. In just seven days God will dump rain on earth for forty days and forty nights. God will make a clean sweep of everything what he has made. Noah did everything that God had commanded him to do. Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters covered the earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.
It was the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.
That's the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs - everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind Noah.
Reference summary used from The Message Bible
"Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female to insure their survival on earth. In just seven days God will dump rain on earth for forty days and forty nights. God will make a clean sweep of everything what he has made. Noah did everything that God had commanded him to do. Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters covered the earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.
It was the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.
That's the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs - everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind Noah.
Reference summary used from The Message Bible
People and Creatures Return to the Earth - Genesis 8:13-19
In the six hundred first year of Noah's life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry.
God spoke to Noah: "Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the earth."
Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons wives. Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds - every creature on the face off the earth - left the ship family by family. Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offering on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done.
God spoke to Noah: "Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the earth."
Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons wives. Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds - every creature on the face off the earth - left the ship family by family. Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offering on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done.
Extolling the majesty of the Lord - Psalm 89:1-15
Congregation of the saints or holy generally refers to angels. In the courts of heaven, a myriad of angels praise the Lord. This scene is one of majesty and grandeur to show that God is beyond compare. His power and purity place him high above nature and angels.
Justice and judgment (righteousness) mercy and truth surround God on his throne, they are fundamental aspects of the way God rules. As God's ambassadors, we should deal with people similarly. Make sure your actions flow out of justice, righteousness, and truth because any unfair, unloving, or dishonest action cannot come from God.
Reference summary used from The Life Application Bible, KJV, Tyndale Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL
Justice and judgment (righteousness) mercy and truth surround God on his throne, they are fundamental aspects of the way God rules. As God's ambassadors, we should deal with people similarly. Make sure your actions flow out of justice, righteousness, and truth because any unfair, unloving, or dishonest action cannot come from God.
Reference summary used from The Life Application Bible, KJV, Tyndale Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL
God's Promise Realized Through Faith - Romans 4:13-25
That famous promise God gave Abraham - that he and his children would posses the earth was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed.
If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an iron clad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal.
A contract drawn up by a hard nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise - and God's promise if that - you can't break it. This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his ways and then simply embracing him and what he does.
God's promise arrives as a pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them.
For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father - that's reading the story backward. He is our faith father. We call Abraham "Father" not because he got God's attention by living a faithful life, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody.
Isn't that what we're always reading in Scripture "I set you up as Father of many peoples?" Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he he trusted God to do only what God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.
When everything was hopeless Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples.
God himself said to him you're going to have a big family, Abraham!
Ceremonies and rituals serve as reminders of our faith. They instruct new and younger believers, but we should not think that they give us any special merit before God. They are outward signs and seal that demonstrate belief and trust. The focus of our faith should be on Christ and his saving actions, not on our own actions.
Paul explains that Abraham pleased God through his faith alone, before he ever heard about the rituals that would become so important to the Jewish people. We too are saved by faith. It is not by loving God and doing good that we are saved; neither is it by faith plus love or faith plus good works.
We are saved only through faith in Christ, trusting him to forgive all our sins. For more on Abraham, see his profile in Genesis 18.
The promise (or covenant) God gave Abraham said that Abraham would be the father of many nations and that the entire world would be blessed through him. This promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus was from Abraham's line, and truly the world was blessed through him.
Paul points out that the promise to Abraham to be the father of many nations extended beyond Israel to all the nations of the world. Abraham never doubted that God would fulfill his promise. His life was marked by mistakes, sins, and failures as well as by wisdom and goodness, but he consistently trusted God. His faith was strengthened by the obstacles he faced.
His life is an example of faith in action. If he had looked only at his own resources for subduing Canaan and founding of a nation, he would have given up in despair. But he looked to God, obeyed him and waited for God to fulfill his word to him.
Reference summary used from The Message Bible and The Life Application Bible, KJV, Tyndale Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL
If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an iron clad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal.
A contract drawn up by a hard nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise - and God's promise if that - you can't break it. This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his ways and then simply embracing him and what he does.
God's promise arrives as a pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them.
For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father - that's reading the story backward. He is our faith father. We call Abraham "Father" not because he got God's attention by living a faithful life, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody.
Isn't that what we're always reading in Scripture "I set you up as Father of many peoples?" Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he he trusted God to do only what God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.
When everything was hopeless Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples.
God himself said to him you're going to have a big family, Abraham!
Ceremonies and rituals serve as reminders of our faith. They instruct new and younger believers, but we should not think that they give us any special merit before God. They are outward signs and seal that demonstrate belief and trust. The focus of our faith should be on Christ and his saving actions, not on our own actions.
Paul explains that Abraham pleased God through his faith alone, before he ever heard about the rituals that would become so important to the Jewish people. We too are saved by faith. It is not by loving God and doing good that we are saved; neither is it by faith plus love or faith plus good works.
We are saved only through faith in Christ, trusting him to forgive all our sins. For more on Abraham, see his profile in Genesis 18.
The promise (or covenant) God gave Abraham said that Abraham would be the father of many nations and that the entire world would be blessed through him. This promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus was from Abraham's line, and truly the world was blessed through him.
Paul points out that the promise to Abraham to be the father of many nations extended beyond Israel to all the nations of the world. Abraham never doubted that God would fulfill his promise. His life was marked by mistakes, sins, and failures as well as by wisdom and goodness, but he consistently trusted God. His faith was strengthened by the obstacles he faced.
His life is an example of faith in action. If he had looked only at his own resources for subduing Canaan and founding of a nation, he would have given up in despair. But he looked to God, obeyed him and waited for God to fulfill his word to him.
Reference summary used from The Message Bible and The Life Application Bible, KJV, Tyndale Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL
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