Picket Fences

As I struggled to explain, my friend said, “Alone?” “Yes.” I nodded. It was hard for me to admit when I know that I am never alone. I know God is there, yet, that is how I felt in the middle of the struggle. I felt like I was trying to just survive through the challenges of the moments…moments that went into hours…into days…I felt…Alone. “I know faith isn’t based on feelings, but I really would like to 'feel'   Him.” I admitted. “My brain knows He is there. He blesses me. I have faith.” “But it’s tired. Worn.” She added, understanding as she's had her own battles to deal with lately. “Yes.” I agreed. Have you ever felt alone? Isolated? Grasping at the frail end of a rope of faith. Have you ever felt so tired that even though you have all the knowledge that aids your faith, stored in your head, you can’t hear it? You want to. You know…you know…God is there. He loves you, but the words come as if from an echo down a dark distant hallway. ...

Another shooting! So many stories of one murder after another. Mass murders are becoming a norm in the news. Along with murder suicides, racist murders, young girls and boy’s murders, and now the cops are being purposely murdered. Is anybody safe anymore? There are hate messages and arguments over the Presidential election. We fight, disregarding relationships, when we only know the candidates by whatever records are revealed through the media, and through the promises of their speeches that are written by a publicist, so they can seal their place in the Presidential seat. Yet, I read and hear things, that separate the people, who are voting them into office to serve. Will the hate messages stop after the election? I don’t see how. Not everyone will be happy with who is in the Presidential office. Hate grows and grows like a raging fire. How easy is it for a person to just flip someone off or call them a foul name in traffic, then drive away with no remorse...

Isaiah 49:23 "...Then you will know that I am the LORD; Those who hope in me will not be disappointed." NIV I was reading chapter 49 of Isaiah today and when I came to the tail-end of verse 23, I stood to attention. My heart knows this, but it needed to hear the comfort of these words today. When the people I love struggle it can tear my heart apart.  I have been bringing many petitions to the Lord for them, still... This verse reminded my heart that God will not disappoint me. God loves the ones I pray for and I will not be disappointed. As always, I just need to trust. Believe.  He has always been faithful to show me, He is the Almighty God who cares for me, and those I love.

That’s what Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.” And then he died. If we could only grasp that to its fullness. He IS the final sacrifice for sins. There is not one thing you can do to add to the payment needed for your sins. Not. One. Nope. Not that. And not that either. The price is paid. When we paid off our car. There was absolutely no reason to give the bank any more of our money. Our car was paid for and legally all ours. We paid all we needed to pay for the car. There is a zero balance. We could keep paying for the car, but it is completely paid off. Just like we can do things to try to pay for the price of our sin to God. Are there consequences to sin? Yes. Sometimes. You can do things that will send your little self to jail, or break up a relationship, or make you suffer physically. But between you and God, Jesus death on the cross paid the price for our sins. Can you believe that? Will you believe that? I ...

My husband and I are back at school. Our brains are being used in a way they haven’t been in a very long time. The teaching is fast and it takes a bit more of an effort to store the knowledge in our brain’s files and not let it float in and fly right out again. Sometimes it was like a very windy day in my head. I would go over and over and over a formula before the information actually took. I did a LOT of note taking, while it seems most of the younger students were actively participating. The teacher for my first class had a gift of teaching. He and a few of the students actually enjoyed figuring out different problems. Did I forget to tell you I took a Pre-Algebra class? And they seemed to be having fun working out all of the formulas. I am so glad I took the Pre-Algebra class to get my brain warmed up again. I had to go down into the cellar and pull out the drawers of some rusty file cabinets to draw out information that had been stored for ages. I was quite...

  “There is no such thing as monsters or ghosts,” I said those words many times to comfort my daughter at night, but still I checked in the closet and under her bed to prove it.  She didn’t always trust me and believe she was okay enough to close her beautiful eyes and go to sleep. There were many times; I ended up lying beside her bed until she fell asleep, to protect her from the fears that come from the shadows of the night. I got it. Are there really no monsters or ghosts? (I know in the real sense of the word, there are  not .) As an adult the monsters that keep me awake and peeking out from under my sheets at night are different. Some of them are real. I just watched a forensic show yesterday that had a criminal who was very close to my worst night fear. (Do not ask me why I watched it. My curiosity got the best of me.) Monsters really are out there! You can read about them and hear about them. And then there are the type of monsters that wake...

"I have no gloves." The girl standing outside of my car said after I handed her some money. Then she showed me her red, cold hands. I looked around our car to see if we had a spare pair and then checked to see of any of us in the car were wearing gloves. "I don't have any gloves," I said apologetically. She showed me her hands again. "I don't have any gloves." Her face was sad. I noticed her skimpy skirt with leggings underneath; a pink backpack lay on the sidewalk. I asked my daughter to look under the seat to see if we had any hand and foot warmers. "I have hand warmers," she said a little frustrated. "But I have no gloves." "I don't have any gloves." I had shaken my head before we drove away. I felt sad for her. My first response - go to the nearby store and buy her a pair of gloves. Until I saw the parking lot filled with cars waiting in line to park. Last minute shoppers on Christmas Eve. Then ...

The day after Thanksgiving one of my friends posted on Facebook that the Starbucks holiday cup was out. She included a picture of the red cup. It enticed me to know there was steaming hot coffee in it. Typically, I like iced coffee, but leading into the holidays, I love to carry around warm coffee in a red cup. A few days later, though, I started to hear and see some negative things about the holiday Starbucks cup. Ridiculous things. Shortly after I saw a post on another of my friends Facebook wall that hurt my heart. It was a post about "the stupid CHRISTIANS" and their attitude about the Starbucks cup. What!?  STUPID Christians? Attitude? I'm a Christian. Along with the post, the comments about Christians took me by surprise. Obviously, I didn't participate in that conversation. I hadn't paid too much attention to the issue since it seemed non-legit to me, but all of the sudden I was put in a group that was "STUPID" because I am a Ch...