Joy in the Journey

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Deuteronomy 5:11 There is a new language now, a language I despise. It is the vernacular of technology, I suppose. I first heard about when email and instant messages began. You know what I’m talking about the, lol, btw, b/c, and the rest. I hate it but I do understand that my age and my word addiction contribute greatly to that intense dislike. There is one, however, that no matter how long I live or even if I could temper my love of words will ever be acceptable. I hate it, absolutely hate it and that is not going to change. That one is “omg.” Are you kidding me? It isn’t bad enough that so many people feel so little about tossing the Lord’s name around, now we’re going to lose the capital letter and abbreviate. Let’s make breaking the third commandment as user friendly as possible. I cannot even consider the little abbreviation that adds the famous letter! I’ll jus...

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. Luke 1:68 The story of Horatio Spafford’s reason for writing the hymn, “It is Well” is amazing and eye-opening to me. I love to read that story and I love the hymn. Hearing it recently I thought of the words in the telegram that Mrs. Spafford sent to her husband after the accident which took the life of the couple’s four daughter’s. To inform her husband of their latest tragedy she sent two words, “Saved alone.” The thought of her having to send the telegram, as well as the thought of him receiving it, gives me chills. That the man was then able to turn that into an anthem of faith, hope and praise is beyond anything I can imagine. But today, it is the two words of the telegram that are speaking to me. “Saved alone.” Reading the story yet again, I was stopped at those words. Anna Spafford meant them literally. Her four precious daughters were dead and she was not. But, think about those words, sa...

And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exodus 33:19 It seems to me that several of the more popular televangelists are wealthy. Due, perhaps to their own abundance, they like to preach prosperity to the rest of us. God, according to them, wants us to have everything, fancy car, big house, lovely clothes, etc. He also wants us to be healthy and happy. Some of them go as far as to suggest, if not come right out and say, that if we aren’t healthy, wealthy and wise we don’t have enough faith. Contrast that with a very large portion of the world where people have almost literally, nothing but their faith. What about them? Several years ago my husband went on a mission trip to build houses in Honduras. He came home with stories of abject financial poverty endured by people of immense faith. Financi...

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 One of my goals in life from as early as I can remember, was to be a mom. In fact I wanted to be a Kool-aid mom. You know, the one who always has all the kids at her house, her own and all of their friends. God was very good to me in blessing me with four children of my own and giving me that dream of having their friends around as well. It seemed to me that if you were an active part of your children’s lives you got the double portion benefit of enjoying them and raising secure, confident children who would make good, sound decisions. If you are laughing at me right now, I’m okay with that. I have four grown children who are dearer than dear to me. I love them beyond measure. Some of them however have made choices that have made their lives so difficult. Some have been hurtful to themselves and other and each one, every one of them, lacks confidence in one area or another. This is not to...

When Elisha reached the house there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 2 Kings 3:32-37 In liturgical churches during the season of Lent, many sermons are given about the abundant love of Christ and the sacrifice he gave on the Cross. There is a lot of focus on the fact that one perfect life was exchanged for so many imperfect lives. Jesus gave his all for us. This story of Elisha and the son of the Shunammite woman, comes before Jesus in the Old Testament. To me it is more evidence that God never changes. Elisha does not have to give his life for the boy but he does take a huge risk. Moreover, the cost ...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 When writing fiction I have to create characters. They become quite real to me, which is sometimes hard for the people around me to understand. A few years ago while out to dinner with my husband I saw a young man who looked a lot like one of my characters. I told my husband, “He looks a lot like Nick.” My husband laughed and asked me how I knew what Nick looked like. If not me, who would? Nick exists because I created him. The other day I mentioned that the little girl in the book I’m working on now sounds like a little girl I know from school. My husband again commented. “Oh great, now you’re hearing their voices?” Admittedly that does sound a little odd but again, of course I hear them. I plan every minute of their lives. Still it is so great when someone reads my book and tells me something they’ve seen in a character that I didn’t really think about. Talking abo...

Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the Lord. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the Lord. Exodus 28:30 Do you know what the Urim and Thummim are? I didn’t until I looked it up the first time I read this verse. The what? These aren’t words that suggest any meaning I’ve ever known. So, I checked them out. Immediately I wanted a set of my own. Now years later reading this same passage in Exodus I don’t feel any different. I want a set of my own! In case you haven’t had the opportunity to check out these ultra-important items I’ll tell you about them. The Urim and Thummim (say that five times fast!) were devices used by a priest, in this case Aaron, to determine God’s will. The best information is that they were much like lots or stones cast to discern God’s yes or no answer. Where can you buy those? Where’s the infomercial on those little...