faith – Page 4 – B Is for Blessed!

Merry Christmas?

Although Christmas is my favorite time of year, Christmas is not “merry” for many.

The holiday season can become a catalyst that accentuates grief, sparks depression and brings about a range of emotions, some of which we would rather not face. Not everyone has a legacy of Christmas memories that leave them feeling warm and cozy.

This Christmas will be one for many who are struggling with loss, and a great number of them may be relieved when the holidays are over.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Some people may very well need to tend their wounds instead of catering to the expectations of other people.

Insisting those who are hurting be joyful is unrealistic. We can’t always understand someone’s pain, but we can certainly respect it.

By faith, I am trusting God that much joy and laughter awaits us this Christmas.

One reason we celebrate the birth of Christ is the promise of a new life that doesn’t suffer the ills and pains of this earthly world. Those who trust Him have a promise of something better for eternity.

Through faith, we win the mental battle that allows us to see the light that eventually breaks after every storm. Jesus is the Light of the world elevating us above despair and defeat. If you are feeling overcome, look to the Light!

Call on Him.

If you are hurting this Christmas season, my prayer is that you receive His peace on earth and goodwill from men!

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NKJV

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Traveling over the river and through the woods or staying close to home, give thanks for blessings large and small; with God we are never alone.

B Blessed!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! 1 Chronicles 16:8 NKJV

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34 NKJV

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 NKJV

Burning Bush!

God and The Garden

And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush [was] not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Exodus 3:2-4 NKJV

“Here I am.”

God called Moses by name and revealed Himself.

God does the same for us. We may not experience anything as spectacular as a burning bush yet God calls us just the same.

God knows our names. We were born for a purpose. We can choose to obey the call He places on us or we can…

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Family Reunion!

This weekend, I was blessed to return to my hometown of Tallahassee and catch up with family.

Now, this isn’t “family” in the traditional sense of the word. Some families you are born into. Others you acquire through marriage. And then, if you are very fortunate, some family is chosen for you.

I graduated high-school in a tiny class. Instead of hundreds of students, there were only forty-eight of us. A dozen of those I met in kindergarten.

Our school was small. It was the kind of school where everyone literally knew everyone else. You knew them, their siblings and probably their parents as well.

It was a simple time when the jocks were jocks without the nerds walking in fear of them.

It was an era where the “board of education” hung on a wall. Some may scoff, but the kids that came out of “The High” had a credible respect for authority and grew up to be respectable adults.

Our teachers were more like mothers. There was always the fear they would see your real mother and tell them everything you were up to.

In a school that didn’t have the latest and greatest equipment, we learned to make the best of what we had and didn’t allow what we didn’t have to stand as an excuse between where we were and where we wanted to be. Truth be told, I don’t think we were aware we were lacking anything!

Those halls were filled with love and laughter. Fights were physical but quickly resolved.

No guns, no knives.

Our cafeteria’s food was cooked with love. Homemade cinnamon rolls, pot pies, and peach cobbler. The smells of which I’ll never forget.

We learned to sit still during assemblies where we would pray. We said the pledge of allegiance every morning.

May Days and Maypoles.

Life was simple then. We didn’t know how good we had it.

But now we do.

Thirty years later we look back at those times and laugh. We laugh at how blissfully unaware we were, oblivious to how rare it was to have classmates that were like sisters and brothers.

Those same “siblings” were there for me when I buried my parents. We pray for one another. I’m confident my classmates would tend to my kids in an emergency and welcome them with open arms if for some reason I couldn’t reach them.

This weekend, I was blessed to reminisce about old times and share some new. There was laughter. Yet, there were also tears for the classmates no longer with us. Still, through the process of coming together, many of us were able to “reconnect, release and rebuild.”

And, most importantly, there was love.

Love for one another and love for the institution that brought us together and keeps us together as friends and family, brothers and sisters.

That is something to be grateful for.

Florida A & M University Developmental Research School Class of 87.

FAMULY!

I thank God, I was blessed to be one of you.

A friend loves at all times,
And a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17 NKJV

Hopeful!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NIV

“Overflow with hope.”

I’ll admit I haven’t been overflowing with hope lately. Part of this is due to lingering details concerning my mother’s death. Her birthday is tomorrow and I’ve been missing Mommy.

Recently, I was talking to my sister-in-law and she asked me what was I hoping for?

I didn’t have an answer.

There was a time I would have quickly rattled off a dozen or more things. Instead, it took me a few minutes to come up with an answer. Instead of being hopeful, I’ve been numb.

In Romans 15:12, Paul implores us to be filled with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, the events of life leave us less than optimistic so it is only through the “God of hope” that we can have joy and peace as we trust in Him.

Trusting God, it isn’t always joyful or peaceful. It doesn’t necessarily “feel” good. But we must trust anyway. The Holy Spirt can allow us to be hopeful once more when we allow His presence to overtake us. I want to once again be that “crazy lady” always expecting the best.

A few weeks ago, I had to deal with one of those “lingering details” by registering my mother’s car before the tag expired. As I’m down at the county tag office, I fill out the paperwork to get the vanity tag GRCNMRC. I figure grace and mercy held me together this year so it was more than appropriate.

When you fill out the form, you must make three selections in case the first one is taken. I wasn’t worried because I have always received the vanity plates I requested. Well, apparently there is another person of the same mind as myself because GRCNMRC was already taken.

Really?!

On to my second choice, the clerk quickly shook her head “no.”

“BBLESSED” was also registered. It would have been nice, still I can imagine someone having selected that one.

Frustrated, I held my breath as the clerk typed in my last choice. At this point, she surely thought I was wasting her time. I figured I would have to come back. The odds were slim.

Surprisingly, they were in my favor. I was filled with hope with I received this in the mail this week.

I see “signs and wonders” all the time but I took this as a definitive message to get my hopes up!

And Mommy would surely want me to.

I am now hopeful once more that my writing endeavors go well. I am hopeful both boys exceed their expectations in college. I am hopeful about this new phase of my life. I am even hopeful that my alma mater defeats North Carolina A & T this weekend for Homecoming.

Go Rattlers!!!

What are you hoping for?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For Better or For Worse…

By the time you read this, I should be well on my way to celebrate my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. My “ride or die” and I are off to spend some quality time together as we reminisce upon our better and our worse, the rich and the poor and appreciate the fact we are in relatively good health.

We are no longer the wide-eyed twenty somethings who were engaged in just six weeks. Twenty-five years later, we have been through some things.

Births and deaths.

Gains and losses.

More grey hairs.

Still, I can thankfully say the “worse” made us better instead of bitter.

We learned to compromise and admit our faults. We can now balance our strengths and tolerate our weaknesses. Most importantly, we learned to rely on God instead of ourselves.

Through two kids, five homes, six cities, eleven pets and too many career choices to mention (both his and mine) we managed to keep it together.

And sometimes “together” is more than enough.

We now find ourselves back where we began, just the two of us.

Another cycle of life. Sunrise, sunset.

Happy Anniversary Rod Raphael!

Our “better” has far exceeded our “worse.”

We truly are blessed.

And now, we are off on another adventure. Hubby and I are headed to view some amazing sunrises that we may cherish them later in our sunset.

God willing, together.

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 NIV

What Say You?

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana

“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.”
James Baldwin

“It [Democracy] is a great word, whose history, I suppose, remains unwritten, because that history has yet to be enacted”
Anthony Whitman

“History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.”
Maya Angelou

“The use of language is all we have to pit against death and silence.”
Joyce Carol Oates

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

If you consider yourself a Christian and rationalize racism and hatred, please do us all a favor and stop calling yourself a Christian. If we truly are one nation under God, it is time for the silent majority to speak up…

A Few More Lessons From a Spider…

I’ve learned a thing or two from spiders over the years. My favorite spider is Charlotte from the E. B. White classic Charlotte’s Web. These days the increase of spiders in my yard hint that fair time will soon be upon us.

Even as a kid, one of the best things I liked about Charlotte was she was smart. She used her “web design” to save Wilbur. Most of us would be a lot smarter if we actively sought wisdom. I suspect the book of Proverbs is there to provide us the wisdom that would indeed “bless us” if we would take initiative enough to heed it.

Speaking of initiative, Charlotte took the initiative to help Wilbur. I don’t recall Wilbur asking her for help in the story. Charlotte didn’t simply think oh, that’s too bad when she heard of his plight. She actually did something.

How many times do we hear of a need and take time to think about what we can do to change a situation for the better? And then actually follow through and do it? Too often, we convince ourselves not to heed the prodding of the Spirit and rationalize our complacency. We probably can’t change the entire world but we can possibly make a world of difference to at least one person.

My latest lesson comes from my own backyard.

Patience.

The spiders in my yard have done all they can to help themselves by spinning huge webs. They aren’t moving much these days. Now, they simply wait for meals to come to them. Spiders wait with an expectancy that what they need will eventually find them. How many of us are as confident in our faith that God will supply our needs after we have done all we can?

I am praying for wisdom these days. I am striving to be selfless and available. I am gradually learning patience. If God can speak through a donkey, surely, we can learn a thing or two from a spider…

There are four things which are little on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:
The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;
The rock badgers are a feeble folk,
Yet they make their homes in the crags;
The locusts have no king,
Yet they all advance in ranks;
The spider skillfully grasps with its hands,
And it is in kings’ palaces. Proverbs 30:24-28 NKJV

Beauty for Ashes…

Isaiah 61 is probably one of the most comforting chapters in the Bible. The very first verse begins with good news preaching “good tidings to the poor,” speaks to “heal the broken-hearted,” and proclaims “liberty to the captives.”

Most of us need “comfort” at one time or another. We suffer wounds along our way. We lose people and mourn. Things we hold dear can be reduced to nothing.

Fear, doubt, and even daily life can sometimes pull us under yet thankfully we don’t have to stay under or bound by any of our losses. Isaiah teaches us not to wallow in our sorrows but instead be willing to exchange what we have for what our God is willing to give us.

Peace.

Joy.

Beauty.

I recall learning how the ashes caused by forest fires fertilize the ground to allow new growth. The “fires” in our lives have this same potential. How amazing that the remnants of what was can become the foundation for what can be.

If you are wounded, don’t give up. Instead, give yourself over to God. He can take you and your remnants and produce something new!

Isaiah preached of what was to come, our God is available to us now.

A Healer.

A Redeemer.

Receiving God’s beauty requires that we give up what we have, even that which is painfully familiar, so that we may receive His promises.

What are you holding on to?

“To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified,”
Isaiah 61:3 NKJV

Don’t Be Deceived…

I was recently reminded to be a bit more mindful and not merely act on what I “think” I see.

Our enemies aren’t always obvious. They rarely arrive with a pitchfork and horns.

Some are flatterers, even endearing. Many are manipulative and masters of illusion, leading us to make assumptions that can cause us great harm.

Upon closer inspection, I realized the “bee” in the photograph was hardly a bee. Instead it is a wasp, to which I am highly allergic. There are no less than six Epi-pens stashed around my home!

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

It is impossible to resist our adversary if we can’t recognize him.

And then there are times we are so eager to receive what we want, we refuse to acknowledge the pitfalls that lie ahead.

The serpent deceived Eve because she desired something she could not have.

Jacob was deceived into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. Had he known the youngest could not marry before the firstborn, I think Jacob would have negotiated a better deal than fourteen years of servitude!

When in doubt, check it out.

Ask questions.

Investigate.

Pray!

I’ve slowly learned to listen to God when my gut is screaming “Danger!”

Every good deal is not a good deal.

Some “situations” that fuel anxiety are often distractions to keep us from fulfilling our purpose.

Don’t be deceived into thinking God doesn’t love you.

He does.

Don’t be deceived into thinking setbacks last forever.

They don’t.

Don’t be deceived by rhetoric that is contrary to God.

All lies.

Wise choices often precede a blessing. Ask God for wisdom and don’t be deceived…

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
James 1:5 NKJV

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:16-17 NKJV