#Imagination

My sister is an artist. She can take a blank sheet of paper or a white canvas and with pen and ink or brush and paint create a scene that you might want to take a step into. Words have the capacity to do that, also. You see the words 'crimson robe' and you have seen that color before and you know what a robe is, so in your minds eye, you can see it.You read the words 'crown of thorns' and you can envision thorny branches woven to make a crown-like thing. The words 'cat-o-nine-tails' cause you to see a whip with bits of metal tied to the ends. When I say 'nails' you know they are used to hang things up.
Animals have their own languages to communicate and a woof or a meow or a chirp says something to another dog or cat or bird, but humans were given the ability to understand words. We can use our imagination a create the picture of what a whip would do to a man's back. We can even imagine the pain inflicted by nails hammered into one's hand because we have probably stuck a pin in our finger at one time or another and remember how it felt, but one thing we can't imagine is 'becoming sin' and the agony of that for a sinless one, for we all started out that way - sinners. Being a sinner doesn't seem so awful, comparatively speaking, as we compare ourselves with other humans.
We can't imagine absolute purity or perfection in a human, so we cannot imagine how disgusting a sinner is, comparatively speaking. So, try to imagine the perfect one becoming sin, absorbing all the sin of every human being, all the horrid, awful, nasty acts and thoughts and words. Our imaginations cannot take us there fully. We just have to accept it because that is exactly what Jesus did on the cross He was nailed to. With His stripes we are healed. With His death we are made perfect. When we see that 'without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin' and take it personally, we are, in God's estimation - perfect. Imagine that!
HAPPY EASTER, dear ones.

#Choices

We had been married several years and our family had grown and time and energy was devoted to more than each other. You know how it gets - a quick kiss goodbye or hello and a 'I love you' as we pass each other on our separate ways. The relationship is kinda taken for granted.
I remember one day I felt I needed a little more heart in the 'I love you', so I must have made a comment that caused my husband to respond with, "Honey, I choose you every day." That was so wonderful to hear and it has stuck in my memory. Even when I was unlovely, even when I looked a mess, he chose me every day.
It reminds me of the passage in Philippians 2:6-8 talking about Jesus being equal with God and choosing to humble Himself even to the point of death on the cross. He chose to leave a perfect place and all that goes with it to come to an imperfect world and suffer and die because that was the only thing that would work to keep those He loved from perishing. He chose to become what we were and suffer the consequences so we could become what He was and enjoy the benefits.
And 1 Peter 2:21 tells us to follow Jesus' example, to choose to humble ourselves. The third chapter tells wives and husbands how this should play out in every day life. Wives are to be submissive to their own husbands and develop a gentle and quiet spirit, trusting God, and husbands were told to live in an understanding way with their wives. It takes patience to be understanding, but patience is love in waiting.
The most bothersome thing to women is the submissive part and the most bothersome thing to men is the understanding women part. We can talk more about this later.

#ChildrenShouldBeSeen

One of the most favorite sayings adults had when I was a kid was "Children should be seen and not heard." And they used it a lot when we would interrupt their conversations. It was believed, and rightly so, that wisdom comes with time and experience. Book learning is one thing, but understanding and using information correctly is a whole other thing.
Perhaps they went too far in hushing up all input and maybe something real relevant could have been uttered by a child,but the likely-hood was negligible. I remember considering myself pretty smart when I graduated from High School and confronting my parents over some issues I thought were out-of-date. Time did a world of good to change my view of my parents and me.
Today, society has gone too far the other way. Children should not only be seen but definitely heard and not only heard, but now they know better and should be followed. The laws in place today make parents afraid to take a paddle to the bottom of misbehavior and teachers afraid to discipline their students and what do we have now. We have young people growing up believing they can get away with murder. We are developing murderers. We are doing a disservice to our children.
Kids were called kids because they naturally act like 'kids', the offspring of billy-goats. They are constantly butting their heads against everything in the way. But, they are children who need to be reared, not just raised. You can raise a bunch of billy-goats, but you rear children and that takes time and effort in training and correcting and disciplining and loving.
May God help us have some wisdom today.

#HostileTakeOver

Not enough is said about this particular point. In Genesis 1:28 God gave Adam command or control over the earth when He told him to rule it. He didn't just name the animals, he ruled until... yes, until he believed the lie his wife shared with him. When he took that bite lots of things happened, but I want to talk about the ruling or authority aspect. What Adam did in taking that fatal bite was to relinquish his right to rule the earth and handed it over to Satan. God still owns it all, but the legal right to the authority over it is temporarily in Satan's hands. That was the Hostile Takeover. This explains why so much evil is flagrant in our world and pain and suffering. God will set things straight one day, but He is bound by His character to work within the law. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus said "All authority has been given to me." He fulfilled the law with his perfect sacrifice on the cross as payment for all sin and proved it by resurrecting from the dead. Justice has been satisfied. The redemption debt has been paid, but and this is a BIG,but, all of us were born under Satan's control.

Jesus is the 'Only Begotten Son of God'. His father was YAHWEH GOD and his mother was Mary, a human being. The word only is important. We are God's creation, not His children, which is a lie being pushed today. But, and this is a big BUT also, but we can become God's child. When we really believe that Jesus paid for us and, by faith accept that payment as ours, God gives us the right or authority to become His child.

God has said that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to know Him and He is giving time for us to do that. One of these days, in the fulfillment of time, He will take over the full authority that is rightfully His and Satan will be put is his rightful place, the Lake of Fire. We are not promised anymore time, we only have today. When God decides to take full authority back, it will be too late to decide be a part of God's family. Now is the time.

#PainGauge

This morning after my coffee and quiet time, I had this vague feeling that something was't right. I couldn't put my finger on what was causing it, I just felt down.
 Have you ever been to the emergency room and were put in a room with a chart on the wall that had a pain gauge depicting the levels of pain from 1 to 10 so you could tell them how you felt. Well, if there were a chart showing levels of down-ness, I would have placed my level at 3 this morning. I am so use to being at 1 or 2 that 3 was getting serious.The thought came to me that maybe there was un-confessed sin in my life, so I asked God to show me and to forgive me and to create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me. Then a thought came that maybe I needed to see someone today to lift my spirits, but since I was going to the grocery store, as is my normal Saturday routine, and I really don't have a lot of friends here, I just told God that maybe it would be nice and didn't pursue it further. I had gone down three aisles and was checking out the cheeses when a tap on my shoulder got my attention. There stood a former co-worker whom I hadn't seen for months. She said she thought it was me and went out of her way to get my attention. We caught up on each other and then she inquired about my book and asked how she could get one. Of course, I told her to to to WestBow Book Store and click on advanced searches and type in "The Treasure is the Trip". She wanted me to sign her copy and we each said how glad we were that she had bumped into me. The next aisle had me saying "Thank you, Jesus, for loving me so." Needless to say my gauge went up a notch.
After putting groceries away and the laundry in the dryer, my sister called from California and noted that she had gotten the book I had sent her and that she had ordered copies to give away. We don't talk often and it was so good to hear her voice and the news she shared and that she thought my book would be helpful to someone.
Guess where my gauge sits, now?

#TheSecretPlace

There are a lot of 'ifs' in the Bible and there is a good reason for them. We were given a free will by our Creator God which enables us to make choices. We are not robots programmed to behave a certain way, we have a choice in the matter. When Jesus gave, as it is recorded in John 15 where in just 27 verses there are 9 'ifs', certain promises and attaches the little word 'if' to them, He is saying we can or we cannot do what is stated. The 'if' promises that when the conditions are met the consequences will follow.
The seventh verse gives us information about abiding. That is an old word we don't hear much anymore, but it means to continue or remain. He said that if we continue in Him and if His words remain in us the conditions for answered prayer are met. I believe that once we are in Him it is a permanent status. Nothing shall separate us from God as Romans 8 claims, but the day to day, second to second art of living is up to us. We can choose to remain in His words or not.
One of the Wesley brothers wrote about his mother regularly being found in her rocking chair with her Bible in her lap and her apron over her head as she went to her secret place in a small house full of the activity of her children. We can all find a secret place where we can get alone with His Words and pour over them and let them penetrate our very being and take root and develop into life changing precepts. The wonderful consequence of this remaining is that we can understand what God wants and our prayers will come more in line with His will and if they are His will, they will be answered. He promises that.

#MoreonPrayer

I worked today from 8:00 till 4:30 and I just got home, changed clothes and had a bite to eat and checked into Facebook. There was a delightful picture that my granddaughter had posted of two of her boys in a grocery cart and her comment was that she was thankful that they were well behaved and even helpful. She ended the post with "in everything give thanks" from the Bible.
Many years ago I was part of a prayer meeting with a group of about a dozen ladies and the leader handed out pencils and paper and gave instructions. We were to pray only prayers of thanksgiving, absolutely no requests, and the paper was to be used to make our lists of things we were grateful for. It was a marvelous exercise because much of my prayers had to do with needs as asking my Heavenly Father to meet them.
My list grew as I gave my blessings more thought. I was breathing and able to walk and see and hear.I had a wonderful husband who had a job and wonderful children. I had a home and heat and food in the pantry and the faucets worked giving hot and cold water. I had a car and gas in the car and was able to get around. I lived in America. I had clothes in the closet and shoes. I had friends and books and music. I had a Savior and a home in heaven He was preparing for me.
My paper was filling up and my heart was growing more and more grateful.
So, I want to challenge each of you to go and get a paper and pen and take time to make your list. You can leave the paper out and add to it as things enter your mind and then remember to take a good look at it regularly. Tell me if it makes a difference in your life

#BecomingaPilot

Right now I feel as though I were a five year old put in the pilot's seat of a jumbo jet and asked to fly to Paris. I do have a co-pilot. Remember "God is my Co-pilot"? This gives me something to think about. As parents, we are given the privilege and responsibility to teach and train our children. They come into this world a blank page and we have some work to do in filling up that page with instructions. We expect them to use that information to develop into a responsible person. We don't want them to remain so dependent on us for the rest of their life that they expect us to do their thinking for them. But, we don't want them to become so independent that they ignore our instructions or rebel to the extent that they disregard what we taught them. It pleases us when they move out on their own, using the principles we gave them and occasionally asking for counsel.
It is the same with our Heavenly Father. He gave us a brain, a blank page, and He will fill that page with His principles as we read His book of instructions. He wants us to think and reason and become somewhat independent. He doesn't want us to remain a 'dumb-dora' and stay so dependent on Him that we don't develop past babyhood. He does't want us to become so independent that we forget Him and go our own way. There is a balance and we can find that balance by making mistakes and discovering our need to consult with Him. He is always available, but we can try to prepare ourselves by renewing our minds with His thoughts regularly so He can bring to our minds what is necessary to consider at any given moment.
So, in making my 'flight' I have lots of buttons and levers in front of me in regard to this blog and my new web-page and I will make mistakes, but, at least I am trying, so, bear with me, please.

Hang-ups: #Eyes and Ears

Thank you, Patty for the commentHang-ups: #Eyes and Ears

#Eyes and Ears

Men and women are so different in so many ways. Being a woman I can attest to something that demonstrates one area of differences. Remember the term "Sweet Nothings". It is usually portrayed of a man whispering words in the ear of one he is interested in. Though men are touched by words, I believe words have a deep impact on women. I also think that men are impressed by what they see more than what they hear. I have noticed men turning their heads to follow a nice looking woman with their eyes and look at her from head to toe. Advertisers use this tendency in campaigns designed to reach men by putting a beautiful model, who has nothing to do with the product, next to the truck, for they know they will capture men's attention more than if a water pump were displayed next to the truck rather than a girl.
When I was a teenager I would sit on the floor next to our big radio in a console on a Saturday and hold my ear next to the speaker to hear the wonderful voice of Mario Lanza singing. The sound of his voice touched something rather mystical in me. Later I graduated to Pavarotti. The rich sound of a man's voice struck a cord in me. Perhaps this is one reason there are more women responding to hearing the 'Word" preached than men.
So, the conclusion I have reached is that women should be very careful about the way they dress. We should want to be thought of as more than a campaign. We are far more than that. But, another thought comes to mind. We should take care to always look the best we can and not detract from all we are by looking slovenly or unkempt. An old barn can always use a coat of paint.

The meaning of EASTER

There are many connections to the word 'easter'. Some authorities claim it to have a connection with ancient words having to do with the dawn or coming from the east, while others connect it to the celebration of a pagan goddess that occurred in the spring about the time of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Resurrection Sunday is actually the best term that should be used for this term describes what happened and why a celebration is appropriate. But, why is the resurrection important?
If the payment Jesus was making for sin by His death had not been adequate, He would not have been able to rise from death. If there were just one sin that had not been paid for, He would still be in the grave. He totally satisfied justice for all mankind from Adam to the last person that would ever be born. He paid for all sin, for Hitler's, for Judas's, Ivan the Terrible's, for your's, for mine. Every sinful thought, word and deed were paid for. So, sin is no longer the problem. All sin has been taken care of, but for one.
That one is a very big one. It is the sin of unbelief. If I had a very extraordinary gift for you and let you know it was waiting for you to claim it, to receive it and you disregarded my invitation, maybe because you didn't believe me or had more important things to do, that gift would not be yours. It would be wasted just because you didn't claim it.
There is the gift of full forgiveness and eternal life waiting to be received with your name on it. Will it be wasted?
John 3:16

So, you made a mistake

In the eleventh grade, I had a great English teacher. She told us that when we were writing a letter or a paper, and it was usually in ink, and we began writing the first letter of a word and it was the wrong word to use, that we were not to panic. There were many words that began with that letter and would just fit our thought and could be used. It is true. The English language has a bounty of words.

We make mistakes every day, some of them serious and no eraser or white-out can correct them. It just proves that we are all flawed, we are not perfect. That word 'perfect' in Scripture means complete. When we took our first breath after the umbilical cord was cut, we had physical life, but something was missing from us. Our spirit was incomplete, we were disconnected from God. We can blame Adam for that. God had said that he would die if he ate the fruit of the one tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and die he did. He kept his physical life and his soul was alive and still kicking, but the connection to God spiritually was broken irrevocably and all his progeny would be born in that state - separated from God.

Every time you wish you had an eraser should remind you that you are not perfect and be thankful that Jesus came in order to give us the connection to God. His sacrificial death satisfied justice and He offers all of us Spiritual Life to make us perfect, complete. He said,  "You must be born, again." He said, "I have come that you might have LIFE and have it abundantly." He said, "He who has the SON has life and he who does not have the SON does not have life." Jesus is the connection back to God.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have Eternal Life." John 3:16

Reason - as a verb

You might have heard or read the story of Lot, the nephew of Abraham, moving into the city of Sodom. There was good land all around, but Lot chose to move into the city. It had a bad reputation. There was much wickedness abounding there, yet, Lot chose to move in. Some time later Abraham became worried about his nephew because God had spoken to him about how the wickedness was bothering Him and he was going to destroy it. Abraham had a good relationship with God and decided to reason with Him. Abraham approached God by asking a question. He started out by asking if God would destroy the righteous with the wicked and then mentioned that God was just and surely He wouldn't do that. Then God said He wouldn't if there were righteous people there. So, Abraham came up with the number 50 and God said no, it there are 50 He wouldn't. Abraham must have thought that Lot might not have given witness to Sodom's citizens about God, so he recalculated down to 45 and humbly approached God again, but he didn't have peace about it so, he recalculated down to 40 and continued to push for a total of six times, until he got down to 10. Abraham must have known he mustn't go further but God said even it there were 10.
This was not the first time Abraham and God had a 'heart-to-heart'. He had a history of open, honest discussions with his God. God even called Abraham - His friend.
In Isaiah 1:18 God says "Come and let us reason together." He is inviting you and me to have a talk, to visit, to chat, if you will.

God has made sure that His words in Scripture were saved for us to hear from Him anytime and we can at any time, confer with Him in prayer. He wants to hear from you.

its for the birds

So many times I have used the expression 'its for the birds' and didn't know where it came from or really what it means. Come to find out, it means trivial, insignificant, something useless that could be trodden under foot. Birds can still find seed trodden under foot and it can become food for them. There are so many birds in our world that we consider them insignificant. They just fly around so carefree and sometimes line up on telephone lines and chirp to each other in a language we can't understand, but they are rather insignificant to us.
God says that He knows when a sparrow, one of the smallest birds, falls and He feeds the birds though they don't sow or reap or store. I don't know where birds are on God's list of priorities, but He provides for them and knows when even one of them fall.
But, God says that we are far more valuable than birds and that He knows how many hairs are on our head at even given moment. I don't know about you, but I can see hairs flying away every time I brush my hair. It would be hard for me even to count the hairs on my brush, yet God knows my head count all the time. He was saying - look at the birds and trust that you are far more valuable to Me than they are and I am watching and taking care of YOU.
When birds come into view it reminds me that God is watching over me and loves me and is busy taking care of me. Bird watching can benefit your soul, don't you think?

Pray continually?

That's an impossibility, I thought. It would take too much time and, surely God wants me to use my mind to reason things out. But, it became clear to me that it is the attitude of accepting my limitations and relying on the source of all knowledge and wisdom and love. When I need a parking space, I could just turn my thought to Him and just tell Him - "parking space needed" or if I am grocery shopping, I could turn to Him and say - "wisdom needed here". My prayer needn't be formal. Peter's request when sinking in Lake Galilee was 'save me, Lord. That is all he said, short and sweet.

One morning I was sitting and thinking about the day ahead and I asked for guidance. I reached into my pocket to find some 'conversation hearts' left over from Valentine's Day and pulled the last two out. I always read the saying before putting it into my mouth to wake up my mouth. One said 'yowsa' and the other said 'call me'. Call me, I thought twice. Is God reminding me of something? Then, it came to mind a phone call I had received the day before. I had placed a call regarding my book to an important person and left a voice-mail. My phone is kept in my purse, usually, because I don't use it much and I had missed his call back. I did check for missed calls before bed, but didn't recognize the number so I dismissed it. God was speaking to me through 'conversation hearts'. It just amazed me. Days before I had placed about ten hearts in my pocket and had gone through eight and the two left had been saved by God who knew from eternity past that I would need that message that morning at that time! We can trust Him. He is trustworthy.
The call did prove valuable.

Problem w/ Prayer

This is about prayer. There is a story about a religious man who went to a temple to pray and it is said, specifically, that he prayed 'to himself'. Out loud he stated that he tithed and obeyed all the laws of his religion. He was proud of himself and tho he was in the right place, was his attitude right? Now, I know God heard him for God hears everything, even our thoughts, but did God listen? There are some principals regarding prayer. God is under no obligation to listen to us except if we are His child.
There were several children in our neighborhood while my children were growing up. Sometimes they had needs, like being hungry or hurt or dirty. I had no obligation to provide a sandwich or a band-aide or a soapy wash cloth. I might have out of the goodness of my heart, and God does that sometime,too, but I was not the responsible party. If my own child had these needs, I was under obligation to provide. It is this principal at work with prayer. God is obligated to listen to His children. He is also obligated to discipline and counsel and direct them. If you are a child of God you can always approach your Heavenly Father about anything, with the right attitude, and count, not only on Him listening, but always answering with the very best at the very best time in the very best way, because He is the best parent in the whole universe.

Wanting to be accurate, I looked up 'hang-up' in my Thesaurus and found some definitions. It could mean a fixed idea or a preoccupation, a small difficulty or something that hinders progress. So, today I am going with a preoccupation. I have been preoccupied with my book, "The Treasure is the Trip" since I started the publishing process way back last August. After my first contact with WestBow Press and they accepted my manuscript, I would sit at my computer waiting for the next step. The editors had to edit and I had to approve and I would sit and wait. Then, there was the cover and my first submission didn't have enough pixels, so I had to begin the process over again and submit and wait for these editors to approve and send to me again, for my input. By now, five months had crept  by and Christmas was past and finally it was sent to the printer. Well, my idea of Christmas presents to my loved ones had become a figment of an idea. My book was sent to the printer on January 11.

But that was only the first leg of the process. I really had NO idea what would happen to my little book after it was published. I guess I thought once it was out there that it would just automatically sell, that everyone would be interested and want a copy. Well, not everybody, but some.
Come to find out, there is some major work I have to do, because there are thousands of new books being published every day and one little book by an unknown author is easily lost in the crowd. So, now I sit at my computer and log on to Facebook and Twitter and my blog and try to contact as many people as I can to get the word out. Would you say that I have a 'hang-up'?

To start this new thing in my life, my blog, I am going to talk about my book. I began writing down the unusual events surrounding my son's head-on collision which resulted in a TBI back in 1989. I don't remember ever hearing the term TBI prior to his accident and perhaps you are unfamiliar, also. It stands for traumatic head injury. From the phone call at 11:00 one Sunday night there were a number of unique happenings and many changes in our lives that needed recording. I was forced to rely on the Creator God for the things I faced were way too big for me to handle. The process I went through caused the development of a most intimate relationship with my Father God. My book is entitled "The Treasure is the Trip" and it is published by WestBow Press, a division of Nelson Publishing Company. It is found at Westbow Book Store by going to advanced search and typing in the title and hitting 'go' among other places like Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Kindle.
The need to get this information out caused me to create my blog and the exciting thing about this is that it gives me a place to share my thoughts. So, the title 'hang-ups' covers a lot of territory and there is a lot of space for my words and yours.
I want to hear from you. My husband use to quote the Bible whenever we had disagreements and sometimes arguments by saying "Iron sharpens iron" because even when the discussions became heated we both were sharpening each others thinking and that is what I want for you and me - to become sharper.
Got any ideas about humanity's hang-ups?

My very first post - 3.2.18  My daddy always said that I was vaccinated with a phonograph needle. I imagine there are some who have no idea what I am talking about. Look it up on Google or your smart phone. There are so many things I want to say, but since this was just created and I want to be somewhat composed, I choose to wait a while. But, I promise you the vaccination worked and there will be many words to follow.