Who Needs to Hear This?

You are a precious child of God. He loves you. He supports you with His righteous right hand. “You shall not fear”, and its variations, are written in His Word 365 times. Each day of the year there is no room for fear.

When you feel weak or not good enough for a task before you, simply whisper “Jesus come near me and help me with this task”. He will help you.

Do not let the reactions or thoughts of others sway your beliefs you have in your heart. You may be the voice of the Spirit when someone else needs to know the truth.

Never stop planting seeds. The Lord will bring the “Son” and the “rain” in due time if the seeds you planted are ready to grow.

You are loved. Be love.

You are shown kindness. Be kind.

You are held gently. Be gentle.

Shalom and Love,

The Trinity

Late Night Visitor – Time Travel

Today we drove 5 hours, round trip, to celebrate the life of my brother-in-law.  I did not know very many of the people there, but it was a nice turn out of family and friends who were touched by his life.  Although drugs consumed a big part of his life, the bigger part was when he met Jesus on his own road to Demascus.  He was on fire for the Lord and that makes my heart happy.  Distance and finances had kept us from really getting to know each other, but I do recall one Easter brunch in a restaurant several years ago, I had the opportunity to sit next to him and we talked “God”.  It was a refreshing conversation, especially on Easter, my favorite holiday of the year. We had a few telephone conversations after that brunch and we shared God stories.  I love sharing God stories.

I recall when my niece, Jill, passed away a little over three years ago.  My brother-in-law heard the news and called me while I was at the funeral home with hundreds of people paying their respects to her and my family.  He shared the love of Jesus with me and comforted me with his prayers for peace. He shared Easter with me in December.

In the last leg of our journey home this evening, we passed the bus station.  The dark evening sky and the lights inside the station made it so I could see the bench that my two sisters and I sat on as we waited for a bus to transport one of my sisters back home after the funeral for Jill.  I remember how I did not want my sister to leave.  The closeness of family is the only thing I can grasp onto at such times and sitting on the bench made me want to stop time and keep my sister here with me.

Death is a wake up call.  We feel close to those we love; we cling to those we love that are still with us.  But as time moves forward, we hit a snooze button and “forget” we had that closeness.  Life moves on.

Even though we know we will all one day die, death is a shock.  Recent posts on Facebook of death notices include the familiar comment, “remember to spend time with your loved ones as you never know when someone will be called home”.  Why do we have to be reminded to spend time with those we love?

Funerals are the one occassion we stop what we are doing and pay our respects.  Our pictures and stories become extra special as we recall the relationships that have suddenly ended.  Distance doesn’t seem to matter when there is a death.  Most funerals are held only when everyone can be there that needs to be there.  We take the time to travel to be there.  Whether it is a 5 hour round trip or a bus ride across a few states; we make the time because we know love.  This love is what Jesus taught us.

Godspeed to the newly deceased.  To be absent from the body means they are present with our Lord.  Rest in peace dear brother-in-law, great is your reward.

John 3:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Late Night Visitor – When the Clock Chimes

My dad gave my mom money to shop for her own birthday and Christmas presents from him. I can attest to this fact as I was the one who always went shopping with her. Dad must have learned sometime early in their marriage that it was easier for her to buy what she wanted. Smart man.

Dad surprised mom on their anniversary one year. He bought her a gold clock covered in a glass dome. It offers three optional melodies at the top of the hour, but mom, being a structured sort of person, kept the same melody on the clock since she got it.

The clock was kept in the center of the buffet in the dining room just outside their bedroom. There are four balls connected to a center post under the face of the clock that spin right and left for a mesmerizing visual effect. Some years ago, the clock stopped playing the melody at the top of the hour. Somehow it slipped and chimes eight minutes after the hour.

On the early morning when mom passed away, we all looked at our watches and cell phones to note the time of her last breath; 12:36AM. Since she was under Hospice care, we called the Hospice nurse who either lived minutes away, or was visiting a family nearby, because she was in our presence rather quickly.

We watched as she placed her stethoscope in each ear and upon placing the sound piece on mom’s chest, she pronouced her death at 1:08AM just as the clock was sounding the melody mom picked out. I was in the doorway of her bedroom nearest to the clock and mumbled under my breath that she really passed away at 12:36.

I inheirited the clock. The melody mom picked out sounds eight minutes after the hour. Not knowing how old the clock is, I believe its parts are fragile as I cannot get the four balls connected to the center post under the face of the clock to spin in their mesmerizing motion.

In time, we will all lose functionality.

In God’s time, we will be reunited with Him and those we loved on earth.

Romans 13:11 (NIV)

The Day Is Near

¹¹ And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

I Want To Go Back

In this Christmas season, my house is not decorated like a picture out of Good Housekeeping magazine, nor is my table festively decorated. 

I Want One Day

Tomorrow is Father’s Day. 

Missing Dad

WordPress Daily Prompt: Dim

The number of days

compound

since I last saw you.

But they will never

dim

the memories I hold in my heart.

 

Exodus 20:12   “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

 

 

 

God’s Not Dead 2

I just spent a snowy April afternoon

Ecclesiastes 3:2

November 9 is an emotional day for me.

Where the Heart Is

Daily Prompt: Stroke of Midnight
Where were you last night when 2012 turned into 2013? Is that where you’d wanted to be?

Dream Wedding

John 2:1-11 (NIV)

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Woman,why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

No doubt about it, weddings are expensive.  The bride and groom hope to have enough food and drink for their guests to enjoy themselves.  At the wedding at Cana in Galilee, the wine ran out.  With Jesus’ help, water was turned into wine and it was better than the best wine they had already served.

Our local television news station, eightWest, is hosting a Dream Wedding contest.  The winning couple will be awarded $25,000 in gift certificates to be used toward everything they need for a Dream Wedding to be performed on 12-12-12.  The top three couples were revealed on the show today and my friends, Megan and Erik, have been selected!

The viewers have until October 8, 2012 to place their vote online for the winning couple to be revealed on October 10, 2012.  After the couple is selected, the viewers will vote on the dress, the menu and the honeymoon destination as well as a few other wedding details.

Would you please take a moment to look at this website, read the submission that Erik wrote, register your email address and place a vote for Megan and Erik?  I know that Jesus is going to be on their guest list and he is going to be in their lives forever.

Vote for Megan and Erik!!