Wisdom & Understanding

Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 At Buckingham Palace it is with great ceremony when they change the guard. They march with complete focus and attention as they switch positions at the gate. I love the fancy uniforms and how you cannot distract them from the ceremony. They have been trained to receive and relieve the position of guard with dignity and decorum. When their “shift” is over they leave with as much pride and honor as the guard that’s coming on duty. Years ago when my back patio was not enclosed and there was a big tree near it in the yard (since cut down), I was sitting there one fall morning and a wind blew and the leaves on that tree came off with a rustling sound. The Lord “spoke” to my heart and said, “I am moving like the wind and many will flow with me just as the leaves flowed with the direction of the wind.” When I “heard” that in my heart...

Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name." Selah! Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf! Psalms 66:1-5 On one of my trips to the West coast during the Christmas holidays to visit my son and his family, they took me on a trip up the coast to a town right on the beach. I’ll never forget how beautiful the scenery was. At some point as we traveled it was clearly the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other. We stopped at the rest stops and admired the beautiful views. During the trip we also visited the Hearst Castle and even saw the elephant seals come up on the beach, it was awesome! My son and his sweet wife had rented a beautiful home walking distance to the beach, in fact you could see the beach...

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 You know what? There are some evil acting people in this old world. Some nasty acting people! And I must admit sometimes I’ve had it up to here (hand over my head) with these folks. As a Christian I know that I am to love unconditionally like it says in Corinthians 13, but I confess I don’t always hit it. I recently was around some people that were continually instigating and prodding me to say bad things about other people. (I did not) They on the other hand were constantly gossiping and running folks down just as easily as you talk about the weather. I know that I am in this world and am a realist, but I was beginning to feel “ugly” and “nasty” being in this atmosphere. It grieved me to see first hand just how evil and cruel the world can be. And of how I can be if I am not careful to foll...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 Why do I worry about some of the silliest things? Stress is an awful thing and can affect your life and your body in various ways. I’ve been around for a while (I’m not that old) and still sometimes I feel like I’m lacking in the area of confidence. Just this past weekend I had an eye doctor appointment and even though I see this guy regularly, I still get nervous when I go there. While he was checking my eyes he seemed to prolong the process. Then when he was looking over some test results, he hesitated and seemed to frown. Finally I could take it no longer and asked in a rather shaky voice “What’s wrong?” He gave me a rather rambling answer (or did it just sound like that to me?). I could actually feel anxiety creeping upon...

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalms 27:13 I can still remember it as if it was yesterday. My son along with his family was leaving to return to their home. This was about a month after my husband had died. I am eternally grateful of how my son and his dear wife were so helpful in taking care of all the arrangements for the funeral. I was in a fog and still cannot remember certain things about that time. But I remember clearly the day that they left, because it was one of the saddest days in my life. As I watched them leave, knowing full well that this was necessary, they had already given a whole month to be there for me. I still felt that I had no idea of what would become of me. The only way that I can describe it is that I felt as if I would disappear from the earth never to be seen or heard of again. I guess that I felt swallowed up in grief. You see I had never really been alone before. I grew u...