Tag Archives: authors

Oh That You Would Bless Me Indeed!

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These words are from the book, “The Prayer of Jabez” by Bruce Wilkinson, taken from 1 Chronicles 4:10 (NKJV).

“Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

Let me tell you what happened to me within a nine year period of repeating that prayer:

Two grandsons were added to my twelve grandchildren, seven girls and five boys, evening up the genders. Five of these granddaughters blessed me with nine great-grandchildren with a tenth due in November.

I became an Elder in my church and have fifteen families in my territory, and am available for prayer, information, or help in some way. As a member of our Pastoral Care team there are many opportunities to be of service to those who experience some of life’s difficulties as shut-ins, hospital patients and long-term care residents.

In between times I survived lung cancer, a heart attack, and the death of a spouse. Several other health issues have assailed me over the years and I’m still here.

As you can see, my territory has been enlarged, His hand has been with me, and I have been blessed indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Excellent Book to Read

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Sometimes we need to read something out of our comfort zone and when we do we may see ourselves and our lives in a whole new way. We may learn to think in a different way and open our minds to topics we would rather ignore. It is all a  part of growing.

This is what The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren offers. This is a book that must be read with a highlighter and a pen or pencil in hand because there is too much to absorb at one time.

Subconsciously this book spurred me on to write my own book. I realize this in hindsight, after recently reading it for the umpteenth time. Here are a few examples of the passages I had highlighted, and even made notes to write about them:

Page 247 – If you really desire to be used by God, you must understand a powerful truth. The very experiences that you resented or regretted most in life –the ones you’ve wanted to hide and forget–are the experiences God wants to use to help others…For God to use your experiences, you must be willing to share them. (I did this in my book, My Precious Life.) 

Book Cover

Page 289 – God has given you a Life Message to share…You have a storehouse of experiences that God wants to use to bring others into his family…

Page 290 – He wants you to share your story with others…If you don’t share it, it will be lost forever…

Page 291 – Sadly, we never learn from a lot that happens to us.

Page 28 – We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners…Many people are driven by resentment and anger. They hold on to hurts and never get over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over in their minds…Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough, and remember to use a highlighter; it is absolutely necessary. I truly hope you will read and savor this excellent book.

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An Oldie But Goodie

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Getting The Most Out of Life. A selection of personally helpful articles from past issues of The Readers Digest is the sub-title of this book, published in 1955. It belonged to my mother and has been in my possession since her death in 1972.

Because I love to learn life lessons every day, books like this keep me on the right track. Among its many chapters is one written by A. Cressy Morrison (1864-1951) an American chemist and one time president of the New York Academy of Sciences. The thought provoking chapter is called Seven Reasons Why A Scientist Believes In God and is condensed from his book “Man Does Not Stand Alone”. Morrison makes a compelling case. “By unwavering mathematical law we can prove that our universe was designed and executed by a great engineering Intelligence.”

Other chapters include:

When It’s Best to Forget…W.E.Sangster “No man should hope to forget the wrong things he’s done till he has done also whatever he can to put them right.”

Stop Worrying…A.J.Cronin “For worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength”.

On Being A Real Person…Harry Emerson Fosdick, D.D. “The central business of every human being is to be a real person.”

Three Steps to Personal Peace…Norman Vincent Peale, D.D. “As Thomas Carlyle said; ‘Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.'”

Your Mind Can Keep You Young…George Lawton “At 80 you can be just as productive mentally as you were at 30–and you should know a lot more. Older people frequently suffer some loss of memory, but creative imagination is ageless…take an interest in the world around you and make a point of learning at least one new thing every day.”

I have gleaned a lot from this book over the years and, believe it or not, it is still available. I saw it on Amazon for various prices depending on its condition. It really is an oldie but goodie.

 

 

 

More Life Lessons

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Life is about learning. Here are some gems from Elisabeth Kubler Ross from her book Life Lessons:

Our lessons in life involve working on our smallness, getting rid of our negativity, and finding the best in ourselves and each other.

Deep inside all of us, we know there is someone we are meant to be.

There are dreams of love, life and adventure in all of us.

When we face the worst that can happen in any situation, we grow.

We don’t realize that each of us has the power of the universe within us.

Our personal power is our inherent gift and our real strength.

A grateful person is a powerful person, for gratitude generates power. All abundance is based on being grateful for what we have.

We often teach just what we need to learn. (David Kessler)

Endings are just beginnings backwards.

 

Stop Pretending

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Here’s a snippet from a book, Passionate Presence, by Catherine Ingram:

Some years ago a young friend of mine, six years old at the time, walked up to me and said the following:”Pretend you are surrounded by a thousand hungry tigers. What would you do?”

I gave it some thought, imagining the scary scenario and feeling more and more tense. Would I pray? Probably not. Would I run? One doesn’t outrun tigers. Anxiety began to take hold as I saw in my mind’s eye the tigers closing in. I said to my young friend, “Wow, I don’t know what I would do. What would you do?”

And he replied, “I’d stop pretending.”

That got me to thinking. Could we stop pretending even if we wanted to? Could we stop pretending that the other person is to blame for a torn relationship; or that we could do a better job of leading the world instead of the people who are actually supposed to be doing that? Could we stop pretending that our life is a bed of roses when in fact it is a bush of thorns?

And what if we stopped pretending that God doesn’t exist; that the world invented itself and everything in it, including us?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be surrounded by those hungry tigers…guilt, jealousy, unbelief, narcissism, egoism, cynicism.

Maybe it’s time to face those hungry tigers and stop pretending.

 

 

 

Hearing is Even Better

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Only Listen. That was the title of my blog on March 22nd. This morning I read a post by Faith Unblocked, “Lydia” where the author quoted Acts 16:14, One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

My grandmother’s name was Lydia, although she didn’t deal in purple cloth that I can remember.  I mentioned her in my book, My Precious Life, which was part of Sunday’s blog.

The fact is this…a quote from Pinterest came my way on Sunday. God says, “Prepare yourself, I’m about to take you to a new level in your life.”

Now, I’m a listener, and when I read that quote I got excited, and am still excited to see what the next step in my spiritual life will be. I have no doubt that there will be a next step.

Listening is really good…hearing is even better.

 

 

Only Listen

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I read Revelation 1:17 this morning and it reminded me of a dream I had in 1991. Here it is in an excerpt from my book, My Precious Life.

The next time God spoke to me in a dream was 1991. I dreamed my family was gathered in an old farm house which had seen better days. As we exited the house, the overhang of the verandah collapsed, knocking all of us to the floor. I stood up and watched as everyone got to their feet except my eldest daughter and youngest son. As I gazed down at them lying there, still as statues, the thought came to me: My first and my last…why my first and my last? Once again I woke up with a tingly feeling, with the words, first and last, repeating in my mind. I felt no fear or foreboding, but that dream stayed with me for weeks until I came across Revelation 1:17 where Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last”, confirming that he is truly in my life, and is always by my side, waking or sleeping. To this day though, Debbie and Kelly, my eldest daughter and youngest son, refuse to be on any covered verandah together.

I might add here that in verse 19, Jesus goes on to say, “Write, therefore, what you have seen…” which was one of the scriptures that prompted me to write the book.

I’m not sure why Revelation 1:17 came to me this morning, but I always love to be reminded of the many ways God speaks to us if we only listen.

NOW IS YOUR TIME

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It isn’t always apparent where material for a blog will come from. Today’s came from a post on Facebook last Friday that stood out because it was highlighted in yellow. It was an excerpt from a book with no title given; just a single highlighted paragraph, and here it is:

The people we surround ourselves with either raise or lower our standards. They either help us to become the-best-version-of-ourselves or encourage us to become lesser versions of ourselves. We become like our friends. No man becomes great on his own. No woman becomes great on her own. The people around them help to make them great. We all need people in our lives who raise our standards, remind us of our essential purpose, and challenge us to become the-best-version-of-ourselves.

Upon doing a little research I discovered that this quote is from one of many books written by a forty-four-year-old  Australian author, Matthew Kelly. However the title of the book was not revealed. Matthew Kelly has written many other quotable quotes and I will mention one or two later.

But let’s take a look at this particular one. I agree with the first sentence except for letting someone lower my standards.  The second sentence leaves me wondering how we would let someone encourage us to be lesser versions of ourselves. Continuing on, if we become like our friends, hopefully it would be the friends that we admire, the ones who live kind, courteous, sincere, helpful lives. No, we don’t become great on our own. We become great by emulating the best qualities of great people and by ridding ourselves of our own idiosyncrasies that keep us from being the best we can be; somewhat like separating the wheat from the chaff.

We do need people who raise our standards but that can only be achieved by being open to what is being offered in that regard. We do need to be reminded of our essential purpose which is to live the golden rule; do to others as you would have them do to you…not as they do to you , but as you would have them do to you. That is such a profound statement and can only be lived by reflecting on its true meaning. Finally, it is up to us to accept the challenge to become the-best-version-of-ourselves. We all know what that version is and must strive for it continually.

And now more Matthew Kelly quotes:

Life is about love. It’s about whom you love and whom you hurt. Life’s about how you love yourself and how you hurt yourself. Life’s about how you love and hurt the people close to you. Life is about how you love and hurt the people who just cross your path for a moment. Life is about love.

“In fact, the more each person can remove his or her ego from the discussion and focus on the subject matter, the more fruitful the conversation will be for all involved.”

“Withholding love is a bit like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

 

 

The Alternative Fact

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The fact is that it is a very gray day, the sky being blanketed by dark clouds. The alternative fact is that above that bank of dark clouds, the sun is shining.

The fact is that when the tide is out, small boats and often deep water vessels are pretty much stranded on an ocean floor or in shallow water. The alternative fact is that the tide will come back and once again these same boats and ships will be buoyed up.

The fact is that Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were one and the same entity. The alternative fact is that this character’s split personality, created by the author, caused the appearance of duplicity.

The fact is that a mirror mirrors the existence of the person it reflects. The alternative fact is that without the mirror the person still exists.

The fact is that John 3:16 is one of the Bible’s most read and quoted verses. The alternative fact is that there are those who have never heard of it.

The fact is that since the beginning of time good and evil have been at war. The alternative fact is that good has always prevailed.

The fact is that none of us knows why evil happens. The alternative fact is it is not ours to know but ours to overcome.

The fact is that there appeared to be fewer crowds to witness the recent inauguration of the U.S. president than some previous inaugurations. The alternative fact is that Mr. President chose to see it differently.

The fact is there are none so blind as those who will not see. The alternative fact is that not everyone has 20/20 vision.

 

 

In the Moment

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“Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment.”  So says Sidney Poitier in his book, The Measure of a Man.

What does it mean to be genuine; to listen and respond to others honestly and openly; to be in the moment?

It is enough to just ponder these words and glean something from them. It is more than enough to act upon them. There are people waiting to be heard, to have their concerns responded to honestly and openly, to know that someone is in their moment.

Living consciously is being aware; not just going through the motions of day-to-day life. Living consciously is also a responsibility, not only to ourselves but to those who inhabit our world, both our own little world and the world at large. By living consciously we can make a difference in someone else’s life. Maybe we should take a page from Sidney Poitier’s book and take a moment to be in the moment.