Thank God

Grandgirl 2015

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Him who alone does mighty miracles.

His faithful love endures forever.

Give thanks to Him who placed the earth among the waters.

His faithful love endures forever.

Give thanks to Him who made the heavenly lights—

His faithful love endures forever.

the sun to rule the day,

His faithful love endures forever.

and the moon and stars to rule the night.

His faithful love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven.

His faithful love endures forever."

(Psalm 136)

Beloved, on this Thanksgiving Day, give thanks to God: Father, Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit!

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Thank God for His Voice

illustration from The Schoolhouse
by talented artist: Cami Monet Webb

"...We saw His majestic glory with our own eyes when He received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to Him, 'This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy.' We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with [Jesus] on the holy mountain." (2 Peter 1:16-18)

I recently asked a man in dire straits, "What is God saying to you these days?" 

"Nothing!" he said. "I cannot hear His voice."

In Apostle Peter's second letter to Jewish believers struggling in the midst of persecution, Jesus' disciple testifies that he was an eye-and-ear-witness to the majesty of Christ and the voice of God the Father.

Although hearing God's audible voice may be rare these days, we can still hear his voice every single day IF we open up and read the Bible. Every word is God speaking to us.

Today, I hear Him saying to all of us, "Beloved, by My divine power, I have given you everything you need for living a godly life. You have received all of this by coming to know Me, the One who called you to Myself by means of My marvelous glory and excellence. I have given you great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share My divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires." 

"In view of all this, make every effort to respond to My promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brother affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of Me, the Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3-8)

Are you listening to the voice of God, beloved?

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Thank God for the Work of Our Hands

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands." (Psalm 90:17)


In general, we hear more complaints about work than applause. Shame on us. Our job, whether a doctor, teacher, truck driver, or stay-at-home mom, is a blessing from God.

Beloved, today, thank God for the work of your hands.

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Thank God for the Sun and His Son

babygrand in the sunshine

"Again Jesus spoke saying, 'I am the LIGHT of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" (John 8:12)

After a downpour on Saturday, the sun came out, and the grandboys went out to play. So fun!

On this countdown to Thanksgiving Day, I thank You, God, for the sun and for Your Son, the LIGHT of the world!

Beloved, what are you thanking God for today?

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Thank God for Family

my beautiful family

"...you received God's Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, 'Abba, Father.' For His Spirit joins our spirit to affirm that we are God's children." (Romans 8:15-16)

On this countdown to Thanksgiving Day, today I thank God for family—my immediate family as well as the whole family of God.

Thank You, Lord, for our children and grandchildren, and thank You that we are Your children through faith in Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Beloved, have you thanked God, today?

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Thank God for the Cross

Grandboys 2017

Jesus said, "I have finished the work which You have given Me to do." (John 17:4)

On this year's countdown to Thanksgiving Day, what are you thanking God for? Today, I thank God for the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Oswald Chambers wrote: "Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption 'much ado about nothing.' God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death... Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree."

Are you forgiven, beloved? Then thank God for the Cross of Christ.

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The Great Divide

US Army vehicles and soldiers
Harpersville Day 2019

"If  a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand." (Mark 3:25)


Before his election as the 16th president of the United States, Senator Abraham Lincoln of Illinois said: 

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect it to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other."

One-hundred-and-sixty-plus years later, America finds herself, once again, a land of great, political divide. What is our responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ and citizens of the USA? We must pray, vote, and be kind—treating others, regardless of their political views, the way we want to be treated.

Got it, beloved? Pray. Vote. Be Kind.

"In view of all this, make every effort to... supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:5-8)

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The Sky is Falling

grandboy

"I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled." (Habakkuk 3:16)

"Henny-penny," is a children's folk tale about a little hen who believes the world is coming to an end.

Beloved, if you want to be like Henny-penny (hopeless, doomed, and as good as dead), then fill your mind with today's news. If you want to live a hopeful, joy-filled, and fruitful life, then fill your mind with the word of God!

"Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food...

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

He enables me to tread on the heights."

(Habakkuk 4:17-19)

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A Story of Forgiveness

my friend and sister in Christ, Felicia

"And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us." Jesus said, "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:12,14-15)

Today, Felicia's son, Sanquez, would have turned twenty-one years old. Tragically, last spring, he was shot and killed. 

Over the past six months, I've watched Felicia intentionally and diligently work toward forgiving her son's killer. And by God's grace, mercy, and power, she recently told me that she has forgiven him.

Why? Because Felicia loves Jesus, and Jesus said, "If you love Me, obey My commandments. And this is My commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you and forgive each other in the same way I have forgiven you."

Felicia, you are a remarkable young woman—an overcomer and an inspiration to everyone around you. May the Lord bless and keep you and your children. May He provide for your every need and empower you to accomplish every good work He sets before you. May God help you bring up Jabary and Jakiyah in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. May they honor and obey you as teenagers. May they grow to be a mighty man and woman of God that love the Lord, obey His voice, and hold fast to Him all the days of their lives. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

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Walk With God

babygrand and me

"Enoch walked with God." (Genesis 5:24)

This week, babygrand walked all over the Birmingham Zoo holding tightly to my fingers. I loved it!

Twice in the fifth chapter of Genesis, we're told that Enoch walked with God. In other words, he lived life holding onto God. The Bible's "faith hall of fame" in Hebrews chapter eleven says that the life Enoch lived greatly pleased God.

Never try life in solo, beloved. Grab hold of God and walk with Him.

I'll walk with God

From this day on.

His helping hand

I'll lean upon.

This is my prayer

my humble plea.

May the Lord be ever with me.1

1 I'LL WALK WITH GOD. Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. 1954.

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Missing Tooth

five-year-od grandboy

"It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach." (Revelation 10:10)

Our five-year-old grandboy is missing his first tooth. No, the tooth is really missing. He swallowed it while eating supper last night.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John is on the prison island of Patmos when he receives a panoramic vision from heaven. In the vision, an angel gives John a little book and says, "Take it and eat it." In John's mouth, the book tastes sweet like honey, but in his stomach, it's sour. Then the angels tells John, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

This vision symbolizes the great joy of representing God and His Word and the overwhelming sorrow of the coming judgment.  Preaching God's prophetic truth is bittersweet. 

Although not recorded in Scripture, tradition holds that John eventually left Patmos and returned to Ephesus in modern-day Turkey where he preached God's true story until his death sometime after AD 98 (the only apostle to die peacefully).

And the point of this post is? Beloved, be God's faithful witness. Testify of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ—even when it's bitterly unpopular. Eternal lives are depending on it!

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Faith

Indiana grandkids today

"Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1)

Monday night, when one of our Alabama grandboys saw pictures (via family GroupMe) of snow falling at his Indiana cousins' house, he prayed, "God is it going to snow tomorrow?" Then he said, "Mama, He said it is."

And the next morning, snowflakes fell on Alabama. (smile)

Faith is believing today your hopes and prayers for tomorrow, but faith is only as strong as the One you put your trust in. Beloved, put your faith in Jesus, the trust-worthy One.

"The certainty of faith goes beyond hope. The fact that something is unseen does not make it unreal." ~ Larry Stockstill ~

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REJOICE

Granddaddy, grandboys, and Bell

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)

I'm headed to the zoo this morning before the Arctic blast hits tomorrow.

Have a great day with Jesus, beloved, and always rejoice in Him!

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Snatch

drawing by my talented grandgirl

Jesus said, "No one can snatch them away from Me." (John 10:28 GNT)

One summer evening at dusk when I was a little girl, I was playing at the neighbors' house and a dog howled in the distance.

Freddy said, "Oo, maybe it's the wendigo." I started crying and his mama made him walk me home.

"The Wendigo" was a scary television tale back in the 60s about hunters in the Canadian northwest on search for a creepy beast that snatched up people and carried them off.

Snatch. I like that word, too (see yesterday's post), and I like the "snatch" story in the Gospel of John chapter ten.

We learn at the end of chapter nine that some Pharisees standing near Jesus asked Him, "Are you saying we're blind?"

In chapter ten, Jesus answered them in His roundabout way. "I tell you the truth. I am the Good Shepherd; I know My own sheep, and they know Me. But you don't believe Me because You are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand."

Thank You, Father, for Your blessed assurance that we have eternal life in Christ Jesus and no one can snatch us from Your all-powerful hand!

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Spittle

L-R Freddy Eberhart, me, and Steve Eberhart
early 1960s

"Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle..." (John 9:6)

The rough draft of Once Upon a Neighborhood is completed and now in the editing stage (my favorite part of book writing). In this story set in my old neighborhood atop Lookout Mountain back in 1963, Freddy makes me cross my heart, hope to die, and spit on the ground before he'll tell me his secret. In the next scene, spittle is running down my chin.

Spittle. I like that word.

The Gospel of John has a "spittle" story. One day, Jesus was walking along and saw a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked, "Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? His own or his parents?"

Jesus answered, "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him."

After He said this, Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle; He rubbed the mud on the man's eyes and told him, "Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam." So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.

The Pharisees interrogated the man Jesus healed on the Sabbath and shouted, "This man who cured you is a sinner!"

The man replied, "I do not know if He is a sinner or not. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see!"

What has Jesus done for you, beloved? Go tell the world!

"Come and listen, all who honor God, and I will tell you what He has done for me." (Psalm 66:16)

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Grateful

Backyard view of Blue Heron Lake

"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up...Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:15-17)


Miss Connie walked into Bible study yesterday for the first time this semester. Her sister, Gloria, had invited her. 

Like we always do, at the end of the lesson, we shared personal prayer requests. When Connie learned that I was having tests to rule out cancer today, she asked if she could pray for me. Oh, what a powerful, fervent, from-the-heart prayer that sister-in-Christ prayed.

God's answer? Three cysts, all benign. Recheck in six months.

Does God always heal? On earth, no, but when He does, we are deeply grateful. In heaven? Always!

"Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And forget none of His benefits;

Who pardons all your inquiries,

Who heals all your diseases;

Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Who satisfies your years with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle."

(Psalm 103:1-5 NASB)

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A Masterpiece

our Rebecca
senior portrait, 2000

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:10)


Happy, happy birthday, my sweet Rebecca. You are truly God's masterpiece—fearfully and wonderfully made inside and out. I love (in no particular order):

1. Your love for God: Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit
2. Your fear of the Lord
3. Your contagious laughter
4. Your back rubs
5. Your Sunday afternoon phone calls
6. Your knowledge of creative writing and literature
7. The way you support and love your husband
8. The way you parent and love your children
9. Your heart for the people of the world
10. Your heart for the lonely and outcast
11. Your wisdom beyond your years
12. Your curly hair
13. Your beautiful, blue eyes
14. Your prayers
15. Your love of cats and kittens
16. Your love for little things
17. Your love of God's word
18. Your heart for physical fitness
19. Your heart for good health
20. Your notes and letters
21. Your creativity
22. Your faithfulness to God and people
23. Your insight
24. Your photography talent
25. Your love for God's creation
26. Hiking through the woods with you
27. Your ability to listen well
28. Your selflessness
29. The joy of Jesus flowing through you
30. Your company
31. Your deep faith in Jesus
32. The way you hold a baby
33. The way you play with children
34. The respect you show your husband
35. The respect you show your daddy
36. The respect you show your kids
37. The way your brothers and sisters-in-law admire you
38. YOU! And I love being your mom.

"Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: 'There are any virtues and capable women in this world, but you surpass them all!' Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised." (Proverbs 31:28-30)

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Grandparents/Veterans Day

Grandboy's kindergarten class

"Let each generation tell its children of Your mighty acts; let them proclaim Your power...The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all His creation. All Your works will thank You, LORD, and Your faithful followers will praise You." (Psalm 145:4, 5-10)

For the kindergarteners, today was Grandparents Day at Briarwood Christian School.

grandboys

Followed by a Veterans Day program in the lovely sanctuary.

Tears stung my eyes as we watched veterans from the present-day conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan all the way back to World War II fill the stage.

O God, help America, the land that we love.

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What's The Story

Superman and me
Elkmont Historic District
Smoky Mountains Tennessee

According to visitmysmokies.com: 

"The Element Historic District is one of the most fascinating areas to visit in the Great Smoky Mountains... The area that would become Element was first settled in the 1840s... Around the turn of the century, logging became a booming industry in the Smoky Mountains. The Little River Lumber Company was formed in 1901 when Pennsylvania businessman Colonel Wilson B. Townsend purchased 86,000 acres of land along the river. To transport the freshly cut timber, Colonel Townsend built a railroad that connected the riverside logging site to the his company's sawmill in Tuckaleechee Cove. Before long, the logging railway began transporting not just lumber, but people too... The Little River area became so popular with Knoxville's upper crust that they bought land from the company to set up their own resort community."

Today, the National Park Service is restoring many of the old, abandoned cabins. As we stood by one of the historic chimneys, I wondered, "What was its story?"

The greatest story ever told, however, is God's story. Sally Lloyd-Jones wrote: "It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a Baby. Every story in the Bible whispers His name."

Want to know God's story, beloved? Open the Bible to Genesis, chapter one. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light...

Keep reading, beloved This Story can save your life!

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