Author: leonard1959

It’s Friday and time to reflect on the blessings of this week. For many years I taught political science. I often find myself still dwelling on it. This is an area that I must guard myself against because it is easy to become an idol in my life. Scripture warns that anything we think on all the time or meditate on that takes the place of God is an idol and that is a great sin before the Lord. To combat it, it is important to think of all the blessings that God has bestowed.

I am grateful for my husband, my children, my adorable grandchildren and the promise and Word of Holy Scripture. I know that God is always honest, He is incapable of lying. I know that because of Christ, my trust in who Christ is and what He did for me on the cross is my path through the narrow gate into His presence. No matter how bad this world gets, my home eternally is with Christ. This life is just a vapor. That might make some of you feel better knowing this world will not always be and for others of you it might frighten you. Trust in God’s character. Trust in what scripture tells you Christ is and who God is and who the Holy Spirit is. They are three separate and yet one. They are truthful. They love you beyond your imagination. Submit to them and trust your eternity to them.

When I was a little girl, I remember leaving my paternal grandparents home. They were the most loving grandparents any grandchild could be blessed with. One of the many things they did every time we left their home, was to go out with us and wave until we pulled out of the drive-way. I started that same tradition with all of my grandchildren. Yesterday as I was leaving my middle son’s home, his 3 year old daughter told me she was going out with me. Hollering at my son to watch her as I was leaving, she was joined by her 5 year old sister who informed me they were coming to tell me bye. As I pulled out the drive-way, there stood my son with his baby son and two daughters waving bye. It was so sweet. My oldest son has an older daughter who also makes a point to stand outside when I am leaving to tell me bye. Little things we do that we assume no one really notices is often observed by many as my grandchildren were watching what I had been doing for years and took that to mean love.

God is also watching. What is important to remember about that is that just as my grandchildren were observing me which in the above scenario was a good example, the negative things we do is also being observed. God sees more than what our loving relatives do. Sobberig thought. Keep your hearts pure this day. Strive to be more Christ like. This knowledge will equip you with so much to prepare yourself for the battle of everyday living. I know. I have walked it.

I will admit I have always impressed by the kindnesses often bestowed by complete strangers. Our church youth had a fundraiser last night for youth camp this summer. I did not attend but my husband did and he could not believe how generous people were. One homemade chocolate pie raised a bid (silent auction) of $100 by the end of the evening. He did not know a lot of the names of people making the bids but their generosity was evident. Imagine how special you may have felt to know your pie sold for that much money.

How much more does our Father in heaven know us? The scripture records that He knows every hair on our heads. That’s pretty intimate. A stranger bids a high price in this world to help a youth go to camp. How much more will our Father who knows us do for each of us? He really blesses us in multiple ways. We tend to be selfcentered and focus only on the things we “want” that we did not receive without even checking whether that “want” falls within God’s will. After all most of us have a really good idea of what sin is and it is foolish to want in that direction. It is all in our attitude. Letting go of Zach was the hardest thing I have walked so far in this life and yet I can honestly write that God has blessed me in multiple ways. Having stage 4 cancer was really hard and yet I can honestly write one more time, God has blessed me in multiple ways.

Be strong. Be courageous. Know that you are not alone in what you endure unless you choose to be.

When I was a child, I remember the weather patterns of March. I would start the day in a jacket or sweater because it was too cold to leave the house without one. By the time I got home from school, I wished I hadn’t taken a sweater because now it was just something extra to bring home in the heat. Sound familiar? Weather in Texas is always an interesting phenomena and that hasn’t changed.

These up and down weather patterns often result in sinus issues as the trees get confused too and pollen is literally everywhere. Many are sick right now in our community with strep and different viruses, some visuses known and others still a mystery. Tomorrow our church is sponsoring an annual event we do for those with cancer diagnosis in our community. If you have a moment, please pray that most of our invited guests will be available to attend. One who has an advanced cancer and will be on chemo treatments for the rest of her life is already not able to come due to the above illnesss. Treatments weaken the immune system making each of us who go through it more susseptible to viruses or bacterial infections.

As I have written many times, this life is not for the faint of heart. We are called to be strong and coureagous. We are admonised not to fear. We are reminded that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. Praise the Lord for the strength for this day!!

Yesterday was my sweet daughter’s birthday. For those of you who do not know, Leonard and I had the honor and privilege of adopting a sweet toddler from China 21 years ago. I cannot express to you the blessing she has been to our lives. I will share one area. When I was told in June of 2015 that I had 18 months at the most to live, I seriously contemplated doing no treatments at all. I already knew what sarcomas do watching what Zach went through. In a lot of ways it seemed pointless to me to even try. Marah or June Ji as she is called was 15 years old at the time. When I got home that afternoon and waited for her to come in from school, I contemplated how I would tell her. In the end I just leveled with her. With tears streaming down her face, she told me I had to try. I realized then how much she stilll needed her mother and how selfish it was of me to not try.

Sometimes I believe God places people in our lives to encourage us or give us a hint of which direction to go. Absolutely reading His Word is the most important to grow and learn and hear Him speak. We can also see if we choose to through those special people placed in our lives and sometimes also in complete strangers. This life is precious. Love those in your life while you are still here to do it regardless of whether you are in good health or not. Praise God this day and keep being courageous!

I live in a small town. We have two grocery stores. I frequent one of them out of loyalty to the chain since my son works for that chain and the staff there is very friendly. There is one particular gentleman who probably is younger than I am but has worked many years at that store. I don’t care what kind of day it is. It can be a freeze, rain, thunderstorms doesn’t matter. If you ask him how he is, he is going to respond with “another day in paradise” with a huge smile on his face, one that reaches his eyes so you know he is sincere.

I sometimes think of his response and his positive attitude. To my knowledge he does not have a personal relationship with Christ. Yet he shows one attribute that all of us who claim to have a relationship with our savior seem to lack. He seems genuinely happy with his circumstances in life or should I write content. This is a concept that Paul talks quite frequently of in the New Testament. It comes to my mind because it is so important that we have this same characteristic to help us through whatever we are walking or just help us through life. I did not ask for cancer. It came my way anyway. I did not desire cancer for my son and I certainly would have loved to have had him until the end of my days. It did not go my way. Should I be bitter? Should I be discontented the rest of my days? If yes, what does that gain for me? Even if God’s opinion of me did not matter to me I cannot see myself happy because I gave in to bitterness and anger for the rest of my days. As I have written many times, this life requires that we be courageous. It is not for the weak. We intentionally make the decision to seek joy in the smallest of things and to be content.

It’s Friday and I often like to reflect on the many and I do mean many blessings that God has bestowed on me and it is always my hope that you will do the same. I couldn’t help but think about the number of times I complain about various things from the achiness in my bones upon rising to too little sleep I received the night before. It seems like in our human nature we are all prone to complaining about something. In fact we do it so much that we don’t think anything about it. When you read the Old Testament, a clear picture arises that this may not be the best habit we have normalized. Complaining got the children of Israel in a whole lot of trouble. It also appears contradictory to praise God in one breath while in another complaining about something.

How about you and I making a decision that we will consciously praise God this day and stop the habit of allowing complaining words come from our mouths. Our spouses would probably appreciate that if no one else:) In reality the many good things for most of us living in the United States is far better than what can be found in many parts of the world. We all have so much to be grateful for. Keep trusting. Keep believing.

We hear a lot about God’s will. For many of us that can be a confusing concept. Television preachers tell us that God only wants good for us and that He wants to prosper us. We look around and at our own situations and think maybe it’s how prosperity is defined. We are after all sinful at nature and expect often more than we receive and typically judge ourselves to be better than the next guy.

That is how I often think we get into wrong think regarding God’s will. We think the right will is to be ours and that is not how it works. God is holy. We are not. God does not sin. We do. We cannot relate to His righteousness which is why we are supposed to always strive in that direction. All of this process is what helps us cope when things don’t go the way we had hoped. Things like the mundane from losing the job we loved to not paying the mortgage and losing our homes to the most painful of losing a loved one. Since God is in control, He does allow even the most painful things in our lives to occur. He is still on the throne. He is still worthy of our love and desire to grow in knowledge.

Recently I asked you to pray for two individuals. My sister in law is doing great recovering from her knee surgery. What seemed really dire is healing great. Praise God! My friend who has a sister battling cancer and had a tumor removed from her brain, not so well. More cancer lesions were discovered in other parts of her body. Clearly current medication is not working in her situation which is common for many cancers. God is in control in both situations. One appears to go on to enjoy many more days in this world and the other seems to have shorter time. All still God’s will. He is loving. He is kind. He is merciful and He is still on the throne. Life requires us to be courageous. Consider each day a gift and each moment a blessing.

FYI – I am now going to post on this blog on M,W,F only. God’s blessings to each of you

This weekend my husband showed me a story of a man who went to the doctor complaining that his nose or the inside would not stop bleeding. Peering inside the ENT spechialist was able to determine why. There were 150 bugs moving and eating inside the lining of his nose! Can you imagine! The doctor was able to remove all of them and there was posted a live video of what that looked like. Yuk! The patient was not sure how they got there. I found myself for the remainder of the weekend rubbing my nose and wondering each time if something was moving inside that shouldn’t be. Such is the power of suggestion.

The above true story did have a happy ending though I feel the journey getting there was tough. A continuous bleeding and aching nose could not have been fun. Sometimes the journey we walk is a tough one with many ups and downs. We look for resolution to end it and that journey can be a lot longer than the above scenario described. I know because I walked it. If you are walking that type of road currently keep going. It is tough but a resolution is coming. Keep trusting and keep believing that God is who He said He is. However your journey ends, you can not go wrong if you trust and believe the God of the bible and His son with your eternity.

Thank you also to all of you who prayed for my sister in law and her knee surgery. All went spectacular and she is back at every day living.

In grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. That is what goes through my mind this Wednesday morning. God’s grace is amazing and infinite. Yesterday I asked all of you to pray for the sister of a friend of mine who is facing a major battle with stage 4 cancer that now involves her brain. The tumor was removed and all went well. I also asked you to pray for my sister in law due to a staph infection in her knee that occurred with a knee replacement two years ago. That also went well. These are major health issues and in this rollercoaster of life, both finished on a high point. I would also point out that because we know God is in control of all situations, even if one or both had hit a low point God was still in control. There is a plan that He has. Again all brings us back to the main thesis and that is that this is not our home. None of us will live for immortality. If we truly believe that God is real and His kingdom is so much better then what this world has to offer, why would we hesitate not to join Him?

This is my final post for this week. I leave today to join my husband for an adventure. Keep reading your bibles. If you don’t, please start. No one speaks better for Himself then our Lord does. Blessings to you for the rest of the week and weekend!!