Tag Archives: Christianity

Tumbling Angels and The Leaning Tower

23 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

                                                     

Judy Wills

 

I essentially grew up in one town.  Okay, I was born in Dallas, Texas, but we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico when I was nearly four years old, so….  From that standpoint, my Mother was rather surprised that I “adjusted” so well to a military life.  Of course, that wasn’t what Fred and I had planned when we met and married, but God had other plans that were infinitely better than ours.  Fred did promise me that we would “see the world” when he proposed to me.  Little did we know how that would transpire.

But I have to say that I really enjoyed military life.  Except for my brother being in the U.S. Navy for a while, I really wasn’t exposed to military life until I met Fred – or more specifically, his family.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when he joined the Air Force.  They sent us to California, then to Germany – something beyond my wildest dreams.   I really loved being in both of those places.  I still have a fondness for California, but don’t think I would like to live there now.  But Germany………..WOW!  We enjoyed it so much that Fred requested – and was granted – a second tour there.

While we had many adventures in Germany, one of the last things we did was to take in the Oberammergau Passion Play.  Magnificent!  From there, we drove down to Italy.  We went to Venice:

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St. Marks Square (Piazza San Marco) with
St .Mark’s Campanile

We went to Florence

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St. Mary’s Cathedral

We went to Trieste where Fred’s family lived following World War 2.

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Miramare Castle in Trieste

He showed me the building where they had lived.

via Carducci #2 - they lived in the "mezzanine"

via Carducci #2 – they lived in the “mezzanine”

 

We went to Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower and the church and baptistry.  Amazing!

The church and the leaning tower – it REALLY leans
The Baptistry

 We had been told about a little shop in Pisa that had some unique alabaster, marble and composition pieces, so we went to shop.  Our informants were correct – the merchandise was wonderful.  We purchased two marble lampstands.  We purchased some alabaster “fruit.”  And we purchased a set of composition tumbling angels.  I just thought they were really cute, and weren’t too expensive.  We have continued to enjoy all these things throughout all those years. 

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I continue to get tickled every time I look at – or dust – those tumbling angels.  They are just cute to see, but they always remind me of that trip we took, and that little shop in Pisa where we purchased them.  It’s a great memory.

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Time to Blossom

22 Mar

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Okay, dearest friends, as of yesterday, Spring is officially here. Time to blossom.
Like flowers, God is at work—He’s offering you the drink of living water, His Words
to bring sunshine into your days, and the promise that you will blossom, grow, shine
and give off the fragrance of joy.
Happy Saturday!

Spring

His Way

Janet Perez Eckles,

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…

My website in English

En Español

My story (video)

Inspirational video  just for you.

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So What’s Another Disaster?

15 Mar
With permission: wikimedia.org

With permission: wikimedia.org

 

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

 

 

When will I learn? You’d think by now, aware of the limitations of my blindness, I’d be careful, really careful with the experiments and projects my 6-year-old granddaughter and I do.

“It’s a disaster,” she groaned.

She was right. I had placed the hot iron on the paper covering the group of beads she creatively arranged on a pegboard. The iron was too hot? I pressed too hard? Or missed one step in the instructions?

Don’t know. But after I lifted the iron, part of the melted beads had spread on the carpet, burning a baseball-size spot. Gulp.

After we dried her tears of disappointment, I took a deep breath, and then wisdom trickled in.

I knelt on the carpet and once the rug had cooled, I gently rubbed the palm of her hand on the scorched spot. “Feel this? This will help us remember that when we mess up, it’s not a failure if the mess-ups teach us a lesson.”

“What lesson?

“To read instructions more carefully.”

How many disasters have you have in life? Broken relationships, financial troubles, bad decisions, failed careers.

And the mess is there. They formed a rough spot in our heart, difficult to clean up. Heartache and regret melted in areas where they shouldn’t.

What if we didn’t consider them failures? Instead, those very events can become God’s powerful reminder that He still restores. Because of Him, we may stumble, but will never fall. Relationships end, but His love still remains vibrant. Finances crumble, but He still provides. Careers end, but He gives new beginnings. Illness wants to shake away our peace, but His hand stops the fear.

When embracing the lesson, life smiles again as we repeat “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:7-8).

Father, how often the failures, mistakes or calamities of life have threatened to shake me. But now, because you’re near me, peace still sings in my soul. And I know each broken area is the lesson that teaches me to wait in expectation for something new, something better, something richer and something worthy of your praise. In Jesus’s name, amen.

• What has failed in your life lately?
• Where do you find the lesson?
• How will you allow God to turn it to good?

Janet

Learn more about Janet, her books and her ministry as an Inspirational Speaker  at Janet Perez Eckles.

His Way

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…

My website in English

En Español

My story (video)

Inspirational video  just for you.

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Slaying the Giants in Your Life~Destroying Discouragement

7 Mar

From My Heart

Louise Gibson

author of Window Wonders

Can you recognize the enemy?
There’s a battle to be won.
Know who you are fighting-
Your armor is the Son!

There are three ways to live,
Of this there is no doubt:
You can live out-
You can wear out, or
You can burn out!

It is erroneous to say
“working too hard is burnout”-
Working hard “at the right thing”
is what it is all about.

Bring everything out of that “anxiety closet”,
and expose it to the ” Light”-
When looked at as they truly are,
You can put them all to flight!

Emotions are treacherous advisors.
We need to be disciplined to stay on track.
Work can be wonderful therapy;
It will get your confidence back!

The Biblical story of David
can turn your life around.
Get your slingshot ready,
“Discouragement, you are going DOWN”.

Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble, Therefore, we will not fear. Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

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A Time for Everything Under the Sun

3 Mar

Author, Poet and ArtistThere’s a time for everything under the sun, even in our mundane, daily lives, even a time to clean the refrigerator.

Last night, after supper, while Bill went to a meeting, I decided to clean the refrigerator. The cherry juices in the produce drawer and the smears on the top glass shelf have been bothering me since I got my new eyes. (“Believing is Seeing). He and I planned to finish watching “Fiddler on the Roof,” when he got home, so naturally, when he walked into the kitchen and saw what I was doing, he immediately wanted to help.

Everything that had once been in the refrigerator was now on the counters in colorful, casual arrangements. We had red apples, orange oranges, a jar of green pickled okra (which has been in there for a year or more), and a big clear pitcher full of topaz-colored iced tea.

The glass shelves slid in, shimmering with reflections from the light. As Bill handed me the items one by one I rejoiced in the quality and abundance of food. We had too many avocadoes, but we like them in many things, and they will stay good until we take them out and let them ripen. We had a re-run dish of mushroom meatballs with homemade basil sauce and some perfectly cooked (if I do say so myself) spring pole beans for a side.

Jasmine, our domestic cat, who likes to help with everything, sat on the damp cloth I’d used to clean the floor. I suppose she was guarding the cloth for me. I can’t think of any other reason a cat would sit on a wet cloth, can you?

When we finished, I was thrilled with the sparkling cleanliness and the beauty of the colors gleaming within. I hadn’t touched the inner door shelf or the outside of the refrigerator, which is splacked with favorite Bible verses, quotations, photos, and magnets. I’ll de-clutter all that when the time is right.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 NIV

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

colors of the fridge

Nice and clean

#MondayBlogs #Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

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Earthquake

2 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Judy Wills

                                                    

I don’t remember there being much said about earthquakes in New Mexico as I was growing up.  Many other parts of our country – and the world – had earthquakes, but not New Mexico.  It used to fascinate me how the earth would “shift” and rub against another part of earth and produce such a thing. I never thought I would be involved in an earthquake, myself.  But it did happen.  Fortunately, it wasn’t a very big quake, but it was definitely enough to shake me up just a bit.

Fred and I were living in San Jose, California at the time, probably sometime in 1966, where Fred was acquiring his degree in Meteorology from San Jose State College, in preparation for his military service.  Fred’s dad was Command Chaplain for the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) (headquartered in Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio) at that time.  One of his duties was to visit the chaplains and the inspect the working of their respective chapels within AFLC.  One of those was in Sacramento, California.  So, when he came to visit that AF base, he brought Fred’s mother with him, so they could visit with us as well.

Kitty and Charles Wills 1980

Kitty and Charles Wills

We drove from San Jose to Sacramento and settled down in a hotel room.  Fred’s mother and I stayed in the hotel room and visited, while Fred and his dad visited the base chapel.  I was sitting on the bed in our room – knitting a sweater as I remember – and all of a sudden, the bed began to move!  It was an up-and-down movement, and nothing strong enough to toss me off the bed or anything, but definite movement!!

The movement didn’t last very long, but we were both going “what was THAT??!!”  Turns out, it WAS a mild earthquake.

I doubt that we were on the big fault line that will “someday” break California in half and dump it into the ocean, but it certainly gave us pause.

It certainly also gave me reason to know that I am prepared – ready – to meet my death, if it is in God’s timing for me to join Him.  I’ve tried my best to rely upon Him each and every day since then, to be ready for whatever He calls me to do.

My God is such a GOOD God!  And I love him.

One of my favorite scripture passages:

 1 Chronicles 29: 10-11

David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,

“Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power

and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.”

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Whisper to My Soul

1 Mar

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

“Now what Lord?” I asked when, at thirty-one, I lost my sight to an incurable retinal disease. Initially, I sunk into a dark well of self-pity. And as bitterness and anger dribbled into my soul, the murky water of defeat threatened to drown me.

But years later, when Jesus tapped my heart, He opened my eyes to see beyond my physical darkness. I learned to operate a computer equipped with a voice synthesizer. And my fingers began to dance on the keyboard stringing words of triumph and hope.

But the journey was spotted with chuckholes and hurdles. The biggest bump was how to creatively turn the feelings in my heart into words that would touch my readers.

Then one day, I sat with a heart full of insights and ideas, but my fingers froze. Then, I leaned back and said, “Lord, whisper wisdom into my soul, order into my mind and diligence into my skill.”

When He answered, I widened my spiritual eyes to see that it wasn’t me who worked those phrases together, but it was Him who directed my writing, my inspirations and my stories.

His Word became my spiritual white cane guiding me through my writing journey. Now when I sit before my computer, I take a deep breath and say, “Thank you Lord, that your instructions seep into my soul; then they spill onto my keyboard.”

It’s rewarding for me to say, “I wrote this.” But it’s enlightening to assert, “I heard His whisper.”

His Way

Janet Perez Eckles,

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…

My website in English

En Español

My story (video)

Inspirational video  just for you.

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Parking Lot Excitement

26 Feb

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Lites

The other day I made a trip to my favorite giant retail store to replenish a few food items and recharge the gift card I use to buy gas.  As I pulled into the parking lot to look for a parking space, I noticed a Fire truck idling off to the side.  I often see emergency vehicles of all types at this store, since many of our community’s senior citizens frequent it.  I found a parking space, went in and quickly picked up the few things I needed, recharged my gift card, and headed back to my car.  As I was pulling out of my parking space, I noticed what appeared to be quite a bit of smoke coming from under a car in the next row of parking spaces.  The way the wind was blowing, it looked like it was coming out from under the back of the car.  I thought,  “I wonder if that guy knows how bad his car needs an overhaul?  That car sure burns a lot of oil.”

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The closer I got, the thicker the smoke coming from the car got.  Then the wind shifted slightly, and now I could see the smoke coming from under the car was also boiling out from under the hood and not the tailpipe.  I saw a lady standing behind the car, waving her hands franticly, and looking in all directions for help.  I whipped around a line of cars waiting for traffic to move, and headed for the fire truck.  As I pulled up alongside the fire truck, I saw one of the firemen coming around from the back of the vehicle and I waved him over to notify him of the fire.  He told me he had just seen the smoke, and was on the way to investigate the situation.  Before I could turn my car around and leave the parking lot, the fire truck was rolling up to the smoking car with its siren blaring.  I didn’t have time to hang around to see how long it took the fire department to get the fire out, but I’m sure it wasn’t long.

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 I thought to myself as I drove home, “If you have to have an automobile fire in a retailer’s parking lot, how lucky can you be to have the Fire Department already there, and ready to come to your rescue?”

 

           

 

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Hey Cuz

23 Feb

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Judy Wills

                                                    

As I’ve said before, my Father was one of 13 children.  So there were lots and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins.  Whenever we would head to Louisiana for a summer visit, we would “disperse” – my parents would stay in Grandmother’s house, my brother stayed with one boy cousin, and I would stay with a girl cousin.  Lots of fun memories with those outings.

One of those cousins, Milton, is the one my brother stayed with most of the time.  They were fairly close in age, and just seemed to hit it off.  I’m sure Bill could tell of some great times they had together.

Cousin Milton

Cousin Milton

So it was a bit surprising to find Milton and his wife at the seminary, when Fred and I landed there for Fred’s study.  While not terribly close – he was several years ahead of Fred – we still managed to get together with them a few times. Time went on – many years, in fact.  We knew that Milton and his wife had gone to the mission field as “music missionaries” to Taiwan.

Milton
Milton with parents Ray and Estelle Lites

And then we found ourselves in Orlando, and I became the church secretary for our church.  Our pastor asked at one point, that I look up the missionaries that were having their birthday each week, and publish their names and birth date, so our congregation could pray for them.  We had heard from so many missionaries that they felt especially blessed on their birthdays, since they knew people across the USA were praying for them on that day.

In the process of looking for those missionary’s names, I suddenly remember – Hey! I have a cousin who is/was a missionary!  Milton!  So I researched his name, and low-and-behold, he was on furlough from the mission field!  He had gone from Taiwan to the seminary in Columbia to teach.  So I found his e-mail address and sent off a message – “do you remember me?  Your cousin?”   He wrote back right away, and we re-established our connection after 30 years!   Amazing!

But that’s not the end of the story.  This same pastor loved to have a “Missions Conference” at our church each year.  We would have missionaries from the international field, the USA field, the Florida field, and the Orange County field come and speak to us on different Sundays.  After I had re-established connection with Milton, I asked the pastor if he would like Milton to come as the international missionary speaker one year.  He agreed, and I contacted Milton again.  He came that time, spoke in the worship services, and stayed a few days with us.  We even had Bill and DiVoran meet us for a meal, so we could connect again as a family.  It was such fun!

Milton and his wife went back to the mission field, but to Shanghai.  While we continued to e-mail each other, we had to be very careful in the wording of our messages.  We couldn’t talk about church  God.  As a matter of fact, once Milton mentioned that they had about five people “go swimming” for the first time that week.  We understood that to mean they had been baptized!  And when I had been diagnosed with cancer, and I wrote that information to him, he wrote back that he had “talked to Daddy, and everything is going to be okay!”  Daddy being God.

Milton has retired now, but we are on facebook with each other, and continue to be in touch.  I love the ways God has brought us back into each other’s lives.

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The Secret of Good Friendships

22 Feb

I ate moldy bread, stepped on snakes and almost swallowed a bug…

Yes, friends, I lead a pitiful life. When you can’t see, life can get pretty crazy.

Through the years, I’ve posted on each of the above incidents. But I also posted about the time I stepped on a beautiful rose. I’m talking about my friend. I had related details of my misunderstanding of her motives, of my own blind view of her words and the one-sided perception of the relationship. I confess: I stepped on a rose. The rose whose beauty was overshadowed by my judgment and my unfair and skewed assessment.

In the complexity of relationships, the true friends are simple in their genuine love. They’re those who are trampled upon, yet forgive. They are hurt, yet still love. They’re accused, yet they still serve.

Could it be that Jesus wants us to avoid pain when He says,

Father, keep me in line when I’m too quick to jump into conclusions. Grant me a heart to value the treasures you place before me. Hold me accountable to appreciate what is valuable in life. In Jesus’ name, amen

  • What has you feeling regretful lately?
  •  How can God’s wisdom keep you from heartache?
  •  What keeps you from admitting your mistakes?

His Way

Janet Perez Eckles,

Grateful for the privilege of inspiring you…

My website in English

En Español

My story (video)

Inspirational video  just for you.

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