Tag Archives: Inspirational

Bag Lady

28 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

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Six regulars minus the pastor’s wife are waiting for Sunday School to start. The phone in the kitchen rings. We ignore it because we know the pastor hears it in his office. In a minute our door opens and the pastor’s wife sticks her head in. “There’s a lady on State Road 405 heading for church in her wheelchair and she says the chair won’t go anymore, so now she can’t get here. The Sunday school teacher and his nephew leave and the co-teacher takes over.

Apparently Mission was accomplished. Toward the end of class, the teacher comes back and asks if one of us ladies can help the woman who is now in the bathroom. I get the distinct impression this is not my bag. For one thing I don’t know how big she is or how much help she’ll need. For another, I haven’t been doing any resistance training lately, (or ever). Ruth gets up and goes, she’s the minister of music and takes care of handicapped seniors during the week. She’ll know just what to do.

It’s time for praise team practice. Ruth pushes the wheelchair lady into the church and we go to meet her. I’ll call her Queenie.

While we’re on the podium singing, Queenie takes food from one of several bags hanging from the handles of her chair and eats breakfast. When she finishes she takes out two small tablecloths and covers herself for warmth against the air conditioner.

I am fascinated by this person who would set out for church in her motorized wheel chair even though the church was ten miles from where she met the man who invited her and where she usually hangs out. Later, Ruth tells me Queenie can walk, but the wheelchair is her only means of transportation. I want to study this person, but that would require staring, so I just dart glances hoping she won’t catch me. She has a loud booming voice and I hear her tell her new retinue that she wants to sit in a chair. Four or five people help her get settled. The next thing I know she’s broadcasting over our singing into her cell phone.

We have a short break between Praise-team practice and church when I teach the children. I walk around a bit and then go into the Sunday School room to see if everything is ready. There’s Queenie snoozing on the floor with her wheelchair nearby. It’s a very small room and I’m eagerly expecting ten lively, curious beautiful children in a few seconds. I tell her I’m sorry, but we need the room. She somehow manages to leave.

Queenie must have gone back into the church because after Sunday School I pass the minister’s office and hear voices. Queenie is getting help and counseling and I’m glad. I like to see people loved and cared for and I do a fair share of it myself, but this time I minded my own business and I don’t regret it. There were plenty of people to help and my focus was to be on the praise team and the children.

That’s the sort of thing that happens when we’re really listening for God’s voice. He does say, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” (Isiah 30:21) but I don’t believe he meant for us to automatically jump into what we’ve been taught before we ask God what He thinks and what He wants us to think. The old way is to study the rules and follow them. The new way is to nurture the Spirit of God which lives in us and follow his leading all the time, in everything. (Hebrews 8:13).

Around the time when the, “What would Jesus do?” phase swept over our land I read, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19) You know who said that, don’t you? You don’t have to figure out what you should do, you just have to ask the Father what He wants you to think and do. Number 1. Ask. Number 2. Think Number 3. Do or don’t do.

It may sound difficult, but it doesn’t take much time, and you can get into a habit with it. I’m just starting, but already I can see how much better it is to walk in that kind of contact with my Father in Heaven who loves me. You can live a well-ordered life if you learn to know and trust the One who gives the orders.

If you’d like to know more about this concept, study your Bible and also try Dr. Caroline Leaf online. She’s a cognitive (thinking) neuroscientist (brain and mind specialist) who is showing how science is finally catching up with the Bible.

 

 

 

 

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Will God answer my prayer? Five keys.

26 Mar

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Janet Eckles Perez

03-18-16 keysI sat beside a delightful lady at a recent prayer gathering. She related with passion each of the steps of her healing from a devastating car accident.

“The healing was miraculous,” she said.

Broken bones healed with no need for casts, cuts on her face healed with no scars. And doctors said she would lose her teeth as they had turned gray because they began to die due to the severe impact. But God healed them as they turned white before her eyes, leaving the doctors stunned.

We all listened in awe. But after the astonishment subsides, do we sometimes wonder: Why aren’t our own prayers answered and why do miracles seem to pass us by?

I imagine Joni Erickson might have wondered the same from time to time while spending her life, paralyzed in that wheel chair.

But even when we question, God still insists for us to bring our requests before Him. (Philippians 4:6)

And when we do, here are five steps to make sure He will answer them:

  1. Readjust our priorities. If we seek the answer to our Prayer with more passion than we seek God Himself, His patience rather than answers is what will be at work. (Matthew 6:33)
  2. Resist the temptation to recite memorized, perfect prayers, with lovely words and deep insight. God simply wants the genuine expression of our heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
  3. Recognize that sometimes we don’t know how to pray or what our requests should be. So we can freely ask for Him to show us what to pray for. (Psalm 139:23)
  4. Remember that His answer is always in His timing, not ours because a thousand years in God’s sight are like a day that has just gone by. (Psalm 90:4)
  5. Relish in the fact that while we wait, He’s working in us, in our heart, in our situation. He has the answered already prepared. (Ephesians 2:10)

Why follow these steps? Because “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15).

Visit Janet’s blog to read more: Will God answer my prayer? Five keys. | Janet Perez Eckles

IN THE NEWS

Sometimes God says “yes,” sometimes he says, no,” and sometimes He says, “not yet.” The key is to trust Him no matter what the answer. My dear friend and I prayed for God’s hand to open doors in places where only He can. And this time His quick and clear “yes” left us in awe. I received an invitation to minister to women in Quito, Ecuador. I’m packing lots of gratitude in the suitcase of my heart.

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GLENNA – A TRIBUTE

8 Mar

MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

I’ve mentioned before that I was Church Secretary for nearly nine years at the church where we are members. I’ve also mentioned that the pastor at that time was my “boss” nearly that entire time. However, I introduced him one time to my best friend, who was visiting. His response? “No Judy, we are co-workers….not boss and employee.” He was absolutely great to work with.

His mother, Glenna, was a jewel. Always upbeat…loved the Lord and spoke about Him to everyone whenever and wherever she was. Such a happy, happy person. And she never knew a stranger.   This picture of her is from the newspaper, and isn’t a terribly good one of her, but it does show her enthusiam.

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Ms. Glenna was also a poet. Every year that we knew her, we would receive from her a Christmas poem. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and poetry usually just slides right over my head. But Glenna’s poems always touched my heart.

Ms. Glenna died last week, and we attended the memorial service for her. All three of her children were there and spoke about her. All spoke of her love…for life, for her family, but most especially of her love of her loving Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The funeral home always puts together a “memory” leaflet of the deceased, and they did for Glenna, as well. In that leaflet, they included a poem that Glenna had written, probably many years ago, and kept for just this time. I want to share it with you all. It shows so much about the type of person Glenna McKinney was. Her legacy lives on in her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren (there are 11 of them!).

Ms. Glenna – we miss you – your laugh, your love, your quirky personality. As your son said, you are more alive today than you ever were on this earth.

May God have all the glory in this:

 

SOMEDAY

By Glenna Morris McKinney

 

One day I shall see Him,

In the twinkling of an eye–

I shall trade my dwelling place on earth

For a mansion in the sky.

 

‘Tho my life may seem to be over

To those I leave behind,

My life will be unfolding

As new planes of life I find.

 

Oh yes, I’ll trade this house of clay

For a new celestial home.

I’ll be greeting old friends & loved ones

As on the streets of gold I roam.

 

Many questions will be answered,

New dimensions will I see

As my Savior takes me by the hand

And walks along with me.

 

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Four things you must do when facing a plate full of issues.

5 Mar

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Janet Eckles Perez

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Recently, someone asked me the same question many have before:

When you lose one sense, like in your case, your eyesight, is it true that other senses develop and sharpen?”

“Sure is,” I said, “in my case it’s my sense of humor.”

I looked toward the mirror; I never have a bad hair day. And when you can’t see, eating can be fun, too. With a plate full of food before me, every bit is a surprise and meals end up being an adventure.

But it’s quite different when life presents a plate full of difficult issues. We look closely at all of them, and before we know it, we get a bad case of emotional indigestion. Here is how to avoid it:

  1. Use each challenge as a channel to taste God’s grace.
  2. Use every disappointment, heartache and even tragedy as an opportunity to savor the sweetness of God’s comfort.
  3. Use each moment of joy, triumph and success is a chance to delight in His provision.
  4. Use each setback as an opportunity to sit back and wait in expectation.

If you’re in that place right now–facing tough, painful issues, I invite you to close your eyes. Let your soul savor God’s promises. His promises that say He is at work in that situation. He’s about to bring the solution. And until He does, he’s holding you ever, ever so close. “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119: 103)

Source: Four things you must do when facing a plate full of issues. | Janet Perez Eckles

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Does God love us when we’re bad? Five ways to know. | Janet Perez Eckles

20 Feb

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Janet Eckles Perez

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I blew kisses and waved good-bye at my two grandkids. They waved back from the back seat. “Remember,” I called out, “no more, no less.”

In her high-pitched voice, my eight-year-old granddaughter called back, “No more, no less, Nana.”

That’s our secret code. It began one night as I wrapped a fluffy towel around her after her bath. I cupped her soft face in my hands and looked into her blue eyes… “Always remember, princess, that there is nothing you can do to make me love you more. And there’s nothing you could ever do to make me love you less.”

Ever since then, that was our code each time we part: “no more, no less.”

I learned that from Romans 8:39; “Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

He (God) loves us no matter what:

  1. When we fall. When we make errors, mistakes and ruin what we thought would be a good thing.
  2. When we fail in our attempt to do something good, worthwhile or important.
  3. When we frown at the sadness of life. And when that sadness turns to tears of sorrow, anger or confusion.
  4. When we forget. When we forget the power of His love, the length of His compassion and the sincerity of His promises.
  5. When we feign. When we try to fool others by putting a smile on the outside yet, inside we are falling apart.

He still loves us. He still calls us. And He still looks for us to receive that immense love.

Source: Does God love us when we’re bad? Five ways to know. | Janet Perez Eckles

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Counting One’s Interest

19 Feb

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 

“One should never count the years–one should count one’s interests.

I have kept young trying never to lose my childhood sense of wonderment.

I am glad I still have a vivid curiosity about the world I live in.

“Helen Keller, 1880-1968Blind and Deaf American Writer and Scholar The writer of that beautiful philosophy expressed my sentiments so eloquently-

 

But I humbly acknowledge my advantage-

I can hear! And I can see!

But did she hear more clearly than I?

And did she see through the Master’s eye?

Oh, how blessed to have the Master’s touch-

to live to serve- to give so much.

 

May I never take for granted

the blessings of each day-

A kind word, a noble deed,

encouragement along the way.

 

Ocean with cliffs

Source: Reflections of the Heart: February 2007

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Three Bible Truths That Struck Fear in my Heart

18 Feb

On the Porch

Onisha Elllis

I'm a winner

Last week as I tried to write this blog, I couldn’t seem to put my thoughts together so I decided to let it rest for a week. I posted my first ever “teaser” and used that time to mull and pray for clarity of thought and words. Until age twelve I spent a lot of time at church. My mother was a Sunday School teacher, my dad a deacon as well as the Training Union director and they both sang in the choir. ( It was a wonderful choir). When they were needed at church, I was there too. Although there were some people who did not behave in a loving, Godly manner, most appeared to be genuine believers, whose desire was to serve God. It was in that church where I gave my heart to Christ and learned how much he loved me.

Lucerne Park Baptist Church, Orlando, Florida

Lucerne Park Baptist Church, Orlando, Florida

Over the years I  heard a LOT of sermons, good ones too. Yet there were three teachings of Jesus that I feared:

  • Don’t be a milk drinker
  • The gate to heaven is narrow
  • I never knew you.

I didn’t see how my imperfect self could ever measure up.

Don’t be a milk drinker

The passage that admonished me to not drink milk is Hebrews 12:13-14. Verse 13 reads:

 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

milk-glass-frisch-healthy-drink-nutritious-krug-2

Sermons based on this verse admonished me to stop needing to be spoon fed and grow up.  I turned to Biblegateway to get a more readable translation and found The Message Version.

11-14 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

Sometimes it seemed that as soon as I started on the solid food of  God’s word, I would relapse to the milk diet. I worried that I was stalled there forever, destined to be a milk drinker.

The gate to heaven is narrow. Matthew 7:13-14  worried me a lot during my childhood and early adult years.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” NIV

I was surrounded by Godly people. How was my mess of a life going to fit through that gate?

Woman crossing suspension bridge

 

In my lifetime, I have seen a trend to “widen the tent” or in this case, the gate. The Message translation explains this far better than I can.

13-14 “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. “

This one doesn’t frighten me now. I believe that narrow gate will hold all who earnestly seek the ways of the Savior.

I never knew you. My heart quaked when I considered this scripture, Luke 13:27

 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. NIV

Puzzled girl

 

How could he say that?

Once again, I turned to The Message and read several more verses.

23-25 A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”

He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’

26-27 “You’ll protest, ‘But we’ve known you all our lives!’ only to be interrupted with his abrupt, ‘Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don’t know the first thing about me.’

Banquet room

 

I love how Jesus admonished them to mind their own business and to put their mind on their own life with God. I have learned that spending time with God is not giving him my list of daily requests, rather it is daily giving myself to him. I confess, I am still learning.

Many, many years ago, DiVoran Lites shared with  me her theory of fiery darts and I have never forgotten it. To paraphrase, Satan has a bundle of darts at his disposal and he chooses ones that will attack weakness.

For me he attacked the maturity of my faith (milk drinker), my worthiness to enter Christ’s kingdom (narrow gate)  and my fear of being rejected ( I never knew you). DiVoran suggested that when those darts arrived, I should mentally reject them and return them to the sender. I do this by claiming God’s word in my life, especially the verses that I call my “cling-tos”

I’d like to share with you one of my favorite “cling-to” verses.

Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, 39 or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us

Nothing, nothing  can separate me from his love! Isn’t that the best? .

 

“See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” -Isaiah 49_16a_-2

 

 

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A teaser for next week’s blog

11 Feb

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

 

I seem to be needing to use some extra brain power and Divine inspiration to put this weeks planned blog together. So here is a teaser.

Three Bible Truths That Struck Fear in my Young Heart

 

  • Don’t be a milk drinker

  • The gate to heaven is narrow

  • I never knew you.

I’m not sure about the title. Is truths the best word choice for those verses that bounce around in one’s head creating doubt and fear?

Sad dog under covers

 

 

 

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The Bug Man

8 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

Author, Poet and ArtistWe have a cat that is allergic to fleas, so we had to sign up for a pest control program. Our particular account majors in fleas. Bob, the technician is a nice man. He likes to chat when he goes about his work. Bill is usually here to talk to him, but today I was elected because Bill had another gig.

I watched Bob out the big front window mixing his potions from the back of his truck. He’s not a big man, nor particularly small, not heavy, not thin. He wears glasses and a blue ball-cap as he goes about his work. I’d say he’s in his early 50s. I wondered what he and Bill talked about, but didn’t try to start a conversation.

Our cats, Jasmine and Lily need to stay off the carpets until the insecticide dries, so we put them in their carriers and move them to Bill’s model airplane hangar. When we started the service I stayed with them, played music, worked on my laptop, or painted. They cried the whole time anyway, so I decided to go on my walk while the floors dried.

Today I was sitting at my computer waiting for Bob to finish the spraying. He asked me if I was the artist. Yes, I am, I have my paintings all over the house. That may seem immodest, but sorry, I like them and so does Bill. I think other people do too.

Bob liked a picture in the “studio” which used to be the garage. It’s a pastel of a painted bunting. He could hardly believe it when I said, “Let’s see if there’s one on the feeder now.” Unfortunately, none was, but as you can tell from the picture they are a beautiful bird. The male is multi-colored and the female is green, the only green bird in Florida. When I told him that he said,”We have green parrots beachside in Melbourne.” They have a distinctive squawk, but I like them okay.”

Bunting

Painted Bunting by DiVoran

Oh, yes, parrots. I’ve seen them here in Titusville, too. They lived in holes in palm-trees, but I don’t think they’re here anymore. They’re considered exotics. The painted buntings are migratory and are here for the winter with their little green wives. They vie for seeds with the bigger birds and the cardinals seem reluctant to take them on. We talked about the other exotics in Florida. We both shivered at the thought of the huge iguanas we’ve heard about down south that fell from the trees one year when the weather got too cold for them. I remembered, too, that down there they have boa constrictors whose parents escaped from zoos during hurricanes and bred more boa constrictors. The climate of south Florida suits them fine.

Fast Facts (from National Geographic site)

Type:

Reptile

Diet:

Carnivore

Average life span in the wild:

20 to 30 years

Size:

13 ft (4 m)

Weight:

60 lbs (27 kg)

Group name:

Bed or knot

Did you know?

Some South Americans keep boas in their houses to control rat infestations.

 

Bob got down to business when we moved to the kitchen. He said the flea repellents people get from their vets are almost eradicating fleas in homes and the younger techs don’t know how to spray for them. We moved here in 1965 and had nothing to combat them with so I fully appreciate that.

Bob says the nemesis is now sugar ants. Ooh, we’ve got some of those. Actually, I originally brought them in by letting the cat food sit on the porch and collect them. They are only about as big as a period. I opened the cupboard and showed Bob the diatomaceous-earth powder I’ve sprinkled on the shelves. He seemed truly interested. I asked what the pest control guys use inside the cupboards, and he said, “We don’t put anything inside the cupboard. We use non-repellant insecticide outside and the ants carry it into the nests and contaminate them. I’ve been doing that for you here.” He said. I thanked him.

I was flabbergasted. I wondered why we hadn’t had to move out of the house because of those scamps and all the time Bob had us covered. It kind of reminds you of God, doesn’t it?

 

 

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Five promises to erase loneliness

6 Feb

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Janet Eckles Perez

 

I zipped my suitcase shut. And my 4’10”, white-haired Mom walked in. “I worry about you traveling alone,” she said. “Someone will be staying with you in the hotel, right?”

I imagine having her blind daughter travel to another country by herself concerns her.

“Sure,” I reassure her to erase worry because after all, traveling to speaking engagements is one of the passions I have.

Although I’ll have no human accompany me, I’ll have someone better—the Holy Spirit.

Think I’m kidding? God’s way to make sure we’re never alone and know how to conquer loneliness is true.

How else can I, being blind, navigate through hotel rooms, unpack, find the bathroom, get ready and sing with confidence while doing it?

I admit. Sometimes, temptation to feel lonely tries to slip in. But I have found five ways to conquer it:

  1. In the hotel room of loneliness, the Holy Spirit is the concierge to meet all our needs.

  2. His presence is certain.

  3. His protection is constant.

  4. His companionship is sweet

  5. His comfort is forever.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16).

Father, sometimes even when surrounded with people, the loneliness is cruel. But thank you for filling the void. For bringing reassurance to every moment. For whispering protection and provision. Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit, for we know you’re present now, and you’ll be present in the happenings of our tomorrows. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Be sure to visit Janet’s website to read the rest of the blog.  Five promises to erase loneliness. | Janet Perez Eckles

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