Walking Through The Storm

 It's August 8, I thought to myself, and you're still stuck in this nightmarish pandemic reality of 2020, where each day pretty much seems like the day before. The perfect storm of a raging virus for which there is no cure, an epically failing economy, and racial and civil unrest has been swirling over the United States since March. Here in Florida, my retirement home state of choice, my dreams of international travel have been put on hold indefinitely. Even a leisurely stroll to one of the many beaches in this area, is fraught with concern; if I see too many bodies close together and with no masks, I don't even get out of the car.

I can sit here and have a pity party, but how dare I, my inner voice tells me. People are hurting, losing jobs, income, housing, and some are losing family and friends to "rona. How. Dare. I.

So, I continue to volunteer and stay active in local Democratic Party, stay engaged in my online church services, and appreciate my fiends and neighbors that I see/talk with everyday.

I'm watching TV less, reading more, exercising more, feeling better about the world. Loving more, striving to operate out of love, not hate or fear.

So, dear reader, it's time to reactivate my writing skills. I have two blogs; let's get started on our journey together of walking through this storm, and coming out better on the other side.

Memorial Day, May 25, 2015

Well, another holiday has sneaked up on me.  I was never much for celebrating Memorial Day.  Having lived in Michigan for 34 years, Memorial Day weekend was a time traditionally to start planting flowers in the yard.  I learned the hard way that it was best to wait until Memorial Day to plant the always fragile annuals.  On a few occasions, I became overly anxious and optimistic of early warm weather, and started planting around a Mother’s Day.  Michigan weather is very predictable in its unpredictability.  The temperature can drop into near freezing or below freezing as late as the month of May.  Just recently, I observed a low of 36° there.  So, imagine my great disappointment when my flowers died because of frostbite.  Thus, I learned to wait patiently until the end of the month of May to start planting in earnest.

That did not stop me from preparing the soil, putting in new top soil, fertilizer, and a gardener’s best friend, Preen.  The flowering bulbs had done their annual show and spring display, and were ready to be lovingly cut back for another year of hibernation and rejuvenation.

The Memorial Day weekend would start off with trips to my favorite nurseries.  Often I would begin shopping for flowers the week before and would have a garage full of flats.  It was not uncommon for me to plant up to 20 flats of flowers each year.  Oh, what fun!  After deciding what my color schemes would be, I would diligently search for annuals that would complement each other.  Container gardening was also a part of this annual and pleasurable project.  When I left Michigan in 2011, I had accumulated over 20 pots that each year were filled with lovely flowers.  These ceramic pots provided color and atmosphere to my front porch and to the deck.

I miss gardening, and I pray that I will one day be able to plant flowers once again.  The Florida planting season is very different from the Michigan planting season, but I am learning about planting and growing things in Florida.  I look forward to moving into new space in a few months that will allow me to do some modest gardening.  Heaven knows, I need it!  Gardening is wonderful and relaxing therapy for me.

Fruit of the Spirit

Sometimes I wonder why bad things happen to good people. I was raised on praise for doing good, making good grades, for being a "good" girl. Yet all that "goodness" did not prevent me from going through trials, setbacks and losses in my life. The "goodness" matured and grew into the "fruit of the Holy Spirit," which the Bible lists in Galatians 5:22.

The King James version states: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

The Amplified version puts it in more contemporary English:  But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness,

 

Thank God that "goodness" matures into love, joy and peace! Do you have the fruit of the Holy Spirit? It is yours for the asking! Just pray a simple prayer of repentance and for the Holy Spirit to come into your heart, and watch him work in your life.

 

Yes, bad things can happen to good people, but if you have the Holy Spirit, He will carry you through it, will sustain you in it, and will bless you all the more as you come out of it.

A Pure Heart

Psalm 24

King James Version (KJV)

24 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

² For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
³ Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
⁴ He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
⁵ He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Today I am seeking the face of God for clean hands and a pure heart.The benefits received by having clean hands and a pure heart are that one will receive the blessing and righteousness from the God who saved us. 
In Psalm 51, King David cried out to God:

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
¹³ Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee

Today, I am seeking the face of God to do a mighty work within me to create my heart to be clean and to make my spirit right. Thank you Lord for restoring my joy and upholding me. Now, stay with me as I witness in love and tell my testimony to those who need Your salvation. Amen.

St. Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg, FL has always been confusing to me. It's a maze of numberd streets that intersect one another with little apparent logic. As a right-brained person, all I can say is thank God for GPS.
Last week I was in St. Petersburg visiting a friend who was recovering from surgery and therefore could not drive. So on this trip, unlike previous ones, I was forced to drive. And drive I did, every day for a week.

After a couple of days, I was no longer totally reliant on my GPS, and I started to become familiar with major thoroughfares and landmarks. The street numbers still make no sense to me (why does 23rd street intersect with 5th avenue?), probably never will, but I've made my peace with the numbered streets of St. Petersburg.

So, Miami, here I come! I'm told that the streets over there are either a number, a fruit, or a tree. Let the Florida adventures continue...

The Woman At The Well

The woman at the well is mentioned in the Bible in John Chapter 4. She remains nameless after over 2,000 years of her story being told the first time. Her destiny deemed that she be at that well at the exact moment in time that Jesus sat there alone, because he had sent his disciples into the city to buy food. Jesus did two unusual and politically incorrect things that day: as a Rabbi, he spoke to a woman, and as a Jew, he spoke to a Samaritan. Jewish law forbade that women speak directly to Rabbis (teachers) and there was great enmity between the Israelites and the Samaritans, dating back to when the Assyrians invaded the northern tribes of Israel. Over the centuries, they assimilated with their captors and forsook the faith of their forefathers.

But Jesus did a lot of things that were politically incorrect to the Jewish rulers and priests of his time. He hung out in the streets with the unwashed, the unsaved, the sick and the poor. And He represented his heavenly Father by showing them love and redemption.

The woman at the well is a wonderful story of redemption and salvation for a woman of Samaria, who was told of her sins and given the gift of "living water" by Jesus Christ, the Messiah of whom she knew about from the faith of her forefathers. After her encounter at the well with Jesus, she becomes so excited that she leaves her water pot at the well, runs into the city and evangelizes by telling the men to come see a man.

There is much more to this story, but today I want to emphasize the significant and power of our personal testimonies. One does not have to be a Bible scholar to spread the Good News that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We don't have to have a theological degree from a divinity school. All we need is our personal testimony to share with others. The Bible says in Revelation 12:11a "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony."


Share your personal testimony with others to let others know what the Lord has done for you!

The Woman at the Well
 John 4:1-29
(1)  When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (2)  (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) (3)  He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. (4)  And he must needs go through Samaria. (5)  Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. (6)  Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. (7)  There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
(8)  (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) (9)  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. (10)  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (11)  The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? (12)  Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? (13)  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: (14)  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (15)  The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. (16)  Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. (17)  The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: (18)  For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. (19)  The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. (20)  Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. (21)  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
(22)  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. (23)  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (24)  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (25)  The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. (26)  Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. (27)  And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? (28)  The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, (29)  Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

A Yet Praise

I have some prayers and petitions before God that have not yet been answered. After years of praying for my daughter's healing from a debilitating condition that has robbed her of 12 years of her life, my faith wavers sometimes. What if unanswered prayer means NO? I have fasted, prayed, rubbed anointing oil, given sacrificial offerings, and prayed some more. And her condition does not show any improvement. Yea, sometimes we get bad reports from the doctors and it appears that her condition is worsening.

What happens to your faith, to your spiritual journey when God does not seem to answer your prayer? I've been giving this a lot of thought in my quiet time lately, and here is my revelation:

               Lord God, I love you and I praise you. I dedicate my life, my heart and my soul to you. You are my Provider, my Deliverer, my Savior, my Lord, my Love, and my Friend. You have been so good to me and my household; you have blessed me beyond measure. Lord, if you never give me another blessing, I will continue to praise you for what you've already done for me! You saved a wretch like me, healed my broken heart, and taught me how to love your children.

               So Lord, I give you the sacrifice of praise at all times, even when my flesh and my circumstances try to take my joy in You. I will yet praise you, my heavenly Father, creator of all things, and the lover of my soul. I will yet praise you Lord, through the hurt and through the pain. I will yet praise you Jesus because You deserve all the honor, all the glory and all the praise! In the matchless, wondrous name of Jesus, amen.

1. Psalm 42:5
   Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
2. Psalm 42:11
   Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
3. Psalm 43:5
   Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
4. Psalm 71:14
   But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.