One nation, divisible...

I'm cleaning my oven right this second while I sit comfortably on my couch, laptop where it should be: on my lap. I'm really glad I was born here in the United States and in this century.

Self-cleaning ovens, washing machines & dryers, dishwashers. Do I need to continue?

Running water. Pure, clean. We don't have to search for it with jars balanced on our heads. Oh! Air conditioning! A car or two to drive us where we want/need to go to allow us to buy what we want/need.

Have you ever wondered why us? Why were we born here? Privileged. Middle-class citizens. Even our homeless have it better than most of the world. Why us? Why the United States? And the scary question...how much longer will it continue?




In God we trust? Do we? Does our President? Do we as a nation still trust our God? How much longer before God takes His hand of protection off of us as a whole?

Even googling our Pledge of Allegiance, there is a discrepancy. 

Change is in the air. 

One nation - indivisible...

in·di·vis·i·ble  

Not divisible; unable to be divided or separated.

Okay...So God is being taken out of the equation...just 'one nation, indivisible'...and we are far, far from the the definition. So...if the powers that be want to change the Pledge of Allegiance and take God out, let's call it like it is..."one nation, divisible,' because that is certainly what we are.

It's scary, and yet, right now I'm still glad to live here. Honestly. I get chills and goosebumps when I hear the Star Spangled Banner. When something horrendous happens, we all ban together to help each other and...Pray! When things get bad, we pray. So deep down, I still think this is a nation under God, indivisible. 

We're not completely gone...not yet anyway. 

I'm not a political person. I'm just a citizen of the United States of America. I love my country. I want to see it prosper. It needs to so we can help other countries. I'm so thankful for all I have and what we have as a nation, and I'm also a little ashamed and embarrassed too, when I see the desperate need of others. 

So...as my oven finishes up cleaning itself, and I close this post , I'll pray for our government, and we, the people will do as God tells us:

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." -- (James 4:7-10 NIV)

Read more...

Another school year gone

I made it through another school year. It was an interesting one, for sure. I was here and there and then here again. I loved both places but the here was what I absolutely loved and I miss it. I miss the students lots and I hope I get to work with them again next year.

That was only a part of my year. I also went through a hysterectomy. That was the good part. Before that, I was led around by my body which sweat profusely and was prone to an onset of tears at any second, night or day and for being most unreasonable - which so isn't me. The hysterectomy solved most of that plus the hormonal severe headaches I'd been having for years and could never get under control. Wow! My life is so much better now.


Let's see, my daughter got married too. Kristen is now Kristen Dennis. That's very strange to hear her called that. So that also means I gained a son named Jordan. I'm also going to be a grandma to a little baby boy the last of August. So many changes.




All is this happened during the school year, and now...summer is here. I already went to Illinois Special Touch Get Away. Awesomeness! We all had a reeeeaaally good time and felt God's touch. I'll write about that another time. I met more new friends this year, which is always good. I'm ready to go again.



Mari has come and gone. We had a good time. A very low key visit but fun. We did have one Lucy/Ethel moment but that one was big. Why we have those, I sure don't know, and most of the time they aren't our fault. Well, many times they are but this time it wasn't. Sure do make good memory makers though.


Now I have the rest of the summer looming before me and not quite sure what God has in store for me. I have the time to do. What is it God has for me? Not everyone has a whole summer and I want to use it for God's glory but I need to know how. I don't want to look backwards and know I frittered it away.

I will do this while I wait:

"Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live..."  Isaiah 55:3

 -- so that is my plan for now.  Listen. Read. Study God's Word. Be prepared for whatever He has for me to do. Sounds like a good plan!

 

Read more...

Grace Card

We have a very nice blacktop road a half mile from our house that leads to Route 10 - the main road into Clinton, this is the town where I work and bank... This road is like a race track, I'm sorry to say.  My boys have confessed to me that they speed on it.  It's just that kind of a road.  It's hilly and a perfect pavement for it.

Yesterday I took off not even thinking about the speedometer.  I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time.  I mindlessly drove on this most perfect road.  Until...I saw a police car in front of me.  I had just come down a hill so I didn't have much notice.  Ugh...a police car.  In the middle of nowhere too.  I applied the brakes a little, to show some respect and I felt a pit in my stomach.  Please, don't pull me over.  Please...

He kept on driving.  I was shown some grace.  And I appreciated it.  I certainly deserved to be pulled over.  When I looked at my speed, it showed 70.  I had no idea.  I told you, the road is a race track!

Every single day, I experience grace, both in my day-to-day life and in my spiritual life but the grace experienced in my spiritual life is much more often and I can count on it.

"...The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ." -- (Romans 3:22-24 NIV)

You see, Jesus is our Grace Card - our 'Get out of Jail Free Card.'  Without Him, shiver...  I can't even imagine where I would be without Jesus.  I don't want to think about it.  

I learned my lesson for a bit.  I drove the speed limit the rest of the way into town.  But guess what I did when I got to the Waynesville Speed Way on the way home - I found my foot getting heavier and heavier until I was going about 70 mph again.  Whoa!  Surely I've learned my lesson.  I backed off and scolded myself.  When will I learn?  Will I ever learn my lesson?  

I'm very grateful to Jesus, that He died on the cross for me.  If the things I did depended on me going to Heaven - I would be in trouble.  My heavy foot would lead me down instead of to my intended destination, I'm afraid.  All we have to do is believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  

Remember this most important verse of all and probably one of the first I memorized, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  (John 3:16 NIV)  

This post may seem pretty basic but there's a time we need to get down to the basics.  We need to remember there's many out there who don't know all of this.  Things we learned when we were little, are foreign to others.  Let's reach out and share this Good News to our friends and family in this New Year, 2013.  We're running out of time.  I really believe that.  We've been shown grace and we'll be shown grace on That Day, Judgement Day.  Won't you share that grace with others?

Read more...

Unclench My Fist

This school year has been hard from the very start.  I've been able to do what I love but only for a short time.  I knew it was temporary but I waited for God to intervene.  I knew He would. I was wrong.  Lesson learned:  sometimes God says no and I have to unclench my fist.

Through all this, something was stolen from me that I need and depend on.  The person was confronted and denied it.  I had to let it go and allow God to sustain me and He is and I'm learning some things about my body through it all.  It's not completely a bad thing but it's hard.  Very hard.  And I'm angry.  So very angry.  Lesson learned:  sometimes God says, "Hold onto Me and you will make it, Laury.  I know it's not fair but just hold onto Me."

Letting go of something I love to do and working with kids I understand and love to work with has been hard and yet...I love what I'm doing now too.  I had to get past the initial shock and anger before I could see it though.  Besides that, I still get to work in the class one hour a day and I've made relationships with the teacher and the kids.  It took that letting go of the emotion before I could settle down and see things for what they were.  So silly.  God made me a pretty effective educator wherever I'm placed.  It's not anything I learned or did, it's the talent He instilled in me and I'm so thankful.

Smoldering anger...I don't know where that comes from because I'm not an angry person.  Injustice and unfairness upset me though and this year and past years but especially this year, has hit me full in the face and I haven't been able to do a thing about it.  I have tried, trust me.  But once the temper tantrums haven't worked, and the sulking, and the pleading with God, falling into His arms and resting, knowing for sure Daddy will catch me and take care of me - then, and only then does everything begin to fall into place.

It's funny, situations don't change.  The stolen is still gone and God has helped me through in amazing ways.  The school thing is the same too.  It's me.  I'm the variable that needed the adjustment.  The anger and resentment and feelings of unfairness are still there, I am human after all, but they aren't right there at the top ready to spill out.  Sometimes I even forget about them for a bit.


Ephesians 4:31 ESV
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

When the world seems to be going crazy, the best thing to do is let go of it and cling to God. When everything else falls away, He will still be here. He is eternal.  Our Rock.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.

Read more...

Arm Our Teens - Pocket Testament League Review

“Why’re you wearing that shirt? Haven’t you ever heard of separation of church and state?” The noisy hallway grew quiet as Mattea considered the question.

“We can wear Christian t-shirts and we can pray in school…”

Anthony came along beside her and finished, “and we can bring our Bibles.”

The boy argued, “That’s not what we learned in History class. Church is church and school is school.”

“School officials try to bully us but it’s not legal.” Suddenly everyone scattered and left the two ‘rebels’ alone.

Mr. Porter, Vice-Principal, walked confidently down the hall. “Office, now.”

*********

This is exactly what many of our students face every day.  I work in a high school and when they see my Bible on my desk, they’re surprised.  I tell them, "You can bring your Bible to school."  It's amazing how kids believe the lie that’s being told to them.  Our Christian teens need to know what is evangelism and they need to know how to how answer questions that come up from their friends when they carry their Bibles and wear their popular Christian t-shirts.  Both parents and their teens can go to the Pocket Testimony website and receive free evangelism training.  The evangelism tools are easy to learn to use.

There are many teens who are on fire and ready to flood their schools this upcoming year with the Word of God.  What better way than with the Gospel of John from the Pocket Testament League?  They can be ordered with over 30 different, up-to-date covers: all very appealing and colorful. 

Even in grade school, students are read books that introduce evolution.  It may not say the word but the concepts are there.  By the time they are in High School, they are primed and ready to be taught the theories.  Our kids need to know the truth.  In the free daily devotionals on the website, I am especially impressed with the very first lesson which deals with chapter one of John and will arm our students with that truth. The devotional points out that we have to face the most challenging question ever as a follower of Jesus Christ: "Where did God come from?" 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  (John 1:1-3)

No Big Bang Theory there!  God, our creator – period!  This is a great devotional and I highly recommend completing it as a family to prepare our students as they enter into the new school year.  Help your child, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks… to give the reason for the hope that (they) have.” (1 Peter 3:15 NIV)  Let’s arm our teens with the Word of God as they go out into the world August, 2013 and beyond.

Pocket Testament League is the perfect tool for you and your family!

Read more...