PHILIPPIANS 4:13

I CAN do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me.

I think this single verse, though small, says an incredible amount. There is no circumstance that we might ever find ourselves in, no problem that is so overwhelming or large that can't be faced, or anything we might be handed in this life that is too much for us to handle as long as we look to Christ for our strength. John 15:5 tells us that apart from Him, we can do NOTHING at all.

In this particular passage Paul is talking about how he has learned to be content in whatever state he may find himself. In great want or need, or in comfort and abundance. He was able to do be content in whatever state he was in through Christ who gave him the strength to do so. I think sometimes there is a tendency to take this particular verse and take it to mean that we are capable of doing anything at all as some kind of a Christian super star or something. I personally don't think that is really what it is saying. I take it to mean that in this life we are going to be placed in many different circumstances and situations. Some of them may be wonderful and make us happy and full of joy. Others will be hard, painful and overwhelming, and make us sad and uncomfortable. Jesus gives us the strength to face and do WHATEVER it is we are challenged with and to be content and joyful while we are. Does this make sense?? I may not be explaining it very well.

For the last several months I have been dealing with a GREAT deal of pain in my knees. I am not sure rather it is being caused by the huge amount of weight I am forcing them to carry, or by arthritis that has maybe set in. Maybe it is both of these things. I have finally had some x-rays done and some blood work and I may know something this week. Or I may not find out anything conclusively at all. I have begun a diet and lost 25 pounds (which unfortunately is just a small start) and have recently begun a program that is suppose to really help this problem using a drug free "natural" health method. It is very hard for me to get around let alone be as active as I would really like to be. I have found myself at times begging God to cure me of this and let me just move on with life not dealing with it at all anymore. And yet, I don't know just exactly what it is that is in His will for me. It might be to cure me of this, and maybe not. But I DO know that "whatever" state I will find myself in, He WILL give me the strength to trust Him, and to be content. He WILL give me the strength to endure and live with this if He wants me to do. And He WILL give me the strength to do ALL things. So I take this to mean my job is to press on doing everything that it is that I am capable of doing, with a happy and contented spirit, looking only to Him for my strength...

JOHN 8:7

So, when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.

In this particular passage, Jesus has been brought a woman who has been caught in the very act of adultery by the scribes and Pharisees who were the religious leaders at that time, who were both legalistic and self righteous. In those days this was a crime punishable by being stoned to death. They wanted to test Jesus and see how he would handle this. They were trying to find something He could be accused of doing wrong. Jesus answered them with this verse. They all ended up just walking away.

I think probably at one time or another we have all been guilty of judging the sin in someone else's life, forgetting all that we have done ourselves. I know I have for sure. It's easy to think...well, yes I may be guilty of telling a white lie or two, or losing my temper when provoked, or even of spreading a little gossip or having an unkind thought. But at least I am not guilty of the BIG THINGS....like, murder, or adultery, or stealing. But does that mean that I am then "without sin" and therefore in the position of judging another? I am very sure I am not. There have been many BIG things in my past that Jesus has forgiven me for, and I am very grateful. It has been made very clear to us in scripture I think that we are NOT to judge our brothers. We need to concern ourselves with the sin in our own lives and let the Holy Spirit convict and deal with everyone else. It is very definitely His job. But that is not to say of course that we are not to speak out against what we KNOW to be sin, such as abortion for example. Or that we aren't to call a spade a spade so to speak. But we are to judge "the sin", not the "the sinner"....

Jesus came into this world to forgive us of our sins and provide us a way to live for all eternity with Him. We are all guilty. There is not one who is not. He loves all of us unconditionally and without reservation and we are to do the same. How grateful I am....Does anyone reading this have another thought on this subject? Does anyone besides me find it difficult not to judge say for instance the drunk driver who killed someone? Again, this is not to say we don't judge his sin, or that it should go unpunished...but that we are not to judge him?? It is entirely possible that maybe I am not thinking of this in the right way....after all this particular passage is dealing with the Pharisees who were hyprocites by thinking of themselves more highly than they should have, and their hearts were hard and lacking love for others. Or maybe that was exactly the point Jesus was trying to make. Just so that we make sure our hearts are soft and full of love and compassion for others as His is. I really would love to hear another thought or two on this...

2 CORINTHIANS 5:8

We are confident, yes well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Paul tells us here quite plainly that to be absent from our earthly bodies means to be PRESENT with the Lord. This tells me that when I die, I will immediately be in the presence of my Lord. There is no "soul sleep" awaiting the final resurrection, or a "waiting place" such as purgatory where I will go to await the day when I will forever be with Him. We can rejoice in the fact that there is no time in our lives as a believer when we will ever be out of the conscious presence of Jesus Christ.

I have given quite a bit of thought recently to this biblical fact as a young woman who went to school with my daughter was killed in a car accident a couple of weeks ago. She was only 22 years old. Just graduated from college and would have celebrated her first wedding anniversary in Oct. Her whole life laid before her with so many possibilites and hopes and dreams yet lived. And this morning, in skanning the head lines of the internet, I read of a young man, just 17 years old, a high school senior, who was playing football in the season's opening game, when he died quite suddenly of a heart attack. He was well respected and loved and a leader in his community. Where are these young people now?? If they knew the Lord as their personal Savior we KNOW they are in His presence, walking the streets of heaven, free of the troubles and perplexities of this world as we all know it. Our lives here are nothing more than a vapor, here today, gone tomorrow. Rather we are taken as young as they two were or live to be a 103 like a woman I read of just recently, it really doesn't matter. We will all eventually pass from this life to the next. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I for one take great comfort and joy in knowing that as I close my eyes to my life here on this earth, I will open them in the presence of my Lord and Savior.

PSALM 37:5

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

For the last several months now I have been examining my life and wondering if I could have or should have done more with it. I raised four children and was blessed to be able to be a stay-at-home mom. It was an all consuming, frequently over-whelming, and yet fulfilling and joy riddled job. My last child, and only daughter married a year ago and moved over a thousand miles away, leaving me not only finally with an empty nest, but plenty of time to ponder what the Lord might have for me now. Now don't get me wrong, I can fill my days with ease, and I can say quite truthfully that boredom is not the issue. I have considered many possibilities. Should I finally seek out employment somewhere, therefore not only helping out with our financial burden that has been firmly on my husbands shoulders all these years, but also fill my days with a busyness that will not only leave me tired at the end of the day, but no doubt broaden my world and introduce me to people who might become my friends? Or should I fill my day with the very familiar world of caring for my Grand kids while my son and his wife work to put food on their table? Goodness knows it is a much needed endeavor and one that I have always enjoyed and found fulfilling. Or maybe I could do something entirely different like write a scripture blog and share my life's experiences with other women, and somehow maybe help or bless someone with what the Lord has shown me as I traveled down the path of growing to this season in my life? All very real and yet very different options. I have prayed about this for a while now, and one thing is VERY clear to me right now. Whatever it is that I end up doing, I want the Lord to be at the very center of it. I want what I do with the rest of my life to count for Him. And that is not to say that my life up to this point has not, just that it was always filled with so many responsibilities and daily day to day necessities, that it seemed as though I had time for little else. Should I do what is seemingly needed most, or what my heart desires and seems to be telling me to do right now? Is it irresponsible to spend my time writing something that most likely is not being read by anyone at all? I guess I am still not sure of all the answers to this dilemma. But today's verse tells me very plainly what to do in the meantime. Everyday I will pray and commit my day to Him. I will be open to what and where He might lead me to, in order that I might best serve Him. If my day is commited to Him, and my trust is in Him, then I can know that He will bring to pass whatever it is He would have be do with my day.

JAMES 3:13-17

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruit, without partiality and without hypocrisy...

I believe the Lord lead me to this passage today as I was looking for my post as it seems to be talking directly to me and what I have been going through recently. I believe that every woman if she is being honest has been directly influenced by those around her. Depending upon your age and what season of your life you are in, is the only real difference I can think of. When I was a very young girl I wanted to be just like the most popular girl in my class with her long swinging pony tail and her big bows. All the boys loved her, and she batted her LONG DARK CURLY lashes over her pretty blue eyes in a very becoming way. Try as I did, I never did manage to get my hair that long or for a single boy to notice my existence, much less get my eyelashes to be anything other than what they were which was short and light. When I was older and in high school it was the perky song/cheer leaders that caught my eye and convinced me that the key to happiness would lie in being able to maneuver around the way they did, and bring huge crowds of people to a cheering frenzy in their enthusiasm. But being somewhat un-coordinated kept this dream from happening either. After I married and began my family there seemed to be a long line of women who somehow managed to make their kids more obedient, were WONDERFUL cooks and housekeepers AND even managed to balance a career as well. And goodness knows over the years there had been many a woman with fantastic figures, beautiful wardrobes and homes that could be photographed and looked at in magazines. I envied so many different women their looks, talents and possessions over the years and tried to pattern myself to be like whoever it was that I admired. I think I had convinced myself that I was beyond that anymore and had settled into an acceptance YEARS ago to be the woman that God made me to be, and to pattern myself after Him....But just in the last few days I realized I haven't quite got that beaten the way I thought I did. In getting into the blogging world, I have come across some of the most talented, accomplished, giving beautiful women I think I might have ever (kind of) known. Soo many interesting, worthwhile and entertaining blogs. AGAIN, I have found myself feeling like I don't measure up very well, and what have I really done with my life anyway? These women have DONE something with their lives and have accomplished so much. Many have such wonderful and fulfilling ministries going and I began to think of ways I might somehow morph into someone I have never really been, but have ALWAYS wanted to be. I fiddled with my blogs at times spending hours TRYING to figure out how to do things, and wrote and re-wrote things trying to have something worthwhile to say. Frustrated because no matter what I "tried" to do I can't seem to scare up any readers. Defeated at times and thinking I should just throw in the towel and go back to my non-blogging days. I have been down on myself and feeling like somewhat of a failure not only in my blogging abilities, but as a person in general. I prayed last night and asked that God might give me His wisdom on rather or not I should continue with this scripture blog and rather or not I have anything worth saying let alone worth hearing. He lead me to this verse today (and spoke to me both through my son Jimmy and my daughter Melody) and it has become clear to me that while MOST of my motives for wanting to do this blog are good, there has been some definite envy of what others have done and accomplished going on as well and as desire to do something worthwhile for myself. And what better than a Scripture blog?? Verse 16 says it all quite plainly, "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." So, from this point forward I will no longer worry about rather or not anyone is reading this blog, or feel bad about what I have or haven't accomplished with my life. I will serve Him in any way He chooses to use me, and continue to seek His wisdom and truth for my life. For HIS wisdom is full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

ISAIAH 40:8

The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever...

If there is one thing we can be certain of in this life here on earth, it is that EVERYTHING eventually grows old, fades away, changes, or dies. Nothing ever really remains the same. We can try every method known to man and still the inevitable happens. I love watching each season of the weather as it comes and goes. The bright, hot summer sun and the colorful splashes of blooming flowers give way to the warm golden days of fall, with chilly evenings and promises of the coming holidays. The cold days of winter bring the pleasures of Christmas, and watching snow fall as your snug inside your home in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot coco and a favorite book. But eventually the warm days of spring blow in with rain showers and tiny buds making their way onto all the tress and plants. The seasons come and go and the same is true for all of us. I can't believe how quickly my two new grand babies have gone from slumbering new born's not capable of much more than eating and sleeping, to the active, happy, MOBILE babies they are just 6 months later. The others will head back off to school soon on their journey to adulthood that will be here in nothing more than a blink of an eye. My kids are all grown adults now, and I will celebrate my 55th birthday in September. My mom will be 77 in two days and on and on it goes. But of one other thing we can also be very sure of, God's Word ALWAYS remains the same...It NEVER changes, NEVER comes back to us empty....We can count on it to be true for now and forever more. The word of our God certainly has endured. It has survived centuries of manual transcription, of persecution, of ever changing philosophies, of all kinds of critics, of neglect both in the pulpit and in the pew, of doubt and disbelief - and still, the word of our God stands forever!

“Written on material that perishes, having to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, did not diminish its style, correctness, nor existence. The Bible, compared with other ancient writings, has more manuscript evidence than any ten pieces of classical literature combined.” (Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict)

Yes, the Word of God will endure unto all generations, and I am filled with a happiness and peace on that knowledge...