Waiting

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31).

I have a new car, and I'm still getting used to some of the features. The most disconcerting is when stopped, the vehicle appears to turn off. It gets eerily quiet; I don't hear the engine idling. But once I put my foot on the gas, the car is engaged and ready to go again. Apparently, this is an energy and gas-saving feature.

So as I sit at a traffic light, I place my

Guest Post - Growing Well by Cheryl Holmes

I met Cheryl virtually via the Beloved Women website, where I'm a regular contributor.

When I saw her devotional, I smiled because this verse has meant so much to me. It's part of Jesus' last words to His disciples, which I've shared in my book The Comfort of Night.

Cheryl Holmes is first and foremost a believer! She believes in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. She lives in rural Southwest Louisiana with her pastor husband of almost 32 years and is the proud mother of two adult children. She is also a grandmother, a daughter, and the youngest sister of seven siblings.

Simply put, she loves the Lord, loves His Word, and has come to love sharing His Word by way of pen and paper.  "I am richly blessed beyond measure by every opportunity the Lord gives me to re-present Him, as I serve, as I encourage, and as I inspire others." 

Read on. I hope you are encouraged by Cheryl's words. 

Divine Appointments

Recently I experienced the sting of deep disappointment. I shot my shot and hit the rim; the ball didn't quite make it through the net. When I started on this recent venture, I did not ignore the possibility of disappointment; I went in with my eyes wide open. 

As I prepared, I focused more on the possibility than the impossibility. I relied on verses that I knew, whispered positive affirmations to myself, had lots of conversations with God, took deep breaths, and ultimately took my shot. But I also kept it close to the vest, sharing with very few. I

Trauma Can Be Transformative

Trauma - it catches you by surprise, in bizarre fashion with unexpected costs. Trauma often sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it doesn't have to be. There's nothing you can do to prevent trauma; accidents happen, things go wrong, elbows are slammed into faces, and no plan of yours could have prevented this.

Yes, an elbow was slammed into my husband's face while playing a pickup game of soccer. Sometimes to stay fit, these things happen. I've had sufficient casualties as a runner, so I can empathize.

What Faith Will Do

I have never been to prison, never set foot in one to visit anyone, but I've spent an inordinate among of time thinking of prison. As a Black woman, the threat of imprisonment appears very real for those I love simply because of the color of their skin. 

To bring this closer to home, members of my family have encountered unwarranted police harassment where a necessary stop was a night in jail. One night in prison is enough, especially if you're wrongfully there. Imagine being imprisoned for an even greater cause. Imprisonment represents a loss of freedom; the worse our society has to offer. The threat of imprisonment produces fear, yet Paul was imprisoned for preaching Christ for a significant time during his ministry, demonstrating steadfast faith.

When Paul pens his pray in Ephesians 1:15-23, he is under house arrest, chained to a member of the Praetorian guard, an elite group of soldiers. But he can receive guests (Acts 28:30,31). These guests were living in a time when it wasn't fashionable to be called a Christian.

Strangely Dim

I've worn glasses since I was 12, and I've had a love-hate relationship with them for most of my life. I convinced myself that I needed glasses because I watched our little old black and white TV too closely. That's what the old folks said, and that's what I believed. Turns out, I was near-sighted, I could see near but not far, and as I got older, I'm not sure my television habits had anything to do with my need for wearing glasses.

Love or hate, being able to see clearly, is an eye-opener. In my late 40s, my vision started to deteriorate to where I could no longer read the ingredients on labels. Up to this point, I wore

When You're Bold In Prayer, You Can Rest

I decided to be bold in my prayers; I would pray about every situation especially the ones that troubled me or that appeared to be insignificant.

Then my laptop fell which distorted images that were displayed. The laptop that contains all my files and all my writings. The laptop that is central to my livelihood. As my laptop hit the floor, two things happened: my spirit sank, and then I remembered my pray declaration.

After spending a significant time worrying and beating myself up for this mishap, I stopped and I prayed something along these lines, "Lord I bring this laptop before you. You said we can come boldly to

Notes From My Daughter - In Times of Doubt, God Cares

Occasional notes from my second daughter a college graduate, at the cusp of the next stage of her life. I never know what to expect when she writes, but I am always blown away. Did this child come from me? Read on!

Do you believe that God cares even when it seems He doesn't?

Do You Have Clean Ears?

It's soothing for me to clean my ears with a hairpin, even though it's recommended that we place no foreign objects in our ears.  I like knowing my ears are clean;  I never want to miss what's directed at me.

When she was younger, one of my daughters suffered from wax buildup to the point where it was painful.  One Sunday afternoon I took her to urgent care since our regular doctor was not available.  The nurse on duty reminded me of Broom Hilda in appearance; she was sturdy and no-nonsense, and she was determined to get the wax out of my daughter's ear.  To do so, she literally pinned my child down with her body so that she was steady, and used a device that resembled a large crochet hook to remove a massive wad of wax.  This all happened so quickly I didn't have time to react or protest, but when she was done, I was relieved that my daughter was no longer in pain. By the end of that visit, we both resolved to be more vigilant with

Thank God for Wake Up Calls

In college as a member of the track team, we traveled to out of state track meets where oftentimes we had to stay overnight. Back then, no one had cell phones and oftentimes these travels presented a whole new world to me. Our coach was in charge, so we followed his lead. Once we were assigned our rooms, he always told us to call the front desk and get a wake-up call. I'm sure this was new to many but we followed his instruction like it was gospel.

Of course, since many of us were on our own for the first time we stayed up late, watched TV and in general played the fool, not being entirely focused on the purpose of our trip which was to compete and do our best the following day.

The Sound of New Beginnings

As a little girl in the Caribbean, I never experienced the distinctive beauty of four seasons. So in my fertile imagination as an avid reader, I imagined what each season was like and how I would experience it if given a chance. When my family moved to New York in the spring of 1978, with its promise of new beginnings came my opportunity to confirm my thoughts about the seasons.

When we emigrated, there was nothing spring-like about that time of year except the calendar, since New York had recently experienced one of the worst snowstorms in its history. I distinctly remember the cold, being woefully underdressed and ultimately frostbitten. I saw other kids playing outside at recess though there were piles of melting snow around the playground and instantly decided that spring was not what I envisioned and therefore it was not for me.

Moved By Faith

There was once a man who had great authority - a Roman Centurion, whose servant was ill. It would appear that he was so ill, conventional medicine at the time was having no effect on his healing. This great leader had a chance meeting with another Great Leader - Jesus.

In his encounter with Jesus, he asked Jesus to speak the word, so that his servant could be healed. His servant wasn't with him but this great leader knew that the other Great Leader was a healer by miracles; His reputation had preceded him.

When Jesus heard the great leader's request, he was so amazed that He exclaimed: "I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!"

After speaking further on this man's faith, Jesus uttered these profound words: “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And in that same moment, his servant was restored to

Book Review - Climbing With Abraham

Source

Sharing your thoughts with others can have wonderful results - but you've got to share first. As a result of my writing in this sphere, David Ramos approached me to review his Climbing With Abraham on Abraham.

In his initial email, he said, "My name is David Ramos. I am searching for reviewers who might be interested in reading a Christian devotional based on the life of Abraham and came across your blog because you have a similar approach to studying Scripture."

Flattered was an understatement. He read my blog, liked my style and saw that I wrote about things similar to what he captured in his book. So I eagerly embarked on this journey.

Since Climbing with Abraham is a 30-day devotional - I read and meditated on it during the month of December. As a reader and a writer, his writing styled resonated with me - it was simple, yet profound. More importantly, I got a new appreciation for the life of Abraham.

Some of my most compelling takeaways from this book were:

Abraham had a beginning - at the beginning of the story of Abraham, the Bible lists his descendants. Before we were, we came from somewhere. Our beginnings impact who we can become and our story begins long before we do. Our story is part of something infinitely larger.

Abraham made mistakes - God's patience and sovereignty are more powerful than our stumbles.

Abraham chose to believe - Therefore his faith impacted the faith of others he interacted with. The consequences of our faith do not just fall on us, but also onto our mates, our children, or our employees. Abraham, throughout his story, acted on what he believed.

Abraham's wife, Sarah was his constant companion - by our accounts, it would not appear that it was a perfect marriage; twice Abraham was willing to give Sarah away, and Sarah let her maid sleep with Abraham. As a couple they made mistakes but they were faithful to God and faithful to each other. Their blessings superseded their mistakes. In her death, he honored her for being there with him through thick and thin.

God's timing can baffle us - the story of Abraham reminds us that God’s plans are always incomprehensibly larger than our own. Abraham was frustrated along the way but held out hope on what was promised to him. Humans get frustrated because we don't understand God's ways.

Physical reminders - It’s okay to ask God, How can I know? Faith doesn’t always have to be
invisible.

Nothing is too difficult for God - In Abraham's life, Sarah gave birth to Isaac at 90. In my life, I've seen it and some of it I've shared here on this blog, my late in life child (she was an answer to pray of one of her siblings), and my lost and found stories - to name a few.

Finally, an excerpt from the author: "Sometimes following God’s will looks exactly like normal life. Making choices without knowing which one is correct, dealing with personalities and circumstances to find a suitable outcome, and just trying and praying and letting things fall where they will.
The Christian life is, for the most part, not supernatural. What Christ and the Holy Spirit did and do is certainly beyond this world. But on our part, most of what we do will be classified as normal. Normal prayers, normal errands, normal difficulties and frustrations, and normal successes. It’s God who takes the normal and turns it into supernatural."

Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. Genesis 18:14 [NLT]

As you start another year, take some time to meditate on Who controls your life. If you don't know, a devotional like this may be a good place to start. If you've become stagnant in your Christian walk, re-read the story of Abraham, a mere man who chose to believe the promises of God. Perhaps his life will help you to change your perspective also.