How Do You Feel and What Do You Say?

How do you feel and what do you say after something like what happened in Florida happens again and again? How do we keep picking ourselves up and carrying on? How do we fight this unknown enemy?
Ann Voskamp, once again, gives us some insight.

http://annvoskamp.com/2018/02/when-cancer-gunfire-grief-lent-the-unfairness-of-god-wreck-us-free-lent-devotional-calendar/?utm_source=bloglovin.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+HolyExperience+(Holy+Experience)

Gratitude
1. A God who cares
2. A God who is always there first
3. A God who always loves us

Hebrews 13:5
I will in no way leave you,
neither will I in any way
forsake you.

Blessings,
Deborah

About the Sacraments

Challenge - Day 15

Start with God
Stay with God
End with God

I read another great article by Fr. Downs today regarding the sacraments. Once again he nailed it. Beautiful post.

http://drewdowns.net/2016/10/15/talk-sacraments/


Gratitude
1. The Sacraments
2. Baptism into Faith
3. The new day

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

Good Things to Remember

Gratitude
1. Weekend get-away with hubby
2. Children
3. Grandchildren

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

When God Says Wait

I'm usually a fairly patient person. I was never one of those children who would sneak into their parents closets looking for my Christmas or birthday presents. I wanted the surprise on that day. I have patience.

But during these past eight months of waiting for God to "fix" my marriage had my patience at its wits end. I know this is first time I've talked about this, but now that it is over I would like to share what happened.

My husband was in a job that did not fit and we went through the valley of death during that time. It was almost the death of my marriage. Twice. Twice I thought about leaving. I did not want my marriage to end, but I didn't know what to do anymore.
I prayed. Silence. I cried out to the Lord. Silence. My shakedown of faith was partly due to this situation. Silence. I told the Lord that His scripture says, "Ask and you shall receive." Well, I was asking, but I wasn't receiving. I kept feeling I should wait. Wait to talk to my husband about how he was destroying our marriage through his actions. Wait to tell him how he was making me feel.
Wait. Wait. Wait.

My husband quit that job and started a new one. He is one happy camper and I was feeling better, but something still had to be talked about. Yesterday I got the feeling that it was time. No more waiting, so I talked. God gave me the right words and opened my husband's heart to really hear me. It was a leap of faith on my part and one worth taking. We are good. My marriage is good and we will continue our journey together.

God is good and waiting on His timing is the thing to do.
If I would have talked sooner, my husband would not have heard me. I know this now.
Lesson learned.


Thank you, Lord for all you do in my life. Amen.

Psalm 27:13-14
I will remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
Amen.

Gratitude
1. A God who listens
2. His perfect timing
3. His mercy

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

A Book Review

Today's book review is on an old classic, "The Screwtape Letters," by C.S. Lewis.
Amazon calls it "a classic masterpiece of religious satire written from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below.'" It is funny and deadly serious. Screwtape is writing letters to his nephew, Wormwood, who has been given a Christian to derail and bring over to the dark side. Very original. I recommend reading it to remind ourselves of how easily we can be derailed.
Once again, I am not being paid to promote this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Screwtape-Letters-C-S-Lewis-ebook/dp/B002BD2V2Y/ref=cm_sw_em_r_dp_v_d_.ecZxbR04H78F_lm

Gratitude
1. Sundays
2. C.S. Lewis
3. Divine Inspiration

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

Book Review - Sarai

Today's book review is for another great Biblical fiction book I read called, "Sarai," by Jill Eileen Smith.
https://www.amazon.com/Sarai-Wives-Patriarchs-Book-Novel-ebook/dp/B006G2YPAM/ref=cm_sw_em_r_dp_v_d_5dYTxbFWW0ED5_lm

It is the story of Abram and Sarai later called Abraham and Sarah. The story is wonderfully told in a rich story line of faith, patience and perseverance. Page length is 322 pages. I highly recommend this book. It is free on Kindle today and is one of three in a series.
Again, I am not being paid to endorse this book.


Gratitude
1. Books to read
2. Stories of old
3. Great authors

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

More Great Blogs

Last week I said I would share more blogs that I love. Today I am sharing three.

Fr. Drew Downs
http://drewdowns.net/
Fr. Drew is an Episcopalian priest living in Indiana.
A quote from his "about" page says, "Let's build a better church, a better faith, a better way of living. One full of creativity, hope and surprise. For our work is not to make the same ol' things, but a new thing. A freakin' awesome new thing."
What's not to love, eh?

Arabah Joy
http://arabahjoy.com/
Arabah's blog is another one full of resources to help you grow in faith. She offers many printables and she has started a new resource called "Grace Goals" Go check her out!

The Contemplative Writer
https://thecontemplativewriter.com/
A wonderful blog about contemplative prayer, writing and spirituality.
Ed Cyzewski is an author who offers soul care for writers and resources for practicing daily prayer.

I hope you will stop by and check them out.
More blogs next week.

Gratitude
1. Bloggers
2. Sharing faith stories
3. Christian resources

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

Shakedown Update.

I am better. I would say about 95% back to where I was before the shakedown. I still have some trouble praying, but it is improving. I am stronger and the anger and loneliness are gone. I am remembering Who I belong to.
"My beloved is mine and I am his." Song of Songs 2:16
I am holding onto 2Corinthians 4:8  "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
God is good. His mercy and love are everlasting.
I believe this healing is directly related to your prayers for me and I thank you with all my heart.

Speaking of chapter 4 verse 8, I have been copying down all chapter 4, verse 8's in my spiritual journal. It just came to me one day when I realized there were a few that I loved* in different books of the Bible and wondered how they would all look together in the same place. It has been a very interesting study and I will talk more about it when I am done. Only 15 more books to go. Have you ever done anything like this? It's fascinating. Very Rabbinical my Jewish Sister-in-law tells me. I liked that.

*Psalm 4:8
In peace I will lie down and sleep;
for You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 143:8
Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in You.
Show me the way I should go,
for to You I lift up my soul.

Gratitude
1. All of you prayer warriors
2. My readers
3 Joy in the Lord again.

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

P.S. I lost another pound! Yay me!

Shakedown in Faith

I had a major shakedown in faith. Almost lost it actually. I have never experienced anything like it before and I hope to never again. It was hard. It was ugly. It was lonely.

The aftermath is struggle. I'm struggling to climb back up to where my faith was. I am almost there. Baby steps. I am choosing not to share why this happened as it is too personal and was more that just one thing. That is usually the case, I'm thinking. Sometimes God does give us more than we can handle in that minute.

Like I said, I have never experienced this before. I've had small episodes of questioning, but NEVER anything like this. To have almost lost my faith is staggering. It is who I am. The almost loss was devastating. I can only imagine what it would have been like to really lose my faith.  I shudder to think of my life without God. I don't know how people do that.

I would appreciate your prayers.

I will try to remember this meme daily.

It makes me cry to read it now.

Gratitude
1. Faith
2. Mercy
3. Forgiveness

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah

Fruit of the Spirit - Faith

Matthew 17:20 "Because you have so little faith. Truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Let's see. My faith. Hmmm... Now where did I put that?

Do you ever have times when you rely on yourself and not your faith in God? When you're having a tough day, or you can't figure something out or think up a post for your blog? I rely on myself far too often. I forget, at times, to use my faith to get things done, to take a little quiet time to listen for that inner voice. I wanted to write here today, but I couldn't think of anything. I wracked my brain to come up with a topic. Something! Anything! It wasn't until I tripped over my faith in the "darkness" that I remembered Who to speak to about a topic. It is His blog after all and shouldn't He have some say about what I write here? Yeeeeeees. He always does when I ask Him and have faith that He will answer.

People have struggled with faith for centuries, so I don't feel too alone. Paul tells us in Acts 20:21, that we must repent and have faith in Jesus and in Romans 3:27-28, he says we are justified by faith. The great benefit of being justified by faith is God's grace. (Romans 5:1b)  *sigh* That is all I ever want is God's grace and mercy. All so easy to have, if I just have faith.

I wrote this piece in 15 minutes. My brain was working so fast my hand almost couldn't keep up. Faith. I must remember to always keep it front and center of my mind. To always rely on God and have faith He won't let me down.

In 1Corintians 13:2b Paul describes himself as "being nothing" if he has faith without charity.
Amen, Paul. Amen.

Romans 1:17c "...the just shall live by faith."

Gratitude (prompts from aholyexperience.com)
3 gifts smelled
1. Fresh baked bread
2. Roses
3. After the rain

Phil 1:4
In all my prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy.

Blessings,
Deborah