This was a good Christian mystery. Loved the relationship part, the witness of the murder victim and the suspense. Would recomend it. There is an honesty in the story, could really happen. I found it very refreshing. Will be looking for more by this author. I give this book 4 stars and would recommend it to anyone who like a mystery. Not a chick-book, but I think a good read for women as well.
Today’s Joy
I had to ask myself today, “Do I have joy in my life?” Not happiness, which is a fickle friend, but that inner joy in my spirit. You know the joy that has absolutely nothing to do with our circumstances. My honest answer is “not as often as I should”, and some days, (especially lately, as our family is going through a trail), I have to admit, “not very often.” It is so easy to allow the mundane experiences of our lives, or the frustrating circumstances chase away our joy. But, if joy isn’t dependent on our circumstances, then how does that happen? I believe it is when we lose our gratitude. It’s easy to take our eyes off of Jesus and put them on our problems, especially if those around us are hurting. Or to simply lose patience with our dreams because they seem so slow in coming.
Even in the midst of hard situations, we can maintain a thankful heart. Sometimes we get stuck in the ‘thank-you-for” rut where we rattle off our tiny list, you know the same one every time. Mine includes, hubby, kids, grandkids, food I eat, house, cars and Church, or pretty close. That just shows we are either in a hurry, or can’t see past our nose. When we slow down and make the effort to be thankful, we can see so many things, people, places that touch our lives. A few examples: a babies smile, doesn’t even have to by your baby, any baby smiling, the smell of lilacs on a damp spring morning. Then there are those things that we really aren’t too thankful for. This category is hard for me, shoveling snow, giving the dog a bath, dealing with that one person who rubs me the wrong way. Yes, we need to be thankful for those things. God has a purpose and a plan for our lives, and part of that plan is for us to work hard, love people, be a witness at our jobs.
It seems like the last few months, my family has been under it. Most due to some poor choices of one family member and the rest either come along with the territory, or just because we have a real enemy. So though it’s been tough, I have still been able to find joy in the middle of it all. If I was a spiritual superhero, I could say I held onto my joy the whole time, but sadly I am not. I can say that I know right were to find it. Because in all truthfulness, despite what I said earlier, nothing can chase or steal our joy away. We lay it down, sometimes absentmindedly, like a spare pair of reading glasses. Psalms 16:11 “You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand there are pleasured for evermore.” We find our joy in the presence of God. Simple really. Sometimes we willingly lay down our joy to trade it for fleeting happiness or satisfaction. Usually that comes out of willful sin, which includes harboring bitterness, and nursing un-forgiveness. We lay down our joy when we disobey God.
How do we hold on to our joy? By being thankful, a heart full of gratitude. When we keep our minds fixed on Jesus, His promises, His goodness, and remember those who have gone before us, we can keep that unspeakable joy in our lives. Hebrews 12:1-3 “therefor, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrances and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of he throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and love heart.”
My Heart
Some of us are afraid to give our hearts to God, or at least our “whole heart.” We have this silly notion that our heart has compartments or pieces like a jig saw puzzle. Then we think “if I give my whole heart to God, what will I have left for my family?” or worse yet, “If I give my love away, and don’t get any back, then those compartments will be empty, and I’ll run out of love!” We picture our hearts like a puzzle with missing pieces, just giving parts of it here and there and never getting them back. Or perhaps we have had our hearts broken and feel like it has been shattered, and the broken shards are scattered to the wind. God showed me a wonderful picture today of my heart and the truth about my heart!
God said, “Give me your whole heart, and I will tear down all walls and dividers. No longer will your heart have compartments, it will be one big open vessel. Then I will pour in My Love! I will fill the vessel with MY LOVE. Then when you start loving others, not expecting anything in return, it stops being a vessel and becomes a SPRING! A spring that never runs dry! Then your love for others will be from this source and it will be more pure and strong than what you have now!”
If your heart has been broken, HE can put it back together, or even better, create a brand new heart for you. Accept HIS LOVE and HE will make your heart a Spring of Living Water. Why does God want our hearts? God said in Romans 2 “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” and in 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, and his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” When we accept God’s love and give it to others, we show the goodness of God! When we give Him our whole heart, holding nothing back, we accept more readily everything He has for us. He blesses our socks off, and then we can bless others! When we can love, whether they ever love us back, it shows God’s goodness! Give God your heart! HE LOVES YOU! He wants nothing less, is not satisfied with only part of us, He wants all of your heart.
Book Review for “SLATE AHN AND THE BOOKS OF KNOWLEDGE”
I was given a copy of this book by the author, Graham M. Irwin, in exchange for an honest review. I am so glad that I got the chance to read this first book in the fantasy series and will continue on with the story! The author’s writing style ensnares you into the story and keeps things interesting. I think I may have an inkling of where this story is going and can’t wait to find out if I am on the right track. Slate Ahn is a likeable character and the interesting people he meets along the way got many a chuckle out of me. This book is great for all ages, a few “minor” swear words (mostly pirate talk). I give the book 5 stars.
Book Review for “Chapter 29 Revisited”-Non Fiction
“Chapter 29 Revisited: The amazing true story of what happens when a typical American housewife meets Jesus!” by Jean Coleman is a wonderful inspirational testimony of one woman’s birth into the kingdom. I enjoyed this book. Jean Coleman writes in a simple way that is easy to grasp and you can tell she is excited about her subject. She shares several moving stories from her own life, calling it the 29th book of Acts, then challenges to write our own 29th chapter. I give this book 5 stars. This book is appropriate for pre-teens on up.
End Days?
This was originally written for a family member several years ago that asked this question: What is your opinion of the days we are living in? And can you give me some scriptures. My Answer was: “I don’t just want to give you a bunch of scriptures to read that you may or may not understand. God says that unless you are from His Kingdom, you can’t understand His word. His Kingdom is His family, His Children. Everyone is not part of His family. Only those who have asked Jesus to come into their hearts and to be their Lord are His Children, He loves EVERYONE! But they are not all His. Believing in God isn’t enough to enter the Kingdom. The bible says that demons believe and tremble, but they are not His (and defiantly not part of His kingdom). So first I must ask if you have asked Jesus to be your Lord. You don’t have to do anything to earn it, just tell Him you need Him, that you are sorry for the wrong that you have done, against Him and others, and then simply ask Him for His love and forgiveness.
Now to answer the question, I do believe there isn’t too much time left on this earth. The Bible says that even Jesus doesn’t know the exact hour, but I believe we can know the “season”. By looking at everything that is going on in the world, I would have to say that we are in the season for Christ’s return. He will be coming back for His Family and we need to be ready. If it ends up being hundreds of days or hundreds of years, we live like He is coming NOW. There are literally hundreds of scriptures that talk about His return, the last days, and what will be happening in the end. I have chosen a few for you to read. Please look them up in the Bible and read the whole chapters. Some Bible’s have cross-references and they tell you where to look for the same subject. Some scriptures that talk about what will be going on in the world are: I Timothy 3:1, II Peter 3:3, Isaiah 9:2, Isaiah 58:10, and 60:2, Joel 2:31-32, Mica 7:8 Hebrews 1:2. It would benefit you to read the whole chapter of Matthew 24. My favorite “end times” verse is Revelation 3:10-12 “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” Then to give you even more hope and security read all of Psalms 23 and Psalms 91! God will take care of those that are His! He loves us more than we love our own children! and more than our parents love us. I hope this was helpful. Just remember one thing, the world may be bad and scary, but God is GOOD!”
Lessons from the Life of David
I love reading the Psalms. Many of which were written by David. His is a “Man after God’s own heart” according to God himself-mine too. David is real in his worship to the Lord. He isn’t perfect and tells us all about his faults, fears and sin. After committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband (along with several other soldiers) murdered, he writes Psalms 51, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love: according to your great compassion blot out my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” He remembers his days as a simple shepherd boy in Ps. 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in green pastured; He leads me beside quiet waters.” David lets us know when things got tough for him, Ps. 69, “Save me, O God, for the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters and a flood overflows me. I am weary with my crying, my throat is parched; my eyes fail while I wait for my God,” and then David always hopes, expects and declares God’s salvation, “O God, in thy greatness of thy loving-kindness answer with thy saving truth.”
David may have begun his life as a simple seventh son of a shepherd, but his heart of thanksgiving, his desire to see God, his determination to magnify the Lore, were all things that God could use. Was David perfect? Obviously no, ask his multiple wives, his concubines, his children…but God used David mightily. He wrote songs and praises to his God. He conquered the enemies of God as a mighty warrior, and he ruled as King over God’s people for 40 years.
Another lesson to learn from David, he didn’t work his way to the top. He humbly watched his father’s sheep and when asked came and sat at the feet of Saul, who was tormented by evil spirits, to play his harp and bring relief to his king. Before he fought his first real battle, if you disregard the lion, bear and the Giant, Goliath, God anointed the simple shepherd boy with the heart of worship as King. Even after Samuel anointed David, he was content to wait for God to place him on the throne. He steadfastly refused to harm Saul in any way, contrary to the advice of his own men. He repeatedly said, “Touch not God’s anointed” and even killed the messenger who came to proclaim the death of Saul and take credit for his undoing.
We are all human, including the great men and women of faith that we find in Scriptures. They feared, sinned, got weary and sad. They lost heart, friends, family and some even their lives. But like David, they loved God, and were willing to be used by him. So to me, the most important lesson to be learned from David is to keep your passion for the Lord white hot, fan the flames of love that is in your heart by praising Him, even when things aren’t going as planned or as hoped for. Wouldn’t you want to hear the Lord say, “That’s a man after my own heart” about you?