Tag Archives: faithwriters

Christian Growth, Devotionals

UNEQUIVOCAL JOY

A BLOG

Christmas joy is not on sale. SEPTEMBER 2014 002

We will not find it at the mall, super stores, or favorite .com sites.

I surmise it would be a best seller the first season that manufacturers released it to distributors. Even our traditional Christmas greeting of ‘Merry Christmas’ carries a wish for joy…

In Santa hype, advertisers depict him as merry, jovial, and jolly. Joy, deep joy is a gift from the Lord. In this season of gift giving, Jesus hopes we will receive the year-round gift of unequivocal joy.

“I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete (John 15:11 HCS).”

Our joy feeds on faith in our Savior and His promises. The angels delivered news of great joy!

“Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people; today a Savior who is Messiah the Lord was born for you in the city of David (Luke 2:10b-11 HCS).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

Wonderland or Wasteland?

TEA FOR TWO AND TWO FOR TEA SNMAN{Image:Tea for Two & Two for Tea}

You decide, winter wonderland or wasteland?     SEPTEMBER 2014 002

It depends on your point of view; barely daylight and there is a foot-deep fresh blanket of snow. Children beg mom to turn on the news in hopes that their school is closed. She feels a bad head ache coming on. Dad dresses in layer upon layer of winter clothing before shoveling out the driveway.

Forty-seven years ago on December 30, I married my Louisiana Rebel in Syracuse, NY 32 below zero temperatures, amid mountains of snow. Boasting, a few weeks later he moved me south saying that it hardly ever snows in Mississippi. One morning, to our surprise we woke to a Mississippi Delta winter wonderland. Six inches fell from southern skies.

I anticipate a heavenly wonderland!

“But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJ).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

Baby Blankies

 

WRAPPED CHRISTMAS-DAVID WOODALL FOR BLOG

NEWBORN BABIES

BRING OUT MY MATERNAL INSTINCTS.

        {Image by David Woodall}

Did it begin with SEPTEMBER 2014 002baby dolls dressed in flannel gowns & matching booties or starched dresses under the Christmas tree ? The new doll smell drifted up to my nose as I quickly named them. I played mommy; the make-believe feeding, dressing, and rocking baby dolls came naturally.

Each year Mom & Dad added childcare essentials, placing dolls in toy baby strollers, cribs or high chairs under our Christmas tree. They were too big to wrap but that afforded me the added pleasure of seeing them at first glance. Mom lovingly displayed my dolls under drooping light-decked branches.

Playing dolls prepared me for real-life babysitting jobs. I was caring for newborns by the early age of eleven, quickly bonding with the bundles of joy. Infants were dependent on me and gave unconditional love. Holding a contented baby in my arms made the hours of clock watching worthwhile.

Baby Jesus grew to sacrificial lamb, willingly giving His life that we might receive everlasting life. Christmas led down the path to Calvary. We open Christmas packages in both celebration of His birth and resurrection. Grieving followers discovered His open and empty tomb. Jesus lives and waits to wrap us in His blanket of grace.

“But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6 NAS).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

COOKIE-CUTTER CREATIONS

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Preschool age children SEPTEMBER 2014 002love to get their hands in Play-Doh and cookie dough. They roll it, pound it and squash it too.

Mommy ads to their fun when she puts cookie cutter molds into their tiny hands; youngsters now have the excitement of creating favorite shapes.

The tikes laugh with glee when they see animals, Christmas trees, stars or snowmen.

As mothers or grandmothers, we guard our hearts and minds. We must not conform to the molds of our godless society.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2 KJV).”

The Creator places no cookie cutter into our feeble hands; He writes His word upon our hearts and watches to see its transforming power in our walk with Him.

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

CORNUCOPIA CHRISTIANS

???????????????????????????????????????Ornamental squash and gourd Thanksgiving table SEPTEMBER 2014 002arrangements are an American tradition. Cornucopias are available in a variety of sizes and adorn dining room tables during the holiday festivities.

Church members and visitors enter through welcoming vestibules.
They frequently view cornucopia-horn of plenty arrangements where they enter and in the sanctuary.

The cornucopia is a symbol of a bountiful harvest, serving as a reminder of how much the heavenly Father blesses us through fruit and produce of the land.

With grateful heart, I pray that you and I will be cornucopia Christians, filled to overflowing with fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23 HCS).”

We have Christ’s promise of an abundant life; He is pleased when we as His followers blend in unity to bear fruit and demonstrate His love.

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Devotionals

WHO GETS THE DRUMSTICK?

TURKEY FARM BLOG-IMAGE-VINTAGE POSTCARDS                                                  

                                                                       [Image:Vintage Postcards]

‘Gobble…gobble!’                                                                    SEPTEMBER 2014 002

Turkey is the star of the Thanksgiving Day menu and will soon make guest appearances on America’s dining room tables.

Who gets the drumstick?

Our generation selects most turkeys from a grocer’s freezer section. For the most part, the days of hunting wild turkeys with bow and arrow are only a faint memory.

My memory takes me back to the late 1950’s. Our neighbors, the Wells family, owned a turkey farm. The fowls were brilliant white but their odor was foul (to say the least).

On Thanksgiving Day, Mom’s kitchen smelled scrumptious. Scents of freshly butter-basted turkey, homemade dressing, turnips, pumpkin and mince pies were tantalizing.

I wonder…

Are our prayers of thanksgiving a pleasing aroma to the Father?

“May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering (Psalms 141:2 NAS).”

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Devotionals

SKILLFUL IN WAR

DAD IN UNIFORM

{Dad, Franklin F. Ford}

                                           VETERANS STAND OUT IN A CROWD

The reason is easily discerned.

Our veterans once stood tall and trustworthy in uniform.
 Will we stand silent to the sacrifices they made for our freedom?

Israel had a decided advantage; a vast army of valiant men provided protection.

“The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh had forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty valiant men, men able to bear shield and sword, to shoot with the bow, and skillful in war, who went to war (1 Chronicles 5:18 NKJ).”

There is strength in numbers but God’s power is greater still.

“…they cried out to God in the battle. He heeded their prayer, because they put their trust in Him (1 Chronicles 5:20b NKJ).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

UNSHEATHE YOUR SWORD!

SWORD

I ponder the imponderable.

It cuts me to the quick.SEPTEMBER 2014 002

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart. No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account (Hebrews 4:12-13 HCS).”

Unsheathe your God given sword!

“Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word (Ephesians 6:17 HCS).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals, Family

THE THERMOS

A THERMOS-BLOG

It was a simple glance at a thermos bottle.

My husband had brought in from SEPTEMBER 2014 002the car. I’ve seen it countless times, filled it with steaming coffee and rinsed it out at the sink after each use. Why was this time any different? Today, it brought back memories of Dad. He carried a lunch box and thermos of coffee with him to work. I didn’t see an everyday thermos; I saw yesterday with Dad.

I do not live in the past; yet God paints my present with deep memories of days gone by. In His mercy, God removes most painful memories of regret. In their place, He sends the lingering smile of my sister Donna, Mom’s voice in long-distance calls or Dad welcoming me home at the kitchen screen door.

Lest we forget, scriptures contain many references to memorials and remembrance.

“And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way He also took the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant established by My blood; it is shed for you (Luke 22:19-20 HCS).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals, Salvation

PAST DUE

??????????????????????????????????????? ‘Giving credit, where credit is  due’ is good advice. SEPTEMBER 2014 002

If someone does something worthy of praise,  he or she deserves recognition. Too often, I notice poor service at a fast food restaurant but fail to thank a courteous and timely clerk.

In churches, members of the congregation volunteer their time and talent; through their efforts, the work of ministry and outreach continues.  Do I offer encouragement and hugs or simply take their faithfulness for granted? I am sorry to say I fail in consistently giving credit where credit is due.

My primary goal is to give God the credit for all He has done.

“But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7 NKJ).”

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