One summer afternoon I climbed a hill near my home. When I reached the top, I stretched out on the grass to relax.
Turning my head to one side, my eyes focused on some blades of grass within inches of my face. This short-range focus not only strained my eyes, but it blurred my view of anything beyond the end of my nose. So I began to adjust my focus, and then the distant city came into view instead. I found I could shift my sights from near to far at will. The choice was mine.
In the third chapter of the book of Colossians Paul emphasized that followers of Christ need to keep eternity in view. He wrote, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth (3:2). We can choose where to put our focus.
We can succumb to selfish, earthbound thoughts, blurring our view of anything beyond the end of our nose. Or we can gaze through this sinful scene and fix our attention on things above, where Christ is seated at God's right hand ... and we with Him! Then, and only then, are we in a position to see what's most important in life.
Only the mind set on things above can say No to sin and Yes to holiness. The choice is ours. (by Joanie Yoder)
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Just a short little thing I found torn out and stashed in a drawer. Thought you might enjoy it.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Your Kingdom Come
Christians hang onto the promise that Jesus will return and redeem the world and establish a new kingdom ... His kingdom. Do you know that God has told His children (believers) to pray for that event? What is commonly known as the Lord's Prayer at Matthew 6:9-13 includes a plea for the future establishment of the kingdom and the revival of the earth. Verse 10 says, "May your kingdom come and what you want be done" (NCV).
Sin was unleashed into the world in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve failed to resist the temptation Satan issued to draw them into eating the forbidden fruit from the tree "that is in the middle of the garden" (NCV) from which God had told them they must not eat. And God allowed the consequences of their actions to run their course. Nature became a destructive force with occurrences of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods and tornadoes; the spirit and will of every person ever born on earth was destined to bend away from their Creator rather than toward Him; and Satan reigns as lord of this present age. But God ordained a redemptive plan to reclaim the earth and everything in it from the enemy and transform it into a kingdom of light under Christ's reign (Col 1:12).
Everything in the world and the very world itself ... all of creation ... groans and suffers as it awaits this time of redemption that the Lord's return will initiate. God's perfect plan is to redeem not merely souls but also the world He created for His people to inhabit (Isa 45:18). It has been His plan all along, since the beginning of time. So when we pray "Your kingdom come," we are pleading for God to bring about His eternal kingdom of righteousness and love. And in the new earth, which will be perfect and free from corruption, believers will live and worship under the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ forever. Never sick. Never lonely. We will be in a perfect world where only good things happen. And best of all we will be free to worship our Creator to our hearts' content. Praise God!
The day is fast approaching when God will bring about the transformation of this world. It's a promise of a time and a hope we can look forward to with great anticipation as we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10).
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Sorry about no blog yesterday. I just didn't feel like blogging for whatever that's worth. I just wasn't disciplined enough yesterday to do what I was supposed to do and I apologize. And I'll warn you now my blog may be late tomorrow because I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. I may wake up early and get it done before my appointment but, knowing me, I wouldn't count on it.
We've got overcast skies this morning and it got down to 26.4 for a low last night. Pretty standard for this time of year. I got absolutely nothing done yesterday so I will have to buckle down today and get some work done. Tomorrow afternoon I need to get some housework done. It's time to scour the baths again and my kitchen floor needs mopping again. I have decided that we are really messy, sloppy people. I no more than clean the house and it's time to clean it again. Rats! Please tell me other people have this same problem. And to think I used to keep such a clean house! Oh well, people change over time or at least I have.
We're looking forward to having Leo over for dinner on Saturday. Please pray for us that we will be able to come up with enough things to talk about with him that he will enjoy his time with us. He is such a sweet, gentle man. I will leave most of the talking up to Michael because he's the talker in the family. I get around people and just freeze up. I can't think of a single thing that sounds interesting to share with someone.
I made the mistake of getting out of my chair awhile ago and now I'm sitting on the front 3 inches and Mario (my black and white Italian cat) has the rest of the chair. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I have a running battle with Mario. He's either in my lap, lying on my desk with his head resting on my hand, or lying in my chair. Anything to distract me from what I am doing. He's a pest but I love him. Cats are such strange creatures and I love them all to death. I look forward to the time when I'll have only one cat to worry about though. We have a houseful right now. Mario, Mulder, Pretty, Punkie, and Hissy are the inside cats and then we have Moody, Mama, and Little Mario who live outside during the day and in the garage at night. I would love for Mama to be an inside cat. She is so incredibly sweet and loving but Pepper, my over-grown "Chi-wa-wa," would never allow a new cat in the house. So that's just out of the question.
Well, I'm out of things to blog about so I guess I'll let this be it for today. I will go over now and read http://womanoffaith blog and then get busy with my chores. Until tomorrow ...
Sin was unleashed into the world in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve failed to resist the temptation Satan issued to draw them into eating the forbidden fruit from the tree "that is in the middle of the garden" (NCV) from which God had told them they must not eat. And God allowed the consequences of their actions to run their course. Nature became a destructive force with occurrences of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods and tornadoes; the spirit and will of every person ever born on earth was destined to bend away from their Creator rather than toward Him; and Satan reigns as lord of this present age. But God ordained a redemptive plan to reclaim the earth and everything in it from the enemy and transform it into a kingdom of light under Christ's reign (Col 1:12).
Everything in the world and the very world itself ... all of creation ... groans and suffers as it awaits this time of redemption that the Lord's return will initiate. God's perfect plan is to redeem not merely souls but also the world He created for His people to inhabit (Isa 45:18). It has been His plan all along, since the beginning of time. So when we pray "Your kingdom come," we are pleading for God to bring about His eternal kingdom of righteousness and love. And in the new earth, which will be perfect and free from corruption, believers will live and worship under the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ forever. Never sick. Never lonely. We will be in a perfect world where only good things happen. And best of all we will be free to worship our Creator to our hearts' content. Praise God!
The day is fast approaching when God will bring about the transformation of this world. It's a promise of a time and a hope we can look forward to with great anticipation as we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10).
********
Sorry about no blog yesterday. I just didn't feel like blogging for whatever that's worth. I just wasn't disciplined enough yesterday to do what I was supposed to do and I apologize. And I'll warn you now my blog may be late tomorrow because I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. I may wake up early and get it done before my appointment but, knowing me, I wouldn't count on it.
We've got overcast skies this morning and it got down to 26.4 for a low last night. Pretty standard for this time of year. I got absolutely nothing done yesterday so I will have to buckle down today and get some work done. Tomorrow afternoon I need to get some housework done. It's time to scour the baths again and my kitchen floor needs mopping again. I have decided that we are really messy, sloppy people. I no more than clean the house and it's time to clean it again. Rats! Please tell me other people have this same problem. And to think I used to keep such a clean house! Oh well, people change over time or at least I have.
We're looking forward to having Leo over for dinner on Saturday. Please pray for us that we will be able to come up with enough things to talk about with him that he will enjoy his time with us. He is such a sweet, gentle man. I will leave most of the talking up to Michael because he's the talker in the family. I get around people and just freeze up. I can't think of a single thing that sounds interesting to share with someone.
I made the mistake of getting out of my chair awhile ago and now I'm sitting on the front 3 inches and Mario (my black and white Italian cat) has the rest of the chair. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I have a running battle with Mario. He's either in my lap, lying on my desk with his head resting on my hand, or lying in my chair. Anything to distract me from what I am doing. He's a pest but I love him. Cats are such strange creatures and I love them all to death. I look forward to the time when I'll have only one cat to worry about though. We have a houseful right now. Mario, Mulder, Pretty, Punkie, and Hissy are the inside cats and then we have Moody, Mama, and Little Mario who live outside during the day and in the garage at night. I would love for Mama to be an inside cat. She is so incredibly sweet and loving but Pepper, my over-grown "Chi-wa-wa," would never allow a new cat in the house. So that's just out of the question.
Well, I'm out of things to blog about so I guess I'll let this be it for today. I will go over now and read http://womanoffaith blog and then get busy with my chores. Until tomorrow ...
Monday, December 10, 2007
God Hears Our Prayers
If we've been a Christian very long we'll know the meaning of the phrase "Prayer changes things." And from that we go on to believe fervently in what it means. God hears our prayers. He answers our prayers. And things change.
When God hears our prayers, He is certain to respond if we are asking in accordance to His will. Almost all the time ... 99.9 percent of the time ... we cannot change God's mind and we will never cause Him to act outside of His plan and what a great plan it is (Jer 29:11)! Sometimes we may pray for things God doesn't want us to have. When this happens God answers our prayers with a negative response. We don't get what we pray for but God has nevertheless answered our prayers about the matter. But if we are honest and earnest about desiring his will for our lives, He will do something even better than what we have asked for. And He will change our hearts accordingly so that we will receive what we long for.
One of the primary purposes of prayer is to discover God's will. As we seek His will, He works in our hearts and minds to develop our full understanding of the situation and guide us to a resolution. Then our eyes and minds will be opened to His point of view so we can pray appropriately. And when we pray for God's will to be worked on His time schedule, we'll discover that we make an impact on the world around us.
Prayer is powerful. Things happen when we pray. We see unbelievers come to a saving understanding of grace. We see the sick healed, and we see evil beaten back. God changes things through prayer every day. We have the awesome experience of participating in His work just by doing the thing we're supposed to be doing anyway ... talking to our heavenly God. Can we impact the world around us? Yes! How much depends on how much time we're willing to devote to prayer and how willing we are to seeking God's will rather than our own.
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Here it is Monday again! Where do the days go? I had a nice weekend. I didn't do too much but had a pleasant weekend anyway. I finished my Christmas shopping Saturday except for one person and he's hard to buy for. And we have an extra week for him because we won't exchange gifts with Michael's kids until New Years when they come up from San Francisco. (Daly City to be exact.) And I've got all the gifts wrapped already too.
I actually wrote a few pages in my prayer journal yesterday. My feelings and thoughts surrounding my prayer life seem to be resolving themselves. They always do, it's just difficult to go through the trial. I prayed throughout the day Saturday and Sunday and it was such a joy! There is truly nothing quite so sweet as prayer with our heavenly Father. Times when we know we have His undivided attention. Times when our words don't just bounce right back at us and strike us in the face. Times when we rest in the contentment that comes from knowing we've been heard. And it feels so right when we make this connection in prayer. It has been a season of testing for me but I think it's just about over. Thank you, Lord Jesus!
I woke up at 6:00 this morning for no apparent reason and just decided to go ahead and get up and get my blog typed for the day. Now I'm thinking about going back to bed for a short nap before getting up to stay up. I have plans to go out to the Post Office today and I'll swing by the church to drop off my reimbursement slip for the cards and postage I bought as a deacon doing church business. I still need to buy more stamps but I'll take care of that later this week. I had some stamps left over last month so I might have a month to buy more, I'll have to see.
We had our Children's Christmas Play at church last night. What a fun time!! I didn't stay too long afterwards though as I really felt like I was ignoring my husband a bit. I know he doesn't mind but what kind of wife am I, if I'm gone all the time? I take my role as helper quite seriously. Just as our Holy Spirit takes His role of Helper seriously. He is, after all, the model for our lives.
I've forgotten about PraiseMoves for two weeks in a row now and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll remember this Wednesday. Thursday night is my deacon meeting and then Saturday we're having Leo over for dinner. Leo is a middle-aged black man who is retarded. He can't read and that breaks my heart. But Leo is always happy! I think he goes to just about every church function he can. (It gets him out of the home for awhile.) He asked me yesterday what we were having for dinner and I told him spaghetti and he was really happy about that. He asked if I'd have bacon bits for his salad so I guess I'll have to fry up some bacon for him since I don't keep bacon bits on hand and can't see buying an entire bottle for just one meal. He is really excited about coming. I told him I'd pick him up about 5:00 and then take him home afterwards. He says he wants to stay and visit for a little while. Pray that this can be a real time of blessing for him. He'll do just about anything to get out of the home. I mean, face it, wouldn't we? That's why I thought to invite him for dinner. Church has stopped Sunday night celebration and he was so disappointed that he won't have that to go out to any more. That's really what made me think of inviting him for dinner. I hope we can find enough stuff to talk about while he's here. You might pray that this will be a good experience for Leo. I would really appreciate it if you would.
Okay I'm going to head back to bed for a little while. (I love to get up and then go back to bed for a little while)! Feels soooooooo good!! Until tomorrow ...
When God hears our prayers, He is certain to respond if we are asking in accordance to His will. Almost all the time ... 99.9 percent of the time ... we cannot change God's mind and we will never cause Him to act outside of His plan and what a great plan it is (Jer 29:11)! Sometimes we may pray for things God doesn't want us to have. When this happens God answers our prayers with a negative response. We don't get what we pray for but God has nevertheless answered our prayers about the matter. But if we are honest and earnest about desiring his will for our lives, He will do something even better than what we have asked for. And He will change our hearts accordingly so that we will receive what we long for.
One of the primary purposes of prayer is to discover God's will. As we seek His will, He works in our hearts and minds to develop our full understanding of the situation and guide us to a resolution. Then our eyes and minds will be opened to His point of view so we can pray appropriately. And when we pray for God's will to be worked on His time schedule, we'll discover that we make an impact on the world around us.
Prayer is powerful. Things happen when we pray. We see unbelievers come to a saving understanding of grace. We see the sick healed, and we see evil beaten back. God changes things through prayer every day. We have the awesome experience of participating in His work just by doing the thing we're supposed to be doing anyway ... talking to our heavenly God. Can we impact the world around us? Yes! How much depends on how much time we're willing to devote to prayer and how willing we are to seeking God's will rather than our own.
********
Here it is Monday again! Where do the days go? I had a nice weekend. I didn't do too much but had a pleasant weekend anyway. I finished my Christmas shopping Saturday except for one person and he's hard to buy for. And we have an extra week for him because we won't exchange gifts with Michael's kids until New Years when they come up from San Francisco. (Daly City to be exact.) And I've got all the gifts wrapped already too.
I actually wrote a few pages in my prayer journal yesterday. My feelings and thoughts surrounding my prayer life seem to be resolving themselves. They always do, it's just difficult to go through the trial. I prayed throughout the day Saturday and Sunday and it was such a joy! There is truly nothing quite so sweet as prayer with our heavenly Father. Times when we know we have His undivided attention. Times when our words don't just bounce right back at us and strike us in the face. Times when we rest in the contentment that comes from knowing we've been heard. And it feels so right when we make this connection in prayer. It has been a season of testing for me but I think it's just about over. Thank you, Lord Jesus!
I woke up at 6:00 this morning for no apparent reason and just decided to go ahead and get up and get my blog typed for the day. Now I'm thinking about going back to bed for a short nap before getting up to stay up. I have plans to go out to the Post Office today and I'll swing by the church to drop off my reimbursement slip for the cards and postage I bought as a deacon doing church business. I still need to buy more stamps but I'll take care of that later this week. I had some stamps left over last month so I might have a month to buy more, I'll have to see.
We had our Children's Christmas Play at church last night. What a fun time!! I didn't stay too long afterwards though as I really felt like I was ignoring my husband a bit. I know he doesn't mind but what kind of wife am I, if I'm gone all the time? I take my role as helper quite seriously. Just as our Holy Spirit takes His role of Helper seriously. He is, after all, the model for our lives.
I've forgotten about PraiseMoves for two weeks in a row now and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll remember this Wednesday. Thursday night is my deacon meeting and then Saturday we're having Leo over for dinner. Leo is a middle-aged black man who is retarded. He can't read and that breaks my heart. But Leo is always happy! I think he goes to just about every church function he can. (It gets him out of the home for awhile.) He asked me yesterday what we were having for dinner and I told him spaghetti and he was really happy about that. He asked if I'd have bacon bits for his salad so I guess I'll have to fry up some bacon for him since I don't keep bacon bits on hand and can't see buying an entire bottle for just one meal. He is really excited about coming. I told him I'd pick him up about 5:00 and then take him home afterwards. He says he wants to stay and visit for a little while. Pray that this can be a real time of blessing for him. He'll do just about anything to get out of the home. I mean, face it, wouldn't we? That's why I thought to invite him for dinner. Church has stopped Sunday night celebration and he was so disappointed that he won't have that to go out to any more. That's really what made me think of inviting him for dinner. I hope we can find enough stuff to talk about while he's here. You might pray that this will be a good experience for Leo. I would really appreciate it if you would.
Okay I'm going to head back to bed for a little while. (I love to get up and then go back to bed for a little while)! Feels soooooooo good!! Until tomorrow ...
Friday, December 7, 2007
Praying to a God in Total Control
Perhaps we wonder why we should even bother to pray if God is in total control and He already knows everything. We may wonder what our prayers have to do with anything.
First off, when we pray we are establishing a line of communication between us and our heavenly Father, between His Holy Spirit and our own spirit. A relationship ... any relationship cannot survive without communication. If the parties do not speak with each other the relationship begins to fade and will eventually disappear.
Secondly, this connection between ourselves and God, allows Him the means to bring us into alignment with His will. If we are honestly seeking to please Him, then our prayers will be made with open hearts and minds and there will be a willingness to adjust our plans to align with His plans. In addition our prayers afford the Lord the opportunity to impress upon us the desire to pray for those things God desires to bring into our lives.
And lastly, prayer gives us the incredible blessing of participating in God's great kingdom on earth. As we learn to trust Him for answers in agreement with His will and purposes, He gives us greater tasks in prayer. The Lord will place on us the weight of praying for an unsaved friend or family member, or people enduring the hardships of natural disasters, or the state of our nation and the president who serves in office. When we see an answer to our prayers, whether it's big or small, we know He has blessed us with the inclusion of our prayers in the process.
Our heavenly Father calls on us to pray for the simple reason that He longs for us to be involved in His work, especially His work that concerns us. What an incredible privilege it is for us to be encouraged to come before the Creator of the universe and know that He is interested in what we have to say, what we think on the matter. In fact, He is pleased to have us approach Him in prayer and ask Him to fill our needs or meet the needs of someone else we are praying for. And if we are praying according to His will and along His time frame, He will answer every single time.
********
It's so strange that I am typing this series on prayer at a time when I am struggling with prayer myself. (No, I don't believe in coincidences, either.) I wrote out this blog a couple weeks ago and am just now getting to it on my post. It's come at the perfect time. Although I confess it's not going anywhere but to my head at this time. I will need to mull it over and hope it sinks into my heart as the day goes on. It's just that there is a numbness to my heart lately. I'm going through a phase of nonfeeling when it comes to prayer and a sense of purposelessness at the same time. In my head I know and believe what I write about prayer but I'm just going through a difficult time lately getting it into my heart. I decided last summer that I was going to keep a prayer journal and I haven't touched it in weeks. There's been no reason to open its cover. I'm almost to the point of believing God answers prayers; just not mine. Have you ever felt that way? I just feel like I must be doing something wrong when I pray because it doesn't seem to be working for me. (I'm talking about my feelings right now and I know I can't rely on them ... it's fact, faith, and then feelings with feelings being totally unreliable) but I don't know how to discount the feelings. Can anyone help me here??? During my Christian walk I have enjoyed incredibly rich seasons of prayer. I'm just not going through one at this time. This is lonesome. I miss my Father.
It rained almost all night last night. The rain gauge has an inch and a half in it. We got .58 in the gauge yesterday afternoon. It's good to have rain for a change. We need it. I doubt I will go Christmas shopping today since it is so wet and dreary. I'll go sometime next week. I still need to go out to the post office but I think that'll be about it for my adventurous side today. I have a cat asleep on my left hand again and typing single-handedly is a slow process. Mario has just gotten it in his head that when I'm at the computer he can jump up on my desk and take a nap. Occasionally he will shift his weight and press down on the keys. The computer will do all kinds of spastic things when he does that. I've got my keyboard pushed as far to the right as it will go and am typing with my right hand while his head is resting on my left hand. I know I'm establishing a bad precedent here but he likes to sleep up here with me so badly that I can't seem to muster the nerve to boot his bottom off my desk. I will live to regret this I'm sure.
I guess I will publish this and get ready to go run my errands. I didn't do anything yesterday after I finished my blog but sit on the couch in front of the television. I'm serious, that's all I got around to yesterday. I didn't even get out of my pjs. I guess we all need a lazy day every once in awhile (that makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not the only person to have days like that) so guess I'll go get busy and not fall victim to laziness for a second day. I just realized it's Friday again. Where do the days go??? That means no blog tomorrow or Sunday so until Monday ...
First off, when we pray we are establishing a line of communication between us and our heavenly Father, between His Holy Spirit and our own spirit. A relationship ... any relationship cannot survive without communication. If the parties do not speak with each other the relationship begins to fade and will eventually disappear.
Secondly, this connection between ourselves and God, allows Him the means to bring us into alignment with His will. If we are honestly seeking to please Him, then our prayers will be made with open hearts and minds and there will be a willingness to adjust our plans to align with His plans. In addition our prayers afford the Lord the opportunity to impress upon us the desire to pray for those things God desires to bring into our lives.
And lastly, prayer gives us the incredible blessing of participating in God's great kingdom on earth. As we learn to trust Him for answers in agreement with His will and purposes, He gives us greater tasks in prayer. The Lord will place on us the weight of praying for an unsaved friend or family member, or people enduring the hardships of natural disasters, or the state of our nation and the president who serves in office. When we see an answer to our prayers, whether it's big or small, we know He has blessed us with the inclusion of our prayers in the process.
Our heavenly Father calls on us to pray for the simple reason that He longs for us to be involved in His work, especially His work that concerns us. What an incredible privilege it is for us to be encouraged to come before the Creator of the universe and know that He is interested in what we have to say, what we think on the matter. In fact, He is pleased to have us approach Him in prayer and ask Him to fill our needs or meet the needs of someone else we are praying for. And if we are praying according to His will and along His time frame, He will answer every single time.
********
It's so strange that I am typing this series on prayer at a time when I am struggling with prayer myself. (No, I don't believe in coincidences, either.) I wrote out this blog a couple weeks ago and am just now getting to it on my post. It's come at the perfect time. Although I confess it's not going anywhere but to my head at this time. I will need to mull it over and hope it sinks into my heart as the day goes on. It's just that there is a numbness to my heart lately. I'm going through a phase of nonfeeling when it comes to prayer and a sense of purposelessness at the same time. In my head I know and believe what I write about prayer but I'm just going through a difficult time lately getting it into my heart. I decided last summer that I was going to keep a prayer journal and I haven't touched it in weeks. There's been no reason to open its cover. I'm almost to the point of believing God answers prayers; just not mine. Have you ever felt that way? I just feel like I must be doing something wrong when I pray because it doesn't seem to be working for me. (I'm talking about my feelings right now and I know I can't rely on them ... it's fact, faith, and then feelings with feelings being totally unreliable) but I don't know how to discount the feelings. Can anyone help me here??? During my Christian walk I have enjoyed incredibly rich seasons of prayer. I'm just not going through one at this time. This is lonesome. I miss my Father.
It rained almost all night last night. The rain gauge has an inch and a half in it. We got .58 in the gauge yesterday afternoon. It's good to have rain for a change. We need it. I doubt I will go Christmas shopping today since it is so wet and dreary. I'll go sometime next week. I still need to go out to the post office but I think that'll be about it for my adventurous side today. I have a cat asleep on my left hand again and typing single-handedly is a slow process. Mario has just gotten it in his head that when I'm at the computer he can jump up on my desk and take a nap. Occasionally he will shift his weight and press down on the keys. The computer will do all kinds of spastic things when he does that. I've got my keyboard pushed as far to the right as it will go and am typing with my right hand while his head is resting on my left hand. I know I'm establishing a bad precedent here but he likes to sleep up here with me so badly that I can't seem to muster the nerve to boot his bottom off my desk. I will live to regret this I'm sure.
I guess I will publish this and get ready to go run my errands. I didn't do anything yesterday after I finished my blog but sit on the couch in front of the television. I'm serious, that's all I got around to yesterday. I didn't even get out of my pjs. I guess we all need a lazy day every once in awhile (that makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not the only person to have days like that) so guess I'll go get busy and not fall victim to laziness for a second day. I just realized it's Friday again. Where do the days go??? That means no blog tomorrow or Sunday so until Monday ...
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Bargaining with God
Sometimes we try bargaining with God in our prayers, especially during crises. Promising that we'll do this or that for God if He'll just do this one little thing for us or will give this one little thing we're asking for. But as Christians we often forget that we don't have to bargain or beg. We are God's very own children and all we have to do is simply pray effectively, which means praying to God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength because He is the only Person who can fix our problems or supply us our needs.
During times of adversity our prayers must have purpose to be effective. Our daily conversations with the Lord often cover several topics and sometimes many people. That is good because regular communication is what builds healthy relationships. Especially with God. The more we talk to the Lord in prayer, the better it is for our relationship with Him. Think about it ... how good would your marriage be if you didn't talk to your mate more than a couple times a week; or even once a day, which is better but still far from ideal? We must develop the habit and routine of taking everything to God in prayer. He will know which things are of greatest concern to us. But when James speaks about the righteous person's effective prayer reaping results (James 5:16) he is talking about one specific prayer request, focused on a single situation, requiring one resolution. The King James version of the Bible uses the word "fervent" as it describes such a request or prayer which is prayed with urgency and a strong desire for an answer. We are to take everything to God in prayer and to do so constantly. But even more so in dire circumstances, asking for His help and power to find a way through the hardship or trouble.
God desires nothing so much as He desires using His supernatural powers to help or bless His children. However, as believers, we can allow pride and self-reliance to get in the way. As long as we feel we can handle a particular tough time, we won't be praying the way James is talking about here in 5:16. An effective or "fervent" prayer recognizes our weakness and God's strength. It is when and where we feel the most desperation and utter helplessness that God's great Holy Spirit can release the most power (2Cor 12:9).
Effective prayer is honest and real, spoken with an honest sense of urgency and desperation. We don't need to try and bargain with God ... He is eager to intervene on our behalf when we trust in Him and Him only to bring resolution to our situation. He loves us and answering this type of prayer is right up His alley.
*******
And how is your prayer life? Mine? I'm still struggling. I know I don't pray the way I should. I know what God desires and I seem to be sorely lacking. I don't pray often enough. When I first came to the Lord I prayed constantly. Then somehow over the years I got lazy or forgetful or something and now I'm to the point where I don't even pray once a day. Shame on me, I know!! The thing is, I miss my prayers too. It was a lot more fun and rewarding when I prayed all the time. It just seems that I forget about it. And when I do pray I promise myself that I'm going to shape up my prayer life only to walk away forgetting all my promises to the contrary. I am sorely in need of discipline in that area. Perhaps that's why my brakes are acting up again. Maybe it's the Lord teaching me to pray constantly. But when I pray constantly I feel like a nag. Anyone else ever have this problem? Any suggestions? I'm open to just about anything at this point in time.
It's raining here in my little part of the world this morning. Lucky for us that we got our Christmas lights up yesterday afternoon. I went out to the garage and plugged them back in this morning because it was so dreary outside. I thought the lights might bring a bit of cheer to the neighborhood. We also got Christmas Moose up and his lights on too. I think I need to buy some glass balls to hang on Moose's antlers. I think they would add a little something to the overall look. So anyway, now I have all my Christmas decorating done. I don't do much because the cats won't let me do much.
Michael and I both sat down last night and did our Christmas cards. He has his own list of friends that he sends to and then I have mine. Between the two of us we are sending out 46 cards. Didn't think we knew that many people! (That's $18.86 in postage, ouch!!) Now my chore is to wrap the presents I got yesterday. Last year I saved all the wrapping until I'd done all my shopping and I exhausted myself wrapping all the gifts at one time. This year I thought I'd wrap as I go. Hopefully that will work better. I plan to go shopping again tomorrow and hopefully finish it all up. That will be nice to have it all done. Yesterday I just went down to the Pharmacy here in town and bought 4 gifts. This store is a gift haven. It's my favorite place in the whole world to shop and the only reason I don't do all my shopping there is that they don't have that many "guy" gifts to buy. It was so pleasant yesterday. No crowds, no confusion, nobody in my way. So unlike WalMart. Two of the gifts I mail ordered came in yesterday too so that helped. It's funny, every year I say I'm going to do my Christmas shopping all year long rather than just at Christmas time when the crowds are impossible to deal with and every year I fail to do that. What's wrong with me??? Besides the bipolar, that is.
No plans for today except to stay dry and wrap the gifts. It's going to be a lazy day for me. Michael is cooking his own chili beans for his dinner and I'll just warm up the pork fried rice from the other night, so I don't even have to worry about cooking dinner. Yea!!! I think this calls for a scheduled nap. Yep, I really do.
Until tomorrow... P.S. My spell checker says I didn't misspell a single word. Good for me!
During times of adversity our prayers must have purpose to be effective. Our daily conversations with the Lord often cover several topics and sometimes many people. That is good because regular communication is what builds healthy relationships. Especially with God. The more we talk to the Lord in prayer, the better it is for our relationship with Him. Think about it ... how good would your marriage be if you didn't talk to your mate more than a couple times a week; or even once a day, which is better but still far from ideal? We must develop the habit and routine of taking everything to God in prayer. He will know which things are of greatest concern to us. But when James speaks about the righteous person's effective prayer reaping results (James 5:16) he is talking about one specific prayer request, focused on a single situation, requiring one resolution. The King James version of the Bible uses the word "fervent" as it describes such a request or prayer which is prayed with urgency and a strong desire for an answer. We are to take everything to God in prayer and to do so constantly. But even more so in dire circumstances, asking for His help and power to find a way through the hardship or trouble.
God desires nothing so much as He desires using His supernatural powers to help or bless His children. However, as believers, we can allow pride and self-reliance to get in the way. As long as we feel we can handle a particular tough time, we won't be praying the way James is talking about here in 5:16. An effective or "fervent" prayer recognizes our weakness and God's strength. It is when and where we feel the most desperation and utter helplessness that God's great Holy Spirit can release the most power (2Cor 12:9).
Effective prayer is honest and real, spoken with an honest sense of urgency and desperation. We don't need to try and bargain with God ... He is eager to intervene on our behalf when we trust in Him and Him only to bring resolution to our situation. He loves us and answering this type of prayer is right up His alley.
*******
And how is your prayer life? Mine? I'm still struggling. I know I don't pray the way I should. I know what God desires and I seem to be sorely lacking. I don't pray often enough. When I first came to the Lord I prayed constantly. Then somehow over the years I got lazy or forgetful or something and now I'm to the point where I don't even pray once a day. Shame on me, I know!! The thing is, I miss my prayers too. It was a lot more fun and rewarding when I prayed all the time. It just seems that I forget about it. And when I do pray I promise myself that I'm going to shape up my prayer life only to walk away forgetting all my promises to the contrary. I am sorely in need of discipline in that area. Perhaps that's why my brakes are acting up again. Maybe it's the Lord teaching me to pray constantly. But when I pray constantly I feel like a nag. Anyone else ever have this problem? Any suggestions? I'm open to just about anything at this point in time.
It's raining here in my little part of the world this morning. Lucky for us that we got our Christmas lights up yesterday afternoon. I went out to the garage and plugged them back in this morning because it was so dreary outside. I thought the lights might bring a bit of cheer to the neighborhood. We also got Christmas Moose up and his lights on too. I think I need to buy some glass balls to hang on Moose's antlers. I think they would add a little something to the overall look. So anyway, now I have all my Christmas decorating done. I don't do much because the cats won't let me do much.
Michael and I both sat down last night and did our Christmas cards. He has his own list of friends that he sends to and then I have mine. Between the two of us we are sending out 46 cards. Didn't think we knew that many people! (That's $18.86 in postage, ouch!!) Now my chore is to wrap the presents I got yesterday. Last year I saved all the wrapping until I'd done all my shopping and I exhausted myself wrapping all the gifts at one time. This year I thought I'd wrap as I go. Hopefully that will work better. I plan to go shopping again tomorrow and hopefully finish it all up. That will be nice to have it all done. Yesterday I just went down to the Pharmacy here in town and bought 4 gifts. This store is a gift haven. It's my favorite place in the whole world to shop and the only reason I don't do all my shopping there is that they don't have that many "guy" gifts to buy. It was so pleasant yesterday. No crowds, no confusion, nobody in my way. So unlike WalMart. Two of the gifts I mail ordered came in yesterday too so that helped. It's funny, every year I say I'm going to do my Christmas shopping all year long rather than just at Christmas time when the crowds are impossible to deal with and every year I fail to do that. What's wrong with me??? Besides the bipolar, that is.
No plans for today except to stay dry and wrap the gifts. It's going to be a lazy day for me. Michael is cooking his own chili beans for his dinner and I'll just warm up the pork fried rice from the other night, so I don't even have to worry about cooking dinner. Yea!!! I think this calls for a scheduled nap. Yep, I really do.
Until tomorrow... P.S. My spell checker says I didn't misspell a single word. Good for me!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
God Answers Prayers
It's easy to say "God answers prayers" when everything is going along smoothly without a care in the world. But what about during difficult times? A crisis can often bring doubts to our minds especially if God doesn't respond to our prayers as quickly as we feel He should. Right into the middle of Jame's letter to the first-century believers is a simple statement that should boost our confidence: "When a believing person prays, great things happen" (James 5:16b NCV). The Lord hears and He will respond to our prayers at just the right time and in just the right way.
The Greek word for "happen" is the one from which we derive our English word "energy." What James is saying is that in response to the effective prayer of a believer, God will direct His supernatural energy toward the current crisis situation. However we mustn't ever think that He can be manipulated into unleashing His power. And there are no formulas or magic words that will cause Him to react in a specific way. He cannot be goaded into action because of something we say or do.
The Lord responds to faith so the godly believer will see Him intervene. All born-again Christians have been clothed in Christ's righteousness and positioned as God's children, but not all of us have clear consciences. The Bible states, "If I had cherished in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Ps 66:18 NIV). If we refuse to repent of disobedience, the Lord will not respond to our prayers. This is why crisis situations are often times of personal revival. We must repent of all known sin before we can expect God to act.
God wants to intervene on our behalf. His love for us demands that He comfort, console, strengthen, and aid us when we are troubled. We clear the way for Him to respond to us when we keep a clear conscience.
********
This is a good devotional for me today. I'm going through a time of numbness, a state of unfeeling about prayer. I don't know what to think of the latest turn of events. A couple weeks ago we were coming home from an evening out celebrating our 35th anniversary, Michael was driving, and everything was going along fine until he stepped on the brakes to turn the corner by our house. They made a horrible "grinding" sound and we all know what that means, right? Time for a brake job. Well, as chance would have it, I had been responding to the Lord's admonitions that my prayers were too generalized, that He wanted me to pray for specific things so for the previous 2 weeks or so I had been praying specifically about the front end on my car which has a wobble due to a bushing in need of replacement. And us with no money.
The next morning I had a small group meeting and when I backed out of the driveway and stepped on the brakes, there was that grinding sound again. As I circled the block the brakes made that horrible sound at every stop sign. Then I just sort of let God have it. I mean, He wanted me to pray for specific things so I was and it seemed that instead of solving the problem about the front end on my car He just gave me another problem to worry about. After that rather forceful and loud prayer the brakes were silent. No noise at all when I stepped on the brakes. Wonder of all wonders, I'd had a miracle!! Everything went along just fine until we went into the next county the other day to do our monthly shopping. We were just going along and I thought I should tell Michael about the miracle. (Come to find out he had no memory of the brakes making that noise when we came home from the concert.) I thought about jinxing myself and that perhaps I should keep it a secret. Then I thought, No, I need to give God the glory for this. Michael needs to know that God answered my prayer. So I told Michael about my miracle. Wouldn't you know it, the very next time I put on my brakes they made that awful grinding sound again.
So what am I to think? Do I believe in jinxes? No, but I'm sure tempted. Do I believe God answers prayers? Yes, I do. Do I think God gave me a miracle? I don't know. And that's where I'm stuck. I don't know what to think. I hope all of you will write me and let me know your take on this. What do you think??? I'm still praying for the front end on my car and have added to it the brake problem. And I'm waiting. Just waiting.
I know my faith is being tested over this. I just wish I knew what to think. What are we to think when God disappoints us, anyway? And I don't even know if I'm more upset over not getting my miracle or more upset over the fact that somehow we're going to have to beg, borrow, or steal (stealing is definitely out) the money to do these car repairs. We just don't have the money. Period. We are never going to have the money. So I will continue to pray. And I'll ask while I'm at it why He gave me a miracle only to take it back when I bragged on what He'd done. I mean look. We aren't asked to believe in a hocus pocus spooky god that isn't there. We are asked to believe in the one and only God, the great I AM, the everlasting God Almighty and either prayer works or it doesn't!! God says it works. Am I to believe Him? Do I believe Him? Yes and yes. I just don't understand. But I know that through this trial I will emerge more Christlike. That somehow this is refining me and making me more like my precious Lord. That the God who gave me a temporary miracle can give me a permanent one at any time. That this miracle making God is real and eager to answer my prayers. I wish I could peer behind the curtain and see what He's doing here in my life. But I can't. I just have to have faith. And it has to be real faith and not this gee-I-hope-pretty-please-let-me-have-my-own-way faith. So, what am I to think about all this? That my God reigns and He has promised to make me into the image of my Lord and Savior and I thank Him for that. I praise Him for working so openly in my life. And I thank Him for letting me question Him and His motives. I thank Him that doubt is not sin. I thank Him that I need not fear He's too busy for my prayers. And I will wait. For as long as it takes, I will wait.
My brakes have gone back to being silent again and I will take every silent day as an answer to my prayers. I believe in miracles and I believe in the God of miracles and I will be thankful that my God is intricately involved in my life. And I will praise Him every time I step on the brakes whether they grind or not. When I pray I align all the powers that be into the formation of obedience and faith and I will say thank you.
********
Well we are still shrouded in fog this morning. I didn't blog yesterday because I wasn't feeling very well. Just my sciatic acting up but it hurt to sit for any length of time so I decided to skip sitting at the computer. Anyway, we had rain early yesterday morning and then it cleared up. And then about 2:00 in the afternoon I saw this fog bank coming at us. It was just blowing across the road and it continued and thickened into a pea soup mixture of moisture and pollutants and the whole world turned gray. We rarely have fog up here in the foothills and we've never had fog blow in midafternoon like this one did. It's kind of spooky. I have to go out today and run some errands and I hope it lifts before then. It's not risky driving fog, though, just I-wish-it-were-clearer fog. Being raised down in the valley where they have real Fog with a capital F, this stuff doesn't even phase me except to make it a dreary day.
I hope to get my Christmas lights up today. I've been wanting to do it for several days now. I even have the box (carried in from the garage) sitting on my table. But every day there seems to be some reason not to put them up. It's not raining today so maybe we'll get to them. I have Christmas Moose in from the garage too and I have plans to get him set up and lights wrapped around him too. Then Christmas season will definitely be here. I got out my Santas the other day and put out my kitten nativity set on the coffee table. And that's about it for our household. I used to have more things but I gave them to my granddaughter to give her a start. My cats wouldn't leave anything alone. It was nothing to wake up and find everything on the floor. I'm sure they thought loving thoughts for their new toys as they massacred every decoration I so carefully put out. It's been a lot less stressful since I gave Christmas away. I still have the two Santas but one of them hangs on the wall and the other one they haven't found yet. I'm sure I'll have to pick him up off the floor more than once or twice before Christmas is over.
Well, I think that's about it for today. Hope you have a great one. Until tomorrow ...
The Greek word for "happen" is the one from which we derive our English word "energy." What James is saying is that in response to the effective prayer of a believer, God will direct His supernatural energy toward the current crisis situation. However we mustn't ever think that He can be manipulated into unleashing His power. And there are no formulas or magic words that will cause Him to react in a specific way. He cannot be goaded into action because of something we say or do.
The Lord responds to faith so the godly believer will see Him intervene. All born-again Christians have been clothed in Christ's righteousness and positioned as God's children, but not all of us have clear consciences. The Bible states, "If I had cherished in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Ps 66:18 NIV). If we refuse to repent of disobedience, the Lord will not respond to our prayers. This is why crisis situations are often times of personal revival. We must repent of all known sin before we can expect God to act.
God wants to intervene on our behalf. His love for us demands that He comfort, console, strengthen, and aid us when we are troubled. We clear the way for Him to respond to us when we keep a clear conscience.
********
This is a good devotional for me today. I'm going through a time of numbness, a state of unfeeling about prayer. I don't know what to think of the latest turn of events. A couple weeks ago we were coming home from an evening out celebrating our 35th anniversary, Michael was driving, and everything was going along fine until he stepped on the brakes to turn the corner by our house. They made a horrible "grinding" sound and we all know what that means, right? Time for a brake job. Well, as chance would have it, I had been responding to the Lord's admonitions that my prayers were too generalized, that He wanted me to pray for specific things so for the previous 2 weeks or so I had been praying specifically about the front end on my car which has a wobble due to a bushing in need of replacement. And us with no money.
The next morning I had a small group meeting and when I backed out of the driveway and stepped on the brakes, there was that grinding sound again. As I circled the block the brakes made that horrible sound at every stop sign. Then I just sort of let God have it. I mean, He wanted me to pray for specific things so I was and it seemed that instead of solving the problem about the front end on my car He just gave me another problem to worry about. After that rather forceful and loud prayer the brakes were silent. No noise at all when I stepped on the brakes. Wonder of all wonders, I'd had a miracle!! Everything went along just fine until we went into the next county the other day to do our monthly shopping. We were just going along and I thought I should tell Michael about the miracle. (Come to find out he had no memory of the brakes making that noise when we came home from the concert.) I thought about jinxing myself and that perhaps I should keep it a secret. Then I thought, No, I need to give God the glory for this. Michael needs to know that God answered my prayer. So I told Michael about my miracle. Wouldn't you know it, the very next time I put on my brakes they made that awful grinding sound again.
So what am I to think? Do I believe in jinxes? No, but I'm sure tempted. Do I believe God answers prayers? Yes, I do. Do I think God gave me a miracle? I don't know. And that's where I'm stuck. I don't know what to think. I hope all of you will write me and let me know your take on this. What do you think??? I'm still praying for the front end on my car and have added to it the brake problem. And I'm waiting. Just waiting.
I know my faith is being tested over this. I just wish I knew what to think. What are we to think when God disappoints us, anyway? And I don't even know if I'm more upset over not getting my miracle or more upset over the fact that somehow we're going to have to beg, borrow, or steal (stealing is definitely out) the money to do these car repairs. We just don't have the money. Period. We are never going to have the money. So I will continue to pray. And I'll ask while I'm at it why He gave me a miracle only to take it back when I bragged on what He'd done. I mean look. We aren't asked to believe in a hocus pocus spooky god that isn't there. We are asked to believe in the one and only God, the great I AM, the everlasting God Almighty and either prayer works or it doesn't!! God says it works. Am I to believe Him? Do I believe Him? Yes and yes. I just don't understand. But I know that through this trial I will emerge more Christlike. That somehow this is refining me and making me more like my precious Lord. That the God who gave me a temporary miracle can give me a permanent one at any time. That this miracle making God is real and eager to answer my prayers. I wish I could peer behind the curtain and see what He's doing here in my life. But I can't. I just have to have faith. And it has to be real faith and not this gee-I-hope-pretty-please-let-me-have-my-own-way faith. So, what am I to think about all this? That my God reigns and He has promised to make me into the image of my Lord and Savior and I thank Him for that. I praise Him for working so openly in my life. And I thank Him for letting me question Him and His motives. I thank Him that doubt is not sin. I thank Him that I need not fear He's too busy for my prayers. And I will wait. For as long as it takes, I will wait.
My brakes have gone back to being silent again and I will take every silent day as an answer to my prayers. I believe in miracles and I believe in the God of miracles and I will be thankful that my God is intricately involved in my life. And I will praise Him every time I step on the brakes whether they grind or not. When I pray I align all the powers that be into the formation of obedience and faith and I will say thank you.
********
Well we are still shrouded in fog this morning. I didn't blog yesterday because I wasn't feeling very well. Just my sciatic acting up but it hurt to sit for any length of time so I decided to skip sitting at the computer. Anyway, we had rain early yesterday morning and then it cleared up. And then about 2:00 in the afternoon I saw this fog bank coming at us. It was just blowing across the road and it continued and thickened into a pea soup mixture of moisture and pollutants and the whole world turned gray. We rarely have fog up here in the foothills and we've never had fog blow in midafternoon like this one did. It's kind of spooky. I have to go out today and run some errands and I hope it lifts before then. It's not risky driving fog, though, just I-wish-it-were-clearer fog. Being raised down in the valley where they have real Fog with a capital F, this stuff doesn't even phase me except to make it a dreary day.
I hope to get my Christmas lights up today. I've been wanting to do it for several days now. I even have the box (carried in from the garage) sitting on my table. But every day there seems to be some reason not to put them up. It's not raining today so maybe we'll get to them. I have Christmas Moose in from the garage too and I have plans to get him set up and lights wrapped around him too. Then Christmas season will definitely be here. I got out my Santas the other day and put out my kitten nativity set on the coffee table. And that's about it for our household. I used to have more things but I gave them to my granddaughter to give her a start. My cats wouldn't leave anything alone. It was nothing to wake up and find everything on the floor. I'm sure they thought loving thoughts for their new toys as they massacred every decoration I so carefully put out. It's been a lot less stressful since I gave Christmas away. I still have the two Santas but one of them hangs on the wall and the other one they haven't found yet. I'm sure I'll have to pick him up off the floor more than once or twice before Christmas is over.
Well, I think that's about it for today. Hope you have a great one. Until tomorrow ...
Monday, December 3, 2007
Back to Borrowing
Okay, that's it! My writing career was short and sweet and waaaaay too much work. I'm going back to borrowing from other writers. I just can't come up with something new everyday. I don't have the energy. I don't have what it takes. And it takes time. Lots and lots of time. Time I should be spending on my housework and my hubby, not to even mention my laundry. Time better spent reading Scripture and communing with the Lord. Everything I write, I write for God's glory. It doesn't matter for any other reason. I stayed true to my commitment on a few blogs but then I just flat out ran out of things to write about so I started borrowing again. It saved so much time. It seems that it takes me forever to think things up on my own. And I just don't have forever to spend on my blog. My own blogs were taking me hours to write and I just don't have that kind of time or energy anymore. I hope you will keep reading, as I feel the information I put out glorifies our Lord and Savior but I'll understand if you decide you don't want to read "warmed-over" devotionals. I try to pick ones I like and then from that I rewrite to my liking. I edit them, I change them, I add to them, and I subtract from them and turn out something of my own borrowed from other people, if that makes sense to you. What I do is take something someone else wrote, read it, then in long hand I write it all out in my own words. But I know that sometimes I'm borrowing from the original writer I just have no way of telling where I've borrowed and where I haven't. I've never tried to keep it a secret. I've always said I was "borrowing." But then I promised to write my own and I did for awhile. Until I just flat out ran out of time. Some of my devotionals have been originals that I wrote from start to finish, it's just that I can't do that day after day after day. I exhausted my Topical list and ran out of ideas. So anyway, as I've said before ... I borrow. It's just that periodically I feel I have to put in a disclaimer so people won't think my devotionals are all originals. As I said, some of them are but most of them aren't. I don't want people to think I'm this colossal writer when I'm really more like a reviser. I take something someone else wrote and twist it around, change it, adapt it, rewrite it into my own blog. I've tried to think of a way to tell you when it's original and when it's borrowed but the two are entirely too interwoven. It just takes me too long to write from scratch. Thinking is hard work! So I've gone back to borrowing. It's so much easier and it is still a worthwhile pursuit because it's all for God's glory anyway. I'm not getting anything out of it other than the satisfaction I get from churning out something that may not be original but it glorifies the Lord anyway. It doesn't matter how He's gloried. It only matters that He is. So as I said, I borrow! I don't have the time to spend on my blog so I'm just laying it all out here for you. I think my blog is still worth reading (that's why I continue to write it, rather than giving up on the entire thing like I was going to do sometime last week, or was it week before). Writing originals just takes more time than I have to devote to this project. I figure if you like reading my blog, it won't make any difference to you whether I borrow or not. I just wanted to make sure that everyone understood that, while a lot of what I write is original. I do borrow from other writers and at times I borrow heavily. I just don't want my readers to think I'm this terrific writer when I'm not. I always refer to them as things I write because I put so much into them but they are not 100 percent my own work. Okay now that I've got that straightened out I can go back to blogging tomorrow. But don't ask me whether something was original or borrowed because they get so twisted around sometimes that even I don't know which is which.
We did our shopping today so I didn't have time to blog. Just this quick disclaimer. I just got to worrying that people expected me to continue writing them from start to finish and I can't do that anymore. And I felt I had to write and tell my readers that I was going back to borrowing. I just couldn't keep up with the pace to produce originals.
See your tomorrow ...
We did our shopping today so I didn't have time to blog. Just this quick disclaimer. I just got to worrying that people expected me to continue writing them from start to finish and I can't do that anymore. And I felt I had to write and tell my readers that I was going back to borrowing. I just couldn't keep up with the pace to produce originals.
See your tomorrow ...
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