Journey into Forever

" The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit." -Psalm 34:17-18 "And the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered  a little while,  will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast." -1 Peter 5:10 We all watch them...well many of us  anyway.  You know, the Hallmark movies.  The "happily ever after" ones where eveything works out in the end, everybody gets along with everyone else, and all is right with the world.  They are "feel good" movies, because watching them does make you feel good.....unless..... Unless in our own lives things aren't all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.  Unless we have problems in relationships that are  too painful to talk about to others, so we stuff them down and suffer in silence.  Things ...

   "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you.  Wash your hands,you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded."                                - James 4:7-8 California is burning again.   When we went there last year, my husband and I were shocked at the devastation we saw in the fires' aftermath.  Nothing left. Nothing.  Lives forever changed by the impact of a long drought followed by a devastating spark.  That's all it takes - a spark- when the drought is long and hard.  After months without significant water, the vegetation dies, dries up, and sits as tinder waiting to fuel the next big fire. To be honest, that has been an analogy of my life the past few months.  I could offer any number of excuses...about illness,events, and attitudes that...

"Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old." -Job 2:12 "Come near to the Lord and He will come near to you." -James 4:8  I have to tell you I'm not a super big fan of aging. It seems to get harder each day, more aches and pains, tired all the time, illness seems to abound. And then you start hearing it.  Just this week, I heard of two high school friends who are ill. One has cancer, and one has Parkinson's. Those are just two in a long line of people I know my age who are not doing well. I hate it.  You know the old saying, I wish I had known I was really going to get older, I would've taken better care of myself. Yep. Agreed. There are a couple of other things that aren't great about aging. Losing weight seems to require eating one very small meal a day for year.   Or, you can be sick and go to the hospital. That will do it . When I do crossstitch, I have to use my mother-in-law's magnifying glass which I swore...

"Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, " says the Lord. Romans 12:19 There was a show on Netflix last year that I just loved.  It played out all of the fantasies those of us might have who have been deeply hurt by someone .  In it, Emily Thorne returns to the Hamptons where she previously lived and an incident ruined her family.  She portrays herself as someone completely different, and becomes a member of the inner circle of the high society she was once a member of.  Once there, she plans vengence on all the people who hurt her family, and she doesn't care at what cost.  The plot twists and turns are very interesting, and one by one she destroys the people who were responsible for her family's pain.  One can't help but cheer her on, as each "bad guy" drops according to her plan. I guess we are drawn to a show like this because all of ...

"Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.  And even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."         - Psalm 71:17-18 We saw a cardinal today.  It was perched in a tree right outside the window.  We were at my nephew's house for his wife's baby shower.  His house that used to be my mom's house.  We were missing mom.  She would have liked to be at this shower. It was the first time my daughter had been in this house since mom has been gone. She was recalling lots of memories that took place in that house.  The cardinal in the back yard (my mom's favorite bird) reminded me that she would have loved to have seen this new baby - the second born since she's been gone.  And although her house looks completely different as my nephew's house, the memories still popped up left and...

"Now, therefore, thus says the  Lord  of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the  Lord  of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the  Lord . You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the  Lord  of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house." -Haggai 1:5-9 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden ...

" SING TO HIM, SING PRAISES TO HIM;TELL OF ALL HIS WONDEROUS WORKS." 1 CHRONICLES 16:9 "LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD!" -PSALM 150:6 I admit it.  I am a "glass half full" kind of girl.  I can explain why I am that way, based on my upbringing and a few other events in my life, but that doesn't make it acceptable.  I just tend to see the negative, the depressing, the bad side of everything.  I'm working to be better at that, but it is my natural tendency. I remember the older generation saying things like, "This world is going to hell in a handbasket." or "It can't get any worse than this."  I thought that was ridiculous at the time.  I was a young person, full of hope for the future, thinking people who said those things were just old and used up.  Now I'm the one saying it.  But when you dare to look at the national news, or even the local news and Facebook, it seems there is so much c...