Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Precious Memories


Front row, left to right 

Debbie Newton

Landry Watson 

James Greene

Gail Grassfield

Gerald  Black

Janet Hawkins

Pete Peterson 

Beth Willis

Larry Dyer

Betsy Herman

Greg Kimble 

Cindy Mitchell

Jay McClelland

Molly Hester

Debbie Bebber


Second row, left to right 

Bud Chiles

Shirley Causier

Tim Bedgood

Tisha Shelden 

Cynthia Whitting

Bob Richard’s

Patricia Leetun 

Jack Hardy

Sandy Estroff

Charlie Richards

Betsy Moore

Dickie Woods

Mike Clayton 

Buda “Ralph” Smathers


This amazing photo was taken at my kindergarten at Cleveland Court Elementary in Lakeland, Florida, 1958-59 Nursery Rhyme Program. 

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Many thanks to Tisha Shelden, whose Mom had written all the names on the back of the photo! 


Ah, the days of construction paper and white paste, finger painting, mimeographs and phonographs, and naps on the floor.


I love seeing all these sweet little faces from my childhood. 


This was my nursery rhyme:

“I’m a little teapot

Short and stout

Here is my handle

(one hand on hip)

Here is my spout

(other arm out straight)

When I get all steamed up

Hear me shout

“Tip me over

and pour me out!”

(lean over toward spout)”


This sweet photo memory inspired me to write this response to the writing prompt...Where Do You Come From? 

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Once I began to write, the memories come flooding back. It’s such a great exercise in thankfulness...

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I come from Ellis Island where the ship, Princess Irene, brought my maternal birth grandparents from Scontrone, Italy, to Chicago in 1906.

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I come from an illegal abortionist who refused to abort me at 4 months gestation in 1952.

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I come from the Salvation Army hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, where my birthmother placed me for adoption on Friday the 13th of February in 1953.

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I come from loving Christian parents who adopted me and took me to church and Sunday School.

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I come from chocolate milk before bedtime made with love by my daddy.

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I come from cookies and milk after school with my stay-at-home mom.

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I come from chocolate milk shakes at the drug store during Sunday afternoon drives.

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I come from moving to nine different houses in ten years between 1st grade and 10th grade.

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I come from six years of home economics in junior high and high school.

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I come from being elected president of the Future Homemakers of America in 9th grade.

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I come from being chosen as editor-in-chief of my junior high newspaper.

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I come from being honored as “Miss Responsibility” by my junior high principal.

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I come from being elected as the first female president of my high school student body.

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I come from summer vacations at Indian Shores Beach and Gatlinburg.

But more importantly…

I come from adoptive parents who loved me enough to introduce me to Jesus Christ.

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I come from Sunday School and G.A.’s mission groups every week from the cradle roll.

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I come from a mom and dad who made sure that we were in the pews every Sunday.

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I come from youth pastors who gave all of their time to help me find my way.

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I come from Young Life inner city retreat in Jacksonville where I learned to see God in unlikely places.

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I come from summer G.A. camps where I learned to make s’mores.

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I come from singing His praise in the inspirational musical, “Tell It Like It Is.”

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I come from His grace and mercies that are new every morning, praise Him.

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I come from His Word, which is alive and active in me.

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I come from a Heavenly Father who knows what my future holds.

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I come from desiring to know Him better and to follow Him more closely.


This is where I come from. It made me who I am today. It is molding and shaping every choice that I make now, and in the days to come. 

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Thank God He has been with me all along.

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Jeremiah 29:11-13–“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

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Acts 17:26-27–“From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”


 

Thursday, February 22, 2024

My hope is in You all day long



Janice Cruce and her beloved husband, Billy Cruce, were my youth pastors in the 1960’s at First Baptist Lakeland. Then, in 1988-89, Billy was our pastor at Thomasville Road Baptist in Tallahassee. They both have had such a powerful, God-ordained influence on me and our family. 

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One day in January 1999, Janice sent me an email in which she quoted Psalm 25:5–“You are God my Savior and my hope is in You all day long.”

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I was so moved by that exact translation, that I went to the local Christian bookstore that day and bought myself and each member of my family the NIV Life Application Bible, and had our names engraved on the covers, all because of that powerful scripture translation which Janice had shared with me.

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I also remembered Janice telling me of a very rough and bumpy plane flight she was on when she thought, “In just a minute, I’m going to see my sweet Jesus!” Such peace! Such assurance of our precious salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has been there all along, guiding and directing every detail of our lives, even the places where we will live and worship Him. It gives me such peace to even remember these sweet things and our hope of heaven.

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You are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:5 

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Have you ever been on an airplane as it flew through a thunderstorm? All around you, you see and hear the storm’s beating rain and the wind whipping against the cabin wall. Looks of worry and panic cloud passengers’ faces, and they wonder, When will we ever get to the other side of this storm? They long to see the sun, and even before the plane has landed, a few of them may have begun forming a line to get off. On such a turbulent flight we can dramatically experience the light and peace after a storm almost instantly. Peace replaces anxiety in just a moment as we break through a cloud and see the sun and its radiance just on the other side of the storm. As God’s children we do not need to wait until our personal storms have passed in order to see and experience the light and peace of the Son. The Word of God, his truth, not only sustains us in the storms of life but also opens our eyes to see the Son, the radiance of God’s glory, while we are soaring through them. 

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DEAR LORD, I want to know your will. I’m willing to do your will, and I’ll wait, in hope, for your truth to lead me in it. No matter what storms of life I may face, I will keep my eyes on the brightness of your Son—the radiance of your glory! 

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Look Up—meditate on Psalm 25:5, pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.

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Look In—as you meditate on Psalm 25:5, pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."

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Look Out—as you meditate on Psalm 25:5, pray to see how you might apply it to your relationship with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.

 

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Peace is the fruit of authority


 When my heart reconnected with God in a renewing, enduring way following a trip to Israel, I started focusing more on God’s thoughts as revealed through the Bible, his love letter to us. 

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Day by day as I read his Word, I was amazed at the truth and grace it contained. I believe the truth in the saying, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” The Bible began to shape my prayers, and I discovered that it was the best prayer manual of all, showing us how to pray and what to pray, and most of all through the Holy Spirit, providing constant inspiration for our prayers.

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As I began to pray God’s Word, I was filled with confidence and faith in God’s ability to answer and to act because I wasn’t praying out of my own understanding or imagination, but out of the Lord’s heart and his intentions and desires for us, his people. 

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As I prayed God’s Word, fear, doubt, and discouragement left, and his peace renewed my heart and mind. I began to learn the power of recognizing when I have been held captive by controlling thoughts. I began to stand in agreement with God, saying the same thing God says about my specific thoughts. I began to see the lies I had believed as wallpaper in my mind. I learned how to tear down the lies wallpapering my mind and re-wallpaper my mind with the Truth of God’s Word. 

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Praying God’s Word reinforced my believing and applying Truth as a lifestyle. I learned to starve the flesh and feed the Spirit. I prayed for God to give me a heightened awareness of the way I was thinking. I became alert to the times I was thinking according to the flesh. I thought about the feeling it was sowing in my heart. 

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I learned that if we change the way we think, it will change the way we feel.  The Spirit of Christ speaks life and peace into our hearts. If we want to think according to the Spirit, we have to learn to feed the Spirit and starve the flesh. 

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I began to pray God’s Word … “May the Spirit of Christ Who dwells in the innermost part of me, take authority over my soul (the seat of my emotions) and my body (my fleshly desires and appetites)” from these scriptures:  

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I Thessalonians 5:23-24—May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. 

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I Corinthians 6:17—But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 

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I Corinthians 3:16—Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you. 

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This scripture teaches us that humans are made up of three components: spirit, soul, and body. The more we allow the Spirit of Truth dwelling in us to take authority over our bodies and souls, the more the wholeness of Christ will take authority over every part of us—we will live from the inside-out. 

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I began to celebrate the glorious fact that God Himself is the One at work in and through me. God is thoroughly interested and involved in every single part of us: body, soul, and spirit. 

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Also, this verse identifies God specifically as the God of peace. We will experience God’s peace when every part of the life—body, soul, and spirit—is surrendered to His wise, loving, and liberating authority. 

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Peace is the fruit of authority—God’s authority. As Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ rule. Christ brings His peace where He is Prince. That’s what the title “Prince of Peace” represents. This scripture tells us that this glorious God of peace wants to sanctify us “through and through.” 

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God desires that we grant Him total access to set apart every part of our lives—body, soul, and spirit—to His glorious work. I began to think of myself like a triangle. Imagine each point of the triangle being labeled as body, soul, or spirit. 

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If the triangle is sitting on its base, only one point is “up.” Imagine that point being the one in present control of us. If the “soul” is in the upward, authoritative position in our lives, then we are ruled by our feelings and our personality types. Our feelings and personalities are given to us by God, but they are not meant to control us. 

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Now picture that the “body” is in the upward position and momentarily ruling over our triangular selves. Our “appetites” become our masters. One area exerts tremendous influence over the others. 

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The “point” we need in the upward position to live in victory is the Spirit. All of us were born with a “spirit.” When distinguished from the soul, it represents the part of us created in the image of God to know Him and enjoy His fellowship. Glory to God, when we receive Christ, His Spirit takes residency in ours! The key to victory as we occupy this triangular temple is to bow daily, several times daily, to the control of the Holy Spirit over our lives.

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The question of authority is one we are challenged to answer every day. A daily recommitment is not to ensure that we’ll never fail, but to help us develop the mentality that every single day is a new day—a new chance to follow Christ. 

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Victorious living is not an instant arrival. It is the pursuit of one victorious day at a time until the sun sets on enough to begin forming victorious habits. Give yourself up to God, to the authority of His Holy Spirit. God is the only One who can sanctify and make every part of us whole … “and He will do it.” All He wants is our trust, our belief … For without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5) and with Him, we can do anything (Phil. 4:13).

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Heavenly Father, may we yield to the power and authority of the Spirit of Christ, Who dwells in the innermost part of us. May we submit and surrender to the authority of the Holy Spirit flowing through us, washing away our doubt and unbelief, our pride and self-focus, our self-absorption, our idolatry of any person, place, or thing we put ahead of or instead of Jesus Christ, our prayerlessness, and our legalism, and filling us to the brim with Your presence—believing You, glorifying You, finding our satisfaction in You, experiencing Your Peace, and enjoying Your presence. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

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Look Up—meditate on 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.

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Look In—as you meditate on  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."

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Look Out—as you meditate on  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.

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