My Books Available Now on Amazon ebooks

Amazon Kindle books now have some of my books. Please keep checking for more titles as they become available. Thanks!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What a Life!

In the shower this morning I was musing about my life. You know, I only can recall a tiny fraction of it. I lived all 71 years of it, but most of it is either a blur or deeply buried in my subconscious.

Sure I recall snippets and traumas and high points. I can tell you what I wore to my middle school graduation and dance and the same for high school, but I can't name most of my teachers or classmates. I can tell you about my swing, tether-ball and scooter, but I can't name all the kids on the street. I can name only some of the college classes I took and even fewer professors. And the traumas - I can remember the date rape, the abuse, the terrors, the desperate climb out of it all. I remember graduations, awards, weddings, births of my children, & other highlights. So much has faded though. Much of my life is gone, shrouded by the fog of the past. For some of it, that is good, for it was too painful. For some of it, it is rather a shame for it was lovely.

I suppose all the moments of my life weave into making me who I am today, even though I cannot distinguish all of the individual threads.

To all the threads that have faded away from my memory, thank you for being in my life and contributing to my growth and understanding. I suppose I am a faded thread in the tapestry of your life too. To the traumatic threads of flaming orange and reds, thank you too for you have taught me.

Lord help me to walk with courage and joy as I weave the final threads in the tapestry of my life. However much I have left to weave, lead me to do so as You would have me do.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Stepping Into A New Day

Every day is a new opportunity. It has never been lived before. It is unwritten. It is only hindered by the past if we let it. It can be lived at new heights or new lows. So much of how we live it relies on our own choices.

Sure, I cannot choose the events whirling around me. I cannot choose how others are going to act. I cannot choose the economy for our nation. I can choose my responses to whatever comes, and sometimes I can choose what comes to me personally by how I live my life.

I can resign from any traces of being a victim that may linger in my consciousness. I can choose to turn to God for guidance. I can take charge of myself. I can be held in the center of the storms of life in the arms of Christ. 

So much is up to each one of us as to how we live this life. And one day, I KNOW we will be asked about how we lived it. 

Lord, guide me to rise up today to live a triumphant day in conjunction with You and Your guidance.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Father's Day Thoughts

Today is the day we honor our fathers. I put a note on this on Facebook re: my father -- On Father's Day: My daddy went to his next life at the age of 93. He taught me some important things. One thing he used to say, "You can do anything you set your mind to." He was a quiet man & used to say "Still waters run deep." He blessed me in many ways. I still miss him. He left in Nov. of 1999 & dearly wanted to make it to the millennium. I wonder what he thought would happen. He never said. God bless you, Allen Roy Eakin.

Every person has some sort of memory of their father or even their lack of the presence of a father. In some ways, we are all changed by our father experience. A gentle father, a harsh father, an absent father - all ranges of father behavior - all teach us something. We learn how to behave or how not to behave. We learn how to please an authority figure & create our own ways to live our lives. In some cases we have to re-learn how to live later as we mature.

Whatever our fathers taught or didn't teach, we can thank them for they participated in shaping who we are today.

God, thank You for my father. In Your wisdom You chose for me the father most suited to what I needed to learn. Help me appreciate more fully the gifts he brought to my life.  Bless him wherever he is.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Pentacost Week-end

This week-end we commemorate the entrance of the Holy Spirit into our realm & our lives.

I am so thankful for the comfort, guidance & inspiration of the Holy Spirit over the course of my lifetime. I have been guided into grand adventures, amazing friendships, deep love, a deeper walk with God, books to write, ideas for things to create from dresses to classes & on & on. I have been accompanied & led through dark valleys & bright mountaintops.

One of the interesting things is that I notice that there are times, such as now, when I am both in a dark valley & a bright mountaintop. Today is one of my grandson's birthdays. The only contact I have is through the Holy Spirit. He turns 14. He probably is with lots of other boys who just graduated middle school. Maybe they are having a paintball day. I don't know.

Holy Spirit, whisper my love into my grandson's ear. Let him feel his grandma & grandpa's care & concern. Lift him in all areas of his life. Guide him to be all he can be. Help him to know he is not alone no matter where life may take him. If it is God's will, bring him & his sisters back to us. Take care of them please. 

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Just a Bit of Explanation

As you could see from below, I am a bit aggravated about extreme positions. I try not to have buttons, but I admit I do have this one. And, it's personal. Someone very, very dear to me has become one of those persons who thinks only a small segment of Christianity is really Christian. As a result, my husband & I have been told that we are not Christian & have been shunned from all contact. This week I had a particularly hard time for it has been 11 months since we have spoken.

Daily I grieve a bit. I awaken with tears running down my cheeks. At the same time, I have peace for I know the falsity of the claims, & I know that God knows the truth. But there is something about having someone you love turn on you that creates a special kind of wound in the soul. Perhaps out of the wound a new sprout will emerge & something glorious will flower.

Lord, You know the anguish in my heart. I trust that out of this darkness will come light, for I know You are in charge. Lift me to understanding. Free me of the pain. Bring me to see the hidden blessings. Help me walk though & out of this valley. I know You lead me. To the best of my ability, I release this all to You & ask in the name of Christ for the fruition of this prayer. Amen, Amen & Amen

Saturday, June 4, 2011

More fundamentalism

I know I have distressed some very nice people with my previous comments on fundamentalism. I am sorry for pain caused. But one of my pet peeves is people who just make stuff up & then attack anyone who dares to challenge them.

There are many examples of religious intolerance, most of which is based on someone's limited ideas. A small recent example --- a preacher who declared the so-called rapture to be imminent a couple of weeks ago. Did anyone check the New Testament & Jesus' words??? He said explicitly no one would know when he would return --- that is NO ONE. On top of that, He never mentioned such a thing as a rapture.

It seems to me that studying the 1st century Christians, their writings, the life & teachings of Jesus & the Apostles' & Paul's writings-- that is actually fundamentalism. Taking some person's idea as if it were Gospel without critical analysis, leads a person into sidetracks. Even if the person is a nice person, if they go off on some tangent, I think it is wise to check it out carefully.

What did the 1st Christians believe, live, teach? That would be a place to start if one wants to be a fundamentalist.

Fundamentalism

From time to time I find myself in dialogue with those who call themselves "fundamentalists." I disagree with their self-proclaimed title. In Christianity, our founder is Jesus Christ. He taught & lived oneness with God, love, faith, forgiveness, caring for all others, etc. He asked us to think things through & not just accept what's told to us -- example when he healed on the sabbath, modeling there's nothing wrong with that even though it was thought to be wrong in His day. He showed us the way. He asked us to live such a life, to follow Him, to do as He did, to do even greater things. Such a life, exhibiting such qualities, in my opinion, would be a fundamentally Christian life.

I do have a lot of issues with the groups who are self-described fundamentalists, but do not try to live as Jesus did & asked us to do. Some focus on fear, which is the opposite of faith, etc. Some are more focused in the Old Testament which is very ancient & has some odd beliefs from the vantage point of today. Many pick & choose from the Old Testament --- polygamy, sacrifices, etc. are not okay, but other things are. Some are followers (perhaps without knowing it) of Darby, a defrocked Anglican priest in the late 1800's who introduced new ideas such as the rapture that had never been part of any Christian or Jewish theology prior to him. Some make the Bible an idol, rather than a holy book that tells us how the understanding of God developed in the Hebrew people & can help us develop our understanding & relationship too. Many of the new denominations have pastors who are uneducated as to the languages of the Bible, the historical context of the various peoples, the idioms of the Bible, the various ways words could be translated, the new archeology, the finds of scrolls that shed new light understanding on the Bible, etc. If my mind is made up, closed, already smug in knowing it all, it is very hard for God to speak to me. These are some of my concerns with the so-called fundamentalists who do not stand on the fundamentals of Jesus.

A quest for the truth requires exploration. I believe God is infinite, so there is no way a finite human can know all about God. We only touch the edges. If anyone claims to know the whole truth, I want to run the opposite direction for they are either deluded or a liar. As I walk through the valley of earth, I can only see a little. I keep walking, open to see more, for God to reveal more. Yet I know I can never know all there is to know.