My blog

Category: A Woman’s Heart

  • Happy Thanksgiving?

    For almost four hundred years Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving. This year will go down in history as different from all other Thanksgivings in the past century. It is still the fourth Thursday of November as Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared it to be in 1941. We’ll still have Turkey with all the trimmings, pumpkin pie, and the Macy’s Day Parade. But it will be different. Different in a way few of us have seen in our lifetimes.

    In 1620, the Pilgrims proclaimed the Mayflower Compact, which would become the basis for America’s Declaration of Independence. This was a scant year before the first ever Thanksgiving. And if you were in any doubt as to this country’s roots, check out what the Mayflower Compact says. I’ve been out of school for many, many years and didn’t remember it or what it said. But after listening to a Thanksgiving message last night from one of my favorite Bible teachers, Jack Hibbs, I looked it up, and our nation’s colorful history enthralled me.

    What the pastor reflected upon was the genuine act of Thanksgiving. We have lost sight of what is truly important. What do we have to be thankful for this year? Given all that Americans have suffered and lost, it doesn’t seem like there’s much to be thankful for.  And while I understand the need for all the changes to our national holiday this year, I don’t have to like it. Not at all.  And yet there are things to be thankful for. Like what you ask.

    Family? Spending time with family will be relegated to telephone calls, FaceTime, Zoom, or any other method we can come up with to see and spend time with family. I am thankful for those methods we have at our fingertips to see and talk to loved ones. That we even have loved ones who we can call is a blessing and a cause to be thankful. Some do not. Yes, I’m exceedingly thankful for my family.

    Friends? Again, being able to wish our friends, whether they be near or far, a Happy Thanksgiving is a blessing. Having Facebook to extend wishes is also a blessing. Something we didn’t have twenty years ago and beyond. Many states have put restrictions on who and how many can visit on this holiday, but we can make the best of it by using those tools we have at our fingertips to contact and stay in touch. Yes, I’m extremely thankful for friends and the tools available to me to reach them.

    Provision? In a time where there are nations who are starving, we have an abundance of food in our pantries and freezers. Restaurants who will make your Thanksgiving meal. I’m thankful for a well-prepared meal, even if I have to prepare it myself. It’s not about the turkey and trimmings or having a day off from work (some even have two days off.)  It’s about Thanking God for His Provision in our lives.

    Jobs?  With so many small businesses shutting their doors, my heart aches for the business owners and their employees now out of work. I wish it hadn’t happened, but it has. I pray those who have lost all will have it returned to them tenfold. I am thankful my husband has a job and is working from home. God has truly answered that prayer for us, and for that, I’m incredibly thankful.

    Health?  This one is tough because we all have been touched by the virus that runs rampant across our nation.  But we can be thankful for those doctors and nurses who have put their lives on the line to care for our loved ones. And if we escaped the virus, all the more reason to be thankful. Yes, I’m thankful for our continued good health.

    So.. we return to the core of why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Opening the door to our hearts will enable us to give thanks for those things in our lives. Search for something in which to give thanks this day, and every day.

    And above all, give thanks to the creator.

    Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
    For His mercy endures forever.

    1 Chronicles 16:34

  • Love your neighbors…

    But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

    Jonah 1:4

    Let’s look at the background for this book of the Bible.  Small children know the story of Jonah and the whale, and that’s what this book is about, that childhood Bible story.  However, there’s more to the story than our childhood memories.

    God spoke to Jonah in a unique way.  He wanted Jonah to do two things:  go to Ninevah, a large pagan city of that time, and call them to repentance. But Jonah didn’t want to go. He knew the people of Ninevah would mock him or worse, kill him. And the very worst was that Jonah wanted the Ninevites to be punished for their sin. So, he fled from God’s call to travel to Ninevah as he should have. Instead, he boarded a boat to go to Tarshish, a city that was considered the farthest ends of the earth.

    We pick up the story at this verse.  God stirred up a storm while Jonah was on that boat to Tarshish in direct opposition to what God told him to do.  There was nothing wrong with the ship or the sailors on that ship, but Jonah was not supposed to be there.  And it probably would not have been an issue if Jonah had traveled to Tarshish any other time, but he was not supposed to be on that boat.

    Jonah disobeyed God’s calling on his life.

    Let’s look at how this verse impacts our lives today.  Whether we are talking about God’s calling on our lives or we are talking about things we are supposed to do in our lives not related to God, it all boils down to disobedience.  When we are disobedient to God when he calls us to do something, many things can happen to us.  Perhaps not as dramatic as Jonah’s situation, but there is a consequence to not heeding God’s call on our lives. Likewise, if we disobey authority figures in our lives, it has consequences.  Those consequences can be anything from going to jail for rioting to losing our job for insubordination.  Consequences are consequences, and they can take any form.

    Loving his neighbors was not what Jonah wanted to do. He wasn’t called to like the Ninevites, he was called to love them by showing them their sin. And he paid for his disobedience.  We all should strive to love our neighbors.  From the grumpy guy down the street to the harried mother of five kids to the down-and-out street person that no one wants to see. We may not like any of them, but we are called to love them. God does and so should we.

    God has called me to pray for friends, family and even people I don’t know.  What has God called you to do?

     

  • Pride comes before…

    The pride of your heart has deceived you,
    You     who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
    Whose habitation is high;
    You who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’

    Obadiah 1:3

    Let’s look at Obadiah’s background. There are thirteen Obadiah’s mentioned in the Bible and this prophet, also a minor prophet could have been any of them. From an officer to a teacher of the law, to an overseer of the temple repairs to a priest in the time of Nehemiah. He could have been any of them. The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly which Obadiah he was. We do know he was called to preach to the Edomites for their sin. They were the descendants of Esau, nicknamed Edom, which means “red” and probably because he had red hair. He was the son of Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob’s brother

    Let’s look at the verse. Obadiah is preaching against the Edomites because they are filled with pride and it has deceived them. They boasted about their natural fortifications in the clefts of the rocks high in the mountains. They thought because their physical habitat was difficult to reach, they were invincible. A sure sign of pride.

    So how does this verse correlate to our lives today?

    Pride can be an insidious thing. It can manifest itself in anything in a person’s life. You name it, it can be a source of pride. The question is, what is the level of that pride. If the level of pride is so great that it affects our daily life and causes issues, then it’s time to take stock. So, what do we do about it?

    Being aware of how much pride we have is the first step. If you recognize an area in your life where pride has not only taken root but has caused issues, then you are better able to combat it. If you cannot recognize the areas where pride has manifested itself or if that pride is sinful, asking God to show you where those areas are, is the best thing to do. Listening to God speak to you about it, will help you understand what needs to be done. Then ask God to help you exercise better control over it.

    We are called not to be prideful, but to give God the glory for everything in our lives.  And there is something we can boast about, and that’s the cross of Jesus.

    At one time my husband was very prideful in his job. That job and a few subsequent ones were taken away from him. He suffered some years until God showed him it was his pride that caused many of the job losses. It was a challenging lesson for him…and for me. But with God’s help, he recognized it and overcame it.

  • Mother’s Day 2020

    Today is Mother’s Day 2020.  It’s a happy, yet sad day.  Many of us cannot give our mothers a hug and a kiss and a pot of flowers or a box of candy because she is in a heavenly place or lives across the country. But those whose mothers live nearby may not have the ability to visit their mother because of COVID-19.  It’s a poignant reminder of what we have lost. While this pandemic has taken its toll on society, we, as a people, can use alternate methods to honor our mothers.

    When I checked Facebook this morning, an array of mother’s photos were posted.  Along with the tribute, the photos tell the stories of each woman. And such lovely women they are!  What an honor to them that their children took the time to scan and post their photos to bless them. I love this aspect of Facebook because we wouldn’t be able to see those lovely photos otherwise, particularly photos of classmates, colleagues’ and other family members mother’s photos. From the 1940s through today, those photos tell the story of each woman’s life.

    My own mother lives ten hours away.  She is housebound now and will be alone all day.  While we will call her and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day, it’s not the same as being in the same room to be able to give her a hug and flowers…in my case, I’d give her a box of candy since she’s not a big fan of fresh flowers because of allergies. This is a photo of her (with the corsage) on the day of her engagement to my father.

    Some years ago, we moved to Germany and missed a U. S. Mother’s Day that year.  But my children planned a surprise 80th birthday for my mother, so I hopped a plane and surprised her for her 80th surprise birthday party.  She thought I was the surprise.  Little did she know that a party had been planned for her with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren along with her sibling.  This is a photo of her upon my arrival and a photo of her at the surprise party. 

    As she ages, she has moments of confusion and forgetfulness and it’s difficult to watch but I’m hoping today will be a good day.

    For all those who are feeling the pain of not being able to hug your mother, I pray for comfort and peace this day.  May your memories of your mother give you a warmth that will keep you for the entire year.

    Those of us fortunate enough to have children and grandchildren. The day is a reminder of the cycle of life and a testimony of the love of family.  My children also live many hours away and this has been the case for many years. I have already heard from one of my children and the smiles and love felt over the phone will never replace the hugs and kisses of being in the same room.  But I know that one day we will be together in heaven and never far away again.

    For all the mothers reading this, I wish you a very blessed Mother’s Day filled with love, happiness, and laughter.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Motherhood.

    One hundred and ten years ago, Anne Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St. Andrew’s Methodist church in Grafton, Virginia. She abhorred the commercialization of the holiday and attempted to have it removed from the calendar in her later years.

    Then in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, designated the second Sunday in May as a national holiday to honor mothers.
    That proclamation has endured for over a century.

    Today it is celebrated worldwide. Perhaps not on the same day as the United States but celebrated nonetheless. Australia and Canada share the same Mother’s Day as the United State. In the United Kingdom, it’s celebrated three Sundays before Easter.

    It hasn’t just been celebrated in the past hundred years, though. While not a holiday, the ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals in their honor.  These pagan events were the precursor to the early Christian festival known as the “Mothering Sunday”

    Children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren celebrate with their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers with cards, flowers, chocolates, and gifts. Some give simple handmade cards while others give the more elaborate Hallmark cards. Some give hand-picked bouquets while others give FTD floral arrangements. It doesn’t matter what is given, it’s the idea that mother is remembered and loved.

    Even husbands get into the act by gifting their wives with Mother’s Day cards and flowers for gifting them with beautiful children.
    Each person’s situation is different. You might have lost your mother…whether recently or long ago. Time tempers the loss but the heart still grieves.

    Or you may never have or never will have a close relationship with your mother. It doesn’t matter. There’s a woman in your life who influenced you. Perhaps your grandmother or an aunt. Honor that woman today.

    Mothers, like all humans, are imperfect but they gave us the gift of life. Without them, where would we be? They are a gift from God who can never be replaced regardless of circumstance.

    Honor your mother. Pray for her, near or far. It’s the least…and the most we can do for them. The very best gift of all.

  • Life Happens.

    My husband lost his job right before the holidays in December 2007.  His job defined him and thought he’d one day retire from it but God had other plans.  When the dreadful recession of 2008 picked up steam in California, jobs dried up.  It was all we could do to keep making the mortgage payments on our dream home.  Little by little his retirement fund vanished and desperation set in.

    Finally, he landed a short-term contract more than 2,500 miles away.  I stayed home and prepared our home for sale while I worked part-time.   Before he left for South Carolina, we painted the shutters and door and planted beautiful flowers to give our home the curb appeal it needed but, in a market where there were thousands of homes for sale, the prospect of selling seemed bleak.  Room by room, I sorted, packed, and pitched. But I kept praying.  Praying for favor from buyers and wisdom for the sale.

    My husband remained stubborn, and he refused to sell even though it was the only way to keep us from losing everything we worked for.  His South Carolina job was not what was advertised, and he wanted to come home. He couldn’t stand being alone.  I gave him an ultimatum. He could come home but he had to do two things:  put the house on the market and find another job.

    In July, he made that long trip back, and we put the house on the market. It took months to sell the house, but it sold when no houses were selling and most of them were selling for less than the owners’ mortgage.  This was a miracle given the Sacramento area was one of the most hard-hit of recession areas.  When our house finally closed on December 31, 2008, we were overjoyed because it sold at a profit.  Unheard of.  We knew God showed us favor in the house sale and He’d continue to show favor with a job.

    We moved into a small apartment and put most of our belongings into a storage POD.  During the sale period, my husband received an offer to work for a company that worked for the military in Germany. Neither he nor I were keen on living in Germany.  Neither of us was getting any younger.  He turned it down.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.  The employer told him the job would be his if he wanted it.  After the third time, my husband said, “I don’t know how many times God has to hit me over the head. I think we should take this job.”

    I wasn’t thrilled with picking up and moving across the world to a foreign land but if God wanted us there, we’d go.  We had valid passports and no house to sell.  A perfect situation for us and his future employer.  But we could only take so much with us. Our decision to rid ourselves of all the gardening equipment housed in the storage POD meant we had to dispose of it.

    We traveled the short distance to our old neighborhood and gifted our old neighbor, Chuck, with the gardening tools.  When we arrived at his home, not only was his home on the market but so was the home right next door to our old house.  Chuck had the same house like ours.  The one next door to our old house was a little larger.  Both owners were short selling their homes.

    When we unloaded the gardening equipment, he said to us, “You were very lucky. Your buyer overpaid for your home big time.”  And I said, “That wasn’t luck.  That was the power of prayer.”

    My husband and I rejoiced all the way to our tiny apartment and looked forward to the adventure God had in store for us when we moved to Germany.

    When have you seen God at work in your life?

     

  • A Queen’s Beauty

    To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. Est 1: 11 NKJV

    The book of Ester is my favorite Old Testament book of the Bible.  I’ve read it many times and am always amazed at Ester’s strength and courage.  How God worked out the circumstances to preserve His people is mind-boggling.  Every little detail.  His love, commitment, and grace to His people always astound me even though I shouldn’t be astounded…I always am.

    Now the context for the verse I highlighted today.  The first ten verses of the chapter starts with King Ahasuerus who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia.  In the third year of his reign, he had a feast for all his princes and servants, nobles and princes of the provinces.  In those days, feasts lasted for three months. The king showed off his kingdom and his wealth.  After that, he gave another feast for all the other people great and small in the palace.  His queen, Queen Vashti, gave a feast for the royal women of the palace. On the seventh day, the King ordered his seven chamberlains to bring Queen Vashti to him.

    In ancient times, women were only chattels to their husbands and particularly a queen would bow to her husband’s wishes, the king. It was the way it was.  It’s historical.

    Something important my husband said to me when we got married was: “I’m only middle management.  I have to answer to God if I treat you poorly.”  This has been something that I cling to when things get rough…and it has been rough on occasion but we both knew we had a third person in our marriage to help us through the tough times.  Jesus.

    We could not have survived the many upheavals we’ve had if Jesus were not a part of our marriage.  It’s interesting to me.  My husband once said, “I don’t know how other couples make their marriage work without Jesus in it.”  I believe he’s right.

    What are your thoughts on making Jesus the center of your marriage?

     

     

  • Wisdom

    11 Then God said to Solomon: “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life—but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king— 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like. 2 Chron 1: 11-12 NKJV

    Let’s talk about the context of these two verses.  From verse 1 to verse 6 of 2 Chronicles chapter 1 God blessed Solomon, and he took the people to the high place (where the people could meet with God) and made special sacrifices to Him.   In verse 7, God appears to Solomon and tells him to ask whatever he will.  In verses 8 through 10, Solomon asks for wisdom and knowledge to lead God’s people.

    Solomon asked God not for wealth, health or abundance of any sort but he asked for wisdom.  How wise it was of him to ask God for a trait that he could use to push the nation of Israel to heights no one had ever seen before.  God was exceedingly pleased with the request and not only gave Solomon great wisdom, the likes of which this earth hadn’t seen before him or since but great wealth and favor among the nations.

    Solomon was by no means a perfect man.  There’s only one perfect man, Jesus.  But he wrote practical advice for the ages in the Book of Proverbs.  Even today we quote from that Book.

    My husband and I pray daily, both individually and corporately.  One of our prayers is that God gives us wisdom and favor in all things and with all people like work issues, family, finances, health.  All of it.   And He has been faithful to provide the wisdom and favor we need for the day.

    One day last year my husband called me on the phone from work and said he was having a tough time dealing with a case he had (he’s a network engineer and many times those cases have a complexity that sometimes can be way over not only his head but also his colleagues.)  We had prayed that morning, but this was a special prayer for the specifics of the case.  We took about five minutes to ask the Lord to intervene and give my husband the “eyes” to see the problem to fix it or have His ministering angels intervene and fix it for him.  The wind up was when he got off the phone and went back to work on it, he figured it out, fixed it and the client was happy.  We have scores of stories like that.  Where God answered the prayer for wisdom.  God gives us our needs, not our greeds.  We were specific in the wisdom he needed for the moment and God answered that prayer.

    He truly is a mighty and awesome God.

  • Freedom!

    Freedom.  It seems appropriate for America’s 243rd birthday tomorrow on the 4th of July.  This great country has weathered countless wars.  We seem to remember the major wars:  The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Mexican American War, World War I, World War II, Persian Gulf Wars and the War in Afghanistan and many, many Indian Wars.  In the almost two and a half centuries since our great nations was founded, many have sacrificed their lives to keep us a free nation.

    Our flag, when flying high and proud, makes us think of those who fought and died so we can have the freedoms listed in our bill of rights.

    Sadly, there are those who don’t see our flag as a symbol of patriotism.  They want it banned.  They burn it. But then, they have that right to denigrate our flag because it’s their freedom to do so.  I don’t agree with it but that’s my opinion.

    So today I want to celebrate the stars and stripes but most of all I want to thank ALL the veterans of every war who fought and died for my freedom.  Their sacrifice and the sacrifices of their families touch my heart.  May God bless those who serve along with their families and may He bless those who have lost loved ones and are still grieving their loss.  I grieve with you.

    So if you see a service member in uniform, whether or not you know that service member, walk up to him or her, thank them for their service.  They are not thanked enough and should be.  My heartfelt thanks on this, America’s 243rd birthday.

    Have you ever said thank you to a service member without knowing him or her?

  • Genealogies

    And Abraham begot Isaac. The sons of Isaac were Esau and Israel. 1 Chronicles 1:34 NKJV

    Genealogies.  They’re important.  In ancient and not-so-ancient times, people depended on their parents to relay who their ancestors were and their history as a nation, tribe and ultimately as a family.  They passed that information along to their children and grand-children through word of mouth and the written word of God.  Namely, the Bible.

    The Bible gives us scores of genealogies and often we skim over them thinking them boring but they are significant because we can learn from them. The genealogies within the Bible substantiate the Bible’s historical accuracy confirming these people not only actually lived but where they lived and information about their lives.

    The Bible became the perfect place in which to document marriages, births and deaths of who they were and how they were related to one another.

    The advent of ancestry.com and 23andme.com sites have made the practice of finding our ancestors easier than ever.

    My husband and I decided to do the ancestry.com DNA testing before we knew about 23andme.com.  While I always thought I was one-hundred percent Italian because all my grandparents were born in Italy, I found out I’m only eighty-nine percent Italian. The other percentages blew my mind!  The reports were interesting and phenomenal but when we decided to do the 23andme.com DNA testing because it also had medical information based on DNA and how likely one would be to have adult-onset diabetes or some other disease that might be helpful for a child or grand-child to know about.

    The results were almost identical in both DNA tests.  But what I liked most with 23andme.com was the ability to connect with potential relatives.  First, second, third, fourth, and fifth cousins.  As of this post I have over a thousand connections, some of which are messaging me.

    It’s truly amazing what we have available to us in this day and age.  Do the DNA test and find out where you are from.  You won’t be sorry.