WHAT GOD CAN DO IN PRISON

I found this on Facebook and was so impressed I wanted to share it with everyone so I decided to share it here on my blog. 



Here is the link to her Facebook page. I just discovered it. https://www.facebook.com/isikablatv
And here is her web page: http://www.isikabla.com/en/

I'm sharing this on Spiritual Sundays, http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/

BEST YEARS

The following was written by Bill Mathes. Who is Bill Mathes? I don't have a clue, but I like this so when my cousin sent me an e-mail with this in it, I thought I would like to share it here on my blog. I can relate to so much of it. So here goes.

Born 1930 - 1979 

You definitely need to read the statement by Jay Leno. Oh so true.

Those of you born

1930 - 1979

At the end of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said.

Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!

First, we survived being born to mothers

who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, Tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants and children we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon.

We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.

And, we weren't overweight.

WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.

 We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps. And then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes.

There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,

No video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's,

no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them?

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others

who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house

with scissors, doesn't it?

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of swine flu and terrorist attacks.

Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

God determines who walks into your life.....it's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.

Father God, bless my friend in whatever it is that You know they may need this day!

And may their life be full of your peace, prosperity, and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you.

Amen. 

Thank you, Bill Mathes. This is right on. And thank you, Suzie, for e-mailing it to me.  Thank you everyone who took the time to read all the way through to this ending. 

REMEMBER

I am borrowing a page out of the Daily Devotionals for Our 50th Year at Scottsdale Bible Church. I think it is always good to remember, especially what God wants us to remember. I think this expresses it well.

DON'T FORGET

"Remember this, keep it in mind..." (Isaiah 46:8a)

When the scripture says "Remember..." it's prudent to do so.! As a student is expected to master key concepts in a class, God sometimes spells out key things to remember. When it also says "fix in mind, take to heart," God is clearly giving a foundational thought meant to anchor the essence of who we are. Such an imperative comes in Isaiah 46:8-9. "Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago: I am God, and there is no other. I am God and there is none like Me."

So we're to remember, fix it in our minds and take it to heart...the former things of long ago. These are the miraculous interventions God did, such as delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt parting the Red Sea, providing water and manna in the wilderness and delivering their enemies into their hands as they entered the Promised Land. God doesn't seem to do the same miracle twice. In other words we're not to learn a formula of how God works, rather we're to learn to depend directly on Him as we learn to walk with Him. We're also to remember the times we've seen God work directly in our lives, answering prayer, leading or speaking to us, sustaining us and transforming us. Finally, and above all, we're to remember there is no other God than Him or like Him.....daily Remember!

- John Milligan

Reading these words caused me to remember the many times God has answered my prayers and how He has worked in my life. I hope it does the same for you who are reading this right now. 

I hope you will visit our Spiritual Sundays blog if you did not come here from a link found there. You will find links to lots of inspirational posts. Click HERE to go to that Blog.

MOTHER

My mother left this earth in 1999. If she were still alive she would have celebrated her 100th birthday last month. I still miss her especially on special occasions like Mother's Day. The following picture of my mother and me was taken in the 1960s. I still remember this special day. I made my dress and the one my mother is wearing for Mother's Day that year. My dear Hubby bought the corsages for us. 

One of the things I appreciated most about my mother was her love for God, Jesus, and the church. Everyone who knew my mother loved her. She showed genuine interest in everyone she met. In fact, she used to drive me a little crazy when she would start telling me about someone she knew who I hardly knew or didn't know at all, and she would go into detail telling me all about something going on in their lives. I would think, (but didn't say) "I don't care." "I don't even know these people." She was interested in everybody. I mean, it wasn't like she just did this once in awhile. She did it all the time. Now I wish she was here to tell me some of her stories. I have the feeling that when I see her in heaven she will have lots of stories about lots of people she has met there to tell me about. It will be a wonderful time. I totally look forward to it. 

I'm sharing this for Spiritual Sundays this week. You can click HERE to go to that blog. So many wonderful people share their hearts with us there. I hope you will check it out if you are not familiar with Spiritual Sundays.

CARL

I recently received an e-mail with an incredible story in it. I don't know if it is true, but the message is the same even if it is not. I like to think it actually happened. It is rather long, but definitely worth taking the time to read. It is about a man named Carl, how he was treated, and how he responded.

CARL

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake.

Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well.

Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us.

He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII.

Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up.

He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened.

He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, "Would you like a drink from the hose?"

The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, "Yeah, sure," with a malevolent little smile.

As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl's arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl's assailants stole his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled.

Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him.

Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn't get there fast enough to stop it.

"Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?" the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet.

Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head. "Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday."

His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water.

Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, "Carl, what are you doing?"

"I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately," came the calm reply.

Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose.

This time they didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to foot in the icy water.

When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done.

Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose and went on with his watering.

The summer was quickly fading into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches.

As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.

"Don't worry old man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time."

The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl.

"What's this?" Carl asked. "It's your stuff," the man explained. "It's your stuff back. Even the money in your wallet." "I don't understand," Carl said. "Why would you help me now?"

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. "I learned something from you," he said. "I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate."

He stopped for a moment. "I couldn't sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back."

He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. "That bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess." And with that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather.

In particular, the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn't know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church.

The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life.

In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, "Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden."

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: "Person needed to care for Carl's garden."

The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door.

Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flyer. "I believe this is my job, if you'll have me," the young man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl.

He knew that Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, "Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him."

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done.

During that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it.

One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, "My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she's bringing him home on Saturday."

"Well, congratulations!" said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. "That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?"

"Carl," he replied.

MARCH AND MARCHING

Come ye that love the Lord, and let your joys be known
Join in a song with sweet accord, Join in a song with sweet accord. 
And thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion; 
We're marching upward to Zion; the beautiful city of God.
 
Then let our songs a bound and every tear be dry;
We're marching through Immanuel's ground;
We're marching through Immanuel's ground, 
To fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high.
 
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion; 
We're marching upward to Zion; the beautiful city of God
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion; 
We're marching upward to Zion; the beautiful city of God.

This is an old old song that we used to sing a lot in church but haven't sung it for years.  I like the newer contemporary Christian songs (although the hand-clapping ones not so much) but there is something to be said for these songs we sang in the "old days." So why did I chose this particular song to share today? I was trying to think of something that would go with March since March is right around the corner. I know it is kind of "hokey" but that was how I chose this song. I do like the song. I like the concept of Marching to Zion. 

LOVE

Valentine's Day is a few days away. I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my "Valentine". Some men are not romantic. Some men don't even think about getting their wife anything for Valentines's Day or any other special day. My hubby has always given me nice gifts, taken me to dinner and many times on a special "get away" on special days. We have had a lot of extra expenses lately (large ones). This morning we were discussing it and he said he hopes we don't have any more unexpected expenses any time soon. I told him we could forget about my Valentine present. He said "Oh, no", very forcefully. I know he is not about to do that. Am I blessed or what? Oh yeah. That's for sure. Thank you, God, for bringing us together all those many years ago.

DRIVE ― OR DRIVEN?

Have you set goals for the new year? I used to make New Years resolutions but quit doing that years ago. I think it is always good though to have goals in mind and to work toward them no matter what time of year it is. I have shared a number of Helen Steiner Rice's poems on my blogs. Guess what? Here's another one, but this one is kind of different from the others. It is called God, Give Us "Drive" but Keep Us From Being "Driven". I thought that was kind of a "tricky title" and I like it so here goes.

There's a difference between "drive' and driven"―
The one is selfish the other God-given―
For the "driven man" has but one goal,
Just worldly wealth and not "riches of soul,"
And daily he's spurred on to reach and attain
A higher position, more profit and gain,
Ambition and wealth become his great need
But most blessed are they who use their "drive"
To work with zeal so all men may survive,
For while they forfeit great personal gain
Their work and their zeal are never in vain . . .
For they contribute to the whole human race
And we cannot survive without growing in grace,
So help us, dear God, to choose between
The "driving force" that rules our routine
So we may make our purpose and goal
Not power and wealth but the growth of our soul . . .
And give us strength and drive and desire
To raise our standards and ethics higher
So all of Us and not just a few
May live on earth . . . as You want Us to.

                            -Helen Steiner Rice

It is unseasonably cold in our desert. One more night of freezing temps and then we'll be going back up to highs in the 70s. So many people are sick and I think the weather may be contributing to it. I've been fighting a cold or flu or something since about two weeks before Christmas. I've thought I was about well several times only to have it come back and knock me back down. I really should not complain though. This is the first time I've been sick in years. And I love this cold weather. But I will be ready for it to be just a little warmer. Thanks for stopping by and spending a little time with me today. I appreciate it.

Wishing, hoping and praying many blessings for all my blogging friends in the new year. Thank you for being a friend.

Prayers Can't Be Answered Unless They Are Prayed

I go again to one of the many little books of poetry by Helen Steiner Rice. This one was especially meaningful as I read it today so I'm sharing it with you. It's called Prayers Can't Be Answered Unless They Are Prayed. Of course God knows what we need and want before we ask him, but He wants us to ask. We know what our children need and want but many times we wait for them to ask. I guess maybe God looks at it the same way. Here's the poem:

Life without purpose is barren indeed―
There can't be a harvest unless you plant seed,
There can't be attainment unless there's a goal,
And man's but a robot unless there's a soul . . .
If we send no ships out, no ships will come in,
And unless there's a contest, nobody can win. . .
For games can't be won unless they are played,
And prayers can't be answered unless they are prayed . . .
So whatever is wrong with your life today,
You'll find a solution if you kneel down and pray
Not just for pleasure, enjoyment, and health,
Not just for honors and prestige and wealth . . .
But Pray for a Purpose to make life worth living.
And Pray for the Joy of unselfish giving,
For great is your gladness and Rich your Reward
When you make your Life's Purpose the choice of the Lord.

People are very busy this time of year. I hope you will take some time out of your busy schedule to visit Spiritual Sundays and visit some of the links there. You will be blessed.

MY ROCK AND COMFORTER

I opened the Kindle app on my iPad this morning. I had not looked at it in awhile. It opened to this:

DAY 7 - 40 DAYS WITH JESUS: CELEBRATING HIS PRESENCE.

WOW, this was just what I needed to read today. I wanted to share it with you.

DAY 7

I AM IMMANUEL―GOD WITH YOU―an ever-present Help in trouble. No matter what may happen, I am sufficient to provide whatever you need. Instead of imagining how you might respond to terrible things that could happen, draw your mind back to the present and take refuge in My Presence, I am much like a mother hen, eager to cover you with my protective pinions. As you snuggle under My wings, you will not only find refuge; you will also discover a growing ability to trust Me. It is in closeness to Me that you realize how trustworthy I am.

Remember that I am both your Rock and your Redeemer. Though I am impregnable in My vast strength, I became a vulnerable Man so I could redeem you from your sins. The more you take refuge in Me, the more aware you become of My overflowing Love. In Me you are utterly safe, for I am your Rock of everlasting Love!

FOR REFLECTION: PSALM 46:1-2;

MATTHEW 23:37 (NKJV0; PSALM 91:4 (AMP)

I have been lamenting the outcome of our election ever since Tuesday night. The above thoughts helped to cheer me up. I am still terribly worried about my country but I do take refuge in these words of Jesus. It is a good reminder that people will make mistakes, terrible mistakes, let you down, in general just make you miserable but God is ever faithful and I need to look even more than I have in the past to His promises that He will be with me no matter how bad things get ― and they will continue to get a while lot worse. What He has in store for those who love Him and trust Him will totally outweigh any problems we have now. I see so many of the prophecies of the Bible being fulfilled that I am really convinced that we are living in the last days. If you have been "bummed out" over the election as I have been perhaps these thoughts will uplift you as well. I hope so. So many of you have made encouraging comments to me on the latest Spiritual Sundays post. Thank you for that.