The future remains a dream

On October 31, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, faith, joy, love, praise, prayer, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

Ah, my God. My life is like a flower I think. I started out as a seed in my mother’s womb, the promise of a breath, a heartbeat, a soul. Then as a bud with promises of things to come in my parents’ arms, I wrinkled my nose at them, puckered my mouth, blinked, and cooed. Next came the excitement of slowly opening up as I gradually grew through childhood. I tried to be lovely and sweet, but that’s when the thorns appeared. Sometimes I stuck myself with those thorns. Eventually I reach adulthood and have been in pure water full of life, but other times in murky water that interfered with my growth. As I look back, it was all a sigh. The future remains a dream. A dream of being with you forever like a flower that never fades. I long for that day. Until then, I will continue to praise you, the sunshine of my life and soul. I worship you.

Lord, thank you for the morning. It is so beautiful. It is a little nippy outside, but the sun is strong and warm. I see squirrels scampering about preparing for winter. I see people out jogging and enjoying the autumn breeze. I think of my garden and all the food it produced ~ more than I need. Thank you for such a bounty that I have plenty to give away to other people. And thank you for the newspaper that reports on people with problems. It is as though they are calling out to me. I can look them up in the phone book and write them a letter of encouragement and say a prayer for them. Thank you for newspapers. And parts of the internet.

MICHAEL: THE FOURTH WISE MAN sits in the palace just north of where the Garden of Eden had been. As a descendant of Jewish Daniel in a pagan world, he longs to restore the garden in hopes that God will walk the earth again as he did with Adam and Eve. But he is interrupted by a star. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/Michel4thWiseMan

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Until faith returns

On October 27, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, discouragement, faith, forgiveness, judging, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

God, you are worthy of praise for your creativity, your mind, your actions, your words. You are goodness and justice and mercy. You are might and power. You are tender and kind. How could I ever want a better judge to stand before at the end of my life? I worship you.

Father, sometimes I lock people into one action they have done and assume they will always be like that. Help me see the whole person in everyone at all times. Please forgive me when I judge wrong and help me overcome it.

Thank you, Lord God, for hope. Hope lives, even when faith is tired and beaten down. All things can become better in you either directly or indirectly. No matter what happens, there is always hope because there is always God. Thank you for leaning low when my faith is low and rocking me gently in your arms of hope. Thank you for being patient with me and lending me your strength until full faith returns.

LUKE: SLAVE AND PHYSICIAN. Yes, in Roman times, physicians were family slaves. And slaves came from the losing side in war. Luke could have been enslaved after the great Battle of Baduhenna Wood in today’s Holland as Lukvert. In this novelized version of his life, he believes in the Nordic gods. But he cannot find them. When enslaved by the Romans, he learned of innumerable other gods. His prayer was always, “Oh thousand gods”. He even climbed Mt. Olympus, but Jupiter was not there. Now he was ready to meet Paul. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://bit.ly/Lukephysician

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Taking Heaven for Granted

On October 24, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, church, Death of Jesus Christ, ego, eternity, Heaven, Life of Christ, praise, prayer, worship1 Comment

The scripture for today, October 25 (10/25), is Hebrews 10:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another ~ and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Do you declare, “I can walk through nature ~ the temple of God ~ and feel God is closer there than in a church building”? Well, do you really do it? How often? The purpose of the church meeting is not so much to encourage yourself as to encourage your fellow Christians and visitors, along with worshiping God.

Look at the context. Verse 23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,” and verse 24 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” How do you do these things? A lot of it is done during your congregation’s worship and encouragement service.

And what comes after our verse for today? Verse 26 says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” Meeting together with other congregational members is one of the major experiences that keeps you and your friends from falling and missing heaven. Or does worshipping all the time in heaven sound boring too?

Should you meet once a week? This scripture says to meet “all the more as you see the Day [of Judgment] approaching.’ Do you say, “But that’s too inconvenient”?

It was inconvenient for Jesus to leave a perfect heaven for an imperfect earth. It was inconvenient for him to leave the company of angels for the company of sinners. It was inconvenient for him to do this for 33 long years. Inconvenient to take the blame for your sins, and then take your punishment. Inconvenient to experience agonizing spiritual death when God left him alone on the cross in your place, and then that agonizing physical death in your place.

Do you really know inconvenience? Do you take heaven for granted?

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Searching for Answers

On October 21, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #ransom, blessings, Inspirational, judging, patience, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

Ah, how I ever long to praise you, God, for you are the Sovereign Lord over all that exists and the only God. You formed me with gentleness and delight and I think perhaps a song in your heart. So many plans you made for me. How am I doing, Lord? Your expectations are high, but I am trying, Lord. I am trying. You inspire me, you rouse me from resting too much, and you revive my heart. Oh, how I love you.

Father, I try to convince people to be saved and that requires me to have the opinion they are not saved. I try to encourage other saved ones to reach out to the lost but that requires me to have the opinion they are not doing it. How far should opinion go? Forgive me if I have inserted my opinion above yours. Help me keep searching the scriptures for answers.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us a book that reveals your thoughts, points of view, and opinions. How fortunate Christians are. No other so-called god has done so. And the Plan! It took so long to convince people we couldn’t stop sinning or save ourselves. But you stuck it out. You were so patient over those thousands of years and are still. Thank you. I worship you.

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Prevailing over them

On October 20, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #Handicaps, attitude, discouragement, Inspirational, praise, prayer, problems, victoryLeave a comment

I praise you when I am happy and on top of the world. I praise you when I am wandering around aimlessly, not knowing what I need to be doing. And when I am struggling through a project that is not coming together as I had planned. And before I fall asleep and when I waken. And when I walk among beauty and when I crawl through the ugly. You never change. You are always the same. The thought brings sameness and stability to my life. The thought causes me to love you even more.

Your word says that, in you, I can be more than a conqueror. But how can I be that unless there is something in my life I need to conquer? There is a song about experiencing “Victory in Jesus” but how can I experience that without something to be victorious over? Thank you, Lord, for problems and obstacles. Without them, I would not know the exhilaration that comes with prevailing over them with you.

MEFIBOSET: CRIPPLED PRINCE. Every sermon I have ever heard and every article I have ever read about Mephibosheth has been “woe is me”. I deny that. First, he was the grandson of the most handsome and tallest man in the kingdom ~ King Saul. The Bible gives the name of his son and grandsons. He got married! He wasn’t just a poor shrunken cripple crawling around on the floor hoping people won’t step on him. Read this biblical historical novel and be inspired. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://bit.ly/2ywrqJi

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And was that a wink, Lord?

On October 19, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #Handicaps, good works, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, joy, prayer, Thanksgiving, things, worshipLeave a comment

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/Ah, my Lord God, when I give anything to you, it is not really a gift. I am only returning what is already yours. The world and all that is in it is yours because you created everything. Then you loaned it all to humans to take care of for you. You give each of us talents so we can make your loans beautiful. May we, give them back to you better than they were. How? By giving what you loaned to us to someone who cannot pay us back. Perhaps a retired person with low income, perhaps a child, perhaps a beggar on the street. May what we give away praise you in this way.

And all those talents you gave us. I cannot count them all. Oh, my! One person is an artist with pencils or paints or sand or glass or stone. Someone else is a musician making music that is loud and soft, fast and slow, high and low. Someone else is a cook, a writer, a welder, a speaker, a carpenter, a pilot, a climber. Then there are the builders of things short and tall, square and triangle, brick or wood or glass. The molders and sculptors of marble, silly putty, wood, and even food. Mountain makers of stone, sand, mashed potatoes, and bubbles. The sewers, the writers, the cookers. The explorers seeking more of your wonders and beauty and marvels. Oh, so many talents you have given us to make your world just a little more exciting, intense, entertaining, lovely, introspective, and joyous. I think you are grinning at me now. And was that a wink? Thank you, Lord.

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When I create, it is in honor of you

On October 18, 2020 By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayerLeave a comment

Ah, my Lord, sometimes I can hardly stand the waiting to see you at last. Sometimes I wonder what I will be doing if you return in the clouds before I die. Will I be riding in a car, going for a walk, playing with my children, concentrating on a project at work, jogging, eating, playing golf, shop lifting, getting drunk, yelling at my family, cheating on a test? What a spectacle you will be! Trumpets heard all over the world. Making yourself be seen equally all over the world at the same time, floating on the clouds surrounded by your angels. Then, and then, those who are your children will begin floating up to the clouds to join you. What a ride that will be, Lord. You have it all worked out. You have informed everyone of your surprise return. You have been fair. For that, I praise you and will praise you forever.

Thank you, Lord God, for my powers of thinking. I can work math problem; animals cannot. I can write music; animals cannot. I can speak words; animals cannot. I can read; animals cannot. You made humans far above animals mentally, just like you are far above us mentally. We were created in your image. You love to create and we do too. And so, when I create something, it is in honor of you. Thank you for making humans as we are.

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And sometimes I will whisper to you

On October 17, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, blessings, death, Fear, Heaven, Inspirational, prayer, teaching, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

Lord, an old friend years ago was in a coma for weeks. One day, she opened her eyes, sat up in bed, held out her arms, smiled, laid back down, and died. My old aunt was bedfast with a long-term fatal disease. The last few days of her life, she kept holding out her hands and whispering, “Why are you hovering so far from me?”. Another friend was in her livingroom and her husband heard her say, “Well, hello there.” When he went to investigate who had just arrived at their house, his wife was slumped in her chair, gone. Ah, my Lord God, you do not leave us to die alone. Is it an angel who comes to get us when our time has come? Is it you, Jesus? All I know is that I will not be alone, and slipping from this world to yours will be the whisper of a breath, an enchanting holy moment. The moment I have lived for my whole life, for then I will suddenly be home. There I will praise you forever.

It is morning and nippy outside, but I am cozy in my robe looking out the window at the dawn. I see birds hopping around eating, perhaps getting their fill before setting out on their long journey to a warmer climate for the winter. Is that frost I see on the ground? I will eat some cereal and drink some juice, then get dressed for the day. My quiet time with you will be over. But you will continue with me through all the noise and hustle and bustle of the day, and sometimes I will whisper to you with a smile, “Thank you for adorning my life.”

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The sun will return

On October 16, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, #ransom, Bible, family, forgiveness, Heaven, Loss, love, prayer, problems, teachingLeave a comment

Sometimes storms sweep around me with gales that attack my faith. You break through the dark clouds, sweep them aside and reveal blue skies to renew my faith. Sometimes I dare try to walk on water and do the impossible, then begin to sink. You come to me on those same waters, reach down, take my hand and lift me up out of my danger. Then you hold on to me until I am safely on the shore. Sometimes the darkness folds in around me ~ the darkness of my sin ~ and I despair of being lost. But I see in the distance a glow and know it is you coming to light my way and forgive my sins. I am overwhelmed by your love, Lord God, and worship you.

It is autumn. The leaves are glowing, the squirrels are scampering, and I am busy harvesting my garden and preserving it for the cold winter ahead. It is autumn and the shadows are growing longer as the earth tilts and winks at the sun. It is autumn and the sun is disappearing much sooner now. But I have the promise that the sun will be back after a while. And it reminds me of your promise to take me home with you where you will be my sun and never will you disappear. Thank you for all this, my Lord.

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