Listen! Do you hear them?

02-DreamMakerChildsCartoonSmallThe scripture for today, April 14 (4/14), is Esther 4:14b as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Today’s scripture is about a reluctant young lady who won a beauty contest and was chosen to be queen of Persia. Time has passed, and now a command has just gone out to kill all Jews. Queen Esther was a Jewess but had not told anyone at the royal court. She could continue to hide her nationality and let all her people die, or she could try to intervene with the king. She was the only Jew the king would have listened to. So, realizing she could be killed too, she spoke on behalf of her people. They were saved.

There are always situations in life in which you are the only one who can accomplish something very needed. Perhaps you are the only adult standing near a strange child about to run out into a busy street. Perhaps you are tall, and a short person needs to reach something at the store. Perhaps you know a particular language and others around you need you to explain something to them. Perhaps someone called a wrong number on the telephone and reached you instead.

What about during this word-wide pandemic and people without computers? What can you do while quarantined from everyone except those in your home?

  1. You can go to the home of someone living alone, and sit on their porch in a lawn chair and visit through the screen door. 
  2. You can lead others to form a parade to the home of a young person who is missing out on a graduation exercise, wave signs, honk your horns, put decorations on their front lawn.
  3. You can go to the home of a sick person and serenade them. 
  4. If you are a retiree and getting a regular monthly check, you can tighten your belt and send money to the church that is going to be overwhelmed with aid requests. 
  5. If you have old toys, you can wash them, put them on the porch of a family with children (duly disinfected), or tools you don’t use to the home of a craftsman, or your extra fabric to the home of a seamstress.
  6. What about calling a child and reading a story to them or an older person and singing to them?
  7. Is there a book you’ve wanted to write for years when you had time?
  8. Put storybooks or puzzle books or magazines or jigsaw puzzles on the porch of a family or person living alone
  9. Can you begin writing the story of your life to pass on to future generations?
  10. For large families running out of paper products, take over a supply of cloth handkerchiefs or cloth towels. A young family could use a supply of cloth diapers. 
  11. Take a supply of hand, dish, or laundry soap to a large family.
  12. Make a stew or cookies or a roast for someone.
  13. Do yard work for people.
  14. Repair or paint house exteriors.
  15. Make  100 or1000 handmade thank-you notes and leave them at a hospital for all the workers.
  16. Go through your congregation’s membership directory and pray for everyone by name.
  17. Go for a walk around your deserted neighborhood and tape an encouraging Bible verse on each front door. 
  18. Drive past deserted stores and office buildings and pray for those who are losing income.
  19. Read your newspaper, pray for everyone in it and, using your phone book, send them a note saying you did.
  20. If you get home deliveries, leave a box of goodies wrapped in individual packets at your door with a note, “Take one: This is my thank you.”
  21. Oh, and give blood.

As you go through life, there are situations in which you are the only one who can handle them or the only one who has thought of doing what others could be doing. Do you do them? Do you watch for those situations, or do you walk around in your own little world? Dare to be a queen. Or a king.

Listen! It’s the silent cries of people only you can help. Do you hear them?

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I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?        https://amzn.to/3ckTnSi

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02-DreamMakerChildsCartoonSmallDREAM MAKER is storybook #2 in A CHILD’S LIFE OF CHRIST for ages 3-12.  At the end of every chapter is “Think & Do” for your child to apply something from that chapter in their life, usually a good work such as taking a cookie to a neighbor and calling a shut-in to sing to them or calling an unpopular child at school to say hi.  Perfect for the early reader with large font and dashes between syllables of big words. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/3ckTnSi

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Once Again Lifted Up

01-StarSong-CHILD'SCartoonCover-SmallThe scripture for today, April 13, is Philippians 4:13 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Life is not easy. Plans are scattered, dreams are shattered, and even predictable every-day things sometimes give way to the unknown and unpredictable. Maybe you have made bad decisions, or you weren’t prepared for emergencies, or you are an innocent victim of someone else’s problems.

Then there is the isolation so many people are going through right now in order to not give or receive a virus with no known cure. People losing jobs, people losing connections, people crowded together hour after hour and day after day in a single home with cabin fever, or alone and lonely in a single home. Wondering. What is in the future?

There is Someone who knows everything that is happening to you and who will walk beside you down whatever path you find yourself. He has gotten societies all over the world through disasters for thousands of years and he will get you through this one too.  Further, even if you lose faith in Him, He will not lose faith in you.

When you don’t feel like it, reach out to God. Pray, even if all you can think of to talk about is how terrible things are right now. At least you’re talking. And read the Bible ~ especially the New Testament where people were dying for their faith ~  for that is God talking to you. Keep the two-way communication going. Amidst your weeping when you fall, God will give you strength and once again lift you up.

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01-StarSong-CHILD'SCartoonCover-SmallSTAR SONG is storybook #1 in A CHILD’S LIFE OF CHRIST for ages 3-12.  At the end of every chapter is “Think & Do” for your child to apply something from that chapter in their life, usually a good work such as taking a cookie to a neighbor and calling a shut-in to sing to them or calling an unpopular child at school to say hi.  Perfect for the early reader with large font and dashes between syllables of big words. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2qsc00U

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Your radiance dazzles the universe.

Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride, Eccelsia-THUMBNAILLord God of heaven and earth, your radiance dazzles the universe. When you speak, the thunders crash. When you protect, you send bolts of lightning where needed. You are not soft. Your enemies hate you for stopping them. They declare you are not a good God because you will not let them do whatever they want.  I am unendingly grateful that you are my shield, my defender, my safeguard, my shelter. You are always there when I need you. I do not even know all the times you have kept me from harm, but I know you do. I praise you with my lips, my actions, my heart.

Thank you for rain ~ gentle showers, rushing torrents, and all that is between.  You soften the ground with it and make it ready for seeds anxious to reproduce themselves. Spring is filled with hope, autumn overflowing with bounty.  Even the deserts with their sparseness and sand that blows wearily here and there come alive with blossoms that have been hidden since the last rain long before. No seed really ever dies. It always has life in it. How amazing how you awaken what was thought to be dead even in the desert and bless the earth. How kind you are to provide my food when I am hungry and nourish my life so I can plant seeds of your hope in others’ hearts.

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I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?’          https://amzn.to/2UKPIaw

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Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride, Eccelsia-THUMBNAILLOVE LETTERS OF JESUS & HIS BRIDE, ECCLESIA.  Want to know how much God loves you despite yourself?  Read this book based on the Song of Songs and be awed. God is the lover of your soul.  Every time you wander, he runs after you and returns you to his arms.  Never under-estimate the love of God for his bride, the church.  This is also a gift book with papyrus font.  It can also be used as you meditate over Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2UKPIaw

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A Calm Anger?

Was Jesus God-COVER-kindle-thumbnailThe scripture for today, April 4 (4/4), is Psalm 4:4 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“In your anger do not sin.”

You’ve gotta be kidding!  That’s impossible! When you get angry, it’s time to lash out at everyone. And yell and call them names. And show some temper. Maybe even throw a few things. After all, that’s the only way to get across to the other person that you are really angry.

Hold on. If, for instance, you told your child not to do something for their own safety but your child did it anyway, of course, you would become angry. Why? Your child put himself in danger because of his action.

You can choose to lash out at your child wildly so that your emotions mask your words. Or you can choose to talk calmly and explain the dangers your child was put in because of that action. Maybe punishment is in order. You can calmly but firmly tell them what their punishment is. You can calmly punish your child without losing your temper.

It is the same way with adults. If you lose your temper and shoot daggers with your eyes and rant and rave, all your actions distract people from your words. Aren’t your words of explanation more important than the emotionalism and yelling? If you were hurt, just say so. If they hurt themselves, just say so.

And with other adults, tell them how you feel, not how they feel; you don’t really know. Tell them what you want, not what they want; you don’t really know.

While we’re at it, not all words help. Name-calling does not help. Name-calling is done when you choose not to explain how you feel. Name-calling such as, “You’re irresponsible,” locks the other person in and sets them up for future failures between you and them. Losing your temper during anger gets you off the issue and into sin.

If I’m angry because it rained, I do not lash out at the rain. I calmly deal with it and go on with my life.

Next time you are angry at a person, try to remain calm and then explain the problem in tones they can truly listen to and learn from. If you have trouble doing this, practice when you’re alone. It will come to you in the right way. It will teach you to remain calm when you’re angry.

Anger is not the same thing as sin. What you do with it can be. Choose a calm anger.  Thereby, you will have a peace that passes understanding.

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I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?          https://amzn.to/2JAUbGD

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Was Jesus God-COVER-kindle-thumbnailWAS JESUS GOD? is an answer to those who believe Christians worship two Gods.  Based on John 1:1-3, 14:  The Word was God and became flesh.  The book begins in the Garden of Eden and progresses to why God had to become flesh.  Who did his blood ransom us from? He did not ransom us from himself.  Hard questions have easy-to-understand answers. Father/Will, Son/Body, Spirit/Action/.  The book ends in Heaven with our glorious bodies like unto his.  Read it and be inspired. To BUY NOW click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2JAUbGD

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Prayer for Tuesday 3/31

06-PROMISE KEEPER-ChildsCartoonThumbnailAlways I praise you, Lord God. You are in all I see and hear and touch in nature. But you are more. You are Truth and Life and Love and Justice and Mercy. You touch my life with tenderness. You forgive so easily and hastily. How you love me and love to watch me. You spared nothing to bring me close to you in ways I do not begin to comprehend. Your mind and your ways are so far above mine.  I cannot laud you enough.

Lord, yesterday I let someone believe a lie. They believed I had done some good thing but I had not. Further, I did not set them straight. By my silence, I let them go on believing it. Make me go to that person and tell them the truth. If I am embarrassed, so be it. I should not have perpetuated a lie by my silence.

Ah, Jehovah God of the universe, thank you for loving me and caring about me. If I go to a wilderness of apathy, you guide me out. If I climb mountains of egotism, you bring me down. If I dive into the deepest ocean of self-pity, you bring me up. You watch me every moment, not just to protect me from others, but protect me from myself. You never tire of me. I never tire of you. You are my joy, my king, my hero, the lover of my soul.

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06-PROMISE KEEPER-ChildsCartoonThumbnailPROMISE KEEPER is storybook #6 in A CHILD’S LIFE OF CHRIST.  It has the same chapters as the adult PROMISE KEEPER in THEY MET JESUS series with stories on a child’s level.  At the end of each of the ten chapters in each storybook is Think & Do to help the child apply that story to their daily life.  This is a great time to read with your child.  Understandable at age 3 and up to 12. At age 13, they should switch to the adult version.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………  https://amzn.to/2UNR4A7

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Scripture for today ~ Let the Lord be good to you

Supper-Front Cover-Thumbnail

The scripture for today, March 25 (3/25), is Lamentations 3:25 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.”

That’s all?  Just hope?  I don’t have to have a deep, deep faith for God to be good to me? All I have to do is hope he exists? Hope he loves everyone. Hope he loves me?

Were you raised by atheists, or did you attend a university where professors criticize theists (believers in God)? Have you been told deity is just the essence of the universe with no personality? Are you confused by it all?  You can still hope there is only the One God who does exist, has personality, knows your name, and loves you.

Have you had a major tragedy in your life and can’t understand how a good God could allow that bad thing to happen (heaven on earth)? Do you live among people who believe all the gods in the world are the One God, so don’t pay special attention to any of them?

Amidst such confusion, is it hard for you to sort it all out and have faith in the One God of the Bible? What is faith anyway? It is the evidence of what you hope for.  If you cannot go so far as to say you have a deep faith in the One God, you can still hope! Keep that hope alive. Let the Lord be good to you.

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Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailTHE LORD’S SUPPER:  52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS.  The churches are CLOSED up and we are not allowed to worship together.  We can still keep the Lord’s Supper at home alone.  Are you uncertain what to say to yourself in your meditation? This book is perfect to help you through these confusing times.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://amzn.to/33JzzoD

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Prayer for Sunday 3/15

0-BK 4-FolkHero-Cover-Kindle-thumbnail-newLet them gossip about me and harass me and tell falsehoods about me. I will not deny you, Lord God of the universe. Let them cheat me, beat me, threaten me. I will not deny you, Lord God of all that exists.  Let them imprison me and execute me. I will not deny you. How can I? You are my heart, you are my soul, you are my being. Oh, for the privilege of dying for you. Let my death have meaning. Do not give me a peaceful moment in which to die.

Thank you, Jesus, God materialized. Other religions cannot fathom that. Either their god is too far above mankind to do such a lowly thing, or their god made us and went on his merry way without another thought, another care. When I think about your glorious body that can appear and disappear at will, that can walk on water, that can go through walls, that can rise to the clouds, and know you are going to give me a glorious body like yours in heaven, well, I am flabbergasted. More amazing is that you care about me at all. You have made so many promises I cannot count them. Your blessings are beyond mathematical comprehension. How I delight in you and bow before you in gratitude and worship.

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/2Wbgg65

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0-BK 4-FolkHero-Cover-Kindle-thumbnail-newFOLK HERO is lyrical historical novel #4 in the THEY MET JESUS series.  At the end of each chapter is a list of scriptures the story was based on, historical sources such as Josephus, and life-application questions.  It is a commentary in narrative form.  Great for personal reading, reader clubs, and older homeschoolers.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2Wbgg65

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Prayer for Thursday 2/20

06-Moses Thumbnail CoverI long to be closer to you, my Lord, and understand you better.  It will come.  For I will live with you forever.  I can hardly wait! To see you face to face.  Ah, the thought.  My father, if my body is attacked by a deadly disease or I am in a vehicle accident, please pay no attention to my friends who will pray for my healing.  I do not want healing because that only will deter me from being with you.  Welcome disease, welcome accident, welcome the end of my life here in the shadows. The end here is the beginning of real life.  Welcome bright glory, welcome the sunshine of your presence, welcome the majesty of you on your throne of the universe and beyond.  You are the Power of all powers, Maker of all makers, Lord of all lords.  You are the Seen Son, the Heard Spirit, the First Cause Father. And I worship you.

Thank you, holy God, for making me so I can be close to you and magnify you. I often wonder why some people naturally lean toward you and others do not. Perhaps some just do not show it outwardly as much as others. Thank you for the peaceful life I live with my family. I’d be happy with my family in a barn!  It is not where; it is who. And thank you for my warm home, sheltering me from the blustery wind and snow out there. And thank you for Christian hymns. Most of the composers are long ago through with this life. But I thank you for putting the songs in their heart to write and share with the world. What delights you put in my life.

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/37LDwJS

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06-Moses Thumbnail CoverMOSES is storybook #6 in A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES.  Moses began life as a slave, became a prince, killed a bad man, ran for his life, and married into an Arabian family.  Sometimes while watching his sheep he would write about his people, or study the stars, or play with his children. He also lost all his confidence. Why would God ever want him to lead millions of people who were never allowed to make their own decisions? To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/37LDwJS

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Prayer for Saturday 2/8

0-Joseph-Cover-ThumbnailAh, my God and my Creator.  What a wonderous artist you are. You delight my senses with the gentle touch of a snowflake and the crunch of my feet as I walk among your whited wonder. The wind is cold, but inside I am warm. Oh, look at that Woodpecker. How much fun he is having with that tree. And that squirrel scampering across the snow with something in its mouth; I’ll bet it’s some morsel it buried during the fall.  Oh, my, that child has made snow angels, and those children over there are making snowmen. How beautiful and enchanting you made everything on earth, my home.

Thank you, dear Lord, for loving me with a love so powerful, nothing holds it back. When I sin, you ache, then call me to you. When I ~ with your help ~ convince someone to become a Christian and be saved from Satan, you notify the angels, and we all rejoice together. When I feel lonely, all I have to do is call one of the many friends you have given me. Oh, and thank you for children that remind me of innocent wonder. Even in winter, you are the sunshine of my soul.

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0-Joseph-Cover-ThumbnailJOSEPH: THE OTHER FATHER is biblical historical novel #5 in the INTREPID MEN OF GOD series.  The opening scene shows young Joseph lunging forward, carrying a tree to his carpenter shop, being too poor to buy an ox and wagon.  That’s the stuff the other father must be made of and Joseph is God’s choice.  From the time of Jesus’ birth, Joseph does everything possible to keep him safe in a violent world until he is grown.  And when sometimes Jesus is in danger and Joseph cannot get to him in time, he calls out, “God!  Help me save our son!”  No step-father could have loved his son more than Joseph did Jesus. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/378LJYj

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Prayer for Wednesday 2/5

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-I praise you all mighty God. Oh, how you have spoiled me. You placed diamonds in mountain-top snow, rubies in the flowers, emeralds in the meadows, and delight in the birds that daily sing to me. As I climb the mountain of my life I think back of all the enormous opportunities I had as a youth. As I grow older and climb higher, my choices are narrowing and I am glad. My focus is more and more on you. Someday I will reach the mountain top, and you will be there. You will smile and say, “Welcome home.”

Ah, thank you, my Lord, for all you have done for us through the history of mankind. I, along with everyone else, travel a wilderness, often not making good choices. The frustrations you must feel when I don’t pay attention to you but they do not stop you from loving me. You have been too patient. But you also give me your Word map in my wilderness to show me just where I am. And give me work to do in order to make sense of life. Thank you for entrusting me with that work. I will do the best I know how. I know you smile and reply, “That’s all I ask: Do your very best.” I will always thank you for this.

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00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE tells of a stubborn, strong-willed, out-of-control man who charged right into the middle of the unbreakable and broke it.  Over and over, Paul was beaten for teaching the gospel, then got up and did it again.  He faced angry pagan and Jewish priests trying to protect their power and income. Why?  An unstoppable love.  He could never do enough to make up for torturing and killing Christians in his youth.  Each time he was whiplashed, he called out, “Jesus!  This is for you!”  This is biblical historical novel #2 in the INTREPID MEN OF GOD series.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….    https://amzn.to/36UhPag

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