Our heroes

00-Hero Alone-COVER-KINDLE-MediumLord, reach down and show your tender power in a special way to your children who are being severely persecuted for worshipping you. They face loss of jobs, loss of homes, loss of freedom, loss of life rather than deny you. They are heroes and do not even know it. Their courage in weakness declares your glory to those who degrade them. Their determination to never deny you declares your love to those who hate them. You are the one who gives them strength. You are the one who overcomes Satan through them. They are your hands and feet, their unwavering voices, their stubborn wills. To you belongs all wisdom and glory here on earth now, and in heaven forever.

Oh, yesterday was so beautiful and wonderful. The breezes were warm with the door to spring opening up to my part of the world. The sun shone bright in a deep blue sky. The cottony clouds bumped playfully into each other.  Even the fish in the pond nearby wiggled their way around each other while the ducks paddled their little webbed feet just as fast as they could in celebration. Ah, spring. The awaking time. The rest of winter is about over now. Time to plant and go for walks and enjoy the breezes wafting around me. Thank you, Lord, for springtime.

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00-Hero Alone-COVER-KINDLE-ThumbnailYOU CAN BE A HERO ALONE:  SURVIVAL STORIES FOR THE COURAGEOUS ISOLATED CHRISTIAN. When alone, it is easy to become discouraged and stay discouraged. This book shows how people hung on alone in Bible times for ten years, twenty years, a hundred years ~ sometimes thinking they were failures, sometimes wondering if it is all worth it, sometimes thinking of giving up. But always hanging on. The account in this book of each isolated Bible character is in story form to make them more real to the reader. To know exactly what the Bible does say about them, applicable scriptures are included.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/354h5R8  https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/1107-2/you-can-be-a-hero-alone-survival-stories-for-the-isolated-christian/

 

 

Tuesday 4/10 ~ Soar with it, even if you’re the only one who does

The scripture for today, April 10 (4/10), is Zechariah 4:10 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Who despises the day of small things?”

We tend to admire big things ~ big buildings, big empires, big trees, big causes.  Sometimes it is difficult to remember that those things started out small.

Have you been wanting to accomplish something big? All buildings started out with one board or one stone. All empires started out with one person. All big trees started out as one seed. All big causes started out with one dream.

Perhaps your dream started out small but stayed small. That doesn’t mean it will always be small. It may become big years from now, or even in someone else’s lifetime. Don’t despise what you have now.

Have you been putting off trying to make your dream reality because it won’t be big and people will laugh at you and you will get depressed?   Do not fear it. Have faith in it.  Plant that small seed.  Do not despise it. Embrace it. Nourish it. 

Make today the day of your new beginning. Launch your dream. Soar with it, even if you’re the only one who does.

Thursday 3/22 ~ You can never be consumed

The scripture for today, March 22, is Lamentations 3:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

000-COVER-KINDLE-Thumbnail“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”

Jeremiah had spent years warning people of the coming destruction of their country and beloved Jerusalem due to their selfish sinful life and taking advantage of each other. He endured taunts, reprimands, imprisonments, and threats to his life. Now it has happened. All hope is gone. Nothing left but ashes.

There were innocent people who suffered as a result.  Would they let Satan get his way and destroy their lives, their spirits, their souls too?  It is at this point that lamenting Jeremiah utters bravely amidst his own tears, “We are not consumed.”

Are there things going on your life that seem to be consuming you? Do you feel utterly hopeless?  Do you feel as though life may not be worth living anymore? Look up. God is still there. He still loves you.

When you have the love of God, you have the courage to take the next step and the next and the next. You have the courage to keep walking and walking and to hold your head high. Nothing and nobody can ever take away the love God has for you. With his love, you can never be consumed.

Scripture for Tuesday, April 4 (4/4)

Update on our brother being threatened for his faith.  He received a phone call from the one who has been threatening him, this time demanding $50,000.  This happened to him four years ago when he was cornered in an alley and threatened with imprisonment for becoming a Christian if he did not pay $50,000.

He sent his family into hiding where they changed locations every night. (Kidnapping children and demanding $50,000 is common there among the Taliban, Al Quida, ISIS, etc. If you do not pay, they either kill the child or make them slaves the rest of their life.) He went to yet another province to hide and draw attention away from his family. He sold his house and they escaped to India. He could not find a job, so their only choice was to finish raising their children in a UN immigration camp or return home.  They returned to a different city and I think he paid them a periodic bribe after that.

He had only been a Christian a year at that time. This time he has been a Christian five years. When they called and demanded $50,000 yesterday, he refused to talk to them and hung up the phone.

Keep praying for this mighty warrior for the Lord.

BTW, his son has had to drop out of university and go into hiding with the rest of the family, so he has asked me for many Bible materials to study.  About a year ago when he was 19, he told his father, “I want to be a preacher some day. I know they will kill me, but that’s what I want to do.”


 

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLDThe scripture for today, April 4, is Psalm 4:4 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“In your anger do not sin.”

This seems like an impossibility. After all, when people get angry, don’t they lash out at other people? And yell and call them names? And show their 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.

Not so. If a child, for instance, does what s/he was just told not to do, we become angry. Angry at the dangerous consequence of their action. Angry at not doing something to make that child a better person.

We can choose to lash out at the child wildly so that our emotions mask our words. Or we can choose to talk calmly and explain the dangers that child was put in because of that action, or the missed opportunities. We can even punish a child without losing our temper. We can calmly but firmly tell them what their punishment is.

It is the same way with adults. If we lose our temper and shoot daggers with our eyes and rant and rave, all these things distract people from our words. Are we wanting to punish them or reconcile? Aren’t our words of explanation more important than the emotionalism and yelling? If we were hurt, just say so. If they hurt themselves, just say so.

While we’re at it, not all words help. Name calling does not help. Name calling is done when we choose not to explain how we feel.

Name calling locks the other person in and sets them up for future failures between us and them. Losing our temper during anger gets us off the issue and into sin.

Let us try to remain calm and then explain the problem in tones that the person who has angered us can truly listen to and learn from. If you have trouble doing this, practice when you’re alone. It will teach us to remain calm when we’re angry so we can explain how we feel, not how bad the other person is. When we are angry, we must not sin.

 

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