Wednesday's Word:Isolation

 

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Over the past few years, "social isolation" has become part of our everyday vocabulary.

GOD said in Genesis 2:18, "It is not good for man to be alone."

We were created to fellowship with others.

Many of us can feel alone, even when we're in a crowd.

Isolation is deeper than loneliness; it is a feeling of despair and/or abandonment.

Some forms of isolation are forced on us by others, and some we cast upon ourselves.

Why?

I think, at least for me, I don't feel worthy of love; GOD's or men's.

But we are called to live by faith, not by our fickle feelings as Joyce Meyer says.

No matter where I am or what I am doing, GOD  always loves me, and He is always with me.

In Hebrews 3:5, GOD says, "HE will never leave us or forsake us."

We have to trust, even when it's hard.

In Miracle On 34th Street, when Susan is in the car with her mom she says "I believe, I believe, I know it's silly, but I believe."

Sometimes, we have to have a child-like faith, even when everyone and everything around us says that is no sense in believing.

So, how is your faith?

Wednesday/s Word ~ Influence

 

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Influence " is the power or capacity of causing an effect in an indirect  or intangible way; sway" 

   Merriam-Webster Dictionary 

`        

I've been told that I can be influenced very easily.  Maybe I am a chameleon and blend in wherever I go in Switzerland.  (Come to think of it, a lot of disabled people tend to {try} to blend in with others.)

I don't think of it as blending in as much as it is that I want to make others happy.

Unless you do or say something that totally goes against my core beliefs and values, I'm probably going to agree with you.

Some people say that I'm a doormat.

I MOST CERTAINLY AM NOT!!!

I do have loyalties to people that I will not break.

There are decisions that I have made, good and bad, that have put me in this position at this stage in my life.

We have all made these choices.

The thing about doormats is most of them say "WELCOME"*.  

I want to welcome people into my life.  I want them to feel welcomed and loved  Too many people don't feel loved and wanted.  People have been told that they don't deserved to be loved.  

Even the viliest of criminals deserved to be loved!

We don't stop and think of how people who influence us have been influenced.

I think if we could understand this, we might be a litte more understanding and patient with others.

 So yes, I may be easily influnced, but`maybe I can easily influence others, too.

*Please, if you are being abused in ANY WAY, please find HELP!

Thankful Thursday ~ Ms. Baltz

 

 

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On Thankful Thursday, I'm going to be talking about some of the women who have helped shaped my life and my faith:

Today, I'm going to be telling you about Ms. Elizabeth Baltz.

Ms. Baltz went to St. Pius. Catholic  I had known for as long as I could remember  She taught Sunday School.  Because I went to a Catholic school I didn't "have to" go to Sunday School, but I went whenever Mama and Daddy would let me.

I went to a public high school so I went to Sunday School on a regular basis.

Sunday school was at St.Pius' sister church, the Assumption.  So. after the 8 o'clock mass, I would ride with Ms. Baltz to Sunday School.  We. always stopped at Mrs. Winners for breakfast.

This was one of my favorite times of the week.  We would sit and talk.  She was such a godly woman.  She worked at St. Thomas hospital and was one of the members of the congregation who went to Bordeaux hospital, along with Ms. Sharber. She taught me the importance of acts of service and the love of God.    She, her brother (Uncle Bud), and his twin sister (Ms. Bernardine) never married and live in their childhood home.  

Sadly, I did not keep in touch with her. The last time I saw her may have been when Daddy died.  I know she and Ms. Bernardine lived at Bordeaux hospital during their later years.  Ms. Bernardine died a few years ago.  Ms. Elizabeth passed away in 2019.

Oh yeah, they had an entire half-level of their house that looked like Christmas all year long.

How could I not love this woman and her family?

THANKFUL DAY 2 - GOD MY FATHER

Today I'm thankful for God,my heavenly Father.  I find it amazing that God reaches out to His people as a Father.  This intrigues me for many reasons.  First He is the creator.  He spoke everything into existence out of nothing ~  That also makes the world's first and greatest magician. Nothing we can ever create can ever even compare to the vast wonders of God's creations.  The farther is also the head and the bedrock of the family.  (Side NOTE - I am in no way trying to say mothers aren't as important as men or that they can't be the head of their family, because they can.  However, I do believe that the father is biblically  suppose to be the head of the father.)   The father is to lead the family and to have the final authority.  He carries the bulk of the responsibility of the family.  He can be stern and loving at the same time; knowing that true discipline is true love.  My first true image was my earthly father.  My Daddy was 6'7, strong, hard working and loving; but you knew if he took his belt off that you needed to run for the hills because you were in for it.  But the strange was, when all the dust settled, I could go back and talk to my Daddy and still receive that unconditional from Him because I was his daughter.  I can mess time and time keep running back to God because I know that I am His daughter and I'm loved by Him.

SEEKING GOD AS A PRECIOUS JEWEL

I've been listening to this song lately.   This was a theme song one year at the women's retreat that my friend, Becki, and I attend every year. I'm sitting here wondering do I truly seek Jesus as the precious jewel He is or do I treat Him like and as a genie` in a lantern that I put on the back burner of my heart until I need him again?  Honestly, I probably do a little of both.  There are times when I'm so in tune with God that I get a glimpse of what Heaven may be like.  Then there are times when I feel so disconnected from God that He seems like a total stranger to me.  I wish I could say I got to busy or something r more important came up.  I can't.  it's a matter of choosing what I want to do.  It's a heart issue.  Am I going to choose to study and prayer of am I going to choose to watch one more episode of that TV show that I shouldn't be watching?  Uhm... why are that we don't (or me maybe even want) wrapped  in such beautiful and a luring paper?  The easy answer is to say the DEVIL.  O God, I wanted to study but Satan made me do it.  God must get so sick of us saying that.  We can be tempted by Satan, but we have to take responsibility of responding to that temptation.  (Remember His servant Job???)  
In Romans 7:15 Paul say "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but that I hate I do."  I think through serious prayer and dedication to change.`  I've struggling with things for years, decades even, that I need to change.  It's easy for me to play the victim and say "That's just who I am.  But that's not who God created me to be.  I was created to seek, and find, Jesus as the precious jewel that He is.  He me; not some of me or my leftovers.   He wants ALL of me.  Not because He's a selfish control freak.  Simply because He LOVES me.

DON'T QUENCH THE HOLY SPIRIT -SPEAKING UP

For the past couple of years or so my main focus of study has been on prayer...I read scriptures on prayer, I read books on prayer, I listen to sermons on prayer, and I pray that I will become more effective at praying.  I do believe that praying is a spiritual gift and I believe that God is calling me deeper and deeper into a life of prayer.  I'm absolutely LOVING this!!!  During the last few weeks, something that I've notice that God is telling me not to quench the Holy Spirit.  One of my favorite scripture verses is:

Hebrews 13:2 (NIV) "2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

     I find this super exciting, because, come on, who wouldn't want to meet and entertain an angel???  But, this verse can also be terrifying.  What is God going to ask me to do?  I really want to obey you, God, as long as you don't call me out of my "comfort zone".  We all have our "comfort" zone.  I love to encourage people; I do believe it's one of my spiritual gifts.  I'll email you, I'll text you, I'll like and comment on your Facebook  posts and pictures.  However, they're a very few people that I'll actually converse with, and even fewer that I will strike a conversation with.  I do say "hello", "how are you?",  "please" and "thank you",  etc.  I never really know how people (who don't know me) are going to react to my speaking,  plus it seams like as I age my speech is getting harder and harder to understand.

     That being sad, God had asked me twice this week to step out of my "comfort" zone and speak to people.  UGH!  The first was a lady whose husband came to our church to speak about the Gideons.  There was just something about this lady.  She was a little more mature than I am.  An inner beauty and her love for God just flowed from her .  Not only did I toughly enjoy talking with her, I also felt the urge to give her my phone number and email address.  Then on Monday, I felt the urge to approach a young couple with a couple with a new born baby.

     The Great Commission bids us to go to all the ends of the earth and tell about Jesus.  Part of telling others about Jesus, perhaps the first part, is showing His love tor them.

    I know the closer I grow in my relationship with Christ the more He will ask me to do things out of my "comfort" zone and I pray that I will not quench the Holy Spirit.