The LORD is my shepherd / Relationship

I shall not want / Supply

He makes me lie down in green pastures / Rest

He leads me beside the still waters / Refreshment

He restores my soul / Healing

He leads me in the paths of righteousness / Guidance

For His name sake / Purpose

Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death / Testing

I will fear no evil / Protection

For You are with me / Faithfulness

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me / Discipline

You prepare a table before me,
in the presence of my enemies. / Hope

You anoint my head with oil / Consecration

My cup is overflowing / Abundance

Without a doubt, goodness and mercy
shall follow me, all the days of my life / Blessing

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD / Security

Forever. / Eternity

When I was born, you cared for me - with hope. The changing of my nappies, washing and feeding of me was with the joy of knowing it would not be forever.

You never thought, while caring for me, helpless and dependent, that some day, your care would be in my hands.

You have been a dear and wise mother, and more, a very dear friend. You have the gift of listening and not lecturing. You have let me find my own path and not tried to force me to walk on your pathway. Thank you.

Caring for you is hard, not because you are difficult, but because even in the care, I am also grieving the loss of my MOM, my beloved mentor and one whose love has blessed me throughout my life.

Love is patient and kind;

love does not envy or boast;

it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,

but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never ends. .......12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Parts of I Corinthians 13 (ESV)


I suddenly saw this wonderful truth. So many years this chapter has been used as a measuring stick of our human love and interaction with one another - and it is bigger than most humans have achieved.

As this is God's heart and desire for us, for our best life, then this is also a description of God's love toward us. Sometimes I fail in grasping God's love. When things go wrong I even feel He has let me down.

I praise Him, He does not hold my feelings against me but in all things, in every way, His love is perfect, toward me; toward all His creation.

We truly comprehended His love through a glass darkly. What a glorious day it will be when we see Him face to face

We have the president we have today because as a nation, we chose form over substance in our election. This is the democratic way - to chose by the majority but what if the majority are majorly wrong.


I have been pondering how much, as a believer, is right to voice/act in opposition to what I feel is not good for the country. As a conservative I did not vote for the current president and have had my own feelings and struggles with him. Not any of those struggles are about his race. I personally wrote a letter to Walter Williams and urged him to run, but his reply was that he would be too politically incorrect. But, his forte is economics and I wish he had run and won. Sadly, he did not.


It seems, the conservatives were divided about who should be their voice, and the candidate who won the spot on the Republican ticket, got in by Democratic maneuvering, and apathetic Republicans.


What has really surprised me is that with all our resources, we still do not check out the ability or record of the candidates we put up for election, at city, county, state and national level. Ethical values or integrity don't seem to be the foundation for our choices. We choose our candidate by how well he speaks, what promises he makes. Also, it seems to be important how good the candidate looks. Does he fit the picture of success. We tend to be for people who look and act successful.


Another factor in this last election was the voice of the media. When a large, very vocal segment of the nation is for one candidate, and nothing is reported that doesn't fit the desired picture we have trouble. To add to that is that facts about the opposing candidate were distort, and deliberate lies told. That is how propaganda works, with truth misrepresented, and important facts repressed.


To us, on the conservative side, this is very frustrating and there has been a growing swell of dissent since the election.


But, I find several places in scripture where God states that He is the one who sets up and takes down princes (governments). So, what part can the Christian rightly play in the political arena?

do not believe bitter rhetoric, disrespectful speech or wild accusations are doing God's work.

If we are a democracy, which I personally don't believe is the best government, but better than most, then we are required to work for change within the boundaries of our laws. Not by offensive and personal attacks on the leaders though. We must work within the legal system to seek positive change.

But for us to just mooch around bemoaning the economy and presidential acts, wringing our hands and moaning and groaning indicates we do not trust that the Lord is LORD indeed.

For me, the greater issue is this. As a child of God, do I believe He is in control? Or am I acting like He has lost it? That is the real issue for the body of Christ. No, we do not need sit back and say, "Que sera, sera". But we need to trust the Lord within the situation.

And, it is by our own lives and choices we will make the real changes in our world around us. How does my life affect my community, my work place, my public actions. What I do assuredly speaks more loudly, than what I profess.

I have had to face this truth in my own life. I am looking at my own life choices and seeking to see the heart of God anew. I am not a judge for any other person but I want to say, if in truth God is God, and if He is Truth and the Almighty God, then I can trust Him even in a time of stress and trouble in my life and my land. He is with us, and He is inviting us to accept His Lordship over our lives. For me, it is with-in that framework I need to speak and act.

Romans 7:

4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the

body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was

raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful

passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so

that we bore fruit for death.

6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been

released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the

Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

I died. Not the husband Law,as is spoken in the earlier verses. So, being dead to the husband Law, I am made alive, raised up in Christ Jesus to grace.

Grace to sin? No way! Grace to yield joyfully to my new husband/Lord, and that to bear fruit for life.

But, when I lay down the law for others, setting forth what I require of them to be acceptable to ME, then I become their judge, taking it out of God's hands. Moreover, with my judgment of others, that judgment judges me. So I, having been freed in Christ from the law, by my setting a standard/law for others, give myself back to the law I died to, to again have power over me.

My judgment becomes a bondage to me, a wedge between me and others, and a barrier between me and my Lord.

Praise the Lord that in Christ I can repent and Christ will rescue me from the chains of the Law.

My work, God's work

Clement of Alexandria
Psalm 22. I am poured out like water.

My life is an offering to God. I give of those things which are close to my heart, because he first poured out himself, giving himself for me.
I pray, "God give me strength," and he gives me opportunities to exercise my weakness.

I pray, "God give me patience," and he sends me situations that try it.

I pray, "God, help me to be loving," and he sends me one who is hard to love.

For the gifts of the Spirit must be exercised if they are to grow: as muscles must be trained, as the mind must be educated.

Strength is an act of will, as are love, patience, charity, and the rest.
When I come to the end of my own strength, patience, and love, I have come also to the end of my own will, and there in the empty place God is waiting for me. "You have given your own strength," he says, "but now you shall give mine. You have loved with your own heart: love now with mine."
Until I am emptied of myself, of my own will, God cannot fill me; for he can give only to those who have made room for him in their souls.
My will is not my own Till thou hast made it thine; If I would reach a monarch's throne, I must my crown resign. -George Matheson

Job 26:7 (ESV) 7 He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.

Earth, our planet, spins in space - an airless, weightless, light less expanse of emptiness. It hangs out there on nothing. No strings attached. Moreover flaming stars, and other planets also are so hung, out there on nothing. This fills me with awe.

Then mankind, the occupants of this one occupied (that we know of) planet, in their great knowledge and ability propound this great stupidity. They say to one another, "all this, space, stars, planets exploded into being. It all just happened." (Isn't that great!)

And in their vast wisdom they teach this stupidity to the God-created sons of man. Man who was given life and a wondrous home, has chosen to deny his creator, or to give to Him thanks, praise and worship.

The irony is, mankind blames GOD when things go wrong. This accidental world, where they declared there is no God.

How my heart cries out. Lord, you've given us all the keys to find you. Let us, You've forgiven and given life to, become true salt and light.