love

A Nation Mouns

A 31-year-old man named Charlie Kirk is dead. While I didn’t know Charlie personally, I knew him in spirit. Watching his videos I could relate to the kind of faith he had. Reading his words about his faith and family helped me to believe there was still hope for this nation.

Charlie’s life will live on through his children. The values he lived by will live on through the millions of lives he touched. The lifeless soul that took his life will live in misery. React not with violence but in faith that God will have his revenge.

The battle has just begun. We will not use weapons of disaster but tools of love from the Bible. We will not yield to Satan but stand proudly in God’s army.

Rise up and proudly show your faith. Charlie did!

We pray for the family of Charlie Kirk. I am proud to say that in some small way I knew him.

Do not be afraid! God is watching!

If you look the word up in the dictionary you will find that it refers to an intense feeling of deep affection. Sounds simple enough but is it?

In the Bible, there are more than 165 passages that contain the word.

It is used in songs more than any other word and yet society still does not act in a loving way.

In 1965, the song “What The World Needs Now” was recorded by Jackie DeShannon. A catchy tune, it woke the world up at least temporarily to what love might be. I grew up in that era. The era of flower children and free love ultimately was why my generation is now referred to as “baby boomers.” It was a time of free spirit while also being a time of war. It was a time of free expression, but was this love?

Our children were born in a time of transition. Where there was a shift away from free love to a world on steroids and acid. Where had the love gone.

All you have to do now is look at the news to see everything that love is not. The beautiful thing is that despite wars, pandemics, and pharmaceutical murders love does still exist. If you doubt it, just look at the outpouring of love our Appalachian people have received over the last year as they struggle to recover from the worst catastrophic event in the history of this country. Look at how our neighborhoods are changing. Revivals are taking place everywhere. Love is seeping into the very crevices of towns that were once lost.

God gave the world a number of gifts, but the greatest of these was the ability to give and receive LOVE.

Open your eyes, ears, and mind to the idea and intense feelings of love.

Have a great day.

Advice To The Love Worn

You first have to know what love is and what it’s not!

Let’s get the nots out of the way…

Love is not an excuse to have sex when you are too young to even know what it is!

Love is not the feeling you share when you are physically, emotionally, and mentally abusing someone you care about.

Love should not hurt, and if it does, it’s not right for you.

Love is a deep emotional feeling that should bring out the best in you. God teaches us that it is his greatest gift to us and the one thing he wants us to share.

Love is a maternal instinct between a mother and a child.

Love is timeless and crosses generations

Love is the glue that keeps relationships together.

Love is the one common emotion that is seen in most species. Our pets express love by their actions and for their young.

Love is enduring. This strange emotion can make you happy and tearful. It’s only limitation is death, and some still love their partners after their demise.

It’s a funny thing this thing called love. It can be beautiful, frustrating, and stir up all kinds of emotions. It is passionate both physically and emotionally.

People who love bond easier with other people. We all desire that strong connection. It’s like an electrical charge. As long as you have it, most people seem to function better. It is certainly easy to recognize people who do not have love in their life.

Allow yourself to love God first, then love yourself. Extend that love to your family members, friends, and even strangers. It’s contagious. It’s the one thing that you can spread that will have a positive effect on everyone.

Share the love ❤️.

Testify To Love

I know I have already done “T” but it was laid on my heart to write this.

When you are in a court of law you swear on a Bible to tell the truth and yet rights are violated and justice is rarely served. What will you testify to?

Wynonna Judd said it best in her song “Testify To Love” when she said love began with creation. With the first relationship between Adam and God there was love. In the first marriage between Adam and Eve, there was love. They rejoiced in the birth of their children and testified to God their love.

Who do you love? Do you go through life serving God or yourself? God wants us to love one another … meaning each other not one self! Our spouses need us to love them to sustain a relationship. Our children need us to love them to maintain a bond with them. Our parents, siblings and extended family also embrace a loving relationship.

Love is not always easy and is somedays down right hard but in order to receive love we have to give it. God loves us unconditioally and that is how we should also love. You have to put in the work to maintain that love.

So where did society go wrong….when they stopped showing love. When prayer was stopped in schools. When love of country was trampled on with removal of war heros. When families were destroyed by lack of moral and religious values.

The answer is simple, we have to get back to God. Love began with creation and it’s time to get back to love. It’s time to testify to love. It’s time to bring our children up in love. God’s greatest gift is Love.

The Meaning Of Love

Don’t let the title fool you. This is not about romance or is it? When God created man I’m sure he had a lot of hopes and dreams for what man would accomplish. Imagine now the beautiful garden of eden and then there was man! God then realized man could not exist on his own so he yanked out a rib and created woman.

The woman was the opposite of man in areas that made them a perfect fit. This was no jigsaw puzzle but a creation of design. Then Eve screwed up and listened to the serpent who was also male. You got it, disaster struck! That was just the beginning of conflict between men and women.

Well man gets off scott free while woman is cursed with childbirth. While Eve became a devoted wife and mother she set the tone for the women that followed her in her faithfulness to God and her obedience to man. But you know the old saying “behind every good man is an even better woman” proved to to be true.

Despite the fact Eve made a terrible error in judgement, she proved to be a great example of love. That love was certainly tested when Able died. What was this thing called love that in a fleeting moment it could rip your heart to shreds. When her son Seth was born she again found that deep emotional love..

Through generations that followed women stayed in the background but were a driving force. Moses might not have ever gone to the mountain had his wife not encouraged him to draw closer to God…the Jews would still be in bondage without her. George Washington might not would have been the leader that he was had it not been for Martha. The deep emotion of love can be a beautiful foundation. Women have been the carriers of the torch of love but that doesn’t mean that men don’t feel love.

Some of the greatest musical scores were about love and were written by men. Women love long but men love hard.

These days that power and beauty of love is fading. The future of this country and our planet cannot continue to exist unless we go back to that one simple emotion and allow ourselves to love. The Bible puts it simply LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Make no mistake you are not always going to like the person next to you but you have to look past that and share a moment of love. It can be powerful!

Have a wonderful and blessed day.

The Meaning Of Love

As we approach Valentine’s Day I thought the meaning of love would be a good subject to discuss. In Webster’s New World Dictionary the word love is defined as follows: 1) strong affection or liking for someone or something 2) a passionate affection of one person for another 3) the object of such affection; a sweetheart or lover. Now taking that in consideration, in the Bible there are two and a half PAGES of references to the word Love.

As a child if you were raised in a good home you were shown love and taught love. As a teenager and young adult you were seeking the romantic love. As an older adult when the children have left home you begin to search for spiritual love.

Love is not something you can buy! While the Valentine goodies and flowers are nice they cannot come close to the value of love. While it seems at times to be a daily search to find the perfect way to show our love, we fail to simply acknowledge it.

The love of a child is so precious. We give so much of ourselves to show our children we love them and it pains us so much when we have to discipline them. It is funny that we can love our children instantly and unconditionally.

Love however between adults is not as simple. Physical attraction may be what brings two people together, but that is not the glue that keeps them together. Finding common ground and interests begins to build a connection. As a relationship grows you find you begin to give more of yourself. When you can give up enough of yourself to unite you as one then you can say you have found love.

Lastly but most importantly, there is spiritual love. This I really should have put first as the love of God should always be first in your life. God is the giver of life and love. As we all have to sacrifice for love, God gave the ultimate sacrifice when he sent his son to be crucified on the cross.

While we are living in a time of evil, ultimately the power of love and the love of God is the only thing that will see us through this painful period of life. Even on your darkest days, REJOICE because God is that much closer to you!

While my husband and I have been married 34 years, we have had our share of challenges but we still love each other and support each other.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

Tree Of Life

We start out in life as part of a small family unit. We have parents and siblings. As we grow our lives develop much like a tree that has many branches as shown in the image. The right half depicts our family life while the left half depicts our work life.

So many times the left half overshadows the right half and the tree begins to sway. Finding balance is important to a healthy home life. I know in my family as a child I remember seeing my father sometimes only late at night because he was so focused on financial security and being sucessessful. While success and prosperity are important, it is the pursuit of these that can sometimes rock the life boat. It is worth it in the long run to make that extra effort to give of your time and yourself.

On the family side of the tree, as we grow we participate in dating to find that perfect spouse. The pursuit of perfection sometimes leads to bad choices. You don’t have to settle for second best but you should settle for who is best for you. Making a choice should not be about looks but about two people who communicate well, offer attributes that are beneficial to the other, and similar views and values.

Now we are on to the marriage. Marriage should not be entered into casually, but because the love and desire is mutual for a more permanent lifestyle. Marriage can be truly amazing among two people who have the right components or a life in burning hell for those who don’t. I have experienced some of both.

When you are married to the right partner, there is nothing you can’t conquor together. When you are not, each day is a battle that will probably never be won. Just imagine it as stock that has turned out to be a bad investment.

Last but not least comes the children. There is nothing more wonderful than holding your first child in your arms. That being said, it takes all that you have in you not just to give birth but to raise that child into what we hope will be a responsible human being.

Now you see that big word at the top of the tree, LOVE. The Bible tells us:

And so faith, hope, love abide [faith-conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things:hope-joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation;love-true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for in but the greatest of these is love.

If we allow ourselves to LOVE, then all things are possible.

Life, Love And The Pursuit Of Happiness…

Life: Life now has changed drasticlly over the past eight months. We have become a faceless society because of the hysteria of Covid-19. Because a common criminal lost his life unnecessarily, there are those who dispect our law enforcement. The BLM airs commercials that say “only black lives matter” when God says “all lives matter”. The Democrats try to impeach a President who is fighting for all people and when that fails they continue to show disrespect. At an early age most of us were taught to “play nice in the sandbox” and yet look at how our politicians act. Our world is being plagued with disease and environmental distruction. And yet there is still hope! Still hope that peace will prevail, that people will go back to the values that they were raised with, that they will learn to respect each other and our environment. Life will go on.

Love: While there are all types of love, the love of God is the most important. God in his infinite wisdom has tried to teach us all love. Love is not always perfect nor is it always kind or forever. What it is though is about giving of ourselves. When we love it is not only emotionally satisfying but also has positive health benefits. Regardless of whether your love is directed at your significant other, children or family members, it can be a powerful thing. It satisfies the endorphins in our brain to make us happy.

Pursuit of happiness: Even though the pursuit of happiness is a personal goal, it is also our legal right as stated in the constitution. Regardless of what control our government tries to exercise over us, we have the right to pursue happiness. We have the right to find that one thing that meets our ultimate goal. Regardless of whether you are the CEO of the wealthiest company in the country or a homeless person in the slums of a small town, you still have the right to pursue happiness. Who says that homeless person can’t achieve success? Just because someone is wealthy doesn’t make them happy or successful. That homeless person can find a home but that rich executive may not necessarily find peace of mind. What makes you happy? It doesn’t matter if it pleases other people as long as you don’t do harm to others. Find what matters to you!

Have a great day and be happy!