Need Some Pruning?

     Those who know me well, like my mother, will not hesitate to tell you that I do not have a green thumb. I don’t agree totally. I have several plants I have kept alive for over ten years (Dwayne:  I know her and that's a miracle!). I will agree that if the plant cannot go long periods of time without water, then it will most likely die in my care. I do have a prize trophy though when it comes to having success with a plant. I bought a knock out rose bush three summers ago. I have read that they are indestructible and so it is the perfect plant for me. It is my trophy; standing five feet tall and five feet in width. In fact, it was hanging over half of the width of the sidewalk and it was in danger of being at the end of Dwayne’s cutting shears. Dwayne has no self control in stopping his trimming once he begins. So, I took care of my beautiful rose bush by trimming it myself. I hate pruning. When I work hard to get something to grow, it doesn’t make sense to me to cut it back! However, I know through studying and through my mother’s knowledge that it has to be done! While I was cutting back each branch, I realized that when I am pruning it, I am telling it how and in what direction, I want it to grow. I needed to trim it on both sides as well as the front because it was growing over other plants. On the right side it was protecting my peonies from the harsh sun. I only had to cut it away from the peony so it could flourish. On the left side, it was overshadowing my hydrangea bush. I have to say that if I only was allowed to have one bush, my trophy knock out bush would be gone and I would keep my hydrangeas. They are my favorite flower. So, though I love my knock out bush, it could not be allowed to overshadow my hydrangea. It had to be cut way back to its proper place in the garden.
     There are many great things to enjoy in life. There are many good causes to volunteer for. There are many people to help. There are many things we need to do to stay healthy and fit. There are many things we must do for our family. These things can fill our calendars to the point that we lose sight of what is the most important. I believe the best way Satan gets Christians unfocused and not serving is by getting them too busy. Busyness, even busyness with good things, can get the things of importance in our life way out of balance.
     Sometimes to get Jesus in His proper place at the center of our lives, we have to cut back on some things, even good things. My pastor; my husband has asked many times why is it that when someone gets too busy, they cut God out first? Good question! I see it happen all the time. They get too busy for church, for bible study, for fellowship, and for serving. They work all week and fill their Saturday with all the things they want to do, and then use Sunday to do all the things they didn’t do on Saturday! They do not protect their God time. They give God the leftovers of time, maybe! Sometimes, it becomes necessary to cut back on things we love in order to protect our time with God, which is supposed to be our priority! Sometimes God cuts things out of our lives to show us where He wants us to grow, and sometimes we just need to have some adjustments to continue to protect things that bring us pleasure, like our family.
     Spend time with God today and ask Him what He would like to see pruned from your life? Ask Him to show you if your priorities are messed up. Ask Him in what direction He wants you to grow. Are you protecting the things that are important like your family, or are you letting other things get entangled with your family time? Put the shears in God’s hands and have Him cut away! Do you trust Him?

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

John 15:2

Got Cracks?

A few years ago Dwayne built us a sidewalk by laying flat stone and adding cement between the stones. I love the appearance of it; it matches the rock on our home. A few months after he finished the sidewalk, the cows got out of the pasture on the connecting property and took a stroll down the new sidewalk. Their weight broke and cracked the cement! Though I was mad at the cows (Dwayne:  I guarantee you I was!), I can live with a few cracks. Well, I can until the weeds and grass start coming up those cracks in the walk. They are impossible to pull up and to pull up the roots! The only way to really remove the weeds and grass is to kill it and seal up the cracks.
     We see the term ‘stronghold’ used many times in Scripture. It's used to describe the Lord as the  stronghold of our salvation and also that He tears down the strongholds the enemy builds in our life. A stronghold is a fortress. In reality, it is like a castle. A place one can go and be safe. One of my favorite verses states that the name of the Lord is like a tower, the righteous run into it and a safe. Often I envision that verse when I need comfort from the attacks of Satan. Outside the tower, Satan can come at me in full force, but inside the tower I am safe. However, never think that he gives up easily. He searches for 'cracks', weak areas in our life or a sin we have kept in our life and he comes through that crack like a weed through the crack in the cement.
     We need to make sure we do not give Satan an opening into our life through a 'crack', no matter how tiny we think it is. If a weed can find the smallest crack, so can Satan. Jesus can fill in any crack we have. He will help us let go of the sin that can entangle us and fill the crack with his grace. Satan tries to find the smallest way in to our life so he can build a stronghold. Then we have to go and ask Jesus to knock the stronghold down! It is so much easier to deal with the cracks!
     Do you have cracks Jesus needs to fill? Or do you have strongholds that He needs to destroy?

After all, we don’t want to unwittingly give Satan an opening for yet more mischief—we’re not oblivious to his sly ways!

2 Corinthians 2:11

Like heat?

    It is still extremely hot here in Oklahoma. I have to confess that each time I complain about the heat, I feel guilty. My daughter’s boyfriend is serving the Lord as a missionary in Haiti. It is 110 degrees each day, with total destruction around him. If he takes a shower, he says the grey dust is back on you within minutes. He is building houses and moving cinder blocks all day long in that heat. He sleeps outside in a hammock every night because the 100 degree weather is cooler outside than inside his sleeping quarters. There is no air conditioning to escape too. So, when I say it is hot, please take it in the perspective of my non-acclimated, spoiled, opinion! I would think that heat would kill weeds but it tends to only kill the good stuff like the green grass and blooming flowers. It seems the weeds flourish in the heat. Dang it!

     Just this morning at church, a very sweet man was telling me that he loved the heat but it was making him very edgy. He was getting angry and short tempered, which is not like him. It seems to be common that people get cranky when the heat cranks up! We use many phrases that reflect a connection between heat and agitation, i.e. we say our tempers "flare"; we get "hot under the collar" when frustrated, and “do a slow bum" when angered. We even see crimes like family disturbances, rape, and assault increase in summer months.
     Heat seems to bring out the sin in people. Maybe it wears us down and we can’t fake it anymore. I wonder if that is why Satan will spend eternity in a ‘hottest of hot’ place. While Satan uses 'heat' to increase the sin in our life, Jesus uses 'heat' to decrease the dross, or sin in our life. When our sin comes to the 'surface', when we repent of our sin, He can skim it off. He does this process like a silversmith who brings the impurities in the silver to the top of his pot by increasing the fire underneath it. When the impurities arise, he skims them off and he knows the process is over when he can see his reflection in the silver.
     What about you? When the heat of life hits you, what do you do with the impurities that show them self? Do you act on them and let your sin be used by Satan, or do you let Jesus remove them from you so that you become a reflection of your Savior?

For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.

Psalm 66:10

It Takes A Good Soaking

    Today was the day to wrestle those last weeds. It was quite a wrestling match! I think the weeds were the winner. Pulling those weeds was like lifting weights. Sometimes it is nothing but overwhelming when the weeds have consumed the garden. I have discovered a secret though. The only way I would ever be able to pull up all the weeds; I saturate the ground with water. I mean like standing in water like a cranberry blog. This seems to loosen the roots and lets me get my hand deep into the dirt (mud) and pull up the roots. Now, of course it is a messy process and I am covered in mud, but it seems to be the only way to get the roots. Otherwise, I would only be pulling the top off and pulling the roots (which we already talked about) would only allow the weeds to come back within a short period

     I have seen Christians strive to remove the sin in their life. Their problem is that they are doing all the work; they are trying to clean up themselves for Jesus. It is a good thing to want to honor the Lord with our lives and our behaviors. However, we cannot do it alone. We have to surrender our life and our will to the control of the Holy Spirit daily, and let Him clean us up. He can help us get rid of the sin and He can pull up the roots! We must saturate ourselves with the Holy Spirit so that He can get down deep and help us rid sin out of our life from the roots. It will be messy, but we must remember it is worth it to have a beautiful garden with no weeds!

So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.

2 Timothy 1:13-14

How Deep is Your Roots?

     Well, I hit the flower bed again last night to pull weeds in another section. I only have one more section and then I can put more mulch on it and hopefully stay caught up with the weeds. Yesterday, I talked about how much easier it to pull those weeds as soon as they come up because if you don’t they can grow in size and spread. However, there is another thing that happens if you let them grow and that is their roots get deeper. I don’t whine too much when I pull weeds that have little short roots but it is the ones which have deep roots and take a wrestling match to pull that I hate. The worst is bermuda grass which is what has consumed the last section in my flower bed. If you wanted the grass to grow in the yard you would have to baby it, but if you don’t want it in the flower bed, you can’t keep it from growing! The roots grow everywhere. My mother, a world class gardener, must say the same eleven words to me every time I start weeding, “If you don’t get the roots, they will come right back!” Regrettably, I have learned the hard way that she is totally correct!
     The principle applies to sin as well. You must get the roots out or they will come right back! The newer the sin, the smaller the root. If you only try to get rid of a sin instead of letting God cleanse your heart and show you why you did or do the sin, it will only be a superficial change. After enough time, it will come back. Some of us know instantly what sin has grown roots in us. Some of us feel like we are walking with the Lord and don't have too many weeds in our spiritual garden. Be careful: that is a dangerous place to be. We can start to tell ourselves that we have no sin, and when we do: scripture says we are a liars. I have a list of sins that are pages long. When I think too well of myself, I read this list and come to terms with the truth of what a sinner I am and what sins I need to pull out of my life. As long as we are on this earth, living in these bodies of flesh; we have sin. There will always be weeds to pull whether big, deep rooted ones; or little tiny ones just coming up through the surface. Don't misunderstand me, I am not referring to one sin being worse than another, or ranking them as big and little; in God's eyes sin is sin and He offers the same grace to them all. I am referring to the size of the sin in your life, how much it is consuming you, and how deep it has planted its roots!
     How deep are the roots of you sin(s)? How long has it been since you prayerfully evaluated the little weeds you have let into your life and the huge weeds that have planted deep roots? Is it time to do some weeding? Take time to ponder the Scripture passage today and let it speak to your heart.

Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt; soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down. You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I’ve been out of step with you for a long time; in the wrong since before I was born. What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. Tune me into foot-tapping songs, set the once-broken bones to dancing.

Psalms 51:1-8

Pull Your Weeds!

     Summer time is something we look forward too for nine months of the year but when it comes in full force, we start to change our minds. Here in Oklahoma the heat index has been over 100 degrees for days. It makes it really hard for me to want to do a summer chore that I hate, but when I ignore it, it just gets worse and worse: it is weeding! Not only is it hard for me to find the time, but it is hard to find time without it being during the time that I would be attacked by heatstroke before the weeds would die from an attack from me! In addition to that, I now have to worry about touching something that would create another allergic reaction. My dream garden would be one that matured to the point of filling in the complete garden, beautiful plants would choke out all the weeds, and an automatic watering system that does not depend on me in any form or fashion! There is only one of those that I have a chance of getting and that is my garden to mature and take over the whole garden though I do not know if the weeds will ever be choked out. When I do get myself pulling weeds, God continually speaks to me about how pulling weeds out of my garden is like pulling sin out of my life. So, as always when I learn something: you get it taught to you!
     The first lesson I am learning is the longer I go without giving the weeds any attention, the worse they get. They do not go away. They produce other weeds and each weed grows even bigger. What once were a few weeds grow into a ground covering carpet of weeds!
     Sin is like weeds. We all have those 'little' sins. Of course, ‘little’ means something different to different people. However, if we do not keep spiritually sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we end up ignoring those 'little' sins until they grow to the point they consume and control us.
     Take care of sin as soon as it appears in your life. Don’t let it grow out of control. One can lead to another and before you know it, it will seem like too many sins to get rid of. At that point, it will take hard, diligent work to rid them out of your life. However, it is always worth the work and heartache because just as a weed free garden is beautiful, there is nothing prettier than a beautiful, weed free life!

All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin!

1 John 3:4-5

Remember You Commitment

    Almost 24 years ago Dwayne and I stood before our church body and committed our daughter to the Lord. It was a special and memorable day. When we repeated the words of commitment given to us, we said them to the Lord, and from that day forward we were responsible to live by them. God reminded me of that commitment when my daughter got on a plane and flew to the other side of the world; the bottom half. Her journey was going to be for 24 months and the end of that time is less than two months away. Most of it has been easier than expected thanks to technology and Skype, but there have been some really hard days. When I pick up the phone and hear her on the other side crying it is heart wrenching. Not just because she is hurting but because I cannot be with her and comfort her with hugs, food, or a little shopping. I have had to learn what it truly means to put your child into the hands of God. Maybe I should reword that. She is in God’s hands regardless of whether or not I put her there. I should say; I have learned to trust God totally to meet her needs since she is in His hands and not mine! Today, will be one of those days I will need to stand on that truth. My baby turns 24 years of age today! She is in a remote village, away from her friends, away from her family, and away from her boyfriend. There is no technology substitute this time because the internet is pitiful in this village and all she can do is chat with typing. I will be able to type Happy Birthday but there will be no visual or audio aide with those words. It will be the loneliest birthday she has ever experienced. However, she is in the Lord’s hands and I believe He will comfort her in a miraculous way. His presence is with her and how can His presence be anything but amazing!
     It has done my heart good to have an example of another woman to encourage me. That is why the scriptures are such an awesome gift to us from God. In 1Samuel we learn about a woman who yearned for a child, to the point of begging God, in one of our woman crying meltdowns. God heard her desperate plea. During her pleading she made a deal with God, like we all do. However, He knew her heart was pure when she made her deal, because He gave her a son: Samuel. To keep her word with God she took her son at three years of age to the temple and left him there, only to see him very seldom. When I want to complain about my 22 year old daughter leaving for 2 years, I think of Hannah and I stop complaining.
     Have you ever made a commitment to God?  Did you keep your word?  Aren’t you glad God is faithful to keep His!

Hannah said, “Excuse me, sir. Would you believe that I’m the very woman who was standing before you at this very spot, praying to God? I prayed for this child, and God gave me what I asked for. And now I have dedicated him to God. He’s dedicated for life.” Then and there, they worshipped God.

1 Samuel 1:26-28

What Picture Would You Chose?

     Brittne’s boyfriend recently asked me for a picture of Britttne when she was small. For once in my life I didn’t ask him why. He is a very fun, loving, and Godly young man. Well, in his playful spirit, he put her childhood picture on his Facebook as his profile picture! It was a big surprise to her and I am sill laughing about it; though I did get into a little trouble for giving it to him from my daughter. What surprises me more is that he has over 1600 friends and there has not been one comment asking him what is up with the little girl’s picture on his profile. I caught myself asking her if there is a way to put up different profile pictures for different people. As soon as the words were out of my mouth (actually typing fingers), I realized how people would love that option. You could put up a professional picture for all of your work contacts, a picture loving or serving people for your church friends, a party picture for your ‘fun’ friends, a Joan Cleaver picture for your family friends, and even a sexy picture for your spouse! If we were able to change our image, we could portray ourselves differently to different groups!
     I have one question for you? What picture would you put up for God? What would you portray to Him? In reality, it wouldn’t matter! Whether you put up one picture or a dozen pictures, He sees them all! There is nothing we can hide from God! There is no faking it.
     Why is it then that we try? We try and hide our sin just like Adam and Eve did. We try and wear our Christian mask on Sunday’s and portray ourselves to be the perfect child of God. I have told you before that this is how I lived with my parents. I remember once telling Brittne that I gave my parents the gift of letting my parents believe that I was perfect and asking her to please give me that gift! She refused, Thank God! And God refuses to accept that gift from me and from you. He wants us to be open and have contrite hearts. He wants us to stand bare before Him, hiding nothing. He wants complete honesty and complete intimacy!
     Are you hiding from God? Hiding your sin? Your heart? Your hurts? Your struggles? Your anger? Your disappointments? Your thoughts? Your desires? You really can stop. It doesn’t work or help you. You can step out from behind the bushes and experience the love of God that only can be experienced when you quit hiding!

I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight.

Jeremiah 139:2-3

Another Monday!

     Today is Monday! That statement conjures up many thoughts and those thoughts often come out as negative comments. If you are a Facebook user, you will see several comments posted today about Monday. We live for weekends and Monday makes us feel it is a long ways off! It seems we wish Monday’s away. I think this is sad! I know it means 5 days until we have the ability to sleep in, enjoy the outside, and stay up late. However, we need to stop and realize that if we wish all of our Mondays away, we are wishing away a seventh of our life. That calculates into 10 years of Mondays if we live to be seventy!
    Have you ever given a gift to someone and the recipient says a few nice things about the gift but they say one mega negative comment! How do you feel? This happened to me recently. After working many hours on a very sentimental gift the recipient got mad at me for giving a sentimental gift in front of others because they broke down in tears. After a few weeks, I did get a thank you for the gift but it didn’t take away the disappointment of the first response.
     Have you ever wondered how God feels about our Monday comments? First, He gives us life and we wish a part of it away. Then He gives us a purpose and plan everyday and we are so busy griping and complaining we often do not stop to discover what our assignment is for the day! Lastly, He has a large percentage of His children begging Him for extra days of life for themselves or loved ones which are critical or dying. Then He has another large percentage of children not appreciating the days they are given and wishing them away! If He wasn’t far above our comprehension, we would drive Him crazy!
     What words are going to come out of your mouth today about Mondays? You can see it as a day to endure to get you to the weekend, or you can see it for a new beginning! A time to work to appreciate the days off more! A day to live out what we learned at church on Sunday! It is all in our perspective. Let’s strive to appreciate every day of life God gives us and live each to the fullest and in a way that pleases God!

Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

Ephesians 5: 16-17

May We All Be Great Examples!

     Happy Father’s Day! I have shared with you about my birth father and my adopted father. My lessons from my step dad and my father-in-law are simple. My step father was an example to have fun every day, no matter what your circumstance and I learned to never quit praying for someone’s salvation with my father-in-law, who accepted Christ 18 months before he died. Today however, I want to tell you about the father I have lived with the longest. He isn’t my father, but he is the father of my children. He is amazing as a father in many ways. He was hard when I couldn’t be and he was soft when I was too mad to be! He used every opportunity to teach them about God. He always maintained a perfect balance of discipline and grace and taught the kids how God does both. As partners in parenting, we have laughed together, cried together, hoped together, beamed together, questioned together, stood together, and have loved together. I would not want anyone else to share this part of life with than the man God gave me. However, I am not the child. So, I wanted to know what our children would say is the most important quality as a parent they believe their dad has. Bryce without hesitation said it was the fact that he leads by example! He could see how to live by watching his father. Brittne, being my daughter, elaborated on her answer a little more. Here it is: “Okay I would say the best quality about Dad is his willingness to always serve and show love for others no matter the circumstances. Example of his demonstration of love - Growing up, I always remember him making hospital runs non-stop. He rarely even knew the person in the hospital. It was usually a family member of someone he knew. But he never hesitated to stop what he was doing and go and show love and support to the person who needed it. And it doesn’t stop at hospital visits, the list goes on and on....sporting events, counseling sessions, funerals, etc. However he could show love and support to someone, he found a way. It didn’t matter that he was tired or he was busy or the distance he had to travel. Example of service – Dad has never ceased to serve the Lord in the years I have known him. I have seen him stay up late working on sermons, work late hours constructing church buildings, deliver food boxes to the poor etc. He is one of the hardest workers I know. And to know it is all for the Lord is a very admirable quality”. His newest child; his daughter-in-law thinks it is his dedication that is one of his greatest qualities. She says he is always there to encourage her, to remind her of what’s really important, and to be a great source of knowledge and wisdom.
    Four people all seeing the same thing; a great father and a great Godly example. Yesterday, I heard a great illustration of how parenthood begins. The day your child is born their mind is a blank slate, just waiting to have their parents write on it what they want them to know, and to help them find God’s plan for their life. Dwayne you have written wonderfully in the minds of your family! Happy Father’s Day from your family who loves and respects you very much!
     Take today to do some pondering. Ponder what the father roles in your life has taught you; both good and bad. Then evaluate yourself as a parent. Are you doing the thing you want to do? If you’re not a parent yet, you are in training to be one; prepare well. If you are not going to be a parent; there are so many people who need a strong parent role in their life; look and pray for someone to love and encourage! Lastly, celebrate the perfect father today; your Heavenly Father! Praise Him for all He is and for all He does! Happy Father’s Day ABBA (Papa)!!

You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!"

Galatians 4:6

You Can't Earn Love

     After my birth father and my mother divorced, she remarried a man who adopted me and raised me. He was a good father and I loved him very much. When I was a senior in high school my parents divorced and both remarried. My dad never stopped being a dad. He had two children with his new wife which are the same age as my children. I do not want to take away from the great father he was but somewhere in my relationship with him, I started a quest for his approval and I never felt like I was able to earn it. Maybe I learned it when my dad made me run around the house when I was in fifth grade as he counted the laps because he didn't want a fat daughter. Or maybe it was the time I had to take golf lessons and become good enough before I could go on the golf course with him. I don’t think he meant these things to come across as they did, but they did. Yet because of these moments, I developed a mentality to strive for perfection in order for others to love me. I have done this with my husband and others but have had to learn that he still loves me when I am not perfect. I still catch myself panicking if I think he is disappointed with me. I have also struggled to not do the same thing with God. I strive for perfection which I can never reach and I am stupid for trying. When I sin, I feel this huge wave of shame for disappointing God. I want to hide my sin so that God does not have to be disappointed in me. It is all such an out of control cycle.
     Once again, I have to come to learn discipline in not transferring my feelings from my earthly father to my Heavenly father. God knows me inside and out. He knows every thought in my head and every sin I commit. I can’t run from Him; I can’t hide anything. The great thing is that since God knew all my sins before I committed them, He is not disappointed in me or surprised. I need to stop relying on my works to earn love from God. I need to have a heart that stays devoted to Him; that is what pleases Him.
     Have you ever felt you needed to earn love? Have you worked to be perfect? Have you tried to hide your sin from God? It is time to stop! Walking with God is simple; love Him with your whole heart, mind, and soul. Do that and you can give up the pressure of trying to achieve something you can never do and then you will discover peace and freedom as you seek Him alone!

             Jesus replied: "Love the Lord you God with all your hear and with all your soul and with all your mind."  This is he first and greatest commandment.

Matthew: 37-38

A Father Who Won't Leave

     Father’s Day is three days away! For many, that brings joy; for some it brings sorrow.  Some fathers built strong, solid foundations in their children; and some built a cracked, damaged foundation.  For me, Father's Day is always an opportunity to ponder my fathers and the impact they each played in my life. Yes, I did say fathers. Just as I have had many mother figures in my life, I have had several fathers; not as many as the mothers though. I had one grandfather I only met once, one grandfather I liked but never was invested, and one grandfather I adored. When it came to father’s, I had a birth father, an adopted father, a step father, and a father in law. I learned something of life from all of them but I am only going to talk about a few. The first father role I had was my birth father. It is the relationship with the most confusing, mixed up, and hurtful feelings. My birth father was 17 when he got married and had a baby. As you can figure, the marriage did not last. He went on to college and could not afford child support and when I was 3 years old he gave up his parental rights. Though I remained very close to his parents, I did not see him again until I was a Freshman in high school. Since then, I think I have seen him seven times. We have written back and forth probably 10 times. I will say that today, our relationship is better than ever; not that it is good, but it is better. I met with him at a restaurant back in September and I have spoken to him four times since. The biggest issue that keeps our relationship from being what it should be is that his wife isn’t very receptive to me being a part of their lives and I have an adult brother and an adult sister that does not know about me! It is very confusing! My feelings are also very confusing. I have worked hard at not having bitterness and anger in my heart. I wanted to keep a pure heart and keep the responsibility and accountability of the relationship on him. I also have hurt the person who is suppose to love me and the person that says he does love me; yet only shows a minuscule amount of behavior which demonstrates any kind of love for me. When I was younger and would visit my grandmother, who lived in the same town as he did, I would wish that he would find out I was in town and come to see me.  He never did.  In fact, I found out later that he always knew I was in town and purposefully stayed away.  I think this hurt more than anything else he has done, nor have I ever experienced a stronger feeling of rejection. I wish I could just say he isn’t a responsible man, but he is a superintendent of one of the largest school districts in Arkansas. He is responsible and he is a good father to his other two children. Knowing I am the rejected one has given me the struggle of dealing with insecurity and inferiority. I am sure that these feelings show themselves in my life more than I want but God is faithful to help me stay open to forgive my father and open to God to heal me.
     Not only has God healed me, and continues to heal me, He has shown me that He is not anything like my birth father. He has never forgotten me, or abandoned me, or said He loves me but yet doesn't back it up with action. He has never loved his other children more than me, and He isn’t faithful to everyone and everything else except me. It is so easy to transfer your hurt feelings and disappointments from your earthly father to your Heavenly Father but God has taught me not to do that. I rob myself of a healthy and intimate relationship with God when I do. He has also taught me not to get caught up with what I don’t have from my earthly father, but to get caught up in praising Him for what I do have in Him.
     What kind of relationship do you have with your earthly father? How has it affected your relationship with your Heavenly Father? What are you focusing on? What you don’t have in your earthly father, you do have in your Heavenly Father!  If you really understand who your Heavenly Father is and the blessings He gives His children, how can you feel you need more? I have learned that He is all I need! Do you believe He is all you need?

Be content with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote, God is there, ready to help; I’m fearless no matter what.
Hebrews 13:5b-6a

It's summer!

     I do not know if it is official, but summer is here! With summer comes shorts and skirts and . . . white legs! Why it is that fat always looks better with a tan? Summer seems to be a season that makes us want to change. I have been feeling the need for change. I just want to break the boredom and the ruts we can often find our self in. I am taking my exercise program outside again after the long winter affair with the treadmill. I am looking forward to more home grown, local fruits and vegetables to add to my diet. I have been tanning to give my fat a facade. To top it off, I changed over half my black hairs to blonde! These changes are uplifting to my spirit. They help the ho-hums fade away! I say, “In with summer, in with change!”
     Often we need a little summer in our spiritual life. We can easily get the ho-hums in our walk with the Lord. We can easily determine that we are getting a little fat on the world and we are in need of some change. Maybe we need to spend more time alone with God, or spend more time in His Word, or attend a new Bible study, or attend a retreat.
     What does summer mean to your spirit? Have you settled into the ho-hums? Are you ready for some change? What do you need to do? If you can’t figure out what you need to change, think back to the last time your spirit felt on fire for God? What were you doing then that you aren’t doing now? I think it is the season for a ho-hum make over!

Now it’s time to change your ways! Turn to face God so He can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you. . .

Acts 3:19

Control Your Thinking

     Today, I will tell you the last falling story (as long as I don’t fall today). This time I did not fall while walking, but I fell while riding my bike. It has been my greatest injury in my life. I was in kindergarten and it was a little after five o’clock. I had learned how to ride a big boy’s bike, so I thought! I was doing pretty well riding it down the sidewalk and I was riding toward my home. Then I saw my dad coming home. Thoughts began swirling through my head. All of a sudden, I could not remember how to stop the bike. Not being able to stop, I believed my father would get to the drive way at the same time I would and he would run over me. What stupid thinking! I did not stop to try and remember how to stop, nor did I think that my father would know how to stop his car! All I knew was I had to beat him to the driveway. I started going as fast as I could and one driveway from home, I lost control of the bike and crashed on the cement. My head and my chin took the full blow of the impact. I split open my chin. My father yelled for my mother and out she came with a towel. They scooped me up, jumped into the car, and took off for our family doctor that was four blocks away. Remember, this was 45 years ago, in a small town, with one family doctor. He would stay late for you or you could call him and he would meet you at his office any time of day or night. There was no need for immediate care clinics or emergency rooms. We went straight to his building, into his office, and to an exam table. Out came the needle and thread to start sewing up my chin, but I was not going to have it. They could not hold me still, though three people were trying! Finally, out of frustration, the doctor decided to put me out, so he gave me a shot and within seconds I was asleep. He completed his sewing project and started the process of waking me up. When I did wake up, I could not see! I still remember being blind and how that felt. At this point, it was off to the hospital. At the hospital, I was admitted and I went through many tests. I did get my sight back but I could not eat or hold anything down for over a week. My stay ended up being two weeks. They had told my parents that I had a brain hemorrhage and there was nothing they could do, and that I would most likely die. I remember my mother sitting at my bedside crying. It was very confusing for me but when I asked her, she would always had some answer. Every day, I took the same tests. Wires rolled up all over my head, laying in a room by myself, opening and closing my eyes on demand from a voice over a speaker, while someone behind the glass figured out what my brain was doing. In case you are going to say, “Oh that is what is wrong with her”, you are not alone. I have heard that all my life! After 10 days, I started doing better and they changed the diagnosis to a severe brain concussion and declared I would live. For three years, I had to go back for scheduled sessions with my head wires, but in the end, I was pronounced normal and completely healed (Dwayne: Normal? I'd like to speak to that doc!).
     A lot happened because of illogical thoughts. Two weeks in the hospital, great expense to my parents, and an emotional roller coaster ride of thinking you were going to lose your child! What a trip. As I have gotten older, my illogical thoughts have not eluded me. They still show up in my head and try their best to make me believe their ridiculous lies and falsehoods. Sometimes, I have bit and caused a situation to get out of control and many times I have had long term consequences from the actions those thoughts started. Satan’s number one tactic of attack comes in the form of thoughts. Scripture calls them the arrows of Satan. He goes around shooting destructive thoughts in our head. We all get them. The question is what we do when we get those thoughts. God gives us clear directions. We need to take every thought captive. We need to search that thought and match it up to God’s Word and God’s character. If we determine it is not from God, then we are to disregard it. We need to put it down the garbage disposal of our mind!
     Do you control your thoughts? Do you frisk every thought down and determine if it is from God or Satan? Or do you just accept every thought as equal? Do you react and let illogical thoughts control you? Do you know where your switch is to your mind’s garbage disposal?

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 2Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

We use our God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

 2Corinthians 10:5-6

Do You Fight or Seek Peace?

     Well, I have finished all the funny falling stories and I am very thankful that I have not fallen in the last two weeks. I was really worried about having a great finale to these stories. I do want to go back in time though and share two more falls I experienced; both before first grade. However, these two stories are not funny because I was injured in both. The first one was when I was four years old. I loved the neighbor’s big furry dog and would go play with it as often as I was allowed. One day, I was out playing and walking along the sidewalk. (Boy, how times have changed!) As I got close to the neighbors house, I heard growling and barking. My dog friend was in a fight with another dog. I have no memory of who the other dog was or where he came from. All I remember is I felt I had to protect my friend. I went to break up the dogs but as I was running towards them, I fell into the middle of their fight. As they were going for each other, they got a piece of the inside of my left thigh. It was a section about the size of the top section of my pointer finger. It was my first scar and has been a reminder to me to stay away from dog fights.
     It’s not just dog fights that are dangerous. Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a people fight? In the end, the ones who begin the fight are usually not the victims but the ones who jump in to help usually become the victims. One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn as a pastor’s wife is to not take up an offense for others. God gives me the grace to deal with the situations I find myself in. However, I do not get the grace to deal with the situations I am not supposed to deal with. The best thing we can do is to try and seek peace, help others seek peace and avoid quarrels.
     Have you ever found yourself in the middle of another's argument? Did it work out for you? Do you seek peace? Do you do all you can to avoid quarrels? It is not always easy, especially when it involves those you love, but according to Scripture, a person of good character averts quarrels.

Quick-tempered leaders are like mad dogs—cross them and they bite your head off. It’s a mark of good character to avert quarrels, but fools love to pick fights.

Proverbs 20:2-3

What Do You Do When Someone Falls?

     Well, you have heard about Brittne and Dwayne’s favorite stories: that leaves Bryce and his wife Kristen who both would pick this one as their favorite. The scene changes now from Montana to Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. What that means for me is that I do not have any ice and snow to blame for my falls! One summer day when Bryce and Kristen were dating they were going to one of their favorite fast food restaurants for lunch. They asked me if I wanted to go and since it was my favorite restaurant too and I never refuse time with my children, I accepted their invitation. They came to the house to pick me up. Bryce was driving my car and instead of pulling into the driveway, for some reason he pulled into the yard at the end of the sidewalk that came from the entrance of the house. I fumbled out of the house, trying to hurry for my impatient teenage son. Our dog, Shem, followed me out of the house, so with great frustration, I turned around and went back to the house to put her back in the door. Now I was hurrying even more. As I recall my impatient teenage son was enjoying using the horn on my car. There was a space of yard between where the sidewalk did a 45 degree angle to the drive and where he was parked in the center of the yard. Well, that small space of yard had a booby trap! There was a hole in the ground, covered up by grass! I understand that I have told so many of these stories, there is no suspense at this point; you know what is coming! I found the hole. However, what is different is the fact that I did not go down to the ground! I couldn’t because the car stopped me! When I found the hole, it projected me at a high speed forward. I knew that my face was fixin (for my none okie friends, that means getting ready) to smash into the front seat passenger window. I instantly put my hands up to protect my face. My hands stopped my face from going through the glass or from taking the impact. My hands took the impact and my face just touched the glass. However, the impact was hard enough to knock me backwards to my favorite position; on my back and onto the ground! Now you would think that two children, who claim to love me, would be concerned and would jump out of the car instantly to come to my aide. All they managed to do was to get the car door open. They couldn’t move due to the uncontrollable laughter that had consumed them! (Dwayne: Even I laugh when I read this one! You should hear Bryce tell this one! lol) They kept trying though. They would say, “Are . . . laughter, laughter . . . you . . . laughter, laughter . . . okay . . . laughter, laughter, laughter?” Actually, I don’t remember them ever being able to get out of the car. After I rolled around on the ground for awhile (Dwayne: Remember, something is broke!), I managed to get up, crawl into the back seat, and listen to them laugh all the way to Taco Bueno! I admit, I laughed too! We all had crazy images in our heads we just couldn’t stop laughing at. I remember seeing their hilarious expression of surprise when I hit the glass and they remember seeing me like one of those suction cup dolls with their face smashed into the glass.
     Because I love them, I did not trust their behavior, I trusted their hearts and knew they did not want to see me hurt and they weren't finding joy in the fact that I fell, yet again! Yet, many times in life we do like seeing certain people fall spiritually. We boast about how they deserved it or how we knew it was going to happen. Sometimes we even declare how we are glad that they are finally getting what they had coming. I have even caught myself happy when I see someone I was jealous of loose the thing I was jealous of. Somehow, I feel better when they are more like me! Other times we feel justified in our joy when the person who falls is someone we consider evil. Somehow we feel that God must be happy too when an evil person has consequences to pay. What we forget is that each person we find joy in watching fall, is a creation in God's image. Even if it is deserved, even if it is justified consequences, a parent never enjoys watching their creation fall.
     Have there been times you rejoiced over the fall of another? If you have a child, have you ever been angry when someone laughed or was mean to your child, even if they had done something wrong? How do you think God feels about our joy over the fall of one someone He created? Ask God to help you see them the way that He does! Oh, God . . . give me eyes to see what you see!

Don’t laugh when your enemy falls; don’t crow over his collapse. God might see, and become very  provoked, and then take pity on his flight.

 Proverbs 24:17-18

Who Trips You?

     I am now covering my families favorite stories. Yesterday's was Brittne's favorite story and today's is Dwayne's favorite. So, let me warn you know. . . expect lots of comments from Dwayne! Let me clarify for you the timing of my last two falls. I fell during my progressive dinner and then two days later I fell running around the car. This means I had skinned up elbows and knees; both with nice deep bruises! Two days after my last fall, I was preparing to go out of town to a training conference in Chicago. I had my bags packed with clothes that would cover both my elbows and knees and was spending the morning hanging out with Dwayne before I had to dress and leave for the airport. My kids had left for school. Dwayne was sitting in the recliner right beside the doorway into the living room. I was sitting on the couch across the room. Our family dog was laying in the floor between us and Brittne's cat (which I don't even remember its name; I still am trying to figure out why I ever let her have cat!) was laying somewhere under my feet unbeknown to me (Dwayne: Her surroundings are always UNBEKNOWN to her!)! After keeping an eye on the clock, I declared to Dwayne that I needed to go get ready. I stood and started to move towards the door when I discovered that the cat was underneath my feet. I tripped and was struggling to catch my balance. Our dog, Shem, must have sensed I was in trouble and came to the rescue but she only got in the way of my balancing act and I tripped over her. The last trip did me in and I believe I flew horizontally across the room like Superwoman! Of course it was right towards Dwayne and he had a full view of this scene playing out before his eyes (Dwayne: OMG). Now, to him it looked like I was crawling as fast as I could across the room; but why would I crawl when I wanted to walk? All I know is that I flew until my face plowed into the corner of the doorway. Somehow the impact of this blow flipped me up and backwards and I ended up on my back like I had been dropped from the sky. (Dwayne: She came crawling towards me as fast as she could and just crawled right into the door jam with her head! She then rolled over on her back with "all fours" sticking straight up crying out, yes as always, 'I broke my back!' I was laughing too hard wishing I'd had a video camera.) At this point, I honestly thought I had broke my back. I was very concerned that I was going to have to cancel my trip because at this moment I could not see how I was going to be well enough to make my plane. After laying there around five minutes, the pain subsided and I determined that maybe my back wasn't broken because the pain was shifting from my neck to my face. After the normal words of logic from my husband (Dwayne: Still laughing "You're okay!"), I found the determination within me to get up and make my plane. I took a few pain relievers and went to put on my makeup when I saw my face in the mirror. My cheek was already showing a bruise and it was definitely swollen. Now, I can add my face to my injury list alongside my elbows and knees. I used these injury as blackmail with Dwayne (Dwayne: I never went to jail, people knew her too well!). I told him he had to be extra sweet to me or I could report him for wife abuse! He informed me with my record of falling and the different witnesses that had seen my falls, nobody would ever believe me! He still was extra sweet to me though!
      As I was going through my normal day and when I least expected it, a cat that I didn't care for and a dog that I loved, tripped me up good! As much as I tried I could not recover from their interaction in my walk until I had fallen flat on my back and had to experience the consequences of a few injuries. I have to admit that there have been people in my life that I have learned can trip up my walk with God. Some of them I love and some of them I do not like. Some are not Christians and sadly some are Christians. They are people that can push my buttons and before I know it I respond in a way that is not honoring to God or myself. It is not their fault that I sin, it is my fault for not being aware of their impact on me and for not being on guard against it. Some are people that tempt me and even encourage me to do things I know that I should not be a part of if I want to walk in obedience to God. These people I can care about and pray for but I do not need to socialize with. If they influence me more than I influence them, I need to have boundaries on the time I spend with them.
     Do you have people who can trip up your spiritual walk? Do you know who they are and what impact they have on you? Do you have boundaries to deal with them? Protect your walk with the Lord above everything! Remember, you will protect the things that are important to you!

So leave the corruption and compromise: leave it for good: says God, "Don't link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself."

2 Corinthians 6:17

Power of Words

      Every day I speak an average of 16,000 words. That is about 1,000 words per hour which means that I speak an average of 5,840,000 a year. In addition, it means that I have spoke 287,648,000. It saddens me to think how many of those words had value? If only 1% of them had value, I would have spoken 2,876,480 meaningful words. Isn't that astonishing?Isn't that scary? I wish I knew what they were so I could say them all over again to someone else. I can be sure of one thing though. If I spoke any words of wisdom, which were meaningful and had value, they came from Jesus. I could not have rendered any wisdom on my own. Sometimes I wonder if flooding others with a tsunami of words does not devalue all the words. Some of the people I respect the most are people that say few words but when they do, they are powerful! This is something I wish I would practice more. Though both my spiritual gift and my personality depend on a considerable amount of words, I need to be aware of the power words can possess.
     It always amazes me when a person I do not remember, tells me how some words, I don’t even remember saying, has blessed their lives. Nothing is more humbling. I only pray that there is not a person, whom I do not remember, who has been impacted negatively with words I do not remember saying!
     Jesus is again the perfect example for us. Only four books in the entire Bible have words spoken directly by Jesus. His recorded words are few in light of a three year ministry, but they are powerful. I do not believe He ever spoke meaningless words. Also, I do not believe that anyone has ever come close to speaking words with as much power as Jesus did.
     Do the words you speak have meaning and value? Are they an encouragement? Do they show love, kindness, grace, praise, etc.? Are they a reflection of Jesus? How many words have you wasted? Let’s try hard to use our words to be a ministering spirit among those who we communicate with!

Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
Proverbs 18: 21 (The Message)

Who Needs A Doctor?

     There is something about me and ice that doesn't get along. This story is for my friend Sheila. Actually, I had forgotten about this fall until she reminded me of it recently and it seems to be her favorite. When we were in Montana, we started a church named South Hills. We had renovated and moved into a warehouse from a hotel meeting room. Today, we lovingly call it the warehouse church. We had outgrown the classrooms and I taught a women’s Sunday School class in an office building next door to the church. One Sunday, we had our usual study and had gone late. To keep the pastor happy with me, I sent the women on to church and stayed behind to pick up and close up the building. We had snow that week but a  Chinook wind had come through and melted everything, at least to the eye. Knowing I needed to get to worship quickly, as soon as I locked the door, I took off running. As I turned the corner, there was a patch of black ice. For those of you that do not know what black ice is, it is simply ice that freezes in a way that you cannot see it. As I am sure you could guess by down, I went down; down on the gravel parking lot. I knew I was hurt but I didn’t have time to whine about it. I had seconds to get to my spot, or the pastor was going to have a little talk with me after church! My friend, Sheila loves to tell how she happened to be watching me walk into the sanctuary and down the aisle. She instantly noticed my legs. I had put holes in both legs of my panty hose and blood was running down my leg from my knee. I might have been injured but I was in my chair exactly one second before the first song began! (Dwayne: Is she trying to push this off on me?)
     In this case, my injury was physical and you could visually see it. However, every Sunday people walk into church spiritually injured. It is not visible to you, but if you pray and ask God to give you spiritual eyes to see and you take time to talk to people, actually having a caring conversation with them; you may see their hurting heart. People everywhere are hurting from the world’s critical blows. Some of these people are walking into our churches looking for something or someone to give them hope and help. We need to see our churches as a hospital for hurting people. However, all hospitals have to have staff that care for their patients. We have the great physician but does He have the nurses and caregivers to minister to His patients? Are you ready to report to duty?

Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.

Luke 5:31-32

Who Do You Depend On?

    I have been waiting to include somebody else in my falling stories. You know what they say; misery loves company! I can’t think of anyone I would rather include than the person who has added so many cute little sayings to my stories! Are you ready Dwayne? When we lived in Montana one of the traditions we adopted was buying a tree tag every Christmas Season. Our $3.00 tag allowed us to go into the forest and cut down an evergreen to be our Christmas tree. We would go as a family, with other family friends and walk through several feet of snow to find the perfect tree. We had to learn the hard way that trees look really little in the forest but when you get what your thought was the perfect size tree home; you find out you can’t get it in the house or get the trunk to fit into a tree holder! One Christmas we were walking up and down many hills. For some strange reason, Dwayne reached over and grabbed my arm and we interlocked our arms. This is something I never do; it takes all I have to keep from falling on the ice and snow let alone be hooked to someone else and have to rely on their sure footedness. However, Dwayne had only fallen once the whole time I have known him and I felt more secure with me on his arm than left to myself. I wish I would have remembered that the only time he has ever fallen was on ice and snow because within minutes of taking my arm, Dwayne slipped and started a doomed balancing act. Since I am an expert at recognizing the signs right before a fall, I started fighting passionately to release my arm from his grip. I could not get myself free from him! He went down and I went down with him! I was shocked! My steadfast pillar in life just took me down with him. He could have let go of me and saved me from this fall but he didn’t (Dwayne: Take all this with a grain of salt!). The moral of this story is that if you choose to depend on someone to keep you upright, you'd better be willing to fall with them as well!
     That lesson applies to our spiritual walk as well as our physical one. We are to be light to the world, to love the lost, to reach out to the lost; but we are not to live like the world. So, many times I see Christians spend time with their lost friends 24/7. Soon they act just like their friends and they lose their impact to witness to the very ones they care about. Do not mishear me. We need to become caring friends with the lost to earn the right to witness to them, but the majority of our time needs to be fellowshipping, learning, praying, and worshipping with our Christian family. I remember when Dwayne and I realized that we needed to develop some Christian friends. Those friends have been faithful and those friendships have lasted through many years. Many of our lost friends have now become Christians. We would have never grown spiritually without that change in our lives.
     Who are you holding on too? Are you sure they won’t cause you to fall? Do you need to develop some new friends? Are you influencing your friends or are your friends influencing you?

Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God’s holy temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way “I’ll live in them, move into them; I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people. So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God. “Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself.”

2 Corinthians 6:14-17

No Shortcuts

     All personality types have quirks. I hate to admit but my personality type is no different. One aspect of mine is that I focus on the end results more than the details that can just slow up the process. One day I started a process of hanging border in a small bathroom. It wasn't your normal border because I had cut it out of wallpaper and it had a scallop edge. The good thing was it wasn't 15' long so it was much easier to hang. I figured I could get this process done in less than 30 minutes. I only saw one potential flaw; my friend and neighbor offered to help. Now I loved her and she was very talented, but her personality cares about the details. It takes her at least twice as long to do something than I take. I am not saying my way is best; I need detail people in my life to help me remember the important details to a project. However, I believe that I can help detail people remember that it is important to finish in a timely manner. That is why it is important for us all to work together to help each other. That is why God doesn't make us all the same! Anyway, I agreed that my friend could help me by pasting the wallpaper and handing it to me. It was working and we were on a roll. I would get up on a chair (Dwayne: Did you catch the 'buzz' phrase? GET UP . .), she would hand me a piece of wallpaper, I would put it up, she would hand me my rag and brush, I would get down and move the chair, and we would do it all over again. Then we hit the corner! I put up the piece of wallpaper but could not reach the end that went around the corner because there was a shelf in the corner. I had a choice to make and I have to admit my personality quirk kicked in! I could have done it the hard way and taken down the piece of wallpaper, got off my chair, moved the shelf, moved my chair to the corner, got back on the chair and put the wallpaper up! Did I choose this option? Of course not! I decided to take the easy and quick way. All I needed to do was to put my foot on the shelf and lean over to push the end down and around the corner. It should have worked. It could have worked! However, the shelf was not hard wood; it was particle board. It could not take my weight (you can take that any way you want) and the shelf broke into pieces and I went down with it. On my way to the floor the toilet took its shots at my ribs. The plant that was on top of the shelves went down with me and I was laying on the floor, wondering if I had broken my ribs, with dirt everywhere! As I was laying there wanting to cry with dirt all over my face and body, my friend walked into the room to find out what caused the loud sound. She took one look at me and said, "You just couldn't move the shelf, could you?" These are the times in life I want to scream, "retake" but life does not give us retakes!

     Often we want to take shortcuts with our spiritual life. The bad news is, we can't. Our spiritual life is not just waiting until we reach our destination, it is a process of learning about the God we'll spend eternity worshipping. For example, we want to have great, deep faith, but we want to skip walking through the valleys that grow that faith!  When we look for shortcuts we will eventually fall!
     Are you willing to live the journey? Are you ready to quit looking for the shortcuts? God cares about the details in our character and He will do what it takes to help us develop and grow our character. Do you have things you know you need to do but refuse to give up the time? Do you just hope it will happen without any effort on your part? Are you willing to do what God tells you even if it is not easy or convenient? If you answer yes; then your actions will prove it!

. . .we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Romans 5:3-4