peace

Prayer & the Corona

/ kstrick7 / Leave a comment

The other day, one of my co-workers asked me,

“Have you been praying more here lately?”

It took me a minute to think of what they meant.

HELLO! The Corona virus, Covid-19, the 2020 Pandemic, the only thing you hear anything about these days…. I answered them with, “Not really. I pray a lot anyways.” Then, I got to thinking, I wonder why I’m not praying more than usual? Because, here are the facts:

We have a disease that’s hit our country, that there is no cure.
It has no partiality, when it comes to who gets it.
Some people are dying.
We are encouraged to stay home & not be around anyone.
The governor, of our blessed state of Mississippi, is slowly but surely opening back up our state. (not that it really matters, because people haven’t stayed out of the local Walmarts AT. ALL.)

So, I guess there’s some things, needing our attention, when talking to God. It’s not that I’m not concerned about where our communities & nation are going. Because here are some facts, as well:

We have a mighty, mighty God.

God is faithful

God will provide a way.

God will take care of us. He always has. 

At the end of the day, God is in control.

Since we aren’t having church services at our church building, me and my house have Bible study at home. Here are some verses that we have found very comforting.

John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (NKJV)

Romans 5:1
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (NKJV)

Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (NKJV)

Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.(NKJV)

John 14:1-6
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (NKJV)

 

Anyone that was ever in my Daddy’s Bible class, was required to memorize John 14:1-6. I am so glad he had us do that. It is so comforting to be able to lay in bed at night, in the moments before I go to sleep, and have those words go through my head. Just one of the umpteen things my Daddy did right in this ‘ol world. He instilled the Word of God in our minds and hearts. I am so thankful for a preaching Daddy & a praying Mama. He knew committing scripture to mind was just one of the ways to find peace in this uncertain world.

I hope you are having a blessed week. Even through the nonsense, sickness, & crazy, the Lord is still there for us. The weather is finally warming up & low & behold, we have even turned the air conditioner on.  Then, we had to turn it back off because it was 41 degrees. (Help us, O Lord) We are going through phases, in opening up our state, but, I can’t say I will ever step foot back in a grocery store again. Grocery delivery has found me & I just may not let it go. Because, well, it makes me feel delighted. And couldn’t we all use a little more delightfulness in our lives? Until next time, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: Pinterest, www.challies.com

Can the world get any crazier

/ kstrick7 / Leave a comment

What a crazy world we are living in right now. Never in my wildest imagination would I believe in 2020, I would be running around with gray hair, BECAUSE I HAD TO. Or that toilet paper, of all things, would be such a hot commodity. I mean, y’all, why are people not cleaning the grocery store shelves off down the FOOD aisles? I mean if I had my rathers, I would rather eat than anything else. But y’all, I can’t say I have been that upset with all of this. I mean, I am having my groceries delivered, to my house, & going to church in my pajamas. Miss Neenee is home from school. We are not having to run here & yon. And let me tell you, she is cooking for me & her daddy, just like she was our own personal chef. This is what dreams are made of. When our sweet governor took us off of “Shelter In Place”, I made the announcement at home, “That don’t mean us. We are staying right here.” I am delighted to say there were no hissy fits pitched because, let’s face it. We are homebodies.

However, there may be some that are seriously having lots of stress & anxiety from all of the changes the Corona virus has brought about. I read an article that said, “We are all going through the same storm, but not all of us are in the same boat.” How true this is. Some people may have fret, worry, and anxious feelings in their boat. Some people may have the actual sickness in their boat. You just never know. So, how do you deal with these feelings during this uncertain times? Jesus has the answer.

 

Matthew 11:28-29

 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (NKJV)

The apostle Paul said in

Philippians 4:7-8

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

I know this all can be easier said than done, but hear me out. This is a process. You don’t just arrive at feeling peace in your soul. It is something you have to work on

Each. And. Every. Day.

With everywhere you turn, being unsettling & disturbing news, it can be hard to keep your mind in a state of peace. However, this is something you have to practice. You have to live a life according to God, pray, be faithful, have faith, & trust God to sort it all out. The problems we are facing today, are much too big for me & you to handle. But with the Lord, we can keep some sense of sanity. He promises us He will not lead us out so far & leave us.

I Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

He didn’t say He wouldn’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we wanted, but what we are able to bear. Daddy used to say if God gave you a lot of troubles, that means He thinks a lot of you. I would say,

“Well, sometimes I wish God didn’t think so much of me.”

We would laugh about whatever I was going to him for advice on. He would say something like,

“Worrying about it ain’t gonna do a frazzlin’ thing, but put you in such a shape to where you can’t do nothing for nobody. So, trust God.”

I always thought, “Trust God.” It’s just that simple, huh? But you know, once I started praying, studying my Bible & put my faith in the Lord, it all came about. The peace, the comfort, the calm. It takes humility (which I need a lot more of) & the realization that you can’t control it all, no matter what. The other day, I read on my Bible app., that during the past 6 weeks, the people who run the app, saw God moving in amazing ways. They saw the largest increase, ever, of people searching the scriptures for hope & peace. They saw more than 1.6 million prayers added to the site. People are reaching out & searching. And they are finding it. You can find it, too. All you have to do is open your Bible. Then, you can find that peace that passes all understanding. And man, let me tell you. There’s nothing like it.

I am so glad you came by to visit with me today. It’s been a minute, since I’ve been here. Things have really changed in my life, the last year. My Daddy passed away last April. It’s been a long year, to say the least. And too, Miss Neenee turned 16 & started driving. I have a lot more gray hair & now have 7 grandbabies.. That about sums it up. I hope you will decide to come back sometime. As for me, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

Photo credits: Pinterest

Learning to trust & can I get a marshmallow peep?

/ kstrick7 / 2 Comments

 

calvin

I can remember when I was little, if I was scared, I would run & hide behind my mama.  This was mostly when I had maybe perhaps done something to my brother.  He would chase me & I knew, if I could find mama, I would be ok.  I can remember her saying to him,

” You have to be good to her.  She’s the baby.  You have to show her how a big brother acts.” 

(This was promptly followed by me poking my head out from behind her sticking my tongue out at him.)  And oh MY  word ya’ll, if that hasn’t been a reality check for ME in life.  Because, you know what?  People aren’t always nice to me.  And they really don’t care if I’m the baby or not.  But my sweet mama used this tactic to try to get us to behave. I can remember her having to stand in between me & my brother & I would hold on to her just as tight as I could.   I always trusted her & whatever I did, if I could get to mama, she would take care of me.  No matter if I were right, wrong, or indifferent.  I had that wonderful, special trust.

Do you ever have troubles?  Sometimes problems arise from a wrong choice or decision that you’ve made.  At other times, you don’t really have to be responsible for any of it & here it comes.  Either way, problems in life are just plain unwanted.  What makes an incredible difference in bad situations? How you handle it.  We can be afraid, angry, disappointed, or have a multitude of emotions.  We might start to ask God, “Why me? Why us? Why this?”However, we can trust, in the middle of all the heartache, that:

1.  The Lord will not leave you.  Hebrews 13:5  Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”(NKJV)

Hebrews-13-5

 

2.  The Lord will take care of you. I Peter 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.  Things may not be exactly like you think they ought to be.  However, there are times the Lord takes care of us in a way we don’t understand. Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  If we only go to Him & trust Him, He will help us, period.  He will NOT leave us hanging out to dry.

3.  The Lord will turn tragedy into blessings.  One of the worst things that has ever happened to me is my mama’s sickness & untimely death.  I will Never. Get. Over. It.  But you know what?  God has blessed our family with deeper love for each other.  He sent people to help us through our hard times.  We always had someone we could depend on, around us.  He has caused me to appreciate life & to remember the wonderful example my mama left for us.  I realize that for 30 years, I had a precious mama.  Some people don’t have that.  Some folks have never known their mother or don’t have a Christian mother.  I was very fortunate to have had that.  I can pass along those qualities to my children & family.  I have a hope that I will be with her again one day.  Until then, I have got to keep on keepin’ on.

John 16:22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.(NKJV)

The Lord is always working behind the scenes for us.  We just have to trust in Him.  We readily accept good from Him.  As a part of life, sometimes we will have to accept bad, too.

Job 2:10  Shall we indeed accept good from God & shall we not accept adversity?(NKJV)

JOB

Life goes on.  Even in awful circumstances.  It’s ok to grieve the loss of a loved one, to get down & depressed about an erring child, or to feel like no one has any idea what you are going through.  Those are human feelings.  We just can’t unpack our bags & live in the land of desperation.  There are times we get stuck going through the struggles of life.  Just like a big ol’ tractor pullin’ a truck out of the ditch, the Lord can send people to help.  Let them.  I have said it once & will say it again & again.  Folks, we are all in this big ol’ mess called LIFE together.  We have to depend on each other.  I hope you are at a point in your life you have finally relented to this fact.  It makes things so much easier knowing you have people, who care about you.  Isn’t it wonderful to know we don’t have to go through trials alone?  We always have the Lord there with us.  He can do things for us no one else can.  We just have to simply trust.  Is there a struggle in your life today?  Pray about it. Seek others to help you.  Look to the Lord for comfort.

The psalmist David said in Psalms 56:3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (NKJV)

I’m not saying your problems will vanish overnight.  I am saying you will be able to bear whatever it is, until things are better.  You will find peace of mind.  Only if you are willing to trust.  God’s love never fails.  We must give Him a chance to show us that.  Whenever I am facing something hard in life, I have to remind myself, there’s someone out there who has a worse situation than I do.  There’s always something to be thankful for.  Maybe it’s that things aren’t as bad as they could be.  No matter what, I have to be thankful for a loving God I can depend on.  It’s hard to see the other side of trials sometimes.  We just have to remember to slow down & take things day by day & trust the Lord to take care of us.  In times like those, we don’t know what we need.  We have to let the Lord handle our needs.  He’s good at that.   Just like the trust that my mama was going to make everything all better, God can do the same thing.  Even bigger & better.  Promise.

I am so glad you came by to visit me today.  Goodness gracious, I about got too serious & heavy hearted with all of this.  But sometimes it’s just that way, ya know?  This Sunday is Easter.  I sure hope you have your Easter frocks ready for church.  My grandbaby girl is going to look so sweet.  If you see her, you will be tempted to eat her with a spoon.  I would discourage any of that.  She has a tad of a mother hen for a mama.  My Miss Neenee is ready all but the shoes.  We will be getting those this week.  Oh the fun!  The kids & grandkids will be coming over after church.  We will be dying eggs, hiding eggs, running around chasing kids, eating good food, & oh the Easter candy.  There is nothing that suits me more than a marshmallow peep.   Until then, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

Easter-Bunnies-Image-Graphics-Fairy1b

photo credits: graphicsfairy, pinterest

 

 

Is your wanter broken?

/ kstrick7 / Leave a comment

quilts on clothes line snow

I am feeling pretty good about myself about right now.  I have done my civic duty to my community & graced the aisles of the grocery store to purchase my loaf of bread & milk.  It seems there are rumors of inclement weather (when I say inclement I mean, talks of possibly a snowflake or two falling).  When I say a snowflake or two, I mean that in a literal sense.  Northeast Mississippi rarely gets snow.  But when we do, you’d better watch out.  All the folks that have four wheel drives or a vehicle, will try to be out on the road.  And mind you, we can’t drive on ice.  There is lots of things we country folks can do- make sweet tea, drive a tractor, haul hay, cut wood, put out feed for our animals, talk to Jesus, & cook food so good it will make you want to slap your mama.  But drive on ice, not so much a dandy of an idea for us.  Back to my visit to the grocery store.  If you wanted to see anybody, in particular, you would have had a good chance of running into them today at the store.  Most of the people I came into contact with did smile when I met their gaze.  Unlike before Christmas.

When I was doing Christmas shopping, nobody was smiling.  I would walk along, meet the eyes of a lady, who seemed distraught, & smile.  No smile back.  I saw a man & his wife carrying packages outside a store.  I smiled.  No smile back.  I saw another older lady that looked to have a couple of daughters, my age, with her.  Smiled at all of them & they just looked plum disgusted!  What was going on?  I thought this was supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year?  Then, it hit me.  I get some of the same feelings come over me, perhaps that these shoppers did.  I get down & aggravated when I am spending a lot of time & money on things for people- that will probably be thrown to the side after a day or two.  It made me think, sometimes I think our wanters get broken.  We watch so much t.v. that has commercials of things we don’t really need, but want.  We go to stores & see things we just have to have.  Our kids go to school & see other kids with things that are a must have.  We go online & shop around on websites that have merchandise that you just can’t live without.  I will go even one further than that.  We may get so caught up in ourselves, we think possessions are the way to happiness.  That cars, houses, property, and anything else pricy you can think of, is of more value than relationships.

The apostle Paul addressed this starting in  I Timothy 6:6

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. v. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. v.8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. v. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which down men in destruction & perdition. v. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

I saw the other day on the news the founder of Amazon, was on vacation aboard a cruise ship.  Mind you this is a billionaire.  He got sick, had to be airlifted off.  Taken to his private jet, where he boarded the boat & flown back to the U.S. for medical treatment.   You know what was wrong with him?  Kidney stones.  Did having all that money save his health?  Nope.

We all have been appointed a day to die.  No matter how much money we have will not matter or how much money we don’t have.  What will matter is how we spent our time while here in this world.  Were we content or in a constant struggle to get more?  We know it will be left here, when we go.  Why not focus on our relationships, living for Christ, & serving God?  Peace & contentment cannot be bought.  We have to learn to find it from the Lord.  So, next time you are out making your rounds in town, smile.  Salvation is free. No purchase necessary.  Christ paid that price for you a long time ago!

I so hope you are having a good day.  I am anxious to see if we will get some bad weather.  I remember the ice storm of 1994.  They never did see that one coming!  I hope you are toasty warm inside your cozy home while you are reading this.  As for me, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

snowy clotheslinephoto credits – pinterest

When you get tired of it all, God’s there

/ kstrick7 / 25 Comments

Don't worry

(The Living Bible translation)

Sometimes I get tired. I am tired of my problems, tired of my circumstances, tired of things not going my way, tired of people not listening, tired of feeling upset, angry, disappointed, irritated, unappreciated, anxious, irritated, sad, & by the way, irritated! (Isn’t there a pill you can take for some of that? Sheesh!) I normally try to be an upbeat person, but you know, it can be tiring. That’s when I start to realize,

“What am I doing?”

I am trying to “do” all this life stuff by myself.

Well, that’s just nonsense.  There is Someone who promised me They would help, if I would let Them.
Matthew 11:28-30 says this, about that:

v. 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
v. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
v. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Our preacher spoke about this on Sunday. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Jesus invites us to Him. We have a tendency to want to do things our way. Jesus will not snap His fingers & take away all the problems we have created for ourselves, by bad choices. He will give us comfort, if we seek Him. Often time we struggle with messes we make. Our struggles could be from forgiveness to or from others. It could be from our finances, our family, addictions, to a lustful heart, envying, jealousy, or hatred. But, Jesus forgives. The apostle Peter had one of the biggest mouths of anyone. He was notorious for speaking before he thought. However, Jesus saw him fit to preach the first gospel sermon.(Acts 2) In the end, Peter was humbled. In I Peter 5: 6-7 he said, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

2. Take my yoke. Lay down your old ways & pick up a different set of priorities. In a yoke, it takes 2. You are connected to the Lord & His care, when you are yoked to Him. We should do what Jesus wants us to do instead of what we may want to do.

3. Learn of Me. If you continually do the things of the Lord, you will learn to love those things. We must make it a priority to follow Jesus in our lives. Only then, will you find rest.

My husband has always been taken back with how well I sleep at night. He says it does not matter what kinds of situations we are in, or what kind of storms of life are brewing, that I can sleep no matter what. Well, I guess I have conditioned myself to let a lot of things go, when it gets time for bed & be at peace with whatever it is going on. My only reasoning for this is the peace that passes all understanding that’s talked about in Philippians 4:7. (and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.) I just say my prayers & leave it with God. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. But it’s not impossible!
I hope if you are feeling tired of it all, you will know, there’s an answer to it all. Jesus! He will care for you & keep you as close to Him, as you will let Him. I can’t tell you how the love of God feels. It’s something you have to experience for yourself. I can tell you it is the best feeling in the world to know you are loved by Him. Just remember God is ABLE to do anything we ask.  Ask for peace.   I am so glad you stopped by to visit with me today. It was wonderful to spend some time with you. I hope to see you again, soon. However, I have to be going for now, because I should be washing clothes.

God is able

I was inspired, yet again, by Bro. Brad, to write this post. If he is reading this, he knows I was listening…. Thank you, Bro. Brad for preaching the Word in it’s simplicity.