Posts from June 2019 (Page 2)

Posts from June 2019 (Page 2)

In His Image and His Likeness

“God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” Genesis 1:26a (KJV)             A little boy about four years old would always come up to me in church. He knew that I had cough drops and stuff in my purse, so he made a point of coming to see what I had that he might want.             One day he came up to me, but instead of asking for what I had in my purse, he…

All Your Heart’s Desire

All Your Heart’s Desire“Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires.” Psalm 34:4 (TLB)             I was at West Virginia University for summer school when one of my girlfriends invited me to a Tuesday night prayer meeting. When I didn’t accept the invitation, she kept on. “Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go,” she insisted. Halfway through the summer, I agreed.             The first night I went to the Newman Center, the center for Catholic…

Wait for the Lord

“I would have been without hope if I had not believed that I would see the loving-kindness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Let your heart be strong…” Psalm 27:13-14 (NLV)             I was raised in a Christian home. Faith was always a part of who I was. In college, even though I was in a sorority, I was never a crazy partier. If I veered a bit in the wrong…

Joy in the Morning

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5 (KJV) “I need to speak to you,” my mom told me. “I think you’re old enough to understand it now,” she continued quietly. I was thirteen. “You are adopted, but we are family. I am your aunt. You and I are blood, but you and your father are not.” Of all the things she could have said, this was the one I least expected. “Then who…

With Me All Along

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)             I was born a questioning prodigal.             Brought up in a strict, conservative Eastern European family that believed in the Bible and read it often, even…

Song of Deliverance

“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalm 32:7 (NIV)             I experienced God at such a young age that the deacons in the church questioned if I knew what I was doing. I was six when I felt a gentle push and an overpowering unction to go forward and join the church one Sunday.                        As my life has transpired, I understood that my coming forward truly was…

Child of God to Man of God

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Psalm 118:17 (KJV)             I know that my Redeemer lives. I have been blessed with four distinct intentions (or miracles) in my life. Each came at a time of personal powerlessness.             The first happened thirty-seven years ago when the Lord saved me from the slow doom of alcoholism. He put people in my life to show me a new direction while instantly taking away the deadly…

The Fields Are Ripe

“You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripefor harvest.” John 4:35 (NLT)             I had been married twenty years before my husband came to the Lord.             He’d grown up in the church, his mother was a pastor, but I didn’t even know all that before I married the man. “You need to know people before you marry them,” I tell the girls I counsel.…

Back to Jag

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” Acts 16:31             I was born and raised here in Naples in the River Park Projects.             My mom was in and out of prison, addicted to crack cocaine and heroin. I didn’t know my dad. My grandmother had to get me at a very young age. I’d never seen anyone be married in my family. No one raised their children with both the mom and the dad.            …

Faith in God Sustained Us

“Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you. If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.” Psalm 34:17-18 The Message (MSG)             My dad passed away when I turned fifteen.             His death was not only a traumatic loss for me as a teenager, but also for my mom and my sister Edna who was six years older than I.             Throughout…