INSPIRATIONS (Page 10)

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace  to me was not without effect.” 1 Corinthians 15:10           Critical comments swarmed in my mind long after they took place, never giving me a moment’s peace.            Does intelligent thought ever enter your skull? Who do you think you are? You’re just a joke with a bad punchline? Work harder, stupid! Never let ‘em see you sweat! Don’t be such a wuss! You’re too fast!…

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 (KJV) When I was six years old, my mom had divorced my father, married my stepfather and moved us to a new neighborhood in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Back then, kids walked everywhere, even through the woods to get to school. One day walking home from school, this big tree said gently, “Child.” I had such an overwhelming feeling that I sat down, and…

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind . . .” Acts 2:2 (KJV)             Six weeks before my twentieth birthday, I was getting married.             It was the time in young girls’ lives when we’d all graduated and gotten jobs. The next step was getting married. I looked forward to being a wife very much, and was determined to go through with the wedding even after my fiancé’s aunt and uncle warned me…

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10 (NIV)             In November 2014 I was with my wife driving south from Atlanta, beginning our third day of hard driving to the promised land—Naples. I was tired and physically working off the drinks I had had the night before to relax and get some sleep. That was my usual pattern.             Suddenly I noticed we were approaching the cutoff exit at Macon but were in the…

“…we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all…” 1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)             The Lord is my Savior…             We may say those words many times as we seek to live Christian lives, but until we experience Christ in action, understanding His saving grace remains purely hypothetical. Only when we experience Him as our personal savior does the mystery of faith become steadfast in our lives.           When I was a young teenager,…

“Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and hidden things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 (NHEV)             I’m still learning to sense God’s presence. For most of my life, it wasn’t something I knew was possible. God was someone distant, who lived “up there.” And he was very busy. I was living “down here,” and busy with that. But as years progressed, I developed an odd and overwhelming desire to know God,…

“These are the words of him who is holy and true… What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” Revelation 3:7 (NIV)             Doors have opened and closed in my life in ways that only make sense in the context of faith—a faith in God and a belief that things happen for reasons we often don’t readily understand.             I wasn’t much of a student in school. I wasn’t dumb, but I never…

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)             It was June.             We lived on a farm and, as a kid growing up on a farm, I was always on tractors and other equipment with the farm hands. I was almost three, the oldest child in the family, when my mother went in the hospital to have…

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 (NIV)             I was the fourth daughter born to a father who told my mother “no more girls.” After I was born, he left.             At seven with a broken back, I moved in with my grandparents, Reverend and Mrs. Robert G. Leetch. My grandfather was…

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse… ‘Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.’” Malachi 3:10 (NIV)             While walking in the Adirondack woods in 1984, I realized that my life was in trouble. I had a successful career, but I was drinking and carousing daily. I felt the urge to…