INSPIRATIONS (Page 11)
Seek Me With All Your Heart
“I know the plans I have for you…. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29: 11,13 (NIV) I believe God had plans for me even before I was a twinkle in my Dad’s eyes. Somehow, growing up in a happy but not particularly religious family, I always believed in God. My earliest recollection of God being talked about occurred when I was a skinny six or seven-year-old changing…
God Has a Plan
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) My presence on this earth was an oops! My sister was thirteen years older than me. Need I say more? When she left for boarding school, then college, my parents no longer had a built-in babysitter, so they hired me a nanny. My Miss Horn loved…
Embraced by a Mighty Wind
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Acts 2:2 (NIV) I have always known that God is with me, but one day He showed up in a way that assured me of His tender love for me in a way as never before. Late one March afternoon almost ten years ago, I was sitting alone in my family room with my back to…
Love Binds Everything Together
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:12-14 (ESV) My sister was killed by her husband many years ago. I thought I had put to rest the…
Knowing Our Father
“Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Isaiah 40: 31 (KJV) I grew up in Baltimore. Early on, I recognized my mother was obsessed with alcohol. My father went to great lengths to try to stop her addiction without letting anybody know it existed. He shielded me as best he could, but…
Life’s Miracles
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV) My husband and I were married for thirty-eight years, the last three years of which his health declined due to a very rare form of cancer—chronic myeloid leukemia with five genetic mutations. His doctors estimated that only two hundred people had ever been diagnosed with this…
Trust in the Lord
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV) My grandmother always prayed for me. Toto (pronounced Tutu) prayed silently at every meal. My family seemed embarrassed by Toto’s praying, but even then, I revered her. When I was six, the woman I was named after died in her sleep. My mother was crying when she told me,…
Open the Door
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears me and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20 (NIV) My father was very smart and a good provider. He could always find something a little better than what we had. I would always see him praying every morning before he went to work. He came home when I was four years old and told…
Parable of the Loving Father
I give thanks for all dads and men as we celebrate Father’s Day 2019 in June. Fathers play a key role in our life journey and the parable of the prodigal son is a perfect illustration of that. For this article, I’m renaming that story “The Parable of the Loving Father” since it rings true to the heart of the parable. The younger son asked for his inheritance, insulting his father by basically saying ‘I wish you were dead.’ In…
Vestry Approves Outreach Grants
The St. John’s Vestry has approved $50,000 in grants for this year’s Outreach for national/ international giving: CCO – Coalition for Christian Outreach Nationwide organization working through local charities in making witnesses out of college students to create discoples who follow Jesus Christ in every area of their lives. Emmanuel Community Aleppo Provide seed money for new business ventures in Aleppo to aid in rebuilding this Christian community along with ongoing donations for the sustenance of the poor in this…