Eyes on JESUS!

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Matthew 14:27-31 "Jesus spoke to them at once. 'Don't be afraid,' he said. 'Take courage. I am here!' Then Peter called to him, L'ord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.' 'Yes, come,' Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when Peter saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. 'Save me, Lord!' he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. 'You have so little faith,' Jesus said. 'Why did you doubt me?'"
This morning as I read this passage in my Bible, the following thought came into my mind about Peter. When Peter began to sink, his mind drifted to the what if’s, and forgot what Jesus said to him. When we take our eyes off what God has said, and replace it with what we fear that we see around us, the end result is to doubt God and never see the amazing things God has for us and desires to do for us by our faith in Him. 
What is so great about this story is that even when I doubt God, He still reaches out to me.

When Life Does Not Make Sense

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This last week in Facebook I read a story of a mother who is a believer and yet she felt that God had forsaken her. I was also reminded of a conversation with a man I play golf with when he made a statement, “If there is a God how could he allow my daughter to have MS.” Then there is a young couple I know with two children and the mother dies of cancer. How about an older couple I love who served God their whole lives spreading God's word, and the wife gets a crippling disease and then God takes her husband home, and now she is all alone in a care-home. Or how about the man who never wanted to make a vow to God but was led by God to make one. This man did everything that he said he would do and yet God did not answer the man's prayer in the way he thought. 
Life at times seems very confusing and difficult to understand; yet when our life is over, and we stand before God and ask him "why?" He will say that when you were going through these things you were only halfway through your book of life. Just like a mystery novel halfway through never makes sense, it only makes sense when you know the ending.
I wish I could say wise and comforting words to the young couple, the father and his daughter, or the elderly couple, those whose lives seem so useless now.  But as the one who made the vow to God and didn't get what he expected then, I can say: WAIT! Wait to see what God has planned for your life, with all the hurts and losses and even doubts about God. Don't give up your faith in the LORD! Stay in His Word believing what He says. It's in the waiting on God that we come to know Him better and better and how He feels about us and how His plans and ways are so much higher than ours.  God is for us, not against us!
When our life is complete will others who have watched your life be able to say that your life was not useless at all? 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "Therefore, we do not lose heart. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
When life gets hard it is very hard see this glory that God is talking about, therefore, we must be patient and soon we will understand it all. For now we only see through a glass dimly, but later we will see Him as He truly is: face to face.  Our life in retrospect will make beautiful sense and give glory to God.

GOD SAVE AMERICA!

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

This is how I see it, even if you don’t: The Democrats in power (politicians and their faithful media and voters) are afraid of Trump's popularity due to his 'successful' policies that put America first by putting American citizens first, with what WE THE PEOPLE deem traditionally valuable in our lives and clearly supported by our Constitution/Bill of Rights and Independence under GOD. They were afraid of Trump then (trying to impeach him over their own made-up corrupt Russian hoax) and they are afraid of him now (trying to stop him from running again).
America has FELT the obvious contrast between Trump's administration and this Biden/Harris administration. We have seen the current administration's policies and plans to tear America down and rebuild America without adhering to our Constitution/Bill of Rights and INDEPENDENCE UNDER GOD. They are wolves in sheep's clothing! If you don't see this or get this, then clearly, they have won you over.
As a Christian, if you believe that God and His Son Jesus Christ does not expect any more from you than to share your testimony of how you were "born again," and pray for people to get saved (as we are called to do), then why did the LORD lead men and their families here to establish a free nation accountable to HIM? Are we "Christians" here in America to let our founders' sacrifices for liberty, righteousness, and justice ‘for all’ be taken down by one-party tyranny? No wonder our 2nd Amendment is under attack so cleverly!  No wonder our 1st Amendment is also hated by this administration.
Their 'rejection' of God and our long-lived and envied treasured liberties like no other nation has - is being clearly seen by all their fast-paced work with their long list of changes. This desperate fast-paced work has only forced them 'out of the closet' with who they really are!  And somehow these unamerican progressives believe that we will ALL go along with them without a fight? Their arrogant pride has made fools of them, according to God. And the folly of fools is their ruin.
In their wicked minds they believe they know best for us all. Where does that come from? It comes from God’s number one enemy: Satan.  We are at a place in American history when we could no longer have a critical and envied Republic but rather a "one-party socialist state" where they no longer allow each state their constitutional rights and progressively take our individual rights.
The Republic for which WE STAND: a state in which supreme power is held 'by the people' and their 'elected' representatives, and which has an 'elected' president rather than a monarch (one family of generations).
The great majority of American citizens (legal law-abiding tax-paying citizens of ALL races and religions) do not want the America the 'democrat liberal left' are working so hard and corruptly to establish on their own without any compromise or input by independents, libertarians, freedom-fighters, and conservatives.  
If we don't fight back to preserve why GOD blesses a nation, fighting to uphold our Constitution/Bill of Rights and INDEPENDENCE UNDER GOD our Creator and Judge, then we get what we deserve. Our God-fearing Bible-believing WISE American founders established America's government with godly laws and principles that over time (generation to generation) made America the most blessed nation of modern times. Were they all perfect men like God? No. But they grew out of wrong-thinking by their faith in what God had in mind for America, freeing worshippers from man’s religious rules and regulations for worshipping God, allowing the “family” to prosper and enjoy the fruits of their own labors, and ending slavery and clearly defining: "we are all equal under God and loved by God." Today we see the progression so that it’s "equality for all" as being one person not living physically (wealth) better than others; that those who have earned their way to live as they please by hard-work and obeying the laws, should have to support those (by ever-increasing taxes) who refuse to work and in almost all cases, end up taking (stealing) what does not belong to them, even to the point of destroying property and killing innocent people.
This current administration's ideology has given our domestic and national enemies an open door! Lawlessness is on the rise due to a broken justice system and our police force not being respected and supported as they should. We are the laughingstock of our national enemies; they no longer fear us, like they did when wise and courageous God-fearing men were in the White House.  
We should be concerned and willing to fight this ‘one-party tyrannical government’ so that WE THE PEOPLE don’t become WE THEIR SLAVES serving the elites of government.
Now they want to change our whole voting/election system so they can achieve their tyranny ways. Lies and deception is their system. Hostility and injustice are their weapons. False compassion is their cloak.
Because they FEAR Trump, or anyone else running for president with the same wisdom and agenda - their fast-paced work has only exposed them.  Progressives (the liberal left) have succeeded by being progressive: inch by inch slowly, without people detecting, getting their plan done as they make empty promises that only sound good.
This is the way Satan works, and it’s the devil who has always hated America, as he hates all that is good and holy: God his Creator, people who love and serve the LORD GOD, any government rooted in God's laws and principles, the true family and marriage as God designed, and especially Jesus Christ the Son of God whom Satan wants to replace in our lives. The "god of this world," Satan, is the counterfeit messiah masquerading as God's light of the world that will unite all nations and all peoples for peace on earth.
So, are we surprised that these ‘one-party government’ leaders are working so feverishly to end our republic and individual rights, our respect of GOD OVER AMERICA? America should continue to stand accountable to GOD and not to the UN or EU or this evolving WOKE organization. We should understand the deception behind their "Climate Change" and the "New Green Deal" shutting down America's independent industries, Biden's self-inflicted inflation meant to force the removal of our natural fuel resources, government 'controlled' schools (that teach our children that good is evil and evil is good and natural), Gun Control (to keep law-abiding citizens from defending themselves, even from tyranny), Conservative Supreme judges being threatened (to make them submit to the Left), and their OPEN BORDERS deception to ‘illegally’ increase their ‘voter base.’ They don’t care in the lease that illegals flooding in are breaking our immigration laws, not to mention all the diseases, drug cartels and criminals flooding in. And we are supposed to trust that this administration knows what is best for us all? We are supposed to be thankful and happy that our increasing taxes are taking care of the needs of all these illegal aliens. Is it any wonder Americans have had enough and that the polls are showing it? There has never been a president with such low polling on all the issues. God help us!  
Prayer and Bible in our public schools was removed and then they wonder why teachers and students are being killed at a rapid increase. We used to say The Pledge of Allegiance in school: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” However, the Pledge of Allegiance has undergone significant changes since it was first published. Those revisions — and the original text — have generated much controversy over the years, and they continue to do so today - PROGRESSIVELY!
Only God-fearing people united for our traditional values that brought oppressed immigrants from all over the world to become American citizens - can overcome these "progressive one-party tyrants." 
As a Christian who loves my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, studies and meditates on His Word (the Holy Bible) and understands the responsibility of Christ's Church on earth 'in both spiritual and physical ways,' I will not give in to the fear Christians have who think they have no responsibility other than living their Christianity secretly among the like-minded - so they won't experience any persecution for standing up and speaking up for those things that matter most in life - that God is pleased with and blesses.
It's hard to say “God bless America” when people/children are being prompted and taught to disbelieve what is true and holy.
God SAVE America! 

Churches are Falling

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During my study of the book of Nehemiah I noticed how Nehemiah was attacked for answering the call that God had for his life. As I studied these attacks, I noticed that these are the same attacks we see taking place today. 
Satan has the way of 'reusing' what has worked for centuries. I thought I would present them and ask that you look and see if you can see them used today. I am not talking about how they attack our President, but rather what is happing to our churches, and your personal life when you stand for Truth.
• Scoffing: (Jeering, Sneering, Mocking and Ridiculing)• Mocking: (Contempt, Disrespectful, and Insulting)• Slander: (Insult, Libel, and Malign)• Threat of physical harm• Gain access into your leadership team• Remove the power of your church by means of infiltration• Destroy what a family is, especially a Godly family.
Hebrews 13, says: “The Lords is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” 
My strength comes from God’s grace. This world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Proclaim our allegiance to His name but remember we are also responsible here on the earth for bringing the Light and Truth of God, in all the gates of society.

Signs of Our Time

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This morning while I was on my walk, I came upon a small creek that dries up during the summer except for some pools. As I investigated the stream, I saw some small fish and thought how they need to move from where they are before it's too late. If they do not, then they will suffer for missing the sign (their environment shrinking) for them to get moving. 
It is the same with the Church today. For, if we miss the signs of our time, we will suffer the consequences. If we think that what we are going through will end and everything will go back to how it has always been, then we are not paying attention to what our God is trying to reveal, for our good future. The Church (the Lord has planted) needs to get prepared in both physically/practical ways and spiritually, getting right with the Lord - doing what He still needs done, while there is still time.

Government vs. We The People

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Short term solutions always have long time consequences. What do I mean? Think of any solution the government has come up that we are not paying the consequences for today in all sorts of ways.
Almost 2/3 of our taxes are to pay for short term solutions (unconstitutional entitlements) of the past, throwing money it with our tax dollars, and without our permission or vote.  When we think government has the solutions to our nation's problems; then government becomes the greatest problem. 
Government does NOT solve problems; the people solve problems; those who have common sense and all kinds of skills and determination to do what is good for themselves and the society! The government ignorantly (and corruptly) announces solution (short term fixes) that have a black hole at the end that sucks the life and energy from everyone. The government is simply to protect our right to do so.
So, listen to the people running for office and you will see that the only thing they know how to do is come up with short term solutions that will inevitably have long term hurtful and destructive consequences on 'we the people.' What is needed is to bring back the dignity of individual know-how and determination to "get it done." (Something the government lacks!)  
Part of individual dignity is respect. Respect is never earned but always given. You should respect your parents, teachers, our elected officials, our neighbors, the police, those who fight for us in wars, etc.! But trust is different. Trust depends on results and character. 
So, be proud of who you are, and how God made you, and what you do that is good for yourself, your family and your society. Be honest and trustworthy. Do what you say you will do, or don't commit yourself by your words. A man's word should be good. "Let your Yes, be Yes, and your No, be No."  
Some of the happiest people I know work very hard with their hands. Some of the saddest people are highly educated people who have degrees in a field they chose because of the money. 
Bring back the respect and honor of marriage by God's design (a man and a woman), and the blessing of the family in society. We see today that the government thinks they know better how to raise our children than we do. Their goal is to condition our children so that our children cannot think for themselves but rather think and behave how a certain group of people want them to. A good example of this is in our colleges. When someone thinks and speaks differently than the Leftists - they want to shut them down. They have gotten their foot-hold in our government. They have even started to work on our Supreme Court Justices! These out-of-their-right-minds people are working day and night to take down anything that is of God and godliness. 

When the family unit returns to God, and is strong and prosperous, then our country will be strong and prosperous. When we allow government to take control of our lives, we progressively lose in all sorts of ways that we will suffer for.

Looking Forward

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One Scripture I have secured in my heart: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
When I sit and listen to my mom or sister talk about our past - I find it trivial, so I don't enter into the conversation. They ask if I remember what they remember. Most I don't.
It's different with my 'new life in Christ' which includes my marriage to the husband God gave me (right after I gave my heart to Jesus) and the children He gave us, and grandchildren! I have even journaled all those years of my new life in Christ, and written 2 books, so that our children and grandchildren can have our testimonies of the Lord, and how we went through hard times (with the Lord) as well as the good times Mike and I enjoyed with each other and with our children and grandchildren. What is the difference? Why don't I like dwelling on the "before Christ?"
I tend to believe that God has done that in me (a division/distinction) because the past life has been swallowed up with the NEW life I have "in Christ my Savior."
I thought, why do they bring up the past so much? I'm guessing that they don't KNOW what they have "in Christ," and that they don't KNOW what they can look forward to as believers in Jesus. They both say they believe in Jesus, so why?
What is faith? "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen." (Hebrews 11:1) "Faith comes by hearing the Word of God."(Romans 10:17)
One thing that always comes to mind when I consider 'present' hard times, and those that are 'yet to come,' is what the Word of God says about how Jesus endured His temporal life on earth: "For the JOY set before Him!"
We (His disciples) are that JOY. He kept that glorious 'future with us' before Him so that He could endure the present hardship and evil persecution. He was always talking to His disciples about their future with Him, His promises to them, to keep them looking 'forward' and encouraged in how to endure the present hardships and those still coming after He would leave them. Even the Apostle Paul said as a disciple of Christ's: "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead." (Philippians 3:11-12)
Jesus 'prepared' them for what was yet to come on earth and in His Kingdom. We have the book of Revelation that He had John write so that we would KNOW and be prepared in both practical earthly ways and spiritually, staying with the Lord on His 'narrow' path to the end, not veering off by compromise, nor giving up out of the fear of man.
And, because He kept the future JOY 'with us in His kingdom' before Him - His life on earth (33 years) that ended with a [crucial] vicious torturous death - was as God's prophet Isaiah said about this increasingly wicked world that hates God/His Son/His disciples: "The former things are not remembered" because the new eternal life will overcome it all with all our gracious Father has planned for those who love Him, in Christ Jesus His Son.
Thank You Father God! For now, we can only see as through a glass dimly, but THEN we shall SEE clearly; see our Savior and Lord as He FULLY is - face to face in all His glory. Hallelujah to our King Eternal!
I love studying the book of Revelation. I love looking forward (Revelation 19 -22) to what Jesus Christ will return to do, and then after it's all done on earth and in the heavens, what the end of all Satan's evil and man's rebellion towards Him results in:
"“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me (John), “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son (and daughters - His eternal family). But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:3-8
"They (the Lord's disciples/children) shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.... And they shall reign forever and ever." Then he said to me (John), “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. “Behold, I AM coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22:4-7
I am blessed because I keep the Word of God in me. I want more than anything to keep to His path with Him to the end of my life. I KNOW that HE waits for me so He can welcome me into His Kingdom! I love reading the book of Isaiah about what the Kingdom of God is. And I love praying how Jesus taught His disciples to pray to the Father, especially this part: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done ON EARTH, as it is IN HEAVEN." What a Day to long for!  Jesus is coming sooner than we think!

Posted by & filed under Mikes Blog.

Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary stated: "The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. . . All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." 
Continental Congress, 1778: "Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof." 
Our forefathers understood the importance of upholding righteousness and justice and the good effect it has on the land as well as the people of any faith. Today our leaders have forgotten this great truth and have allowed wickedness and injustice to take over our country. Instead of judging our immorality and turning from our wicked ways, we blame everything else and everyone else but our own selves.  
People want to remove the consequences for their choices. Listen to the left today saying that those in prison who have killed others - should have the right to vote; but what about the rights of those who they killed? What about the vote of the innocent? When a society tries to make other people or religious groups accept their ungodly choices and evil ideologies by calling them racists, bigots and fear-mongers, then we have lost our moral principles and the right to govern.

MEMORIES!

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

I love my sister (a year younger than I) and her memory of our past growing up. She and I were very close, inseparable. My memory is not detailed like hers. Does that bother me? Nope. The other day when she was texting me about some of her memories and asking me if I remember those times – I said I somewhat did but not like she remembers them. Then I told her, “I choose to live in the present, looking forward to the future that I have in Christ.”
Some people seem to enjoy looking back to their good memories in order to find joy in their present day. The present for so many people is not joyful and so living in the past (revisiting their comforting memories), is what they choose to do. Then there are those people who can’t help BUT TO live in the past unable to forget being so very hurt or violated. When I got right with Jesus Christ my Savior, I was able to forget that which is behind and press on to that which is ahead! This morning in the Word of God I was encouraged (again) by the TRUTH in God’s Word: “So in Christ Jesus you are children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ (by His Spirit) have clothed yourselves with Christ (who is our righteousness)… If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and HEIRS according to the PROMISE.” Galatians 3:26-29
I told my precious sister, that I choose to live in the present looking forward to the future that I have “in Christ,” BECAUSE this fills me with JOY and PEACE and HOPE and LOVE. All my life BEFORE Christ just can't compare with my life AFTER Christ came to live in me!
Because Jesus Christ loves me the way no one else can, and promises to finish what HE STARTED IN ME, I don’t need, nor want, to live in the past, no matter how many good-feeling memories I have. And, I choose not to revisit any grievous or painful ones, because “in Christ” I have been set free from being hurt or offended in any way, and so graciously freed even from the guilt of my own sins (all strongholds that have power to keep me imprisoned). “God sent His Spirit of His Son, the Spirit who calls out (from within me), ‘ABBA, Father.’ So, you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an HEIR.” Galatians 4:5-7
We (my sisters and I) never had a father growing up. My biological father just wasn’t father material in any kind of way. I believe it was God’s will that he was removed from my upbringing (through divorce) so that I grew up without him. I find it interesting that I never had my two grandfathers in my upbringing either. They both died when I was very young. (I am the oldest of my sisters.) I don’t have any memories of either grandfather, only what my mother tells me about them, which comes out of her own ‘personal’ memory. When it comes to remembering things, I choose to remember those things the LORD HIMSELF has done for me, and taught me as a TRUE FATHER. In fact, I have many journals recording all that He has taught me – SO THAT I NEVER FORGET, even the ‘painful’ things that my Heavenly Father had to teach me. All my Heavenly Father's discipline in my life IS TO BE remembered, so that I never get prideful, and so that I will CLING to the One who is my RIGHTEOUS REDEEMER.
Isn’t it amazing how the LOVE and GRACE of God puts everything about our past and even about the present - in their right and truthful place? ALL PRAISE AND GLORY to the LIVING WORD OF GOD: JESUS CHRIST, my eternal life!

What Really Changes People

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As I have been listening to the talk today, about why some people have entitlements and other do not, I was reminded of something I learned a long time ago. 
When I got out of high school, I worked for a cabinet shop in Sacramento. One of my first jobs was to go to the housing authority and help with the remodeling of apartments. My job was to remove existing cabinets from the suite. When I walked into the room, I could not believe people lived like this and thought how great it was for our government to help change living conditions for these people. 
When I came back to the suites to install the new cabinets, it was so different, everything was clean and new, and I thought now this is the way people should be treated. Then about 2 months later I came back to do some touch up and complete punch-list items. What I saw shocked me. These new apartments were beginning to look like they did before they were remodeled. 
What I concluded is that you can clean up the environment but until you clean up the heart - nothing will change no matter how much money you throw at cleaning up the environment. Today our government thinks that if you throw enough money at it, that will make everything right.  WRONG! 
America's elected officials and even our court systems continue to think that cleaning up the cities and putting more officers on the streets (which we need!) will solve the problem of what's happening to many American cities and states. But what we need to hear and work on - is seeing hearts changing by freely giving out true wealth: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
The truth is in changing the hearts of people and only then you can change the environment they live in.