Yesterday, Today, Forever-

“We don’t have to like everybody,” he said, “but as Christians we need to at least be willing to bring a minus five relationship up to a zero, or even a plus one,” he continued, and the listeners nodded in agreement. “We can’t be friends with everyone,” she said after she had been hurt in a painful misunderstanding created by mean gossip that had severed their beautiful friendship. Elizabeth Elliott stated in her book, Discipline - The Glad Surrender , “No sincere Christian can happily accept divisions in the Body of Christ. The longing for unity characterizes the renewed mind.” That’s why Jenna continued to feel pain with the relationship that had been broken. “Going backwards from a friendship to mere acquaintances is not my idea of Christ-like living,” she explained to me. God keeps sending into our lives the people we don’t like or who don’t like us! We don’t like their personality because it is totally opposite to ours. We don’t like the way they make us feel about ourselves wh...

Someone once said to me that ‘time will heal everything’. Well, that’s a crock!! Time heals nothing. Time does not delete memories. Time does not undo mistakes. Time does not reduce the pain inflicted. Time does not diminish the damage done. Time will revisit what has not been resolved 10 years, 20 years, or even 40 years later. Time holds still for no one. Time flies. But my time is in God’s Hands! Healing is not the result of time but the natural result of Christ's work in me. Only an ever-present, loving, caring, kind and awesomely gracious Heavenly Father heals the wounded spirit of His precious child! He makes His presence felt through the healing touch of a human hand. He speaks gracious and encouraging words through the mouth of someone who honestly cares. He shows His good pleasure through the eyes of someone with a warm, genuine smile. He affirms the value of His child through the heartfelt hug of a friend. He corrects behavior and rebukes error lovingly by ...

Colleen retired from her job as Recreation and Volunteer Services Manager on September 4, 2008! All the best my friend! I'm right behind you ~ my retirement date is September 11, 2008! All those years of teasing that we would leave together one day have come true! For her retirement party I wrote the following: “I just handed in my retirement letter,” She whispered to me and gave a big smile. “I just can’t imagine this place without her!” I sat there and let this sink in awhile. Seventeen of my twenty-two years we worked together Meeting hundreds of residents’ needs, wants, desires. It’s really no secret ~ she was resident focused ~ a leader Who everyone loves and admires. Colleen is a GEM ~ someone who goes that extra mile ~ Willingly, cheerfully, always and every new day! All for the dear folks at Shepherd’s Care. She made a huge difference in her unique way. She’s a bundle of energy; positive; radiant. She leads with such common sense ~ that’s so rare. Her respect and regard f...

Sometime the aspects of someone’s character with which we are so passionately in conflict, or have a hard time accepting, are often the self-same negative character traits with which we invariably struggle. They touch a raw nerve! They push our sensitive buttons. I have often noticed that we have a tendency to even exaggerate the other person’s flaws, making them appear disproportionately larger than they really are. Doesn’t it become easy then to be disdainful, and easier still to believe that we are definitely a cut above? It doesn’t take much to convince us, that our traits are not nearly as glaring as the other person’s. At least that way we won’t have to reveal and then deal with our own shortcomings. It hurts too much to face the truth. In our view, the other person’s positive and excellent character traits are then sufficiently minimized. In some strange way it helps us to feel more comfortable about ourselves. This is human nature. But when we are a child of God we need to re...

Getting all excited and wanting to jump for the joy of the Lord at a women’s conference, many years ago now, I made one wrong move, and something snapped in my knee! Fortunately for me, I could quickly hang on to the arm of a friend, which kept me from falling down and breaking my hip. In every cloud there is a silver lining! I was grateful nothing worse had happened. Good natured teasing followed by my dear friends! What I found very interesting though, were the multitude of different responses other people had to my misfortune. My hubby insisted on doing everything for me, going so far as to hang up the Christmas decorations at work so I wouldn’t have to climb the ladder. The rest of the family was visibly relieved when they realized I could still walk and even drive the car. Our then almost 2-year old granddaughter kissed my knee, my leg, my heel, my foot, my toes, and said, “There, Oma, that’s better now. She brought her books to sit beside me on the bed and read me stories.” Th...