Spiders

Rose Is Rose
by Pat Brady

On another matter….

You know, I am a sinner.  So when I am accused, I can acknowledge it.



There are those times when the evil one accuses. The accusations may be true, but I am saved by the blood of the Lamb of God. I have been set free. Jesus’ sacrifice paid in full my sins, past, present and future. 
 

What beautiful grace and mercies He showers on me!



There are also those people in my life who are completely consumed with the manipulation, control, and abuse of others, who often accuse me. Their false accusations are long standing with absolutely no grace or mercy shown, even though they claim Jesus as their Savior.
 

After years and years of these types of accusations, I often find myself forgetting how this all happened.  After all, I sometimes think, "I am a sinner, maybe it was my fault". At times, I find myself trying to figure out the “whys” and “wherefores” of what on earth has happened, for why our relationship is so horribly broken.



Days may go by while I contemplate this icky subject or maybe just minutes before I am reminded by the peace that passes all understanding. 


During all these horrible years, the LORD has showered me with His grace and mercy in my agonies, as I wait for these people to come to their senses.  Meanwhile, I am humbled by my sinful state, even if I am not guilty of what the controlled people accuse me. I know I am a sinner saved by His marvelous grace and I am blessed to know my Savior.



I understand about cults and abusers. The evil one is not imaginative. The same dynamics for control is used by abusing men (or women), and any kind of cult (religious or social). 


The abuse begins with manipulation which must be used to gain and keep control of the person or people. Once under control the person or people, who may very well be intelligent, Christian, and “know better”, can be used and abused and they can wreak havoc in the lives of family members. 


 The time it takes to control someone’s thinking varies. How ever long it takes, the abused person or people are now invested in the wrong thinking.



This is called Deception by Investment. Whatever time a person’s life has been involved with the deception, whatever amount of money has been spent, whatever kind of personal relationship has been formed, makes the abused caught in a web of wrong thinking which keeps them caught in the control of the abuser.



It seems hopeless. It seems never ending when loved ones are the people who are caught up with an abuser.



We have a great God, though. An Almighty God who is NOT surprised at the latest trouble the abused or abuser has caused. He knew it before we did. The LORD God is NOT wringing His hands in fear with what to do next, as we do when another painful thing comes from our controlled people.
 

The truth is that controlled, manipulated, abused person is not in control at all. 


The LORD is in control. He is the One who is allowing it, and He is the One who will only let it go so far. This is the LORD who showers us with His compassions everyday. He is working in us, if we allow it, and He is working in the controlled, if they allow it.



Now, our biggest agony comes with our loved ones who continue to NOT listen to the LORD, but this doesn’t negate our LORD God Almighty in His work. He never stops working on wayward people. We can rest our hope in Him, the author perfecter of our faith.


Precious women, if you are weary in your agony and your waiting for your waywards to turn around, do not give up your hope in God!  He is at work even if we can not see it.  He does wonderful work in wayward people, mostly in private where we can not see.


Waiting with you, while living for the LORD and praising His Name even through tears!

Worth While

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It is easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is one who will smile,
When everything does dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through tears.

It is easy enough to be prudent,
When nothing tempts you to stray,
When without or within no voice of sin
Is luring your soul away;
But it’s only a negative virtue
Until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honor on earth
Is the one that resists desire.

By the cynic, the sad, the fallen, 
Who had no strength for the strife,
The world’s highway is cumbered today;
They make up the sum of life.
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides a smile,
It is these that are worth the homage on earth
For we find them but once in a while.

*

1 Peter 2:12
Live such good lives among the pagans that, 
though they accuse you of doing wrong, 
they may see your good deeds 
and glorify God on the day He visits us.


*

You're Always a Role Model to Somebody #13

"He who fears the LORD has a secure fortress, 
and for his children it will be a refuge.
Proverbs 14:26

Great experiences are even better shared

Calvin and Hobbes
by Bill Waterson

Proverbs 3

My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.

Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.

Honor the Lord from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce;
So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord
Or loathe His reproof,
For whom the Lord loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

How blessed is the man who finds wisdom
And the man who gains understanding.
For her profit is better than the profit of silver
And her gain better than fine gold.
She is more precious than jewels;
And nothing you desire compares with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
In her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways
And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who hold her fast.

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth,
By understanding He established the heavens.
By His knowledge the deeps were broken up
And the skies drip with dew.

My son, let them not vanish from your sight;
Keep sound wisdom and discretion,
So they will be life to your soul
And adornment to your neck.
Then you will walk in your way securely
And your foot will not stumble.
When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Do not be afraid of sudden fear
Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;
For the Lord will be your confidence
And will keep your foot from being caught.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
When it is in your power to do it.
Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back,
And tomorrow I will give it,”
When you have it with you.
Do not devise harm against your neighbor,
While he lives securely beside you.
Do not contend with a man without cause,
If he has done you no harm.

Do not envy a man of violence
And do not choose any of his ways.
For the devious are an abomination to the Lord;
But He is intimate with the upright.
The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked,
But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.
Though He scoffs at the scoffers,
Yet He gives grace to the afflicted.
The wise will inherit honor,
But fools display dishonor.

Regrets and Realizations

“Life” goes on, and those cherished people we love make questionable choices.  We watch from the “sidelines” and speak with them about their choices, but we can not make them listen nor make them choose rightly.

I have spent a lifetime “gently” trying to reach certain dear ones.  They do not “hear” me.  Certain ones snub me, and others just chuckle at me.  They happily continue down “wrong roads” and then, for some, “life” begins to catch up with them.  The consequences can be enormous.

Even though I have no power in their lives or their choices, I am now faced with my own regrets.  

Why! Oh, why? wasn’t I more aggressive in my trying to reach them!?  

Why do I have to be so “gentle” in my trying!  

Why couldn’t I have been more serious, more aggressive, more educating in my efforts?  

I spent hours in the car as we drove across America this week, thinking these thoughts and  so much more.  As I grieved more and more over my seemingly failed past in correctly loving my dear ones, I was also crying out to God. 

He is our counselor, our comforter, our wisdom.  Before I uttered a word to my husband about my regrets, the LORD was already calming my emotional slippery, slope I was on.  My thinking was wrong and I began to realize the truth.

The truth is that I was loving, I was gentle, and I have interjected things for years into dear ones’ lives.  They have heard me to some degree, and it was they who have chosen not to listen or heed my efforts of love for them.

I can’t help that they have chosen wrong roads.  I can give my regrets to the LORD and I can realize He is my great God.  I can still love my dear ones, even as they are enveloped in their wrong choices.

LORD, have mercy!

Proverbs 3:5-8

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.

Sounds like Math

Calvin and Hobbes
by Bill Waterson

I Know Something About You

by Louis C. Shimon

Wouldn’t this old world be better
If the folks we meet would say —
“I know something good about you!”
And treat us just that way?

Wouldn’t it be fine and dandy
If each handclasp, fond and true,
Carried with it this assurance —
“I know something good about you!”

Wouldn’t life be lots more happy
If the good that’s in us all
Were the only thing about us
That folks bothered to recall?

Wouldn’t life be lots more happy
If we praised the good we see?
For there’s such a lot of goodness
In the worst of you and me!

Wouldn’t it be nice to practice
That fine way of thinking, too?
You know something good about me,
I know something good about you?

*

Wisdom From the Berry Patch

By Anita Sitarski
Country Woman, August-September 2014

*

You're Always a Role Model to Somebody #12

"The wise in heart are called discerning 
and pleasant words promote instruction."
Proverbs 16:21

Drop a Pebble in the Water

by James W. Foley

Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone;

But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,

Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea.

And there is no way of telling where the end is going to be.

Drop a pebble in the water: in a minute you forget,

But there’s little waves a-flowing, and there’s ripples circling yet,

And those little waves a-flowing to a great big wave have grown;

You’ve disturbed a might river just by dropping in a stone.

Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute it is gone;

But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on.

They keep spreading, spreading, spreading from the center as they go,

And there is no way to stop them, once you’ve started them to flow.

Drop and unkind word, or careless: in a minute you forget;

But there’s little waves a-flowing, and there’s ripples circling yet,

And perhaps in some sad heart a mighty wave of tears you’ve stirred,

And disturbed a life was happy ere you dropped that unkind word.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: just a flash and it is gone;

But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,

Bearing hope and joy and comfort on each splashing, dashing wave

Till you wouldn’t believe the volume of the one kind word you gave.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: in a minute you forget;

But there’s gladness still a-swelling, and there’s joy a-circling yet,

And you’ve rolled a wave of comfort whose sweet music can be heard

Over miles and miles of water just by dropping one kind word.

*

How much is that tiger in the window?

Calvin and Hobbes
by Bill Waterson

Our Extraordinary God

I am ordinary,

but I serve an extraordinary God.
*

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel,

not in cleverness of speech,
so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

For the word of the cross

is foolishness to those who are perishing,

but to us who are being saved

it is the power of God.  

For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 

 For since in the wisdom of God
the world through its wisdom did not come to know God,
God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached
to save those who believe.
 

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

but we preach Christ crucified,
to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,  
but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks,

Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God
is stronger than men.
*

"From goo to you, by way of the zoo" is a lie

You are important to the LORD.  Do not allow yourself to believe the lie that you are nothing.


This statement is not true:


"From goo to you, by way of the zoo"


We did not evolve from goo into "whatever" and end up as humans.  God created everything in its own kind---including man and woman.  He cares for us.  His Son died as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.


You are unique in Him, you are precious to Him, your life lived for Him is glorifying His name.


You are important to the LORD.


We need to live our lives in vibrant ways for Him in all that we do.


Continue!

My Mother

by Jane Taylor

Who fed me from her gentle breast
And hushed me in her arms to rest, 
And on my cheek sweet kisses preset?
My mother.

When sleep forsook my open eye,
Who was it sung sweet lullaby
And rocked me that I should not cry?
My mother.

Who sat and watched my infant head
When sleeping in my cradle bed,
And tears of sweet affection shed?
My mother.

When pain and sickness made me cry,
Who gazed upon my heavy eye
And wept, for fear that I should die?
My mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell
And would some pretty story tell, 
Or kiss the part to make me well?
My mother.

Who taught my infant lips to pray,
To love God’s holy word and day,
And walk in wisdom’s pleasant way?
My mother.

And can I ever cease to be
Affectionate and kind to thee
Who was so very kind to me, —
My mother.

Oh no, the thought I cannot bear;
And if God please my life to spare
I hope I shall reward thy care, 
My mother.

When thou art feeble, old and gray, 
My healthy arm shall be thy stay,
And I will soothe thy pains away,
My mother.

And when I see thee hand thy head,
’Twill be my turn to watch thy bed,
And tears of sweet affection shed, —
My mother.

*

from “The Best Love Poems of the American People”

Calvin and Hobbes
by Bill Waterson

You're Always a Role Model to Somebody #11

"Listen, my sons [daughters], 

to a father's instruction;  

pay attention 

and gain understanding."

Proverbs 4:1