Celebrating Freedom And The Spirit Of America

What Makes America Great

What makes America great

One of the many things I love about this great country we live in is our undying American spirit. 

No matter what has happened in the past, the spirit of America continues to live on.

Political and media rhetoric sometimes muddy the waters, and unfortunately, there’s relentless pressure that many things that we hold dear need to change.

Even so, the spirit of our country continues to stand firm. Resilience, hard work, and innovation haven’t gone anywhere.

Celebrating Freedom and The Spirit of America

On Tuesday, July 4th, we celebrate Independence Day. It’s the day set aside to commemorate the birth of our American independence.

We have good reason to celebrate with our loved ones!

This important day isn’t about time off from work, the largest fireworks display, or the best-tasting barbecue.

It’s about respect and love for country.

Patriotism is a good and beautiful thing.

When I see a child waving a little flag during 4th of July celebrations, it makes me smile.

Sometimes I shed tears when I see patriotism in action.

Thoughtful words from friends:

“The American spirit is pride in our country, pride in our forefathers, and their vision for what we could be.

It’s pride in our heritage and history and pride in all our past and present military, without whom the vision of our forefathers would never have been realized.” – Trish M., from Virginia.

Celebrating freedom and the spirit of America

“The American spirit can have a different meaning for everyone, but for me, a few things come to mind.

The American spirit is having the ability to achieve whatever you want to achieve by good, hard, clean work. Decent and honest people who haven’t given up on this country. Brave soldiers, many of whom gave the ultimate sacrifice. Christ, American flags, faith, love, hope, and freedom.
A lot of these, if not most, sets us apart from other countries”. – Andrea K., from Arizona.

Our American Heritage

Extraordinary people live in America.

Whether I see them on the news or know them in person, there are people out there who inspire me every day with their strong faith and courage, sometimes under insurmountable odds.

As Americans, we are blessed with an enduring tradition of faith in God and love for country.

We must never forget either.

Ronald Reagan quote

Food for thought going forward.

As the former President stated above, is our country still with God?

It appears we have a choice as a nation.

We can do nothing as atheistic groups continue to try to undermine our country’s Judeo-Christian values, or we can pray for God’s mercy and stand firmly on the grounds of our faith.

I know what I’m going to do.

Will you join me in praying for our country every night?

God bless America and Happy Independence Day!

2017 Happy Independence Day

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*Quotation from President Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States. Courtesy of, and as quoted from, Christian quotes.info

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Sometimes We Just Need To Laugh

Sometimes We Just Need To Laugh

This is in my heart today.

I’m getting ready to say something profound here.

As you know, the word “profound” means “deep.”

So here goes.

sometimes we just need to laugh

We can’t let the actions of some ruin our joy in the Lord and tamper with our Christian witness.

There are a lot of bad things going on in America, of course.

Additionally, there are still groups of people in this country who are trying to divide us and turn us all against each other.

I have to say that, and I’m also looking in the mirror at myself, we can’t let them steal our joy for any long length of time.

Where’s That Remote?

turn it off

There’s an adage that says: “Misery loves company.”

Sounds to me like a great reason to turn off the negative news when it gets to be too much.

In our fallen world, suffering, doubts, confusion, and the like are earthly certainties.

We can count on it.

Fortunately, these frustrations and times of sorrow are only temporary.

We can (thank the Lord) count on that.

Dear Christian, someday when we reach Heaven, our tears become a thing of the past.

And here’s an added blessing:

There’s no political infighting in Heaven.

I’m looking forward to that, aren’t you?

I love this take-away from John MacArthur:

God is not a cosmic killjoy. I know some people who believe He is.

They think God runs around saying, “There’s one having fun; get him!” They believe God wants to rain on everybody’s parade.

But that isn’t so.

God made you. He knows how you operate best. And He knows what makes you happy. The happiness He gives doesn’t stop when the party’s over. It lasts because it comes from deep within. – Pastor and teacher, John MacArthur, from Grace To You.

Meanwhile …

What can we do about all this Debby Downer “news” thrown at us every day?

Don’t lose our sense of humor!

We can remember with gratitude God’s gifts to us of joy and laughter.

Those gifts are still there, tucked in our brain closets somewhere underneath all the negative breaking news.

Joy and laughter can help us deal with this crazy world we’re living in right now.

Remember what makes you smile.

For me, it’s my silly dogs and husband. (Joanna Gaines and I have the “silly husband” thing in common.)

Also for me, it’s the close friends I have, who love to laugh just as much as I do.

Why do my embarrassing moments always happen in public?

What makes you laugh?

Perhaps an embarrassing moment?

C’mon, you know you have at least one.

You can tell me, no one else will know  😉

 

then sings my soul

Here’s one of mine from years ago.

One evening, our church was having its annual potluck dinner, complete with a Choir Special.

By “Choir Special,” I mean our choir sang about eleven rousing songs after the dinner portion of the evening.

It was a great night. We pigged out on delicious home-cooked food, cracked up at the tables, and then it was time for all of us who were choir members to get into place up front. We had five minutes to run and use the restroom.

You know how girls are. A bunch of us ran to the restrooms. 🙂

After that, we got into place up front in our designated spots.

As we all stood there facing the crowd about ready to begin, I suddenly felt self-conscious and subtly checked the zipper to my pants. They were zipped up, yes indeedy, but the zipper broke, and my pants began to flap open.

Two words.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Noooooooooooooooo!

It was too late; I couldn’t run or hide.

I crossed my arms over the broken zipper and held my pants up for eleven very long songs. Every other choir member was moving and swaying to the music, but I had to stand there motionless, or the crowd would have gotten more of a show than they bargained for!

That kind of thing seems to happen to me.

In public, in front of everyone.

Sometimes ya just gotta laugh.

God Created Joy And Laughter

I’m looking forward to “Eternal” joy and laughter.

How about you?

That will be a blessed day to come.

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*John MacArthur quotation, as quoted, from Christian quotes.info.

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Truth Or Popularity?

Truth And Consequences

At some point in your life, you’ll encounter someone who will challenge your Christian beliefs. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will.

doubters are everywhere

Doubters are everywhere. You may know them personally, or you might come across an atheistic thread on social media.

Skeptics love to argue about Christianity.

Truth or popularity?

Standing firm in your faith can have consequences.

You may think you’re having a pleasant conversation over the water cooler and then – Bam!

Next thing you know, the other person throws out a zinger that leaves you almost speechless.

They may say something like,

I don’t believe what the Bible says.

Why doesn’t God stop evil?

All “religions” worship the same God.

We just need to have one religion for the whole world.

The Rapture is a fairy tale.

God is love, and He won’t send anyone to hell.

When you respond in faith, don’t expect your popularity to soar through the roof. Christianity is becoming more and more despised these days.

Be prepared

What can you do about it and how can you be prepared?

Try not to let yourself get caught off guard.

I know, easy for me to say!

Please, don’t worry. You don’t have to memorize every biblical fact by heart. If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so. Look up the answer later and get back to Sam (or Sally) Skeptic at another time.

But, we must be able to state what we believe.

faith challenges

Role play with another Christian if you need too.

*Withhold no part of the precious truth, but speak what you know and declare what you have seen. Do not allow the toil or darkness or possible unbelief of your friends to dissuade you. Let us rise and march to the place of duty, and there declare what great things God has shown to our soul. – Christian pastor and author, Alistair Begg, of Truth for Life teaching ministry.

Truth or Popularity?

God loves you and me, but He will also judge us

The fact is that God is a God of love, but He is also a God of justice. He will judge the world, and rightly so.

The Apostle Paul said this quite clearly to the Greek council in Acts 17:29-31. It is likewise true for us today.

Acts 17:29-31

Putting on the armor of God

Here’s your secret weapon.

Dear Christian, Jesus is alive and the Holy Spirit is living in you.

A skeptic will argue and try to make you look stupid with their “facts.”

It’s okay.

No matter what they say, you have something in your heart there is no denying.

Are you ready for it?

You have a changed life.

There’s your life before coming to Christ and what your life became afterward.

You are a new creation, a repentant sinner, still growing in your faith.

Give your testimony about what led you to Christ.

No one, even the skeptic, knows you better than you know yourself. 

If you don’t know the Bible backward and forwards, don’t sweat it. Bible knowledge comes with time. Keep studying! In the meantime, use your beautiful witness of God’s mercy and grace in your own life.

Talk about a conversation stopper!

No one can take away the blessed assurance you have of salvation through Jesus Christ alone.

Sharing Stories

Hearing other people’s testimonies makes me very happy. I’d rather talk about that than what’s on the news any day.

This six-minute song from Chris Tomlin is so worth your time to listen. Not only is it a beautiful song, but there are also glimpses of real praises and prayers from people all over the country.

At the five minute mark, it sounds like the song is over, but please keep watching.

One believer, in particular, described her faith so eloquently. She said, “He didn’t pull me out of the storm, but He walked with me through the storm.”

Physical healing is never promised in this life, but we must trust in God’s providence and sovereignty. As believers, thank the Lord, we know that He is with us during the storms.

Praise God!

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*Alistair Begg quotation, as quoted from Christian quotes.info

**Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Bible Trivia Questions

Trivia To Challenge Your Brain

Are you good at trivia games, like Trivial Pursuit?Trivial Pursuit gameLet’s try out your skills with a world geography question.

QUESTION: WHAT’S THE WORLD’S HIGHEST WATERFALL?

Waiting, waiting.

Anyone?

Yeah, I didn’t know the answer to that one either!

The answer is:

Ding Ding Ding!

Angel Falls in Venezuela.

How high are the Falls?

Over 3000 feet high.

Angel FallsThat’s pretty high.

Now we both know.

Don’t ever think you won’t learn anything from my blog 😉

Trivia games are good for your brain and will keep you sharp.

I want to stay sharp!

Bible Trivia Questions

Bible trivia questions

Have you ever tried your hand at Bible Trivia questions?

Here’s a question to start.

In the Book of Revelation, the Angel of the Lord told John to bow down and worship him.

True or false?

That answer is:

_____________.

What Did The Angel Say?

Did you guess it?

That answer is false.

John was warned by the angel to worship God only.

That’s a lesson for today as well. As Christians, we are commanded not to worship or pray to angels.

**8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. –  Revelation 22:8-9, ESV, English Standard Version.

Bible Trivia Games

If you have trouble remembering Bible facts, people, and places, you may want to check out Bible trivia games.

They’re fun!

There are a couple of free Bible quiz apps you can check out by clicking on this website. You’ll need to specify whether you have an iPhone or an Android.

I like these apps because I can play a few Bible trivia games on my phone whenever I’m waiting to see someone.

If you’re not a fan of phone apps, I can also suggest this Bible trivia website.

In my humble opinion, playing Bible trivia is so much more edifying than reading that old copy of People magazine in a doctor’s office waiting room.

Seriously, I don’t care if this celebrity is fighting with that celebrity.

They can take their “kerfuffle” elsewhere.

P.S. Even though I was a champion speller in the 8th grade, I still had to look up how to spell the word, “kerfuffle.”

If you already knew (smarty pants), don’t tell me.

I might just be sensitive about it.  😉

God bless

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*Angel Falls photo courtesy of: By Paulo Capiotti [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
**Game photo courtesy of: By Pratyeka (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
***Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Heaven Isn’t Boring

What We Know: Heaven Isn’t Boring

Non-believers need prayer. They will miss out on so much, and don’t even know it yet.

You may have read as I have, some of the ridiculous comments about Heaven offered up by non-believers.

Here’s a big one:

They claim Heaven will be dull.

Huh?

  • Since when?
  • Have you been there?
  • What’s your supporting evidence that it’s boring?

Girls And Guys Just Wanna Have Fun

People, people, people.

I recently saw a blog post where the writer said Heaven is boring because there are no problems there.

Apparently, in this person’s mind, sinfulness equals pleasure.

The writer says, if sin goes away, (like cheating, getting drunk, etc.,) eternal life won’t be any fun.

How Could Anyone Not Want Everlasting Joy?

People, including non-believers, spend their lives pursuing pleasure.  We’re hard-wired that way.

But, ironically, when non-believers talk about Heaven, joy becomes uninteresting.

Their arguments don’t even make sense!

*Scripture repeatedly makes clear that heaven is a realm of unsurpassed joy, unfading glory, undiminished bliss, unlimited delights, and unending pleasures. Nothing about it can possibly be boring or humdrum. It will be a perfect existence. We will have unbroken fellowship with all heaven’s inhabitants. Life there will be devoid of any sorrows, cares, tear, fears, or pain. – John MacArthur, pastor-teacher, from Grace To You.

Some Day We Will See Jesus Face To Face

I just don’t get people sometimes. If they continue on their present path of Scripture denial, they will miss out on an eternal lifetime of joy and wonder.

We can see small impressions of the beauty of Heaven, right here on earth.

Yesterday, I looked outside at our bird feeder and saw a painted bunting.

Have you ever seen one? Isn’t he beautiful?

painted bunting

This little guy is just one more exquisite example of the beauty of God’s creation.

If I were to list all the examples I could think of, we’d be here for a long time!

No “random chance” foolishness here.

Heaven Isn’t Boring

How much more beautiful will Heaven be than anything we’ve experienced here on earth?

David’s Psalm 8 comes to mind.

Here’s just a part.

Psalm 8:3-4

What a beautiful testament to God’s magnificence. In this great big universe, He cares about you and me.

How can we not be in awe, and show our reverence to our great and wonderful God?

Heaven Isn’t Boring

Dear doubting blogger (mentioned at the beginning of this blog post), I will pray for you.

You have no idea what you will miss if you continue down that misguided path of self-absorption and unconfessed sin.

There’s so much more in store for those of us who put our trust in Him.

The Cross was not, by any means, a failure.

Through Jesus Christ, we have the ultimate victory.

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*John MacArthur quotation, public domain and as quoted from Christian quotes.info

**Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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