When I was a little girl I thought my daddy was the biggest, strongest man there could ever be, Superman certainly had nothing on him! When I was five we lived in Lockhart, S.C. It was a "Mill Village", which meant that everyone who lived there worked for the mill. I don't remember what they made, may have been sheets, towels, I am not sure. The street we lived on had a dead end and the church my dad pastored was at the end of that street. Little identical houses lined both sides of the street, we lived in one of those small houses. The Superintendant of the Mill took a liking to the "preacher" and when one of the foremans moved, he decided to let us move into that larger house, it was high on the side of a hill. There was no refridgerator in that house so we were to take our old one there. No one was avaliable to help move it so daddy wrapped a big leather belt around it and somehow attached it to his back.  I can still see the ladies and young boys standing with wide, unbelieving eyes watching my super dad hoist that big fridge on his back and walk it up that hill, sweat pouring off that big, crooked, Armenian nose. As I have grown older, so has he, so that now I know that his physical body is not invincible, as I had once believed, I offer him a helping arm. Oh he is still very strong, I tease him that he "dead-lifts" 230 pounds every time he stands up, because he has to push himself to his feet using the strength of his massive arms and chest, but still, he is old. Psalm 34:2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. As a child we are convinced of our daddy's greatness and will say "My dad can do anything"; then we realize that he is indeed human. However, for the child of God, the opposite is true, as we grow in understanding of the greatness of our Lord. As growth increases our awareness of His greatness, both in His love for us and in His power toward us, we will become increasingly more dependant on Him to direct us and enable us. That defines "walking in the Spirit". Then we increase in our desire for childlike worship-ready praise that is vocal and visible in our celebration of Him! Psalm 131:1-3 Lord my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Lke a weaned child with his  mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. ...hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever. In this Psalm David is describing himself as a small child, looking to God for everything in the way a child looks to its mother. True maturity looks less and less to our own wisdom for answers or to our own earthly strength for results and trusts the Father entirely. Then when God moves on our behalf, we will find ourself bragging about Him to anyone who will hear it! It is important to ask ourselves if people know who our "Daddy God" is. My Daddy God has been so good to me, He answers all my prayers, yes ALL, sometimes He has to tell me no, but even when He does say no, I always end up undertanding why...that's how good He is. Sometimes it seems that He looks down the road and "knows before I call" and "answers while I am yet speaking!"

Be blessed, Pray, brag on your Daddy God a little!

While some are having vacations and BBQ parties, there are others who are steeped in problems and heartache and it seems no one wants to hear about it. It is to that second group that I say: Hello all you Davids'out there, a man often in deep trouble!  David was an exceptional young man, a shepherd, a poet, a song writer, a King and a man after God's own heart, who came to a valley of decision, prevailed (withstood) and won! When I compared us in God's armor to David trying to wear Saul's armor it just stayed in my mind, so I am back...with David. Young David went to take food to his brothers, fighting at the front line, and heard a roar going up from a "bragadocius" giant named Goliath. The Philistines and the men of Israel were on standing on hills on opposite sides of a valley. That valley belonged to Judah ,the tribe of Praise, and the Philistines were determined to fight for it and win. This story could be in tomorrow's headlines, couldn't it?  It is said that the first thing on your mind in the morning and the last thing on your mind before you go to sleep are the most important things in your life. Goliath made sure that the first thing the Israelites heard in the morning and the last thing before they went to sleep was his brags about tearing them to pieces and feeding their bodies to the birds!Well let's cut out all the details for the sake of space and say that David convinced Saul to let him have a shot at the giant (sling shot that is). David was part of the tribe of Judah and had been raised to praise God, abiding in praise as you can read in his Psalms, and this was HIS valley too! He RAN toward the Giant spinning that slingshot and even though he had chosen 5 smooth stones, it only took ONE! BANG, right in the only unprotected spot on his head, between his eyes, and down he went! When we are facing a giant who is trying to take away our property, our praise, our happiness, we must face him head on and throw that stone of prayer and praise and down him! David then jumped up on his chest and cut off his head (this is rated PG13 for violence). He took that head into his tent and put it on a pole! The head represents authority, we take authority over the giants in our lives when we ask God in the name of Jesus and use stones made from the blood He shed on the Cross! When He died for us He gave us the authority to be-head our giants (problems). John 14:12-14"Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do. Face it, Jesus healed crippled and blind and lepors and raised the dead...if he left us with the power to do what He did, then can't we at least face our giants knowing that He will be there for us? YES we can! Come on David, sing a Psalm, let's start with a verse from 91:15-16 He shall call on Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him, with long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation! That is God giving us HIS promise to be with us when we face our giants, and He, unlike some of us, KEEPS His promises! Be blessed, Pray and Face your giants with praise!

Be blessed, pray and  know that you are loved beyond measure!

Contact me at harolene@att.net

Trainers  yell in the faces of people exercising, "KEEP ON GOING, I don't care if you throw up all over the place!" They continue, sometimes amid tears. I have seen some faint, dead out, and have to have the medics called in to revive them. Why do we do it?   1 Timothy 4:7-8....train yourself to be godly. “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” We exercise and work on our physical body, and it is a good thing to care for the Temple of God, which we are. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's,  More importantly, we need to be concerned for our spiritual well being. I am going to be your trainer for a moment and tell you to work on gaining self control, over what? Your Life: Pr.16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Pr. 17:28 Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace;When he shuts hs lips, he is considered perceptive. Your body: Romans 6:12-14 That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life...Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God. Your tongue: James 3:2 If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life. Is that too much exercise for one day? I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me! Philippians 4:13 I think the hardest part of that spiritual exercise for most of us is the "tongue" thing, James 3:5 A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. Enough exercise for one day? Be blessed, pray, exercise!

When we are young we think of things that we "hope" will happen when we get older. In my mother's generation, young ladies had "hope" chests where things like fancy night gowns, bed linens and such were placed for the future. You hear that a high school grad "hopes" to get into the college of their choice. I have a friend who put that word, hope, into perspective for me. He was adopting a dog, a female black Lab (my personal favorite breed), and the name she already had was..Hope. I thought it was a lovely name for her and he had hoped to find a wonderful canine companion, so when he changed her name I was surprised. He said that "Hope" represented something to come, something that wasn't there yet...so he named her "Joy"because she was there with him NOW, his Joy not his Hope. However, I think he might be re-thinking how "joyfull" he feels when she refuses to let him sleep late. In thinking about hope the first thing that comes to my mind is Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  (Amplified) Now Faith is the assurance(the confirmation, the title deed)of the things (we) hope for, being the proof of things (we)do not see and the conviction of their reality(faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses). We hope for good health, we hope for our finances to be what we need, we hope that our country is able to pick herself up and dust herself off and keep on keeping on. What is the central thing in all those "hopes"? It is YOU. You have to be willing to work for what you hope for in order to see it come into existance. One good example (which I have mentioned before) is my son, who had graduated from Georgia Tech where he had hoped to be an engineer. He knew that he was not happy and didn't really want to do that. He had hoped to be a doctor since he was in the fifth grade and had somehow gotten side tracked. He didn't complain about it, neither did he get hooked into a job where he would work for the rest of his un-happy life, no, he enrolled in Life University and became what he had "hoped" for. Graduating as the Valedictorian of his class, he became a Chiropractic Doctor! His hopes, backed by his work, led him to his goal. He now has his own Chiropractic Clinic!  Faith is the SUBSTANCE (something you can feel and taste) of things hoped for, faith is the EVIDENCE of things not yet seen. You, dear reader, can do ALL things, how? Philippians 4:13 I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. Don't be a quitter! Not long ago I was watching my grandson trying to teach his dad how to play "Guitar Hero". It was hysterically funny, Giles couldn't get it at all, Gabriel kept showing him over and over, the whole family was laughing so loud the house was rocking...finally Gabriel walked away and said "You can do it dad, just don't give up". That is the answer for me, for you, for us all in life, just don't give up, don't give in, don't be a quitter, you can do it!  I am reminded of a little chorus someone taught me when I was about seven, "Let the sunshine in, face it with a grin, smilers never lose and frowners never win, so let the sunshine in face it with a grin, open up your heart and let the sun shine in."

Be blessed, pray and don't give up on your hopes and dreams remembering that Jesus made it possible for you to ask for help when He gave His life for you, yes YOU!