Give Thanks Even When It's Hard

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. In what is unfortunately called "Pride Month" I'm gonna share another story from the Bible about someone who got caught in sexual sin and how God delivered and saved from it! Well I'm gonna share with y'all about King David and Bathsheba. Who were those people? Bathsheba was a beautiful woman who was married to war general Uriah. But here's the other thing. Uriah was not just a war general but King David's own war general! King David is the same David who killed Goliath, who fled from King Saul until King Saul died and until David became king of Judah. He was king of Judah for seven years at thirty to thirty-seven years old but at thirty-seven years old, he became king of Israel. He by this time had ruled Israel for a number of years, was a warrior in the battlefield, (King back then fought in battle unlike kings of monarch nations today) wrote a number of the Psalms in the Bible, and had multiple wives and kids. King David had a lot going for him didn't he? Well the Bible says in 2 Samuel 11 that kings were supposed to be in battle but King David remained in Jerusalem. His first mistake was he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. If he would have been in battle, the next thing wouldn't have happened. He goes up to the roof and saw Bathsheba and he got infatuated with her! Wow! She did get brought to the king in the palace and slowly but surely they fell in love like a Hollywood movie! I imagine they French kissed, wanted to spend time together, and doing candle light dinners all that fun stuff. That was crazy by itself but to spice things up Bathsheba told King David that he got her pregnant! Here's the thing with that. King David I know was in love with her but I don't think he intended for her to get pregnant. Then King David motioned for Uriah to get off the battlefield to come home to his wife Bathsheba. But Uriah refused and the reason wasn't because he was rebellious or disrespectful to the king. It was because they were in the middle of the battle and knew they couldn't come home until the battles done and I know our American troops today definitely understand that. Uriah did come home but he slept elsewhere not with Bathsheba which got King David upset. But the story gets another drastic turn King David got Uriah drunk and put him in the battlefield and he got killed! After that King David married Bathsheba and had one son! (That child eventually died but later King Solomon was born.) That story sounds like a modern day soap opera! Anyhow in 2 Samuel 12 God sent the prophet Nathan to talk to King David (I imagine they did it in the kings private chamber) and confronted him for his sin. Thankfully King David did repent of his sin and later wrote Psalm 51 as a Psalm of confession to the Lord. Did King David get into a big mess? Oh yes! But did God still love and forgive him? Yes He did! That's a reminder that no matter how far off course one gets God's able to reach them in the darkest place. I'm sure some of us may have family members bound in sexual sin or heard stories about what I call "fallen ministers" (who fell into sexual sin) is to pray for those people. Pray that God will convict them of sin, to ask God for forgiveness, and God to deliver them from it. I'm praying for that especially with it being "Pride Month" because people bound by sexual sin need a Savior and need deliverance. King David fell into sexual sin but God forgave him and delivered him and He can do the same for our loved ones too. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings and have a blessed week in the Lord.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day and happy Father's Day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I want to wish my earthly father, brother-in-law, my godfather, my pastor, as well as God my Heavenly Father and other men happy Father's Day! If any of you ladies have a son that's a dad, or you're married with a husband with kids or grandkids let them know how much you appreciate them. My dad raised us in a Christian home and my godfather has mentored me deeper in the things of God. Actually my earthly father gave me the foundation of Christianity but my godfather took me deeper into the things of God. My dad is a musician and so we're my late grandfather's on both mom and dads side of the family. (It was my late maternal and paternal grandfather's who were the first musicians in the family with my earthly father being second generation musician and me a third generation musician.) I know not everyone had a earthly father or godfather. In fact for some of you Father's Day maybe hard for you. Maybe you had a absent father like legendary gospel artist Kirk Franklin did, (he met his biological father for the first time two years ago in 2023) maybe your dad was abusive, or passed away. Maybe you grew up in a blended family but have a troublesome relationship with your stepdad. (Side note blended families make about 40 percent or more of families in America.) In fact I have a friend right now (won't mention names) has been in a blended family the past two years and is trying to navigate "the new normal" with that and I pray for that family regularly. No matter what relationship you've had with your earthly father or lack thereof thank goodness we have a Heavenly Father. Anyone who has given his or her life to Christ is adopted to God's family. In fact the first words in "The Lord's Prayer" is our Father! Worship artist Chris Tomlin wrote a worship song called "Good Good Father" which shows the heart of God. If maybe you have what I call "father wounds" ask your Heavenly Father to heal them and may God be the Father you wished had. For mother's and fathers who may have teens or adult kids who drifted away from the Lord, I pray that in Fathers Day they'll decide not only to spend time with their earthly father but also come back to their Heavenly Father. Maybe on Father's Day relationships maybe strained and perhaps ask our Heavenly Father to mend bruised relationships back together. It's important for sons to have father so they grow up to be godly men and daughters need earthly and Heavenly Father too. Whatever you do today enjoy time with dad or with God your Heavenly Father. Jesus died to reconcile us to Father God something I'm so thankful for and something we all should be thankful for. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and happy Father's Day!

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "The Prostitute Woman Received Forgiveness". This is based from Luke 7:36-50 where Christ was at a Pharisees house eating lunch or dinner but then a unnamed prostitute heard Christ was there came too. Now people used to think this prostitute was Mary Magdalene but Scripture never gave the name of this prostitute in this passage of Scripture. Side note in Luke 8:2 mentioned that Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out of her before she got saved and followed Jesus! Anyhow this unnamed prostitute poured oil on Jesus' feet with the alabaster box and washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Ladies this woman despite her being a non-Christian had greater honor for Christ than the Pharisee! Jesus then told Simon the Pharisee a story about a creditor had two debtors owe him but he decided to cancel their debts. One owed fifty and the other owed 500 and Christ asked who would love the creditor the most. (That would be equivalent today of owing the IRS or owing to a creditor large sums of money and being forgiven that debt!) Simon replied the one who was forgiven much. Christ was touched deeply by this woman's love for Him despite her past which I believe is a great reminder that no matter who we are or how our past was that Jesus loves us, our loved ones, and others that our past can be forgiven. This woman was a prostitute but despite what she had done, she poured oil on Jesus, washed His feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair. Because of her love and tears Christ forgave her and the one that's forgiven much loves much. Jesus told her her sins are forgiven and her faith has saved her. The Bible says in 1 John 1;9 "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". That's what the gospel is all about. It's about recognizing that none of us did anything to deserve salvation and us being right with God but because of Christ, we can be made right with the Father. Of course when this incident happened, the crucifixion hadn't happened yet but of course now we're living after the crucifixion and resurrection and salvation is available to all! Unfortunately this month June is called "Pride Month" but God wanted me to share with you ladies people in the Bible or others outside of the Bible who struggled with sexual sin how they got forgiven and delivered from it. I believe He's having me do that because while it is important to state sexual sin is sin but it's also important to recognize those people bound in sexual sin need a Savior and deliverance. Not just people who are gay, lesbian, and transgender, but also people bound by pornography, promiscuity, and adultery too need salvation and deliverance as well. I believe this entire month and throughout the year we need to pray that God will break the stronghold of sexual sin off of our country especially the homosexual lifestyle but not just that but other sexual sin too. I'm believing God for more testimonies of people who are gay, lesbian, transgender, promiscuous persons, people who committed adultery to be saved and delivered because to the uttermost Jesus saves! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Rehab The Prostitute". Now I know many of you know that's a biblical figure in history and felt the Lord laid on my heart to share stories of people who had issues with sexual sin in their past but He helped them overcome it. I felt the Lord leading me to share stories from the Bible and present day of people who overcame that to show that anyone can overcome anything. You can read about this account in the book of Joshua chapter 2 and in the previous chapter was appointed the next ruler in Israel after Moses died and went home to heaven. (He lived to be 120 years old and the same Moses who left the children of Israel out of Egypt) Joshua and the children of Israel went from the wilderness and crossed over the Jordan River to the Promised land. It would be after they crossed over the Jordan River, Joshua sent two spies to spy out the land of Jericho. But the Jews enemies were aware they were coming but thankfully Rahab thankfully found them and decided to hide them away in her home. Think about this for a moment. Rahab wasn't a godly woman and she wasn't even Jewish! She was a prostitute and prostitution especially in the biblical times was certainly frowned upon and Jews didn't associate with Gentiles much either! But despite that, Rahab showed kindness to those men and when the Jews enemies came to look for the spies to kill them, Rahab tricked them stating they were in another location. It's like an old movie were the hero and crew are hiding somewhere safe and their foes are looking for them elsewhere not knowing where they're hiding! Well as the spies enemies looked for them elsewhere Rahab waited for the "coast to be clear" and finally motioned for the spies to come out of hiding! Rahab shared how they heard about God defending the Jews and how fear has come upon the people of Jericho. (This was before the walls of Jericho came tumbling down!) She asked them for a favor that when the Jews won the victory to persevere her and her family! The two spies promised her they would and thanked her for her kindness hiding them away from their enemies! As we know the rest of the story Joshua and the Jews marched around the walls six times and seventh time shouted and the walls came tumbling down! They preserved Rahab and her family and Rahab later converted to Judiasm a form of Christianity before Jesus came to earth. Not only that, the Bible mentions in Matthew 1 about the lineage of Christ that Rahab is the wife of Salmon and mother of Boaz! (You know Boaz who married Ruth the Moabitess and parents of Obed!) Not only that Rahab is also in the lineage of Christ! Isn't that amazing? It lets us know no matter how broken or jaded your past is that as the Bible says in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". Man maybe intimidated by our past but God isn't. Despite Rahab's past, God forgave her, she welcomed the spies, and she converted to Judiasm. She married and had a family and is in the earthly lineage of Christ! If you know someone bond to sexual sin as unfortunately June is "Pride month" let's pray to the Lord to save them and deliver them from sexual sin so they can live for Him and go to heaven someday. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" but I'm thankful that to the uttermost Jesus saves! Let's pray for people bond by prostitution, pornography, homosexuality, transgender, and even people who committed adultery to ask God for forgiveness of their sins and repent so they can be delivered from that and live for God. For the rest of this month I'll be sharing more stories on how God delivered people from sexual sin to show that God can save and deliver anyone. The Bible says in John 8:36 says "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed" coming from the words of Christ Himself! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm announcing my second blog for the month of June called "Pray For Kentucky And Missouri". Why is it important to pray for those states? Well last month both states were impacted in a horrible way by tornadoes! It's said that in London, Kentucky that the storm killed more than a dozen people, damaged hundreds of vehicles, and left many homeless! Wow! What was the after affect damage in the state of Missouri? Well in St Louis, Missouri about 5,000 homes and properties have been severely damaged without many of them having insurance! It's also believed that 90% renters and 67% could be uninsured! Wow! Those precious people without insurance have no coverage! With that being said these people from those states need lots of love and lots of prayer! While some of them may have federal aid and Fema it's important to pray that God will meet their financial means in other ways. Pray for those who are homeless to find a homeless shelter or stay somewhere safe until they find a home. Pray for those who are uninsured for God to be able to take care of them. Pray for people who are hungry to have food to eat and clothes to wear. Pray that philanthropists (Convey of Miracles and Convey of Hope) will be able to locate them and be able to give them what they need. Pray that there be no more tornadoes in the area and pray for those who lost loved ones to be comforted during this time. Most of all pray that the gospel of Christ gets to those people that they'll turn to the Lord and for prodigals to come back to Christ. Also pray that people don't get bitter over this and get better instead. Also let's pray about what role God would have for us to play in this and pray for those people to be restored naturally and spiritually. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families also had a good Memorial Day this past Monday because me and my family got to go to two different cemeteries to honor yes veterans who died but also other loved ones who died too. (We ate at Culver's for lunch and I ate breakfast and dinner at home.) Side the late Myles Monroe used to say. "The richest place in the world is the graveyard." It's also important to remember our Lord who died for us for our freedom too. Anyhow the title of this blog is called "My Graduation Party". Now I know that graduation parties usually happen when students graduate from high school and to let y'all know since I was thirteen years old me and my family members have been invited and attended so many high school graduation parties throughout the years. In fact one year we got invited to at least eight if you can believe that! I've gone to many over the years without complaining and the best part was the food and fellowship! But this year it was my turn and it was time for others to celebrate me! Another point is when I graduated high school from homeschooling in 2012 I never got a graduation party! My sister did when she graduated from homeschooling in 2014 but my brother got neither a high school or college graduation party. But I wanted to make up for that and I created a Facebook event for it and sent invite cards to folks from church and family members. I decided to host it at "Veterans park" (originally Bradford Beach but had to make a slight change) near the lakefront and it took place on a Saturday afternoon May 31st. We ate wonderful food, fellowshipped, people brought chairs, and it was a great time. (I wanted to do it there before summer fest and I didn't want to spend a dime renting a hall is why.) I received lots of cards, money, and got to sell some books too. This took place two weeks after I graduated from college and I always said I'd have a college graduation party after college. It meant the world to me to finally be celebrated after years of attending and celebrating other people's graduation parties throughout the years. People that came from church, family members, and friends that came thank you so very very much for being there and your support. Planning it was a lot of work but it was worth it though and I have no complaints for that. For those that came to the party thank you so very much for showing up! It will be a time I will never forget and even those who couldn't make it but gave a gift thank you as well. I also give God thanks for the things He has done and I marvel how gracious He has been to me through and through life's ups and downs. I dedicate this party to Him as well whose the guest of honor too. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families had a good Memorial Day as well too. In this blog today I'm sharing about my "One Year Anniversary Of My First Book!" What's the title of my first book? It's called "Strength Enduring Adversity" that was released in late Spring early summer of 2024. That was released by Spines publishing which talked about many of struggles I've been through in the past such as Covid, multiple deaths of loved ones, financial hardships, and many other challenges! But I shared how by God's grace I got through them and shared stories about others who went through challenges too. Let me also mention that I tried to work with other publishers one I signed to charged me lots of money and due to "creative differences and different directions" I was blessed to have walked away from that publisher believing God for something better to come. Well I saw Spines publishing (the year they came out was 2021 which is fairly new compared to other publishers) through a Facebook ad and prayed about it and decided to partner with them! Of course there's more to the story than that obviously but that's the quick version of it. It had been my dream to become a author since I was a teenager and it's finally come true! Side note I'm in the process of working on a third book which is taking longer than what I planned and my team is working on that and when it's out on Amazon I will let y'all know about it! You might be thinking what does my first book have anything to do with mental health? Again like I said, it has alot to do with mental health. I shared about how Covid impacted me as I'm sure it impacted you ladies, your loved ones, as well as the whole world and multiple deaths of loved ones. I've shared in previous blogs how difficult grief is, the stages of grief, and how it can people to God or away from God. Covid isolated us and that was difficult for me because I went from going to school in person to doing classes virtually, lost my job, and my involvement with church dropped significantly. I mentioned that in my first book and I dealt with shock, grief, and anger when Covid occurred as I'm sure we all can remember that. Ladies it wasn't until when Covid happened that I really began to care about mental health. Again even though I grew up in a Christian home and got saved in middle school, mental health wasn't talked about at all and I had to do lots of praying and research about it is why I've been sharing this with y'all all month and will do so again next year in 2026! For those of you who didn't get my first book "Strength For Enduring Adversity" is highly encourage you to get it if you or someone you know is going through hardships something all of us will face at sometime. I pray that my first book will be a reminder once again to you ladies to remind you ladies that y'all are not alone in the struggles of life and I share things from God's Word as well too. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. This is my last blog in honor of mental health for this year in 2025 and can't wait to share more with y'all about mental health in the month of May next year for 2026! I will keep y'all posted about when my third book will be released on Amazon and I'll keep sharing more blogs the rest of the year about God's love and goodness. Blessings, happy Tuesday, and hope y'all have a blessed week!

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. The title I have for my blog is called ''Honoring Our Troops On Memorial Day''. Tomorrow is Memorial Day when we gather as a nation remembering those who gave their lives for freedom. We thank God for men and women who fight tirelessly to keep our country free from tyranny. Jesus said in John 15;13 ''Greater love hath no than man than this that he lay his life down for his friends.'' There are some troopers who did make it home while others didn't make it home. Let's continue to pray for our troops for God's protection to be on them and their families and pray that God will comfort the families of those who lost loved ones. Let's also not forget to honor Christ who gave His life for our spiritual freedom so on Memorial Day let's honor both our troops and honor Christ for what He has done for us. But another reason why I'm writing this blog is also to pray for troopers that are still alive and have to deal with PTSD. Again the month of May is mental health awareness month and PTSD stands for post traumatic stress disorder. Alot of times when troopers retire and get back home that many of them deal with PTSD, the traumas from the wars that they fought. Also many troopers deal with homelessness, depression, and unfortunately some even commit suicide. Others may struggle to find employment while others may struggle to find housing when they become civilians again. That's another reason to pray for our troopers when they come back to this country that they find housing, find good jobs, reunite with loved ones, and get help dealing with PTSD. Most of all perhaps troopers struggling with PTSD hopefully will not only motivate them to get help with counseling but also hopefully make them see their need for Christ and ask Christ to heal them mentally, emotionally, as well as spiritually! Ladies, our troopers need our prayers not only on Memorial Day but everyday. Pray for those who lost loved ones who laid down their lives for our freedom but don't forget to pray for those who are alive that deal with PTSD so they and their loved ones can get the help they need. Most of all pray that in the midst of their brokenness that they're open to hear the gospel and give their lives to Christ which is the most important thing. We Americans have alot to be thankful for people like these people and may we not forget to honor them. May we most of all not forget that God is the God of freedom and may we Americans not forget what Christ did for us on the cross for our spiritual freedom. Mental health impacts everybody especially our American troopers and there was no way for me to write a blog this month and not acknowledge that's important for our American troopers get healed of PTSD. On Memorial Day I'll be getting together with loved ones to honor the troops and have some fun and I'm sure you ladies have traditions and things you do on Memorial Day. If you're reading this and you're a trooper let me honor and thank you. If you're reading this and you're not a trooper but deal with PTSD my heart and prayers go out for you. Know that you can call on the Lord and know that you can get help too. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a happy Memorial Day everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Mental Health With Lysa Terkeurst". What lessons can we learn from her? Well let's share about her background. Lysa had a challenging life from the beginning. She encountered sexual abuse and her parents divorced when she was a child as well. But later her mom remarried and her mom and stepdad had a daughter who unfortunately died young. Lysa questioned her worth as a daughter because of the absence of earthly father and assumed God was like that. She'd later come to know the Lord, go to school and graduate and eventually got married. Side note Lysa has been married twice and divorced once. In 1993 at 24 married her first husband Art and they had three biological daughters. When her daughters were in elementary school they adopted two African teens and brought them to America! Her adopted sons and biological daughters are grown now and many of them have their own families meaning that Lysa is a grandma! If her mom's still living she's a great-grandma! Lysa is founder of "Proverbs 31 Ministries" and has written lots of books such as "Made To Crave", "Uninvited", "It's Not Supposed To Be This Way just to name a few. Lysa encountered trauma from her first marriage to Art because he had numerous affairs and had addiction issues! She filed for divorce in 2017 but chose to separate from Art for a time but reconciled with him. But Art's behavior continued on and damage continued to be done in her first marriage and in 2022 (when she was 53 years old) after 29 years of marriage she and Art's divorce was final! Anyone who has been through adultery , separation, and divorce my heart goes out to you. I can imagine the pain that Lysa and some of you have gone through. But the story thankfully doesn't end there though. In 2023 at 54 years old she met Chaz Adams on a dating app. He had been married before and experienced divorce and he used to be a alcoholic before he got saved! He also had kids from his previous marriage and worked on himself as well too. God saved and healed Chaz and him and Lysa's bond continued. In 2024 when Lysa was 55 she got remarried and it's Chaz's second marriage as well too and are blending their families. Those of you who experienced divorce and remarriage I want you to know that God loves you and doesn't condemn you even though the Church as a whole sadly treats people badly who have been divorced and remarried at times . (It's not as bad as it used to be thankfully.) Lysa has endured sexual trauma, divorce as a kid and adult, and adultery but God helped her through it. Those things can impact our emotional, mental, and spiritual health but God is our Healer and if y'all encountered what Lysa has encountered go to God and get help. Lysa in addition to going to God in prayer she went to counseling as well too. If she dealt with the same issues she has go to counseling. Dealing with trauma in those ways is extremely painful and just because she's a "public figure" doesn't mean she doesn't have issues. People in the public eye are human too which is why I shared about Jeremy Camp in a blog this month. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. If you want to buy Lysa Terkeurst's books check out her website or Amazon and you can order that wai. Blessings to each of you ladies and have a blessed week everyone.