Musings and Nuggets

  Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22, 23 (NKJV)  His mercies are new EVERY Morning! As I was walking in the early morning, seeing the sun begin to burst forth through the branches and leaves of the trees,  I was reminded of how wonderful it is to serve the God of a second chance.  Because of His grace, mercy, and compassion, sometimes He even gives us a third and fourth chance. Knowing the imperfection of man, God wisely built repentance into the plan of salvation to give us an avenue to be redeemed and restored/saved through the blood of Jesus. Repentance is more than saying “sorry” because sometimes we are sorry that we got exposed and not sorry for what we have done that breaks His heart. We must first own/confess our sin and have genuine sorrow for what we did, seek His face (sometimes on our face)...

  Why am I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad?  I will put my hope in God!  I will praise Him again--my Savior and my God! Psalm 42:5 (NLT) Photo by Luis Galvez on Unsplash Until a college mate challenged me to look where I was going when walking around campus, I did not realize something about myself.  I walked with my head down. I came to recognize that as a reflection of what I had felt inside for most of my life.  Until then, I was unaware that I did that.  The few times since then when I have allowed myself to be vulnerable enough to share this about myself with someone else in a conversation, I was met with disbelief, which surprised me.   Shortly after that realization, I was challenged again (or so it seemed) during a professional development session at my job.  Little did I know that this "challenge" was also what I needed to hear.  The presenter (who did not know any of us) stopped...

I remember playing the game, Follow The Leader, on the playground as a child.  Wherever the “leader” went, we lined up behind them and followed.  Real life, however, is not a children’s game.         Photo by Jes Zoerb on Unsplash Follow my example, as I follow Christ.   1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV) We must always be careful whom we choose to be a spiritual role model for our lives.  There is great responsibility on “a leader” regarding the use or misuse of influence.  To be clear, if you are a Believer, you are by definition a leader whether you realize/acknowledge it or not.  There is always someone watching you---your conversation, how you handle challenging circumstances/people, whether what you confess with your mouth is actually lived out in your day-to-day life.  People will always put more spiritual weight on your actual “walk” if it does not line up with your verbal testimony. Granted, each one of us is an impe...

And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person .”  So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.  Job 1:12 (NKJV) I was one of those “Baby Boomers” who was born at home.  My Mom didn’t have much confidence in hospitals in the South, so my birth was attended by  a Midwife, however, she was unable to safely facilitate my birth. In fact, my neck was almost broken in the process and the doctor had to be summoned. I have long felt that the enemy had “a hit” out on me & my life (naturally & spiritually), and God stepped in and said “No!”  because He (God) had/has plans for me. Our scripture is about the enemy wanting to take Job out and make him curse God.  Perhaps the adversary was afraid of the impact that Job’s testimony of overcoming all the tragedies thrown at him would have in the lives of Christians throughout the coming generations.  However, he could not do any more to Job tha...

  “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You.  My soul thirst for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.                                      Psalm 63:1 (NKJV) There is something incredibly satisfying and even spiritual to me about taking a brisk walk early in the morning when the earth is awakening from the night, the grass is still wet from the dew, the birds are chirping “Good Morning” (or whatever it is that they are communicating), and the sun is just beginning to peep over the horizon and tree tops. I am not, by nature,  a morning person.  I function more efficiently at night (into the wee hours of the morning) because my concentration & focus are sharper when things are more calm.  It turns out that there is an actual scientifi...