Virtuous-having or showing high moral standards. Righteous, good, pure, saintly, angelic, moral, ethical, upright, upstanding, high-minded, principled, exemplary, law-abiding, irreproachable, blameless, guiltless, unimpeachable, immaculate, honest, honorable, reputable, laudable, decent, respectable, noble, worthy, meritorious, squeaky-clean. 

This is what the dictionary tells me that virtuous means.

Wow, a mouth full for sure! How do I measure up? Well, if I am honest, okay in some areas, not so much in others; at least according to me and maybe a few other people. How can we possibly ever hope to be all these things that we are told to be in Proverbs 31:10-28. I suddenly feel defeated..no seriously is this an impossible standard to have. Is there no way we can get to this level as a human. 

It tells us that the price for a woman like the one described in these verses is high above rubies, but it does not say it is impossible. How then can we get there? I would venture to say first we ask for the Lord’s help. Then we put into practice the things that Jesus did as he walked this earth.

We love like he loved, we serve like he served, we sacrifice as he did. We cannot be selfish and self-centered and be like Jesus. 

I want to be the woman described in these verses. I want my husband’s heart to safely trust in me. I want to live my life first of all to please the Lord and in doing that I should be able to say that I am this kind of woman. God does not set unreachable goals for us. He clearly states who we are to be as Christian’s, and he fills us with his spirit to help us along the way. I may not be a full Proverbs 31 woman, but I am certainly giving it my best each and every day. Some days I do well and others not so much. How about you ladies? Where are you in the process?



Now, turning my attention to the men in the group what does God tell us about you and how you should be. 

Let’s see as we read in Colossians 3:19 “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

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Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

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1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied that faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

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Ephesians 5:28 “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

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1 Timothy 3:2 “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, and able to teach.

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Ephesians 5:23 “For the husband is head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.”

How do you line up?

Here is what I know, it is never too late to start over, or to try harder. If men will love Christ and allow him to be the head of his heart then men will be all they need to be to their wives and families and if for any reason we as woman and men falter in our efforts to be what God says we should be in his word, remember to be gracious and loving and above all and forgiving! 

God does not set us up for failure but for success. Read it and apply it…and follow closely at the feet of Jesus. 



Psalm 55:22 “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

When we read the words of Psalm 55:22 we immediately think of the burdens of life, the hard stuff as being the cares we need to give to the Lord, but this word better explained is “gift,” or “lot.”
The things we go through in life really are a gift given to us by the Lord. They are all meant to lead us to a closer walk with him. I have said it before they are not meant to crush us, but to grow us toward Jesus and our need for him. We are told that if we throw this “gift” back to him and ask for his divine help in dealing with it, carrying it, he will give us the help we need and will even sustain us as we go through whatever “care” we are experiencing.

I can remember as a young girl not feeling like life was fair. My lot in life, my “gift” as it was, seemed too much most of the time. I wanted more than anything to be and feel normal. The future loomed ahead of me long and hard. But you see I could not see the future, all I had to compare it to was what I knew. To me, the future looked full of the same thing I was going through and I just thought, I can’t! I think of that from time to time how long and hard the days and week seemed to me, and yet looking back I see that they were just a small part of a much bigger picture. God even then was moving toward him; he was growing my young faith. He was walking with me through the hard stuff. I can look back now and see his hand. There were times when I could feel his presence even then. I knew God was near me and I wished I could see him, and I kinda did see him and hear him in my grandmother.

I was learning to “trust in the Lord” even then. I would go to my special place in the field and cry my little heart out to God. I would get mad and indignant about my life and tell him all about it. After all my grandmother had said I could tell him anything, so I did. God did not send me away with a scolding, He did not laugh at my anger and hurt. He listened and even then ministered to my soul. I always got up from my prayer spot feeling like I had been with Jesus, happy and ready to play. The only reason I could skip about and go on playing being a child was GOD!! He reached into my confused, angry, bruised heart and mind and calmed the troubled waters. I could not understand it, but I did not have to.

I can say that my time of hurt was such a blessing for me. It kept me seeking after Jesus. I needed this God that I heard and read about to do what his word said he could do. I wanted to feel him with me and near me. I wanted that freedom from pain that I was promised was available. And I got it! I have shared my testimony with people and the one thing I always say is that my life has been perfect. God put me where I needed to be and allowed the things I needed to have in my life to accomplish his perfect and good will and to save my rotten soul. And if the abuse my daddy did toward me in any way (and I believe it did) was what he needed to show him is great need of God and save his soul,(which God did) then it was a small, “yes small” price to pay to know that he is in heaven.

I am not ashamed of my past, I do not dwell in the past, but I do share my past to hopefully help others to see that God is good and He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more! I am so thankful for the life he has given me, the forgiveness he has showered me with, the lessons he has taught me and the grace and faithfulness he has surrounded me with throughout my faith walk; and I am especially thankful for the new mercies that are mine each morning.

God is good…His plans are good…He is always with us…drawing us…calling us out into the deep…will you let go and follow? I am!

This is just one of the many names of God. Yahweh M’Kaddesh means to sanctify, to set apart, to dedicate and to make holy. We can see examples of this throughout scripture. God sanctifies places, things, times and people. We will look at a few.

Leviticus 20:8 “Keep my decrees and follow. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.”

We see in Genesis where God set the seventh day apart as sacred.
Genesis 2:2-3 “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

And then we see in Leviticus 23:1-5 “The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.” 3″There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.

God sanctifies days and times/seasons.
So, what this is saying is that we need to have a day of rest. Most Christian’s recognize Sunday as their day of rest. If we are able we need to cease from our labors. Enjoy the day, worship the Lord. RELAX! Now, of course, there are people in professions that they are not able to get Sunday free. I suggest that the day you do have free spend it relaxing, thinking on God minded things, reading his word. Make it your worship day.

God sanctifies places and things.
Joshua 6:19 “But all the silver, and the gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”

Leviticus 27:14 “If anyone dedicates their house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priests then sets, so it will remain.”

God sanctifies people.

Leviticus 20:26 “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. ”

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

We see that Yahweh M’Kaddesh is holy, set apart above all else in the universe. God is it. There is no other God, no one else who created the Universe. It was not a big explosion that happened. We did not crawl out of some sort of goo begin. Did not happen people! God is Sovereign over EVERYTHING!

Deuteronomy 4:35 “You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God, beside him, there is no other.”

1 Samuel 2:2 “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”

We go on to see that Jesus Christ is sanctified.

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin.”

Hebrews 7:26 “Such a high priest truly meets our need one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”

Now how does this apply to us? We are being sanctified.

Three aspects of sanctification are:
1. Positional-Justification
2. Progressive-Sanctification
3. Permanent-Glorification

The very moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and are born again the sanctifying, justification starts in us. We are no longer dead in trespasses and sin, but alive in Christ Jesus. We read this in 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.”
Our stand before God has changed at the moment of belief and it will never change. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery; We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

One of these days there will be a trumpet sound that will split the sky, Jesus will first raise the dead…those who have fallen asleep, who was saved, set apart for him. They will meet him in the air. No unbeliever will be raised and go to Jesus, they are dead, they did not accept Jesus in this life and their eternity is hell, forever!

But it tells us that once the dead are raised, those alive, who are his, born-again, believers will be caught up to meet him. Now that is exciting! It could not happen except that we were changed at the moment of conversion and set apart for his kingdom. Nothing fowl and dirty can enter into heaven.
Our glorification will happen at that time.

Now before that happens is where we are being sanctified. It is our progressive growth in Christ. As we walk this earth as believers we are being made more like Christ. It begins when we are saved and continues until we leave this earth. If there is no redemption there is no sanctification.

We are sanctified because of Jesus.
Hebrews 10:10 “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
He died in our place, we deserve death, but Jesus paid the full price for us.

So, how does our sanctification happen? There are different ways.
1. It happens by the word of truth. We read in John 17:17-19 “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so, have I also sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

Sometimes we must be sanctified through chastisement and discipline. Which simply put is a punishment, a scolding.

Hebrews 12:10-11 “They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we might share in his holiness.11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

I can assure you there have been many times when I have needed and experienced the discipline of the Lord. It has made me stop and look at my life and my actions and know in those times that I am not behaving in a way that honors the Lord.
And for me when those times have come it gives me a peace in knowing that I am his, I matter, my growth in him matters. He cares about me!

We read in Psalm 139:23 ” Search me, O God and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts.” When we ask the Lord to search our hearts, be prepared. He will bring to light any secret sin that lies there. He sees and knows what we do not. Usually a person knows the “big” things they sometimes do. The sin that displeases the Lord, but often times we do not see the sin lurking in our hearts, but if we ask, he will reveal it and when he does it needs to be repented of. He sees into our deepest thoughts and intent.

Bottom line we are to be holy, but we cannot be holy on our own. We need the inner working of the Holy Spirit we need Yahweh M’Kaddesh to do what He does in making us fit for heaven.

Romans 12: 1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Bottom line, we need to be holy to enter heaven. We cannot do it on our own. Without Yahweh M’Kaddesh we would be in trouble. He does the work in us that we cannot do in ourselves. He makes us fit for heaven and eternity with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Isn’t it wonderful that God knew we could not do it on by ourselves? We cannot save ourselves, keep ourselves, make ourselves holy or get ourselves to heaven, so he covered all the bases for us. We can rest in his saving and changing power. And in those times of discipline, move closer to the Father, it makes it hurt much less and remember it is his love and faithfulness to see us through and his absolute holiness that moves him to chastise us. We are his…thank you Lord for your sanctifying, changing power at work in me!

Study it, God wants us to read his word. To know the power at work in us. We will one day stand before him. Be ready my friends, be ready.

I decided to write concerning this verse because I have had discussions with those who feel it is saying that a true born-again believer of Jesus Christ can lose their salvation. Not so my friends! Once you have been born again, you stay that way! in John 10:29is says: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” and Hebrews 7:25 tells us this: “So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
God the Father did not entrust our eternal security to just anyone, He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, the spotless lamb to die for us, once and for all.

This passage is speaking about Apostasy, those who have heard the word, received it with gladness even. They are enjoying the religious excitement all around them. They even participate in church services. Go to classes, here the word and believe it…up until the point of salvation, being truly born-again. And for whatever reason, they stop coming, they stop wanting to be around God’s people, the word no longer excites them and they just wonder off, back to their lives doing the things they have always done and there is no change, no repentance, they reject the truth they have heard. Their spiritual high as it were is over, the things of God do not matter anymore. These people have the head knowledge of Christ, but it never moves to their heart and becomes true faith. They may even be aware of active sin in their lives, but it does not cause them to take the next step. Judas Iscariot is a good example of this. HE WAS A TRAITOR, He was with Jesus and the disciples, Yet although hearing the word and loving to be around Jesus and the others, He did not take the final step of allowing his knowledge to become his faith.

Once they haved turned from the truth, completely renouncing the gospel and its plan of salvation and with full knowledge they reject Jesus, and choose to willfully and continually sin; the Apostate has now rejected the only way to eternal life, Jesus, and so they have no sacrifice to cover their sin, and they will die in their sins, they cannot be saved and they will never experience eteranal life with Jesus in heaven. Their’s is eteranl damnation forever.

To be clear; a diliberate Apostate if different than someone who falls into sin and walks away for a while. The Apostate is someone who after hearing, completely rejects the gospel and turns away. And an Apostate is different than an unbeliever. Because some unbelievers are unbeelievers because they have never heard the gospel. The Apostate has heard the word, and totally rejected it. He has seen and experienced moments with the Lord, yet wants nothing to do with it. He has tasted and yet refuses, willfully to go any further.

Well, I hope this has helped. I suggest you study it for yourselves, I am not sure my feeble attempts to shine a light on this verse is what it needs to be. If you ask for wisdom, He will give it!

Psalm 37:7 “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.”

I have shared with you briefly about the abuse I suffered at the hands of my dad. What I have not shared is that he was not the only one abusing me during that time. Different people, each with their own agenda and none with the knowledge of the others deeds. I was a “victim” with a “victim mentality” and they knew it!

I had very low self-esteem when I was younger and to be honest it tries hard to seep back into my life even now. Especially when I feel “less than” what the world says I should be. However, when I feel that feeling of “less” come on me I ask my Father in heaven for help and he faithfully moves me through it. Reminding me that I am not just somebody, I am the daughter of The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, valuable and loved by him. But getting back to my “victim mentality,” I was easy prey for anyone looking to go on the hunt. I had already been preprogrammed to keep my mouth shut and just take it, so I did until I didn’t.

I will not go into all the” who” of who they were. A couple of them moved on and so it took care of itself, and the two other men, I made the decision to avoid at all costs. Sadly one was a teacher who thought he could force himself on me. He was a large man, a football coach at our school. He grabbed me and pulled me away from prying eyes. Not only was I scared, but this was a family friend who knew of the abuse I had suffered and took advantage of it, he also was very involved in the church he attended, an upstanding man in our community every thought. The other was a man I dearly loved and respected. He had filled the void left by my dad, so when at the age of fourteen he decided to suddenly change on me, simply put it broke my heart in more ways than I can say. It also eventually cost me a dear precious friend who was like a sister to me.

To say that confusion filled my heart and mind is more than an understatement. I figured I was the “problem,” I was somehow flawed and all the perverts in the world gravitated to me. God had made me “broken,” it seemed. However, even then I had faith, I remembered the faith lessons from my grandmother and put them into practice once again. It was “mustard seed” faith, but faith was there, so I did what I knew to do I prayed and I waited. Scripture tells us to wait patiently, now I am not so sure I was being overly patient, but I had no choice, so I waited.

I do not know what has happened to a couple of these men, but two are born again believers. Which makes my heart glad! Yes, glad. God has moved on them and they have repented and turned from their sin, they also asked for forgiveness. Who am I that I would not forgive, I am a sinner saved by grace in need of forgiveness on a daily basis. Scripture is clear about how God wants us to forgive. Matthew 18:21-22 “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven,” which means constant forgiveness, our forgiveness does not end. And then we read these powerful words, which I will admit has moved me to forgiveness more than any other. Matthew 6:15 “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Ouch! I want and need His forgiveness!!!!!!

I know that although it seems that the evil ones in the world are prospering and going about their business as though nothing has changed does not make it so. God has his ways of taking care of these people. I obviously am not in their lives and I have not seen any “revenge” exacted from them, but God tells me in his word that He takes care of the wicked. Vengence is His.

God’s word says in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 says, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” and then we read in Deuteronomy 32:35 “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” Lastly, this little nugget is in Proverbs 20:22 “Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.”

Here is what I know, if these men have not repented of all their sins and been born again, their future is hell! God takes care of us, He does not always remove the obstacles in our path, but he can take the bad and make it good. It takes a surrendering of our own, an unwavering faith that somehow, some way, someday God will use it for our good and his glory. God’s ways are not our ways, truly I cannot figure out and don’t really want to anymore why he allows the things that he does. I gave all this “garbage” to him a long time ago. He has removed all the hurt from my past, yes “ALL” as though it never were. He has moved me along in this faith walk at the pace I can follow and he continues to grow and stretch my faith sometimes daily.

I can look back at that little girl, that teenager and see the pain and confusion she is experiencing and I want to tell her to be strong, that God is on her side, He is with her and one day it really will be okay. She really will not hurt anymore. God’s purpose is never to crush us but to grow us. I am thankful that he trusted me with this testimony. I am thankful that he continues to reveal himself to me in wonderful ways, I am thankful for this life he has blessed me with, ALL of it! My life may not look or sound like it has been perfect and by the worlds standards it has been not so great, but I live by the word of God and what he says. If he calls it perfect for me than I choose by faith to believe him. Yes, it is really that simple. I choose a childlike faith that says his way is best, his way is for my good, his way will lead me eventually to my heavenly home and eternity with him. Wow, how awesome is that!

I do not know if you have a heavy-weight of burden or a deep hurt that someone has caused. I do know that God is bigger than our hurts. I know that God is with us and he can and will see you through when you trust him. I know that God is bigger than your worse day. I know that God never leaves us or forsakes us and that his ways and purposed are much higher and greater than ours. And I know that even though it seems the wicked are prospering unfazed by what they do that simply is not true. One day if not this day, unless they repent and surrender their lives to Christ, hell and eternal damnation are theirs. I do not wish that on even the worst offender. I think we have no idea how truly horrible hell is and because of the blood of Christ that has been applied to my life and hopefully yours, we will never know!

We have recently left the month of love. People everywhere got gifts and there were declarations of love that were spoken to many on February 14th. Some may have even gotten engaged in some special way on this day. What an exciting thing to have happened! What a special memory.

Isn’t it great to be loved and to give love? I know how I feel when someone says they love me. I feel special and important to them. It makes me want to love them better and be as good to them as I can. How about you? We have one who has loved us that can never again be matched. And his love was an active love and it cost him his life. His name is Jesus…Just his name makes me smile…Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

His love brought him down from Heaven, made him walk this earth with no place to call his own. His love moved him in the direction of the cross knowing that he would die for his own. He did not change his mind or his plan. Even when he was beaten, had a crown of thorns pushed down on his head and a heavy cross to bear, he did it, all the while you were on his mind. His love flowed red.

I would like to think that if I had walked the earth when Jesus did that I would not have been apart of the crowd that was crying, “crucify him!” I will never know, but I have in my own ways at different times not lived my life in a way that spoke of my love for him. We are all guilty, aren’t we? Sometimes, we just do the wrong thing. But even in those moments his love is a love that forgives us, restores us and propels us ever onward to our ultimate place, home, and Heaven with him.

I want to love more, do more, be more in this life. I want to love sacrificially like Jesus did. I feel sure that my love will never require my life, but it should require my time and a little sacrifice. Love is not selfish and self-serving, it does not hold grudges. Love, real love forgives and restores and costs us.

Where would we have been without this act of love on Jesus’s part? Hell, would be all we had to look forward to. He is holy, very holy and even on our best day, we fall short, way short. Without his life, his blood that flowed you and I would have no happy ending, no greatest love story of all time.

Scripture speaks of this love that was bruised and bleeding, it tells us of the greatest love story ever told. If you have not read it recently maybe you should. Soak up this sacrificial love that was poured out for you. Bask in the goodness of the Savior and smile and thank him!

Here are a few scriptures to meditate on.

Psalm 136:26 “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

romans 5:8 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 John 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

1 John 4:9-11 “In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Sometimes it seems as though the same old things are swirling around me day in and day out trying their best to steal my joy, trying their best to make me doubt God’s goodness and his prayer answering power. I ask and ask and this stuff of life just keeps coming at me. What do I do? Where do I go? How do I balance prayer and not worrying?

I have family things that keep me concerned, a sister who is blind and pretty much bedridden without a lot of help. I have a nephew who just cannot seem to get it right and has been in jail more than he has been out. My daughter struggles with an Autoimmune disorder that she must be on Chemotherapy for, good friends with cancer and the list could go on. In other words, stuff, weighty thought-provoking things. They want to steal my joy, these things of life try to tie themselves to my garments (so to speak) and make me look more at them and their size than I do at God.

Is there a fine line with being concerned and going to the Lord in prayer and carrying them each and every moment of the day, Yes, there is! Scripture tells us that God wants to hear from us, he wants us to unload the stuff of life into his capable hands and wait for him to do what he does best, handle it, answer it, move us through it.

God has it all, the ups and downs, the sickness and troubles. He is master over everything. He already has a plan set in motion and his desire is that we turn to him and unload the burdensome stuff. He longs to make our burden light and the path clearer. He wants us to surrender our will, way and wants to his will, way and wants.

1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

1 Chronicles 16:11 “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”

I have found that when I look to the Lord, the mountains of stuff in my life diminish. My strength is renewed and the stuff of life seems lighter, manageable, taken care of. My mind stops lingering on the negative and starts focusing on the positive. Hope rises in my mind, soul and very being. I get excited at what God is doing in these lives that I was once weighted down with concern for. Why? Because he has a plan for their lives, He loves them and He longs to be their everything. He will do whatever he needs to do to bring them to the next place that he wants them. And just like my life, If they are still here, he is still working and they are in the best place they could ever be.

The stuff of life never looks or feels like I think it should (which is a good thing) because I am looking through my eyes and heart, my human perspective much of the time. I need to focus on Jesus, every moment of every day. I need to surrender my stuff to the Lord daily if need be and I need to remember his faithfulness in my life and all the answered prayers that are already behind me; then I will trust, walk in faith for this new yet the same stuff and I will find my faith growing and that of the ones he is working in.

So, when I feel this troubled stuff of life I pray, James 5:13 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.”

The last part of this verse is what I love to be and to do, Be happy and sing and worship Jesus…He is love, He is the answer…He is….(you fill in the blanks), because He is whatever you need…I promise!

We all know them, the people who are constantly boasting about what they have done, where they have been etc. They love to tell us of their exploits and how they saved the day. If you are like me you listen wondering how anyone could be so self-absorbed and full of vinegar (as my grandmother would say.). They see themselves as having little to no faults and there is nothing they do not know and cannot do, usually better than anyone else in their opinion.

Not only are people with this mentality hard to teach, they are sometimes hard to reach. After all, they know it all. They are their god. It is a sad state to be in I think. Anytime we become unteachable we are in trouble. Now can someone who is a “know it all” be a born again know it all,? Yes, I think they can although I fear it may be hard for them to walk in faith, after- all they have the answers and do not want to be lead by the spirit, especially if it is contrary to what they think is the right thing to do.They have and are the answer. However, having said that once we are truly born from above there should be a change and our affections should be toward Jesus, not self. It is really a matter of pride and misplaced affection. We are told in scripture whom to boast about and it is not self.

We are to boast in Him, the one who saved us and calls us by name. We are to give him credit for all things. We were made to magnify him and his glory and his sufficiency in our weaknesses.

God tells us that he hates boasting, it is sin!
Proverbs 6:66-17 “There are six things which the Lord hates, seven which are an abomination to him…and the first one is mentioned is a “haughty eyes.” What does haughty mean? It means arrogantly, superior and disdainful, proud, vain, conceited, snobbish, self-important, pompous, condescending. Doesn’t sound so great, does it?

We can read some pretty strong words in scripture.
Psalm 101:5 “The man of haughty looks and arrogant heart I will not endure.”

Proverbs 16:5 “Everyone who is arrogant is an abomination to the Lord.”

Isaiah 2:11 “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

Jeremiah 50:31 “Behold, I am against you, O proud one, says the Lord God of hosts; for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.”

I think this one really sums up very well how God hates pride in us and a haughty spirit. It is hard to read, but it happened. Acts 12:23 says this: The angel of the Lord struck Herod so that he was eaten with worms and died because when he received applause from the people, he did not give God the glory but took it for himself. Yikes! Sounds to me like God will not let another get the praise and glory.

We need to be very careful in how we approach a pat on the back. Is there a time when we can be happy with something we have done, Yes, I think so. But there is a vast difference between being pleased and prideful. Pride really will go before the fall. Even scripture tells us this in Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

If you find that you are among those who have a false sense of who you are, a braggadocious way about you; do not lose heart. Go before the Lord, confess your sin, ask him to forgive you and he will. Turn from your sin and walk in the newness that is now yours. God by the power of His Holy Spirit will move and change your heart and mind, just ask him. Surrender the old you to the new you.

If we spend our time boasting about Jesus and all he has done then our focus will turn from us to him. He deserves all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. He alone took the cross of calvary and our sin upon himself. He alone conquered the grave and death, He alone has the power to save. He alone arose from the grave…He alone deserves our adoration, our praise and all the glory.

To God be the glory for the great things he has done!
So, in closing the next time you run into a know it all and are listening to them tell of another of their great whatevers…silently lift them to the Lord and smile…God is able to change any heart!

We have all had those moments in life where we are in need; the need for human contact, love with skin on. Our world may be in shambles, we may have just lost a loved one, our job, a friend. So many things can cause us to feel alone, sometimes even in a crowded room. I have felt those moments more often than I want to admit. It is a horrible feeling that sweeps over you. Sometimes in the middle of a conversation, you can still feel lonely. I think sometimes this happens because we need touch, a touch from someone. There is something healing and refreshing when someone touches you in a gesture of understanding or love that changes everything.

I can remember when I was experiencing a time of great heartache; I had received advice, words of encouragement, speeches even about how to get myself back on track, but I did not need those things at that moment, what I wanted and needed was just a touch. I needed love with skin on. It was then a friend came up to me and all she did was lay her hand on my back and grab one of my hands with her other hand and she just stayed there while I cried silent tears, while my heart raced and my head pounded, she was my calm in the storm. The reassurance that I was not alone and that she would stay as long as needed.

I remember the feel of her warm hands. She gently rubbed my hand with her thumb, but it registered in my being. I felt loved, I felt cared for, I felt secure. And I knew I was not alone. God had sent her my way when I needed her the most. She did not say a word to me, she just stayed until the tears stopped and I was quiet. Afterward, she started out of the room we were in and turned and said to me that if I needed anything all I had to do was call.

God knows all that we have need of and knows and understands that sometimes we need love with skin on, so he sends someone our way to let us know that he with us and knows and understands this need. I want to be the kind of friend that does not always have to have words. I want to reach out with my whole heart and love someone with just a touch when they need it most.

God promises to protect us and to help us, often times I believe it is through others that he sends that he fulfills these promises.

Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Psalm 46:1 ” God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Psalm 91:1-2 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most- High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Yes, God is faithful and God always sends just what or who we need with exactly what we need at our time of need and sometimes it is love with skin on…no words needed!