One night, our HSA [medical secretary] was reviewing the sick call requests from inmates. Doing so, he was able to screen if there was someone who needed an immediate treatment, like suicidal inmates or anyone with serious medical condition that they never complained about when they first got incarcerated.
He came across a particular request. With words written in pencil, the request read:
“I have this fungus on my feet. Please treat me because it’s ugly and I need them gone when I go to the beach…”
“Was he kidding?” we thought as we laughed because of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere and there was no beach in the jail that we knew of.
Checking his status regarding his incarceration, true enough, he would be a long time resident of the prison system. He was temporarily housed in our jail, only to be transferred to a state prison, so he could spend the rest of his sentence there.
In this life, there is nothing wrong in making plans. But it ends up leaving us frustrated and disappointed when we leave God out of them. There is no point in making plans as if God doesn’t exist. The future is in His hands.
Who knows what tomorrow brings?
James warned us, too from James 4:13-15 - “And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today - at the latest, tomorrow - we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”
Verse 16-17 - “As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that for you, is evil.” [The Message]
Do you feel like being suffocated in your relationship with your spouse? Do you feel like you are neglected? Do you feel like getting out of your marriage, thinking that it is the only way to solve your marital problems?
I dare you to seek and work out LOVE first....
Marriage is like a garden. What a beautiful garden it would be if 2 gardeners are willing to help out each other to maintain the beauty in their garden. One might pluck the roots that threaten to kill the beautiful flowers. The other might do the pruning necessary to gain more beautiful flowers. Sometimes, it's been beautiful and there seems to be no problem. But it still tends to dry out because they both forget to fertilize.
Is that the kind of marriage you have? Are you helping each other as a couple to maintain a beautiful, healthy relationship to make your marriage work? Do you help each other out in removing anything that hinders the growth of becoming and or maintaining a beautiful relationship? You might not be fighting but have you forgotten to even say "I love you" lately to your spouse?
A precious sister, sister Bren at Seeking Grace On The Narrow Path, recently posted about the "The Love Dare", a 40 day journey for couples that will help you understand how unconditional love fits in to make your marriage work! She also has a give-away, a copy of "Fireproof" movie.
My hubby and I embarked on this journey two nights ago. Even if we don't have anything going on that threatens our marriage, we're glad that we did it because we became more aware of those areas drying out that we haven't tended to in a while. And what an amazing journey when we include God in it!!! After all, He is the Author of unconditional love.
If you feel led and you want to join, please visit Sister Bren here. God bless you and may Jesus be the bond that holds you together, as a couple. May your garden stays beautiful and healthy forever.
Please click on "pause" to stop the music in my playlist...
This lady who works in a tv station went purposely for a day into the jail, to see how it was like inside the jail…
She knew and experienced how it was like. Now, we know after watching this because we have seen it. She told us. She showed us. I know because I work in one and see how it’s like for the inmates.
So, why can’t we believe that Jesus came here to us, to be with us, to tell us that “hell is not a fun place to be”. That hell is for real and that it is an eternal destination for those who will not repent and ask for God’s forgiveness.
Repent for what you may ask? Repent for our sins. Because sins and God cannot mix. God is Holy, Pure, Just. Think about that bread in your pantry that's becoming stale...See the mold on it? Gross? Can you eat it still? How about that potatoes in that big bag? Did you see the roots that started growing? If you're like those potatoes hiding something in the dark, you're more likely to get tangled in that web of sins and will have a hard time to get out until it keeps growing. But didn't you see those potatoes when you opened that door in your pantry? Just like how it is with our God, He can see us. He is the Light and anything exposed to the Light is visible...
Jesus answered, "I told you, but you don't believe. Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words. You don't believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind." [John10:25-30, The Message].
Romans 3:25-26 - “God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public - to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now - this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.” [The Message]
1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 - “6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.” [NIV]
Revelation 20:11-15 - “I saw a Great White Throne and the One Enthroned. Nothing could stand before or against the Presence, nothing in Heaven, nothing on earth. And then I saw all the dead, great and small, standing there—before the Throne! And books were opened. Then another book was opened: the Book of Life. The dead were judged by what was written in the books, by the way they had lived. Sea released its dead, Death and Hell turned in their dead. Each man and woman was judged by the way he or she had lived. Then Death and Hell were hurled into Lake Fire. This is the second death—Lake Fire. Anyone whose name was not found inscribed in the Book of Life was hurled into Lake Fire.” [The Message]
You don’t want to go to hell? There is a way…and that is ONLY through Jesus Christ. If you are that one making excuses that Christians are "hypocrite", don't focus yourself on those Christians. Focus on Jesus. Because He is the One Who doesn't change. And He is the only door you can open to have that salvation. To be granted an eternal life when our lives are over in this world. He is that bridge that connects us again to be with the Eternal God. Because of Jesus' righteousness, we will have that righteousness that will cover us when we accept Him into our hearts. That's the one that will make our broken relationship with God whole again.
Will you now call upon Jesus to save you from your sin so that you can know God's love and forgiveness?
Pray like this: "Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner, and I am sorry. I need a Savior. I know I cannot save myself. I believe by faith that Jesus, your Son, died on the cross to be my Savior. I believe He arose from the grave to live as my Lord. I turn from my sin. I ask You, Lord Jesus, to forgive my sin and come into my heart. I trust you as my Savior and receive you as my Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me.
"When anyone calls on the Lord in this manner, that one is saved according to God's Word. If you pray a prayer of repentance and faith, you are saved. You have God's word on it.
I have been job sharing with one of my co-workers for many years now. When I started working at the jail, my child was only 5 years old then. He’s 14 now. You would think that I would go back working full time. But I truly enjoy my time raising my son and taking care of my hubby’s and child’s needs. In their teenage years, I believe that’s the most important time of guidance and sharing the Lord with them at these awkward years. They feel like they are grown-ups, yet, they still have not completely left their childhood years. They are still dependent with some things.
It’s amazing to me how co-workers are constantly teasing me about adding more work hours or making comments that my son now is big, why be there [for him]? I try to tell them answers that are not mean but let’s just say in a much better way than saying “it’s none of your business…”
Working this weekend, one really got to me when she spoke, “Why? Why do you bring your kid to school? He’s big now. Maybe he doesn’t want you to be there. He just doesn’t want to tell you because he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings?”
My first reaction in my mind? Prayer….”Lord, thank You for changing me. If You didn’t change my heart, I would have responded in a mean way to make this person zip her mouth…”
My answer? “I think I know MY son well enough that I will know whether he likes me to drive him to school or pick him up or not!”
S…I…L…E…N…C…E…..
She went back to typing whatever in front of the computer monitor. Topics suddenly changed…
I love the wisdom that comes from the Lord. Short but very sharp. So sharp that even one sentence was enough to make your point!!!
I would love to ask that co-worker some of my own but decided not to….I had so much if I did…
“Does working a lot of hours improve our relationships with our children?”
We may earn a lot of money, but is it all worth it than the times well-spent talking with our children, seeing their accomplishments, being there for them when they encounter their own defeats and losses as our kids meet new challenges in their lives?
“What makes you think that my child doesn’t want me to drop him off and pick him up at school?”
Everyday, I won’t trade with anything our breakfasts together, preparing his lunch and snacks, our devotions together, lifting up everyone we know in prayers. The way he says, “thank You Lord! Thank you Mom! [or thank you dad if my husband is home] as his warm kisses land on our cheeks along with his hugs, after eating each meals….
Oh no! I won’t miss it for anything the way he waves his right arm “goodbye” as he says, “I love you mommy! See you later!” How can I want to miss picking him up when the first thing my child asks as he gets into the car, “Hi Mom! How are you? How was your day?” To know that deep inside, he loves and cares for me and he appreciates the things I do, how does my co-worker know that?
“He’s big now..Yes, I know…But what makes you think that just because he had grown up a little and had known a little, he became a disrespectful half-man/half-child?”
No! You must know that if we keep teaching our children about the Lord, that if we instill His grace and knowledge, He changes our children‘s hearts, too, the way He changed mine and that of my husband‘s. Just this morning, I shared with him Galatians 5:22. Aside from starting each morning with Proverbs 3:5,6. The world or generation may seem the same, always hungry for what this world offers or are always thinking about themselves first, but the generation that believes in Christ do not always go with the flow. Instilling in our children to have that reverential fear of the Lord changes their hearts and as they also learn to trust in Him and read his Word, I just know, I do not need to worry about my child, if I place my worries to God's loving hands, to God's guidance, to God's protection...Don't get me wrong! I'm not trying to say that Christians are the best. No! We can also succumb to our old habits if we are not relying on Christ. It doesn't mean our children are well-behaved...It is only Christ Who can change a person's heart. And if we expose our children to His love and grace, that's what works, not our own achievements.
“Train your child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” -Proverbs 22:6 [NIV]
My response to my co-worker’s statement: Nothing….But to mind my own business…I have nothing against working full time. It is because it depends on our financial status and life’s priorities. My only point is that we cannot apply what situations we are facing with others. I think every family is unique, just the way each of us is unique to God. I have no one to thank but God because as I had learned to walk closer with Him, He changed my heart. He changed my priorities. I learned to live in contentment. I learned to prioritize of what matters the most…I learned to live in simple ways. It’s an on-going learning process…And how I love the simplicity that comes from Jesus Christ!
Let me just put God’s advice [1 Thessalonians 4:11]:
“Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You’ve heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging off your friends.” - The Message
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” - NIV
“Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard, just as we taught you to do. Then you will be respected by people who are not followers of the Lord , and you won’t have to depend on anyone.” -CEV
