The Nothing Blog

Battle weary? We should never try to fight our spiritual battles alone. Our unseen enemy is vicious. We need to pray to God to step in and fight for us. He will. He does. He always wins, too. But we must go to God first. It's rejuvenating to "cast all our cares on God" (1 Peter 5:7) and in faith, rest in His love for us. Right? We're revived when we're resting in God because we're finally, actually trusting God!  We're thinking clearly, our prayer life is stronger, and our priorities are right, too.  And I mean, it's absolutely exhausting and stressful to be entangled in the frenzy of the devil's lies, isn't it? Not only are we battle weary from trying to resist evil in our own strength, we're totally "occupied" and distracted from " hearing our Shepherd's voice" (John 10). God's plan for us is to rest in His promises to: meet our every need (Philippians 4:19), be with us like a Mighty Warrior who defeats our ...

This sweet little guy is our grandson. His name is Jesse. He looks peaceful, doesn't he? Sure he does! He's asleep! But if he was frightened or anxious he would not be sleeping. He'd be restless and probably crying or fussing. But he's not anxious. For one thing, he trusts his parents. He trusts all those who make up his huge family, and are blessed to be his caretakers, too. He trusts the people who love him, feed him, clothe him, protect him, teach him, hug him, dance with him, read to him, and laugh loudly with him. Yes, Jesse loves to laugh. He's free to live his life out loud. He's extremely adventurous, curious, and fearless. One of the new nicknames I have for him is "Lil Houdini." He knows he's well-loved and apparently believes his caretakers will never stop their loving care of him. That's how we, as God's children, should be living; out loud and fully alive! We should have the joys and wonder of child-like faith! We should be bel...

"Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe." Proverbs 25:29  Fear of man has a new name in our present culture: FOMO [Fear Of Missing Out]. It is a type of fear that comes from pride. When this type of wily distraction slithers into our minds we are fearing the wrong thing. We are fearing for ourselves!  We are not fearing God and not thankful for all His loving promises to always love and care for us.  FOMO can easily become a growing anxiety of comparing our lives with the lifestyles of others. It is not freedom.  It's bondage. It's wanting to see if we measure up to the images people portray of themselves. Fear of man is angst that we won't get the approval of others. So we do and say things to please others, not because it's what we want or believe, but we become desperate for the affirmation of people around us. Exhausting, isn't it? You know, trying to keep up with everyone else's business? It is exhaustin...

We can use social media for good or for evil.  I would like to answer my own question, "Is There Anything Good Coming Out of Social Media?"  I invite you to keep reading. It took a lingering head cold to get me to finally slow down and truly rest today. I knew it was the wisest way to get rid of the heavy congestion and annoying weariness of being sick! I was not interested to tune in cable TV so my mind could tune out and snooze. I realized this was the weekend for me to officially revive my love of reading good books! Hey, even as a very young girl I dreamed of becoming a librarian so I could be around lots of books every day!  We lived in Pennsylvania at the time and I absolutely loved going into the big public library, the ceilings were so high and the dark wood on the front desk was so tall and long. It was the same wood as the bookshelves. And the tables where people were reading and writing...oh, I wanted to do that! All those many years ago you had to be very quie...

All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15 Every day we have to decide if we're going to host a pity party  -- in our hearts and minds-- or a festival. It's a mindset. It's faith. Or unbelief. Will we believe God's promise that  "in all these things (suffering, pain, persecution, danger, etc.) we'll be more than conquerors through Christ who loved us [while we were sinners]"   (Romans 8:37)? Will we believe that " nothing [such as angels or demons nor any powers]  in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39)? Look, He is our total security! Hey! Time to celebrate!  Over and over we can read throughout Scripture, God is glorified when His children are thankful and joyful towards Him. "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" ...

For decades I've been passionate about encouraging women to seek the Lord so they could see and know His amazing ways. Women encouraging women  can be a very powerful force for good. Women understand each other and will often intuitively come alongside to support one another, meet for intercessory prayer, or gather to wipe tears, give hugs, laugh until they can't breathe, drink coffee, eat too much guacamole and chips, or study God's word. That's why for many years I've been compelled to organize and lead countless Bible studies in churches and in the marketplace, been invited to be the women's ministry leader in three churches. I've been both breakout and keynote speakers in conferences. I've authored and taught my own Bible studies. I've written a trilogy of devotionals (Totally Devoted) to encourage generations of women, everywhere! It's been a driving force for me; women will be on the road to freedom if we will seek Him and dig into His word...

This photo: Nora & I met once a week during her lunch break at Woodmont Golf & Country Club in Canton, GA,  from 2009 -- 2010 for a devotional study and prayer time in the Ladies Locker Room/Lounge. She was attending the Woodmont Ladies Bible Study (2000-2009) with us when she was able to take a break from her work at the club. My Friend Nora At the time of this writing Jesus has gently taken hold of Nora's hand. She’s now receiving Hospice care 24/7 and Jesus is preparing her to come with Him to her heavenly home very soon. Her loving, broken-hearted family knows Jesus is close enough to be holding her hand, preparing them to let her go to be with Him. They’ve remained close by her physically and emotionally watching her health rapidly decline in her long battle with cancer. Many hearts are broken at the thought that soon Nora will not be here with us all. Her radiant presence, her smile, her love, her prayers for others, and her beautiful, humble spirit will be missed ter...