Who Is the Real Threat to the Soul of Our Nation?

This past week, I’ve felt a sense of oppression that I couldn’t shake. I woke up with it every morning as I prayed asking God to reveal the source and why I was functioning each day under a dark cloud. I now think that it was the Lord awakening me to a heightened discernment of prevalent evil. I honestly wish I could walk away from this awareness and avoid dealing with it. But I know God has a purpose. He knows I will use the gifts He’s given me to awaken others too, so here I go.

The soul of America is God. The heart of America is God. The foundation of America is God.

Socialism replaces God with government and freedom with tyranny and we’re watching the deterioration of our beloved America right now with the current Administration removing God and His ways from every area of life.

In Biden’s “enemies of the state speech,” he looked and sounded like a dictator vilifying half the country who love God, family, and America but don’t happen to agree with his socialist policies. He called us evil, semi-fascists, and said we were a threat to the nation and destroying its soul. As he projected onto conservative Republicans everything he and his party are doing, he gave no specific examples of how we’re doing the country harm with traditional values and morality.

Yet, if he would only look in the mirror, he would see clearly the real threat to the soul of America.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James 1:23-24

When God is Removed the Nation Suffers

Here are just a few observable signs . . .

1. Measurable increase in crime and lawlessness

A mommy goes out for her usual morning jog and is kidnapped, raped, and killed by a man let out of prison early. A child sleeping in the back of the family car at a gas station or sleeping in his bed is shot and killed by random shooters. Another man released from jail early goes on a killing spree and videotapes his carnage on social media. Carjacking and robberies of stores and persons is rampant. Criminals are arrested and let back on the streets by progressive DA’s, judges, and the elimination of cash bond policies.

2. Open Borders

The Constitution and border laws are disregarded while unvetted and unvaccinated illegals from over a hundred countries are allowed to inhumanly flood our borders where drug Cartels and sex trafficking are prolific and horrific.

3. The Fantasy of Multiple Genders

Liberals cannot define a woman, fabricate multiple genders, and deny that there are scientifically and biologically only two genders, male and female.

4. Child Abuse

Young children are given dangerous hormones, puberty blockers, castrated, given mastectomies, and genitalia mutilated by physicians, as an acceptable medical practice even in “Children’s Hospitals.”

5. Parents Parental Rights Threatened

Schools are encouraged to transcend the parent / child relationship and sexualize young children. Parents are called domestic terrorists when they question what their children are being taught about CRT and perverted pornographic sex practices.

6. Compulsory Inoculation

People forced to take potentially dangerous vaccinations to attend schools, remain in the military, or keep their job.

7. Police are vilified and defunded.

8. Drag shows for children are normalized as “artistic expression.”

9. Abortion

Women consider it their “constitutional right” to kill their babies up until birth and sometimes after while calling it “healthcare.”

10. Woke overtakes morality and sensibility.

11. Diversity and equity replace all men and women are created equal.

12. Biological men allowed in women’s sports, showers, and locker rooms.

13. Marriage is no longer between a man and a woman.

14. Gay, transgender, and drag rights outweigh citizen rights.

15. Censorship is acceptable.

**The Real Threat to the Soul of Our Nation**

You may think that I’m leading up to calling Biden and the progressive Democrats the threat to the soul of our country and that’s partially true because they’ve sold their soul to the one who is the real threat: Satan.

You think that’s an overstatement? Joe Biden appointed as White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator a gay doctor who has been pictured touting his tattoos of the official symbol of the Church of Satan: The Pentagram. It seems like Joe Biden could have a Satanist working in the White House. Monkeypox is transmitted by gay men having sex with each other, something you seldom hear mentioned.

More and more I see Conservative commentators not afraid to point out the obvious. Jason Whitlock on Tucker Carlson Tonight said, “The Democrats are so busy calling us names why don’t we call them out on what they REALLY are a Satanic Cult!”

Only Satan could be behind what we’re watching happen in our country today. And Satan is not a respecter of red and blue states. Satan knows no boundaries!

When the Threat is Close to Home!

I and many of my fellow Idahoans were shocked that last weekend in Boise, Idaho, traditionally a Conservative red state, the gay community held a Boise Pride parade and weekend “festival” that originally was advertised to feature a Drag Kids Show on stage for kids 11-18 and a Drag Story Time!

Many local businesses supported and sponsored this event. They too have been deceived by this gay pride movement just like they were with the BLM scam that received thousands from businesses and then BLM exploited the money and did nothing to help the black community.

News of the Boise Gay Pride weekend traveled to California! Pastor Jack Hibbs posted on Facebook an urgent call to attention. Here’s part of it.

“To my dear fellow Watchmen in Idaho, I’m sorry, but for many of you, I’ve not yet had a chance to meet, and sorry again for this topic of urgency. Even down here in Chino Hills, California, we’ve heard about the City of Boise hosting a “Drag Kids” event at its pride celebration this Friday-Sunday. (THIS WEEKEND) We need to urgently gather as many Calvary Chapel pastors who are willing (and we may be joined by a number of LDS Ward/Stake presidents) to visit current Sheriff Matthew Clifford. [I later learned he refused to meet with the pastors]

We need to encourage him (and he is willing but must hear from the public first for him to act) to make an announcement that he is planning to arrest any organizer that contributes to the delinquency of minors and any persons who commit lewd acts in public especially if there are children present.

I need you, dear pastor, and your church to take a firm stand, or Idaho might become California in short order.”

Awaiting His Return!

Pastor Jack Hibbs Calvary Chapel Chino Hills

Many of us got busy and started contacting the sheriff and the sponsoring businesses of this event, and to their credit, I know of five that rescinded support when they heard about the children’s grooming events. I hope there were more. By Thursday, the Gay Pride group had canceled or “postponed” the Kid’s Drag Show.

It was confirming that when we join together peacefully and politely and let our voices be heard to pushback against evil, we can make a difference. Even though the pride group is now fabricating talking points that we’re “the extremist” threatening the children. As Calvary Church Star, Idaho points out, “that is the furthest thing WE AS A CHURCH BODY are guilty of. Don’t be freaked out- Satan-the great deceiver has always been after the next generation. We are FOR these children and our hearts should break for the confusion and hurt they are being taken thru…but being groomed into a life of DRAG is NOT the answer.” Amen

This church hosted a prayer vigil on the steps of the Capitol on Saturday during the pride event.

I also joined the Values Advocacy Council group http://boise.vacmail.org to do my part in saving Idaho! No matter where you live, we all need to heed Pastor Hibb’s warning about Idaho, or your state, turning into California. Many of us moved to Idaho because it was a conservative red state, but we need to work to keep it that way.

An entire month of “Pride” in June wasn’t enough. On 9/11, a day where satanic evil killed 3000 innocent lives and we should all be reverently commemorating the tragedy not celebrating evil, a pride parade took place right here in Boise trying to exploit young children!! It’s as if Satan is laughing at us.

I think Satan knows his time is short and he’s not holding back. He’s testing how much he can get away with and will we try to stop him? And yes, I do believe he’s invaded the core of the Democrats in Washington and Democrat run states who would see nothing wrong with the gay pride event or the 15 items I listed above. In fact, they vote for championing and legalizing this evil.

Even as Biden calls Conservatives and those who believe in biblical moral principles evil and “extreme,” there’s currently a demonized mind set in his administration. They don’t even realize they’ve become Satan’s captives doing his dirty work for him. When you open the door to the demonic, you welcome Satan into your house, including the White House!

Let God arise and may His enemies be scattered.

Let God’s people arise and may their enemies be scattered.

The one whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but the one whose ways are perverse will fall into the pit. Pr. 28:18

What Do We Do as Christians?

Yes, my heart is heavy for the soul of our country, my birth state California, and now my home state Idaho, and family members who don’t know Jesus. Blatant evil is so prevalent today and it weighs heavy on me. I know the Lord won’t lift that burden because He wants me to continue taking action to shed the light of Jesus as far and wide as I can.

It was a joy to partner with other conservative groups and friends on Facebook as we worked together to challenge the local businesses to do the right thing and protect as many children as we could from this horrific exploitation, but there were parents who were going to allow their children to be a part of this evil.

Deception. Spiritual Blindness. Media Propaganda.

We pray and we act where God leads us to help put God back into the soul of America. Without that, we stumble and fall as a nation, but with God at the helm, we will soar to victory.

If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other gods’—gods you have not known before— ³do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. ⁴Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. Deut. 13:2-4 NLT

But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. Heb. 10:39 NLT

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September 11, 2022

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God Is Up to Something Big!

I’m back! For those of you who follow my Monday Morning Blog, I announced at the beginning of March that I would be taking a brief sabbatical while my hubby had his second knee replacement surgery. I know some of you have been praying for us and we’re so grateful for all the prayers and the help we received from family, our church family, and friends.

It’s a difficult surgery, as any of you who’ve experienced it knows; you practically need to learn to walk again with a new prosthetic knee. I’m happy to report that Dave’s doing well, progressing with physical therapy, and diligently doing his exercises and recumbent bike riding at home.

So much has been taking place in the world, it’s been hard for me not to chime in, but I’ve been in a season of caregiving for hubby and praying for our country’s leaders who are being led by the devil and not by the Lord!!

Your Testimony is Your Best Witness

On April 24, I celebrated a milestone moment in my own testimony. I want to share a bit of it with you here to confirm what God can and will do for anyone who truly surrenders his or her life to God.

In the summer of 1992, I rededicated my life to the Lord at a Harvest Crusade led by Pastor Greg Laurie at the then Anaheim Stadium, in Anaheim California. I’d been a Christian since I was eleven but backslid horribly in my thirties and early forties as a single parent for seventeen years. At that life-altering crusade, Pastor Laurie asked, “Are you ready to die tonight?”

I knew I wasn’t and when he gave the invitation for those who wanted to give their life to Christ or rededicate their life I joined hundreds down on the stadium field. I told the Lord, “This prodigal is returning to you completely. I surrender all of my life to you Lord. No turning back!” I had no idea how seriously the Lord would take my words, or what would be ahead of me, but I was ready to follow Jesus with my entire life, heart, and soul.

On December 19,1992, just a few months after the Harvest Crusade, I married my godly husband Dave, who I had just broken up with prior to the Crusade; but I heard the Lord say to me that night, “You asked for a godly man and I gave him to you, now rededicate yourself to him too!”

When we’d only been married a year and I still had a fulltime career, I started attending Fuller Theological Seminary obtaining a Masters of Arts in Christian Leadership, with an emphasis on equipping the laity. Within three years after I rededicated my life to Christ, I left my business career and started the Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry, which is still a vibrant biblically based ministry in many churches today and new churches are continually starting the ministry with the resources I wrote twenty-five years ago!

Five years after the Harvest Crusade, I began a writing ministry and speaking ministry, “About His Work Ministries. I had NEVER written a book before, but God has since used me to write twenty-one books and Bible studies for His glory!

So when I heard that Greg Laurie was bringing Harvest Crusade to Boise, fairly near where we now live in Idaho, that was exciting. The first attempt at the Boise Crusade was in 2020 but it was canceled because of Covid. Now in April 2022 Pastor Greg and Harvest Crusade was coming to Boise!

As I reminisced about my first Harvest Crusade in 1992, I realized that Dave and I would be celebrating our thirtieth anniversary this December so the 2022 Harvest Crusade in Boise would also be my 30-year anniversary of rededicating my life to Jesus. I knew I had to attend. Dave wasn’t up to it yet, but our church was taking a bus since we’re about 1 ½ hours from the Crusade, so I took the bus and met my daughter and son-in-law there.

I wasn’t disappointed. I was encouraged and inspired yet again! When Greg came to the point in the program that touched my heart 30 years ago where he invited people who wanted to make Jesus their Lord and Savior, people were up out of their seats and flooding the auditorium floor. There were so many people coming down the second night, the fire marshal had them stop coming but they stood in the aisles. Here are the glorious responses from that weekend. Praise God revival is happening in Boise and I got to see it firsthand.

God is Springing Up Revival Throughout Our Country!

On the Thursday and Friday nights prior to the Saturday and Sunday Boise Crusade, Flashpoint Live held an event at the Mabee Center in Tulsa Oklahoma. If you’re not familiar with Flashpoint on the Victory channel on Tuesday and Thursday nights, here’s a link to check it out. Dave and I watch this program to get a Christian perspective on today’s news and to give us hope when it feels like our country is hopeless.

But the point I want to make is that Flashpoint experienced the same overflow of attendance of 10,000 people and 1650 responding to make a first-time decision or recommitment for a Christ-centered life. Again, just like in Boise, the stands started emptying as people poured down to the floor, which became so full some had to remain standing in the aisles.

Two seemingly unrelated events and yet so related in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

People are hungry for something to provide peace and purpose in their life as we watch the world crumble all around us. Only Jesus has that power! Only Jesus has the answers! Not the government flailing in the dark as they become more and more the minions of the Devil. Their evil deeds are unveiled daily, but never fear. God sees it all and will react at the perfect time.

Our job is to continue sharing the light of the Gospel by telling whoever will listen what God has done in our own life. You don’t have to be an evangelist like Greg Laurie or Mario Murillo or Franklin Graham. You just need to live boldly and bravely for Christ in all your actions, deeds, and words.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Matt. 9:37

I love this quote from Mario Murillo in his blog To Save Freedom: “You are constantly hearing the religious empty suits telling you to stay out of the political arena. But if we lose freedom, you will rue the day that you ever listened to their fake morality. You are not a “Christian Nationalist.” You are a sincere Christian who opposes evil, no matter what camouflage it wears or how it rebrands itself.”

So when was the last time you shared your testimony, or what God is doing in your life now, with someone who needs encouragement and hope? Maybe you need to remember it for your own encouragement! Let’s join God in taking revival to the nation!

Billy Graham said in his book Till Armageddon, “The will of God will never take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us!”

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Psalm 112:4

You can read more of my story of being a prodigal raising a prodigal in my book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents.

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May 2, 2022

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Take a Labor Day Rest

I’ve always looked at Memorial Day and Labor Day as the bookends of summer. Both are now three day weekend holidays that also commemorate the end of one school year and the beginning of the next—although today’s schools don’t stick as closely to that schedule anymore.

Now that we live in Idaho, the leaves changing colors and the brisk mornings let us know that fall season is on its way.

You probably have memories, or maybe you’re planning this year, Labor Day picnics, family reunions, and barbeques commemorating the official end of summer; but beyond that, few stop to think about why we even have the day off. What is Labor Day anyway?

History of Labor Day

In 1894, Grover Cleveland made Labor Day a federal holiday after a failed attempt to break up a railroad strike. Observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers.

Traditionally, all stores closed on Labor Day so that most workers could celebrate the holiday. Today, most stores are having Labor Day sales and their workforce is hard at work on a day that was supposed to be about resting from work. Many people work on Labor Day without realizing, Hey, I’m a worker who has contributed to my company and I should have a day of rest! Stay closed today.

Work and Rest

A Crosswalk.com article, Labor Day: Your Need for Both Work and Rest by Nick Batzig, caught my attention. It starts out . . .

“As we come to celebrate another Labor Day, it may be beneficial for us to step back for a moment and consider what Scripture has to say about the rhythm of work and rest—i.e. the cyclical configuration by which all the events of our lives occur.”

The article discusses God’s original plan for work and how that all changed when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and why God wants us to have times of rest and refreshment. Batzig listed several changes over the years that have resulted in work being motivated by prestige, self-esteem, peer pressure, fear, anxiety, and lack of purpose outside of work, rather than work simply being a means to provide for our family. The following point resonated with what I see happening in families today:

“Whereas traditional societies said that you got your meaning in life through your family, and through basically fulfilling a fairly prescribed social role—either as a mother or father, or a brother or sister, or husband or wife, or a son or a daughter…You just needed to find a way to make a living because family was what everything was about. But we’re the first culture in history that says, ‘You define yourself by defining what you want to be and by attaining it—and then you have significance.’ There’s never been more psychological and social and emotional pressure on work to be either fulfilling or at least lucrative. There’s never been a culture like that.”

How Can We Find Times to Rest?

I’ll admit that I’m a recovering workaholic. The only way I’m able to balance work and rest is to prioritize what’s most important to me—serving God and my family. My ministry is About His Work Ministries, so I’m fortunate to be able to serve God through my work of writing and speaking.

I also make sure to schedule times of rest with my hubby, and we often plan those times into speaking event travels and trips to see our grandkids. We also serve in ministry together by leading a Couples Bible study. Dave assists me in my ministry and at speaking events he runs the book table.

When I’m spending time with my family—my husband, children, and grandchildren—I set aside “work” and focus on family.

That doesn’t leave much time in my schedule for “extra” activities, and so I’ve had to learn to say no to some good things. Before I say “yes, and find myself with no time to rest and refresh, I’m trying to remember to do two things:

1. Pray and ask God if it’s something He wants me to do.

2. Assess if I have the time and energy to add this activity to my calendar.

If I sense God telling me to go for it, I know I must remove something from my calendar or I’ll become unbalanced trying to get all the work done and rest will suffer.

What do you do to find times of rest and refreshment in a world that values work over rest?

“Come to Me, all of you who work and have heavy loads. I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (NLV)

I wrote a Bible study about finding ways to live a balanced life based on Paul’s ministry and his work and ministry helpers, Priscilla and Aquila.

Face to Face with Priscilla and Aquila: Balancing Life and Ministry

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September 6, 2021

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What Will It Take for God to Heal Our Land?

I seriously did not know what to write about this week with so much going on in our world! I prayed for the Lord to give me clarity of vision. Usually, as I’m praying for His direction, as I’ve explained in the past, I see a pattern evolving in things I hear and read. Three have emerged:

1. The lack of wise leadership in our country.

2. The cry for God to heal our land.

3. The need for God’s people to be in fervent prayer.

In God’s perfect way, all three issues rely on each other so I’ll do my best to tie them together.

The Lack of Wise Leadership in Our Country

Our Couples’ Bible Study Group met last week for a time of fellowship and prayer. My husband Dave took notes of the prayer requests/praises and asked me to review before he sent them out to the group. I noticed that he had forgotten the prayers for Afghanistan so I added this to his prayer list:

Pray for the crisis in Afghanistan and the families of the military men, women, and civilians killed and injured. Also for the lack of wise leadership in our country right now that there would be godly capable men and women who will rise up out of the chaos.

I pondered at the second sentence wondering where that thought came from because it wasn’t actually something we had mentioned during group. Then the next night, Dave and I were listening to the Flashpoint program (which I mentioned in last week‘s blog) and one of the prophetic participants this week said the good that God will bring out of the ashes of this crisis is the raising up of godly leaders at all levels of government including local school boards.

I told Dave that was just what God led me to add to our prayer and praise list! It was one of those confirmations I often tell you that God blesses me with when I’m writing.

I’m already watching, I’m sure you are too, mothers and fathers rising up and speaking out in school board meetings against Critical Race Theory and the mandating of masks for children in schools. My daughter and granddaughter were among thousands of parents who wrapped around the school district building filing forms to allow their children to opt out of mask requirements. One or more of those parents I’m sure will replace the current school board members who couldn’t make a definitive decision.

Our two Idaho Senators shocked our conservative state when they were part of the 19 Republicans who voted for the Democrat socialist infrastructure bill. Soon we’ll have an opportunity for voters to replace them in the 2022 election with Senators who actually represent the Idaho populace.

While the Federal government has failed in efficiently, effectively, and safely removing abandoned Americans, Christians, and Afghan Nationals who helped us, others have stepped into the gap and taken action:

‘Pineapple Express’: US vets volunteer to secretly rescue allies in Afghanistan. Good people doing the right thing.
A privately run civilian airlift organized by the veterans’ coalition Project Dynamo 2 is another group of veterans working tirelessly on evacuations from Afghanistan and several vets are putting costs on their personal credit cards at the moment. Good people doing the right thing.
After Raising Over $28 Million from his listeners to Rescue Afghan Christians, radio host Glenn Beck Shares Incredible Update | CBN News as he works with the Nazarene Fund to airlift Christians out of harms’ way. God’s people doing the right thing.

Samaritan’s Purse joined by Tim Tebow is helping with the evacuations and then bringing supplies, food, and necessities to the refugees who weren’t even allowed to bring a suitcase. God’s people doing the right thing.

I know there are probably other humanitarian efforts and many with contacts in Afghanistan are working around the clock to save lives.

We need to celebrate the good while we grieve the bad!

To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory. Is. 61:3 NLT

The Cry for God to Heal Our Land!

Every night at dinner my husband prays, “Lord, please heal our land.”

The Biden Administration’s failed military departure from Afghanistan is a reflection of the failed culture we’re living in right now.

For months, wise men with the voice of experience from serving heroically in our military have been calling out the current woke focus of diversity, equity, racism, CRT, and progressive socialist liberalism in our military leadership, government, and intelligence services rather than focusing on their sole purpose of defending our country against outside/inside threats.

Now we’re watching weakness and incompetence play out on the national stage resulting in the death of innocent people and America losing its credibility and position as a strong world power and leader.

Additionally, Marxists godless Antifa and BLM are celebrated by the media and current administration, rather than condemned for their violence and threat to innocent law-abiding citizens. Police are thwarted in their efforts to maintain law and order. Leftist Governors have turned into dictators in their states. Sexual deviation is exploited and encouraged while Christians and conservatives are called domestic terrorists.

Employees, including hospital/medical staff, are being fired if they don’t succumb to vaccine mandates and forfeit their health rights creating a staffing shortage during an expected rise in Covid variants and flu season.

I could go on, but as I write this it reminds me of the Israelites who repeatedly chose to go against everything God said would lead to a healthy prosperous life by following His commandments!

I don’t know what it will take for God to heal our land or what it will even look like or how long it will take. But as we look at the destruction to our nation in the last seven months by an ungodly administration, I have to think that God is letting us decline for as long as it takes for enough people with strong will and determination to turn our country back to Him.

Maybe we have to hurt deeply before we can be healed divinely!

When the wicked are in authority, sin flourishes, but the godly will live to see their downfall. Pr. 29:16 NLT

The Urgent Need for God’s People to be in Fervent Prayer

I saw a succinct Facebook post, “Who we can’t vote out, we can pray out!”

Do you believe that? I do and we could add to that sentence anything we’re frustrated with right now that is going against God’s will. The fervent prayers of God’s people are powerful and answered in God’s timing and in His way.

I know many of you, like us, prayed for a different outcome to the last election but maybe the corruption, deceit, ineptness, complete and utter failure of the current administration needed to be revealed for both parties to come together and realize evil is amongst them and needs to be flushed out. Perhaps it wouldn’t happen any other way.

This is not the time for Christians to lose heart or give up. Just the opposite! We all need a reset and recharge of our own prayer life and dependence on God not the government!

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chr. 7:14

America, Land of the Free Because of the Brave!

I receive updates from MyFaithVotes and on August 26, I received an online free prayer guide for Praying for Afghanistan, which you can access also. The email said, “I want to urge you to pray for the situation in Afghanistan. Pray for the protection of everyone on the ground, that the Gospel would spread, and that leaders would make wise decisions.” Again, the same message the Lord had given to me for the need of wise leaders.

MyFaithVotes is also calling for a prayer vigil on Wednesday, Sept. 1 with this admonition “The Body of Christ needs to wage spiritual war against the plans of the enemy seeking only to kill and destroy.”

With all our nation’s faults, the 13 military men and women who died in Kabul on August 26, as well as every soldier and officer in our military, feel America is worth dying for—you and I are worth dying for. That’s breathtaking!

As Christians, we know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for us but how often do we consider that fellow Americans are willing to do the same.

Jesus died to save souls; US soldiers died to save lives.

Jesus taught us: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Those thirteen brave men and women didn’t know you and me personally, or even the Afghans they were trying to save, but they had a job to do and that’s all that mattered to them.

Americans owe our fallen heroes, their families, and those wounded a debt we can never personally repay. But while we cannot pay it back, we can pay it forward.

Dr. Jim Dennison wrote in an article on MyFaithVotes, “US soldiers killed in Kabul airport attack: How to make this a nation worth dying for” . . .

In a culture that is more antagonistic to biblical truth and morality than ever before in our history, making America a nation worth dying for will require steadfast courage on our part. However, when we remember our Savior’s sacrifice for us, we are empowered and encouraged to emulate his sacrifice in serving those we influence.

Closing

One of the spokesmen for the Nazarene Fund group rescuing Christians and missionaries from Afghanistan made the comment that some of them were choosing to stay and minister to the Taliban! Your first thought might be like mine, that’s a suicide mission. It probably will be. But they understood that the Gospel needs to be shared with the lost, even though they might be our enemies, just like the Apostle Paul was the enemy when he was slaying Christians before his road to Damascus encounter with God.

The most important service we can give back to God is to share the Gospel wherever the Lord plants us. So I want to share with you three prayer points on the MyFaithVotes prayer guide under the heading “PRAY that the Gospel would spread throughout the land!” Ask God how He wants you to not only pray, but apply these prayers in your life.

1. Pray for the thousands of people left without hope and living in fear. Pray that the Gospel, which is good news and hope to the weary, would spread throughout the land.

2. Pray for fellow believers to stand up in spite of the opposition and speak the Gospel with the boldness of those like Peter, Stephen, and Paul.

3. Pray that the ears of the people would be opened and many would come to know Christ.

Finally, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. ²Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer. ³But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 2 Thess. 3:1-3 NLT

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August 30, 2021

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What Do We Do When “Equality” Isn’t Equal?!

As a kid, I remember hearing the term “tomboy.” Did you? I haven’t heard that term used in many years. It was fondly given to girls who liked playing with boys and their toys more than dolls and playing house. Tomboys usually preferred participating in sports over playing jacks. They liked wearing jeans, never dresses. Maybe you were a tomboy.

It was a phase of adolescence that most girls outgrew, although many might grow up to still not like “girly things” and fight for the right to have girls’ sports taken seriously. They wanted stereotypes to change so that girls could enter the police force and military, but I doubt that few considered physically becoming a boy instead of a girl.

In today’s culture, that young “tomboy” might be told in school how she could change physically to become a boy. To permanently change her body and medically alter her natural hormones to resemble a man forever!

Or a young boy could choose his gender and be physically altered to a girl. Whether or not parents approve, liberal school curriculum begins discussing “sexual identity,” “sexual orientation,” and gender change in Kindergarten.

A child who is not capable of making independent decisions in any other area of their life, who needs parental permission to go on a field trip, could make a forever life-changing decision as early as a young child!

The proposed Equality Act could make it illegal for parents to seek counseling for their child, which the bill refers to as discriminatory “conversion therapy” and seeks to eliminate.

That’s just one of the unequal, unfair absurdities of the so called “Equality Act” that just passed Congress and is headed to the Senate. They need to get 60 votes in the Senate for it to pass and as you know right now the Senate is divided 50/50. So we need all the Republican Senators, and hopefully some Democrat Senators with a conscience, to stick together and vote against it. The Democrats tried this bill before and the Senate voted it down, but with the majority in both houses, they’re trying it again.

In case, you are interrupted from reading further in this blog, where I will outline more evil proponents of this Democrat backed bill and why it is inequality not equality, I want to prevail on you to take action right now.

1. Pray for the bill not to pass the Senate but also pray for your Senator! Dave and I recently listened to a telephone town hall with our Idaho Republican Congressman and when one of the callers asked how we could help him, the Congressman was startled and humbled because he hadn’t ever been asked that question.

He actually asked for prayer! He admitted it’s tough in DC and there is practically no civility anymore across the aisle. Everything is partisan and with the Democrats having a majority in both houses and the White House, it’s not an easy job. But he was still hopeful and felt it was an honor to represent us, even in such a hostile environment.

2. Contact your Senator NOW! They need to hear from us and know what we want and expect them to do, especially if your Senator is a Democrat. Call 202-224-3121 or go to this link and you can find the phone number of your Senator and also send him/her an email.
Another easy option is at MyFaithVotes where they have an email already written for you to send right from their website to your Senator along with further discussion of the “Equality Act” ramifications. They need to know we’re counting on them to do the right thing and we’re praying for them.

3. Read this prayer alert from Franklin Graham “We Cannot Remain Silent!” and share it. He outlines so well some of the many dyer consequences of this bill. Then share it with everyone you know. In the last twenty-four hours, I’ve had several friends send it to me, even as I’m writing about it here.

The “Equality Act” Denies the Bible

It’s not hard to see that the trajectory of this bill is to outlaw churches, religious organizations, and the Bible . . . to criminalize and cancel God. Man is trying to establish “truth” and replace God’s Truth as confirmed in our Bibles. To deny the Judeo/Christian values our country was founded on that sets us apart from any other country in the world.

I cannot imagine how anyone who believes in God could support or vote for this bill. The next step could be to declare the Bible as “hate speech” and Amazon would cancel selling the Bible just as it has begun to do with books that talk about gender issues.

The bill’s legal goal is to deny the exclusivity of scientific biological sex at birth and introduce interchangeable terms like “gender identity” or “sexual orientation.” Here are just a few of the Scriptures that could then be considered offensive:
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen. 1:27

He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.” Gen. 5:2

“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’” ⁵And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ ⁶Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” Matt. 19:4-6 NLT

Under the Equality Act, Christian businesses like bakeries, florists, photographers, and venues couldn’t decline servicing weddings that go against their faith. They could be sued for discrimination if they refuse.

Churches and other religious ministries would not be exempt from hiring people who don’t share their faith and beliefs.

How long do you think it will be before the church cannot proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God?

Not to mention the inability to declare sin as outlined in Romans 1, where God talks about His wrath and anger against sinful humanity. Specifically in verses 24-28. When people wouldn’t listen to Him, God washed His hands and abandoned them to their evil ways. Isn’t that what we’re watching now in our country?

²⁴So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. ²⁵They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. ²⁶That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. ²⁷And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. ²⁸Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Rom. 1:24-28

The Equality Act Denies Women’s Rights

Did you ever think you would be living in a universe where male and female genders would come under attack? Children would be able to pick their gender and deny the body God gave them?

Men who “identify” as women allowed to compete in women’s sports with their male physic that gives them a physical advantage over women? Title IX was established to create a balance in male and females sports and athletics. It would be abolished by the Equality Act as biological men are allowed to participate as women and compete against real women.

As one female school athlete put it, “Inclusion” for everyone means “exclusion” for women in sports.

Gender “identity” doesn’t erase physiological realities and differences. That’s common sense and a biological scientific fact. But the progressives tell women that they’re not important in this discussion. They’re telling biological men who “identify as a woman,” it’s okay to invade women’s sports where they know they’ll win and push out opportunities for women to attain scholarships, grants, and advancement. We’ve all seen the pictures of them overpowering women in track, basketball, soccer, and wrestling in states that are already allowing this travesty.

How many fathers, grandfathers, legislators with daughters and granddaughters want them competing with men and having men in their locker rooms and bathrooms? Does President Biden or Pelosi want this for their own granddaughters?

Are We Sheep Or Fighters for Freedom?

Adults are free to believe what they want, choose their lifestyles, and do to their bodies what they choose, but to legally impose the acceptance of the contents of H.R.5 on Americans who find it offensive or morally wrong is beyond comprehension. To deny pastors and counselors the freedom to talk with those who have what is now called gender dysphoria is ludicrous. To force physicians, hospitals, and medical professionals to go against their conscience and perform mutilating surgeries or administer gender transition treatments they know will harm children, and adults, for life is inhumane.

I’ve only addressed several of the horrific ramifications of this bill, but I encourage you to read it for yourself. If passed, no one is exempt from adhering to it. Christian businesses, schools, churches may choose to close their doors rather than comply! It’s that serious.

We need to get out of our Sunday-go-to-church bubble and become an active voice in what is happening to our culture, our families, our children, our grandchildren. We need to live out our faith with compassion and love for those who are lost and confused while we stand firm in our biblical and moral beliefs.

The Equality Act is not a shield to protect a group but a sword of inequality to use against those who don’t agree with the progressive movement.

Listening to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem at CPAC, I picked up a few nuggets from her excellent speech: “The left takes its vision to change America seriously. They want to lead, which means they expect us to be the sheep and follow. We will NOT be the sheep.”

“If we’re going to be the land of the free, we have to be the home of the brave!” Ben Carson

“An act of Congress can change the law, but not even an act of Congress can change Scripture.” Mike Huckabee

This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them to be like himself. He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.” Gen. 5:1-2 NLT

If you received this article by email, please leave a comment here.

*The opening picture is a poster outside Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s congressional office.

March 1, 2021

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Why Watching Church Online is NOT a Substitute for Attending in Person

“15 Days to Slow the Spread” seemed doable when the Coronavirus Task Force first asked everyone to shelter-at-home. Churches complied by shutting their doors to protect their parishioners. Those who already had online services expanded access and those like ours who didn’t already video messages started videoing.

Then 15 days morphed into 30 days, which segued into 45 days and churches are still told today that they’re not essential and mandated to stay closed or open with tyrannical restrictions.

A number of pastors across the United States are rightfully questioning this discrimination against the church when liquor stores and casinos are considered essential. So they’ve begun finding creative ways for their churches to meet, even under penalty of fines and threats of imprisonment. Hard to imagine that would happen in America!

Other churches remain closed today. One mega church announced they plan on staying closed until 2021?!

The purpose of this blog is not to discuss why churches need to open NOW because I’ve covered that extensively in previous blogs. I’ll list a couple at the end of this article.

But I do want to talk about why it’s important for believers to not become accustomed to sitting at home in their recliners in pj’s with a cup of coffee watching a sermon online and calling it church.

Why We Go To Church

One winter Sunday morning, hubby was sick! If our steep driveway wasn’t covered in ice, that wouldn’t be a big deal. I’d hop in the car and head off to church by myself. But I hadn’t driven our new car in snow and ice and didn’t want my first off-roading attempt to be without him.

I could stay home and watch church online or on television. I’d done that for more Sundays than I’d care to remember when a concussion, kidney surgery, three eye surgeries, and a broken wrist had kept me home. I was desperate to go to church.

Whew, friends with a jeep rescued me that Sunday.

Why was it so important to go to church? While homebound, I’d watched a number of excellent church services online and on TV . . . but it’s not the same as worshipping together with my church family.

When our Governor in Idaho announced that churches could open in COVID Phase One of reopening Idaho, our church literally opened the doors May 1 with all the recommended precautions.

As I walked through the church doors that first Sunday, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. I immediately realized what had been missing watching services at home.

People were missing. My brothers and sisters in Christ were missing.

Singing, worshipping, and praying together were missing.

Seeing each other’s smiles and yes, sometimes, tears were missing.

Church is not just the sermon. Church is the gathering together of God’s people!

Yes, believers have our personal relationship with Jesus which we experience wherever we are, but we don’t experience the Christian life alone. That’s why God said it’s not good to be alone and there are so many Scriptures reminding us to encourage and support each other.

Online church absolutely is a tremendous benefit for people who can’t attend church because of physical or transportation issues, out of town, working, or need to stay home with a sick child or family member. It’s a wonderful tool in an emergency like Covid was in the beginning or for anyone who is high-risk.

Online church also is an outreach opportunity for those who are hesitant to walk into a church.

But for those with no restrictive issues, here are five reasons I feel God wants us to worship together in His house and follow the example of the first church.

“On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place” (Acts 2:1).

5 Reasons to Meet in Church Together

1. Fellowship and Relationships

^“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals . . . with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42, 46-47)

The early church, a template for today’s church, understood that the meeting together of believers creates community. We need each other to uplift our spirit when we’re sad and rejoice together when we’re glad.

You can find good teaching and truth online, but you need to be in church to experience the fellowship of fellow believers and develop relationships within the church body.

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” (1 Thess. 5:11)

2. Celebrating Communion, Worshipping, and Praying Together

“All the believers devoted themselves to . . . sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. They worshiped together at the Temple each day . . . all the while praising God . . . . (Acts 2:42, 46-47)

You share communion, the Lord’s Supper, together in church. Our church also has a time of Prayer, Praise, and Share every Sunday where the congregation can ask for prayer and share praises.

Many churches list in the bulletin or announce those in need of prayer so the church can pray for each other and celebrate praises together. “But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him” (Acts 12:15).

God instructed the congregation to sing in church because it is a unifying expression of worship. What a joy to worship and sing praise songs to the Lord in unison.

“Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts” (Col. 3:16).

“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:1-4)

3. We Are the Family of God

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. (Acts 2:44-45)

Watching church is like being an observer instead of a participant.

We need each other. We are one body, the Bride of Christ.

The church needs us to serve. Church isn’t taking in selfishly; it’s giving out selflessly. We don’t attend church solely for our own benefit. We’re also there to serve the body of Christ, our spiritual family. Christ wants us to care more about others than our own convenience or inconvenience.

We are to use the spiritual gifts and talents the Lord has given us to benefit the church. (1 Cor. 12:12-22).

“Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body” (Col. 1:18).

“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Cor. 12:27).

4. Accountability and Mentoring

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.” Colossians 3:16

There’s always going to be a time when we can’t make it to church, but it should be the exception, not the rule. The tendency today is to isolate ourselves in front of electronics where we interact with a screen instead of each other. A clicker or mouse replaces friendly face-to-face interaction.

I’ve heard testimonies of people saved by watching a preacher on television or online, which is wonderful. But one of the surest ways to stay true to your faith as a believer is joining a church to spiritually grow and mature with other believers who encourage us and keep us accountable.

Church is more than listening to a sermon; it’s an experience and an exchange with other believers. It’s where you help others grow, partake in ministries, serve, give of your talents and spiritual gifts, mentor, and receive mentoring.

^“2Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.
³Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers.^[a] Instead, they should teach others what is good. ⁴These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, ⁵to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes,^[b] to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.” (Titus 2:2-5)

5. Setting the Example for Children

Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. Psalm 145:4

It takes more effort to get dressed and drive to church than to flip on the computer or television screen. Your children and grandchildren are learning by your actions what takes priority in your life: God’s house or your house?

Teach by example that church is a privilege we should never take for granted and we should never let it be taken away from us. If we can go to Costco, shopping, Walmart, Home Depot, and even “peacefully protest” in the streets, we can go to church!

So yes, you can watch a service online anonymously and probably get something out of it, but what are you putting first in your life that seeks out convenience instead of commitment?

If your church hasn’t opened back up for services after COVID closure, I encourage you to remind your pastor that church is an essential part of every believer’s life and worth fighting for your 1^st Amendment right to meet.

It wasn’t easy for the early church either and often the disciples and apostles were thrown into jail for gathering people together to share the Gospel, but we’re reminded of what Peter said when he met opposition from the authorities.

²⁴When the captain of the Temple guard and the leading priests heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end. ²⁵Then someone arrived with startling news: “The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple, teaching the people!”

²⁶The captain went with his Temple guards and arrested the apostles, but without violence, for they were afraid the people would stone them. ²⁷Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. ²⁸“We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name!” he said. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”

²⁹But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. Acts 5:24-29 (I would encourage you to read the entire passage Acts 5:12-41)

Sadly, many governing officials act from an ungodly worldview. If the government contradicts God, we answer to God alone.

As a child, I remember in Sunday school intertwining our fingers on the outside of our hands, putting our forefingers together, and opening our hands, saying the jingle: Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door, and where’s all the people? But intertwining fingers inside our hand and opening: Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door and there’s all the people!

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25

*All Scriptures are from the New Living Translation, with emphasis added.

Note: A true story of what can happen when the church stays silent! From the Facebook of Worship Leader Sean Feucht

Pastor Joseph Bondarenko (the KGB’s most wanted) was jailed for 10 years, tortured & told every day his entire family would die because of their faith. He refused to deny Jesus. Many of his friends were martyred but God spared his life. His story of boldness has now circled the globe.

For the American Church he warns:

“Don’t they realize what is happening now in America is exactly what happened to us in communist Russia?? It started with ‘Don’t gather. Don’t sing. Spread apart. Listen to the government.’ Then it quickly turned into full on persecution and the church did not wake up in time.
I am here to beg you to call the church to WAKE UP, STAND FIRM, CONQUER!”

The Rant, a Rave, and a Primal Scream

How is Home Depot More “Essential” than God’s Home?!

If God is Pulling Back the Veil on Evil, How Should the Church Respond?

August 24, 2020

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How Is Home Depot More “Essential” Than God’s Home?!

Across the top of the Liberty Bell is the inscription, “PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF LEV. XXV X.” [Leviticus 25:10.]

When I walked into our church May 3, I felt a rush of the Holy Spirit. I hadn’t expected it. I didn’t realize how much I had missed the meeting together of my church family.

Like many of you, my husband and I had watched church online for six weeks. Not just our own pastor, but two or three others each Sunday. We couldn’t get our fill, but what we were seeking couldn’t come off the TV or computer screen. We longed to greet fellow attenders, find out how they were doing, hear their prayer requests, look into caring eyes, hear the smiling greetings, and feel the love of our church family.

At first, it was nice, even convenient, having couch church in our PJ’s and streaming the services when we chose. We were able to virtually visit our past home churches and experience others we’d always wanted to visit. We even sang along during worship. But when we turned off the TV and computer, there was an uneasy emptiness.

I compare it to looking at pictures and videos of your family, but not seeing or conversing with them face-to-face. How long could we go without our heart aching to be with them?

Most of us are fortunate to have video chatting, ZOOM, or SKYPE to keep in touch with friends and family, and at least see their faces and hear their voices. We’ve had to rely on these capabilities during this pandemic, but they could never replace being in the presence of our family.

And so it was with me missing the fellowship and camaraderie of our church family.

My friend Carol put it like this, “I miss the face-to-face fellowship with believers. We are seeing them on Zoom and getting teaching. But there’s nothing like hugging your friends.”

My husband and I are fortunate to live in a state and county where Phase 1 of reopening Idaho included churches! Sadly, around the USA there are state and local governments putting undue restrictions on churches to prohibit them from safely reopening.

That should scare us!

We should be alarmed at how fast government took away our religious freedoms and, in many cases, how far their overreach in denying or penalizing pastors and church attenders.

Did you ever think we would live in a country where people are fined, even imprisoned, for going to church?! That only happens in other countries not America. Not any longer. Religious persecution has crossed borders and oceans as some American governors and mayors enforce the same totalitarian measures we see in Communist countries.

How fast it happened and how fast we’ve let it happen.

The argument and talking points many liberals, atheists, partisans, and sadly some Christians have used: “Churches are nonessential. They don’t provide life-saving food or necessities.”

We rolled over with little to no outcry and let them decree that Costco, Home Depot, Liquor and Marijuana stores are essential, but churches are not essential. Even on Easter Sunday!

Don’t get me wrong, I love Costco, that’s not the point.

Costco is not our only source of food! While shopping at any big store, you’re shoulder-to-shoulder mingling with hundreds of strangers, albeit wearing a mask! But that’s OK we’re told. It’s worth it to risk your life there to fight over the last roll of toilet paper.

But churches that feed our spiritual souls and employ strict social distancing measures, where we know the people we’re around, are deemed nonessential. Not worth the risk.

Who made that determination? That discrimination?

Who is willing to stand before God and tell Him that His home is not essential but Home Depot or Costco is essential?

Why didn’t more pastors push back in the very beginning of these shutdowns?

Why didn’t they stand up for religious freedoms?

Why did they allow their church to be relegated to “nonessential” in a world that essentially needs Jesus more than ever now?

We quote the Scriptures that man cannot live by bread alone and Jesus is the bread of life, but do we believe it? Do we live it?

I know many will argue that more people were able to experience church online than ever before and thousands made a commitment to Christ. And Christ is in our hearts, not in a building. Absolutely agree, but there’s a reason the Scriptures warn us for exactly the times we’re in right now . . .

²⁴Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

Many have said, and I agree, that we are feeling the birth pangs proceeding the last days, however far off. People are scared and lonely and believers need to be together with our church families to encourage, support, and love on each other just as those verses in Hebrews 10:24-25 say. They are in the Bible for such a time as this!

God knew this pandemic was going to happen.

Yes, it’s hard to make changes in the way we do church to accommodate safety, but that’s no reason not to do it.

I have to laugh when I hear someone worried about getting sick at church, but they think nothing of piling their carts full in Walmart, Home Depot, and Costco with people they don’t know and could never trace a “community spread.”

Yes, we need food. But let’s put this all in perspective. Don’t swallow lies. Don’t let government extend overreaching unwarranted, sometimes illegal, control and power.

The Virus Came From China But Let’s Not Become Like China!

When the coronavirus first started in China, we saw family members being pulled out of their homes. Soon Americans were being pulled off buses and subways and out of stores for not wearing a mask.

When I first saw pictures of everyone wearing a mask in China, I thought that could never happen here. Now you can’t get into many places, including Costco, without a mask and some states will fine or arrest you! Making and selling masks has become a lucrative business.

When we heard of families being locked into their homes in China, we were aghast. Now we refer to our stay-at-home or shelter in place as lockdown.

I could go on…in some states, beaches and parks are closed. Drones fly over neighborhoods to see if too many people are in their own backyard. Anyone remember the phrase, “Big brother is watching you.” You can’t plant a garden, mow your lawn, or fish from your boat in other states. Pulled over if you’re not wearing a mask alone in your own car. Encouraged to “snitch” on your neighbor. Required to sign in with address and telephone number to attend church so “they” can track you.

Does this sound like America to you? Home of the free?

I’m glad to see brave people using their legal right to protest the loss of our freedoms and rights. We need to resist tyranny or the freedom we hold so dear will be lost forever.

Whatever weapon used against us, we can use our weapon of faith. Remember our battle isn’t against human flesh.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Eph. 10:10-12

⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor. 10:4-5

I’ve said for so long that Christians need to stand up and speak out for our religious and civil rights. We need to repent of our silence and let the world know that not only is the church essential, a relationship with Christ is the only thing that will save you from eternal death. Could anything be more essential?!

Many evil forces have been waiting to shut down the church. They see their opportunity now to use this virus to create new rules and regulations for how we can operate . . . forever. Don’t let it happen.

In Everyday Brave: Living Courageously As A Woman of Faith, I point out that fear is paralyzing. That’s why the liberal media is trying to immobilize us with fear tactics so that we will acquis and do whatever we’re told without questioning.

Don’t Put Your Trust in the Media

On March 2, before the virus really took hold in America, I wrote a blog: Headlines Are Designed to Generate Fear: God says “Fear Not!”

We need to do our homework. Do not believe what you hear from the media. Their goal is to keep you afraid and misinformed. Yes, this is a contagious virus and not one to take lightly, but we know those who are most susceptible to it and we need to protect them. If you’re over sixty, have underlying health issues, or not feeling well, take precautions and stay home for a few more weeks.

But the rest of you, help your church open soon and when it does, go to church. Never let the world believe that God’s church is not essential. Don’t make the church go underground. This is America land of the free, home of the brave. In God we trust.

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. Ephesians 6:13-18 MSG

PS As I’m writing and posting this blog, I just read an article about pastors in California who are taking action to open their churches on Pentecost May 31. They are expressing and confirming what I wrote in this blog.
“Our churches are part of the answer, not part of the problem,” said Danny Carroll, senior pastor at Water of Life Community Church. “We’re an essential part of this whole journey and we’ve been bypassed … kicked to the curb and deemed nonessential.”
I’m proud of these pastors and praying for their success and a blessing on their congregations.

I also just received a text offering free guidelines for making your church covid-safe. I’m not endorsing these, but again, could the timing of this text be just a coincidence when this blog hasn’t even posted yet? I don’t think so, do you?!

May 11, 2020

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When We Get What We Pray For, Why Are We Sad Sometimes?

I’m back at my desk after six weeks in Southern California. If you’ve been following my blogs, newsletter articles, or Facebook posts, you may know that my husband Dave and I went to California to sell my writing cabin which we still owned. We’ve lived in Idaho for over eight years and it was getting harder to find the time to make an annual trip down to the cabin. Selling the cabin has always been a part of our retirement plan, so we felt God was telling us that now was the time to let it go.

As we prepared the cabin to put on the market, we prayed that it would sell while we were there before winter. Our Christian realtor prayed that the spirit of the Lord that had prevailed in this sweet little cabin for fifteen years, while I wrote numerous books from my desk in the living room with an amazing view, would continue with the new owners.

In a recent blog, What Are You Holding Onto That God Wants You to Let Go?, I talked about how the Lord led me in making the tough decisions of what to do with all our “stuff” as we cleaned, decluttered, staged, and decided what would fit in our car for the drive back to Idaho.

Then almost miraculously our prayers were answered. The cabin sold the last week we were there at our asking price to a Christian mother/daughter realtor team.

So why was I so sad?

[Tweet “How Can We Possibly be Brave During Grief?”]

When a friend suggested that I was grieving, it all made sense and it reminded me of the blog I wrote How Can We Possibly be Brave During Grief?

Maybe you’re grieving today, or you know someone who is, and this blog with excerpts from Everyday Brave will help. Each day gets a little bit easier for me, but I still tear up when I realize I’ll never write another article or book in that sweet cabin where I communed with God and described our time together: “It’s like I have a direct line to God!”

I know I can have that anywhere because He is everywhere, but it’s just not the same.

_____________________________

How Can We Possibly be Brave During Grief?

“Mom, they sentenced me to ten years in prison.”

In Everyday Brave, Loretta Eidson tells the story of how a phone call from her son plunged her down the deep dark hole of depression. Loretta grieved for a prodigal: the death of the vision and dreams she had for a son who took a wrong turn in life. She aptly describes both the emotional pit of grief and the only way to dig out of it: bravely calling on God and others for help.

[Tweet “Grief is an emotional pit and the only way to dig out of it: bravely call on God and others for help.”]

Most of us have a plan for our life—we may feel certain we’re headed in the right direction. We had it all figured out. Everything’s under control. Then suddenly one day, we find ourselves living out a completely different scenario. Sometimes it’s better than we expected; but if not, we grieve. We grieve the loss of a job, a relationship, loved ones, animals, possessions, dreams, from past choices—the list goes on. Loss leaves a void in our heart. It hurts and we’re miserable.

I understand. I’ve experienced grief too. When I was ten, my thirty-six-year-old highway patrolman father was murdered with his own gun in the line of duty. At thirteen, I had to wear a body cast for aggressive debilitating scoliosis and miss two years of school. I’ve experienced a failed marriage. I’m a three-time breast cancer survivor. My daughter was a teenage prodigal. A difficult relationship with my mother, who disowned my sister and me. Moving away from family and friends. Medical issues. Relatives and close friends dying. Yet still, I can say, “Praise God!” He was with me through it all and I know he will always be there for me in the future.

[Tweet “God uses difficult circumstances in my life to give me a sensitivity and compassion for grieving and hurting women so I can better minister to them”]

God uses difficult circumstances in my life to give me a sensitivity and compassion for grieving and hurting women so I can better minister to them. And He will do the same for you. Someday He will use your heartache to help someone else going through a similar loss.

Death seems final—and sadly, it is if the one we’ve lost is not a believer. We mourn the opportunities when we wish we’d been braver to share Jesus with them. Even if we know the person is a believer and we will see him or her in heaven someday, it takes courage only God can provide to get out of bed each morning and face the loss and loneliness.

[Tweet “There is no easy or quick way to grieve, no timetable for how long grief will last. Grieving is a process.”]

There is no easy or quick way to grieve, no timetable for how long grief will last.

Grieving is a process.

Raw wounds may never completely heal, but when we seek God’s help, we can bravely face our tomorrows. One day at a time.

[Tweet “Dealing with grief bravely doesn’t mean keeping a stiff upper lip and hiding or denying your pain.”]

Dealing with grief bravely doesn’t mean keeping a stiff upper lip and hiding or denying your pain. It does mean being honest with others and yourself, and having the courage to admit you’re hurting and might need outside assistance, which can take many forms: counseling, medical, pastoral, family, friends . . . time.

As hard as we might try to prevent hardships and grief, we never know what tomorrow, or even the next hour, will bring. Many difficult trials happen to us or to our loved ones whether we’re ready or not. That can seem unnerving, but then God’s Word reminds us that as believers He has a plan for all of our lives, even when it seems obscure at the moment and we cry “Why Lord, why?” through our tears.

Grieving is a lonely time.

There’s little anyone can say to console us; no one can relieve or remove our pain. The Bible tells us that Jesus understands. He was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isa. 53:3 nlt). We can pour out all our pain, even pain that touches our deepest soul, to Jesus. Only he has the salve that can eventually heal our wounds, though there will always be a scar that fades with time but never disappears completely.

In the Bible, Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, and Rizpah, Saul’s concubine who watched both her sons murdered and their bodies left for the vultures, suffered a mother’s anguish of outliving their children. Can you imagine their heartache and pain? Their suffering and devastation?

Maybe you’ve experienced that kind of grief and you know exactly how they felt. I’m so sorry. Still, no matter the twists and turns, the tragedies, the heartaches and pain, we sense God’s loving presence helping us brave through the unwanted circumstances, just as Naomi bravely mentored new believer Ruth and Rizpah courageously advocated for her sons’ eventual burial. They found purpose in their pain.

[Tweet “I’ve always found journaling my feelings, prayer requests, and praises helps me work through difficult seasons.”]

I’ve always found journaling my feelings, prayer requests, and praises helps me work through difficult seasons. That’s why there’s a Prayer and Praise Journal in Everyday Brave. Sometimes a journal can be a trusted confidant that just listens and doesn’t give advice. Always, it’s God assuring us that one day He will turn our mourning into dancing. Until then, the psalmist reminds us: “My eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, Lord, every day; I spread out my hands to you” (Ps. 88:9—emphasis added).

Grief is difficult to talk about, but it usually helps to talk. What has helped you during times of grief?

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

If you don’t have your copy of Everyday Brave, it’s available on Amazon or signed by me at my website. It would make a great Christmas gift for every woman on your list who might need to realize she’s braver than she knows! Let’s get our brave on for Christ this Christmas and everyday!

November 18, 2019

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Use The Solar Path of Totality to Share the Path of Eternity

We live in a tiny mountain town in the “Path of Totality” for what many are calling “the great American eclipse” August 21. I even saw T-shirts with the moon eclipsing the sun and Charlie Brown and Linus sitting on the roof of the doghouse with large letters “Idaho Path of Totality.” Actually, the whole state of Idaho isn’t going to experience the total eclipse, not even partially, but hey, that’s marketing.

But we are going to experience it, and we’re so small that our city doesn’t appear on the map showing the coast-to-coast path of totality, but somehow people have learned it falls directly over us. And they’re coming! By the thousands to a town that’s barely 2000 residents, with one stop sign (not stop light) two lane and dirt roads, one gas station, a couple of small restaurants, the two small motels and B&B sold out for a year . . . you get the picture. There will be far more of them than there are of us.

People coming are willing to pay crazy prices to arrive, rent a room or cabin here or in surrounding cities, or at a nearby ski resort, even reserving seats on the ski lift during the eclipse. That’s the last place I would want to be! This is going on all along the “Path of Totality,” for an event that is only going to last two minutes!

I was reading an article by Zoe Schlanger, Witnessing an eclipse is so overwhelming it has created a global community of “addicts”. Schlanger interviewed “eclipse chasers” who admit it is addictive and a lifestyle of a “close-knit community of like-minded souls” who spend thousands of dollars and plan eclipse-watching trips. They describe the awe of what they call a life-changing experience.

Looking at the Eclipse Through God-Focused Eyes

I recently heard jokes that liberals were complaining the total eclipse was mainly passing over conservative states that voted for President Trump. As I looked closer at the map, with a few exceptions, like Oregon, that’s true. However, locals say the spot in Oregon used to be quite conservative.

[Tweet “Many descending on Midwest conservative cities will have the opportunity to see how the majority of Americans actually live. “]

That means many descending on our Midwest conservative cities will have the opportunity to see how the majority of Americans actually live. They’ll come and spend money, which will boost the economy of every city in the eclipse path, but we’ll also have a chance to shower them with hospitality, kindness, friendliness, and share Jesus with any who might not know Him as their life-changing Savior.

[Tweet “Regardless of whether or not you’ll see the eclipse, everyone should admit only God creates a total eclipse of the sun!”]

Regardless of what state you’re in, and whether or not you’ll see the eclipse, everyone should admit only God creates a total eclipse of the sun! He created the moon, the sun, the stars . . . the entire universe . . . and as hard as some will try to explain Him away, we can’t let that happen. Instead of participating in the hype of this great phenomena, we need to remind everyone that this is God’s doing.

[Tweet “We need to remind everyone that the eclipse is God’s doing. “]

Since the beginning of time, God ordained when and where all eclipses would happen. Scientists can study it, but they can’t change its course or change the effects. Only God.

Atheists can try to deny God and claim evolution, but they can’t explain who created their own body and breathed life into it. Only God.

God, the Creator of earth and all that’s in it decides when and where a total eclipse of the sun by the moon will happen. Only God.

What Can Christians Do to Put the Eclipse in Proper Perspective?

Where are the t-shirts, hats, and banners saying “Only God Can Make a Path of Total Eclipse”? Or maybe with Peanuts telling Linus, “God made the sun and the moon.”

[Tweet ” Use the eclipse as an opportunity to share our Creator and watch it with awe for our Great God. “]

I’m not saying it’s wrong to want to view the eclipse, but I’m suggesting we use it as an opportunity to share the Creator of the universe and watch it with awe for our Great God.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. ⁶And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

14And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

The Bible records a time in the Old Testament when King Hezekiah was dying and he begged God to give him more years of life. God said he would give him fifteen years and as proof God turned back the sun: “‘This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: ⁸I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’ So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.” Isaiah 38:7-8

Then Hezekiah praised God in a testimony. Here is a portion of it—

In your love you kept me
from the pit of destruction;
you have put all my sins
behind your back.
¹⁹The living, the living—they praise you,
as I am doing today;
parents tell their children
about your faithfulness. Is. 38:17,19

Job gives testimony of the total control God has over the sun, moon, stars, day, and night . . .

If someone wanted to take God to court,^[a]
would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
⁴For God is so wise and so mighty.
Who has ever challenged him successfully?

⁷If he commands it, the sun won’t rise
and the stars won’t shine.
⁸He alone has spread out the heavens
and marches on the waves of the sea.
⁹He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.
¹⁰He does great things too marvelous to understand.
He performs countless miracles. Job 9:3-4, 7-10 NLT

Use the Eclipse to Share Jesus

[Tweet “Use the Eclipse to Share Jesus”]

Sometimes the first verses in the first chapter of the Bible are so familiar they lose their awe-inspiring, magnificent, amazing, indescribable impact that King Hezekiah and Job understood so well: our Holy God is totally responsible for everything in our universe. Now that’s a phenomena we all should be sharing and what better time than now?!

When the conversation turns to the eclipse, how about inserting discussion starters like:

Isn’t it amazing that God made this total eclipse happen right over us!
Since God created the sun and the moon, He decided August 21, 2017 was the exact time in history for another total eclipse across America. That’s incredible don’t you think?!
The eclipse is exciting, but it’s only going to last two minutes. As believers, we’ll spend eternity in heaven with God, the Creator of this eclipse. Now that’s something to get excited about!

“And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.” Deut. 4:9

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Remember Mentoring for All Seasons: Sharing Life’s Experiences and God’s Faithfulness is available for pre-order and release date is getting very close, September 12!

August 14, 2017

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Love Your Body–Try Something New

Love Your Body Like God Loves It

All my life I haven’t liked Brussels Sprouts! They’re one of the few foods I’ve never acquired a taste for….until a few years ago!

When we were receiving organic fruits and vegetables from Bountiful Baskets, it was always a surprise what I’d find inside the box, and was I surprised to see a bag of Brussels Sprouts! Ugh, I thought. Who can I give these away to? But instead of giving them away, I asked my Facebook friends if they had any great recipes, mentioning that I don’t care for cooked cabbage, but I’ll eat it raw in fish tacos or coleslaw.

One of my FB friends posted a recipe for Chopped Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad. What? You could eat Brussels Sprouts raw? That thought had never entered my mind, but I try to eat as much raw as possible since that’s the best way to get all the nutrients.

[Tweet “You can eat Brussels Sprouts raw? “]

This recipe had cranberries, blue cheese, and toasted pecans. How could I go wrong? And it was Super Bowl Sunday, so why not make it and try it out at the party we were attending. So I put those cute little round cabbage balls in the food processor and walla, it looked just like shredded cabbage. I tasted it…and oh my! What a different taste than cooked. I knew right then I was going to LOVE this salad–as did everyone at the party!

For those of you who shop at COSTCO, they’ve got a delicious fresh salad with cabbage, kale, Brussel Sprouts, and other goodies you mix together with a delicious salad dressing. I have some in the refrigerator right now!

So what’s the moral of my raw Brussels Sprouts salad story? As I was enjoying the delicious salad, the Lord reminded me that there were probably many other things…not just food…that I thought I didn’t like because I had only looked at them from one perspective.

How about you? Is there a person you don’t get along with? A food you’re sure will never touch your lips? A place you think you could never live? (As a native Californian, I would have never in a million years expected I would be living in the rural mountains of Idaho).

[Tweet “What’s on your “never-ever” list that you’d be open to looking at from another angle? “]

A color you would never wear? What’s on your “never-ever” list that you’d be open to looking at from another angle? What might you be missing if you didn’t?

[Tweet “Many people avoid God and Christianity because they’ve had a bad experience”]

Many people avoid God and Christianity because they’ve had a bad experience, and like me with Brussels Sprouts, they’re positively, absolutely convinced it’s not for them. Could you help someone in your life see God from a different perspective?

[Tweet “Could you help someone in your life see God from a different perspective?”]

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!–Psalm 34:8 NLT

May 30, 2016

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When God is Removed the Nation Suffers

The Real Threat to the Soul of Our Nation

When the Threat is Close to Home!

What Do We Do as Christians?

Your Testimony is Your Best Witness

God is Springing Up Revival Throughout Our Country!

History of Labor Day

Work and Rest

How Can We Find Times to Rest?

The Lack of Wise Leadership in Our Country

The Cry for God to Heal Our Land!

The Urgent Need for God’s People to be in Fervent Prayer

America, Land of the Free Because of the Brave!

Closing

The “Equality Act” Denies the Bible

The Equality Act Denies Women’s Rights

Are We Sheep Or Fighters for Freedom?

Why We Go To Church

5 Reasons to Meet in Church Together

The Virus Came From China But Let’s Not Become Like China!

Don’t Put Your Trust in the Media

Looking at the Eclipse Through God-Focused Eyes

What Can Christians Do to Put the Eclipse in Proper Perspective?

Use the Eclipse to Share Jesus

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**The Real Threat to the Soul of Our Nation**