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PRESENT DOORS

Yesterday, I was thinking about all the things I have not been able to do since March, of this year 2020. This virus has changed so many things in the past months. Church services have been on zoom and YouTube. I have not hugged any of my church family in that entire time!  Each month, I have always had a birthday party for family members, whose birthday is that month. I have not had my family over for almost 6 months! At work, I am in a back office trying to stay safe from this virus. We are not letting clients in the building. Part of the job I have always enjoyed is interacting with our clients face to face. Comforting those who have to say goodbye to their pet, who were such an intricate part of their lives. We have had to hide behind masks to keep us from this silent virus, while it continues to wage war against the very breath that we breathe.

Going through that door of past reminders, of what has been lost, makes me so sad that our new reality, of what we must live by, (at least until we can get control of the spreading of this virus and get a vaccine), are in the confines of a new normal! I know I have been so “spoiled” by my past life of conveniences and availability to go and do what I want. My heart becomes heavy dwelling on what could have been.

So, what do I need to do when I start sinking into that darkness? I need to remember that as I am thinking of all I have lost, that I am wasting the valuable time I am in right now-right this minute! What can I do right now to serve my Lord? The answer to that will be different for everyone who is reading this blog. God has given each and every one of us talents and a purpose or purposes, to fulfill while we are here on this earth. There are so many examples in the Bible of people who have gone on before us and the purpose that those men and women served at that particular time in history. Yes, trials and tribulation came upon these men and women of God, but it helped prepare them for their future and what God had planned for them.

Let’s look at three scriptures in the Bible.

Jeremiah 29:13-14. God was talking to the Israelites through Jeremiah to give them hope, strength and peace. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity.”

Romans 8:28. God was talking to the Christians through Paul, who were being persecuted, to let them know that He was with them. What they were going through was really for their future good. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:37-39. “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life; nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Just sit and meditate on these verses. What do you see in these verses to help your present situation? Let me share with you what I see.

• I see that all of those hurtful, painful times I have had in my past, were there to help me in my future! The older I get; I see the reality of that fact.
• I see that God only wants good for us. We need to remember to lean on Him-reach out to Him-trust in Him, because He is working for a brighter future for us.
• I see that each one of us has a God given purpose for our lives. He uses us to shine His light to this world.
• I see that nothing, even a pandemic, can separate us from our God and His love for us. He is always within a prayer-a thoughts distance from us and even when the hard times come, we just need to remember His promises and the hope for our future!

We ask ourselves, why did God allow all of the things (I listed quite a few headlines in my last blog) that are going on right now-today! But instead of lingering on that, why not start looking at this day-this moment-this second and hold on tight. Time passes so quickly! My daughter posts things from the past that my grandkids have done. She posted one today from seven years ago of her boys. Now, one is in middle school and the other is right behind him. How can that be? Its like I want to catch that moment in time and just travel back to it, holding on tight! But rather, I need to look at this moment in my life and use it for good. Although I agree, we must look back at some things in our past-cherish them-learn from them. We also need to make plans for our future-our eternal future as well as our earthy. But we need to stop right now and look at our lives. What are we doing right now-right this minute? What or who do we need to grab ahold of and enjoy the time right now in our present?

One day, I made a list of everything I did that day. How long it took me to do it and how long I actually spent on it. I was amazed at how much time I did nothing productive. Of course, there are days when we are not feeling good or we are just tired from a day at work. Yes, we need down days. But if our down days become our every day, we need to reevaluate our present door that we are going through and use it more productively.

I like this quote from Joyce Meyers. “Since you can’t undo anything from the past-you might as well do something great with today.” As you have been reading this blog, time has marched on. You have spent some of your valuable today, to read my thoughts and I thank you so much for that. Your encouragement means the world to me.

So, what am I saying? Stop right now. Look around you. Is there someone you need to say you love them? Is there someone you have meant to call-text-send a card to but keep finding something else to do? Where is your Bible? Is it sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering dust? Go get it, dust it off and absorb what God has given us, to give us hope and peace. What could you be doing right now to spend time with kids or grandkids-in service for the Lord-to quiet your spirit-to rest-to remember God’s nature-whatever in your life that maybe you should be doing right now?  Don’t waste your time in the present. God gifted you this moment in time. That is why it is called the present. Just don’t only look towards tomorrow, but hold on to today. James 4:14 reads, “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Everyone reading this realizes that time goes by quickly. When I did my ladies days, I spent an entire year before preparing for it. Then, when the day came, it seemed like it went so fast like a vapor.

Now, after reading this, do not start feeling guilty or bad about what you do or have done in the moment. Every second we live is a new beginning. It is a time to rise from the ashes of this world and what is going on in it. A time to learn from the past-live in this moment-to make a better future!

I am going to end this blog, with a quote from a tv show, “Call the Midwife.”  At the end of each show, there are words of wisdom that are associated with that particular show.

“The seasons will always turn-the clouds will gather-the cold will come-we will survive them. We will grow old regardless of the weather. We will know wonder where there has been despair-then, there will be happiness. We will be remembered-there will be friendships we won’t forget. Love is the constant whereby we endure-it is what gets us out of the storm-that will help us thrive. Welcome the darkness as a draped canopy from which the stars can hang for there are always stars. When we are where we ought to be-among the faces we love best-each with a place-each with purpose-as fixed and familiar as the constellations Darkness is beautiful or how else could we shine.”

Your present doors quickly become past doors. Cherish this day that the Lord has given you. You will never return to live it any differently, but you can learn from it. Psalm 118:24 “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” What plans do you have for today?

Till next time.                                          Keela

(The picture at the first of this blog, are my daughters two boys six or seven years ago. They live on the Navy base and planes fly low & right over their house. This was the first time Owen had seen a plane that close. Poor Adasen was focused on just trying to peddle his brother in the cart. Priceless!)

UNPRECEDENTED TIMES

Don’t know about you but I am getting tired of hearing those words! Since we hear that word so much right now, I decided to look the word up. I had to look at precedented and add a “not” to it. In Webster Dictionary precedented is defined as: “acts of the same or a similar kind.” Add a “not” to the first of that definition. In other words, nothing we have seen, heard or done in our lifetime. Then I remembered a verse in the Bible. Ecclesiastes 1:9-10. “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come, by those who come after.”

I started writing down some events of today and of late. Here are some of them: two hurricanes headed at the U.S. at the same time-murder hornets-riots & looting destroying businesses who have already been hurt by the pandemic-our children going back to school wearing masks & the fear in parents’ hearts that they will get coronavirus-depression among many-swarms of grasshoppers-colleges starting and having huge parties with no masks-parents unable to feed their children because they have lost their job or business-more and more people dying every day from this pandemic-shark attacks next to shore-historic wildfires caused by lightening. I am sure I could add more but really, do I want to? What is next?

Our country of freedom, has gotten comfortable in that freedom. What do I mean by that? Before the pandemic, most of us have been able to provide for our families-get on an airplane without thinking about the risk-enjoying the excitement of going back to school or college. We have had more wealth than any other country. Me? I have not been able to go see my little grandkids in Va. I have tried to go every six months in the past.  I have not been able to see them since last Thanksgiving! It is still too “scary” to get to them, on an airplane. We as Americans have had so much freedom to do what we want, when we want, how we want. We had become a very comfortable country. Now with the pandemic, our lives here in the Unites States have been turned upside down. We do not know how to have a new normal. There are those who refuse to wear a mask saying it is their freedom. But the new normal reality is that if we are to get this coronavirus under control, we need to listen to the scientists and health care workers who are taking care of the dying in the hospitals, who want only the best for us, to wear that mask.

“Nothing new under the sun.” We here on earth have always had problems, sickness, wars, loss of what we know to be normal. The facts are that, most of us, in our lifetime, as a comfortable society, have not dealt with so many of the particular things that I listed above all at once. But if you get into a study of the Old Testament in the Bible, you are going to find there were plagues, swarms of insects, wars, hurricanes, death & much, much more. God allowed those things to happen to His people. Do you think maybe He was trying to teach them something?

There is so much negativity around us, but yet there are so many amazing happenings too, showing the core of our country are good and want to reach out and help others. A police officer saw a man in a wheelchair on a train track as a train was speeding towards him. She pulled him back just in the nick of time. Children having lemonade stands to help buy food for the hungry. Donations are poured into groups who are helping feed the long line of cars who are hungry and can’t feed their families. Police officers who talk to little children to give them assurance during the pandemic and riots. We have all seen the pictures of officers and people who are in the peaceful marches, hugging in agreement of what the march stands for. Women sitting at sewing machines hours every day to help supply the masks that are needed. (In fact, one of our clients of our animal hospital made about twenty masks for us with cats-dogs and many different colors.) People going to an elderly person’s home, having them come out on their porches, and singing out in the street to bring them joy. There are so many acts of kindness in this pandemic also!

Well, what can we do personally? There are so many things that we as individuals can do. Think about the elderly who have been confined to their home for six months now. How can we help them or others who are at risk who have been quarantined or those who have been sick? I think all of us can answer that question. Sit down and make a list of things YOU would like others to do for You! Don’t put it off! NOW, is the time to step up and do what WE can. Don’t sit back by watching all the negativity being shown in the news and shake your head at what is happening. But be a part of the positivity that we as believers of God can shine on others. Yes, these are precedented times! It does not mean that there has to be only the bad news out there, but these times also give us opportunities to shine our lights. Be a part of the solution, not the problem!

Why has God allowed all of these happenings, to be going on all at once, in our lifetime? I do not have that answer, other than to look towards scripture. I am going to leave you with some verses to make you think. Let’s read 2 Chronicles 6:23-25. Read the chapters before and after to get a grip on what is being said and why. Solomon was standing before the Israelites speaking to them.

“… hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.”

Then, one of my favorite verses that also applies to us. 2 Chronicles 7:13-15. God was talking to Solomon. “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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 will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.”

(All of the underlined words in both of these scriptures, were done by me to show importance of particular words in the text.)

Are we living in unprecedented times? Absolutely! But we have many opportunities to show God’s love and give Him all the glory. We can have and show, teaching moments, by the small acts of kindness and care we can do every day towards others.

Yes, we live in unprecedented times. But God can supply unprecedented help, through us shining our lights!

Till next time.                                              Keela

CRICK IN THE NECK

Holding onto the door knob to the front door of the duplex, I looked back inside to say goodbye to the memories that flooded into my heart and mind. Some good, some bad. I even said, out loud, goodbye my Larry. This was the last place that he and I had been together, before he passed away into a different door into the eternal. We had been married 36 years. I got married right after high school. We grew up together through the years. We had created three amazing children, which led to eight grandkids and one great. We went through some hard times and many happy times. All intertwined into each other to become the people we had been and became. As I went out, I closed the door to that past. The unknown future stretched before me.

As I leave on the airplane, after being with my daughter, son-in-law and grandkids in Virginia, I look one more time at my babies and then head for the door of the airport with tears pouring down my face. But once I go into that door, I realize that I have to leave them behind me. I always take so many pictures and send them a little photo album of our many adventures, so that sad memory of leaving them, turns into happiness of all the things we had done.

Have you gone thru any doors and looked back and wished you could go back and do things differently? Have you blamed yourself for things that have happened in the past so much that you have gotten stuck in that door, with a crick in your neck, and cannot go forward? I have a friend who blames herself for things that happened twenty or more years ago and she cannot put that behind her. She is stuck in that doorway with a crick in her neck, not able to live today or look forward into what she could have become. She has lost so many opportunities to serve the Lord with her precious humility.

We do have to look back at some happenings so that we can learn from them. Sometimes they are the seeds from the past that will grow into what our future holds for us. When I look at old pictures, sometimes I wish I could go back and be in that moment of time, when things were simpler, when my Papa Judge was alive and I was a child, sitting on his knee and all the fun we had together. God put our faces on our bodies to face forward, not backward. What happens when you are walking and turn your head around? You run into or fall into something. That crick in the neck, only leads to hurt and pain. God has designed us to look towards the future-live in the present and put the past behind us.

I have had to turn around and relive some of the painfulness of my past to be able to help others who might be going through a similar situation. 2 Corinthians 1:1-4 reads “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our tribulation, that we might be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted  by God.”  This verse, has given me the courage to open up about the rough patches in my past. The times that I felt all alone-when I did not know what to do-when I realized what I had perceived my future would be like, was not going to happen. Times I felt bitterness and how God helped me through that. Times when I fell to the floor in tears and anguish. When I think back to those times, my heart still grieves and a few tears are shed, but when I am able to share with others who are feeling the same, my heart has started to heal. I have been able to turn my head around from looking backward, to looking forward and able to tackle whatever lies ahead. Walking through that door instead of looking back and leaving the past behind and reaching for a brighter future, is what God wants for our lives.

In Genesis 19, God gives us the example of Lot and his family. He lived in Sodom. (You are already knowing where I am going with this.) This city and Gomorrah were very evil. Lot, his wife and his two daughters, were the only people who were not wicked. Two angels had appeared to Lot and told him to get out of this evil city with his family. His two daughter’s husbands, did not take Lot seriously and ended up staying in this evil city. Verses 15-17 reads, “When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ‘Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.’ And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and hands of his two daughters the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city, So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, ‘Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” God was going to destroy these cities with fire and brimstone. Can you imagine what that might look like if you were in the mountains looking down at the brimstone and fire that God sent? These verses tell us that Lot “lingered.” Lot had mixed feelings, he paused. The angels had to literally grab his hand, his wife’s hand and the hands of his daughters to get them out of this evil city. Because of God’s mercy, they were saved.

But then, we come to verse 26, “But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Oops, she looked back and she became a mineral heap! I have often wondered why she became a pillar of salt. Why not a pile of sugar or flour. Why salt? I do not have any answer to that, other than the point is not what mineral she turned into, but the fact that she had disobeyed and turned back. She wanted to see and remember where she had been. This example to me is that we are not to linger in that doorway that leads from the past into the future. We may not understand the reasons of why we are to obey. But we realize that if we do obey; even when we don’t understand-even when we feel the hurt and pain-even when we feel all alone-even when everyone else around us is of the world, that God will be with us and take care of us.

So, what is the purpose of this blog? To let you know that we must reach forward, not reach backwards. We cannot linger and hold onto the things of our past because they can cripple us and keep us from a bright future. Yes, remember what has happened to you in the past, but do not get a crick in your neck because you are looking behind instead of ahead. Remember those happenings, so that we can learn from our mistakes-so that we can share help to others who are going thru a similar situation-so that we do not become stagnate, simply stuck there.

Leaving that duplex, was a really hard thing to do. I had been only 18 when I got married and having my husband was all I knew. My future was like this wide-open bright light, without shape and density, that blinded me because of its brightness, making me unable to see what to do-where to go-the fear of going into the unknown. But God helped me to turn my head forward and to take one step at a time, leaning on Him for strength!

I want to leave you with this scripture that gave me and will give you hope for our uncertain days of our future, right now in the year 2020. Philippians 3:13-14 reads:

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Are you getting a crick in your neck by looking back at the past? Don’t be like Lot’s wife.  Look ahead, strive and live your life reaching forward to the goal: our prize-eternal life, with our God when we leave this earth. Close that door to the past and joyfully go into your future! Take His hand. Who knows where God will lead you! We do not know what the future holds, but we do know WHO holds that future!

Till next time!                     Keela

FREEDOM

As I sit here writing this blog, I hear thunder and fireworks. My sons’ dog is only a little over a year old, but is so scared of loud noises. He is currently hiding in my shower. Poor guy! It is July 4^th. The day we celebrate our freedom in this country of the Unites States.

We have seen our freedom in action the last month. People peacefully protesting, wanting a better way of life and thought. But we do not have the freedom, as some have thought, to loot, destroy property and steal. The freedom in this country was founded on our forefathers and based on the belief that God reigns all mighty. The freedom; to go about our daily lives and do the many tasks and jobs, that we have gone to school and college to become what our dreams urge us to do. We have the freedom to assemble together as a church family. This freedom has been taken away from us by an invisible war which has taken the very breath out of our lungs, setting some free, by death, of their earthly body into a spiritual body. Where I attend church, we are back to assembling together. Only meeting for an hour on Sunday. We are six feet apart, wearing masks and no hugs or handshakes. That is so hard for me. This invisible war is keeping us captive from the freedom to worship.

My neighbor across the street, like many others, has his flag out. As I was watching its beauty waving in the wind, I started to think about how beautiful that flag is and the beauty of what the colors represent. I looked up on google, why those colors were chosen for the flag. No one knows for sure. But what has been brought down through the generations reveal, what the red, white and blue stand for.

• RED-hardiness-valor-sacrifice-blood of those who died for our freedom
• WHITE-purity-innocence of a new country
• BLUE-color symbolizing the Chief, the leader-vigilance, perseverance and justice

I started thinking that these three colors also symbolize our freedom through Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

• RED-Jesus died on a cruel cross. His red blood flowed from His beaten body, as He struggled to carry the cross that He was going to be nailed on leading to His death. He sacrificed Himself for you and me. This leads to our freedom from sin and into eternal life with Him when we leave this earth. Romans 5:6-9 reads “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet for perhaps for a good man someone would dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 John 3:16 reads “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  RED-blood for those who died for our freedom. Jesus died for our freedom from sin and the freedom of a life eternal!
• WHITE- What do you think of when you think of the word white. I think of something clean-pure like a new born innocent baby. I think of, in the winter, the snow falling to the ground. When it starts piling up and nothing has walked or driven across it; how beautiful, sparkling and clean it looks as the sun shines on it. 1 John 5-7 reads, “This is the message that we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Isaiah 1:16-18 reads “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”  We become clean, white, when we are in God’s light, by Christ purging our sin and we become clean, as the freshly fallen snow, by Jesus blood. That sounds strange doesn’t it? But by Jesus giving His blood to flow down the cross, He in turn gave us the chance to be pure & clean from out past sin! Washing us clean and giving us the freedom of a new life in Him! WHITE-freedom to be cleansed from our sin and become like the freshly fallen white snow!
• BLUE-Blue is my favorite color from the spectrum of colors that God has given us. Blue is the color of royalty, the Chief. 1 Peter 2:4-19 reads “…chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…(God speaking, quoted in Isaiah 28) behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame…But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you might proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Jesus is that chief cornerstone. In ancient times, the cornerstone was placed first and the other stones built from and on it, so the building would be strong. That is the same for our spiritual lives. We must keep our focus always on Jesus and build our lives beside and around that chief cornerstone. In 1 Peter 5:4 it tells us that Jesus is also called the Chief Shepherd and “we will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” When someone is a chief, they are who we look for direction. Someone who will give us justice. Someone who will help us to persevere even in the middle of a pandemic! BLUE-the color that shows that through Jesus we have strength, guidance, direction, justice and freedom from this world through Him!

RED-WHITE-BLUE     When I look at the flag, I think of freedom to be a Christian and the ability to serve Him. I think of our United States. We are becoming farther and farther from the original values and original purpose of those colors on our flag, that our forefathers chose many years ago. But take courage in the fact that we still have the freedom to follow our Lord and Savior and become the light in this dark world. We have all been made free from our sins by Jesus blood. There is no distinction of the race, color, dialect of those who were bought with that price Jesus paid for all. Galatians 3:28 reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Christ has given that freedom to all of us, no matter who we are.

What do you think of when you look at the flag? Just some things to think about.

Till next time!                     Keela

HELP

Years ago, when my husband was so sick, we had so many medical bills that we fell behind on our mortgage payments. During that time, my husband started the process of getting disability retirement. It took seven months from the time he applied to the time we got the notification that he had been approved. During that seven months, he did not get his regular pay at all. My two part time jobs just did not pay all the bills. Our son helped us during that time. Friends and family helped too. One of my jobs adopted us for Christmas. But we still lost our home to foreclosure. On the day we moved, it was snowing. There were about 30 people who came to help us move with their strong arms and trucks. Dear friends, made chili and brought for all of us to take a lunch break. We had so many people helping us during those hard times, physically and spiritually.

I know it is true that everyone has had some type of help in their lives of some form or other. Think about who has been a huge help in your life. Maybe they have gotten real about a situation and helped you to see past the anger, fear or depression. During this pandemic and marches, there have been so much help given to others. It warms my heart when I see several cleaning up the streets after a riot or packing food for the many who have lost their jobs to help feed their children. When we are tested in the fire, there is always someone who will help us quench that “fire” and help us sort through the embers.

I have had a lot pressing on my heart the last couple of lengthy blogs. So, I am going to try to keep this one short. I want to remind you of two times in the Old Testament, in Moses’ life, that he was helped by someone. Read Exodus chapters 17 & 18. In chapter 17, the Israelites were complaining, (imagine that!), that they were thirsty and were going to perish if they did not get any water to drink. God told Moses what to do and water came out of a rock. These Israelites always needed a visual. Of course, God was not going to let His chosen people die of thirst! Where was their faith? This was even after the Red Sea parted and they had run from the Egyptians on dry land. God even set a protective cloud pillar between the Egyptians, who saw only darkness and the Israelites saw light.

The Amalekites came & fought the Israelites. God told Moses to go on a hilltop and raise his rod (like our walking sticks) above his head. Chapter 17 verses 11-12 reads, “And so it was when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands became heavy; so they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands; one and one side and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.” Sometimes we have to do hard things. Sometimes we just don’t feel like we can go on and the burdens of life are too heavy. We have help from the Lord through our friends and family. They are who helps us to see the “real” of the situation. They help us to take a breath. They help us to get past the pain. They listen! They support us!

In the 18^th chapter of Exodus, we see another time that Moses got some help. Moses was a judge. The Israelites came to him from morning to night, for Moses to judge them. Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, saw all that Moses did for the people. He said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit; and all the people stand before you from morning to evening.” Moses told Jethro“…the people come to inquire of God. When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another, and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.” I won’t quote all that Jethro said to his son-in-law, but I particularly like the verses 17-19. “…The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you, will surely wear yourself out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. Listen now to my voice, I will give you counsel, and God will be with you.” Jethro goes on to tell Moses to get men to help him. To spread out this huge undertaking. There were about a million Israelite men, women and children. He encouraged Moses to take care of the huge matters, but give the smaller problems to these other men. Verse 22 says “…so it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you.” Moses, did what Jethro said. Wow, to have a father-in-law or mother-in-law, who could give you loving direction and you actually, do not become defensive, and take it! This shows the family bond that Moses had with Jethro. Moses was willing to listen and Jethro was willing to give loving advice, because he was concerned that Moses had taken too much on himself.

These two examples show me that we all need help from time to time. We all need to be real with each other, (in a loving manner), when we see another under a lot of burdens or stress. If we see a friend or family needing help, do what you can to help them. We as the receiver of the help, need to let them help hold us up-listen to advice and realize that they are just trying to give you support.

Years ago, it was so hard to let others know about what we were going through. But when I let go and opened up about my troubles, I had help during that very difficult time in my life. Some prayers were not answered like I thought they should be, but then as I look back, I see that they were actually answered in so many different better ways than I expected.

When you hear the word, help, we think of someone or something, in distress. Maybe needing some guidance. There are many other examples in the Bible that I could tell you about, that give us the assurance that it is ok to accept help from others. This world is so full of sin and dangers lurking around every corner. Let others help you! It makes them feel good to help and be able to serve. In turn, when you see or feel someone is burdened, physically or spiritually, reach out and help!

During this difficult time in our country, there are many chances for you to lend a helping hand. If you need some help, reach out. God will send those who can help you. Just like Moses, from time to time, we all need a helping hand and loving advise when it is too hard for us to do on our own.

Help is a small word, but filled with huge rewards!

Till next time!                                Keela