by Sue Forde | Jan 14, 2019 | encouragement, joy
A couple of months ago, we got a couple of puppies. Yes, a COUPLE! You see, our dog Bear, whom we’d had for 14 years, died last year of cancer. Husband Bob said we should replace him. We looked for weeks, but there were no dogs available that caught our eye.
One day, on a whim, I checked out craigslist, and there was a photo of the cutest little puppy! AND the people offering him lived in our town! We decided to go check him out. When we arrived, the owner was holding the little cutie in his arms – and then, his wife came out with the puppy’s sister. We looked at one another: that was that – we had to take them both! How could we separate them!?
Mick and Ebbie were 10 weeks old when we got them. Babies. And of course, babies need training, just like human babies!
The first thing was to train them to use the outdoors for a bathroom. That means taking them out every hour until they get the idea. Kind of like potty-training a baby! They got the idea fairly quickly, and now, at 3 months, they are doing well.
Other things they’ve learned are how to sit, lay down, stop barking, and when it’s time to eat!
They have personalities all their own, just like children. Each one is different, and it takes a learning curve to understand their wants and needs. We’re still learning to communicate, but it’s not difficult to understand when they want something. One thing they know, though, is from the tone of my voice, whether they are pleasing me or if they are doing something wrong. Teaching them to do what is right at this young age will bring a lifetime of joy for all – both dogs and owners. This lesson applies to children, as well – teach them to live right, to love God, to think of others and be polite – will bring much joy in their lives and to those around them.
Pets are a joy when they are trained to obey. Like children, they can become spoiled, or they can be “brought up in the way they should go”, to understand there are parameters and expectations for behavior in society.
Too often, I see a man or woman with their dog, where the dog seems to be in charge of them, not the other way around. Likewise, some children are always pushing to get their own way, to the chagrin of all around them, as they throw temper tantrums until the parent quickly gives in to keep them quiet. Those actions will often last a lifetime, and wreaks havoc on not only individuals, but society as a whole.
Puppies and children have several things in common: They are loved, and they need to be trained so they will be a blessing to others around them, not a burden.
by Shauna Millar | Jan 2, 2019 | encouragement, General, Lord Hear Our Prayer, Thank you
A prayer for the New Year
Lord,
As we move forward into this year, 2019, let us find your love, joy, and peace in our hearts and minds. Help us to follow your will throughout the year. If we stray, help us find our path back to you.
You know us. You knew us before we were formed in our mother’s wombs. You know our joy and pain, our heartache and happiness. We thank you for your constant guidance and care of us. We thank you that you have given us free will to choose to follow you rather than be forced into our beliefs. We ask that you help us to remember this as we walk our daily lives as witnesses to your glory and love.
Help us to not be oppressors but to be lights to the world that we can shine brightly for you. Help us to know you more closely and walk with you on a daily and hourly bases. Let us be the best that we can be in each moment. Lord, when we stumble and fall, we ask that you pick us up and help us dust ourselves off so that we can walk taller and stronger from what we have learned.
We thank you for this opportunity of another year to begin renewed. We know so many didn’t make it this far. We pray for those families who have lost loved ones and have suffered heartache last year, and even today. We pray that you will comfort and guide them in your righteousness and love.
Thank you, Lord for all you have done and all you do. We praise your name and give you glory.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen
by Shauna Millar | Dec 3, 2018 | encouragement
Tis the season! There are bell ringers out ringing, and every time you go to a store to make a purchase you may end up being asked if you “want to donate” something or other. You may have already started opening your Advent calendar. Depending on what type of calendar you are using, you may have begun reading poems, seeing images or scripture, etc.
As we begin this journey toward Chrismas day and the beginning of a New Year, how are you preparing for it? Or are you preparing for it? Does it set your teeth on edge every time you hear someone ringing a bell? Do you feel compelled to give? Are you worrying about how much money you have to spend on gifts? Are you counting pennies or worrying about who won’t be receiving gifts from you as you can’t afford it this year? What people will think? What happens if you receive but can’t afford to give?
Unfortunately, this time of year can be stressful for many people. We move toward the holiday with joy or drudgery. We have moved away from what it means to what we are told the season means. If you consider that the biggest shopping day of the year, is the day after Thanksgiving and the second is the day after Christmas, what does this say? How do we share the meaning of the season when we are being compelled to buy things we can’t afford to give to people we barely see?
Perhaps this is the year that we should be focusing on “giving” in the real sense of the word. Not buying things for people who could afford to get it for themselves, but helping to refill the food banks around your hometown. How about giving supplies such as blankets and coats, things that will help year round? How about not expecting anything from anyone and understanding the true joy in giving? Why not tell your friends and family that instead of gifts, you don’t need, to give to someone who does need? Or find an organization, that you can all gift to as a family? Share the joy in the season in a new and meaningful way.
Am I advocating to not celebrate the season and give gifts to one another? No, not at all. The holidays are steeped in family traditions. If you can afford to give gifts to everyone and your family is blessed to be able to do this, then celebrate as you choose. What I am saying, is that often times there are family members who are struggling and going into debt to give just so others don’t know how financially difficult things are. There are people who aren’t willing to go without so others don’t know they are doing this. There is a lot of pressure on individuals during this time of year and often we don’t see or know it. The season, has, unfortunately, become so commercialized it is easy to miss those in our immediate surrounds who are really in need.
My prayer this year is that we open our eyes, hearts, and minds to view the season in a different way. That if we can afford to give to our families and friends with true joy and not expecting anything in return, we do so. That if we don’t find ourselves on the receiving end we don’t get upset and think about how next year we will ‘pay them back’ for ‘ignoring us’. Realize that not everyone is in the same financial boat and that it can hurt to give. That some people may have to make the choice between giving and going without food.
Remember this is a time where we can show the true meaning of Christmas in our ability to share our love and lives with each other. That we don’t have to give gifts to celebrate. That we can use it as a time to teach our children that it really is about giving and not getting. That true joy can be in giving to those who really need it.
There are a lot of good causes out there to give to. I remember a time in my life where I needed the help and someone was there. I am thankful that my pride allowed me to ask and be okay with receiving. It is just as difficult to receive when you have nothing to offer to back. It is a humbling and difficult position to be in. So, remember that when you give, give with love and joy and no expectations of return. That is the true blessing in giving.
When you receive, recieve with joy, love and gratitude that someone was blessed enough to give. There is a blessing in both positions. It is our heart that tells the truth in the way we give and receive. Remember, God knows not only your situation but your heart as well. He can see in the darkness what we would rather not have come to light. Pray for His leading and guidance as we move toward the end of this year and into a New Year.
by Shauna Millar | Nov 14, 2018 | encouragement, Fruits of the spirit, kindness
Do you live your life in the way that you should in some ways or in all ways? Do you pick and choose how your life is lived depending on what “hat” you have on? The work ‘hat’? The social ‘hat’? The church ‘hat’?
The thing to remember is that we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. I am not writing this to judge what you do or how you do it. I am writing this in hopes that you can step back from your life and look at how you are living it. Are you living it in a way that you if you were to stand before your maker today, you would be able to face your life with little remorse or regret for the path you have chosen?
Sure we all have some regret and/or remorse. Again, we are imperfect creatures. However, if you choose kindness to be a guide in your life – does that guide have a set of rules that you live by or is it all-encompassing. Do you let kindness guide your every decision in dealing with everyone you meet or does it come with a set of guidelines that say, “I deal differently with this person than I do that person.” Or are you humble only with certain people and not haughty with others? What is the moral code that guides your life and does it falter or change depending on your circumstances?
I choose to be kind to the people I meet. Sometimes, it is not always easy when they are spiteful and unkind to me. However, that doesn’t mean I walk out to meet just anyone and everyone. I don’t seek out individuals and in all honesty, there are people I try to avoid. Yet, if I am unable to do those things I am kind in my actions and words. I might not always be humble but I do try to be kind.
We are asked to show the fruits of the spirit in our lives on a daily basis. This is what we should strive to do. We fall short in those things, I am sure. This doesn’t mean you can’t pick one and try to use it an as a guide along this earthly journey. It also doesn’t’ mean you should pick and choose who you are going to shine your light on. We are called to do out best in the things we do. We are called to show the love of Christ in our actions. It doesn’t make it easy. It is not simple. It doesn’t mean we will succeed a 100% of the time. What it means is we have a goal that we can strive toward. We may fail. We may fall short. We may fall down. Through all these things we will learn.
I encourage you today to meet and treat others as you would have other’s treat you. Do your best in all walks of life, no matter if it is to those close to you or those you are passing by. Those you are working with or those you are playing with. The importance is that we strive to do these things.
Remember God sees your heart and knows you. He created you. He knows if you are doing your best or not. You know too.
Father God,
You know our hearts, our minds, and our words. You know our struggles and our strengths. We ask that you help us to walk in the way that you would have us to go. We ask that you help us to overcome our own insecurities and struggles. To seek you in the high places and in the low places. To know your word and your voice intimately. To follow the path that you have set before us.
If we fail or fall off. We ask that you help us to find our way home. To find out way back toward you. We thank you for your mercy and grace that is new every morning. We thank you for all that you have given us and continue to do for us.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.
by Shauna Millar | Oct 23, 2018 | encouragement, General
Let us stop and take a breath. Take a moment to look around at our surroundings. What do you see? Is your life half empty? half full? Do you see that your life is always being filled back up with newness? Are you aware of it? Or do you just see the whiteness of winter in your life? How do you handle it? Yes, there are a lot of questions that are being asked. Maybe you can answer some of them and maybe you can’t or don’t want to.
The point I want to make is this: our world and how we see it is affected by what is going on directly in front of us. What is happening to us, as an individual, at any given moment. We will scream about the injustice done to others, even if we don’t understand it fully, because we are being inflicted with an injustice in our own lives. You may not remember when the WWJD was a big thing. Asking yourself at any given moment, “what would Jesus do” in this situation? How would He handle it? We don’t think about how we are reflecting Christ in our lives most of the time. We simply exist, endure and move through our moments. We neither savor the moment nor do we curse them. We let it happen and don’t even acknowledge it.
Our life is a reflection of our beliefs. It is the road we are traveling. Often during moments in our lives when we want to shout about the injustice, we need to remember we choose to travel a different path. We have chosen to walk the road less traveled. This road is the one that says we don’t scream out about the injustices in a way that will not mirror who we are. Every action we take, whether intentional or not, illuminates our beliefs and how deeply ingrained they are in us. When we choose to say something about issues we don’t fully know about or act out on things that have affected someone without knowing whether it is true or not, this is a reflection of our deeply (or not so deeply) seated beliefs.
None of us are perfect. I am not. We get upset by the lack of common sense we may feel we see in others or the injustice that is happening around us. It is difficult for me to want to acknowledge the pain in the world around me. Whether I like it or not, I am affected by these things. At the time of this writing, the U.S. is going through another political transition; which happens all the time. I don’t like to mix politics and religion, I am going to do it at this time, for one simple reason; it is my opinion that so many people are screaming out about an injustice that has or hasn’t happened as if it is personally affecting them.
The recent nomination to the Supreme Court of Judge Kavanaugh; I am not in a position to know what happened or didn’t happen. I do feel that the way the world (the media) has spun things has made it very difficult for everyone involved to have any sort of true view on what happened. The way that the politicians have handled things and brought the media into the situation before doing their due diligence has created a harmful ripple effect.
What I mean by this is that we are a light set upon a hill. We have chosen to walk a path different than other people’s and therefore our judgments and views should be different than others. Yet, so many people have vocally taken sides judging what was happening. How can we judge what is going on? Who are we to judge what is going? Especially without full and complete knowledge of any given situation? Even the Word tells us to “judge not lest we be judged”. That God is the only one who can judge. Can we stand up with an opinion or view of what we feel a person is based on what we know? Yes. Can we make determinations on the past, without any form of proof or having been there ourselves? Yes. Should we? This is something you need to answer for yourself.
My heart is that this nation needs to be healed. At every turn, there is corruption that has affected it to its very heart. There are so much sorrow and pain. So much anger and self-centered oppression that it is hard to heal and recover from. My hope is in the Lord. That this will work to His glory and benefit as it always should. My hope is that if you follow your core beliefs and you are in tune with who you believe you are or should be, that you will follow that path to the best of your ability and uphold it with peace and love in all you do. If you can’t then I encourage you to continue to seek God in his wisdom and in His love. Let him judge not just the situations affecting those around you and around our nation but also let Him judge you. Know that He sees into the heart of the matter and if we always seek him first, He will guide, protect and lead us.
Peace in His Love.
by Shauna Millar | Dec 12, 2017 | encouragement, General, strength
Have you ever watched a storm roll in? If you are paying attention you can see the signs. The air temperature starts to change. The color of the sky slowly changes; clouds move in front of what may have been a bright blue warm sky. Sometimes the storms come in slowly and you have plenty of warning to get in out of the weather. Other times, they happen so quickly, you blink and there is a deluge of wind, rain, snow or sleet.
They happen in our lives that way as well. There are times you can see the changes rolling in. You know they are coming. You have time to prepare yourself. Then there are those times when you don’t have that opportunity. Where your life changes instantaneously. Out of the blue. No warning. These are the storms that are harder to weather. They catch us off guard. Out of position. Our first reaction is often to panic. To run and hide. This gives us time to gather our thoughts together. To come up with a plan to weather the storm. There are emergency systems in place for psychical storms; yet even those are not always enough.
When a storm catches you off guard, it doesn’t mean that you will lose everything and be destroyed. It means that you are being given an opportunity to learn to rely on God. To put your belief system and your faith to the test. To grow stronger in His love and in His grace. Sure, it is easy to say, and it is much, much harder to do. Yet, it can be done. It won’t happen in an instant; like a life change can. No, it will take time.
It takes time to rebuild after you have been battered against the rocks. After you have been swept out to sea. It takes time to swim back to shore. It takes time to climb back up to the top of the cliff. We get to choose how we will handle the storms that roll into our life; both expected and unexpected. We get to choose whether we are going to sit down and give up or rest in the Lord and renew our strength, so we can start to rebuild ourselves. It isn’t about not being broken. It doesn’t mean you will be “whole” the way you were before. What it means is that you will be renewed. You will be restored to the place you are meant to be. Which isn’t always the place we think we need to be or should be. We don’t know the path that we are walking. We don’t get to see it fully. From time to time it is moment to moment. We do get to believe that we are being taken care of and loved. We do get to strengthen our faith and trust in God that He will see us through. While we do this, we find that we become stronger again. We find that we are able to take a step. A breath. If you can do that. Take the first one. Then you will find that taking the next one, while difficult is doable. You will see that you CAN do it. The first one is the most difficult.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be a lot of “first” steps. However, when you do the first one, you know you can do it. So, the next time you need to move forward you will find that the strength you need is there. You will grow stronger every time. You will move forward and before you know it. You will be back on the beach or at the top of the hill or on the mountaintop. A storm is an opportunity. You choose what to make of it.
Prayer
Father we thank you for this day. We thank you that we can lean and rely on you when the storms sweep through our lives and carry us away. We thank you that when we don’t feel as if we have the strength, we can trust in you to take care of us. That you will guard us and keep us while we rest and renew in your presence. We thank you for keeping watch over us day and night. That even when we are beaten and battered and feel we can go no farther, You are with us.
We know that we don’t always understand what is happening in our lives or the reasons why. We have faith that You know the reasons. You know the direction we need to go in our lives. That you will keep our feet on the path that we should be walking. We thank you for your love and mercy, for your everlasting love and your strength to get us through both the tough times and the good times.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen
