TheWritePath

  Because I feel it is so important, I want to address the issue of emotional healing a step further. Disagreements are the main cause of division in the family, for any number of reasons, but they do not have to be fatal. God in all His wisdom reassures us throughout His Word, concerning emotional sorrow or having a troubled spirit, that He provides healing and restores His peace in our lives: Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” Psalm 51:17, “. . . A broken and contrite heart—this O God, You will not despise.”   Jesus said in Luke 4:8, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me . . . because He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives.”   Why then do we allow our thoughts to hold us captive! The Hebrew and Greek words often translated contrite actually mean crushed, crippled, or broken.   A contrite heart offers no excuses or casts any blame, but humbly seeks the mercy of God....

  BROKEN HEARTED   I was going through a notebook of poems my uncle wrote, that was given to me after he passed away, when I ran across one titled My Song. The first stanza reads, “When the days seem long and dreary when my heart with pain is weary when I just can’t find the strength to carry on.”    This just about says it all. I have had a lot of heartache in my life and carried the scars for many years, but when I became a Christian, 40 years ago, the Lord has taken all the ugliness and transformed it into a vessel He could use. However, there is one area that has proved to be my weak spot, my family, there is nothing more important to me on this earth and nothing that can hurt me more.  To me family should be a place of unconditional love and respect; as well as a place of forgiveness and compassion, above all, it should be a place where you can feel safe, not only to express yourself freely without aggression. In other words, home and family should be a saf...

              I want to speak to all of you that have lost a child; it doesn’t matter if it was by miscarriage I want you to know God has not forgotten about your loss and he has not dismissed your grief, but he does want to heal your heart form the longing to hold your baby in your arms.  It’s that emptiness that causes you so much pain not allowing you to move past your grief. Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son [child] of her womb.” Then God goes on to say to you, “. . . I will not forget you. See I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands ; Your walls are continually before Me.” Your spouse, children, or other family members may appear to forget and not even see your pain, but God does; and he wants to take your grief, not your memories, and replace it with a joy you cannot contain. Though the scripture is not cut and dry on this I believe with all my heart that we will see our...

            Over the years I have done many different things that showed me the grief was still there expressing itself in other ways; for a while, I collected dolls from the Heritage Signature Collection and Ashton-Drake Gallerie, a few months ago I started crocheting things for the babies at our local hospital; every holiday I would put together a special gift for the first baby born. When I found out about the baby was a girl I was in heaven making outfits in various sizes, styles, and colors; I had made a very special gown [the first time I had used crochet thread] that I hoped would become a family heirloom to be passed from generation to generation; I made it for her to come home from the hospital in. Lord, for this child I have prayed since the day I found out my granddaughter was pregnant, but Father you know my heart I sent it with you when I said goodbye and gave my little girl back to you. Lord, why have you chosen this day for her to be bor...

  "Children are a heritage from the Lord . . . " Psalm 127:3                   I WAS JUST INFORMED my granddaughter was on her way to the hospital to give birth to her first child, a girl; my first great-grandchild would be making her debut prematurely.    My heart skipped a beat knowing what day it was, October 24 th , the day my little girl would have been born; this should have been her 42nd birthday; I’m supposed to be excited, but like all the past years I’m torn. You would think I would be pasted this by now, but I   have a reminder that always puts it in the forefront; today is our oldest sons’ birthday.   He is my step-son, but I have never seen him as such, over the years his mother has been gracious enough to share him with me; even at his Junior High graduation ceremony I had been presented  a rose just like his mom.   No one has ever known how hard this day has been for me, I’ve managed to k...

  Now let’s take another look at the turtle's shell, mainly the bottom shell, the boney layer under the outer shell is what provides the shape, support, and protection for the turtle. Again use your imagination as we relate the turtle shell to the armor of God. The next piece of armor we want to look at is the breastplate of righteous, verse 14 also says, “Having put on the breastplate of righteousness” (NKJV). The breastplate’s function was to protect the vital organs of the soldier while in battle and was made of overlapping pieces of metal with connecting front and back sections. The breastplate rested on the soldier’s hips and supported by the loin belt.   While in battle the breastplate provided extra assurance against the unexpected blows that often occurred in the heat of battle. Just like the turtle’s lower shell protects its internal anatomy the breastplate protects the vital organs of the soldier. One of the best definitions I’ve found is in Adam Clarke’s Commentar...

            Many throughout the Bible have suffered hardships but the life of Paul for me stands out; in his own words, he says: “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods [this was a practice among the Romans]; once I was stoned [by Jews and Gentiles]; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weakness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.”   (2Corinthians 11:24-27 NKJV)   It would be safe to say Paul suffering was at the hand of Jews, Romans, Gentiles [any person that is not a Jew] and Messianic Jews [Jews that have accepted Jesus and the Messiah]. Yet he endured it all for the sake of Christ; h...

  "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." Ephesians 6:10, NJKV .            IT IS SUCH A beautiful morning to be out on the lake, every time we come out I find something new that draws my interest, and today was no different.   I was just sitting quietly waiting for a fish to decide that my worm was more suitable to his taste than my husband’s  when I got this feeling I was being watched.   I look around but didn’t see a thing, so I went back to my fishing.   Again I felt the same thing, and again nothing. This went on for several minutes until I caught something out of the corner of my eye, just a little ways from the boat I noticed a turtle peeking its head above the water, but when I turned to look towards it, down it went.   I sat there chuckling to myself as I played pick-a-boo with a turtle until my husband told me I was getting a bite. Darn missed it and he got my worm too! Oh well, I had f...

  In Psalm 23 we are told that the Lord is our Shepherd, but do you know what that means?  The Bible mentions shepherds and their duties over two hundred times. When I was in Israel our guide explained that it was the shepherd’s responsibility to carry the weak lambs in their arms until they were strong enough to stand on their own; Isaiah 40:11 uses God metaphorically in this same manner. The Tanakh is a translation of the scriptures according to the traditional Hebrew text states it this way, “. . . He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in His bosom . . .” It was also the shepherd’s duty to stand guard over the flock by day in the fields and by night in the sheepfold. I believe that’s what God had done for me all that time when I was too weak to stand on my own. In Hebrews 13:5, Jesus, as our Shepherd, said He would never leave us nor forsake us, and He never did.             Have you ever looked up the word empty in the dicti...

            I would like you to walk with me for a minute through a pecan orchard. Preparing for the harvest begins as early as spring and continues through summer. All the fallen branches need to be removed, the grounds mowed and kept up, and the brush piles burned; so that the orchard will be free from debris when the shaker is brought in for the harvesting.   The shaker has an arm with a very large clamp on the end that fits around the trunk of the tree, once it clamped on it begins to violently shake the tree causing the pecans to rain down like a hail storm. This shaking process can take place at two different times during the harvesting season; once during the early fall while the tree has not shed all its leaves, the other during the latter part of the fall seasons when the tree is barren of the majority of its leaves with the pecans shucks have opened after the first freeze. When the shanking is over and the pecans have been harvested, looking...

  ". . . though now for a little while, if need be, you have grieved by various trials . . ." 1Peter 1:16, NKJV           EVERYONE’S GONE HOME for the day, I’ve locked up, and now find myself sitting in my office, alone, staring down at the day’s sales.   We closed in the red again.   As I had done so many nights before I began to walk through the store praying in each department, but tonight was different, I fell on my face before the Lord sobbing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. The store was failing, and I would have to make a decision soon, we just couldn’t continue much longer; it’s been almost three years now. I have tried so hard to follow his direction, but my dream was becoming a nightmare. I believed I was standing on God’s word and seeking his guidance, yet every decision I made was coming into question. I had been told I was walking in fear, not faith and that I just need to trust God. I thought I had been, but with each late paymen...