In Sunday school, we’ve been talking about the Fruit of the Spirit.  And I remember as a young mother with small children how much I lacked the fruit of longsuffering.  Since that time I have learned that when a believer is walking in the Spirit, they have all the fruit.  So you either have the fruit or you don’t.  You don’t have the love today and tomorrow you start developing…

In Deuteronomy 1:42, God told Moses to warn the children of Israel, “…Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.”  Did they listen?  No.  Moses said in verses 43-45, “So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.  And the Amorites, which dwelt in…

When we’re hit with an accusation, our first response is usually defensive.  It doesn’t matter what it is, we deny it first and then we might think about it later.  When I was a young mother, a sister in the Lord said to me on the phone one day, “You’re a perfectionist, Marj.  Everything has to be perfect; even your kids.”   I denied that one in a hurry.  “No, I’m…

When we first came to Cincinnati in 1987, we joined a church that was big enough to have several adult Sunday school classes.  Because of the ten-year age difference between my husband and me, we had difficulty selecting the most appropriate class.  I was in my early thirties and he was in his early forties.  Someone suggested that we try Dennis Beale’s class.  Now Dennis taught the older folks and…

My daughter, Michelle, was born with Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder that manifests itself through developmental delays, mental retardation, over friendliness to strangers, heart and blood vessel abnormalities… One day, Michelle and I were walking through the neighborhood talking when out of the clear blue she said to me, “Mom, I wish I were normal; like you?”  That statement caught me by surprise, because I’d never considered myself “normal.”  (I…

My husband, Floyd, is recovering from open-heart by-pass surgery.   So things he could do with ease only ten days ago, he now finds incredibly difficult.  Simple things like sitting down and standing up; lying down and sitting back up; putting on his shoes, etc. One day he said, “You don’t realize how much you take those little, everyday motions for granted.” Ephesians 5:20 says, “Giving thanks always for all things…

How people get along without the Lord is beyond my comprehension.  At a ladies retreat about three weeks ago, the guest speaker emphasized the need to live with divine expectation.  Then the following week, my pastor preached on praying for miracles and expecting God to answer. That sermon seemed like it went hand in hand with the lesson on living with divine expectation.  So I went home, got on my…

When my dad passed away in 1998, my mother said to me, “Marjie, cherish your husband.  He is a precious commodity.” Sometimes we don’t realize the value of something until we lose it.  I’m not saying that my mother didn’t value my dad, but after he was gone, she really felt the void that he left when he died.  I wondered if she had regrets; if she’d thought about unresolved…

This weekend, I attended a ladies conference at Camp Chautauqua in Franklin, Ohio.  The conference is always good, but this one was exceptional.  The only thing that would have made it better for me was if the keynote speaker had taken her Bible passages from the King James Bible.  She used a different translation so it was hard to follow along, and because of that, I’m not certain that it…

A few weeks ago, our pastor brought a Wednesday night Bible lesson about the responsibilities of the watchman.  (Ezekiel 33:2-9)  I’ve known for a very long time that as a child of God, I am responsible to warn the lost of the pending judgment.  But it’s so easy to cruise through life, from one busy day to the next, frequently crossing paths with people bound for hell, yet never considering…