Galveston Returns

I saw on the news today
That Galveston will return
Hurricane Ike made his destruction
With advances that we spurn.

Miles and miles of cars and trucks
Loaded with things they will need
In hopes that their homes are safe
And their efforts will succeed.

Will their houses still be there
Or will they be gone
People are ready to return
And muster up with brawn.

The anxiety of every one
Not knowing what to expect
All are in my prayers to God
That he will restore and protect.


Brenda Stevens
Copyright©2008

Forgive my Awful Blunder

Never thought I was in any danger
We’ve had hurricanes pass by before
My family was sent to higher ground
I stay behind with our pets they adore.

As time went by and fear set in
The waves were getting higher
I decided to make a break for it
For the hurricane became dire.

My truck was my only means
Of escaping Hurricane Ike
Water now over my truck
I feel the force of the strike.

I’m swept out of the truck
But I swim with all my might
Taking Dobermans and guinea pig
To nearby house that looks to invite.

The terror of night was so strong
The waves busted windows I think
So I dove into the water with hope
And clung to the roof til it began to sink

Dog paddling through ocean swells
That often took me under
I bargained with Almighty God
To forgive my awful blunder.

“I’ll be a better man
If you give me something to float on”
My earnest pleas for help
Assisted me to muster up brawn.

Thoughts of my family
Gave me renewed strength
God sent plywood and a raft
He had me now at arms length.

The forceful current carried me
Across Bolivar and East Bay
Dodging the Alligators and moccasins
So I just continued to pray.

I came to an abrupt halt
Just inside Chambers County
And top of a floating wreckage
Is where I found my bounty.

A pear, a can of Sprite,
And some good looking Tupperware
Gave means of nourishment
And was answer to my prayer.

I could see people being rescued
As we sat upon this heap
And they are not seeing me
Even as I continue to leap.

So the next day I swam again
To an oil well where I did cling.
And shouted at some passers-by
Now I’ll live to see another Spring.


Brenda Stevens
Copyright©2008

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Knowledge is the mother of wonder. ~Joseph Wood Krutch

Mother of Wonder

Mother of Wonder,
Knowledge is her name.
She gives excitement to life
To help figure out the game.

Knowledge takes precedence
In moving through the earth.
Endless opportunities
Gives Wonder new birth.

Knowledge can lead to Success,
For Success can be plenty,
But using a little Wisdom
Keeps Wonder from being empty.

Brenda Stevens
copyright©2008

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Devotion: Who did God Choose as Vice President?

Dear Faithful One,

With the ongoing Presidential campaign, are you sitting at the edge of your seat waiting to hear who was chosen to run as Vice President? Now, imagine yourself as one of the candidates who could have been chosen. What thoughts were going through your head regarding your future? What happens then when you finally hear the selection and discover you were passed over for the appointment? History will unfold before your eyes but you will not be the one in that house, in that seat, in that inner circle. Have you ever wondered if the choice was God's intention or can human flesh get in the way of God's plans? How can we tell if a specific election was part of God's plans?

Samuel was sent by God to anoint the future King, 1 Sam 16:8-11 reads: Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either." Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, "Nor has the LORD chosen this one." Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." 11 So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" NIV. Observe that Jesse is acting as counselor to Samuel and is confident of his ability to discern potential. So he puts before Samuel his top picks. He offered him Abinadab, then Shammah, then seven others. None were the ones God had chosen.

By Samuel's persuasion, Jesse then pulled David from the field. Don't miss the fact that God shut the door to nine of Jesse's choices because no matter how many false starts, God always fulfills His purpose. On the tenth try, Jesse reluctantly picks David because God allowed him to run out of options and we find Samuel naming the next successor to the throne. I wonder today if you are frustrated because you don't sense a fit in the choices placed before you. Instead of force fitting a choice, perhaps you need a spirit filled Samuel in your life to help you to connect the dots and to confirm, "This is it!"

How did Samuel know who was God's choice? 1 Sam 16:12-13 tells us: Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one." NIV. Don't miss the fact that God's choice is followed by an outpouring of God's power. So don't be afraid to look for confirmation and the visible evidence of God's power pouring out from His selections. 1 Sam 16:13 reads, "and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power." NIV.

Oh Faithful One, if you see those who are ineffective in their places of authority, could it be because they were not God's choice for the position? If you do not find yourself operating in God's power, could it be because you appointed yourself or allowed someone who is not Spirit filled to talk you into an appointment? But if you are sure of God's choice, then don't hesitate to ask God for an outpouring of His power. Personally, I say to God all the time, "I desire to live for your dreams. If you allowed me to be passed over for an appointment, then you must have other plans for me that fit your greater purpose. However, if I am your choice, then show the world your hands are on me by showering your favor on me and releasing your power. How else will the world know that you sent me? And if you will not go with me or bless my efforts, then let me sit and wait until you are ready to move forward because I am not in a hurry and there is nothing else I need to get to or accomplish except to be in the center of your perfect will."

Time will prove God's choices. Until then, let's look closer to home at our own lives. Is there someone in your organization who has demonstrated by their ineffectiveness that they are in the wrong seat? Are you in a place where you are trying to force fit your role? What needs to change so you can start flowing in God's power?

God's Word is the compass for my life. When I pray for you, I hear a victory song. I believe in you because I believe in the power of God's Word in you as you put His Word into action.

Love, Anita

www.Inspirewomen.org

God Loves you and Offers a wonderful PLAN for your life

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I feel much better

Crazed Distracted Mother

The Apostle Paul

Acts 20:9-12

Still Blessing His Name

Two months after the tragic loss of his daughter, Steven Curtis Chapman resumes touring—and says he's found a new reason to sing.
By Elizabeth Diffin, online exclusive

It's not often you leave a concert reflecting on the words of a song by a different artist. But as I exited the July 24 Steven Curtis Chapman event, the words of a Matt Redman worship song echoed through my head. Chapman opened the concert with "Blessed Be Your Name" just two months after the death of his 5-year-old daughter, Maria Sue, in a tragic accident at the family's home.

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Christianity and America

The pilgrims, as you will recall, were, Christians fleeing Europe in order to escape religious persecution, and they literally began their stay in their new land with the words, “In the name of God, Amen.”

The pilgrims were followed to New England by the Puritans, who created bible-based commonwealths. Those commonwealths practiced the same sort of representative government as their church covenants. Those governmental covenants and compacts numbered more than 100, and were the foundation for our Constitution.

New Haven (Connecticut) and Massachusetts were founded by Puritans who wanted to reform the Church of England, who later became known as Congregationalists. Roger Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island based on the principle of freedom of conscience. Pennsylvania was established by William Penn as a Quaker colony. Maryland was a haven for Catholics from Protestant England.

America was indeed founded by bible-believing Christians and based on Christian principles. When they founded this country, the Founding Fathers envisioned a government that would promote and encourage Christianity.

All but two of the first 108 universities founded in America were Christian. This includes the first, Harvard, where the student handbook listed this as Rule #1: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."

In 1777. Continental Congress voted to spend $300,000 to purchase bibles which were to be distributed throughout the 13 colonies! And in 1782, the United States Congress declared, “The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.

So, let us take a look at some of the lives and words of our Founding Fathers to see whether they were Christians or whether history has been revised.

[John Adams] [Sam Adams] [Charles Carroll] [Alexander Hamilton] [John Hancock] [Patrick Henry] [Francis Hopkinson] [John Jay] [Thomas Jefferson] [James Madison] [John Marshall] [George Mason] [Thomas McKean] [Dr. Benjamin Rush] [Roger Sherman] [Richard Stockton] [George Washington] [Noah Webster] [John Witherspoon]

Discover Your Child's Strengths Through Play

How play helps get kids ready for the real world

By: Mary Beth Lagerborg

As we approached the start of preschool for our son Tim, age 4, the teacher alerted me to the fact his class would have seven little girls and Tim. In the car on the way home after the first day, I asked him, "How did you feel about being the only boy?" Timmy looked up at me thoughtfully, as if he'd not considered this. "Well, when we play house, I'm the dad," he said, grinning.

In my grown-up-ness I'd thought he'd miss boy rough-and-tumble. But he had plenty of that with his brother at home. My thoughts had been small and logical and worried; his, like his imagination, were uncomplicated and free.

Children's work is play. Day in and day out that's what children do at home: They play. As moms we see play small-sightedly: Will they make a mess? Will I have to play with them? Will they argue or play nicely?

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The Half-Truths of Self-Help

4 false assertions the "gurus" promote

Suzanna Kamphuis

I'll never forget the day I sat in Ruby Tuesday's alone, eating lunch as I opened my freshly purchased copy of Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled. His first chapter begins with these words: "Life is difficult."

Scott Peck had me at difficult. This I knew. All my life, I'd struggled with poor self-esteem and crippling, uncontrollable fears. Yet in my family's conservative Christian circles, a good Christian never needed therapy—ever. Self was to be denied, not embraced.

Peck goes on to say life isn't supposed to be easy; difficult is OK. Reading hungrily as I ate my meal, I suddenly felt less lonely than I had in a long time.

In my late teens, when I headed to Bible college to discover "God's will for my life," I gravitated toward bookstore self-help shelves, seeking answers in secular titles that promised healing for my wounds—Codependent No More and Taking Responsibility. My justification for this interest?

I was fixing myself for God.

I continued to read self-help throughout my 20s. But after years of chasing the self-help dream, I faced a serious marital crisis. At the prospect of becoming a single parent, I found myself turning to God—not my books—for the answers I desperately needed.

Don't get me wrong; secular self-help isn't without some sound psychological insights. But too often these insights come wrapped in falsehoods. Here are four that popular self-help gurus promote—and that Christians should avoid.

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My Most Memorable Moment as a Mother

My most memorable moment as a mother was when my youngest son Zachary was about 15 - 18 months old. He was walking by the time he was 10 months and was always getting into things. The story that I am about to tell you is ABSOLUTELY TRUE!

One day my husband and I found him at the Ozarka water fountain pulling on the spouts and there was water all over the place. He was having a wonderful time. My husband screamed “NO”, which immediately got Zachary’s attention. My husband picked him up and kept saying, “NO, NO, NO! NO WATER”! This really scared my little son and he started crying and repeated over and over, “No water, no water, no water.” He was repeating it so much that I thought we might have to get him therapy to get over it.

I had my husband sit Zack on the couch between us so that we could start calming him down, but he kept repeating over and over “NO WATER.” We told him calmly, “That’s correct. No water! Don’t play in the water.” Then he saw an ink pen on the coffee table in front of us and said, “No write, no write!” We encouraged him and said, “That RIGHT! You don’t play in the water and you don’t write on the walls! You are getting it, Zachary!” We had corrected him many times before about writing on the walls. He started saying very franticly, “No water, no write, no water, no write!” “Yes,” we said, “no water and no write. Calm down….you don’t play in the water and you don’t write on the walls.” He so sadly looked up at my husband and put his little hand on top of his head and while rubbing his head, he stated, “No water, no write”, but in a more calmly fashion. He then looked up at his dad, while still rubbing his dad’s head and said, “No water, no write, no hair!” NO HAIR! I fell of the couch, laughing so hard I could hardly get my breath! My son’s eyes brightened with my laughter! I picked him up and gave him a big hug and a kiss and said, “You’ve got it, Zack! NO WATER, NO WRITE,” and pointing to dad, “NO HAIR!!!” Poor dad! Now he needed therapy!!

Brenda Stevens

From a former US President:

"America was born a

Christian nation for the purpose of exemplifying to the

nations of the world the principles of righteousness

found in the Word of God." - Woodrow Wilson, President

1913-1921

Talking Narnia to Your Neighbors

How C.S. Lewis's fairy tales can impact your friends for Christ.

Keri Wyatt Kent

The summer Lindy Lowry was 20, she rejected the Christian faith she'd had since childhood—dismissing it as a fairy tale that made no sense in a world full of evil. That's because while she was away at college attending summer school, the unthinkable happened: Her best friend since childhood was kidnapped, raped, and brutally murdered.

Lindy questioned everything after her friend's horrific death. Was God really good? Her friend had been a Christian; why hadn't God protected her? "It caused a crisis of faith unlike anything I'd ever experienced," Lindy says. "If God let such horrible, senseless things happen, I wanted nothing to do with him."

Lindy rejected God, but during the rebellious, angry season that followed, Lindy's Christian friends didn't reject her. It was their friendship—and several "fairy tales" by famed Christian apologist C.S. Lewis—that eventually restored her faith. Chief among those was his seven-volume children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia.

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The History of Mother's Day

In the United States, Mother’s Day experienced a series of false starts before eventually transitioning into the "Hallmark" holiday that we celebrate today. In 1858, Anna Reeves Jarvis was the first woman to hold an official celebration of mothers, when in her home state of West Virginia, she instituted Mothers' Work Day to raise awareness about local sanitation issues. During the Civil War, she expanded the scope of Mothers' Work Day to include sanitary conditions on both sides of the battlefield.

Meanwhile Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," attempted to institute a national celebration of mothers that honored women's inclinations toward peace (rather than cleanliness). In 1872, she initiated and promoted a Mother's Day for Peace, to be held on June 2, which was celebrated the following year by women in 18 cities across America. The holiday continued to be honored by Bostonian women for another decade, but eventually phased out after Howe stopped underwriting the cost of the celebrations.

Then in 1905, Anna Reeves Javis passed away and her daughter, Anna Javis, took up her mother's torch. Anna swore on her mother's gravesite that she would realize her lifelong dream of creating a national day to honor mothers. In 1907, Anna launched her campaign by handing out white carnations to congregants at her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia. In 1908, her mother's church acquiesced to Anna's request to hold a special Sunday service in honor of mothers - a tradition that spread the very next year to churches in 46 states. In 1909, Anna left her job and dedicated herself to a full-time letter-writing campaign, imploring politicians, clergymen and civic leaders to institute a national day for mothers.

In 1912, Jarvis' efforts met with success: Her home state of West Virginia adopted an official Mother's Day; two years later, the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution, signed by President Wilson, establishing a national Mother's Day emphasizing the role of women in their families - and not, like Julia Ward Howe's campaign, in the public arena. Ever since, Mother's Day has been celebrated by Americans on the second Sunday in May.

Perhaps the country's greatest proponent of motherhood, Anna Jarvis ironically never had children of her own. Yet that didn't stop her from making the celebration of Mother's Day her lifelong mission. In fact, as the holiday took on a life of its own, Jarvis expressed frequent dismay over its growing commercialization. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit," she is quoted as saying.

"I Grew Up in a Polygamist Family"

Article of Kathy as told to Jan Brown, Christianity Today

I was one of 13 children raised by our father and three mothers in a polygamist community in Utah. We were fundamentalist Mormons who practiced the original teachings of Mormonism from its founder Joseph Smith. This teaching includes following the Principle, which states a man must practice polygamy—marrying at least three wives—to enter the Celestial Kingdom.

Even though I knew which woman was my biological mother, we were encouraged to treat all the wives the same. Outwardly, our family seemed content, but beneath the surface lay jealousy and pain. We never acknowledged these feelings because we were supposed to sacrifice our emotions. Even laughter was discouraged.

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