Tag: Christianity

Prayers of Black Women: Great is Thy Faithfulness

Photo by A. A. Harrison
Photo by A. A. Harrison

Lord there are so many social issues to pray for that I’m not sure which one I should bring to your feet this morning.  There is the issue of HIV among the porn stars.  There is the issue of homosexual’s committing suicide because of personal fears.  There are the social issues of gun control in America. Lord as you can see from my small prayer list, that could easily grow, there is a need for you.

Lord as you know I started this prayer last week after coming home from church.  Pastor Robert Gelinas spoke on Your mercy.  He mainly spoke from the book of Jonas.  He talked about how people want your mercy but often hate when you extend the same mercy to those deem unworthy.  With great surprise the end of his sermon took a tailspin.  He held up a rock and said it represented people who had not forgiven themselves.

Lord as you saw I sat listening in bewilderment.  It was then I realized I was Jonas.  I had not forgiven myself for becoming a teen-mom.  I had not forgiven myself for countless other things I had done with the life you gladly gave me.  Lord so long ago, I realized I had wasted and was wasting my life.  I’m sorry!  Please forgive me for wasting the life you created before you formed it in the belly of my precious mom’s womb.  Please stop me from living a life of regret.  Please help me to live in the footsteps you ordered for me.  Please help me to be a gift given back to the greatest gift giver.  Lord, let me be a wonderful gift for you!

Lord this morning someone woke up unsure about life.  Lord, I pray that you give this person a dream or a new dream with new hope.  Lord, I pray that you help them to learn to put one foot in front of the other.  Lord, I pray that you help them to understand “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Lord, I pray that they realize the cliché I just used apply to all aspects of life.  But more so Lord, I pray they understand “Great is Thy faithfulness.”

Lord help those that have contracted HIV.  Give them your peace that surpasses all human understanding.  Lord help those that have confesses in their hearts that they are homosexual.  Lord help those that own guns and those that don’t own guns to come to mutual agreements.  But most of all Lord help the world to know ‘Great is Thy faithfulness.”

  • “Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
    There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
    Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
    As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
  • “Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!“
    Morning by morning new mercies I see;
    All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
    “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!
  • Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
    Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
    Join with all nature in manifold witness
    To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
  • Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
    Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
    Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
    Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/19#1#ixzz2ezjVFEMV

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The Prayers of Black Women: A Kiss from Heaven

4213264-261659-vector-illustration-of-a-breast-cancer-pink-ribbon-treeYesterday a friend posted on Facebook she had to cut her long beautiful hair.  Apparently this has been a year that has tried her soul.  Medically she has opted for chemo and feels she is hanging onto life as she knows it.

Within her personal message she wrote she didn’t want us to feel sorry for her; but it is hard to be joyful when your friend is fighting to live.  It is even harder to be joyful when the illnesses of others make you question your own mortality.  So today I wrote a prayer for her and it is called “A Kiss from Heaven.”

A Kiss from Heaven

A kiss from Heaven is what I prayed for you.
I wanted you to know that God will see you through.
He knew you would lose your hair,
But a kiss from Heaven will show His care.

A kiss from Heaven is what I prayed for you.
I asked for God to kiss you at half-passed two.
God said He has already kissed you
And I know His kiss will heal you too.

A kiss from Heaven is what I ask for God to do,
So you will see His love shining through.
I asked that He give your skin a glow
So you will know He still runs the show.

A kiss from Heaven is what I prayed for you.
When I felt you might become a tad thin too.
I want God to let you know you are going to win,
Because He gives you courage from within.

A kiss from Heaven is what I prayed for you.
So when you feel down with sorrow
I want God to let you know He holds your tomorrows.
A kiss from Heaven is what I’m praying for you.

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Inspirational Fridays: Aging With and Without Regrets

As my sister celebrated her birthday this year she was and is unquestionably delighted to turn 50. I on the other hand did not look forwards to turning another year older.  Yet my 52 birthday was creeping closely and did manage to arrive on scheduled.   My birthday is never late!   Honestly, I really wish after I had turned 30 my birthday would come around once every 10 years.

It appears my regretful and wounded soul continues to look for the life that was lost so long ago.

My person questions all of life’s ambitions, my life’s ambitions, to a point where I’m silently asking the following:  What makes the aging graceful and ready to grow older and old?  What makes the aging mean and bitter as they do grow older and old?  And what will I become as I age and my physical beauty continues to fade?  Will I be a sweet old woman that has few regrets?  Or will I become an old bag of bitter bones that is mean because I failed to live my life to its fullest?

Truthfully, I would say at this point I am becoming by default ‘an old bag of bitter bones that is mean because I failed to live my life to its fullest.’

Are you shocked at my brutal conclusion of my self awareness examination?  Are you shocked that I can be as truthful about what I inwardly harbor?  Don’t be shocked because there are other’s just like me.  Perhaps you are like me.  Maybe you are worse than me.  But it is never too late for us to change the course of our lives as long as we continue to breathe hope.

At this moment my beloved Colorado is under flood watch.  Because of flooding many of the smaller cities and towns have been force to evacuate. Lives are being uprooted by force of nature and people have to take shelter of safety in unfamiliar places.  Uncertainty about the course of their lives looms over the evacuees’ heads as they wait for the storm to subside.

After carefully watching video footage of flooding areas in Colorado I have come to the conclusion, it is the amount of life’s storms and their surges that determines if we will age gracefully or bitter.

And regrettably sometimes our personal lives from beginning to end are under flood watch or in the eye of the storm.

At least my life is consistently under storm watch; and often my poor choices continue to place me in the midst of raging floods.  And, since, I didn’t know how to swim to safety I have found myself spiritually and emotionally drowning over and over again.  As a result, I regret a few things I have done, moreover, my biggest regrets are the things I failed and continue to fail to do; therefore, for me aging is a big reminder how I wasted my talents and my life.

With remorse I must write, my life [outside of my children] was squandered on people and things that could not validate my existence.  In a nutshell, I confess, I spent the majority of my life looking for validation from people who had never been validated themselves.   So when I turned 50 I felt life was over for me.  I felt nothing about me depicted a life of success and that included the children I dearly love.

But as I continue on this journey we call life, every day I am reminded people age 50 and over that are living wonderful lives with little to no regrets.  And Lillie McCloud is one of those people.  She is an amazing singer.  She has an amazing outlook about her life.  She does not regret putting her singing career on hold to raise her children.  At the age of 54 she feels now is her time to fulfill her dream.  I just love her confidence during her X Factor audition.  She selected the right song. She wore the right outfit. Her persona said what she stated “I’m here to win” as she sang Cece Winans’ song “Alabaster Box.” Everything about Lillie says age 50 is where it’s at!  Check her out:

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The Prayers of Black Women: Gathering the Pieces of a Broken Marriage

Artist: Unknown
Artist: Unknown

A week ago I was in a conversation with a friend.  Immediately, I found myself praying silently.  His words were upsetting.  His confidence was frightening.  And most noteworthy was his self-proclaim spiritual position as an ambassador for Christ.  Scary!  His words were without a doubt bloodcurdling.

If he had not came across as an insufferable know-it-all I could have drummed up some sympathy and informed him that his words were discouraging to his listeners, as they stopped him from making a difference.  With retrospect I must write, arrogant know-it-alls most often do more mental damage than the person that is doing the abusing.  There are effective ways to counsel a person in crisis and using tough love must be implemented at the correct time, or else nothing said or being done will help hurting people move forward with living their lives.

My friend was conversing with me loudly.  He spoke fast.  And with the combination of speaking loud and speaking fast he held the floor.  There was no room to exit the conversation, therefore, I found myself being victimized by his bitter words that held no comfort.  Again!

To my dismay I am realizing that my friend set me up.  He knows my present dilemmas.  He knew I could easily discuss them.  Therefore, he asked conversation starter type questions that would lure me in and prompt me to begin discussing my personal life.  Honestly, he was looking for a conversation that made him feel good about himself.  As why the first question out of his deceitful mouth was “Are you at a drive thru?”  When I answered with a hearty “No” then he proceeded with “What’s going on?”  After I began to tell him of my husband’s legal problems he became immediately argumentative.

He said things to this effect:  What good is your husband to you?  Why don’t you just get rid of him?  I thought you were going to get rid of him?  You sound like my momma.  She is forever complaining about daddy.  We the kids have told her to leave him.  I finally told her stop complaining about daddy.  I told her I was sick of hearing it.

Wow!  Right!  After hearing the bitter words he and his siblings have said and are saying to their aged mom, I didn’t feel sad for me any longer.  I came to his mother’s defense with stating “It is not that easy to leave a person when your lives are webbed together.”  He said, “Yes it is!”

Really!  Personally, I feel a marriage should never be easy to end unless a person’s life or mental wellbeing is being threatened.

I feel people with nomadic character traits can easily leave their spouses quickly without just cause.  But a person that has been married for over 50 plus years just can’t jump up and leave a perceivably abusive spouse.  It is not that easy!  So today I would like to pray for couples that are having marital problems and have been married for more years than they can remember.

Lord in your Holy word you say in Genesis 2:18b, “It is not good that the man should be alone:”

Lord there is numerous things that can be considered as marital problems; therefore, today, I would like to pray for those that are unhappily married.  Can you please spend your vacation with these couples for as long as they need you to stay?  Can you please take your Spirit of Comfort to bandage wounds sustained by marital conflict.  Can you collect their many tears and dry their eyes with promises of a brighter tomorrow.  Can you fill their hearts with love, unconditional love for the spouse they find unlovable.  Can you give those they consort with a spirit of understanding?  Can you give each spouse your spirit of truth on love, marriage, commitment, and divorce?  Can you give them joy where there is sorrow?  And most of all Lord, can you give them peace that surpasses all mankind’s understanding where there is conflict?  So all that loves them will not be affected by their marital woes.

Lord your word in John 6:12 say’s, “Gather the pieces that are leftover.  Let nothing be wasted.”  Please allow these couples to gather up their fragmented marital lives and bring the broken pieces to you so nothing from their marriage will be wasted.

Sincerely your faithful daughter,

Annette

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Inspirational Fridays – Unleashing Your Potential

Rock Creek Golf Course
Rock Creek Golf Course

Frank R. Tillapaugh

Unleashing Your Potential

An endless stream of messages, tasks and events will try to lure us from what God has called us to do.

As unique as God’s children are, so will the unique experiences that will aim to distract us from the business at hand.

Only if we have set our priorities and realize the significance of what we are doing for God’s greater glory, can we keep on keeping on.

We can then stay on course.

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The Prayers of Black Women: “The Serenity Prayer”

Sometimes in life we are overcome with stresses.  Some situations are good stresses but stresses nonetheless.  Other times we have negative stresses, and it is usually those situations that make us feel helpless and hopeless.  It is then when I am gently reminded of  the ” Serenity Prayer.”  Therefore, I am sharing the prayer with hope that it will find a way into stressful lives to make a difference.

Photographer: Artis Harrison
Photographer: Artis Harrison

The Serenity Prayer

by Reinhold Niebuhr
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
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The Prayers of Black Women: “Yield Not To Temptation”

Artist Unknown
Artist Unknown

“Just ask the Savior to help you, to comfort, strengthen and keep you. He is willing to aid you, and He will carry you through.”

Are you having a hard time with life these days?  Do you feel like you are traveling your journey alone?  If you answered “Yes” to both questions then the response is ‘Just ask the Savior to help you.’

Every life has ups and downs.  Realize you are just having a down moment.  And understand downtime is base upon a person’s ability or inability to find solutions to change the course of their lives.  But one thing is for sure and note worthy:  When a person has lost hope they are easily tempted, and normally the temptation in hopeless moments takes a person further from the life desired.

Prayer for today:  Lord help those that are having a hard time with life.  Show them your grace is more than enough during this moment of hopelessness.  Lord, prayer is being offered for those that don’t have the spirit to continue on.  Life has beaten them.  So they think and feel.  But, Lord, please make note that a request in being made on their behalf that you give them peace that surpasses all humankind understanding.  Fill in the gaps of their self-proclaimed empty lives with love, peace and most of all understanding.  Help them to see Lord that everyone is tempted in believing they are not the “Bell of the ball.”  Show them Lord how to roll on their backs so they can see the beauty of the blue sky, and show them Lord if they can look up they can get up.  And if they can get up they can enter into the party of life once again and realize they only had a bad dance partner.  Teach them Lord that sometimes in life we must learn how to first dance alone even on a crowed dance floor with couples.

Your Loving Daughter,

Annette