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Welcome! |
I finally got all my Christmas decorations put away. Well, except for the few that I always end up finding that escaped my efforts. I put decorations in every room. The one thing I make sure is that there is a nativity in each room. After all, Jesus is the reason for the season! We had family over for Christmas dinner. Before Christmas we hosted my husband's reenactment team's Christmas dinner and gift exchange. I also had a Christmas cookie baking party here. It's a good thing I quit making photo calendars for gifts. That was a major project and kept my stress level high. Last year I was able to relax and enjoy things more.
For some reason I've always overburdened myself trying to please people or make
their lives easier. It might be something that hung on after I got rid of
my low self esteem. I like to make people smile and laugh. Maybe I
should just tickle them instead.
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Why is it that everything is so complicated these days? A lot of it is
probably the fault of technology. I have found that a lot of weird
glitches happen to me. Once my son asked me to copy a file off my work
computer. When he went to look it wasn't there. I knew I had done
it, but he is a techno-wizard and he told me it wasn't there. So, the next
day I copied it AGAIN. It still wasn't showing up. He had some kind
of scan program that located it. For some reason it was invisible.
What the heck? An hour ago I went to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. My sweet husband made another pot. However, instead of emptying the filter he added another scoop on top of the used coffee. That clogged the filter holder and made coffee grounds and brown water flow over the counter and onto the floor under the refrigerator. Guess what I was doing for the last hour. Now the floor in front of the refrigerator looks cleaner than the rest of the kitchen floor. Guess what I will be doing later today. Oh my! |
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| I didn't make it to volunteer at the cat shelter this
week and last week. Last week I wasn't feeling good. This week I
went to a service at the Riverside National Cemetary for a good friend of
ours. It has been particularly hard losing him. He was such an
active and vibrant person. There is a large hole in the world now.
The older I get the more funerals there are. The important thing to remember is that every single day is a gift. We have no guarantees of how long we will be here on Earth. However, we do have guarantees that we will either pass from Earth to Heaven or to Hell. What's it going to be? I made a list of scriptures about salvation along with some food for thought. It is here. |
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~~~~~Keep on going down for the Bible Study~~~~~
Be sure to go to the menu or the site map and see what else is available for you. There's quite a collection of goodies here at the Clarion Call. I hope your visit here is and was a good one. Since my "door" is always open I don't know who is coming and going. I would love to hear from you! |
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Sometimes the Bible study was started in the welcome message. Each Bible study has a link to that week's welcome. You know, I just realized that I was blogging before there was such a thing as a blog! |
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News Flashes If something happens and I can't communicate with you I will post a message here. |
Updated weekly (63.96725% of the time) |
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Mark 9:23-24 |
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In the last study I mentioned this scripture in reference
to having faith. God knows our limitations and weaknesses. He knows
that it is difficult, if not downright impossible, for us to believe something
we cannot see, touch, smell, hear, or taste. Mat 17:19-20: "Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." So, unbelief is what prevents miracles from taking place. Have you ever noticed that there are very few documented miracles? One day, a few years ago, I searched and searched on the Internet for proof that miracles were taking place. After all, there are a lot of people who probably have greater faith than I do. I didn't find one. Having an analytical mind I have difficulty believing things without proof. I don't forward emails that have warnings unless I go check to see if they are true. When I hear a "conspiracy theory" I don't believe it as it is only a THEORY. So, how did I come to believe so strongly that there is a God? Way back in the early 1970's I began to pray for proof. I very much wanted to believe, but needed some proof to make sure I wasn't falling for a theory. It was then that I read an article in the newspaper about the Shroud of Turin. It's the piece of fabric that looks like it has the reverse image of a man on it. That was the proof I needed. Since then there has been some doubt raised that it actually was Jesus' image due to carbon-dating. However, once I had that "proof" for myself I jumped wholeheartedly into reading my Bible. Since that time God has proved His existence to me over and over. I just needed that first kick in the pants to jump-start my belief. He knew what I needed. He knows what you need, too. If you aren't sure then pray pray pray. It is important for each of us to strengthen our belief. I have a license plate holder that says, "If you believe there is no God you'd better be right!" After all, if eternity in either heaven or hell is the choice God is offering compared to the other option of ceasing to exist altogether shouldn't we find out which is true? Going back to miracles such as moving a mountain. As I prayed to have the faith that God wanted me to have since I obviously had less than a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20: "...If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. ") He showed me something. Everything is made up of molecules. Molecules are made up of atoms. Why can you pass your hand through water and not through a wall? It is the arrangement of those miniscule particles. What is to prevent God from disassembling a mountain into gaseous particles and reassembling it somewhere else? What is to prevent God from aligning my particles so that the spaces in between them lines up with the solid particles in a wall so I can walk through the wall? What is to prevent God from disassembling cancer cells and reassembling them as normal cells? Was Jesus a liar? He said nothing shall be impossible if we have enough faith. So, if it takes a kick in the pants to jump start our faith then lets get that kick! God knows what it will take to help your unbelief. I've got a story about a miracle. OK, so it was a small miracle, but it was still a miracle! Check it out: Nothing Wavering |
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Did you miss the
last Bible study? Here's a short cut to find it.
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My mind is always busy. It wanders from thing to thing. Many times those thoughts just float away. Every once in a while I will catch one and put it here. Once a new musing comes then "poof" the old one is gone. |
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I was just going to do a weekly Bible Study but I wanted people to know more about me so they could relate to the study. When I visit pages I like to know the person behind the page. Without personal experience mixed in with the Bible Study it seems to fall flat. After all, how can you trust what you are reading if you don't know where it is coming from? It was God urging me to put things about myself there. Eventually He had me put a lot more of my personal spiritual experiences online such as my Prayer Closet. By sharing my experiences it has given encouragement to others going through similar things. It isn't all about me teaching about how things should be. It's about all of us sharing and teaching each other. By laying my spiritual experiences open like a fileted fish, other people have come forward to share their, similar, experiences. The Clarion Call grew and grew with the help of people searching for answers, encouragement, and fellowship. Now here you are. Are you here to help, too? |
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Eagle head pictures at the top
courtesy of
Sue Woosley
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