Let's start with the bad news. I still have that cold I told you about. I feel better, but it is still trying to wear me down.

Last week I felt like I needed to do something to help me to focus on the Lord. I had lots of questions and I was not hearing any of the answers.

I did break the "wall" that I had felt between me and the Lord. It was probably a combination of not feeling well, being too busy when I had the energy to move, and not keeping my mind on Him. It wasn't a wall that originated with God, that's for sure!

God is continually reaching out to touch us and to talk to us. It is our own fault if we feel distanced from Him. It is probably due to a all of or a combination of: our lack of reading the Word, our lack of praising Him, our lack of spending time listening for His voice, and our lack of spending time talking with Him.

It takes time to develop a relationship with anyone, including with God. It also takes time and effort maintaining a relationship. God is willing and able to spend the time and effort on His end of the relationship. The rest is up to us!

I need to get this online so I can go help my husband. He is a high school teacher and was surprised to find a wall down the middle of his classroom, diving it into two smaller rooms. He has spent 15 years accumulating things for four different subjects that he has taught as well as things related to the three different sports he has coached. Somebody forgot to tell him (or was afraid to tell him) it was going to happen.

He has only had a few days to get things organized in there. He is spending a lot of time coaching football and doesn't have any more time to spend in there. So, I've been going over there and helping him to find places to put everything. We finally got most of the students' desks cleared of teaching supplies. I will have to be going over there after school starts and helping him organize his filing system since he lost a lot of storage space. He needs to be in the room with me so I can ask him questions.

Today I am going to go put posters up on the walls and do some other things that don't require his input. So, I will see you next week!

Link to the 9/4/01 Bible study.

Well, school has started and life is settling down to a dull roar around here. My husband is a high school teacher and my "baby" is a senior in high school. With both involved in the football program, they are gone until around 8:00 at night. That means when I clean a room it stays clean all day. (Well.... most of the time. We have two cats and there is always the possibility that one of them will plant a hairball in the middle of my clean room!)

I'm still not feeling 100% from the cold I've had, but I am much better. I have the energy to finish putting things away from our vacation and to work on getting the house shipshape. As soon as the house looks decent I HAVE to get out in the yard. The weeds are trying to produce a movie entitled, "The Killer Weeds that Ate California." It is my job to foil their plans before it is too late!!!

The Lord has been impressing something on my heart lately. It has to do with spiritual things in the earthly realm. There are things God wants to do that are being hindered and often destroyed because of us.

Sometimes it is because of lack of enough faith on our part. Many times it is because we refuse to accept anything that is not "normal" or that doesn't fit into the "laws of physics." More often than not it is because we are not seeking God's will. We are not waiting on Him and asking Him what He wants to do.

We step out and do things because we think they are things that fit in God's plan without ever asking God if that is what He wants. Perhaps the things we are doing are traditional things that we have always done, or that others have taught us to do. Tradition is probably the main culprit in hindering what God wants to do.

There are things in the spiritual realm that are ready to enter into the earthly realm, but it takes our cooperation. God is wanting to do some great, wonderful, and miraculous things but isn't because we aren't doing our part.

Sometimes God doesn't move when He wants to move because there aren't enough people in a group that are seeking Him. They wouldn't be receptive of what He would do. It is in a group of people that God can and will move the most mightily. However, the spiritual readiness of a group usually has a great deal to do with the spiritual readiness of the group leader.

It is extremely important that we pray for our pastors and church leaders!

My hubby was pleased with what I was able to get done in his classroom last week. I found some really cool wallpaper borders that had cars on them (most of his classes are driver education). Plus I found a table lamp that looks like a traffic signal. He needed a light for when he shows films and instructs using an overhead projector.

Now I need to go in a few days during school to help him redo his filing system. When they cut his room in half he had to get rid of some storage cabinets and now his stuff is in a mess. It just boggles my mind how the higher-ups in the school system do things without considering the results. Teachers are there to teach the students. When you put the teaching materials, classroom, or school into upheaval you are stopping or subtracting from the teaching/learning process. Duh!

Link to the 9/10/01 Bible study.

We have had a horrible, horrible thing happen in the United States this past week. It has almost been a week and still most people are still feeling unbelief and horror. It is inconceivable how anyone could be so callous toward other humans, especially toward children! It raises the question of why God would allow such a thing to happen.

Over the past few years God has shown me glimpses of His heart during times like this. He also dealt with my heart of anger and unforgiveness toward people who show lack of concern towards other people. I put together an article called Why Does God Allow Evil?

Link to the 9/17/01 Bible study.

I see where our stock market here in the United States is taking a nose dive. If I stopped to ponder the consequences of that I would begin having a panic attack. All my husband's and my retirement funds are tied up in it. However, I will not dwell on it. My future lies in God's hands. He has all the answers. If He doesn't restore our retirement money then He will have another solution. That's the plain and simple truth.

I used to think it was a cop-out to not do something when circumstances dictated some kind of action was necessary. I thought it was an escape from responsibility to place it in God's hands and walk away from it. I'm thinking about the time when I had four plane tickets, reservations at a hotel, and a reservation for a rental car to go visit my ex mother-in-law in 1993. My tickets were on American Airlines. They went on strike after the plane tickets were purchased. As the time for my trip got closer I began frantically making phone calls to find out my alternatives in case the strike didn't end in time.

I had neglected to focus on the fact that I had prayed about whether or not to make that trip. God gave the go-ahead. If God said to go then God would handle the details! I forced myself to stay off the phone and to wait. It sure wasn't easy. Nobody else understood why I wasn't taking action. They thought I had lost my mind. I was struggling with the thought that I was not fulfilling my responsibility to make sure I didn't lose the money I had invested. It was hard to "let go and let God!"

Well, that was one of my first big lessons on having faith in God. When He does something He does it perfectly! They went off strike THE DAY BEFORE OUR FLIGHT!

So, once again, I am placing myself and my problems in God's hands. He knows what will happen. He is capable of taking care of us in our retirement. Right now our job is to let Him do His job.

I've been noticing how talking about God is becoming more prevalent in the past week or so. Emphasis is being placed on the "In God We Trust" that is imprinted on our money. There are an awful lot of people that believe in God that have never publicly admitted it until now. Perhaps the fear of other's opinions is less since they see others doing the same thing.

Maybe now is the time that something can be done about mistakes we Christians have allowed to happen. We allowed a lawsuit brought by one person to take away the privilege of praying in public schools. We stand silently while the ACLU removes Christian symbols from public property. How can the voices of only a few override what Christians know to be true?

Look at what has happened to Christians. How can we rise up as one if we are separated into different denominations? How can we rise up as one if two churches of the same denomination that are within a mile of each other have never met each other? How can we rise up as one if people within the same walls of a church distrust and dislike each other?

What is the solution? I don't know. For now, I just see a big problem.

God has the answers. Let's turn our eyes to Him and find out what our portion is in the solution! Then, let's do it!

Link to the 9/24/01 Bible study.