Praying for families of prisoners, today.

 

On Tuesdays we pray for Jason Kent and all families who have a loved one incarcerated. There are many broken-hearted parents who are missing the normal joys of life with their family because of incarceration. Please send protection, help, wisdom and healing for these families and their loved ones in Jesus name. I know that there are brokenhearted grandparents and brothers and sisters also and of course the children of prisoners endure much each day.

Remember the words of the Lord to you.

This scripture is from another version of the Bible that I use. Psalm 118 The Message (MSG) 1-4 Thank GOD because he’s good, because his love never quits. Tell the world, Israel, “His love never quits.” And you, clan of (Donna)/Aaron, tell the world, “His love never quits.” And you who fear GOD, join in, “His love never quits.” 5-16 Pushed to the wall, I called to GOD; from the wide open spaces, he answered. GOD’s now at my side and I’m not afraid; who would dare lay a hand on me?

Here's some more verses, if you have the time:

Isaiah 54:13New Century Version (NCV)

 

All your children will be taught by the LORD,

and they will have much peace.

“Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:

I’m about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,

Lay your foundations with sapphires,

construct your towers with rubies,

Your gates with jewels,

and all your walls with precious stones.

All your children will have GOD for their teacher—

what a mentor for your children!

You’ll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,

far from any trouble—nothing to fear!

far from terror—it won’t even come close!

If anyone attacks you,

don’t for a moment suppose that I sent them,

And if any should attack,

nothing will come of it.

I create the blacksmith

who fires up his forge

and makes a weapon designed to kill.

I also create the destroyer—

but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.

Any accuser who takes you to court

will be dismissed as a liar.

This is what GOD’s servants can expect.

I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.”

GOD’s Decree.

Isaiah 54:13-17The Message (MSG)

BLOGGING ABOUT BOOKS TODAY

Today I was thinking about my top favorite books for helping families who have recovery, family pain and addiction issues. These books, in particular I’m thinking of, and I’m posting these in no particular order, although most recently I’ve read Pam's and Sandy’s book daily, as they are so relevant to what I’m going through right now. I’ve actually read these all more than once. And each was for “such a time as this.”


PRAYING OUR LOVED ONE HOME by Pam Lanhart



She had me at the introduction, “The summer of brokenness. That is what I call the season of the darkest days of my life.” For me, I call it the “year of the greatest heartbreak.”

I’m on my second reading of this book, and I fully believe I’ll probably use it with my Bible and several other devotional books, every day of my life. For as long as I live.

I was already a fan of Pam’s devotions as she has been so faithful to post on our Facebook group page, Somebody’s Mother Online Prayer Support Group. The opening scripture is a promise: His love will lead them home. Exodus 15:13


https://www.amazon.com/Praying-Our-Loved-One-Home/dp/B07NWZZS16/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=Pam+Jones+Lanhart&qid=1566561999&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmr0



Sandy Swenson’s Tending Dandelions: https://www.amazon.com/Tending-Dandelions-Meditations-Addicted-Children/dp/1616497203/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NWA1FAAE65HN&keywords=sandy+swenson&qid=1553526482&s=gateway&sprefix=Sandy+Swens%2Caps%2C305&sr=8-1
Not only did I feel Sandy’s pain I was pretty sure she feels mine and a host of other people’s, too. The subtitle, HONEST MEDITATIONS FOR MOTHERS WITH ADDICTED CHILDREN, is true but it can also be used and pondered by most anyone, especially if you feel like you are or have been codependent.

Some of the titles of the meditations were poignant, such as: THE LAND OF TEARS, TO LOVE AN ADDICT, TOUGHEST LOVE OF ALL, and BETTER, NOT BITTER.

Sandy poured her experience, strength and hope into these pages and this quote had her name written all over it:

"Some people make your laugh a little louder, your smile a little brighter, and your life a little better. Try to be one of those people. (ANONYMOUS) from TENDING DANDELIONS




I'm not sure if this is my most recent review or not; lost some files on the computer. I was thinking about books that have helped me along the way. My review: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2OYXZFXC7EJMH/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0692631704

Why Don't They JUST QUIT?: Hope for families struggling with addiction. 5th Edition

by Joe Herzanek (Author), Judy Herzanek (Contributor)

 Joe covers it all and is a "must have" for your library and a great resource to recommend. I can't say enough about this book and their website.

 "Addiction is an equal opportunity destroyer" was the most profound quote written by Joe Herzanek in "Why Don't They Just Quit?" If you are a parent of an addict you will relate to that quote profoundly. This book should be in every home if addiction has challenged your family in any way. "Why Don't They Just Quit?" is a family education course in a very easy to read book with bold subtitles, questions and answers and others stories at the end. Hope is woven all through it. There are contemporary quotes throughout, and scripture is interwoven as well as comments from the family who went through the trenches with Joe Herzanek. He has paid his dues in addiction and recovery and has gone on to be a blessing to others through his work as an addictions counselor, as a chaplain at the Boulder County Jail and the president and founder of Changing Lives Foundation.

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-They-JUST-QUIT/dp/0692631704/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_sims?ie=UTF8&utm_content=buffer7bdb0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&fbclid=IwAR3MlCwbrEf5-60CnGQ2ldC0bQvmKo2cuhGVsDD4Ap7yRakRi0ttPX3YNLI


Praying for Your Addicted Loved One: 90 in 90 

by Sharron Cosby (Author)

This was one of my first “go to” books that was a comfort to my soul. I know Sharron and I always say, she’s the “Real deal and total package!” Her journey is unique but her focus on bible study and prayer are strong and powerful. https://www.amazon.com/Praying-Your-Addicted-Loved-One-ebook/dp/B00EXUE12Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=Sharron+Knight+Cosby&qid=1553527273&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-fkmr0



Another book I love for different reasons is: When I Lay My Isaac Down: Unshakable Faith in Unthinkable Circumstances. I can’t say enough about Carol’s faith and the love and hope she spreads is nothing short of a miracle of God. She glows with the Spirit’s enabling on her life. I recommend all her books but this one and A New Kind of Normal: Hope-Filled Choices When Life Turns Upside Down, are my favorites.

https://www.amazon.com/When-Lay-Isaac-Down-Circumstances/dp/161291442X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23NGMMDB08W6J&keywords=carol+kent+books&qid=1554810777&s=books&sprefix=carol+kent%2Cstripbooks%2C169&sr=1-1



I also love The Power of a Praying Parent in the mini-books size. I wasn’t able to find the link to that one,  but here is one:


 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0736957677?aaxitk=uBduH2oV.66Xd-WTjo0s-Q&pd_rd_i=0736957677&pf_rd_p=9420597b-7dad-4cbd-a28d-7d676ac67378&hsa_cr_id=6450710550401&sb-ci-n=asinImage&sb-ci-v=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F612lxbfpCtL.jpg&sb-ci-a=0736957677

All these books are unique and awesome and meet a need for information, wisdom and all-around sanity for living. Even if your addicted (or mentally ill/or fill in the blanks) loved one doesn’t live with you it can still affect your life strongly. You may even see signs that are similar in your sober relatives, codependency and what they call in programs, “isms”.  


I love these books, love these authors, I hope to have my devotion book right up there with them one day.



Come join with us over at Somebody’s Mother Online Prayer Support Group. We’ll hold you up in prayer.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/119408188089314/

Recognizable; My Thoughts on Florida Christian Writer’s Conference, 2019

Do you agree it’s true that we all want to be recognized in some way or the other? That isn’t always something we want to admit, but even the old television program, Cheers’ theme was “You want to go where everybody knows your name.”

It was so cool to go to the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference and see some familiar faces there that I recognized. It is nearly like being on holy ground, the beauty of nature there at Lake Yale is so abundant. 


Once, many years back, when I was in my forties, I was at the Volusia County Fair. A woman came up to me and said she’d been a nurse on duty the day I gave birth to my daughter, Regina, at Halifax Hospital. It had been over 25 years since that wonderful event and I was shocked that she’d recognized me. Maybe because I’d only been fifteen at the time and that was unusual; I hate to say I didn’t recognize her, but that she recognized me, made me feel good. 


When I walked into Carol Kent’s class and her husband Gene, walked up to me, I recognized him immediately. I follow their ministry as Carol’s story has gripped my heart and I, too, know a mother’s sorrow when things don’t work out as we’d hoped for our children.


Although we have very different stories and situations, we share the common bond; love for our children. Although their walk has been painful, Carol is always ready to share the good news of what the Lord our God, is doing in Jason’s life. 


I believe that there is a supernatural anointing upon their lives. There is no way that Gene and Carol and Jason would have the strength, energy or the great passion that they have without it. In the old days, it might’ve been called, a “Holy Unction.” It’s a work of the Holy Spirit to do what is impossible to be done on this earth. Sometimes when there is great trauma in a family, just getting up the next day and pressing on is a miracle in itself.


I really meant it when I told Carol, I registered for the one-day commute to the conference, just to give her a real, in-person hug. It was something I really felt like I needed to do, not for her, but maybe for me. I so appreciate the fact that when all things were darkest in her life, she stepped up, pressed on and did the “next best thing.”  The Lord has been magnified and I am grateful for Carol and the many unsung heroes we meet daily, moms doing what moms do best; love their children, unconditionally. I guess I could start a fan club, but really, we know she’d point us to JESUS. 


Instead of stressing because I was unable to meet all the people I wanted to meet at the conference, I decided to just enjoy what I could. I was able to have extra time with our Word Weaver’s Volusia County group president, Tania, who rode over with me. I was honored to attend Carol’s class, Julie Lavender’s class and a portion of Bob Hostetler’s class (I learned a lot in just that short time.) Keynote speaker, Liz Curtis Higgs was as awesome and funny as I’d always known she would be. Although I wasn’t able to attend Alice Klies’s class, I learned that she sends in four submissions a month to Chicken Soup for the Soul. Wow! No wonder it took me so long to finally be accepted in one. Look for my story “THE THREE MUSKETEERS” in the LIFE LESSONS FROM THE DOG book. 


To those I just saw from afar and didn’t get to spend time with, know you are in my heart and prayers. 


FCWC next conference at Lake Yale will be in October instead of March. This conference is one of the best in the country in my opinion. I have so many good memories of my times spent there. Thanks to all who gave of their time to bless us so much. And Sarah Bulls, may a special blessing come to you for making me those two awesome appointments. I had the time of my life.

Saturday This and That

Today as I think about the busy week ahead, I know it will be the grace of God that gets me through. Going to Word Weaver's Volusia County Group on Monday will be a highlight as the members are my heart and soul. Then amidst a lot of family things I head off to the Florida Christian Writer's Conference for a day trip on Friday. I've heard they will be moving this conference to Georgia so I need to be amongst the group I've come to love, one last time. I'm looking forward to hugging Carol Kent in person, after praying for many, many years for her family and their son, Jason. I know all the speakers and classes will be excellent and I'm so grateful for Eva Marie Everson, Mark Hancock and the whole staff for their labor of love. 

The enemy has tried to slow me down a lot with some joint pain that makes walking uncomfortable and I guess it's true, getting old isn't for sissies. I'm asking the Lord for extreme favor and healing.

So pray for me and I'll pray for you. May we go out burning with the flame of the Holy Spirit.

It’s our most poignant and maybe important day to post and pray; I once saw a picture post that said “God bless the mother who has lost a child.” We pray blessings upon those mothers, and we pray on Saturdays for those who have lost loved ones to death. Many among us have lost loved ones, mates, children and young adult children. The most unnatural thing in the world they say is burying your child. Lord, send your strong father arms of comfort to those who are grieving. And I also say, there is more than one way to lose a child, and that is why we have so many hurting mothers, praying together on this group. 

Many of my widow friends are trying to find a new “normal.” Lord, we call out to You for them.

Some families are estranged and hurting and waiting for their miracle. They pray, they long for the “happy family” scenario that is portrayed in the media. They come to realize they are powerless and only the Lord’s power can truly show what is His perfect will. We fall down and we get up, sometimes we feel like we are smacked down and no one sees us. No one sees the heart of love, no one sees the tears, but no, the Lord has them bottled in precious urns in the heavens, not one falls that He does not notice. That’s the kind of God we serve, a savior kind, who will heal in His timing. 

He will be Your strong support today, if you will give it over to Him. Sometimes just taking the next step may be the hardest thing you can do and the bravest also. Then maybe as we walk towards His will for us (and sometimes that is not easy to understand or even know,) His Holy Spirit arrives and that wind will revive us. A prayer and a song is what I offer today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JXIEmVQi3Q

Women with Wildfire Faith Tribute; Happy Birthday Billie Taylor

I've been meaning to feature on this blog women I have known or perhaps women you have known that are inspirational. These may not be famous women but one thing they will all have in common is wildfire faith as described in the book "Unquenchable" by Carol Kent. I'm calling it my Women with Wildfire Faith Tribute and the first one I am featuring is Billie Taylor, my original first Bible Study mentor; it is her 90th birthday!   

 "What is wildfire faith? A wildfire, by definition, differs from other fires by virtue of its uncontrollable nature, massive size, the speed at which it spreads, its tendency to rapidly change direction, and its ability to leap over roads, rivers and firebreaks. The intense heat and convection winds it produces can actually change weather conditions or even produce its own weather system, including violent tornadoes that send embers flying well ahead of the main fire front. These factors make wildfires notoriously difficult to extinguish.

    Imagine having a faith with those same qualities---a faith so powerful, so massive, that it spreads uncontrollably and leaps over boundaries that try to contain or extinguish it. Such faith has the power not only to rise about the circumstances but also to change the "weather conditions" of our lives. Wildfire faith replicates itself, throwing sparks and embers far beyond its own boundaries, creating additional fires of faith that then spread in new directions.

    Wildfire faith springs from God's Word and burns itself into your own story. It reveals the true power of the fire God has placed in you, fans the flames of your faith, stirs your passion, and emboldens you to spark new fires that will spread and forever change the landscape of this world.

    Such a faith does far more than simply hold on when life tries to extinguish it. It leaps in new directions, finds new fuel to keep burning, turns up the heat of a cold and deadened heart---and is unstoppable!"
(Carol Kent from Unquenchable)

Billie, this is the kind of faith that you have always portrayed to me and to so many others. This is your legacy that you, a small Southern woman rose up from the pain of life and gave life to others in the midst of that pain. That you pressed on, pushed on and said "Lord, keep me when I don't want to be kept." You said that to me and countless others and now look around you, He did it! He kept you, held you, blessed you and loved you! And we love you, too. One day I'll post how God brought us together when He sent Billie to a Christian Women's Club to minister to me, a young woman dying inside with pain, about forty years ago. That's a story in itself! Thank You Jesus for putting us together

Happy 90th birthday Billie Taylor!

I hope to feature a Women with Wildfire Faith tribute at least once a month. I have a few in my heart already picked out and I am open to suggestions from y'all.

http://www.amazon.com/Unquenchable-Wildfire-Faith-Endure-Anything/dp/0310330998/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441020425&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Carol+Kent+from+Unquenchable&pebp=1441020438780&perid=1MGD1520ZWP09TBZ2N34

Unanswered Prayers

Have you ever prayed for something and the outcome was not what you wanted? I'm sure we have all had that experience at times. We had some prayers going on Somebody's Mother Online Prayer Support Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/119408188089314/

this week and painfully the ones we were praying for, did not get the answer they wanted. There are so many things that cannot be explained. I pray that the prayers started will continue until the Lord draws everyone so close to Him, that nothing on this earth matters.

At times like these, we wonder where God is, sometimes. The first person I thought of was Carol Kent and how she and her husband, Gene, press on although they did not get their happy ending. I next thought of the parents of the children from Sandy Hook Elementary School and what they are having to live with each day, such loss.
Something I read this morning was good; from a dear woman I know through Winning Women and it was written in a book called, "Dear Daughters:"

"Help me, oh God, help me. Be with me, Jesus. I need you so. Show me Thy way. Tell me what to do, and I will do it. Send your love, your grace, your wisdom to me, for without it I am lost. Give me your strength Father. Illuminate my path. Keep my feet from stumbling. Let me not hinder, but only help every one of your children to see You, to follow You and let me not hinder myself. My dearest Love, who knows me better than I am known, hold me close to Your Heart, your Mind, your Will. Let me feel your hand in mine as I yearn with every sinew of my spirit to walk this life as you want me to. I am nothing dust in human form, so please help me. (Diane West Van Wert)

We live to walk another day, looking for a blessing when sometimes there seems to be none. We are survivors, from stock of survivors, we are grateful for many blessings and for that reason, we will live to praise this day.

As said in Hebrews 11 many died in the promise, many did not get the good answer while here on earth, many will be named as those of whom the world was not worthy. And as Job said, "Though he slay me, yet I will trust in Him." Some will turn away in pain and some will let that pain draw them closer to the only true Comforter in this world, Jesus. I pray that for each one who is hurting today, that you will let Him hold you, draw you and surround you.  

Unanswered prayers; yes, we all have a few. But instead of feeling that they were unanswered perhaps they are prayers in "God's Waiting Room" or even the Lord's throne room, saved for a better outcome that we cannot even imagine.

Would you want the Cross that is Tailor-made for you?

This morning at my prayer time, I was thinking about and praying for fractured families. I thought of others that I know in the writing communities that have painful issues with their children like Carol Kent and Eva Marie Everson. Carol learned a new kind of normal when her only son was sentenced to life in prison; Eva is presented with many challenges when emotional issues changed a daughter of her heart, overnight. I thought how we sometimes think that our own cross is too hard to bear and then the Lord reminds us of a sister, walking towards Him and with Him by faith. The happy ending hasn’t happened yet. The way at times is dark yet they press on and pay it forward, trying to bring help and hope to others in their journey.

I remember the story by Sarah Ban Breathnack that told of the crosses that others bore. The angel showed the person around and showed the behind the scenes stories that no one knew about and the woman decided to keep her own, personal tailor-made cross. It was the only one she was capable of carrying with the help of the Lord.

Lord, Jesus help us walk towards You today with joy that we can share in a small part of Your suffering and show us how to deny ourselves that we can follow Your path. It is unseen to many what we go through here and dark sometimes, but You are my bright light of Hope. You are dazzling in fact and the brightness that keeps me going.

Eva and Carole Kent’s books are available on Amazon.com and for more about Eva go: http://www.evamarieeversonssouthernvoice.blogspot.com/2012/02/fridays-southern-style-faith.html