Daily Signs of Hope

A place to find Hope

Tag: Korea

Need to Be Strong With the Frightening Things That’s Happening .

May 11, 2022 / / 0 Comments

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This month is Military appreciation month. As a veteran I am very proud to have served my country. I come from a military family. I had three uncles who fought in WWII. Two of them earned a Purple Heart. I was in the Army and was deployed to Korea. My son was a career soldier and retired as a Colonel.

The theme of the post on this sight are “Ways to survive in an unfriendly world.” I feel that we need to have the military to help us survive. I’m not a war monger that thinks we should fight in every skirmish in the world, but I do think we need to help those who are defenseless, and needing help.

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That said, I want to check in with you. Are you struggling? Do the days seem too long for you? Would you rather sleep in bed all day rather than face the world?

There is much to think about as far as the reason you may be struggling:

  1. The pandemic.
  2. The Ukraine war.
  3. Inflation out of control.
  4. Our southern border over flowing with illegal immigrants.
  5. Gas prices through the roof.

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I know there is more, but I am sure you get the picture. What can we do to overcome all of this stress and Chaos?

  1. Do not watch negative news.
  2. Keep you mind on positive things.
  3. Wear blinders that horses use to block out what is happen around you.
  4. READ THE BIBLE! All of God’s promises are there.
  5. Pray that God will protect you and give you peace.

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Be strong for yourself and for those around you. Never give in to the darkside.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Wars, and Rumors of Wars Can be Very Frightening.

February 28, 2022 / / 0 Comments

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It was a wild week last week. The war in Ukraine started and the whole world is saddened. Putin has become the latest dictator to bite off more than he can chew. There also rumors of other wars through out the world.

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We all dread the thought of war. There are no winners in a war. I spent time in Korea back in 1960 as a soldier. That was not long after the cease fire. I survived, but I feel for our current military, because of the powder keg ready to explode in many places all around the world.

How do we face this threat every day? What can we do to help?

  1. Pray!!! Pray for God’s wisdom, in all of these scary spots.
  2. Support our troops all that you can.
  3. If you have a member in the family in the military, let us know so we can pray specificity for that person.
  4. If you are a U.S. citizen, thank God for that, and be praising Him.
  5. Send emails to soldiers to show your support for them.

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At yesterday’s church service the topic was about being disabled for 38 years of your life and then having Jesus come by and heal you. Can you imagine have 38 years of pain, and suddenly it is all gone?

God can do that in our lives today. Miracles happen everyday. Never give up. If your are struggling, pray without ceasing. God is there to listen.

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Always depend on God for all your needs. He loves you. He made you in His own Image.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Life Seems to be Very Tough and Then You Die

January 17, 2022 / / 0 Comments

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I went to have a blood test today. My doctor wants to check how I am responding to a new prescription. (News at 11:00pm) ;-0

I just read an amazing book, God Comes Through the Soldier. It is the story of John Baker. He is the author and he has taken on an amazing task of sending out hundreds of care packages to our heroes in the Military. It is a huge success, and many soldiers got the lives brightened up. John is a member of my church and He loves to support our troops.

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Here is another excerpt from my first book, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.

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Life Is Tough and Then You Die

Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5

God didn’t promise us a rose garden—besides there are thorns in a rose garden. He allows us to go through the storms. He wants us to learn from them and grow.

We question if God is still there for us when we have a crisis. Things pile up and we wonder, Where are You, God? He allows things to happen that are very hard to understand. Why would He let bad things happen to us?

The psalmist wondered the same thing. In the psalms, crying and wailing come out with a vengeance. Psalms can be also joyful and uplifting, but some of them are not joyful, and they teach us that it is OK to question God. It is OK to voice your true feelings to Him. He knows how to handle your feelings—even your anger.

Despair and anger are combined in Psalm 89:46–47:

How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your  wrath burn like fire? …

For what futility you have created all men!

In our world today there is much despair and anger. There are gang wars, school shootings, sex abuse, battered wives, seniors getting scammed, racists and terrorists.

All of these could cause even the strongest Christian to act on that anger. You have choices. You could seek justice like a vigilante. You could forget it and let it build up inside you, or you could turn it over to God, who is the only Supreme Court Justice in heaven. He will judge those who have wronged others.

We should never stop being angry or sad about what happens in the world, but we need to turn it over to God, and let Him bring peace in your life.

            Too many people have decided that acceptance of wrong is much easier than trying to fight it. Some live in their own little world and go on as if nothing were happening around them.

I saw this in action when I was in the military. Uncle Sam had me stationed in Korea, and we were traveling through Seoul, Korea. I saw an old woman sitting and leaning against a wall. She was begging for help because she was ill and starving. No one stopped. They just kept on walking by.

All military personnel had been instructed that under no circumstances were we to get out of our vehicles—just keep going. This was because if you tried to help someone they could claim you were the one that caused the problem and then get a big settlement from the government. There were rumors of Korean parents throwing their children in front of army trucks to collect a settlement. We retraced our route on the way back to camp. By then, the woman had fallen over and was dead.

I was very angry. I felt helpless. I wasn’t allowed to help the woman, and she died because of that.

I didn’t know if I could make any difference in life. Could one person out of the billions of people on this earth make a difference?

My mother once remarked that she didn’t know why she should get out of bed anymore. She has macular degeneration (partial blindness) and has to use a walker. Her two main loves (besides my brother and me, of course!) were reading and working in the garden. Now she cannot do either of them. I could understand completely what she meant, but it hurt me deeply that she felt that way. I again felt that same helplessness because I wasn’t able to help her.

Why keep going on? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The weak fall by the wayside. You spend your whole life trying to have a good retirement, and the cost of living eats up all of your income. Evil seems to win—and good seems far away.

The prisoners in the holocaust had all the reasons to be depressed and to commit suicide. They didn’t do that because they kept clinging to their faith in God.

Is that the secret? By just turning our hurts, frustrations and failures over to God, we can have peace? Of course we can. God is the key. If there is no God, anything goes, but everything is meaningless.

If you stay the course, and always let God hold your hand, everything will have meaning, things will come into focus, and everything will fall into place.

As of this writing, my mother is still alive. She is 93 and lives in an assisted living home. She has trouble understanding why she has to be the way she is as far as her health. The world is coming to the stage where 100-year-old people are more common than ever. But many of them are clinging to life assisted by a machine, or they do not have a quality of life that they prefer.

We have developed many new drugs to help people live longer, but we haven’t invented ways to make them happy. We spend millions to help the poor in our country and other countries, but the number of starving children in Oregon alone is growing at an alarming rate.

We allow sexual freedom in our country go to the point that there is an AIDS epidemic. School drop-out rates are at an all-time high. Pornography can be found for free on the internet. We thought that we sent racism away in the 70s, but it is still staining our society today.

It is no wonder that we feel depression, despair and apathy. This world is not a rose garden anymore. The thorns are tearing at our skin, and leaving scars that won’t go away.

Let me make something very clear: God will take the world as you see it today and make it into the world He wants. I’ve read the end of the book—and we win. The end is all set, and it is up to us to believe it.

So—can you make an impact on the world? You are just one grain of sand on the beach. Can you make a difference? God thinks you can. He made you with a purpose in mind. Yes, I said you. As you read this book, God has a plan for you. God just needs you to ask Him what it is. You can make a difference for others in this tough world.

I used the Psalms as an example of despair and anger. Now let the psalmist soothe you and let you know God is there for you and will carry your burdens for you.

Trouble and distress have come upon me,

but your commands are my delight.

Psalm 119:143

Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you.

He will never let the righteous fall.

Psalm 55:22

Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge;

no one cares for my life. I cry to you, O Lord; I say,

“You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need: rescue me

from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.”

Psalm 142:4–6

(Think of the Korean woman dying on the street.)

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O Lord, supported me.

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Psalm 94:18–19

(This should be our prayer any time we are depressed or sad.

We can read it to God and let Him comfort us.)

Further Adventures

There are times when you feel so low that you are not sure you can make it through the day. Use this time to pray. Sit quietly with God and share your deepest feelings. Do not hide anything. (God knows even your inner thoughts.) Let Him know that you need to lean on Him completely right now, and He will pick you up and carry you the rest of the way.

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny that God knows our every move, but we go on like He is not watching us?

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Have you lost a loved one? Does it seem like everything is happening to you at once?

FEAR NOT!

God is just a prayer away. He loves to listen to your pleas. Tell Him about your sorrows and ask Him to find you comfort.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Death Has Ways of Pulling us Down Like huge Magnate

May 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

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I was posting on my other blog this morning at www.dougbolton.com, and I realized that I have lost close friends not only in the military, but in life as well.

The two in the military were in peacetime. My best buddy, who had signed up with me to go into the military, died of some kind of crude while in Korea.

The second buddy died right in my own platoon, also in Korea, He suffocated in a honey bucket. A honey bucket is where to locals put their human waste for fertilizer.

These two deaths were extremely hard on me.

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When I got out. I went back to college to be a teacher. I got a job in Albany, Oregon.

I lost three students during my career there.

The first one was a car accident. The boy had taken his mom’s car without permission and went on a joy ride. He was only 14 and had no license. As he was driving, he hit same loose gravel and went off the road. He was killed instantly.

The second student died right in front of me in the school. He had a massive brain injury. The last thing he said was, “I can’t see.”

The last one was suicide. He was a troubled kid, who kept getting into fights. I am guessing he didn’t like where he was in life, and ended it all.

So, I lost five people who I cared very much for. This doesn’t even include my own family members who have passed away.

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Have you been there? Have you lost friends and family?

You certainly are not alone. Many of us have had to face that.

How do I keep going after all the death I have seen?

  1. I thank God for each and every day I have on this earth.
  2. I love all of my family to the max.
  3. I keep in touch with old friends to see how they are doing. It cheers them up and I cheers me up as well.
  4. I pray for God’s protection which gives me peace and comfort.

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Never let the dark side overcome you into thinking the world is lost. Be strong and know God is with you. He can overcome any fears you may have. He will give you peace and comfort through the toughest of storms.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

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Be Strong and Don’t Go Through Life Alone

November 25, 2020 / / 0 Comments

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Have you ever felt alone? I mean like you ae stranded on an island by yourself?

I have some times that has happened to me:

  1. When I was eighteen, I enlisted into the military. I had never been out of my home state. In basic I had two buddies that I had enlisted with and they gave me comfort. But then we were trained and all three of us were deployed to Korea. Still OK until we got there and found out that we were being sent to three different bases. I then learned what loneliness was. It was just me and a whole company of guys I had never met before. Then the alone feeling was overpowering. This eighteen year kid was in a foreign land, and didn’t know anyone. I felt lost. I felt I wanted to be back home with my family.
  2. Much later in my life I felt alone again. It was overwhelming. I couldn’t even tell my wife why I felt alone. It kept growing on me until I was ready to give up. I was driving my Ford Explorer one day, and it all came up all at once. I began sobbing. I couldn’t see where I was going. I turned into a high school parking lot and drove way in the back of it where no one could see. I had actually considered checking of this hotel called earth. That is when I yelled, “God I can’t take this any more!” Then I felt different. I felt the fear got away. I felt fresh air. It seemed like coming out of a coma. It was like God was saying, “It’s about time you came back to me. Now let me carry you the rest of the way.”

There are other times I have felt alone, but each time now I remember one thing...I AM NOT ALONE! God is with me every step of the way. I could tell you what happened after each time I felt alone. I even wrote an award winning book about it called, Signs of Hope, Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.

There are only one place to get the book if you want it. It is close to a second printing, and there are only about ten copies left. I have those ten copies, and you can only get one by going to www.dougbolton.com and click on books. This way you get an autographed copy directly from me.

I digress.

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Being alone and isolated is our enemy.

We feel we can take on the world on our own. As a result, we distance ourselves from those who know us the best, We come incased in ourselves to push away others.

Remember this… Living the Christian life is not a “me,” thing, it is a “we” thing.

We need someone in our life to hold us accountable. We need a mentor to keep us on the right path.

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In my case it is my own son Greg.

He has grown up to be a real Godly leader. I turn to him whenever I feel sad, depressed, or even alone. He is a no nonsense guy who tells it like it is, and that is exactly what I need.

We have to realize that we can not live for Christ if we are not connected. My son keeps me connected.

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Before you chose your mentor You have to expect the following things to happen:

  1. Transparency: You must be willing to be see as you really are. Many of us of afraid to let anyone knw how we are deep down. We are afraid of rejection.
  2. Choice: You must be willing to change. No one can force you into anything.
  3. Confidentially: Everything you share never goes any further than the two of you.
  4. Commitment: Both of you must agree to a higher standard. The person across the table from you must have a deep desire to see you succeed.
  5. Confrontation: You can’t go easy on each other. Accountability requires confronting the reality of the truth. Face the truth and accept the challenge.
  6. Compass: This is is most important thought. The Word of God must serve as your compass to guide you the rest of your life.

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“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” proverbs 27:17

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So if you feel isolated, find someone to help you. You need them to have a sounding board for you. Be strong!

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…..never, ever, give up!

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