A place to find Hope

Tag: praying

Man’s Way Leads to a Hopeless End-God’s Way Leads to Endless Hope

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We are in the middle of putting together a Living Will and Trust. It is extremely complicated, and has many things you have to do to make it valid. We are charging ahead however, because we know how important it is to our family.

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Here is another excerpt from my first book, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in the Unfriendly World, that won a national award.

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Man’s Way Leads to a Hopeless
End—God’s Way Leads to
Endless Hope


Chapter 5
A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the LORD
will prosper. He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in
wisdom is safe.
—Proverbs 28:25–26


THERE ARE TIMES when I think I am doing fine and do not
need to worry about tomorrow. I will be strong against the
sin that I may face. Every time I feel that way, I fall flat on
my face, and I let Satan creep in inch by inch. You give Satan an
inch, and he will become the ruler. (Another great bumper sticker!)
God has a plan for me, and I need to understand that He already
had my life planned before I was even born. A plan was begun for
mankind before God put the first breath into Adam. God knows
my every move. Wherever I go, He will be there with me.
I sent a saying to my son when he was stationed in Iraq. It said,
“I know your name, and I will be with you wherever you go.” That
is true for everyone. He knows your name. He is wherever you go.
God cares for you.
And God even cares for “little people.” What I mean by little
people are the people who come into your church—the ones youcharity store,
don’t want to sit next to because they need a bath. They need help
because they don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
They are the hungry. Their clothes look like they came from a
charity store.
Let me make sure you understand! God always hears and loves
those who seek Him—little people or not. He doesn’t care what
they wear. He doesn’t care if they smell. He does care that they are
hungry. He does care that they need love—just like you do.
I realize that to love these people you are going out on a limb,
taking a risk. They could take advantage of you. They may want to
steal the church offering. But you should embrace them as people
of worth and welcome them into your church. God cares about
them—and you need to as well.
Speaking of taking a risk: Don’t you take a risk when you let
your daughter go to her first dance alone? Don’t you take a risk
when you give the car keys to your son for the first time? You worry
about them, but you love them enough to let them stretch their
wings a little. They are a little person in your eyes yet. They are
still your little girl or boy, but you trust them enough to let them
enjoy increasing independence.
Our heavenly Father takes a risk with His children every day.
He lets us stretch our wings. He trusts us to do the right things.
We don’t always do the right things, but God loves us just the same
as you would still love your children if they didn’t make the right
decisions.
We often try to make decisions without God’s help. But as the
bumper sticker says, “Man’s way leads to a hopeless end.”
Try to remember the risk takers from the Bible. Think of David
and his slingshot, Mary washing Jesus’ feet, Abraham raising his
knife to kill his son. They took the risk, but they relied on God to
help them. They had a heavenly Parent to trust them and protect
them. He let them stretch their wings because, “God’s way leads
to endless hope.”

Stay with God’s way, and the narrow path you walk will lead to
endless hope. The wider path leads to destruction, disappointment,
shame and despair. You may stretch your wings if you wish, but
stay the course that God has in mind for you, and you will receive
the fi nal reward—the eternal love of your heavenly Parent.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.
Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

—1 John 4:16
Further Adventures
Man’s way does lead to a hopeless end. We have all been there.
You think everything is going great and that you don’t need God
to help you during that time. Like clockwork, something knocks
you to your knees, and you are praying (crying) to God to help
you through it.
Let me suggest an alternative: Pray without ceasing! Let God
know every day about your day. If it was a good day, thank Him for
it. If it was a bad day, ask for His loving care. It is so easy to get in
touch with God. It is a much better way to communicate than any
electronic invention man has come up with. It is similar to e-mail,
except you would call it knee mail.


Something to Ponder
Isn’t it funny that if God is for us, no one can be against

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I will share more excerpts in the future so keep coming back to check them out. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future post will come directly to your inbox.

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Are you struggling in this not so friendly world? You aren’t alone. Many people struggle with what is happening in our world today.

FEAR NOT!! God is with you. He knows all your troubles. He knows what is best for you. Let Him guide you for the rest of your life.

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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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How can We Survive in This Not So Friendly World?

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This is a busy day for me. Just got home from have a blood test done, and later today I am off to PT.

I thought the busyness of the holidays would go away, but I guess there is no rest for the wicked

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I promised you that I would be starting a new formatt today. What I will be doing, is sharing excerpts from my first book, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.

Each post I will share another excerpt. Keep coming back to read the excerpts. Better yet….

Go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future post will go directly to your inbox.

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Preface

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

Psalm 40:1–2

One of the most exciting things that can happen in your life is to have a close encounter with God. Moses had several. A burning bush started talking to him; he went to Mt. Sinai where God gave him the Ten Commandments. He raised his staff during a fierce battle to help fight off the enemy. Moses and the Israelites received manna directly from God.

Elijah had a close encounter with God when ravens brought him food while he was in the wilderness at God’s direction. Daniel met some lions that the bad guys thought would eat him. Instead God calmed the lions—and they became pets for Daniel. Everyone that met Jesus had a close encounter.

God showed His love through many close encounters in the Bible, and He can do it for you today. You may have already had a close encounter without realizing it ever happened. Did you ever turn a corner you hadn’t planned to turn and seen an old friend who would have missed otherwise? Have you ever happened on the scene of a horrible accident you would have been involved in had you been there just a second sooner? During a lightning storm, were you ever close to a strike that hit the ground? Have you ever felt alone and abandoned and cried out to God for help and then felt a real peace that you have never felt before?

You may have encountered some of these situations, or others. God is watching over you every day. He wants to protect you. He has a plan for you and me. If danger is near, He may choose to spare your life because He has a path He wants you to take to help others to know Him better.

I went through some tough times because I felt lost after I retired from teaching. I had no purpose. I tried being a salesman at several places, and even tried to run my own business as a salesman. I failed at all of them. I went into the lowest spot in my life and was ready to end my life. God saved me on March 31, 2001, after I cried out, “God I can’t take anymore of this!” I felt calmness in my heart and even the air around me seemed to cool. It was as if God were saying, “It is about time you came back to Me. I have been waiting for you to return. Let Me carry you the rest of the way.”

From that day on I kept praying to God to tell me why He had saved my life. It didn’t take Him long to point to a technical book I had been tinkering with for a few months. It was a book written for people who worked in the cash flow business that gave ideas on how to be a better salesman. Can you believe I was trying to write a book on that? Sure failure was lurking at my door—again!

I had failed at being a salesman, but God kept prompting me to look at the cash flow book very hard again. What was He trying to tell me?

Why did I keep getting the book-in-progress out? Then God finally woke me up. He wanted me to write about my own experiences with depression and share the love of God with others. As I looked at the manuscript I was working on, the titles fit perfectly into a book of encouraging others. I had been using phrases I had seen on bumper stickers to start each chapter.

            One sticker said, “Need Directions?” Another said, “My way is the highway.” Still another said, “Don’t believe everything you think.”

I had intended them to be chapter titles for teaching selling. As I looked at them, I saw what God wanted.

“Need directions?” was actually God telling us to read the Bible.

“My way is the highway” was God saying that we need to choose the right path that leads us to heaven.

“Don’t believe everything you think” was telling me that Satan can plant garbage in our minds to cause us to drift away from God.

The rest is history. I immediately dove into to writing this book. I was excited the day I started back in 2001, and I am still excited today. I started out writing a book about selling and ended up writing about getting eternal life for free. I had finally found something I could help give away free. No down payment. No monthly installments. No interest rates. Just accept the Lord into your heart and you have a free trip to heaven with its entire splendor.

As I worked on this preface, I searched my computer for the chapter titles I had used for the cash flow book to show how they had been transformed. I came across a statement on the very page I was looking at and saw something I had never seen before. I know I hadn’t typed it because it was in a different color ink. I never use any color but black in my work.

As I read it, I was sure God wanted me to read it. It said: “I love this! Let’s keep going! No catches. Just the peace in knowing that you are able to share God’s love and works to all those you have contact with, and even bless someone you don’t.”

That is exactly how it was typed. I didn’t correct any wording, or add any words to make it look more dramatic for you. It wasn’t sent to anyone but me. It was at the top of the page I was searching for. God may have placed it there way back when I first changed my direction, but I missed it then. But I found it, and it only confirms why I spent the last seven years toiling to get to the final outcome.

            God’s timing is amazing.

I had my own special close encounter with God, and He has been my refuge ever since.

This book hopefully leads you to have a close encounter with God. You may have chosen this book because it deals with the hurts in your life as well as other “afflictions” we all face. They can be crippling, and even deadly. I lived with depression, self-doubt, anxiety, hopelessness and fear of failure for many years until I turned back to God and found help through a doctor who determined I also had a chemical imbalance. Now through a close encounter with God and the right medication I am able to cope and have a productive life.

My original working title, Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind, comes from a favorite movie of mine, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is about a man who has visions in his head and can’t understand what is happening. So he goes on a search to find out. That is what people with the many closed walls around them are going through. They are sad, and they can’t cope. They do not know why they are that way. They, too, are searching for answers.

As the book progressed, I wanted a more “hopeful” title for it. And since it is based on sayings and signs I’ve seen and the fact I wanted the book to provide the same hope for others as I have found, I was easily persuaded that the title Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World might be a better fit. You will still find several allusions to “close encounters” throughout the book and I wanted you to know the how and why I use that term so often.

The bumper sticker idea came from my hobby of collecting them for many years. I looked at them again years later, and realized they had some meaning, and I started writing about everyday connections to them.

That is my story (so far) and I am stickin’ to it! I hope that through this book, you will also begin searching for some meaning to become stronger, and choose a path that leads you to a closer relationship with God.

Let the adventure begin.

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I shared the preface to start with to give you a feel of what is ahead from you as you travel with me through the book.

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Have you had those kind of days when you are not sure what is coming at you? You certainly are not alone.

Lean on God for help like I did. He brought me out of the muck and more, and today I am very excited for what life might have in store for me.

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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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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

The Shortest Verse in the Bible, “Fear Not!” Spoken by Jesus

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I have had a busy day. Went to Physical Therapy this morning. I have been working on my two blogs this afternoon, and then I have a doctor’s appointment at 3:30pm. No rest for the wicked they say.

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I have had the blessing to be somehow connected with a SFC soldier that is in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is in dire straits. They city is surrounded with Taliban. They figure the city will fall win the next 30 days.

Can’t find out why she is still there, but I am praying what they get her our soon. If the city falls, she will probably big harms way. The Taliban have no mercy. I will keep you posted how things are going for her.

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With all the horrible things that are happening around us, it is difficult to face the day. The pandemic is much worse now that when it started. Many people dying. I am repeating this, but I think it needs to be shared again.

In two of the bigger cities in the United States, there are many deaths, and in one city, 95% of those who died were unvaccinated. In the other city it was 94%.
A clear picture that we should ALL get vaccinated. If not, you most likely could die.

My post so far hasn’t been too cheery, but I thought I needed to share some important things.

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Have you found that your day isn’t very cheery either? Does the day seem long and the storms seem to be coming in your life?

FEAR NOT! That is the shortest verse in the Bible spoken by Jesus, and He means it.

He is there to see you though those storms that are coming. He will hold you hand, and protect you.

I pray to Him every day to help me to be more like Him. I tell Him, “You are the most loving, caring, and compassionate man I know. Please guide me, show me, and let me know how I can be more like you.”

I pray that each and every night. Please know that he listens to your cries for help.

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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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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

I Need to Check Out of This Evil Hotel Called Earth

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it. Your comments will not be seen by other people, just me, and I will connect with you to see if you are OK to share it.

What a fun time we are having right now. The Pandemic is not letting up. The rioting is still going on. The wild fires are wilder than ever.

It is almost like we are on spin cycle in our own washing machines!! It is crazy, and we are holding on for dear life.

That reminds me of a story about my mother.

When she was a teenager she was out riding her horse. The horse stepped in a yellow jackets nest and the horse got stung several times. The horse started running and was out of control. My mother just held on for dear lfe. The horse was running back to the farm. When they got there he calmed down.

Is your life on spin cycle? Are you out of control like my mother’s horse was?

This is the time we have to listen to God. He says, “Be still and know I am God.”

A good example of relying on God happened in the wild fires near me in Oregon.

A man was trapped, and the fires were burning all around him. He got a plastic chair and sat it in a river he was near and waited it out. He was saved by praying and God gave Him the answer.

I am sure that many of you are screaming, “Stop and let me out of this house. “(earth)

It can be very frustrating.

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With all of this going on we may be thinking, “Why am I here?”

Let me make this clear to you. God created you in His own image. Why would He do that? It is becasue He loves you and considers you His child. He has plans for you. He may have not showed you His plan yet, but be patient. God is on His own timing not yours.

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Here is a little side note that I thought of yesterday while I was watching the online broadcast of my church.

I would love to have been at the tomb when Jesus came out! Wouldn’t that Have been a glorious moment?

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it. Your comments will not be seen by other people, just me, and I will connect with you to see if you are OK to share it.

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