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Posts tagged ‘courage’

Embrace Courage

Some days it takes courage to get out of bed!
Some days it takes courage to look yourself in the mirror.
Have you had days like that?
Today was one of them for me!

Oh my! Goose egg reduced –
– but eye suffering drained blood!

So, I could go back to bed and feel sorry for myself –
– or I could get up and face the day.
I had to ask myself, WWJD??
(What would Jesus do?)

So, I began with that simple prayer…

Jesus said to me, “Get up and face the day! Be courageous!”
So, I did… and by noon the one black eye was better
and the color had shifted so it was on the other eye, too.

Not near as frightening looking!

Matthew 9:22

“But Jesus turning and seeing her said,
‘Take courage, daughter…’ “

My devotional for today in Mornings with Jesus
reinforced the prayer response.
So, up and out I went!

We have been having day after day with skies filled with smoke
from the fires that are all around MT, ID, CO, CA, and OR.
The mountains have been invisible to us weeks on end.
But today I could see the mountains!

The view of the Madison Range
from our Pintail Ridge
here in Ennis.

By the time I spent a little time with a friend
and returned home this afternoon,
we had the clearest blue sky in months!
See, if you have courage to face the day,
God is good – and He will make you glad you did!

The beautiful view of blue sky
above and around our home…

The moral of the story is,
EMBRACE COURAGE!

Don’t let your hesitancy
keep you from facing the day.

Get up,
Get going,
Get out,
and
Get happy!

God is good.
Trust Him!

Oh, and remember those fires in CA?
They are not over…

Please keep the firefighters and those in Harm’s Way in your prayers.
Our son and his wife are sharing their home with a family of 8
who were evacuated from their home… but it is not destroyed…
just in the evacuation zone … and the fire is still headed toward
our granddaughter’s in S Lake Tahoe. So keep the prayers flowing!

See ya tomorrow – God willing!

EMBRACE COURAGE –
and reach out to do what you can
to help others…


Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, courage, Faith, Family, God, Gratitude, health, Jesus, Life's Challenges, Love, mental health, Montana, mountains, optimism, prayer, Serving One Another

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The 7 Step Prayer Process

Has anyone ever taught you HOW to pray? Here is a 7 step process that my grand-nephew was studying today. I listened in.

  1. GRATITUDE: Get comfortable. Be still. Deeply breathe in. Breathe out by anxiety.
    Express Gratitude to God. Tell God what you are grateful for.
  2. AWARENESS. Revisit the times in the past 24 hours when you were the best version of yourself. Then talk to God about the times when you were not the best version of yourself. Talk to Him abut hw you will handle the situation better in the future.
  3. SIGNIFICANT MOMENT… recall a moment when you felt God was trying to teach you something through an event or action. Talk to God about that significant moment.
  4. PEACE: Ask God to forgive you for anything you have done that you feel badly bout. Ask for forgiveness, and ask God to fill Yyou with deep, deep, peace.
  5. FREEDOM: Ask God to help you be the best version of yourself. Ask him how you can change to be the person He made you to be. Ask God for the Courage and Strength to make this change in your life.
  6. OTHERS: Lift up to God anyone you feel you want to lift to Hi today. Ask for the specific way you want God to bless the people in your life that you care about. One at a time, bring them to God.
  7. OUR FATHER: Pray the prayer you might often say by rote. But this time, say it slowly and find meaning in each phrase:
    Our Father, who art in heaven
    Hallowed be Thy name
    Thy kingdom come
    Thy will be done
    On earth as it is in heaven
    Give us this day our daily bread
    And forgive us our debts
    As we forgive our debtors
    Lead us not into temptation
    But deliver us from evil
    For Thine is the Kingdom,
    And the Power,
    And the Glory
    Forever.
    Amen

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Love, peace, prayer

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Embrace Courage

In these days of national crises,
It’s easy to feel powerless.
It’s easy to duck our heads and hide.
It’s easy to take the role of cowardice.

Photo by Eva Elijas on Pexels.com
Couldn’t find a picture of the head in the sand!

Our uncertainty about the future
Stirs in us anxiety and fear.
But stronger yet is our faith.
We take courage. God is here.

This letter from Amy Klobuchar,
A politician I have come to admire,
Came to me in today’s mail.
Her message calms the fire.

Jan,

Today’s celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. comes at a time when his work and his message are more important than ever. The forces of division that are trying to convince us that our neighbors are our enemies have been loud in recent months — but I still believe as I always have that there is still more that unites us as Americans than separates us.

Our nation is coming together to reject violence and authoritarianism. This is the spirit that we must bring into the future. We must heed the words of Dr. King, that we are all “tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Thank you,
Amy
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Turning to the wisdom of the scriptures,
We can gain resolve and be brave.
We can shine a light and be courageous.
God tells us how to behave.

Deuteronomy 31:6

“Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,
for the Lord your God goes with you;
He will never leave or forsake you.”

Joshua 1:6

“Be strong and courageous,
because you will lead these people
to inherit this land
I swore to their ancestors
to give them.”

Yesterday kicked off a week of celebrations
in preparation for this Wednesday’s inauguration.

The rioters at our nation’s capitol last week were intent on “taking back the country” by overturning the Biden/Harris election. They were convinced that the election was fraught with fraud. Hundreds of court cases were brought against election officials. Each case lost or was thrown out. Even judges appointed by President Trump found “no fraud existed.”

The actions of the rioters were not what Martin Luther King would have sanctioned. They were not what God in His scripture advocates. Paul, in his letter to the people of Corinth said what we need to hear today:

1 Corinthians 16:13

“Be on your guard;
stand firm in the faith;
be courageous;
be strong.”

He was not speaking to rioters.
He was speaking to give courage
to the people of Corinth
to stand against oppressors.

Part of today’s problem in the USA (in my humble opinion) is that there is a host of Americans who have decided the people on the side of the law are the oppressors. They have painted Donald Trump as their liberator. A huge portion of our citizenry still is convinced the election was stolen. For only the second time in our history, the outgoing president will not be there at the inauguration to wish the incoming president well – and to encourage a peaceful transition of power. It is sad, indeed!

The most important thing we can do as a nation – and in fact, as a world – is to pray. Ask God to give courage and steadfastness to those people who have been elected to lead us forward. Join together in asking for a peaceful transition. There are (hopefully) many such prayer meetings occurring today and tomorrow. Here is one of them:

That’s just a picture of an invitation.
Can’t click on it to go there from this post.
But, you should be able to find many similar events.

As we EMBRACE COURAGE and stand in the power and love of Christ, we must be discerning. Listen for the voice of God’s Truth. Try not to believe misleading rhetoric. Be sure we stand in God’s Will as we act by His strength.

2 Timothy 1:7

“For God has not given us
a spirit of fear and timidity,
but of power,
love, and
self-discipline.”

Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.
Embrace Courage, my friends.
See ya tomorrow.

Category:

Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, peace, prayer, relationships, respect, Serving One Another, truth

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Embrace God

Just As God Embraces Us…

… we need to embrace God! We need to lean on Him and let Him enfold us in His loving care. We need God now more than ever! Feel God hugging you as you reach out to Him.

Today during our ZOOM worship service, Rev. Steve Hundley delivered a powerful Pastoral Prayer. As he explained to us (the two dozen members of the Madison Valley Presbyterian Church in Ennis, MT who logged in) during his introduction to the prayer, “I am relying heavily on the prayers of the Reverend Dr. Peter Marshall, who was elected Chaplain of the United States Senate on Jan. 4, 1947.”

PASTORAL PRAYER: 

“We know, Almighty God, that in this desperate hour, we as a nation need You.  We need Your strength, Your guidance, Your wisdom.  These are problems far greater than any human wisdom can solve, for what shall our leaders do in such an hour?  May Your wisdom and Your guidance come upon the President, the President elect, the Senators and Congress men and women, to whom have been entrusted leadership.  May the responsibility in the midst of this pandemic and civil unrest lie heavily on their hearts, until they are ready to acknowledge their helplessness and turn to You.  Give them courage, and the moral integrity to confess that they don’t know what to do.  Only then can they lead us as a nation beyond human wisdom to You, who alone has the answers.

Strengthen the courage of all our elected representatives—sincere men and women who want to do what is right, if only they can be sure what is right.  Make it plain to them, O Lord.  And then, start them out on the right way, for You know that we are hard to turn.

Forgive them for the blunders they have committed, the compromises they have made.  Give to them to courage to admit mistakes.  Take away from us, both as a nation and individuals, that stubborn pride which, followed by conceit, imagines itself to be above and beyond criticism.

Save our leaders, O God, from themselves and from their friends—even as You have saved them from their enemies. 

  • Let no personal ambition blind them to their opportunities.
  • Help them to give battle to hypocrisy wherever they find it.
  • Give them divine common sense and a selflessness that shall make them think of their call to service and not gain.

May they have the courage to lead the people of this Republic, considering unworthy the expediency of following the people.

Lord, we pray for the families of the thousands who have died this week alone of this terrible and relentless virus.  We pray too, for the families of those who lost their lives and were injured in our nation’s capital.  Bring an end to the violence that would cost just one of our citizens their lives.  We pray for a peaceful transition of leadership, in our nation’s capital in the coming weeks.    

We pray for those within our own community who have contracted and been exposed to the Corona virus.  Heal them and protect them from any long-term effects of the virus.

We pray too for those people whose needs You place on our hearts. Hear and answer, we pray, that You will forgive us all our unworthiness; cleansing us from every ignoble thought and unworthy disposition that we may be renewed in spirit and mind and heart, through Jesus Christ, our Lord… Amen.”

Thank you for visiting JanBeek today.
I will post my sermon notes a little later.

Hugs from JanBeek to you.

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Jesus, Life's Challenges, Living in Christ's Family, Living in Harmony, Love, peace, prayer, relationships, respect, truth

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S.O.S.

What does S.O.S. mean to you?
It’s an urgent message for help.
But yesterday, a Facebook friend said,
“It means Same ole Shit!”

Oh my! I had not heard that before!
She was referring to a message I posted
On Facebook about the U.S. Postal Service.
She is convinced it’s all legit – not “shit” at all!

Photo by Jaymantri on Pexels.com

The post received 66 responses within a few hours
And it deteriorated to the point where I
Called a “Truce” and wished I had not started it.
But, hey, ya gotta stand up for what you believe, right?

And we have a responsibility to fact check.
Yes, some of the removed boxes were being replaced.
The guy in charge of our postal service now, DeJoy,
Has spread his “S.O.S.” and intelligent people believe him.

Other equally intelligent people weighed in on the conversation.
“I worked for the P.O. and I know these claims are false.”
“The sorting machines being removed are not being replaced.”
“This has been going on routinely for decades. Why blame Trump?”

I don’t care who is to blame, I just care about our U.S.P.S.
And I want to speak up to defend our right to vote by mail.
I need all the boxes protected and all the sorting machines left.
I need to know our election in November is not being compromised.

Photo by fotografierende on Pexels.com

So, I came out of my box of comfort and said, “Stop!”
I came out and expressed my outrage at what’s happening.
Enough other people have expressed their concern that DeJoy
Announced he will stop this nonsense until after November elections.

Jeremiah 29:11

“I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you.
I will give you hope and a good future.”

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

We need to TRUST God’s Word and expect the best.
We need to pray to God for His wisdom
And for our courage to step up to the plate
When His perfect time comes.

But, before we grab the bat
And swing at the falsehoods,
We need to ask the SUPREME COACH
To guide us, teach us, and give us TRUTH.

We need to persevere in the face of the S.O.S.
People throw at us – and don’t be deterred.
We need to listen to His voice and grasp
As clearly as we can His purposes for our stand.

STAND UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT!
Silence is no longer a viable option!!
I love you, even if you think I’m wrong.
Let’s exchange ideas with respect.

Some GOOD people will disagree with me.
May my optimism about a brighter future be contagious.
Let’s draw on the Word and promises of God.
Stand up and carry on with perseverance!

Hebrews 12:1

“Let us run
with perseverance
the race
marked out for us.”

Photo by Jaymantri on Pexels.com

Send me a love letter!

In my Guideposts Mornings with Jesus today,
Jolynn Strandberg wrote:

“Even when I am surrounded by people
who do not understand my convictions,
I hope I will always have the courage
to stand up for my beliefs.”


See ya tomorrow.
Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Jesus, learning, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, Poetry, respect, Serving One Another, truth

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Don’t Miss This!!

Yesterday morning I posted a blog about music, color & life’s fascinations.
(If you haven’t seen it,
please click on that title over on the right margin
– and enjoy!)

In it, I posted a video of an artist who sees color in music.
I was fascinated by her artistry –
and posted other things that fascinate me.
My intent always is to keep myself
thinking positively –
and to help my blogging friends do likewise.

A friend of mine here in Ennis
(who did not see my blog)
was obviously thinking along the same wave lengths.
He sent me a link to this video…

Treat yourself!
You will be so inspired!!!
Click below:

The focus is not on what you don’t have
It is on what you have –
and what you do with it!

Have a great rest of your day…
And maximize your blessings!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Belief, blessings, children, contentment, Faith, Gratitude, happiness, health, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, music, self-acceptance, teaching

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You: Kind, Smart, Important

Yes, you is!!
And you is well, too.
Hooray!!
You is smart like a fox!

Thank you, Paul Holdorf, for your beautiful photography.

Yup. you is so smart –
And you is intelligent –
You make a difference!

You is courageous –
And you is adventuresome –
You is goin’ places!

You is not perfect
But you know perfect moments,
And you make them count!

So now bee grateful
For all that you know you is –
And go change the world!

You is gonna tell
How is you gonna do that…
Tell me one thing NOW!!

Category:

Belief, blessings, Giving, Gratitude, Haiku, humor, Life's Challenges, Love, mental health, peace, Poetry, Serving One Another

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We Need Guardian Angels

Protection needed!
Our guardian angels are
Working overtime.

Surround yourself with
The love of family and friends:
Your loving angels.

My friend, Maria Mendoza, gave these cuties to me.

Angels all around
Reach out to bring you comfort.
We all need them now!

Sanctuary lights
Highlight the angelic tones –
Angels softly play.

My mother-in-law created these Faberge’-like eggs

Angels sweetly pray
For your safety and wellness.
I pray for you, too.

Seven represents
God’s number for completion.
Seven angels sing.

This glass angel is a gift from Toni Bowen.
She was here in this room before we bought this house.

Social distancing
Suggests we sit far apart –
Stand six feet away.

This ancient tiny bowl and antique carved angel with accordion are gifts from a friend in Germany

Sit in your own bowl
And do not touch anything;
Stay isolated!

Carry your concerns
Like your heart in open hands –
But wash them often.

My daughter’s mother-in-love, Denise Solioz,
gave us this darling flute-playing angel.

Like the Pied Piper,
Be an angel with a flute.
Compassion plays here.

This lovely angel was among many in a box my mother left behind.
She bought every angel in her nursing home’s gift shop before she died.
I gave most of them away in her memory to the friends in her care facility.
This, the largest of the collection, I kept as a reminder.
BettyDeA believed in angels!
She sits at the top of the circle staircase…
guarding my daily coming and going.

We all need angels
To guard coming and going
In this Virus-age.

Photo by Sebastian Voortman on Pexels.com

The winds of change blow.
The Virus changes our world.
Hang tight to angels.

Don’t let fear freeze you.
Live in deep faith and courage.
What goodness will come?

With factories closed,
Air is clearing in China.
People create new.

New ways of thinking;
New ways of doing old things.
Appreciating!

Gratitude for the
Things we saw as common-place,
Like simple touching.

Photo by Kristin De Soto on Pexels.com

Appreciating
Arenas where we gather
For sports or speeches.

Thankfulness for the
Opportunity to dance
With wild abandon.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Now authorities,
Closing our business and schools,
Keep us from living.

We remind ourselves
It is for our greater good.
What about our jobs?

What about our plans
To travel for marriages
Or for funerals?

Our vacation plans –
Things we paid for months ago –
All of them cancelled.

In the midst of this,
Can our angels show to us
The good that’s coming?

Will our guardians
Show us tomorrow’s bright hope
In sorrow’s dark midst?

Photo by Retha Ferguson on Pexels.com

Calling All Angels!
We need your guardianship;
Save us from the doom.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

What are your thoughts
about what’s happening with this Coronavirus –
and what ideas can you share
about how we can be
each others’ guardian angels?

Let me hear from you.
What’s happening in your part of the world?

Category:

Belief, Faith, Family, friendship, God, Gratitude, Haiku, health, Life and Death, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, music, peace, Poetry, prayer, relationships, Serving One Another

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Have Faith and Step Out

Life Swirls Around You

Back in 2012, shortly after I first started blogging, I posted this poem that I wrote at least 20 years ago. It is more true today than it was then… and fits perfectly into the theme of the blog I posted earlier today.

Have Faith and Step Out

Don’t overlook your life’s importance
or minimize your worth.
It doesn’t matter if you’re on an allowance
or on Social Security;
No matter where you are in life,
You have so much to give.

The vital part of your life
Never disappears or fades away.
Each of us is vital to God.
He gives us the courage to go out and live,
to heed His call and step out in faith
on a new journey today.

In faithful obedience, lean forward
to hear Him; He doesn’t shout.
His call is quiet and personal.
Get serious. Listen carefully.
Are you up for a new journey?
Have faith and step out!

Yup, step out!

Thanks for checking back in with me.
See ya tomorrow.

Category:

Faith, Living in Christ's Family, Love, Poetry, Serving One Another, Sharing

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The Lion in Me

Hello, Sir Lion!
I feared you had gone away.
Welcome to today!

Miss Kitty out here
Threatened to take me over
While you stayed hidden.

I’m glad you appeared
To help me face challenges;
Today’s full of them.

My To-Do List

  • Finish cleaning that darn office
  • Go up in my sanctuary; worship and consult with God
  • Figure out what to put in our suitcases and pack ’em
  • Fix and eat a healthy breakfast
  • Go downtown and buy hostess gifts
  • Confirm our flights and choose our seats
  • Leave a list of helpfuls for the folks who’ll be in our house
  • Visit shut-ins
  • Go to Bell Choir Practice
  • Fix and eat dinner
  • Clean up the kitchen and dust the house
  • Get a good night’s sleep for tomorrow’s long travel day

Take strength and courage
From Mr. Lion in me.
Tackle those To-Do’s!

Have a productive day, my friends.
I’m headed into that darn office.
Can’t have it looking so messy
when our family arrives for Thanksgiving.
Do you have a room like that at your place?

See Ya Later!

Category:

blessings, Family, Gratitude, Haiku, Life's Challenges, Love, Poetry, work

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