Text Hammer

RENEW International has renewed individuals belief in parishes and communities all over the world. It has helped more than 25 million Americans and people in twenty-two countries experience the religious transformation of living in Gods grace. RENEW International shows its ministry how to live according to Scripture and to strengthen their relationship with God.

RENEW International is a non-profit Catholic organization, reaching followers who are in spiritual need. This multinational ministry comes from the vision of Msgr. Tom Kleissler. He believed in a stronger, renewed Church with laypersons involved with parish and civic issues. He partnered with Msgr. Tom Ivory to make these ideas a reality and they began RENEW International. Since its inception, RENEW has helped thousands of people find or rejuvenate their trust. Participants in their programs gather together in small trust-sharing groups to study, pray, and ascertain to live according to the Gospel. They find deeper meaning in Scripture and discover to connect its lessons to their lives.

RENEW International Grants people a deeper knowledge of Catholicism. Participants experience a reawakened sense of spiritualism and make connections from Scripture to their lives. RENEW International fosters friendships and aids followers find strength and sustenance in their relationship with God.

I rarely meet a mother who is not tired. Sometimes I think that is the definition of being a mother. As soon as you sit down to relax someone needs something or there is a “crisis”. A definition of a crisis certainly is in the eye of the beholder. We all get tired and when we get tired we often neglect our time alone with God.

Recently, I got a way for a weekend by myself. I was weary, tired, and needed relief. I stopped at the grocery store before I left and saw a book entitled, “When Women Need to Rest” by Cindy McMenamin. (You will see the book on the Resource page of www.christianworkingmom.com) The book was calling my name. So, I got the book and took it on my trip. I desperately needed to hear what it said.

One important point of the book that stuck out in my mind (my paraphrase) was: Maybe God wants you to start doing less for him and just spend time with him. When was the last time you rested in the Lord? Do you come running to him and want to just crawl up in his lap and rest? Often, as women we give and give until there is nothing left.

Our children go through stages. In the beginning, they need us for everything and often feel like “Velcro children”. We are needed non-stop. Then, they get a little older and really don’t even want to talk with us and we crave that conversation. I think God, our Heavenly Father, craves to hear from his children. He wants us to come running to Him and tell Him about our day, our concerns, our triumphs, and our failures. He says, “I am longing to talk with you. Rest in Me and I will take care of you.”

So, I encourage you this year instead of trying to do more at home, work, or church make a conscious decision to REST. Rest in God and spend time with him. See what God has to say to you and let him fill you with his peace. I have often found I am less tired if I am consistently spending time with God and resting in Him. God is the ultimate stress reliever, peace giver, and burden bearer. Make rest a priority in 2005.

About the Author

Kimberly Chastain, MS, LMFT is the Christian Working Mom Coach and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She was recently featured in the book the Myth of the Perfect Mother. She is the author of “Help, I Just Can’t Say No” and Pearls of Encouragement for Christian Working Moms. To schedule a free, initial coaching session send an email to free@kimberlychastain.com or visit http://www.christianworkingmom.com.

The Lord God… He awakens me each morning; He awakens my ear to listen… Isaiah 50:4

When I was a young girl, my friends and I would lay in the grass, flat on our backs gazing up at the wispy clouds blowing into different shapes. They would be ever so slowly blown forming many shapes. We’d point up to the clouds and ask, “Do you see the poodle? Do you see the airplane? …the high heel shoe? …the pelican?” Some of us would immediately see the object, and some of us would struggle to see what the clouds reflected. This activity was so entertaining; we’d lie there for hours on beautiful days. Even in our youth we knew that our Creator was amazing. Lying there with my friends, we would have really deep and profound conversations for our age, looking up at the vast never ending blue and white puffs in the sky; we’d ask such powerfully felt questions wondering “How did God form the earth and everything in it? Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing?”

There was a huge sweet smelling honeysuckle bush that lined and entire fence and we’d pick the golden yellow trumpet shaped flower off of the bush and find the little green stem on the end and pull it like a thread through the flower, dragging the little tiny dab of sugary sweet syrup to our lips and enjoy the taste of the sweet honey! We wondered how God put the sweet syrup in the beautiful honeysuckle flower! Again we were amazed with the Lord’s creative intelligence. Continuing to survey the clouds we were delighted in the amazement and wonder of it all! This was the way that I began to attempt to discover who and what God was, and why I was here.

We would then fix our eyes on other creatures around us. We’d pick up the doodle bugs (also known as roly-pollies, pill bugs, and armadillo bugs). These bugs have a shell-like body that can tuck and roll up for protection, which is how they got many of the names we called them. Most people think that they are insects, but they are not! They actually breathe through gills! In the tiniest little creature, there is such creativity, such beauty!

Early on in my life I was aware of the Holy Spirit through Gods creation, through animals and nature, through the wind and the rain, the flowing river, the silence and through music, through laughter and tears, through joy, through relationships, through sweet aromas, sunrises and sunsets, and clouds! Ultimately, I experience God through you, through love, which I consider to be the most creative and intelligent source the Lord has provided.

When I think about “Creative Intelligence” I think of God, the Holy Spirit. God is the definitive, The Great Creator, and the Greatest of all Intelligence. This scripture comes to mind…

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:28 NLT

So, what does having an “Awakened Life” or “Holy Spirit-connected life” mean? It means to live wholly holy. Don’t think that Jesus expects this way of living as “having to be perfect”… For me, it means to be completely in step with the Holy Spirit, to make a choice for Christ. Within that choice is an amazing freedom. He carries our burdens, instills us with His Holy Spirit! This is amazing love! This is the ultimate in creative intelligence.

Keeping in step with the Spirit takes active concentration, commitment, and discipline. Unfortunately, many people (including myself) can pay attention to so many other things that keep us from living and walking with the Holy Spirit. One of those obstacles is pride, which CS Lewis says, “is spiritual cancer that eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.”

It’s been said, and I believe this with my whole heart; that we speak to God with every word and breath that we release. And with each and every breath we breathe in He makes Himself known to us. After all He is the breath of life. We are never apart or separated from God, although we can miss “hearing him speak to us” if we are not tuned in to His message. Too often we tune Him out, like so many other things in our lives.

From my heart to your heart…

I want for you to be in connection with the Lord, the giver of life, who stretched out his arms on the cross, and offered himself, a perfect sacrifice for you and the whole world, so that you would have life everlasting.

He has joy for you, plans for you to prosper, and to love, even in the midst of struggle. I want to give of you hope and joy in your journey. The choice to live in every moment with love, faith, and glorious expectation is mine and yours! Don’t let anything or anyone stop you from living in the glory that the Holy Spirit provides.

For those of you who have God given dreams, keep dreaming. Make sure that you dream big enough dreams that you must include God!! Push beyond the limits of your comfort zone! Do you realize where those dreams come from? Do you trust where they originate? Step out in faith, don’t just sit there sitting on your dream, embrace it! Love it, and live it!

What are you doing with your mind? What way are you choosing to live your life? What thoughts, what character do you want or do you long for? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind!

Romans 12:2 reads; Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. (Amplified version)

As a Life Coach, I partner with you in discovering the dreams God has given you and I encourage those I coach to begin praying, about the plan that the Lord has. Always pray about the choices you make and why you make them. My prayer for you is to Awaken your Spirit, transform your life into a breathtaking and joyous, Holy Spirit life! Live for God, because He lives for you!

If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit” Gal. 5:25

My prayer for you is to Awaken your Spirit, transform your life into a breathtaking and joyous, Holy Spirit life! Live for God, because He lives for you, I know this to be true!

Go lie down, flat on your back, with ears to hear, a heart prepared, eyes gazing up into the clouds, and experience the enormity of His love for you! Dream, pray, bask in His glory; discover the beauty He has for you! Discovery is one of the best parts of the journey!

Here’s to being Awakened each morning by His voice!

Kathryn

Copyright 2006 Awakenings Life Coaching by Kathryn Bonner

Kathryn Bonner is a Christian Life Coach, enhancing and accelerating the process of bringing joy & balance to life, deeper meaning & focus to ministry, harmony & understanding to relationships, insights to transitions, depth to the Christian walk, growth in personal & professional living, clarity of values.
http://www.AwakeningsLifeCoaching.com

A lot of people do it. They scamper away like little mice when someone preaches to them. If the sermon is in written form they still read it, but later email the writer with nasty comments about how bible thumpers should get a life. It is a normal way of things to run from something you don’t want to hear, or for the aggressive personality with spunk, to attack back. It is not necessarily because they don’t believe in what God says as true, it is because they don’t want to be preached to. If they wanted to be preached to they would stay in Church, isn’t that right? They don’t want someone telling them how to live their life. No one wants to hear their present lifestyle might be in direct correlation to their spiritual health. Some people simply walk away and ignore those who preach to them, while others become offensive and even lash back in anger.

I used to run away from God’s word too. I was an alcoholic and a resentment lover. If a preacher told me that I was a no-good sinner, and it did happen, my instincts told me to run and hide. I thought if I stayed hidden long enough, maybe those self-righteous Christian’s would forget about my sinning lifestyle. It’s true; some Christian’s are so smug that I still run from them. The problem with the haughty Christian’s is they haven’t grown out from self in a spiritual way, but remain addicted to themselves, which is a selfish Christian. As we all know, anyone can say they are Christian, but the truth of the matter is, not anyone can act like a Christian.

I’m one of those spiritual people who writes about all the wondrous and miraculous things that God has done in my life. I guess, in a way that is tossing my beliefs in people’s face. Actually, what I have to say is not just my beliefs, but also my way of thinking, and my view of life. It’s not about me, it’s about God. It’s my story, but God’s love and compassion that made the story. Mostly, I get ignored when I preach about God. When I preach about my life, they listen, and then ignore me later. In fact, I only got my first piece of hate email last week

I recently had a fellow colleague read an article off my website titled Submission, and she got offended! I wished she had ignored me instead; I wasn’t ready for her nasty comments. Her email got me wondering if there wasn’t a better way to write about my life-long testimony, and still keep it scripturally based, without offending anyone! To make a long story short, my colleague told me she thought I should put a disclaimer on my website. A disclaimer for God’s word! Oh Brother, what is this world coming to? I thought to myself.

I was appalled at the idea, of even remotely thinking that God’s written word needed a disclaimer, how pathetic. I finally calmed down and fervently attempted to put myself in my colleague’s shoes. The “submitting to your husband” aspect of my article is what rubbed her the wrong way. Forget the fact that she isn’t married to this abuser anymore. Don’t forget the fact that this fanatic abused her physically, emotionally, and spiritually all throughout their marriage. When she told me these things, I totally empathized with this woman, and fully understood where she was coming from. All she saw when reading my article on submission was SUBMIT TO YOUR HUSBAND, and nothing else. She didn’t read the part where it says, a husband is not supposed to use his authority over his wife to control her and abuse her. No, she skipped right over that part and only saw what she wanted to see to defend the little bit of womanhood that she still had left. Obviously, she was still hurting terribly from her wounds, and barely healing in her mind, when this piece of writing on how a wife should submit to her husband was tossed in her face, full force like a bottle rocket! From her viewpoint, the article expelled everything she had been taught during her healing and growth process from abusive men. No wonder she got offended!

I’m glad that I put myself in her shoes. I then started thinking about the other women who have been through similar circumstances, and decided that it would be okay for me to add a little provision by that particular article. My little disclaimer simply says that if a husband is abusing his wife, she is not intended to submit to his spiritual authority. But what if the wife is abusing the husband? Okay so, I re-worded the disclaimer again.

I guess I always thought that most people knew these things about God already. God doesn’t expect a woman to bow down to an abuser anymore than he doesn’t expect a Christ honoring husband not to love and care for his wife with everything he’s got! Unfortunately, people only see what they want to see, and filter out so much that is important. If a husband is abusing his wife, in any way shape or form, he is not a man of God. Therefore a wife need not submit to a heathen. The bible precepts do not apply to the heathen.

People will continue to be offended by those who preach the words of God, and it is because they have conditions and events, like my colleagues, that don’t quite fit in with what God says, or they live a lifestyle that is in contradiction to God’s words. It’s as simple as that! God’s word does not need disclaimers, but what does is the people who are living outside of God’s word, and are trying to fit into it. You know who you are.

Copyright 2005 Angie Lewis
JOURNEY ON THE ROADS LESS TRAVELED, a book about life, people, marriage, family and children. A story of faith, beliefs, spirituality, and love.
ISBN 1413788904 Available at Amazon and any online bookstore

http://spiritual.journeybooks.4t.com/
http://www.heavenministries.com/

Evangelist Vance Havner told the story of a boy who brought home a watermelon he had stolen from his neighbor’s farm and proudly showed it to his parents. They knew he had stolen the watermelon but after looking it over for a moment all his parents had to say to their son was… “Don’t get any more of them because you don’t know what they have been sprayed with.”

The parents knowing the unseen poison on the watermelon might make their son sick or even worse could kill him gave him what seems like a concerned warning. They ignored the command of God, “thou shalt not steal” and the concomitant effects of stealing that result from ignoring that commandment. Could the boy get sick from stealing? I can hear a line from a beautiful traditional hymn “There is a Balm in Gilead, to heal the sin sick soul.” I can also hear the warning of God from Romans 6:23…”the wages of sin is death” The parents were concerned for the boys health but not for his future or the health of his soul.

In a recent episode of the popular TV show “Law and Order” an enraged father beat and killed a homosexual man who along with his homosexual partner had adopted his son. The mother a drug addict never told the father he had a son and after being removed from her custody the boy was placed in the home of the homosexual couple. Anyone who knows their bible is aware that killing a homosexual person is just as sinful as being a homosexual person.

In the end the man was tried and found guilty of murder and it would seem that alls well that ends well. Before the entire matter was disposed of the prosecutors gave a final argument that was based on the idea that it was the love of the homosexual couple that saved the boy from a terrible life without a home. Here is the choice; here is the lesser of two evils. One might ask first. is a home a destination for an entire life. Has the American dream become an end in itself or is there still something more?

The homosexual union was bestowed a sort of reverent dignity because of the couples willingness to do what others would not. The constant daily example of a perverted and sinful lifestyle is ignored for the fulfillment of the American dream. Today’s morality labors hard not just to ignore Gods commandments but to deny them and actively fight against them. Can good come from a sinful union? Jesus said it could not. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Matthew 7:18. The lifestyle of the homosexual couple would do far more harm to a boy if he was taught to accept it than years of shuffling around in foster homes. The lesser of two evils won this bout. Not forgetting that “Law and Order” is after all only fiction it is the message that we are addressing here and not the program itself.

That men can become proficient in choosing between the lesser of two evils was known to the apostle James who said…”Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts.” James 2:4. How many parents today have boasted that even though there may not be much in their children’s behavior that is redeemable at least they don’t do drugs? This is the lesser of two evils magnified or perhaps even glorified. Where will it end? Is beating people up OK as long as we don’t kill them? Is robbery OK as long as we are not armed? Is stealing watermelons OK as long as we know they have not been sprayed with a toxic substance?

This is just one example of a dangerous trend in America that leaves our children with only the choice of the lesser of two evils. This is no choice at all.

Rev Bresciani is the author of “An American Prophet and His Message” and the writer of hundreds of articles both online and in print. Please visit the article archive at www.americanprophet.org

There is an old joke about what one junior firecracker said to another, “My pop is bigger than your pop!” And this claim often is made among young ones today. Maybe not in so many words, but the pride of having the best dad in the world is common.

Jesus tells us clearly in scripture that this adage is not to be the case: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37) We often put our focus on and pride in our families. Nothing comes before family. Everything is done for the good of the family. But then family becomes the idol of our lives rather than Jesus. It is a seductive and almost invisible truth.

But take heart! Jesus knows we all love our families and want the best for them. He will enable us to continue loving them yet transfer our first love to Him. How? One step at a time! We shift gears by first saying it; then confirming it with our families; and finally being able to demonstrate it, one situation at a time. It’s not a natural thing to say and do. Yet with Jesus: God first, family next, and then church, will become a litany as natural as breathing and eating. Let’s give our families to Jesus! He know best, just like Father knows best!

For more Godled Daily Devontionals like is one, sign up for free at: http://www.begodled.com

Searching for Silence in a Noisy World
by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur

When was the last time you were surrounded by silence? It seems that background noise is an ever-present reality of our world. The T.V. and radio are our constant companions. Our children play with electronic toys that beep and wail at the push of a button. Our streets are full of roaring engines, tooting horns, and the pounding of construction. At night, we may run a fan or have an air conditioner humming in the background. We do not even sleep in silence. The sounds of nature and indeed the sounds of our own mind are drowned out by the constant din.

What is it about silence that makes us so uncomfortable? While we have little control over many of the noises of our world, what about the ones we can control? How often do we make the conscious choice to turn off the background noise, to pay attention to that which is within us? What is it that we are afraid we will find? It is in those all too rare moments of silence that we can truly come to know ourselves.

Only two people who have known each other a great deal can sit comfortably in silence. Among new acquaintances, we force ourselves to keep the conversation going. Silence feels forced and awkward. In the intimacy of an old friendship or within a marriage, however, the silence can be comforting. We do not feel the need to always come up with something to talk about. There is no pressure to perform. Nothing is forced. We are free to just be in the presence of the other.

So should it be in our relationship with God. In our prayer, our conversation with God, do we always feel the need to be talking? Do we ever stop to listen? God, who loves us and knows us more intimately than any human ever could, exists within us and invites us to just be in the presence of the divine. Obviously, conversation with God and being with God is different from our human relationships. In our interpersonal encounters, we can see the person with whom we are conversing, we can hear their voice on the telephone, or read an email from a friend. With God, we need to trust that He is always there with us, whether we sense Him or not. It is up to us to open ourselves to the possibility of experiencing God. In silence, we can more fully allow ourselves to be open to that possibility.

So, how can we make silence a habit in our lives? Admittedly, it is a challenge. Debra Farrington in Hearing with the Heart: A Gentle Guide to Discerning God?s Will for your Life (Jossey-Bass, 2003) suggests beginning with just five minutes a day. Perhaps either before or after a time of formal prayer, we can carve out a place for silence. If the background noise of your home is prohibitive, perhaps a walk outside or retreating to the bathroom will provide the needed relief from noise. In that time, Harrington recommends not only attempting to distance ourselves from the sounds of the world, but also from the noise inside our minds. Try not to focus on the problems of the day or the to-do list of chores that need to be done. Try to just be in the presence of God. In time, we should be as comfortable in silence with God as we are with our intimate friends, and we should begin to hear God?s voice a little louder in our lives.

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of “The Spiritual Woman Newsletter” (http://www.spiritualwoman.net) and author of “Letters to Mary from a Young Mother” (iUniverse, 2004)

About the Author

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of “The Spiritual Woman Newsletter” (http://www.spiritualwoman.net) and author of “Letters to Mary from a Young Mother” (iUniverse, 2004)

You might be interested in a e~mail reply I just sent to a person with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) who asked me how I was recently cured? I was also cured of having to worry about money…LOL

Hey “Curious Cathy,”

I doubt that most will want to believe the “How” circumstances involving my cure…LOL… They don’t even ask. You did, and God will reward you too

Probably, it is best to suggest that you visit my website milesbooks.com to get a full explanation. Yet, after being reluctantly forced to retire by MS ~ 5 years ago ~ and trying everything in the world (including LDN) to turn it around, I’d continued to become more disabled, spent the last 8 months confined to my wheelchair, and had everything BUT given up…

Read my last two “Rascal’s blog” entries for what’s happened in the last couple of weeks ~ leading up to my being cured, this week. I feel that you will understand, Cathy, what most “Earth~bound souls” can never begin to accept.

Read my new “Earth~Angel” section and about ‘A Rainbow Reminder’ for more answers, Cathy. I suspect that you may be an Earth~Angel also After all, you ARE the only MSer who has even asked. Perhaps, the very reason that The Lord has told me to stay in the LDN MS support group?

I trust that you do not mind that I am sending this explanation to a few others ~ that haven’t asked ~ yet. I feel that they would like to know. In fact, I’ve just been told to use this e-mail (without your last name or addie) in a new ezine article to shout “I Am Cured” to the world. It will take a few days before it is published, is reviewed & comments posted by my “1st Team” readers, but if you like, you can be an evaluator too. Let me know, O.K.?

I think, I’ll walk over and make another mocha…LOL… There, I’m back! I even stopped by the restroom to do what ~ for about a year and a half ~ I had to do sitting down…LOL

You can IM me via Skype (milesbooks) or Yahoo (milesruss2002) as can anyone else who wishes to talk with me personally. I look forward to chatting with you,”Curious Cathy” LOL

As for future e-mails, please change my addie to Rascal.Miles at gmail.com

~Hugs~

Rascal

“Rascal” Russ Miles is author of the novel, For Sale By Owners:FSBO. A “Seasoned Real Estate NAR® Broker,” he was disabled by Multiple Sclerosis. “Rascal” Russ writes books & articles on varied subjects. Rascal’s present project is selecting Earth~Angels for the ‘A Rainbow Reminder’ vessel which is being launched via cyber~space to deliver “God’s Chosen” from Sickness, Financial problems, and Ignorance of God’s abundance provisions.

Via his personal website http://MilesBooks.com, Rascal’s blog, & his ezine articles themselves, Rascal Russ maintains contact with those whom he believes the God of this Universe has joined together with him as per Destiny’s Devine Plan for this Planet Earth!

Dear Daughter,

In my last letter I shared some thoughts about how to give your life direction. I would like to continue those thoughts. There is another important factor that shapes our lives. That factor is our spirituality, or our relationship with God.

If you pray and ask God to use you and your life for his purposes, your prayers will be answered, if you are sincere. This is a submission to God and a willingness to walk through opened doors, or opportunities, to serve God and others. If you pray this prayer, it’s a good idea to also pray for the wisdom and insight to recognize when a door opens for you.

Prayer is real. God is real, as is the Holy Spirit and Jesus. It is easy to begin thinking that God and church are more of a social function than anything else. In fact, Church does serve as a social function and as a type of support group for Christians. We meet to encourage one another and to help each other grow. This is one of the purposes of church.

These things are the “seen” part of church. Just as the “seen” is real, so is the “unseen.” Again, God is real. The Holy Spirit is real. Jesus was and is real. When you pray, your prayers are heard.

I believe that prayers are sometimes said out of routine and without proper respect. Use your imagination as you read this. Suppose that you are allowed only one prayer in your lifetime. You decide that today is the day you will use this one prayer. You go to a private place for this prayer. Just as you bow your head, a bright flash of light, like lightening, fills the room. At first you are blinded by the flash, and then you realize that it wasn’t a flash at all. The unbelievably bright light continues to fill the room. Your heart pounds and you notice trembling in your arms and legs. Suddenly, the light becomes even more intense and you panic. As you turn to find the door, you hear a thunderous, powerful voice that is unusual; it sounds like three voices speaking in unison. It is a frightening and awesome sound. Then just as suddenly as it began, the powerful three voices come together as one. You hear and you understand:

“Don’t be afraid my child, for I am your Heavenly Father and I love you very much. I knew you before you were born, I know you now and I will know and be with you when you leave this earth. I am here now to listen. I want to hear what you have to say. What you say is important to me because I love you more than you can understand.”

How would you pray? Would your approach to the prayer be any different than usual? Prayer is powerful and real. Prayer is your direct hotline to God. In addition, when you pray, you are not praying alone. The Holy Spirit is helping with your prayer by communicating your deepest thoughts and needs, even the things that you don’t know how to verbalize or pray for. Do you see why I say that prayer is powerful?

Answered prayers shape and give direction to our lives. Prayer is powerful and prayers are answered. I suppose some people would have a different opinion on this, but it has been my experience that prayers are usually answered by the opening and closing of doors. An exception would be prayers for the seriously ill. I have talked with several people who have witnessed remarkable medical recoveries in response to sincere prayer. Again, my experience has been that prayers are often answered by a door closing in one direction and opening in another. On the surface, it can appear to be coincidental, chance, or good luck. However, as you go through life, remember what you are praying for and look backwards with 20/20 hindsight. You will find that there are just too many coincidental events. You will realize that God’s hand was involved.

I hope that you pray. When you pray, pray as if you are praying that once in a lifetime prayer. Remember that you have God’s attention and he wants to hear what you have to say. When you pray, don’t forget to praise God. This just means let God know that you recognize His greatness, that He is all-powerful, the one and only God, and that you love and praise Him. Also, don’t forget to thank God for all He has given you. Then, pray for other’s needs and your own needs. I hope that you ask God to help you get through the teenage years, to help you get through the dating years safely, and to eventually marry a godly man. You might also pray for God to use you for his purposes, which is what brought us to the topic of prayer to start with.

So, I would suggest that our lives are directed and shaped by our choices, some random events, and God’s intervention in response to prayers. We can choose to drift through life and hope that things turn out all right, or we can choose to influence our direction in life through prayer and good choices. I hope you choose wisely and I hope that you pray. I will be praying for you.

Alan Yarbrough, Ed. D. is a retired psychologist. Letters to my Daughter is a series of heart-touching letters written by a Christian psychologist to his teenage daughter. These letters deliver what most parents want to say, but rarely do. Available at www.pricelessebooks.com or www.amazon.com

Who said religion has to last a lifetime?

When I was in my thirties, people used to ask me what religion I was. I’d stutter a little bit and then explain that I was, by my own definition, “in-between religions.”

It raised a lot of eyebrows, but my answer always made perfect sense to me. I had outgrown the religion I grew up in and drifted away from the church of my youth, but I hadn’t found a new religion that fit my adult lifestyle and my adult beliefs yet. I still believed in God, and did the best I knew how to be a good person without weekly guidance from my Sunday School teacher. It never occurred to me then (although I’ve heard enough about it since) that separating from a church was the same to some people as separating from God himself; I was surprised that anyone would consider God and a church - or should I say God and THE church - as one and the same.

My light-hearted response about being in-between religions was usually met with disapproval, although I really never understood why. If people can be in-between jobs, or in-between houses, or in-between marriages, why can’t they be in-between religions? If a person is in-between jobs, they’re unemployed. If they’re in-between houses, they’re moving. If they’re in-between marriages, they’re single. But if - God forbid! - they’re in-between religions, most religions consider them lost.

I will admit that it’s easy to GET lost when you’re in-between religions, because there are literally thousands of paths you can wander down in your search for spiritual truth, if you consider all of the different sects within each major religion in the world. Christianity alone has literally thousands of truths to choose from; Hinduism has well over a thousand Gods. It’s no wonder that the serious seeker can spend years just checking out the options; it may well be decades before they start drawing any conclusions of their own.

Being in-between religions isn’t right for everybody. Some people are happy where they’re at, and some people aren’t, and that’s okay. Just because your brother attends the same church with his wife and children that your parents attended with you as a child doesn’t mean you have to follow the family tradition.

I’m not saying for one minute that family tradition doesn’t have an awful lot to do with our religious beliefs (or disbeliefs, as the case may be). The way our family looked at, dealt with, and talked about religion serves as the invisible cornerstone on which our own beliefs are built. Even if we come from solid stock who never looked at, dealt with or talked about religion, the inferred unimportance of it all still serves as that cornerstone as we reach adulthood.

There’s something emotional (happy or sad) about giving up things from our childhood. It’s amazing how many adults still have their teddy bears, and even more amazing how many adults never owned a teddy bear at all. If it’s true that you can’t miss what you never had, why do some grownups feel traumatized because they never had a bear of their very own to sleep with? Why are so many adults (I hesitate to say “most adults”) traumatized because of the religious beliefs their family did or did not instill in them as children?

Because we were children, and we believed what the grown-ups told us, regardless of who the grown-ups were or what they had to say for themselves. They were grown-ups, and that made them smarter than us. They were the voice of experience; we knew they were wise because they were all ancient.

By the time we were half-way through school, we knew they weren’t only smart, they were right. Always. They knew what they were talking about, and we usually got punished if we talked back or asked too many questions, which is probably why I still have some confusion in my own mind about where the fine line between “smart-aleck” and “bright, inquisitive child” lies.

And they stuck up for each other. Parents were always telling us that the teachers and preachers in our lives knew what was best for us, even though the parents didn’t go to school with us all day every day and very seldom sat in on our Sunday School class to hear what we were being taught. Grown-ups stuck together, and their power in our lives - in our minds, and our hearts, and our bodies and our spirits - was summarized in one word: adult.

They taught us in a million unspoken words who we should be, how we should be it, and what we should be doing with our lives. And - because they were grown-ups - we accepted their definitions as our own. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be, because children of all ages need lots of help staying on the straight and narrow.

One of my favorite quotes from the Christian Bible says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (I Corinthians 13:11, NIV). Putting childish ways behind you is just another way of saying, “I began to think for myself, as an adult. I became a grown-up, and took responsibility for who I am and what I do in and with my life.”

I have the ultimate respect for the truths that others taught me when I was too young to think for myself. I also still think the dress I wore at my piano recital when I was in the second grade was beautiful, and the Ginger doll I played with for years on end was the most wonderful toy ever invented. I still think Captain Kangaroo was the best pretend friend a kid could want, and Annette Funicello was the most beautiful female in the world, especially when she wore her Mouseketeer ears. My mother was, without a doubt, the center of the whole universe, and I was blessed with food when there were children starving in China.

Those were some of my truths, when I was a child who talked like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. The fact that I was a child didn’t make them any less true, for me anyway. But that was then, and this is now, and - like most adults - I’ve put childish ways (and truths) behind me. I’ve had lots of favorite dresses during the course of my years, and spend almost as much time with my computer as I did with my Ginger doll. The Captain has been replaced with real male friends and a gorgeous rock idol or two along the way; Annette was pretty, but not nearly as beautiful as my own children came to be. Some things never change: my mother will always be my mother, and there will always be children starving somewhere in the world, no matter how much of my uneaten food she sends them.

Life changes, and - if we’re wise enough, and brave enough - our truth about life will change, too. We have to remember that change is the only constant in our lives; if we’re not changing, we’re being stagnant, and if we’re being stagnant, we’re wasting this precious gift called life. It’s okay to wonder if what we were taught as a child does or does not apply to our adult life and our grown-up ways; it’s okay to put those ways behind us if they don’t fit us anymore.

It takes a lot of courage and strength of character to step outside the box of established religion and look for a spiritual truth that will work for you all day, everyday, with no loopholes and no exceptions. Like life, truth is fluid, and we can go with the flow of our spiritual quest a whole lot more comfortably if we are willing to answer the question “what religion are you?” with a simple “I’m in-between religions. How about you?”

Lois Grant-Holland is a Life Path Focus Counselor offering Life Path Focus Sessions, Karmic Astrology Charts, Channeled Guidance, Intuitive Readings and Classes and Workshops to spiritual seekers on all positive paths, and is the site facilitator at The A.N.S.W.E.R. - (The Seeker’s Resource Guide to Alternative, New Thought, Spiritual Growth, Wellness and Enlightenment Resources.) You can visit her website at http://www.loisgrantholland.com