Monday Morning Memo: What's Next?

We were recently talking with someone and I heard the comment made:  “Well, yes that was pre-Covid”.  It wasn’t long after that and we were talking with someone else and I then heard, “Yes, that happened after Covid”.  

 

It amazes me that here we are in 2025, and we still relate so many things to either pre-Covid or post-Covid!  What a moment in time that was, and it still is affecting us five years later.

 

Just think about life in the pre-Covid era.  We had no idea what we were in for.  We had no clue there would be a pandemic…that most businesses would have to close…students would have to learn from home…people would go nuts having to stay home…and there would be friends and loved ones who would pass away from this illness.

 

Yes sirree…we were just living our lives without any idea what the year 2020 would hold for us. If we just would have known…we could have…worried?  Stopped it?  Warned everybody?  Hmmmm, of those options I don’t think worrying would have changed anything.  I really doubt we could have stopped it from happening.  But, maybe…just maybe we could have warned people.  If we only would have known.

 

The same is true now in 2025.  We have no clue what tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year will bring.  We may have to go through something far worse than Covid…or…we may be blessed with something better than our wildest dreams.  We just don’t know what is next.  So, what can we do?  Worry?  Stop whatever is going to happen?  Warn everybody we know?  If we look at it sensibly…we know worrying about what might happen will accomplish nothing…except maybe give us high blood pressure or an ulcer.  Trying to stop something when we have no idea what “it” is…is futile.  And how can we warn everybody about something we don’t know the facts of yet?

 

I think we might spend our time in a more productive way by concentrating on what we DO know.  The only thing that we as Christians know…is that someday Jesus is going to return.  It might be today, tomorrow, next week or next year…we just don’t know.  But since we do know that it will happen…why don’t we spend our time making sure everyone else knows too.  If we put all the effort that most of us put into worrying about the future, into telling others about our Jesus…I’m guessing we might have a better, more peace-filled life today.  Christ doesn’t want us to live our lives consumed with fretting about what might happen…but instead…consumed with letting our light shine for all to see.

 

Is fear consuming your thoughts?  Do you spend your days worrying about all the “what-ifs” of life?  Maybe you need to work on redirecting your thoughts on the One who already holds tomorrow in the palm of His hand.  Jesus knows every detail of your future, and do you know what?  He isn’t worried.  So, if He isn’t wringing His hands…we shouldn’t either.  

 

So, let’s get busy and show our friends and family the joy and peace we have in our Jesus and tell them He is coming back so we all need to get ready!

Monday Morning Memo: We Are Not That Powerful

If there is one thing that I’ve learned in my life, it is that just when I think I have things figured out…I realize that I don’t.  Just when I think I see the puzzle pieces falling into place, someone or something rearranges them.  But if I look at things realistically, I’m pretty sure that that is just “life” and at my age I should be used to it by now!

 

I’ve been thinking about how I usually react when a change or detour occurs.  Sometimes I handle it well, but there are times when I think I spend way too much time overanalyzing every detail.  I tend to be a teensy bit of a perfectionist (ok some of you can stop laughing now), and as a result, I feel the need to pick apart the reason for every change.  “What caused this to happen?”  “What did I do wrong to bring about this detour?”  “What incorrect decision did I make to blow God’s entire plan for my life, causing Him to have to totally redraw the blueprints He had for me?”  Yes, sometimes I’m a little “over the top”.

 

But another thing I’ve learned in my life is that I am not alone in feeling this way.  I talk to a lot of people, and quite often I hear them say similar things.  Their words may be different than mine…but often their underlying theme mimics mine.  In essence, I often hear them say, “Well I really blew it this time when I made the wrong decision and now God is going to make me pay the price.” 

  

The problem with this type of thought process is that we often tend to fear every decision we make.  We stew and fret and pray until our knees are calloused, but still put off making decisions because we worry that we will make the wrong ones and God will be ticked at us.  I think it is good for us to not always rush into making plans, but there comes a time when we need to trust God, knowing that He knows our heart and wants the very best for us.

 

I love the graphic I’m sharing today.  Oh, how good it is for me to be reminded that if I think I have blown God’s plan for my life, I need to rest in the fact that I am not that powerful!  In other words, I need to remember that I am not God.  Only God is God, and He is so powerful that He can accomplish in me and through me whatever He deems best…even when I make a wrong decision or mess things up.  Again, He knows my heart and if I have prayed for direction on something in my life, there comes a time when I need to act and move forward.  If it ends up being the wrong decision, my God is powerful enough to still accomplish His plan, even with my mistakes.

 

Are you berating yourself today, feeling like your decisions or actions have blown God’s plan for your life?  Allow me to let you in on a little secret:  you are not God nor are you that powerful.  Whatever you have done, He is mighty enough to still accomplish His plans in and through you. 

 

Are you putting off making a decision because you are petrified that you will make the wrong one?  I want to urge you to take a deep breath and relax.  Spend time in prayer, asking God to give you direction, and then move ahead.  He knows your heart and can see that you want to do His will and so even if you make the wrong decision, He can still work everything out.  Yes, it may mean that you will have an unexpected detour or the puzzle pieces will need to be rearranged…but in the end… your life’s picture will be absolutely perfect because God is just that powerful!

 

^“And we know that God causes everything to 

work together for the good of those 

who love God and are 

called according to his purpose for them.”

Romans 8:28

Monday Morning Memo: Blessed Beyond Measure

Throughout my life, I have been given things I haven’t deserved.  I was born into a free country, to Christian parents who loved me along with a brother and sister who I wouldn’t trade for the world.  Many, many people did not enter this world with the same circumstances.

 

I met and married a Christian man who loves the Lord and also loves me with all my faults and failures.  I have seen his love in action towards me many times when my health hit another low and I was unable to care for myself.  He has stuck by me and loved me when I have been unlovable.  Many, many people have had their spouse walk out on them in far less serious situations.  

 

I was abundantly blessed with three children who grew up to love and serve the Lord, despite my imperfect parenting.  I then had my prayers answered when we welcomed two Christian son-in-laws and a daughter-in-law into our family.  Many people have had broken hearts when they were not able to conceive or have had to watch their wayward children choose a much different path than had been hoped for them.

 

I have been given the unbelievable honor of being the grandma to eight of the most precious grandchildren a person could ask for.  Words cannot express the joy in my heart when I am with them.  For my recent birthday, they made me cards and to read of their love for me…brought tears to my eyes. Many, many people yearn for having this treasured privilege.

 

I was blessed with a wonderful father-in-law and mother-in-law.  They accepted me as their own from the first day we met and I immediately became their daughter.  Many people share horror stories of in-laws who have made their life miserable, but I have none to share.

 

I have been beyond blessed with the most amazing friends in the world.  I have brothers and sisters in Christ who I can share everything with…the good, the bad and yes, even the ugly.  I know that at any time of the day or night, if I need someone to pray or just to listen to me vent, they are there for me.  I can be real with them and they still love me.  Many people feel they don’t have even one friend who will stand by them through thick and thin.

 

I worship with my brothers and sisters in Christ in a church that is prayer-driven.  Being able to worship and serve beside these people, helps me in my desire to look more like Christ because they have often been Jesus “with skin on” to me.  Many people have yet to find a place where God is glorified and their soul is strengthened on a regular basis.

 

I don’t know what your “story” is.  I don’t know if you could also list a number of things that you have been given which you don’t deserve, just like I did.  But no matter what has occurred in my life or in yours, everything pales in comparison to the greatest opportunity that we have all been given.  Above all else, all of us have been given the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.  This week we will remember how He came to this earth to die on a cross for you and for me, so that we can have eternal life with Him.  This, just like all the other things we may list, is something we don’t deserve.  There isn’t anything that we can do to “earn” the blessings we have received, nor can we do a list of “works” to earn our salvation.  We don’t deserve it, plain and simple.  Yet He has given it to us because He loves us that much.  The only thing we have to do is accept Him into our heart and let Him direct our paths.

 

No matter your past…no matter your present…nothing you have done, good or bad, will get you into heaven or keep you from getting in.  You can’t just be “good enough” to spend your eternity with Jesus.  The only way you can go to heaven is to ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and accept Him as your Lord and Savior.  I’ve heard people say that a loving God would not send anyone to Hell and that is right.  He won’t send any of us to Hell…it will be our own choice…whether we accept Him or not…which will send us to either Heaven or Hell.

 

Today I want to urge you; in fact I want to plead with you to accept Christ now if you haven’t already done so.  I so want to spend eternity with you in Heaven and none of us are promised tomorrow, so it is imperative that you make this decision before it is too late.  If you have questions, or if I can help you in any way, please let me know.  What Christ has to offer you and me is totally underserved…but it is because He loves us so much.  He died and rose again to give us what we don’t deserve…let’s not turn our back on His precious gift of eternal life with Him. 

 

Simply pray this prayer:

 

“Dear Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, were resurrected and that you are alive and well today.  I believe that you are the Son of God and that you deeply love me.  I confess that I am a sinner, and I need you to forgive me and cleanse me from my sins.  I accept you as my Savior and want you to create a new and clean heart in me.  I now want to live every day for you, and I know that I will have eternal life with you because of what you did on Calvary’s cross for me.  Thank you, Jesus.  Amen.”

 

If you have prayed this prayer, I would love to know so I can be praying for you as you begin your walk with our Jesus.  Feel free to contact me so I can celebrate your decision with you!

 

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

John 3:16-18 The Message

Monday Morning Memo: Difficult Seasons

I’m sure we can all agree that life isn’t always easy.  Some “seasons” are harder than others and staying on track completely focused on the Lord, sometimes takes every ounce of fortitude we can muster.  This is how I’ve felt the last few weeks, so it may be why a verse in the Bible got me thinking.  I’m sure I’ve read it many times before and it didn’t have an impact at the time…but then suddenly it’s as if it has a spotlight on it.  It happened with 2 Chronicles 31:21 which says this about Hezekiah: “In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.”  WOW.  Is this really possible?

 

Everything.  Not some things…not a few things…not just when it was convenient or easy…everything he did, Hezekiah sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.  I’m very confident that these words can’t be said about me.  I wish they could…but unfortunately, “me” gets in the way too often.  I want to seek God and work wholeheartedly…but there are times when the going gets tough and I give up.  I deem it as too big of a sacrifice to give everything that I have, so I back off and hope someone else picks up the pieces.

 

What was the result of Hezekiah’s complete devotion to his God?  He prospered.  What that tells me is that we can’t out give God!  Yes, I’m sure Hezekiah had to sacrifice a lot to do whatever God asked of him, but in turn, God abundantly blessed him.  No matter how much we do for God…He gives us more!  

 

This makes me wonder then what blessings I have missed out on.  What was God waiting to do for me, but because I gave up, I didn’t receive the blessings?  What was just around the corner, or just over the hill in my life that would have just “blown my socks off” in amazement as I would have seen His power at work…but instead I was left feeling empty and unfulfilled?

 

I’m sure you have heard the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.  Wikipedia says this about this adage:  In context, "the going" means "the situation," "gets tough" means "becomes difficult," "the tough" means "people who are strong or enduring," and "get going" means "become fully engaged." Taken together, the meaning of the phrase is "When the situation becomes difficult, the strong will work harder to meet the challenge."

 

That is exactly what we are called to do.  When the road gets tough…we are to dig our heels in and just work all the harder to meet the challenge. “Giving up” should not be in our vocabulary.  We are to give our all in everything God leads us to do, remembering that our God is faithful and true and powerful enough to see us through.  Hezekiah’s life proves to us that it IS possible to live our lives this way and we need to learn from his example.

 

I hope you will join me in turning the corners and going over the hills that are in our future to see what is waiting for us.  Let’s seek our God and work wholeheartedly for Him.  I can’t promise that it will be easy, but I can promise you that it WILL be worth it!