This past weekend I attended the New Church Lady Women’s Conference in Lindale, TX. I also was given the opportunity to speak during the conference. The conference was great. It was uplifting and edifying. I always enjoy meeting new people and catching up with those that I already know. It is also a blessing to be able to visit and learn from each other. It is a rejuvenation for our Christian walk.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that many people seem to have the inability to listen. Unless the news is exaggerating about how people are behaving these days, it seems that a lot of people want to be heard, but they are unwilling to calmly listen to the opposing side. This in turn creates a shouting match of chaos. The real problem is people want others to treat them in a way that they are unwilling to treat others. The idea of, you listen to me only and do not attempt to disagree.

There are never small miracles because every miracle is wonderful. It is always awesome when God answers prayers, whether it is healing or just Him taking our anxiety away. I am realizing that I need to stay aware of all the answered prayers that I have because every single one is an awesome miracle. It is so uplifting when our prayers are answered. In fact, Proverbs points out that a “desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). Therefore, an answered prayer is life giving to our soul.

This week my husband had to go on a long business trip. He is currently in Indonesia and about to go to China. It is not a normal thing for him to have to travel so far, but it happens every so often. When he is gone, though, I feel incomplete. My husband balances me. I truly understand the concept that two people become one when married because I feel like half a person when my husband is out of town. Therefore, I really dread these times when we are apart.

This past Sabbath, John Reedy gave the message in Texarkana, TX, and he asked something that I am still thinking about a few days later. He asked, as Christians, are we allowing one foot to stay in the world while the other is in God’s church? He was making the point that we are in the world, but we aren’t supposed to be of the world. God understands that we can’t put ourselves in a bubble separating ourselves from the world. However, we aren’t supposed to get caught up in the world’s way of living, selfishness, greed, strife, envy, gossips, enmity with God, etc. We are to be different, set apart by how we live our lives.

I know that I have written about music before, but the other day I heard something that I didn’t even know in regards to music. I was driving to town listening to a radio program, and the speaker was listing all the benefits of singing with other people. Studies have shown that group singing benefits our health and well-being. I knew I enjoyed singing, but I didn’t know that there were actually positive health benefits to singing, especially when you sing in a group. 

The other day my family and I were watching a fun series called Brain Games, and in one episode about lying, it had a study done with children. The premise was to have a group of children sit at a table with this tasty chocolate cake, and an adult would tell them that they were not to have any of the cake. In fact, they could not even touch the cake. Then the adult would leave the room to watch the children behind a two-way mirror. All but one of the kids could not resist the temptation.

I have written many blogs that mention bitterness, but I have never written about it directly.  Recently, I have noticed a lot of bitterness within people, even within God’s ecclesia.  However, bitterness should never be allowed to grow within us. It is a fleshly weed that must be plucked out.

Bitterness is defined by Google as “anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment.” 

I’m so grateful to have a loving, patient, forgiving, compassionate God because I am imperfect. One of my many imperfections is I sometimes speak before I think and my words runneth over. It is something that I will probably continue to strive to overcome, and I am grateful that God understands. He knows that “we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well” (James 3:2).