Life With Jules, and other stuff

Recently, I decided to do Bible roulette. Not the typical way I read the Bible, but I felt the need to just let God guide me this time. Anyway, after saying a prayer I opened my Bible to see what I needed to read that morning. It opened to Proverbs 19:23. "The fear of the Lord leads to life, an he who has it will abide in satisfaction;  He will not be visited with evil." (NKJV) Of course, the version I read was the NIV: "The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble." But after looking at a few translations, I found the NKJV was the one I preferred. I think because of the word "evil" being used. So, I then decided to do a quick word study and looked up the following words: fear, life, satisfaction, abide. Here's what I found: fear (Hebrew = yir'ah) - reverence life (Hebrew = chay) - alive satisfaction this word gave me some difficulty as the Strong's only showed  2 occurrences in the book of Numbers. So I we...

…of the brave little donkey? “Once there lived a little donkey whose owner beat him daily. A gentle man named Joseph felt sorry for the donkey and paid a high price for him. Joseph and his pregnant wife, Mary, were kind to the donkey, who felt happy again. Joseph told the donkey he needed his help for a very important journey to a town called Bethlehem. The donkey proudly carried Mary and waited while Joseph tried to find lodging. Upset that there was no room, the little donkey brayed so loudly that the innkeeper sent them to a stable where the woman gave birth to her baby, Jesus, whom the donkey kept warm with his soft breath. A brave little donkey carried Mary and her babe. That night was born our Savior, in a manger now he lay. God bless the little donkey and the journey that he made.” *Taken from http://www.stjames-liberty.org/stjames2/2015-advent-calendar/legend-of-the-christmas-donkey/ ********************************** Here is the true story of the Birth of Jesus (...

I began reading the Book of Acts a couple of weeks ago mainly because of the show “A.D.: the Bible Continues” on NBC. I realized that this show is covering the Acts of the Apostles and wanted to felt the need to read it. I guess that would be the Spirit nudging me. Anyway, last week our church held a workshop over a couple of evenings and the presenter kept bringing up the Book of Acts. I thought that was a pretty powerful sign as well. Sunday, the pastor ended a series with Acts 2. Hmmmmm, another sign! I promise I am getting somewhere! Sooo, I am now in Chapter 3 and find myself wanting to re-read what I’ve read in order to continue on into the next chapter. After discussing my struggle with the cares pastor, I find her suggestion to be more helpful: just read it through like a story the first time then go back and read it more in depth. What I can say with some certainty is that it is in chapter 2 where we find the founding of the church. It amazes me every single day how prof...

God’s timing is perfect. There are reasons He makes us wait. He is trying to prepare us for all He has in store for us. God’s Timing VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL Ok, so I am impatient in many ways. I am learning to find myself again after what can only be described as the best and not quite worst 5 months of my life. I had love, or so I thought, from a great guy. At first he treated me well. Took care of our home...

I recently read on a bank's sign the following sentiment: "Anger is just one letter short of danger." There is so much truth in this. Anger is "a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong; wrath; ire" according to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anger. We all get angry at times. But what does the Bible say about anger? Well, I did a little digging and came up with some verses about anger that I want to share. I especially like the one in Ephesians and try to live by that; not going to bed angry. You see, anger is not just a sin. It's unhealthy. But it IS a SIN! I found this verse while searching the others and thought it a fitting way to end this post: In our anger, we can oftentimes find ourselves in the midst of a dangerous situation. I encourage you that if you have issues with anger, please turn it over to our Heavenly Father. We can do all things through Him who gives us strength.

Have you ever read this verse and wondered what does this mean? The more I read and study the Bible, the more questions I have. Especially as I find myself lacking patience waiting on the Lord to show me His will for my life. I was told that one way to study is to break down each verse. Chew on the adjectives, if you will. Like the word "patient" describing "love". What I have found is interesting in and of itself. I first looked up the terms for the different forms of "love" as found in the Bible. There is "agape" which is the very nature of God - an action, "phileo" or having affection for (not to be confused with "eros"), and "storge" which is familial love & affection. Understanding that this verse is speaking more to the action of love, I moved on to understand the word "patient". This is what I found. Patient, or hupomone (hoop-om-o-nay) in Greek, is being willing to wait. Another term used in the...

Forgiveness is a difficult concept to grasp for many people. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, online, to forgive means: : to stop feeling anger toward (someone who has done something wrong) : to stop blaming (someone) : to stop feeling anger about (something) : to forgive someone for (something wrong) : to stop requiring payment of (money that is owed) I recently was reading in Matthew and came across a verse the spoke to me; 18:26 "At this the servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'" ( NIV ) To explain a little, when a family  member is in need and I am able to help, I will help them. One of my family members needed said help. This family member is going through some pretty rough times and while the debt was owed I tried to be patient. When I read this verse, the first thing the servant said is exactly what the family member said. I read on: I felt a tugging at my heart and knew what...