"Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble." (Jeremiah 11:11-12)
I just had a few brief thoughts about this passage I wanted to share. It struck me some time after I read this, when I was journaling about it, that we display some traits that the Israelites had. They were stubborn. We, too, can be stubborn sometimes—especially when it concerns something going the way we envisioned it. They followed other gods. While we may not be worshipping physical "gods" in the place of God, if we pursue something (a hobby, sport, etc) more than we are pursuing God or developing a closer relationship with Him, then that thing *fill in the blank* is probably becoming an idol. They cried to God, but only in deep trouble. This is where I saw the similarities so clearly. Why is it this way? Why is it that in the good times we feel like we don't need to pray as much, and in times of deep trouble (and usually as a last resort) we cry out to Him? Why is prayer the last resort? I'm sure you all have experienced this; I know I have. We try to tinker with the problem ourselves, trying to fix it with our feeble and fallible tools. They're useless. Prayer is--and should be--our first tool when it comes to fixing problems in our lives. As James puts it, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16b) When we pray first, we are as it were surrendering our feeble tools for those strong and successful tools our Lord Jesus possesses. Not only that, but guess what, friends? He is praying with you AND He's praying for you. . . that your faith wouldn't fail. (see Luke 22:32) I encourage all of us to exercise this privilege we have of coming to the Father with our problems, and surrendering them to His almighty hand. . . First.
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Do you enjoy looking back on memories or mementos from your childhood or teenage years? I love looking back once in awhile and recently I was looking through old diaries and laughing over some of the silly thoughts written down. I'm thankful I have them, though, because they capture how much I've grown since I was 14. Then, just last night I was peeking into the two notebooks pictured above containing my first two "big stories." I wrote the first one when I was 12 and the second one when I was 14.
The lines I wrote and certain scenes were so hilarious, I wanted to share some of them with you all here this evening! Alright. . . here goes. :D (The format will be my explanation of the context, the sentences or quotes themselves, and then some humorous comments after.) Meredith's Story (written when I was 12) Meredith was married to John Davis and they are still newlyweds when a car accident takes John's life. Understandably, Meredith doesn't want to stay in their empty house by herself so her cousin stays with her. But healing was speedy, as evidenced by the first sentence of chapter three. In a week, Meredith was able to live by herself again. Wow! I wish I could feel better that fast! ;) Before John died, the two of them had a conversation about moving back to Pennsylvania (John's home state). Or "the countryside" as Meredith called it. (Side note: Jane Austen movies must've had a part in this! Ha!) John disagrees and they have their first argument. Meredith doesn't understand why he doesn't want to move back to the place where he grew up until a family friend explains. Apparently, there was some sort of fire that took John's parents. And we have Martha's very serious remark here in chapter five. "Turns out, there was a fire at John's house and my dad went to help but he found them dead in the barn. His parents were killed while our parents got out alive. He was devastated." Martha explained. Meredith shuddered. "How awful." Yep, no big deal. They only found his parents dead in a barn. . . *face palm* Real dramatic, Carolyn. Later on after a few friendships start popping up, Meredith and her friends are on the beach when a guy (aka a suitor and Matthew's rival) comes up, hits two of the friends on the head with I don't know what, and knocks them unconscious. Miraculously, they revive within minutes and realize something is wrong with one of their friends. . . "How are you feeling, Doug?" asked Meredith. He didn't respond but he did look at her and try to say something. "Can you hear me, Doug?" Meredith asked. No response. Could the head punch (I guess it was the guy's fist) have affected his hearing? Then the beginning of the next chapter, Matthew was right. Doug's hearing loss was a result from the accidental punch. The doctor assured them that Doug would have his hearing back in a week or so. Is that even possible? Lol! I guess I was all for the drama at the time. I didn't realize most of these would be violent if they weren't funny! :P All that to say, Meredith and Matthew lived happily ever after. Haha! Martha's Story So what is a determining factor in your life that makes one of your friends a "real friend?" Apparently, Martha's idea of a real friend is when said friend makes some commitments for a trip that he isn't even going on. "Let me know if you want me to research up hotels or restaurants for you. I'm sure you'd want to plan ahead." said Doug. "Actually, I'm going to rent a house a few blocks down from the house that my family lived in. But, yeah, look up some restaurants for me. The location is Wyoming, Pennsylvania." replied Martha. "Okie-dokie. I'll look up fast food and dine-in restaurants in and around that location." said Doug, grinning. Martha smiled. "Thanks, Doug. Your a real friend." Yes, I left that obvious grammar error in because that's how I wrote it when I was 14. I literally groan when I read over some of the sentences and see the errors or the better ways I could've described it. That's another good thing about keeping old stories, books, etc. You can see the progress you've made since you first began. I hope you enjoyed these little snippets and that they made you laugh! :) If you want me to do another post with more snippets in the future, give me a shout out in the comments! Did you like these snippets? Do you enjoy throwback posts? |
AuthorHi! I'm Carolyn, a writer seeking to glorify God with my words. Archives
February 2024
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