Writing Prompts

A-Z Challenge W

I woke up today and did my daily devotional, and then checked the weather. We are in for storms again today.

All throughout the day we have heard alerts for various thunderstorms, flash flood, and tornado watches.

David kindly mowed Kevin’s yards while he was at work. Later he went to the store and bought some things we needed plus coffee and peanut butter for him. I swear, he eats it a cup at a time! We just bought him a jar last week at $7.00 a jar!!

I’m worried about the weather because I hate to see anyone hurt, but people around here don’t pay attention to the warnings, and many lose their lives to to flooding, lightening, or accidents on the road.

We have warnings for a reason, but so many people ignore or don’t see/hear them in time. They say this generation is so woke, yet you have to wonder why if they all have phones, and those phones send weather alerts every time the situation changes, they pay no heed to them?

In other news, I worked on my diamond art as long as I could, but my back pain was wrapping around my legs, and even standing to work, I got no relief. I did some stretching and tried again. I think I managed almost two hours on it. It’s close to being done!

May 1, I will start my physical therapy. Hopefully, they will give me some workouts that will ease my pain, because none of the meds do very much for nerve pain. I’m about ready to go back on my turmeric supplements-I’d stopped them for a while due to recurring mouth ulcers, yet I never figured out the source.

They are finally gone. Maybe the use of my mouth guard at night helped. Who knows? Now maybe I’ll see if adding the turmeric back into my daily regiment of pills will help ease my pain.

Tonight, my brother invited friends to come for dinner and something he does called “riff tracks” while watching a silly movie. I had made plans to visit with a friend, but I told her to come another time, because she was coming near the time they are supposed to come.

Last night, we decided to stay in on our normal “date night” and missed an opportunity to see some old friends. We needed to save that money for upcoming expenses for remodeling the bus. Making sacrifices is necessary sometimes, but man, I hated missing out on seeing our friends. They promised a rain check!

Well, that’s it for this TMI post, brought to you by the letter W. 😜

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Writing Prompts

A-Z Challenge V

Now that I have the tools I need, it’s time to get back on track.

Although I was baptized a long time ago, I’ve been pretty wishy-washy about everything from going to church to reading/studying the Word of God.

The apps that I’ve got now will help me keep a vow to read/study the Word of God on a daily basis. If you want to do the same, it’s not hard. The Bible app will let you read the Bible in any version or language you choose and the Verse by Verse app has many lessons and sermons on books of the Bible to scripture studies and more! Certain questions about faith and/or scriptures are answered in other blocks of discussion.

For example, this morning I read/listened to verses about everything from John the Babtist doing his duties and then being persecuted for it, to the meeting that Jesus had with the Woman at the Well. Then after that, I opened my Verse by Verse app and listen to the pastor explain the meaning of the Samaritin Woman (The woman at the well).

To me, that helps the reading or lesson sink in better. 😊

Many of you have (I hate to say rituals, maybe habits is better?) your own way of reading/studying the Word yourselves and that’s perfectly fine. This way works for me. You’ll have to decide for yourself how you want to do it.

I just hope and pray that you do, and when you do, that it lifts your spirit, and that you then have the best day, because you started it with God and getting to know Him better. 🙏

I know I do! 😊

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Writing Prompts

A-Z Challenge Universal

U is for universal

Can I get a universal AMEN?!

I need one on so many levels today!

First, we got our bus back today, yea!! Now we can start the rehab it so desperately needs. New flooring, new furniture, and new backsplash in the kitchen for starters!

I’ll have to take before and after pics to share for when we get done remodeling it.

Just a former pic of our bus.

Two, the way too long fur babies are cut and oh so cute! They really needed it as we could barely see their eyes! 😂

Brandy in front and Whiskey behind.

Three, my friend Stephanie was so kind and shared her Bible app with me and I got it and now have the NIV version and already began listening, which is an awesome feature!

I visited with her and her Aunt Carol yesterday and got to see Christina, her caregiver too! What a great time we had chatting it up!

Christina, Stephanie, me.
Stephanie and Carol

Suze told me that was a good one for simplicity and clarity, just what I needed. Plus, this app has many features, like a daily affirmation verse, various translations, and more!

And finally, I’m on WhatsApp and can now talk to my new sister-in-law, Naz-in her language or mine, and also voice text! She was so happy to hear from me and learn that I am studying her language! She is going to classes to learn English too!

It’s been a very happy and productive day! I’m universally pleased!

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Writing Prompts

A-Z Challenge Theology

T is for Theology, or the study of the nature of God and religious truth including rational inquiry into religious questions.

In Wikipedia, the first thing it says before diving into the explanation is, “Not to be confused with Religious studies.” Boy, now I really appreciate that.

You might have guessed this is where I’d be going today, however-when I opened the lesson today on How to Study the Bible, I did not realize what I’d be getting!

For one, it’s a two day -hour long each session, taught by a Jewish professor, who is hard at first to understand until you listen for a while.

Second, it’s not easy to follow, since I wasn’t planning on becoming a professor myself! In other words, I’ve bitten off way more than I can chew -at least in a couple of sittings. I could barely even take notes because it wasn’t clear-cut conversation the way I’m used to it being.

Now that isn’t to say I’m giving up, I just realize now the need for Bible study classes since interpreting the Bible with all of its symbols, chasms of time, doctrines, and literal vs symbolic meaning would take me years and a library of books to understand.

An interesting point the professor made today was how shelves of books that were written concerning the timing of The Rapture are now all out of date, because, quite simply, The Rapture is not a dateable event!

What I thought I’d be learning was more of a guide on how to read the Bible, not how to study it. And since I won’t be here ( at least in Texas) long enough to get involved in a real classroom setting, I will have to look for a way to do online study.

I think what would suit me more is something like a daily devotional along with related verses plus Bible study, which is much different than say, rising, saying a prayer, and trying to read a passage or a chapter from the Bible. After all, I’m not going to seminary or college, I just want to learn more about the Bible and a proper way to read/ study it.

David has a chronological Bible. Maybe that is more like what I’m looking for?

I will listen to the second hour tomorrow, because now that I’ve been introduced and rather enjoy the professor’s sense of humor, I’m going to follow through.

The four points I learned about today would take an entire new post just to try and explain. Simply put though, he talked about these four things:

The Golden Rule of Interpretation

The Law of Double Referance

The Law of Recurrence

The Law of Context

I’ve decided that studying the Bible is a lot like peeling an onion. There’s a lot of layers there!

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Writing Prompts

A-Z Challenge R & S

Catching up again!

R is for Resolved. I am resolved in my mission. What is that you might ask?

My mission is to practice what I “preach” and not only study God’s word, but become more obedient to what He wants and how He wants me to live.

So far I have been sharing the Sunday Message, my interpretation of what I’ve been learning at church. Now, I have resolved to learn how to pray and to learn how to read the Bible. But that is not enough I know. But it is a start. As I learn more and grow in my faith, I hope to learn better what I should be doing to be like Simon and become “fishers of man.”

This morning, since I was unsure how to start, I looked on my verse-by-verse app and listened to a lesson called Obedience as Worship. It was very good and taught about how even when you think you are doing all the right things to please God, if you aren’t being obedient what happens. (in a nutshell)

After that I had the thought, ‘I want to read the Bible every day, but I don’t know where to even start!’ and then I looked down at the other lessons in the app and guess what?? There was one called How to Study the Bible. So I guess you know what I’ll be listening to tomorrow!

I’ve also been wanting to watch the series The Chosen on Amazon Prime. Today I looked for it and could not find it until I searched for it in the search bar. I watched four episodes (maybe five-I got carried away and lost count) before I stopped to come and write my post. David is watching with me, which makes me so happy!

“A groundbreaking historical drama based on the life of Jesus, seen through the eyes of those who knew him. Set against the backdrop of Jewish oppression in first-century Israel, the series shares an authentic and intimate look at Jesus’ revolutionary life and teachings.”

(I took the above quote from IMdB to explain what the series is about.)

So yes, that is what I have resolved to do. Because, like I’ve been saying every Sunday, I’m learning that it’s not enough to go to church every week, it’s not enough to learn how to pray, and you can read and study the Bible all day long, but if you don’t share the word of God with others, and bring others to also know God, then you have not done enough.

S is for Sharing

I’m sharing what I’m learning with you! So you can go and share it with others. Others who may have never heard of God. Others who don’t know Him.

Does this mean that my blog isn’t going to be a travel blog anymore? I don’t really know yet, but I hope to still do what I have been doing and share with you the places we go see and the people we meet along the way. Can I do that while doing everything else? I hope so! I will pray that God is pleased with what I am trying to do and therefore guides me in what I am supposed to talk about.

Some might think I’m being over zealous. I’ve heard it before. I’ve had many other periods in my life when something new caused renewed excitement over becoming closer to God. I could tell you many stories of being “saved”, or switching from one religious belief to another. I feel like that has been God steering me in a new direction. I was raised in the Catholic church. Later, when I married David, we switched to a Christian church, then Methodist, and now here I am going with my brother to a Bible church. Of course, I don’t attend in person when we are on the road. But I do attend online!

Now the messages are teaching me what I need to know and I am finally listening!

As I was watching the series today I marveled at the way people lived back then. And I think of the way we live now and the way of the world today…a world that seems to have lost its way. A world slowly losing the battle against evil. Think about it. Back then, people didn’t need much. They had the basic necessities, they prayed daily and were living their lives in service to God. If people had kept on living like that, we would not be in the shape we are today.

OF COURSE, IT WOULD BE A VERY DIFFERENT LOOKING WORLD THAN IT IS TODAY.

I hope you stay with me.

I also hope if you havent already that you do watch the series. So far it has been just what it says above, a historical drama based on the life of Jesus. It’s already brought me to tears in its retelling of what I know to be true. It’s nothing like other dramas that I’ve watched, it’s been closer to the truth without all the Hollywood magic.

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