Patricia's Principles for Living

Could those who mocked Christ as He passed by on the way to Calvary be any of those who ate the Bread He miraculously multiplied? I wonder Could any of them be mockers of those whom Jesus healed? I wonder Could those who yelled, Crucify him have stood on Zion s Hill while He fed the crowd that day? I wonder. Could those who jeered him from below the cross have been laid by the road so that Christ could touch them, or they Him as He passed by? I wonder Could the woman with the issue of blood have been a mocker? I wonder What about Jarius and his daughter? I wonder Could the demoniac who was released from thousands of demons be a mocker? I wonder Was the Samaritan woman a mocker? I wonder Or the Syrophonecian woman who wanted relief for her child be a mocker? I wonder. Could any of these been mockers? I wonder Could I who have received the grace of God, a precious gift become a mocker? I wonder..

One of the benefits that is provided by my employer is health insurance. Once a year we are allowed to change our insurance provider from among several different agencies. We are given a list that compares what each company provides, costs and co-pays. Mostly every plan has a co-pay. Hospitalizations can costs thousands of dollars. Some plans pay 100% of the costs and others only 80%. As I considered my employer's benefit plan I was reminded of the benefits God gives me. In God’s plan there are no co-pays. Jesus paid it all. God’s plan is not just a health plan it is a life plan. God forgives our sins, heals our diseases, gives a wardrobe of righteousness and provides our attorney’s fees through the sacrifice of Jesus. Now if only I could get my benefits plan to cover every aspect of my life too. Psalm 103:1 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with l...

Ugh, oh my, this is too heavy for me as I tried to lift the bag laden with cans and other groceries. Spying one of my sons I asked him to come and take the bag into the house. He came and effortlessly lifted the bag as if it weighed a mere feather. What was too heavy for me was as nothing to him. In reflecting on this I thought isn’t this like Christ. The hard things in life He takes and carries for us if we ask Him to do so. To the Creator of heaven and earth our cares are light weight. We struggle and rant and rave not because Christ will not carry our burdens, but because we just don’t call to Him for help.

When I was a little girl our family lived in a house right on the trolley line with the tracks running directly in front of the door. There was an tall black sturdy iron pole that stood in front of our house. The house shook when the trolleys turned into the trolley barn which stood adjacent to our property line. We were so close that I could almost jump from the trolley to our front steps. I learned that I could tell when a trolley was coming by putting my ear to the pole. There would be a sound sort of like listening to a conch sea shell, indescribable but a perceptible change. Later I learned to look at the wires overhead. Before I could see the trolley I would see the wires start to sway a little bit. Through many observations I learned it was fact. I'd look up the street and several blocks away the trolley would soon appear. The green and yellow trolleys would turn the corner coming to its daily resting place. Now I'm an adult. I've learned that the word of God has so...

Something was wrong with the washing machine. The power cord was plugged into the outlet and was fine. My appliance repairman husband took the machine apart to see what was wrong with it. As he was examining a part I inquired as to what was wrong. He said that the gears on the control knob had been stripped. I asked him how that could have occurred. He said that it happened because the knob had been repeatedly turned the wrong way. Explaining that the gears were not designed to be run counterclockwise he showed me the worn part.. He explained that over a period of time of incorrect usage it wore the gears down so that they were smooth and had lost their effectiveness. In the wee hours of the morning his explanation came back to me. It dawned on me this is what we do when we disobey God’s principles, His laws. For a long time it is easy to go against the way God designed us to live. Just like that washing machine it works fine for a while. Nevertheless we are stripping the effect...

Sometimes I've felt that I've only had very little to give so why give it at all. This morning the thought came to me "All you you have is all you need to give." This thought came as I was reading the following passage in II Kings 4: 42 A man came from Baal Salishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain. "Give it to the people to eat, "Elisha said. 43 " How can I set this before a hundred men?" his servant asked. But Elisha answered, "Give it to the people to eat," For this is what the Lord says:" They will eat and have some left over" 44Then he set it before them and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. This man only had twenty loaves to give to the prophet. The principle at work is: All that we have is all that we need to give. When we obey, God gives the increase. There are many examples in the Bible of this principle in action: Like the widow at ...

This morning’s paper brought another devastating story of murder and mayhem. The shock value of this story that merited second page coverage was that the perpetrator of this crime was a mother. I stared at the picture of this mother who murdered her teenage son and daughter. This was not a family in poverty or beset by money troubles. This was an intact family that lived in a gated well to do neighborhood. The father had a very good job that allowed his wife to stay home and care for their children. I do not pretend to be a psychologist or psychiatrist so I don’t know what deep seated issues that disturbed this woman. When I read this story I thought isn’t it ironic they lived in a gated community. People usually live in these types of communities for security reasons. I mused that the security fences could not keep this woman’s mind safe from inward demons. The very safety her family craved was taken away by the person who the children should have been able to trust with their lives....