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For anyone who wants to learn more about Mary, this is a great book!

Many Christians honor today as a special day. They honor Mary for all of the pain that she suffered so that Jesus might save us. God chose well when He chose Mary. God always chooses well 🙂

Although I am not going to cover all of the sorrows that Mary suffered, there are some I would like to share with you my friends.

Do you remember when Jesus was in the Temple, His Father’s House, and Mary didn’t know where He was.  I remember when I briefly lost track of one of my own children years ago.  My child was having a great time hiding under one of the circular racks of clothes at the store, right next to me, lol!  I, on the other hand, was frantic with worry, and it was just seconds!  Now imagine what Mary must have endured.  Jesus was 12 years old and “missing” for three days!  (Luke 2 41-52) As a Mom, I can’t even imagine how she must have worried!  My stomach just drops thinking of it!  How she must have suffered!

And how about the time that Jesus was struck across the face?   I can only imagine how I would have felt if someone struck my child-in any way, but especially across their face.  I cringe just thinking of it! (John 18:22 and Matthew 26:67)

And when they whipped our Lord, how Mary must have felt each blow into the core of Her very being.  I can’t even begin to imagine how she stood it.  I know that I could not.  The sound of the whip as it hit Jesus’ skin and tore it open. As much as Jesus suffered, He is man and God, but Mary was just a human being.  How she must have suffered!  How strong she was. And can you imagine Her pain when He was nailed to the Cross.  The sound of each blow of the hammer must have been a blow to her as well.  And yet she did not falter.  (Mark 15:15)

And then, when Jesus hung upon the Cross.  She stood there and she lent Him her quiet strength.  She loved Him as only she could.  She may have broken on the inside, but she did not break on the outside. 

She, I am sure, trusted our Father, but that does not mean that she did not suffer for her Son.  As we would for our own.  She loved Him.  He was her boy.  Her Child.  And just as our sons are our “little boys” no matter how big they grow, He was Mary’s. And to see Him in such pain, pain that she could not ease, must have been so overwhelming, and yet she did not turn away. 

She stood there, loving Him with a quiet strength and dignity that I could never have.  All for Him, and for us.

It is a gift that I will never forget and never be able to thank Mary enough for.  And never be strong enough to offer myself.

Thank you Mary.

A friend sent this to me, loved it 🙂

How To Change The  World
It was the ninth week of SEAL training, which is referred to as Hell Week. It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment and one special day at the Mud Flats. The Mud Flats is in an area between San Diego and Tijuana, where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slues – a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you. It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing cold mud, the howling wind and the on going pressure from the instructors to quit. As the sun begins to set that Wednesday evening, their training class was ordered into the mud. The mud consumed each person till there was nothing visible but their heads. The instructors told them they could leave the mud if only five of them would quit – just five – and all could get out of the bitter cold.

Looking around the mud flat, one individual noticed that it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours until the sun came up – eight more hours of bone-chilling cold. The chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to echo through the night – one voice raised in song! The song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two, and two became three, and before long everyone in the class was singing! They knew that if one person could rise above the misery then others could as well. The instructors threatened them with more time in the mud if they kept up the singing – but the singing persisted. And somehow, the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer and the dawn NOT so far away!

If you learn anything in your moments granted on earth, it IS the Power of Hope! The power of one person – Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela, a young girl from Pakistan named Malala – and YES, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! When you are up to your neck in mud – tired and shivering from the cold of the world, attempting its best to try to make you quit – start singing Praises to your Heavenly Father – thanking Him to give you Hope, that no matter how tough it gets – He IS ALWAYS there to help your life have Joy and Peace. Know that He IS your Hope, your Comfort, your Light in the darkness – your Son come up! Be His Example – change the world! In Jesus’ Name. Thy Will be done. Amen.

On September 11^th, people serving in our police and fire departments ran into the Twin Towers while everyone else was running out.  That’s real courage.  And perhaps even more than that, it’s love for one’s neighbor in action.  Selfless Love.

Neighbors reached out to one another, people in line at the grocery store actually spoke to one another and families through out the nation prayed together.  Our churches were overflowing.  We shared our faith with those in need, and everything else as well.  Christian songs filled the airways, on EVERY channel.  Our nation, turned as one, back to God.  It was the worst of times, but it was also the best. 

As a nation, we remembered, as One Nation Under God, what was really mattered-and we acted on it.

Flash forward a few years and I don’t think the same can be said.  Covid 19 has many of us living in fear.  Cities are being burned and looted.  And people are being beaten and killed.  Our government appears to be out of control.  As a nation, we used to know better!  Right and wrong were not relative;  morality was not something that good people could live without.

Now, those with faith are told to keep quiet.  The same TV news anchors that prayed for our nation on September 11^th, do not do so now.  Instead of being grateful that there are so many people who serve  in our police and fire departments with a selfless courage that few of us have, we treat them with a horrific disrespect and lack of appreciation.   We can only wonder what comes next.

A storm is raging in our country.  And we have a choice to make.  Turn back to God and loving one another or watch the storm rage until the entire country is destroyed.

It’s our choice, given to us by God Himself.  And if we want to honor all of those who gave their lives on September 11^th, we need to make the right one.

I want to share with you my friends, the biggest mistake I ever made following Jesus.  And that is…

Charles Spurgeon once said the “holier a man becomes the more he mourns his unholiness”.  And I think this is true.  The closer to Christ we become, the more we feel badly about any mistake or sin we make.

But allowing our feelings of guilt to keep us distant from God is a worse mistake.  When we sin and repent of that sin and ask Jesus for forgiveness, it’s done.  What I mean by that is that thanks to Jesus, our Father doesn’t just forgive our sins; He forgets them. 

Holding onto those guilty feelings truly serves only Satan. Leave your guilty feelings at the Foot of the Cross and let them go 🙂

If we love our Lord, then we must trust in His ability to forgive AND forget our sin. 

And if we truly want to follow and thank Him, than we should forgive others in the same way that He forgives us 🙂

Born: Date unknown; traditionally celebrated September 8

Birth of Jesus Foretold

^“26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed^[b] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”^[c] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”-Luke 1: 26

I have always had a special affinity for Mary.  And although I realize that different Christian Churches see her differently, I personally have always been so grateful to her for her example, for her love and for her willingness to do all that God asked. No matter the price. And Her willingness to pray for us! I wish I could say that I did all of that every day, but mine is a poor attempt compared to Mary’s.

Sadly, there seems to be some controversy about praying the Rosary or asking Mary to intercede for us. Instead, perhaps we should take a moment and remember that we are simply asking Mary to pray for us! And why would’t we do so, when our Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit love her so much? 🙂

The truth is God gave Mary a choice!  And where would we be if Mary said no? God knew this choice would bring great suffering.  How God must have loved her to allow her the choice!  Mary CHOSE to be Christ’s Mother-how she must have loved God!

And I think often of how young she was!  I didn’t even know who I was at that age.  How frightened she must have been, but she kept on following God’s Will for her.  How faithful she must have been, to have that kind of strength and courage.  And how much she must have loved God and her Son.

Mary is an incredible mother.  Loving Him, Raising Him, Encouraging Him, and Standing at the foot of His Cross!  I would never have had the strength to do all that.  Would any of us?  When Jesus suffered; how she must have suffered to! How Jesus must love her and how she must love Him!

And Jesus did love her so. Even as He suffered on the Cross, Jesus made sure His Mother was taken care of:

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” –John 19:26-27 ESV

How He must have loved her to think of her future as he hung suffering on that Cross! And how grateful she must have been to know that He saw her :).

Mary’s Beloved Son suffered so.  And yet instead of panicking or weakening, she lent Him her quiet strength and surrounded Him with her love. 

When God chose Mary to be Christ’s Mother, He chose well ?