GCR Women

Prayer is an interesting concept.  Talking to Someone we can't see and can't touch and believing He hears and cares and acts on our behalf. In the Scriptures, the writers urge us to pray.  They encourage us to pray continually, to pray about everything, to pray honestly from deep down inside even when we don't have the words.  Remember the hymn:   Pray All The Time ? Happy, sad, frightened, blessed, distraught, tempted, victorious - pray! It's so comforting to have faith that when we pray, God hears.  That faith is based on our experiences and on those of others but still, it's faith that makes us know that when we pray, we're not talking to emptiness and air.  When my dad prays, one phrase he almost always prays is:  "Be with us and strengthen us that we might all do better."  Dad's 90 - almost 91 and his prayers are simple and trusting and full of faith that while we're not perfect, our heavenly Father can give us what we need to do bette...

I made the call last night and sure enough I have to report for jury duty on Monday morning.  I knew I would but a part of me hoped I wouldn't.  It's not really being on a jury that bothers me.  I just don't like the interruption into my routine.  I get that card in the mail that's titled Jury Summons and I groan and think:  "Really?  Now?  I don't have time for this now!"  But whether I have time or not, I'll be there bright and early Monday morning for two reasons:  1.  It's a Constitutional right and privilege.  2.  It's the law.  And, honestly, it's that second reason that gets me in the car and to the courthouse more than the first reason.  Why?  I really don't want a peace officer showing up at my door because I didn't appear as summoned. It's much the same in life.  We're faced with choices all day long, and a lot of the time, we choose to do the right thing because it's the law.  We stop at s...

Valentine's Day has come and gone.  John and I don't usually make a big deal of this little holiday.  We might buy candy and a small gift for the grandkids, but that's about it. But from what I hear on the news, lots of folks make a very big deal of Valentine's Day.  They buy flowers, cards, candy, gifts, have romantic dinners, get engaged - all in the name of love.  I don't think our world really knows what true love is anymore.  There's so much self-centeredness and violence around us. A young woman tells a reporter that she's killed a lot of people - so many that she stopped counting after 22 victims.  In her latest killing spree, she and her new husband drove across the continent killing people along the way.  I guess they were in love. In the name of love, many in our country condone same-sex marriage.  They ask how we can deny them a loving relationship.  Twisted thinking has led them to believe that just because they call it marria...

Well, here it is already February 1st.  How many New Year's Resolutions have you kept this year?  You know, it's funny. We look at each new year as an opportunity to start over, to do it right, and less than a month later, we've given up and decided that we'll just have to wait till next year.  But now is not the time to give up; it's the time to give it another try, and another and another. I've set many goals but I seldom succeed at them, some not at all and others not in their original form.  If I let failure to meet my goals and New Year's Resolutions stop me, I might as well move into the closet and close the door.  So many times, success is just around the corner, it's in the next step, the next decision.  We give up, quit and label ourselves as failures all too soon. Tomorrow, another McKinney is coming into the world.  She was due Thursday and there were days when we all thought she'd be here earlier than that.  But now, it looks like...

This weekend, our kids who've lived here in Midland for the past 9 years are moving away.  Worse yet, they're taking two of our grandchildren with them.  We're excited for them but oh, how we'll miss them! How do you say goodbye?  Over the years, we've spent many hours together just doing life - eating, talking, watching the little ones grow.  It's time for the next phase of their lives but I'm not ready.  There was so much more I'd intended to say and do with them.  I know I'll see them again and get to visit them in their new home and have them come back to our house now and then.  But it won't be the same. As much as I hate saying goodbye and watching them leave, I dream of all the wonderful things that lie before them.  Their lives and experiences will expand in new and exciting ways.  They'll have to grow and develop new habits and relationships.  What an adventure to be on with those you love most! I pray for them the blessi...

A clean slate.  I hope I do better this year.  I hope I will prove to be a better steward of all of God's blessings in 2014 than I have ever been. I invite you to join me on this journey.  There is no trip fee, no fare - just a shared desire to memorize passages from God's word, to spend more time getting to know Him, letting His word make an impression on our lives. If you've been on board in the past, you know what a challenge lies ahead and what joy!  If you haven't either attempted this memorization venture before or if you've begun and stopped for whatever reason, today is a good time to decide to give it a try in 2014. The basics:  I'll write a new post on this blog on or about the 1st and 15th of each month.  I'll include at the end of each blog my memory verse for that two-week period.  You respond with a comment to my post that contains just your first name and the verse you've chosen for that same two-week period.  Please include t...

I almost changed my mind about the subject for my post.  It's the same as yesterday's sermon topic so I thought maybe I should go a different direction.  But then when we talked about it in yesterday's Bible class, too, I decided maybe God wants us to hear it, since He's having it repeated.  So I decided I'd go ahead and say what I'd planned to say after all. At this time of year, we often remember the story of the birth of our Savior.  It's a familiar story, so familiar that we can tell it again and again from memory.  It's a beautiful and amazing story of God the Son coming into this world as a baby for the purpose of letting us see and know God the Father.  Do we know the story?  Sure, we can tell the story, but do we know the story? In the gospel of John, Jesus tells the disciples that He's going away to prepare a place for them and that they know the way to the place where He's going.  Thomas asks Jesus how they could know the way if the...