For More…

To read more from the regular contributors to this blog visit the following web sites:

https://jeannepage.wordpress.com/

http://www.thoughts.com/3sisters1

http://sabepashubbo.wordpress.com/

http://hosannasmom.wordpress.com/

http://estherscrown.wordpress.com/

JUBALation at IAS

Here’s a little taste of a recent performance by JUBALation at the local chapter of the Irish American Society. Hope you enjoy!

The Reality of Writing?

“Writing is less about crafting clean and perfect sentences and more about barfing your guts out and cleaning up around the edges.”

Just thought I’d share this quote from one of my Facebook friends–who happens to be a well-respected and published author.

I know I have several writers who read this blog…and I was hoping you could relate to this quote as I did. It’s the most honest depiction of what *I* do, anyway. I NEVER feel like I craft clean and perfect sentences. But for some reason, I feel compelled to “put it all out there” on the internet page.

So, I guess I want to apologize for barfing my guts out here on a somewhat regular basis, and hope that I clean up around the edges enough so that you don’t get too grossed out.  (Are you getting grossed out just by me using the word “barf” so many times?)

And to all you other writers…I guess I’m encouraging you to keep doing the same thing. So they aren’t clean and perfect sentences. I appreciate your refreshing honesty. So keep putting it out there. Truth isn’t always pretty at first glance. But people who are in desperate need of truth will welcome it. And, in time, will discover the beauty in it.

His Kid aka Jeanne

A Season for Everything

As the mother of athletes I am filled with a human desire to see my children succeed in their sport.  I hold my breath when they tee off and count up each stroke they take.  When the lie is bad I cross my fingers and send telepathic messages to them to move just slightly or to dig in or turn the club face ever so far to make the perfect recovery shot.  I live and die with them on the golf course.  I cheer their wins and lament their losses and occasionally I find myself teary eyed and heartbroken as they cry on my shoulder over an unsuccessful day.
As a Christian mother I know that God teaches that we should not be successful all the time.  He is quite clear that it is through struggle we grow to be of the character that he would have for us.  Like a budding garden he tends us tirelessly.  But think about that garden and how it began as a hard, and well protected seed.   First water had to soften it up.  Then nutrients had to seep in and feed it.  Finally, the sun had to warm the soil enough to send the signal deep enough to let the little seed know that the time had come to pop up and see the world.  Even then growth had to take place.
I want my kids to prosper both in golf and as Christians.  I know that as our hearts break over the losses my children are learning valuable lessons about Christian character.  If a loss washes over them like the softening rainfall then let it come to prepare them for growth.  If in their frustration I can help them find nourishment in the word of God so that they cling to it and begin to come out of their shell then bring on the frustration and if they finally find a moment to bask in the holy radiance of the Son of God then give them pause to reflect upon his greatness.  There is a season for everything; learning, growing, failing and winning.  We have to embrace them as they come both as athletes and as Christians.
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Lori Hickox-Monjaras

Answered Prayer #7

“The church and the world greatly need saints who can bridge this wide gap between the praying done and the small number of answers received. Saints are needed whose faith is bold enough and sufficiently far-reaching to put God to the test…it is His highest pleasure to answer prayer to prove the reliability of His promises. Nothing worthy of God nor of great value to men will be accomplished till this is done.” E.M. Bounds

Bounds put forth a challenge for Saints “whose faith is bold enough, and sufficiently far-reaching.” According to Bounds it is God’s pleasure to answer prayer.  So key to receiving answered prayer is a bold faith. Yet when we test His promises–part of the faith required is trusting Him to answer in HIS way and in HIS time. I am finding more and more often that His answers do not look like I expected them to, but they are answers still the same. When I release those expectations and just wait to see what He will do, I am astonished by what He brings about and how He does it.

So bold faith is needed, but not in the promise that God made. Bold faith is needed in the God that made the promise.

Jeanne aka His Kid

 

I Am Patrick…

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Today, my band will be playing jigs and reels and singing “Danny Boy” while our audience munches on Guinness World Record Irish Soda Bread. Leprechauns will be proudly displayed on t-shirts, parades will wind through the streets, people will greet each other with a “top o’ the mornin’ to you,” and cities will pour dye in their rivers to be sure they are a bright, Irish green.

But since our trip to Ireland a few weeks ago, St. Patrick’s Day will never be the same for me again. We visited Downpatrick where we had the opportunity to tour the St. Patrick’s Center and hear the story of the real man, Patrick–or at least as much as we can glean from his writings. While his story of being kidnapped, his escape and his eventual return to Ireland to minister there is exciting enough on it’s own, it is the writings of Patrick that made me curious to learn more about him. We all came away with the sense of a wonderful mixture of humility and boldness in his heart. That’s the Patrick I want to get to know.

I hope you’ll be inspired to learn more about this brother in Christ who had a passion for the island nation of Ireland. His impact, even today, is profound. He begins his confession with “I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful and utterly despised by many…”

Here is a link to read the rest of his confession:

http://prayerfoundation.org/st_patricks_confession_1.htm

I’ve posted some photos above of The St. Patrick’s Center, The Hill of Slane (where Patrick lit his bonfire in defiance of the pagan King), St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, and Saul Church (the place where Patrick is supposed to have landed on his return to Ireland). Hope we all can get to know the heart of the REAL St. Patrick and celebrate by loving our God with a potent mixture of humility and boldness.

May you have a truly blessed St. Patrick’s Day!
Jeanne

His Word

His Word was a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Years before we landed on the shores of the Emerald Isle, He gave us Scriptures that would guide us there. When we returned, He gave us more. These are just a few of the Words that He spoke to us.

Blessings,
Jeanne aka His Kid