Faith and Life Blog

Third place winner in the LOVE 101 Mother's Day Poetry Competition on May 6, 2022.  Mama’s Love  Mama dearest, I know you love me, Let me count the ways Mama dearest, I know you love me,  You’ve shown me throughout the years  You fed me, clothed me, made sacrifices for me  When I cried you wiped my tears  You taught me right from wrong  Mama dearest, how much I love you  On this Mother’s Day, I wish you   Abundant blessings and good cheer!!  Lona Isaacs May 1, 2022.  Written for my mother Mrs Esther Isaacs  Mother’s Day 2022.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4:14 (NIV)   The story of Esther’s meteoric rise to the position of queen and eventually rescuing her Jewish people from death and destruction is a well-known Bible story. Esther, a young Jewish orphan girl in the care of her uncle Mordecai, was suddenly catapulted from obscurity when she found favour with the King who was seeking a wife to replace Vashti who had defied his orders to appear before him. Having emerged head and shoulders above the other competitors, Esther was placed in a rigorous programme of treatment and preparation in order to step into her role as queen.  The signal act of her queenship was her daring, uninvited approach to the king, which set the stage for her people to be delivered. She had come to the kingd...

Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. - Hebrews 12: 1   My handbag was waaaay too heavy. It was too much weight for me to be carrying around daily. It aggravated the pain in my shoulder which the doctor had diagnosed as tendonitis. Too much burden for my slim shoulders. So I made a decision. I was going to get rid of the unwanted stuff. When I got home, I immediately set about my task. I was determined to lighten the load. A 50-odd page document..... out. I had totally forgotten that I had put it in my bag, intending to read it at home. Several loose-leaf pages that I had printed from the computer...to file 13. Old bills and receipts.....gone. And the list goes on. The end result? A much lighter bag. A much lighter load for my slim shoulders to carry. The fluff was gone. Only the essential remain...

  Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah 60: 3 It was 6:15 a.m. and I was on my way to work. As I headed east on Washington Boulevard, I was struck by the awesome display of God's handiwork when I encountered a beautiful sunrise in all its glory. It was quite breathtaking, but at the same time, blinding. Not only was it breathtaking, was ....pardon me as I coin a new phrase...sight -taking...lol. At the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Molynes Road, the traffic came to a halt at the behest of the red light, and I seized the opportunity to reach into my glove compartment. I needed to put on my 'shades.' As I marveled at the spectacle in front of me, the phrase 'the brightness of your dawn',  dropped into my spirit. I knew it was biblical, but I couldn't remember the exact reference. But thank God for Google! I made a mental note to do some research as soon as I got to work. My research unearthed Isaiah 60:...

See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God ! 1 John 3:1 Recently, I had some business cards printed in order to advertise my new business in editing services. I had ordered 100 cards but when I received the package and checked, I realized that I had received 108. I sent a message to the printer informing him of this as I assumed it was an error. He responded by indicating that he was aware that I had received more than I had paid for. He explained that it was the norm for the business to give 'extras' to its clients. I then recalled that the same thing had happened when I had my first book, Memorial Stones,  printed by that same printer. At that time, he had told me upfront that he had put in a few extra copies at no extra cost and I was extremely grateful. As I thought about what had transpired, my mind was taken back to the verse in 1 John 3:1 about the love which God so freely lavishes on us. His love is a gift that keeps o...

pub-3751615692135036 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11)   In November of 2014 I bought my first smartphone, and it was then that I realized how incredibly low tech I was – well at least, when it comes on to smart phones. As I tried to navigate my new phone, I grew increasingly frustrated as I had no manual to guide me, and I did not know what to do.  I had been under the assumption that a manual was part of the package when I bought the phone, as I was accustomed to. But when I got home, I realized that I was wrong. The leaflet in the box contained very basic information about the phone. It was by no means an in-depth guide, thus I was clueless how to even make or receive   calls. After reading the fine print, I realized that a complete manual could be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website. Joy! After downloading the manual and doing some reading, I was better able to navigate the phone. I was now able to d...

pub-3751615692135036 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run  with perseverance  the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12: 1   I was pleasantly surprised when what was hidden came to light. I had just bought a new fridge and two of my neighbours were assisting by taking it into the apartment. In order to create additional space at the entrance to the living room, some furniture had to be moved out of the way. It was then that I got my big surprise. Hidden behind the furniture were items I had long forgotten about, things of value that could certainly be put to good use. What were those things? A phone charger and a key ring. How did they get there? I have no idea. As I pondered what had happened, I could immediately see the parallels in our lives. Often there are hidden things in our lives that can only be revealed when we remove the ‘furniture’...