Thanksgiving Morning !


A little sad this morning, missing my Husband,Bobby and Son, Jason Dean Runnion ! Praying for all those who will be celebrating this year with empty places around their table.We will have an empty chair at our table this year, Dad is celebrating his first Thanksgiving in Heaven !  Cherish every moment with your loved ones, for we are not promised tomorrow. Make each day count and be thankful everyday, not just at Thanksgiving ! We take so much for granted never realizing how fragile life is, eternity is just around the corner. Are you prepared to meet God ? Have you sent your RSVP to reserve your place ? I know this is not the normal Thanksgiving message, but this is on my heart today !
There is always something to be thankful for !

1. Spending the day with my Family
2. Finances that enable me to travel Ohio to Texas
3 . 4 Healthy Great Grand Babies this year
4. Getting settled in Killbuck,Oh, making new Friends
5. Especially thankful that God has been with me through all the changes these past 2 1/2 years

Want to share this writing from my beach vacation at Pine Knoll Shores in North Carolina this past summer. I hope this ministers to you in that place in Life that you now find yourself. I have returned to this little piece several time since writing it and it does lift me each time. I pray it also does you.


After a restless night having a nightmare from my Domestic Violence Marriage of many years ago, I woke early and had an urge to walk the beach alone as everyone but my Nephew was still sleeping. So tea mug in hand I started out, it was just as high tide was going out, still some pretty strong waves coming in. The Holy spirit began showing me how the waves coming in from the ocean are so like our lives. I walked along a few paces in the smooth sand where the waves had rolled out, suddenly a larger wave swept in and would have knocked me off my feet, IF I had not dug my feet into the sand. God said this is how life is, you are going along everything is going fairly well and suddenly something in your life tries to knock you down, IF you do not stand firm in me you will be swept a place you really do not want to go. When you stand firm on My Word, trust and look to me life will smooth out, You may get tossed around a little but, you will remain upright. There are several places where large deposits of shell have been deposited when high tide is coming in, God said these are graveyards of shells that have become stranded on land, you will see some that are crushed or broken, then you will find one that has little damage, once in awhile you will find one almost perfect. These shells are likened to my Children's lives, some are battered, bruised, and broken while others are deposited on the shore still beautiful with little outward showing of there time of being tossed and rolled in the waves for years. What makes one shell more resilient to the waves I do not know, but in my life I know my relationship with Jesus Christ has changed my life for the better. Yesterday as we walked on the beach I mentioned to my Sister, Kathy I had never found a large Conch Shell in all my years of beach walking and shell hunting, as I walked this morning in the middle of one of the “Shell Graveyards” there was a top of a Conch sticking up surrounded by piles of broken pieces of shell, I almost walked on by thinking it was most likely a broken one as nothing very large had been seen deposited on our walk yesterday. Tiptoeing across the broken bed of shells I reached down and pulled out a large Conch shell, tears came to my eyes as I looked at it. It was not quite perfect but it was a whole shell, there is a piece of the outside layer peeled away, there are a few cracks , chips and crevices, but it is a whole intact shell. I turned it over and on the inside it is beautiful. The Holy Spirit spoke these words to me in my spirit, “This shell is like your life, on the outside you have a few layers missing from being, battered and bruised by life, but on the inside where My Spirit resides you are beautiful”. This has ministered to me so much this morning, the last 2 years have put some cracks and crevices in my shell, but on the inside I am trusting that I will continue to look to Jesus and remain faithful to the calling on my life. I was deposited on the graveyard of life for a time, not swept away. I dug my feet in and stood firm even in the greatest time of loss in my life. God has been faithful, given me the time I needed to heal, I thank Him for His Grace and Mercy that keeps me standing in the sands of Life ! 
 

Can not believe I have not posted here since July 2011, so much has changed in my life since that time. Just a couple of the life changing happenings, my Son died in Feb. 2012, Husband in 2013, moved back to my birth state of Ohio in June 2013. Life is so full of loss and sadness, but God will walk it out with us if we allow him to. Not saying it is easy ! This past week I lost my 93 year old Dad after declining health for a couple of years ! He lived a long life, had an awesome testimony of the Power of a Living God to change a Life for the good !  I am going to attempt to begin posting on here again, I no longer have a Ministry or a Husband to care for. More time to do a few things, I have been traveling back and forth between Ohio and Texas. Weddings and new Babies give happiness along with the sadness, attempting to make a new life for myself at 71 has not been easy, but then Jesus told us life would not be easy. Until next time, "Keep Your Eyes On Jesus" !

The Vision and The Dream

I have been hearing and reading a lot lately about the Vision and the Dream. The Word says without a Vision God's people will perish. For many years I served the Lord, so to speak in The Wilderness. Like the Israelite , I did much murmuring and complaining, this was due in a large part because I was always trying to do things "MY" way. After many years of frustration, seeming to be going around in circles, I began to REALLY search the Scriptures for the "Truth". Did not Jesus say that the truth would set/make me free. I had been freed from sin, did I need to be free of myself, the answer was yes ! My Spirit was changed the day I met Jesus in a little Baptist Church. Being raised in another Denominational Church that did not really explain Salvation and the Work Of The Cross, I realized I was Religious, but had NO Relationship with God The Father or His Son Jesus and certainly did not know WHO the Holy Spirit was. Thus began a search that was to take several years of Study, Prayer, learning to Praise and Worship, to allow Jesus to become The Lord of my Life. Romans 12 v2 , John 15 v4&5, and Jer.29 v 11, these verses became a life saver so to speak to begin my journey into "Truth". I learned that each of us are called to some kind of service, to be used by God, to enrich the lives of others. To give each of us a dream and a vision to follow, to let the light of Christ shine in a dark world. I came across a statement of Oswald Chambers, taken from his book, "My Utmost For His Highest". I am going to share a short passage for you. He says, "God gives us a vision, then He takes us down to the valley to better shape us into the shape of His vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Every vision will be made real if we will have patience." I believe therein lies our problem, "patience". It takes time for God to develop our character We must change the way we think,(Rom 12v2), then we can begin to change our actions, (John15v4&5), finally we begin to believe there is a hope and a future for us,(Jer 29v11). The Vision and The Dream are not fairy tales, they are very real if we have faith and put our trust in God and His Word. The dream and vision given to me many years ago is being fulfilled today. The calling on my life was put on hold for some of those years due to me seeking to do things my way. Today I often wonder how many more lives could/would I have touched if I had only not spent so much time in the valley that Chambers spoke of. i know God has forgiven me for stumbling along the way, the hard part was learning to forgive myself. So here I am today, MY Spiritual Birthday, 40 years ago today I knelt at the altar in that Baptist church, I asked Jesus to come into my life, to wipe away the sin and regrets of my life. There have been many times since then I have had to ask his forgiveness for a wrong deed, a harsh word, a judgmental attitude, yes He always forgives. i can stand before Him with a clean heart and continue on this path He has set before me. My questions for you are, what is your dream or vision ? Are you walking out the service to your fellowman that he has called you to ? Has there been a time that you asked Jesus to forgive you and make you a clean heart ? Today is the day ! What are you waiting for ? Come up out of the valley and join Jesus on the high plain of your life. It is never too late, you are never too old !! Until next time,"Keep Your Eyes On Jesus" !!

Catch Up !!

Wow, can not believe it has been over 3 months since I have posted here. I feel like the George Bush billboard, "Do you miss me yet ?" I know many of us do miss the wisdom and truthfulness of President Bush, when Jesus was welcome in the White House !! Has been so much going on i do not know where to begin, as always Jesus is Lord, and most all I do revolves around Him ! In March I went to the Elim Convocation in Houston, I believe this was my 8th year. I had the privilege of inviting one of my Survivors to go with me.This was a first for her, to see hundreds of people of all races and denominations come together to praise and worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. as I say every year this was the best year ever. April was a busy month with new clients, meetings, speaking engagements, and as always lots of calls for prayer. The Women's Conference at MCC had a row of former Victims, now Survivors giving Praise to The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords ! I serve an Awesome God ! I am another year older since my last posting, those of you who follow me on Facebook know I have completed another task on my "Bucket List". I climbed The Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg, Tx on my 68th birthday. It was a beautiful cloudy, misty, cool morning, a great day for climbing. You can see miles from the top, scenery that is God's in all his glory. As I moved into May I thought this year has flown by, I had several books started from Jan,still not finished, 2 sewing project s to complete, which I now have finished on have the other over half done , then started on a quilt top this week. Then I look around at all the unfinished things and ask myself, "Why do I start so many things at the same time ?" My answer, "b/c I get tired of working on the same thing all the time. I can switch off every week or so. " I guess that is good reasoning ! This past week I have spent much time in prayer for crisis situations. If you do not know about Brittany Matthews , pregnant with twins, severe liver problems, babies still in danger, Layne Wiley, local soldier in Army, wounded in the skirmish in Afghanistan earlier this week,he has had two surgeries on his legs, now in German Hospital awaiting transport to the states. You can follow the updates on these two on Prayer Warriors site on Facebook. It is an open group I set up earlier this year, if you are a believer in the power of prayer I invite you to join this group. We are dedicated to praying for the situations posted on this site. We have seen many answered prayers, including the two miracles this week. As we move into this Memorial Day weekend I am so grateful to the brave men and women in uniform who are serving our country in hopes of keeping America Free. I know this Earth as we know it will never see complete Peace, Why ? Because Jesus said it would not be so. There will always be war and rumors of war. The Good News is you can have peace in your spirit when all around you is in chaos. Jesus paid the extreme price that each of us might be assured of life eternal we need only confess we are sinners, believe that Jesus is the Son of God that He gave His life on the cross for our sin, arose on the 3rd day and sits at the right hand of the Father making intersession for you and me. It is that simple, ASK, BELIEVE, RECEIVE ! Then get into the Word , (Bible), learn how to live a successful Christian life, become a witness of what He he has done in your life. God gave that we might receive, then share with others ! Then you can shout out as I often do, "LOOK what the Lord has done in Me !!" While you are eating BBQ, visiting with family wherever/whatever you may be doing this Memorial Day weekend, STOP long enough to say a prayer for all our Men and Women who are fighting the natural battle for our Freedom, then thank God for the Supernatural gift of His Son Jesus. Until next time, "Keep Your Eyes On Jesus !!"

What Does God Want From Me?

As most of you know I am a Christian Counselor with a Ministry to Victims of Domestic Violence. I have many questions asked of me, one of the most recent was, "What does God want from me ?" This statement has been whirling around in my mind for a couple of days, I have prayed and I am going to attempt to answer the question. God made us in His Spiritual image, He gave us a body to carry the Spirit and a soul that has feelings and emotions. Thus we are Spirit speaking beings. God made us for fellowship and relationship with Him ! Our time here on earth is meant to be spent as time getting ready to spend an Eternity with Him in Heaven. God's goal for our life is not our comfort, He wants to develop our character. To grow us spiritually to become more like Christ, to develop Christ's attributes not our own selfish fleshly desires. This is a process that begins the day we asked forgiveness of our sins and our spirit is "reborn" and continues the rest of our natural life here on earth. Life here will be difficult, with many trails and storms, this enables us to grow into the mature Christian He desires. Some are satisfied to just get into Heaven, but His plan is for us to become more like Him to empower us through the Holy Spirit to do His will here on Earth. Our time here on Earth is to be spent equipping us to be a Witness for Him. Life here is difficult because of the sin factor, started by one man Adam taken care of be one God man Jesus. John 10v10 Jesus promised us an abundant life, we being natural minded think of this in terms of natural wealth, Jesus was speaking of the abundant life He has for us in the Spirit not only in Heaven, but here on earth. He said," Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven." If we will seek Him first we will have our daily "NEEDS" met, not our wants and the lifestyle American Christians think we must have or God is not with us. He wants to supple us with Abundant Life of Love, Joy, Peace, Grace, Mercy, these are the attributes that make us more like Him, "Christ Like". When we are continually filled with His Spirit on a daily basis the problems of life here and now will not seem so big, because we are in relationship with a BIG God who helps us walk out the situations that come our way. God is NOT our Servant, We are to serve Him ! It is not be all about "Me", it must be all about "Him". We exist for His purpose and pleasure, not our own. Jesus paid a high price for our freedom ! I repeat he wants to develop our character ! Our character consists of our habits, our lifestyle, our thoughts, what we speak, I believe these are the most important. They make us who we are ! All of these things can be changed, we can choose to become more like Jesus, or we can continue in our own selfish agenda, a sign of a mature Christian is when we begin to put others needs ahead of our own desires. Self discipline is doing the right thing when you desire to do the wrong thing ! This is a choice ! We can not produce Christ like character in our own strength, this is the job of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said The Comforter would come and He would lead, guide, and direct us in the Truth and the Truth would make us free. This freedom comes when we learn how to apply the Word to our lives. We must cooperate with The Holy Spirit by listening for His voice, His nudge to follow Him, He said His sheep would know His voice and follow no other. We must begin to develop Godly habits and a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. We must begin to think differently, Rom 12v2, we are in the world, but not of the world, we must be transformed daily by the renewing of our mind to the Word of God ! We should be different, others should see something different in us. Only our Spirit was reborn when we asked Him into our life, we have control over our body and our soul,(mind), they will always be in opposition to His Word and His will for us. We must allow our reborn Spirit to take control of our life, this is a CHOICE ! When we try to control our circumstances, our future and people around us we are trying to be a god. He is the Creator ! We are the Created ! He formed us from the dust of the earth, He breathed His Spirit into us and gave us a soul, we are Spirit speaking beings. We like Him are a 3 part being, like Him but not Him. So to answer the question, What does God want from me ? Your life, living for Him ! Until next time,"Keep Your Eyes On Jesus !"

Praise and Worship The Lord Our God !!

Last week my Bible study was based on the importance of Praise and Worship. We can not rely on our feelings, our flesh will not and does not want to praise God. We often tend to think, "I will praise God when the trouble passed, when the problem is over, when I feel better" ! These are the most important times to be in an attitude of Praise and Worship, to know and believe our God is BIGGER than any and ALL our problems. We must continue to Praise and Worship no matter how we feel, I have found at the time I am the sickest, have the biggest problem, I always feel better after a time of thanking God for His goodness, praising Him for His mercy and worshiping Jesus for the sacrifice He made so that I might have life eternal and a better life here and now. God is still God no matter how we may feel ! Circumstances DO NOT change God's character, Gods grace is sufficient. We must learn we can not let our fleshly nature rob us of Gods Love, Joy, and Peace ! I often hear I do not feel His presence with me. I have found that during these 'Dry' seasons, if I will continue to Praise and Worship Him, this is often a time of testing and growth, becoming more mature in Him. He does not leave me, but maybe takes a step back to allow me to grow into the full potential He has for me at that particular time in my walk with Him, a deeper walk, a stronger relationship. Praise and Worship is so much more than going to church on Sunday, singing a few songs, perhaps raising your hands or clapping to the music, if this is your style of Praising Him. Praise and Worship should be a lifestyle for you, no different than prayer or reading your Bible. It should be an everyday part of your life. The Psalms 150 v6, "Let everything that has breath, Praise the Lord !" I ask are you breathing ?? You may be saying, "I have a hard time Praising and Worshiping, focus on WHO He is and ALL He has done for you. God gave His Son, that our sins might be washed away. Jesus gave up everything that we might have everything !! That alone, if He never did another thing for you or I, that is more than enough reason to Praise and Worship Him. God is real no matter how you or I feel, He is there, Heb 13 v 5 in the Message Bible, God assures us, " I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you." I urge you this very day , IF Praise and Worship are not a part of your daily life, begin today for, This IS the Day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it !! My Pastor preached on Praise and Worship this past Sunday, God always confirms His Word. I want to leave you with a couple of high point of his sermon. # 1 Do not allow your Praise and Worship to be governed by your emotions ! # 2 To delay your Praise, may delay your answer ! # 3 Be consistent in your Praise and Worship, let it become a lifestyle ! # 4 Your Praise releases Power in the Spirit realm ! # 5 The enemy can not stop your problem from moving, unless he hinders your Praise and ! Until next time, "Keep your Eyes on Jesus !"