Privileges-His Peace

I am sitting on my front deck, amid an array of beautiful plants as we receive, here in NH a soft, late summer rain. I can hear the gentle tap, tap of the raindrops as they fall on my canvas umbrella. I look out at the birds flying to and from my feeders. They flutter and squawk as they all vie for a sunflower seed. Of course they scattered when I brought out my camera. But if you look closely, there is a chipmunk in the house feeder!

I am reminded of how peaceful the outdoors can be. I am at my most serene here in my garden.

That got me to thinking about being a child of the God Most High. It is not about religion. It is not about what church we belong to or go to. It is about the Creator of the universe sending His Son Jesus to take our place… to take my place and your place on that wooden cross. Jesus alone bore the burden of our sin and disobedience as He died in our place.

It is about a relationship. It is about saying, “Yes, Jesus I need You as my Savior. Yes, I believe You died for my sin. Forgive me. I repent. I believe You rose again and I will rise with You and I can rise above earthly circumstances because You are with me. You share all that is Yours with me. I have an abundant inheritance of privileges from You!

As a believer and follower of Jesus…He offers us privileges that we would not naturally have any claim to. We have privileges that we can “Own” because of His sacrifice and His restoration of our relationship with God.

One of those privileges that I want to mention today so we can lay claim to is… His Peace. Jesus tells us Himself that He gives us His peace.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 NKJV

He knew we would be disheartened, persecuted and fearful. Again, He encourages us that we may have peace in Him,

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NKJV

There are many more verses that you can look up on peace when you have a few minutes. I want to close with one more.

Galatians 5:22 says that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. As we abide in Christ, we will not only have His peace to deal with tribulation but also have peace in Him as we acknowledge Him as Lord and develop a friendship with Him, but there is more…peace will be a fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit through us.

May you find His peace today. Claim Jesus and claim His peace in your life!

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“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

The “world” that is spoken of here is the world of all of mankind…unbelievers, those who do not know God and are against God. That would be everyone. We are all unbelievers and against God until He seeks us and opens our spiritual eyes to Salvation.

God does not want anyone to perish, but to come to belief in Jesus so they can have eternal life. He loved all of us long before we loved Him. While we were neck deep in our own sin, muck and prideful living.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV)

While you were still a sinner God demonstrate His love for you by giving His Son Jesus to die for you. His ONLY SON.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 (NIV) These are words straight from Jesus. He gave His life for you while you were still a sinner. Is there any greater love than for someone to give their life for you?

Who would you give your life for? I would dare to guess you would give your life for your children, grandchildren or another loved one, but how about an enemy?

No? Me either… I am not sure I would give my life for an enemy. BUT Jesus did!

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV

What does it mean to be dead in our transgressions?

Transgressions are sins, the wrong things we do against God and His laws. We were dead” in our sins.  Look at Romans 6:23.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23

The first section of this verse begins by saying believers “were dead” in their sins. These immoral actions were part of their life, following the lead of Satan, instead of God. The wages or pay that we get from sin is death. Why death?

This spiritual death began as the result of sin in the garden of Eden.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17 (NKJV).

I don’t want to earn death!

Wait! Look at the second part of Romans 6:23, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Because Jesus, God’s only Son, took your place and my place on the cross and died for all the wrong things we have done and will ever do…we have the FREE GIFT of ETERNAL LIFE!

When we choose to believe in Jesus as our Savior, God makes a covenant with us. Because you and I are loved by our Creator.

“Though the mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you”. Isaiah 54:10 NIV

God’s unfailing love will not be shaken. Can you imagine a world where the mountains and the hills are shaken and not just moved but removed from the earth?! Yet all the while, God remains steadfast.

I wondered, what is a covenant? It is not a word we hear too often. Covenants are not just contracts, and a very serious commitment to God. With God it is a binding promise of far-reaching importance in the relations between Him and His children.

In Isaiah 54:10, we see the covenant of God’s peace will not be removed from us. The Hebrew word Shalom means peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, and tranquility. Philippians 4:7 says, “and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” When troubles on earth make us anxious, seem to overwhelm us and make us want to give up, we can ask Jesus to give us His peace… a peace that is far beyond any earthly comfort.

Also, God’s unfailing love will not be shaken.  No matter what is happening in this world around us (and it is pretty shaky right now) or what is happening within our lives, God’s love will not fail or be shaken. He loves us. He has our best interest at heart always.

If that is not enough, God keeps adding! God will continue to have compassion and mercy on us. Mercy is God’s withholding of the judgement we deserve for our sin, but instead He grants us the forgiveness we don’t deserve and we could never earn (We are saved by grace, Ephesians 2:5) because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

What an Awesome God! What a Wonderful Creator! What a Wonderful Savior! We will talk more about grace and becoming a new creation next time. Until then, may God bless you as you seek Him.

Find me on YouTube.com Tami Bemis Cole

To Wait Patiently

“I waited patiently for the LORD, and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:1-3 (NKJV)

These verses make me wonder how patient am I? Have I waited patiently for the LORD? The verb wait is used in the past tense in this verse…waited patiently. Already done. Have I waited? How important is it to “have waited patiently?”

Let us explore what it means to be patient and to wait patiently.

Patience—the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset.

Wow! That is a challenge for many people on a regular basis, and for probably everyone… at least once in a while.

Patience is mentioned over 70 times in the Bible. The Bible encyclopedia describes it as, “A forbearance or endurance. It is a quality of self-restraint or of not giving way to anger, even in the face of provocation, it is attributed to both God and man and is closely related to mercy.”

Patience is the 4^th Fruit of the Spirit and is also referred to as longsuffering.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” Galatians 5:22 (NLT)

As a believer in Jesus Christ as my Savior and as a follower of Him, through the Power of the Holy Spirit living within me, I can bear the trials of life. You can too.

How? It is the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit when He is alive and well within us. By allowing the Holy Spirit the freedom to produce this quality within us…by knowing that God is in control . This helps us see hope in every situation. By knowing God that sees the whole picture and He knows & does what is best for each of His children.

I like this caption that I read recently, “Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

Are you waiting for things to happen in your life? Have you been praying, and it seems that Heaven is silent? Are you waited patiently? What has been the attitude of your heart? Are you keeping a good attitude while you wait?

I must admit, at times…I have not.

When we are patient, it puts us in control of ourselves. Being patient gives us time to choose how to respond to a given event or circumstance, rather than let rampant emotions take over. Often times impatience makes us react in damaging ways as we look for shortcuts and quick fixes. The enemy of God’s children, Satan uses impatience to derail us from achieving God’s purpose in our lives.

It is beneficial to be disciplined to wait, to learn this behavior and make it part of who we are. We can be mindful of the things that make us impatient. When I feel myself getting impatient, I take a deep breath. I ponder how losing control will not help the situation and I picture how being patient will pay off.

There are many benefits of having patience. Some are that we enjoy better mental health. There is less stress on our body’s as we learn to wait. It makes us a better parent, friend and neighbor. It helps us achieve our goals and not harm others as we reach them.

Patience does not mean we are weak or passive. It is a strength and one that our Creator God tells us to practice. We remain active and continue doing what God has called us to do, while we wait.

I do not always wait patiently. I sometimes want to prod God along and make Him answer my desires in my way and in my time. This thought process has caused me nothing but sorrow. It makes me angry with God as my anxious and worrisome thoughts think He is not doing the job I think He should be doing.

As I learn from Jesus and the Scriptures, as I wait, and watch—I learn how to act and when to react. I become more compassionate. Through time in His Word and learning to patiently wait and worship Him through each trial, I have immense blessings. He inclines His head to me and hears my cry. He will hear yours too. Simple advice but so profound!

But Without Faith…

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

Many of us would agree that it takes faith to believe in God… To believe in a God we cannot physically see. We must by faith believe that HE IS.

Today I want to explore the word faith.

I counted in my NLT study Bible/concordance that faith (in) is mentioned 105 times, faithful is mentioned 45 times and faithfully/faithfulness 20 more times. Almost all of them are in the New Testament.

What is faith? What is the definition?

Some of the dictionary definitions I found on faith are: allegiance to a duty or person, sincerity of intentions, belief and trust in and loyalty to God, a firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust, something that is believed, especially with strong conviction, a system of religious beliefs.

The Bible tells us that, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

I like the NKJV of Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

“Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

So the dictionary definition, “a firm belief in something for which there is no proof” is similar to what Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Evidence of things not seen.”. We cannot see faith. But Hebrews 11:6 says I need faith to please God. To please him, I must know Him, know what pleases Him and know what He requires of me. I cannot physically see God. So how can I first believe that He Is. That God exists? Believing in Someone we cannot see takes faith. Where is my “proof?”

We have faith in God because of what the Bible says. We believe what God reveals about Himself in His Word; although we cannot see God in the flesh, there is proof…we can see His work in creation all around us, if we choose to look. Like that song says, “His fingerprints are everywhere.” His Word is proof.

Some define faith as meaning a form of spirituality. Maybe you have heard someone “spiritual” called a “person of faith.” Spiritual and faith are not necessarily the same.

Or perhaps others see faith as a guarantee that good things will happen to them, like a golden ticket to health & wealth. Example…”I have faith that God will give me ….”

Still others think it is a blind leap against known facts—to take the risk even though the outcome is unknown, they choose to do it anyway. Example, “My faith will make everything all right, no matter what I do.”

Biblical faith is not any of those. In doing research for this blog, I read a lot of different views. This is what I came up with:

Biblical faith is confident action in response to what God has made known to us in His Word and in Creation. We know that He made the universe, He told us. We do not know all the details and we were not present when it happened, but He said He created all. It is an act of faith to believe He did that.

To live by faith, I think is to obey and take confident action based on what God has said about His own character—to know He is real, that He exists, and He will accomplish His will & purposes!

Faith is woven into the fabric of our lives as believers. We know that someday all things will be made right. God again says it will happen, We may not see it on earth but in Heaven, it will be as He says. As believers we will be rewarded as we diligently seek Him. Some rewards we will see on earth, other we will have to wait until we get home. We have faith that we have trusted in the Right Person—GOD.

Diligently, (Earnestly, constantly, vigorously, committed, persistent) seek,(to search high & low for, to look for, examine, to taste, to hear). Seek Him as if your life depends on it, because it does.

Next time we will look at answering a couple questions. How do I get faith? Where does it come from?

Until next time, I encourage you to keep diligently seeking Him, He wants you to find Him!

Find me on YouTube Tami Bemis Cole

What a Friend

Yesterday marked the 33rd anniversary of my beautiful and kind Mom leaving earth and entering Heaven. She left way too soon, at just 56. I miss her as much now as the day she left. She loved the Lord and it has taken me many years to understand her devotion to Jesus Christ. A devotion I now share. She used to sing a song to us, especially to her grandchildren…at least the ones who got to know her. The words echo in my memory but it wasn’t until recently that I thought about the meaning.

“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is a Christian hymn originally written by preacher Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother, who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. These are the words:

“What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear”

And what a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

Jesus Christ was fully God, yet fully man. Feeling emotions, thirst, and hunger. He was tempted as we are. He came to earth and lived as a man, yet He did NOT sin. He understands human pain, grief and suffering.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15 (ESV)

He is waiting to become your Savior. He is faithful to listen, and available to help. You need not be discouraged, He is here. He is only a prayer away. You will never find another friend so faithful.

Hope

A very good friend of mine recently gave me a coffee mug with Hebrews 11:1 on the side. I love coffee mugs! I have several and almost every one has a story attached to it.

The word HOPE stands out for me. It is a favorite word of mine. A word that encourages me to hold on.

What is the definition of the word, hope?  I found this definition in an article written in 1952 called, “The Christian Hope.” “Hope is commonly used to mean a wish : its strength is the strength of the person’s desire.” 1

What do I hope for? What do you hope for? Perhaps…Calm in this chaos, healing of a marriage, healing from a disease, a reconciled relationship, for your prodigal to come home, for things to be better, to see the light at the end of the tunnel (And have it not be a freight train!)

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”                    Hebrews 11:1

Let us look a little closer at this verse. Hope is part of the picture, but faith is a bigger piece. How can you and I be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see? Faith in God and believing and accepting salvation through Jesus is our Hope. We cannot see faith. How can we be certain of what we cannot see with our human eyes?

We can read God’s Word and believe what He says. As we study His Word, the Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes to the truth. Truth that one day, things will be resolved. Not always on earth, but one day in Heaven.

Another thought I had on this verse was that you and I can have hope that God is with us through each tear and trial, each heartache and disappointment. Our faith in who He is gives us hope, gives us encouragement to go on. To be able to face another day, even though things aren’t all nice and tidy in our lives…we can go on. We can have the courage to not give up.

When I am nearing my limit to what I can bear, my faith reminds me that I have hope.

Let us look at another definition of hope.”In the Bible hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness.” 2                                              

I realized that I cannot have hope without faith. I am a person of hope, but really, I am a person of faith. The hope comes from knowing and having faith in Jesus as my Savior.

For me, and maybe you too, life continues to be messy, unpredictable and hard… however, it is also joyful, rewarding and oh so worth it! All because of our confident expectation of what God has promised and the proof is in His character of faithfulness.

He is who He says He is and and He will do what He says He will do.   He gives us faith and faith gives us hope. If your hope hinges on faith in God, you hope is not in vain.

Find me on YouTube.com Tami Bemis Cole

1 & 2 Reference: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ Christian Hope Chapter 1 October 1952

Guidance

Have you ever come to a place in your life where you did not know what to do, what action to take, or what direction to follow? Voices demanding a response from many directions. Perhaps you are there today? Caught in the grip of fear, sadness, disillusionment or maybe even anger. Our emotions are so complicated.

Oh, if we could just have some true guidance from Someone who has our best interest at heart.

I have Good News! You and I have a Father in Heaven. If you and I profess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior…you and I are a child of The God Most High!

This is what God promises in Psalm 32:8 (NASB)

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”

God, your Father, will instruct you, guide you, teach in the way you should go and as He instructs, guides, and teaches…He is watching with the loving eyes of a father. To get us back on track when we fall or when we fail or even when we are tripped up by another. No condemnation from God, just a lift back onto the RIGHT path, the BEST path for each of us. The path to LIFE.

How encouraging! I pray for you right now…Dear Lord…that whatever you are facing, that you, His precious child will feel Your Father’s love.

Open His Word and bask in the beauty of His Glorious Presence and drink in His love. He will give you direction on what to do next!

You can find me on YouTube Tami Bemis Cole

 

Words

Words, once spoken (or written) can not be taken back. We must be very careful what we say. Are they harming or hurting? Building up or tearing down?

Proverbs 16:24 (NIV) says,

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones”

What a beautiful verse! My words and your words should be sweet like honey to the soul of those we are talking to, pouring into them a healthy dose of inspiration, mercy and compassion. It is like a healing emotional balm right into the very bones of a person. Soothing, uplifting, building up, nourishing. That is what I want to be remembered for.

A difference of opinion with someone does NOT give us the right to attack their character. It is even more critical, I think to those who don’t see as we see. We do not know what is going on in their lives or what is in their heart. God says He is the Only One who knows the heart. Who are we to judge?.

“… For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)

We all live in this world together. Let’s us choose kindness. Let us not attack a person who sees things differently. Let us agree to disagree.

The real enemy, the prince of darkness, Satan delights in strife and division. Petty arguments steal our time from more pressing matters, like showing the light of Jesus to a dark and hurting world.

This is my prayer for myself, from Psalm 19:14 NASB,
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

Check out my YouTube channel  Tami Bemis Cole

Grafted In

 Grafted in. What does grafted mean?

Weeping Cherry Blossoms

Thefreedictionary.com defines grafted as this:

To unite (a shoot or bud) with a growing  plant by insertion or by placing in close contact. To join (a plant or plants) by such union. To join or unite closely: graft new customs onto old.

I have a weeping cherry tree in my back yard. It is so beautiful. The branches heavy with sweet scented blossoms cascades with “arms” stretched down toward the ground in sweeping pink beauty! A pollinators dream plant.

Did you know that weeping cherry is a grafted tree and how it is grafted? I did not know to the extent what this tree has gone through to became what it is…

Beautiful in full bloom

It is actually a tree made up of two (or sometimes 3) completely different parts. The weeping (top) part of the tree is ‘grafted’ to the trunk of a standard upright cherry. “Grafting is a horticultural technique used to join parts from two or more plants usually of the same species (or a relative that is compatible) so that they appear to grow as a single plant.” The upper part (or the scion) of one plant grows on the root stock (or root system) of another plant. Weeping cherries are propagated this way to take advantage of the weeping branch shape at the top and the root strength of a cherry variety with hearty root stock. Weeping cherries are most commonly grafted 5 feet above the ground where the trunk of the base tree is sawed off and the weeping branches are attached into intentionally created cracks in the trunk. The cracks are covered with grafting compound. They are all fed from the one “main root” source

Grafted in

To keep the “weeping” habit of the tree, after the graft heals, any branches that grow straight up out of the base need to be trimmed off.

Some grafted weeping cherry trees are called a “reverted” weeping cherry. The upright growth is the host tree of the base growing through the graft of the weeping upper branches. The original tree is trying to revert back to its “usual” habit of growing upright instead of the weeping habit that is desired

Grafted in. What does that mean as a believer in Jesus? For myself and many others, as a Gentile or as a person of non Jewish descent, I could have no part in Salvation through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross…however, similar to the grafting process of the weeping cherry, I have been “grafted” in.

How, you might ask? Because I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, now I am part of God’s ‘chosen” people and His family.

Romans 11:17-20 (ESV) tells us, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.”

God has given us the opportunity to be part of His chosen people. We have ALL the benefits, provision, guidance, and protection as the Israelite’s. This is Not something to brag about, but something to be thankful for. Our strength and life comes from the “Root” source, Jesus Christ. I am humbled to be part of God’s chosen family, to be called His child. How about you? Are you part of this “Root” system?

All you have to do is believe in Jesus and His redemptive work on the cross for your sin. (John 3:16). That is what I did and I am “grafted in” and part of God’s family! I am thankful.

Find me on YouTube.com Tami Bemis Cole

The FLAG Was STILL There

As I sit here and listen to the fireworks that marks this 4th of July and our Independence, I wonder how we got to where we are right now.

These past few months, it seems all hell has broken loose. What I would never thought I would see in America—is happening.

We made it through the self-quarantine, we are hearing so many different stories about the Corona virus, I don’t know who to believe and what “Experts” I can trust.  It seems now, we are waiting for the violence and destruction of property and monuments to be over, for sanity and common sense to come back…we are waiting to get back to the life we knew. Will this wonderful country that I love, that my Dad and perhaps many of you and your loved ones have fought for or are currently fighting for—the USA, be what it was?

I wonder how we got here as a country?  What happened? It seems like a blur to me. Why are we so divided? We are called the UNITED STATES.  Haven’t we been through this stuff before? Haven’t we learned ANYTHING??

Perhaps those doing most of the rioting, looting and other acts of violence do not know our history, has it fallen by the wayside in our schools? In our homes?

Maybe those acting out in violence don’t know what the words in our National Anthem means? Do they understand what it meant in a night of fighting to see our flag still flying high in the early morning hours?

Do they not understand what this country has been through to be free…to get where we are…a high price was paid to give ALL of us, no matter our race—FREEDOMS—the freedoms that gives us a voice and a choice…the freedoms that give those who choose to cause harm, a voice—BUT NOT a voice or right to be destructive. THAT is NOT in our Constitution!

It seems we are on self-destruct. What are we to do? The wound seems so deep and festers like a rancid boil—waiting for the next thing to cause it to be inflamed and erupt, spewing hate & discord to anyone close to it.

My heart cries out, How can this be fixed…what can we do to stop the division? Man cannot fix it, a political party can not fix it, even on our “best” days as humans, we fall short. God alone, as we repent and turn back to Him, He alone can heal our land  (See 2 Chronicles 7:14-15).

As I take a deep breath, I am reminded of a song. It was written in 1814 by poet Francis Scott Key, who was inspired by the sight of the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry after a night of heavy British bombardment.

Our National Anthem.

“Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Did you get the line? It always makes me tear up every time I hear it—The FLAG was STILL there!  WE MUST NEVER forget what it cost and continues to cost men and women everyday that know this country, this UNITED STATES of AMERICA is worth fighting for!

Through these last few months, I think about what I have learned.

• I have learned to trust God more. He never changes. The world very easily shifts under our feet all the time.
• I have learned to do my research and I have learned that many things the main stream media is telling me is not true.
• I have learned to make informed decisions and I will not be coerced or made to feel like I am insensitive or something is wrong with me if I don’t conform to policies & behaviors not fitting for me.
• I have learned that I love this country and will fight anyone who seeks to destroy it.
• I have learned to pray fervently and God will listen to the prayers of His children.
• I have learned to not let a “few” voices make me fearful.
• I have learned to listen to Jesus Christ alone and He alone gives me PEACE in all the unrest & chaos.
• I pray that His words that He has given us to hold onto will comfort and calm you.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (ESV)

Don’t let the world make you fearful. Embrace His peace!

Picture Reference http://www.renewedstrength.org/page/verse-images

Check out my YouTube channel Tami Bemis Cole