Sharon's Sharings

 Trust has been the theme of my life this week.  Due to a couple of difficult life circumstances I have needed to trust the Lord even more than my normal day to day. Psalms 118:18 was brought to my attention recently.  It is the middle verse of the Bible.  “ It is better to trust in the lord than to put confidence in man.”  So appropriate for these days we are living in.  More importantly, it is appropriate for me (and us) daily. #2620 Strong’s concordance describes to trust:  to hope, to make someone a refuge. Our motto at church this year is HOPE.  Hope and trust go hand in hand.  Our hope is in the Lord that He will accomplish or change a situation according to His will. At the same time, we are trusting that our Lord will bring it about.  Jeremiah 17:7 NKJV “ Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.” For me, trusting can be hard.  I have absolutely no doubt God is in control and can accomplish His w...

 I have been pondering several thoughts recently.  There is so much going on in the world.  There is so much that can cause division in the church body.  Sometimes the tension is palpable.   The big issue is Covid-19.  To vaccinate or not?  The mask and vaccine mandates.  Conspiracy theory’s abound.  What do we believe?  How do we keep our own beliefs, but respect what others believe? Philippians 2:2-4 TPT says “ So I’m asking you, my friends, that you be joined together in perfect unity—with one heart, one passion, and united in one love.  Walk together with one harmonious purpose and you will fill my heart with unbounded joy.  (3)Be free from pride-filled opinions, for they will only harm your cherished unity.  Don’t allow self-promotion to hide in your hearts, but in authentic humility put others first and view others as more important that yourselves.  (4)Abandon every display of selfishness.  Possess a ...

  Righteous : morally upright; without guilt or sin.                                                                   I was reading Proverbs 12 NKJV.  The word “ righteous ” in this translation is used several times.   When I am reading the word I often look up different translations so it becomes more meaningful to me. Proverbs 12:3b says “ But the root of the righteous cannot be moved. ”  The NLT sys “ but the godly have deep roots”, and the Amp says “ But the root of the [consistently] righteous will not be moved.” According to the definition of righteous, can we be morally upright and without guilt or sin all the time?  I don’t think so.  We are going to sin, but the Amp version says “ consistently ”.  One definition of consistent is “constantly adhering to the same principles”...

 Recently, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a friend.  She said she has her lights on in her home most of the day and evening.  I replied that we hardly ever turn our lights on during the day.  At the time we were living in our home that had large windows that let in a lot of light.  The home we are in now does not have large windows.  We have lights on a lot now.  Perspective can change everything. Light vs. darkness; Good vs. evil.  I associate the two.  God created light.  Genesis 1:3-4 “ Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. (4)And God saw that the light was good.  Then He separated the light from the darkness.”   The light is for us.  It makes it possible for us to live and grow.  Without light there would be emptiness and death.  This is true for the natural world and spiritual realm. I equate light that is good, to God, and evil and darkness to Satan.  John 8:12 NLT...