42 Years of Marriage
Yesterday morning on the way to work Mike and I made this list. In our 42 years of marriage we have been blessed with: supportive parents and other relatives; lasting relationships with friends closer than brothers; some good pastors and teachers; some great family doctors; 6 children (1 in heaven) and 8 grandchildren (1 in heaven); 10 addresses (including 7 purchases, 4 of which doubled as income properties); membership in 4 Christian congregations, and 13 years in ministry leadership positions.
Three years into our marriage God had saved my soul, about nine months later He’d saved Mike’s, and as our five surviving children grew up they also joined God’s family. Between family and ministry we have helped to host six weddings and one wedding reception, and counseled five engaged couples.
God blessed Mike with great career moves at: Jamintel, Jamaica’s first national telecommunications company; NCR in mainframe computer hardware service and service management; T Geddes Grant Jamaica, in office equipment sales and service management from the time of fax introduction to Jamaica; Xerox in Jamaica and Canada, in service and service management. God also blessed Mike with talents and interests that he invested into agricultural, sales and service entrepreneurship in Jamaica and Canada. All that and more, before entering the field of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) in Canada.
God blessed me with a 30-year career in public and Christian Education in Jamaica and Canada, as well as brief Canadian experience as bank teller, store clerk and ‘unemployed’, before becoming an ATIP Professional. Besides, God blessed me with divine music in my soul for every season, and a creative talent – ‘wordsmithy’ – that has allowed me to share that soul with the world in TGIF: Thank God It’s Friday.
42 years is a long time, so our list yesterday morning was going on… but I lost interest when Mike started recalling the cars 🙂
Highs, lows & insights of 2015
More than any previous year of my life, 2015 was a year of highs and lows. New highs included the publication of my second book, TGIF: Thank God It’s Friday, and spin-offs from Mike’s blessing that he expressed in our prayer time this morning: “I have done more Bible study and learned more in the past two years than in the ten years prior.”
Unprecedented lows of 2015 included the passing of my Mom, Cynthia McKinley Walters, in February – a low for our surviving family but a high for her as she entered into fullness of joy and perfect health, where the “glory of Elohim” shines brighter than the Jamaican sun ever could.
Unprecedented lows also included the tragic death of a young lady whom Mike and I had known all her life. We continue to pray for her family, in Yeshua’s Name claiming Jeremiah 29:11 for them – peace, a future, a hope – God’s redemptive will fulfilled in their lives.
For one unprecedented low, God prepared me well in advance with new insights on the cross of Calvary. He showed me that I should choose to take up my cross and follow Him in a new way, rather than evade the suffering that I sensed would follow. I obeyed in August 2015 and the dust hasn’t settled yet. Clouds of character assassination, lies and innuendos have continued to billow, but the conviction that the Lord led me into this test has kept me steadfast. Yeshua suffered so much more for us when He challenged the doctrines of the chief priests, that this little cross is nothing compared to the one He carried. So I pushed through some of the dust clouds by blogging on The Cross.
Now, for 2016, in Yeshua’s Name I claim the manifestation in my life of not only Jeremiah 29:11 (God’s plans for me fulfilled), but also Genesis 50:20, (what the devil meant for evil leading instead to new accomplishments) and Romans 8:28 (all things working together for good because I love God and am called according to His purpose).
Sneak Preview
For a Sneak Preview of the PDF colour eBook of my testimonies, TGIF: Thank God It’s Friday, click here.
PDF color version of TGIF
Great news! You can now get a PDF version of my book of testimonies, TGIF: Thank God it’s Friday. Lower cost, color photos, the most commonly used eBook format, readable on any device. Just click here to buy now.
THE SIGN (of the cross)
This is a quote from the article at the first link below. “The final letter in ancient Hebrew is Tav which in Hebrew means a sign. In modern Hebrew Tav is written ת , but the ancient Hebrew letter for Tav is
. (See the second link below.) Is it a coincidence that the symbol for God’s sign is the cross? I believe it is important to remember that this ancient symbol of the cross is not a Gentile symbol. The cross is a Jewish symbol that means ‘the sign’.”
An Introduction to Hebrew Word Pictures
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FEAR NOT!
Almighty God says to us, over 100 times in the Bible, “Fear not” (or “Do not fear”). Why repeat Himself so often on this command? Because He knows that fear of danger on any level is a very frequently refreshed temptation, since there are dangers – real and imagined – all around us and even inside of us. Today, listen to God’s LIFE-saver instruction: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Undercover Intercessor
I enjoy being an undercover intercessor on public transit. It wasn’t my idea at all, but the story of how God got me into this is part of my vision testimony in T.G.I.F. Thank God It’s Friday. See pages 89-90 under “A new purpose for vision”.
Now I have an intercessory routine specifically for the first few minutes after I get onto any public transit, and it has developed even further since the time of writing T.G.I.F. Today, in light of the increased public safety threat from terrorists and other crazy or cruel people, I can recommend a routine that you also could use as you seek to help keep your city transit safe.
Pray first for the saftey of the vehicle itself, and the same for other routes operating in your city. Then pray for the driver and every other person on your bus including yourself: men, women, gender-conflicted, teens, children, and the unborn. Remember that many of them are not Christians, so pray for their souls as well as their physical safety. That’s a very loaded statement. We can’t freely share the Gospel with the public in many of the cities where we live, but no evil force can prevent us from praying for them in our minds.
Remember that many tragedies in life are brought on by our own sins, so as a true intercessor, ask God’s forgiveness for all the sins of the people on the vehicle. (I assume you’d already have done that for any outstanding sins of your own, before leaving home.) Finally, be encouraged by the account in Acts 27, of Paul’s experience near Malta. Despite the stubborn refusal of the authorities (his captors) to heed Paul’s warnings about their chosen course, God was gracious to all aboard the ship because of Paul’s presence and his concern for their lives. In verses 23-24 we read: “There came to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. He said, ‘Do not fear, Paul … indeed, God has granted you (the lives of) all who are sailing with you’.” You should actually read all of Acts 27; it is truly inspiring 🙂
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Be an Undercover Intercessor
Calling all Christian users of public transit … sign up with God to become undercover intercessors for commuters in your city! Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to pray safety for the commuters and operators on the buses, subways, trains, light rail ‘cars’, ferry boats and whatever other public passenger vehicles you use, each time you use them.
Why whould you accept this assignment? Because you are the only ones who can! Public passenger safety in these days of terrorist plots depends ultimately on divine protection. Although God incorporates the hard work of security forces into His protection plan, the outcome of their hard work is unreliable without His input. That divine input which will guarantee success is secured through the prayer of the saints. This prayer is the prerogative of Christians.
So, sign up with God for this assignment – to pray for the safety of your city’s public transit vehicles, their drivers and their passengers. Each time you ride, take the first few minutes to do this privately. You will feel blessed in helping to keep your city safe. I’ll share with you how I do this – tomorrow!
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Test…
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