Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

 "So let go of your plan Be caught by my hand I'll show you what I can do When I dream for you" ~  " Dream for You "-Casting Crowns     I recently became engaged, and even though I absolutely love my fiancee, the experience isn't exactly how I dreamed it would be. I'm older than I thought I would be when I got married, my fiancee's not like what I pictured my future husband would look like, and I met him online instead of in person. However, other aspects are the way I dreamed. We share the same faith and political views, and very quickly developed inside jokes that leave those around us shaking their heads. We have been very good for each other these past seven months, and we get along so well that some people thought we were married long before he even proposed. I fully believe that God knew what he was doing when he brought us together, even if it didn't happen quite the way I imagined.      As I mentioned in some earlier posts , this is not t

 Okay, my name isn't actually Karen. However, Karen is my mother's name and the name of other important people in my life. Unfortunately, Karen has also become a neganym, a derogatory name for any woman who insists on doing something that the user disagrees with, from refusing to wear a mask to cleaning up a mess left by the user's children . The meme originated because of one man dissing his ex-wife , but it has now morphed into a widespread insult.  In my post Don't Be Like Judas , I mentioned that his worst act was his last one, and that's all he's remembered for now. The same is true of Benedict Arnold, and now these two names are widely used neganyms for anyone who betrays someone else. These neganyms are perfectly acceptable while using Karen as a neganym is not. The first reason is because what Judas and Benedict Arnold did is universally seen as wrong. Almost everyone has felt the sting of betrayal at some point in their life, although for most of us it

I saw a post earlier this year about choosing your hard. It said: Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard. Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard. Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard. Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely. I thought the post was good and appreciated the sentiment. Then shortly after I saw this post, I saw another one where these words were crossed out and others were added underneath. They said: Marriage is hard. Staying in an unhappy marriage is harder. Obesity is hard. Because it's stigmatized. Fit is not always accessible to everyone. Being in debt is a complex socio-economic phenomenon often related to privilege. It is not necessarily related to "discipline". Communication is complex. Learning to communicate is a lifelong experience. You don't always get to "

There's been a post shared on Facebook in the weeks since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade that starts out by saying: "I'm not pro-murdering babies." However, it then gives various scenarios where abortion should be justified . The implication is that if someone is pro-life, they only care about the babies themselves, not the women who face pregnancies under difficult circumstances. The truth is, we do care about the women in these situations, perhaps even more so than those that are pro-choice. We are willing to help them see that the answer to a crisis pregnancy is assisting them through the crisis, not getting rid of the pregnancy. That's why in my state we are voting on an amendment called Value Them Both because we do value them both and want to make sure that both the woman and child are well cared for throughout the pregnancy and beyond. Here are the arguments in the oft-shared post, and how each hypothetical woman can be cared for without having a

      Last week, the Supreme Court overturned the controversial 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Following the ruling, I saw quite a few posts that said some variation of: "Here's my opinion. If you disagree, please unfriend or unfollow me." Even though I disagreed with some of those posts, I did not unfriend anyone because I know the pain of being unfriended.     As I mentioned in my post Easily Offendable , I was unfriended by two long-term friends back in August because they disagreed with me. While I was initially angry about the situation, and still am to an extent, I'm finding that as time passes my feelings are gradually changing from anger to sadness. We were good friends for 13 years, and we had some fun times together. I was at their engagement party and wedding, I was the only person who showed up when they did the Polar Plunge, and I was ecstatic when they started coming to my church five years ago. Before the pandemic, I took care of their son in the church

 "My fears would surely kill me If I didn't know the truth The things that I'm afraid of Are afraid of You" ~ " Things That I'm Afraid Of " - Josh Wilson     I had reached a place a couple of years ago where I was more or less fearless, or so I thought. Then the pandemic hit, and while I was never afraid of the virus, I was afraid of what would happen because of the quarantine and separation from others. Unfortunately, some of those fears came true, and having some fears come true has led to new fears feeling even stronger.     Recently, I have been bombarded with a wave of new fears that has threatened to overwhelm me. My car needs expensive repairs, my dad is facing an unfair situation that I can't help him with, and I am in a new relationship, which is wonderful and scary at the same time. In fact, I am posting this much later than I initially wanted to. Those fears were so strong that it was hard for me to put into words how I was feeling, and ev

 "The thought that makes me smile now Even as the tears fall down Is that the only scars in Heaven Are on the hands that hold you now." ~ " Scars in Heaven " - Casting Crowns     The sermon this past Sunday was about Jesus appearing to His disciples after the Resurrection, Thomas not being there, and his subsequent doubt. While this is a typical sermon topic for the Sunday after Easter, this time I started thinking about how this story relates to the song quoted above. What Thomas needed to see to believe in the Resurrection were the scars on Christ's body.     Revelation 21:4 states, "Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." To me, that means that any limitations we had in our lives, including our scars, are gone once we enter those pearly gates. I know a woman who struggled with mobility problems her whole life, which required her to wear ugly orthopedic shoes. After she died earlier

      Recently, I've noticed a disturbing trend within the church: the refusal to use pronouns when referring to God and Jesus. I had noticed the deacon at my church doing it, and while it annoyed me, I thought that it was just one of her quirks. Then, I noticed the same thing happening in the Lenten devotion I am doing. Now, they are still using You and Your during their prayers, but they are not using He, Him, or Himself. What they seem to be forgetting is that the entire reason why proper pronouns exist as a part of speech is to use them to refer to God and Christ.     Imagine, if you will, that St. Paul also had this aversion to pronouns. In that case, Philippians 2:6-9 would read like this:      "Christ was like God in every way, but Christ did not think that Christ's being equal to God was something to use for Christ's own benefit. Instead, Christ gave up everything, even Christ's place with God. Christ accepted the role of a servant, appearing in human form.

      I had planned to write about something different in this post. I almost always have a few different ideas for posts that I draw from each month unless there's something more pressing to discuss. Well, this month, there was something more pressing.     On the morning of February 19, I called my care receiver for our biweekly check-in. She didn't answer, so I left her a message on her voice mail and sent her a text. I was a bit worried, especially since I hadn't been able to talk to her on the 5th either, but I knew that sometimes she had issues with her phone, so I thought that maybe that was happening again. Unfortunately, that wasn't the problem this time. About an hour later, I got a text from her number saying it was her sister and asking me how I knew her. Before I could respond, the sister called to inform me that she had died a week earlier.       I am thankful that though she is gone now, I was able to give her a sense of peace through our relationship. In

      Watching Jeopardy the last few weeks has been exhilarating. Amy Schneider won 40 total games, which puts her in second place for all-time wins. What's even more impressive is most of those wins came from runaway games. Her knowledge of a myriad of topics was inspiring, and her buzzer speed was excellent. Before her loss last Wednesday, I thought she could have easily overtaken Ken Jennings' amazing winning streak from 2004. You would think that every fan of the show would have been cheering her meteoric rise to game show stardom, but that wasn't the case. The reason: while she may be female now, she was born male.     In a previous post , I discussed some of my thoughts about transgenderism. While I may not agree with it, that doesn't mean I didn't want Amy to keep winning. I appreciated her good gameplay even though I don't agree with her choices. Being transgender didn't negate the fact that she was an excellent Jeopardy contestant.      Something we

      Like I do almost every year, I spent Christmas at my aunt's house. Our family gathering was smaller this year than usual, but it was still just like always in other ways. We had some of the same arguments that we have every Christmas, some of the gifts were loved by the recipients while others missed the mark, we all ate too much of the delicious food, and the kids were the stars of the show. As the day progressed, I did notice one element that is present within my family that is sorely lacking in the world as a whole: acceptance of each other's opinions, particularly regarding the vaccine.     My family runs the entire spectrum when it comes to the vaccine. A few members are fully vaccinated, including their booster shot. Two people are only partially vaccinated because of bad reactions to either the first or second dose. A few of us aren't vaccinated at all for various reasons. Some have medical issues, some don't trust a vaccine created so quickly, and some, li