Praying Psalm 23 for Your Children

Quietly, in bedrooms and armchairs across the world a force of power unknown and unseen is unleashed, changing the course of the world: the prayers of faithful women and men for children.

Untold numbers of mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and people of faith lift up prayers.  We do not know how many soldiers have returned home to spouses and loved one because of these prayers.  We will never be able to count the good choices made and bad choices avoided.  How many have been healed?  How many have avoided disaster? How many lives have grown in faith through the quiet prayers of others.

Join us for twelve weeks of prayer from Psalm 23.  Sign up here to receive the weekly email devotional message with a prayer for you to pray for a loved one.  

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Betsy and Laurie

Please share this message with others who might like to join us.  The first week begins June 12.

10 Great Quotes from Anne Frank

Anne Frank (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. “Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”

2. “A quiet conscience makes one strong!”

3. “Those who have courage and faith shall never perish in misery”

4. “Memories mean more to me than dresses.”

5. “I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

6. “Where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.”

7. “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”

8. “No one has ever become poor by giving.”

9. “Because paper has more patience than people. ”

10. “Whoever is happy will make others happy.”

Do you have other favorites?

Betsy and Laurie

Can you guess these fictional mothers?

 

 

Happy Mothers Day (Photo credit: godserv)

 

A good fictional mom is hard to find.  Here are our top eight.  Can you guess who they are? We included a quote to help you.

 1. Loving mother who teaches her son well and sacrifices her life for him when danger comes.  She remains unnamed in the story.

 

  “Where one thing falls, another grows.  Maybe not what was there before, but something wonderful just the same.”

 

 2. Crusty adoptive mom who lives with her brother and takes in a young girl after hoping to take in a boy to help with the farm.

 

 “Anne Shirley, I wouldn’t trade you for a dozen boys.”

 

3. Single mom writer who sacrifices her life for her babies leaving them in the care of a humble pig.

 

 ”It’s true, and I have to say what’s true.”


 

4. Nameless mom who crawls in her adult son’s bedroom window to rock him to sleep.

 

 “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”

 

5. Loving mother and wife who loves her family and quilting and gardening. Sets a good example in prayer and love.

 

 “When the TV is on all day without rest, Mama knows it’s too much, and Mama knows best.”

 

6. Tough woman who loves her husband and children while struggling to live the hard life on the prairie.

 

“This earthly life is a battle. If it isn’t one thing to contend with, it’s another. It always has been so, and it always will be. The sooner you make up your mind to that, the better off you are, and the more thankful for your pleasures.”

 

7. A devout woman who raises spiritual children with encouragement and love.

 

  “Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, till you find your dream.”

 

8. A strong, faithful mother raising four daughters while her husband is off at war.

 

 “Our burdens are here, our road is before us, and the longing for goodness and happiness is the guide that leads us through many troubles and mistakes to the peace which is a true Celestial City.”

 

Did you get them all?  Are there more?

 

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers:  biological, adoptive, and spiritual,

 

Betsy and Laurie

 

Stories and the Universe

Laurie and Betsy

The Writing Sisters

(photo taken at Library Way, NYC Public Library)

Have Patience? Need Patience?

But the fruit of the Spirit is . . .Patience

Why am I in such a hurry? Why is it hard to wait? 

“A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.”  Henri J.M. Nouwen

I know I can trust God’s timing and that he is in control of my work. So why do I worry about deadlines? 

“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.”  A.W. Tozer 

It’s hard to wait and be patient.  I want to do something.  I want control.

 ”Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work.” Peter Marshall

Sometimes I need to take action, sometimes to wait. 

“I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”  — Anne Lamott 

The best work takes time.  Like simmering adds to the favor of the soup, time can enhance our work.

“No great work is ever done in a hurry. To develop a great scientific discovery, to paint a great picture, to write an immortal poem, to become a minister, or a famous general~~to do anything great requires time, patience, and perseverance.” W. J. Wilmont Buxton

Lord, give me patience today. Let me know when to take action and when to wait.

Betsy and Laurie

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”  James 5:7 

Don’t give up too soon.