February 27, 2021

Lost & Found: a Scripture Meditation

February 27, 2021/ jan

The most important thing about you is your concept of God.

And there is a corollary to that.

The next most important thing about you is what you think to be God’s attitude, His “feelings” toward you. These are basic to who you think you are and will influence how you think and live your life.

And in reality, what you believe about God and yourself in relationship to Him are based either on God’s truth or on lies instigated by the enemy of your soul. Those lies are most often perpetrated by significant people in your life who have been believing and living by these same lies for themselves — parents, family members, friends and “enemies,” the “culture,” and even religious leaders.

February 23, 2021

Lenten Meditation: a Word of Salvation

February 23, 2021/ jan

Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:43

Jesus seems to have a special love for lost people. I love the stories He tells in Luke 15. The first is the beloved story of the shepherd who has a hundred sheep but leaves the ninety-nine to look for the one that is lost. Then when he finds his lost one, he calls in his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him.

February 20, 2021

The Forgiven Forgive

February 20, 2021/ jan

How hard it is for us to forgive, isn’t it? In our last post, we discussed some points that truly make sense in the entire process of forgiving others. But let’s backtrack a bit more and look at this as a Biblical Q & A session.

The following are notes from a talk I gave to a small group of young married women (I was the “older woman teaching the younger” Titus 2). So why not use this as your own personal Bible study and see what the Holy Spirit reveals to your heart and mind for your particular situation.

February 19, 2021

Forgiveness Revisited

February 19, 2021/ jan

Several years ago, I met with a group of moms to explore one of our Lord's first words from the Cross: Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34

As our discussion went on, we talked about the struggle we all have to forgive our offenders. I shared a short section from a book that years before had an incredible impact on me in the area of forgiveness.

I used to think that the struggle to forgive was itself sinful...as well as the horrible feelings I had in the whole thing. But I've come to realize that the struggle and the feelings are all part of the human condition on this earth.

February 19, 2021

Lenten Meditation: a Word of Forgiveness

February 19, 2021/ jan

Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet, once said,To err is human; to forgive, divine.

So true...but we humans more readily echo what someone else has said,

To err is human, but to get even? THAT is divine.

We struggle so, with forgiving our offenders! Perhaps that's why we are amazed and awestruck to realize that Jesus' first words from the Cross were ones of forgiveness.

February 18, 2021

Lenten Meditation: Last Words and Conversations

February 18, 2021/ jan

The last words of a dying person are important. They can communicate good or ill to those left behind. Why? Because the last words are so final...and so revealing of what was uppermost in the person's mind as he was leaving this earth to face his Maker. I've never been at the bedside of a dying person. But I have been with a few people just days before their death.

February 17, 2021

Dust to Dust but Glory to Glory!

February 17, 2021/ jan

From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return.

Ash Wednesday has taken on a new meaning for me in recent years, since my 91 year old mom passed away early in November 2015. There was something that arrested me right in my tracks the day of my mom's funeral. I was undone by deep sobs of realization. And the depth of it had been helped along by the incense and the reverence afforded the treatment of my dear mama's frail little body being put to rest (or so they say).

But it wasn't the finality of it all. It had already been final when she had breathed her last, days before.

No! It was the Sacredness that came crashing through!

February 15, 2021

Lenten Meditation: Dust to Dust

February 15, 2021/ jan

I grew up in a liturgical church. So from my childhood into my early adulthood, I observed the church calendar. Ash Wednesday marked a real turning point in the calendar year. It was a turn from comfort, frivolity, and enjoyment (think Mardi Gras) to a time of repentance, self-denial, and mortification called Lent. Ash Wednesday was a day when we all remembered that someday we would each die and face our Maker. The priest would put the sign of the cross on our foreheads in black ashes and say,

Remember, Man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return. [based on Genesis 3:19]

February 13, 2021

Another Love Song to Jesus ... Through the Years

February 13, 2021/ jan

Happy Valentine’s Day!

To celebrate, I would like to share one more love song. This time, my husband was the one to say, "This is a God song."

And it's true. Even though he and I consider this one of "our songs," it can only truly and honestly be sung to the Lover of our Souls, our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.

Here's the song...sing it to the only One who can love you perfectly forever.

February 12, 2021

A Love Song to Jesus

February 12, 2021/ jan

When my husband John and I were seniors at the University of Arizona, the Carpenters were at the top of the music charts. We embraced them as our group who sang our songs as we were "a-courting." Their mellow sound and rich melodies fed our romantic feelings toward each other and toward life in general. At our wedding, we danced to, you may have guessed it, "We've Only Just Begun." Lyrics like "White lace and promises, a kiss for luck and we're on our way" made it the perfect song to start out a new marriage...or so we thought.

But as the years have rolled by and reality and maturity have set in, so has the realization that the romantic expectations of youth are so unrealistic and can only truly be fulfilled by an Almighty God.

February 10, 2021

Morning Prayer & Meditation: I AM...

February 10, 2021/ jan

Lord,

You are my King. I am your beloved servant. I live to serve Your purpose in my generation for your honor and pleasure (Acts 13:36). Live through me. Love through me. Serve through me...Today!

With love beyond my love. With skill beyond my skill. With forgiveness beyond my forgiveness. With endurance beyond my endurance...

February 08, 2021

How NOT to Hear God

February 08, 2021/ jan

As I awaken in the morning, there are often those dark and empty pulls threatening to grab hold of me first thing. When I give in, I’ll likely not hear or see God all around.

The only God-Voice that I do hear is . . . "don't get sucked into that downward pull.” It’s the fleshly self, happily fed by the enemy of my soul and the unwanted circumstances of my world around me. The Holy Spirit warns where this is headed -- death all around . . . and He rescues if I let Him.

And so today I remember a poem

February 06, 2021

Hearing God...when getting mixed messages

February 06, 2021/ jan

I have a precious friend named Kitty. She sees and hears God EVERYWHERE! Her favorite "mantra," so to speak, is"He is is SO personal!" And that's what I love about Kitty!

However, for Kitty and for all of us, hearing God can be a little tricky. Jesus said we DO hear Him if we belong to Him. But how? Where does the hearing take place?

Kitty and I had such a conversation the other day. Here is my paraphrase:

Kitty: I'm struggling. One minute I hear this message in sermons and songs and blogs,
"Wait upon the Lord. Keep silent and wait."
And that's what I'm trying to do. But then the next minute, it is
"God is waiting for you to step out in faith, and then He will move."
Which is it?
Jan: This is the key, Kitty...

February 04, 2021

Friends of God: Speaking and Listening

February 04, 2021/ jan

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15 ESV

The other day I had this conversation with my Friend:

ME: Yes, Lord. We are friends ... we go way back, don't we?

February 02, 2021

"Well done, You're My Girl" ... the Speaking Voice

February 02, 2021/ jan

“…God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second Person of the Holy Trinity is called “the Word.” The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind for us put into our familiar human words.” (Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p 82)

God is a Speaking God...not just in the past, but right now, right here. Yes, in His Scriptures, but also and very personally to you and me by His Spirit in our spirit.

January 31, 2021

Remembering Stone #11 : the Speaking Voice

January 31, 2021/ jan

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me... John 10:27 NASB

As far back as I can remember, I longed to know God. At my mother's knee, I would sit and listen to stories she would tell me from our big gilded Bible (Remembering Stone #1). But it wasn't until later, in my young adulthood, that I became aware that perhaps I could hear God's voice speak to me...not audibly, but in the still, small voice of His sweet Spirit dwelling within.

January 25, 2021

Joy in January: God vs Fear {Song Added}

January 25, 2021/ jan

The last in my “Joy in January” series, originally shared in January 2015, is a post written by my youngest “Guest Branch” and my oldest grandchild Kaden. When he wrote it, he was just 8-1/2 y.o. and now he is almost 15 … how can that be? So it’s my delight once again to share this awesome blog. We can all learn from the young ones in the faith, can’t we? By the way, be sure to see Kaden’s “today photo” at the end…yikes!

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children [and grandchildren] are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4 ESV

It is pure JOY for me to introduce my youngest "Guest Branch" to A Branch in the Vine. My 8-1/2 year old grandson Kaden is today's blogger.

January 23, 2021

Joy for a Suffering Soul: Just Be Held!

January 23, 2021/ jan

Twenty-plus years ago, our family began to walk through the trial of our lives. Our precious son Jeremy began to have obvious issues that led to a diagnosis of thyroid cancer on February 13, 1998. My goodness, he was only 20 years old, athletic, handsome, healthy (or so we thought). As his mom, I experienced pain that I had never felt before or since. I watched my gorgeous "baby boy" walk through the trial of his life with courage and grace, despite his normal fear.

As I now look back to that time, the one thing I always say is "God carried us!" And I guess that is all I can say ... we were held and carried! And there is a bittersweet joy in that kind of deep trial ... when all there is to make it through is HIM and His loving Presence.

January 21, 2021

Joy in January: A Value Shake-up!

January 21, 2021/ jan

A friend recently posted an arresting thought on facebook:

Your value doesn't decrease, based on someone's inability to see your worth.

Truth!

Where does our value lie? Our value is based on our Creator's opinion of us...which is love and grace and glory!

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 1 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

He has planted His own life in us through His glorious Son. So whatever our Father God thinks about His beloved Son, He thinks of us also!

January 20, 2021

Joy in January: Greater!

January 20, 2021/ jan

. . . The Lord Jesus Christ in you! The Lord Jesus Christ in me! What glory right here...right now!
The Sovereign Creator of the Universe lives in each of His children! His life courses through our spiritual veins! What glory for this life as well as the life to come!
And so this week in the midst of has been a year of upheaval, let's celebrate and enjoy the joy of the One who is Greater by far!…

A Branch in the Vine

A Branch In the Vine