Maintaining a spiritual focus has allowed my strength to endure and overcome trails and tribulations. I invite you to meditate on the thought of the month provided by:

Rev. Wayne and Andrea Purcell
The Word Made Truth Ministry
76 Livingston Street
Asheville, North Carolina 28801

(828) 279-8562

Rev. Wayne and Andrea Purcell also have a prison ministry. Please feel free to ask questions pertaining to the thought of the month.

PRESSING ON!

Philippians 3:13-15 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

In this human existence we experience many challenges, hurdles, and obstacles. Many times we allow our past mistakes to keep us in bondage, reminding ourselves constantly of our past failures. If we would only take the time to reflect on the God that has brought us through every storm that we have encountered, we would look back with praise instead of despair. Every child of God should know that our Father is able to make our seemingly failures stepping stones to brighter and more fruitful tomorrows. However, every good works begins with a right mind and attitude. Philippians 3:13-15 reminds us that many times it is good to forget, we must be about reaching, and it is a necessity to press.

Forget – Isn’t it amazing how much time we focus on the things we and others have done wrong. After you and I have confessed our sins and asked for forgiveness, we are to believe that God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In other words, God is prep aring to use our pain for gain in the Kingdom of God . Remember how Peter denied Jesus as predicted 3 times before the cock crowed. Peter could have stayed in the state of focusing on his past failure and missed the blessing of God’s “forgiving grace” and the mighty work God had planned through him for the up-building of God’s kingdom.

Reaching - How often do we set our goals and aspirations in connection to what we think our abilities are? If we want God to be involved we must dream large enough to where it takes a God that specializes in impossible situations for our dreams to be accomplished. Only when we move in the realm of the spiritual will God touch our plans. I’m reminded of the woman with the issue of blood who had suffered 12 long painful years. Because she was willing to reach outside of her comfort zone, she received a miracle healing. Had she not reached, she would have died with her affliction. Every day, people are dying because they refuse to reach. It’s time to face the fact that nothing will change until we reach far beyond what family, society, others, and even we ourselves expect of us.

Pressing- Pressing requires a focus on a great outcome and prize. Pressing encompasses looking pass and over all that keeps pulling you down. If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior and Redeemer, we know that we have overcome just as Jesus overcame. So if we know that we have overcome, what in the world is stopping us from doing “Kingdom Work” (doing the work that Jesus would be doing if he was phy sically present) in spite of our perceived weaknesses and limitations? We need to press on like our great ancestors, such as, Harriett Tubman and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Let us press from this day forward with renewed vigor and inspiration knowing that God has started a great work in us and God will complete what he has started.

Let us pray:

Most Merciful God, we are so thankful that you remind us daily the necessity of “pressing on.” Help us to remember the grand example that you set for us that in spite of persecution and pain, you remained focus on reconciling us back to God. Help us to know that you will never leave or forsake us. Bless us with the ability to be over comers in all that we experience in this world for the up-building of Your kingdom. Most of all remind us of the great promise you gave in Jude, that you will keep us from falling and present us faultless before the presence of your glory with exceeding joy. Amen.

My, how times fly when you're having fun. School has my attention tied up, but I'm so thankful for you who reminds me that I haven't posted an entry lately.

These last three months have called for me to take a serious look at life, but most important MY life. In the midst of it, I am trying to balance out emotions, time, and energy. I have taken a serious step in prioritizing what's important to me, how I can help the most, but what is truly God's will for my life.

So, to what conclusions did I come? Summed up in one line. Spread more love. For the first time, I told one of my uncles that I loved him. My Uncle Jimmy is one whom I have always looked up to, although I somewhat feared him because he was so straight forward. I shared with him the other day of my memory of an unfavorable action. What he told me hurt me short-term, but it inspired me to be who I am today. He is a serious person and he handles business. My uncle started and operated the first black radion station in Asheville. Where black means unity (WBMU) and I was one of his radio announcers. Yes, that's right a D.J.

My uncled used to come in and say, "Prissy, you don't have to be so proper. Loosen up!" Anyhow, what I see now is I patterend some of my ways after my uncle ...and I must be just as serious and blunt as he is, for I noticed when I go to my grandmother's, some of the family members start scattering. But I'm o.k. with that, for I know one day they will do just as I did - realize someone else wants more for them than they do for themselves and love them enough to give tough love, when needed. Thank you, Uncle James, for the tough love you gave me.

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Who Cares? Teaching Children to Care
University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension
extension.unh.edu

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in your life, you will have been all of these.”
George Washington Carver

Imagine a world where no one cares. What would it be like? There would be no hospital or hospice volunteers to brighten the day of an ill person. There would be no food pantries. Kindness extended to nursing home patients would be diminished, and probably the quality of care would, too. Mitten trees would disappear, gift boxes of Thanksgiving foods would no longer be distributed. There would be no shelters for the homeless, weatherization and fuel assistance programs for the elderly, or volunteers to manage youth programs like 4-H or Scouts. Our world would change dramatically, as would our happiness, hope, comfort and security.

With an eye towards the future, visionary parents imagine their children as adults, ready to face life’s challenges, strong, confident, and capable. They see themselves as responsible for helping to prepare their children to live independently, able to problem solve, think critically, make wise decisions, communicate well, and hard-working. These skills are all key to success in life, as are values that we model and impart as our children are growing and becoming competent, contributing members of society.

Our challenge, as parents, is to creatively teach our children whatever it is that they need to care for themselves in adulthood, but, collectively, we all need to consider our responsibility to create a more sensitive, caring and compassionate world for everyone. It happens by teaching one child at a time.