Embrace opportunity in 2017

By Ada Brownell

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Sixteen-year-old Jim White rode his horse through New Mexico’s prairie in 1898, looking for cattle, when he noticed a plume of bats rise into the sky. He investigated where they came from and discovered Carlsbad Caverns.

The huge hole in the rocky hill from which the bats boiled drew Jim back a few days later. He brought a rope and tools he needed. He made a crude ladder, took his kerosene lantern, and carefully descended into the cave. The next day he returned to the caverns with a fifteen-year-old friend.

Extensive explorations began in 1901, and Jim White was there. He helped construct the first trails, stairs, and lights.

Jim had no idea that day when he mounted his horse he would discover one of the largest and most specular caverns in the world. Like Jim, we never know what opportunities will come, but often they do appear because we’re looking for them or expecting God to lead us to them. But frequently that takes time.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Even if I knew tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”[1]

Behind every apple you eat is someone who looked into the future with hope and imagination because an apple seed takes more than ten years to produce fruit.

Today is the time to work on our tomorrows.

You don’t need a fortune teller to reveal your future. The truth is, you are the person who determines who you will be, what your life will be like, and how your hopes and dreams will be fulfilled. Today is the time to seek the Lord, grow your talents, look for opportunities, and create an action plan for your future.

Do you know what should be included in your action plan? Here are some things to think about:

1.      Harness your will and seek God’s will.  Daily spend time with God and His Word.

2.      Make valuable deposits into your mind and detoxify harmful things you’ve been taught or experienced by using scriptures that apply, and believe them.

3.      Capitalize on your talents and what you already know.

4.      Connect with someone who can help, such as someone who has succeeded in what you’d like to do.

5.      Avoid traps that can jeopardize your future.

6.      Keep track of the things you’ve learned and what you want to learn.

7.      Live one day at a time in faith, believing God is working things out for your good. Believe in yourself and things greater than yourself, and don’t get weary with the journey.

PRAYER: The Apostle Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Help me to believe I can fulfill great things with your help and strength.

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[1] Frank Lutz, Words That Work (New York: Hyperion, 2007).

Note: The above is an abridged version of a chapter from Ada Brownell's book, Imagine the Future You
Copyright Ada Brownell 2013.

IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU

A motivational Bible study by Ada Brownell

Ready or not, you’re going into your future.

If you continue to do what you do now, what kind of future will you have? This Bible study will help you discover evidence for faith; how to look and be your best; who can help; interesting information about dating, love and marriage; choosing a career; how to deposit good things into your brain you can spend; and how to avoid hazards that jeopardize a successful life on earth and for eternity, all mingled with true stories that can make you smile.

Review:  How I would have loved to sit at Mrs. Brownell's knee when I was a teen. This wholesome book resounds with sage, Godly advice and could be picked up again and again as needs arise. Worthwhile for parents too. Much fodder for family discussion.

            Also available in Audio. Read or listen to first chapter free! #Teens #Family #Devotions
Links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
ITunes  http://ow.ly/TY6uO

God’s Mercies after Suicide

Jean's son, Josh.  

By Jean Ann Williams

Blurb: What if your child shot himself while you were in the next room? What if you held him as his heart beat for the last time? What if Satan whispered in your ear, “Now where is your God?” Find out how Jean Ann Williams reached out with her spirit and mind to the one true Father. Discover how the Lord God answered her, and walked alongside her in the most difficult grieving journey of her life.

God's Mercies After Suicide: Blessings Woven through a Mother's Heart

Devotional E-BOOK FREE WEDNESDAY 12/14 Available at:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Mercies-after-Suicide-Blessings/dp/0997701609/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475851034&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=God%27s+Mercies+after+Sucide%3A+Blessings+Woven+through+a+Mother%27s+Heart

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Jean’s Blog: http://Joshua-mom.blogspot.com/

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INVEST IN YOURSELF IN 2017

By Ada Brownell

Sometimes a person uses his debit card, or writes a check, and discovers there is no money in his account.

In the same way, when people need to know how to do things of importance or how to find the answers to spiritual and even life’s problems, if they haven’t deposited knowledge, there is little in him or her to draw from.

Things of value must be deposited into the spirit and brain like money in the bank. Worthless deposits produce people who, although they are still priceless to God, aren’t worth much to the world. Everything we learn becomes part of who we are. We need to resist that which is harmful, and choose knowledge we can use for good now and that will take us to heaven for eternity.

Jesus wants us to have an abundant life with many blessings—not only for eternity, but here. He expects us to do something with the many talents He’s given us, just like the old-time preacher who, during the Great Depression, prayed for food and found a squawking rooster and a sack of potatoes on his front porch. He didn’t have dinner until he took the chicken, chopped off the head, plucked the feathers, cut the bird into pieces, and put it in a skillet. He then had to peel and cook the potatoes, mash them, and make gravy.

Unless you do something with your talents and the things of God, you may go into eternity without doing anything of significance.

We have to study, practice, and then go out and do what we have learned. Everything we learn is a deposit for the future, whether for good or evil. What you put into your head determines what type of person you will be tomorrow.

Peter wrote, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us and given us precious promises that we could have God’s nature in us, and escape the world’s corruption brought through lust” (2 Peter 1:3).

Then Peter goes on to say, “For this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love.”

Ready or not, you’re going into your future. If you continue to do what you do now, what kind of future will you have? Will you be the person you dream of being—or someone from your nightmares?

Invest in yourself! The secret to abundant life is to latch on to the supernatural dynamite power available from God, and let Him go with us on this trek.

“Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

©Copyright Ada Brownell 2016

Adapted from Ada Brownell’s book, Imagine the Future You

 Read or listen to first chapter free! http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284     

HOW DO HABITS AFFECT YOUR FUTURE IN 2017?

By Ada Brownell

Do you not realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? (Romans 6:16 NLT).

Habits are like the tree in Vashon Island, Washington, that grew around a bicycle until the bike became part of the tree. Somebody leaned the bike against the tree when it was a small sapling. Now the bicycle is lodged into a large tree trunk five or six feet off the ground. It is impossible to remove the bike without destroying the tree.

Dr. Alan Friedman, a botanist at Marquette University in Milwaukee, says if an immovable object comes in contact with a growing tree, the growth that creates wood and bark will eventually cover the object. The only exception is a wire or rope put entirely around a tree, which will kill it.[1]

Habits entwine themselves into us in a similar way and become part of who we are. Some habits make us better people because they cause us to do good things. Bad habits wrapped into our character jeopardize our future.

Habits are one part of our lives we control.

True genetics, culture, temperament, talents, education, beliefs, quirks, and hang-ups of our parents affect us, but we can’t blame them if we end up a drunkard, too lazy to support ourselves, or in prison. No matter who we are, our background, what internal and external obstacles we face, we can scramble over everything in our way and reach a life of joy and fulfillment.

Saul of Tarsus, a strict Pharisee, a Jew and Roman citizen educated under the great Rabbi Gamaliel, developed a habit of hating those who followed Christ. He made a religion –and habit--out of keeping the law and persecuting the church. He’d forgotten God promised a Messiah. Paul forgot about sin, and the need for blood to cleanse from sin.
Saul approved of the stoning of Stephen, the evangelist, and later admitted he held the coats of those who killed him.

Paul continued to threaten followers of Christ. Then the risen Lord came in a great light and apparently struck Saul upside the head. Saul fell off his horse.

 “Saul, Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus said.

Jesus had been crucified. Saul knew the disciples were preaching Jesus risen from the dead. Until then, he didn’t believe it.

Trembling, Saul asked, “Lord, what would you have me to do?”

Jesus said, “Arise go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”

Saul’s friends heard the voice but saw no one, except Saul who was stricken with blindness. They followed the Lord’s commands, found Ananias, who prayed with Saul and his sight returned. Saul accepted Jesus as Lord, was baptized and called to preach to the Gentiles.

Saul’s name was changed to Paul, and Paul became one of the greatest Christians to preach and teach. All his life he regretted persecuting the church. But his sinful habits were broken and his sin forgiven.

“The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9).

God is in the deliverance business. Yet, we must hear his voice and act in obedience as Paul did.

©Copyright Ada Brownell 2016

Note: This post is adapted from Ada Brownell's book, Imagine the Future You. If you'd like to read the first chapter, listen to it on Audible.com, or purchase the book you can do so at

Links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

ITunes  http://ow.ly/TY6uO

WILL YOU REACH YOUR GOALS IN 2017?

By Ada Brownell

 “I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 24:30-34 NIV).

The beautiful tune “Dust in the Wind,”[1] recently brought back on American Idol, tells a mournful story of how dreams and lives blow away into nothing but dust. How such a beautiful melody could have these discouraging words is beyond me. Life is a wonderful thing and can be glorious here and forever.  Yet, unless we guard ourselves, all our hopes blow away like topsoil in a wind storm.

A person can’t grow a garden unless he plants, waters, hoes, weeds, and harvests. Often he has to protect plants from worms, animals, frost and pray it won’t hail or flood. In the days when people’s survival depended on growing their own food, most worked every spare moment to reach that dream.

Life is like growing a crop. Yet too many people don’t plant for their future. People who do great things work, try and struggle until they succeed.

One guy who decided to grasp a dream was Paul Tutmarc of Seattle, Washington, who traveled in a band and felt sorry for the acoustic bass fiddle player, who always drove alone because his huge instrument left room in his car only for the driver.

From age fifteen, Paul Tutmarc had an interest in steel guitars—the ones usually used in Hawaiian music. He became an accomplished musician and wanted to magnify the sound of the steel. He looked at the innards of the telephone to see how it worked to pick up sound and began tinkering with it. Bob Wisner, a radio repairman, worked with Paul, and they figured out how to use electronic amplification on musical instruments.

Paul electrified zithers, pianos, and Spanish guitars.

Then he carved an electronic “bass fiddle” about the size and shape of a cello and the first electric bass guitar came into being in 1933. Paul eventually made a forty-two-inch-long solid-body bass, which was lighter and smaller. The guitar was featured in the 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc’s company, Audiovox.

The bass guitar, however, didn’t become popular until the 1950s, when Leo Fender, with employee George Fullerton, developed the first mass-produced instrument.

Next time you hear a loud, pulsating bass guitar behind a band, remember Paul Tutmarc,[2] who began his music career in a church choir and caught a dream. Paul’s dream took work, practice, and trial and error, and so does becoming the Christian our Creator hopes for us to be.

 Desire and talent don’t necessarily guarantee success, according to experts. Often it is the less talented and gifted who achieve great things because they won’t stop working toward their goals—no matter how many obstacles they face or how often they face rejection or disappointment. On the other hand, greatly talented people can go to their graves without doing anything of significance.

What makes the difference? We decide to take what we were born with and grow it into something greater.

Jesus said, “For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7 NKJ).

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[1] Released by American Progressive Band. Written by Kerry Livgren.

2 http://tutmarc.tripod.com/Paultutmarc.html

Patti Shene Sees Beyond Grief

Looking Ahead

By

Patti Shene

Wow, a lot happened in my life in 2016! I knew in January that by the time December rolled around, I would have crossed the line that qualified me as a Medicare recipient.

Yep, I hit that big age 65 landmark in July.

What I did not anticipate was the death of my mom in February, although I was certainly not shocked when God called her to her heavenly home at age 86. I accepted her death with a mixture of relief that she is finally free of pain, and grief that our relationship here on earth now exists through a window of memories.

I anticipated more leg surgery for my husband this year, having been told in 2013 that the graft inserted into his left leg would only last twelve to sixteen months. Miraculously, that artificial vein lasted a year and a half beyond the projected time.

Still, God called him home during open heart surgery in June of this year.

Crossing into widowhood is not something I anticipated at the beginning of this year. I had faced the possibility of caring for my husband as an amputee, but that never happened.

Despite the sorrow, pain, grief, and losses that will mark 2016 in my memory forever, I look to 2017 with a sense of adventure and anticipation.

I’m a new person now, an orphan in place of a daughter, a widow instead of a wife, a child of God seeking His peace, comfort, and the contentment that only He can provide.

I have no doubt new challenges lie ahead. As I see myself in a different light, I am examining my weaknesses and drawing on my strengths.

One of the ways I manage my grief is to reach out to others who are fighting their own battle of hurt, pain, discouragement, and disillusionment. The main focus of my two blogs, Patti’s Porch and The Over 50 Writer is to give authors a place to share the stories behind their work, the struggles they have encountered, and the encouraging words they have for others.

My Blog Talk radio Show, Step Into the Light, is another source of encouragement for those who find themselves in a dark place. My guests share their own experiences with darkness and how they found their way back to light, or the venues they use to lead others to light from the shadows we all encounter in life.

Right now, I feel this is God’s calling for me, although deep inside, I still sense the desire to get my own struggles, life lessons, and insights into print. God has given me a wide range of experiences over my lifetime for a reason, and I sometimes wonder if he placed those twists and turns on my life path so I can guide others through them.

Despite the ruts and gullies I’ve had to navigate over the past year, I have felt the presence of My Heavenly Father every step of the way. I look ahead with confidence that He will guide me out of the valley to the mountaintop.

My prayer for 2017 is that I will make the trip as a willing and eager servant of His.

BIO: Patti has had short work published in two anthologies and local publications. She has three novels in progress. She has conducted workshops at Christian Writers conferences and served as an editor with a small publishing company. Patti loves to promote writers, both published and unpublished, on her two blogs, Patti’s Porch and The Over 50 Writer. She shares stories through personal interviews of those who have found their way from a dark place back to light or those who help others back to light on her weekly Blog Talk Radio show, Step Into the Light.

Patti lives in Southeastern Colorado and is fortunate to reside in the same town as her daughter and fifteen year old granddaughter, her only grandchild. Still, her heart brims with memories of the Adirondack North Country of New York, where she spent many childhood vacations and still returns periodicallyto visit family.

Website           www.pattishene.com

Twitter - https://twitter.com/PattiShene

Facebook - http://ow.ly/QN1u306koqf

Facebook (Step Into the Light page) -  http://ow.ly/CRNS306koSJ

Blog talk radio show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stepintothelight

What’s in that Heavy Load You Carry?

By Ada Brownell 

Why am I cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I will yet praise him for the help of his countenance” (Psalm 42:5

            Yes. I praise Him, especially at Thanksgiving for some BIG blessings.

I was parked at a high school waiting for my child after an evening event and couldn’t keep myself from observing students. The teens playfully insulted one another, juggled offensive language into the air like rotten apples, wrapped arms around a few girls, punched buddies, and then I noticed one of them was drunk.

Although his boisterous laughter filled the air, his eyes spoke louder than his mouth. No smile glistened there. My car was parked close enough that I could see the same hopeless look on the faces of other young people around him. Were the youths from broken homes where the single parent also lacked hope? Dysfunctional foster homes? Did the kids’ have a parent who was ill, abusive, an alcoholic, or just unloving? Or had these teens’ own rebellion consumed them?

I’ll never forget the kid who didn’t look over 12 or 13 lying unconcious on the grass in our neighborhood green space. He lay there alone while someone called an ambulance and a half dozen or so of us stood by. I prayed for him, thinking perhaps an accident had happened. I discovered later he suffered from alcohol poisoning, caused by consuming too much alcohol.

I wondered what on earth would cause a nice-looking youngster his age to overdose on alcoholic beverages?

People everywhere are trying to kill the pain of the weights on their minds and their spirits.

If we rummage around in the bag of burdens people carry we find heavy things: anger, grief, hurts, sickness, pain, handicaps, poverty, guilt, grudges, bitterness, lust, hatred, envy, covetousness, rebellion, self doubt, and the agony of never filling the God-shaped place inside us.

Perhaps they have not heard the prophecy about Jesus: “To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory” (Isaiah 61:3NLT).
            Jesus confirmed the prophecy was fulfilled in him: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Then He added, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:18, 21KJ).

I’ve often thought the reason suicide rates, and the consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs coincide with the erasure of faith in God in our homes, schools, government and among our leaders. People try anything to relieve the pain except what works—redemption from sin and the accompanying peace and joy that only comes from God.                                              

The Psalmist experienced discouragement. David wrote the quote at the beginning of this chapter, and sometimes there was a reason for his anguish, because he knew he’d sinned. Perhaps The most notable sin was observing Bathsheba while she was bathing and coveting Uriah the Hittite’s wife. He seduced her, and then called Uriah, one of David’s warrior’s, home from battle thinking if she conceived, the husband would think the child was his.

But Uriah was committed to the war and insisted on returning. So David ordered that the man be sent to the front lines where he would be sure to be killed. He was fatally wounded, and the king married Bathsheba.

The Bible says “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23), and David was rebuked by the prophet Nathan for what he had done.

Bathsheba was pregnant and in a few months a boy was born. Yet, the infant was sickly and despite all of David’s crying and seeking God for his son’s life, the little one died.

As he does with many of us, even after David repented, Satan kept accusing the king and his sin haunted him. Yet, even before he lay with another man’s wife, he was a sinner. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Since Adam and Eve sinned, we’re all born with a sinful nature. That is the reason we’re all prone to sin, destined to die and need a Savior and Redemption.

Sin is a horrible thing and one of the nasty things about wickedness is its effect on us and those against whom we sin. Paul told the Galatians, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7NKJ).

Although wickedness thrived in every generation, it seems a huge crop of wickedness waves in the fields today.

 Yet, there is an answer. “Plant good seed. Connect with God and His mercy will change your life for the better. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus will pull with you!

Don’t forget this promise also, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John: 19.)

Copyright 2016 Ada Brownell