L. Kathleen Cline

One of the best ways to start any project is to have a clean slate. For Christ-followers, this only happens with confession. Let me explain please. Unless you are a sociopath, most people know when they did something wrong. It is what happens next, that declares a person’s belief system. Some people skip the admission of guilt and go straight into some sort of weird action. For example, let’s say you broke a significant rule at work. Instead of owning to the wrong, you begin to clean the entire building in hopes of garnishing favor from your boss. This type of scenario often happens with believers. Let’s say you are disobedient to God in some manner, and instead of apologizing and asking for forgiveness, you begin to perform random acts of “righteousness.” Your random acts may impress or positively impact the people around you, but between you and God develops a wall of disobedience that gets bigger and bigger. David says it best in Psalm 51:16 and 17, “For You do not delight in sacrif...

Call to Arms L. Kathleen Cline (Written for Mr. Don, a widower friend)   I praise the Lord for my opportunities, but not quite sure when I will be done. I know the task that is at hand, there are many souls to be won. It hurts my heart to be left behind but know your task was complete. God has my feet firmly planted on this earth, still many souls to reap.   As I delight in my Lord and count my blessings, I think about your sweet face. God has not allowed me to wither so, I must keep up the pace. It surely is an act of will just to move forward and push ahead. God still has my feet firmly planted so; I must do as He said.   I will rejoice in the Lord while my heart is broken and press onward as a good soldier. I will remind myself God needs something done and my praises will make me bolder. My earthly love my heart’s desire, I am so jealous you were called home. Dear God, please give me the will today because I never knew I could feel so alone.   Today as I wake and ...

Poisoned L. Kathleen Cline   My father gave me the best advice when I was eighteen years old. I went to him concerning a problem I had, and he looked at me and said, "Your eighteen now, you will figure it out." I know in most people's minds, my father may have seemed cold, but to this day, I admire my father for setting me on a path to making my own decisions. It also helped me transition from seeking my earthly parent's knowledge to seeking my Heavenly Father's wisdom. Matthew 7:7 is a verse that God gave me April of 2017 to set as a personal goal, and it is not till my church scheduled another 21-days of fasting for 2018 did I realize the journey I had with this verse. Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. We all know this verse. This time God had me look up the word seek, which can mean, call for, crave, desire, or require. I immediately honed in on the term required, which turned out to be ironic be...

Christianity is like people. Some are fat. Some are skinny. Some are ugly. Some are pretty. In Christ’s terms this means: Some are so full of the Lord they overflow. Some are so starved for the Lord they make you hurt to look at them. Some are full of hate and resentment. Some glow with the love of God. We all come in different shapes and sizes. The difference though is one you are born with and the other, your rebirth, is a choice. How do you choose to allow the world to see you?

As I was cleaning the bird poop off my front porch, I thought about one of my life verses. If you do not have life verses, I highly recommend them. They help you through the challenges that appear in life. Proverbs 14:4 “Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.” This verse reminds me that with every opportunity, there comes problems. How you view the situation will determine your success. You cannot take the promotions, advancements, new adventures, or relationships without including the difficulties. God helped me understand this one of the times I was being told off by a lady that did not agree with the message I delivered. I have a phrase I often say to my students. Satan will always give voice. The sad thing is who Satan speaks through is often the hardest part to process and understand. When evil speaks into your life, then you have a choice. This verse will help you determine what is important to you. If every time someone speaks ...

I am not sure how other people’s minds work or how God talks to others; I only know the relationship that I have. It is not uncommon for God to stop me in the middle of a chore to show me how to teach a lesson. Today I went shopping at Sam’s. Like a great many stores, Sam’s decided they needed to rearrange every single item in the store. You should have seen the bewildered faces on people. It was  like a bizarre game of hide-and-go-seek. The only reason I did not give up is that I really, really needed the items. If you saw something you needed in someone else’s cart, you would ask where they found it. Honest to goodness, I have to idea why stores do this to their customers. The curious thing is you did not see one person give up or stomp out. We all scurried back and forth up and down isles to find the needed items. Once I went with a group of ladies to Myrtle Beach. The fishes at the boardwalk were so spoiled they did not even swim away while being fed. They just clustered togeth...

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands, the foolish one tears hers down.” Proverbs 14:1 Being a military spouse for twenty-two years, I understand change. I remember one time my mother-in-law told me she did not know how I accepted moving every two to three years. I remember thinking I did not know I had a choice. See, I married a Navy man which meant someone in my life was eit her coming or going. Every rotation, my prayers were the same. God, I need a place to live. God, I don’t think we have enough money. God, I need a friend. I know I am not the only one because prayer books are made specifically for military spouses. The weird thing is that change became a friend. Each duty station, I was given the freedom to modify any character flaws. It was one of the most significant gifts the military life gave me. There was no one to remind me of my old self. I always use this little story to teach my ladies about people. If you want to keep a crab from climbing out of the ...

Psalm 1:2-3 “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law, he meditates day and night.   He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” When I looked up words that mean the same as fruitful, here is a list: useful, worthwhile, beneficial, valuable, rewarding, effective, well spent. If you could pick a word that you would like to describe your dream life, which one of these words would you choose? They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a change. Most of us understand that definition because we have lived it. You think to yourself, “Maybe I did not try hard enough or explain myself adequately. Maybe I missed something. Perhaps something wrong with me. And you keep doing the same thing over and over, with excuse after excuse. God’s word gives us all a clear vision of how to make a life-altering change towards a fruitf...

We are taught in 1 John 4:16 that God is love. Satan is capable of mimicking God, but he cannot imitate love. That is why God tells us that they know us by our love. Because God is love, and Satan is not God. I would like you to think about tithing, even if you do not believe in tithing. Tithing is about returning 10% of what God has given us back to Him for use in His service. Love is similar in that when the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, we are drawing from His love  so we can love others. God is asking us to distribute His love throughout our day by different actions. Verse 8 reminds us, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Christ-followers, Jesus has set you free from being a slave to your sinful flesh. Please do not allow Satan to stir you up to becoming in bondage again, especially to hate. Tap into God’s love and spread His compassion and kindness in every method possible. People need to feel God in our actions by you investing in others. Do...

For a few days now, God has been talking to me about reminding mother’s of their importance. Mamas, you are the backbone of our society. I am not just saying pretty words at you to make you feel good. Your mission or calling from God is teaching your children. When you look up the word nurture, you see care for and encourage, but what does that mean? It means that you provide for your child that safe environment that is needed for them to learn how to succeed or, most importantly, fail. You have the privilege to watch their little unique personality develop, and you get to help them become confident, faithful, respectful, and loyal. Once you train your child, then you get to begin to disciple your child. Disciplining just means that they get to follow your lead. Which obviously means you have to live out what you teach. The story of Hannah is one of my favorite stories. It is found in 1 Samuel chapter 1. When you go down to verse 21 if you are not careful you are going to miss an impor...