Tag: hopeforthefuture

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The Meaning of Ohana: God’s Design for Community and Family

The Kedge Anchor
Photo by Tru1ea7n Long on Pexels.com

I may be dating myself a bit, but every time I think of luaus or Hawaii, I think the Brady Bunch episodes where the Brady’s tag along with their dad to Hawaii on a business trip. At the time, the Brady’s weren’t recognized as a blended family. But, that is indeed what they were. A widow with three girls and a widower with three boys that’s how “we became the Brady Bunch.” If you know, you know.

The Hawaiian word for family is Ohana, it can also mean community. God created us for community, we weren’t meant to do life alone. God gave Adam, Eve, In Genesis 2:18, said “it’s not good for a man to be alone.” Jesus had a blended family, having step brothers and sisters, His disciples are a another example. They traveled together, they shared meals together, they did ministry together. Just as the Brady’s were a blended family, there are other versions of blended families today, some have step parents and step siblings like the Brady’s, some have half siblings, there are foster families, our co-workers can be like a family and our church is definitely a family.

There are several other examples of families in the Bible. Naomi and Ruth is a good example that comes to mind. If you’re not familiar with their story I encourage you to read the book of Ruth and see how God brought them together and provided for them. It’s not that long and if you’re up to it read a commentary.

A little background, Naomi had a husband and two sons and lived in Bethleham, until a famine hit when they traveled to the foreign land of Moab. Only for Naomi to lose her husband. Her sons both both married Moab women, Ruth and Orpah. About ten years later Naomi’s die.

These three woman are now without husbands and are childless. These are good circumstances for these women. Back in their day, Naomi, Ruth and Orpha would have returned to their hometowns, their own people. Orpha remained with her people in Moab, but Ruth remained loyal to her mother in law and went back to Bethlehem with her. Ruth 1:16 – “But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Naomi and Ruth were once connected by Naomi’s sons, now they were connected by God and His people. We may come from different parts of the country, of the world, we may come from a different culture but as a followers of Jesus it’s His blood that connects us and makes us family, makes us Ohana.

I want to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone has a family, for whatever reason. Many experience loneliness on a daily basis. They don’t have anyone to connect with or to. But, when we become a part of God’s family we have the opportunity to build genuine, loving, lasting relationships through Jesus, He connects us, He connects us with and to God, our Heavenly Father, who forgives us and gives us eternal life.

When we have family and friends we have one of God’s blessed and precious gifts, because we were meant to live in community. Having God’s people as our people, we can have a support system we can count on when we need prayer, encouragement on hard days and the opportunity to be blessed by serving God’s people. One way we can connect with God’s people is by attending a local Bible believing church, getting involved and sharing our faith with each other and unbelievers.

The best connection is with God Himself who promises eternal life when we repent of our sins and promises to never leave us or forsake us. Being a part of God’s people we will always have family.

Leave a comment below how you have been blessed by God’s people.

scripture

God Bless America!

The Kedge Anchor

Free phone wallpaper to help memorize scripture

What has happened to 2024! Where has the time gone? It feels like summer is slipping away and Christmas… the thought of it, the get ready, the shopping, shuts m down. And as it should right now, it’s not time to think of Christmas, unless you’re a crafter or greeting card designer. lol

Right now it’s time to think about summer, vacays, cookouts, warm weather, fireflies, and one of my favorite times of the year – the 4th of July! In my hometown of Bristol, Rhode Inland, we celebrate the country’s oldest and longest parade in the country. We celebrate for an entire month with concerts, races, fireman musters, contests, a carnival, balls, pageants, and our famous red, white, and blue stripe. There are family gatherings with relatives coming from all over, the streets are busy and everyone decorates their house or storefront.

Why do we celebrate? Freedom! In some cases I think many have forgotten about why we celebrate. Our freedom is sometimes overshadowed by the parties and festivities. But when the troops are marching in parade we are quickly reminded of the MIAs and POWs, the wounded survivors and the sacrifices they and their families have made. They have made scarifies, in some cases given their lives to keep our country free.

We are free to worship in the USA. Our troops fight for religious freedom in this country and I worship The One True God who gave the ultimate sacrifice of His Son for the cleansing of our sin. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one goes to the Father but through Him, John 14:6.

As part of exercising religious freedom, download this free wallpaper for your phone or device to help you memorize scripture, just click the image and save. If you want more free wallpaper search Memorize Mondays.

Time marches on and goes by quickly. We can easily lose sight of why we celebrate the 4th of July with all the parties and decorations. Let’s not take our freedom for granted. God Bless America.

Thanks for stopping by and please remember to like subscribe and share.

encouragement

Lighthouse of Encouragement: Embracing Prayer, Scripture, and Support Networks

The Kedge Anchor
Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

It’s kinda funny. I decide to devote a month to encouragement and it’s probably been one of the most discouraging weeks so far. In the last post, I mentioned having “lighthouses” to help us navigate through the storms of life. And well I guess it’s time for me to practice what I preach. One lighthouse is friends and family, a support system, trusted people we can reach out to for prayer. I think that’s always my first go to. Prayer works and when you know you have your people praying for you, for me it’s like someone propping me up. Like in Exodus 17 – The Israelites were in battle with the Amalekites, verses 5-12- “The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” 8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.” So if you’re reading this, I could use some prayer.

Another tried and true lighthouse is reading scripture. Currently, I am doing Summer in the Psalms. David and the Psalmists weren’t exempt from discouragement or stormy lives. Yet. they cried out to God and they remind us God hears them, He hears us.

Psalm 103:8 – “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (ESV) God loves me, He loves you on the good days and bad days. We can rest our minds in this truth. The days that I am discouraged for whatever reason, He still loves me. When our minds are swirling and our thoughts are out of control, we need something firm and true to hold to and God’s word, His truths are just what we need to ground us. Without truth to stand on we can easily start to believe the lies and worst case scenarios.

I mentioned that friends and family are great lighthouses. We can reach out to them for prayer. However, we should pray ourselves. Hebrews 4:16 – “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” We should reach out to God ourselves. We can go to Him with anything. Yes, He already knows, but He wants to hear it and He wants to hear from us. He loves us!

So far we have three lighthouses, friends and family, a support system to hold up our arms in battle. Prayer, we can go boldly to the throne of our gracious God, where we can receive mercy and grace when we need it the most. And scripture, there we can find truths, solid ground for us to fight our battle. Stay tuned this month, head over to my YouTube channel I have a short tutorial to make a card to give to someone to help encourage, quick and easy.

encouragement, hope

Month of June – Finding Encouragement: Overcoming Discouragement in Our Daily Lives

The Kedge Anchor
Photo by Charl Durand on Pexels.com

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines encourage as “ to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope : hearten.” It’s easy to lose hope and not solider on when life seems a bit wonky, off step or totally out of control. Some days you’re just not feeling it, something comes across your path or your social media feed and you become discouraged or you totally are losing hope. You are not alone. Anyone who is honest about their feelings will admit they feel like this from time to time.

We all need encouragement. We all need some one to cheer us on, especially on the hard days. Throughout the month of June The Kedge Anchor is focusing on encouragement, what discourages us and how we can be encouraged.

When I started this blog in January of 2020, I wanted to offer hope. I also wanted to share my art, which has always been an outlet for me. So the month June it’s all about encouragement. Follow The Kedge Anchor on YouTube for tutorials on ways that we can encourage others and ways that we can find encouragement ourselves. It’s so easy to scroll through our social media pages be discouraged by current events or by comparing ourselves. Comparing has become so second nature for me that I have to really be mindful of what I am feeling when scrolling on social media. Heck it doesn’t have to be social media for me to compare myself, just show me something I am not doing that I should be doing and I can judge myself why am I not doing it and why I can’t do it, and I’ll never be able to do it. Flip though a magazine, does anyone read magazines anymore? It’s so easy to compare ourselves to Photoshopped images and feel inadequate. But what we are really doing is comparing ourselves to something that isn’t real.

So what do we do when we find ourselves discouraged? How do get out of those pits? We don’t have to go there, be there or stay there. We are worth more than that. God created us in His image, Genesis 1:27, and values us more than the sparrows, Matthew 10:31.

Please hang around, like subscribe, share and comment.

Blessings

Gratitude

Celebrating National No More Dirty Dishes Day: A New Perspective on Cleaning and Gratitude

The Kedge Anchor
Photo by Kelly on Pexels.com (btw, not my sink)

It National No More Dirty Dishes Day! So many of you want to celebrate this. Aaaahhh, to never wash another dish or load or unload the dishwasher. An empty sink, a clean kitchen photo shoot ready. Some households you will never see a sink with dirty dishes, others you may find one or two and some it’s never empty. I know that frustrates some to have anything in the sink. I get it.

I hope that I can give you a different perspective on dirty dishes. For me a sink full of dirty dishes means we ate. Our stomachs are full and satisfied. To me it’s a glorious thing. My mom used to have a poem taped to the side cabinet by the sink, you may have heard it;

Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We’re eating very well
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn’t want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence,
God’s been very good to us.

(side note here, I would like to credit whomever penned this poem. I searched and found two different authors and one unknown)

Growing up I remember some of my friend’s mom would just lose it if there were dirty dishes in the sink. Now I am not saying we let them sit, let the sink smell and ants start crawling around, that’s not what I am saying. And for me dishes in sink is a good thing. My husband and I lived in Seminole County Florida where there is a hunger issue. Many children go to school without breakfast or a packed lunch. No matter where we have lived there has been an area where families lack food. Google where you live and search for areas that have a food deficit. I am willing to bet those homes have empty sinks.

I just don’t get upset about dirty dishes in the sink. I do keep a clean house. Many times the sink is full of dishes the next morning because we have been out living a life, or one of us was sick and in my house if one of is sick… I’m no thinking about the sink. I don’t freak out when I when wake up and dishes from the night before are there, it means we ate. I may be a little off beat here, but for me taking the time to clean the sink in the morning gives me time to clear my head and focus. I may put on some worship music or listen to a podcast or sermon whilst I clean. Sometimes it just before I make dinner I get to it. It’s ok to have a sink full of dirty dishes. It’s ok to have an empty sink. It’s just where on the priority list is it? I am very thankful for those dirty dishes. It means we ate. It means God has been good to us.
So the next time you see your sink overflowing take a moment to breathe and thank God for dirty dishes.

healing

National Mental Health Awareness Week

The Kedge Anchor

Recently I have been posting some funny National days in May. This week, I know it’s Friday, but May 10th is National Mental Health Awareness Week according to nationaldays.com.

I want to take the time to acknowledge this who are battling a mental health disorder. Depression and anxiety are very common. 6.8 million adults are affected by GAD – Generalized Anxiety Disorder, less than half are receiving treatment.

You are not alone. There is hope. It’s ok to reach out and ask for help. Click the link for resources https://tinyurl.com/bdd43aza.

Remember there is hope and someone is praying for you.

art, Obedience

What If … Obeying God

The Kedge Anchor

In the last post, I shared a creative process. I made up a game called “What If…” What if I just sat down to paint? What if I just made some marks? What if I mixed green and orange together? What if I tried something new or different? So I did. I sat down to paint and play and try some new art supplies. And I surprised myself.

When I was done, I actually liked what I painted. Was it perfect? No. Could I make improvements? Of course. Then I began to think. What if? What if I took more risks, more chances? What if I was more in tuned to hearing God’s voice? What if I was and obeyed Him? I guess this is where I began to reflect on areas in my life where I am hesitant to obey, not hearing to obey or just not obeying.

My intention in my artistic exercise was to paint, to stop procrastinating and do what brings me joy. It wasn’t to make a perfect piece of art, it wasn’t for anyone it was for me. Sometimes I find it hard to find time to do just this, paint. Once I began to evaluate what I was doing with my time, I began to see pockets of time with which to create. I really need to keep time limits on scrolling social media. When scrolling takes away from what I need to do and what I enjoy doing, it becomes an issue. Now, when I find I have an idol moment, if there is nothing pressing on my to do list, I choose to do something artistic. This takes a bit of practice, training, discipline.

When it comes to obeying God I believe the same can apply. It takes training, practice, discipline. I first need to actually recognize His voice and I can’t do that if I’m not reading His word daily. What’s my intent when I read my Bible? Like when I sit down to paint, why am I doing this? My intent is to hear God’s voice so that I can obey Him. Sometimes I feel like I’m not obeying because I’m not sure I am hearing His voice. John 10:27 – “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” and there’s more, a promise, a blessing verse 28 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

Sometimes I feel like I am missing out on some things, blessings, because I am not paying attention to the God’s voice. God knows my heart. So when I am earnestly trying to do what I think He wants me to do in a situation or even in the slightest seemingly, smallest thing I know He sees me trying. Many times I fail. He might be telling me to reach out to someone and I may be hearing a voice that says “don’t disturb them.” Or it could be buy extra food at the grocery store and I hear, “you’re on a budget.” If God is telling me to buy extra food, it’s not for us. It’s for someone else. There have been times my husband has come home from work and asked if I could pick up some extra cans of soup, granola bars or cereal for the food closet at work and I listened to the voice that told me I was on a budget. Ugh!

Now that I have recognized this pocket of time, I need to act on it and paint or draw. Take the risk. Recognizing God’s voice is still a work in progress. When I recognize it I need to obey it. Take the risk. That’s a risk that will always give a return on investment. I can’t lose. I can’t loose by making messy art, I can still learn. It may not be pretty but I will walk away learning to do something or not do something. By obeying God, I really can’t lose. Even if I mess up somehow, God will work out my mess, Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

What if…, what if I stopped procrastinating and painted or did something creative everyday? What if I stopped to hear God’s voice everyday and obeyed? What if…?

hope

He Is Risen! – Free Coloring Page

The Kedge Anchor

Happy Easter Sunday! Jesus is risen, He is alive!!!

March 30, 2024Download
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Free Coloring Page – Good Friday 2024

The Kedge Anchor

Happy Friday and Good Friday. Although it wasn’t so happy or good for Jesus. So why is it called Good Friday? Jesus was innocent, yet He was crucified for the sins of the world. He endured pain for us. We are the ones who deserve what Jesus went through. But the cross gives us Hope. Sunday is coming!!

If you haven’t seen today’s blog post please take a few minutes to watch.

Here is another free coloring page to help remind and reflect why today is called Good Friday.

Good Friday 3/29/24Download
hope

Why is It Called Good Friday?

The Kedge Anchor

Why is today called Good Friday? Many times I come back to this video and watch it to remind myself why. Why the injustices? Why the hurt? But, we have hope, Sunday is coming!

Mike Donehey pretty much sums it up in this video. Please watch this video. If you have seen it before, I know I have posted it a few times, please watch it again. Share it. Sunday’s coming!!!