One for the Family's History Book

Hello, Y'all! I had a thought yesterday that I figured I would develop today. Several posts back, I told you that this pandemic is giving us all some stories to tell. Yes, you, too. And that means that no matter how young you are right now, if the LORD allows your time to roll on, one day you will be somebody's uncle, aunt, great uncle, great aunt, or grandparent, etc. And one day, some of your posterity might have to do a report from school on this, the 2019 Pandemic.

Yes, I know that they can find all that they need to on the internet or whatever it will be called by then, but there is nothing like teaching a lesson first hand to your loved ones with your particular flavor added to it. You might even have pictures that you have taken from certain things that changed because of the pandemic. Too, a scrapbook of the pandemic might be done so that you can use it to teach your little ones and theirs that through it all, GOD will come through. To anyone who might have just had the thought, "Is that an important lesson to pass forward?" What a question?! Of course, it is; it's what's keeping you!

 

Again the Pandemic Speaks

The pandemic is speaking again

This morning it's true

And I wonder fellowman, what speaks

The pandemic, according to you?

Y'all have gotten to hear what life spoke

To my Momma through my messages to you

And now I wonder dear ones

If you are paying attention to

The pandemic messages that this life

Has given to you for you to pass

The lesson forward with its acrid

Flavor wrapped up in the message that

GOD will bring you through.©

********

 

Bottom Line

I want to leave the message with you that troubled times teach you how to lean on the LORD is a way that you never have before. And I want to say this:

Let's all learn the lessons well that this pandemic teaches so that we do not have to be retaught them! Capeesh?!

Be safe.

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

1 Kings 8:23

"I know that my REDEEMER lives for I can feel HIM walking beside me," for when I would falter or faint, HE upholds me. And when I lose my way, HE leads me surely.

 

The Pandemic Speaks

 

As I wade through this pandemic

Feeling as helpless as I can be

The very presence of the pandemic

Serves to remind me

That though there is none righteous before

GOD, HIS faithfulness and love for man

Causes HIM not to ignore

Our pleas for help long if we ask for

Forgiveness and live our lives

According to HIS plan.©

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New American Standard Bible 1 Kings 8:23

²³ He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart,

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

Another Day - Another Blessing

This poem was on my heart this morning; I hope that it blesses you.

 

 

For the many blessings, great and small

Thank YOU, LORD GOD

For them all.

YOU have been mindful of me

From the day that I was born

So, it is in the twilight of my life

That I want to offer these verses of poetry.

For the times when I was happy

And for the times that I was sad

Thank YOU for giving me to understand

That my life goes according to YOUR plan.

Thank YOU for allowing my faith

In YOU to fill my mind

So that I could keep stepping on

Despite the vagaries that life put me through.

Thank YOU, LORD, for giving me

Faith of the resilient kind

For the world to see and

Thereby be drawn to THEE.

Thank YOU for the avenue of prayer

And for the built-in comfort found there

And thank YOU for my being acquainted

With the phenomenon, I call "skipping joy"...

I just want to say, "Thank YOU

For the infinite things YOU do

In short, I love the very thought of YOU!"©

********

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

 

 

My Redeemer Liveth

 

²⁵For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

 

When all has been said

And all has been done

As far as this clay body of mine

I know that I have a home

With JESUS, divine.

When I tend to get tired

And discouragement attends me

I read my Bible, sing my songs

And pray to my LORD because

HE is a living PRESENCE in my soul

And spending eternity with HIM

Is my Christian walk's goal.

And sometimes when I shed a tear

I remind myself that I am not a

Permanent resident down here

And too, I know that every tear that

I have shed will be wiped away by

GOD, HIMSELF, and I will

Never again have to cry.

So, if you have gotten tired

And/or disgruntled with your lot in life

Just remember that the LORD

Is your SHEPHERD and HE knows

All about your trouble and your strife.

Yes, HE knows all about your disillusionment

And can move it out of the way and

Replace it with contentment

While you rest beside the peaceful

Waters that flow

And I can tell you, from one sheep to another

GOD can rescue you like no other.

If you have gotten tired, well

That is natural enough

Just don't get so tired that you give up

You just keep praying and hanging tough

Because the GOD that we serve is known

To show up and show out when the

Welfare of HIS children is in peril

To let the whole world know that

HIS children are never alone!©

********

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

Make It Right

Our GOD is a forgiving FATHER and having said that, there comes a time when the piper has to be paid. So, little thing, big thing - make it right. We don't want to be, "...weighed in the balances, and found wanting."  

Scripture

NASB 2 Samuel22:7-20, 26-28 & 50

“In my distress I called upon the Lord,
Yes, I cried to my God;
And from His temple He heard my voice,
And my cry for help came into His ears.
⁸ “Then the earth shook and quaked,
The foundations of heaven were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
⁹ “Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
Fire from His mouth devoured;
Coals were kindled by it.
¹⁰ “He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
¹¹ “And He rode on a cherub and flew;
And He appeared on the wings of the wind.
¹² “And He made darkness canopies around Him,
A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.
¹³ “From the brightness before Him
Coals of fire were kindled.
¹⁴ “The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
¹⁵ “And He sent out arrows, and scattered them,
Lightning, and routed them.
¹⁶ “Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were laid bare
By the rebuke of the Lord,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
¹⁷ “He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
¹⁸ “He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
¹⁹ “They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my support.
²⁰ “He also brought me forth into a broad place;
He rescued me, because He delighted in me.

²⁶ “With the kind You show Yourself kind,
With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
²⁷ With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the perverted You show Yourself astute.
²⁸ “And You save an afflicted people;...abase.

⁵⁰ “Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the nations,
And I will sing praises to Your name.

 

None of us has ever lived a perfect life, but the thing is, to set things in order, with even our thoughts.

 

You did not treat me well

But I managed to hang tough

Because I had JESUS

And that was enough.

You did not include me

You made sure that I felt alone

But I still managed to hang tough

Because I had JESUS

And that was enough!©️

********

“Me and JESUS

We got our own thing going

Me and JESU-U-S

We got it all worked out!”

Let's not let our name be the name that some broken soul whispers to GOD. May it never be! Make it right; keep it right, and keep stepping fellowman. Keep stepping... Be safe.

Walking by faith with JESUS by my side,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

"For the eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good." (Proverbs 15:3, KJV)

"...But the prayer of the upright is HIS delight." (Proverbs 15:8)

 

Another Day

It’s just another day
That the Lord has kept me
Another day that I can
Attest to how HE
Blessed meIt’s just another day
That the Lord has kept me
During this pandemic time
I am reminded of Anne Frank

And of how she kept her spirits up

When she and her family

Had to stay inside of an upper

Hidden portion of her Dad's shop...

Read the book sometime and you

Will see that we have not been

Battling this pandemic thing

Not nearly as long as she did

And she was just a kid

That gives me that much more strength
To keep on stepping up

And remembering all of the times

That GOD has proven HIMSELF

Again and again, and I can be strong

Because, to HIM, I belong

And I used that thought to shore up

Another’s faith yesterday when

I was reached out to by telephone

By telling them to hold on because

One day this pandemic time will be gone!©

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Never think that it's just another day because you woke up this morning, and some others didn't. Give GOD thanks and praise.

As you can see from reading the book, The Diary of Anne Frank, she and her family hid in the Hidden Annex for 25 months. We have been dealing with this pandemic for about six months.

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

Rough Terrain

The hills, mountains, valleys, and rough terrain

That make up my story

Join hills, mountains, valleys, and rough terrain of old

To shout praises to GOD and attest to the fact

That if you stick with HIM, GOD will

Bring you through as pure gold

As you display the magnificence of HIS glory©

********

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

 

To Thank YOU LORD

For every valley and every hill

For every rock and every rill

For the ones that told me I couldn't

And for all the ones that told me I could

I want to tell YOU as I tell the world

Thank YOU for being my FATHER

My FRIEND, my CONFIDANTE

And my ALL IN ALL

YOU heard me every time I called

YOU held my hand and didn't let me fall.

It's no secret that I belong to YOU

And that because of it, by some,

I'm ridiculed, mistreated, and hated

But I will stand on my allegiance and

Do the things that YOU have laid

Out for me to do.

Lastly, FATHER, I want to say to all

Who will listen

"GOD is my FATHER, and one day

HE will say, 'Well done,'

And present me with a crown that glistens

And I will be alright because

My joy will be complete

And I will stand and tell all the angels

That GOD brought me home

By ordering my steps and guiding my feet."©

********

 

Be safe.

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

Are You Like David

I was reading my Bible this morning, and several verses jumped out at me. I was struggling up some hilly reading terrain in 2 Samuel when I was amazed and somewhat perplexed. I was reading in Chapter 7 and got stopped by verse 7, verse 8 briefly and stopped full fledge by verses 18-22. I have listed the verses below so that you can see them and the comments that I have made as to how they impacted me.

2 Samuel 7:1-22

New American Standard Bible

7 Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies,

² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.” (I am like David in my thinking in that I think that GOD deserves my very best. Are you like that?)

³ Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But in the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,

⁵ “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?

⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. (This one blew my mind because I never thought about GOD dwelling in a building, but we can see that HE was touched by David's wanting to build HIM a house.)

⁷ Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’

⁸ “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. (GOD chose David from a youth.You see before I had always thought it an honor to serve GOD because HE found something for me to do because I wanted to work for HIM so badly. I never actually thought about the fact that HE picked me because HE had a big job for me to do! Me, Y'all, me! In all of the things that I have done for HIM, I looked at my work for HIM as being blessed by HIM because HE wanted me to succeed because I so wanted to work for HIM. Basically, that was the way I looked at it. But now... I'm wondering, "What does the LORD have planned for me; what did HE pick me expressly for and bless me to the extent that HE has for?" I know HE developed me for writing, teaching, and caring, but after I finished reading the scriptures that I listed for you above, my thinkery went into overdrive. I realized that the characteristics listed in the preceding sentence are all characteristics needed to be an effective preacher's wife. That means that HE had plans for me to be a preacher's wife from my youth! Say what?! Uh, uh I thought that these things happened because HE helped me because HE loved me. I never ever thought that HE had me picked to be a preacher's wife from the beginning! The beginning?! 

⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth.

¹⁰ I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the ^[b]wicked afflict them any more as formerly,

¹¹ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.

¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

¹⁴ I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, (To me, this means that though I mess up, HE will correct me , but still be with me because HE chose me and is pleased with me.)

¹⁵ but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’” (The plans that GOD had for David from the very beginning were going to come to fruition, period. So, that tells me that whatever it is that I go through, it is all working out according to the planbook that GOD made, enemies included. Who knows, they may be a headache to give me strength or to teach me to always lean on GOD, or to teach me that even if you are serving HIM, things can still go awry, and to just keep the faith.)

¹⁷ In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁸ Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? (I am like David in that I think that GOD is so wonderful and I wonder at times, why does HE help me; I mean, I am a nobody. Then I think, "GOD's plan, that's why.)

¹⁹ And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord God.

²⁰ Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God!

²¹ For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know.

²² For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

 

From the Beginning

A preacher's wife from the beginning, and now my brain is in overdrive. I look at every new experience now as, "Oka-ay, this is supposed to teach me something...what?" I thought that I pretty much had my life and its experiences figured out, but not so. Now, I truly realize that the learning goes on as long as GOD wills. Even in these years of my life, I am ever learning. I have figured that I am learning things now so that I can put them in my next book. But, who knows, only GOD...

But I can tell you this. The lessons that I learn, I am going to learn them well, because who can know the mind of GOD? And yes, I am going to look at enemies differently, too. Wow!

Wear your mask and be safe.

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

 

 

 

 

Skinned Knees

As down the road, I go

Lessons are remembered and used

That were taught so long ago.©

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Skinned Knees

Momma, I skinned my knees again from

Being tossed to the ground

But just like I did as a child, I found

Solace in the arms of your words, Momma, which

Have proven to be so profound.

Because you taught me to read my Bible, I

Go there time and time again

And receive solace aplenty when

The words of the Lord wrap around

Me, weary and worn though I am

But when I pick the fruit of Psalms

Sweet peace is what I seize

And I find that I can continue on

In spite of my skinned knees.

********

 

Be safe.

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

Ouch!

That is what I yelled when I burned my hand yesterday morning. Talking and being somewhat careless and reached in and touched the broiler burner. Small burn, but second degree, I think. There is no blister because it took the skin off of what would have been a blister. Oh well, that will teach me to be in a hurry and running my mouth at the same time. As the size of the burn was minimal, so was the pain. It is so handy to have an aloe vera plant in the house and Bactine!

But, I will tell you one thing, that fire that I often hear preachers talking about in reference to the Hadean world, I want no part of! I tell you, folks, when that broiler hit my finger, I let out a guttural roar that I did not even know I was capable of. Ha Ha, I can laugh about it now, but I surprised my husband and myself as well. How do I know that I surprised him? Easy, he took a step back when I emitted my roar.

Be safe.

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

 

 

Adrift

 

Adrift

Heard someone say

That they felt adrift

In the pandemic sea

And they wondered if

They were marked as

The next pandemic casualty

And I replied, "Not so

My friend, will it ever be

Unless it is the will

Of GOD Almighty."©

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Stir up a war with me

Not so, because I take shelter

Under the wings of my FATHER

And you will find yourself staring

Into the face of The ALMIGHTY!©

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Oh, mountains move at HIS command

All power is in HIS holy hand...

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones

 

When I Need a Friend

 

When I

(When I)

Need a Friend

(Need a Friend)

JESUS

(JESUS)

Steps right in

(Steps right in)

Oh Yes! What a Mighty GOD!! (all)

Mountains move at HIS command

All Power's in HIS holy hands

HE'll never fall short of HIS word...

 

Good morning, folks! You know that I told you that my Momma taught me to lean on GOD at an early age. And I told you that that is what I have been doing ever since.

Nothing Like an Answered Prayer

Y'all know that I have been wondering about several things, and wondering and pondering, etc. Well, let me tell you what I have been doing; I have been taking my problems and my summations to GOD in prayer just as I did when I was a little girl. Now, I can tell you that I got an answer and that I wonder about certain things no longer, for the rationale is crystal clear now. And I can say like David, Daniel, Joseph, Moses, and a whole host of characters from the Bible, and other Christians who have gone before me, "GOD WILL step in when you need a friend of the type that the world cannot supply!" I feel like running this morning and I have already been clapping my hands and singing. Whoo!

I have told you before, and I will say it again. No matter what happens in your life, hold on to GOD, and just keep praying. Whatever you do, don't stop praying because you have a FRIEND (if you are a Christian) WHO sticks closer than a brother!

What you see in the green print above is a song that I sang as a child. And my soul rejoices as I sing it now! And Y'all remember what I say about things that I write in green print. I am going to say it one more time, but I think that I will do it in the form of a poem this morning. I hope that it blesses your soul.

 

When life hands me situations that

I cannot fathom what they mean

I do like so many Christians of old

I keep the prayer wheel turning and

Keep going by painting my situation green.

If you should come upon me and

See a banner at my writing table

Or on my car that has the words

"Paint it Green," just understand

That it is a simple Christian woman's

Way of saying that as long as I can

See the grass growing from season to season

I know that GOD, my FATHER, my FRIEND

Is still in control, and I will keep on stepping,

Because I know that there is a reason

For whatever is happening with me

And that, as GOD wills, so things will be.

And now you know why I sign my blog

"Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones"

It's my way of saying to the world

Keep your faith in GOD; be strong.©

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Be safe.

 

Walking by faith,

Alma L. Stepping On Carr-Jones