rambling rosemarie

I have had a particularly bad day. In fact, I have had several bad days strung together. Weeks and months of bad days sprinkled with just enough hope to believe that something is going to change. Hope that I will, in fact, sit down and blog about having a particularly good day. I am not asking for a string of them, just one. One would get me over the hump and it's not too much to ask, or is it? I get so confused. Expecting suffering and joy at the same time is hardly a recipe for happiness. Jesus told us the cost of following Him was that we would have trials and tribulations. The world will despise us, because it's full of God-haters who despise Him. Yet we are also told that joy is ours. The joy of being one of His own, saved from the unimaginable torments of hell. The worst day here being better than one nano second in hell. Reconciling the two truths seems difficult today... a bit too heady for me to attempt. I am not going to try. One of the things that I say t

I was up at 5:00am this morning. Showered and sitting at my kitchen table finishing up a bible study by 6:30. At 8:40 I was in my car driving to meet with several ladies from our small town at a community bible study that is held at my church. I never made it. I found myself shopping at Kroger at 8:50 and back home by 9:45. Why? I wish I could tell you exactly why. The bible study I am doing isn't among my favorites but the women I study with are. Admittedly, I was puzzled by something in the study that bothered me. It was an intimation that when Christ said: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" He was addressing the other two members of the Trinity- hence He said "Eloi" twice. The study is on covenants and the author also correlated that in God's covenant with Abraham the smoking oven and flaming torch we also the remaining members of the Trinity. "Could it be that...." the author asked. Making statements by masquerading them as questions is ge

It is a glorious day in Kentucky. The humidity is gone. Mornings are crisp, evenings cool and it is toasty warm during the day. This morning I sat out on my front porch enjoying the birds, flowers and gentle breeze. I took with me an outstanding cup of Colombian coffee and my Voices of the True Woman Movement book. Before I started reading I took a moment to think about my stereotypical idea of the perfect Christian woman. In my mind she is perfectly dressed, perfectly coiffed, and demure. She speaks in dulcet tones and only when she has something encouraging to say. There is no doubt that her make-up is the perfect shade and she uses just enough to allow her to radiate a pleasing angelic glow. Her nails are manicured. Her feet are Barbie-like. She is Jackie O and June Cleaver combined with an encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture and a repertoire that includes a series of perfectly timed, perfectly targeted encouragement statements. She and I look nothing alike. As I inventor

Ever have someone say something to you that cuts your heart into ribbons and you think you deserved it? Recently someone I love warned me that at times I sound full of vitriol. She was speaking in reference to my passion regarding certain topics, one of them being politics. That gave me some thinking to do. Next a close friend of mine listened to a seminar I gave on hope. She said the material was good but she wondered if I was afraid or tired or if something was wrong. She expected the woman she knew, she expected some humor, some in your face truth and to be uncomfortable because I would make her think. She likes to inspect her presuppositions and be challenged by biblical truth. I blamed the pain I am in and drugs I take. I tried to dismiss it but I have thought about little else since she gave me her criticisms. A couple days ago I read a post on Pyromaniacs and after reading it, placed my tongue in cheek and typed a response that oozed sarcasm. Some poor woman with a twiste

I have been reading a lot about relationships lately, mostly because relationships are something I fail. Being around other people magnifies my sin. Talking to other people amplifies the hissing and crackling sounds of self-pity, self-focus and self-reliance that play like a bad eight track tape in my soul. I would like to say that other people are my problem... but it seems I am the constant factor. I am reading War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles by Paul David Tripp. It's putting a great big hurt to my ego. Here's a bit of what Tripp says that makes me say, ouch! "Winning the war of words means speaking redemptively, and speaking redemptively is rooted in a restoration perspective on relationships. The purpose of human relationships is not human happiness. it is the work of reconciling people to God and restoring them to the image of His son. "Winning the war of words means never forgetting who we are. When w