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Keeping up the Hymer Traditions
See my previous travel blog, San Diego March Birthday Trip. Our travels a year apart. We were in San Diego both times. A year ago it was just before the shutdown of the pandemic. This year it’s at the tail end of the pandemic. Some places in San Diego were full of people just like the pandemic never happened. But this one day, as we made our way on a mission to find a particular store in Old Town San Diego, we were disappointed that everything was closed. If you want to visit open stores and museums in Old Town San Diego, Monday mornings are probably not the right time.…
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Fruit of the Spirit: Patience
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. “Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the man who carries out evil plans.” Psalms 37:7 HCSB https://www.bible.com/72/psa.37.7.hcsb Ooooo, this is a tough one. Have any of you ever prayed for patience? No? DON’T DO IT! This is the advice we received as new Christians. This may be funny, but trying to be patient in today’s world is anything but funny. Yes, patience is a virtue, right? Let’s face it,…
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Fruit of the Spirit: Peace
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. “For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6 HCSB https://www.bible.com/72/rom.8.6.hcsb I hate to keep bringing up our world today. But let’s face it, it’s a mess. We want to say it’s worse than ever before, but this world has been a mess for a while. It was in such a mess years ago that God destroyed it with a flood, saving a remnant to start over again. There are many accounts in the…
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Book Review by Debbie Hymer: Dangerous Virtues
Dangerous Virtues John Koessler Let me start off by saying this book is not an easy read. Let me explain. I am not a highly educated person but, I have a fair amount of education, some college and plenty of life experience. I can read a book with words not in my vocabulary and provocative thoughts however, it is a slow and cumbersome experience. Not a reading experience I typically enjoy. This book does have that type of content to be fair. The reasoning behind my explanation in the first sentence of this review has more to do with its convicting and deep, thought provoking content. The writer has written…
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Fruit of the Spirit: Joy
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. (HCSB) How in the world do we have Joy in the midst of chaos, heartache, fear, hatred, wars, and a worldwide pandemic? There is an overload of sadness and hatred in our world. I’m not even going to pretend to know or relate to the heartache and misery people have gone through or are currently going through. I do know that with the Holy Spirit, we, His children can and are filled with His Joy. It’s unexplainable, it’s a miracle, it is mind blowing! Don’t…
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Fruit of the Spirit: Love
I’m writing a mini blog series if you will, on the Fruit of the Spirit. The first fruit is Love, and I thought how appropriate to start this on Valentine’s Day. Many of my blogs have been about Love. God is Love. I think “Love” is misunderstood. We talk about love, and people even ask the hard question, How can God be a God of love and allow all the evil? I’ve touched on this subject in previous blogs. I think the answer is to know what real Love is. And I really believe we, humans, have no idea what “real” Love is. And that brings me to the fruit of…
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Fools
I am reminded that this world is full of fools, and God is still in control. This is a strong statement to make, yet the Bible speaks so much about fools and being foolish. The book of Proverbs is filled with verses about fools, how to handle a fool, and how not to be a fool. The book of Proverbs has been one of my go to books of the Bible for almost 40 years. There is no surprise that Proverbs 31 is my favorite chapter, which is also my chapter for the ministry God gave me, JVR Ministries. I hesitate to say “my” ministry because it is not mine,…
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Happy New Year 2021!
“In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit’s mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27 HCSB Happy New Year Everyone! 2020 has been different for everyone around the world! So many differences in how we live our daily lives to how we celebrate the Holidays to everything in-between. The one thing that always remains the same, the one thing we can all count on that never…
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Book Review by Debbie Hymer: Motherhood Without All the Rules
Motherhood Without All the Rules Maggie Combs All my life I have been confused by pride and self-doubt. This is a hard lesson to understand and fully comprehend, and an even harder lesson to learn and move forward positively. Maggie Combs book, “Motherhood Without All the Rules” touches on this concept and opens our eyes on the truths. Instead of being filled with guilt, and instead of being filled with pride, Maggie gently leads the reader to being filled with God’s Grace. To living in a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Raising four children, I have struggled with many of the topics Maggie touches on. Though I have learned by…
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It’s Not About Us
“Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”1 Corinthians 15:58 HCSB This scripture reaches out and comforts me. I’ve been questioning this very thing. I know that I’m far from what I should be. I question if anything I’ve done in my life has really made a positive difference. We don’t always see results, and sometimes the results we do see aren’t the ones we want to see. I’ve failed more often than I’ve triumphed. My intentions are many times, misunderstood. But then that leads to the questioning of self, the self doubt and…