Lillie Ammann's Blog, page 93

Devotion for Tuesday after Advent 1

Isaiah 2:1-5 (NASB)

1 The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 Now it will come about that

In the last days

The mountain of the house of the Lord

Will be established as the chief of the mountains,

And will be raised above the hills;

And all the nations will stream to it.

3 And many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

That He may teach us concerning His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For the law will go forth from Zion

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 And He will judge between the nations,

And will render decisions for many peoples;

And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

5 Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Isaiah’s prophecy may seem hard to believe as we look around us at a world filled with hate and violence and war. Yet we know, if the words are in God’s Word, they came from Him, and His words are truth. We can look for this promise to be fulfilled in God’s timing, as His promises are always fulfilled. As we wait in faith, we can do our part to bring about the promise. We can’t stop war, but we can stop hating our neighbors. We can’t bring about peace in the world, but we can make peace with estranged family members and friends. We can’t make everyone know the Word of the Lord, but we can share the Gospel with those who don’t know it. We can walk in the light of the Lord, and we can pray and watch and ask God to cleanse our hearts as we wait for Jesus’s glorious Second Coming when we will be together with Him forever.



Heavenly Father, in a world filled with strife and war within and among nations, we long for the day when there will be war no more. In a time when people learn the ways of the Lord and walk in Your paths, we long for the day when every knee will bow to the name of Jesus. Lord, we trust Your promise that the day is coming when nation will not lift up sword against nation, the day when the nations shall stream to the house of the Lord. As we wait for the fulfillment of Your promise that Jesus is coming again, let us walk in the light of Lord. As we await the return of Jesus, let us live as if we were already in His house. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, now and forever, world without end. Amen.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/hasmonkel

Devotion for Monday after Advent 1

Luke 1:68-70 (NASB)

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us

In the house of David His servant—

70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old.

Zacharias spoke these words at the circumcision of his son John, who grew up to be John the Baptist who called people to repentance and baptized them in preparation of Jesus’s ministry. The Jewish people had waited to centuries for the Messiah, and Zacharias recognized that the time was near for the Messiah to appear. Century after century, generation after generation, the people waited in faith, trusting that God would fulfill His promise. Now we wait—century after century, generation after generation—for the Second Coming of the Messiah, when Jesus will return. We can trust God’s promise for He always fulfills His promises on His timetable, not ours. We simply wait and watch in faith.

Lord, You promised the Messiah for centuries, and Your people believed, even though they waited generation after generation for the fulfillment of Your promise. The Messiah has come—as the babe in the manger whose Advent (coming) we are preparing to celebrate at Christmas. You have promised that He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. In this time of preparation, we ask You to cleanse our hearts to prepare us for His coming. Let us trust Your promise that when He comes again we will be with You, the glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, throughout eternity. We trust Your promise. We believe Your Word. We thank You that the Messiah has come, and we look for the day of his Second Coming. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, now and forever, world without end. Amen.

Devotion for The First Sunday in Advent

Happy Christian New Year! Today is the First Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the church year. Advent is a time of penitence and preparation for the coming of the Lord. We remember the coming of Jesus to earth as a baby. We celebrate the coming of Christ into our own hearts and lives when we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. We look forward to the Second Coming of Christ, when He will come again in glory at the end of time.

Psalm 122 (NASB)

1 I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2 Our feet are standing

Within your gates, O Jerusalem,

3 Jerusalem, that is built

As a city that is compact together;

4 To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord—

An ordinance for Israel—

To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5 For there thrones were set for judgment,

The thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May they prosper who love you.

7 “May peace be within your walls,

And prosperity within your palaces.”

8 For the sake of my brothers and my friends,

I will now say, “May peace be within you.”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your good.

When Jesus comes again, we will join the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God. There Jesus will judge the living and dead. During Advent, we prepare ourselves through prayer, Scripture, and meditation for that great day, the day He will come in glory.

Lord, we thank You and bless You that You invite us to go into Your house. During Advent, we prepare for the day when we will dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem with You and Your Blessed Son. We eagerly await the Second Advent of Jesus, knowing that while His First Advent was as a helpless and humble baby, his Second Advent will be filled with power and strength and majesty and glory. Cleanse our hearts as we make preparation for that great day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/moc.ngiseddleiftahn...

Thanksgiving

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the many blessings You have bestowed upon us. You created us and given us life. We know that everything good comes from You – our health, our families, the food we eat, clothes we wear, and the homes we live in. We who live in the United States thank You for the liberty and the great privileges we enjoy.

Above all, thank You for loving us and giving Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, to take our sins upon us and die for our salvation.

Remind us, Lord, that we can do nothing with You. Give us grateful hearts for all our blessings.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

International Day of the Bible

Today is the International Day of the Bible. The National Bible Association, Scripture Union, American Bible Society, YouVersion, and Bible Gateway are partnering to encourage Christians to join together to read the Bible in public or online.

I’ll be posting Scripture on Facebook and hope you will join me in reading the Bible today.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/monkeybusiness

Adoption, Diabetes, and Military Families

What do adoption, diabetes, and military families have in common?

All are recognized during the month of November. In addition to dozens of other national days, weeks, and months, November is:

National Adoption Month : a cause very important to me for two major reasons: 1) Being passionately pro-life, I want every child to be born and to be part of a loving family. If the mother is unable or unwilling to raise the child, adoption is the solution. 2) My husband and I were not able to have biological children, and we would have been childless if we hadn’t adopted our son. I consider myself very blessed to be a mother.
National Diabetes Month : another cause very important to me because so many people in my life have been affected by the disease. Not only do I have diabetes myself, but so my best friend and her husband. My mother died of complications of diabetes, and her mother and all her siblings also suffered from diabetes. In addition to Alzheimer’s, my husband had diabetes and required daily insulin shots.
Military Families Appreciation Month : something that doesn’t affect me directly but that indirectly affects every one of us who benefit from the service of our military. Their service doesn’t require sacrifice only from military members, but also from every member of their families. Young children miss their fathers or mothers who are deployed to fight for our freedoms. Spouses carry the load of family responsibility while a service member is deployed in addition to worrying about their safety. Families don’t get to choose where they live or many other basic things we take for granted. Thank you to each and every member of each and every military family! We recognize and appreciate your sacrifices.

With this post and others I’ve written this month, I’ve identified the national days/weeks/months observed during the busy month of November most important to me. Do you have other favorite November observances?

Image: © Depositphotos.com/newlight

National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Caregiver Month

November is National Azheimer’s Awareness Month and National Caregiver Month. 

The photo at the left shows both an Alzheimer’s patient (my late husband Jack) and a caregiver (myself). Jack has been in Heaven for more than two years,but for several years before his death, I cared for him as his disease progressed.

If you search the word Alzheimer’s on this blog, you’ll find a number of posts about Alzheimer’s and about Jack. If you aren’t one of the millions of people with firsthand experience with Alzheimer’s and caregiving, I hope you will read some of the articles. If you haven’t been touched by Alzheimer’s yet, you probably will be. As the population ages, the incidence of the disease increases.

Just about everyone knows that Alzheimer’s affects the short-term memory. However, not everyone realizes the personality changes that accompany the disease. Imagine your spouse not only recognizing you, but even believing you are going to harm them. The shared memories that make up the fabric of relationships are no longer shared as the person with Alzheimer’s loses more and more memory. The individual has difficulty making decisions and even carrying on a normal conversation.

If you are faced with caregiving, I highly recommend Help! What Do I Do Now? Caring for Your Loved One with Alzheimer’s by Nancy Nicholson. Nancy is my sister, and she and I, along with other family members, were caregivers for my father. He was diagnosed in 1988, at a time when there was little awareness of the disease.

The caregiving experience impacted Nancy so much that she returned to college to earn a degree in social work. She is a social worker and certified dementia practitioner, and she has worked extensively with geriatric patients, especially those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

Her short little book is easy to read and makes a great quick reference for busy caregivers. It’s filled with examples and practical advice. She gets a lot of positive feedback from caregivers who read it.

Whether you read Nancy’s book, my blog posts, Alzheimer’s websites, or other sources, I hope you will learn more about Alzheimer’s. If you are a caregiver, I hope you will realize how important your care is to your loved one. If you know a caregiver, I hope you will thank them for what they do.

 

 

November Writing Events

November seems to be filled with writing events.

Many writers are taking part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), in which writers commit to writing a 50,000 word book in thirty days. Of course, the first draft is only the beginning, and there is a lot more work to be done after typing “the end.” But NaNoWriMo is a great way to jump start a novel.

November 15th is I Love to Write Day. While it’s called “The World’s Biggest Party For Writers,” it’s not just for professional writers. Everyone who loves to write is encouraged to write something—a poem, a letter, a story, an essay…anything—on I Love to Write Day.

November is also National Lifewriting Month and Family Stories Month. I’m passionate about remembering family stories because my family hasn’t done a good job of that. My grandfather was a cowboy, and I remember as a small child joining my siblings and cousins to hear Grandpa’s stories. We sat on the floor around his chair, and he shared his exciting cowboy experiences. The adults in the family were sure no one would ever forget those stories.

However, my grandfather died when I was twelve, and no one talked about the stories any more. By the time I wanted to record those stories for posterity, most of the adults were gone. Those who were left no longer remembered the stories no one ever expected to forget.

I didn’t want to lose any more family stories. As a result of my urging, my mother wrote memories of her life in the form of individual stories. She wrote things as she remembered them. The first year she did this, I typed up the stories, editing lightly but retaining my mother’s voice and conversational tone.

I added photos, printed out the stories, organized them chronologically, and put them in three-ring binders with a cover created on my computer. Mama gave a binder to each of her children for Christmas. In the following years, she wrote additional stories throughout the year. I typed them and printed them with photos, and Mama gave a set to each of my siblings and me to add to the binder.

When the family got together and opened Christmas gifts, teenage grandkids would set aside their own presents and ask their parents, “What did Granny write about this time?”

Because my mother’s stories were such a success, I asked my mother-in-law to record her life experiences. She spoke into a tape recorder, and she shared her life in chronological order. I transcribed the recordings, added photos, and created binders for my husband’s family like those made for my family.

While everyone enjoyed the stories from the first reading, those little books became even more precious after the deaths of my mother and my mother-in-law. We could read their stories and imagine we heard them talking to us again. Unlike my grandfather’s cowboy stories, these stories won’t be forgotten.

My first novel, Stroke of Luck, was autobiographical to a great extent. Although the romance was a creation of my imagination, the stroke and its aftermath experienced by the heroine were just like my stroke. The care given to her by the hero was just like the care given by my hero, my husband.

I’ve told a lot of family stories here on my blog. After my husband’s death, I compiled anecdotes and memories shared by family and friends into a book, Jack Stories. I encourage everyone to record their family stories, whatever form that takes. 

With dual celebrations of Family Stories Month and National Lifewriting Month, November is a great time to record those precious memories. An added bonus is Thanksgiving, when families often gather together, creating a wonderful opportunity to interview family members and share memories and family stories.

If you want to write a memoir or family history but aren’t sure where to begin, my short ebook Preserving Memories: How to Write a Family History can help. Whether you want to collect family stories in three-ring binders for immediate family members, publish a book without intending to market and sell it, or publish a book you want to get into bookstores, you’ll find tips and resources to make the process easier.

I’ve been blessed to work with a number of fantastic writers on a lot of great books. My favorites, however, tend to be family stories and memoirs. I’ve just finished a memoir for a ninety-three-year-old World War II veteran. The proof copy of the book is on its way, and soon he will have copies to give to family members and friends. Although he finally agreed to make the book available on Amazon.com, he is not interested in selling books. He just wants loved ones to know and remember his life.

Other family stories my clients have written include memoirs and fictionalized accounts of family history:

Base Jumping: The Vagabond Life of a Military Brat by William Willis
Children of the Revolution by David Bowles
My Life Story: Adventures of the Great Dane by Borge Hansen
Adam’s Daughters  by David Bowles
Some Monument to Last: Memoir of TV Journalist James Munoz with Family Poems and Letters by James Michael Doughty
Spring House  by David Bowles
The Last Boat Out: Memoirs of a Triumphant Vietnamese-American Family by Truong Nhu Dinh & Tran Thi Truong Nga, translated by Truong Nhu Kenny & Ton-Nu Phuong-Thao

Have you done any lifewriting or shared family stories? If not, do you want to preserve precious memories? I strongly encourage you to record your family stories for future generations. There’s no greater legacy you can leave your family than your own stories. 

Veterans Day 2014

Thank you to every veteran for your service!

Enjoy this video tribute.

New Share An Image Features

Share As Image has done it again–just when I thought it couldn’t get better, they’ve added more great features.

In addition to the great features described in a recent post, Share As Image has added the following:

More than 1000 new royalty-free images—great images you can use anywhere, any time with no attribution and no royalty required. Images are categorized so it’s easy to find what you want. This alone is amazing; think of the cost of images and think of the hassle of remembering to include the attribution and get it right. The images alone are worth the price of the service.
Templates—you can use to save time in creating new masterpieces. Share As Image has included 30 pre-set templates along with the ability for you to create unlimited templates of your own.
25 new fonts—doubling the number of fonts available. There was already a nice variety of fonts available, and now the selection is even better.
Image upload storage—so you can save and re-use images you upload. This means you don’t have to upload the same image repeatedly if you want to use it again.

If you want to enjoy the benefits of Share As Image yourself, sign up for a one-year membership using the promo code LILLIE and save 10%. This is an affiliate link—I became an affiliate because I love the app so much!

Here are a few images I created today to try out the new features.