The Coming of Spring

I am so excited that spring will be here soon!  There is just something so magical about the spring; trees budding, green shoots coming up from a winter rest, flowers blooming, birds nesting, sunshine and warmth. Everything springs to life!

Spring reminds me of God's love.  When He comes into your life, you feel this same kind of renewal.  You feel like winter turning to spring, death coming to life.  You trade your inward pain for inward joy, and you become beautiful in a way you never were before...because God's spirit is living inside of you.

So as you look forward to spring, really take some time to reflect on God's love.  And if you don't know God, ask yourself why.  Are you willing to turn your winter into spring?  What is stopping you?

If you are afraid, remember that perfect love casts out all fear.  God is love.

If you feel unworthy, remember that God loved you enough to send His only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for your sins.  When you accept Him, you become an adopted son or daughter into the family of God...and that can never be taken away from you.

Are you living with past hurts and regrets?  God will heal your pain.

Are you reluctant because you do not understand everything about God?  In time, as you read your Bible, God will reveal more and more to  you.  Some things will not be revealed until we get to Heaven.

God's arms are open wide for you.  Run into them with the abandon of a small child.  You will never regret it.

The Blue Ridge

Ghostly fingers reach down,
wrapping themselves around
ridges of blue...
softening peaks;
a gentle reminder
that nothing remains the same,
but everything is beautiful.

                                   -Cheryl Williams, 2013

Choose Life

One of the most difficult and controversial topics of our time is abortion.  It affects everything from what political party we choose to what church (if any) we attend.  There are Christians and non-Christians on both sides of the issue, and everyone has their case ready to debate at a moment's notice.

I have been on both sides of the debate during my lifetime for different reasons.  But God always brings me back to the side of pro-life.  This isn't to say I am not pro-choice as well.  I just happen to believe that those choices should be made to prevent an abortion.  Some of these choices are:

Abstinance
Adoption

These are all choices that can be made as opposed to killing an unborn child.  Are these choices easy?  Absolutely not.  Abstinance means using self-control.  Adoption means the heartbreak of saying goodbye to a child that you nurture in the womb for nine months.  Being a mother, however, is filled with acts of unselfish, unconditional love.  Giving your child life is the first of these, and even if it is the last thing you do, you can know you did the best for your child.

Then there are the other questions revolving around pregnancies that are the result of rape or incest.  I have to admit I struggled with this one for a long time.  Still, God speaks to me and says, "All life is a gift from God".  Who are we to rip this life away when God placed it there?

God is the only true Light in this dark world we live in.  He brings joy where there is despair...hope where there is hopelessness...laughter where there are tears...goodness where there is evil.  Perhaps a baby conceived from an evil act is God's way of bringing light and love into a horrible situation.


"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous...and how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!
They are innumerable!"    Psalm 139: 13-17

When I read this passage from the Bible, my heart feels the love that God has for me, and for every innocent child that is conceived and then tragically eliminated.  This is why my heart breaks for these tiny victims.  There are so many.  The numbers are absolutely staggering, and America is complicit in this mass genocide.

My heart also breaks for the mothers who are often led to make this decision without having all of the information regarding abortion or all of the information regarding other alternatives.  Those who live with having committed abortion are often left with emotional scars that are difficult to heal.  I would say to the women who have had abortions....God loves you.  And God will forgive you as well if you but confess and ask him.  He is merciful and loving in ways that we cannot even comprehend.

To those who consider themselves to be pro-choice, I would respectfully ask you to become more informed.  Very often we latch onto a cause without all of the information.  To anyone who is currently considering having an abortion, I would beg you to reconsider.  The life you carry inside is your child put there by God for a reason. The child you abort

is the same child who will one day love you. You have choices other than killing your child.  There is help for you.

A Biblical View of the Immigration Caravan Heading our Way

As a Christian, I have been studying God's word regarding our current situation involving a caravan of illegal immigrants coming to America.  There are currently around 7000 of them marching toward the border to come into America.  The compassionate side of myself tells me that it is our responsibility to care for them.  But is that really the case?  And does caring for them have to mean allowing them to come into our country illegally?

The Bible says "No".  “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” (1 Peter 2:13–16).  In other words, we are to obey the laws of our land.  They are there for our protection.

Let's forget the idea that this caravan might be politically motivated and might be sponsered by a political party as a mean of gaining votes in November's election.

Let's forget how this caravan curiously appeared only a couple of weeks before the November election.

Let's forget the fact that there might be some bad guys in the caravan who mean to do us harm.

Let's forget that members of the caravan thought it was a good idea to burn the American flag and fly their own flag as they march toward our border with the purpose of entering (invading?)

Let's forget the fact that we have nowhere to put all of these people or means to take care of them.

Let's forget how other countries who have opened their borders have been plagued with crime, poverty, homelessness, and terrorism.

Let's forget about the jobs Americans will lose because there will be illegals willing to work for much less.

Let's remember this.  We are a sovereign nation with every right to protect and secure our borders.  It is the number one job of the President of the United States to keep our country safe.  Anyone crossing over that border illegally is committing a crime...regardless of their situation.  Committing a crime for a good cause does not make it right or a wise decision. If that were the case, a homeless man could just go rob a bank to feed his family.  But he can't.  Why?  Because there are boundaries.  There are laws.

God tells us to be both wise and discerning.  

Just imagine what will happen if we allow a mass of 7000 illegals to barge across our border.  Where will they go?  Are you going to open your homes to them?  Or leave your doors unlocked so they can enter?  No...because boundaries are IMPORTANT.  They help keep us safe. 

Also, if they are allowed to enter, more will follow....LOTS more.  We will become the country of no borders who lets anyone in.  We will no longer be safe. Our country will no longer be the same. 

Something else to consider is the fact that these illegals who cross over will not be safe either.  They will be vulnerable to all kinds of criminal elements who will try and use them for their own criminal purposes such as drug running or gangs.  The children will be vulnerable to those who try and hurt children thru human trafficking or child pornography.    These people will be more vulnerable because they will not have the safeguards in place that we, as American citizens have.

When America says no to open borders, it does not mean we are evil or inhumane.  It means we are trying to keep our country safe, which is our right.  Nor does it mean that we cannot help these people in other ways.  We can donate money.  We can boycott.  We can do other things that are instrumental for change that is needed in these other countries.  We can pray. We can support humanitarian efforts.

We can work to help those who would seek to come to America through legal channels.  There IS a pathway to America.  All a person must do is take the legal pathway. 

 Photo taken by Cheryl Williams 

The Greatest Gift You Will Ever Receive

Today I have been really thinking about God and how much He loves us.  It really is amazing when you think about it.

First of all, His reason for creating us was to be in relationship with us.  Isn't that awesome?  The God of the universe wants to spend time with us.  He wants intimacy with us.  He wants to know everything about us...including our flaws.  And the truth is that He DOES know everything about us...and LOVES US ANYWAY.  The Bible says that "Nothing can separate us from the love of God."...Romans 8:31-39.

Still, despite the fact that God loves us unconditionally, so many of us refuse to accept that precious gift.  Instead, we search for other ways to fill our emptiness.  Like the song, "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places"...that is exactly what we do.  The result is always the same:  nothing satisfies.  Only God can fill the deepest longing of our hearts.

God loved us so much that He sent His only son to die on the cross for our sins.  That's right.  Jesus took our punishment for every sin we have ever committed.  He died a horrific death on a cross after being tortured and beaten.  The good news is that three days later he arose from the dead.  He ascended into Heaven, showing us that He conquered death on our behalf.  Because of this, we all have been graced with the incredible gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  All we have to do is acknowledge that Jesus is the son of God and that he died on the cross for our sins.  When we ask forgiveness for our sins and accept Jesus into our hearts, we are saved.  We automatically become adopted as sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.  We become filled with the Holy Spirit and our lives will never be the same.

We don't have to earn our way into Heaven.  There are no amount of good deeds we can do on this earth that will gain us entry into Heaven.  It's impossible.  That is why God gives us this incredible gift.  But like any gift, we must first accept it before it is truly ours.

Have you given your life to Jesus Christ?  If not, now is the time.  Just remember that it is not a prayer to be prayed lightly.  Really mean what you pray.

-Pray a prayer of acknowledgement that Jesus is God in the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary; that He died on the cross for your sins, rose on the third day, and ascended into Heaven.

-Confess your sins to God, and ask for forgiveness.

-Ask the Lord to come into your heart, and save you from your sins.

After you pray, accept the greatest gift you will ever receive...the gift of eternal life.  Your life will become a true adventure as you begin your walk with Jesus Christ.

                                                        Photo by Cheryl A. Williams

The Number One Reason You Should Vote in November

I just got through mailing a care package to my son who is serving overseas in the U.S. Navy.  I am so very proud of him and the sacrifice he is making for our country.  He, along with thousands of men and women sacrifice daily to see that our freedoms remain intact.  For my son, he is on a battleship in a dangerous part of the world.  He and his wife have an 18 month old son and are expecting a baby girl any day now.  There is a high probability that he will not be there for the birth of his daughter.  He has already been away for months.  This is sacrifice.  It is also a sacrifice for his little family.  But he is only one of thousands going through the same thing for our country.

It makes me sad to see our country so torn apart when so many servicemen and women are giving so much to keep our freedoms intact.  Civility seems to have disappeared by the wayside.  We cannot even seem to have a conversation anymore.  The left blames Trump.  The right blames the radical left. Blacks blame whites.  Whites blame blacks. In the middle of all of the blaming and shaming, our country is falling apart.  And that is very sad because we are ALL Americans.

The truth is:  We are ALL to blame.  We act like children on a playground...all the way from President Trump down to the everyday citizen.  What we seem to fail to realize is that in the middle of all that is wrong with our country there is a lot that is right.  But we all hold on so tightly to what we believe that we block our reasoning and our view.  Those on the left point fingers at Trump's tweets but fail to recognize any good he has done.  The right points fingers as well, failing to recognize any good that the other side has to offer.  We have become so closed minded that we automatically think of a rebuttal or a comeback rather than actually consider another point of view.


Growth will never occur in a society that is closed-minded and divided.  Still, our servicemen and women fight for us.  Perhaps it is time for us to appreciate that...truly appreciate it.

Vote in November.  That is one of our most basic rights.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Photo by Cheryl Williams

What Do You Hunger For?

One of my favorite songs is "Hunger" by Florence and the Machines.  One of the lines that keeps repeating in the song is "We all have a hunger".  Florence says the lyrics were "written in an effort to understand the ways I looked for love in things that were not love."

How many of us do that?  I dare say all of us do or have at some point in our lives looked for love in things that "were not love"....things such as money, possessions, work, drugs, food, alcohol, sex, gambling, approval.  We search for things to fill the brokenness we all have inside.  

This world is filled with pain and suffering, and it is impossible to escape completely.  Even people who seem to "have it made" will at some point have pain in their lives.  Friends may betray..  Loved ones will pass away.  The list goes on and on.

It can be easy to escape the pain.  This world is filled with all manner of means to escape rather than deal with the pain.  Those things, however, are mere band aids that only cover the wound, but never heal. The fix is temporary at best.  

The good news is that real love will heal and satisfy your hunger.  Real love, however, is not found in relationships or the perfect home or the perfect job.  It is not found in any material possession or drug.  It is not found in comfort food.  
                                                                                                
Perfect love is found in God.  "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is now made perfect in love." ~ 1 John 4:16-18

Yes, Jesus is the ONLY fix for the hunger in your soul.  Nothing else works. Why not end your search now and fill yourself with God's perfect love?  You will not regret it.