SOLDIER OF THE LORD, DO YOU HAVE YOUR WAR CLOTHES ON?

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all  the fiery darts of the wicked.   And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God.  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." Ephesians 6:10-20 KJV

When a young man or woman joins the U.S.A. military forces they are trained to be a soldier.  They are also trained to be a warrior because our Country is in a state of war.When a person gives their heart and life into the service of Jesus Christ, they become a soldier in His Army.

A soldier in God's army is in a constant state of war, because satan, who is the deceiver of our minds is constantly at war to take our lives back from serving Jesus Christ. A warrior for God can never take off their armour, because without it, satan can so easily attack us and he can defeat us, if we do not make a constant effort to keep our bodies  "suited up" with the whole armour of God.

You may wake up in the middle of the night and be filled with fear because satan has put a horrible thought of doom into your mind.  If you have on your armour you can defeat him the way that Jesus defeated him when satan came to him in the desert after Jesus had fasted 40 days and nights. After this time of fasting Jesus was in a weakened state his body was weak, hungry and tired.  Satan wanted Jesus to worship him  Jesus had on his armour and he defeated satan with the Word.  Three times the Bible tells us that he tried Jesus. Jesus quoted satan the Word each time. The Bible says that after the third attempt satan left Jesus for a season.  (Read Luke 4:1-13)

Remember, satan will only leave you for a season, then he will come sneaking back putting ungodly thoughts in your mind of horror, disappointment and try to tell you that you have failed God and are not fit to be a God Warrior.but  the Word says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate (lawyer) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.". 1 John 2:1,2, KJV.   When we have on the whole armour of God, we can quote scripture, and tell satan, "to get behind me," and the Word says he will have to leave.

My Precious readers always remember that anything that satan tells you is a LIE. He is unable to tell the truth because the Word calls him a liar the father of lies.  "Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own;  for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44 JKV

The way to be a successful God Warrior is to keep on  the whole armour of God always, talk with God many, many times during the day, if you wake up at night talk to Him until you go back to sleep. Read the Word of God every day, meditate on it, keep a journal of thoughts that the Holy Spirit puts into your mind to think on and look up scriptures to go along with the thoughts.  Keeping a prayer journal is so helpful for your prayer life.

Jesus is coming soon for His people, the ones that let His Precious Blood wash away their sins, and are looking for His coming, we must be looking for Him to come at any instant, the Bible says, "in the twinkling of an eye, when ye think not."  It  might be today.  If so, I''ll see you on the way up.

Love Gloria

Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

A GODLY MOTHER IN LAW IS AN AMAZING BLESSING

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.  she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.  she looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." Proverbs 31: 10,11,12,27,28 KJV

Just as certain as I believe that God picked out Willis C. Powell, Sr. to be my husband.  I am just as certain that God had him conceived by Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Powell into her womb so that they would be my Father and Mother in law.

Last Sunday was Mother's Day and I blogged a tribute to my mother.  All week I have been thinking and praying  because a good and Godly mother is such a blessing, but oh, what a blessing is a good and Godly mother in law.  The verses above can never do this loving and gentle woman complete justice.  but they are from God's Word so they surely apply to my mother in law.  Annie Lois Conrad Powell.

From the first time I saw her,  (Shug, as he will be call from now on in this post), invited me to a Christmas party at his church.  After the party he took me by to met Mr. and Mrs. Powell.  I thought, "what am I going to  talk about, I don't even know them."  We went into their house, and I sat down by Mrs. Powell.  Shug said not a word of introduction, just went to get a drink of water.  For about one second I felt like a deer caught in the headlights.  Then Glory to God Mr. and Mrs. Powell begin talking to me non-stop.  I felt as if I had known them all my life.  I loved them instantly.  (I learned later that Mr. Powell chastised Shug for not introducing me to them.)

Mrs. Powell was basically a quiet person in public, but in her own home, she was just amazing.  She could come up with some of the funniest stories. Not only could she tell the stories, but she could do the funny expressions and faces that made the story even more hilarious.   Her complete faith in Jesus Christ was always very evident and she was always a shining light for Him.  Every time she gave a testimony in church she always thanked God for her "happy home".

Mr. and Mrs. Powell's children grew up with such a rich heritage of love and blessing made possible by their parent's  genuine love, devotion and respect for each other.  I have never before or since met a husband and wife more in love or more in complete harmony of heart and mind.  What one wanted the other wanted the same thing, no arguing to reach a compromise or agreement on an issue, just what one wanted, the other wanted and vice-versa.

At dinner, (most people now call it lunch, but at 11:30 am. it was dinner at the Powell home.)  Mrs. Powell never knew from day to day how many would be sitting down at her table to eat, but no problem, there was always enough to go around and plenty left over for late stragglers who just happened to drop by and Mrs. Powell always insisted on them getting just a bite of vittles before they left.

Mr. and Mrs. Powell, and their oldest child, Pearl who lived with them always called me Glory instead of Gloria, I loved it.  All three are now with Jesus in heaven and I long to hear them call me Glory again, but fortunately, Shug's sister Levon still calls me Glory, so it is still music to my ears.

Mrs. Powell taught me how to cook the way that Shug liked to eat, because I did not know how to cook.  I worked and would go by a fast food place for supper, so there was no need to learn to cook.  But I spent many hours in Mrs. Powell's kitchen  learning to use a pinch of this, a dab of that and just a smidge of the other.

My daughter April was four years old when Shug and I married, Mrs. Powell immediately bought a girl head charm to go on her grandmother pin, I was overwhelmed with gratitude.  I knew so many women that had entered into marriage already with a child, and that child was always "her" child, not a child of the new family.  This was never the case with April, in fact when Shug asked me to marry him, which was 16 days after we met, part of his proposal of marriage was that I would let him adopt  April, so he could be her daddy. (That's always been my Shug, so full of love.)   The whole family, brothers and sisters loved April from day one and that has always been such a blessing to me. April loved Mr. and Mrs. Powell with an unexplainable, unfathomable love, and to her Aunt Pearl was just an extension of Mrs. Powell.  She loved them with all her heart.

Mrs. Powell had her own vocabulary that she used, just a certain way she would pronounce words, made perfect sense to us and so most of the time we used the same words she did, especially when we were talking with her, we would tease her and I can still see the impish grin on her face, one of her daughters, Mary Lou has that same grin and I see her mother in her in so many ways and mannerisms.
April and I speak to each other on the phone almost every day and not a conversation goes by that we don't have some Grandmother Powell vocabulary in the conversation.

Not only did she love April unconditionally, but she also loved me as a true daughter, and I knew from day one that is how it would be because there was no pretense in Mrs. Powell at all, she loved me and oh, how I loved her.  She had a massive brain hemmorage on January 29, 1991, and early in the morning on January 30, 1991 she went to be with the Lord.  Mr. Powell was still alive, but I believe that his heart died with her.  Less than nine months later he joined her in heaven.  Even though we grieved for him, there was a blessed peace because he was finally at peace for the first time since she had died.  Pearl went to meet them in 2005, and it gives me such a sense of peace to know they are waiting for the rest of the family to join them one day.  Jesus is coming soon and I am glad we can be together again, I hope she can make me some tomato gravy and cat head biscuits.

Mrs. Powell gave me such a beautiful and Godly legacy of love and acceptance and how to be another mother instead of (in law). I hope that I can follow in her footsteps as a good and Godly mother to my son's wives.

Mr. and Mrs. Powell, Pearl and Joe Edward (who died in 1973),  I still miss you every day.  Shug, April, Willis and John Coy and I talk about ya'll every time we sit down and have a grand old time of nostalgia and reminiscing.

Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

TO MY MOTHER

"Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come." Proverbs 31:25 KJV

Dear Mama:

First of all I want to thank God that He picked you to be my mother.   When I was a child I never realized what your daily life was all about.  I only knew that I was the oldest of six children, and I used to get so weary of hearing you say, "Now Gloria you have to be a big girl and help mama with the other children, and with the housework." Mama I am so sorry that as a child I did not understand, how much you needed and depended on me.

I was the oldest of six children, the child born 2 years after me was another healthy baby girl, until she was eight months old, and then she became deathly ill.  She was in the hospital for over three weeks, her temp was so elevated that it did not register on the thermometer, that was in 1945 and there were no antibiotics then, when the fever finally left, she was completely devastated in her mind and her body, she suffered continuous seizures, at least two or three a day. She screamed night and day from pain in her head and body.  Though mama and daddy carried her to every doctor they heard of, the damage was done.  So we had to center our home and lives around trying to make her comfortable.

Soon following came four more children, and sometimes I would hear my mama pray, "Oh, God, how am I going to get through this day?'

Back then, people in their ignorance and superstition would tell mama and daddy, "well it must have been some sin in your life that you have this crazy child." You can imagine the terrible guilt that mama and daddy lived under, all the time thinking, "Lord, what did I do that you would punish my child so?"  I am so thankful that people have come to the realization that they are not the reason for children with disabilities, it is just LIFE and normal healthy children are a blessing, BUT children with severe disabilities are a blessing also.  No their pain and suffering are not a blessing, but the love that you have for them is so special that you can never define or even explain it.  I know that someday my sister Delores will be in heaven with mama and daddy, and she will be well and whole, and for that I am eternally grateful.

I realize that there must have been some days that mama would just think, how can I stand this another moment, I just wish I could walk away.  But thank you mama you never did. You were always there.    My mama was a perfectionist when it came to house cleaning.  Of course, being the "big girl" and "mama's helper", I had to do a lot of the housework while mama cared for my sister and the other babies. To this day I do not like to rake yards, mop floors,vacuum the floors dust and pledge the furniture, the smell of O Cedar Red Furniture polish still makes me gag, straighten up everything and put it in order, and hanging out clothes and folding and putting them away. But my mama taught me how even though I did not appreciate it at the time.  Thank you mama for at least training me how to keep a spotless clean house.

All of the stress that mama lived through in her younger life while her children were growing up, left its mark on her health and well being.  Her last 20 years of life were spent as years of sickness and pain, but she always told us how she loved us.

When mama's health got so bad that she could not stay at home, (at this time my daddy had already gone home to be with Jesus.)  There came a time three months before she also went home  to be with Jesus that she was almost constantly in the hospital. My baby brother would stay with her during the day while I worked, and I would stay with her at night.  We had so many wonderful talks about when I was growing up and mama would always remind me how I hated house and yard work, and I would say, "well mama you always prophesied that I would be a slovenly housekeeper," And she would always laugh and say, "well, I was right,"

The day that mama went home to be with the lord , the doctor spoke plainly to me and my baby sister and asked if we wanted mama on life support, now that is a question that no one ever wants to be asked especially if the one making the decision does not know the definite answer..   Mama would never talk about the matter with me or the other children, she just said ya'll make the decision. I asked the doctor in view of everything he had just explained about her state of health at that time was she already dying, and he looked at me with tears in his eyes and nodded yes. Her body is shutting down she will probably be gone by late tonight or early in the morning. I looked at my sister and she nodded to me, and I said, "It seems that Jesus has already taken the decision out of our hands, if she is in the process of dying, let her go peacefully."

About 2:00 am Sunday morning, I suddenly woke up, I was laying with my head on her bed, she always wanted me to have my hand on her as she slept.  Three nurses came into the room, I stood up and looked at mama, so peaceful, so serene, and I kissed her and said,"I love you my precious mama." Two breaths later she entered into HIS Kingdom.  All of a sudden I laughed, and said, "Mama you have seen Jesus, and daddy and all the ones you have been missing." I felt like an idiot for laughing, but the Joy of the Lord just filled me when I realized, she was at last free to soar and be completely without care, I was just so happy for her, the nurses told me not to be sorry that I had laughed, because what better time to be joyous than to know that someone you love is in the Holy Presence of God.

So, on this Mother's Day, have a happy mother's day mama. I love you and I will be coming to join  you and daddy soon, because I think that Gabriel has the trumpet up to his lips just waiting for the nod from God, to Blow Gabriel and call my children home.

I did not have a newer picture of mama, this one is about 17-20 years old, but represents three generations, Mama, Me and April

Precious readers if your mama is still living give her a call and tell her how much you love and appreciate her.

Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.