Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

  Ephesians 3:14-19 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the  Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  16 that He would grant you,  according to the riches of His glory,   to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in   the inner man,  17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you,   being rooted and grounded in love,  18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints   what  is  the width and length and depth and height—  19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled  with all the fullness of God. Good Monday morning to all of you! The sun is hiding, we have thunder boomers, but Praise God! We have life-giving rain! It has been raining for a week here, and I have to admit I'm starting to notice webbing develop between my toes, but rain is really good for my flowers. The water from our hose just isn't ...

  Every day I do devotionals...two in the morning, and one at night. For the last couple of years, because of the brain fog from fibro,  I assume,  I have a hard time concentrating very long. Reading is difficult because at some point I will not be able to completely comprehend what I just read, and have to go back to read it again, or I fall asleep. So the devotionals help me to stay in God's Word, even if it's just a little bit. In my reading today a passage popped up that I don't ever recall reading, but having read the Bible through at least a couple of times, I know I have. It was Malachi 3: 1-6a. M ALACHI 3 The Coming Messenger 1 “Behold,  Matt. 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 1:76; 7:27; John 1:23; 2:14, 15 I send My messenger, And he will  (Is. 40:3) prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Is. 63:9 Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold,  Hab. 2:7 He is coming,” Says the  Lord ...

  This year has been hard. Yes, a bit for me, but a lot for three ladies who are dear to me. One lost her spouse to cancer. Another to heart disease. The other to COVID. All lost the loves of their lives, their mate, their other half, and now they have an empty house. While at first, there will be visitors and others who will check in on them, when all that ends, they still have an empty house. Little things will catch them unaware. A noise will trigger tears. A place, an activity will bring sorrow. The tears have no set pattern, but they will, and have come. There will be times when there is no consolation, there will be times when their pillow is soaked from crying themselves to sleep. It is hard, but they all have Jesus and an Abba Father to lean into. They have prayer support from all over the world. Then, in this new season of life, they will find the things that bring them joy. It could be a stray button from his favorite shirt. Perhaps a cardinal sits in a tree chirping at t...

 A squirrel's tail. 2021 added a stinking squirrel's tail. Hang on to that mental picture, because I have no doubt this zebra is gonna look like something other-worldly by the time 2021 is done with us. I swear, I thought last year was a year for the books. 2021 said hold my beer. Snowmageddon 2021 hitting every lower 48 except Florida...makes me wonder what kind of deal they made. Reminds me of the song the Devil went down to Georgia, but I think that should be changed to Florida. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Florida made a deal with the devil, because I'm pretty sure they didn't. Their fiddle of gold had to be avoidance of the Snowpocolypse, I don't know.  Anyway. Last year, early January, I had COVID before it decided to infect the world and head out to parts unknown. Thought I wouldn't get it again. 2021 snickered in the corner. All of 2020 we avoided getting it, then my hubby, who works at the airport, was in close contact with a co-worke...

  You know, today is a new day. I understand that the events of yesterday were, shall we say, a bit unnerving. Things that we thought would happen didn't, and things we never thought would ever happen, well, they did. Here's what I know: God is still on His Throne. Nothing that happened yesterday surprised Him. Us? Gads, we were maybe not blind-sided, but certainly surprised at the events and how it went sideways really fast. So, the next question is, what now? For some of us, it is the beginning of the end, for others, it's the beginning of new things, for still others of us, it's an era of uncertainty, whether extreme or not. What we, as the Christian community must understand is that God is not finished with what He started. What we may see as absolute disaster could very well be a pathway to something bigger, better. What better way to show the image of Christ in you than to walk in humbleness and grace, showing the love of Christ in your words, actions and thoughts...

  Today I was reading my devotional and part of it was Mark chapter 10, verses 46-52. It is about a man named Bartimaeus.  The story is that Bartimaeus had been blind from birth. In those days, people believed that the parents had sinned, or that the person born with the infirmity committed a sin prior to birth. Kind of extreme on the prior to birth part, if you ask me. However, we have to remember that scientific advances were not as they are now, although the Greeks were pretty knowledgeable about a great deal, but figuring out why a person was blind was not among their skills. Generally, when a person was disabled, or had a disease such as leprosy, they would be found in the market places, temples, or on the side of the roads begging for food or money. I know, we still see that a lot on our street corners, but usually they are not blind or have leprosy. When Jesus began His ministry, he came across many who were maimed, disabled, or had diseases, and He healed them. Bartima...

 As I was getting ready for Church this morning, God gave me a nudge. Nothing earth shattering, nothing profound, although some might say it was. No, just three words...take a picture. I went, "hmph," and continued fussing under my breath at the fourth shirt I pulled from my closet that doesn't fit as I'm losing some weight. On purpose. During the holidays. Smh. Then, when I was in the service today, our Pastor asked what we were grateful for. See, 2020 has done a number on all of us, and yet, for all the stink it's managed to dish out, there are still things that we can be grateful for. Our homes, our families, just to name a few. Which brings me to the pictures. For quite a few years I didn't like my picture taken, and it had to be a certain shot, heavily filtered, or it got deleted or destroyed.  I don't remember getting rid of a lot of them, but some definitely met the fire. Why? Because I'd gained an enormous amount of weight, and I hated it. I ha...