Author Archives: Shirley Logsdon

About Shirley Logsdon

I am the only child of Christian parents who wanted me to know God personally as they did. One night during church we watched a movie depicting a family in their home accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. I was nine and realized then my desire to make Jesus my personal Savior. With the full support of my parents, I met with the pastor and prayed to receive Christ. A few years later, several of us around the same age began classes for our confirmation to become church members. The privilege of taking communion was a special time for me. . During my teenage years I was outwardly complacent, but was inwardly rebellious. I developed the nasty habit of disrupting harmony in the household by nitpicking at anything and everything. A preacher came to hold revival services at my dad’s church and nailed me silently with looks. This helped me tremendously. I turned a corner and began to respect and obey my parents in attitude and actions. I survived these years through prayer (mine, my parents and friends). The love and tenacity of my parents and God’s grace got me through these years of upheaval. I readily identify with David the Psalmist when he said in Psalm 25:7, “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to Thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.” Because my parents provided a stable home life for me, when I went to college my Christian values remained intact. After completing my education in 1979, I started working. For a while, I worked at temp agencies, then I did odd jobs. I settled down in a secretarial position in 1986 working for a firm specializing in retirement plan administration. In 2007, I started working for a law firm, eventually becoming a knowledge management assistant in their law library, helping to alert attorneys to new business opportunities. I am a productive citizen of my country in large part because my parents prayed for me and made clear by word and example what they expected of me. I am extremely grateful to God for them. John 15:5 is my life verse: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” I am confronted with this realization every day I live, and it helps keep me on the straight and narrow path. I met my future husband at church. After a few years of our two families getting acquainted, he and I started courting. We married at the church where we met, in the presence of many relatives and friends. We have been married for 29 years. My hobbies are reading, cooking, and canning or freezing what my beloved husband grows in the garden. Also, I thoroughly enjoy writing. While my writing has included poems, most of my writing has been letters to family and friends. I like to share my faith when I write and am fond of adding a Bible verse or two to help focus on the source of our life. Since I am now retired after working 38 years, I can concentrate on keeping up with birthdays. Something else I enjoy is studying the Bible, often with others. Blogging is a new form of writing for me. I am getting my feet wet and I’m beginning to enjoy the experience.

God’s Valentine

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God’s Valentine

“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, ‘With man this is impossible; but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:26).

Have you ever thought of yourself as God’s Valentine?

God lives in heaven and we live on earth. The two worlds are vastly different. Here on Earth, there are lots of limitations. In heaven there are no limits. God is a barrier buster. For us to think as God does requires us to bring to mind who God is.

God is our creator. Everyone alive has been created by God. Beyond that, God has also redeemed some people He has created. In redemption, people on earth have constant and immediate access to Him.

This is life on a different level, making possible what otherwise would be impossible. The difference between what is humanly possible and what is not possible on earth is having a personal relationship with God.

How do we get a personal relationship with God, and why would we want Him in our lives?

God must be the initiator for us to desire a personal relationship with Him. He has ingenious ways of doing this. At times He puts us in impossible situations where we are confronted with a challenge we can’t solve without outside intervention.

God Wants Is Available 

The beauty of God is He has made Himself available to those who seek Him. “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

What attracts God to humans like a magnet is their contrite and humble attitude. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’” (Isaiah 57:15).

Jacob I Have Loved

One of the mysteries of God is He chose Jacob, an unlikely person to bless. Jacob was a supplanter by name. To supplant by definition is “to take the place of; supersede, especially through force or plotting.”

Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, put it this way. “And he said [to his father Isaac], ‘Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.’ And he said, ‘Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?’” (Genesis 27:36).

A few years later, Jacob was married and had thirteen children. By that time, Jacob the conniving deceiver had come to a startling realization. He said to God, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two bands” (Genesis 32:10).

God did the impossible with Jacob, transforming him into a man who grasped God was pouring out His blessings on him, not for anything wonderful Jacob had done. Jacob was learning lessons in humility. Jacob came to understand God is the boss. Jacob was not in charge of his own life; God was.

How about you and I? God is always in the business of turning the unlovely into the lovely. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Did you ever think of Jacob, or yourself, as God’s valentine? God sees the masterpiece in us, a lump of clay. We did not deserve His attention. Yet we can thank God He is committed to sticking with His program. Our part is to cooperate with Him, submitting ourselves to His authority. Nothing “shall be l or able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

Enjoy being God’s Valentine today!

 

Shirley Logsdon