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.

Be an Overcomer

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Victory in His might

Overcome Discouragement

John 16:33 (NKJV) These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+16%3A33&version=NKJV

When someone harasses you because they know you love God, what do you do?

Example from scripture

One example in Scripture is shown when an unnamed psalmist is taunted by his enemies. He said, “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Psalm 42:3)

Remembering being with God’s people and worshiping God

The psalmist remembered going to the temple and how good it was to be there. He recalled having “a voice of joy and praise” and how it came easily because he was “with a multitude that kept holy day” (Psalm 42:4).

Know the struggles and challenges are real

Now he faced a threat to his faith. He needed to use what he had learned about God at the temple in his real-life circumstance. Psalms 42 and 43 tell us how he took advantage of God’s strength in the midst of his crisis.

“I would have been fine,” he may have thought, if he didn’t have any problems. Life being what it is, a troubling situation arose. People knew he loved God and worshiped Him. Now they watched to see how he would handle his difficulty.

Ridicule and persecution -Real and imagined

As his “hornet’s nest” dilemma continued, people started ridiculing him. The psalmist began “sweating”. He said, “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me” (Psalm 42:7). At one point he imagined the whole nation against him. “Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man” (Psalm 43:1).

While the predicament persisted, his faith wavered. “I will say unto God my rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” (Psalm 42:9).

Our Help comes from God

Battling depression he cried out to God. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1-2)

Remind Yourself of God’s goodness

While he was in prayer, he reminded himself who God is and what He had done for him in the past. He is the living God (Psalm 42:2). God gives light and truth (Psalm 43:3). God gave him the help of His countenance (Psalm 42:5). He called God “my rock” (Psalm 42:9); “my strength” (Psalm 43;2); “my exceeding joy” (Psalm 43:4); and “the God of my life” (Psalm 42:8).

As he gathered strength from God and His resources, he gave himself “pep talks.” This recharged his spiritual batteries. He asked himself, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me?” He told himself to “hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 43:5).

Living as an overcomer

The next time you feel like someone is squeezing the spiritual life out of you, remember God hears silent as well as spoken prayers of distress. We can call out to Him anywhere and anytime. Then you can say with the psalmist, “Yet the LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life” (Psalm 42:8).

Shirley Logsdon

Further reading on treadingwater: https://www.treadingwatertiljesuscomes.com/2018/12/21/on-the-run/