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Out of Options

Posted on May 18, 2024May 18, 2024 by Pam

A friend is praying for her sister who has fallen on deadly habits. She can’t stop. I crave chocolate every afternoon near 2-ish. I guess you could call it addiction. The verse she is praying for her loved one is Jer 32:27, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh (mankind); is anything too difficult for Me?”. There are many situations in life where a wall has been hit and we stand facing the bricks with a bloody nose because we keep running into it instead of running into God. How does one run to God? Pray. Pray then pray again. I often mention the list of people in my prayer journal who are ignoring my wish that they serve the one true God. I am nothing but God is everything. I am satisfied with prayer. Knowing we are out of options removes the guilt over that which we want to control but we do not have the ability to control – what people decide for themselves. The other Jeremiah verse that I adopted when a cool girl at Christian camp said it was her favorite is Jer 29:11-13a, “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you…”. These are promises to all. They comfort me because I want there to be a plan that benefits me. There are a couple of actions due that produces a plan that benefits me. The actions area call, come, pray, seek, and find. Seek is a verb. Look for God with your whole heart. Declare is an action and God keeps telling us stuff. There is so much we can do that smashing our noses into a brick wall does not seem necessary. Another verb is listen – our prayers have an audience. Find is another promise. It also encourages me to know that the enemy is a liar. Here are a few of the enemy’s lies listed in Our Daily Bread, May 15, 2024 by Jennifer Benson Schuldt, “First, our prayers don’t matter. Not true. the Bible says, ‘The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective’ (James 5:16). Second, when we’re in trouble, there’s no way out. Wrong again, ‘All things are possible with God’ (Mark 10:27), and he will also provide a way out’ (I Cor 10:13). Third, God doesn’t love us. That’s false. Nothing can ‘separate us’ from God’s love through Christ Jesus’ (Rom 8:38-39). We are often out of options but our eternal and all-powerful God never is.

"Thoughts from a genuinely evaluative mind."

Pam writes so that must make her a writer. Recently retired, she can now fill days with family, friends, missions, writing, creating, and showing up for whomever needs her. Pam loves the Lord and people. The Bible is God’s love letter to us (and who does not need more love) so she studies and writes some more.

Pam lives in the Pacific Northwest but was home-grown in Southern California. She attended San Jose Bible College and finished a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at UCLA. She became a teacher, then a Research and Development Chemist, then she built two successful real estate businesses in two states. Pam also pursued study at Fuller Theological Seminary and just completed six months serving in missions abroad.

Pam has two amazing children, married to two precious in-laws, and five sweet grandchildren. Pam is a gifted connector and communicator and the Northwest has the perfect climate for staying inside and writing – or baking! She has been writing since a wee one and is currently converting many years of blogging, by topic, into ten books. The first is a collection from 2011 titled, Beautiful Enough. The second is a yearly day-timer titled, Weekly Planner - Lessons in Life, Glory, and Grace. Number three is in progress with the working title, Christmas Today.

Ten facts about Pam in no particular order:

  1. On the team that developed an insulation for the Alaskan oil pipeline.
  2. Loves looking at homes, decorating, and has flipped five homes.
  3. Likes being tall.
  4. Films have helped define her vocabulary.
  5. Comes from Colorado tenement farmers with history traced to Wales.
  6. Was lost but now is found.
  7. Baking makes her happy – as does eating sweets with coffee, of course.
  8. She thinks mission work is the most important work in the world.
  9. The church started in Rome so she is learning Italian.
  10. Pam is a work in progress!

“I will be your God throughout your lifetime - until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” Isaiah 46:4

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