We Are Family?

I’m writing this article about “family”, because my husband and I experienced a situation that would lead us to question our relationship as family.

On April 9, 2018, my husband and I, along with the residents of the apartmet building where we resided, and the building across the walkway from us, were given illegal notices to vacate the buildings by April 30, 2018. We were being evicted. If you do the math, you will note that we were all given less than 30 days to vacate. In fact, we all had 21 days to find new places to live. Now, it’s hard enough for people who don’t have disabilities to find someplace to live within 21 days. Imagine how much harder it is for people with physical disabilities to find suitable accommodations. Such is the case for my family (my husband and I). He has Cerebral Palsy and spends 99% of his time in his wheelchair, and I have Lupus – (for additional information Cerebral Palsy, please visit https://research.cerebralpalsy.org.au/what-is-cerebral-palsy/; for additional information on Lupus, please visit https://resources.lupus.org/entry/what-is-lupus).

My husband and I were in a very precarious situation. We couldn’t find any wheelchair accessible housing in that short period of time – at least none that we could afford.

As the final days of our illegal eviction approached, I reached out to a couple of shelters to see if they could take my husband and I. I called one shelter in particular that was listed as a FAMILY shelter. However, to my dismay, FAMILY meant a mother with children or a father with children, – not a husband and wife. She also informed me that there are no shelters in Philadelphia which accomodates husbands and wives (couples). No shelter considers my husband and I, “family”.

I was angry. I was more than angry and I asked the woman on the phone, “so then, what are my husband and I to do? Arent’ we family?” She said, “No. Family is considered a mother with children or a father with children. Husband and wife do not count as family.” She went on to say, “I don’t know what to tell you except that you can go to a woman’s shelter and your husband can go to a men’s shelter”.

Now, anybody who knows me, knows that I would NEVER let my husband go to a shelter without me. Why? Because he is wheelchair bound and he would be an easy target in a shelter. Besides that, there are no shelters which could accommodate his physical needs. He sleeps in a hospital bed – shelters don’t provide that. He uses a commode that fits his physical requirements because he can’t sit on a standard commode (he has a fused hip and he can’t pull himself up because of the palsy in his right hand) and the bathrooms are not wheelchair/handicap accessible. How could I allow him to be somewhere and be vulernable and unable to use the lavatory? As his wife/family, I couldn’t do that. Fortuately, my husband and a couple more residents filed an injunction to prevent the illegal eviction for at least 30 more days, so we, thank God, didn’t have to go to a shelter.

The whole point of this blog is to bring awareness about the unfairness of shelter policies towards couples/husband and wife. Who made the decision that a husband and wife are not “family”? Why don’t shelters provide accommodations for us?

Here are two definitions from Merriam-Webster online dictionary  for the word “family“:(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/family)

Family:

a : the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children;also : any of various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional family 

• a single-parent family

b : spouse and children 

***2: a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head : household

Notice that family is also described as a “GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS….”

So I looked up the word GROUP, and here is what I found (also on the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

1: two or more figures forming a complete unit in a composition (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/group)

Ok. Stop right there. TWO or MORE…  My husband and I are TWO, so doesn’t that make us FAMILY? In the case of shelter’s, that would be a NO.

Before I did this article, I researched our area to find out if, by chance, I could find a shelter for husband and wife. What did I find, NOTHING. I found shelters for Women, Men, Women with children, Men with children, those who are drug addicted, and for women who are abused.

I am going to do some more research to see if I can come up with some answers as to why a husband and wife are not considered family. When I do, I will let you know.

If you are reading this and you know of any shelters that accommodate husbands and wives, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks and God bless.

 

Where is the Love?

Source: Where is the Love?

Where is the Love?

For a few days now, I have been grieved in my spirit about some comments I’ve read on two particular peoples’ social media pages. The comments were made by Christians and non-Christians alike, but I couldn’t really distinguish between the two. The harsh language; the cyber bullying; the ridicule and disrespect are so overwhelming, and yet, these people who are spewing so much ungodliness,  more than 2/3 of them claim to be Christians. I would never be able to distinguish between the Christian and the non-Christian as the behavior from both groups is deplorable. Now, I know nobody is perfect, but as professing Christians, aren’t we supposed to have the mind of Christ? Aren’t we supposed to live holy? Isn’t our conversation supposed to be that which is pleasing unto God? Yes? I thought so. However, what I have read causes me to ask a very pertinent question: “Where is the Love?”

How can we, who are supposed to be Christ-like, participate in the ungodliness of those who are spewing hate, ridicule, strife, causing division, etc? How can we support those who are acting according to the world instead of according to the Word? Why is it that we find it entertaining to watch our brother and/or sister in “Christ”, or any individual, be demeaned, called out of their name, persecuted with words, slandered, etc.? Have we no compassion? Have we no love of God residing within us? How can any person take the Word of God and use it to literally tear down another person? How can anybody sit in front of the church, cuss, degrade another person, and then in the same breath say, “I’m about to and get my church on”? How can sweet and bitter flow from the same fountain? How can we who say we love God, participate in the tearing down of a person – a fellow sister/brother in Christ (or any individual)?

Christians, saints, people of the Most High God, we MUST STOP THIS MADNESS. We must be different from the world. We must be transformed in our thinking and we must be renewed in the spirit of our minds. We Must Be Christlike, no matter who is not being Christlike for we shall all give an account of what we say and do.

I must admit, I have watched the videos and laughed at the comments, but God has convicted me and has called me out of the foolishness. I no longer find it entertaining to see my my brother/sister in Christ ridiculed, body shamed, disrespected, bullied or taunted with disparaging acts/comments. My reading the comments and laughing at them makes me no better than the commentors. So, with that being said, I repent unto God for allowing myself to get caught up in the foolishness. I repent for finding it entertaining to watch someone get treated in such ungodly ways (even if the person is not doing right, themselves). I repent for laughing at words of hate, anger and just plain meanness. Father God, forgive me! I will no longer watch any videos and/or read any comments meant to tear down any brother/sister in Christ, or any other human being because if I enjoy watching people getting treated in that manner, it simply means that I am in agreement with the bad behavior. God is not pleased.

Where is the Love? Where is the Agape Love?

John 13:34
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another.

1 John 3:11
This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:7-8King James Version (KJV)

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

⁸ He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

In the Book of Romans, chapter 1:28-2:11, we find these words:

²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

²⁹ Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹ Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

³² Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

2 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

² But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

³ And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

⁴ Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

⁵ But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

⁶ Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

⁷ To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

⁸ But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

⁹ Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

¹⁰ But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

¹¹ For there is no respect of persons with God.”

Where is the Love?

 

Let The Words Of My Mouth

                                                  

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, my strength, and my redeemer”.
Psalm 19:14

Do we REALLY know what this means? I remember reciting this Bible verse that I was forced to learn, as a teenager. I used to just say it without knowing what it meant. I was being obedient to my foster parents who were prominent in their small Baptist Church.

Psalm 19:14, whether people realize it or not, is a very powerful verse that, in my opinion, should be quoted daily, by those who profess to be Christian, born again, or followers of Christ. Why? Because it will keep us aware of WHAT WE SAY and WHAT WE THINK.

Let the WORDS OF MY MOUTH. What does this mean? It’s not deep. It simply means LET WHAT I SAY…be acceptable in THY Sight O Lord, My Strength and My Redeemer. You mean I have to watch what I say? I actually have to be mindful of what comes out of my mouth? YES!

See, what we say, most of the time is a direct result of what we think. Do you find yourself meditating on or thinking on something and the next thing you know, you blurt it out? I have, and it’s not always nice.

The Bible teaches us a lot about the mouth and thoughts. Here are some scriptures that minister to us about what we say and think:

Philippians 4:8 (What We Think). Let’s read it. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK on these things“. 

Proverbs 21:23 (What We Say)
Whosoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Ephesians 4:20-32 (What We Say)
20 But ye have not so learned Christ;21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.26 Be ye angry , and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:27 Neither give place to the devil.28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour , working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth .29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers .30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another , tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Psalm 141:3 (What We Say)
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;  keep watch over the door of my lips!
***Now this is a prayer that we should pray constantly if we have a problem with our mouths.

Matthew 15:18 (What we say and think)
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

I can continue to go on with Scriptures but I think we get the point. As born again Christians, we are to be mindful of what we THINK AND SAY, for once the words come out of our mouths, they cannot return. We must be mindful of what we meditate on because whatever is IN us, is what is going to come OUT of us. This is why it is important for us to thing on good things, things that are praiseworthy, things that are of good report.

If you are having a problem of speaking and thinking those things that are not acceptable in the “sight of God”, then we should be praying about this, fervently.

How do we change the way we talk and think? We do this by meditating on the Word of God. We do this by being RENEWED in the spirit of our minds…Ephesians 4:23. We do this by being TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS…Romans 12:2. If we continue to do the same OLD things we will never change. We must WANT TO CHANGE so as to be living a holy life before a holy God.

There have been times when I wanted to speak my mind to someone who has said or done something wrong to me but the Holy Spirit would not allow me to speak those things. However, I had to repent of the things I thought about that person. Even as I write this post, I think back to the times when I have said something I wish I could take back. I think back to the times when I was called out of my name and absolutely had the right to defend myself and say some things to this person that could have shut her up or hurt her as she was trying to hurt me, but because I was focused on how God was going to view what I said to her, I refrained my mouth from speaking evil to her. Was it hard? Actually, for the most part, it wasn’t because I was purposely thinking about pleasing God. However, once I got into my flesh, I felt myself raising up and getting ready to retaliate with my mouth. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who didn’t allow me to give in to my flesh. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who brought the Word of God back to my mind. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who assured me that the person who was attacking me would have to answer to God, the same God whom I was trying to please with my words while I was being attacked.

I am here to tell you that if you want to please God, you can. Yes, even in the midst of your enemy attacking you. If you are purposed in our heart to think and say those things that are pleasing to God, I know that I know that I know that the Holy Spirit will lead and guide you and you will leave your enemy wondering what just happened. Hallelujah!

So, let’s meditate on Psalm 19:14 and Psalm 141:3. These are two of the most POWERFUL SCRIPTURES we can use if we want to please God in our thinking and speaking.

Sincerely submitted by
Theresa Jeanette Scott
Evangelist, Author, Radio Producer/host

 

 

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When MY Faith Goes Against What Society Says

You know, honestly, as a Christian, I believe we are living in the last days. It’s 2015 and Right is Wrong while Wrong is Right. Many people are now openly coming against the Word of God and trying to make it of none affect. There are groups of individuals who tell us Christians that we aren’t to judge the behaviors or lifestyles of others, but rather accept those behaviors, even if they go against what God says in the Bible. The Christian is now the group of people to hate because we choose to stand on the Word of God. Now, granted, there are some who fall under the title “Christian” who do go around and belittle, harshly judge, taunt, and speak insultingly to those who don’t believe as we do. I don’t encourage that behavior because we are to love….show love…..be love, even when we don’t agree. Showing love does not mean that we accept or agree with the wrongdoings of those who go against what God says in the Bible, but love will allow us to speak to the people the way Jesus would so that they can be drawn – “Through Love and kindness have I drawn thee” – Jeremiah 31:3.

Some days, I cry out to God and ask, “God, when is Jesus coming back?” It’s all so heartbreaking but was spoken of many, many years ago. Let’s take a look at some Scriptures which speak to this truth:
1.  2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

2. Jude 1:18
They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”

3. Romans 1:21-32
²¹ Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

²³ And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

²⁴ Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

²⁵ Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

²⁶ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

²⁷ And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

²⁹ Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹ Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

³² Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Now let me say this:

I am an imperfect person living in an imperfect world but I don’t try to change the Word of God into something that will make me comfortable in my sin. I know what the Word of God says and implies, but there are those who are now taking the Bible and changing it into what the “world” wants it to say. Now, it’s okay for a person born a man to now be a woman. It’s now okay for a person born to be a woman to now be a man. Children are now making decisions to choose which gender they want to be and schools are now being forced to speak on subjects that are against God. We have teachers teaching about same sex relationships (my two dads/moms). This is now the new “normal”. We have teachers teaching about being transgendered, homosexual, bi-sexual, or whichever other gender title there is, while the Christian parent is being looked at as hateful, unloving and unkind because we don’t want our children to be taught that God is now okay with what He was once not okay with. The Christian is now taking the backlash because we want our children to appreciate and know that God ordained a man and a woman to be husband and wife and that it is still okay with God. The Christian is now deemed, “Judgmental” because we believe what we believe and choose to stand on our beliefs while the “world” is trying to FORCE us to accept the changes which are occurring.

Please understand me on this point, I don’t hate anybody. What the next person does with his/her body, life, is their business, but it becomes my business when they try to force me to accept or fall in line with what they believe. It’s funny to me, in some ways, because some of these same people don’t want us to force religion, Jesus, God, The Holy Spirit or the Bible on them. They don’t want us Christians to tell them about a loving God who will allow us to choose eternal damnation by denying HIM. They don’t want us Christians to pray in school, in public places, and some are even trying to prevent Christian from having church services, Bible study in their private homes. What? Seems like a double standard to me.

So I put the picture of the broken chain as a photo because I won’t be bound by what I believe to be against the Word of God – the Bible.

I expect to get backlash from people, including my son, (insider), but my beliefs are what they are. If I am wrong, God will deal with me.

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The Lust of Her Flesh is A Christian Fiction Romance about a woman, Sasha, who becomes entangled in a series of dramatic “love” relationships all because of her decision to follow the LUST OF HER FLESH. In her pursuit for love, Sasha sets her sights on getting “her man”. After all, she has been celibate for six years and now she feels that it’s her time to have her salacious needs met. Her desire to have the man of her dreams opens the door for drama that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.

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Live On. We Can’t Change The Past

NOW I have a better understanding of why things ARE

Instead of what I hoped them to be.

Sometimes we want what we want But I just want to be a loving family.

Nobody is to blame

And we can’t change the past

But what we CAN do now Is to walk in love

and make that last.

Maybe everything didn’t go right

In fact, to us, a lot went wrong

But what’s the point of singing

The “I wish it was different” song?

If things could have been different

I’m sure they would have been

But things were what they were

And all we can do now is keep livin.

Would I change the past, if I could?

My answer would be “Yes”

But I can’t, so I won’t fret

And I won’t live my life full of stress.

Because, if the truth be told

things could have been even worse.

Even though you may feel like

On your life there was a curse.

While you’re complaining about the past

Think on the things that were good.

Because things would have been different

Yes, Different if it could.

(A poem by T. J. Theresa Jeanette Scott 4-11-15)