Inspiration and Encouragement - April Lorier Inspirational Christian author April Lorier on international womens issues, spiritual growth, abuse, divorce, parenting, depression, relationships, emotional healing and encouragement for women worldwide. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 23 1154

Articles from Inspiration and Encouragement - April Lorier

Eulogy for Common Sense 2008-02-08 13:17:00 Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, why life isn't always fair, and how, on occasion, maybe it was my fault.Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned, but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job ...

Character Molding - Backwards Philosophy Insight 2008-02-07 21:14:00 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Jeremiah 18:4 NIV I had just brought my pottery class friend to a saving knowledge of Christ the week before and, to inspire me, she hand-weaved an elegant ceramic breadbasket for me. "Read the inscription," she said, beaming with obvious satisfaction. What you ARE is God's gift to you; what you BECOME is your gift to God. It was a popular quote at the time, and meant to be encouraging. I was familiar with it, but it bugged me to distraction. It seemed such a little thing; but later, as I stared at the message, it dawned on me that while the message was meant to inspire me to be all I could be, it was contrary to scripture: it was backwards! What I was -- a self-centered traveler on the wrong road -- was my gift to God. When I came to Him all I could bring was my sinful nature and my past mistakes. Any efforts to be good enough were ...

Touched by Encouragement: Martha Williamson is BACK! 2008-02-05 16:12:00 She was one of the few bright spots of my week for more than ten years. As executive producer of Touched by an Angel for nine years, Martha Williamson brought a consistent message of God exists, God loves you, God is only as far away as your heart keeps him away.Already a veteran a television through such shows as The Facts of Life, Under One Roof, Jack’s Place and Promised Land (the spin off series from Touched by an Angel), Martha Williamson brought more than 25 million viewers to their television sets each Sunday night on CBS. From 1994 through 2003 she was what I looked forward to on television. For three of those years (2000 through 2003) she also produced Promised Land, another highly successful show for CBS. I loved that show, as well. Both shows were blatantly Gospel, encouraging and inspiring to millions of viewers. Her life was going at 110 miles per hour for those nine years, and then with the cancellation of both shows, her life came to an abrupt stand still. But she ...

The Gift of The Fear of God 2008-02-03 12:34:00 Today I am thinking about Joseph, one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Just like Jesus, Joseph was so much like his father, Jacob. And the similarities between Joseph and Jesus are amazing to me. In fact, most scholars believe Joseph is an archetype of Jesus.Joseph occupies a very important place in Rabbinical literature, and no patriarch was the subject of so many Midrashic narratives. Rachel, his mother was visited by the Lord on Rosh ha-Shanah (Talmud). Joseph is represented as a perfectly righteous man (tzadik gamur) and as the counterpart of his father; not only did Joseph resemble his father in appearance and in having been born circumcised, but the main incidents of their lives were parallel.Both were born after their mothers had been barren for a long time; and both were hated by their brothers; both were met by angels at various times. Joseph is extolled by the Rabbis for being well versed in the Torah, for being a prophet, and for supporting his brothers. According to ...

Focus: I Can Do All Things 2008-02-02 22:28:00 Today I am struck with the importance of staying focused. This world is so noisy and I have "musician's ears" (great hearing! It is getting harder and harder to focus on what is really important. My health, the budgeting of my time and concentration, and loving relationships. But most of all, I have been impressed of the importance of keeping my vision pointing upward instead of concentrating on what is going on around me.Peter (Jesus' disciple) was successful walking on the water as long as He kept his eyes on Jesus. But once he looked down at the water, he was a goner. When he took His eyes off of Jesus, he lost His inspiration, encouragement, and belief.Today I am taking my eyes off of the water and focused on my Source. Life is just too hard when I see all the problems instead of the sufficiency of Christ. I know I can, indeed, do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. The trick is keeping my eyes on Him. I can't lose the encouragement He gives.2008 April Lorier ...

How To Analyze Your Own Handwriting 2008-01-31 17:01:00 As I've mentioned in earlier writing, I studied handwriting analysis for quite a few years. It's fun! It's informative! But it can also be dangerous if you decide to analyze your friend's handwriting and tell her/him all the negative qualities you see! So be careful with this "little bit of knowledge" contained in this article! It's not worth losing a friend over, that's for sure. Analyze your own handwriting. Graphology (handwriting analysis) is like analyzing body language, only it's looking at your handwriting samples. The analyst takes a combination of strokes, slants, pressures, rhythms, and patterns in your handwriting. Then the analyst comes to a conclusion based on the combination (or patterns). But if you know just a little, you can figure out what you are projecting to the world through your own handwriting. Here is some fun information to get you started as you look at handwriting you have already done. (Otherwise, you'll be influenced by your new knowledge and writ ...

Grandma's Angels Watching Over Me 2008-01-31 00:03:00 I can't think of a more inappropriate place to receive the news. Standing in a loud, smoke-filled casino, obsessively feeding money into the one-armed bandits, hope to leave Las Vegas and return to California as the richest twenty-six year old lady of 1970. I laugh as I watch Little Richard swish past me in his Elizabeth Arden make-up and uni-sex ruffled tuxedo. And then I hear myself being paged over the p.a. system. Mother, from her phone in El Paso, has summoned the State Highway Patrol in Nevada to track me down and give me the news. She wants me to know--right away--she has lost her mother-in-law. I feel tentacles of fear seize my stomach. She has lost only a mother-in-law. I have lost the only woman who ever understood me -- The only woman who touched me with tenderness. I have lost my trusted connection to God, and, quite possibly, the Angels Watching Over Me. As I hold the phone in my hand, I am only half-aware of Mother's non-stop voice. My mind travels back to a s ...

Is There Anyone of My House He Can Bless? 2008-01-30 23:34:00 Winner of SearchWarp.com Writer AwardMama felt as if her life was over when Daddy dropped dead at the age of 46. What was her role if she couldn't be a pastor's wife anymore?But, in true form, she persevered, carving out a ministry for herself in the poorest areas of El Paso, Texas, though she spoke no Spanish.Decked out in her fuzzy slippers, she went door-to-door, inviting prostitutes and drug addicts to Sunday Morning Worship Service at the Spanish-speaking church where she was pianist.She was a sight to behold in her already-wrecked 1978 Dodge two-door coupe. Designed to fit five comfortably, it often arrived at the church with a dozen people cramped like sardines. Mama would yell, "Skinny ones have to sit on the laps of the fatter ones!"No one knows how many people Mama brought to Jesus, but in 1995, I had a good idea when I spoke at her funeral. Even before I arrived in El Paso, people were calling me at my home in California to tell me how their lives had been changed because ...

Families: Only God Can Make A Tree 2008-01-30 23:25:00 I have not met anyone who has not experienced violence or loss within their family tree. And yet the tree survives! This poem is dedicated to all those family members who keep on loving, helping, and praying for their members. God will grow your tree! 1994 Winner of Inspirational Poetry Award from Texas Poets Society (Dallas)Our Battered Family Tree How wide our tree, how deep its roots! We have known neglect, drought, floods, tornado's efforts to uproot us, steel blades' attempts to chop us down, and still, we stand! Long ago--whether deliberate or accidental, I do not know--we were planted in the soil, warmed and scorched by the sun, refreshed by God's rains. Birds built nests of life in our branches. Critters brought seeds from other trees and dropped them in our soil. Branches were grafted in, adding to our divergent foliage, while others, damaged, fell to the ground. Soon we bore not only nuts and berries, but succulent fruits and prickly ...

My Morning Choice in the Quiet 2008-01-30 23:16:00 It's quiet. It's early. My coffee is hot. The world is waking up. The day is coming. In a few moments the day will be as bright as this east window. The stillness of the morning will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of the solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met.For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day's demands. It is now that I must make a choice.Because of Calvary, I'm free to choose. And so I choose.I CHOOSE LOVE!No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and love what God loves.I CHOOSE JOY!I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical...the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see Go ...

Releasing Your Prodigal Child To God 2008-01-30 23:14:00 It takes every ounce of fiber in you to refrain from intervening. You must be willing to let go of her as she self-destructs because it's what she wants. Out of love for her, you behave in the very manner that is so repugnant to you: you do nothing. For eighteen years it has been your responsibility to do: with her, for her, because of her. Your duty, as you perceived it, was to stay involved in her life. Your duty, now, as she perceives it, is to stay out of her life.When did it all begin to change? When did she suddenly decide that she didn't need the very mother to whom she used to cling? That child that would rather die than hurt her mother-- where is she now?You wonder if you held her too closely. You doubt your judgment in telling her how special she was: maybe it was too much for her to live up to. Loneliness covers you like gauze as you wonder who it is she tells her secret dreams to. You hope she still has dreams.You think you must have felt it coming: that time when you wou ...

Meaning of Life: A New Thing! 2008-01-30 23:09:00 (Winner of SearchWarp.com Writers' Contest 2007) When I came to Jesus whole-heartedly, it was at the age of thirty. I had made a mess of my life and from the bottom I reached out to the same Jesus I had known and loved at the age of six. I knew I had no one else to turn to but Jesus. And, true to His character, He met me at my point of need.I soaked up the peace and joy He gave like a parched desert plant welcomes refreshing rain. I hungered for His Word to the exclusion of all else in life, and scriptures I had memorized as a child began to take on whole new meanings for me. It was a honeymoon I'll never forget, and my Groom was generous with grace, mercy, and need-fulfillment.As happens with all honeymoons, the cares of life began to creep in, and I began to grieve over my wasteland past. What bothered me the most was that I had known Jesus, accepted Him as my Savior, and then through the years had distanced myself from Him and His children. Sure, I had been hurt by family members ...

Attitude-Changing Prayer: Looking at Hannah 2008-01-30 17:44:00 Who was Hannah and why is her prayer important? Hannah was a barren woman in a time when not only the wife's worth, but the husband’s esteem was measured by how many sons they had. She was the wife of Elkanah, a man who had two wives. Because Hannah was barren, he took a second wife, Peninnah, who bore four sons. Hannah was treated contemptuously by Penninah because of her barrenness. Penninah jeered and mocked Hannah relentlessly until Hannah could not even eat. It was not long before Hannah became, in her own words, bitter of soul. But she believed God answered fervent prayer! So in I Samuel 1:10-11 we read her prayer: In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." Sure enough, that night God ...

Christ First, Music Second - Phil Keaggy 2008-01-29 16:18:00 I have always loved acoustic guitar music, especially if the artist knows the intricacies of complex melodic harmonies. Phil Keaggy is one of the top guitarists in the world, and has recorded over fifty albums. He’s a musical genius who is unbelievably humble. I was blessed to watch an interview with him today and it made me remember why I love music. It also made my spirit soar to hear him say, I was 100% musician, and then when I was born again, I belonged to Jesus before I belonged to my guitar. I feel, you can have Jesus without music and have peace. Conversely, if your music is without the Lord, your life, in my opinion, goes nowhere. Talking specifically about his instrumental albums, he said, I’ve done a couple instrumental albums. One is still waiting in the wings, and this one, The Song Within. It has a lot of flavors of the Master and the Musician. There’s a thread that’s been woven throughout all the years, a melodic thread, and I think it comes from the same heart ...

With Love for Clarissa 2008-01-28 22:36:00 This is the way it goes, honey. Hold him close and enjoy every second. Soon he'll be a man! You were six months old and full of fun. With a blink of my eye you suddenly were one. There were so many things we were going to do, But I turned my head and you turned two.At two you were very dependent on me, But independence took over when you turned three. Your third birthday, another year I tried to ignore, But when I lit the candles, there weren't three, but four.Four was the year that you really strived, Why look at you now, you're already five. Now you are ready for books and rules. This is the year you go to school.The big day came; you were anxious to go. We walked to the bus going oh, so slow. As you climbed aboard and waved goodbye, I felt a lump in my throat and tears stung my eyes.Time goes so fast, it's hard to believe That just yesterday, you were home here, with me. And tomorrow when the bus brings you home and you jump to the ground, You'll ...