March 2023

14 Ways to Fight the Battle

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When I received the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Catholic Church in 6th grade, the nuns endlessly drilled into our heads that we were going to become “soldiers of Christ”.  What on earth did that mean to a 12 year old?  Not much.  Who knew those words would come back to haunt me years later as I watch this country falling apart.  I now literally am feeling called to be a “soldier of Christ”.  Not a task to be taken lightly.

There is a battle going on right now for the soul of America and the world.  It hits me in the face every day and I can’t NOT see it. This is not a battle between Democrats and Republicans, black or white, young or old.  It is between good and evil, darkness and light, tyranny and freedom.

It is a battle in the spiritual realm and on the surface we appear to be losing miserably.  Good thing God knows things we don’t and He has promised to prevail in the end, but how bad will it have to get? 

“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.”
Ephesians 6:12

I have never seen this more clearly in my lifetime than in these current days.

Sister Lucia, Fatima visionary, has predicted that the final battle will be over marriage and the family.  This is clearly an area that is being fiercely attacked today, from education to the entertainment industry.  So much is happening to tear down the family unit as God ordained it in His Word.  From the blatant disrespect for life, to marriage being between one man and one woman.  People these days can’t even define what a man or woman is!  Many churches are either silent or buying into the evil in the culture.  The family is the foundation on which everything is built.  The Bible warns us a house built on sand will not stand. (Matt. 7:24-27)

Revivals like at Asbury University are happening, which is promising, but will enough people wake up before it is too late?

Too many people are still asleep. “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather, expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.  Therefore it says:

Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead

and Christ will give you light.”

 Ephesians 5:11-14

So what, then, can the average person who is awake to all this evil and corruption, do?  First, we can try to help others wake up, even if we get flack for it or if they try to silence us.  Some of us will of course be able to do more than others, but we can no longer turn a blind eye to all the evil and corruption around us if we want to preserve this great country and our freedom, Constitution and God-given rights.

Below are 14 suggestions for things we can do to help take our country back. Hopefully these will inspire you with more ideas.

  1. Pray like crazy as if your life depended on it, because it does.  “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
  1. Know scripture.  God’s Word is truth.  The devil is a liar and word-twister.  Remember, even the devil can quote scripture as he did when Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days.
  1. If you have children, teach them the Bible and things of God.  Yes they will grow up and make their own choices, but at least the foundation is laid.
  1. Speak what you really believe and don’t censor yourself to be politically correct or follow the culture.  Refuse to use the redefined words the culture comes up with.  Tell things like they are; stop the pronouns! 
  1. Ignore anyone who calls you names such as conspiracy theorist, or whatever “-ist” or “-phobe” words the culture comes up with that are currently fashionable. 
  1. Support churches that aren’t following the culture.  These are getting harder to find.  Such as the ones that stayed open or didn’t bother you if you didn’t wear a mask during the pandemic.  Go into the ministry and follow God’s truth refusing to give in to the evils of the culture. 
  1. Speak with your dollar and shop less, or not at all, at businesses and entertainment venues that censor and support the woke agenda such as Amazon, Target, Disney, NFL, and many more.  There is a popular saying, “Go woke, go broke.”  Make sure of it.  I just came across the website publicsq.com where you can find businesses that support freedom, truth, the Constitution, and the family.
  1. Get off social media that censors and does not value freedom of speech, like Facebook.  There are alternatives starting up all the time such as Rumble, Gab, Telegram and Truth Social. I recently came across Godtube.com which has a variety of positive videos as an alternative to Youtube.
  1. Volunteer during elections.  We must make sure our elections are safe and secure, which they are not.  Support and protect the U.S. Constitution.  Vote for candidates that value life (the few there are).  Or run for office.
  1. Join your school boards.  Consider homeschooling or a faithful private school.  I went back to work and took my youngest out of the public school system when boys in the girls bathroom and locker rooms became an issue I was not willing to compromise on.
  1. Consider going to college to study history, political science, education or law and really make a commitment to fight the culture and woke agenda fearlessly. Hillsdale College in Michigan is one such place. They even have resources for K-12 classical education on their website. Join campus groups like a chapter of Turning Point USA and get involved.
  1. Form your own businesses, groups, websites, blogs, or become active in those that are leading the way. 
  1. Learn to grow your own food and become more self-sufficient.  Create new ways and systems of doing things like alternative health care and education.  Anything that won’t rely on government funding.
  1. And lastly, never become intimidated or apologize for the truth.

It is necessary to know your enemy before going into battle.  Our enemy is Satan and all his works.  He will try to silence us, have us back down, make us feel hopeless and give up.  Don’t let him!!  Put on your spiritual armor!

Chapter 6 in Ephesians continues: 

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground…. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith…. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (verses 13-17, NIV)

This is not a time to be silent.  Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.  This is what happened in Germany during WWII. Eric Metaxas has written a timely book, Letter to the American Church, which is now also a film.  The way to defeat Satan is to know scripture, but more importantly, to live it.  We need to be courageous and fearless in the face of evil.

The battle belongs to the Lord.  He will take care of things or issue punishment where it is deserved. Christ will triumph in the end.  But we must be aware that our actions and the seeds we sow today can save ourselves and future generations a lot of suffering tomorrow.  

The battle belongs to the Lord.  The victory is won.  But He calls us to take up the fight.

More Resources:

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

no reason to hide by Erwin W. Lutzer

https://nypost.com/2021/01/31/10-ways-to-fight-back-against-woke-culture/

https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/the-saint-michael-prayer.html

Interview with Eric Metaxas on Daystar.tv: https://daystar.tv/player/33568/528934

Nothing Else

I just want to lay at Your feet
and absorb Your love, O Lord
for I am weary of this world
and long to find rest
in You. 
   
                                                                                                 12-21-2022 WordNerd

That is the cry of my heart.  At least it was during Christmastime when life was busy and filled with visiting children and a dog.  My previous, fairly solitudinous life, shattered for a while.

However, that longing has been fairly constant for me regardless of busyness.  What is the cry of our heart?  Humans throughout the ages wrestle with this.  A yearning for something better, something more perfect, that which completes us.

Sometimes I am just so sick of this world and all the evil in it and what seems to be so few willing to fight for what is right, no matter the cost.  I can relate to St. Faustina’s words in her Diary, entry 867, “O Jesus, what a dreadful wilderness this life seems to me!  There is no nourishment for either my heart or my soul.  I suffer because of my longing for You, O Lord.”

In all of this mental and spiritual anguish, I come to realize that nothing else really matters but Jesus.  Eternal life is the reward I seek and everything else pales in comparison.  That is often my reality even though it may sound depressing to some. 

It’s difficult to describe, but sometimes it is as if everything dims and fades and swirls into a blur around me and there’s only Jesus.  Kind of like the swirling galaxy in the photo above.

Nothing in this world seems to really matter because our life on earth is temporary.  Each one of us is a tiny speck in time.  Everything is changing.  Everything will pass away.  But it will be okay because….Jesus.  What else in this world can give the same depth of contentment?

So in the meantime, this is our temporary home and we are just visitors passing through and all the earthly stuff of our lives is being crammed into a weathered suitcase, about to burst, which we won’t even need in the life to come.  But I am consoled because God will triumph in the end.

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator made known through Jesus.”  Wise words attributed to Blaise Pascal.

This Lent, and every day, perhaps we can come to better know this Jesus.

We can go before the cross and lay down our stuff, throw down our vices, read the Bible to learn who Jesus is, receive the Sacraments, and most importantly, just take time to lay at His feet and absorb His infinite mercy and love.  Because in Him we live…eternally.  There is nothing else.

The Power of Laundry

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I bought a sign for my laundry area at the dollar store recently that reads, “Laundry, sorting out life one load at a time.”  It just spoke to me so I didn’t think twice about grabbing it.  Words of wisdom found at the dollar store!  Hooray!  Laundry truly is a lot like life, isn’t it?  

Don’t we all have many loads at a time to deal with, whether it be laundry or life’s burdens? Don’t we sometimes feel like “throwing in the towel”? (Which would just create more laundry.)

Perhaps sometimes we feel like we are on the spin cycle.  Everything is too much.  We feel like we are getting tossed about, everything moving too fast.  Our lives and minds spinning out of control.  Where is the stop button??  Pull out the plug! 

We have all had times like that.  I feel dizzy just thinking about it.

In life, as with laundry, we have to sort things out.  There are decisions to be made.  Big things like where to work, where to live, how to treat an illness, as well as all the little things on our to-do list, such as what to make for dinner.  So it is with laundry, we must sort the colors or they bleed and we end up with a big, ugly mess, a heap of ruin.  Not looking at all like what we had wanted or hoped.

Mom Moment when
college kids return
home for Christmas.

We wash one load at a time and then it is clean (and maybe put away) but there will always be another load to take its place.  One thing you can be sure of, laundry is certain to pile up again, a healthy sign of life lived.  Laundry doesn’t disappoint, it always returns, like a dear and loyal friend. 

My son played baseball for many years.  I would dread washing his baseball uniform as there were always grass stains to deal with.  I had to find the right stain remover and scrub and scrub and hope for the best.  Life, too, will stain us.  We need to try to scrub away our bad habits and failings. As humans, we all carry the stain of sin.  But Jesus, our Savior, has bled for us and will wash us clean if we ask.  “If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong-doing.”  (I John 1:9)

Picture the laundry rinse cycle or standing in a refreshing downpour, drenching us and cleansing us.  I have a Precious Moments picture I stitched in my bathroom that says, “He cleansed my soul”.   O how sweet it is.  “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”  (Psalm 51:1-2)  Also words the priest prays during Catholic mass.

Laundry also has to get hung up or dried.  Life often hangs us up. Time passes, clothes become out of style or worn and so do we.  We get wrinkled, physically and figuratively.  We may have to iron out the wrinkles now and then.  Hopefully we won’t get put away like the clothes, or left in a forgotten heap.  

Personally, I don’t mind doing laundry.  Menial tasks are the stuff of ordinary life with their own rhythm and flow.  Plus they are great procrastination tools.   Nothing like vacuuming when I am putting off something else.  But I must admit I was glad when all of my kids were away at college doing their own laundry.  Sorting out the fabric and colors of their own lives.  It is no longer my job. 

In doing a bit of research on laundry, I came across a business called “Life Without Laundry”.   At the top of the website they ask, “Can you imagine a Life Without Laundry?” and then they list services for pick up, delivery, etc. so that you don’t ever have to do your own laundry.

My answer to that is “no thank you”!  I can’t imagine a life without laundry. 

I prefer not to hand over my dirty laundry to someone else.  I will deal with my own loads and relish every minute.  The dirty and the clean.  The wet and the wrinkled.  It is part of my cleansing journey.  It is my load to carry and mine alone.  No one else knows how to sort out the fabric of my life. 

So my advice is to appreciate those loads of laundry piling up, for you never know what treasures you may find.  People have been known to find money in their pockets they have forgotten about. My son once got a new phone because I washed and ruined the one he left in his pants pocket!

I think I will go hunt down some laundry now!  What about you?

Here’s a snippet of inspo I found along the way:

https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/liturgical-year/lent/ash-wednesday/life-laundry/

Wait!  There’s more!  Here are some tips for your laundry day pleasure!

https://tide.com/en-us/how-to-wash-clothes/how-to-remove-stains

https://assets.ctfassets.net/ajjw8wywicb3/1nid5bL6SmTJiy0ACpJZ9c/66ab4c2f45f25d8e5171c90205f79cb0/Tide-Your-Guide-to-Decoding-Laundry-Symbols.pdf

God’s Healing

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“And even though I’m walking through the valley of the shadow

I will hold tight to the hand of Him Whose love will comfort me

And when all hope is gone and I’ve been wounded in the battle

He is all the strength that I will ever need. He will carry me.”

lyrics from “He Will Carry Me” by Mark Schultz

We’ve all experienced brokenness of some sort in our lives, from the loss of a loved one, to missed opportunities, to the little disappointments in each day.  Sometimes it hurts so bad we think we will never recover.  But our brokenness opens a place for Christ to enter.  We enter into His suffering and His becoming bread broken for us.  And sometimes then we, in turn, can go out and help heal a broken world.  

In Christ we have hope and healing.  We will survive.  There is a resurrection.  Let us rest in the security only He can provide.  Like a child feels safe in the arms of its mother.  He is there embracing us, loving us, carrying us.  What more could we ever want?

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