Christmas is coming!

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To order, click "Subscribe" on the sidebar of this page or e-mail shelly@shellyburke.net. The gift recipient will receive a gift card indicating your gift and you AND the recipient will receive a "Words to Live By" verse card for 2013.

Election Results

By Shelly Burke, Editor

How do you feel about the election? Are you happy? Disappointed? Fearful of the future? I’ve always been humbled by how the words of the Bible apply to ANY situation and today I realized that that includes presidential elections.

Here is what I found:

God instructs us to pray for our leaders:

                “…I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions…”

                                1 Timothy 2:1-2

God does not want us to fear:

                “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.”

                                2 Timothy 1:7

                “For the righteous…is not afraid of bad news: his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”

                                Psalm 112:7

God wants us to be faithful to Him:

                “So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”

                                Deuteronomy 5:32-33

“Blessed is man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.”

                James 1:12

God hears our prayers—even if He does not answer them as we want them to be answered:

                “Give ear to my words, o Lord;

                consider my groaning.

                Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God,

for to You do I pray.”

                Psalm 5:1-2

God has a plan for those who love Him:

                “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, who God has prepared for those who love Him.”

                                1 Corinthians 2:9

                “And now, o Lord, for what do I wait? My hope in in You.”

                                Psalm 39:7

God gives us hope:

                “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope.”

                                Romans 15:13

I urge you to study these verses. They apply to the results of the election and to so many other circumstances.

Thank You, Lord, for Your wise words that we can depend on for guidance, direction, encouragement, and reassurance. Amen.

(I’m also blogging at www.achristianmomsguide.blogspot.com.

Today you can read my thoughts about this quote: “Enjoy the little things in life,

 for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”) 

Giving Thanks

By Shelly Burke, Editor and Publisher, Nebraska Family Times

Since Thanksgiving is in November, I’ve decided to make November the month of “giving thanks.”

(Google Images)

The Bible commands us to be thankful; Psalm 106:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” This command is repeated in Psalm 107:1 and 136:1. The Bible also tells us that we should be “always giving thanks…for everything.” (Ephesians 5:20) and that we should “…give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thess. 5:18).

One way to be conscious of giving thanks is to keep a Gratitude Journal. Research has shown that people who keep a Gratitude Journal feel overall more optimistic than people who do not. And “attitude of gratitude” has been linked to better sleep, a decrease in anxiety, better overall health, and higher satisfaction with life in general.

Today I am so thankful for my friends. When I think about friends, I categorize them as to how I know them: I have church friends, cattle-show friends, Genoa friends, Columbus friends, friends from the small business group I belong to, college friends…each group of friends is unique. Today I had the opportunity to introduce a “church friend” and a “friend from our small business group.” It was fun to watch them get to know each other; I enjoy introducing friends from different parts of my life to each other, and watching them (hopefully!) become friends too.

Ecclesiastes tells us that “Two are better than one…for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow (friend).” (Eccles. 4:9). I’ve seen this many times during the last few years—when a friend experiences a crisis—illness, death in the family, or other problem, friends come quickly to “life up his (or her!) fellow.” I’m so thankful that my friends—friends of all “categories”-- have been there to lift me up during hard times in my life the last few months.

Today I thank God for you, friends! May He bless you all.

How have friends “lifted you up” during a difficult time in your life?

(I’m also blogging about things I’m thankful for in being a mom, at

www.achristianmomsguide.blogspot.com Click to see what I had to be

thankful for after I dropped a coconut on Morgan’s head!)