A LACE HANDKERCHIEF

 

                    JUST A GIRL WHEN SHE MARRIED                      THE LACE HANDKERCHIEF ...

...IT WAS A TATTERED LACE HANKY

YELLOWED NOW WITH AGE,

SHE'D PLACED IT THERE IN HER BIBLE

THE REASON WRITTEN ON A CERTAIN PAGE.

SHE CARRIED IT TO CHURCH

IN HER BIBLE EVERY SUNDAY,

IT HAD BEEN GIVEN TO HER

BY HER HUSBAND RAY.

JUST A GIRL WHEN SHE MARRIED

BACK IN EIGHTEEN SIXTY-TWO,

SHE HAD BEEN SO HAPPY

AS THEY STOOD THERE SAYING "I DO."

THEN WAR CAME T0 THE SOUTH

RAY DECIDED TO GO AWAY,

HE LOOKED SO HANDSOME

RIDING ON HIS GRAY HORSE THAT DAY.

SHE WAS BARELY SIXTEEN

HE WAS SEVENTEEN - A MITE OLDER,

TOLD HIS DAD - HE'D PROTECT THE PLANTATION

HE WAS A REBEL - A BIT BOLDER.

SHE STOOD THERE ON THE STEPS

WISHING HE WOULD NOT GO,

SHE ASKED GOD TO WATCH OVER HIM

BRING HIM BACK HOME IN A MONTH OR SO.

SHE CRIED MOST EVERY NIGHT

USING THE HANKY TO DRY HER TEARS,

WHEN SHE HEARD THE WAGON COME

SHE KNEW THE ANSWER TO HER FEARS.

YES, WHEN RAY DID RETURN

THEY HAD TO PLACE HIM IN THE GROUND,

NEIGHBORS CAME FROM FAR AND NEAR

KINFOLKS GATHERED ALL AROUND.

NOW SHE WAS SAD AND ALONE

A YOUNG GIRL GROWING OLD,

THE VERSE IN THE BIBLE

THE SCRIPTURE MUST BE TOLD.

IN ECCLESIASTES THE BIBLE SAYS

"A TIME TO BE BORN AND A TIME TO DIE,"

GOD HAD CHOSEN THIS BRAVE YOUNG SOLDIER

SO NO USE FOR HER TO CONTINUE TO CRY.

RAY WANTED TO GO FIGHT THE YANKEES

MAKE THEM LEAVE THAT VERY DAY,

BUT WE ALL KNOW THE CIVIL WAR STORY

FOR TWO MORE YEARS THEY CONTINUED TO STAY.

SHE SLEPT WITH THAT SOILED HANKY

HER COMPANION EVERY NIGHT,

HER YOUNG HUSBAND HAD LEFT HER

FOR A CAUSE HE BELIEVED WAS RIGHT.

THIS ONCE LOVELY YOUNG LADY

HOLDING HER SWEETHEART'S HAND,

HAD TO GIVE HIM UP FOREVER

SHED HIS BLOOD FIGHTING FOR SOUTHERN LAND. 

EMILY IN NOW EIGHTY-TWO

SHE IS GROWING OLD,

SO WHEN SHE DEPARTS THIS LIFE

IN HER HAND THE HANKY SHE WILL HOLD. 

CELEBRITIES

REALITY TV CELEBRITIES

1 Chronicles 5:24-25

New International Version (NIV)

Imagine you’re chosen to be on a reality television show, and on the show you get to trade lives with another person for a month. Whose life would you want? Be honest! Would it be someone famous? Someone wealthy? Someone with a hunky husband?

Let’s get to the heart of it. What do you envy about someone else? What does your choice reveal about what’s most important to you? The men from Manesseh were Israel’s celebrities-famous, brave and powerful. But they weren’t faithful to God.

When it comes down to it, which do you admire more in a person-fame or faithfulness?

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Director/Screen Writer/Producer/Lyricist

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

KORRY SYNOPSIS

HE’S NOT A CHRISTIAN, BUT _

 

_HE’S A GREAT GUY

DO NOT BE YOKED TOGETHER WITH UNBELIEVERS. FOR WHAT DO RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WICKEDNESS HAVE IN COMMON? OR WHAT FELLOWSHIP CAN LIGHT HAVE WITH DARKNESS?  2 Corinthians 6:14

DO YOU BELIEVE love stories like Isaac and Rebekah’s can happen? Two who aren’t even from the same country brought together by God’s hand. But oh, the things we’re willing to believe in the midst of a man – drought. When the phone isn’t ringing because no one’s calling. When we spend another Valentine’s Day with the cat. 

There’s a 'certain age,' you know, past which all of our mother’s friends believe the odds for us finding the man of our dreams plummer. Add to the mix the complication of a Christian woman looking for a Christian man – and the situation becomes even more discouraging. We begin to convince ourselves that we somehow missed God’s best. Maybe that’s the problem. We just weren’t open before – our standards were too high. 

And so, now we’re not being desperate; we’re being open. Unfortunately, that’s when we begin to rationalize whatever we want to fit the ideal.

He’s not super-spiritual, but show me a man who is.

He has such great potential-he needs someone

like me to encourage him.

It’s important to note that we won’t change God’s mind, even though we can list all sorts of factors in favor of our decision to marry outside of our convictions. The Bible’s warning not to marry a non-Christian is very clear (2 Cor. 6:14). Think about it. How will you celebrate Christmas and Easter? Or discipline your children? Will he mind if you’re gone for part of every Sunday? How do you feel about having a quiet time alone? The issues range from minor to major.

If you’re single and lonely, God knows it. If you’re approaching a certain age, God knows how old you are. And he is not worried. The important thing is not to be married…it’s to be married to the right person. And God can bring that person unexpectedly, just as he did for Isaac and Rebekah. Feelings and emotions can be disastrously misleading in this area. That’s why we must hold onto God’s Word, not a wish list, and let God dictate our decision whether to marry someone.

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Director/Screen Writer/Producer/Lyricist

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

BOY WILL BE BOYS

THE LORD REWARDS EVERY MAN FOR
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND FAITHFULNESS

1 SAMUEL 26:23

"My dream for every married man is that his wife, regardless of her age, is the most beautiful woman in his eyes, because she is the only woman in his eyes caused by the candles on his fiftieth anniversary cake reflect a man who has remained pure throughout his marriage, and that someday (whether married or not) that man will face Christ unashamed and hear the words, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.' "

"MEN WILL BE MEN" is a lame excuse, so don’t buy it or enable it. If your boyfriend treats you with disrespect don’t expect him to change on his own. As hard as it may feel to break off the relationship, it’s better to be alone and waiting for a good man than to be with a man who doesn’t respect you. You have immense worth in God’s eyes, so be courageous, like Esther.

Whenever you are tempted to believe that you don’t deserve love and faithfulness in your relationship, stop and remember your WORTH.

W-         Women and men have the same Biblical standard: faithfulness. Expecting a man to be faithful in a love relationship is a reasonable request.

O-         Only God can change your man and your relationship. Your nagging or wishful thinking isn’t going to work. Pray, live, respectfully and let God deal with your husband (see 1 Peter 3:1-2).

R-      Raise the bar. Sometime we confuse our self-worth with how others treat us. Instead of lowering the bar of expectations, taking what you can get in the love department, know that you are worthy of extravagant love-the kind of love that motivated Jesus to die for you.

T-    Tell yourself that your identity in Christ make you his precious, prized possession. Because you are created in his image and you belong to him, you deserve love, respect and honor.

H-      He is faithful. God sees. Do what’s right, regardless of what your husband does, and entrust yourself to God to make things right in the end (see 1 Peter 2:23)

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Director/Screen Writer

/Producer/Lyricist

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

PRAY THROUGH THE PAIN

Our hearts may be heavy
Our pain may be deep
We may feel lost
We may feel weak
Storms may arise
And take us by surprise
But in all storms of life 

We pray to maintain our light
We pray when life takes us on a different course
We pray when all hope is lost
We pray through our fears
We pray to cleanse our tears
We pray to comfort us through the sorrow

We pray for strength
We pray for understanding
We pray to trust

We pray when the storm is receding
We pray to be thankful for the healing
We pray to be covered by HIS love
We pray to be survived by HIS blood_

Through the tribulations, the trials, and tears
We constantly stumble, and wonder why we’re still here
We’re almost there, but the relief for our grief, we don’t know where

We don’t know when, when it will cease, constantly combating the belly of the beast_

That we’re emotionally, physically, and mentally fighting
Through every heartache, stain, sweat and tear
We’re looking for the footprint moment, but it does not seem to be there_

That we feel we’re carrying ourselves and taking our own weight

That God doesn’t seem to be around, as we’re absorbing hate

That we’re straining, we’re struggling with our emotions
That we’re tempted to lose hope towards our devotion
Why has this come our way, why has this come today
And why won’t this go away, God where you at, why this delay?

We don’t know…..we don’t understand……we don’t see
We simply don’t see the reason why trails affect you and me
We don’t know what else to say, but through every storm

Through these storm..
Through our storm..
The best thing to do is to let go and pray

Just pray

God has been with us all this time, and the only delay
Is us unwilling to let go
And allowing God to has his way
Just pray……pray…..we need to pray

He will provide all of the comfort we needAnd eventually that storm will recede

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Director/Screen Writer/Producer/Lyricist

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

CONFLICT

CONFLICT

So Abram said to lot, "Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relative."

As we continue our lessons from Moses' first book of the five Pentateuch which means "five books," we learn a lesson from Lot and Abram. Genesis 11:1-9 tells us that the 'quarreling' arose between the two close relatives was quashed by what?  Could it be simple reasoning…such as enough for us both? Let’s find out.

QUESTION: Gen.13:1-12 Suppose we do find ourselves going head-to-head with a coworker, a friend or our husband/wife? Hmmm, some would advise: "Fight to get what’s yours, to get what you deserve." But Abram demonstrates another way. It’s the way of peace. This way involves looking out for the other person’s interests, and not just our own. It forces us to remember that everything in this world belongs to God. He’ll make sure we get all that we need and more, so we can_

_quit fighting for our "right to get what’s yours,
to get what you deserve."

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Director/Writer/Producer/Lyricist

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

www.biblestoriestheatre.org