Hello, my name is Dreyma! (Or at least, that is the alias I typically use online.)

I graduated from college last year with an education degree, and now I'm teaching English to high-school students at a small public school in a rural area. This is my first time working in a profession and my first time living away from parents, so it's been quite the adjustment.

I'm here because I spend too much time chatting in online communities that draw me away from Christ instead of towards him. I thought this might be a good substitute, a place that could strengthen my faith instead of making me feel ashamed or uncertain of it.

(I just need to make sure that I don't use conversations here as another excuse to procrastinate chores and lesson planning and grading...)

Please pray that my son Jakeb didn't get food poisoning and he feels better fast. Oh please Dear God don't let him be sick!!! Oh please Dear God! I ask in the name of Jesus!! Amen God bless you. Carmen

Reports identified the suspect as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who is said to have entered the country in 2021 during the Biden administration. Little is known about Lakanwal, who reportedly used a handgun in the shooting. He reportedly entered the United States as part of former president Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome in the wake of the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
President Trump gave a speech about the terror attack, where he spoke of lifting up our prayers to those shot and their families. He spoke of the "20 million unknown and un-vetted foreigners" let in by the Biden administration, and renewed efforts to stop such actions of terror by stepping up the investigation of these people.

I worked in DC near the White House and am praying God will protect all the law enforcers that are there and heal the wounded men who were shot by the man from Afghanistan. Please join me in prayer.

What do people make of the soul of Mr. Putin who I'd currently say is the most evil person on the planet given he is holding some many cards. Here we are on this planet & we the people as imperfect as we are can never seem to get rid of these tyrants. The ebb & flow of death in all these wars on the globe not to mention the passing away of regular human beings, just disappearing from our lives forever.

'Satan's going to come after you'

Screenwriter Randall Wallace, who has worked with actor and director Mel Gibson on some of his major films, including "The Passion of the Christ," revealed during a recent interview that Gibson's upcoming two-part movie about the Resurrection emerged from a conversation the two had about the Protestant emphasis on Christ conquering death.

"We were having dinner one night, just the two of us in Dallas, and I said, 'You know, the thing we need to do is the Resurrection,'" Wallace said on the "Verité Vision" podcast that aired Tuesday.

“It's an interesting thing. Catholic friends have said, and I don't want to over-characterize anyone's particular practice, but in Catholicism, there's much more emphasis on the Crucifixion, on the Passion. One Catholic friend of mine said we almost never talk about the Resurrection," he said.

Continued below.

Not much is known yet. Thoughts and prayers, for whatever that is worth.

Name one thing you are thankful for this year

A pastor has been arrested for helping a woman hide a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run that killed a man in Texas. Authorities say the woman was a passenger in the vehicle driven by a man who fled the scene after the crash.

The Conroe Police Department said the crash happened shortly after 7 p.m. on Nov. 9 in the 200 block of North Loop 336 East, where 46-year-old Brett Wilborn was struck and killed while crossing the road, according to KTRK. Investigators reportedly said he was first hit by a dark-colored SUV that fled, then by a second vehicle whose driver remained at the scene and called 911.

Police officers who arrived at the scene found Wilborn lying in the main lanes of traffic. The Traffic Incident Reconstruction Unit responded along with patrol officers, the Crime Scene Unit and representatives from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Woodlands Online reported.

Continued below.

ICE arrests woman with family connection to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt -
ABC News ICE arrests woman with family connection to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt

U.S. immigration authorities have detained a woman who is the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew, according to a source familiar with the arrest.

The White House declined to comment.

My father is currently a prisoner at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

He would like to establish an email connection between himself and his brother Robert, who lives in Florida.

Could he use the CorrLinks system to communicate with his sibling?

Note, my father is not in a federal prison.

Could you please explain the exact steps that my father and his brother would need to take, in order to establish a connection through CorrLinks?

Thank You

My father is currently a prisoner at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

He would like to establish an email connection between himself and his brother Robert, who lives in Florida.

Could he use the CorrLinks system to communicate with his sibling?

Note, my father is not in a federal prison.

Could you please explain the exact steps that my father and his brother would need to take, in order to establish a connection through CorrLinks?

Thank You

Another "shoot ourselves in the foot" move by this administration. Imagine if you were to visit Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. "You're not Canadian, that will be an additional $100 to enter the park."

The National Park Service said Tuesday it is going to start charging the millions of international tourists who visit U.S. parks each year an extra $100 to enter some of the most popular sites, while leaving them out of fee-free days that will be reserved for American residents.

The fee change will impact 11 national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

As part of the changes, which are set to take effect Jan. 1, foreign tourists will also see their annual parks pass price jump to $250, while U.S. residents will continue to be charged $80, according to the department's statement.

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/26/g-s1-99442/national-parks-fees-international-tourists

What happens when we separate God’s law from His Gospel in the name of political neutrality? If you’ve been paying attention to Evangelical discourse recently, you’ve likely encountered what’s now called “Third Wayism” — a term for the modern Evangelical approach to political and cultural engagement without the baggage of moral or political absolutism.

The premise sounds reasonable enough on the surface: Occupy a middle ground between the Left vs. Right culture war, avoiding strong alignment with either major political party, platform, or group.

Proponents claim they’re simply being “winsome” and “balanced” — rising above tribalism and transcending versus trendsetting in order to proclaim a pure Gospel untainted by political entanglements.

Third Wayism often sounds like this: “Jesus is neither right nor left.” Or “Jesus wasn’t an elephant or a donkey. but the Lamb.” Or “Jesus would be too liberal for conservatives and too conservative for liberals.”

That’s true enough, but is that all that needs to be said about our cultural and political divide? What actually happening here? Third Wayism has become a Trojan horse for laundering progressive ideas into the Evangelical churches under the guise of neutrality.

It’s a form of bait-and-switch theological liberalism that prioritizes cultural accommodation over biblical faithfulness. And while Third Way advocates claim to critique extremes on both sides, their focus disproportionately critiques conservatives while blindly ignoring radical leftist policies like sexual indoctrination in schools, transing our youth, leftist political violence, mass illegal immigration, socialism and government theft, and a host of other issues.

Continued below.

The Roman Catholic Church is defending marriage as a union between one man and one woman amid concerns about polygamy and polyamory, and increased acceptance of same-sex relationships.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a Doctrinal Noteon the Value of Marriage as an Exclusive Union and Mutual Belonging on Tuesday. The document, authored by the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez and approved by Pope Leo XIV, comes as the Catholic Church’s African bishops are seeking to stop the spread of polygamy on the continent.

Continued below.

When the Scriptures were originally written, they did not have chapters and verses. Those were added much later to help us readers navigate through the Scriptures and to be able to locate particular passages of Scripture. So, when you see a sentence begin with “therefore,” you should look back to see what it is there for, I have always been taught. So this is in reference to the saints of old who were commended for their faith in chapter 11. They did not all live perfect lives, but they all were honored for their faith at some time.

But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin. We who believe in Jesus Christ were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands. So we are to lay aside the deeds of the flesh and all hindrances to our walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, and we are to die to sin daily, for sin must no longer be our practice.

And then we can “run with endurance the race that is set before us,” i.e. we can live according to God’s calling upon each of our lives to die to sin, to obey his commands, and to follow our Lord wherever he leads us in surrender to his will and purpose for our lives, all in his power and wisdom. We can live for our Lord in doing his will when, by faith in him, we put aside our former lives of living in sin so that we can now serve our Lord in obedience to his commands in being who he desires us to become.

But this is not something we can do in our own flesh of our own willpower. We can only live for our Lord as we surrender our lives to him and we depend upon his strength and wisdom to get us through every day. And if our eyes are fixed on Jesus, that means that our minds, hearts, and attitudes are centered in our Lord and in his will for our lives, and we are now following his leading in our lives, and we are no longer going our own way, doing our own thing, living for the pleasures of this sinful world.

For Jesus Christ is the author and the perfecter of our faith. Our faith is not of our human flesh, of our own willpower, and of our own thinking and reasoning. The faith to believe in Jesus comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die to sin and to walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in surrender to his will. So our faith will then align with God’s will and purpose for our lives, not in accord with our human flesh.

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18]

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
An Original Work / November 26, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Here's an idea for this coming Thursday's Thanksgiving time.

You're around the table, either for lunch or dinner. Your guests are there, and who knows what they will want to talk about. But YOU are the host. You get to pick the "table topic." When everyone has had their share of roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and corn, before serving the dessert, have them read and share their take on "10 Bible verses" connected with "giving thanks." What do these verses tell you? How do you personally relate to these verses?

If you have 10 guests, each guest gets a verse. If there are 5 guests, each one gets 2 verses. Do the math, divide up the verses, and let that be the "Table Talk" before dessert.

1 Thessalonians 5:18; Psalm 100:4; Psalm 9:1; Psalm 7:17 1 Chronicles 16:34; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 3:15; 4:2; James 1:17;

2 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Corinthians 15:57

So my 93 year old grandmother is dying too. This woman is my dad's father, is an unbeliever, and she's not a nice lady to put it mildly. Wonder where my dad got his abusive behavior from?

My dad's going to have to bring her home to live with us because she needs 24/7 care and there's no way else for her to get it without paying an astronomical fortune of money. His siblings have all abandoned her because of how nasty she is. Only he will take care of her.

Meanwhile he's going to have to rely on his siblings to sell her house in Ohio and sell her things. One sibling has already tried to get more than his fair share of the inheritance. He is also an unbeliever.

I guess, pray for an alternative care situation to be found or that she dies, or whatever else you feel like praying for. You'll probably think of something more intelligent than me. I'm not sure how I'm going to survive both working a job and dodging her all of the time.

It taught me not to fear death, that death is not the ending but will be a beginning of an eternity in paradise.

And that a gruesome end doesn't mean that God wasn't with us. God doesn't promise us a peaceful death in a hospital bed surrounded by loved ones, we could be eaten by a shark for all we know, or get into a bad car accident.

Here's an idea for this coming Thursday's Thanksgiving time. You're around the table, either for lunch or dinner. Your guests are there, and who knows what they will want to talk about. But YOU are the host. You get to pick the "table topic." When everyone has had their share of roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and corn, before serving the dessert, have them read and share their take on "10 Bible verses" connected with "giving thanks." What do these verses tell you? How do you personally relate to these verses?

If you have 10 guests, each guest gets a verse. If there are 5 guests, each one gets 2 verses. Do the math, divide up the verses, and let that be the "Table Talk" before dessert.

1 Thessalonians 5:18; Psalm 100:4; Psalm 9:1; Psalm 7:17 1 Chronicles 16:34; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 3:15; 4:2; Psalm 50:14

2 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Corinthians 15:57

Prayer is the key

Tenderness is the virtue that allows the love in your heart to be expressed through touch, sight, and speech.
God is love; therefore, during My time on earth, My love was revealed through the touch of My hands,
the gaze of My eyes, and the words I spoke.
—The Love Crucified Community, The Simple Path to Union with God (p. 279)

I believe that, although there are exceptions, men often feel more at ease with aggressive emotions than with tenderness. Yet there are moments when tenderness emerges—toward children who need protection, or towards the elderly. Much of my monastic journey has been about learning to accept these softer emotions. I am still on that path. At times, it is hard to endure the inner landscape of my own heart.

As a late bloomer, I learned early to keep aggression in check—losing fights was not attractive. So, I repressed it, and when repression failed, I endured it. Later, in the Navy and through weightlifting, I became more aware of my aggression, shielded by physical strength. My personality has always been non-threatening, and growing up in a large family taught me how to navigate different temperaments.

Life in the monastery deepened my self-awareness and awakened a longing for inner healing. The more I prayed, the more I sensed this need. For years, I spoke little about it, until around age forty, when the strain began to affect my health. Inner healing is slow, as anyone seeking union with God discovers. I uncovered hidden trust issues beyond my reach. The first step was awareness—recognizing how pain, anger, and mistrust could distort life and breed chaos.

To love God fully, inner healing is essential. Pain is a wake-up call; ignore it, and life becomes harder. Prayer and my relationship with Christ kept me from self-medicating, though food has always been a struggle. Learning self-love has been the hardest lesson—growing through failure, rising again. God commands us to love ourselves, and the fact that it is a command reveals its difficulty.

Breakthroughs often come in dreams or through upheaval—like heart surgery. That crisis exposed my vulnerability and changed me. My heart feels lighter now; I sense love more deeply. It took seventy-six years to reach this point.

It is all grace. My part is simple: show up, get up, don’t give up. Slowly, the Holy Spirit works. Progress is slow because, on many levels, I still wrestle with God. Prayer is the key, and trust opens the heart to Christ Jesus.
—Br. MD