Saturday, August 25, 2012


Happy Saturday! 

I graduated from CPE yesterday.  I also passed my final evaluation.  The chaplains at JPS asked me to come back to the hospital on a PRN (as needed) basis.  I felt very flattered, but told them my plate was completely full and that I could not even think about it until at least next summer.  It made me feel good to be asked.

Just in case you did not know, my brother is Dr. Ken Helvey.  He is the superintendent of schools for Allen ISD.  Yes, that Allen ISD with the brand new 60 million dollar high school football stadium. Today he interviewed in Austin for the top superintendent position for the state of Texas.  I cannot imagine anyone better than him.  He is an extraordinary man of honor and integrity and well deserves this honor.  Please offer a prayer for him.  Also, we will be travelling to Allen this coming Friday to attend the first football game in their new stadium.  I think Daddy is getting to be in the fancy suite with all of the dignitaries and we will be sitting in reserved seating.  I am really excited. 

Prayer:  “Father, I thank You that I can live in victory today because You defeated the devil at Calvary and he no longer has authority over my life because I belong to You.  I claim deliverance from anything that would keep me from living in the victory of the Cross.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

“But deliver us from the evil one.”
Luke 11: 4c

We live in a world where the enemy is present. Satan works in our lives each day to try and win us away from the loving God; to make God ineffective in our lives.  In this verse, we pray for deliverance from Satan’s grasp and influence in and over our lives.  But when you think about it, Satan really does not stand a chance because he was defeated at the Cross of Calvary.  Satan was a created being and thought he knew everything about God. Satan thought he knew all of God’s plans and actions with the rest of creation.  Because God is unrelenting in His lordship and reigns over the lives of believers even when we sin, Satan is defeated when we ask for forgiveness and stand in the perfect light of God’s love and forgiving grace.  I can only imagine Satan’s total surprise when Jesus rose from the grave.  Satan so thought he had defeated God when Jesus was crucified because he thought his power was a great as his creator, God. Satan did not know everything. How that must have completely hacked him off and continues to drive the evil one completely crazy.

When all is said and done, at God’s appointed time, when He reconciles the world back unto Himself, Satan will be forever cast away from God’s divine Presence and his humiliation will be public, painful and endless.  Somewhere in Satan’s thoughts he knows there is not one thing he can do about it.  Our deliverance has been won by the love of God and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep, especially all who are going back into the classroom because I know it is hard to sleep the night before school starts.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.


I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am only moved by what I believe and I believe God.

Friday, August 24, 2012


Happy Thursday! 

Completed the first week of classes and tomorrow I graduate from CPE and defend my final evaluation.  Please offer a prayer for me!

Prayer:  “Father, I will trust in Your faithfulness that I will not be tempted beyond what I am able and that by Your grace, You will make a way of escape. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen”

1 Corinthians 10: 13 “No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it.”

“And do not lead us into temptation.”
Luke 11: 4B

I have always had a little trouble with this verse in the prayer.  Why would God lead us into temptation?  One of my favorite principals had a sign in her office that said, “Lead me not into temptation for I can find it myself.”  I always laughed at this.  But perhaps this verse does not mean for God to lead us into temptation.  Maybe it means that whatever temptations we face that they would not overwhelm us.  What if we restated it and said, “Lord, if I am tempted today, help me to be able to resist it and let it not overwhelm me.”  Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, but He was not overwhelmed by the temptations.  He was exhausted, hungry, thirsty and in a weakened condition and yet He was able with withstand the temptations by Satan by standing firm on God’s Word.  He was physically weakened but not helpless. 

We can be the same.  We come across temptations every day and yet most of the time we are not helpless, we just make a choice to either give in or remember the One Who modeled how not to surrender to the temptation.  Because of God’s grace we can overcome temptation and not let it overwhelm us.  Stand firm on the Word.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all, Gaylene.


I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am only moved by what I believe and I believe God.

Prayer please:  Geni’s job title changed today.  She had prepared to team teach with another teacher and teach two classes per day of kinder math while the other teacher taught the literacy portion.  Her principal told her today that she would be teaching a self-contained kinder class.  So she will teach all subjects.  Geni has a lot of reworking to do in her classroom and making of different lesson plans.  She was upset about this earlier because of the last minute change, but she is equal to the task. Please pray for her. 

Thursday, August 23, 2012


Happy Wednesday and Happy Birthday Bruce!

We celebrated Bruce’s birthday at home tonight with Geni, Travis, Lamar, Jackson and our grandog, Penny.  I cooked and purchased a cake from Nothing Bundt Cake.  I highly recommend the cakes.  They are delicious.  Tonight was our favorite…Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting.  Totally delish!!

I have begun classes at Brite this week.  So far, all classes seem as if they are going to be really great - a lot of work, great professors and wonderful friends, old and new. 

Prayer:  “Father, give me a heart of forgiveness that does not hold a grudge or look to be offended. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive those who would cause me offense or harm just as You have forgiven me for the harm and offense I have done against You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”
Luke 11: 4A

Tonight I am going to share the story that was in my meditation.  Corrie ten Boom, author of The Hiding Place, tells the story of being taken captive and placed in the concentration camps. The guards leered, humiliated and degraded the women as they walked into the showers.  After her time of captivity she thought that she had forgiven all those who had done her so much harm.  She went on to preach forgiveness.  One night, after one of her speeches on forgiveness, a man came to shake her hand.  She remembered him as one of the guards in the camp.  She recalls this meeting saying, “My hand froze and I could not forgive.”  She believed she had forgiven all and could not forgive when she met this guard.  Her action to this response was to pray, “Lord, forgive me, I cannot forgive.” 

How interesting that she should pray for her own forgiveness instead of asking God to forgive the one who had so humiliated and degraded her.  When she prayed for her own forgiveness she recalled the “ice of hate melted” and she was able to forgive the man because she had been forgiven. WOW!  This is a woman who understands God’s grace for herself and others.

A Facebook piece has been floating around lately.  It is Mark Lowry, gospel singer and funny man who said, “I don’t have time to hate your sin.  So just let me hate my own sin and love you.”  Sounds like a great way to live to me. 

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Wish Bruce a Happy Birthday. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.


I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am only moved by what I believe and I believe God.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012


Happy Monday! 

I completed the written final evaluation for CPE today.  It has been sent to Bruce for final editing.  It felt really good to finish it.  Back to Brite in the morning!

Prayer:  “Father, I thank You that You are concerned about the needs of my life today, and I trust You to provide me with all that I need to sustain me in the life You have given me to live this day.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Luke 11:3

It was leftovers tonight.  I had cooked over the weekend and there were several different leftovers as choices for Bruce and me.  When I think of leftovers I am reminded of a cousin of mine who used to say this of my mother’s wonderful cooking, “Aunt Nita’s leftovers are better than most people’s first times.” 

In the examination of this prayer Jesus tells us to pray for our daily material needs.  We are asked to pray for bread and not dessert (even though there have been some of us who have). Even though I have long said, “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first!”, Jesus tells us to pray for what will sustain us.  We are also instructed to pray for the needs of today.  Those who were led by Moses across the desert prayed for food(manna) yet were told to only take enough for the day.  God wanted them learn how to depend on Him daily. 

I think it is so amazing that this God of ours who has an entire universe to see to, places at the top of the priority list our daily needs.  The old song “His Eye is on the Sparrow” comes to mind.  If God cares for each sparrow that falls, each star in the sky and knows the number of grains of sand on the beach, how much more does the Creator of all care for His greatest creation: His children? God has shown us His great love by meeting our needs. As Tess (Della Reese) from the show Touched by an Angel told a teenage girl who ordered pie for lunch, “Pie is not food.  Pie is what you eat after food.”  So maybe if we recognize and offer thanks for the bread for the day…sometime later we can have pie.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.


I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am only moved by what I believe and I believe God.

Monday, August 20, 2012


Blessed Sunday to you all! 

Prayer: “Father, I choose to surrender my will so that I can live in Yours. I ask that You make Your will clear to me today so that I will be pleasing to You and be seen and known as a productive citizen of Your kingdom..In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Luke 11: 2b, c

I usually read and respond to Facebook in the evening.  But lately there is a great deal of talk about politics among several of my FB friends. I do not respond to political stuff because lately it just seems the politicians are only interested in seeing how mean they can be to each other.

In heaven there are no elections to be won nor debates to be heard because God is on the throne and God runs the show.  Is it possible that here on earth during election time that we are looking to serve the wrong god in the wrong kingdom? Philippians 3: 30 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  If we take this scripture into our own hearts and lives it means that we need to live under the same authority that the citizens of heaven live under. 

In a key note address I heard on Saturday the speaker spoke about this very verse.  What if we lived our lives here on earth in such a way that we reached heaven it was not that big of a change?  What if we chose to change the world to be a little more like the kingdom of heaven?  I think that might be what Jesus meant when He asked us to surrender our wills to the will of God and live as if we were already in heaven.  I pray that God will guard my heart against my own desires and that my only desire would be God. 

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.


I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am only moved by what I believe and I believe God.