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So Very Thankful

Valerie Cullers 27 Comments

This year, our family has so much to be thankful for. We have gotten a bonus year with my husband, Mike. Almost a year ago, Mike suffered a hemorrhagic stroke from the Plavix he was on. After nine days in the hospital, he could only walk about three steps side to side. holding onto a walker. After another three weeks in a rehab hospital, he came home. He was still very weak and had little, if any, feeling on his right side. Three months of physical, occupational and speech therapy gave him his life back. He continued to work on his rehabilitation, and by the end of May, he was driving. We were very thankful but knew at any moment our lives could be thrown back into the same routine.

On July 26, he suffered another hemorrhagic stroke caused by the aspirin he was on. Another brush with the Grim Reaper, but not so serious. He spent seven days in the hospital and two weeks in a rehab facility, followed by two months of physical therapy. This stroke left him with constant vertigo and nausea. We carried his little blue bags everywhere in case he got sick.

Fast forward to today. His vertigo is only intermittent and he walks about a mile and a half several times a week. He still has a great attitude and continues to work on his exercises for balance. His attitude is pretty good most of the time and when he gets the vertigo, he says, “It’s good for me, it builds character.”

We are so grateful for all of the prayers, support and love we have received from our family and friends both near and far. The Lord has been gracious to us and we do not take it for granted. We are grateful for our bonus year and any bonus days we get. If you have been part of our journey, a big THANK YOU to all. May the Lord Richly Bless You!

Mike at The Village in Meridian in September 2023.

“Whatcha gonna do?”

Valerie Cullers 18 Comments

For over a month, I have been shocked at the level of antisemitism I have seen in this country. As a child of a father who was in WWII, I have been aware of the Jewish Holocaust. I have seen the pictures and read much about what the Nazis did to them. The level of suffering is almost incomprehensible, and those who perpetrated it were pure evil. Full stop…end of sentence.

I have no problem with people protesting a war they do not agree with, but those who carry signs that say “Gas the Jews” or “Hitler was Right” are either ignorant of history or evil themselves. I will bet that yes, some of those who carry those signs are evil, but for the most part, when I see the students, I believe they are historically ignorant.

Do they know, for example, that Hitler killed about fourteen million people? Yes, he came for the Jews, but he also came for many Christians, political dissenters, the physically and mentally handicapped, the gypsies, Slavic people, Poles, and the gays. No one was exempt if they were considered an enemy of the Reich. Many who started out in Hitler’s good graces were “retired” when his paranoia got the better of him.

You see, when the killing starts, no one is exempt. Ask those in Russia, where Stalin is purported to have killed about forty million in his purges. And what about the Cultural Revolution in China during which between five hundred thousand and two million people were killed? You may think you will be spared but in truth, no one is safe once a pogrom has started.

So to quote the theme song from Cops, “Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” Please think about it, because eventually they will and you who are approving of the genocide of others may become a victim yourself.

Photo of Auschwitz by Carl S. Courtesy of Pixabay

Prophetic

Valerie Cullers 12 Comments

On Sunday morning, October 8th, I woke up and looked at the news feed on my phone. I read about the Hamas attack on Jewish settlements on the border of Gaza. This attack looked much different from the attacks Israel has faced from Hamas in the last 15 years. I then thought about Bill Salus and how he had written a book about Psalm 83 and a future war Israel would be fighting with the diverse ethnic groups around its borders. Bill just happened to be at a prophecy conference that morning and was giving an impromptu talk that I listened to. He said we must wait and see how it will develop to see if this war fits Psalm 83 in the Scriptures. Since then, I have listened to Amir Tsarfati, a Messianic Jew who is also an Israeli. He is convinced that the Psalm 83 war happened in 1948 when Israel fought its War of Independence. He feels the current events might possibly be a prelude to the war of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

So who is right? Well, we must all wait and see if this particular war has any prophetic implications or not. You see, when thinking about prophecy, we don’t make Biblical prophecy fit the events that are happening. The events must fit the prophecy exactly in order to be true. Also, many times, prophecies have more than one fulfillment, one closer to the time it was written and one further down the timeline.

Recently, Jack Hibbs said, “The world is catching up to the Bible.” Thousands of years ago, a couple of hundred prophecies were written about the return of Christ. Others were written about Israel and what would happen to it in the last days. I believe that just as over three hundred prophecies were fulfilled about Jesus’ first coming, so the remaining prophecies will be fulfilled about what will happen to Israel in the last days. But they will all be fulfilled in God’s good time and not our own.

In the gospels, Jesus talked about what the world would look like immediately before his return. We see that the world does look very close to what He said it would be like. We were also instructed to watch and pray. What we can know is that time is getting short. As we watch nations aligning against Israel, we know it will have to defend itself against a larger host of armies at some point in the future.

So does this particular war fulfill any prophecies in the Bible? At the moment, we must wait and see and not jump to any conclusions.

Unmasked

Valerie Cullers 14 Comments

Last Friday in New York City, the Annual Drag Queen Parade was held. According to The Daily Signal, the marchers chanted, “We’re here. We’re queer, and we’re coming for your children.” Shocking to say the least. My first reaction was outrage, but then I thought, “Do they not fear God?” Surely, they must realize they are shaking their fist in the face of God when they are talking about sexualizing children.

Jesus was pretty clear about how He felt about those who mistreated children. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes.” Matthew 18: 6-7

Before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me, and if not, I will know.” Genesis 18:20-21 Where do you think the outcry came from in Sodom and Gomorrah? I am convinced that the outcry that came to the Lord’s ears was from innocent children who were being sexually assaulted in those cities, i.e., those that did not desire to participate in the sexual perversion that was going on.

When it comes to the sexualization of children by adults, the judgement will be very severe indeed. Those that cannot defend themselves will ultimately be vindicated by a loving and just God.

For those marchers in the parade, their motives have been unmasked. It is up to us as parents and grandparents to realize that there is a war going on against the innocence of our children. We must not be naive about it and pretend it doesn’t exist. We must protect them from the forces that would destroy them.

For those who would like to listen to the marchers in the parade, the video is available on Youtube.

Image by Antobellam. Courtesy of Pixabay

Bruised, Broken or Shattered?

Valerie Cullers 20 Comments

Many times in life, we find ourselves in pain. Something has happened to us, and we must deal with the consequences of it. We may have caused the pain to ourselves, or someone else may have done it. Either way, we need help. We need Someone who can take the pain away and heal us.

Lots of things can knock us around in life. Circumstances, the loss of a job, a best friend moving away, or some other life changing situation comes crashing into our life. We feel bruised; others may not see it but we feel it just the same. We are hurting. No, we are not bleeding on the outside but our spirit has been bruised. Is there Someone we can go to, Someone who cares? When describing Jesus in the Scriptures we read, “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.” Isaiah 42:3 We can rest assured that when we come to Him with our hurts, He will help us. He will not rebuke us for our weakness or our pain.

What about when we have sustained a bone-crushing injury? Something has happened to us that we cannot ignore or hide. Maybe we have lost a loved one or have been accused of something falsely. We need help, and we need it badly. Can anyone come and splint our injury and help us while we go through a time of restoration? Again, in describing the work of the Lord, we read that, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 All we have to do is call out to Him when we need help, and He will be there.

Is the Lord big enough to help us when we have suffered a soul-crushing injury? We feel we have been run over by a steamroller, and there is not much left of us. Perhaps our spouse has run off with another person. Perhaps the business we have spent a lifetime building has gone bankrupt. Perhaps a hurricane or other natural disaster has taken from us everything we own. Is the Lord big enough to help even when we go through our worst times? I’m talking about those times when we can hardly speak because of the pain we are in. We feel our life is over, and there is nothing to be done. Can He help us even when our hearts are shattered? Jesus is talking about himself in Isaiah 61: 1-3, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Yes, we can look to Him. Jesus is big enough to bring us through our soul-crushing disaster, heal us from our heart-shattering pain, and give us new life again. We just have to ask.

Farewell Patricia

Valerie Cullers 17 Comments

“OVER AND OUT”

My dear friend, Patricia, found out she had inoperable cancer about three weeks ago. She put it on Facebook so that her friends and family knew. Her hubby asked people to come for short visits as they had put her on hospice.

A friend and I went a few days later. She was upbeat and wanted to share some things about her life with us. There were no tears from either side, hers or ours. Instead, there was a peaceful acceptance as we prayed together for the last time.

People came that first week and then she had difficulty talking as her lungs continued to fill with fluid. She posted short notes on Facebook and then a few days later turned off her phone. She continued to post on Fb and then about ten days ago came her final post. Her last words to us were “Over and Out.”

I can’t tell you how that post comforted me. She knew she was passing into the arms of Jesus and was ready to go. It took about ten days until she finally took her last breath. The woman lived a life of love and in the end she went fearlessly into the next life. Farewell, Patricia. I will miss you but you will always be a shining example to me.

Photo by Gerd Altman. Courtesy of Pixabay.

Flip the Script

Valerie Cullers 13 Comments

The other evening, I couldn’t sleep. I began to pray for a member of our family who keeps making mistakes over and over. As I prayed for him, I talked with the Lord about the things he kept doing. Eventually, about 1:00 A.M., I fell asleep. The next morning, when I woke up, I was discouraged and didn’t know why. I thought about it and realized that I had been focusing on the mistakes this person kept making. I could see I needed to flip the script.

I then remembered Ruby, a friend of mine, who would say, “Don’t pray the problem!” I looked back at the evening before, and that’s pretty much all I had been doing. So what should I do instead? I prayed about it. The first thing I needed to do was to get my eyes off the person and his problems and place them on the Lord.

I spent that day focusing on the greatness of God and his ability to answer my prayers. After all, He created the universe. He keeps the stars fixed in the heavens and the planets spinning in alignment. Surely, He has the ability to help solve the problems that concern me. Psalm 113: 4-6 says, “The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high, Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth?” Clearly, our God has the power to answer our prayers.

That evening, after thinking about the greatness of God, I felt the Lord nudging me to be thankful for the things He had done for me. He reminded me of the time when I could have accidentally killed my brother. He was not even injured after the incident. My entire life would have been ruined had I hurt my brother, but God, in His mercy, prevented that from happening. He also reminded me of the times He protected me during the years when I was not living for Him. Psalm 118: 1-2 says: “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Surely, I could see how God had been merciful to me and that He would be merciful to my relative.

The last thing I was reminded of is to be careful where I put my faith and focus. The Lord instructs us in His word to believe that He can and will answer our prayers. The disciples had been trying to cast out a demon, and they were unable to. Jesus showed up on the scene and cast it out. The disciples wanted to know why they had failed. In Matthew 17: 20 Jesus answered, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Again, even though this problem seemed impossible to solve, the Lord was reminding me that nothing is impossible for Him.

So the next time you become discouraged in prayer, flip the script and remember Ruby and her advice, “Don’t pray the problem!” Place your focus on the Lord, His greatness, His mercy, be thankful, and have a little faith in Him. He can do anything!

Photo Courtesy of Pixabay.

Zoonosis

Valerie Cullers 10 Comments

Recently, I have been asked by a couple of people what plague or disease I thought was coming next. People are understandably concerned after having dealt with Covid over the past two years. The women I have spoken to thought possibly Ebola would be the next pandemic we would experience. After watching outbreaks of Ebola over the last several years, I wouldn’t think so. Ebola does seem to be controlled with proper sanitation, hospital stays and isolation. One must have close contact with a person with Ebola to get it.

Covid, Ebola, Monkey Pox, Swine Flu, and Bird Flu are all examples of zoonosis. Zoonosis is “a disease which can be transmitted to humans from animals,” Oxford Dictionary. The worst epidemics in history have been caused by a vector (flea or mosquito) transmitting the disease from a host to a human. One only has to think of the Bubonic Plague that killed millions during the Middle Ages as an example of zoonosis.

It seems that what people are most concerned about are the viruses that exist in labs today. Is gain of function research being done on them? Are some of them being genetically engineered to cause them to be transmitted in an aerosol form? Are some of them being developed as bioweapons by governments of the world? According to the UN, “Historical biological weapons programmes have included efforts to produce: aflatoxin; anthrax; botulinum toxin; foot and mouth disease; glanders; plague; Q fever; rice blast; ricin; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; smallpox; and tularemia, among others.”

I do think if we knew what was going on in labs in other countries that we would be quite concerned as my friends are. Other countries do not have the constraints our labs do, and the laws governing them are different. There is always a chance of an accidental leak or in the case of war, deployment of a bioweapon could be unleashed.

Scripture does tell us that in the last days we will experience plagues and Revelation does mention that many will be killed by the wild beasts of the earth. The word used is “therion” which in the Greek, is the diminutive of “theria,” a word used to denote a wild animal or beast. Sharon Gilbert believes that this word might have to do with the bacteria or viruses that come from the beasts of the earth.

No matter what is coming down the pike in the future, we know we cannot depend on man, science or our government to save us. Surely they will try to use whatever is available to them as far as medicine or vaccines to help the population but modern medicine can only go so far, especially if some virus has been genetically altered in a lab. If nothing else, Covid has taught the world that man is indeed susceptible to zoonotic viruses and that it will take a while for pharmacological help to reach the general population.

What’s next? I have no idea. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. I believe we each only get today (that’s why it is called “the present”). We are not guaranteed another one. Rather than live in fear, we can trust our lives to the Lord and leave our future in His hands. I rely on the words of Psalms 23 and 91 to find peace in an insecure world. We are, after all, finite and we need Someone greater than us to provide the protection we need from seen or unseen forces.

Image by Kalhn, Courtesy of Pixabay.

Uncontrolled

Valerie Cullers 2 Comments

Such great thoughts on the importance of Fathers!

jparquette's avatarQuo Vadis Blog

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.” Nuke LaLooch (played by Tim Robbins) in Ron Shelton’s screenplay for “Bull Durham”

Snowy Owl at Hamden Slough National Wildlife Refuge Lee Kensinger Snowy owl at Hamden Slough National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota by Lee Kensinger.

Kim Crocker, a volunteer at the Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge near us, reported a tale that reminded me of the rule of fang and claw, talon, and blood. After an absence last year of any overwintering snowy owl at the refuge, this year we have two visitors, neither of them yet fully mature, but hardy enough to make the trek from the tundra. Snowy owls can live nine years in the wild and up to twenty-eight in captivity. Fully grown, they have a wingspan of close to five feet: beautiful, formidable hunters, and relentless predators.[i]

Mr. Crocker told me the ranger observed a Cooper’s hawk make a quick kill, probably a vole or field…

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The Brink

Valerie Cullers 7 Comments

Ever since the war in Ukraine started, the world has been on the brink of WWIII. A cursory look at the last two world wars shows us that these wars don’t always start immediately when a conflict begins. Sometimes it takes several months for different countries to be pulled into the skirmish. In this day and age, when combatants are using smart technology, we know that a bomb or drone can get off course and accidentally strike the wrong target. It wouldn’t take much, perhaps a bomb exploding over the border in Poland or Romania, to draw NATO into the conflict, and then voila, thirty more nations are involved in the conflict. It could happen today, tonight or tomorrow. We hope and pray that it doesn’t, but it is a real possibility.

When we think about the possibility of a wider conflict, knowing we are on the brink of another world war, we feel sober. Yes, very sober indeed. Our way of life could change in an instant, and we could be the ones facing shortages, famine, and exploding ordinances on our own soil. This idea certainly diminishes any sense of security we might be feeling, being a continent away from the current war.

When we think about our own sense of security, we base it on many variables: where we live, work, drive, our economic status, our health, etc. When we think about our lifespan, we look at our parents’ lives, i.e., how long did they live, and what might our chances of a long life be? As a believer in Jesus Christ, I get a lot of my security from knowing Him and from the words in the Bible. In this case, though, the Bible does not give me a lot of security. It doesn’t tell me that I will live a long life; in fact, it tells me a different story. It tells me that I also live on the brink in this world. Only this brink is the brink of eternity. Over and over, I am reminded that my life is short, very short indeed in light of eternity. James 4:14 says, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

In light of this particular brink, am I even aware of it? Do I believe that my life is short in an eternal sense, or do I feel I have lots of time to make decisions that may affect my eternal destiny? None of us are guaranteed tomorrow; any decision we need to make had better be done today. So, I would urge you to make those choices that will ensure a positive outcome in eternity. In the words of Isaiah, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

On the brink. Yes, it is a sober thought. But there is something we can do about it that will give us a greater sense of real security while we watch the events around us unfold.