All posts by L.L. Shelton

About L.L. Shelton

Bonnie is a Jesus Lover, and in light of the fact, loves His wonderful church. She is interested in many things and enjoys sharing her view of some of them on this blog. She is a poet and a singer of songs. She resides in Memphis, Tennessee, where she is a dedicated wife and the mother of seven children- five of whom she educates at home, as the eldest two have graduated homeschool and are pursuing their own interests. In her spare moments she may be found in her home office with a client, as she is a practicing Biblical Counselor and a Life Coach. She welcomes you to print and share her articles and poetry, and to quote freely from them with the understanding that she is to be acknowledged as the author. Mrs. Shelton does NOT OWN the copyright to the majority of the photos and other types of illustration used on this site!

Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

Academics & The Arts, Bible Talk, Books, Education, Family Life, Living the Word, , , , , , , ,

How does one arrive at a disturbed character? This is not a rhetorical question. One arrives at a disturbed character by continually ignoring three things:

1. The Genuine Existence of God
2. The Authentic Character of God
3. The Justice System of God

The Bible tells us clearly that every human is equipped with a conscience and that the conscience is there to point him or her toward God; to reveal His very genuine existence as well as His authentic character, and to make obvious His definition of right and wrong- His system of justice.

The Scriptures also tell us that the man or woman who does not see any benefit in retaining this knowledge of conscience will eventually be possessed of the depraved mind that is left to him or to her.  The Bible tells us that this depraved mind is capable of all types of evil- probably beyond what some who have thoroughly nurtured the conscience are capable of imagining.

This depraved mind is the one that displays the disturbed or disordered character; this mind is held captive by a system of belief that has developed a set of core values (to direct the soul)  that is selfish to the degree of being diabolical. This mind is the antithesis of the mind of God, if you will allow, an anti-Christ.

How does one keep himself or herself from arriving at this reprehensible state?This also is not a rhetorical question. The answer is evident. One must continually nurture belief in the three things one’s conscience has been designed to bring to attention:

1. The Genuine Existence of God
2. The Authentic Character of God
3. The Justice System of God

From the beginning, each and every time one is situationally placed so that it is necessary to purposely acknowledge these three things one must be made to do so- forced by his or her own will to acknowledge the conscience or by the will of an earthly authority figure such as a parent, a teacher, or other official to do so as the conscience must be the arbitrator of what many theologians refer to as common grace; and the truly converted under specific grace if  momentarily and specifically submissive, shall be aided further by yielding to the will of The Holy Spirit of God within the self so accessing the wisdom and power available to him or her.

The person who consciously and continually engages in an effort to refute or to silence the conscience will naturally digress to the condition of the disturbed character. The disturbed character will appear as having no conscience and will yet be a “functioning” member of the community.  A disordered character is displayed by one who was once only disturbed but has now slipped into the realm of the surely dysfunctional (rendered incapable of carrying out the requisite responsibilities of society).

The failure to nurture the conscience is the failure to nurture Truth and will surely result in the demise of the individual and the eventual destruction of any general population in which these individuals are prevalent.

Notably, George K. Simon, Jr., Ph.D., has done a beautiful job of further explanation, and in giving socially  acceptable as well as academically responsible language to the subject matter found here and in our Bibles (particularly in the book of Romans), in the book he authored: Character Disturbance, The Phenomenon of Our Age.

We must take seriously the view of ourselves found in God’s Holy Word for the protection of ourselves, our loved ones, and for the benefit of humanity as a whole. May God help us!

Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton

The Story

Living the Word, Poetry, , , ,

You are the first page and the last.
You are the future and the past.
You are the epitome of every view.
The Story belongs to you.

You are the reason and the rhyme.
You are the space and the time.
You are the old and you are the new.
The Story belongs to you.

You are the whole and so the part.
You are the mind and so the heart.
You are the One; we await your cue.
The Story belongs to you.

Copyright 2017. L.L. Shelton.

From Mother-In-Love (Rhyme For Jamie)

Family Life, Poetry, , , ,

I was your second mother,
Her arms held you first,
And every time I think this through
I think of you from birth;

I think of how she must have loved you,
Wrapped up in her arms,
Of how she must have felt each time
She kept you safe and warm.

I think of all she gave in hopes,
Your life would be sublime,
Of how she never dreamed there’d come
This awful space in time.

I long for her to know,
That I too loved you Dear,
That every time you came to me
I kept you very near;

For her to know I shared her love,
And now do share her pain,
My heart will ache until that day
We do hold you again.

L.L. Shelton, Copyright 2016.

Coming To You

Poetry

You were meant to have my heart.
No one can compete.
There’s no One can fake your part.

You are The Place
Where all is good, where I long to be.
Where truth is spoken

Always by choice;
Coercion’s no necessity.
There’s no need of force,
Where kindness is the rule.

Where I am you and you are me,
Where we are we, and
Everyone’s a fool
For You.

(1 Corinthians 1:25, 3:19-20)

Copyright 2016. L.L. Shelton Continue reading →

God Rest The Queens

Academics & The Arts, Poetry, Politics

Mary and Elizabeth,
Both required to reign;
It appears that the two
Desired the same thing:
To believe as one will
Leaving all to God until
A harm is done another,
Then crown must interfere.

Despite the common interest
In their subjects well-being,
Brewed a never-ending tempest
Among those believing
The way of the right
Should be the crown’s achieving.
Pop sentiment in sight,
Tensions had to be relieving,

Cousins thrust into the tide
Of the crowd’s lustful screaming,
Lost decency as guide,
Sent sentiment careening
Round the curve of Mary’s neck.
Faithful dog at feet lay curled
In death would not reject
His beloved mistress hurled

Into the after-life.
Her end was her beginning,
Blade lifted her from strife,
In death she knew her winning.
Elizabeth remained to toil
With the issues of the earth
Eventually would meet the soil
Freed from position of her birth.

Copyright 2016.  L.L. Shelton.

Welcome To Perfect

Poetry

(This one is for my beautiful young friend, Elizabeth Grace.)

Perfect is you.
Perfect is He who made you.
Perfect is you wanting to be new.
Perfect is Christ making you the who,
He desires for you to be,
Throughout eternity.
Perfect is you.
Welcome
Home.

Copyright 2016. L.L. Shelton.

By His Grace Made Blind

Living the Word, Poetry, , , , , , , ,

In earth a cold harsh path
Had been mapped to feel my feet,
Carved especially for me the ruts,
Groove often ran most deep.

Residing in a violent storm
Black sludge encased my limbs,
Offering to smother me,
Yet He produced a hymn.

Attuned only to that song
Anchored firmly in my heart,
Shadows might have overtaken me.
But I was meant to whistle in the dark.

She says I tend to stir the soul
Unaware the spoon within my grasp,
Noticing too late the moments,
Tangled solidly within my clasp;

As a murderer stands heedless
To the blood upon his hands,
As a lover lies his passion spent,
Incognizant the thorns upon the land.

Oblivious to markers obvious,
Simply noted by an ordinary mind,
Mid-event I’m visionless,
Maybe I was by His Grace made blind.

Experience lies fixed I find,
Dwelling soundly in my being,
As I am rendered only feeling,
Sightless I am seeing.

Impetuous is flip side
Of spontaneously kind,
Fanciful a weakness
Until one must escape the time.

Copyright 2016. L.L. Shelton

Brief Thoughts on Marriage

Bible Talk, Church Culture, Family Life, Married Life, , , , , , ,

To begin:  There is only ONE good reason for getting married and for having children, and it is:  Because GOD wants you to do it.  And if it is HE wanting you to do it; it is because He wants you to be a part of what HE is building. He wants you to be a part of illustrating HIS story to a watching world. God desires for you to be a part of LOVE as defined by Him.

Don’t allow yourself to enter these arenas, the building of marriage and family, at the persuasion of any other than God in Christ, or without reading His Word and getting whatever grasp upon this that your maturity and His patience allow to you. These are not institutions for the faint of heart and will never withstand the difficulties that come along with them unless built upon a proper foundation. Marriage and family belong to Him. They are His design and He has said that they must be structured upon Him, upon the principles set forth in His Word, to be successful.  And the terms for success in marriage must be and are determined by its Creator.

Maybe you have entered into these things lightly and without a proper amount of forethought. It is not too late. You must pray for GOD to make your partner willing and as He does this, the two of you begin (together in Christ) to tear down the old relationship and to start anew on the correct foundation. Seek out an older married couple in whom you see Christ (in other words, you observe them living together according to the principles set forth in The Bible for the living out of their shared faith). Approach them and directly ask for their active guidance and participation in your lives. If resources allow, find a Biblical counselor to assist you in building this new platform for your marriage.

Another issue may be that your partner remains unwilling to consider Christ. In this case, you must continue in earnest prayer, gentleness, and good will toward your spouse until such time as God releases you from the relationship, and you are free to start again; and this must be done with the greatest caution for two primary reasons.  The first is that you must try with all your will to NOT push your partner away from either yourself or God in the hope that the other will leave soon. This happens often in such a case and is regularly realized only when an experienced helper points out to the Christian in the marriage that this is indeed what that one is doing. The second reason is that you are quite liable to abandon the frying pan in favor of the fire, unless you have spent an adequate amount of time in the judicious study of Holy Scripture concerning the Way of Life of a Christian in order that you may more easily recognize a fraud should there be opportunity for a next time around.

Paul reminds us in a letter to the early church that it is better not to marry at all than to enter the covenant casually.  It is a choice open to the Christian to remain single and serve GOD fully from that position, rather than serving Him from the position of marriage.  However, for God’s saved child, there is no choice as to serve or not to serve, and if your heart is completely without reservation His own; you will be compelled to serve despite your finest efforts to the contrary.  (The difficulties and delights specifically associated with the Christian’s choice to remain single are beyond the scope of this short essay.)

In the end, I don’t wish to leave the impression that there are no joys associated with marriage but only trials, as that would be wholly untrue.  There are multiple blessings to be had within the marriage relationship- true friendship, God’s allowance to fully know and to be fully known by another human being- to completely relate to another person, children within God’s favor and under the protection of a legitimate bond.  I count it a great privilege to enjoy many of the wonders of marriage.

Now,  in this day of much confusion concerning marriage and family, I implore you to search God’s Word for yourself to find that these very things that I tell you are true. And may The Lord God of All bless your every effort!

http://www.russellmoore.com/2016/10/14/signposts-churches-can-minister-divorced/

Copyright 2016.  L.L. Shelton