Debi Fronczek

"Thou shall have no other God before Me."  Most of us - who have any age on us at all - remember being taught this when we learned the Ten Commandments.  Unfortunately, nowadays, young people rarely even know any of the ten commandments.  Lately, I have been pondering the reality of this commandment.  I have been examining my life and finding that in spite of my desire to serve Christ, many "other" things have crept in and found a place of prominence. Many so called "Christians" are on the broad road living like the world while carrying the banner of Jesus.  We all want to think we will go to heaven when we die but we don't want to live the way Jesus instructs us to while we are here on earth.  The Bible is very clear that if we really love Jesus, we will do what he tells us to.  Yet, how many of us are openly living in sin daily with no shame.  We flaunt our sinful lifestyles and say that God understands our situation - as if in our case, sin i...

As I write, I am sitting on the front porch of a log cabin in the mountains in north Georgia.  It is six o'clock and in the distance I can hear the chiming of church bells.  Birds are singing, crickets are chirping, and I hear squirrels arguing amongst themselves in the tree tops.  Dogs are barking and occasionally I hear the crunching gravel under the wheels of a vehicle as their engines hum in the distance.  It is so peaceful here.  I am reminded of my childhood home in West Virginia. When I close my eyes I can travel back to a time when life was simple and my biggest concern was avoiding the crawfish pinchers when I went swimming in the creek. When I think about how my life has unfolded, I am amazed at God's redeeming love and daily mercies.  I have made so many bad choices and yet God in his mercy has forgiven me and restored me whenever I came to him admitting that I was completely undone and helpless without Him.  Even when I was not living for...

It is so hard to get rid of stuff.  You know what I mean, right?  When I take inventory of my surroundings, I sometimes feel a little claustrophobic.  That leads me to schedule a garage sale or donate to a local charity.  But as I am going through my things, I find myself having a hard time parting with them.  Not because I use them or even want them.  It is because of the memories they invoke or what they represent. I recently have had several occasions to help friends with estate sales or downsizing.  It is easy for me to look at other peoples "stuff" and objectively make quick decisions regarding their value.  However, the monetary value rarely equals the emotional value things have to their owners.  Almost every item we own has a story and those stories are woven together to make us who we are. Parting with those items then becomes a symbol of parting with a piece of our lives.  Take for instance, a quilt that grandma made and pa...

This morning the phone rang at 7:30 am.  I was up but not really awake.  I am not a morning person and it takes me quite awhile to get fully awake.  The voice on the other end of the line was a friend who had borrowed my car for a few days.  She told me that the driver's side rear tire had blown out and she was sitting on the side of the road near the intersection of CH James Hwy and Florence in Hiram.  I quickly pulled myself together, jumped in my other car and headed her way.  It was pouring the rain and by the time I got there, a half hour had past.  I called for help and waited another hour for roadside assistance to show up. Now the reason I am even telling you this story is because during all that time, not one soul stopped to ask if any help was needed.  The traffic light at the intersection (about 100 feet from where she had pulled off the road) halted traffic every few minutes.  Once a couple of policemen were stopped adjacent to ...

Sometimes when life becomes overwhelming, it is easy to falter in our faith.  We ask why?  Yet if we had the answer, we still would not understand because the One who made us has thoughts higher than ours.  This is where trust comes in.  In the wee hours of the night, when we wrestle with our thoughts of doubt, we must encourage ourselves with the promises of God.  We may feel like we are alone, yet God promises never to leave us or forsake us.  When we experience injustice, we must remember that He is a just God.  He is our defender, even when it appears that He is absent. Things are not always as they appear.  FEAR floods our being in the midst of crisis but we must remember that FEAR is only an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real and faith and fear cannot reside in the same place.  Therefore, choose faith.  Total trust and faith in his wisdom is VERY hard when we are in the midst of turmoil and the outcome is bleak, yet we must ...

Have you ever been through something that you know would make a great story but reliving it in order to write it all down is just too daunting.  The fact that you lived through it once is unbelievable and the thought of writing it all down is just too exhausting. My husband and I have fallen into a ministry of helping needy people.  It wasn't planned and it isn't something that I ever dreamed I would be doing to this extent. I have always been a person who likes to help others. I suppose it comes from being a mom and wanting to fix everything. A song that I often sing in my prayer time that says, "Soften my heart Lord, Soften my heart, From all indifference, Set me apart, To feel your compassion, To weep with your tears, Come soften my heart, O Lord, Soften my heart."  I liked the tune and sang it often but I remember one time when I was singing it that I realized I was no longer just singing a tune but really praying the words.  It was then that my life began to...

Why do bad things happen to good people.  I have been asking myself that question lately.  I have no answer but through hours of prayer and meditation on the Word, I have come to the conclusion that it is simply because we live in a fallen world and as long as we are here, we are going to encounter evil.  No matter what we must endure here, it is nothing compared to an eternity separated from God in hell.  Evil may triumph here and now but it is only temporal.  Jesus won the victory over death and hell when he rose from the grave and those who put their trust in Him alone will have an eternal home in heaven with Him. Our human feelings sometimes get the best of us.  But always ask the question "what is the truth of this situation?"  The truth always comes back to the fact that God is still on the throne.  He loves us and has a good plan for our lives.  He can take what the devil meant for our harm and turn into something wonderful and glori...