E.T.H.O.S. A.R.M‪.‬ deidra33

LLL20230217_Light-Living Legacy: my story, my song
I grew up in church.  Mama, Margaret K. Harris Williams, pulled me in my red wagon to Parkview Missionary Baptist Church every Saturday. She taught me to wipe down, dust all the benches in the Sanctuary, all the little chairs in the kids departments; then, Bro Keene would come into the kitchen with glads, fern, flowers, from his garden.  Mama would arrange them just the way he wanted.
My first teachers I remember were Mama and Dot Keene, and their flannelgraph Bible stories.  
Sis June Tison taught the 1-3 grade, and Juniors was Sis Ruby Harper.  Junior High was Sis Remelle Bessent.  Senior High was F.G. Ganey. BTS (Baptist Training Service) Teachers I remember are Frankie Scurry,  Mary Francis Tison (then) Rex, and Bro Neil Johnson.

When I was around 9 years of age, Parkview Missionary Baptist Church started a Girl's Missionary Auxiliary  class and Junior Choir on Wednesday nights.  In GMAs I memorized part 2 Corinthians 5:20: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.  This I now consider one of my life verses.
In the Summer of 1959,  Mattie's Family and I went on vacation.  We went to the Baptist Publishing House, the office of Dr E Harold Henderson in Arkansas.  He talked to us (11, 10, and 8 year olds) like we were adults.  We all got down on our knees, and he prayed for us.  After this vacation, one Sunday night in Baptist Training Service, my teacher, Frankie Scurry, said we are not promised tomorrow. She said I could die any moment, or Christ could return at any moment, even that very night.  James 4:14 KJV Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  If Christ was calling me to come to Him, she said I needed to acknowledge it in front of the church coming forward for baptism and membership.  

Mark 13:34-37 KJV For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. [35] Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: [36] Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. [37] And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.  
That night, I felt the Holy Spirit calling me, and I went forward and gave my life to Christ.  
Luke 1:79 KJV
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Acts 3:19 KJV  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
I am so grateful for the times of refreshing!

Ephesians 2:1 KJV  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Psalm 91:1 KJV — He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.   

(I was going into the 7th grade.)  After church, Bro Robertson and his wife (who were both school teachers), asked me to memorize Galatians 2:20 as a life verse.  He said I would not regret it, that it was a great verse for testimony.  
I did memorize it, and I still apply it to my daily walk:  
Galatians 2:20 KJV  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Grass Widow Legacy20230204_To mourn, to show deep sorrow or regret,
to feel regret or sadness about the loss or disappearance of something.  Every day, the sun comes up, and goes down at its appointed time.  Every week, month, and year brings changes.  I blink, and wonder, where did the day go?  Oh Lord, teach us to number our days!  Psalm 39:4-5 KJV  LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. [5] Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

My Daddy passed away when I was 13 months old, so I don't have memories of him.  Just thoughts others have expressed of him.  
When I was young, there was a picture of my Mama and Daddy in a frame on the chest of drawers.  
There was also one like it with Ada.  In 1942, Ezekiel Thomas Windham, Jr. met Ada in the train station.  He was going into the service.  During his service time, they wrote each other.  In April 1946, ET came to Jacksonville, asked Ada to marry him, and they got married and went to Charlotte, NC to live. August 2, 2019, ET passed away.  They were married 73 years.  Ada passed on February 4th, 2022.  After the funeral service, we went back to their home, and were looking at old photographs, including the two mentioned above.  Her daughter, Irene said Grandma (my Mama) didn't look happy.  I said Ada was her second child, and was leaving home.  Ada was her first child to marry.  I believe if I were Mama, I would have been sad too.  Today, I mourn and remember my Family, my heroes:  those who no longer live on this earth. I celebrate the life they lived and the loving times we had together.  Have you ever mourned over the loss of sweet fellowship with a spouse, a son, a daughter, or a friend?
Matthew 5:4 KJV Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 KJV Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
[4] Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble,
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
Jesus was in the Temple.....In Luke 4:17-21 KJV, And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias.
And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
[18] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
[19] To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
[20] And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
[21] And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

James 4:7-17 KJV

Grass Widow Legacy20230131_platonic:  Do you love someone for who they are, or for who you are in Christ?  Have you ever had someone say they want a platonic relationship with you?  Now adays, this might be known as "Best Friends."  A platonic relationship is one with no romantic or sexual features, but it means more than “just friends”  ...it is "feeling complete from someone else's positive quantities," having them "complete us, be a part of us, us being one together in word and deed.  Words, parts of speech cause us to understand what each of us says.  Today,  what a word meant when I was younger, doesn't hold to be true any longer.  The only thing I truly trust is God's Word.  Only those positive quantities felt in community (Church) which are the righteousness of Christ living in me can I trust.
Ephesians 4:2-7 KJV  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
[3] Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
[4] There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
[5] One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
[6] One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
[7] But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Ephesians 4:22-24 KJV  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
[23] And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
[24] And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Songs we listen to influence our thoughts, minds, and help us remember, for the good and for the bad:  National songs have helped win wars, and are a great influence:  Andrew Fletcher said: "Let me write the songs of a nation, and I care not who writes it's laws."
 Remembering song lyrics in 1973 of Marty Robbins singing "Lord, you gave me a mountain" on my car radio as I was taking my son to daycare.
I had to stop driving when the song said ...My woman got tired of the hardships .....Tired of the grief and the strife .....Tired of working for nothing ......Tired of being my wife.......And this time you gave me a mountain ..........A mountain I may never climb.....It isn't a hill any longer .........You gave me a mountain this time  .......I broke down in tears, realizing life choices I had made, and life consequences.  
My small Son did not understand his Mama crying, but I am so grateful my Heavenly Father, my Intercessor, and my Restorer knew.
Beliefs cause behavior.
Ethos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the "guiding beliefs" or "ideals" that characterize a community, nation, or ideology.
 The Greeks also used this word to refer to  the power of music to influence emotions, behaviors, and even morals
My ETHOS, Enthused Talks Help Our Soul is 1 John 1:1-10 KJV 

GWL20230125
Grass Widow Legacy Thoughts on "help meet"
Everything God does is for our good.  
Nouns have gender.  The four genders of nouns are masculine, feminine, common, and neuter.
Definition of help meet: In naming the animals, Adam learned that he did not have a counterpart.
He could not procreate.
sexes:  male and female
1st Marriage, 1st surgery:  God formed Adam's counterpart from his rib.  
Eve was not created from the dust.  Eve came from Adam's rib.

Genesis 2:18-25 KJV  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone;
I will make him an help meet for him.
[19] And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air;
and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them:
and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
[20] And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air,
and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
[21] And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
[22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man,
made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
[23] And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
[24] Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
[25] And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

The heart of marriage: the husband and wife's heart:  in order to be one, they must humbly pray:
for God's will alway (perpetually, non-ending) in everything they do, and everything they say,
in order for them to be one together in decisions, in life, they must pray humbly to God.

Psalm 42:1-11 KJV  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
[2] My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
[3] My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
[4] When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
[5] Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?
hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
[6] O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan,
and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
[7] Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
[8] Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime,
and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
[9] I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?
why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
[10] As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me;
while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
[11] Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. 

On this Sunday evening, I begin my podcasts of the
Grass Widow Legacy:

GWL20230122  When I gave up on my marriage and at the prompting of my husband,
I went back to my home church.  My Pastor counseled with me one time.  
I don't remember us addressing my hidden sins or asking about or receiving forgiveness,
or any prompting from Biblical stories on what I was going through.  
Only I know what I was going through.  
That is, my Lord, Savior, and Christ in me knew what was happening.  
I thought I needed freedom from the sinful world I had become a part of
and the only way to get that was to say "I don't love you any more."  
I remember my Pastor's reply that I would not be a Biblical widow,
but a "grass widow"
and those words stuck.  
Many years later, a dear Saint wrote "The Widow's mite" for the Harvest Gleaner Hour, now "Lifeword."
The past few months, I have been laying down my burdens, remembering Job 13:23 KJV
How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

Tonight my prayer is: Psalm 4:1-8 KJV

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness:
thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress;
have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
[2] O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?
how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
[3] But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself:
the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
[4] Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
[5] Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
[6] There be many that say, Who will shew us any good?
LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
[7] Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
[8] I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Galatians 2:20 KJV  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.