Photo courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti

This blog post is a repeat of an earlier blog post! Enjoy, and don’t forget to leave a comment! 🙂

Do you think that the Lord speaks to us in our dreams?

Last night, I had a vivid dream. I was at my parents’ house and some people that I knew in my childhood came to visit. They’d bought knick-knacks and cards and they were decorating our kitchen. The items that they were decorating with had to do with salvation and they were proclaiming to me that they were saved now. I had not thought of these people in decades, so, it was surprising that they showed up in my dream last night. Not sure why they came to mind? It’s possible that Jesus placed these people into my heart last night for a reason.

So, do you think the Lord can speak to us in our dreams? I know in the Old Testament, the Lord would speak to his followers with dreams, giving them important messages and advice. I’ve often wondered if there are others out there, who share a close, dream-like relationship with the Lord as the prophets in the Old Testament? Things appeared much different back then and the Lord seemed to speak more directly to his followers in the Old Testament.

Feel free to leave a comment about the bolded question above. It’d be interesting to hear your thoughts.

I also wanted to mention that Barbour Publishing has recently re-released my novel, Milk Money, in e-book format! It’s available for only $3.99!
Emily can’t keep running her dairy farm all alone. When her dad dies, Emily Cooper must work hard to save the family farm. She manages—until the day a CPA pulls in her driveway and announces he’s there to do an audit. Franklin Reese is appalled at the lack of interest the Cooper women have in the financial aspect of their livelihood, but he dives in, determined to help them learn. The further he looks into Mr. Cooper’s dealings, however, the more uncomfortable he becomes. Can he uncover the truth of the situation and still earn the love of the amazing Emily Cooper? Or will issues in Franklin’s own life keep them apart, even after the farm is taken care of?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Can you imagine God providing Manna today, just like he did for the Israelites in the Old Testament?

Exodus 16:13-15,31
13 So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp,and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
….
31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Numbers 11:7-9
7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. 9 And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

Can you imagine what that must’ve been like – finding food on the ground that was left directly by God’s hand? I just think it’s cool and so utterly amazing that it just blows my mind! I wish I could taste manna…I’ve often found myself curious about this bread-like food that came from heaven, initially sheltered beneath a layer of dew. I’ve seen frost on the ground a number of times, but, I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to go out and actually gather the frost-like substance which was actually bread that tasted like wafers made with honey…I enjoy the sweet, sticky taste of honey! They also made them into cakes…I wonder what how those manna honey cakes tasted? The Israelites ate this food for forty years until they came to a settled land.

Have you ever been curious about Manna? Can you imagine the Lord performing such a miracle today? Please share your thoughts with a comment!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Note: this is from my 2009 blog archives. I never located this scripture, so I’m assuming it’s an old wives’ tale?

Do you remember, less than one week ago, I blogged about a snow storm in my area, and they closed my job on Monday, March 2, 2009 because of the snow accumulation?

Six days later it’s warm and sunny, around seventy-five degrees, and I’m sitting out on the deck with my family grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken!

My question is, isn’t there a scripture referencing a sign about the end-times where the weather is mixed up and that you can’t tell the seasons apart anymore? I was glancing through my Bible, looking for this scripture, but came up empty, yet, I thought I’d read it at some point! I searched the internet and found the same question posted on this website. But, according to this site, I don’t know what I’m talking about!

So, blog readers, am I confusing said scripture with something else? Does this scripture exist? The first person to give me the scripture I’m looking for will get a free book(s). Or, if you think I’m confused, just let me know! I’ll continue searching for the scripture myself. I want to say I read it in either Revelations or somewhere in the Gospels? Also, I’m not sure if it’s a full verse, or just a few lines of one verse?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Awhile back, I had a Sunday Brunch blog post about the disappearance of Philip. Well, I’d heard that there were other scriptures in the Bible where the Lord made the Saints disappear. Ironically, I read and reviewed a Chris Well book recently, and in that novel, he listed some other scriptures that had disappearing saints.

What do you think about God making the Saints disappear? I think it’s oh, so amazing and awesome! Do you think something like that could happen today? I think it’s possible, but not probable. Depending upon who it was, I’m sure that person would be missed by friends and loved ones, people would be wondering what had happened to him/her. There may be those who would know that the missing person was lifted up by God, but, it’s highly unlikely that all would believe.

Also, to be lifted up by God, disappearing, with no dead body behind…well, I’d think the one being swept up by God would have a unique, highly-personal, very deep, relationship with God. It’d be a relationship that most of us wouldn’t even begin to understand.

Here are the scriptures:

ENOCH
Genesis 5:24
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Hebrews 11:5
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

ELIJAH
2 Kings 2:11-12
11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.

JESUS – This instance is in a different vein than the rest on this list. However, I felt compelled to include this one since it’s familiar to most Christians and it helps to illustrate what I’m talking about.
Luke 24:3-7
3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”

PHILIP
Acts 8:39-40
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

What do you think about God making the Saints disappear? Do you think something like that could happen today? Leave a comment!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Did Samson’s lust affect his logic?

I’ve always wondered about this, so I decided to devote a Sunday Brunch blog post to this topic. In Judges, Chapter 16, the Philistine rulers approached Delilah since they knew that Samson was in love with her. They wanted to know the secret to Samson’s strength. The rulers offered to give Delilah money if she could tell them this secret.

What’s always stumped me was Delilah asked Samson FOUR TIMES, about the secret of his strength. The first three of those four times he lied to her, and, afterwards, he always fell asleep and found himself bound with the offending material, and Delilah was always yelling about the approaching Philistines. Samson always easily escaped from the ropes, fabric, thongs, etc. since these items did not deplete his strength (although he’d told Delilah otherwise).

I’ve always thought that sometime during those first three times, Samson would’ve gotten a clue that Delilah had an agenda. It was so obvious considering the pattern of events. However, he ended up telling her the truth eventually, and that caused his downfall.

Do you think that Samson was so overcome with lust and love for Delilah that he couldn’t think clearly?

I think his lust overcame his logic. Also, the scriptures mention that the Lord came upon Samson numerous times. Perhaps this was the way that the Lord wanted the events to occur?

Feel free to share your thoughts!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

When you hear a prophecy, how do you know it’s from God?

First Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

My Sunday Brunch blog post a few weeks ago about psychics has spurred me to write about prophecy.

About ten years ago, after my first book (Promises To Keep) was released, I received an email from a local person, asking me to speak at her sister’s, Tee’s, birthday party. I accepted the invite and I arrived at the event, impressed by the large expensive house as well as the nice, immaculately-dressed party guests. We had a fancy dinner, complete with Cornish game hens, and a nice breeze blowing through the open windows.

I started talking about my writing experiences and about how I came to be published. One of the male party members asked me if I’d ever thought about sending my book to Oprah. I responded, “No, I don’t think Oprah likes to read romance novels.”

Then, Tee, the fifty-year-old birthday woman, quickly touched her forehead, and closed her eyes. She then looked at me and said, “Oh, by the way, you’re going to be on Oprah.” The whole “prophecy” experience was very quick and I barely paid it any attention.

Later, when I went to my car to get more books, D.(Tee’s boyfriend), comes outside and says, “Did you hear what Tee said about your being on Oprah?”

I said, “Yeah…”

He said, “Well, it’s true. You know Tee’s an ordained prophet.”

I said, “No, I didn’t realize that.” The whole subject of ordained prophecy was foreign to me.

Afterwards, when I got home, I glanced at the program that they’d handed out during the birthday party. The program had Tee’s picture on the front and the program also mentioned that Tee was an ordained prophet. I didn’t realize the birthday guest was an “ordained prophet” until I’d arrived at the party.

I have no idea if Tee is really an ordained prophet. But, if she says that she is an ordained prophet and I have no proof disputing that, then I feel that I can’t disbelieve her. I only saw this person once, and since my knowledge of this subject is sketchy, I can only speculate.

I still haven’t appeared on the Oprah show, but, I have no idea what, exactly, Tee was “seeing.” I guess it could still happen in the future, perhaps, since Oprah is still on TV (although her talk show was cancelled).

In First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks of the spiritual gifts, but, he really advocates the gift of prophecy. The greatest gift is love, but, prophecy is placed on a higher level than speaking in tongues. The fact that Paul says that we should especially desire the gift of prophecy makes me stop and wonder about this topic. The word prophet is thrown around and used so much nowadays – it’s a common term and it’s kind of hard to know who, exactly, is a real prophet.

What, exactly, is an ordained prophet? Who ordains a prophet? Also, when somebody says that they are a prophet, how can you be sure that they’re telling you a message from God? Someone pointed out to me that sometimes psychics will disguise themselves as prophets – do you think that this is true? Leave your responses in the comments, please.

Also, a quick change in subject, if you have a Kindle and want to read a simple, heartwarming romance, then you should try my Love Inspired title, First Mates. I’ve been getting some reader mail recently about this title and I think you might find this cruise-ship-romance story very enjoyable. I’ve been getting positive comments from both male and female readers recently.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Why Didn’t Jesus Rescue John the Baptist Podcast

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. Enjoy some of our wholesome Christian titles found at ceceliadowdy.com/books. One of our titles is RASPBERRY KISSES BY CECELIA DOWDY. Grieving widow Rhea embarks on a journey that will change her life forever. Pastor Martin seems too good to be true. Martin has a secret. What will Rhea do when she discovers the truth? Will she find the courage to make the right decision? Read The Bakery Romance Series on Kindle. Visit ceceliadowdy.com/books, or, click on the link entitled RASPBERRY KISSES at the end of this blog post. Share this blog post with your friends, family and church buddies!

Why didn’t Jesus Rescue John The Baptist from prison?

King Herod had heard about Jesus. He thought that John the Baptist was Jesus risen from the dead! Herod had John arrested and imprisoned. Herod had a brother named Philip. John was imprisoned because he reprimanded Herod for wrongfully marrying Philip’s wife. Herod was afraid to kill John because a lot of people thought he was a prophet.

When John the Baptist was in prison, I believe he wanted Jesus’s help. When Jesus failed to help John escape, John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was really the One, the true Messiah.

Then John The Baptist was beheaded.

His head was presented on a platter as a birthday gift to King Herrod’s wife’s daughter, who then presented the platter to her mother (the king’s wife-Herodias). Upon hearing this news, Jesus went away on a boat for some time alone. Apparently, Jesus was saddened by the death of John, and I’ve always wondered why Jesus didn’t release John from prison.

There are some Biblical questions that will probably remain unanswered until we get to heaven, but, I think Jesus felt He had more pressing things to do than rescuing John. Perhaps during those crucial moments when John was in prison, Jesus was called elsewhere to heal and save souls. There could be a number of reasons why things played out the way that they did, but, I’ve always wondered about this.

So, why do you think that Jesus refused to rescue John The Baptist from prison? Leave your responses in the comments. I’ve copied and pasted the scripture references below.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Matthew 11:1-6
1After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. 2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” 4Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
Matthew 14:3-13
3Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.
6On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much 7that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10and had John beheaded in the prison. 11His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. 13When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

Visit other Bible-based blog posts by visiting ceceliadowdy.com/blog/category/sunday-brunch

~Cecelia Dowdy~

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. Enjoy some of our wholesome Christian titles found at ceceliadowdy.com/books. One of our titles is RASPBERRY KISSES BY CECELIA DOWDY. Grieving widow Rhea embarks on a journey that will change her life forever. Pastor Martin seems too good to be true. Martin has a secret. What will Rhea do when she discovers the truth? Will she find the courage to make the right decision? Read The Bakery Romance Series on Kindle. Visit ceceliadowdy.com/books, or, click on the link entitled RASPBERRY KISSES at the end of this blog post. Share this blog post with your friends, family and church buddies!

RASPBERRY KISSES BOOK LINK

Mock Menu:
Light, tasty beignets coated with powdered sugar
Cafe Au Lait
Fluffy scrambled eggs lightly seasoned with salt and pepper
Crispy, salty bacon

Let’s pretend like we’ve just finished the meal outlined above before we begin our discussion!

Leviticus 19:31
“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

Have you ever visited a psychic/medium and regretted it later?

Disclaimer:
***Please note that this is based upon my personal experience, and nothing more. I’ve had a couple of emails from a blog reader, stating that I should go into more detail as to why we shouldn’t visit a psychic. You can open yourself up to a whole forbidden world that could do tons of damage – affecting your salvation. I didn’t go into this reasoning in this blog post since I’m talking about one isolated incident that happened to me. I don’t know or understand the spirit world and we really need to rely on Jesus, trust in HIM with our future. I invite you to respond accordingly with your own experiences – it’s hard to give more depth to this blog post since it’s a personal blog post that happened to me a long time ago…and I only did this one time (that was enough for me to learn to not do this again!). My reasoning about not visiting a psychic is minor compared to what’s happened to others. Also, this is a subject matter that is so broad – there are probably thousands upon thousands of books out there about this subject. It’s hard to cover every aspect in just one blog post – I can only speak about what happened to me – for further insight, I invite you to read the comments or post your own comment about your own experience (or experiences of others if you feel led to do that).

***I also wanted to point out that one of the commenters mentioned that a lot of psychics are scam artists. Many people become addicted to calling psychic hotlines and such. Again, I didn’t mention this in my blog post, but it is a VERY IMPORTANT FACT and is mentioned in the comments. Feel free to share your thoughts!

Several years ago, I took a trip alone to New Orleans. At the time, I was dating somebody and I was head-over-heels in love with this person. I wanted us to get married. I wanted this marriage to happen so badly that I visited a psychic in the French Quarter. I did this knowing it was wrong, but, I figured if she predicted this wedding, well, it would just make me feel better, make me feel more sure about my future. She asked me if I wanted to do tarot or palm reading. I told her I didn’t know. So she chose palm reading.

She told me to close my eyes and make a wish. I wished for marriage to my boyfriend. When I opened my eyes, she said in a soft voice, “Your wish is going to come true.” My heart jumped when I heard this. She then said, “The wish that you made about the man will come true.” She said we’d have four children. Surprisingly, she told me things about myself that were true. She even accurately predicted some things that would happen to me later that summer.

So, I hung onto the hope of things working out in my romantic relationship. I figured the psychic had to be right about my budding romance, after all, she’d accurately predicted other things that had happened in my life. When my euphoric romance abruptly ended several months later, I was stunned! The first thing I thought during the breakup was, “But that psychic said we’d get married!” It was horrible, and that false hope made things so much worse and I also regretted visiting that psychic! I begged the Lord for forgiveness and since then, when the subject comes up, I’ve always advised others not to dabble with psychics.

I was raised with the knowledge that we should avoid psychics. That was the first and only time that I’d ever done this.

So, have you ever visited a psychic and regretted it later? Leave a comment!

If you like religious, wholesome fiction, then join my email list and receive 2 FREE Christian fiction e-books! 

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos

Mock brunch menu:
Moist banana bread with walnuts
Cold, creamy milk
Soft scrambled eggs seasoned with salt and pepper
Scrapple
Hot coffee with cream and sugar

Do you think it’s wrong for Christians to wear tattoos?

I came up with the subject for today’s Sunday Brunch while I was out on Friday evening. I passed a tattoo shop and this scripture came to my mind:

Leviticus 19:28 28“ ‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

This scripture is taken from the Old Testament, and far as I know, the New Testament does not mention this rule. I’ve seen some cool tattoos on folks, but, I’ve never been of the mind-set to get one. The thought of being pricked by that painful needle…and making that permanent mark on my skin has never appealed to me. Plus, as you get older, the tattoos don’t look as fresh and vibrant, they fade. I definitely wouldn’t want my skin crowded with faded tattoos!

However, I honestly don’t think that getting a tattoo is necessarily “wrong”. I tend to think more of daily-life Christian laws as being taken from the New Testament, moreso than the Old Testament. However, people may disagree with me about tattoos and I’d like to get a discussion going about this subject. I know I was raised to believe that tattoos were wrong and this scripture was used to back up that “rule.” However, as I got older and more exposed to the world, my thinking has changed.

Although I don’t think getting a tattoo is wrong, it’s not something that I would encourage someone to do. Why? Well, like I’ve already said, the idea has just never appealed to me, and if my son were older (like a teenager) and wanted my permission to get a tattoo, I’d tell him NO!

So, do you think it’s wrong for Christians to get tattoos? Leave your response in the comments!

~Cecelia Dowdy~