life

My 9/11/2001 memory, part 2: The End of the World

Posted on September 11, 2026September 11, 2026 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Twenty-five years have passed…the pain is still real.

THE FACTS

I wrote yesterday in part 1 of my personal reflections about that terrible day known as 9/11. Twenty-five years ago, on September 11, 2001, four planes heavily loaded with fuel and souls, took off from the northeast with Muslim Terrorists on board. Their intention was to honor Allah and to perform a ‘death to America’ act of evil by flying the passenger planes into high value targets. These targets were buildings that represent the best of America: the Twin World Trade Towers in New York City representing our strength and our economy, the Pentagon which represents the greatest military on earth, and a target thought to be either the White House (home of the President) or the Capitol Building (seat of government/ cradle of Democracy). I said ‘thought to be’ because passengers on the 4th plane by then had heard of the previous three from cell phone calls, and knew the target was Washington DC, given where they were heading. The passengers knew they were to die but they would not allow the terrorists to accomplish their mission. The plane, United 79, was re-commandeered by the passengers and forced into a field in Pennsylvania.

The first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46AM. To my knowledge, it wasn’t recorded on any video from news helicopters abuzz over the skies for traffic reports. Nor did any tourist accidentally capture the event. But once it hit, the news focused on it intently. Reporters wondered what could have happened. The day was so crystal clear and bright, surely a pilot would have known the building was there…was it a small commuter plane with an inexperienced pilot? Or was it some kind of explosion? What could make a hole that big?

Since the news cameras were all aimed at the North Tower, when the Muslim terrorists flew the second plane into the South Tower at 9:03, we knew instantly. THAT was the moment American changed.

I watched a documentary on 9/11 called “9/11: The Lost Tapes that Revealed the Chaos“. It focused on the communications between the FAA, Air Traffic Controllers, and The Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), the military unit that protects the skies over the eastern United States and operates as part of NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command).

The Muslim terrorists had gained the cockpit and turned off the locating transponders of each plane. The Military scrambled jets but they absolutely did not know the targets. And being passenger planes, the Air Defense was hesitant to shoot down randomly or mistakenly. Only after there was a command to ground all planes, the order to shoot down any non-responding plane still in the air was given. By then it was too late. All 4 targets had crashed, done what they set out to do (except United 93, which the passengers saved from destroying innocent lives on the ground).

The documentary made it clear just how unique and unexpected the use of passenger planes was at this given moment. Because of this, the Muslim terrorists’ goal in that respect was accomplished. The emotional grappling with such an event, using passenger planes AS the bomb, the disrespect for life, the use of the planes to strike high value targets, attacking the United States out of nowhere, was something not even thought of by the military (NORAD or NEADS), or Air Traffic Control, or the Federal Aviation Administration.

In fact, in the documentary, on tape, one Commander was told of the hijackings and she said “Cool.” She explained in her current day interview that she had said ‘Cool’ because hijacks were something known and prepared for, and there was a protocol and sequence to follow. But no, this was no ordinary hijacking. The mind took quite a while to catch up.

Shortly before 9/11, actor James Woods was on a flight to Los Angeles. Apparently, he saw four men Woods suspected to be Muslim terrorists making a dry run on his flight. He stated this to the Flight crew who said a report would be made. Bureaucracy swallowed the report.

After 9/11 Woods called the FBI, who showed up on his doorstep at 7am on Sepotember 12 door, woke him up, and interviewed Woods on the details. Here is Woods talking about it- https://youtu.be/GI_jVBd7gok?si=NftnkPTG_HICGedc

Little known, little reported, interesting story: How the 9/11 Boatlift became the largest waterborne evacuation in history

THE EMOTIONAL PART

And here we have the fallout. The dividing line for our nation was between the first and second planes. There is “before” and there is “after.”

I can’t say enough about the fear, confusion, emotional and mental groping, and unbalance we all felt on that day. We had no words.

Any person could be an enemy. Any disaster could come from any direction. Planes used as bombs? Would there be missiles? Nukes? Shooting attacks? Submarines bursting out of the waters to shot missiles on shore? An army? We were completely unbalanced. Fear and perplexity! We were in shock and grief for the poor individuals who were killed on the planes and on the ground. We mourned the first responders. We could not articulate what we were even feeling or thinking. Many were angry. Many became patriotic at that instant the 2nd plane hit. I know I and my friend thought the world was ending. It felt like Armageddon. End of the world. Everything was crumbling.

THE RELIGIOUS PART

There will be a day to come when Jesus will unleash terror unlike even on 9/11, or Pearl Harbor day or Atomic Bomb over Japan day. It will be REAL Armageddon at the end of a time period of trouble unlike the world has ever seen. (Matthew 24:21).

It will be so bad that as even the powers of heaven are shaken, people fainting from fear and the expectation of the things that are coming upon the world; (Luke 21:26 NASB). Other translations say ‘men’s hearts failing’.

Barnes’ Notes explains, “Men’s hearts failing them – This is an expression denoting the highest terror. The word rendered “failing” commonly denotes to “die,” and here it means that the terror would be so great that people would faint and be ready to die in view of the approaching calamities.”

The fear and perplexity we felt on 9/11 will occur again but be exponentially worse on the Day of the Lord.

From a sermon: “How does the world as we know it end and what will be the signs? In this passage, [Mark 13] Jesus teaches his disciples the final signs marking the end of the age and the coming of his kingdom. And there are three of these final signs. Let’s look at them one by one. The first sign of the end of the age is the upheaval of the heavens. The upheaval of the heavens. There will be cosmic chaos when all the celestial bodies in the sky are thrown into turmoil. First of all, the heavens will be darkened.

Jesus says in verse 24, in those days after the Tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. So the world will fall into darkness because neither the sun nor the moon shine on the earth. How dark will it be? Well, the word Jesus uses, darkened, the sun will be darkened, suggests that the sun won’t shine at all.

It’s a word that describes not so much the dimming of a light as the turning off of a light. It’s the same word that Paul uses in Romans 1 to describe the darkness that is in sinners’ hearts. In a rebellious sinner’s heart, No light of the gospel shines. It’s pitch black. It’s completely dark.

And Jesus uses that same word here. In the same way, the light of the sun will not shine on the earth. God will supernaturally prevent the sun’s rays from reaching the earth and the world will fall into blackness. Now obviously with no light from the sun, the moon will also, as Jesus says, not give its light. Both day and night will be completely dark.

Now everyone, no matter where they are on the earth, will see this sign. It will be impossible to miss. It will be an unmistakable sign that life on earth will never be the same again. Everyone will realize that. Something momentous has occurred that cannot be fixed with human ingenuity or technology.

Jesus says that not only the heavens will be darkened, but also the heavens will be disordered. He says in verse 25, and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. That word stars refers to really any luminous body in the sky other than the sun, such as planets, comets, meteors, anything that’s visible into the space, into the heavenlies. And Jesus says that these celestial bodies will be falling from heaven, that’s a present tense participle indicating continuous like an asteroid shower, a meteor shower, just continually coming down. He says, these celestial bodies will careen through the heavens, many falling to the earth as if they had spun out of control.

Even the powers or the forces that seem to hold everything together and constant in the heavens will be shaken. Somebody has likened it to a cosmic earthquake. Except the quake won’t be on the earth, but in the heavens. The universe will appear to crumble. Well, you can imagine how this will affect people on earth. If the world were cast into utter darkness, life on earth could not last long.

And all this will cause panic and terror in the hearts of those not trusting in the Lord. In Luke’s account of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus says in chapter 21, verse 26, there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves. And then Jesus says again, Luke 21, 26, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. They’ll be used to powers on the earth shaken through earthquakes, or fires, or famines, or wars. But to look up in the sky and see chaos, cosmic chaos, will cause people to panic.

They will panic to the point of fainting away in fear, or will faint dead because they are having heart attacks. It will be a time of judgment from above and below, a time of hate and evil and disaster and fear.

9/11 was bad because men are evil. The solution to evil is Jesus. He is Good. He is the only good, and as such, will forgive our sins which deserve punishment and judgment, because He died as the sacrifice for those sins. He endured God pouring out man’s evil sins onto His son on the cross. Now, any person who repents and believes Jesus as the Savior will be seen by God the Father as Good. He will be seen as a righteous person with no condemnation will be upon Him.

and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24).

Jesus is the Hope! You do not have to remain on earth when He sends these terrible judgments upon the world. If you repent of your sins and turn to Him, you will be safe in heaven when these things happen. I will never forget that awful day. It truly was an event that sears itself on my mind and heart. 25 years later I still cry when watching some of these documentaries.

Sin is the reason these troubles happen, and one day, if you repent, sin will be no more in heaven. All will be at peace. At long last, peace.

theology

A meditation on the trend to go back to analog

Posted on February 25, 2026 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I realize I am writing this on a digital platform to be published on digital media.

However, I am 65 years old and I was a full adult nearing middle age before the internet came to my house. For most of my life, I had a heavy, black rotary phone, drove cars without a computer chip in them, and looked for books at the library through a card catalog. We sailed our boat over 22,000 nautical miles in the Atlantic Ocean without the help of a GPS. We always found our way to port.

When the internet came, and with it email, bulletin boards, Compuserv, streaming movies, I embraced the digital, it is an incredible invention. I do love it. But it is also fraught with potential for bad, even evil. Temptations and addictions abound. Distraction, FOMO, life comparison, phone addiction, and porn are just a few of those.

Children are entering school without knowing how to have a conversation, with limited vocabulary, and non-existent attention spans. Parents using the phone or tablet as a neglect-o-meter for their children, or on the phone so much themselves, their child wanders the house aimlessly not knowing what true loving engagement is.

We all embraced it when it came along. Schools scrambled to buy chrome books and desktop computers so their students would not be ‘left behind’. The dot.Com boom helped this attitude. The old humongous TV on a rolling cart used once in a while for a documentary program was replaced by ever larger screens used for just about everything. Apps were added to student computers to use at home and increasingly, in school. Even standardized testing went digital.

What I am seeing is a trend in the world back to digital. Being 65 and having seen trends come and go- and come again- is the way of the world. I’m glad there is a movement back to analog.

Many states in the US are banning student use of cell phones during school hours. Sweden was a country that initially wholeheartedly embraced it all. But over time, the glow dwindled. We read about Sweden–

“…by 2023, Sweden’s government and educators began to voice concerns. Studies raised red flags about declining reading comprehension and concentration among Swedish students. The Swedish government officially announced it would scale back the use of digital devices in early grades, with more focus on physical books and handwriting. According to an AP News report, Sweden’s Education Minister Lotta Edholm said students “need more textbooks” and emphasized that physical books are important for student learning as the country reconsiders screen-heavy instruction.”

There is a swing among Gen Z and millennials to ‘go analog’. I’ve read more than once lately that vinyl records are surging in popularity. Young adults scour the thrift stores for record players. Apparently there comes a time when a critical mass of concerns make using digital media just not fun anymore. Recent announcements by streaming music companies that you can pay to download songs but you don’t own them have dimmed the glow of the ease of using digital media for music. Major services who offer a service but decline to allow the consumer to own the music- meaning it can be removed at any time from their platforms, include Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music.

When older adults fondly recall sitting snuggled on the couch with their family and reminiscing over a photo album with 35 mm pictures in them, telling stories and knitting together in love, younger adults only have the cold phone swiping photo and feel they are missing out. And they are.

Photo albums are going extinct, but is that a good thing? Photo albums are the repository of nostalgia, family stories, personal history. Pixels don’t last. Photos do. A family narrative huddled around a smartphone, looking at pictures one by one does not have the same tender qualities as the former way of creating meaning among a family unit.

There is a documentary that’s got people excited, it’s called “California Typewriter.” The documentary’s blurb goes,

CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER is a documentary portrait of artists, writers, and collectors who remain steadfastly loyal to the typewriter as a tool and muse, featuring Tom Hanks, John Mayer, David McCullough, Sam Shepard, and others. It also movingly documents the struggles of California Typewriter, one of the last standing repair shops in America dedicated to keeping the aging machines clicking. In the process, the film delivers a thought-provoking meditation on the changing dynamic between humans and machines, and encourages us to consider our own relationship with technology, old and new, as the digital age’s emphasis on speed and convenience redefines who’s serving whom, human or machine?

DIgital media can display the best of humans, as in a GoFundMe to help a flooded out or burned out family. It can also illustrate our depravity, as some of those GoFundMe cases are revealed to be lies. People are turned off by constant AI fakery, lies, nastiness over even innocuous comments. It seems to be a quiet revolution as more people turn off their phones, swap for flip phones, retreat from social media, or just in general, quit.

“We’re seeing that a group of Gen Z [and millennials] is choosing to leave social media entirely, and probably a larger group that’s choosing just to limit social media as they regain more of what they’re trying to find: balance and security and safety in their life,” Dorsey said,” in this article, “A ‘quiet revolution’: Why young people are swapping social media for lunch dates, vinyl records and brick phones.

In this article, we see the word tangible. In other articles I’ve see the word tactile. “Gen Zers and millennials flock to so-called analog islands ‘because so little of their life feels tangible'” More and more people are choosing analog hobbies –

“They are setting down their devices to paint, color, knit and play board games. Others carve out time to mail birthday cards and salutations written in their own hand. Some drive cars with manual transmissions while surrounded by automobiles increasingly able to drive themselves. And a widening audience is turning to vinyl albums, resuscitating an analog format that was on its deathbed 20 years ago.”

I am not a prophet and I can’t say this trend will last. I hope so. I tell my students at school about ‘the old days of the 1900s’ when we played outside, rode our bikes all over, went to each other’s houses, had sleepovers, drank from the water hose, begged a dime for the ice cream truck, went to the movies on weekends for $1, and never saw a personal screen in all our lives. Their mouths drop open. They are amazed. My heart aches for them because I know what they are missing out on.

Of course in today’s world many of those activities are no longer safe or possible. But the ‘analog’ hobbies were fun. As I said, I hope this trend lasts a while, but in the end I think the world will be overrun with technology and with it, its worst qualities.

The Bible says that the future will be a one world economy, and it’s hard to see that happening without even further advancement of the digital world. The Antichrist who will seem to rise from the dead could easily be a faked AI video or a hologram. But for now, I salute those young adults who are searching for ‘analog’ connection, tactile hobbies, and a life not dominated by emotionless digital pressure but warmth of fellowship, swapped stories, and sunshine.

theology

Sunday Naps and their possible Spiritual Benefits

Posted on September 14, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Ahhh…Sunday naps. A tradition? Or something more?

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:2-3).

I’m blessed to have a regular Monday-through-Friday work week, daytime hours. On Saturday I run around and do errands and cleaning and stuff that I’ve put off during the work week. So it’s like a 6th work day. Thus, when I get to Sunday, I’m tired. I go to church then I take a nap, and that is about all I do.

Continue reading →

theology

Salt Represents Life and Belief in Christianity

Posted on August 28, 2025August 28, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

SYNOPSIS

I share my experiences in New England, relating the traditions of spring. I connect this to the biblical concept of salt, emphasizing its preservative, flavorful, and corrosive qualities. Believers, like salt, are meant to influence the world positively as “salt and light” while also understanding salt is a corrosive to some.

Continue reading →

theology

Last week I turned 62

Posted on December 31, 2022January 1, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

EPrata photo. Taken in Prata, Italy, “Door with cane”

Last week I turned 62. I’m OK with the advancing age. That isn’t what this essay is about. I was rather tickled to think I’ve now entered into the official Social Security senior citizen era.

My bemusement comes from the fact that once again, the Bible is right. Life is a vapor. It really does emerge, happen, and extinguish in what feels like mere moments.

My first memory occurred 8 weeks after I turned 3. That means I have 59 years of memories. Fifty-nine years of experiences. Fifty-nine years of the good, the bad, the inconsequential. It’s a heavy load to carry that many memories, and I suspect it gets heavier as time goes on. If the Lord continues my life 10, 20, even 30 more years, that’s a lot more emotional gear attached to my heart.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. (James 4:14)

But more than that obvious statement about age and memories and baggage etc., which is nothing new under the sun, is the notion that it all happened in the blink of an eye. You know this, older people have been telling you ‘It goes so fast!’ all their life. You understand this as a fact, because in addition to hearing it from older relatives, the Bible advises on the brevity of life over and over.

But once you experience it, man, it gets real.

How quickly does the steam disappear over the teacup? How far out from our mouth does thee cold frozen air extend? How high does the haze from the hot pavement rise?

You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah (Psalm 39:5)

When I turned 30 I quit my teaching job and sailed off to the Bahamas with a blue eyed handsome man. When I was 40 I started a newspaper, using it to ‘clean up this town’. When I was 50 I returned to education as a career. At 61 I was just working as a teacher’s aide and not looking ahead too much. But I got COVID, and was out of work for 2 and a half weeks. I was deathly ill. A nurse friend wanted me to go to the hospital, but I refused. I spent 9 days with a fever of 102 or higher, and my oxygen levels dipped low. My brain felt good and fried by the end but I made it. It took me a long time to recover and I’m still not the same as I was before I had that awful flu. That event caused me to really think hard about life and death. Only two times before in all my life was I that ill.

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. (Psalm 144:4)

That’s been my pattern – big life changes at each decade.

I clearly remember my 30s. It truly feels like yesterday. I think of something that happened “last year” and it was in fact ten years ago. Because we are warned about the brevity of life, because we are told how fast it all goes, (even if he is gracious to give us 70 or 80 years), then what manner of life shall I live for God? How shall we live? Are we glorifying God to the best of our ability? Even to half our ability? Do we think of Him more than we think of family, work, personal needs and wants? If the chief end of man as the Westminster Catechism says, is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever, are we enjoying Him?

For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers. (Psalm 102:3)

Putting off till tomorrow is easy to do. Then suddenly you’re 62 and realize that all the days of tomorrows have piled into years. Why will we cry in heaven and He has to wipe away tears? Will it be because we realize then how much time He gave us and how much of it we squandered?

I’ll add my voice to the chorus, young ladies, life does traverse the streams of time quickly. It might feel like a gentle meander in a raft down a lazy river, but you are truly riding a speedboat in the rapids. Use your time well, each and every day. Love your husband, raise your children, hug them!! Or if you are single, all the more to live for Him- and enjoy Him.

theology

On life, death, buses, and trains

Posted on October 31, 2018October 31, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

A man died in his car after a collision with a train last week. His small child was airlifted from the scene to Atlanta and was listed in critical condition.

He was the father of four and 3 of his children attended our county schools.

I have a love-hate relationship with trains. 50 years ago, the town dump was just that, a dumping ground. Old fridges, lawn chairs, lamps, trash and the like were just dumped onto a landfill. My dad took the trash every weekend and always asked if me and my brother wanted to go. We always did. The dump was at the same time scary, spooky, alluring, and fun to pick around at the dump. You never knew what you might find.

The dump was fun but there was terror in going because of the train.

You had to cross the railroad tracks to get there. My father used to stop on the tracks and turn off the car and pretend we were stalled. He’d yell that the train was coming and we were all going to die. We’d scream terrified in the back seat, peering wild-eyed up the tracks to see where the train was. Then he would laugh hysterically at his joke and turn the car on and we’d go.

Yeah, I know.

The church I attend is down a main road that parallels the tracks for a good 7 miles. I get really nervous around train tracks, even to this day. There are a lot of crossings. Most of them have lights and gates. A few don’t. It was at one where there were no gates or lights that the accident happened.

As I approached the scene on my way to church that night, I saw that the train had stopped, and the train guy in reflective jacket had descended the steps and was running alongside the train. His face looked terrified… Anyway, I wondered what he was running toward, because the train doesn’t stop there and the train guy doesn’t usually exit the train, usually. I looked ahead and spotted the vehicle in the ditch. I winced, the car was pretty wrecked. Ambulances hadn’t gotten there yet. I said a prayer as I passed.

I was saddened by this tragedy, pretty deeply. I thought about it all week. I prayed for the family. I wondered of the man was saved.

Then another tragedy struck. Not in our immediate area like the train accident, but in Indiana. A mother/church-goer/children’s minister, had her life turned inside out in a flash. She struck and killed three small children as they crossed the road to their bus. A fourth child was gravely injured. The three children were siblings, twin boys and a girl, from the same family.

“I haven’t seen first responders and troopers cry in a long time” said Indiana State Police Sergeant Tony Slocum. It was a heart-rending scene. It is one I cannot contemplate too long if I am not going to cry.

A mother somewhere in Indiana lost her three children in a flash. The last thing those children saw was a truck grill bearing down on them. It is awful thought. Investigators do not yet know why the wreck happened. The driver had stopped and had his flashing lights on and the arm out. He doesn’t seem to have contributed to the accident. The mother alone has been charged, three counts of reckless homicide and failing to stop at a school bus.

There is a lot to absorb regarding this incident, if one wants to mull it over. I don’t blame you if you don’t. We all know that our lives could be changed in a moment, but we don’t really think about it. When it happens, it often happens fast, like the father who was killed by the train. One moment you’re trundling along and the next you’ve arrived at your eternal destination.

The man’s wife was suddenly widowed, and her children fatherless, all in a moment. The mother who ran over the three kids at the bus stop, will never be the same, she has felonies on her record and never mind the insane grief and guilt she will bear forever.

I got to thinking about all that is done under the sun. What God must think of us, going about our business…lost sheep who have all gone astray

This may seem trite but it is true and applicable to how things are on this earth.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

And this

For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 6:12)

My Lord and My God ordains all. He knows what goes on under the sun. He allows sin to permeate a life, its effects to take a life, innocents to be killed, wives to become widows, mothers to become childless, children to become motherless.

It is a world full of sorrow and pain, heartache and tragedy. This isn’t such a positive essay, and I am sorry if you were looking for that today. But in this world, unexpected events happen which defy our comprehension but still hurt our heart. Trusting God is the only answer.

Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13)

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

The work of God – The scheme of Divine Providence, the course of events which God orders and controls (compare Ecclesiastes 3:11). It comprises both events which are “straight,” i. e., in accordance with our expectation, and events which are “crooked,” i. e., which by their seeming inequality baffle our comprehension.

God sent His Son so that even when baffling things happen, we can turn to Him for comfort. We know that He knows. He is working things out to the good for those who love Him. He has reasons and ways and plans that we don’t understand, but we have the Light of understanding that He does, and that’s enough.

Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12).

My Post (7)

Prata's Place, Uncategorized

Prata’s Place/Graceful Garlands: Brief Breath

Posted on August 5, 2017 by elizabethprata

Artwork and photo by EPrata.

Prata Place Graceful Garlands 28 man is but a breath

encouragement, Uncategorized

The Practical Grace of Alana L.

Posted on June 15, 2017June 15, 2017 by elizabethprata

Alana L. is a Christian, a wife, a mom, an entrepreneur, and a Youtuber. She has been making videos about her life as a mom in Christ for five years, which are published nearly every day. In her first couple of videos, Alana articulates the Gospel and her beliefs. The remaining videos are simply how these beliefs play out during a regular old day, a kind of practical grace.

One video I liked of hers was just over 1 minute long. It showed an empty glass on the floor next to a rocking chair. Her husband had left it there after getting up from eating his sandwich. You know how the Mexican standoff begins, you sinfully say to yourself, ‘Well if he couldn’t bring the glass to the sink, I won’t.’ Or passive-aggressively waving the glass around while asking “Are you done with this glass? I’ll put it in the sink for you.‘ Or just ignore the glass and leave it for him to pick up eventually, when he gets the hint. [They never get the hint]. Or…how to handle this issue lovingly, and what thoughts Jesus would want us to have as Alana muses (while taking the glass to the sink). Practical grace.

Sunny Shell at Abandoned to Christ has some thoughts on motherhood, fatherhood, and family-hood titled The Hands That Rock The Cradle, Heals or Hurts The World

Please read her piece for an encouraging thought for the day. Then enjoy Alana L.’s take on living it out. She covers submission, wife-hood, spanking, discipline, homeschooling, working from home, raising boys, cleaning, marital irritations, lovemaking and attractiveness, bitterness, and more. All the things. Her videos run from 1 minute to 20 minutes. Enjoy.

Alana Lagares Youtube Channel