UTILIZING YOUR GOD-GIVEN TALENTS

 

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

God gives us each a special talent. “To each one according to his own ability” (Matthew 25:15 NKJV). It is how we utilize that special gift that matters to God—and humanity.

You may have the gift of mothering, farming, teaching, or perhaps you have entrepreneur talents. You could have the gift of speaking, singing—or composing songs.

Mr. Ira F. Stanphill (1914–1993) was gifted with such a talent. He was an amazing songwriter who wrote six hundred gospel songs, which include: "Suppertime," "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow," “Room at the Cross,” Happiness Is the Lord,” and “Mansion Over the Hilltop.” 

A popular Assemblies of God gospel singer and songwriter of the 20th century, he wrote many of his songs during a period of deep personal turmoil. Still, he brought joy and hope to countless people throughout the world.

He was five years old, living with his parents in Mound Valley, Kansas when young Ira heard Claude Gilson, a blind pianist, playing for their prayer meeting. He came to their home to play classical pieces for the family after the church service. Little Ira listened mesmerized for hours. Gilson’s evident joy in playing through his blindness evidently impressed on young Ira how happiness could be found in sharing. Claude had overcome his handicaps, sharing his God-given gift with others.

Ira became a willing student, studying piano and performing his voice lessons. He learned to play the ukulele. He entered a contest with the hopes of performing on the radio. It wasn’t long before the station manager saw Ira’s talent. He was soon conducting 15-minute radio programs where he’d take requests for songs and play them on his ukulele!

Now a fourth grader, he mastered piano, organ, ukulele and accordion. But that wasn’t enough for Ira, he learned to play the xylophone, guitar, saxophone and clarinet.

But he still didn’t have what he’d seen in Claude. At age twelve, he had a born-again experience. He now understood his purpose. At age fifteen, he composed his first chorus, “Move Forward,” for a Christ’s Ambassadors (AG youth ministry) group. Amidst the chaos and hopelessness of the Great Depression, and at the impressive age of seventeen years old, Ira graduated from high school in 1932.

He responded to the mayhem by singing gospel songs in jails, on street corners, on the radio and participated in revival crusades, and tent campaigns.

He left for Chillicothe (Missouri) Junior College at twenty-two years old. Then, afterward, he served as youth and music director for J. M. Cockerell’s church in Breckenridge, Texas. During that time, he published his first song, “Afterwhile,” in 1935. “After the Showers” and “There’s a Savior Who Cares”.

It was in the following year, when Ira was to preach in Arcadia, Kansas; Pawhuska, Oklahoma; and Springfield, Missouri, that while in Springfield he would meet his future bride.

The musical family of K. H. Lawson was part of the Southern Missouri District, when Ira noticed one of his daughters. Zelma played the piano by ear and accompanied her parents on a local radio program.

Soon, Ira and Zelma went to church together, attending rallies and other events. Both held a common interest—music. On April 23, 1939, they were married in Central Assembly Church.

With Hitler marching across Europe, and America entering World War II, people needed hope and encouragement, and gospel music was the solace Americans needed to hear! Ira joined the team of evangelist Raymond T. Richey in 1941 to tour and sing during those crucial war years.

One very popular song, “Room At the Cross,” written in 1946 became one of Ira’s best loved hymns. However, it wasn’t easy for him to write. Perhaps because of the time restriction he’d placed upon himself.

During a meeting at Riverside Church in Kansas City, Missouri, and given some possible titles for a song, it was his objective to write the song before the service. So, he wrote this song between Sunday School and church. Completed, he sang the song to himself, and decided it wasn’t ready.

So, he asked the congregation for another chance and more time! He felt confident he’d have a song for the evening service. He told them of the ideas he had for a title, and then prayerfully chose “Room At the Cross.” This was such a success that in the coming years, “Room At the Cross” became the closing song for each alter call of the Revivaltime radio broadcast.

Then, sadly, it happened. After nine long years of trying to make his stormy marriage work, Ira and Zelma were divorced in 1948.

This was an extremely hard time for Ira, because Zelma took his five-year-old son with her, they never reconciled. During this very dark period of Ira’s life, he wrote a hundred and fifty songs, including “I’ll Trust in Him Though I don’t Understand,” We’ll Talk it Over,” “I Don’t Know About Tomorrow,” and “Mansion Over the Hilltop.”

Ira is the first to say, he could not have written “Mansion Over the Hilltop” without a businessman’s disillusionment, and a little girl’s faith.

See next month’s blog for the exciting conclusion of “Utilizing your God-given talents!”

 

        WALTZ WITH DESTINY: Waltz into the Big Band Era and the splendors of Detroit's ballrooms with Esther (McConnell) Meir as a story-book romance swirls into a battle for survival. Guys like Eric Erhardt remembers those days vividly: "The outside world all thought Americans were too soft, and not much more than playboys, and we wouldn't be able to fight—man, did we show them!

"…Waltz with Destiny is the crown jewel of the Destiny Series! Brakefield brings 1940s Detroit to life, along with the WWII battlefields of Italy...You won't want to put this one down!"

Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny and Love's Final Sunrise. She has written two pictorial history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer, and short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-three years live on a ranch in Michigan, has two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, three dogs, two cats, one bunny, and six chickens. See CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com.
https://news.ag.org/en/articles/news/2025/05/this-week-in-ag-history-may-25-1952  

https://ifphc.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/ira-stanphill-the-story-behind-the-beloved-assemblies-of-god-gospel-singer-and-songwriter/

Unending Battle: The Medicine that Enslaved

by Sherry Shindelar

When General Robert E. Lee formally surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 8th, 1865, soldiers across the South laid down their arms as the news spread. But peace didn’t come for everyone. Too many Civil War soldiers who survived their battlefield wounds and camp illnesses returned home to fight another battle: dependency on the opioid-based medicines that had helped save their lives.

19th Medicine Bottles

I first heard of laudanum when I watched the movie Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce’s eighteen-year battle to end the slave trade in Great Britain. Wilberforce played a pivotal role in ending the slave trade and eventually slavery itself in Britain by speaking, campaigning, and introducing bills into the British parliament. However, Wilberforce was also addicted to laudanum, a tincture of opium.

William Wilberforce by Anton Hickel

It wasn’t his intention to become dependent upon a drug. A doctor prescribed it to him when he was twenty-nine years old for ulcerative colitis and other health ailments. Laudanum was used to treat a number of health issues and ailments in the 18th and 19th centuries, and no one, including doctors, had much understanding about addiction and dependency. The word addiction didn’t even exist as we use it today. But the soul-deep struggle was very real for too many people, even a man of faith like Wilberforce.

Addiction is pernicious, and laudanum took its toll on Wilberforce. He suffered physically, mentally, and spiritually from its poisonous effects.

But in the midst of his battle with the drug’s hold upon him, he poured his heart and strength into seeking reforms in many areas of British society, including the abolition of slavery; factory conditions; curtailing violence; educating children in reading, hygiene, and the Bible; and preventing cruelty to animals.

Years later, I learned that even some of the nineteenth-century authors that I admire, such as Louisa May Alcott and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, also struggled with laudanum dependency.

Louisa May Alcott

In the nineteenth century, doctors and the public viewed opium, in its various forms, as an essential medical tool. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were wounded in the American Civil War, and many more suffered from debilitating and potentially life-threatening illnesses. A Civil War medical manual, quoted in Dr. Jonathan Jones’s Opium Slavery, states that opiates were as “important to the surgeon as gunpowder to the ordinance [military weapons].”

Civil War Convelescent Camp (Library of Congress)

Unfortunately, the medicine that saved their lives, too often, enslaved them for years after the war. According to Dr. Jones, “Veterans, their families, and communities struggled to cope with addiction’s health and social consequences, which included much victim-blaming that compounded suffering unnecessarily.” Too often, society’s reaction hindered instead of helped the men’s recovery.

My heart went out to Wilberforce, the tens of thousands of soldiers, and others enslaved to laudanum or other substances through no fault of their own. For many, once infected, it could be a lifelong battle, one that many did not win on their own. But there were victories.

Broken shackles

And I love to write about soul-deep struggles and victories. That is why I chose to write Texas Reclaimed.

Addiction still enslaves today, but that doesn’t have to be the end of the story.

Recently, I asked a friend of mine about his own deliverance from addiction. He had this to say, “It was a lifetime ago, my addiction was strong, but my pain was stronger. I’ve lost so much in my life, but then I found that God’s love was deep, and He was even bigger to forgive. Out of His mercy He set me free, and through His grace He healed me from my past.”-Rev. Mark Little Elk

Sunrise by Becca Herbstritt

That is my prayer for all of those who struggle.

Sherry Shindelar

Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. Sherry is a multi-award-winning writer. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of forty-one years.

Connect with Sherry: website, newsletter, Amazon, FB, Goodreads

Texas Reclaimed

Can love blossom between a woman haunted by her family’s past and a man with a war-scarred heart?

Cora Scott is determined to hold onto her family's Texas ranch and provide a stable home for her young half brother, Charlie, despite the mounting challenges of post-Civil War frontier life. But when a scheming creditor threatens to seize their land, she must accept help from Ben McKenzie, a former Yankee soldier sent by her late brother. Though Ben's generosity and strength draw her, the man's private struggle she stumbles upon—too reminiscent of her father's alcoholism—makes her question whether she can trust her heart to him.

Ben McKenzie arrives in Texas intent on fulfilling his promise to his dying friend to protect Cora and Charlie. While using his inheritance to save their ranch, he battles not only the loss of their cattle but also his dependency on laudanum—a medicine that turned into a curse after his imprisonment at Andersonville. As his feelings for Cora deepen, he must choose between his promise to his father to take over their Philadelphia newspaper and his growing dream of a life with Cora in Texas.

The Historic Sacramento One-Room Schoolhouse by Denise M. Colby

 

The one-room schoolhouse in Sacramento, California is a wonderful museum that sheds light on how schoolrooms operated in the 1800s.

At one time, fourth grade classes could sit in a reenactment. I was fortunate to attend it twice with m first two son's field trip. One was inside the actual schoolhouse, another was underneath the city (I wrote about how Sacramento built on top of itself in last months post).

In both instances, they had all the kids sit through a lesson as it would’ve been taught in the 1860s. Boys on one side, girls sat on the other. If you answered a question, a student must stand. Reciting was a main part of the lesson. There was even a dunce cap in the corner.

 

My son's class sitting in the one-room schoolhouse

 

In these two photos the teacher is showing the boys how to stand and bow appropriately

 

It really was an immersive experience.

And is quite a special memory. My writing journey began here, on that first field trip. Even though I had visited multiple times, this visit to Old Town Sacramento and the one-room schoolhouse birthed an idea. But it wasn’t until the second trip with my second son, did I actually act on it.

What would it be like to be a teacher during that era? How did she keep order? Implement the discipline?

 

 What a schoolteacher would've worn during this time.

The setup on our visit included tables with era related things to purchase. One sheet highlighted all the rules a teacher must follow including how to cut the pencil tips. Other instructions included:

 

These rules were posted on the wall inside the schoolhouse

Another parchment listed out how many lashings a student would receive for any of the following infractions. When you read this list, you realize that many of these rules wouldn’t fly today.

 

The schoolroom is a permanent fixture in Old Town Sacramento. Recently I learned that they have not been doing the reenactment classes since COVID. That’s a shame, as I believe the hands on experience gives students an example of how different people lived over a century ago. 

At least they can still visit the classroom and learn about it from the docents who still work it. 

 

 

Best-laid Plans Series

Three young women. One new beginning. A journey of faith, friendship, and unexpected love. It’s 1869 and three young women travel to Sacramento, California, ready to begin new lives as teachers in the rural one-room schoolhouses of the West. But the plans they carefully laid soon give way to something far greater. As God gently redirects their paths, each woman discovers lessons in friendship, faith, and trust—and encounters the most surprising gift of all: love. (No Plan at all is a prequel story with side characters.)

 

Denise M. Colby writes historical romance sweetened with faith, hope, and love. She finds history fascinating and contemplates often how it was to live in the 1800's. Her debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, is a 2025 Carol Award finalist. Sign up for her newsletter at

www.denisemcolby.com or follow Denise on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, Pinterest, or GoodReads.

 

WOOPS! The Forgotten Female Force of World War II

“Now come the WOOPS.”

That is how the Associated Press introduced the newest opportunity for women to serve the country in May 1943.

WOOPS (Women Officers of Public Safety) are not as well known as the WACs (Women’s Army Corps) and WAVES (the Naval Women’s Reserve), perhaps because they were far fewer in number.

Unlike WACS and WAVES, the WOOPS carried
 guns when on duty. This photo of firing range
practice was published in the May 31, 1943
Austin, Texas, Statesman.

These women served during World War II to replace or supplement men serving in the military. Unlike the others, however, WOOPS carried guns.

WOOPS was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to supplement the male Public Safety Service (PSS) protecting dams and power facilities from espionage and sabotage.

TVA was formed in 1933 to control flooding, provide navigation, and generate power in the Tennessee Valley region of the southeast. By the time the United States entered World War II, TVA was providing power to industries vital to the war effort, including production of aluminum and the top-secret Oak Ridge laboratory, which produced uranium for the Manhattan Project.

So TVA facilities, including dams under construction as well as the Muscle Shoals Reservation where explosive materials were produced for munitions, were considered possible targets by enemies.

When the federal government created TVA, they authorized the agency to designate law enforcement officers to assist in carrying out its mission. The PSS initially assisted with police, fire, and emergency services. The force grew to 250 officers by January 1941. But when the U.S. entered the war, the need for increased security of TVA facilities became evident. In 1942, German operatives were apprehended on Long Island, N.Y.; among their targets were American aluminum factories.

PSS employment reached its peak of about 900 in July 1942. However, Public the men most qualified to serve as security guards were also the ones most likely to enlist in the military services.

TVA officials found that when a PSS officer joined the war effort, he would be replaced by another man, who would also enlist after a few months.

The training period was shortened from six months to six weeks, and the officers were sworn in as Civilian Auxiliary to the Military Police, a status that remained until 1945. In addition to fire and sabotage prevention, the officers assisted TVA Personnel with fingerprinting prospective employees to secure the workforce.

To counter the shrinkage of the force, TVA established the Women Officers of Public Safety, shortened to WOOPS in line with WAVES and WACS. Initially, about 70 women applied, and 22 were accepted and trained in the first class, along with 63 men.

The first class of WOOPS at the gun range

The women, mostly single, included former stenographers, clerks, teachers, and nurses. A few were wives of PSS officers who left to join the military. Most had never fired a gun before joining the corps.

They received training intensive combat training in judo and riflery, as well as instruction in firefighting and guard dog handling. Classroom work included lectures on arrests, searches and seizures, basic state and federal laws, and the TVA badge, pass and identification system.

This photo in the Knoxville News-Sentinel
was apparently taken before the WOOPS
 received their official uniforms.

The women’s olive-green uniforms consisted of skirt, blouse, “Sam Browne” belt, and overseas-type cap. (The Sam Browne belt is a leather belt with a supporting strap over the right shoulder and a flap-holster on the hip.) They carried a .38 caliber pistol when on duty.

According to societal norms at the time, women were not suited for this type of potentially dangerous duty, and they were given the nickname of “pistol-packin’ mamas.”

But the women’s effectiveness was recognized when, at war’s end, there had been no reports of sabotage at any TVA facility. In 1944, a little over a year after the program began, the corps received the Army-Navy E for Excellence Award.

After the war, as soldiers returned home, so did the women of WOOPS. But over time, TVA again began hiring women for their security force, and today women are part of the TVA Police & Emergency Management, designated in 1994 as a federal law enforcement agency.

Sources:

Drumright, William Wade, "A River for War, a Watershed to Change: The Tennessee Valley Authority During World War II. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2005.

Home-Front Defenders

World War II | Tennessee Encyclopedia

Powering World War II

TVA History: The 1940s

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed second in the inspirational category of the nationally recognized Maggie Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

In the misty Scottish Highlands, Kenna MacLaren defies English law by playing bagpipes to keep alive the music and memories. When she finds a duke’s nephew wounded, she faces an impossible choice. Helping him could cost her everything, but abandoning him goes against her faith. As English soldiers hunt for rebels, Kenna must decide if she can trust this man with her family's safety--and her heart. Get your free copy of this new novelette, The Piper's Secret, here, when you sign up for Marie’s newsletter, or you can buy it on Kindle.

18th Century Live Theater

By Kathy Kovach

As one who enjoys live performances, from my dabbling in the acting world to watching my son perform in high school, college, and community theaters, I find the evolution of performance art fascinating.

Joey Kovach (on left) as King Oberon in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Okaloosa-Walton Community College, Valparaiso, FL, 1998

From the Greek and Roman influences, to the Renaissance, and on into the 1700s, live theater boomed in Europe during the 18th century. Only two theaters had been licensed in England during the reign of Charles II, but by the end of the 18th century, seven more had been added. Two were extended to accommodate three thousand people. The First Industrial Revolution contributed heavily to this growth as the population moved from the country into the growing urban areas, taking advantage of the manufacturing boom. As a result, they sought out cultural entertainment.

Enter the different styles of performance art.

The Misanthrope, a comedy in five acts by Moliere

The grandiose spectacle of Baroque Theater used special effects via elaborate stage machinery. The sets were intricate and ornate, the plots multi-layered and complex, with an overabundance of emotional intensity and dramatic tension. The monarch and aristocrats powered the Baroque engine, fueling it with their wealth to produce artistic and technical wonders reflective of the Age of Enlightenment.

You know what they say: If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it.

Teatro Palladiano, a neoclassical theatre in Vicenza

However, some did feel the need to fix it, and as the grandness of the theater wore out its welcome, a new movement, Neoclassicism, emerged. Going back to basics, it recalled, once again, the Greek and Roman models. Simple performances, scaled down designs, and a call back to reason and morality became the focus.

Melodrama took the simplicity of the Neoclassic drama and added intense emotion and exaggerated reactions. Music played a huge part in raising the heart rate of theater goers. Melodrama became the prototype for Hollywood movies in the infancy of film. The trope of the damsel in distress comes to mind, calling out for her hero while the dastardly villain ties her to the railroad tracks. Such intensity! But it worked. So much so, that from the early 1900s to today, nearly 500 films can be categorized with the Melodramatic style.

The Payne Brothers – Harry as Clown and Fred as Harlequin, c. 1875

One avantgarde form was Pantomime. Hugely popular from the mid-1600s into the 1800s. Large gestures, physical comedy, and often elaborate costumes and makeup delighted audiences. Characterized by two figures, Clown and Harlequin, the Payne Brothers (Harry and Frederick, sons of classic Pantomime artist William Payne) popularized the act. The mime of today has brought this unique form of entertainment into contemporary times.

The Beggar’s Opera, Painting based on scene 11, act 3 by William Hogarth, c. 1728, Librettist John Gay, Wikipedia

With the rise of the middle class, Ballad Opera became popular. It incorporated well-known songs with spoken dialogue. A precursor to musical comedy, this was a farce of the traditional Italian operas and incorporated humor and satire, making it more relatable than the pretentious form of opera.

The style of the building itself saw changes that lasted for the next few centuries and are still the standard.

The Orchestra Pit on the floor

Live theater went from roving bands of actors, performing under the trees or in the town square, to large buildings with solid roofs. The stage itself was once close enough to the audience for interaction. However, when the orchestra began taking over a large percentage of the stage, sometimes with fifty musicians crowding the actors, it was moved to the front onto the floor, separating the audience from the stage. The main floor is still called the Orchestra Level. This worked fine for sophisticated audiences, but too often, a rowdy crowd would pelt the musicians with rotten fruit if they heard a sour note.

The Orchestra Pit under the stage

Still, it wouldn’t be until a century later that Richard Wagner came up with an innovative design to not only protect the musicians but hide them. Lowering the floor just in front of the stage and utilizing the space underneath, this was called, appropriately, the Orchestra Pit.

Note the five candelabras lighting the stage

Lighting changed as the auditoriums grew larger. At the beginning of the 18th century, the seating area was as bright as the stage, lit with candelabra rings. When the audience moved farther from their focal point, it became increasingly hard to see the performance. Thus, the house was darkened, and five rings of candelabras lit the actors.

Lighting the footlights

Footlights with tin reflectors, an invention of the previous century, were originally lit by candles and later with kerosene and oil. In the Haymarket Theatre in London, colored glass was raised and lowered to enhance effects on stage. As one would imagine, theaters were prone to burning down.

As live theater developed in Western civilization, it was inevitable that it would cross the pond and end up in America. However, Puritan settlers prohibited its development until the early 18th century. Surprisingly, Williamsburg, Virginia was the first to introduce this form of entertainment in 1716. Charleston, South Carolina adopted it in 1730, when several English actors began performing in various venues. By the mid-1730s, New York caught the vision and opened several theaters. New England legislatures attempted to prohibit live performances on moral grounds. One touring company, however, broke through with its presentation of Shakespeare’s Othello, arguing it to be a “moral dialogue in five acts”.

The Hallam Company, organized by actor-manager William Hallam and led by his brother Lewis Hallam, arrived by boat at Yorktown, Virginia June 2, 1752. When they moved to New York, they changed the name to The American Company (1758-1785), and later to The Old American Company (1785-1805).

If it weren’t for the ancient peoples, the driven creatives, and the royal lovers of live theater, I’d never have been able to enjoy seeing my son in the dozens of performances in which he’s participated over the years. He now teaches Theater Education at City College in New York as an Adjunct Professor.

Joey Kovach as Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Choctawhatchee High School 1997.

I’m a proud mom! 😊

Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal

A TIME-SLIP NOVEL

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother and a great-grandmother—though much too young for either. Kathleen has been a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

Website
Blog With A Giggle
CraftCinema

Facebook

X

Goodreads