Incredible Love

It always mystifies me how the Lord can love us, humans, so dearly.

We consistently fall below standards and we are usually proud, boastful, and arrogant, yet He loves us. It's not just the kind of love you might have for a close pet or a good friend either, it's a passionate, deep, unfathomable love. A love so deep and wide He sent His only begotten son to die on a cross for the sins of humanity.

A love so tender and caring that though we are like ants compared to Him, He wants to have personal relationships with each of us. A love so great that He will cast our horrendous sins into the sea of forgetfulness and hold us close even though we are those that killed His son.

A love so vast and all-encompassing, I can't even begin to imagine or describe it. It's incredible.

Called By The Lord

I often meet people who wonder what their calling is or what the Lord wants them to do.

Even more often they have an idea of what they want to do, though, and they haven't really discovered if that is the Lord's calling for their life. I find kids that want to be pastors because their parents are, or worship leaders because a singer affected them greatly at some point in their life, or a missionary as it is a glorious work for the Lord.

But when we step back and look at it all works are glorious works for the Lord if that is what the Lord is calling you to do. Some are called to be missionaries, some evangelists, some teachers, some preachers, but all are called to serve. Some are a support group for others and some are witnesses in their everyday lives.

Even when I was in public school I often had chances to witness to others, often they were watching my actions as a "Christian" and were affected without my knowledge. Mainly I tried to minister to my friends as many of them weren't Christians but when I look at my life I realize the times I had the most effect, or really any effect at all was when I was doing what the Lord wanted, whether it was what I wanted or not.

Don't worry about what others think, especially not others in the church. It may not make sense to them and honestly sometimes your brothers and sisters in Christ can be the most condemning.

The Lord knows more than any of us and if He is calling you to do it then that is what you need to do. The Lord is the only one that will ALWAYS come through for you.

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" ~Philippians 1:6, KJV

Something Keeps Telling Me

So here I am, trying to be a writer. I'm writing on a blog, joining groups, entering contests, and just trying to keep up my spirits to write.

But something keeps telling me to keep going, I sincerely hope it's the Lord and not my own empty wishes. I realized though if all I do is reach one person and make an impact on his/her life and that's what God has for me to do then I've done my calling.

So I will keep coming back here and I will keep going back to my stories until someday I feel like I can stop or I die or I only write for my own pleasure and not for the world.

But for right now, something keeps telling me, don't give in, don't give up. So for those of you going through similar things, or even those of you that aren't, go ahead, sing with me...

"Be strong in the Lord
And never give up hope.
You're gonna do great things
I already know
God's got his hand on you
So don't live life in fear
Forgive and forget
But don't forget why you're here
Take your time and pray
These are the words I would say"
~Sidewalk Prophets

If

I know playing the "what if" game is often times just a waste of time but I was thinking - what if everyone did exactly what they said?

How different would life be?

Not just in the cases were people purposely lie but also when people unknowingly promise things that don't work out or that they can't see through. I'm sure we have all done it at some point.

If everything happened as expected, how would things work in the world?

The Cause

If you are fighting for justice, don't stop.

You might need to change your tactic or make the right opportunities but never stop, never quit.

You will probably never be thanked. You will most likely never be given an award. You probably won't be recognized until long after you've passed.

If you do a good job, you might end up in prison, being court marshaled, or dead but you know why you are doing it and even more importantly, God knows.

But BEFORE you run headfirst into it, evaluate if it's really for justice and if you get what you want if that WOULD be justice. A lot of times it's not for justice, it's for selfishness.

If it's hard for you to figure out WHY you are doing something, chances are it's probably not for the right reasons and if you don't have a solid why when the battle gets tough, you won't make it through.

Past the Holidays

I know it has been a while since I've posted, I apologize. I have been extremely busy with the holidays and work. But now I'm back!

My posts may still be infrequent as I'm working on completing my novel for the ACFW "Genesis Contest" but I will try to still come around. 

Since I'm here though I'd like to say something. My husband and I recently read the story of Samson and made a note to ourselves that he wasn't very intelligent and I got to thinking about so many of the characters in the Bible that we celebrate. So many of them have some sort of issue or disqualifying attribute. 

Samson wasn't intelligent. Samuel started preaching very young. David committed adultery. Paul started out killing Christians. Peter denied Jesus repeatedly. 

I stop and think about these things and realize you know what it doesn't matter who you are it only matters who Jesus is. "To be used of God is my heart's desire."

Spanking Children

I am tired of the idea that if you spank your children you don't love them or you are abusing them. There is a difference between hitting your child abusively and spanking them as a form of discipline

Even time outs or telling your children to go to their room can be abuse if it becomes abandonment or neglect. The key is that the punishment fits the crime and isn't done out of anger or any emotion of that nature but is done as an equal and opposing reaction to the wrongful act that has been committed.

If you are a Christian the Bible even encourages you to discipline your children:

Proverbs 13:24:

"He that spare the rod hateth his son: but he that Loves him chasteneth him betimes."

Hebrews 12:11:

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

Proverbs 22:15:

"Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."

There are numerous other verses in Proverbs about spanking. 

I also believe that for spanking to be effective and discipline instead of abuse is for the child to understand. You have to make sure they understand why they are being spanked or in their mind you just hit them for no reason. 

HOWEVER, I also am not an advocate that spanking is necessarily the only way to discipline a child. As mentioned earlier, the punishment needs to be equal to the wrongdoing. I also think your child can grow up to be a great person by being disciplined in some way other than spanking.  The important thing is that they are disciplined accordingly. 

Thankful?

Every year, on Thanksgiving, people gather round and they share what they are thankful for.

Often people talk about being thankful at church, and at the dinner table with their family, and sometimes they even mention it at work. However, I got to thinking about this. While I enjoy Thanksgiving and it drives me bonkers that people skip over it and just go right to Christmas because they are so greedy, instead of thinking about what they are thankful for they just think about what they want, sometimes I think we lose sight of what being thankful is about.

Are you really thankful for something if you only think about it one day a year? Even one month a year?

If you are really thankful for something you should be thankful for it all the time. How often do you say 'Thanks' in your prayers? Even more, how often do you say 'Thanks' compared to how many things you ask for? I bet for the majority of us the ratio is way off. We might say 'Thanks Lord' for 1 thing and then go on and ask for ten things.

How thankful are we being when all we can think about is what we want?

If you are asking God for a new car every day are you really thankful for the car you have? How many times did you ask for the new car? How many times were you grateful for the car you have? What about a new house? A new television? A new computer? More food? Better food? You might be in college and eating Ramen, but hey, at least you are eating something. You might live in a tiny apartment without a garage for your car, but at least you have a roof over your head.

I just think that maybe, just maybe, if people were more grateful every day for what they have, they would stop being so greedy all the time. Maybe they would also be happier. God has blessed so many of us in so many ways, and oftentimes all we can do is complain about what we don't have. If you gave someone a present and they just turned around and asked for something else and quickly forgot about what they had been given, how eager would you be to give them a new present? Probably not very eager. Probably not eager at all. I sometimes wonder if that's how God feels with His greedy little children. He loves us and wants to bless us but I believe He also wants us to appreciate what we have.

Decked Out Churches

My husband and I were driving a few weeks back and we went past a church that was under construction and guess what they were constructing? A water slide.

There is just something about these churches with all their sports, and gymnasiums, and slides, that is really starting to get to me. I mean how many people are getting saved through their soccer games? How many people are meeting Jesus because "Whoo! That water slide was so thrilling!"?

The main factor of all of it that bothers me is the fact that churches make the majority of their money through donations. So those members that give money to further the gospel are getting it funneled into a water slide. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with soccer games, volleyball games, gyms, and slides. I also think that churchgoers need to have fun and putting a little bit of money here or there into some activities isn't bad. However, when that is the main focus and when people are solely going to church for the 'activities', what good is it doing? The might as well go to a recreation center.

However, when the majority of those "non-profit" donations are going into recreational activities, the churches have a serious problem. When did churches no longer become about preaching the gospel but sheer numbers? Personally, I would rather attend a church with 10 people that are actually going to church to have an encounter with Christ, then to a church with 100 people and only 10 are going for an encounter with Christ.

What happened to witnessing for Christ? When did it become witnessing for your church? Frankly I don't care if by witnessing to someone my church gets one more member if they aren't saved. I would rather them go to someone else's church as long as they find the truth. I don't care what church a person goes to, as long as the church is preaching the truth and the person is going to the church to hear the truth.

Maybe if all the money going to extravagant buildings, structures, and recreational activities went into furthering the gospel of Christ, there would be more people hearing the gospel and changing their lives. Why not take some of that money and send someone on a missions trip or fund a mission already in progress? Why not take some of that money and feed the widows and orphans? Why not take some of that money and clothe the naked? "An the King will answer them, I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for me." -Matthew 25:40.

Churches shouldn't just be social events, they should be saving events. This is a cry to the churches of America, please get back to the gospel. Please put the funds that the church receives back into furthering the reach of the Kingdom of God. Please stop worrying about your 'public rating' and stop caring if the world thinks your building is pretty and get back to the basics! God isn't going to give you brownie points for having a pretty building, but you will find favor in His eyes for helping those that can't help themselves.

Life is a Story

Yesterday, my cat Paws, died. I was a little shocked at first as it was an unexpected death; she was run over by a car. There was a knock on a door and a nice young lady asked if the cat she had wrapped in a towel was ours. She said someone had run it over on the road in front of our house.

My husband held her lifeless, still warm body wrapped in a towel and gave me a saddened look. I rubbed the top of her head with my fingers, and whispered, "Come on honey, are you still alive?"

"She's dead, sweetheart," my husband said softly.

"It doesn't pay to take her to the vet then, if she's dead."

"I'm sorry, honey," he whispered. But it seemed he was almost more saddened by the whole experience than I was, even though she was my cat. He had never been overly fond of my cats. Not that he hated them or anything he just never took much interest in them so I knew the concern and sadness on his face was for me and not for the lifeless kitty he was holding.

I shrugged, "Animals die."

"I'll get a shovel and bury her in the backyard," and that's exactly what he did.

As he walked out the door with her I realized that what I said sounded kind of calloused. I'd seen plenty of animals die in my life and I had been close to many of them, especially as a child. I had grown quite attached to my sweet snuggle-bug Paws that had chosen me to take her in when she was a kitten, but it just seemed a natural part of life to me.

I thought about a conversation my husband and I had had a few weeks back when he was talking about the horse he had lost as a child and how much it had affected him. He was upset that everything he seemed to become attached to was taken from him. I had said words to him then that had rung out true to me when he was standing there holding my departed friend in his arms, "If you don't want to lose something you love, than you can't love. You have to decide if going through the pain of losing it is worth loving it in the first place. What's more important to you? The pain of losing something or someone or the joy of loving that thing or person?"

I realized something about death through the words I had spoken to try and comfort my husband and the thought was comforting as I wished goodbye to my departed snuggle-bug. The joy of having her as a pet far outweighed the sadness of losing her suddenly. I wouldn't have traded the time I spent with her to not have to be sad at losing her.

Animals die, people die, a lot of things die, it's a fact of life. Life isn't about death though, death is just a natural course, a natural end to a story. The story may be beautiful or ugly. The story may be sad or happy. The story normally has ups or downs and can affect a few or a lot of people. Stories intertwine as one person's life affect that of another person. Paws is a part of my story and I'm glad she was because death isn't the story of the person or the thing. The story of that thing of that person is the life of it and it can be a privilege just to be a part of a story or have something be a part of yours.

In her passing, Paws left me with a little bit of truth. I'm sad to see her go but I'll remember her as the bundle of energy that just laser lots across the hardwood floor, not as something that died because that's not a story at all, that's just the end of a beautiful story. A story that can continue in the minds and hearts of those affected by it.

Goodbye Paws. Thank you for the memories.