God is not stupid

Many of us have heard of, if not seen, the movie 'God is not dead'.  It was a great reminder of the fact that God is indeed alive and well, and living...in the universe and in the hearts of his followers. But sometimes I wonder how many of us realize God is not stupid.  You see, I believe many of us as Christians think we can keep doing things we know are not Christ like, and then say silly things like 'God knows my heart'.  We say these things 10, 20, and even 30 years after we became Christ followers.  We say and do petty things, we push back EVERY TIME we are pushed, we simply do not grow.

Don't get me wrong.  No one is perfect, not even Christians.  The world likes to laugh and make fun of us when we mess up, but the fact is no one will ever be perfect.  The key is to do our best, to daily be more like Jesus.  This means we can't push back every time someone says or does something hurtful.  It means we sometimes have to smile when we really want to...do something else.  Being a Christian is a daily fight to be more like Jesus.  Some days we will fall short, and on those days we have to ask God to forgive us.  We may even have to ask our offender to forgive us. Yes, that is the life of a Christian. We have to be willing to forgive and to ask forgiveness.  

What should be happening, is we should be maturing in our faith.  We should not still be allowing the things that offended us when we first became Christians, to be offending us so many years later.  There are times when we will have to smile when someone says something stupid, remain calm when we are obviously being tested, and ask God to help us when we feel we might say or do the wrong thing.  We must want to mature. When we continue to mature, the nonsense that used to bother us no longer will, or not as much.  We see ignorance for what it is.  We see immaturity, from non-Christians as well as Christians, for what it is.  

Christians, let's stop acting like we think God is stupid.  Too many Christians are dying around the world for their faith while the rest of us are living a life of pettiness, hatefulness, bad attitudes, and lacking in growth. As human beings, we all have struggles.  As Christians, if we take those struggles to Jesus; he will help us.  He will heal us, he will mature us.  We just have to ask him, to allow him.       

Convert or die!

I never thought I would hear those words during my life time: convert or die!  The stories coming out of Iraq right now are fluid, but they are not changing much.  People--Christians and other ethnic minorities are being chased out of Iraq simply because they do not maintain the same beliefs as the militants that are chasing them.  Some of these people left with just the clothes on their backs.

But what I feel is the saddest story to date, something I have heard in the flurry of stories, was about the man who renounced his vow to Jesus, only to be killed anyway. I hope this story is not true, but if it is, I hope he had time to repent and that he his soul went to heaven.
These militants are so evil that people are running because they know whether or not they renounce their faith, they will most likely be killed.  Many of us have seen the images of the affected: fleeing, waiting on the top of a mountain, and burying family members in shallow graves.  Many of the Christians who ran for their lives are waiting in churches.  We have seen other images too difficult to watch, of Christians and others who have not renounced their faith, being shot in the head and pushed into some body of water.  The ground covered in the blood of the slain.

From the time I heard about these horrors, I posed the question: could we 'Western Christians' handle what is happening to the Christians in Iraq and other parts of the world? Could we drop everything and leave our homes with just the clothes on our backs?  Are we tough enough to stand up for our belief in Jesus with a gun held to our head, or the head of a family member?  Do we really believe? What do we believe?  Do we really believe in Jesus no matter what?

Christians have been killed since the beginning.  We have been fed to lions, boiled in oil, and run through with spears from the time Jesus rose from the dead.  What is happening now is just a continuation.  I believe people are shocked at the television images because as a human race we thought we had evolved, become more accepting of each other, more tolerant.  But that is not the case, indeed I do not believe it ever will be the case.  We are too beset with ourselves and with our causes.  We are not willing to live and let live. Actually, that includes we Christians.  When we become believers we are mandated to go and spread the good news.  The issue is that everyone thinks their religious belief is the good news.

We Christians however, believe we have the true good news.  Why? Because the one true God does not compel us to convert people by pointing a gun at their heads.  We do not shoot people in the head at point blank range while videotaping so that we can then show the murders on television around the world.  We live our lives by example, not by beating people over the head with our beliefs.  We believe in a God who lives forever.  We believe in I am that I am, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  His word does not change. We believe in a Jesus who died and rose from the dead and lives forever more.

When we become believers, our hearts and minds change.  We no longer give in to murderous rages, trying to control other human beings with the threat of death.  We believe in the one true God.  We believe.

Trust and obey

Many of us are familiar with the hymn 'Trust and Obey', written by John Sammis. 'Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey'.  

Many times I have looked back at situations in my life, thankful I had obeyed God when He told me to do something.

Most of the time what He tells me to do is downright scary. I feel foolish, wondering if I really heard from Him. I mentioned in a much earlier post, that many years ago God put on my heart to buy a meal for a homeless man. I did NOT want to do it. I tried to pretend I had not heard God. Well, as Christians, we all know how that goes. Once He tells us to do something He's not going to change His mind.

I believe that when God tells us to do something, He will not allow us to be hurt. Now if the recipient declines, that's not our problem, we were obedient. That's what God wants from us, obedience. When we obey God, He knows He can trust us for bigger things.

Many years have passed since that first command. When I hear from God now, I do not have as much apprehension as I did in those days, but admittedly, depending on what it is I can still be scared.  I must also admit that there have been times lately where He has put someone on my mind and I have allowed busyness to get in the way of following up with that person or persons. That, I believe, is a kind of disobedience. Our lives and schedules are quite busy, but there is nothing like God's voice to stop us in our tracks. Besides, we have so much technology at our finger tips that a quick text or email is available from our smart phones. There is no excuse.

These days, God has been asking me to do bigger things, scary things, outside the box things. I've been scared, but I've been obeying. I'm getting happy returns, and restorations. These results I know for a fact are God restorations. I know this because God is not the author of confusion. It pays to trust and obey.

GOD BLESS AMERICA (Lyrics) - CELINE DION

What exactly is it?

I've been thinking about it a lot lately.  Many people dismiss it as 'religious', 'holy roller', 'old-school', and no longer relevant.  Even Christians in an effort to seem relevant, do not use the term.  What really bothers me is that some Christians believe we must stay away from certain terms and tenets of our Bible, to be relevant to people who view us as crazy for our beliefs anyway.  In fact, these very people want us to stop believing.  They think that we can just change our minds from believing in a book of ‘stories’ written 2000 years ago about a god that probably does not even exist.  For that very reason, the fact that our beliefs are 2000 years old, we should forget it and 'get into the 21st century'.  We should 'go along to get along', and 'live and let live'.  If we do not comply, we are 'narrow-minded', 'hateful', and anti-anything that is now openly accepted.  

I do not know what is more treacherous though, the belief that Christians should just stop believing, or the Christians who have indeed stopped believing.  If they ever believed at all.  Believe or not, The Word is The Word, and those of us who know The Word realize we cannot just stop believing.  There's a saying, 'stand for something or fall for anything'.  I do not know who said it, but I agree.  I agree not because I want to be stubborn and anti-establishment; but because there is something deep within me, deeper than an impression, that believes.  It is a living, breathing, confidence in someone bigger than me.  That someone created me, and when I worship Him, my heart and my spirit come into agreement with His.  How does one just walk away from that and stop believing?

Am I being asked to stop believing in my creator so that our new society of ‘go along to get along' feels less threatened? In America, it used to be that people were allowed to believe what they wanted.  Now when we believe, we can be accused of hate crimes.  It seems the reverse is happening.  It is the Christians who are being ostracized.  That however, has been the case since the beginning.  We are used to being ostracized.  

At the mention of the name Jesus or God, some people become quite angry.  They will probably become angrier when they realize that 'holiness' is a relevant term.  It is not a religious, old-school, or holy-roller term.  It is relevant to those of us who still believe.  You see, the Word says 'Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.' --Hebrews 12:14.  So for those of us who believe, we must be holy if we want to go to Heaven.  For believers, Heaven is what it is ultimately all about.  But while we are here, holiness means loving everyone, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us, and it means not changing our minds or 'going along to get along'.

Nowhere in the Word does it tell Christians to hate people, but the Word does tell us to hate sin. Furthermore, the word is quite clear on what sin is.  For those, Christian and non-Christians, who believe we can just interchange, add a little here, take away there; it does not work like that. We either believe the entire Word or none of it.  

Christians will continue to believe the Word.  We will continue to love everyone, and we will continue to hate sin.  We will continue to abide by the laws of our land, but we will not compromise The Word.  It will not always be easy to walk the fine line of obeying The Word and obeying the law, but we will do just that.  Our God, The Word, will direct us.  We believe. 

Happy Mother's Day?

Here in the United States, Mother's Day was today, Sunday, May 11th.  I love the holiday although some believe it is over-commercialized.  Well, I believe every holiday is over-commercialized.  The key is to decide how much you will allow yourself to play into it, or not.  If your mom is alive, of course you want to pay tribute to her.  If she has passed on it is a day of sadness and fond memories.  Every holiday will bring happiness and sadness depending on your history.  Some people feel sadness during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons because a family member may have passed on and the holidays bring back memories.  All we can do is celebrate with those who celebrate and encourage those who feel sadness.  The key is to maintain an empathetic heart without downplaying your own happiness and thankfulness. 

I am happy that we were once again able to celebrate all that our mom has done for us.  We are so thankful to God for her, like so many others are today for their mothers.  But what about those of us who have no children?  I recall the time I realized I would not be able to have children.  I was having a pity party, which is usually a party of one, but I happened to be on the phone with my brother.  I tried to invite him to my pity party, but he would not have it.  As I have mentioned in some of my previous posts, he is one of the wisest men I know.  Don't get me wrong, he is also a typical brother.  Today he made fun of my hairstyle.  I currently have it in a bun and he asked me what that was on top of my head! He pokes fun at me, he does just what the typical brother would.  But he is wise.  He talked to me about the pity party in which I tried to engage, and he made me see life, my life, from another point of view.  I am so thankful for him, my sisters, and my parents for being there through that very difficult time. 

For many years I prayed for healing, I prayed for God to answer my prayers, but it was not to be.  What would you do if God answered your prayers with a 'no'?  Would you still trust Him that He knew why?  As women, most of us have a yearning to bear children, and when it does not happen, the hole left in our hearts can last a lifetime.  I know as human beings we are all different and some women may feel the emptiness more than others, but I am always leery of the woman who says she feels no emptiness.  I don't buy it.  On top of the emptiness, we have to deal with other people, usually other women, who make fun of our childlessness. 

Many Christians are familiar with the Bible story of Hannah, the initially barren woman, whose sister wife (men had multiple wives back in that day) had multiple children. 
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1 Samuel 1 &version=NIV
I have a shocker for you: women are the same today as they were back in Hannah's day.  Don't get me wrong, most women empathize when they find out I have no children, and nothing makes my heart more glad than when I hear women say how thankful they are for their gifts from God.  But some women, I call them low self-esteem women, take that opportunity to make sure I understand they have something that I do not.  Well, I serve a God who knows why He said 'no' to me and 'yes' to others.  it does not make things any easier sometimes, but it is what it is.  I also believe that the low self-esteem women could not bear what I bear.  Hey, I told you all that 2014 would be the year of some pretty deep posts.  I wasn't kidding.  In fact, I am working on a book about this very subject because I know there are millions of women around the world who have been, are, or will be in this very situation. 

I would suggest childless woman, that you make the daily decision, as I have, to do the best with what you have.  Be the best aunt or god-mother you can be without stepping on the toes of the actual mother.  Be there for the mother as well as the child(ren) in your life, while realizing that you do not owe her any more than you are willing to give.  Know when to step back, and when to assist.  Find other women who share your experience instead of surrounding yourself with people who may not understand.  Be strong, because you are here for another purpose.  You are not the filler peanuts or crumpled paper that takes up room in a shipping box.  And even the filler peanuts and crumpled paper have a purpose.  Never allow anyone to make you feel second-tier.  Find out what your purpose is, help where you can, and do not lie to your self or others if certain situations are too difficult to bear.  You are only hurting yourself.  Trust God that He knows what He is doing and know that you are one of millions of women of purpose.  You are not alone. 

I cannot wait until my book is finished.  I cannot wait to help millions more women realize that whether they end up like Hannah who eventually had five children, or they have none, that they are just as important as the women who have children.  Be encouraged women, aunts, god-mothers; God loves you.  He knows why He said 'no'.  
Please read the story of Hannah.  I posted the link above.




The link posted above is the story of Hannah from biblegateway.com.  Nothing has been added or removed by me, from that link. 

Get out! Part 1

As I mentioned at the beginning of this year, my blog posts are going to another level.  Some posts may touch a nerve, but hopefully in a good and healing way for you as well as for myself.  After all, bloggers blog to release what is going on internally, good and bad.  We writers could not imagine life without a pen/pencil and paper/Word Program.  If you are a die hard fan of anything, if you have a hobby that you couldn't imagine life without, then you know how writers feel.  It is something we were born to do.  The subject matter of our writing depends on our life experiences and how we deal with, or want to deal with, those experiences.

I am currently working on completing my Master of Science Degree in Management with a concentration in Marketing, three classes to go after this!  I am at the point where I am ready to be finished already!  But I insist upon doing my very best and turning in every piece of homework, every paper, with a high level of excellence.  Why am I saying all of this? Because when working at such a level of excellence, time is of the essence and priority is of the utmost importance.  This means that those who refuse to understand my current place in life, will have to go their own way.  I cannot promise I will be the same person when it is finished.  Nothing personal, but we only have one life.  We only have 24 hours in each day.  We only get about 70 years give or take a few years.

I have a book in me that is partially written down in a notebook and on a Word document; but mostly it is in my mind, my heart, and my soul.  I think about this book every day because I know it will help millions of women, and men, around the world.  The main point of this book will be to get the word out that even when life does not happen in the way you and I expected, assumed, or just believed it would; it's not over, don't give up and don't give in.  Stay tuned for part two!