Remembering a tragic event in history that you have experienced can be a depressing experience. Thing is you want to make sure that you remember the event out of respect to those who lost much and at the same time, you would like to forget the pain and agony we faced, wish even that it had not happened. The greater thought process would be what if. Well, as Corrie Ten Boom once said, "There are no ifs in God's world." So keeping that in mind, we have to transition our thought process to how can we take what we have experienced, even the tragic ones, and turn it for good. Each and every one of us have the choice to either be debilitated or be empowered by tragedy. Just under 3000 people lost their lives on 9/11/01. Many have penned great tributes to those affected and I wish that I could better convey what was on my heart. Truly what we must all understand is that we have a choice each and every day. To either follow the trend which never has sustenance, or follow the greater good. May we each and every one take in consideration our fellow American's when we think of our great nation. May we request from our maker mercy and grace for our people. May we all be able to see past agendas and selfishness and all live for the people so that others may know that we are indeed united.

  

Christmas Wish

Obviously, I have not posted on this blog in quite a while. Almost a year to be exact. Quite frankly, I was not sure that anyone even read it. I still am uncertain to that, however, if one person is able to see light in an otherwise dark situation, well then it's worth the effort. As we approach the coming celebration of the birth of a savior that would give all of us a choice in where we wanted to spend eternity, I think it is important to pause in the hustle and bustle of buying gifts for family friends and significant others and realize just what Christmas actually means. The birth of a savior. The beginning of an intimate relationship with God. The ability to actually have a part of God in our hearts. Until the birth of Christ, there was no possibility of having God in us. We had to go before a priest to request our sins to be pushed back for a year with a sacrifice. Mind you, our sins were not eliminated, just put on standby if you will. The Birth of Jesus changed that very idea that you could not be cleansed. For the very first time in the history of the universe, there was a way being created to have a direct connection to the creator of the universe. I cannot use enough words to express the magnitude of the birth of this little baby. Born to a virgin. The king of kings. Lord of Lords. Healer, creator, and finally the ultimate sacrifice for your sins.
    Some say, okay great, wooo. Christmas, the time of the year when everyone says Merry Christmas, well fewer now than before. You may actually get lucky and see a nativity scene. With atheists being given free reign with no one to challenge their ideas, all mention of Jesus is being removed. However, the name of Jesus will never be completely erased. This goes being on the winning side or losing side. It is important to express to others what it means to have a relationship with Jesus to the ever growing number of people who have no hope, have nothing to look to, don't understand what great peace that we get when we decide to put our faith in God, are forgiven by a savior, and invite the Holy Ghost to come in and help us, to guide us, to protect us. Christmas goes beyond a spirit of helping our fellow man, Christmas was created to SAVE our fellow man. I fear that we have all lost direction when it comes to the calling we all have. Stand up and be bold in your faith. Christmas in heaven's language means saving grace. Christmas for the saints already gone home means a permanent eternal forgiveness. It means everlasting life. It means a way out of a bad situation. It means hope for the hopeless. It means forgiveness to all of us that do not deserve it. It means being united with our creator. It means LIFE.
         Before you go any further in life, before you make the horrible decision that you can make it on your own, before you fail repeatedly because you aren't all knowing, all seeing, turn to Jesus. He, in his mercy has the ability to guide you in life and help you make the correct decisions. He in his mercy has the desire to bless you, and keep you, and SAVE you from pain. TO save you from destruction. To save you from that addiction that you just can't seem to let go of. To break the chains of bondage that is weighing you down and has you on the verge of going under and losing the fight. DON'T GIVE UP. Give it to a higher power. Life does not have to be hard. DO NOT CHOOSE difficulty. Do not be stubborn like me. There is an easier way. Choose Life!! Choose Help. Choose wisely. Trust in the baby that changed everything, the very blood of our creator spilled for you. Just for you. The ultimate gift born just for you.

Come to Me

Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 

Come to me... such a simple phrase isn't it? Such an honest simple thought that maybe we try to complicate it a bit because let's face it. It shouldn't be that easy. We tend to hang on with a death grip to all that binds us and brings us down. Even when it comes to our salvation. God didn't say take 42 steps this direction, stand on your head walk 12 miles in the rain, live in the wilderness and meditate. He simply says, "come to me" 

   SO why is it that we tend to say no it's too hard? It's that little voice in our heads saying, "you can't do it" this is the first lie you will hear. Jesus while dying on the cross cried not out of pain for the the flesh being ripped from his body, the pain of being separated from his love and his longing for you to come to him was far greater. He literally begged for us to run to him. Can you imagine? Beaten, bloody, and weak and his pain is caused by us not running to him. 

    He is calling for you. Not for you to jump through hoops, not for you to do sort of mission impossible if you will. His way was not created to be difficult. Do not let your head over complicate things. Simply, run. Run from pain, Run from regret, Run from hate, Run from depression, run from habits, run from your past. It's always been said you can't run from your problems. THat statement is only partly true, you can run TO Jesus. 

     NONE of us are perfect. I know that I sure am not. I fail horribly probably as much or more than anyone. As long as I get up and turn to run to him, I'll be fine. He will give me rest.

Please come to me. COme to me and let me take your burdens. Come to me and let me take your pain. Come to me and let me give you rest. I'm pleading with you. Think about this. GOD the creator of the universe is pleading with you...wrap your head around this. THE GOD OF GOD's is pleading for you to come to him. How can you say that no one cares? Don't worry about the small junk. Run to HIM

To be yoked or not to be

It is amazing how quickly time flies. I understand it has been some time since I have last written and quite frankly I sometimes wonder if anyone reads this thing or not. However, from time to time I feel the need to share something that is either a realization or an epiphany or perhaps words straight from God. I do not feel that I am wise enough to come up with what I usually write on my own so I am thankful when I am given something. All of that being said, here is the new delivery.

If any of you are like me, I spent a lot of time while dating focusing on the possibilities of one day being more than dating. The one overwhelming thought I had was the warning in the bible in 2 Corinthians 6:14 where is says   Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness. This was so much prevalent on my mind that perhaps some other equally important points weren't paid attention to. Now, thankfully it has worked out but, I do believe that it is easy to be misled when it comes to this passage. 
To be equally yoked has the obvious meanings of make sure you are in the same faith. There are many references to this including but not limited to a house divided in itself will not stand. The good news is this is all very true. However, your faith and that of your spouse is not the only thing you need to be equally yoked on. It just so happens that it is equally important to have the same mindset on raising children, finances, and responsibilities. 
Let me clarify what I am saying here. Let's say you find someone that you really like and feel like you can fall in love with them. Let's even say that you have taken the time to verify that person believes the same as you spiritually. Great! everything will be smooth sailing right? WRONG. It is important to understand that you will not spend your entire life in church. If you are for instance a conservative person financially and the person you marry is not, you will have hardships and problems that will be difficult to over come. It is important to understand that what society teaches us everything will be fine as long as you can see yourself waking up next to this person until you get bored then you can get a divorce for the low price of ----- Just like everything in life, a little foundation or ground work if you will, will make your life so much easier. Here are some things that you should look for.
Habits- Habits are very difficult to break for both parties involved. So make sure the habits that your future spouse has is something you are okay with. The chances of them changing are very slim. Please not this is not limited to tobacco etc. Habits cover a wide range of things.
Finances- If you and your future spouse do not agree on how to spend/save money, you will have a rocky marriage. Am I saying that it will not be possible? No, I am not, however, it is much easier to get this hashed out with a solid plan and the ability to stick to the plan. The thing with plans are that a good plan is useless unless you use/apply it.
Motivation- this may seem a little funny to some of you. However, if you have one person that doesn't have much motivation to do things that are required to run a house and the other has to take up the slack, it causes a lot of friction. the important thing to remember is that when you get married, you are no longer a singular entity. You become a part of another being. No longer are you allowed to think of yourself, You are commanded by God to think of you and him/her with a level of importance equal to or greater than you consider yourself. When children are involved, you are no longer a couple, you are a family, and so on. If your focus is not on those you are responsible for and making sure their needs are met above all others to the best of your ability, you are failing. You are not only failing yourself and your family, but you are failing God as well.
I challenge you to see the yoke as much more than initially thought. do not take lightly the charge of God when you take on others because you will be held accountable before God for your actions.

BURN IT DOWN

Regret, Fear, Hatred, Selfishness, Self Loathing. Each and every one of us can identify with one or more of these words. The problem is, any one of these words are something that will actually kill who you are, more importantly who you can be. The trouble is, each one of these things sneak in under the radar so to speak and you really do not realize they are even there until they have already completely taken over. To get rid of them well, that is even more difficult. How you ask, how can one redeem oneself and change their perspective therefore their potential. It is amazing how something as simple as one's perspective can greatly influence one's accomplishments. It truly is as simple as what my dear great aunt has always said, "happiness is a state of mind, if you aren't happy change your mind." for the longest time, I thought she was a quirky old lady who was really wise about alot of things but I never could wrap my head around this saying, and she said it often. I've looked at her and watched her and wondered how on earth could someone who has been through so many trials in their life have such a positive outlook on everything. She has been tried by fire, and not found wanting. She is a saint in my book, but the reason why will shock you. It's not because she is a devout christian, which she is, it's not because she does endless good works, which she does, it's simply because in her mind, she does not allow any of these things to develop a foundation therefore, they starve out. She has literally burned them all down. She is mighty because she decided to change her mind. She is an over comer because she made a conscious decision to stand on the promise her heavenly father made her. She understands words have power, the mind is mighty, and what you allow in your mind will control you. If you burn these diseases out of your mind, or BURN THEM DOWN, you will be victorious in literally every aspect of your life. With God's help, you can do all things through christ who strengthens you. Phillipians 4:13 I decide to not allow Regret, Fear, Hatred, Selfishness, Or self loathing to gain a foothold in my mind or in my life. I challenge you to share this, to live this, to conquer this with me. We may all stand mighty and strong as my Great Aunt does. She is my hero. If only I can be half the person she is.