Birthday

Just recently I celebrated another birthday! I turned 25!
It was 25 years ago I was born at a camp in Oklahoma. It was when I accepted Christ as my life insurance policy. If you are confused.....I was born again...........
I celebrated by inviting friends over for a birthday party (and no one was to bring gifts). Then I shared with the group my testimony and how important it is for me to celebrate this day. We had cake and ice cream then played games.
I hope you will share your birthday with someone.
Isn't that what it is all about sharing and fellowship......creating relationships!

The Annoying Aspects of Grace

Have you ever talked with a friend, and during a moment the conversation, you are reminded of something that you had done.

Come on, you know you have!

Ever felt guilty?

I am sure we all have at some point. Maybe you said something to a loved one (and I can tell you some stories!), hurt someone you cared about, or did something wrong and got caught. There are times when I look back and still have feeling of guilt over something I did, even when I know I have been forgiven.

But why these feelings of guilt?

Why this sense of still feeling the sense of wrong, when I know I no longer need to hold on to it? I think some of it is found in the annoyance of grace.

We find grace annoying because there is nothing we can do to earn it.

Guilt is that feeling that I still need to do something to PAY for this sin or wrongdoing I have committed. Yet in the beauty of the Cross lies the shadows of grace and forgiveness that extends to us still today. The burden was carried by Christ when he was nailed to a grace, and our freedom from sin was born on the day of his resurrection. Yet we can't shake the feeling that somehow, I must still pay for the sin I have committed. Even though Christ paid it, we continue to hold on to feeling of guilt, because of feeling of unworthiness of the grace received, or feelings that somehow, I should still make restitution for the sin I committed.That's what can be so "annoying" about grace. It releases us from the payment. It cancels the debt. Yet our guilt is found in us not being able to let go of that guilt. Maybe the guilt is in some sense a comfort for us, becoming the "payment" for the sins that we have been forgiven of. Yet Christ desires to release us from that. He desires to not only forgive us of our sins, pay our debt, but also free us from guilt. We are not meant to hold on to that which as been forgotten. We are free from thinking that we still have some from of restitution to pay for sins forgiven.

Comfort

Most of you close to me should know by now that we are having trouble having a child. We paid for a special procedure. Go through the anxiety and positive expectations and to find out out it did not take. We are leaving that option open for possibly doing it again. However, we have come to the point that adoption may be the route to go.

Are we hurt? of course! You pray, ponder and dwell into a world that you can't have (yet) .

How does it feel? Like we lost a child! I know that is hard to understand. I am sure I will get some email that beg to differ.
How am I? I am not sure how I would be without God's Grace! (Definition: God's ability to do through you what you could not do yourself) I am absolutely convinced that my world would be a tragedy without God's Grace.
Guess what? I am in that mood. That horrible unpolitically correct mood! If you don't like what I am writing then don't read it. Take me off your friends list, whatever.

I am saved by God's Grace

Washed by Jesus's blood

And Baptised by the Holy Spirit!

"Sometimes in an effort to remind people of the cost of the cross, we withhold grace until we are sure they understand their sin. But it is in giving of our grace that we remind people that they need to go to Jesus to find their own. People understand their sin without our help. It's grace they need help in understanding."
I am tired of living in this politically correct world! I am tired of keeping to myself what I know to be true! I am tired of fighting with this world with my hands behind my back! I am tired of being force fed fast spiritual food when I want something of substance & nutrition.

I am tired.

I am tired.

I am tired.

I am wrapped in this quilt of Grace.

Kept warm & cozy while this cold & dreary world that our human nature has created revolves around us. His blanket of Grace comforts me.

Do you want some of the blanket?

Colossians 2: 6-8 Read it or give it a chance!

Trading Spaces - The Reveal

Trading Spaces - The Reveal
Come on! Admit it!
You kind of like watching parts or all of the show!
It's a guilty pleasure! To see if someone will be blessed or cursed by the experience! Maybe become neighbors at war because of the new found dislike for each other!
When people see the revealing of "Trading Spaces" show unfold, People see every room that was worked on. The good and the horrifying! Maybe you would be motionless, so shocked that you are unaware how to react!
Your daily adventure you are on (whether with Christ or not) mimicks the show and will reveal to everyone who you are!
*So what exactly happens when others view your house?
*What do the visitors do?
*How do they react?
*Should you care about their opinions?
*Or maybe you are encouraging their wrong perceptions because of the way the house is designed?
As they walk through our "house," the rooms of our relationships, emotions, and actions, do they react with "oohs and awes" or tears and sobs. Do they jump for joy or uncontrollable crying?
Maybe they are so shocked that they do not know how to react!
We've got to understand the biblical importance of the house. In the Old Testament God was in the house. He dwelt in the tabernacle and in the Temple. In the New Testament he was out of the house as God revealed himself through the person of Christ. And now the Bible says we, as Christ-followers, are the house, the dwelling place for the Holy Spirit of God. (I can't stop thinking of a certain Audio Adrenaline song! Aaahhh!)

Allow me to drop a bomb on you!

Go ahead!

Get postured to take a brick to the head!

Brace yourself!

The news might OVERWHELM you!

You have a ministry!!!

Like it or not!
Christian or not!

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own" (1 Cor. 6:19). Since we are the house, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God, our life is all about revealing the décor of the Designer.
The question is, What do others see as your life is revealed?
As people tour your life, they are yearning to see what the Designer has done. When people tour homes, they get ideas for their own home or of who you are.
When people tour your life and mine, what kind of ideas do they pick up about marriage, child-rearing, priorities, honesty, character or generosity.
God wants to design a model home out of your life.

So don't conceal God's design...reveal it!, because the ultimate goal in life is to simply reveal the glory of the Designer. So allow the designer to get rid of your clutter. Be submissive and allow him to make the changes that are needed! Submissive is a difficult word for most of us but we need to do this to clean out our house!!!

Hope you enjoy these words of wisdom that came sponsored by my "Trading Spaces" episode!

Remember that:
this generation of believers is responsible for this generation of lost souls!