About You

You are LOVED by God. There is nothing you can do, or can't do to make him love you more or less. He loves you because he loves you. Because you are His child.

YOU ARE~
Redeemed
Worthy
More then your past
Forgiven
Whole
Enough
Worth it
A treasure
Righteous
Free
Accepted
You matter.


Thursday, October 20, 2011

It all leads back to sin.

Yesterday my nephew posted something on facebook. Here is what he said~

"With millions of Christians praying for God to help them with their marriages, wouldn't you expect their divorce rates to be a bit lower than other people's? But atheists/agnostics are in 1st place with 21% followed by 24% of 'other' Christians and 27% of Evangelical Christians. I'd be interested in hearing any ideas why."



Yesterday I responded, but not prayerfully. Today I have a better answer for him.  This morning I was praying, (not about this specific issue at all actually,) I got to my devotional and God led me right back to the book of 1 John, which is where I've been reading after I'm done with my devotional reading. God knows that I have not yet "thrown off" a continual sin, so he's bringing me back to the same passages over and over, until I do it. I love how he so mercifully does this. He isn't slamming down his commands on me, he gently  brings me back to certain scriptures and reminds me of what I am or am not doing. Just like a parent has to keep reminding their children to do something over and over until they get it, I am God's child and he's doing the same with me. :)



Hebrews 12:1



Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.



1 John 1:5-7

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.



Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy and reliable.

Darkness represents what is sinful and evil.



God is light~ He is perfect and holy, and true.



The light exposes whatever exists.

Darkness cannot exist in the presence of light.



Sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy God. If we want to have a relationship with God we must put aside our sinful way of living.



To claim that we live for him and belong to him but then go out and live for ourselves is hypocrisy.
Christ will expose and judge such deceit.


As for my nephews question. It comes down to sin.

It can be the death of marriages for sure.


We who say we are Christians, followers of Christ, are witnesses to those who don't know him.
This is why many unbelievers stay unbelievers, because those of us who call ourselves Christians are not living a life that glorifies Jesus. We are not shining his light.

It just convicts me more and more that I need to use the power of the holy spirit to throw off my sinful nature because I am supposed to be shining Christ in my life.
It makes me sad to think that I, one who calls myself a Christian and a follower of Christ may be showing darkness instead of light.
I pray that God changes that in me.


When it comes to marriage, or any relationship it's the same.
If we claim to live for Christ, but then live for our self and our own selfish needs and desires instead of the other persons, we are hypocrites.
Imagine if we lived in our marriage completely selfless and for the other person, if we did things to make the other person happy instead of ourselves, would their be divorce? I don't think so.
That is how Jesus lived. Sacrificially. For others. IF we are followers of him, we are to lay down our lives, live for others not ourselves.

My dear nephew, it's not that God is not answering those prayers for their marriages. It's that people are living for themselves, they are not living the example Christ set. Of course we are human and we will never be perfect on this earth. But when we accept Christ as our savior, (which we need because we are so sinful, and we could never make it to heaven because of that) when we really accept him and ask him to be our savior he gives us the holy spirit and the power of the holy spirit lives in us to help us live more like Jesus.

So us Christians, we need to live in the Grace and power that God has given us to have good marriages.  

:) 

Monday, October 3, 2011

I Surrender.

I was reading a devotional this morning that I got in my mail.

Something she wrote was God speaking directly to me,

 "Do you trust me Amy?"

Here it is~

"So I have a choice to make. Will I believe that God’s plans are better than my own? Will I risk stepping out of my comfort zone? Do I believe the growing pains I’ll face will be worth the blessings that will come?

 Do I trust God to really take care of me?"

Oh goodness.

I've been writing about it in my last few entries, that God has been speaking me to tons about my many sins, and things he wants me to run from and never look back like Lots wife.

Some things I have already begun doing, not perfectly of course, but I started! One thing I was holding on to was my shopping. Not just my shopping but all the shopping for the family.

I have never been good with money and tend to overspend. I've blogged about it before. It's one of those continuous battles I face that the evil one doesn't want me free from.

This morning I wrote my husband a letter (yes I did give it him) and let him know that I am ready to "surrender" my beloved shopping to him. (That's a good indication right there it's an IDOL for me, beloved?")

Shopping is my release. When I am stressed, I shop. When I am sad, I shop, when the kids and I need to get out of house, We shop! Yeah, that's a problem.

I told him I want to live for God and put God first, and I want to give God our first fruits and our first 10%, and that isn't going to happen with me doing the shopping. So I have to let it go.

I not only have to let that go, but I have to let go of my supplements. Now if you've had cancer, you will know this is some scary business. Since I had cancer I have been taking many many supplements a day to keep the cancer away. I've been trying to prolong my life by myself. That's a pretty big task considering I am not God. But that is where her writing spoke to me.


 Do I trust him or NOT?

 If I worship him as God, and I pray to him hoping for answers, then I must trust him right? Do I believe he is who he says he is?? I taught my kids this morning that God is Sovereign, that he controls everything, Do I believe that? So if he wants me to live, I'll live whether I take those supplements or not right? If he wants me to get cancer again and die, I will. Period. Why is it so hard for me to let go and let him be God?


Do I believe that he loves me? That he loves my husband and my kids, and my daddy? Yes I do. Then I need to believe he will only allow the best for me, even if it means giving up some things I love, or things I put my faith in? As I'm sitting here writing, I can hear my kids CD with kids singing the song.......How great is our God by Chris Tomlin.
How appropriate is that to be playing in the back ground?


How Great IS our God? How much does he love us? 
 He loved us enough to to die for us.

Can you think on that in simple terms if that is possible? If your spouse, friend, or even a complete stranger gave their life for you, for something you did wrong, would you feel you owed them something?

I feel I owe him something. My life.
As a living sacrifice to show him that I appreciate what he did for me.

Here's a beautiful song saying it all...........

There is no love,
Sweeter than the love
You pour on me.
There is no song,
Sweeter than the song
you sing to me.
There is no place that
I would rather be… than here
At your feet laying down everything.
All to you, I Surrender…
Everything, Every part of me.
All to you, I Surrender…
All of my dreams, All of me.
If worship's like perfume, I'll pour
Mine out on you.
For there is none deserving of my
Love like you.
So take my hand and draw
me into you.
I want to be swept away,
lost in love for you.
All to you, I Surrender…
Everything, Every part of me.
All to you, I Surrender…
All of my dreams, All of me.
I surrender, I surrender
(Cause I trust you God)
O, I surrender.
(All my hope is in you)
And I surrender.(I place all my trust)
O' I surrender (to you God)
O' I surrender (cause your ways are far better than mine)
OOOOoooo I Surrender… yea yea
All to you, all to you, yea, yea
O I Surrender, I surrender
I surrender (all to you my God)
O I Surrender, I surrender
I surrender…OOooooh…
No turning back, I've
made up my mind.
I'm giving all of my life this time
You're love makes it worth it.
You're love makes it worth it all.
You're love makes it worth it all.
You're love makes it worth it.
You're love makes it worth it all.
You're love makes it worth it all.
All to you, I Surrender…
Everything, Every part of me.
All to you, I Surrender…
All of my dreams, and All of me.
You're love makes it worth it.
You're love makes it worth it all.
You're love makes it worth it all.