Spiritual Maturity

Being mature in Christ is progressing in Christ not perfection in Christ. No one can be perfect in Christ because we all fail. We are all sinners bound to this world in imperfection. We can only work at being sanctified by Christ and growing maturely with Christ as your inner man takes on a change, transforming you into a man rooted in LOVE.

Eph 3:14 – 21
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Paul speaks of the inner man. Why do you think he would do that? He wants us to be rooted in LOVE and progress in spiritual maturity. He wants us to be aware of the power within us to become spiritually mature.

As an adult, we set out to sea on a sailboat, in a rowboat you’d surely die, we have no plan but to sail across the ocean and let God guide us to wherever he wants us to go. The thing is, we have sails for a reason, to catch the wind so we can be directed into the setting sun. The Holy Spirit is the breath of the wind that carries us to our destination.

As a child we’re set here in life out to sea on a rowboat. Our parents are our guides for a time until we mature and get a sailboat (progression of our inner man toward Christ). Some of us sail blindly. Some intensely. Some just lay on the beach not wanting to sail or progress any further, content with who they are and are happy going nowhere.

Sometimes in life I feel as if I’m drifting, no guidance, no direction, sails put away and I just bask in the sun, until I’m fried. We are called to be the salt of the earth and I wonder if that is why the sea was made full of salt. Is the sea an analogy of what we are to become? We’re drifters in that turbulent realm, we need the sails, we need the wind, and only with those two can we find direction to become the salt and light of the world.

As we mature in Christ, sail across the sea, fill our inner man with the fullness of God, only then can we be a light or salt to the world. We add the flavor that God has filled us with and carry the load to the shore and share with the lonely soul lying on the beach content in going nowhere. We offer him the hope in Christ so that he too wants to sail across the ocean to see what we’re talking about.

Phil. 3:20 “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

As we converse on the shores of beached humans we have to be ready to provide a strong worthy sailing ship that will guide the people out to sea, given the instruments to sail, and being filled with Christ, the wind will blow carrying them where they need to go. 

As you have been transformed into the maturity of Christ, rooted in LOVE you can relay a message of your growth of your inner man. If you are still full of hate, you have not been transformed into the maturity it takes to bring forth a powerful message. 

Pastor Mike says it like this: “You’ve been given a car to drive with a really powerful engine, but you sit behind the wheel with the key in the ignition. You don’t want to rev the engine. When you do, that is your INNER Man growing.”

We have been given a powerful message; we sit behind the Word throwing out bits and pieces (we read and believe) but have not been filled (spiritually matured) enough to rev our engines. And once we start the engine, we don’t know where to go. Our GPS has failed. Let me assure you, God does not fail; God is faithful.

Once you set sail, open up and let the wind carry you across the sea, you’ll feel the wind like fingers running through your hair, brushing all doubt and fear into the water. Yes, there will be storms but you will be so full of Christ that any storm you sail into, you too will be able to (metaphorically) walk on water.

Steven and I are heading into some turbulent water. He lost his job on Friday and my testimony is that we are blowing through the wind of change. I may be spiritually mature in Christ but it is a continual learning process guided by God of inner growth. Into His arms, I sail. 

May the Lord carry you through turbulent times and place you safely on land to be the salt and light in the world. To Him be the Glory!

Lyrics from Cornerstone by Hillsong:

When Darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the veil

My anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone; cornerstone

Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love

Through the storm, He is Lord

Lord of all

He is Lord

Lord of all

Poetry Sunday ~ Harvest of Souls

Pss. 29:2 “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

 Harvest of Souls

The time is near, the hour nigh, 

Moonbeams droop in a blackened sky 

Blazing sun scorches the land 

Earth erupts in a quivering stand. 

Encircling us is ravaging hate, 

Lust and greed sever our fate

I sit and watch as lives unravel, 

The boulder of strength now merely gravel. 

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, 

Souls bewildered by mistrust 

Doubt and fear, they give rise 

To muted pleas and mournful cries. 

As souls ascend and souls descend, 

It is our own that we must mend. 

Bringing forth joy, love and peace, 

The decorum of beauty will never cease. 

Firmly tread as the time is here, 

To boldly proclaim, all we revere

The harvest of souls its beckoning plea 

It's craving you; devouring me. 

Come forth and share your inner beauty 

Unleash love as our earthly duty

Reap what you sow, seek and find

Then you my friend, won't be left behind. 

Copyright ©Joni Zipp

Quotation Saturday ~ Change

Job 10:17 “Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.”

CHANGE

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” 
― Mary Shelley

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” 
― Lao Tzu

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” 
― Paulo Coelho

“We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

GROWTH

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” 
― Charles Dickens

“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.” 
― Sigmund Freud

“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.” 
― Martin Luther

“The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud --- the obstacles of life and its suffering. ... The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. ... Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one. ” 
― Goldie Hawn

CHALLENGE

“At first, they'll only dislike what you say, but the more correct you start sounding the more they'll dislike you.” 
― Criss Jami

“When you're following your inner voice, doors tend to eventually open for you, even if they mostly slam at first.” 
― Kelly Cutrone

“But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. The large house in which we live demands that we transform this world-wide neighborhood into a world – wide brotherhood. Together we must learn to live as brothers or together we will be forced to perish as fools.

We must work passionately and indefatigably to bridge the gulf between our scientific progress and our moral progress. One of the great problems of mankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

STRENGTH & COURAGE

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” 
― Winston S. Churchill

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” 
― Maya Angelou

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” 
― William Faulkner

“There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.

But sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. 

That is the sort of bravery I must have now.” 
― Veronica Roth

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” 
― Lao Tzu

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” 
― Albert Camus

1 Cor. 15:51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,”

How Far Have We Come?

Micah 6:8 (NIV) “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

How far have we come, not very far. Let’s see, last night we watched Long Walk Home with Whoopie Goldberg and Sissy Spacek, about the segregation of blacks in America and what it took to change. The other night we watched Railway Man about a POW in a Japanese Camp. I can’t say too much about this movie but I know, if you watch either of these movies you walk away feeling the ignorance that has led you in life. Maybe you don’t even realize the depths of your prejudice but it is there, to some extent.

Why do people call segregation a movement when nothing moves forward or a concentration camp when it’s not camping?

I’ll tell you why because man has been coloring his words so they don’t look racist or prejudice. When you can hate blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Polish, German, Muslim what are you hating? Do you despise a person’s color, religion, ethnicity, a difference from you? We are all different so do you hate yourself for hating? Of course not, you love yourself for your stoic stance and are quite proud of the person that you’ve become, you’re a Christian, right?

Did you know there were Japanese concentration camps in America at one time? Some will say Concentration Camp is the wrong term to use but did you know that F.D.R himself called them Concentration Camps? Someone remarked that this was ‘a stain on our history’. A stain?

Stain definition:
- a discoloration produced by foreign matter having penetrated into or chemically reacted with a material; a spot not easily removed.
-a natural spot or patch of color different from that of the basic color, as on the body of an animal.
-a cause of reproach; stigma; blemish:
a stain on one's reputation.

One blemish on our history? Among how many other ‘stains’?

The Japanese Concentration Camp is another post on facebook that caught my attention and I had to do some researching on this to see if it was the truth because I was never taught this in school. Not one to be fascinated in history here lately I am finding myself very fascinated, I should say shocked by history. 

This stood out to me:
“The order set into motion the exclusion from certain areas, and the evacuation and mass incarceration of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, most of whom were U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident aliens.”

The Japanese Concentration Camps began in 1941, and we progressed. Are we going to call slavery a stain also? Just because the British thought beating slaves into working for them in the 18th century, those other white men that came to America followed suit? Why did this ‘stain’ of slavery last so long? Abraham Lincoln TRIED to make amends by ending slavery but man did not allow that to happen because white man was and is an ignorant being clinging to the ME factor, it’s all about ME, my pride in self and my boasting!

In 1955 the African American’s like Rosa Parks, were still struggling with the hatred of the white man. And to this day, the ‘stain of American history’ is still here as you can see across the country in protests and riots.

Last year I found myself more curious about Auschwitz – the Nazi German Concentration Camps. I did learn about these heinous acts in school but very little and not to the extent I found myself diving into last year and not just through Wikipedia either. Site upon site, YouTube and anywhere else I could go. 

I was reading the news about a man, of former S.S. guard Oskar Groening, 93 who was being tried for his part in the atrocity. Here’s a man who is about to die himself, being tried for crimes he committed in his youth. He was a bookkeeper and sentenced to four years in jail. 

I found myself seeking information in depth on what happened and why. While America has a list of worst moments in history, none compare to Nazi Germany because we’re above frying people, right? We are not above enslaving people, torturing and abusing men and women, condemning people for their sex, religious beliefs or building a wall to keep people who don’t fit into what we want here, out! How long before we place illegal citizens and ALL Muslim people in concentration camps? That would be fine by you, right?

Can you imagine if the Native Americans had built a wall and didn’t let the ignorant white man onto their land? We would not be here. Such as it is, we are in the here and now fighting the exact same things over and over continuing to ‘stain our history’ as if stains are okay and can be removed. 

Before you condemn me for what you might see as a finger-pointing post please try to understand that I am trying to grasp why there is so much hate in the world and why abhorrence of your fellow man has become an acceptable way of life. All I need to do is look at history; I can see how far we have NOT come. 

Job 3:5 “Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.”

The Crusades

Image from google

Jer. 30:24 "The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it."

I have to admit most of my blogging ideas are from what (mainly BS) people post on Facebook. I like reading their stories (lies or truth), then researching them on my own and dig into what the truth really is that they might have missed. People laugh if I use Snopes because they know where the REAL truth is at another site. I won’t say I use Google either because my way of research is old and outdated. So are my paperback encyclopedias if you MUST know.

I sure wish everyone sought out the truth and researched a little before they post ‘THEIR truth’ because one person’s truth is another person’s lies. Take for example Pink Elephants, no, not pink skinned pink tusks. That poor post is almost as old as me (not) but you get my meaning right? Lies go viral quicker than truth and so I’m left digging and digging for posts on the internet to see what everyone else says on the matter. If I find ten pages in agreement I tend to see it as truth, however if I find as many pages that disagree, I tend to find a person disillusioned.

The Crusades picked my interest for some reason. Maybe because I’m always touting that I’m all about LOVE and I see surrounding me a world full of HATE. It’s not just about blacks and foreigner hate, it’s about Muslim hate. The Crusade happened centuries ago and I had to research what they were talking about. 

Ah, the Holy War. 

Some info from Wikipedia:

What were the Crusades?

The Crusades were military campaigns sanctioned by the Latin Roman Catholic Church during the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages. In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to holy places in and near Jerusalem.

What is the purpose of the Crusades?

In 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to holy places in and near Jerusalem. Following the First Crusade there was an intermittent 200-year struggle for control of the Holy Land, with seven more major crusades and numerous minor ones.

Who fought in the crusades?

Jews and Muslims fought together to defend Jerusalem against the invading Franks. On 15 July 1099 the crusaders entered the city. They proceeded to massacre the remaining Jewish and Muslim civilians and pillaged or destroyed mosques and the city itself.

The History of the Crusades.

Some things are really standing out to me as I read about the Crusades like this one:

“crusading was an act of Christian love and piety that compensated for and paid the penalties earned by sin.”

Wow! I had a flashback to my youth when in Catholic school I was told I HAD to do penance, tell a priest my sin to be forgiven by God. I adamantly stated at 13 years old, that ‘NO MAN can forgive my sin! Only God can do that and HE already has. I have no sin to repent of!’ That didn’t go over too well and I was not allowed to be ‘confirmed’ therefore halting the seven sacraments I HAD to do to become Catholic. As a note, this is when I converted to Christianity, against my father’s wishes.

Upon reading about the Crusades and who fought in the wars, I see a part of me that let go of a religion that has consumed centuries of time and wars. Why did the Popes believe the Holy Land belonged to THEM? Did they think that they alone own the rights to Christ? I understand that they wanted safe passage to visit Holy sites but does that give them the right to kill, just to visit a piece of land; God’s land?

As my (spiritual not Catholic) Lenten season continues to amaze me with more and more awakening I find that man is still full of hate because he alone is claiming Christ and those that don’t share their belief should die and be banished from touching ANY part of the earth. Man sees Muslims, Jews, blacks, anyone not of ‘their’ belief system an enemy. 

This struck me too:

“Christ is concerned with the political order of man, and intends for his agents on earth, kings, popes, bishops, to establish on earth a Christian Republic that was a “single, universal, transcendental state’ ruled by Christ through the lay and clerical magistrates he endowed with authority.”

While Christ may be concerned, we lost the battle when His magistrates allowed greed and hate to rule the reason they did what was and IS being done. I’m not buying what people want to sell me. What I myself have learned from Christ was that He was all about LOVE, while he got angry once (tax collectors, greed?) He never carried a testimony of HATE! Man has twisted the bible to suit their needs and wants, and fills their being with hate that they THINK is what Jesus wants them to carry and relay to the world. 

While I dislike much of what is going on around the world, I don’t find myself hating. I might disagree but I won’t vent my frustrations as a way of getting noticed instead I write and blog to clear my mind and to help me understand.

Let me tell you, when man/woman was created, satan had a job to do also. Good and evil were brought forth to wage war and we only account for the crusades of A.D not the wars on our soul in B.C. Think about that! God Himself was NOT about HATING people! (Go ahead, put your own spin on the message.) Reading and believing the Bible is one thing but reading and understanding is an entirely different matter. And just so you know, I am STILL eagerly learning. Praise be to God!

May God fill all who are reading this with understanding of His eternal LOVE!

God Bless!

Fear: A Driving Force

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 

1 John 4:18

There is something going on in my life that I’m not quite ready to share with you at this time but I can say that fear has tried to creep in and take over. Also allow me to say that I’m not one to succumb to fear, I live through faith. 

Recently I have been taking everything at face value. It is what it is. I allow outside influences to steer my thoughts and I’ve never done that before because I’m so focused on God. Here lately the dark one has been doing overtime trying to get me to live in FEAR! My prayer and meditation remains on God but again, outside influences and negativity try to seep into my being. 

“Fear is an acronym (I received this in my email this weekend from Bible Gateway) False Evidence Appearing Real.” How did they know I was dealing with this? Oh, they didn’t but GOD did and made sure the message was sent to me and received!

Lent for me is always a time where mysteries are revealed to me. The Greek meaning of mystery is defined as: what was not known but is now revealed. My body is going through some earthly changes; changes that scare me and have me dawdling in fear, but I can’t and won’t live there because I have an immense faith that there is something greater going on.

As I walk on faith, people will come at me saying but you have to be looked at, you have to see a doctor, you have to do this and do that, you can’t just rely on faith. I would like to slap them upside the head but I won’t, I’ll just simply say, “Thanks for caring but this is my cross to bear.” (I know, I can see your eye roll from here.)

God has a plan and that is to get His message across and He can be as subtle as the dark one when it comes to conveying a message. He wants and NEEDS us to walk on faith to find 'perfect love' and He’ll carry us the rest of the way on this little blip we call life. If you think for one moment that these fifty, sixty, one hundred years of life that you live on this planet is all that there is, you are sadly mistaken. 

We are on a mission for Him and He uses every way possible, even deaths, for us to see the Light. Take for example people who run on and on about what they hate of the Muslim people. People they don’t know and have never met. Don’t tell me because you’ve met a couple of them you hate all of them, really? And what they’ve done to the Christian faith?  (more in a later post about the Crusades)

God at work does not mean everything He does is rainbows and beauty, some of the things that has to happen HAS TO BE ugly, or no one would sit up and take notice. Take the Muslim women who have converted to Christianity secretly. You assume all Muslims are killers and worship a false god. Do you know that many are over there sacrificing their life for Jesus? How else can God wake up an evil nation? Because I choose not to HATE, I’m considered Un-American, really? Well I consider you who hate unChristian. Touché. May I ask if you hate Jews in America? Germans? Mexicans? No? Just Muslims?

When you spew hate, you are doing the Muslim’s work for them, they are feeding off fear and hate and you are feeding off of what they are planting while God is busy at work trying to get you and them to see Jesus, to spread LOVE not to spread hate. If that is your mission, you are no different than the very Muslims you abhor. When I see the slaughtering and pillaging I see God at work and see the Muslims realizing that this Jesus is bigger than anything they’ve ever imagined. They are delivering a message from OUR GOD without even knowing it, which is why I said God is subtle. He KNOWS what He’s doing.

Romans 5:15 (NIV) “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”

If dying for Christ is wrong; if God is wrong for taking lives; if we’re just here to read and believe, then this is a sad day to be a Christian. Take note: It is NOT a sad day to be a Christian, this is the time to stand up for Christ and show the people of the world that Jesus IS worth dying for in every way imaginable. Fear does not rule our world! But I see many who feed on the same venom those they despise feed on. You cannot bring people to Jesus through loathing what you don’t like in the world. 

If I have to die to show you how Christ lives then I am honored to be a part of this master plan and if satan thinks I’m going to go in fear and feed off of what the hatemongers wish me to take a bite of, he has another thing coming because the only thing I fear is what is left behind and that is leaving my family. But I’ll take Jesus over my family any day. 

This brings to mind a beloved worship song:

Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
Then what could stand against.

Think of this song and the power of YOUR God before you spew your next rant of antagonism. 

Beauty ~ To Each His Own

Pss. 36:2 “For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.”

As some of you may know, I attended a Catholic school from first to eighth grades. Daily I wore the uniform of the plaid jumpers with a white collared shirt for five years, to the plaid skirt and white shirt for another three. 

I never had to worry about competing with looking good to the other girls. Each passing year the time came for me to receive my hand-me-down jumpers from my shorter sister. Yeah, I was taller than my sister by second grade and even with the awkward unleashing of the hem the length was still too short, for me. 

All the other girls had new pristine jumpers every year obviously from a wealthier family but me and my little jumpers, we made it through five years, and the skirts lasted for three. Only on weekends and after school did I wear different, more comfortable clothes and I always decided that this was when I was defiantly going to show my body in a way the nuns would scoff.

I suffered from low self-esteem as a child always trying to be different and I would dress to where I would be noticed, whether it was in butt bearing shorts, halter tops or painted on jeans. I was being noticed; icy blue/gray eyes, long flowing blonde hair, a perfect size zero. It didn’t take me long to figure out that men (yes grown men) were not looking at me (a child) because I was cute, they were looking at me like I was a raw steak being fired up on the grill and they couldn’t wait to stick a fork in me! Certainly not the attention I was seeking.

As I grew, I matured and realized I didn’t need that sort of attention; my tastes in clothing grew, as did my self-esteem. Sure I was now a perfect size six, still long flowing blonde hair and icy blue/gray eyes but something had changed within me; I found God. No longer was I dressing for beastly men, I was now dressing for God! I wanted Him to notice the beauty within me and I longed to please Him in every way.

The problem with that was I was still being noticed in my modestly covered up body but no longer seen as a steak on a grill, I was being admired as a beautiful woman. People saw something in me and I’m most certain it was God shining through me; I had finally become the modest young lady my father could be proud of and the person my heavenly Father didn’t have to turn His head away from.

It saddens me today to look around and see the young girls dressing like they want to work the strip in their hot-pants and boob bearing shirts but I also see that men have not changed over my lifetime. Since the beginning of time man has lusted after the female gender, sadly young or old. Women have always wanted to be looked at and some of us will go to great measure to see our esteem lifted. I would never go to the lengths women do today with all of the plastic surgery from their noses all the way down to their butts. They NEED to be seen and men NEED to look. 

How can I help these young girls? Do I judge them? Do I laugh at their foolishness or do I show compassion and understanding knowing I was much like them once?

Besides pray, I’ll write. The only way to look beautiful and I mean REALLY beautiful is when you have self-confidence. You don’t need tattoos and to be pierced in every orifice to feel confident; you don’t need to dress in slutty attire to attract a man. A real man is attracted to inner beauty that exudes from you whether you’re dowdy or absolutely gorgeous. The beauty you carry inside is what finds the real men to marry, not the false bravado you traipse around and taunt men with. You need to know you’re worth something to YOU not just an object for men to be their eye candy!

I’ve seen many young girls walk into church looking like they were going out to a nightclub and yes, I would think what on EARTH possessed them to wear THAT? Then I remember…I was once like that too; in time they’ll realize it is only for God they should look good for, not for the MAN beast or the WOMAN competitor. Build confidence in YOURSELF, dress for YOU, see your beauty as God sees your beauty! He doesn’t see you with dyed hair, tons of make-up – He sees you naked and bare and what He sees is BEAUTY!

For the non-believers please know, if you’re dressed as a lady of the evening and you’re attracting men and boys, know that they’re not worth the air you breathe if sleaze is what they’re interested in. Maybe it IS what you’re interested in; a life with no breath. 

Poetry Sunday ~ Help Me, Lord

Pss. 12:1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Help Me Lord

Help me Lord it’s been a long day

My body is failing I begin to sway.

Through the mist I see them rise,

Mangy wolves in disguise.

They rant, they rave through it all

bellowing out a howling call.

Looking like sheep dressed in white

Prowling on innocence in the night

They saunter along and show their claws

Prying open my self-made walls.

I stand alone they circle ‘round

To steal the Light in me they’ve found.

In one fell swoop they’re whisked away

My Holy Savior saves the day.

Help me Lord, to always see

The You that found a part of me.

Quotation Saturday

Prov. 26:24 "He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;"

MASKS

“We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.” 
― Patrick Rothfuss

“No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.” 
― Nathaniel Hawthorne

“We all wear masks, but it's the one we choose to wear that makes a difference.” 
― Kim Yannayon

“It's good to see the snakes revealing themselves. They weren't actually hidden at all. People hide behind the masks, but eventually you see them for who they truly are.” 
― Amaka Imani Nkosazana

DECEIT

“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” 
― William Shakespeare

“Nothing is more deceitful," said Darcy, "than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.” 
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” 
― Noël Coward

“The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them.” 
― Criss Jami

“God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.” 
― William Shakespeare

“A rumor is a social cancer: it is difficult to contain and it rots the brains of the masses. However, the real danger is that so many people find rumors enjoyable. That part causes the infection. And in such cases when a rumor is only partially made of truth, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where the information may have gone wrong. It is passed on and on until some brave soul questions its validity; that brave soul refuses to bite the apple and let the apple eat him. Forced to start from scratch for the sake of purity and truth, that brave soul, figuratively speaking, fully amputates the information in order to protect his personal judgment. In other words, his ignorance is to be valued more than the lie believed to be true.” 
― Criss Jami

PRIDE

“I am not proud, but I am happy; and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride.” 
― Alexandre Dumas

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” 
― C.S. Lewis

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.” 
― Dale Carnegie

“Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune. ” 
― C.G. Jung

TRUTH

“I say what other people only think, and when all the rest of the world is in a conspiracy to accept the mask for the true face, mine is the rash hand that tears off the plump pasteboard, and shows the bare bones beneath.” 
― Wilkie Collins

“RAINBOW VOICES

I ask people of the world and children of light to start reflecting the stories of their souls to vibrate wisdom around the earth. Pick up a paintbrush or microphone. Press the inks of your pens to paper or tap words onto your screens, and start sharing what you know and have learned with the masses. Turn your personal painting into a piece of the earth's puzzle so that our unified assemblage of thoughts, experiences and lessons reveal common truths that cannot be denied. Imagine the changes that could happen if everyone suddenly stopped acting like someone else, became true to themselves, and celebrated the beauty of their uniqueness. Only after people have willingly removed their masks and costumes, and have begun pouring light from their hearts to reveal their vulnerability, dreams and pains, will we be able to see that beneath the surface we are all the same. After all, how can the world collectively fight for truth, if soldiers in its army are void of truth? We must first all be true by putting truth in our words and actions. And to do so, everyone must learn to think and react with their conscience. Imagine what Truth could do to neutralize the clutches of evil once this black and white world suddenly became embraced by a strong rainbow of loud powerful voices. We could put color back into every home, every school, every industry, every nation, and every garden on earth where flowers have been crushed by corruption.” 
― Suzy Kassem

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” 
― Mark Twain

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” 
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

SPIRITUALITY

“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.” 
― Carl Sagan

“The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God.” 
― Rob Bell

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” 
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.” 
― John Lennon

Pss. 117:2 "For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD."

One World

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.”

One social world is enough for me, thank you. I don’t do the whole kit and kaboodle when it comes to social media rounds, and quite honestly as a person, it does nothing for me. I was recently asked to join another ‘social scene’ and I had to flat out decline the invitation. 

I started an account, looked at the wall and once again, it is filled with hate-mongers. Are they hiding their hate on THAT wall and acting all lovey on their facebook wall where people see them? I don’t know but I do know that as soon as I saw all of the same hate spewing I quickly deleted the account laughing at my own stupidity for falling for such a snare.

As a writer I need Twitter and Facebook to promote my writing and myself. I don’t need to be a part of a social scene where people have nothing to offer the world but their hate-filled OPINIONS of the world! Goodness, take a breather! How does one live in two worlds when they can’t even handle the ONE world they live in without it leaving a bitter taste in their mouth?

I wouldn’t dare take on another social wall unless it benefited my writing but that’s just me. I’m weird that way. I have more to do with my life than sit on the computer at social events spewing hate, what I ate, to take selfies to show that I and my world are just perfect, or to share memes of what I REALLY want to say. I care more about myself than to put myself in the accepted or rejected seat yet again. 

More times than not I’m rejected. Is it because people don’t like the truth I spew? I know people are leery of the God I believe in and I’m okay with that. It’s not like I tell them that it is MY truth and they must follow, I let them decide for themselves who it is they are committed to and here lately, the world is committed to technology over any form of theology I could ever dish out.

The world doesn’t look people in the eyes anymore, the world looks at their phones as they’re texting. They drive and text and more often than not, people die and have accidents because of texting. Is there anything more important in life than living life? I thought it was just a kid phase but no, more and more adults are using their phones as a means to staying connected to the world-wide-web.

I have never taken one of those ‘selfies’ that everybody is hooked on and I don’t text either, does that make me an unacceptable life form? It must mean I’m a scary uptight snob or something. 

In my writing, I like to convey a message. If I have something important to say, I say it and if it is too lengthy, I write and blog about the message. I live out in the middle of nowhere and oftentimes the internet is my only source of the candid view of the outside world that I behold. 

“A lot of people believe I am a Christian because they think I talk about Christian values; the truth is I talk about Human Values.
I have been asked if I am a Buddhist because I have discovered Inner Peace.
Many of my friends are Pagans, and they think that I am one too because I say that being in Nature is like going to Church.
Do you want to know who I really am? It’s very simple. I don’t need a label to define me. I am a piece of the Universe, Sentient and Manifested; I AM AWAKE.”
~ Paul Enso Hillman

Because of the people out there, I don’t define myself as a Christian. That is a label that is misused too much. People believe in God; they call themselves Christians. They read the Bible; they’re Christians. Talk about spirituality, they think you’re not a Christian yet the very book they read about THEIR God is FULL of spirituality so if they really read the book and understood the meaning, why does my spirituality scare them? 

Pss. 50:12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.”

I am not the kind of person who praises God one minute then is so filled with hate that I must relay that hate to get it off of my chest. I am not blind to the world but the world is blind to me. I don’t come out of the woodwork to whine, I don’t display attributes that I will later regret and I don’t follow people just because they think they are a leader.

I am a child of God. You can label yourself any way you’d like but know, your actions are what people see and it turns them against the very belief some of you so-called Christians are trying to guide them into. I won’t be a part of the show.

Isa. 13:11 “And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”

Meditation

Ezek. 13:3 “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!”

Meditation is not some new aged practice; actually it has been around for thousands of years practiced by many different faiths including Christians around the world. As early as the book of Genesis (for you Christians) you can see that Isaac meditated. (Gen. 24:7)

Pss.1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

I’ve meditated for quite a few years now because it is one way I use to put my mind to rest. I remember seeing a meme recently that said something like 'for those who go right to bed and fall right to sleep, don’t you have thoughts?' Well my quick response was: yes, but I leave my thoughts outside the door so I CAN sleep. And I sleep peacefully for eight hours, thank you very much.

Meditate:
to engage in thought or contemplation; reflect.
to engage in transcendental meditation, devout religious contemplation, or quiescent spiritual introspection.

What helps me in my meditation is the fact that I carry good thoughts; an optimist if you will. I meditate on the Word and reflect the word in my actions. It is easier for me to love than to hate. When people say they can’t/won’t meditate I have to wonder, is their mind so full of hate that they don’t have good thoughts to think about?

I try my best to steer clear of those who love and hate at the same time. They show love on one side of the fence but on the other side they show so much hate and rage I wonder how they even sleep at night, or do they?

Some people may call me a snob but I am far from it; I am not better than anyone. Because I choose love over hate is a choice of mine and I only wish more people knew the benefits that result from living a life of love. Jesus taught us to love and how to love but people put their own spin on what they deem as love. Kind of makes me wonder what else they misinterpret.

When people say they are seeking a spiritual path I have to ask, what are you doing? Are you placing more love and good in your life that over rides all that hate that fills you on a daily basis? If the answer is no then you are seeking the wrong path. Your actions speak volumes as to the path you are headed down and I only wish a boulder wasn’t blocking your way to finding what you seek.

Pss. 63:6 “When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.”

Meditating in the night watches to me means when I lay my head down to rest at night, my thoughts are all on Him and a peaceful night of sleep follows as I rest in His words. Some people have no other thoughts than thoughts of this material world that keep their mind roaming and unfocused. Thoughts of bills, food and all that is wrong with the world will keep any sane man or woman awake at night. 

Following a spiritual path doesn’t mean that you try meditating once and give up when your weakness allows you to lose focus. Meditating has to become an hourly part of your day where you focus on good, light, love throughout the day so the positive thoughts can carry you through a restful nights sleep.

I’m not saying that when I get older I won’t develop insomnia of some sort but right now, I’m not older and meditation is what has gotten me to this point of peacefulness that washes over me and I carry with me throughout the days of my life. 

What, you don’t think I have problems, bills and things to take my mind in places I dare not let it go? You’re wrong. I have a world of problems that could consume my thoughts but I won’t let ANYTHING take my thoughts away from God. The world is going to hell in a handbag and there is not one thing negative that I can say that will change that. 

Am I supposed to be filled with anger and rage because of the status of the world? The status of religions? The killing and hatemongering that will continue to consume man until he falls into the pit of hellfire?

The only thing that can fight hate is LOVE. This is what Jesus was trying to show us. The world is going and we’re going with it unless we fight with LOVE. Jesus’ message was not to HATE but to LOVE.

You can put your theological spin on the matter just as well as I can. I am not naïve, I am a child of God and will declare love until my very last breath because THAT is what Jesus would do, and that is what Jesus DID!

You can ask any one of the spiritual people that you may know, whether of the Christian faith or any other faith, spirituality is all about LOVE. To be filled with hate is to demean spirituality. Man cannot serve God AND mammon. You must serve one and know the difference in the lines you CHOOSE to cross. (note: God IS Spirit.)

Don’t call yourself a spiritual seeker and seek out what you can hate on any given day. Don’t call yourself a Christian if it is two masters that you serve. Don’t wear a mask that you think people want to see, show them the real you. If you’re not willing to show the world the real you, then take a look in the mirror and see what you don’t like and work to change it for YOU. Then show the world the you that you can be sure of.

Pss. 119:48 “My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.”

Meditation will drive you down the path of spiritual awakening that you seek. If you can’t let go of the hate in your heart, you are not ready to be awakened to the spiritual side we were destined to be a part of.  Do the world a favor and stay asleep, which leaves more room for those who are awake to actually SEEK the righteous path.

1 Tim. 4:15 “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”

I Fell in Love

1 Cor. 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

I fell in love...all over again…

I’ve been in a relationship my entire adult life. I’ve known love, lived love and loved love. I’ve been with Steven for thirteen years now and though we didn’t instantly fall in love when we first met we were instant friends via the internet.

We had both just come off of bad relationships so you can see why we never decided to get married for many years after we met face to face. Our idea of love was tainted by what we had been through in our past and we were damned if we were going to make the same mistake twice. 

He never really knew love because lust is what drove him in previous relationships, and that’s all they were, relationships. He hadn’t known love, true love. As for me I was a child of circumstance. I yearned for love and would take anyone who dared to show me love and it is what kept me married for 20 years, until I became a woman and realized love wasn’t about a man controlling and obsessing over you, it is the feeling that two people share in becoming one complete unit. 

When I made my way to Texas, I wasn’t ‘in love’, I loved him dearly but in love meant something totally different. The years passed and I fell ‘in love’ to the extent that we both fell and knew a union was the difference. We married last year because we knew that this was the final road for us. It wasn’t the beginning and it wasn’t an ending it was the communion of love spreading over us that we knew had to be completed in the form of marriage.

This is the instance where definitely two worlds collided, farm boy meets city girl. Opposite ends of the world meeting in the middle and hitting it off like the Fourth of July firework displays. We’ve had our ups and downs but more times than not we’ve relished many more ups. We complete each other and yesterday it hit me (not for the first time) that he’s my husband in every sense of the word. 

When we first met he inundated me with lyrics, lyrics that spoke to me better than the songs themselves. When we met face to face the lyrics stopped, he then began playing melodies on the saxophone and well, city girl just melted like a snowman holding a candle I’ll have you know!

It was kind of beautiful watching from the inside, the love growing in leaps and bounds. We went from lyrics, to melodies to movies; all of which we had in common and we now share our lives as if we only live for one another. 

We’ve never been a couple who celebrates Valentine’s Day, not because we don’t love each other but because we DO love each other, every single day and Valentine’s is just another holiday that is over commercialized and I might be the first woman he’s ever met that said, “No thanks” to chocolates, to diamonds, to gifts, to the mushy froo froo for Valentines day that so many other women EXPECT.

I’ve always written him a poem because well that’s what I do; I’m a writer. This year was no different except for the fact that it was our very first Valentine’s Day as man and wife. It felt different too, especially when he made me a video with clips of all of our favorite movies (that we watch over and over again).

It started off:  

Groundhog Day - “Whatever happens tomorrow or for the rest of my life, I’m happy now because I love you” 

School of Rock - “You’re the cats pajamas, you’re the bees knees!”

Mr. Deeds - “Hard to breathe, feels like floating, so full of love, my heart’s exploding.
Mouth is dry, hands are shaking, my heart is yours for the taking. 
Acting weird, not myself, dancing around like the Keebler elf.
Finally time for this poor schlub, to know how it feels to fall in lub.”

E. T. “I’ll be right here.” 

A Beautiful Mind – “I’m only here tonight because of you. You are the reason I am. You’re all my reasons.”

Lord of the Rings – Smeagol – “My PRECIOUS!”

Casper- “Kat? Can I keep you?”

A movie with Andrew Lincoln, Rick from The Walking Dead – Showing sign boards to his love – “To me, you are perfect. And my wasted heart will love you
Until you look like… A ZOMBIE?” lol

Forrest Gump – “I’m not a smart man, but I KNOW what love is.”

Wall-E – Eve hugs Wall-e upon seeing him alive out there floating in space. She squeals and kisses him. He drifts off in orbit dazed by love!

Then we cut to “You’ve Got Mail” ending scene that looks a little like when Steven and I met. (Well they’re a lot better looking (not much) but you get the point. I was so glad to see him and meet him for the first time in REAL life, not from behind a screen. And the REST is History! 
The scene comes alive with the song – Somewhere Over the Rainbow!

I love my honey! More today than yesterday but half as much as tomorrow. 
And he TRULY loves me!!!

Poetry Sunday ~ My Forever Love

Our First Valentine’s Day

As Man and Wife

My Forever Love

We painted the world kaleidoscope lined

Colors that meshed lyrics defined

A love that grew from words on a screen

Into a forever love a wildflower scene

Everything happens with definite reason

Forever love grows in changing season

Once we found within our shelled walls

An explosive love amid angels calls.

You came running for me, I clung to you

A forever love blossomed; eternal love grew

Too many years we spent worlds apart

Our two souls collided merging into one heart.

We’ve walked through shadows in the dark

Swept through peaks with promising spark

Sailed in thought through the ocean waves

Sheltered from storms that forever love braves

My one true love mends in mind-meld form

Two hearts that beat, keeping each other warm

My forever love soars to infinity -- beyond

Our enduring love shows eternity’s bond!

For my husband! 

Quotation Saturday ~ Love

VALENTINE

“To love is the supreme right of the human heart.” 
― Debasish Mridha

“Love transports mortal beings to the existential plane of spiritual eternity transcending the emotional, mental, and physical limitations of an inaccurately perceived finite existence.” 
― Ken Poirot

“A soulmate will never leave you. They will always be a part of your life until one day the chance is given for them to become your life. It is then you will become one.” 
― Faye Hall

“Love is an afternoon of fishing when I'd sooner be at the ballet.
Love is eating burnt toast and lumpy graving with a big smile. 
Love is hearing the words, 'You're beautiful,' as I fail to squeeze into my fat jeans. 
Love is refusing to bring up the past, even if doing so would be a slam dunk to prove your point. 
Love is your hand wiping away my tears, trying to erase streaks of mascara. 
Love is the warm hug that extinguishes an argument. 
Love is a humbly-uttered apology, even if not at fault. 
Love is easy to recognize but so hard to define; however, I think it boils down to this... 
Love is caring so much about the feelings of someone else, you sacrifice whatever it takes to help him or her feel better. 
In other words, love is my heart being sensitive to yours.” 
― Richelle E. Goodrich

“Selfless love, is the fountain of youth...” 
― Samer Chidiac

LOVE

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever.” 
― Alfred Lord Tennyson

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” 
― William Shakespeare

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” 
― Robert A. Heinlein

“He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.” 
― Bob Marley

ETERNAL

“It is a splendid thing to think that the woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years, if you really love her, you will always see the face you loved and won. And a woman who really loves a man does not see that he grows old; he is not decrepit to her; he does not tremble; he is not old; she always sees the same gallant gentleman who won her hand and heart. I like to think of it in that way; I like to think that love is eternal. And to love in that way and then go down the hill of life together, and as you go down, hear, perhaps, the laughter of grandchildren, while the birds of joy and love sing once more in the leafless branches of the tree of age.” 
― Robert G. Ingersoll

“A great ring of pure & endless light
Dazzles the darkness in my heart
And breaks apart the dusky clouds of night.
The end of all is hinted in the start.

When we are born we bear the seeds of blight;
Around us life & death are torn apart,
Yet a great ring of pure and endless light
Dazzles the darkness in my heart.

It lights the world to my delight.
Infinity is present in each part.
A loving smile contains all art.
The motes of starlight spark & dart.
A grain of sand holds power & might.
Infinity is present in each part,
And a great ring of pure and endless light
Dazzles the darkness in my heart.” 
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“Life has no meaning, the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.” 
― Jean-Paul Sartre

Reflection

Reflection

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 

1 John 4:18

My forty days of reflection has begun with the beginning of the Lenten season. Some people will announce what they are doing for the Feast of Reflection, some will not give the Fast of Sacrifice a second thought, and others will wonder what all this Christian hokey pokey is about. Well turn yourself around and I’ll tell you.

Isa. 58:6-8 “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.”

Lent, just like Advent is a highly misunderstood Holy Time of the year. Many people assume it is just something Catholics partake in and it’s a ritual they WON’T take part in. Some people will tout that they reflect and sacrifice all year so they won’t partake but I’m here to tell you, it is SO much more!

Lent is a forty-day period of prayer, penance and fasting. It is a season of sacrifice, spiritual exercise and renewal. My season begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts until Easter Sunday the day I celebrate my New Year and my spirit is mentally refreshed and healed.

Sacrifice – It can also mean fasting, not always celebrated with the refusal of meat, unless meat is a hindrance in your life. Sacrifice means to give up something that is hindering your spiritual growth. To REALLY sacrifice is not hiding on days you feel like it and slipping into old routines because no one is watching. Can you imagine giving up politics, hate and judging of people like blacks, Jews, Christians and yes even Muslims for forty-days? Imagine giving up Social Walls for forty-days. Giving up sex for forty-days. There are so many things YOU can give up and sacrifice for your Lord.

This sacrifice is all about YOU and God! A forty-day sacrifice is extremely hard and grueling, sometimes painful and feels like it is punishment but this is the LEAST we can do for a man we believe was whipped and had skin shredded, falling off the bone and hung on the cross for US!

Prayer – This isn’t the normal prayer you pray when someone says they need prayer and you say, ‘praying’. This season of prayer is deep meditative prayer for YOU, for all you hate, for all you judge, for strength in lasting forty-days. This is a cleansing prayer feast between you and God. 

Renewal – After the season is over and you awake on Easter Sunday there is a refreshing, honorable feeling that overwhelms you knowing you made it the forty-days without fail. That is the secret. Not failing. We fail all year but in these forty days WE DO NOT FAIL! That is where the sacrifice, prayer and renewal of spirit comes from and washes over as if you yourself bathed in the river Jordan.

My prayer for you is to know and understand what this season is all about. I pray that you know and understand the true meaning of sacrifice and that you see and feel internal growth by the Rising of the Lord. 

May God walk with you all and bless you in more ways than one!

Because I am loved by God… I can be grateful for another day of life.

1 John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.”

You Can't Force Love

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

You Can’t Force Love

Can you imagine a heavenly Father forcing himself on us and making us love Him? Or trying to guilt us into loving him unconditionally? No, I can’t imagine that either. That is why we have a thing called free-will, we have a CHOICE to love the Lord or not to. We can love Him from afar or have an up close and personal relationship; the choice is ours. 

Relationships, whether earthly or spiritual, work two ways. Let’s say a person gives love but the receiver doesn’t return that love, but expects more and more love from the giver without ever acknowledging the heartfelt sentiment from the giver. Does that sound like love of any kind?

Take for example God. He gives you love, you receive it but never ever thank Him for all the love He has given, then when you’re down that’s the first thing you want is your Heavenly Father. 

Do you have a relationship with God where you do all the giving and He does all the taking? I myself cannot see a God that doesn’t reciprocate the love you give to Him. I can however see mothers and fathers and children with earthly choices choosing to do all the taking without ever an ounce of giving. I can see children growing up in the ‘me generation’ making love all about them without ever giving the love that it takes to get some in return. 

The children today are all about what THEY need, what THEY want and never thinking far enough ahead of what was given to get to this point of wanting and needing. Children today are very selfish and always worrying about their wants and not focusing on Him. It’s a hard realization when we come to terms that life is not about US, it is about Him and the sacrifices we must make to be at peace and have a relationship in a clogged-drain world. Kids today don’t realize the severity of not having Him first and foremost but they’ll learn, one day. 

True stories:
I have a niece born out of wedlock, an illegitimate child. Her mother forced child support, while bio-dad forced visitation rights. A compromise was made and thirty years later all involved has a mutual love-filled relationship; all because of CHOICES made in FORMING the relationship.

I have other nieces born out of love but torn apart by divorce. The choices of the mother and father to have relationships and be involved in their lives make the world of difference between bitter or self-absorbed. 

I have a son, who was born out of love who was torn apart by divorce, never seeing or knowing his dad since he was seven and as an adult now makes the CHOICE in whether he seeks out or has ANY relationship with his father. He chooses not to have one and I won’t FORCE him to do anything different because he’s an adult now. 

Some parents build a fantasy world for their children like telling them Santa exists and will bring you presents only for the kids to grow and realize their parents lied to them. If they lied about Santa, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy what other lies were told that you, as an unknowing child, bought into? I’ve seen over the years so many kids torn apart by lies and deception only to find out later the truth. I never lied to my son about Santa, he never knew him whereas I tried to FORCE my God and all of MY opinions on him and it backfired. I didn’t lie to him about God, but I tried to FORCE him to love God.

God will never FORCE himself upon you. He gives you truth as a gift and it is up to you to wrap your mind around the giver or let it blow in the breeze like a self-entitled receiver. When we lie to our children by giving them what we think they want to hear, it is going to backfire and hurt the children in the long run and in the end FORCE them into making decisions as the adult they’ve become. We can no longer make decisions for our adult children because they have already formed an opinion. Either from what we forced on them, lied to them, or tried shaping them into.

I always told my son the truth about his father and our relationship and it is now up to him as an adult, to shape whatever if any relationship will be had later in life. The choice is now his, I can’t make it for him. God gives us the CHOICE to have a relationship with Him. My son now knows it is up to him to have a relationship with God and as an adult, he makes his own choices. Mom can’t save him now, only God can do that.

The CHOICE is always yours!

“A perfect relationship is two imperfect people who refused to give up on each other.”