God's Not Done...

Rom. 8:25 "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

God’s Not Done

On Friday the 6th I began writing a blog post aimed at a Monday posting titled God’s Not Done… but if I had gotten it done, I would’ve posted it Saturday. Unfortunately it didn’t get done. Sunday I watched a sermon online, it was an Easter sermon. What jumped out at me were these words, “We can’t reach up to God He reaches down to us and assures us He is not done with us.”

Where had I heard those words, ‘He’s not done’? Oh that’s right, from my blog post I was writing on Friday! Coincidence? I think not! It was a direct message, a message on transformation! So here is what I had written on Friday.

God is not done…

God is not done with me yet! He’s busy transforming this broken, damaged, diseased woman into something beautiful; a cherished work of art that shines His Light in the dark places!

The statistics are in and the researchers have concluded that 90% of cancers are a result of diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors. And the single biggest factor is what you eat. Imagine that! We are what we eat! My lifestyle was eating junk and crud and look at me now in the battle of my life trying to reverse the damage.

It’s pretty sad that I’ve only begun embracing this new lifestyle after the diagnosis of an illness. I’m continuing to dig deep within my wounds, as deep as my arm will reach, to heal the core of the damage and make peace with my past. God and I are alone on this journey as there are parts so weathered and stained for the naked eye that I keep them there, never to write about. I guess you could say they are the demons in my closet.

Philippians 1:29 (NIV) “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.”

I’m not changing just a portion of my life, I’m changing everything one hundred percent! [finishing post] I’m surrendering my all to God because I know He is looking down on me, reaching out to me, shaping me and transforming me for a better life.

Life sometimes takes hold of us to where we’re blinded by all of the chaos in the world. From the crazy weather, to the sudden deaths, to the upheaval of life as we know it. If you tell me your weather is just fine and dandy where you live, give it time, you’ll see the craziness He has planned coming to your state. God is not done with us yet.

Moving along, at first, I was bitter and angry and slowly I was losing patience. I was paranoid and frustrated and sought to be healed or let go. He didn’t let me go, He held on tighter and tighter and popped open my eyes so I could see a little more clearly.

The chaos in the world can lead to isolation. You’re running along just fine until someone tosses a roadblock up and you sit idle for far too long. Maybe you’re in a raging storm held back by gridlock. Maybe an angry blizzard came up and movement forward is at a standstill. Maybe you’re getting tired of the unethical society being the controlling factor in day-to-day living. Maybe you think you have life under control but rest assured, He’s not done with you yet.

Job 14:19 “The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.”

Recently I’ve noticed a slow migration from Facebook. People are dropping off of the radar for days if not weeks at a time. Last week someone asked, why are people leaving Facebook? I mentioned that maybe they’re tired of Big Brother watching their every move. I received a very aggressive snappy reply that said, “If you’re tired of Big Brother watching you, turn off your computer!” It is that type of nastiness that is causing people to migrate away from Facebook. It’s no longer a place of fun and sharing information in a congenial manner. It’s a paranoid aggression at its finest.

I myself could care less if Big Brother is watching my every move; I’m not doing anything wrong so I don’t have anything to hide. I could care less if they control the Internet, I’ll just find a hobby that doesn’t enlist the aid of online research, like painting and coloring. No skin off of my nose but apparently something is causing this mass migration.

Something is causing this shift in weather. Something is provoking this deviation in attitudes of negative energy that people are sending out. Something is compelling people to wake up and realize God is not done with us yet and are removing themselves out of fear and uncertainty. At first, in my paranoia, I thought it was just me, feeling like I had gone and done something wrong in steering people to a healthier lifestyle. I’ve come to the realization that people are who they are, and kill what they must, they’ll continue where they will and dust what they dust.

Job 6:20 “They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.”

As my, hopefully short, hiatus begins, I leave you, my fellow Christians with hope! There IS hope in tomorrow. There is hope in saving yourself. There is promise in transforming the old you into a new being of Christ’s. You might not see it as you gaze at the corrupt land you live; the unscrupulous badgering society is taking but there IS hope! God’s not done with you yet! Remember that with every breath. 

Death without the hope of the resurrection and eternal life brings despair!

He is RISEN! 

All Praise and Glory to God!

Acts 24:15 “And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

God's Not Dead, He is surely alive, living on the inside roaring like a lion! 

Resurrection Sunday ~ My Happy New Year!

1 Peter 2:24 KJV “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Resurrection Sunday ~ My New Year Begins

By the blood of Christ, I am healed

The truth of Him to me revealed

I do not walk in doubt and fear

From Him I’m fixed it’s ever clear

My suffering is but a small measure

Of the life I live, one that I treasure

Although a shell, my soul’s at home

My body on earth is free to roam

Slithering in the illness came

The ashen rider with death as a name

Catching me weakened and off guard

Knocking me down, leaving me scarred

I rose from the ashes scattered about

Reached for the Lamb, behind me doubt

Fear melted faces of those around me

Until the Light was all they could see

An orchestra of Angels plays a tune

Wraps me in their heavenly womb

I walk with Light and love by my side

The Lord is my Shepherd, my only guide

As Holy Week ends with a signified seal

My journey goes on, I continue to heal

The sidelines are full, friends and angels cheer

On this day I begin my Happy New Year!

Acts 4:22 “For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.”

Quotation Saturday ~ Life, Love, Spirit

1 John 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”

“I do not celebrate the Pagan holiday of Easter. I celebrate a New Year, a new life, a new love for life and Spirit. I celebrate a resurrection of everything within me; my Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May your day be a celebration of Christ in YOU. God Bless.”
- Joni Zipp

LIFE

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.” 
― William W. Purkey

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” 
― Oscar Wilde

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” 
― Douglas Adams,

LOVE

Jesus to me, Joni:
“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.” 
― Pablo Neruda

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” 
― André Gide, Autumn Leaves

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

SPIRIT

“We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.” 
― Hermann Hesse

“It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,” 
― Amit Ray

“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.” 
― Albert Einstein

NEW YEAR

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, 
Whispering 'it will be happier'...” 
― Alfred Lord Tennyson

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
― T.S. Eliot

“May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire 
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For, 
May your arms Never Tire.” 
― D. Simone

links:

He Rose!

Chronology

Sin and Sin No More

Gal. 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

While man deemed the day Easter, my New Year and Resurrection Sunday was a blessed one. It was nice to peek into facebook and see how others celebrated the day. While some sat the entire day just posting pics and enjoyed sharing and liking, others celebrated with family, some boasted of a church service, and some respectfully didn’t post at all. Beautiful.

As my Holy season has come to a close, I realized something along the journey. I realized I don’t belong anywhere. I realize I am waiting the day I get married and become a united couple in the eyes of the Lord, while the world spins and goes on in the mundane manner that they deem okay.

I’m curious to know, did anyone look up at the sky early on Saturday morning? Were they so consumed with a social outlet that they missed out on something phenomenal taking place in the sky? Yes, I’m talking about the total lunar eclipse. I stood in the cold of the morning just gazing skyward and thanking the Lord for the blessings in my life as I watched the brightly lit full moon disappear darkening the sky.

It has been an awesome month and looks to be an inspiring wonderful year. I can’t say that for the rest of the world or the people in it. This is the time of the year that I am away from the computer more than I am behind it. This is the time I relish spending my days outdoors drinking in the sunshine instead of indoors sipping from the silliness of a society gone astray.

I’m saddened to think that the Resurrection Sunday celebration, which is really the Ishtar/Easter holyday, is relinquished to a reason to drink, a time to get together with family and get drunk. Drink and be merry the Bible says, but man takes that as a reason and a green light to sin; just as the death on the cross is nothing more than the go ahead to sin. Maybe the fall of man is because as you wish people a Happy Easter, you are in turn releasing the very presence of Ishtar into the lives of many. Christmas too has the same sin-filled overtones. It is no longer a celebration of the birth of Christ just as Easter is no longer the rejoicing in the resurrection after His death on the cross.

I know you’re thinking that drinking is not a sin, and I’d have to say I don’t make the judgment call of what sin is and is not, but there is many scriptures pointing to the fact that the Lord is well aware of man and his drunkenness and punishment is what He’ll unleash in His way, not my way. Many will spin their own take on truth, that’s what man does to justify his sin.

Titus 2: 2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

[4] That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

[6] Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

[12] Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Jesus’ death was not an occasion to sin but I feel many see it that way. ‘He died for my sins so I can sin and sin and sin and He’ll forgive me.’ Jesus’ death was not an occasion to sin. His death did not mean, ‘go and sin some more and you’ll find me waiting to forgive.’ I think His death meant a time of transformation! The time of your sin was over, to go and sin no more.

I see all to often people knowingly sinning but relying on the Lord’s death on the cross as a means of forgiveness. “I know I’m sinning, but Jesus will forgive me.” And they go on and sin over and over again losing sight of the entire crucifixion and resurrection.

We live in a world where people hate and hate some more because they are justified in their hate. Jesus declared that we are to love our brother, love our neighbor. He didn’t mean just our family members or next-door neighbors; He meant the entire human race. We are to love and turn the other cheek; even our neighbor’s in a foreign country. Should we jump on the hate bandwagon because everyone else seems to be enjoying the ride? NO!

We are a world built on conformity. We human beings follow along like lost little puppies yearning for their mother’s milk. When she stops we all stop to drink what she has to offer. She leads and we follow. No longer does man seek the depths of his being because he is too consumed with being a falsified follower.

I do not sin so I can be forgiven. When I accepted Christ, I try each and every waking day to keep myself from falling victim to sin. I am changed, transformed by my Lord, not using His death as a means to continue sinning. Am I a sinner? Yes! What I thank Him for every day is dying for me and allowing me the chance to change and be more like Him. And this is why…“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:”

Alleuia Amen! May the Resurrection of Christ transform you all! Not just with your lips but with your very heart and soul!

Isaiah 29:13-14 (NIV)

The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."