Journal of Faith: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Philippians 2:12

I think I have hit a time in my life where I am sick of the noise.  TV, babbling, unnecessary ranting, it all does something to my insides that I don't enjoy.  I only want to read, speak, or listen to things that are good to the edifying of God's Kingdom.  I don't even desire to talk anymore.  I just want peace and quiet so that I can hear God better and process my thoughts.  This is a new season for me.  I used to really enjoy being roudy and loud as an expression of joy or a release of tension, but now when I get upset I get really quiet.  I don't talk to anyone and I don't rant or vent.  I just hold my breathe and wait for the moment to pass.  If there is something that I can do to make the situation better I do that, but otherwise I just wait for the issue to pass.  Sometimes I pray silently or sing to myself. I allow time to feel my emotions and then to grieve the situation if there is one.  I don't feel as much of a ...

It is difficult to show love to someone who has done wrong when we forget how wrong we have been. We need to be honest with ourselves and with others about the fact that it is truly the grace of God that has saved us from ourselves. We all need to own up to our brokeness, which is whatever is wrong with us, and begin to realize that out of our brokeness God can teach us how to minister to eachother with compassion.  When we are wrong truth hurts no matter how nicely we say it. If we speak the truth in love and with the understanding that sometimes we need that same loving truth then true healing can occur. Sometimes the things that we go through aren't our fault, and in those times of brokeness we need to look around and take note.  God has a purpose for everything that happens to us and his plan for us is prosperity.  That means that even the bad things that occur in our lives are somehow for good.  This is what I believe Paul meant  when he...

I hear all the time about parents who don't want to impress their beliefs on their children, and I am saddened.  If I really believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation then why in the world would I not encourage everyone I know to choose Jesus?  It makes no sense that the world can tell us to leave our children alone and we believe them. The world is not leaving our children alone, and we should not allow this world to determine our children's morality and faith. The rest of the world doesn't play by the rule of letting  them make their own decisions.  Media bumbards children with images of what they "need" to be happy and what is "normal" or "cool" while we parents are struggleing with the decision of whether or not we should tell our children about our faith in Jesus Christ. We can't just assume that somehow one day they'll understand. How can they learn without a teacher?  I don't believe that I should force my son ...

It is amazing to me how unaware I can be of things that are right in front of me.  Almost every movie that I see or tv show that I watch or book that I read speaks to humanity's desire to be recognized.  It can be seen by people searching for love and companionship, people fighting to get to the top of their careers, people writing blogs, letters, or books, even the more drastic acts of suicide, prostitution, murder.  People want someone, and they usually have an idea of who that someone should be, to notice their existance and validate their worth.   I can see that even in myself.  I stuggle sometimes with wondering if society sees value in me.  I suppose it is a pretty obvious issue for women and girls although I am sure that guys wonder the same thing but show it in different ways. It doesn't really help that people make fun of each other in some brutal ways. When I am feeling worthless or overlooked I find edification in ...

When we are born God has already placed gifts for a  purpose within each of us. We all have a job to do while on this earth, and just like the misuse of work materials are gifts can be misused too.  When God gives us resources for a particular purpose and we use them in other ways that are not in his purpose it is like stealing from God.  How many of us are abusing our gifts and talents doing things that won't matter in a year, a month, a week, a day? Do you ever remember Getting a dessert "for your parents" when you knew they didn't want it in the hopes of being told that you could have it?  I used to do that to my parents, but somehow it seemed to backfire on me. I ended up watching my parents eat "their" peace of pie, rewrapping food, or just throwing it away.  God is telling us today that he doesn't want us blinding pursuing our own dreams when they have nothing to do with why God put us here.  God doesn't want us to give him what he never asked ...

  In the scriptures many times people's healings were based on their ability to believe that Jesus was the son of God and that he had the power to heal them.  Salvation for the Christian is purely based on your belief in Jesus as the son of God and the savior who died and rose again paying the debt for our sins.  If you believe than you are saved.  Isn't that easy? Here is another not so little biblical concept that I have found several times in scripture: we receive as many of the promises of God as we believe him for.  In other words you receive what you believe God will do for you according to his word.  If God's word says that if I ask anything in the name of Jesus that he will do it for me than he will, but if I don't believe that he will then it probably won't happen for me. God said that he would bless his people so much that we wouldn't have room to receive it. How many people really believe that? If more of us believed it then we would see more Chr...

  Being in a house with several people who need glasses, I can tell you that life gets harder when things are out of focus, but in a world where people are often times brushed aside for the sake of "focus" it almost seems that focus is the opposite of awareness and compassion. I never want to be unaware or cold hearted,and I am sure that these qualities are not Godly. Jesus said to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. There has to be a balance between focusing in on a thing to do your best and being aware of the rest of humanity.  It may seem contradictory, but Jesus also said to a desciple who wanted to return home to bury a relative to let the dead bury the dead.  So is this the Lord speaking out of both sides of his mouth or is there something that we are missing?  The connector for me is when it says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"...

Right when I think that I am going to break God sends a word to remind me that he's still there.  Today was one of those days.  I pretty much slept for two days straight.  The holidays went well, and the new year started off great!  So why was I exhausted and lathargic. When it all finally spilled out I realized that I was upset because I felt like I had lost my chance at a good life. I felt like I was going to suffer eternally for one bad choice followed by a series of bad trickle down.  I love my son and I was made to be a mother, but there is more to me than this. I love being my mother's daughter, but I was meant to be more than that too.  I was just feeling like one choice to have premarital sex ruined my life's potential and that I was now and forever more going to be a burden to my family and inconsiquential to everyone else; a statistical eye sore in the history of humanity.  Sounds a little dramatic huh? I even went on to think about all of t...

I was just thinking about how different Jesus' thinking was from anyone else I have ever observed or learned about.  He basically said that every natural reaction that I have, that most people in the world would call natural, is wrong.  any time anyone says "no" to me in any respect or tries to go against me I consider that rejection. So in essence to be radical I have to teach myself to process everything in my life differently than I have previously observed by the masses.  To the intellectuals Christ challenged them to realize their own self interest which clouded their interpretation of the laws of God. To the grieving he reminded them that God loved them and could see them through it. To those who were idolators he challenged them to let go of the things that they were trying to use to replace God, and to the ones who were sick he showed them the power of God to heal them if they believed....

I am having one of those moments where everthing seems to be moving really fast and it's making my heard hurt. I am tired of thinking and tired of trying to slow things down.  This sort of thing is probably normal among guardians and parents of preschool aged children. When you are tired they want to play when you are ready to help them they want to do it on their own.  When you want them to try to do something for themselves they want you to do it for them and when you want to give them attention they want you to leave them alone. I sometimes look at the ages of 2-4 almost like the teen years.  Do they always think that they're right?  I appeal to my son with calm rationale and biblical principles until I am sure that he understands exactly what I want and exactly where I stand on his behaviors.  It is as if he says "I understand mom, but my way is right so I am going to do exactly as I intended." I have invested so much into teaching my chi...