Weathering the Storm

Our congregation’s VBS was this week. One of the nights,a bad storm hit. With high speed winds and lightning, it knocked out a transformer nearby our church building. Soon after, the lights went out. When it became dark, the kids became excited rather than scared. 

Instead of being afraid, they had fun with it. The adults did the best they could to carry on with a grin on their faces with flashlights in hand. When the lights went out, they made the most of it.

These kids in the dark that night were real troopers. In the end, they had fun and learned more about God.  They made the most out of a not-so-ideal situation. They knew that things were going to be okay and that the ‘grown-ups’ would take care of them.

God, in the same way is looking out for us. As Christians, we must never forget that God is our Father and He is watching over us. That is where that peace and comfort comes from that the kids had this week: Trust and faith.

They trusted and had faith that they would be okay despite the storm. I think that may be one of things Jesus meant when He said we must be like little children.  (Luke 18:16-17.) Children are so trusting, and optimistic.  Part of being as 'little children' I believe is to be blindly trusting of God.

God is our Heavenly Father. How is it so easy for us to forget that He is going to take care of us despite our circumstances? I am not saying that human emotions won’t occur, because that isn’t realistic. Yet,  we shouldn’t allow our emotions to let us forget that God is taking care of us.  (Psalm 46:1, Hebrews 13:5.)

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34, “…But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Here, He is saying to focus on living for Him, and not to worry about anything else. Release your worries to Him and focus on His work.  It becomes a little easier to not worry as much when we throw ourselves into loving Him.

We know that in the end, God will see us through any storm we come up against.

Perfect Love Casts out Fear

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18.)

What are you afraid of? I am not afraid of much. On my list of fears I have include, centipedes, yellow jackets, and slasher films.  I have been woken from sleep by centipedes biting me. A sting from a yellow jacket led to a severe allergic reaction.  I can watch most horror films and not squirm for the most part; and I enjoy them. Yet, in a slasher film, the thought of people being hacked to pieces by a deranged psychopath is a little too much for me to handle.

I think most Christians, especially the babes in Christ, have a tendency to fear the Judgment of God. I did, for the longest time. I often doubted myself wondering if I was living good enough. I used to be very afraid of whenever that time would come. However, over time, you begin to learn that you’re not perfect. There are going to be times we mess up. There are times we feel further away from God.

In those times, we just need to dust it off and not allow ourselves to wander further away.  We need to stand up and keep moving forward and ask forgiveness for our mistakes. Then we need to resolve to do the best we can to not do those things again.(James 4:8.)

In 1st John 4:17-21, it talks about how Christians should never be afraid of God’s judgment. Should we have a healthy amount of fear (respect) for God and the judgment? Yes, absolutely.  Yet, when we have fear that cripples us, it makes us doubt ourselves. It makes our confidence in God dwindle. Faith can die when we develop this thinking. Many have fallen away because they feel that they just were not strong enough to hang on.

If you have been baptized into Christ and are following Him with your whole heart, don’t be afraid (Romans 6:3-7.) Examine your heart often and make sure you are doing what God would have you to do (2 Peter 2:10.) There is no need to fear. When we die, or when Christ returns, we will have joy and He will embrace us with open arms. Remember, “perfect love casts out fear”-with God’s love, we should never fear.

It Isn't the End of the World

Last week, as we know, the Supreme Court ruled that homosexuals have the right to be legally married. I have seen so many reactions to this ruling: Joy, Anger, Sadness, Uncertainty…the list goes on and on.

I can’t say that I was surprised by the ruling. We all knew it was coming.

God gave the world free will. The world has always chosen to do what they believe is best. It didn’t matter what time period we found ourselves in. Every year, decade, century, and millennium has had its share of people doing things that go against the word of God.

My feelings are a mix of uncertainty and sadness. My heart hurts for those rejecting God. My heart hurts for loved ones lost in lies told to them by Satan. My heart hurts knowing that people are hating us because they think we hate them-which couldn’t be further from the truth. I love everyone. I want to help people have a better day and feel encouraged, no matter who they are.  If people want to believe something different from me, I can respect it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt my heart in the process.

I feel uncertain because of how people will react to the Church now. Will there be more people being sued for not performing services that go against our conscience? What next?

That is what worries me. You can call me radical or say I'm overthinking this, but I foresee this as being an issue. We’ve already had multiple business owners in the US who were sued for not providing services for gay weddings.

 The reason we won’t provide these services isn’t because of hate. It is because we CANNOT do so. The bible says it is wrong to show approval of things God in His word has deemed as sin. (Romans 1:32.) It is simply because our purpose in life is to honor Him by doing what His word says to do.

Just because we disagree and can’t show approval of what you are doing, doesn’t mean that we don’t respect, care, or think a lot of you. If you are on my Facebook and are a part of the LGBT community, please know that I love every one of you and that I respect all of you. You are all kind and good people; but I can’t say that God thinks that what you’re doing is okay. I would be lying to you if I said that, because that isn’t what God’s word says.

Back to my brothers and sisters in Christ: Truth is, right now, regardless of what happens now or in the future, the only things we can do are
-To pray. (1 Thess. 5:17, Eph. 6:17.)
-Study our bibles to know for sure what God wants from us. (2nd Tim. 2:15.)
-Continue spreading the Gospel. (Mark 16:15.)
-Doing good for other people. (Gal. 6:10, Prov. 3:27.)
-Encourage others and being kind in all exchanges. Be careful of how you speak to others. (Eph. 4:29, 1 Pet. 3:15-16.)
-And grow closer together and to God. (1 Thess. 5:11, 1 Thess. 4:16-17, James 4:8.)

These things are all we can do. God requires our whole hearts, and so that is what we should give Him. (Mark 12:29-31) Regardless of what happens, the world is going to hate us, and Jesus has already warned us about it beforehand. (John 15:18-21.)

Never forget, it isn't the end of the world because of this. Let's continue taking up our crosses and following after Christ with all of our hearts.

Post With Poetry: I Am Not Beautiful

I am not beautiful-not in your way.

I do not fit your mold.

I don’t even fit your minuscule clothes.

Size twenty-six, twenty-eight-Yep, that’s me.

I used to feel ashamed.

I used to think that I was worthless.

I am not beautiful-not in your way.

When I read His Word

I see what beauty actually is

It is words that bring hope and kindness

It is the strength of heart

And reaching out to others in love.

God made you beautiful-in His way.

No matter what you’re told

With your size, or your clothes

The Lord will show you, He’ll help you see

Who you are, who you can become

His love’s deeper than all earth’s blessings.

God made you beautiful-in His way.

Your worth’s found in His Words.

And you’ll find that your heart will suffice,

And for yourself will grow more fondness.

You can have a new start,

Realizing how much you’re really loved.

Walking With Jesus

I remember Kenny Chesney had a song some years back called "I Go Back". One line says, Every time I hear that song, I go back. For him, he says 'that song' is "Only the Good Die Young" because of a friend of his that passed away at a young age.

I think everyone has that one song. For me it is "More than a Feeling" by Boston. Oh, the memories that come back when I hear it. I go back to when I was still a little girl, listening as my Papa played all kinds of music.

He would sometimes put that song on repeat. Over time, I came to love it as well. It reminds me of how much he loved music and how good at it he was-a love he has passed on to Sarah and I.

My Papa was imperfect. He struggled with alcoholism and emotional issues. I can't say that my childhood was easy because of these things. Yet I remember despite his many shortcomings, is how much love he had for me and my sisters. I know that he loved us dearly.

I often remember the way he would laugh, or how his fingers would glide over a guitar with ease. I remember his amazing vocal range. I remember his love for nature. I remember when he worshiped God, his eyes would fill with passion and humility.

I was so young, but I remember.

I remember the bad, as vividly as I remember the good. Imperfect as he was, the good reminds me that he was made in the image of God. Imperfect as we all are, and no matter how badly we screw up, He still loves us.

If there is anything I have learned from these circumstances, it is of God's love. Despite the hardships our family faced, God has seen us through it. He eventually led us out of the fire, and into a better place; and for this, I am grateful. And, if and when more fires occur, I know he'll see us through those as well.

God never promised that this life would ever be easy. He never promised that bad things would never happen, but He promised to stay with us.

I am reminded by Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

And later on in this chapter, the Apostle Paul writes, "...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (37-39)

If there is one thing we can remember, is that if we have given our hearts to God, He will walk with us. That is a comfort that can never be measured in words.

My Thoughts on Being a Plus-Sized Woman

I don’t hate my body. I feel that hating one’s body is pointless and that you should make peace with yourself at any size.

I want to be healthy. But I will most likely never be a size four. Or even an eight. Probably not even a ten. I was chubby as a child. And, no; my parents didn’t have me eating unhealthy either. I was a very active child and loved being outside. 

If I were a size 12 or 14 the rest of my life, that’d be perfectly okay with me. And I will get there-some day.

I think the BMI chart is kind of bogus--mainly because it doesn’t take into account bone structure, ethnicity, genetics, and medical history. 

I am not going to spend my life being obsessed with fitness.  I will walk and exercise as I see fit. I don’t care if my stomach is flat or if my thighs are touching. In the grand scheme of things, it does not matter. I have more important things to deal with than to have the so-called ‘perfect body’. (Not to mention, standards of the "perfect body" changes about every ten years).

I'm tired of fat-shaming (and skinny-shaming). I really, sincerely wish we would all judge one another by our hearts rather than appearance. That is how God judges us. (1st Samuel 16:7)

It IS possible to feel beautiful while being plus-sized. It may be hard to get there, but you CAN get there! It took me a long time. I will explain in another article explain how I got there.

Don't put your life on hold because of your size. You are really doing yourself a disservice when you do this. There are so many things I want to do (including travel) and I thought that it was better that I waited to do it until I lost all the weight. 

Recently I realized, 'who says you can’t live your happiest life while big?' Weight loss and health is a journey, as is the rest of life. I have realized that you shouldn’t put your dreams on hold because of your size (unless of course, those things would really be dangerous for you to do at your size). 

Fall in love. Travel. Model. Sing. Act. Whatever you love, do it-as long as you have God at the forefront of everything you do (Colossians 3:17).

Every girl, no matter her size has beauty. Her size has no bearing on whether she is loved and has worth. If you didn't have worth, our Savior wouldn't have suffered and died for you like he did. (John 3:16)

Your HEART is what matters the most.

I am trying to eat better and take better care of myself. However, I also want to focus more on being the best woman of God I can be. I want to be a woman He can be proud of-because of my heart. We are defined by God’s love. Not by a number on a scale or a clothes rack.

Love yourself. Love others. Don't worry so much about a number.

Are We "Pure in Heart"?

Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

If we go to Church, I am sure we have heard this (as well as the rest of the Beatitudes) many times. How often do we think about what it means to be "pure in heart"?

In this verse, the Greek word for "pure" is the word "katharos" (koth-ah-rahs). The meanings of this word are:

"Purified by Fire"

"Vine Cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit."

"Free from corrupt desire or guilt." "Blameless, innocent." 

When a metal-such as silver-is placed into fire, it removes impurities to make it as pure as possible. When you prune a plant,  you are cutting away its dead or useless parts. This serves to help it grow bigger fruit and blooms.

In John 15:1-6, Jesus talks about how He is the "True Vine" and His Father the "vinedresser". Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that they can bear even more. Those that don't grow anything are "cast away" into the fire. We are to be the branches. If we aren't allowing God to purify us, we will be useless to Him.

The only way God can use us is if we let Him rule over our hearts. Being pure in heart means that we love God more than anything in the world. 

When we stop allowing God to keep purifying us, these things usually happen:

1. We start getting desensitized to sin and making moral  compromises.

2.We Spend less time in God's word and in Prayer.

3.We begin to care less and less about our actions, and the things we say.

4. We begin allowing hatred in our hearts (gossip, envy, unwholesome talking)

What is getting in the way of being what God wants you to be? Entertainment? A guy? Another person? Your dreams?

In and of themselves, there isn't anything inherently wrong with these things. We just need to consider if they are pulling us closer to Him or away from Him. We need to step back and be honest with ourselves.

It isn't something we like to think about, but what if you were to die right now? Truth is, you could die at any moment. What if Jesus were to return right now? Are you allowing God to make you "pure in heart"? Everything that is getting in the way does not matter in comparison to God.

Philippians 3:8-11 says, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not  having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."