Changes

Our son, Phillip, and Patty, his sweet new wife, got home from their honeymoon last night. They have been in the Bahamas for the last week and had, mostly, warm sunny days. Today they woke up to cold weather and sleet. Talk about a change in their world. 

Life is like this all the time. You are headed in one direction then all of a sudden something happens and you find yourself in completely different circumstances. Sometimes these changes are pleasant and make us happy, but most often we find ourselves under stress and are very frustrated by the change.

God never promised us that life would always be perfect and understandable. As a matter of fact throughout the scriptures we read that troubles and changes will come. The one thing that He has promised is that He will be there for us throughout every thing that happens in our lives. God will be there to give support, hope, and to be happy with us or be sad with us. 

Romans 5:3-5 shows us this very thing.......

Romans 5:3-5

The Message (MSG)

3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Thank goodness for change. It builds our character and helps us to love God even more. It helps us to become stronger and stronger and helps us meet these setbacks, on our paths of life, with grace and virtue.

For the ones who do not understand that they have a creator who will help them through anything, and they see you staying positive through your troubles, it helps make them want the peace you have. What a great time to point them to Christ. Then both of you will feel all the generosity and love God can give. Life and it's changes will turn out to be the best thing that could happen. Salvation will come. Peace will come.

My hope for you is that this peace is with all of you for Thanksgiving and on into the Christmas season!

Blessings!

Cleaning The Air

I have been helping clean out the back room of the thrift shop that the women of three local churches are in charge of, here in our small town. Today we pulled out an old work bench and discovered there was mold on the wall behind it.  Who knows how long the bench has been there and who knows how long the moisture that caused the mold has been there. Just thinking about us all breathing that air kind of makes me a little freaked out. It is funny how I didn't think anything of being in that area before I knew the mold was there. But after it was found the air seemed unhealthy and really dirty.

To be sure it had to be cleaned. I put on a mask and started scrubbing on the wall with bleach. It didn't take long before the mold was gone and the air smelled and felt clean to me again. 

That it is how it is when we figure out how much we need Christ. We come to the realization that our hearts and souls are in much need of a good scrubbing. We didn't understand how dirty we really were and when we do come to realize this, it kind of sickens us.   

Christ gave his life to clean our souls. Excepting His gift of salvation whitens us like the bleach cleaned the wall today. We feel fresh and pristine. We are scrubbed clean.

Hebrews 9:13-14

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow were sprinkled on those who were no longer pure enough to enter the place of worship. The blood and ashes made them pure again—but only their bodies. 14 So surely the blood sacrifice of Christ can do much more. Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit[a] as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make us completely clean from the evil we have done. It will give us clear consciences so that we can worship the living God.

 Christ came to give us a clean start. A feeling of freshness. Nothing left to feel guilty about. We can breath easier because our sins are forgiven and forgotten. The author of Psalms 32 put this into words even before Christ came to live on this earth.....

Psalm 32:1

The Message (MSG)

Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
    you get a fresh start,
    your slate’s wiped clean.


I am looking forward to walking into the back room tomorrow, knowing how clean the wall will be and knowing how much fresher the air, that we will be breathing, will be.

Imagine how good it is to wake up in the morning feeling clean and unfettered by sin, with no dirt and filth left in our soul. I know there is no better feeling in the world!

My wish for you is that you know this feeling too!

Blessings!

Anticipation!

Our son, Phillip, and his wonderful fiance, Patty, are finally getting married this weekend. As I am doing laundry and packing for the trip I keep thinking about how happy Phillip is now compared to his life in the past.

Phillip has been married before and even though she was a great girl she and Phillip just couldn't make it work, for various reasons. During this time in his life he would call me so upset and sometimes would ask me why life was so hard and when would things get better. I would assure him that we were praying for him and in time he would be happy again. I knew he and his children needed to have hope of this, but I also knew I was right in this. God and time are healers of so many things.


We all live in anticipation of something. For Phillip and Patty and our family, right now we are all so excited and can hardly wait for this Saturday when Rodney will get to pronounce them, "Husband and Wife". She will be such a added blessing to our family, but for me to be able to see the happiness and contentment on our son's face and to know that his time of loneliness is over and his healing is complete, is going to be such a gift from God.

Unfortunately our world has been waiting for healing for a long time.  Here in America we have job losses, problems with health care, poverty, hunger, worries about our safety and an uncertainty for our futures. The rest of the world has these same problems but some people have them on such a grand scale, we here in the states can't even imagine it. Hope is failing and as this happens our world becomes a sadder and sadder place to be.

But hope can and will be restored....

Romans 8:18-21

The Message (MSG)

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.


God is going to change this world's circumstances. We will live in peace and contentment again. In time we all will be healed of all of our problems. Either on this side or on the next. The hard part for us is that we have to wait for this. During this waiting "The Evil One" is not making our lives easy. But soon he will be defeated too.


In time we will all be healed and safe, but for now we wait in certain anticipation of this. Are you waiting for healing? Do you have hope in this? If not turn to the one who can give you that hope!! Turn to the one who can put a smile back on your face! He is waiting in joyful anticipation for you, even more than you are waiting for healing from Him!


Blessings!

Conditions!

1 Timothy 3:5-13

The Message (MSG)

Leadership in the Church

3 1-7 If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good! But there are preconditions: A leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. He must know what he’s talking about, not be overfond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry. He must handle his own affairs well, attentive to his own children and having their respect. For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a new believer, lest the position go to his head and the Devil trip him up. Outsiders must think well of him, or else the Devil will figure out a way to lure him into his trap.

In my studies, today, I came across this passage. It made me think of my husband. He is a wonderful father and he is an amazing husband. He loves us with all his being, but more importantly he loves our God. He has loved and followed Him since he was young. He knew, then, that God was calling him into leadership. I love reading his old journals because I see the Christian boy turning into a man who goes on to follow that calling and become a pastor that preaches the gospel in a way that inspires others to be leaders.

Which leads me to the continuation of the passage. Not only do our pastors have conditions but so do we......  

8-13 The same goes for those who want to be servants in the church: serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it. They must be reverent before the mystery of the faith, not using their position to try to run things. Let them prove themselves first. If they show they can do it, take them on. No exceptions are to be made for women—same qualifications: serious, dependable, not sharp-tongued, not overfond of wine. Servants in the church are to be committed to their spouses, attentive to their own children, and diligent in looking after their own affairs. Those who do this servant work will come to be highly respected, a real credit to this Jesus-faith.

Workers in the church need to watch themselves as well. They shouldn't just expect their pastors to be as perfect as possible but also should watch out for their own behaviors as well. They need to control their tongues, be committed to their spouses, love their children and be above board. Most importantly they need to love their God with all their hearts. 

I love that these verses say the same for both men and women. I grew up in a church that did not think women could be leaders in the church but the scriptures say different. God made us as equals, but that also means we women need to be as devoted to our God, watch our tongues and be devoted to our men and family as well.

I have to admit that my tongue is one of my trouble spots. How about you? I pray about that all the time!

My hope for you is that you have found a church where there is a pastor that follows the conditions God has set for him or her. Where you can worship but also where you can be inspired to be a leader that God wants you to be. Imagine how at peace our world would be if we all had that.

Blessings!