How Christianity Should Look--Thoughts from Someone Saved by Grace

The past few years, I have thought a lot about my faith, and how I demonstrate my faith to others.  If you know me, you probably would know that I am not the kind of person to just walk up to someone and hit them over the head with my Study Bible or criticize people who fail to fall in line with exactly what I believe.  We were not called as Christians to do that, and yet, that is the impression many people have of Christianity.  Maybe this is why many in our society feel like Christians are hypocrites and that Christianity is irrelevant in modern society.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35 NLT).  I think Jesus is bluntly trying to tell us that the world does not need another charity or social program.  The world needs Christians who are willing to roll their sleeves up and get to know people and get involved in the messy work of loving others who are not exactly like us.  God is love, and when we love others, we plant a seed and invite others to have a relationship with him. Then it is up to us to keep on loving and praying that seed will take root in that person's life.  We do this all while serving others out of love for them.  When we get to know others and serve them out of our love, we gain credibility as Christians.  This demonstrates God's love, and sharing that love is the heart of what Christianity is all about.  

One of my favorite passages is 1 Corinthians 13, which is known as the Love Chapter.    To me, the basic message is that our talents and gifts are useless, unless we use them in a loving way to help others.  Without love, our talents and words are just another annoying noise amid the chaos of life.  Our talents and skills will fail or become unnecessary, but love is always needed and is eternal.  The chapter goes on to say love never fails.

When we begin to understand how much God loves us, and what that love cost him, we will be willing to serve and sacrifice ourselves and possessions for others.  We will want others to have that same kind of relationship with God and will do whatever is necessary to steer others toward God.  I think this is the measuring stick that Jesus wants us to use to evaluate our lives..the way we love and how we comprehend God's love for us.  

My Gift

This Christmas, my heart is focused on the promise that Christmas brings.  Jesus is God with us.  He is the love of God embodied in a man.  It is the promise that God will not ever be separated from His children ever again, because of the sacrifice Jesus paid on the cross.  Jesus is our gift from God, but what do we give to him in return?

Jesus asked his disciples to "Follow me."  As I look at my life, there have been times I have tried to follow him, but many times, I have chosen to follow my own lead.  This Christmas, I want to follow Jesus more.  I want more of him and less of me through out the rest of this year, and the rest of my life.

What does this look like in a modern day life of a Christian?  I am not exactly sure...but I do know it involves getting to know the Savior up close and personal by reading and studying His word, letting him get into our business and letting him sort it all out.

If we truly followed him to the point of sacrifice, how would our lives, relationships, churches, cities, workplaces, and our world change?  If we were true reflections of who Jesus was on this earth, there would be fewer hungry, lost, lonely, broken people, because we would share His love with him through meeting their needs.   We can spout politics, our philosophies, and our opinions on things, but none of this will change our world.  The world needs to see Jesus's life walked out in the people who claim to love him. We are the hands and feet of Christ to our world.  What will we choose to do?

Taking Time

Life can get very busy very quickly.  An endless to-do list, appointments, and commitments can make life seem a little overwhelming at times.  If your life is like mine, there are so many times that it seems we do not have two seconds to stop and catch our breath before the next thing to do pops up on the radar...but such is life as we know it in the 21st century.

I think this makes it important to take time to evaluate what it is that we want to set as our major priority, our main thing, our passion,  that one thing that we want to leave as our legacy long after we are gone from this earth.  We need to take time to sit down and figure out what mark we want to leave on this earth, and set our course towards that task.  For me, I think that revolves around the relationships that God has blessed my life with.

A while back I read a book with a section on contentment.  The writer described how she was always looking forward to the next event or season in her life....wishing that certain life events would come to pass--and ultimately missing out on the good parts of the current season she was in.  I can totally relate to that.  When I was in school, I could not wait for graduation and to start college.  Once in college, I could not wait to begin my career.  When I was single, I could not wait to get married.  In doing this, my life seems like a total blur.  I know where I am...but for the life of me, I do not know how these seasons of my life passed before my life so quickly.  I wonder if "wishing our lives away" is a symptom of discontentment in our present set of circumstances. 

As a person who generally sees herself as content, I wonder why I am wishing my life away, instead of taking the time to savor all of the little moments that form the big picture of my life?  For me, I think it has to do with planning for what is ahead rather than taking the time to enjoy the moment before me.  It is easy to take those mundane moments for granted now, amid the housework, careers, and all of the obligations that we commit ourselves to do.  Maybe, we need to just take a quick moment during our quiet time with God to just be thankful for all of those mundane moments that are filled with so many blessings like good health, relationships that have enabled us to grow, the fact that we have enough and do not lack anything we need--because in reality, there are so many who would give anything for good health, healthy relationships with their family, a good job that they enjoy, or even a paycheck that provides for the needs of their family.  Maybe wishing the seasons of life away is more of a sign of a lack of gratitude in our lives than a season of discontent.  We enjoy where we are in life, but are too focused on the things that lie ahead than to thank God for the here and now.  Maybe we just need to take time with God and thank Him for all of the blessings He has placed in our lives.

Seeing Things Through a Different Lens

I love photography.  I think I love it because the camera sees things without a preconceived notion of how things should be, but shows them how they really are.  Many times, what I am used to seeing with my own two eyes, becomes extraordinary when I can pull out my camera and take the time to take the snapshot.  The camera notices details that my own eye and my brain block out.  Many times when I take a picture, I am oblivious to what is going on in the background, and only notice the "whole picture" when I see the picture from the screen of my digital camera or computer.

Many times, our lives are the very same way.  The Bible says, " There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." ~Proverbs 14:12 NIV  Things seem right to us, but only when we look through the lens of the Bible and prayer do we find that the way that we think is best is not always the way that God KNOWS is best.

It all boils down to our worldview.  Do we have the worldview of our culture, or do we have a biblical worldview of the things that are going on in our world today?  I think many times, try as we might, we allow our culture to taint our biblical worldview, and when that happens, what we see becomes skewed and we do not see things clearly as they truly are.

We have to guard what we allow into our lives so that we protect our worldview.  We should read and study the bible and spend time in prayer about the things going on in our world so that we can see things as God would have us to see them.  Only when we have a clear perspective can we make wise Godly decisions and live Godly lives.

Preparing the Way

 I just finished  reading a portion from the Bible where John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus to come into the picture to preach , serve, and heal the nation of Israel and the Gentiles.  As I thought about this, I began to run through a little list of people who prepared the way for me...preparing me to be the person that I am--and the person that God ultimately wants me to be.  I truly believe that all people come into our lives for a reason...either to prepare us for something, or for us to prepare them for something.  In essence, I believe that all of our relationships have a specific thing that God wants to provide for us--whether it is just some fun memories that will sustain us during the tough times, or wisdom to help us avoid life's pitfalls.  Either way--each relationship that we cultivate here leaves us a little different than we were before that relationship was established.

The first group of people that prepared the way for me was my family.  My mom taught me the importance of knowledge, reading, writing, and communicating to the rest of the world.  She instilled in me the desire for excellence, and a warped sense of humor that haunts my friends and family to this day.  The older I get--the more like my mom I become--and I appreciate that trait now more than I ever have.  My dad is a quiet man--maybe because he could not get a word in edgewise between mom and me.  He did not say much, but when he did, he meant exactly what he said.  Dad is a man of honesty and integrity.  He expects respect, and gets it because of how he treats others and the example that he sets in everything he does.  He is a humble man--and would do anything he could to help another person.  To have parents like this, I am truly blessed to have them preparing and showing me the way throughout my life.

My granny is also another person who prepared the way for me.  Granny Agnew was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was about 12 years old.  She is the one who taught me about having a stubborn faith in God when life gets tough.  Granny was a woman of great love and grace.  She loved her family with all of her heart, and in her last days, she used them to teach me more about life than I will ever be able to fully understand.  Granny loved to read, sing, and spend time with me.  She was the one person who knew how to make me feel like I was truly special.  I guess grandparents have a way of doing that.  Granny passed away when I was 15. I hope if she is looking down from Heaven that she is proud of who I am...and knows that I finally got a few of the faith lessons that she left me with in her last days.

Another wonderful lady who invested a great deal into my life was my High School English Teacher Mrs. Vastola.  She is the reason I decided to major in education.  She took time to talk with me and to get to know me during a really difficult time in my life.  She shared those ups and downs with me.  She encouraged me, and most of all, she did not accept my excuses or any pitty parties.  She was a great friend when my granny was in her final stages of cancer, and ironically, she passed away shortly after graduation from cancer herself.  She made me realize that a good teacher does more than just teach a subject.  A good teacher gets to know her students and inspires them to find their passion and chase after it in a way that makes the world a better place.  I wish I could thank Mrs. Vastola for that gift--and her investment that I take with me each day of my life.

The funny thing about this is that I am finding that recalling one person, leads me to another person--which leads to another in an endless chain of people who have given me wisdom, grace, the desire to seek knowledge and truth.   I am blessed to have had the opportunity to know these special people, and hope that I can pay that gift forward to the people that I encounter everyday.

My Life's Mission

 I have one life, which will last only a limited number of years. The number of years and days that I have, I do not know, but I do know that during that time I have a  mission that I try to fulfill. Today, I chose to live my life to fulfill that purpose to the best of my ability. 

My mission in this life is to live my life in love.  My goal is to show love to my family in a way that when I die, there will be no doubt of my feelings toward them because I will have shouted my love for them through my actions and my words.  I choose to share that love with my friends.  I will do this by treating them the way I would like to be treated, regardless of how they choose to treat me.  I will do this by respecting their beliefs, views, and actions, even when I do not agree with them.  I will do this by investing my time and energy in them by trying to help and encourage whenever this is possible.  I choose to view everyone that I come in contact with as either friends or family.  This means that I will choose to show love and grace to each person, whether or not I feel they are worthy of that love and respect.  After all, that is how God has chosen to act toward me. 

Do I think that I will live up to this mission statement?  Of course not, because I am human.  I am selfish, and I am not perfect.  My hope is that by making this statement that I will somehow become more aware of my attitudes and behavior and that I will in return become a more loving and compassionate person. 

In my life, I have been shown much love.  And where much has been given, much is required.  I look forward to trying to accomplish my goal, even though I am doomed to fail because of my humanity.  This is my goal and the mission statement for my life. 

A Child of the King

"All those led by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, " Abba, Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

~Romans 8:14-17 HCSB

Being called a child of God is a powerful part of being a Christian.  Once we accept Christ, we are adopted by God to be his child forever.  The term adoption is the creation of the parent-child relationship between individuals who are not naturally related. The adopted child is to have the same rights, privileges as a natural born child and becomes an heir. There is nothing that can be done to earn this title, and nothing can ever strip this title from us. When we read this, it is easy to overlook some huge benefits that we have as a child of God.  Let’s take a close look at some of these benefits.

First of all, we are taken out of the slavery to sin.  We are no longer in bondage, because Jesus has purchased our freedom.  In that freedom, we have a hope that we have never had before.  We have traded our status as a slave to sin to an heir of God.  Imagine the implications of that one thing.  We are permanently released from the bondage of sin.  Once Jesus sets us free, we can walk away from a life of sin to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Second, we are forgiven of all sin--this means past, present, and future sins have been atoned for.  We are in a constant state of grace.  When God looks at us, he sees his child, not a mistake or our failures.  He sees his child that He dearly loves.

Third, we are called to abandon our fears.  Fear comes from insecurity.  If you are a child of God, there is no need for fear and insecurity because that is the most secure position that you can possibly be, in the arms of God the Father--whom you have the right to call Daddy.

We also have the Spirit testifying that we are the children of God.  Whenever you feel guilty or ashamed, just remember that the Holy Spirit testifies to the fact that you are a Child of God.  That is one witness that no one can dispute. When we feel guilty of past failures and confessed sin, it is Satan trying to work in our lives to create fear and insecurity.  Satan wants to discredit the work that God has done in you and to take your eyes off of God.  He wants to steal, kill and destroy what God is doing in you, and he wants to steal your joy.  Just stand firm in the knowledge of your place as God’s child, and know that you are secure as a child of God--because God chose you.

Finally we are co-heirs with Jesus.  That means that we are recognized as Jesus’ brothers and sisters and we share in the joys and sufferings just as a natural born child would share in a families joys and sorrows.  We know that in the end, God the Father will get the praise and glory for our lives lived out in accordance to his plan.

When I think about the privileges that come along with this title I am amazed at the mercy and grace that God gives to us.  When we were sinners, and his enemy, God made a plan to bring us into his family forever.  Once you are a child of God, you can never be taken out of that family or forfeit any of the privileges given to you as God’s child. We need to remember who we are as a child of God, and live a life according to the position that we have been given in His family.

Permissible vs. Helpful

In the last week or so, I got some blood work back.  As I approach 40, I see numbers climbing in a direction that they do not need to go.  The numbers tell the story of a woman who does most of her life on the fly--and trying to go with the flow.  The results of this are fast food suppers, late night meals, and just plain overeating junk food.


During this time, I have found a little verse that sums up how I need to correct this situation. "Everything is permissible  for me but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be brought under the control of anything." ~ 1 Corinthians 6:12 HCSB

Although as a Christian, I am allowed to do all things--because their is no condemnation in the food I eat or drink I consume, not everything is benificial to our lives.  Getting involved in certain things or overindulging in things can prove to have harmful consequences.  Just like my love and overindulgence in junk foods and all things sweet has a negative effect on my blood work, health, and waistline--sin or overindulgence in worldly pleasures can do the exact same thing.  Once we overindulge and ignore what we should be doing, we are left to face the consequences of those actions.

In an attempt to derail the track I am on, I have decided to watch what I am eating, journal my food, blood pressure, weight, and blood sugar.  This is my way of being accountable, and reminding myself of the fate that awaits me--if I do not change my habits.

Your bad habit might not be junk foods, and sweets like me, but most of us have some kind of habit holding us back from the joy and freedom God has planned for our lives.  Look at your life and be honest about what you see.  What do you think God is calling you to change?  Make out a plan of how you will be accountable for changing it.  Find a verse or quote to motivate you.  Pray about it, and set out to change your pattern of behavior.  When it changes, give the credit and glory to God!

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Christianity was never meant to be a lone struggle of self against the world.  Christianity in its rawest form is about relationships--with God, Jesus, your family and fellow believers.  So many times, I think we make Christianity a Do-it-Yourself kind of program, and it isn't.  When we make it that, we come up with a stale, legalistic religion that focuses on works, rather than Christ's love and grace.  It also becomes self-centered instead of mission minded to help others whenever possible.

I have a group of friends who constantly remind me of this truth.  Whenever we get together for our Bible Study, we are honest.  In that honesty, we bear each others burdens, struggles, and even encourage each other with a loving reality check every once in a while.  For me, that is good.  Through this, I learn that I am not alone, my struggles are not necessarily unique, and that they can be overcome--through the help of God and my amazing friends giving me good Biblical truth and encouragement.

If you are not connected in a good Bible Study with good Christian friends, then please consider committing some time to do so.  For me, it is some of the best time that I can invest in all week.  It keeps me accountable, encouraged, and focuses me on God and all he is doing in my life and the lives of my friends.  If you do not know where to go for a good Bible Study, then start your own--that is what I did, and it has been a huge blessing for me and my Christian walk.

Only Visiting this Planet--Taking Your Faith Seriously

The last few weeks, our Sunday School lessons have focused on the End of Time and Heaven.  To be honest, there is a lot that I do not understand about these two topics, and I don't know that we will ever fully understand them until after they take place.  What I do know, is that I focus way too much in what is happening here and now, that I lose perspective in the main thing...which is I was not created to live on this planet as it is now.

Every person is an individual created for eternity.  When God created Adam and Eve, his intention was that they and all people would have fellowship with Him and live in a perfect world. 

God in His loving nature, gave man free will and one simple guideline to follow--Do NOT eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Satan enters the garden, talks to Eve and entices her to eat the forbidden fruit, and then she gives it to her husband Adam--and life has been hard ever since.

God in his love, knew we would sin, and planned to send his son Jesus, to take away our sin through his horrific death on the cross--because sin requires a sacrifice.  Jesus, the sinless son of God, is tried, unjustly convicted and sentenced to death on a cross.  Because this sacrifice was offered, we can be made right with God and live in Heaven with him for eternity, if we accept the gift of His sacrifice and allow him to be Lord of our lives.

Knowing this truth, we can say that this world is not meant to satisfy us.  We live in a fallen world with suffering, sin, war, famine, injustice, and sickness.  Life here is hard and unfair.  We yearn for more, but struggle to find satisfaction in our lives, our careers, or our possessions...but something always seems to fall short.  These longings inside our heart is God's way of reminding us that we were not made for this world.  Our security and happiness will not be found here, but rather in Heaven--because that is where we were meant to be--in complete and total fellowship with Father God as our provider, our helper, our sustainer.

We know this, but yet we chase after this world as if it is the only thing that counts.  Sometimes I wish I could just get a glimpse of what Heaven will be like, so that I could totally understand that the present sufferings and sacrifices that we are making in this life are such petty offerings compared to the joy and wonder that we experience when we get to Heaven.

I think if we really knew this with our hearts instead of just our head, it would also change how we relate to the non-christians around us.  If we really believed that Heaven is the ultimate good place where we will fellowship with God forever without any more sin, strife, suffering or anxiety--and that Hell was real and that those who do not accept Jesus will spend eternity there--our walk and our testimony that we live out would be totally different.

Non-christians would  be drawn to us because we would reflect Christ's love to them.  We would do everything possible to make sure that our friends, family and the people we meet will be in Heaven with us for eternity instead of suffering eternal torment and separation from God.

This is something that I have been thinking about and has honestly slapped me between the eyes, and I don't think we as Christians can ignore this truth any longer.  If we do not take our eternal destiny seriously as christians, then how can we expect those outside of Christ to do any differently.  This is the cross that we should take up daily, and use every opportunity to live in a manner that shows the world who we are and what we stand for.  

This does not mean boycotts and picket lines, and telling people that they are going to Hell and God hates them--like the Westboro Baptist Church does.  What it means is sharing Jesus' love to each and every person we come in contact with, so that God can use that love to draw others into fellowship with him. 

It is time that we quit putting on and taking off our Christianity based on the situation and people we are around and trust God to help us live the life he wants us to live.  I want a life that honors God and speaks that I submit to his authority and leadership in my life.  I want a life that shows His love to each person that I meet.  I want a life that encourages others to seek God and find the eternal life and peace that only comes with a relationship with Jesus Christ.  I want the world to know that I am only visiting this planet, and I want to bring as many people "home" with me as I can.

I will never know all of the answers this side of Heaven, but I am so thankful that I will spend eternity with the one who does.

The Greatest Gift

The greatest gift that you can give or get is love.  True love can't be earned, only given to the undeserving.  It has no expectations, and no limits.  It gives without bounds and seeks out others before self.  It looks on the good, noble and just things,  forgives and guides the areas that falls short of those standards.  Maybe this is why the Bible says love never fails, because it continues to see the potential of mankind, and refuses to abandon hope that one day it will realize that full potential.

I honestly believe that love is the highest potential that man can wish to obtain.  To love others without preconceived conditions, labels, standards, is difficult, if not downright impossible at times, but that is what real love is.  It loves in spite of what a person is, does, or how difficult a situation.  I think it takes a stubborn persistence to do this, but real love is putting others first, even when you don't feel like it or when the other person does not deserve it.  Love that is earned or deserved is not love, because love is a gift.  Love is the ultimate investment, because you invest your heart and soul into another without promise of any return.

I believe that true love is the ultimate revelation of who God is.  When I look at my marriage to my dear husband, I see a man who loves me regardless of my mood, looks, what I do.  He just loves.  There is no way that I could ever earn that kind of unselfish giving of himself, yet he demonstrates that love in words, actions, and his attitude to me.  There is a grand security in that fact, because his love is not dependent upon my actions and being earned. I have a security in that kind of love.  I have security because it has proven itself to me day after day for going on 6 1/2 years (5 years of marriage and a year and a half of dating), and remains unwavering.  And as a gift, it is mine to accept or reject--Love is totally dependent upon me to accept it, but that is all I have to do.

I think God created love in this manner, because he knew love was not something we could ever earn this side of Heaven, and also because He knew that we needed something to bring about a feeling of stability and security in this life.  There is nothing more secure that having the love and acceptance of another, and being able to live out your life as you are without having to live as another person deems you should live.  I am not saying that we should not hold ourselves to certain standards, or that there is not some standard of morality--I am saying that love does not hold those things over your head as a prerequisite for being the recipient of love.

Love takes us warts and all, and if we allow, transforms us into better people, and in doing so makes us more loving to others.  My prayer for you is that your cup overflow with love, so much so that it can't help but spill out to everyone around you!

The Thirteenth Juror

I know a lot of people have been following the Casey Anthony trial.  Even days after the verdict, the buzz is still there. People are crying out because they feel justice was not served.  I have mixed emotions about the outcome.  I am confused.  I am outraged that an innocent life was cut short, and we do not know if it was murder or an accident.  More questions remain than the trial answered...and we need those answers to resolve this in our hearts.

 This trial has exposed deep anger and a lack of compassion that exists in our society.  Death threats have been issued for the judge, jurors,  Ms. Anthony and her parents.  I have seen facebook postings and heard quotes from the media saying that Ms. Anthony will spend eternity in hell for her actions.  We as a society have convicted her of 1st degree murder, even though a jury of 12 people unanimously said that sufficient evidence was not there to convict her.  In a way, public opinion plays the role of the 13th juror--because it is the public that will determine in a large way of how her life will be from this point forward.  We were outraged that a child's death was not avenged--and now we are taking it out by being as hateful as we possibly can towards her.

In that aspect, I truly feel sorry for her.  I know she is a self-proclaimed liar.  She was proven to be a party girl.  It is proven that in Ms. Anthony's short life so far she has made many mistakes that were life altering. It seems that she came from a dysfunctional family, and has continued the cycle that her parents passed along to her through their example.  She has been used and thrown away to live with those consequences alone.  When I look at her, I hope I see her as Jesus saw her--a sinner who is just doing what sinners do best, a sinner who needs help--and her only hope is Jesus.

I believe that everything happens for a reason and that God is in control of everything--even the Casey Anthony trial.  She received a second chance from the jury--just like we have received a second chance when we received Christ as our Savior.  The Bible tells us that we should not judge others, unless we want to be judged on those same standards.  Jesus said that we should cast stones only if we are sinless, when he was facing a mob ready to stone a woman who was caught red handed in adultery.  Although he was sinless, He even chose not to pick the stones and hurl them at her  (and He was the only one there with the qualifications to do so, but he didn't).  Jesus met people with grace and mercy--even though their actions cried out for punishment and condemnation.  Maybe, we should try to reach out to others the way Jesus did--and if we do, maybe we will see a miracle--a lost sinful soul accept Jesus.  That is the transaction that can turn lives around.

Instead, so many Christians have lashed out in hate and judgement, maybe we should hit our knees for a moment and pray that this young lady will somehow be led to Christ and that she would allow him to transform her life.  After all, transforming lives is what Jesus does best, and I am living proof of that.

I think that the outcome of this trial exposed a weakness that many Christians have in their lives--the ability to forgive and offer mercy to someone who does not deserve it.  We forget that we were once offered mercy when we least expected it, and because of that, God expects the same of us when we experience a sinner with that same, desperate need.  We encounter these people all of the time.  The world is filled with fallen people, who are without hope and need Jesus and a little of his mercy and grace in their lives.  How will you react the next time you encounter them?

You are the 13th juror--what are you going to choose to do?  How will you react.  Will you offer mercy and grace or condemnation....the choice is yours, so choose wisely.

My Season of Thistles

 If I were to describe the last few years of my life, it would be the photo that you see here, a thistle.  I know that sounds really strange, but let me explain.

There was a time when I thought I knew how my life would be.  I had found the man that I am madly in love with, we have a nice home, and I had the career of my dreams.  I was an elementary teacher, and to be perfectly honest, I loved every moment of it.  In a strange turn of events, I left teaching due to burnout and feeling hopeless that I could accomplish the things that I truly wanted.  With that, I encountered my first of what would turn out to be many thorns and snags along the path,

As time marched on, my husband lost his job, which was working for our former church. So not only did we face unemployment, we also faced searching for a new church home, and finding a new group of friends--since most of our friends centered around our former church. To top it all off, it happened the day after my grandmother passed away.   I began to experience a hurt deep in my soul that I had never really felt before, and in my eyes it was not fair.  I encountered a whole new batch of thorns and sticker bushes.

Three years later, I look back on that period in my life as my "Season of Thistles."  It was hard.  It was dry.  It was full of pitfalls, uncertainty and most of all hurt.  The funny thing is, God used that season to do some great things in my life.

First of all, He led us to the most amazing church.  Our church is outwardly motivated.  It seeks how it can help others--(and here is the best part)--with no strings attached.  It has been a place for us to grow and heal.  There, I have made some amazing friends who are some of the sweetest people that I know.  I am talking about friends that I can call and they will drop whatever they are doing to be there for us, to pray, whatever we need. We also discovered how deep friendships that we had at our former church were.  Those friends reached out to us, and encouraged us in more ways than they will ever know. My friends are literally a walking Bible, because they spread the love of Jesus everywhere they go.

Second, God used this time to make us stronger.  I can honestly say that through this I have a respect and love for my husband that I may have never known had we not walked through those dark days together. He handled himself with such character and integrity...as he always does.  I am blessed to have a husband of that caliber to spend the rest of my life with.

He also grew my faith and made me step out of my comfort zone a few times. To be honest, this was needed way more than I will ever know.  I stepped out by taking on new jobs, and learning new things.  I even joined a few ministries that I would have never had the courage to do, without the time spent in my "Season of Thistles".

God also brought new careers and opportunities our way that we would not have been able to have taken advantage of if we had remained tied to the way we thought life was supposed to be.  I am learning that when God allows you to be tested, you never really lose anything...you just gain something much better than you ever had before.  You just have to be patient and look for the blessing.

When I took these photos tonight I realized that life is much like thistles.  It can be hard, and prickly, but there is beauty in it.  Just look at that gorgeous shade of pink in the flower of the thistle.  Being in the middle of all of the thorns, the flower has the sweetest fragrance.  When we allow God to shape us in our toughest trials, we will have a sweet and tender fragrance to the world, and others are drawn in.

And finally, when it is all said and done, We go to seed, and scatter out the softest and most delicate seeds to those all around, so that they can find Christ, find hope, or whatever they need because we endured, and are still standing ready to help others as they go through their "Season of Thistles".

Life seldom turns out like you plan.  When God is in the middle of those plans, it turns out even better.  If he can make beauty out of a sticker bush, then surely he can take our hurts, our trials, and our messes and make them into something that will ultimately bring us joy, and bring him glory.  If you are in the middle of a "Season of Thistles,"  just know that this too shall pass, and you will be all the better for enduring it.  Trust me, if God made it happen for me, he will do the same for you.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

I grew up in a small town in middle tennessee called Watertown.  Our house was at the end of a dead end street, so I would ride  bikes, rollerskate in the middle of the road.  My grandmother had a beauty shop on the square--about 2 or 3 blocks from where we lived.  I would ride my bike or walk there, get a coke and hang out with my grandmother there.

My Granny Agnew lived on the other side of town, probably about a mile away from our house.  I would love going to her house.  In the summer she would always have a garden.  When I was little, she would plant strawberries.  We would take the garden hose and walk to the garden and pick and wash off the ripe strawberries and eat them under a little hackberry tree that was planted at the edge of the garden.

At 4:30 Granny and I would wait in the driveway for Granddaddy to get home from work.  When the car pulled up, I would run out to give him a hug. Granny would usually have supper ready when Granddaddy would come home....I really miss her homemade green beans---there was nothing else like them in the entire world!

My mom was a stay at home mom until I was in high school.  She was very hands on, and we were always so close.  I remember the time I was in Vanderbilt Hospital sick from where a doctor had given me an overdose of codine when I was 6 years old.  There is not much that I remember about that time....but Momma was always beside my bed.  In the years that followed, I found out that the doctors did not know if I would have make it through being so severely overdosed.  I don't know how mom stayed by my bed day in and day out like she did, because I mostly slept.

My mom was also a big reader.  I remember her constantly reading to me. She actually taught me to read long before I went to kindergarten--which drove Mrs. Bettancourt crazy, because I would be the first one done with everything and she did not know what to do with me.

Daddy always had a truck.  We would go out for rides in the country looking for deer.  On special occasions we would take out our cane fishing poles and fish on the creekbank.  I always enjoyed those times...maybe because daddy put the worm on the hook and if we caught anything he would take the fish off of mine and momma's line.

Many nights after supper, daddy and I would go outside and shoot basketball together.  He would do his coaching to help me get a little better at it.  I was not ever coordinated enough to be really good at sports, but dad's coaching at least helped me hang in with the rest of the girls in PE class when it came to playing basketball.

Sometimes I wonder if kids today will have those kind of memories of their families.  People are so busy, and to be honest I think alot of priorities are out of line.  You are only given one chance to have a childhood and make memories with your family.  Those memories are the events that shape who I became as an adult and shaped the way I put my priorities in order as an adult.I am just thankful that God gave me a family where making memories and spending time together was a priority.

Expecting a Miracle

**This is something I had written a little while back, and am just getting around to posting it.  If you are going through a tough patch, I hope you can find encouragement in this--because God still provides miracles for his childern.

Miracles can only happen in impossible situations.  I think all of us from time to time would love for God to work a miracle in our lives.  We pray for them.  We hope for them, but none of us want to be placed in that uncomfortable spot where we are no longer in control, and we are totally helpless.  That is where miracles take place.

I believe God still works miracles.  I also believe that God wants us to expect Him to work miracles in our lives when we have difficult situations. I am also beginning to think that God brings us to difficult spots in our lives so that He can show us how He can work miracles in impossible circumstances in our lives.  I think sometimes we don't see those miracles--because we are too busy looking at our problems and obstacles instead of looking at our God.

Right now, we are in the middle of a tough stretch.  We have been stretched to obey.  We have been stretched to keep our hope alive.  We have been stretched to honestly look at the situation, and hand it over to God, because realistically, there was nothing that we could do in our own power to fix it.

Yet, amid all of that stretching, God has taught me alot (which as stubborn as I am could be seen as a miracle in itself).  He has provided money when we have needed it.  He gave us  encouragement when we were running low on hope.  He gave us a glimpse of how He was working in our lives--when we thought we had lost all sense of usefulness and purpose.

I may not have been looking for it before, but right now, I am expecting a miracle--and right now I believe God loves us all enough to give us one.  Our job is to just take the time to look to see God working and acknowlege it.

New Growth--A Little List of Things I have Learned

I love the spring and summer, because it is a time of growth and renewal.  Life seems to awaken from the cold, dreary winter...and to me, that brings a certain excitement and anticipation into the air.  The past few years have been a time of sudden changes.  We have experienced job loss, finding a new church home, new careers, and we are learning to live in an economy that seems so uncertain.  Amid all of these changes, new growth has occured in the life of my family.  In reality this has been a tough season filled with growth, God fulfilling his promises, and even a little adventure.  Here are some of the things God has shown me through our journey through this season.

• No matter how I cry out to God, he is faithful to hear me when I call.  The past couple of years have  been filled with uncertainty amid career changes, job loss, and a tough economy for  our family.  I have cried out to God in desperation, in anger, and in pure amazement at how he has provided.  No matter how I cry out to God, He is faithful to hear me when I call.  He understands.  He comforts.  He provides.  Sometimes I wish that I could orchestrate how everything is going to work out....but fortunately, that is not God's way.

• I think God is a God full  of suprises.  He loves surprising his children with unexpected blessings and gives unsupassable peace and joy, if we will just rest in his loving hands and trust him completely.  Over the years, I am learning that God is more concerned with my relationship with him than his expectations of me.  Don't get me wrong, I think it pains God when we stumble and fall...just like it is difficult for a parent to watch their child stumble.  However, as our creator, He knows who and what we are...imperfect, and is just looking for ways to take those mistakes, missteps, and sins into something that will bring him honor and glory.

• God is good all the time.  Even when we are in the middle of the storm, God is there providing guidance, love and support to His children.  In the middle of all of the stuff that life seemed to throw at us, it was so funny that God provided the right scripture, the right person to come across my path, or just seemed to provide exactly what I needed at the very moment that I needed it.  God is so amazing and so good to his children.

• It is good for women to get together and share about their life and faith.  This past winter, I had the priveledge of hosting a Ladies Bible Study in my house.  I do not know if any of the ladies who attended got anything out of it, but I know I did.  The fellowship and experiencing the wisdom the other ladies brought to the table was just so uplifting.  A year ago, I would have never imagined that I would have ever committed to such an undertaking...but now, I can not wait to start up a new study this fall!

• Finally, do something that you never imagined that you would ever do....and do it for God! You will never know just how fun and exciting this will be until you just do it.  Whether it is starting a Bible Study, making a quilt for someone who is sick, or running in a marathon...try something new and give God the glory when you complete it.  You never know, you just might find a new gift that you were destined to share with the rest of the world...if you just give whatever it is a  try!

What have you done to get new growth in your life?  I would love to hear your stories about things you have learned and new adventures you are having as you discover what God is creating you to be!

Remembering...

Yesterday would have been my Granny Agnew's 87th birthday.  She was one of those people that if you knew her, you instantly loved her.  She was filled with mercy and grace, and had the best sense of humor and an infectious giggle.  When I was with her, I felt like I was the center of the universe--and to her...I probably was because when I was around, everything seemed to stop so she could spend time with me.

Mildred Agnew was a woman of strong faith and love.  She loved her family and her God with all of her heart.  That love spilled out to everyone who knew her.  As a child, I remember sitting in the living room, and her reading bible stories to me...David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, and Sampson and Delilah.  We would sing songs, and have the best times together.

Granny Agnew loved to walk.  She would take me with her on her walks around the neighborhood.  At the age of 64, she would walk about 5 miles a day, up hills on a little country road on the edge of town.  As a child, I remember going on those walks and talking about how pretty everything was.  We had some of our best talks on those walks.

When I got old enough to like Barbie dolls, we would sit in the floor, and I would pour all of the clothes out on the floor, and we would dress those dolls up and play.  Somehow she always did what I wanted, and while some may consider that being spoiled (which with her, I probably was), it made the time that we had together special.  Because of that, I knew that I was loved.

We had a special friendship, one that I don't necessarily see with kids growing up today.  You see, my granny was a friend, but looking back, I can see that she was a big mentor in my life.  A lot of the time that she poured into me was fun, but it was also having a hand in shaping the woman that I would become.  As a child, she read to me constantly, and when I learned to read, we would read together.  I think that gave me my love for books and learning.

She used object lessons about whatever was happening that moment to teach me about life--although I probably did not realize it at the time, she was preparing me for my adulthood and knowing how to handle the things that life would throw my way.

My grandmother came down with cancer when I was in Jr. High.  I remember sitting on her bed, when she was so sick.  I looked at her and said "This is not fair.", and I meant it too.  It was not fair that she was suffering so...but she looked at me and told me "Who are we to tell God what is fair...when I go to the doctor for my treatments, I see little children, and think this is not fair, because they have not had a chance to grow up and have fun like other kids..."  Although I never knew the impact of those words at the time she said them,  I remember them twenty something years later and remember them when things don't seem fair.

The bible tells the older women in the church to mentor the younger ones.  I am so lucky to have had some great women to mentor me.  My mom and Granny Agnew probably were the two biggest influences on my life, my attitude, and the way I look at things.  I have been blessed to have such people in my life to guide and shape who I am, and today I thank God for putting them in my life to show me the way.

**The pictures of the Daffodils and Marigolds were chosen because Granny Agnew always had these flowers growing underneath a tree that was up from the garden.  We would sit under that tree and talk...or eat fresh homegrown strawberries.  When I see them, I always think of her!

A Lesson from the Master

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which marks Jesus entering Jerusalem during kicking off the Holy Week.  I was thinking about that this morning, and one thing really hit me right between the eyes.  Palm Sunday was a day when everyone was praising Jesus.  They were excited to see him, and anxiously waiting to see him work.  The people expected great things, and welcomed him as he arrived to the Holy city to celebrate Passover.

What strikes me, is less than a week later, Jesus is being dragged from the Garden of Gethsemane and dragged before the religious court, before Pilate, before Herrod.  His disciples (who would probably be listed as his best friends on this earth) have all scattered and deserted him.  He is questioned.  He is accused.  He is brought before the people (probably many of which who were in the crowd during Palm Sunday shouting Hosanna and waving their palm branches) who in returned shouted for his crucifixion. He was beaten beyond recognition, and brought back before the people who called for a man known to be a murderer to be released from the death sentence than the sinless Son of God who spent his life healing, serving, and teaching the people about God.  He was tortured, spat upon, humiliated, scorned, and ridiculed.  How could they be so mean?  Where was their compassion?  How could people be so cruel and bloodthirsty?


It is easy for me to point a finger.  How horrible!  Those people saw Jesus.  They  sat with him, worked alongside him.  He had probably even healed some of them.  He had spent three years sharing his life with his disciples, and yet one of them betrays him---while the other eleven  flee from him to save their own necks. But, as I look at these people and shake my finger at their lack of love, compassion, and loyalty, I am condemning myself.


I see myself in that mirror. How many times have I not made that stand--in fear of what others thought.  How many times have I turned my back, knowing that someone really needed help?  How many times have I praised God for the things that were good, and when things start taking a turn for the worse blame Him and complain about my uncomfortable situation.  How many times have I been wronged, and yet been unforgiving of their actions?  


When I look at this story, the thing that really hits me is Jesus' reaction.  Jesus never confronted Peter for denying him, and He was aware of the denial.  He never asked where his disciples went.  He never scolded the people who were calling for his crucifixion.  He never told them that they were acting like ungrateful brats.  Instead, He endure and called for their forgiveness on the cross amid the climax of his pain and torture.


You see, Jesus saw us as we really were at that moment.  His words said it all, "Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing." That to me, is a radical reaction when you take into consideration all that Jesus had gone through at that point.  Jesus looked upon them (and us) with the compassion, grace and love that they lacked...and decided to forgive them, even though he had been  continuously hurt during this circumstance.


 When we get caught up in the moment, we really do not know what we are doing.  The people were frustrated with Roman oppression.  They wanted someone who would overthrow those powers.  What they did not realize was Jesus' mission was to free them from more than the Roman soldiers...He was there to free them from Satan, and eternal death.  He was freeing them from sin, but the people were too caught up in the moment to realize it.


I think Jesus' final acts were a lesson straight from God's heart on how we are to react when things go wrong.  We are to endure, and stay the course of the mission that God called us to do.  Christ saw his work as too important to be interrupted by the pettiness of the actions of others.  He forgave and moved on, and that is just what we need to do.