My God Box

I received a chance to get to know who God is. So I unwrapped the gift of God that I had been given in its original form and low and behold, I had received (albeit a well intentioned gift) a "God Box". You probably have one too. Its all wrapped up nice and neat and explains God in a way you can understand and fits Him ever so compactly into this manage-able portion that we humans can understand. The only problem is that all of the things that fit neatly into that box, only give you a fuzzy picture of the true God.

DISCLAIMER ALERT: I AM BY NO MEANS CLAIMING I HAVE GOD FIGURED OUT, I DO NOT.

I am saying right here and right now that God is unwrapping the gift I received and He's showing me all the things I didn't know. Its kind of like the PDA my husband got for his birthday... Its got this really cool game on it, and everyone in the house is always asking for the chance to play with the toy. There is a problem with that thinking.
#1. It IS NOT A TOY.  ( We hear this a million times a day if we hear it once)
#2. We have NO IDEA how cool this little gizmo is unless we read the instructions and if necessary ask the guy who owns it, "hey what all does this thing do that we can not possibly understand without some help from you?" 
We often see God this way. We view Him in a way that only shows us one part of who He is and even the part we see isn't a full picture.
Lately I have been reading some literature that is pushing against what I have in my God Box. What I am finding is, that now that the wrapper is off, God CAN NOT AND WILL NOT fit into that box. I gotta wonder, 'How'd they get Him in there to begin with?'.

 

Friendship For Grown - Ups (Book Review)

Friendship for Grown-Ups
Lisa Whelchel

Lisa Whelchel takes an honest look into her life and discovers that she lacks true friends. She discloses in a very open and vulnerable way why she did not have the true emotional bonds that women generally share with one another. Ms. Whelchel plainly walks a path that brings her to points where, if she chooses, she can know other women in the profound and life changing vehicle of friendship. Using scripture and personal, sometimes painful, stories Lisa shows the reader how to experience friendship in a more intimate way.
‘Friendship for Grown-Ups’ was written in a manner that allowed me to imagine Lisa actually saying the words to me; as if she were personally present in the room.
I have always thought that I have much to offer in my friendships. After all, I am loyal and affectionate, and I also know how to just ‘be’ in a moment. This book made me re-examine myself as I read. I found there were places where I had not been the best friend I could have been. I felt challenged to return to my cooled relationships and reaffirm them. I realized I couldn’t wait to get to my next women’s bible study group so I could share what I had learned.
I wrote down the gems that spoke to me most on the first read through, and I have already recommended this book to several of my friends.
Thank you to Thomas Nelson for this complimentary copy of ‘Friendship for Grown-Ups’ so that I could preview it.

Plan B

I am looking forward to the book, Plan B by Pete Wilson. When I get it, I will be leaving a review here on my blog and in other blog areas...

My story of how I was "Marked by Love"

It was raining that August evening. I was getting ready to head to a friend's house so we could watch a movie... I don't remember which one now...
I was trying to get my shoes on...my husband was lying down and I wanted to talk to him before I left... it was taking me forever to get out of the house...I hate it when I am on a mission and I can't seem to move any faster or get anyone else to move at my speed.
Then the phone was ringing... UGH...I'll never get out of here, I thought.
I said hello and the voice at the other end said.... Hello, My name is (I've never been able to remember it) I am calling to tell you that there has been a car accident and your daughter Hannah was in the car. Paramedics are here along with fire rescue...we are on ... 
and my mind flashed in seconds to the beginning of Hannah's life. I hung up from the caller, and then I went and got my husband up... I said "get up, get dressed, we have to go, Hannah's been a car accident..." He was trying to ask me questions and I was heading to our car... 
The accident claimed the life of one of the kids in the car... but not mine.  
Hannah's injuries besides the typical bloody nose, headache, and sore neck consisted of 
a mangled spleen...she spent 2 days in a Critical Surgical Care ward. This floor is right off the ORs in the hospital she was in.  For the first 24 hours they checked her blood levels every 30 minutes. Watching for the number that said the spleen would have to be removed. We never got near that number. The drs and nurses kept her sedated pretty much the whole time she was in CSC. She was moved out into a regular room on the 3rd day. On the 5th day they let her come home.  After 2 weeks she was placed on homebound. This is a program designed to help kids keep up with school work when they can not be AT school. She couldn't be around other kids because until her spleen healed she had to be kept away from any potential illnesses. Also she couldn't lift her books let alone carry them. She was only allowed to eat smooth foods and liquids for 3 months. It was a scary, trying time.
She eventually healed physically but emotionally that took longer, and she continues to heal in that regard. 


Our life that day was divided into Before the Accident and After the Accident.


Hannah was spared, and this hasn't been the first time. I have told her constantly that God must have something HUGE in store for her as the devil keeps trying to take her out.


She remains victorious over that little liar.


I am forever marked by love from family and friends who rallied around us when things were scary and we had lost one of the kids and we were concerned for the girl who had been driving...plus the boys who had been with them and received injuries as well... it was all so overwhelming. I am forever marked by love by people who came and sat with me in the hospital and just listened to me talk. Cried when I cried... those who made sure I had money to eat with.  I felt loved and supported. God was loving me through so many people.

Hannah was at the beginning of her freshman year that year...This May she will graduate from high school. This fall she will attend college and begin a new chapter in her life. She is marked by the love of God. His mercy endures forever...

There is more...so much more to this story...but it is now a fragment of time in our lives. We sometimes have to work at NOT allowing that moment in time to define us and our faith now. But we are marked by the love of a God who sees us and hears us... We recognize that the answers are sometimes NO and we do not understand why He has to say NO sometimes...but we know He hears us...

Marked by Love

I will be adding on to this at a later date please check back. For now I just wanted to direct you over to a beautiful jewelry website, it is called Lisa Leonard Designs. If you get a minute you can search her out online and then head on over there and see her marvelous work. She is truly gifted. I recently entered a drawing there to win one of her creations. The name of the necklace I have entered to win is "Marked by Love".
update::
I did not win the necklace but that is ok. I know it went to someone who needed it more than I thought I did...may God bless them.

Are You Real?

Ever notice how we wish people would stop acting fake, and yet we all put on a mask when we face the world? How can we expect others to be real when we are not? Before you say... "but I am real"...

Think about this first...

Think about the last arguement you had in which you had to answer the phone or go into the store, or face someone right in the middle of it ... did you put on the happy voice/face? Would you call that real?

You may be thinking that it isn't exactly the same thing, most of us would agree that we don't want everyone knowing our personal business when it comes to something intimate like an argument we are having with someone else...and while that may be true... what if you are asked by someone (while you are "faking the smile") How are you? Being real would mean you say something along the lines of, "well not entirely great but I know things will work out."  Being fake would have you saying  "I'm great, couldn't be better!" you know how you do it...with that big cheesy smile on your face that hurts your cheeks... you can always know when you're faking a smile...

because it hurts to do it...

My Christianity

I'm a Christian, though I admit that sometimes I'm not real quick to just say it. 
I'm not ashamed of the Christ who died for me.
I am not ashamed to admit that I believe in hell and I believe in heaven.
I'm not ashamed to admit that without Christ in my life I most likely would be dead or a full blown alcoholic by now. 
What I am ashamed of is how some folks who CALL themselves Christians act. 
I am also ashamed of how I act sometimes.
I have trouble telling someone about Christ because I often feel like I am being forced to answer for the infractions of others who claimed Christianity but acted like a heathen...
I stand convicted because even after claiming my own heavenly inheritance, I still find myself caught in the ways of the world, behaving as sinners behave...talking like sinners talk... 
For many years I allowed these type of thoughts to hold me back, to make me crazy with guilt...No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't stop "sinning". 
Then I found out about the Jesus of the Bible. He is different than the Jesus of Religions. 
All along, many of my "convictions" were actually condemnations of the religious. Many of my convictions were real, Christ given, convictions that I had to repent of and receive forgiveness for.

Growing up in the religious manner in which I did, the church government allowed no room for living, breathing, people. People with real honest problems who felt like there was something wrong with their relationship with God if they were experiencing any problems whatsoever in their life....

Depression? Why you're just out of fellowship with God.  Not true!! If you are experiencing depression, seek help...PLEASE.

Finances got you down? You obviously aren't tithing. I believe we should tithe. I DO NOT necessarily believe that means tithing to a specific church or organization. I think that often times, God would have you give your tithe to someone specific. I believe that if you ask God where to give your 10%, HE will show you and in that obedience HE will bless you!


Unable to find your place in your church home? Maybe you should help out more, do more...

Being involved in church becomes this exhausting roller coaster that most of your normal hardworking people just don't have the time or the energy for. Religion, doesn't understand that.  

The good news is... JESUS DOES!! 

Jesus said in Matthew 11:30 "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light". 

How can we place ourselves under a religious yoke when Christ Himself said that HIS YOKE is easy. Religion is many things...EASY isn't one of them.


The truth is that we should be willing to help out with our churches when there is a need. The church shouldn't be so needy. But such is the nature of religion. Its a growing monster that can not be fed enough bodies to make it happy. 

Religion says "Where were you Sunday? You weren't in Sunday School, YOU weren't in church." 
Christians SHOULD be saying "Hey, we sure missed you! Is there anything you need?" 

I know that I personally prefer to be missed rather than judged based on my attendance. 

and just a little advice to the religious types ... if you want to improve your numbers on Sunday...treat people like people and not like pew fillers and numbers for some chart in a corporate office. 

Update: as of MAY 1, 2010 ... I feel like I have been given new "orders" where my walk with Christ is concerned. I have stepped away from being an active involved member of any one particular church. Instead I go to church when and if God leads. I am no longer just going for the sake of going. So that my name can be counted on "man's" log book.  There is more to this journey I now find myself on but I will have to post it another time... Peace be with you and yours. Seek GOD and YOU WILL FIND HIM. 

My First Musing.

You know what I think is truly amazing? What inspires me to get up, out of bed, and continue on again today even when I don't feel like it...even when the kids are arguing before the sun has even come up...even when my husband (after 22 years of marriage) still can NOT find his own socks in the same drawer they've always been in...even with all of life's little ups and downs...God is still here with me. Even when I forget to (or just don't) call on Him in the morning as I begin my day, He is waiting for me. Standing beside me. 
I start my day, and I stumble. ALL DAY LONG I STUMBLE. For the life of me, I can't figure out why... until we sit down for dinner at night and we pause to pray before we eat and as I begin to pray I am almost always brought to tears by the mercy of a heavenly Father who has waited on ME to come to Him all day.Why did I wait so long? I could have experienced this moment early in the morning before my feet ever hit the floor. Jesus, Father, Creator of the universe...sees me, knows me, and LOVES me anyway. Over the past several years God has been showing me some things. I think He's been trying to show me these things for years but, I haven't been listening. 
He has my attention... and I hope to pass along what I'm hearing... I pray that if it is for you to read what I write...that God will also reveal Himself in a way you haven't grasped before now. I also pray you will see more clearly than you ever have. Check out the links I'm following. Sometimes God uses others to get our attention and then once He has it He can tell us what He really wants us to know.