Gathering Perceptions from All Angles

How can so many people have different viewpoints about the Lord and how they all believe what their view speaks, but if everyone thinks that they are right about what they believe about God concerning things about the future and end time revelation stuff, doesn’t that make the rest of those who don’t agree wrong? Is there a right and wrong answer to those things specifically or does it fluctuate among perception of what each person believes? This can also apply to several things in life! Sometimes when my beliefs are questioned or the reasons why I do things in certain ways are being questioned, I find that I too will question or perhaps get a little weary about how I am choosing to think about things. I seem to be a little too sensitive to what others think about me or the way I live(once in a while). I know in my heart that I should test and compare things to what Father has said in his word and allow the Holy Spirit to ultimately lead me and guide me according to his righteousness, however, there are a lot of people I know who probably test and compare things with the word, yet do things completely opposite of me. In regards to relationships, this can become a huge issue I have found that it can cause uneasiness and perhaps even broken ties because of the right or wrong factor. This somehow becomes more important than the relationship and one or both parties won’t be willing to find some kind of common ground among the two. I have always put it this way, always agree to disagree and when advised, take the good and leave the bad. In other words, take things that will add life to you that which is helpful and will assist growth in the Lord and leave the rest that you may feel otherwise about. How do you handle when given different perceptions on different topics?

Have I Become Scum of the Earth?

1 Corinthians 4:12-13
When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

Not just refused by the world, but what about by those who share the same faith and those we call brother and sister in the Lord? Is this normal? Does this really happen? Yes, unfortunately this is true for some. I can only speak out of personal experience, and I have to say that perhaps some Christians aren’t as holy as they think or are cracked up to be. I know we all live out of the flesh now and again, but what I can’t understand is how can some Christians justify this kind of behavior as something that had to be done? I find that this behavior can destroy and bury relationships to no end. Not taking responsibility for ones actions and pouring the problem on the other person is what I call slanderous; forgivable, but slanderous. I have come to a place in my journey where I find myself to be scum of the earth, not to sound too self righteous, for that is not where my heart is, but I find this all to be a huge growing experience for me in my journey with Father. It’s been a painful, yet in some weird way, satisfying experience. Somehow I may be treated like scum of the earth, but I find that Father is still there by my side and through it all, I find my feet on solid ground. I can’t say I have arrived, hardly, for this thing we call life is a journey and through that journey I am growing and will continue to do so until Father takes me away!

Cooking Up a Storm

This weekend Jonathan and I are house sitting at the same place we did almost 2 months ago. It is so, so nice to be in a house with a full kitchen. I have already made our first meal. Shepherd's Pie and it turned out to be really good! I love to try new recipes, and take full advantage of the kitchen space in this amazing house. They have a huge oven, it is like a restaurant size along with plenty of counter space to chop things up!!! I imagine if I had a kitchen with a real stove and plenty of room, I would cook up a storm so much more than I do, but without the room comes no motivation to cook! I never thought I would like to cook, until I found myself living in a small studio apartment with only a sink and a college size fridge. For some reason after we moved in, I now have this desire to cook! Lol, kinda funny I guess knowing that beforehand when I had a full size kitchen, I really didn’t take full advantage of it. Well, I was working full-time back then to so that makes a difference on the energy level. Anyway, yesterday I made a menu of things that I am going to cook for the days that we are here, and today I got all of the groceries, so it will be really fun to explore more cooking adventures. Last week I grabbed a Martha Stuart Cooking magazine and I also found another cooking magazine that has so many recipes in it that I got sticky notes and picked out the ones that looked good! It shall be interesting for sure to see how the rest of the food items will turn out! Well, I am going to go and have some pumpkin pie now! (Store bought) hehehe!

Divine Inspiration

I think sometimes that in order to write a blog, I must become inspired, either in thought or through events that take place in my life. And maybe it’s that inspiration that motivates me enough to write and may sound more interesting to my readers. I have this quiet hope that someone out there, or whoever reads my heart, will become touched in some way or another. It’s quite encouraging to me that Father will use me and how I am growing in Him to encourage others. I definitely hope this is so; I never want to come across judgmental, harsh, or brutally wrong to anyone. However, I don’t also want to feel bound in any way or to lose the voice that God has given me to speak my heart out loud. Sometimes for me it is easy to go off on a whim about something that is bothering me and in those times I am a little more dramatic than normal, but I think its fine to speak my mind. God didn’t give me these divine inspirations to just keep them buried beneath the surface of my heart, no; in fact I now know that through the heart, the mouth speaks, and so that is what I do and have no shame in doing so.

A Will to Forgive

Sometimes I struggle with making the choice to forgive those who have hurt me, and have taken life from me. I have been dealing with these thoughts of forgiveness plus the stirring of the flesh that wants to build up bitterness and rage at the same time. Oh how I wish it was easier to be more like Father. I have that desire to become much more like Him than I am. I want so bad to let go of all the desires of the flesh and walk away from my pride and take hold of unconditional love and acceptance for those who don’t accept me or love me back. If I could just set all of the negatives aside, and hurtful gesture that were thrown at me and look past into the heart who may be crying out for just that; Unconditional love that Father so gracefully portrays to each and every one of us regardless of our sin. When I think of complete and pure forgiveness, I think of Jesus at the cross, when He was beaten and hung on the cross to die. He died for those who beat Him and nailed Him to the cross; if only they would come to Him, he would wipe their slate clean. If only they could see the love He had for them. In my latest blog post I posed a question about forgiveness. I asked how someone could forgive another if they haven’t asked for forgiveness or even if they think they didn’t do anything wrong. I think if Jesus had the will to forgive, than somewhere in my heart, deep down in a little corner, I do too. Even if it isn’t much of a will, it is something that can grow into great forgiveness. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." I need to give my friend that forgiveness and love even if she doesn’t deserve it. I am not going to deny that this is very hard to do, and requires a lot of God in me to be able to love and forgive this much. The past couple of weeks through what happened are I believe a Transformation of my heart because I am willing to make that choice to forgive her and love her. Even if I have to make that choice every day, I am willing.

Father, only you can give me the strength to love like you love, and to forgive like you forgive. I want to be like you Father, continue to give me that will to be more like you! I love you Abba!