Paid in full

 Verse of the day today is from Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day;

John 10:28-30

New International Version

28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[a]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Who knows you? The real you? The you that is flawed and broken? The sinful ugly you, entirely? There is probably one person you might have shared all the nitty-gritty 100% truth with. Generally, that is because of shame, fear, and embarrassment, to name a few. However, God knew that we would be unable to meet the criterion for perfection. Especially, knowing it the moment Eve bit the “apple” ie. forbidden fruit. 

Rabbit hole: {I never thought of this like this till now, can you image being condemned for eating a fruit. (I know she wasn’t condemned for simply eating the fruit, bare with me). The thing I do want you to think about is, you know how when you’re dealing with your own sin, and you are in your head space saying “well my sin of …… isn’t as bad as the sin of …. and trying to justify your own sin? Next time you do that say “well is it as bad as eating an “apple”? The heart of Eve’s sin was disobedience, deception and corrupting others (bringing Adam into her sin, yes he had free will to say no). So, look at what the heart of your own sin is. God, does not judge things the way we do, by human standards, He judges by the plum line of Himself/Christ Jesus, we all fall short, because we ARE NOT PERFECT, but we can be perfected- meaning we cannot do it alone, we have to allow God to perfect us. Which is hard, if you didn’t already know.}

        God knew, we would fail and He still provided us a life line in that of Christ Jesus. Do you ever just sit and think about the price that was paid for that life line? Beyond the Easter and Christmas times of the year?  And, do you truly think about the price paid even then? I have found that in different seasons of my life, I have forgotten to put Jesus in the correct placement as Lord of my life. I have just gone through the motions of the routine of having God in my life ie: going to church every time the doors were open, being involved in teaching Sunday school and other ministry aspects, but simply going through the motions without  giving God my all. 

        I can tell you that I have hurt a lot of people, most of the time it was unintentional and without a plot to cause damage, but the damage still happened, still remains. Do you know what boggles my brain? God still loves me. The people I hurt most definitely do not love me, like me or forgive me… the damage is done. I can ask for forgiveness, but the damage is still done, a scar will always remain. Yet, no matter how far a believer might fall, they can’t be taken out of the Father’s hand.                 

        When we believe in God, He should be the Lord of our lives. We should be aware of what we do, think, and go with God. Remember He never leaves or forsakes His children… So, where are you taking God? What is He experiencing with you? Are you proud or ashamed of where you are taking Him? Are you being the hands and feet of Jesus or are you being a stumbling block or enjoying your sin?

May God Bless y’all

Lifesaver

         Isn’t it strange how you can see something one hundred times or more, but you never really see it or pay much attention to it. Especially, if it is not something you use everyday or need every day. Well, today as I was walking I looked over to the pool and thought about our lives comparatively. Keep in mind that the Bible verse that I had read  earlier was “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” 1 Cor. 1:18. 

        Now think about your day, so far have you prayed? Have you thanked God for your blessings? What about reading your Bible? Or spending some quality time with Him? Have you, really? If not, stop and do so now, if you read the verse above and count that as having read the Bible, that is fine, but read it again, think about each and every word. What is the point of the verse? Well, if you have been reading my blog you know that I generally do a BRP (Bible Reading Plan) from Sunday School book and then, dive into the finer meaning that I gleaned, at write about it here on my blog. I am still doing the BRP however, Brian and I have been doing those as a part of our prayer and Bible study together of late. Yet, I still read and try and have time daily, alone with God too. Again, I am not perfect, but I am trying to be perfected.

        OKAY. Now let’s dive back into what I opened with the swimming pool and our lives comparatively.

        So, how many of you have a lifesaver at home. How many have a functioning lifesaver hanging on the wall in your living room ? I am going to go ahead and guess not many. Why? Why do you not have a lifesaver hanging in your living room? Well, most likely it is because your living room is not nautical themed or it isn’t filled with water. Which are both very good reasons not to have a lifesaver hanging on your living room wall. Now, think about a pool, especially a public pool did you see a functioning lifesaver there? Did it make sense for it to be there? Absolutely, as we don’t want to be unprepared in case of a drowning. We want to be able to help someone, or for someone else to be able to save them. As a former lifeguard I can tell you that when someone is drowning they don’t stop and think ooops I am drowning. Nor, do they scream out for help. When someone is drowning they thrash around like a mad person, flailing their arms around trying too grab on, clinging to anything that will save them. Even when an aid is offered to them it can take a bit for them to realize there is help and all they need to do is grab hold and they are safe. They will cough and cough to regain their composure and to clear their mouths and even throats from the water they absorbed. The first thing a lifeguard does is know how to swim, show that they can swim and tread water, take a CPR/first aid course/ and learn what to do in an emergency. Then, as a lifeguard they watch, listen and enforce pool safety measures. Do you think the lifeguard is supposed to jump in and grab a thrashing drowning person? No, they are advised to get to the person and offer them the flotation device, trying not to get to close, till the person has calmed down or sunk to render aid. Now, did you know that even at the Olympics there is a lifeguard on site watching the Olympians swim. That kind of seems crazy and overkill to watch professional athletes who expertly know how to swim, but it is necessary. Emergencies are not something that someone generally plans to do, they are more often than not accidents.

        Likewise in our lives we never really plan for Emergencies to happen or accidents to occur. Sometimes tragedies strike from out of no where, and we struggle with the AHHH’s and Why me type questions and mentality. Well, just as a lifeguard must be prepared to aid those around them in need of aid or rescue, so we too must be prepared for life. Our form of preparation comes through prayer, Bible reading, quality time with God and fellowship with other believers. That way when we see others around us, in need of aid we can help them. And sometimes send them the lifesaver so they can be saved. God is our ultimate lifeguard and lifesaver. He asks for the faith the size of a mustard seed, which isn’t very big is you didn’t know. When we trust God as our lifesaver we know longer need to thrash around, especially if we stay close to Him. He is there to help us in any way especially in times of crisis. However, if we spend our time doing things that aren’t smart, danger lurks. We find ourselves thrashing around in the woes of life, like we don’t know who’s we are. We want to continue to search for things other than the Lifesaver to help us, and then we drown in our selfishness, pride and sin. God then, reaches in to save us. Cleans us up, dries us off and tends to us, as we allow Him too. God will not force His help on us, but He will be there when we are tired of drowning and trying to do things our own way and in our own strength.

        As you go about your life day to day, don’t just have a random lifesaver hanging needlessly on your wall. Have the Lifesaver that knows you inside out, and is always there. Spend time with Him and know Him as well as He knows you. He will meet you where you are, you don’t have to save yourself, dry up and clean off (fix all your imperfections) He will meet you RIGHT, WHERE, YOU, ARE! Simply ask.

Just some me, yakking

             Do you ever find yourself trying to be your best self, yet, constantly thinking “ahhh I missed something.” For me these days are way worse than others. It is often hard for my brain to stay on track from one moment to the next. Well, I have been trying to be a better me for a while, but have to constantly start over. However, at the end of October I went to my doctor and when I saw the weight on the scale I looked to make sure it was only me on the scale. “AHHHH! What happened!” I can tell you that some of it was do to a bit of “woah is me” and some of it was “oh, well” and other parts of me were obliviously happy that I just didn’t care. My husband, Brian always builds me up, so part of me was just content to be me. I didn’t really physically feel that I had put on so much weight as I am constantly registering on the pain scale, somewhere near miserable. Yet, I was getting to be a bit snug in my clothes. Anyway, I had a wake up call about then that God was not done with me yet. I had been ready for God to say, “Okay, come on home you have suffered enough.” Well, being as I am not a ghost writing this, I figured I better ask GOD what I needed to do. As, HE Is Not DONE with me yet. Often, we get caught up in “I don’t sin as bad as so and so” or “at least I am not committing such and such sin.” Last time I checked the Bible it said to pull the plank out of your eye, before to point the splinter out in somebody else’s (paraphrased). Well, that is when I started praying and asking God to help me to be more in His image and mindset, especially when it came to food and snacks aka, what I put into my body.

         I remember my whole childhood, watching my Grandma struggle with her weight, we would walk to the oldies with her, or do the home exercise videos, and eat the diet of the month or what have you. However, as hindsight is 20/20, I know there is no magic cure, especially ones that don’t have ridiculous side effects. While I was in Jr. and High school I stayed active and decently healthy, I remember trying to fit or wanting to fit in my friends size 0-1 pants HA! That was and will never happen, even if I were just bones, they will not fit into a 0-1 sized pant. I did track, shot put and discus, power lifting and other things. I remember at my smallest squeezing into a size 9 pants that were my friend’s baggy pants, (that was kind of the style then). Ladies at church would ask me if I was anorexic, classmates would ask if I needed an intervention. No, I was just working out a lot and burning off all the calories I ate. Going, going, going. I had a couple of horrible accidents that kept me from doing the athletics any longer so I had to stop. When I went to college I did aerobics but that didn’t help much, if any. I was bogged down with how to get all the information in my head in order to pass.

        My here and now self has been tired and pushing through the pain to again be what I need to be. This time I am trying to stay Christ focused in my healthier me endeavors. I am trying to be less sedentary regardless of how I feel. There are still days that I cannot physically do it, on those days I must show myself grace. I have to do for me what Christ does, show Grace. God doesn’t expect perfection He desires for us to allow Him to perfect us. He is really good at His job too! I know that because I would have already hit the smite button a million times on just me alone. Whatever you are allowing God to work on you, show yourself a little grace. Ask God questions, He is big enough to handle our questions and unbelief, He is also faithful and just, so give Him time to answer. Do not confuse God with a magic Genie 🧞‍♂️  as He is not one, for that I am oh so glad.

He is not done with you yet!

If you are lonely and single- pray about it

If you are childless- pray about it

If you are a drunk, on drugs, an atheist or someone who doesn’t believe in Christ pray about it!

Whatever He is telling you to work on, PRAY!

In all things, give it to God- trust that He knows what is best, even if it isn’t what you wanted or how you thought your story would go.

TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND DO NOT RELY ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; THINK ABOUT HIM IN ALL YOUR WAYS, AND HE WILL GUIDE YOU ON THE RIGHT PATH- Prov. 3:5-6

Man, that fit right in with what I was talking about, God is good like that. He put that on my heart the perfect verse. Notice how the Bible doesn’t say with some of your heart…… it says WITH ALL YOUR HEART! Whew! That can be hard to do, but do it. HE WILL Guide you….. Not, He will leave you to flounder around on your own. So, be careful to remember that, God is always with us. Are you allowing Him to guide you or are you taking Him to places you wouldn’t even take your Mom or Grandma? 

What a mighty God we serve! He sees past all, ALL my failures and loves me still. If, you didn’t know, the cat is out of the bag! I am not perfect! But I am trying to be perfected.

If there is a way I can pray for you, as you journey through this life let me know and I will pray with and for you (always pray for yourself too).

May God Bless,

Christiy

Be careful little mouth what you say…

 BRP 1 Peter 3: 8-18-20

Sorry, I have been MIA hence the long BRP verses. I have been doing the daily readings just a break from technology and slight illness- vertigo/headaches. Anyway here we go. I will go ahead and post the verses, from the NIV- Bible.

Suffering for Doing Good

8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,

“Whoever would love life
    and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
    and their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good;
    they must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”[a]

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats[b]; do not be frightened.”[c] 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive,[d] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

Essentially, this is self explanatory. As I read some of the commentaries for the later verses I was intrigued at how strange people have viewed and translated verses 18-20. I will not go into detail as to what I read, but I encourage you, that as you read the Bible 1. Read the verse(s) in context 2. Read with Prayer and Supplication for God to reveal the meaning and connotation of the verse(s) 3. If something is confusing reach out to your pastor (Call or text them, the question(s) that you have. Then, ask them if they can meet up to discuss the verse(s), or if they can direct you to where they like to research with) {Don’t always trust Google or internet based searches as they are not necessarily Biblically astute, or sound}

I hope that you are all well, till next time.

(Pt 2)

 BRP 1 Peter 3:7

A lot of times we get frustrated that the Bible doesn’t word things or state things the way we want them to. So what! We have all our lives had things just out of reach, or seemingly not go to our best advantage. Yet, we must remember all the Biblical people of the past, they went through their own hardships and trials. I am sure that during the midst of struggles and storms of life they were flustered, or didn’t understand.

So, ladies yesterdays verses may have been unfair, even today you might not like what is said, but hang on and let’s see.

In this verse it is He is addressing Husbands

Be considerate 

Treat her with respect

As a weaker partner

As heirs with you in the gracious gift of life

So, that NOTHING hinders your prayers

Now lets take each of these and look at them (Bible and Websters)

Be considerate - what do you think considerate means? Thoughtful of the rights and feelings of others. This is not a request from God, but rather a command/covenant

Treat her with respect- again this is an important part of a husbands command/covenant between Him, the husband and the wife (a cord of 3 is not easily broken)

As a weaker partner- This does not give license to treat your wife as a subpar nor like a slug or underling. Ladies,  if you really think about it men were made and built differently than women. They cannot carry a baby to term, as not only do they not have the proper reproductive organs, but their bone structure is not conducive to carrying a child. God has perfectly created a space where He can knit a baby in the mother’s womb, where the hips and bones can adjust to such a miracle. That is often why women’s pain tolerance is greater. So, take heart that you were fearfully and wonderfully made, in the weaker status of humanoid’s. Men, were made with broader shoulders, backs and form as well as endurance. 

As heirs with you in the gracious gift of life- remember in their culture women were essentially property, they were actually bought with a dowry, often times without the wives consent to be a wife to that husband. So, in retrospect this is a bold statement, they are essentially joint heirs with their wife. Not superior as we think. 

So, that NOTHING hinders your prayers- If you don’t abide in the command/covenant you might miss out on blessings or God’s favor.

                                                        Brian and Christiy

(Pt1) Women submission

 BRP yesterday’s verses were 1 Pet 3:3-4 and today is 1 Pet 3:5-6

Wives their appearance and humbleness, submission, and like Sarah.

These verses are pretty self explanatory. Do not be gaudy, and don’t nag your spouse for things to make you look haughty. (Yes, I know women have careers now a days and you can buy your own things, but there is no need to overdo your look) In the words of a friend of mine “modest is hottest”- Marilyn Talley.

We should not let our outward beauty trump our inner beauty. Whether with crazy elaborate hair styles, makeup, or attire. We should let God radiate from within us, a gentle and quiet spirit- these are of great worth to God. This is the way of the Holy women of the past, submissive to their husbands. Just as Sarah did with Abraham. Do what is right, do not give way to fear.

Tune in to the next blog….. Don’t be to flustered till you see the next one.

God’s blessings

 I will do my BRP in a minute further down

        Have you ever had a moment where you hear someone’s story, or testimony and thought to yourself how are they able to receive God’s blessing or why does God answer their prayers and not my own? Well, first off the only person we should compare ourselves to is that of the Trinity, Jesus. Secondly, we can’t see the big picture of what God has in store for us. Yes, we know the end of the overall story, God wins. Have you ever realized what life would be like if Jesus had been the same way? Yes, Jesus asked questions of God the Father, because He had a relationship with Him and God is big enough to handle any question we might have. Jesus, also went about it in the proper way, through prayer. Everything Jesus did was to set an example for us. Well, today when I was listening to someone’s testimony about the healing of her son she said God chose to heal Him through prayer, He also may heal through modern medicine or He may heal through calling the person home.

      I went to do my BRP and was led to look at something else first that of Isaiah 53:5-6. I want to breakdown this scripture a bit and want to not just skim over it. (Go and read the verses now, I read the NIV and HCSB) Also, used Miriam Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus.

He was pierced for our transgressions (crime, offense, sin, violations, felony, trespass, wrongdoing, misdeed, error, breach, debt, lawbreaking, malefaction, and the list goes on)  Yowza that is a list! 

We often want to put thing in less than to greater than type of sin. Ex. In my eyes stealing a piece of candy, knowing it is wrong, is worse than murder. However, God has His standards, His plumb line, and all sin is equal. Anything that separates us from God is sin. So, when you see transgressions in this verse know that it in capsules all SIN. Yikes, so I am as evil as a murderer? Yes.

He was crushed (visualize this) for our iniquities (Corruption, evil, sinfulness, depravity, wickedness, vileness, ill, badness etc.) Yowza, again. 

Crushed- almost beyond recognition, I find myself so unworthy. Iniquities- to be described as any of these words might make you feel unworthy too. The price that God paid through Jesus, I find myself wanting, needing to be more like Christ. 

The punishment that brought us peace (tranquility, rest)

It is mind blowing to think that Jesus had to endure all this in order for us to have peace. I again, do not feel worthy of such a high priced gift.

By His wounds we are healed (repaired, mended)

WOW! What an amazing, un-repayable gift. We are healed, from sins curse! Does that mean you will never have trials like cancer, No. However we know we won’t be alone here on Earth as we suffer. Even if we don’t receive healing in this mortal body, we know that God has a healed immortal body for us.

We have all like sheep gone astray (off the path, in error) turned to our own way.

I definitely am guilty of this.

The Lord laid on Him the iniquities of us all (every single person’s sin was paid in full by Christ Jesus, even though some will refuse His gift)

    DO you see here why we should be ever grateful of the gifts God has for us? The great price that was paid for us?

This is why it has been so important for me to get my house (myself in order). Christ did not pay the costly wage of my sin so that I could just Willy-nilly live my life how I want, I must look at the plumb line that God has set before me, in every aspect of my life, starting with the inner me. So, I encourage you to do the same. Be a believer in Christ, not just by words but by doing his will.

BRP is 30th 1Peter 2: 24-25 and 31st 1Peter 3:1-2

    The verses at the end of chapter 2 tie in with the things I said above. “He Himself bore our sins, in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;  by His wounds we are healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

    The verses 3:1-2,

    We are to submit to Christ male and female; husbands and wives. We are to submit to God, a husband who is in right standing with God will be a devoted man who submits to God will and guides with a loving  hand. However, a woman should submit to God so that even if her husband is lost she will be a witness unto her husband. She can by her witness and submission win him over without  her words, but by her deeds and behavior.

    Submit to God! All else will fall in to place God is good.