Day 15 - Who Are We?

One of the things that has brought the most joy is understanding who God says I am and how God sees me. I read about it first in Dr. Neil Anderson’s book, Victory Over the Darkness. In it he says, “The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity.” He goes over a list of statements with scriptures that show who God says we are.

Instead of believing we are randomly placed on earth or somehow evolved and are left here to figure out life, these verses show we were created by a loving God who has a plan and purpose for our lives. We don’t need to feel insecure when we know who we are in Christ. If you are a follower of Christ:

You are God’s child.       John 1:12

As a disciple, you are a friend of Jesus.       John 15:15

You have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.    Ephesians 1:3-8

You are free from condemnation.       Romans 8:1-2

You are a citizen of heaven.      Philippians 3:20

         You are God’s workmanship.  Ephesians 2:10

         You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.    Philippians 4:13

         You are important.          1 Peter 2:9

You are forgiven.           Psalm 103:12

You are a new creation.  2 Corinthians 5:17

You are protected.                   Psalm 121:3

You are unique.              Psalm 139:13

You are created for a purpose.    Jeremiah 29:11

         Do you see yourself as the child of the almighty God? He created you uniquely special, to fulfill His plan for your time on earth. He loves you enough to send His son to die on a cross for you. He gave you His Holy Spirit to help guide you everyday. He is always with you and will never leave you. He wants you to talk to Him and desires a personal relationship with you.

In the greatest act of kindness, He has forgiven us of our sins. He has wiped our past away and promises a hope and a good future for us. He accepts us just the way we are and loves us more than we can imagine. He speaks to us directly through His Word and the Holy Spirit. He promises us heaven after we die. He cares about the details of our lives and we can tell Him anything and He listens to us and hears our prayers.

Knowing that God loves me and has a plan for my life gives me the most joy!

I hope it gives you joy as well!

(This is part of a 31 day writing challenge, to write on the same topic everyday in October. This series is Joy in the Journey. To read others in this series, click here.)

 Joyfully,

 

I Can Handle It On My Own

A friend shared his story:

         “I was raised in a Christian home and was encouraged by my parents to attend church and to live a Christian life. Compared to most people, I would say I had a very easy childhood and adolescence. I say this because I won’t blame my sin and bad choices on my upbringing or some tragic event that happened.  My sins are a result of me being human.  My bad choices are a result of thinking that I can do it all alone, that I am the one in control, and that having problems show weakness.

         As a kid, I mostly did what was expected of me.  I went to church, attended youth group and did well in school.  I called myself a Christian when I was around Christians and I learned to say all the right things.

         When I was 11 years old, I raised my hand when my Sunday School teacher asked who wanted Jesus to come live in their heart.  I was Baptized when I was 13.  Looking back, I can say that I didn’t really do these things because I wanted to be closer to Jesus and follow him.  I did it because that is what was expected and it seemed to please those around me.  I can say for certain, that if I would have been in a family and group of friends who worshiped a great tree, I would have done that.  I did not understand what it meant to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, to want to serve him with all you have and have a heart of love for others.

         What I saw and came to believe, was that as a Christian, we were “good”.  We did not have problems.  No one seemed to speak about struggles in their life or their failures, so I guessed they did not have any.  I tried mirror that in my life.  Christians are “good” and “do good”.  If you do something bad or think bad thoughts, then you must not be Christian, or even worse, God probably doesn’t like you.

         When I went off to college, I began my 28-year path away from God. My life involved drinking and parties on a regular (more than weekly) basis.  When I had the choice I usually turned away from God because I didn’t feel “good enough”.  I had in my head that Christians do good and I did bad and enjoyed doing bad, so God didn’t want to associate with me.  I chose to go it alone and continued to think I could handle things.  There were a couple of alcohol related arrests, and so many years of wasted time, selfishness, pride and bad choices.

         I got married when I was 39.  My drinking and parties tapered off.  I enjoyed success in my career.  I felt so much pride in my accomplishments and I felt I did it on my own.  Things seemed to be good for about 5 or 6 years. 

         But slowly our marriage began to slip.  We didn’t have much in common and we went separate ways a lot.  I began to have a few drinks with the guys sometimes.  I knew things were slipping, but I thought I could handle it on my own.  As I look back, one of the strangest things to me now is that, if you asked me at the time, “Are you a Christian?”, I would shave said, “of course!”  I didn’t pray, didn’t attend church, didn’t read the bible, didn’t involve God in any part of my life, didn’t have a heart to help or love others, and didn’t follow God at all.

         When I was 45 I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to undergo a difficult surgery to remove a small benign tumor that was in a dangerous area.  At that time you would think I would have turned toward God.  Well, I did pray a short prayer or two, but I also refused to let a group of people pray for me, I still felt like God really wasn’t happy with me and probably didn’t like me for the things I had done.

         The surgery was a success!  The long term damage from the surgery, was to be minimal (completely deaf in my right ear), but the short term (ended up being a couple of years), was very difficult. My balance was so messed up that I could not stand for a week and could not walk on my own for few weeks.  The road to resuming normal activities was long and difficult.  I drank a little more.

         As you can imagine, this all added more difficulties and strain on the marriage.  I became depressed while trapped at home alone and not able to drive for a year.  I became very isolated. I did not pray or ask for help.  I could handle it on my own.  I drank some more.I was at home and I had a computer.  The computer can be a fantastic tool and it can be a terrible weapon the enemy can use against us.

         Growing up, like many teens and college guys, I would come across or buy a Playboy magazine every once in a while. This was another area where I fell short of what God really wanted for me.  This was another area where I felt I was “bad”.  If you were a Christian, you wouldn’t look at this stuff because Christian’s don’t do bad things, right?  I felt God certainly didn’t like me for viewing that.

         A magazine is one thing and then the internet is another.  Pornography on the internet is unlimited, and is easy to hide.  It works into your mind like a drug.  It provides an escape from reality.  I knew God didn't like it, so I thought He didn’t like me.  I turned my back on God and hid it from others. I could handle it on my own. 

   

         My pornography viewing turned into a full-time addiction.  There were times when I would be on a family outing or at a movie, but would be wondering how long it would be before we could return home and I could return to my office and my computer.  I knew it would truly hurt my wife if she knew what I was doing.  I made promises to myself that this would be the last time, or maybe I would begin to view it less often.  It only increased.  My problem became a daily habit.”

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Romans 7:19  

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Have you struggled with doing something you know you shouldn't but you can't seem to stop? How have you overcome that?

           

"Mommy, You Need God."

         Getting a spanking after mass, for not paying attention, gave my friend, Amber, a negative view of God and church at an early age. She viewed God as harsh and unloving. Amber grew up not knowing anything about the Bible, or about a Heavenly Father who loved her. Her life was centered on herself, her pleasure, her materialism, pride and arrogance. This lead her to a life of destruction.

        

Here is Amber’s story:

         “I was always around drugs and alcohol but never experienced using them until I was 23.  I started drinking at the clubs which led to cocaine use. I met Johnny my senior year of college when I started drinking and drugs. Quickly he moved in with me.  I was partying, not coming home and very destructive in our relationship.  Our relationship was toxic. He was controlling and we yelled at each other and fought often.

         After about a year of constant partying and cocaine use I got pregnant with our first child. Marriage was not an option, we lived together during my pregnancy and I was sober.

          My daughter was four months old when my life really spiraled down hill.  I was driving to Albuquerque from Santa Fe and was pulled over for drinking and driving.  I was arrested and the tow truck driver that impounded my car turned out to be a family friend. He called my mom to get my daughter before CYFD did. I stayed in jail for about two weeks.  My father was secretary of corrections at the time which compromised my life. I could have been killed if the other jail mates knew this.

         While I was in my addiction Johnny and my family begged me to go to rehab. I first refused because I did not want to leave my daughter. Also, I was so materialistic I did not want to lose my house and not be able to buy clothes, shoes and the things I wanted.  I was so prideful that I thought rehab was only for those who lived on the streets and did street drugs.  I figured I had an education and owned my own house. Why would I jeopardize my reputation?  I did not look at alcohol and cocaine as drugs. 

         Johnny and I were in a custody battle for our daughter.  I was alone. Nobody wanted me to care for her. He hired a lawyer to take her away from me.  After my DWI, I was facing felony charges as well as a DWI.  I did not care about the DWI charge, but was terrified of the felony charge.  After completing my dietetic internship there would be no way I would ever get a job as a Dietician if I was a felon.  I hired a lawyer and made a plea deal. I would have a conditional discharge of the felony as long as I did two years of supervised probation and my DWI would be a conditional discharge.  I took the plea. I was placed on house arrest for a month because my charge came with jail time; again my life was jeopardized going back to jail so I did house arrest.

         In March of 2012, Johnny, our daughter and I drove to Santa Fe to eat dinner.  Our daughter was about nine months old.  We were involved in a fatal DWI crash where two teenage sisters were killed in the accident. Two others were in critical condition and many hurt. One would think I would sober up and change my life after this accident but I did not, instead I played the victim role because I lost my car. I lost my lap top which had all my work to complete my internship. Then I started partying again while I was on probation.  Soon enough I violated my probation and was put in jail. 

         There was no other choice but to go into rehab. This time I finally turned to God and asked for help.  He answered my prayer, even though I only prayed selfish prayers when I was in trouble and was desperate for His help.  God blessed me by allowing me to go to a  rehab/transition home where I was able to take my daughter part-time.  I finally opened my eyes.  I was placed in a home with felony woman coming out of prison who had always lived a life on the streets, prostitution and drugs.  It was scary living there.  The women would do heroin and awful things while in the Rehab.  I was in shock.  Again my life was jeopardized because of my father’s position with the Corrections Department.  The staff and probation officers were aware of this and worked hard to protect me."

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew only God could get you out?     

How long have you done things your own way before coming to the end of your self and turning to God for help?

(Join me here tomorrow for Part 2 of Amber's story.)

This is part of a series called, 31 Days of Change. To read more stories of changed lives, click here.

 

Conflict at Christmas

          During the month of December 100,000 tourists flock to visit the little town of Bethlehem. 15,000 will visit on Christmas Eve alone. Our image of the birthplace of baby Jesus looks nothing like the reality. During the rest of the year, many tour groups, including ours, do not visit Bethlehem any more. Part of the reason is it is  controlled by the Palestinian Authority. 

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

 

The other reason we don’t take tour groups to Bethlehem is the main attraction, which is an old, ornate, church that commemorates the site where Jesus was born. It is called the Church of the Nativity, but it could more accurately be called the Church of Division. Three different religious groups own the church: the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and the Armenian Apostate. 

Brawl in church in Bethlehem

For decades they have been unable to unite and agree on how to best administer and restore the church. The 1,700-year-old church is in need of serious repairs. Each group cleans the parts they claim to own, but some things overlap, and none of the groups will let each other pass over their area. Every year there are brawls over who owns which alters, passageways and chandeliers. One time 100 priests fought each other with broomsticks.

As you walk into the cavernous church, you can sense the tension. It is cold, hard, dusty and dark. It bears zero resemblance to the simple cave and manger where the Bible says baby Jesus was born. In fact, it doesn’t remind you of Jesus at all.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12

Jesus was born to bring us peace; the peace that passes understanding, the peace of knowing our eternity will be in heaven, and peace on earth.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace 
with everyone.” Romans 12:18

As Believers, do our lives represent Jesus well? We don’t want our lives to look so ornately decorated with ‘stuff’ or activities, that there is no resemblance to Jesus. We don’t want our lives, conversations and attitudes to be so divisive that we never represent the Prince of Peace. Hopefully, our walk with the Lord is not cold and empty, but instead filled with Love and Joy. As Christ’s representatives to a world that is full of hate and hurts, let’s make sure we resemble Jesus more than the Church of Division the Nativity.

“By this everyone will know you are my disciples, 
if you love one another.” John 13:35

The Pickle Predicament

          Getting in a pickle in baseball happens when a runner gets stuck between two bases. The player made it to one base and tried to advance to the next base, but someone threw the ball to that base, before he could make it safely. So, the runner has to make the decision to try to run back to the previous base, but, since the other team can throw a ball faster than a player can run, now the ball is at the original base. There is nothing that the runner can do, but run back and forth, as the opposing team plays a game of Monkey in the Middle, over the runner’s head. All the while the opposing team is taking a step closer toward the runner, until finally, the opposing team is so close they can tag the runner out with the ball. Sometimes, usually in Little League, the opposing team will make a wild throw, or their teammate will fail to catch the ball and as the ball whizzes by the teammate, the runner can advance safely to one base or the other.

In life, we call this situation, being caught between a rock and a hard place. Both ways we could turn in a situation are dreadful options.

The Bible says when we are tempted God always provides a way out for us. We sometimes mistake that verse to say: ‘God does not give us more than we can handle.’ That is not true.

Life is hard. There are many things we cannot handle on our own. That is why we need God. If we never had more than we could handle, we would not need God.

On our own, we cannot handle our child dying, our spouse leaving us, or losing our house. We need God in those situations.

A pickle, however, is when we have a choice to make, and many of life’s choices are hard.

--To move an ailing parent into a nursing home, or care for them full time in your home?

--To turn your teen’s friend in to the authorities when you find out they have drugs, knowing your teen will be mad and won’t trust you again?

--To continue to be miserable in your marriage, or go to marriage counseling?

--To take a new job that offers more money, but requires more out of town travel?

--If we are a pet owner, do we pay $2000 for a pet surgery or have our beloved companion put out of their misery?

Life is full of difficult decisions. What should we do when we find ourselves in a pickle between two tough decisions?

1.     Pray. When life is too difficult God wants us to go to Him. The Bible says if we ask God for wisdom, He will give it to us.

     

2.     Ask yourself, which decision most lines up with God’s Word? That is our playbook for life. It has all the answers. The question of whether or not we should spend hours talking to an old flame on Facebook, may not directly be in the Bible, but the concept of being faithful to our spouse definitely is.

   

3.     Seek wise counsel.  Talk to people who have a strong and consistent walk with God. Ask someone who knows the Bible and can point you to Biblical truth.                                                

       

   Being in a pickle is never easy, not on the baseball field, or in life. Tough decisions are, well, tough to make.

Thankfully, when we find ourselves in a real pickle, we know who we can turn to.  Here’s to wishing you a successful run in your next pickle. You know the heavenly crowd will cheer loudly for you when you land on the base safely.

The Tree of Life

photo by Vince Carrillo

     When we first moved in to our house, we thought the trees were so beautiful. After a few years, one of the trees started to die. It was odd, because it was only dying on the left side of the tree. When we looked more closely we realized it was actually two trees, planted very closely together, so they looked like one tree. Each tree was only growing branches away from the other tree.

     It was so weird, because both trees were getting the same amount of water, which in New Mexico is not much. They also got the same amount of sunlight, which in New Mexico is an awesome amount. They both got the same wind, snow, hail and they were planted in the same soil.  So, what made the tree on the left die and the tree on the right thrive? It turned out that the tree on the left had a disease. It was rotting away from the inside out. It looked like the flourishing tree most of its life, but the rot from the inside of the trunk, finally made it outside to all the branches, and the tree died.

     It reminded us of how we are planted next to other people. Some people we are close to, we live close to, we work closely with. Some people, in our family, even look like us. I wonder how many people we are planted next to look fine on the outside, but are dying on the inside? 

     Some people we are planted close to do not have the Living Water that we have. They may look like they are thriving for a while, but deep down they have a disease that is eating them from the inside out. How often do I live my life thinking about only my side of things, not worrying about how people all around me are dying?

Proverbs 3:18    Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. 

Splash Blessings

One of my boys got in trouble and the punishment was no electronics for a week. This affected his twin brother as well. The electronics had to be turned off for both, so that the guilty one could not watch whatever his brother was doing. This caused great frustration for the innocent brother.

“Why do I have to suffer, when he is the one who got in trouble?” he asked indignantly.

“Sometimes people’s sin and the consequences splashes over onto us,” I answered.

“Well, I wish he would quit splashing his sin on me!” he retorted.

This is so true. Many times when someone sins, we feel the consequences. Or when we sin, other people are affected. A person speeding or texting while they are driving can run into an innocent person. That person’s sin has splashed on the innocent person.  Someone can cheat or steal something at their workplace, and all of a sudden management tightens up on everybody’s freedom. Their sin splashed on the whole company.

It is the same way with blessings. Remember the movie Pay it Forward? It is about a boy who starts a movement to do three people a favor. The favor cannot be a repayment, but something unexpected and helpful to the recipient. Isn’t that like splashing blessings on them? It is so easy to do. Maybe not the huge blessings, like buying someone a car. But splashing small blessings is easy. Have you ever let someone go in front of you at a check out line and seen how appreciative they are? How about letting someone in when you are driving and their lane ends? How about buying someone lunch or coffee?

One morning a woman in a big SUV was talking on her cell phone and cut me off getting in to the drive through at Starbucks. I didn’t think it would do any good to honk or outwardly express my irritation, because I didn’t think she even saw me or noticed what she did.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled up to order and the barista said through the intercom that the woman in front of me would like to pay for my order. Splash! Blessed! Just for fun, I decided to pay for the person behind me and splash a blessing on them as well.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Lord, help me to remember that my sin affects other people. Help me to splash blessings on the people I come in contact with today.

How about you? Have you ever paid it forward? Or have you had someone splash a blessing on you lately?

A New Beginning

I didn’t know anything about her, except that this was her second time to church and she wanted to be baptized. Vince introduced her and said, “She wants to be a Jesus follower. Will you tell her how?”

Her name was Cathy and she looked about 25 years old. She was short with blonde hair and a pleasant face. Her round blue eyes looked eagerly at me as I started to talk. I asked if she had grown up going to church. She said no, that her parents never went to church.  A friend had invited her last week and she brought her three-year-old daughter by herself today.

Not wanting to repeat what she already knew, I asked her if she understood the message from the sermon. She said she did. I asked if she understood the prayer at the end, where the Pastor explained how to follow Jesus. She said yes, she did.

Then, I began to explain, “Jesus was born in a manger and lived a perfect life and died on a cross, to forgive us for all of our sins, past, present and future. It’s like our slate, our life, gets washed clean and we get to start over. Would you like that?” I asked. A smile spread across her face, “Yes, I would. I need that.”

I went on, “Ok, first we pray and ask God to forgive us for our sins. Then, we thank Him for sending His son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Then, we commit our lives to follow Him, the best way we know how. When we do that, God sends His Holy Spirit to live inside us. He will guide you in how to live your new life as a Jesus follower. He will never leave you and will be with you where ever you are. Do you understand?

“Yes, that would be great,” she eagerly replied.

“Even though this prayer of committing your life is a one time thing, our new life of following Jesus is a journey. We all learn as we grow. We learn through coming to church. We learn through reading God’s Word, the Bible, every day. The Holy Spirit will help you."

I prayed out loud and she repeated what I said. I feared I had left out so much. Did she know what sin was? Or heaven or hell? I forgot to tell her how great God is and how much He loved her. I forgot to say that this would not make her life perfect, and that there would still be difficulties, but now she would have Jesus with her.

I held back saying, “ Do you know what a huge miracle this is, that the God of the universe picked you, out of all the people in our city, to come to church today? It is God who put the desire in your heart to want to have a relationship with Him. Your life will be blessed beyond measure from this day on.”

I had only just met her, so I didn’t want to smother her with Jesus. But I wanted to hug her and say, “Welcome to the family! I can’t wait for you to get to know this wonderful God, who has an incredible life planned for you!”

People do not wake up and out of the blue decide to come to church. God calls them because He loves them so much.

I left to get a New Believers Bible for her, while she went to pick up her daughter from the kid’s area.

“My daughter loves coming here,” she beamed excitedly. “All week she has asked when do we get to come back to church? She asked me everyday.”

She turned to me with new excitement in her eyes, and a huge smile. “I feel different already,” she told me. "Thank you for telling me about Jesus and praying with me. I had never heard that before. I can’t wait to come back next Sunday.”

I can’t wait either.

She held her daughter’s hand and they walked out, both smiling with joy.

Amazing!

I never stop being in awe at how God calls people to Himself, forgives them with His amazing grace and changes their life forever.

It was all God. He did everything. I forgot to say so much. Where was my pen and paper to draw out the ‘The Bridge’ illustration, showing how we pass from death to life? I didn’t quote any Bible verses, not even John 3:16. And really, how is she going to believe the Bible if I didn’t tell her about Genesis 1:1 ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth  . . .’?

It did not matter. Today was her day. God called her, prompted her to come to church, prepared her heart and mind to eagerly ask about God. He gave her understanding and the desire to follow Him.

Amazing!

Amazing grace that saved another wretch like me.

She came in lost and now was found.

She had been spiritually blind, He opened her eyes, and now she could see.