Wednesday 30 September 2015

God Wants to Get Married.



I was thinking I'd better get going on the theme of this blog.

Who is God?

"For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the LORD has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected, says your God."  
Isaiah 54:5,6

He is our husband or wife. Being married can be the most intimate relationship we have on this earth. God wants that kind of relationship with us. God says we become one with Him; he said that about husbands and wives too.  All through the Bible our relationship with him is compared to marriage.

Who am I? 

 I am someone who grew up believing a man's love would rescue me from the self-hatred I lived in. I thought love would fill me up and I'd finally be happy. My head was in the clouds about love and marriage. I grew up on Snow White and Cary Grant romance movies. I didn't know what real life and real relationships were all about.  I get it now, but I'm 65!  Well, maybe I'd finally learned by 55.

Like God was saying, I was rejected by my first husband. That is terribly painful. I don't blame him though; I became a Christian a year after we married. Poor guy, he didn't sign up to marry a saint! I quit going to parties and joined a church! We are still friendly and he has seen our two daughters all their lives.

I remember my aunt saying to me at my second marriage, "I hope your new husband and daughters get along."  What!  It had never occurred to me they wouldn't; but she had a daughter who had married three times and she knew more than me. They didn't get along. They love each other now though. In fact, they always did love one another there was just a lot of anger mixed in there. Kids don't like a step-parent telling them what to do.  I was 27, what did I know?  Apparently nothing.


God would be the perfect husband. He would be kind, considerate, helpful, loving, fun, interesting... Well there aren't enough words. Who wouldn't want to be married to someone like Jesus? I've changed a little towards God since I heard about this marriage thing with God. I try to talk with him about what I'm doing and reading and just simple things I talk with my husband about. I'm not so formal with him. I feel more at ease. 

Yep, I like being married to God. 





Monday 28 September 2015

How to Become A Good Person.



This morning, I was reading 1 Corinthians 3:5.  "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything being of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God."

A lot of self-help people and people in general would not agree with Paul on this. Most people like to think of themselves as self-sufficient. However, God's words do not lie. He is saying we are not sufficient.

Paul here is talking about living a good life; a life of obeying God in all things. Aha! Do you feel sufficient now? No, we cannot keep the law of God or even be spiritual-minded without God. Only he is sufficient for all these things.

Jesus said, "Without me, you can do nothing." He means nothing good. We can do plenty of bad.

When I was a new Christian, at 19 years old, I had a picture of God looking down at me and seeing all my faults and sins. He wasn't a happy camper. I felt guilty all the time. This was the picture I got from my parents and church. Being good was talked about all the time, and woe betide you if you weren't. Sin being awful was talked about all the time. Jesus was nice, but you could only push him so far.

I'm 65 now and I have a whole different picture of God. He looks down at me and smiles. He is happy I am his child. He knows when I fail, but he is patient and forgiving. I am covered by the death and blood of his dear Son. Jesus is happy I am his child. He is thrilled when someone gives their life to him. I'm happy I make him happy; thinking of Him makes me happy and full of hope. That is my life now.

I thank you, Lord. I praise you, Lord. I can't wait to see you and live with you forever and ever.

"They will say of Me, 'Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength." Isaiah 45:24

My Old Blog Disappeared.



I don't understand how computers work; my husband does. Ever since I got a tablet and tried to set up a gmail account, the blog I've had for 5 years went off-line. The gmail has vanished too. You can still read my blog when you put in the address, but I can't post anything new or edit it, and the dashboard said I had no blogs!  The old address is: restoremelord.blogspot.com

My husband and I tried to fix the whole mess but nothing worked; so I decided to start over again with a new blog about God and me and our up and down journey together. For all I know, God wanted this to happen. Maybe he wants me to go in a new direction? Maybe I just made a dumb mistake! I don't know, but I do know I pray about blogging and hand the whole thing over to him. I only want to write what he wants me to write.

I prayed about a title. I think this one suits the journey I have been on. I've always wanted to understand why I did what I did. Who am I really? And since I was a child, I have wanted to know who God is. The problem with growing up in a Christian family is you sometimes get a one-sided image of God. It has taken me 60+ years to shed that image.

My former blog was more like Bible Studies. I guess this new one is going to be more like a journal or memoir. I'll still quote the Bible, but these will be more personal stories. I think. God may want me to do something different. That is one thing I've learned over the years; don't assume you know what God wants you to do. Be open. Let the Holy Spirit guide you.

By the way, once I post this, I have no idea if I will be able to access this blog again. If I can't, I'll have to find somewhere else to have a blog. That's okay too. May God bless you and may he cover you in the shadow of his wings.