God Will Sing to Us.

Who is God?

God is a musician. He has given us the gift of songs. When we finally go to live with him, he will sing over us in great joy.

"For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."
Zephaniah 3:17

"Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD! Let the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy before the LORD. For the LORD is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness."
Psalm 98:4-9

Who am I?

Well, someone who loves music too. Here is a concert by Don Moen. These songs lift my heart like no other songs I have ever heard.

What is True Love?

Two of my granddaughters.

Who is God?

"God is love."  1John 4:16

It doesn't say, "God loves," but God IS love.  He is the source of all love.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13

Who am I?

Someone who needs love. We are created for love. That is the empty spot in our soul that needs God. No one on earth will fill that need for perfect love. People may love us, but it is usually conditional. God's love is unconditional. He loved you when you were born; he will love you when you die. 

Some people say they can't understand a love like that, but I think I can. I love my daughters and grandchildren unconditionally. Nothing they say or do can quench my love for them. When you finally believe God loves you like that, you will find that peace Christians are always talking about. 

Hmm, It Took Me 45 Years to Learn That!

Well, after my previous post, I've been thinking and praying. I've decided I have to leave the hard questions with God and not worry about anything. We aren't supposed to worry and fret so I won't.

I did think about how long God took to teach people in the Old Testament. Moses was 40 years working as a shepherd before he was ready for God to use him. David was on the run from King Saul for 20 years. Joseph was a slave and in prison for 13 years before God rescued and used him.

Human beings are not known for their patience. We like things done fast and tied up with a pretty bow. At least, I do. But God is very patient and I'm thankful for that. It can take years for a person to learn life lessons. And a lot of our learning comes from failing; just like scientists learn from experiments that don't work. Churches don't like it when we fail and they don't like to wait for us to learn something.

Maybe we shouldn't hate our failings so much. Failing at being kind or generous can bring some guilt, and not all feelings of guilt are bad. We can say we are sorry and begin again and ask God to make us into kind and generous people. He will. That's the great part. He will change our hearts into good hearts; into hearts that honor him.

If there was a church that worshipped on Saturday and had no rules and accepted everyone, and had a lot of singing of happy songs, sharing of our lives with God, and praising God, and praying together, I would go there. I feel pretty safe saying that because there will never be a church like that.

God, Gays, and Alcoholics.

Photo by: Farragutful

I wish I understood more about living with God and learning his ways. More about how things work. I left my local church for a lot of reasons, the main one being how mean people were. Most people there would find fault with other members, and they would confront people right in the foyer in the church! They would accuse people of breaking the Sabbath, singing songs that weren't the right "kind" of songs, etc. I got sick of it and thought, "I'll never bring anyone to this church again."  Then I thought, "Well, why am I here then?" And after 24 years, I left.

Later on, I had a breakdown when I remembered all the abuse my father had piled on me. I was a wreck; I could barely function. I started therapy but also started drinking so I wouldn't feel so sad. I drank off and on for 10 years drinking more and more. I started praying about it and finally quit because one day God just took the desire away from me. I was thankful.

During that time, I also started smoking. I'm still smoking. I've prayed and tried to quit but I haven't yet. So, I wonder about all this. I believe God was with me all the time, helping me to heal, but now I think, "It was good I left the church when I did because they wouldn't have waited 10 years for me to stop drinking. They would have given me a hard time about it." Then I wondered if I had felt I could be open with Christians, maybe they could have encouraged me and prayed with me all those years; or would they have just said I wasn't truely converted?

Then there is a sister of mine. She is gay and in a comitted relationship with one woman. She is an amazing woman; she gives out Bibles and studies with people she meets. She was homeless and met a lot of hurting and mentally ill people she helped. God is working with and through her all the time. Yet, religious people tell me she is not saved; it doesn't matter what she does, she is living in sin.

Well, maybe she is in a way. It depends how you interpret the Bible. Sure it says not to sleep with the same sex, but it also has always said not to commit adultery. The men in the Old Testament had lots of wives; they comitted adultery all their lives and God said nothing. Scholars say, "Well, that was in their culture at the time." Okay, fine, in our time there are lots of gay people. So, if you can excuse heterosexual men for having multiple wives, why can't you excuse gay people for loving and having one partner? I can't see it.

So, I am confused about a lot of things. Jesus was so inclusive. He never turned anyone away. He was patient with people, not expecting perfection. Then you read Paul's letters and it's like we should be perfect - these paragons of virtue. When a person is converted everyone acts like they should never sin again. Really? Is that possible?

Oh well, that's where I am at now. Dazed and confused about living the Christian life, but still loving God and knowing he loves me. Hopefully, that's all that matters.

Does Something About God Offend You?

Who is God?

And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside. The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"

John's two disciples found Jesus and said to him, "John the Baptist sent us to ask, 'Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?'"

 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 
So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”   Luke 7:17-23

John the Baptist and the Jewish nation expected a Messiah who would drive out the Romans and make them into a great nation. But Jesus had been preaching for a long time and had not said anything about the Romans. Even though John had heard a voice from heaven when he baptized Jesus, he wondered if he had made a mistake.

God is sometimes not the God we thought he was. We can have what they call a "crisis of faith."  We wonder if we have made a mistake. God doesn't do the things we think he should do. We can become offended by God. 

A lot of believers go through this. I just finished reading, Faith Unraveled, by Rachel Held Evans. She began to question what she had been taught about God. She wasn't sure she wanted a God like that. 

It is good to question our beliefs. There are so many different doctrines in the churches that we can learn wrong things about God. We have to study for ourselves and ask for God to lead us. We can ask him what this or that verse might mean and he will light up our minds.

The doctrine of the Messiah in John's day was mistaken. The verses in the Old Testament about Jesus' second coming were mixed up with the verses of his first coming. 

What was Jesus' advice to John? Look at Jesus, and then judge. Was he acting righteous? Was he fulfilling some of the prophecies? Yes, he was. Then Jesus said something very important, "Blessed is the one who is not offended by me."

Let us not be offended by God or Jesus. Keep searching; never give up. You will find him,... "when you search for him with all your heart."  Jeremiah 291:13

God's Priorities.

Photo by: Михаил Овчинников

Who is God?

Jesus said, "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?"  Matthew 16:26

God's  #1 priority is your soul and its salvation. He wants you to be with him forever in heaven. He wants to be your friend, your father and your God.

Who am I?

I've always wanted to live in heaven. When I was a little girl, I would look at the skies and hope I would see Jesus coming back in the clouds as he said. 

My first mother-in-law was frustrated with me because I became a Christian. She once asked, "Why do you want to be a Christian anyway?  I said, "Eternal life?"  She didn't have an answer for that and I couldn't understand how anyone could not care about it.  Now that I know God better I think I would have said, "Living forever with God," because I'm so excited about meeting him.

Say a person becomes a big success in their career. They buy everything they want, travel anywhere they want and they do anything they want. They are still going to die one day and all that is worth exactly nothing. I think this is what Jesus meant. 

Some people don't want to follow Jesus because they are afraid of what God may want them to do. But they need not fear. After you give your life to God your mind becomes closer and closer to his mind. You will want to do what he wants you to do. It's a daily comittment; God doesn't expect any of us to become perfect right away. Life becomes a school where we constantly learn about God and how to do things for others.

Jesus said, "I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one--as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me."  John 17:21

7 Things I Like About Being 65.

Brought to you by:

Bish Denham - Random Thoughts

&

Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

I joined a bunch of people in a blog fest where you share a list of anything; so, here goes:

 7 Things I Like About Turning 65.

1. At 65, I find it easier to  rejoice in small things, such as waking up in the morning and thinking, "I'm still here?!"

(You have to understand I grew up in the 1950s when 65 was considered OLD. People dropped dead right after they retired, which made the government very happy.)

2. At 65, you never run out of things to talk about, namely: your health. My mom and I have more in common than ever. Just yesterday, Mom walked in the door and said, "I'm feeling a little shaky today." I came back with, "That's a coincidence, my legs are wobbly."

(Score: 1 - 1, although the fact she has to use a cane pretty well trumps anything I have to say.)

3. At 65, my children and grandchildren look on me as a source of wise counsel.
    (Ha! Just joking. They are keeping an eye out for an ice floe with my name on it.)

4. At 65, I've learned I have less to buy. Recently, I looked in a cupboard and saw 4 boxes of staples. I thought, "I'm sure I'll be dead before I run out of these."

5. At 65, I don't have to cook Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners anymore. My daughters and grandchildren do it all while Mom and I sit in the living room being old.

6. At 88, my mother is healthier than I am. I've always told my mother I would take care of her in her old age. Now I'm thinking, maybe we could go to a rest home together! I'd have an instant roomie.

7. At 65, my husband still loves me. Amazing, but true.