Forgiveness.,,,

So often I hear people say they cannot forgive people for certain things.  I think we can forgive people of just about anything if we really try.  Forgiveness does not mean you have to overlook all they have done.  If they wronged you, then you can either dwell on what they did and let it eat away at you or you can ask God to give you the strength to forgive.  You don't have to spend time with them.  You just go on living and enjoying your life the way God intends you to.

I had a woman who was about 90 years old, call and asked if I would forgive her.  This woman was many years older then me and when I was young, she did not fail to tell me my mother was no good and I would end up being just like her.  She said several other hurtful things to at various times in my life.  i was always too fat or two slow.  One time we were at the dinner table and this woman was here.  Someone was trying to pass the potatoes and I did not see them.  I did hear her say, "See how retarded she is.  She will not even pass the potatoes when she should,"  This woman was in her fifties and i was a small girl.  Those things stay with you.  I thought of it often but never let it get me down and I did not get angry when I thought about it.  I simply said, "I forgave you a long time ago.  I just never told you,"

And it is true.  I did.  I could have hated her but that is not my way of dealing with things.

This post came to mind when i read today's bible lesson and I will share it with you....
Matthew 18: 21-35
²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said , Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?  ²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.  ²³ Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.  ²⁴ And when he had begun to reckon , one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.  ²⁵ But forasmuch as he had not to pay , his lord commanded him to be sold , and his wife, and children, and all that he had , and payment to be made . ²⁶ The servant therefore fell down , and worshipped him, saying , Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.  ²⁷ Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion , and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.  ²⁸ But the same servant went out , and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat , saying , Pay me that thou owest . ²⁹ And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying , Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.  ³⁰ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt . ³¹ So when his fellowservants saw what was done , they were very sorry , and came and told unto their lord all that was done . ³² Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:  ³³ Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?  ³⁴ And his lord was wroth , and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.  ³⁵ So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, Noah got drunk, David had an affair, Paul was a murderer, Miriam was a 

gossip, Abraham was old, Lazerus was dead, Gideon was insecure, Martha was a worrier,  Thomas was a doubter, 

Sarah was impatient, Elijah was depressed, Moses stuttered, and zaccheus was short.  God does not expect people to 

be perfect. God does not call the qualified.  He qualifies the called.  We must understand that once  He calls us, we are 

qualified to do what He wants us to do. You do not have to look a certain way.  He will call you if you open up your 

heart to Him and ask His forgiveness.

Luke 11:9   And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

He expects nothing else from us but to live our lives according to His word and follow Him.  You know it is really not that hard once we decide to follow Him.  Is it easy?  It may seem hard to do if you are not really living the life you should be living.  You may think you have to give up too much but once you decide to follow Christ, you are not really giving up much of anything.

are you ready?

“Ready for Christmas,” she said with a sigh
As she gave a last touch to the gifts piled high…
Then wearily sat for a moment and read,
Til soon, very soon, she was nodding her head.
Then quietly spoke a voice in her dream,
“Ready for Christmas, what do you mean?”
She woke with a start and a cry of despair.
“There’s so little time and I’ve still to prepare.
Oh, Father!  Forgive me, I see what You mean!
To be ready means more than a house swept clean.
Yes, more than the giving of gifts and a tree.
It’s the heart swept clean that He wanted to see,
A heart that is free from bitterness and sin.”
So be ready for Christmas - and ready for Him.

Bedtime Blessings

I am one who cannot study my bible with back ground noises such as tv and people talking so I redid one of our spare bedrooms into a sewing/reading room. It is really nice to get away and read with no distractions. 

While I was in there this morning I came across a book titled BEDTIME BLESSINGS by John Trent, Phd.  It is a book of activities you can do to help your little ones learn about God and stay interested in Him for awhile, hopefully, a life time.

My youngest daughter is not a firm believer in any form of religion.  She is  spiritualistic, she says.  Whatever that is, that is what she is.  I have her daughter every weekend though and we take her to church.  My daughter has no problem with this.  I have decided to do some of these activities with her and one is writing a letter to God every night.  I think it is such a cool idea.  She can talk to me about what she wants God to know and I will write the words for her and let her pretend to write.  This book is filled with Great ideas like that.  I am going to donate it to our church when I am done with it cause there are many young couples with children in there and I know they would use it.

I think I may be the only way my grand daughter will learn about Jesus and I am going to do what I can to make sure she does know.

Touch The Lord

Often when I am troubled by life's events such as what has been happening lately, I page through one of my bibles and I always find relief, whether it is in bible scriptures or in one of the many devotioanals that is in a bible my friend gave me.  In one of them, WOMEN'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE. I found a devotional written by Wanda K.Jones.   It is called Touch the Lord.

It is the story of the woman who had bleeding for twelve years.  She believes that if she can get close to Jesus, he can heal her of her illness.

“And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? … And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” (Mark 5:25-30,34)

Jesus did not have to ask who it was.  I believe he knew who she was.  We need to be more like her.  Even though He knows everything but He wants us to trust in Him and go to Him with our problems.  He will take care of them.  This devotional lifted my spirits a great deal.


If you are hurting for any reason, whether it be physical, emotional, or someone is causing that pain, Go to God.  Touch the Lord with your prayers.  He will help.

The Trinity

I do not know how many of you believe in the trinity.  God, the father, son and holy ghost.  I know it is hard to imagine but I believe in it and I think there is nothing impossible under God.  It is very hard for me to explain but I found this article that explains it quite well.

Q: "What about the doctrine of the Trinity, the Holy Trinity?"

our A: You and I live in a three-dimensional world. All physical objects have a certain height, width, and depth. One person can look like someone else, or behave like someone else, or even sound like someone else. But a person cannot actually be the same as another person. They are distinct individuals.

God, however, lives without the limitations of a three-dimensional universe. He is spirit. And he is infinitely more complex than we are.

That is why Jesus the Son can be different from the Father. And, yet the same.

The Bible clearly speaks of: God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. But emphasizes that there is only ONE God.

If we were to use math, it would not be, 1+1+1=3. It would be 1x1x1=1. God is a triune God.

Thus the term: "Tri" meaning three, and "Unity" meaning one, Tri+Unity = Trinity. It is a way of acknowledging what the Bible reveals to us about God, that God is yet three "Persons" who have the same essence of deity. Some have tried to give human illustrations for the Trinity, such as H₂O being water, ice and steam (all different forms, but all are H₂O). Another illustration is an egg having a shell, egg yolk and egg white, but this egg illustration shows that there would be "parts" to God, which isn't the case.

God the Son (Jesus) is fully, completely God. God the Father is fully, completely God. And God the Holy Spirit is fully, completely God. Yet there is only one God. In our world, with our limited human experience, it's tough to understand the Trinity. But from the beginning we see God this way in Scripture. Notice the plural pronouns "us" and "our" in Genesis 1:26 -- Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Though not a complete list, here is some other Scripture that shows God is one, in Trinity:

• "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" (Deut. 6:4)
  
• "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God." (Isa. 45:5)
  
• There is no God but one. (1Cor. 8:4)
  
• And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." (Matt. 3:16-17)
  
• "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19)
  
• Jesus said: "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)
  
• "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)
  
• "He who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me." (John 12:45)
  
• If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (Rom. 8:9)
  
• "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 1:20)
  
• And the angel answered and said to her [Mary], "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
  
• [Jesus speaking to His disciples] "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you." ... "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." (John 14:16-17, 23)

I guess, growing up and hearing it being taught to me Sunday after Sunday, it is not hard for me to understand the concept.   I try to explain it to people who do not understand and it is not easy.  I hope this helps some of you.

Trust

How many times have we had a problem in our life and we thought there was no way to solve.  We worried and fretted for days over a bill that would not get paid or a secret we did not want others to know about. Instead of trusting in God to help us, we blunder on in our own way, just knowing we knew how to solve and we didn't.  Often times we made it worse.

Why didn't we just get on our knees and asked God to show us the way or simply say, "Father, I put it all in your hands and what ever happens, happens. Your will be done." You can do that and know that some way it will be taken care of.  Eccl. 3:5 says... Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.   You see, leaning unto our own understanding on how things should be done is much harder then giving it all over to God.

I know that many times people have told me to trust them and I did only to have them betray me.  God will not betray those who trust him Him. I am not saying you should not trust others.  We have to have those in out life whom we love and trust but the main being we should put our trust in is God.  Psalm 118:8
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

Psalm 28:8
“The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.”     I tell you he is my rock.  I am so glad I have him to rely on.