For you
I know I'm writing a lot tonight, but I have a lot to say. After I shared the first three breakthroughs earlier today, (see post below), I was thinking. The past few weeks have been quite a turnaround for me spiritually.
I don't know where you, my reader, stands with your relationship with the Lord. Would you categorize it as great; good(but could improve); satisfactory; bewildered; or non-existent?
I want to share that even though I became a follower of Jesus as a youth, I mostly had head knowledge. I also had a lot of issues that were preventing my true following Him. It seems lately that the Lord has been using different things to really get my attention on Him.
The one thing I want to share tonight is that for years I really didn't understand what the symbolism, what the true meaning of the cross was. I knew that Jesus paid our sins in our place so we wouldn't have to. But how did the cross fulfill the OT laws? Why was Jesus called the Lamb; Why did His death end all sacrificing of animals to God? Those questions as well as others boggled my mind. And I'll expand more on it. Last year I found those answers.
I will be posting links, and verses that answer these questions.
I am still a learner. I don't have my act together or know all the answers. I do know that God thru His Son Jesus has prepared a way so that I(and each and every human) can have full, abundant, eternal life. I know that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, infill, and enpower believers. I pray this for each of you.
I want you to know that I pray for each of you who is reading this blog. I pray that you can find the joy that I have in Jesus. My life has had many turns and struggles. I am definitely not perfect. But I love Jesus. He has met me anew recently while I was in a deep valley. His presence and love mean so much to me that I want to pass it on to you. Please use the comment section. I'd like to hear from my readers where you are spiritually. I want to pray for you, regardless of wherever your relationship is on the above spectrum. Please let me know how I can pray for you. Sometimes we need to rededicate ourselves to Him. Here is another quote from one of my most favorite Christian authors, Corrie ten Boom:
"God is voting for us all the time. The devil is voting against us all the time. The way we vote carries the election.
'Choose you this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' Joshua 24:15 KJV
Yes, Lord, I again, or for the first time, choose to be Yours. What joy to know that You chose me. I lay my weak hand in Your strong hand. Together with You, I am more than conqueror."
Each New Day, Corrie ten Boom; Revell: 1977, p. 15
Here is a concise way of becoming a follower of Jesus:
http://www.billygraham.org/SH_StepsToPeace.asp
Which way are you voting?
posted by ampraisingHim at 11/12/2006 07:28:00 PM
1 Comments:
I was raised Catholic by my single mother in the 1960's and 70's. She is from Germany (she met my dad when he was stationed over there, they married and he brought her back to the states 3 weeks before I was born)and divorced my father when I was 6 years old (a definite no-no back then). I grew up w/o the contact, affirmation and love from my father that I desperately craved. It influenced me greatly, leading to a "quest for love" in all the wrong places! I got pregnant with my oldest daughter Jennifer when I was just 16 and married her father.
We divorced 2 years later and I found myself at 19 being a single mother and continuing to live a ppromiscuous lifestyle, looking for someone to love me.
I married my daughter Jessica's father out of panic when Jennifer's father tried to take her away from me. I knew it was wrong the moment I did it! Nearly 3 years into the marriage, I suffered a miscarriage and found out my husband was having an affair.
As a child, I was very religious, going to Mass 6 days a week and attending Catholic grade school and high school. For some odd reason, when I was 9, my mother took me to a Billy Graham Crusade. At the invitational, I ran down towards the stage to give my heart to Jesus. My mother, bless her heart, told the man that we already attened a church. I often wonder how differently my life would've been had I been alklowed to foloow through with that. I have no regrets though.
In high school I debated the nuns continually on the need for confession to a priest and other issues. I made straight A's either because they couldn't wait to get me out of their classes or because I was the only one paying attention!
Looking back, God was wooing me all the while. While I was married to my 2nd husband, I took my oldest daughter Jennifer to church because my mother told me had enjoyed going with her while she kept her during our honeymoon. (Both my parents are Believers now, my father is an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God)
When my 2nd marriage blew apart when I was 23, I turned to God to carry me through. I told him that the only way I would ever marry anyone ever again, was if He hand-picked him and dropped him in my lap! God blessed em with my wonderful, godly husband Dave whom I love more than I ever thought was possible.
I give all this background to show just how loving my Heavenly Father is! I have been grown and stretched over the years beyond my wildest imaginations! When I was dagnosed with my auto-immune disorder, God took me to another level of intimacy with Him. He has soothed and healed my heart of hurts from my childhood and restored my father and I to a loving relationship. I had always been more able to identify with Jesus but through my illness, I have experienced the loving Father God that my soull was desperate for growing up!
Am I complete? Am I perfect? Not by a long shot! But....There is a Savior who call s me to deny myself and to live for Him. In light of all that He has done for me, how can I not obey?
Connie
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