Tag: Faith

God Doesn’t Fit in Our Box !

Published on by Sandie DLeave a comment

The Bible – There are some things that make no sense to me. Now, granted it may be a me thing for the most part and I’m making more out of it then I need to should be.

I often get into conversations about why is it that I can believe there is a God. Some people think that is foolish in believing there is a God that created the world. I guess they would prefer to think they come from monkeys and baboons. I will let them think that if they want to believe that, but to me that is just foolishness on so many levels.

ImageThen others that may believe there is a God wants to fit Him into their little box. And that makes no sense to me how God can fit into a box.

It seems to me that there are an awful lot of people who want to have God conform to their way of thinking and can justify just about anything. I got thinking about this when I was reading about how two pastors got married and is now divorcing. There are many things going on in and around us that makes me scratch my head and wonder what the heck the problem is. And I guess it is as simple as people conforming to this world and not God’s Will. Maybe not that simple, but it’s the only thing I can think of.

Even though there are those who don’t believe in God, so they don’t worry about keeping God in a little box and trying to get Him to do what they want Him to do or to justify their own actions and deeds. Since I am a believer in God and that Christ died for my sins, I just think it is sad that people can’t or won’t know what it is like to be loved unconditionally and to know without a doubt where they would spend eternity. They just believe this life is it and nothing more. So sad!

ImageIn Romans 12:2 (NIV) it says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Not conforming to the world isn’t the easiest things to do since we are borne and raised in the world. There are pressures from those in the world for us to conform to the ways of the world. I find this difficult to understand when it is Christians and are teaching those in their congregations that everything is OK in the name of Love and unity. I think that is a bunch of hogwash and should not be going on in any church that claims it is a church following Biblical principals.

I know for myself, I am a control freak big time and I have a hard time giving God my 100%. But then when I don’t, things backfire big time. And there are times I just want to hold my finger up and say “just a minute, I have this”, when I don’t have it at all. In Matthew 10:39 it says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

When I get my thoughts going and want to do something, I have to keep myself in check and make sure what my motivation really is. This would be when I have to ask the Holy Spirit and to listen. The Holy Spirit isn’t going to lead us astray. Our hearts and minds can do that on it’s on and I have found for myself at-least, that I can’t trust my heart and mind when it comes to certain things. Plus I know that the Holy Spirit won’t try to stroke my ego so I can have all the warm fuzzy feelings you want to have. More times than not, it tells me what I don’t want to hear or admit to.

I also can’t help but wonder what the motivation is when church leaders, pastors, elders, deacons or whoever says or does things so they don’t have to stir the pot. Who are they trying to impress? I don’t think God would be impressed over showy stuff and giving into the ways of the world because they want to increase numbers at church or the bankroll.

ImageI’m not exactly sure of what my main point is here with this post. But I do know that God is the only one in control. It isn’t the pastors or church leaders. They are going to be held accountable too and I cringe when I think of how it will be for those who led His sheep astray because they didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Shoot, they can hurt my feelings if I am doing something I need to change or that is getting in the way of my relationship with Christ. There are some pastors or TV evangelists that reminds me of a peacock. They seem very pretty and they are pleasing to look at. Eventually the noises come out of their mouths and they are loud and annoying. They demand your attention or they get even louder and they strut their stuff for all to see.

I’m happy to see that our pastor and past pastors weren’t that way. Well there was one, but he was not the smartest cookie in the jar to say the least. Pastor Ray isn’t about keeping up appearances or having to be the “look at me” kind of peacock. Which I’m very happy over that, because I’m not looking for another church since they are like family to me.

God knows what He is doing and more than likely isn’t impressed when we try to manipulate or want him to do things our way. God is the only God and when we are told in the Ten Commandments that we aren’t to worship any other god before Him, I think I will not do that. He is a loving God, but one that doesn’t like to be told to do things because we want Him to.

ImageI do want to leave this final thought. In the beginning I said how the Bible confuses me at times. Well a lot of times. I also know that even if I don’t understand everything in it, God does. Some things aren’t things I need to believe. I just have to have faith and know that it is what it is. I’m pretty sure that when I am dead to this world and with God, those things won’t matter anyhow. I will be in His presence, so there is no need to know about dinosaurs, time and all that other stuff.

 

Lean Not on Our Own Understanding!

Published on by Sandie DLeave a comment

1947785_438162936287494_464308161565628042_nJust yesterday I had this person on my friends list comment on a picture I posted about God’s NOT Dead. I’m not sure exactly if he is a person of faith, agnostic or an atheist. But the question he presented me with was “I change my mind when presented with new evidence. How about YOU?” He posted an article about this and I have to say that it was way over my head which of course I didn’t understand or grasp what so ever. But I can totally grasp my faith in God.

Now, I’m the kind of person that can change my mind on a lot of things depending on what it is about. There are countless things that we don’t know or understand. Everyday is a new lesson presented to us.

There is always going to be a way to look at things from a different view. I’m the kind of person that likes to learn and sometimes my curiosity has gotten me into a whole boat load of trouble. But I still learned from those experiences. I am also the kind of person who wants to be right all the time. I don’t know anyone who would want to be wrong all the time.

When presented with information and someone can back up what and why they feel a certain way, then I have been known to change my mind. Although there is one thing that will never change. And that is my faith in God. Through my own life experiences I know without a doubt that God exists. Now if I didn’t have my personal experiences and a heart that is set on God, then yeah, I would be able to have my mind changed.

I do think it is interesting to learn about other faiths and about life in general. Like I said earlier, we are learning everyday. How can I better understand those around me if I’m not willing to learn more? I can’t! But at the same time, I feel that I need to make sure that my faith is strong enough for those times I encounter those who beleive in a God or no God at all. How can I know what and why I believe if I’m not grounded in my faith?

religion-vs-faithFaith is different than religion. I’m pretty sure we are all religious about something. One of the things I’m religious about is turning my computer on to watch Once Upon a Time on Sunday evenings. Many are religious about going to church each Sunday. But going to church isn’t going to save the person.

When looking online for the meaning of faith and religion I came across this and it was a simple way to put it. Faith is all the elements that we touch God with, in our minds or through circumstances. It is mainly GOD communicating to us. Religion is all the things mankind attaches to that communication; buildings, leaders, statues, and rules of worship. For those who want the technical term and meanings, I included those below.

Meaning of Religion:

The outward act or form by which men indicate their recognition of the existence of a god or of gods having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service, and honor are due; the feeling or expression of human love, fear, or awe of some superhuman and overruling power, whether by profession of belief, by observance of rites and ceremonies, or by the conduct of life; a system of faith and worship; a manifestation of piety; as, ethical religions; monotheistic religions; natural religion; revealed religion; the religion of the Jews; the religion of idol worshipers.”

Meaning of Faith:

Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony. 2. The assent of the mind to the statement or proposition of another, on the ground of the manifest truth of what he utters; firm and earnest belief, on probable evidence of any kind, especially in regard to important moral truth. Faith, that is, fidelity, — the fealty of the finite will and understanding to the reason.

There are many religions out there and I do believe that you need to have faith of some sort when it comes to joining and participating in church activities, missions and so on.

There is a huge difference between the person who believes in their heart and participates in an activity, and the person who does not believe and just goes along as if it is a social hour or they want to fit in. If you take away all the man made baggage of religion you are left with faith

trust[Pr 3:5-6]: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct[a] your paths.;

We aren’t to lean on our own understanding. When I read this I am taking God at His Word. And if we aren’t, then we are leaning on our own understanding. Which I have had way too many experiences where the way I see things can be distorted in many ways. But because of my faith, I know without a doubt that I can trust and believe that God will be there, even when I don’t get it. Which is quite often.

Notice: lean not on your own understanding. But without an understanding through a study and acceptance of what God has said in His Word, we are only left with our own understanding.

There is one last thing I want to add. I seen this posted on Mandisa’s Facebook page and thought it was profound on how her post flowed so well with my topic. If you don’t know Mandisa or her music, she use to be on Idol and has won awards and I love her music so much and the words always seem to be something I need to hear.

When we walk by faith—not by sight—we are #Overcomers. When we believe what our Heavenly Father says about us, what Jesus says we can do, and what the Holy Spirit Himself will do through us, we are #Overcomers. We don’t have to rely on our strength alone. Our mighty Deliverer fights our battles. Our job is to stay close to Him and let Him do what only He can! Overcomer Music Video…

God Knows What’s Best!

Published on by Sandie DLeave a comment

God has a plan, Imagebut sometimes it may not be as clear to us as we would like.

I started this blog post a number of months ago and forgot that I started it. That was until last night when I was listening to JJ Heller and her husband Dave in concert at Calvary Chapel. My daughter Jessica found out about an hour before the concert that she was going to be here in St. George. I love JJ Heller. Her songs are simple and they speak to my heart. One of her songs that comes to mind and she sang was “Your Hands” .

Your Hands Lyrics (partial)

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn’t there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands
Read more at http://www.lyrics.com/your-hands-lyrics-jj-heller.html#6MivrTd4VywOzghV.99

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn’t there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

I have gotten into this conversation many times over the past few years. I have some pretty tough diagnosis’s medically. My medical diagnosis is the CIPD form of Guillian Barre Syndrome, Myasthenia Gravis and residual effects from these two diagnosis’s. My blood pressure is pretty much out of control and they have decided to name it Malignant Hypertension. Which is basically really high blood pressure that is out of control. My muscles get weak throughout the day and things can be a mess off an on through the day. I have been on home health and IV medicines for what seems like forever. If you want to know more about the diagnosis’s you can Google them. There are many sites you can learn from.

I don’t want this post to be about my medical problems and all the prognosis stuff. I want to share how it is that I get through the difficult days and moments that can change on a dime.

ImageDuring many conversations people will ask me why I don’t get depressed or want to run away and hide from life. Because if they had to deal with the same things, they would want to do that. And I have to say it is only because of God. If I didn’t have God and my faith in Him, I would have no hope that things can get better. God has a purpose for my life and I have to just trust Him. Getting upset and dwelling on the negative is something that is no option for me. If I did that I would curl up in a ball and not really care about anything or anyone. I would be a hopeless and miserable person.

A friend of mine named Chris, was very helpful in understanding that we need to trust God even in difficult times. I think I pretty much did, but I wanted to hold back a bit when it came to trusting fully because I was just seeing the now moment, not the Wow moment that God had and has in store for me. When I was and still going through rough patches it is hard to see God working in my life. 

I’m very much a control freak. Those who know me really well, that I can get a bit anal over things. It has to be done right and I’m not very good at trusting others to follow through on doing things the way I would do them. I have gotten a little bit better at doing this, but it is very much a work in progress, lol.  When it comes to my medical things though, I have no choice but to trust God in all things. It wasn’t an overnight thing, but it is the right thing to do. Really the only thing to do. Because I can’t control those things in my life.

Because of my life experiences I have had some wonderful opportunities to share my faith with people who are hurting and have no hope. They see my struggles as something that is horrible. I don’t really see it this way though. Because of my struggles I have to depend on God more. I have to depend less on my own way of doing things, because it backfires on me everytime I do that.

Over the past few years, the people I have gotten the opportunity to meet, share and pray for and with is because of my struggles and medical issues. They( Dr’s and nurses) know that things are pretty grim for the most part and when they enter the room to give me test results and change my treatment plan, they look grim. They don’t want to deliver the news or tell me they don’t know if there is much more they can do. But through these discussions, I get a chance to let them know that God has it covered. None of us knows how many days or minutes we have. We are all under Gods rule and timing.

ImageWhen someone asks if they can pray for me, I have no problem with that. I don’t always share my prayer needs because it can be difficult to explain to the multitudes what it is I need. But God knows what they are. And He does answer prayers. They may not be in the way I may want them answered. But He does answer. And He does know what is best.

My favorite verse in the Bible and it brings me hope and reminds me that God is ALWAYS there is; God is our refuge and strength, ever present in times of trouble. Psalm 46:1,,, I find so much hope and peace in this verse. I use it as my daily affirmation. God never breaks His promise and I know this to be true.

ImageA number of my friends pray for complete healing. When they say that I know that God has already answered this. Because He sent His son Jesus Christ to die for me. I know that even if it may not be in this lifetime, He will heal me and anyone else who comes to Him and asks. Besides, there is not one of us that can be 100 percent healed while we are flesh and bones. All are hurting in some way. Even if we don’t see it. The moment we were born into this world, we were destined to die because we are all born into sin.

When I think about the song “Your Hands”, I can’t help but think about how God has been a part of my life. He loves me and would never leave me. There are days when I want to throw my hands in the air and give up and yell. And yes, sometimes I yell at God. He knows I can throw a pretty good temper tantrum and get overly stressed. But during those times, He lets me vent and carry on, and brings me back to reality, lol.

And this may sound strange, but my illness and medical things are a blessing in disguise. Because of these things, God has been able to use me to talk to others I would have never gotten the chance to meet. A medical technician is someone I think about. I will be brief since I get long winded, lol

One of my Drs is in Las Vegas. I had to do a lot of testing for my neurologist. Overall the testing took over 4 hours. They were all kinds of nerve conduction, SSEP and some other ones that was time consuming. The technician I had was having a hard day. In 4 hours, you can talk about a lot of things. As she was doing the tests, I found out her husband had terminal cancer. They weren’t Christians. As she was reading my test results, she said at one point that I should not be walking and how she has seen worse results, but not many. Normally those results would be for a paraplegic. She looked confused. I didn’t feel the shocks of the nerve test. I could feel tingling when the nerve shocks were at the highest. She didn’t understand how I wasn’t feeling what I should be and why I was still walking this earth. And all I said was simply by the Grace of God. During that visit, I was able to witness to her and tell her how God has been there for me. Only because of Him can I do what I do. God has a bigger and better plan than any Dr’s. He understands the test results and knows all. This technician did contact me and we talked a bit ever now and then. Her husband eventually died. But she shared our conversation and I have a feeling He was given some kind of hope that there is a better place and that God loves him.