Month: October 2017

He Knit Me Together

I LOVE this! Before I was even a thought in my mother’s mind, GOD was with me.

“YOU {GOD} made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” – – Psalms 139:13-14 NLT

Imagine! Marvel at His creation! He takes 2 cells, which alone are nothing, and He joins them together to create the complex and incredible thing we call life! Man can join the cells, and man can manipulate the cells, but only GOD can create the life within; what a MARVEL, what IMAGINATION, what CREATIVITY!

My puny little mind has trouble grasping the sheer magnitude of it all. Every single day in this country, thousands of babies die through abortion. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the AGI (Guttmacher Institute), in 2015 there were over 900,000 babies aborted. Killed. Of those, less than 2% – 2% – were from rape, incest, or the mother’s life was in danger! That’s insane. Basically, that means that 98% of babies who are murdered each year is because the mother doesn’t want to deal with it, for whatever reason. According to the CDC, in 2013, black women were 3.75% more likely to have an abortion than white women. Where are the pro athletes standing – or kneeling – on this issue?

Even if this were not a moral issue, it should be a financial issues. 17 states use public funds to pay for abortion, and about 14% of all abortions in the U.S. are paid for with public funds. That’s our tax dollars at work, people. Putting aside both of those objections, think on this for a moment. There is a tremendous outcry for more gun control because there were 59 people killed and over 500 injured this past week in Las Vegas. The hurricanes this year have taken 34 lives (so far) in Puerto Rico, and over 1oo in the Florida and Texas hurricanes. There has been a vigorous response to all of these tragedies, as there should be. I am by no means making light of these because they are devastating. I’m pointing out that lives lost due to overt violence or through natural disasters are next to nothing when compared to the over 2,400 lives lost every day through abortion. Where is the outrage; the outcry? I don’t hear it.

Did you know that at 45 days after conception, the heart is formed and beating? At 9 weeks, well within the first trimester, there is a recognizable baby, and at 52 weeks, babies have retinas, feet and hands? Check out this fascinating, eye-opening video – https://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized .

Not just fascinating, but fantastic, awe-inspiring, breathtakingly beautiful, or to quote Alexander Tsiaras, “The magic, the mystery, the divine that is us.”

Thought provoking? I pray so.

Endurance

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly GOD Loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His Love.” – Romans 5:3‭-‬5 (http://bible.com/116/rom.5.3-5.NLT)

I find myself exhausted from the problems and trials we face today, as I am sure many others are facing the same. So much killing and mayhem and disrespect, and for what? We certainly don’t live in a perfect world, and in the United States, we have problems… but we also have choices, more than any other place in the world. If certain actors and athletes, politicians and business people, Trust-fund babies and others have such a problem with living here, then why don’t they leave? It isn’t as though there aren’t enough people trying to get in to our nation that we couldn’t replace those who want to leave. Seriously, think of all of those outspoken people who publicly expressed their intentions of leaving the country if Trump won the Presidency…. And horror of horrors, he did win, but those same people are still here. Why? It’s not like they can’t afford to leave. The truth is that they can’t find another place on earth where they can spew their messages of hatred and evil with the freedom they have here. It’s just too easy for them to remain, plus they have their soapboxes already prepared here. The truth is, it would require to much effort on their part and they aren’t prepared to expend it.

Personally, there isn’t another country on earth where I would rather live. Oh, I would love to be able to travel and visit more places; getting back to Europe, going to Canada, traveling to the Middle East and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, Africa… it’s all on my bucket list. Before all that, though, I would like to travel these United States and explore it from New York to California, and Alaska and Hawaii. (Dream on, sister!)

Take all of the problems we face, and they are many, and there’s no way we can deal with them on our own. They are too heavy to carry on our own, and when we try to handle all these things by ourselves we become physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. Fortunately for us, we don’t need to do it alone. We have access to the One Who can carry it all for us; however, in order for Him to take it, we have to let go of the burdens. I’m not saying it’s easy to let go, because I know firsthand how difficult it is. Remembering that the GOD of Creation is waiting for me to relinquish my burdens, and reminding myself of how much greater He is than anything or anyone in this earth…it’s often a full-time job! He is Capable; He is Mighty.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials….” (verse 3). This is the most difficult verse. Rejoice, Rejoice, REJOICING in adversity and trials. My human nature would rather destroy the thing (s) that hurts me, but our God says to Rejoice. Rather than wallow in the anger and frustration, the depression that stalks us (ALL sent by the enemy, satan), lay it all at the bottom of the cross, at the feet of Jesus. He is our sole source of Salvation. Not a priest, not Buddha or Vishna, not Mother Earth or any other gods. “Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.” – 2 Peter 2:2 (http://bible.com/116/2pe.2.2.NLT)

The TRUTH: “Jesus told him, ‘I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the FATHER except through Me.’ ” – John 14:6 (http://bible.com/116/jhn.14.6.NLT)

AMEN.

In Christ Alone

From the Catholic faith comes this beautiful prayer, called St. Patrick’s Breastplate, from which I pulled this excerpt:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today.

God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,

God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I am not Catholic, because I know that the only intercession I need with God comes through Jesus Christ, not a man. No matter what church name is over the door, it is the belief in Jesus’ saving Grace that we need in our lives. If the Catholic Church, or Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Church of Christ or of God, Southern Baptist or any other Baptist, or Methodist, teaches that the only way to God is through His Son Jesus Christ, that’s all that matters to me. The LORD will judge people’s hearts, not me.

This prayer touches my heart, and I pray that it touches many others. It reminds me of the 23rd Psalm, “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want… ”

Paul wrote to the Ephesians on the power of faith and prayer:

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the FATHER, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.

Then CHRIST will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His Love is. May you experience the Love of CHRIST, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from GOD.

Now all glory to GOD, Who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever!AMEN.” – Ephesians 3:14‭-‬21 (http://bible.com/116/eph.3.14-21.NLT)