Forgiveness

My Personal Prayer of Psalm 91

Psalm 91

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.^[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.” ³ Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
¹⁴ “Because he^[b] loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

I really love this verse. I will admit that I pray it close to everyday over my husband and myself. I have done this for years now.

I do believe that God does watch over us and helps us to follow His commands and ways.
After someone broke into our house while we were sleeping, I thought for sure that I would not be able to sleep through the nights anymore and that I would be very angry with whoever did this to us. After all breaking into someone else’s house just because you want something they have is not only obviously wrong and greedy it selfish and self-centered. I have had a really hard time with others that act so self-focused and self-absorbed. But I can honestly say that besides feeling stupid and naive okay I’ll admit a little upset with myself, I do not have any other feelings but thankfulness towards God and that is the biggest one I have and compassion to whoever did this. My prayer for that person is that they will repent to the Lord and turn from this type of lifestyle and start serving the Lord. I really do hope they do that. I do not want anything bad to really happen to the person or persons. I just hope and pray they turn towards God and change their lives.

I can say this is only from God that I feel this compassion towards them. Normally I would be very angry at them and want some kind of justice for this violation of our space and stealing. That is the opposite of how I am feeling so I can say that God is so much better then great. I know that it is because of Him that I have done such a 180 in this.

Thank You Lord!

Always Check What Your Taught With Your Bible

I heard on the news that Pat Robinson said an answer to a question that it is okay to divorce your spouse if they are suffering from Alzheimer’s. This first of all I will admit made me very angry and deeply sad. Then after I calmed down and thought about it. I am just deeply saddened by this.

First of all and most importantly it is a perfect example of what one of my close friends told me about 6 to 8 years ago. You ALWAYS  have to go to the Bible and see what the Word of God says. Do not just believe it is true just because a teacher or church leader or even a pastor tells you it is true.

Second obviously I do not believe that this is true in anyway. Because I am pretty sure that the Bible says that God detests divorce. I also believe that we take vows before God on our wedding day saying that we will love and cherish our spouse in sickness or in health, richer or poorer, tell death do us part.

Third it saddens me that Pat Robinson who has a responsibility to all his viewers would give such ungodly advice. There is a responsibility for those who are given the responsibility to guide others spiritually.

Fourth and most of all it saddens me because when someone who is suffering from such a lonely disease as it is and they really need their spouse it just isn’t right to leave them. My heart aches for those who suffer from this disease.

In full disclosure one of my all time favorite movies is “The Notebook” because it shows the love that he has for his wife who is suffering from this disease. It shows what true and real love is all about. My response to the one who wrote the letter to Pat Robinson to begin with is would Jesus leave you if you were suffering from this disease? Aren’t we supposed to love our spouse like Christ loves the church?

Friends Are A Blessing From God!

In a devotional journal that I am working on right now there is a poem by: Sir Fredrick  Pollock

“Friends given by God in mercy and in love;

My counselors, my comforts, and guides;

My joy in grief, my second bliss in joy;

Companions of my young desires; in doubt

My oracles; my wings in high pursuit.

O, I remember, and will ne’er forget

Our meeting spots, our chosen sacred hours,

Our burning words; that utter’d all the soul,

Our faces beaming with unearthly love;

Sorrow with sorrow sighing, hope with hope

Exulting, heart embracing heart entire.”

In a different blog that I wrote a week or so ago I said that I can count on one hand the friends that are no longer called friends, they are family. Those are the friends that I thought of when I read this poem. Then all I could do was thank God for blessing my life with such friends.

I like all of us have had some hard times in life, and I can tell you that it is definitely true God gives us close friends that will walk through those times with us. I heard some people call them Angels that walk on earth. I really like that, because that is exactly what it is.

To those friends of mine and you know who you are I just want to say thank you for being there for me in all the hard, and good times. You are definitely Angels sent from God to me.

My prayer for all of you is that you all have friends like that in your life. My prayer for myself is that I will be a friend like that to those God has blessed me with by putting in my life.

Are We One Body?

Tonight the blog is going to be more about something that I feel some Christians and churches do that end up hurting other believers. In full disclosure I have to admit I am one of those hurt believers.

My husband and I went to a church in our area for about a year. Then there where something’s that we just did not agree with. I don’t want to go into what those things were in this blog because it is beside the point. So back to the point we were even in a home group there and we made what we thought at the time were a lot of good Christian friends in and out of that home group. After we left the church my husband and I tried to get together with some of these friends. They said they would let us know when would be a good time. I am thinking since it has been over a year later there was no good time.  I even got a letter from a lady at this church who did not know why we left the church and it blamed me for not forgiving others at the church and that God was not happy with me for just leaving like that. The funny thing was that I was not upset or anything bad with anyone at the church. God was just calling us to go to another church in the area where He had other plans for us that we could not do with the church we were at.  I do have to admit that getting that letter made me a little angry because she was butting in when she did not have all the facts. God very quickly told me to show her grace so I did.

We have seen some of these people off and on in the community and whenever we see them I will say most of them have been very nice to us. The problem that I have with it is that there are a few that ignore us and act like we are sinners for leaving the church. This is where I think we as believers need to show grace on both sides to each other. We as believers are One Body and we need each other to make up the whole Body. That church does one part of the Body really well. The church we are at now does another part of the Body really well and just happens to be where God has given my husband and I gifts and abilities to be used at this church. 

I am just asking believers to keep in mind just because someone may leave your church for another one do not out cast them for doing so (unless it is a cult which then they really need you). Anyways I just don’t understand why it is hard for us not to take it personally when someone leaves a church for another one. In our case and from what I know of others who have also left churches it is God calling them to a specific church to do a specific task that He has planned for them that they cannot do for whatever reason at the church they were in.

I am saddened by the loss of the friendships from that church. But I do have to say that there are few that still hang out with us. It is just sad that I can count them on one hand. Lets all show Christ love, grace and mercy to each other and act in one accord as the whole Body of Christ.