Rainbows

What I have to say may upset some people that I know. It may make some of you angry, but it is something that has really been on my heart lately and I have to share it.
I have not really been keeping up with current events lately. I really don't watch a lot of television simply because with enough noise produced by my 4 kids, I have been enjoying the silence. A few days ago I took my kiddos to get Happy Meals and there was a T.V. right behind us that was so obnoxiously loud that I couldn't help hearing the news show that was playing. The entire segment was devoted to talking about the gay marriage issue that is going on right now.  It got me thinking and I am upset about the actions of the church in general concerning homosexual people. I, myself am straight. I am married to my husband and we have four beautiful children. But over the years I have worked with men and women who were gay or lesbian and I have friends and relatives who are also homosexual. I love them dearly. I truly believe that for me the love that I feel for them was a conscious choice. I have grown up in church and I know how most people in the church as a whole feel about people of the homosexual persuasion. So I really had to dig deep into myself and discover my thoughts on the matter and to do that I turned to my Bible, but what I found may surprise you.
The cornerstone of my faith, Jesus Christ himself, spoke the most simple and profound statement found in Matthew 22:37-40
He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
"Love your neighbor as yourself." Hmm. What I don't see is, "Love your neighbor as yourself unless there is a rainbow flag flying outside their door.
Let's look at another one:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”John 13:34-35
And here's another:
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
"The one who does not love does not know God." Wow! If I choose not to love people for any reason then it says very clearly that I do not know God. The whole purpose for my faith is to have a relationship with God and I don't want to do anything that will keep me from that. God loves the lesbian woman just as much as he loves me. He loves the gay man just as much as he loves my pastor at church. He loves each of us! Now, I know what you church people are thinking... the same thing I wondered about when I did my research in the Bible to sort out my thoughts about the matter... "Are they sinners?"
Let's go back to God's word and see. There are some very good verses to learn what sin is.
Going back to the roots of Christianity, the most basic Jewish laws were the 10 commandments. To sum them up, I am going to paraphrase for the sake of time and space: Don't worship other gods, don't worship idols, don't take the Lord's name in vain, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Don't murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or get jealous of your neighbor's stuff. Well, there is nothing about homosexuality in the 10 commandments, but I will get back to this. So let's look a little harder.
In Romans 1 it says this:
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
So, yes, homosexuality is sin. But wait!! Listen to this! The verse goes on...
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
I don't know of a single church-goer who has not gossiped and I know plenty pew warmers that are arrogant and boastful. Or what about that bit about being disobedient to parents? Do you know of a single person who has lived their entire life without disobeying his or her parents? Has every human always put God first in every instance of their lives? If they have not, they are guilty of idolatry. Still not persuaded, my Christian brothers and sisters? I am about to go even deeper; in Matthew 19 Jesus talks about divorce:
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.
So based on that verse if we are going to make laws based on sin, no divorced person should be allowed to remarry. I don't see people rallying for this, hurling insults at remarried people, telling them how dirty and sinful they are. Yet, right there in black and white Jesus himself says very plainly that He does not approve of this. From what we would think of as the smallest sin, to the really big ones that we think of as the worst, there is not one person on this green earth who is innocent of sin. Each and every one of us has committed at least one of the Ten Commandments or have done something on that list I provided earlier from Romans. I propose we have a rally against all who have disobeyed their parents, they don't deserve any laws that benefit them. What about everyone who has ever been jealous of someone else's stuff? What good benefits do they deserve? Let's make laws against them. Let's rally Washington and make laws against every sin listed in the Bible. Oh, wait, they tried that once for about a few thousand years before Jesus came and that didn't work. To God sin is sin is sin. It is all filth to Him and we ALL reek of it. So in the words of my savior, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone.”
Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one"(italics mine)
Is is my job to judge those people I have worked with, my friends, and my relatives?
Romans 2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
That is a huge NO! If I judge, then I condemn myself. I sure don't want to be condemned! God loves each and every one of us despite our dirty sins. He loves us inside or out of the closet. I don't know of anyone who doesn't have at least one skeleton in theirs. We all have secrets and sins. I believe that if our leaders make laws and decisions based on what we deserve because of our sins then none of us really deserve any good benefits on this earth. I know I don't. It is my job to love the people God has put into my life no matter what lifestyle they choose. It is my job to shine the light of Christ to those around me.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
To the lesbian woman and the gay man reading this I say,"I am so sorry if people who call themselves 'Christians' have ever been mean or rude to you. That is not a true representation of what Jesus wanted. Not all people in the church are like that and I really question if those people really are followers of the one and only true God. Also, my friend, Jesus loves you!! He came and died on this earth to have a relationship with you and not to condemn you. It says so in John 3:16-17 If you were the only person on the earth, he would have done it just for you because He loves you. If you feel like you are missing something, if you need peace in your life, if you are living in chaos and missing a joy that you know is out there somewhere and you keep looking for it, it is Jesus. When you feel broken, He can make your life complete. I know because I have been in a place where I was broken and depressed and hopeless. I have watched my marriage fall apart and then watched Jesus build it back again in miraculous ways. He has a wonderful plan for your life. I don't know what it is, but he does so what I say to you, love, is seek Him and He will whisper into your heart His plan.
To the 'Christian' who has been hateful to anyone in the gay and lesbian community, I say,"Please stop! Show Christ's love to everyone around you no matter who they are. If you don't feel Christ's love, see the last 5 sentences of the above paragraph. It is for you too." If I have offended anyone, that was not my intention. If you have comments, please post them! I would be happy to get your opinion about what I have said. If you agree or have a different opinion, please post that too.

Wait!

Lately I have been getting very restless. God has whispered a promise to my heart of something that He is going to do in my life and has confirmed that through other people whom He has whispered to as well. So now I am waiting for that thing to happen. Waiting... It is so hard to wait once I have gotten a promise from GOD! But I know that once it comes to pass it will be better than I can imagine. I keep wanting to force it and I have to keep reminding myself it is not going to happen on my time or in my way. It's all God!! I have absolutely no control over it at all whatsoever. None, NADA! I keep thinking of Abraham and Sarah waiting for the child that was promised to them. I can't imagine how it must feel to a woman who has never had a child to have to wait for a baby that had been promised to her by God! The thoughts of that sweet child must have consumed her horribly. Day in and day out she must have dreamed and daydreamed about holding that baby in her arms until she thought she would go crazy. No wonder she tried to rush God and figure out a way to make it happen in her own way. It must have seemed impossible for Sarah to have a baby at her age and her history reinforced this belief because her womb had never produced a child in all of her years. But her way was not God's way. Even though she got impatient and tried to rush God's plan a little, God was still faithful and came through on His promise.

When you plant a seed in the earth it takes time to grow. There is nothing you can do to make it grow faster once it's planted in the ground. You can water it and make sure it gets adequate sunlight so that it doesn't die, but you can't speed up the growing process. You just have to be patient. If you want to eat corn on the cob tonight for supper and you plant a seed this morning, I guarantee you will not be eating corn on the cob at suppertime, no matter how much you will it to happen. You can yell at the ground, poke at it, do a "growing dance," chant magic words, beg and plead, but you still will not be eating corn on the cob on your schedule. It will be weeks later when the plant has developed and grown into what it is supposed to be. My job is simply to water the plant and make sure it has adequate Sonlight and wait. God takes care of the rest.

Big 'ole Ugly Tree

I remember a day a few weeks ago when my four year old son fell and skinned his knee. He came to me crying and looking for comfort from his mama. But when I tried to look at it to clean and bandage it, he hid his knee from me and wouldn't let me see it. The Lord reminded me of this a week or two after it happened, and just like He has done so many times with my kids, he taught me some things about myself.
I have wounds that I have hidden from the Lord just like my son hid his wound from me. I have trusted people in my life and given them my heart, but in return they have hurt me and caused me pain which has left me guarding my bruised, wounded heart. I have kept it hidden out of fear; fear of being hurt again, and fear of anyone knowing that it is even there. These wounds were caused from other people sinning against me. They were not wounds that I did anything to cause nor did I deserve them. But I was still afraid to uncover my wounds and let my Great Physician tend to them.
So I kept them covered.
And just like an open wound that is not tended to, my wounds just got worse. Infection set in and I grew hard and calloused. I wouldn't let anyone near me, and like a wounded animal growls at the person who tries to help it, I would snap at those who loved me the most.
Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:15
People had allowed their desires to give birth to sin in my life and as that sin grew, I was slowly dying inside. Because of that sin that was (figuratively) birthed into me by other people, a tree was growing in me that was producing the fruit of more sin. The fruit of the Spirit of God is spoken of in Galatians 5:13 and that is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. This is not what was coming from my life. My life more closely matched the verses that come before that list, and what I could identify in those verses that was sprouting forth in my life was hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, dissension, and envy. So even though I was going to church and I appeared to be a "good Christian girl" my life was not the model of what Christ wants for His followers. In fact if you read on in Galatians it says that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. OUCH! Because I refused to let Jesus cleanse my sins, I was keeping myself from such an enormous blessing: God's Kingdom. God wants me to be His little princess in His Kingdom, but I can't do that with a huge tree of sin growing out of my heart.
So finally I let go of it and Jesus removed that tree. He even dug deep to remove the roots that had pushed their way into every area of my life. Jesus died on a tree to remove the sins from my life that were producing bad fruit so that I could be grafted into His Family Tree!
I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. John 15:5
After He did this He began to whisper to my heart to forgive those who had originally hurt me. "What? Why God? Forgive them?? But what they did was horrible, how can I forgive them?" was my reply. Then he reminded me that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world as is says in Ephesians 6:12. And the hurt that I received was due to the sins that were committed against them that had given birth to death and bad fruit in their lives, too. He told me that if I could forgive them that it would do a number of things:
1. Release me from the pain that it caused me every time I thought about it.
2. Allow me to pray for them and develop a love for them.
3. Stop this continuous cycle of hurt from happening to others.
4. He showed me that forgiveness does not excuse what they did. What they did was sin and it was wrong, but it allows me to have peace to know that God is in control and that He will work all things together for my good as it says in Romans 8:28.
Through forgiveness I have found so much peace. I have begun to love people in my life in a way I didn't think I could. There are still some who have hurt me that I keep at a healthy distance and until I see a healing in their lives they will stay there, but I am no longer angry or hurt by them. They don't control me or cloud my view of my King. I now produce the Good Fruit and His Light is able to shine in me and through me.
Do you have a big ugly sin tree growing in your life? Are you chained by unforgiveness? Ask Him to deliver you and He is so faithful, He will do it!!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

The Touch

I have been thinking a lot lately about the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment. It keeps getting brought to my attention. I have been praying for wisdom about healing so I feel that the fact that I keep hearing about it or being reminded about it is very important. I like what Bill Johnson says about it in "Hosting the Presence", that basically she raised the healing bar. No one had been healed by touching fabric until that point; it had never been done before. She had so much faith in Jesus that I don't think it occured to her that it may not work. She was so focused on Jesus that she had no doubt.
This morning as I was meditating on this, I was picturing myself as this woman kneeling next to Jesus, trying to imagine what her thoughts would have been like, or what my thoughts would be if I were in her situation. She was an outcast because at that time Jews saw blood as "unclean." She must have felt unworthy to stand up and face Jesus because she knew she was unclean. She had been shunned by religious leaders in her local temple because they had to undergo cleansing rituals each time they touched anything deemed unclean. It was too much work.

Everyone in her community knew about her. They had no television, no Directv, cable, or internet. There was no American Idol or Facebook to keep them entertained. Everyone knew every detail about each other because that WAS their entertainment. They knew about her condition. They knew if they were caught associating with her they would have to go to the temple and go through all the cleansing rituals that were expected of them. It was inconvenient.

I know this is extremely silly, but it reminds me of the "cheese touch" from one of my kids favorite movies, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In this movie, if one of the kids at Greg Heffley's school touched this piece of dried up moldy cheese that was left on the ground at recess the kids would yell, "He's got the cheese touch," and suddenly no one would go near this unfortunate kid. I know this is such a silly comparison, but its human nature isn't it? Have you ever had something happen to you that made you unpopular or stand out in a crowd? It hurts, doesn't it? And once a person is labeled with something by society, its hard to undo that. Its hard to change people's perception of a person once they have been deemed unworthy.

So this is the woman who touched Jesus: unclean and unpopular. She tried to do it secretly without anyone knowing. "If I can only touch the edge of his robe, i will be free," she may have been thinking. "No one will notice"

But Jesus noticed.

Praise God, Jesus noticed! He knew exactly who touched him, but He took the time to single her out. He didnt have to ask the crowd who it was any more than God had to ask where Adam was in the garden. He wanted to lift her up and recognize her in front of the crowd. He was so respected and revered by the masses, he knew that if he recognized her and lifted her up in front of her community, the people who had once shunned her would now accept her. The stigma that she once had of being unclean would be washed away.

Kinda like if the most popular kid in school would have befriended the "cheese touch" kid.
She humbly sought Jesus' healing and He not only healed the issue of blood, he healed her emotionally by reconciling her place in the community because he talked to her face to face, something I am sure none of the religious leaders would have done. He took an outcast and made her so very special. He made her His equal. THAT is why He came to this earth. We are joint heirs, God looks at us exactly the same way He looks at Jesus and he loves the dirty broken ones just as much as the shiny perfect ones (maybe a little bit more).

So I say to YOU, "GET READY!" Get ready to be lifted up when you humbly come before Him. Focus your eyes on Him so that you will have no doubt that you will be touched and changed. Get ready for Him to wash you clean and bring you to a position where you are his equal, a child of the Living God, joint heir with Christ.

''Father of Lights"Jesus Culture (Chicago 2011)

Who I am in Christ

When I was going through depression, a friend gave me the book Victory over the Darkness by Neil T. Anderson.  It was completely life changing and I definitely recommend reading it, but what I want to share with you is a list of verses from this book that is so powerful if you meditate on it and let it seep into you and transform you.  Most of the verses I have heard since I was in Sunday School as a child (so they may be familiar to you too) but there is something about having them all on one list and really focusing on them daily that is so different from just reading each verse one at a time.

Who am I?

• I am the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13)
• I am the light of the world (Matt.5:14)
• I am a child of God (John 1:2)
• I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ's life (John 15:1,5) 
• I am Christ's friend (John 15:15)
• I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit (John 15:16)
• I am a slave of righteousness (Rom 6:18)
• I am enslaved to God (Rom 6:22)
• I am a son of God; God is spiritually my Father (Rom 8: 14,15; Gal 3:26,4:6)
• I am joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him (Rom 8:17)
• I am a temple-a dwelling place-of God.  His Spirit and His life dwell in me (1Cor 12:27; Eph 5:30)
• I am a new creation (2 Cor 5:17)
• I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18,19)
• I am a son of God and one in Christ (Gal 4:6,7)
• I am an heir of God since I am a son of God (Gal 4: 6,7)
• I am a saint (1 Cor 1:2; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:1)
• I am God's workmanship-His handiwork-born anew in Christ to do His work (Eph 2:10)
• I am a fellow citizen with the rest of God's family (Eph 2:19)
• I am a prisoner of Christ (Eph 3:1, 4:1)
• I am righteous and holy (Eph 4:24)
• I am a citizen of heaven, seated in heaven right now (Eph 2:6; Phil 3:20)
• I am hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3)
• I am an expression of the life of Christ because He is my life (Col 3:4)
• I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved (Col 3:12; 1 Thess 1:4)
• I am a son of light and not of darkness (1 Thess 5:5)
• I am a holy partaker of a heavenly calling (Heb 3:1)
• I am a partaker of Christ; I share in His life (Heb 3:14)
• I am one of God's living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house (1 Pet 2:5)
• I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession (1Pet 2:9,10)
• I am an alien and stranger to this world in which I temporarily live (1 Pet 2:11)
• I am an enemy of the devil (1Pet 5:18)
• I am a child of God and I will resemble Christ when He returns (1John 3:1,2)
• I am born of God, and the evil one-the devil-cannot touch me (1John 5:18)
• I am not the great "I am", but by the grace of God, I am what I am (1Cor 15:10)

That last one is my favorite and it always makes me smile.  "I am what I am."  I love it.  There are a few that stand out as favorites for me and I thought about typing them in italics so that they would stand out, but I decided to let you choose which ones are your favorites and really speak to you in your situation.  If you really read these verses and meditate on them daily (and I don't mean that you have to read each verse every day, you could pick certain ones or just one each day and focus on it) You will not help but be changed.  Just allow the truth to lift you up and give you the strength that you need.  God Bless! I love you!

Pain

I place my pain 

                         on a platter,

And ice it like a cake.

They eat it up and love it so 

Cuz they don't know its fake.  

Smiles have been my 

                                   drug of choice 

They've always worked so well,

To hide the struggle deep 

Within this eternal

Silent hell.

I stand up to face 

                             myself

In a mirror made of glass.

When I see my own reflection,

"Who is that," is what

I ask.

On the floor lies

                          pictures 

Of broken promises

And broken dreams.

It took too long to realize

That life's not what it seems.

I've wandered so long

                                     inside

This carnival mirrored maze,

And trying to escape 

Only put me in a daze.  

I called for 

                  help

And You heard me,

Then offered me Your

Hand

I am on my 

                   way 

And it may take a while

So stay by me, 

My Friend.