Sitting on the Sidelines

This past year has been so freaking amazing and so freaking tough at the same time. Amazing highs and humbling lows. I sit here some days wondering how in the heck I got here. To this unfamiliar place. There have been days when I'm like really God. I thought you had plans for me?

I had an epiphany recently. . .or rather the holy spirit kind of tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that God hasn't forgotten about me. He's really been there through every season of my life, even in the seasons when I couldn't hear him clearly. He was with me at 26 after getting out of a crazy, overly emotional, draining relationship when I cried out to him for a husband. Granted, it took 3 + years of dating for Him to bring the promise to fruition but. . .heck, He was faithful. Not necessarily on my timeline, but faithful nonetheless. In March of this year I married my best friend, my ride or die. . .God's best for my life.

The holy spirit reminded me that when I prayed to get into grad school the Lord was faithful. When I prayed to pass my comp exam for grad school the Lord was faithful. When I got myself into so many stupid and silly situations and cried out to the Lord to help me. . .He was STILL faithful. And you know what, He didn't have to be. I put myself into that foolishness.

If you're like me in this season and you feel like you've been sitting on the sidelines I encourage you. .. no, I implore you to get up and get out there. God didn't bless you with all of those gifts and talents to sit idly by. Whatever dream He placed on your heart. Whatever promise the Lord has given you, He's faithful. It might not be on our schedule and it might require a little more effort than initially thought, but don't stop believin' (que the Journey music).

Trust me y'all. .. this blog is as much for me as it is for you. I hope it blesses you. Now, get up. . .get out and make some stuff happen. Nothing great was ever accomplished sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else do the work.

Abortions, Jesus and Judgment

Hey Loves,

So, my best friend told me: "remember.....religion, politics and abortion...3 topics you don't debate. you'll just get frustrated."

And somehow, time and time again I end up getting frustrated dealing with people. My people. My Christian folk. Now, I love the Lord with my whole heart and my whole soul and my whole entire everything. Like really, I love Jesus. He's my homie. We go back, like, back to December 82. .. I take that back, more like March 82 when he saw fit to link my daddy's sperm with my momma's egg and create me. . .I mean, back like before the start of creation he knew that there would be ME. That's pretty amazing to me. . .

At any rate. I hate debating with people. I'm not a good debater, I think it's silly - I'd much rather agree to disagree and keep it pushing. But, I always end up getting sucked in to debates when they have to do with a) abortion or b) religion. You know why, because often times people just annoy me with their level or ignorance about the two topics. They annoy me with their judgmentalness, and especially when you combine the two. . .like, abortion + religion is never going to end up pretty. Never. It just can't.

So, without disclosing names, etc. while on Facebook last night (yes, it always goes back to Facebook, huh? Like that's the modern day CNN or Encyclopedia Britannica). So anyway, a friend posted the following link to an article about Planned Parenthood.

Article: Planned Parenthood Sets up 40 Days of Prayer for Abortion

Granted, I think the article is hella misguided and someone needs to reevaluate "praying for abortion" as a Christian, as a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that just makes no sense.

So anyway, my friend posts the article and the comments start trickling in - they are as follows:

• Girl Wonder: God hears anyone who prays to him, no matter what they are praying about
• Original Poster: No true. The only prayers He hears from unbeliever is a prayer of repentance, Arcadia. He does not hear sinful prayers.
• Girl Wonder: If you're praying, you're probably a believer to begin with.
• Original Poster: Wouldn't that be nice if that were true. People pray to a lot of things, for a lot of things. Read your Bible.
• Girl Wonder: Stuff like this is what makes the rest of the world think that CHristians are bunch of close-minded Republicans.
• Original Poster:

  It has nothing to do with political affiliation. Like I said, pick up the Bible and read for yourself. If you think God is close minded, you can tell Him that yourself. Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
  Proverbs 15:29 “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.”
  
  He does not hear their evil prayers, but He knows the darkness in their hearts, and they will stand before Him someday. Hopefully by then they would have turned from their wicked ways. Prayers to bless their murder of babies? God would never hear it.

• Original Poster: Another one. Psalm 66:18 “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
• Me: I think it's also important that as Christians we don't judge. The bible teaches us, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Seeing that we are all sinners who are imperfect creatures, we should be mindful not to judge. Stay true to who you are and your beliefs, but judging is not of God. Love, however is.
• Girl Wonder: That quote means that he doesn't grand miracles that would be sinful. He hears all prayers.
• Original Poster: That verse is terribly mistranslated. The original word for that was "condemn" not judge/discern. We are called to judge and discern. If we couldn't, we would fall to false teacher and prophets. Why? Because we couldn't "judge" whether they were aligned with the Bible or not.
• Original Poster: No, Girl Wonder, it says He will not hear. Pretty clear cut.
• Original Poster: He is too Holy and Righteous to hear such "prayers". The Bible says He is so Holy He turns His face away from sin.
• Me:

  The word is the word and is states clearly “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:1-5NKJV
• Original Poster: The word judge in the original translation was condemn. Judge is a loose translation of it. He was talking with about the Pharisee and their hypocrisy. This is not to say that all judgement is forbidden. We are to judge between good and evil, holy and unholy. That is how we know what is of Satan and what to resist. We are told by society not to judge because society has been indoctrinated with the worldly teaching of "tolerance". To the world tolerance means that truth is subjective, and there is no absolute truth. But there IS truth by which we are to live our lives and make judgement based on. And that is God's word. We CAN can call out evil as evil, as long as it is aligned with God's word and based on His standards. There are things that are wrong. People don't like to hear it because they want to believe that right and wrong are subjective, when we know they are not. It's like a doctor pointing out an odd looking mole on someone's neck. "Hey, I don't like that. That will cause problems and we need to get rid of it." Will the patient say "-Gasp- Don't judge me and my skin!" (I chuckle imagining that). But that's how society is nowadays. Rid of all accountability and they want to define right and wrong and what is wrong is right and what is right is judgmental. Oh, the twisted world we live in.

Needless to say after all of this I was pretty much over it. My thing is, as Christians we should have compassion for people. I'm not saying turn your back on things that are wrong, I'm not saying to condone things that are not of God, but what we shouldn't do is be so negative and judgmental and basically throw the bible at people. Always have the bible as your reference point, because as Christians that's our compass in life, our guide. But really, people need to evaluate their own lives before they start talking about how other people are evil and nonbelievers because of their sins. . .like hello - you probably sinned this morning, that "white lie" you told your boss. .. yep, you sinned, the baby you had out of wedlock? Yeah, that's a sin too. . .cheating on your wife? Dude, you sinned. . .having all that premarital sex. .. yep, sinner. Now, am I going to throw the bible at you and tell you that you're going straight to hell with gasoline draws on? Um, no. That's not for me to determine, that's between you and the man up stairs, all I can do if asked is give you biblical principals to stand on. .. like, um, repent and pray. If there is a teaching moment, provide clarity, and also be willing to recognize when you are not interpreting the word correctly. There are so many translations of the bible, NIV, NKJV, KJ, Message, etc. Throwing the bible at people does nothing more than turn them away from the church, and once you start doing that. . .man, that's a dangerous road to go down.

I don't claim to know all 66 books of the bible by heart, I cannot recite every scripture, I don't memorize scripture with the intent of throwing it in another's face. That's not what God intended for us to do. . .stand your ground when it comes to issues like gay marriage, abortion, etc. but also understand that your judgment of another person is doing nothing to help YOU get into Heaven. Turning a person away from God is not our mission as Christians. I pray that I never allow my personal feelings about a life issue to allow me to be so judgmental that I would say something that would turn a person away from the Lord.

Anyhow, that's that. Have a fabo day.

I needed this

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

Religion vs. Jesus

I loved this. And I Love Jesus.

God's Will