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My Faith – His Story
Shortly after my birth, my parents became Christians. As I’ve written here before, my mom played a pivotal role in shaping my faith. She taught me about God, Jesus, sin, redemption, and love. Though we weren’t regular church attenders as I grew up, there was still a focus on God that centered on following Him and His ways. At some point, though, my parents’ faith had to become mine. I had to “work out my salvation” and make the choice myself to either follow Him or disregard everything I was taught and follow the ways of this world. I reached this crossroad when I was 19. I had just completed…
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It’s Not Us vs. Them
As true Christ-followers, we need to stop politicizing God and our faith. When we politicize Him, we are effectively putting Him in a man-made mold, trying to form Him into an image we created – an image we desire God to fit because it falls in line with what we believe. That image is not God. That image is an idol. The truth is God does not fit neatly into any political party. Labels such as conservative and progressive divide the church. When we place labels before our faith, we are telling the world we follow the ideologies associated with that particular political party. Though the intention may be innocent…
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Why We Need Jesus
We are all born sinners. I don’t care what your race is, what your gender is, what your sexual preference is – we are ALL born sinners (see Romans 3:23). Because of our sinful nature, there was a separation between God and us. In order for the relationship to be restored, a sacrifice had to be made. According to John 3:16, God loved us so much, He sent His Son as THE sacrifice for us. If you believe in Him, you will have eternal life. Jesus not only died for our sins, but He also defeated death, as He was resurrected on the third day. His death and resurrection made…
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When We Lack Faith
Lately, as I’ve re-read books in the Old Testament, I’ve asked God to reveal Himself through His Word, to help me learn more about Him and who He is so that I can apply it to my life. While reading the story of the twelve men who were sent out by Moses to spy on the land of Canaan, I believed He answered my prayer as I had new insight into how important it is to keep the faith, rather than live a faithless, fear-filled life. Let me recap the story here: God told Moses to send twelve men (one from each tribe) to spy out the land of Canaan.…
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Just Be
I recently read a letter C.S. Lewis wrote to a woman answering her question of why God wants us. In the brief letter, he explained God didn’t want us “for anything,” but rather He just wanted us. As I read those few, brief words, excitement and conviction filled my soul. Excitement, because they reminded me of God’s love for us. Yes, God may have a purpose for our lives, but He didn’t redeem us for what we can do for Him. He redeemed us out of His pure mercy, grace, and love. He knew there was no way anyone could live a perfect life, so He sent His Son, Jesus…
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Letters to Me
What is my responsibility to the church as a member of the body of Christ? Am I fulfilling those responsibilities? These are just a couple of questions I asked myself while reading Francis Chan’s Letters to the Church. In it, he compares the church in the Bible to the church of today. He also compares modern day churches in America to other churches around the world. He is careful to point out his motivation for writing this book. It is not to condemn, but to rather encourage the members of the body of Christ to reflect upon their own role in the Church and to seek guidance in areas to…
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Love One Another
I posted the following on my personal Facebook page after our visit to the Holocaust Museum. When I wrote it, I knew it wasn’t thought out well enough for a blog post, but at the same time I needed to write what I was thinking and feeling as it was such an emotional experience. Here is the original post with additional thoughts added after it: Today, my kids and I visited the Holocaust Museum. To say it was emotional would be an understatement. As I listened to the timeline of events of the Holocaust and to the recorded stories of the survivors, one thought kept echoing in my head –…
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Driving Towards Perfection
I am an impatient driver. Most of my commutes tend to be full of snarky comments directed towards other drivers who are driving too slow, sitting too long at green lights, or cutting me off. Sadly, now my kids are picking up on my snark and making comments themselves (this is where I would insert an emoji of a woman smacking her head). Whenever I hear my words out of my kids’ mouths, I cringe. I then tell them they need to learn to be patient and loving towards the other driver and to not do what I do. I don’t like this part of me, particularly since I’m feeling…
