THE CLOTHES I WEAR

Who would think that God would be concerned with the clothes that I wear?  I drastically changed my style of clothes, under His guidance, before becoming a Christian in 1983.  Now here we are some 30 years later, and God is still very much concerned about what I wear.    

The things I’ve been wearing lately don’t quite fit anymore.  If you’ve ever had clothes that were too big, you know it’s a lot of work.  While trying to determine an outfit to wear, I heard God speak to my heart saying, take off the grave clothes.   I thought maybe I was wearing clothes that made it seem as if I had lost my zest for life or as if I was in mourning.  I recognized that some of the spiritual clothes I had been wearing weren’t carrying the right spirit. 

Mourning or heaviness is not limited to the loss of a loved one.  It could be the loss of a job, a marriage, or some loss that alters your future with a crippling capability.  I began to see the emotional garments I’d been wearing and could feel my shoulders begin to slump.  I felt the weight of the heaviness in my heart, the pain of loss, the sorrow I carried around my neck like a yolk on an oxen and the grief I bore on my chest like a breastplate, and the weight of loneliness I felt as a saddle on my back. 

The bible speaks of several different types of garments; one was the garment of a deceased person, another of a widow, and the garment of the priest.  Other garments were set aside by the owners for specific purpose.  Some garments were worn specifically while praising God; others were worn to seek the face of God. 

Scriptures began to come to my mind that dealt with these issues and I asked God’s help to take off my grave clothes and put on the garments that pleased Him.  I didn’t want to be like Lazarus who when Jesus called His name he jumped up from death, but was still bound and gagged. 

I saw that garments were already promised to be by the Lord.  He said if I mourned, he would give me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that I would glorify the Lord (Isaiah 61:3).  I learned that if I rejoice in Him that my soul will be joyful in my God because He has covered me with the garments of salvation; covering me with the robe of righteousness and with ornaments like a bridegroom and bride adorn themselves with ornaments and jewels.

One of the benefits of the work of Calvary is to give victory to the believer over life’s situations.  We can overcome the obstacles that come to hinder our mental and physical progress in God.

If you maybe need to change into some lighter garments, God has them waiting for you.  Join me in trading my heavy and unfitting garments for the garment of praise. I promise no longer to be bound but free, to live the abundant life made available through Calvary.

STUCK IN THE MUD

I watched the leaves for the last few days blow from across the street into my ditch.    I waited until the few mornings of frost and rain came and those large maple leaves shrunk to one half their original size, still filling 5 lawn bag.

I went to rake them and some were harder to gather than others.  A few were stuck in the muddy portion of my ditch, hoping they would break free in the wind, to no avail.  My ditch is deep and holds some of the most fertile soil.  The grass that grows there is the greenest and healthiest in the yard.  The snow and rain rest in the bottom of the ditch but many things go over the top and pass on to the neighbor’s yards or street.

I began to understand how God often works in my life.  Many times I feel like that leaf, stuck in the mud in my ditch.  No matter how I try, I can’t move.  I feel as if the weight of a snow storm or a down pour of rain is flowing on top of me .  But, I always survive and seem to grow stronger when my summer season comes.  When I look back over time, even though many things have fallen in my path while stuck, I realize there are more perils that by passed me by because I was stuck in the ditch; protected in my own personal valley.

So the next time you feel as though you’re stuck in the mud or in a valley of your life, remember God has you there for a purpose.  Believe that there are dangers He is protecting you from while He sends the rich nourishment you need to grow for the places He has destined for you to go.  Don’t be discouraged, your season of strength and revitalization will come and your mud will turn to green grass once again

EVERLASTING LOVE

I think we all can say at one time or another we were looking for our one true love.  We dreamed of how they would look, speak, or lavish us with gifts and affection.  Needless to say, when we found them, we had to worry to maintain their affection.  The true relationship is one of give and take to maintain the original spark of love.   We were careful not to do anything to damage the relationship for fear of losing their affection.  Despite all our efforts, that love one either left our lives by way of the gate or the grave.    After the loss of a true love, we may think we’d never love again.  For this reason we should be very careful who we give our heart to.

I have been fortunate to have experienced love many times during my life.  As a result, I’ve had the broken heart that accompanies the end of a relationship.  I’ve also been fortunate that each relationship was progressively better.  I learned more about myself and my unrealistic perspective of love after each relationship.

After the loss of my true love, I realized even then that there was a love in my life that I had overlooked for years.  I didn’t respect His love as I should and consequently didn’t reap the benefits of it during this time of loss.

This is someone who loved me when I didn’t love Him.  He stayed close even when my attention and affection went to others.  His love is everlasting and has stood the test of time.  It’s been with me from my birth and will go beyond my death.  When I finally gave my life to Him, even the angels from His court rejoiced in Heaven.  Even though He shows His love daily, the true sacrifice of His love resonates for me at Easter.  My true and everlasting love gave His life for me at Calvary.  You’ve guessed who it is; it’s Jesus, God manifested in flesh (1Timothy 3:16).

If you’re looking for a real love, like Mary J. Blige sings about, I recommend you look to Jesus.  He’s our true and everlasting love; the lover of our souls. 

GETTING OUT OF DEBT

Each new year before tax season, I review my bills and try to eliminate some debt and future taxes. Large debt reminds me of a terminal illness, once you realize how serious it is, the time is up. At some point, you realize you’re over your head and there is no quick way out. The debt problem today is rampant in our area partly because of the high unemployment rate.

There are many kinds of debt; there is financial debt, a debt to society, or a personal debt. Each debt has their own term and conditions for repayment. The larger the debt, the higher the payment and interest charged. You search for options and solutions to remove the debt. Most credit counselors and businesses offering assistance only talk about debt consolidation, rarely about immediate elimination.

Debt can be devastating. It can force you into many levels of depression and alter your behavior significantly. When a debt is overwhelming, you sometimes feel it could never be repaid, so why try. This cycle of behavior forces you deeper into debt. The get rich schemes are scams. They feed on the desperation of the people in need. Creditors benefit from our debt. The interest continues to eat up any payment we make and the late fees keep the debt at its original amount. The only way to eliminate a debt is for it to be paid or forgiven.

Filing for one of the several types of bankruptcy has become the option for many to eliminate their debt. You must obtain an attorney to represent your case and your debt must be substantial. A judge gives the final ruling to remove your debt.

This reminds me of the debt we owed to God for the sin of Adam, passed to all generations. The wages of sin is death and the only release or payment was an acceptable blood sacrifice. No one met the conditions.

When we understand the gravity of our debt to God and the penalties associated with nonpayment, it can overwhelm us.   We can be flooded with feelings of helpless and hopelessness. This is true, until we consider Jesus.

God recognized our inability to pay our debt. Jesus came to become the acceptable blood sacrifice for the sin of Adam. He came to die so that we don’t have to die in our sins (Romans 5:7-20).

At Calvary the debt was settled.  Jesus rose again, returned to heaven, so another comforter could come (John 14:26) to keep us until He comes back for us. He was our attorney who successfully pleaded and won our case to be free. The only fee required to receive this release from our debt to God is repentance and acceptance of Jesus as our savior.

There is a source that benefits if we continue in sin and derives a certain satisfaction from our weakened condition; this source is Satan. He always makes us feel as if we can play now and pay this debt later.

During this New Year, let’s not forget the debt that was paid on our behalf at the cross. Don’t waste our opportunity to be debt free in the sight of God. Accept the mercy and grace of the cross and follow God’s way and remain debt free. We are free to love and adore a God who loved us enough to give His life to redeem us.

NEW YEAR PRESS

As I look back, I realize the weight of facing some of the worst hardships and life altering challenges during the past two years.  I survived emotionally numbing blows in recent years, and because of the holidays, only to relive some incidents afresh.  I lost loved ones and friends dear to my heart.  I saw the true colors of many, left abandoned and like my grandma use to say, up the creek without a paddle, on several occasions. 

It seemed that at every turn, another door was either closed in my face or at my back.  I felt boxed in and forced in a state of bondage.  There were times I called out asking God if He saw me.  I felt as if He was watching me suffer these things as He watched the guards beat Jesus beyond recognition.  I felt my old nature rise and a bit of old Chris resurfaced; the one that jumps into action to take care of Chris and handle people and situations.  I want to keep that old girl under control because she’s dangerous.  The last time I let her have free reign for just 1 hour, it took years and several attorneys to get things resolved.  The reborn Chris just kept saying be still, do nothing, God is not blind nor has He turned His back on you.  It’s God that has brought you to this place and time in life.  Wait on God, my spirit would say.

I started to imagine my situation.  My spirit was feeling as if I’m standing in a paneled room boxed in with no visible way of escape.  Each wall of this room is touching me on the front, the back, and the sides.   I wait with my hands folded behind my back.  I kept hearing a familiar clicking sound.  Familiar in that I know I’ve heard is somewhere before, long ago.  Then I remembered our old camper.  The cabinets and closets in it didn’t have handles and the surface look streamlined and you had to know where to press them to get them to open.  I had trouble with a few of them, just couldn’t seem to get the press right to make it open until several tries. 

Then I heard God say to press with my hands behind me, and a door opened.  I stepped back and God began to give me insight into why things happened this year.  No great mystery, it was His will and it was what was best for all involved.  He showed me how the past two years were a proving year for me.  He showed me how much He loved me and had invested in me.  It was a year during which I was being branded for His purpose for my life, to write of His glory, as John was banished to the Isle of Patmos to write the book of Revelations.    One mistake was to believe in the word of people and depend on them for help and not look to God first then He would send the help I needed.    

 I found myself back in that paneled room and I was instructed to press again on a place in front of me.  As I did, a door opened.  As I stepped out the way wasn’t clearly marked and a bit foggy and unstable in places.  God whispered, if I trust Him, He’ll lead me and show me the way.  To be successful, I’d have to get rid of the useless baggage from the past year that would hold me down or cause me to fall.

Beyond the love and investment God has placed in me, I take away from this image that even when people and situations seem to have us boxed in, all we have to do is look and wait on Jesus; then press, and He’ll open a way of escape.  If we trust Him, He will lead and guide us through our day to day life.  To be successful, I must press the door closed on the past and focus on today with Christ. 

For 2015 join with me in my resolve, like that of the Apostle Paul described in Philippians 3:1-15, to forget those things which are behind, and reaching for those things ahead, then press the mark, for the prize, which is the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.  Let’s do a New Year Press.

ARE WE A SCROOGE

I watched one of my favorite holiday movies, a Christmas Carol.  I love the 1938 versions.  One thing I always take away from the story is how Ebenezer Scrooge had more than those around him in during an impoverished period in London, but he was the meanest and most miserable person.  He was so unpleasant that his name goes down in history to represent the worst in people when given to someone.  He was such a miser with money that he misused the money by not using it.

We rarely remember that he turned his life around and made amends with others at the end of the movie after being visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.

Ebenezer Scrooge became repentant after a chain of events occurred.  He first fired his loyal employee, Bob Cratchit, who has many children, one, tiny Tim, who was very ill, and a wife.  Bob holds no grudges even after receiving the harsh news of Mr. Scrooge’s decision.  Instead, in the spirit of hope and belief in the holiday spirit, he goes home spends all his earnings to provide a memorable Christmas for his family, not knowing what the future would hold.  I love at the end how Scrooge talked back to the future ghost, telling him that these things he saw can be changed if he alters his behavior.

Are we a scrooge? Are we blessed to have things but forget to have compassion on others?  Are we holding on to blessings that were intended to share and bless the lives of others around us?  Should the ghost of Christmas past visit us to show us how we became so unpleasant?  Would our Christmas present ghost show that no one finds pleasure in being in our company because we’re mean and unforgiving?  If we chose to continue, our Christmas future ghost would also show us headed down a road similar to Scrooge of separation and doom.  Just as Scrooge turned his life around, we too, can change our future.

During the season we should remember that we all have received the best gift; the gift of life from Christ.  Love and blessings are only good if they are shared and given away.  It’s an odd thing that the more you give of these, the more you get them back.  If you don’t have the money like Scrooge or any gifts under the tree to share, we can be innovative and give the gift that never grows old, we can give ourselves.  Remember, Christ gave himself to us as a sacrifice because of His love for us.  Let’s sacrifice a little of ourselves to help others.  Let’s not be a scrooge this season, let’s show love.  Give the gift of love, give a little of yourself to someone.