Okay the short of this post is watch this video, that I was directed to by another blog, Pass the salt, Please found at http://shakerfullofsalt.blogspot.com/. For why I am writing about someone elses video, and two other blogs that are very touching read on. But whatever you do, please watch the video at http://www.vimeo.com/951902 . You will be blessed!
The "Dot ":
Oh how humble I am as I write this. God is so good!! He is truly in control and knows us He knows what we need and brings us to things to strengthen us, purify and encourage us. Sometimes this involves pain and discipline but that is not the end of the experience, their is always something good in the experience. Scripture tells us this over and over, Romans 8:28 is just one example.
Do you have life verses or verses that you use for areas of your life? Well two of mine are Jerm. 29:11 and Psalms 139 and they are in this video, they are shown in real, emotional and as an incredible witness of faith and trust. The "Christian" walk is not a passive stroll through town, sometimes it is more like a run for your life and other times it is dragging on your knees and crawling on your hands and knees, mostly because of "sin" (pride, selfishness, anger/bitterness, and a little blasphemy thinking we are controling our destiny, that we are walking our way in this crazy world).
I visit several blogs to receive encouragement and enjoy "dialog" and examples of other christian woman, walking the walk in honest, open, communication of how God is working in their lives. One such blog is called Pass the salt, please (I love that title! :) it is found at http://shakerfullofsalt.blogspot.com/ today's post is absolutely moving, it is about a family's experience with God's ways colliding with our hopes and dreams and us finding peace in the experience and finding joy and praise through the dashing of our dreams. You have to watch this video and it is so crystal clear, the scripture jumps off the paper and shakes the dust off your heart. If we can grasp Angie's comment "God does not have plan B's .... He does not get surprised by us or have to change His plans because of us" we will find peace and joy in anything and we will always know that our God is in control. Angie's blog in honor of their daughter is http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/ . God is so into the details of our "hearts" the deepest part of our being. This post is so emotional, my keyboard is soaked.
When we (I) was thinking we were going to have another child, If it was a girl I was going to name her, ...Audrey or Caroline Audrey. Caroline is the name of my dearest friend and Audrey for a girl I went to highschool with briefly before she went to be with the Lord. Coincidences are God getting your attention, like waving at you while you are speeding by, pause for a minute, and you may have a life changing moment.
For those that are reading this on the newsletter, I think the link will come through. If not please come to the blog and click on the link at very top or at the bottom if you read all the post. Just hit the scroll arrow to the right and drag it down to the bottom. It really is a must see.
This is the link for the video: http://www.vimeo.com/951902
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
There is safety in numbers.... Three is for me!!
Have you ever felt safer because you were not alone, you with 2 or more people? As christians we always say that we are never alone, we have Christ with us. I know personally I need to be reminded of this often, as I get stressed or down and think I am alone in my struggle, but Christ is always with me. But, I have been thinking, Christ is not alone either, God the father is always with everyone, because He is omnipresent, and the Holy Spirit is involved too, the trinity is always together and individual or distinct parts like fingers are to the hand. In Philippians (I think,) God says He is at hand.. I have always had trouble trying to explain the trinity and how it is possible and finally gave up and said. We are not to know all things right now, It is the first step in faith, although we cannot "see" it or understand it completely we believe because we are told by Christ it is. We believe in Him and that is the faith that gets us through life, not complete understanding of all the aspects of Him and his ways. With study and prayer we will understand more about Him and the teachings but wisdom is a process and requires daily exercise. We are to worship and praise Him, not his works or His ways or His teachings but the Person, who was on the cross for us out of love for us and our sinful separation from God the father, that is what we praise and worship and desire to know, How he could love us so much after seeing us and hearing us. And how much more the father in heaven loves us for sending Him to do this enormously generous thing. We cannot equate our word love with the father's and Christ's love that is why it has a name, AGAPE!
I like to take biblical things and try to find them in "real life" and see how they are applicable to daily tasks or how we are surrounded by them as reminders of something biblical and indirectly God since He is everything, He created it all. Three is used alot in the bible, there are even several times that it is part of the number, which makes it even more significant. Why 3, why not any other number but 3. Look at Josh 21:11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and THREE; and for all thesewe son many, yet was not the net broken. Ecc. 4:12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. I love the word cord being used, think of the other uses of the word cord throughout scripture. It was the binding in the temple (a holy place), it was part of the high priests clothes, (a holy thing). The fringe on the hem of the people clothing was to be a BLUE cord. He could have said rope, or string, or twine but He said, CORD! and many times throughout scripture according is used, which has cord as a part of the word. Read the passages and think about the significance and strength of a CORD, and you get a whole new understand for the strength and significance of that statement.
Another triple item is the triangle, 3 sides. We use this symbol in many ways, it is used to symbolize a christian couple, 2 individuals connected at the apex by God the father, who created them and united at the bottom by Christ who saved them and brought them back to the father, also symbolizing the teachings of Christ (the bible) which they stand on. If the keep the bible and Christ close by daily activity they keep the relationship tight and close, if one is more distant, it affects the angles of the relationship but does not cause the whole relationship to be affected, and the encouragement to keep your side of the relationship as tight as possible, is that God is alway in contact with the other individual and your prayers for that person can bring them closer and restore the close and beautiful shape of a tight triangle. Friendships also use the triangle to symboliz there connection with God and each other. Families sometimes use a series of triangles, to show that the relationships all have independent connection with God and that even when a side of the triangle is either greater in distance or when it moves to the apex (at death) we can still maintain our connection with all the "angles" it just takes the daily efforts.
Can you think of everyday things that we consider precious that are triangles or three?
2 believers gathered to pray, with Christ joining them. Matt 18:19-20
Diamonds, the top is the "base" the tip of the setting is the "apex"
Coffee filters !!! (some are even diamond or gold)
Ice cream cones
We even have triangles on our bodies to remind us: (our eyeball, nose, hand, chest, lower body, foot) For the one who can get the words straight, your body is a perfect visual aid for the trinity and many other lessons from the bible.
A heart the lobes at the top are the "base" the tip of the heart is the "apex" We give our heart to God and He keeps it together and makes it grow to care for others.
Corners (I love a corner shelf, especially the "angled" ones, you can get alot of display room on those!!! more visual reminders)
Marriage!! (Husband, wife and God; keeping them together) When you reach for each other; the distance reduces, think about doing devotions and bible studies together, oh look at the closeness between the spouses and God.
Corners and triangles, cornerstones are very important in building and Christ is our cornerstone.
1 peter 2:6-8 Therefore it is also contained in scripture, "Behld I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame" Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rack of offense. They stuble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. I like this verse, it gives such a vivid picture, a construction site with foundations and bricks in the process of forming buildings or houses and this stack of bricks sitting there being checked over for faults or imperfections and being selected to be placed in the building, many times a brick with significant information about the person that built the building, who it was dedicated to, what its function was and the date it was built were chiseled into the stone. There in the middle of the walk way are stones that were "rejected" someone decided the stone did not belong in the building for some reason. It was left there in the walk way, if someone was not focused and alert they could stumble on the stone while they were trying to walk through the area. Can you image walking by and seeing the stone, with "Christ, the only begotten son of God in heaven, In the beginning for eternity" laying on the ground beside the other "rejected" stones? Would you question the knowledge and wisdom of the builder? Would you go into that building?
What is your cornerstone, who have you credited for building your life, who is your life dedicated to? The great thing about stone is that you can sand off the face without damaging the structure, do you need to remove something from your cornerstone and chisel Christ there? Have you chiseled so much that your cornerstone is wearing thin, Christ can repair the stone, He can even chisel it himself, remember the stone tablets he wrote on for Moses. Christ can even repair your foundation without tearing down your building, your structure is fine, it is just the facing of some of the stones that may need to be adjusted. You were created with a good foundation and structure was built by God.
I like to take biblical things and try to find them in "real life" and see how they are applicable to daily tasks or how we are surrounded by them as reminders of something biblical and indirectly God since He is everything, He created it all. Three is used alot in the bible, there are even several times that it is part of the number, which makes it even more significant. Why 3, why not any other number but 3. Look at Josh 21:11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and THREE; and for all thesewe son many, yet was not the net broken. Ecc. 4:12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. I love the word cord being used, think of the other uses of the word cord throughout scripture. It was the binding in the temple (a holy place), it was part of the high priests clothes, (a holy thing). The fringe on the hem of the people clothing was to be a BLUE cord. He could have said rope, or string, or twine but He said, CORD! and many times throughout scripture according is used, which has cord as a part of the word. Read the passages and think about the significance and strength of a CORD, and you get a whole new understand for the strength and significance of that statement.
Another triple item is the triangle, 3 sides. We use this symbol in many ways, it is used to symbolize a christian couple, 2 individuals connected at the apex by God the father, who created them and united at the bottom by Christ who saved them and brought them back to the father, also symbolizing the teachings of Christ (the bible) which they stand on. If the keep the bible and Christ close by daily activity they keep the relationship tight and close, if one is more distant, it affects the angles of the relationship but does not cause the whole relationship to be affected, and the encouragement to keep your side of the relationship as tight as possible, is that God is alway in contact with the other individual and your prayers for that person can bring them closer and restore the close and beautiful shape of a tight triangle. Friendships also use the triangle to symboliz there connection with God and each other. Families sometimes use a series of triangles, to show that the relationships all have independent connection with God and that even when a side of the triangle is either greater in distance or when it moves to the apex (at death) we can still maintain our connection with all the "angles" it just takes the daily efforts.
Can you think of everyday things that we consider precious that are triangles or three?
2 believers gathered to pray, with Christ joining them. Matt 18:19-20
Diamonds, the top is the "base" the tip of the setting is the "apex"
Coffee filters !!! (some are even diamond or gold)
Ice cream cones
We even have triangles on our bodies to remind us: (our eyeball, nose, hand, chest, lower body, foot) For the one who can get the words straight, your body is a perfect visual aid for the trinity and many other lessons from the bible.
A heart the lobes at the top are the "base" the tip of the heart is the "apex" We give our heart to God and He keeps it together and makes it grow to care for others.
Corners (I love a corner shelf, especially the "angled" ones, you can get alot of display room on those!!! more visual reminders)
Marriage!! (Husband, wife and God; keeping them together) When you reach for each other; the distance reduces, think about doing devotions and bible studies together, oh look at the closeness between the spouses and God.
Corners and triangles, cornerstones are very important in building and Christ is our cornerstone.
1 peter 2:6-8 Therefore it is also contained in scripture, "Behld I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame" Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rack of offense. They stuble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. I like this verse, it gives such a vivid picture, a construction site with foundations and bricks in the process of forming buildings or houses and this stack of bricks sitting there being checked over for faults or imperfections and being selected to be placed in the building, many times a brick with significant information about the person that built the building, who it was dedicated to, what its function was and the date it was built were chiseled into the stone. There in the middle of the walk way are stones that were "rejected" someone decided the stone did not belong in the building for some reason. It was left there in the walk way, if someone was not focused and alert they could stumble on the stone while they were trying to walk through the area. Can you image walking by and seeing the stone, with "Christ, the only begotten son of God in heaven, In the beginning for eternity" laying on the ground beside the other "rejected" stones? Would you question the knowledge and wisdom of the builder? Would you go into that building?
What is your cornerstone, who have you credited for building your life, who is your life dedicated to? The great thing about stone is that you can sand off the face without damaging the structure, do you need to remove something from your cornerstone and chisel Christ there? Have you chiseled so much that your cornerstone is wearing thin, Christ can repair the stone, He can even chisel it himself, remember the stone tablets he wrote on for Moses. Christ can even repair your foundation without tearing down your building, your structure is fine, it is just the facing of some of the stones that may need to be adjusted. You were created with a good foundation and structure was built by God.
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