Vlogemotion

My wonderful husband bought me a new camera for my birthday, so I thought I would join in the video fun. Tim over at Fort Thompson started this VLOG carnival where you post a video every Thursday of your emotion that week. So here is my emotion for the week.... Pop on over and check out Tim's blog. But first check out my video!

Unending Mercy

As I studied the book of Hosea recently, I was strongly impressed by how great the mercy of God is. The story gives us a picture of a forgiving husband. One that loved his unfaithful bride enough to not just stay with her but go after her when she left her home behind for another lover.

Hosea 2:5, 8 their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, "I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink"... She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold - which they used for Baal.

Gomer was unfaithful, not only to her husband, but to her children. She thought not of those who loved her and the harm she would cause them, but of herself instead. She went after her lovers, thinking they could provide her with the luxury and pleasure she desired. She was selfish, looking for only her desires to be fulfilled.

But what happened to Gomer, is what often happens to us when we chase after pleasure. The more she chased after pleasure and material wealth, the more illusive it becomes. A man who desires a temptress like Gomer will soon tire of her and throw her aside. Each time she chases after another lover, the level of riches decreases until instead of driving a Mercedes and wearing mink, she’s on foot and pulling things out of the trash heap.

God, just like Hosea is a faithful husband and we just like Gomer are an unfaithful, adulteress bride. How often we chase things we shouldn't and end up like Gomer looking to other things to make us happy. How often we look to the things around us for pleasure only to be left unfulfilled and empty inside.

What amazes me is that God never seems to run out of mercy. Unlike Gomer who only needed to be brought home once, I have strayed many times. In my times when I wonder off in the wrong direction, God finds me and brings me back. He watches and waits for me to tire of my wandering. He waits for me to turn back and look his way. Then he picks me up and carries me back home again.

His mercy is unending and I am grateful.

Charice - A Note to God

This young girl is incredible. You can buy her new single on itunes.

Losing The Next Generation

As a Christians, I believe its time we opened our eyes. While in some parts of the world the gospel is spreading, here in the USA the gospel is shrinking. The moral fabric of our nation has torn and is becoming a thing of the past.

The statement, one nation under God, now mocks God instead of standing true. Those of us that truly stand for and believe in this statement are becoming the minority not the majority.

What really brings a tear to my eye though is the hope of our children. At a larger rate then ever, our children raised in the church are leaving the church and not returning. We have failed to pass our faith to our children.

Not that we didn’t try. We raised them in church. They went to vacation bible school as children. They went on to youth group as young adults. But when they went on to college and into the world their belief didn’t seem to stick.

Statistics show that between 70 to 88 percent of Christian teens leave the church by the second year of college. 80 percent of youth that claim to be born again do not believe in absolute truth.

What has gone wrong for the youth that hold the future of our nation? Why have they not made God their own?

There is so much to combat for a child in the world today. If they are to make the faith of their parents their own, they must know God themselves in a very real way. They must be taught why they believe what they believe. Every person must find the foundation in the truth by questioning the faith and having God confirm it for them.

There are so many things that must happen for our children to find God for themselves. First we can’t protect them from everything, they must learn that suffering is ok and will build the character of God in them. They must learn that in hard times God will be their protectors, the one who is their safe hiding place.

Secondly, we have to take the legalism out of the church and teach our children to believe in God in His way. There are no set of rules, no task list to check off to get it all right. Too often we put the rules in place and as long as our children follow them, we assume they are ok spiritually.

We have taken the power out of God. If you are honest with yourself you will admit that often we want to execute our own plan more than we want to follow God’s plan. God’s way is often risky and unpopular.

When Noah was told to build the ark, no one believed there would be rain. I am sure everyone thought he was nuts, even ridiculed him, until the rain began. But the miraculous happened and rain came from the sky.

In my lifetime, when I have been used the most by God, it was when I put myself out there. When I have obeyed even when I thought the idea God had given me was nuts, those are the times that God has done powerful and amazing things.

If we are to change the destiny of our children, we must show them there is power behind what we believe. We must begin first with our own lives and act like we believe it ourselves.

Snippets of Time

Snippets of time. That’s all we really have here on this earth.

This weekend, I watched a video taken by my Uncle back in 1986. The content was an interviewed with my Grandparents about there family and how they had grown up. Seeing them again took me right back to that time. It seems such a short time ago. Now that they are gone, how I wish I could go back and spend more time with them.

It made me think on what a short time we have here on this earth. We are here and then one day, we are gone. No one can know when that time will be when we will leave this earth.

As I thought about this, I wondered, with time so short, why do we waste so much time? Life is about the moments with other people. It’s about the love we build and give to God and others. Life is about relationships, our relationship with God and our relationships with others.

So why do we spend so little time valuing those around us and so much time on what we think must be done.

I am so guilty of this. "Mom, will you play a game with me?" My son asks. "Not right now, I have to do the dishes" I say to him. Not right now, seems to be a phrase I use often, when it comes to answering my son.

As I began to think of the time I spend, I see that I have forgotten how to enjoy things. I am so focused on the responsibilities of life that enjoying the little things are hard for me. Simply enjoying the relationships in my life is what I need to do. Why is that so hard?

Lord,

Help me let go and enjoy those that you have put in my life. Let me give to them and put the tasks aside for a while. Help me live in the moments of happiness and love that you give me with those around me. Help me seek to be in relationships in spite of how messy they can become. I want to enjoy the snippets of time you have given me here on the earth.

Amen