Where is God Now?

  If God is so very good, than why do bad things happen?  Where is He? How did He allow this to happen?  As these question envelop us and our mind swirls with a million more questions, where do we turn.  Do we have knee jerk reactions like that's it I am home schooling, maybe it is more we do need to get rid of all the guns, we curse those who have done it, we vow to move to another country or we denounce God completely. 
  So who is this God, everyone is praying to or cursing tonight?  
The Alpha and Omega, Creator, Word, I AM, The God who sees, The God who saves, God who is with us, The Way, The Truth, Life, The Mediator, Lion of Judah, Lamb of God, Wonderful Counselor, The Vine, The Light, Son of David,The Prince of Peace and so many others.
  How can He be the Prince of  Peace if babies are being killed in schools?  He has given them everlasting peace, and peace to the parents of those who lost a child. He is the one weeping with those parents.
   How long can we continually turn our back on his ways before He says enough! We have chose to remove him as our moral compass, we have removed Him from all public places, we have removed him from our hearts for foreign gods, we do not teach our children about Him, we have told society we are closed minded if we really believe in God.  We kill thousands of babies a day in the name of choice,  the list goes on.  So how do we question God when we have tried so hard to erase Him from this place? 
  Israel did over and over, God corrected them over and over, from exile, famines, oppression, and silence.  Why?  Because He loves them.  He always remembered them after a season and sent a redeemer. Some one to rescue His people.  Why, us?  Because He loves us.  For us to reap the blessing of a gracious God we need to be a country of his people.  Not ones that say they are and have no fruits. Not one that only wants him to show up in time of need, but one who loves God of their free will. When we  pick and chose what we would like to believe about God and who He is.  We will never  know and understand him completely.  He is a good God, even when we do not understand him. He is a jealous God who wants all of us all the time. He wants us to be His, not this worlds.
He has sent the ultimate redeemer, Jesus. So we to can have God's grace and in abundance, only we chose to trust in Him.
  We have made thousands of reasons not believe;
 We can not see God...
Then why do "good" people go to hell?  On whose standards do we rate their goodness?
The church is full of hypocrites. Well duh, we are sinners, there is no such thing as a perfect person.  We all have our own little hiccups.
 No one there has been or done what I have.  Wanna bet?
What makes church perfect is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  It is not the warm bodies in the middle of it.  We are the mosaic of His perfection, each piece broken or chipped fitting together to make his master piece.
God is with us always, whether we chose to see Him or not, He is with us every step every day.  Our lives have been planned from the begining of time.  Nothing escapes Him, nothing shocks Him.  That does not mean however He doesn't weep with us. He does.

I would never say that...

    Have you ever read about one of the quote "bad girls" of the bible and thought, I could never do that, think that, or say that?  You know Eve and her bad self; taking the forbidden fruit  or sweet Sarah suggesting a second wife for Abraham.  How about Rebbecca and her tricking Isaac, then losing her favorite son because he has to run away in fear. What about Rachel stealing her Father's house idols?  Delilah cutting Sampson's hair or Bathsheba bathing naked on her roof top when her husband is away.  How about Job's wife telling her husband to curse God and die?
    What about it? Have you ever wondered why it is so very important to guard your heart, or to be in God's word every day?  Is it just what bible thumping over zealous religious people do? After all those words don't apply to the rest of us "normal" Christians or do they?  Why would it be repeated in the bible so often, to be on your guard?  To watch out!  "Be on guard! Be alert! You don't know when that time will come." Mark 13:33  "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."  1 Corinthians 16:13 It would be naive  to believe that sin and temptation are ugly and easy to spot.  Satan's original name was Lucifer- the most beautiful angel.  What makes you think his temptations are not going to be beautiful too?
    God stresses over and over to guard your heart, but why our hearts?  "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23 "And the peace of God, which will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7 Our hearts are a direct look into our souls, our hearts are a reflection of who we are.  When we have an ugly attitude it wears right down in to our hearts.  When we rejoice, our love from our hearts bubbles out freely.
    So just when you think life is the perfect excuse for not having quiet time.  Or skipping prayers here or there is okay, after all God understands.  Just remember who is crouching at your doorway ready, to kill, steal and destroy.
     Who I became; Job's wife; although, I did not say it out aloud  I thought it in my mind.  I know exactly why Job's wife said what she said.  A year ago I, didn't understand how she could ever say something that wicked to a precious gift God had given her.  It happened because she was not being as faithful as she should to God.  Satan was waiting at her door.  You might say to yourself, what is the big deal, you thought it, you did not say it.  I did say it in my heart and the Lord God hears every thought before they are spoken.  I was so disappointed in myself for those thoughts.  After all my love is sharing his concerns with me and instead of wanting to lift him up, I was thinking I should destroy him, with the ugliness of my heart.  I also panicked, what became of Job's wife?  Even worse what am I to learn from this?  My lesson,  be careful and on your guard, stand firm in the Word. God's words are truth and his truth will set you free.

Camping trip

A is for Adventure and Alligator; the adventure we had and the alligator that we almost did see. 
B is for Brave and Blessings; The blessing of protection from the many storms during our week and how brave Lucy acted during the storms.
C is for Chewacla and Crane; The crane in Chewacla creek that is.
D is for Downpour; which could have soaked us but did not.
E is for Eating; Daddy's gourmet camping food.

F is for Family; one that works well together.
G is for Gift; The gift of time spend with one another.
H is for Humidity; who would of thought it could be so humid in January?
I is for Incredible; the incredible beauty of the a full moon on clear night.
J is for Jubilant; the jubilant shouts of joy as we pulled up to the state park.
K is for Kicking; kicking our feet high on the swings.
L is for Laughter; the laughter between children and parents' as they share made up jokes.
M is for Millipede; for the millions of them crawling all over the ground, YUCK!
N is for New; the new memories created together.
O is for Outdoors; what a wonderful way to experience the beauty of God's creation.
P is for Pies and Puddles; The pie daddy sat on and the puddle Morgan sat in.
Q is for Quick; How quickly we put the tent up and put the gear in before the storm came.
R is for Rain; the rain drops that fell on our head.
S is for Sunshine and Stomping; The bright sun help us stomp in the puddles after a good nights rain. 
T is for Thunder; the thunder which we heard off in the distance and close by.
U is for Underwater; thank goodness we were not underwater in the morning.

V is for Vivid; the vivid splash of red the cardinal added to the tree.

W is for Wet and Warmth; which we did not get, and the warmth of a fire. t
X is for Excited; our children were so excited to go camping.
Y is for Young; oh to be young and have fun.
Z is for Zany; What zany kids we have.

I am not loving her today

 This week I had some company over, some small, but insightful company. I love it when you get to spend time with children whether it is my own or a friends child; children bring light, joy, insight and honesty.
  This time my little friend brought all four of these points out in one little conversation. Our conversation we had was when I asked her to come sit down by me for couple of minutes, she came over but not very happily and I surely thought oh no, we are going to have a melt down. Guess what we didn't, we had a conversation. 
She came over with her big bright eyes and said "My sister is not her friend anymore!" (She and her sister are about 18mo apart)I asked "Why?" She said "because." (Duh, I didn't see that one coming) "Oh,that is so sad, how many sisters did God give you?" I asked. Her answer "Just one." My response " Well aren't we supposed to love the gifts God gives us? He only gave you one sister." "Yes, He did give me one, but I am not loving her today." She replied.
   Joy and light: her sweet eyes and smile even in frustration, and her frankness. Honesty: I am not loving her today. In other words lady you not changing my mind. Insight: Haven't we all been there, sometimes daily sometimes weekly and sometimes every once and a blue moon.
   I am going to focus on the insight part, because this is a it is a life truth.  It is easy to love friends, it is hard to love family. You choose your friends, they like the same things you do (usually), you probably met them doing one of the things you enjoy doing, there is a common, factor in your relationship. Family on the other hand you had no choice in the matter, in fact God arranged the whole thing. Even though you "chose" your spouse there might be a day or two where you just do not want to them. You might disagree completely all the time with your brother or your sister, they might drive you up the wall from dawn to dusk. If fact you may rarely want to love them.  What about the annoying Aunt, Uncle or Cousin where you think dang they saw me, now I have to talk to them. You might not want to them talk let alone love them. The Grandparents that just don't get you or anything you are about, the whole time you are thinking hello can you join this century for a change.  The list can go on and on. (Just for the record, I am not say anything about my family, currently. ;))
  Whether you look at your husband in the morning and think I don't want to love you today. Or he might even think that about you this very minute. Maybe it is, your sister, brother, mother, father, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandfather, grandmother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, or any combination of the above. The truth is if you don't want to love, don't, don't love.  Just remember even the unlovable want to be loved. More importantly God place those people in your life, they are the people that help shape you, love you, cry with you, pray for you and rejoice with you.  These people are the people you have been given special charge over.  They need your gifts and abilities as much as you need theirs. You impact their life just as greatly as they impact your life.  You might only get to see them once a year, you may never see in person just on face book.  Love is a choice you can give it freely with joy or begrudgingly. 
   On a final note what if you are the one who is hard to love. We all have our moments. We all can be unlovable. I know, I am at times.  Take a chance on love, share it with the ones who touch your life.