Set Free

Crazy concept when I say I serve someone huh?

Romans 6:18 (The Message)
Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!

So many people say they are free. Hmmmmm. So where did addiction come from? We all say we can stop at anytime. If we could we wouldn't need rehab for drugs, sex, overeating, alcohol, gambling, shopping, smoking, etc. You name it they have rehab for it. We have patches and gums and shots and Pavlov tricks to help us try to break our addictions (sounds like being enslaved to me).

But I don't do those things....

How many times a day do you check your facebook page or twitter? What would you do if one day you left your cellphone home by accident? I bet you would go back home (or at least would want to) to get it. Don't you just have to see your favorite show on TV?

What's crazy is often times we don't realize the hold things have over us. We get used to being controlled by them.

Am I guilty of going back for my phone and checking facebook a little too often? Yep. I won't lie. But I've also turned my phone off for days at a time and not been on facebook for weeks sometimes.

I decided to serve a different master when I was a little girl and it has made a HUGE difference in the decisions I have made. Sometimes I've gotten off track but I always know because suddenly it will feel like the walls are starting to close in around me. And then I say, Lord show me what to do. And He leads me out to fresh air and open space.


Freedom. Can you smell it?

We are taught that being a child of God is restrictive and you can't do what you want. I wanna have sex. Ok, along with that comes STDs, babies, AIDs, broken hearts, and shattered lives. Doesn't really sound like freedom to me. I wanna drink and party. Ok, I can see DUIs, waking up next to strangers, hangovers, and blackouts in your future. Doesn't sound like freedom to me.

I'm not judging. I just want to open your eyes to another choice. Another reality.

You may see consulting Christ on decisions as tedious and time consuming and cramping your style but..

It could save you heartache and pain.

Hey, but what do I know.

Romans 6:22-23 (The Message)
But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. 

I invite you to accept God's gift. He might surprise you.

Whom I Serve

Its funny how many different versions of Jesus people have. He's black, he's white. How silly that is because he was Jewish. They say He was rich but His cradle was an animal's feeding trough. My Savior was a poor carpenter who depended on the kindness of others for food and shelter. He was a person that most people would ignore if they passed Him on the street. He wouldn't be given a second thought.

All the things that we think savior's should be He was not. He wasn't regal or rich and powerful in society. But He was definitely whom we needed. He cared about the poor because he was. He was willing to touch the untouchable because He knew that at the end of His life we would treat Him like a leper. His heart broke over the death of a friend. He knew what it was to go hungry, to sleep outside, to have friends and family turn their back on Him. He knew what it meant to feel physical pain.

And when it was all said and done He endured torture and crucifixion because He couldn't bear the thought of us living in hopelessness and suffering.

My Savior is my best friend. He has washed away my tears, hugged me when my heart was broken, looked me in the eye and let me know that everything will be alright. He has taken me back every time I strayed, sought me out when I ran away, loves me unconditionally, and forgives me all my mistakes to never bring them up again. Never has He led me wrong or let me down.

He is the only reason I get up in the morning, the only true reason for my joy, the only person who knows my heart and my thoughts.  The only person who has never hurt me, shown me malice or ill will even when I have severely wronged Him. He's the only reason I still believe in people.

True it would be "easier" to go with the flow of the world. But if I did I would be dead. Literally. (I'll explain a little about that later) I would be depressed, without hope, and alone. All the things Jesus wanted to prevent when He died and rose again. I don't care what happens to me because I trust Him. I'll count it all joy because he gets it and understands it all.

And serving Him has set me free.

Best decision I ever made to follow a poor Jewish carpenter who was beaten and killed so that I wouldn't have to live my life without His love.

I'm Not Who You Think

I started this blog almost 5 months ago. It was birthed out of my experience at Urbana. Urbana is a christian missions conference that took place in St. Louis, MO. While there I felt God calling me to missions but not the way you might think. I am not missionary like AT ALL.

I like running water. I'm not a fan of roughing it. I can't STAND bugs or wild life. As I like to say, Nature is not my friend. And I don't really have a desire to travel. When you think missionary you think of someone who goes to Africa or Haiti or India or some other hurting country. To know me you know that just ain't me.

God isn't the type to put you in a situation where He knows you will fail. Then I realized, there are hurting people in my neighborhood. There are scared uncertain people on my block. I pass them everyday on the street. My mission field isn't some country 30 hrs away its right in my backyard.

Then I had a Moses moment. I said to the Lord, "Who am I?" (Exodus 3:11) And He said, "I am who I am. 'I AM has sent you.' "

So here I am. The Unlikely Missionary.

I've got my faults, I'm not perfect, I mess up, fall down, get turned around and all of that. But I serve a wonderful, loving perfect God who always welcomes me back when I do something stupid.

So the journey begins today. It took me five months to get it together but at least I didn't take as long as Moses to get my act together. Lol.