What LOVE is...and what it's not.

This article has been edited slightly and I am reposting today to share a little bit about God's great Love. 
I made the most important decision of my life in the Spring of 1990, 

when I obeyed the Gospel call and was baptized into Christ,

 becoming a New Testament Christian.

I didn't know a lot, but I knew my life was a mess. 

I was seeking God.

 His love.

 His forgiveness.

 His peace.

 His direction in my life.

 Just HIS way. 

After weeks of study, I understood that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He came to save me and all people from their sins. I understood the One church that God prepared, planned and created on the day of Pentecost, and I understood the commitment I was making publicly to God and before His church, and this world to serve and obey HIM and HIS SON all the days of my life.
I had heard, believed, repented, confessed and was fully immersed and thus baptized into Christ and added by our LORD to His church.

But I had a lot of growing to do.

I still am growing as a matter of fact. 

I hope to keep growing in the understanding of His word and His will, in His LOVE until I die.

I  hope that's your plan too. 

There's not going to be a point where I say, 

"Well, I've arrived. I've got it all down, and I'm done studying."

 The treasures in God's word are multiple, 

many faceted, 

and woven in,

 for us to keep unearthing through diligent study over the years.

As a babe in Christ, and in the first several years that followed in my Christian walk, 

I had an "idea" in my head of the Christian's growth journey. 

I had this idea that weak, liberal or new Christians were all the way on the left,

 and that we were to make a journey to bring us all the way to the right. 

That at one end of the spectrum of Christianity were the weak, 

and at the other end of the spectrum were the Ultra~conservative, 

well studied and strong Christians. 

I was actually offended by the term "middle of the road Christian" 

as if that meant one that "straddled the fence" on Biblical matters. 

Thankfully, many have been the number of older and wiser, 

gentler, faithful and loving Christians that have taught me and helped me to see more clearly.

Sadly there is a far left in Christianity that is fraught with liberality. Those that would loose God's word and not hold to all of his teachings. Those that talk freely of God's love, yet know little of His will. Those that pick and choose what they will obey, 

and claim they have the right to do so. 

That part I understood correctly. 

But over the years as a Christian, with study, prayer, 

and the above mentioned wisdom and advice of many others, 

I have come to understand at the other end of the spectrum there are those that deem themselves "ultra~conservative" Christians. 

However, zealous they may be, 

they are not as much well studied in His word, 

as well studied in certain verses and subjects. 

Their judgments are often harsh and laced with hateful speech.

 They claim to hold the love of God in their hearts, 

while their words and actions show anything but.

 They speak much of obedience, but little of God's love. 

When disagreed with, they spit out scripture like venom, 

with a look of such animosity on there faces 

that I truly am thankful we live in the dispensation that we do, 

lest God strike them down mid~spiel and mid~breath..

I hesitate to speak so boldly. I do not want to sound unkind myself. 

I truly desire the law of kindness to be in my mouth at all times, though I often fall short.

But I recently heard the words spoken:

"I am SICK of hearing about God's love. 

I am just SICK of hearing about God's love.

 There comes a time to lay down the law and this is it!" 

These words made me cringe. 

They strike fear and sorrow in my heart. 

I love these brothers and sisters, 

but as I tremble for those that would loose the truths of God's word, 

I tremble for these that bind matters that should be opinion 

upon others that are truly striving to serve our God.

 "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy;

 and mercy rejoiceth against judgement" James 2:13

Sadly both sides are missing crucial threads in the fabric of Christianity.  

God IS love. 

He loves deeply. 

He is also JUST. 

He demands obedience. 

His mercy, grace, patience, omnipotence, goodness, righteousness, 

LOVE

 and unchanging nature are all wrapped up into the fabric of His Being. 

I do not claim to know all there is to know about our Holy Heavenly Father. 

The depths of His Ways are  past finding out. Romans 12:33~35

 But I DO know GOD is LOVE. 

I often speak of balance in Christianity when I write. 

About the importance of love and obedience together. 

I would NEVER think to throw out the importance of obeying my LORD and Saviour in ALL of his commandments. But neither would I throw out His mighty LOVE. Romans chapter 14 deals with the patience we must have for one another in matters of opinion. 

I pray for myself first, 

and for our dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, 

for ALL of us to see His word clearly. 

For us to have wisdom, patience, grace and mercy

 towards one another as we strive with all of our hearts to discern His word and His will. 

I'm not "all that".

 I do not have it down. 

I need your patience and kindness with me. 

And I will show the same to you. 

I'm sure that's what God wants.

When I read these words, 

I simply can not come to any other conclusion.

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God , and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. ...Beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John 4:7~8

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. 1 Corinthians 13:1~8

Therefor all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even to so them; for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the Second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Mathew 22:37~40

Can you?

I love you all~

marie

Gone

A lot to share with you this afternoon. You might grab a cup of tea or coffee or a nice tall glass of lemonade, depending on your weather and your local...and your desire to read. :)

We are back home and thankful. Superman flew off to save the world first thing this morning. His lunch was all ready, and his clothes laid out the night before, and after our morning prayer together, he let his sleepy wifey, sleep in!

Our kiddos mowed the yard and put up the rest of the bead board  in the living room while we were gone. I am thankful for that! They are good kiddos! (Alright, alright, I did drop a few hints...ahem...or suggestions about possibly getting those jobs done...) But, still they did it, and it was great! Now just to paint that bead board white! Shocker, I know.

I am also very thankful to have had a weekend away with my husband while our kiddos were safe. We needed some time just for us. It was nothing short of magical. The scenery was truly breathtaking on that little Katy trail. We saw countless Indigo Buntings, Cardinals, a few Goldfinches, a Majestic Blue Heron, a large variety of lovely song birds,rabbits, groundhogs, a nasty Copperhead and a few other friendly snakes (my bestie will doubt that). Just all in all so lovely! We stayed at a historic hotel, Hotel Franklin (I think I said the wrong name before) in Booneville, MO. and a wonderful historic Bed and Breakfast in Jefferson City, MO, both right off the Katy trail. We talked, laughed, sweated, I wrecked...had icecream and other treats, went to a show, played disc golf. Just really nice. But this post is not all lightheartedness.

Back to our kiddos. We made safe and good plans for them all while we were gone. By safe, I mean both physically and spiritually. The most horrific things have been occurring lately, of both a spiritual and physical nature, among people we know, both Christian and non~Christian alike and it makes me double my efforts to protect my children.

I realize, at times, that by the things I write, life may sound like a breeze, but that is rarely the case. When I write about good things, it's because life is good, even when rotten things are going on. We actually had the most heart breaking news on our way out of town for our Anniversary. It was hard to shake all weekend. My heart felt/feels heavy, hurt, sick.  But Superman and I set our minds to try and enjoy our time together. We know what a precious gift marriage is. We knew our kiddos were safe. They stayed with Christian friends we trust, with no tv or computer time unsupervised (none at all actually). They were at work, youth rally or Christian friend overnights, all watching out for each other, all knowing God and Faithful parents were watching over them.

I don't mind sounding a little overly cautious. You may think me paranoid, but I don't mind. It's so important that we do our best to protect our children, even, or especially our teenage ones. Yes, they have to grow strong, and they have to make choices on their own. But they need the shelter, guidance and protection of their parents as they learn to use those freedoms. It needs to be rooted deeply in their hearts that God is with them always. It should be both a comfort in trials and an uncomfortable thought when temptation strikes them to do wrong. So, when we are gone, we have spies and lots of them. It keeps our kiddos safe, and on their toes. You don't have to agree. On Judgment Day, God isn't going to ask you to give an account for MY parenting. I will have to do that on my own! ;)

I joke and laugh and make light, because that's how God wired me. It's just who I am, how I live and love. But all joking aside, I write today because I can NOT stress to you enough how changeable life is. Another awful event in a long string of awful events happened on Thursday. I can not, I will not share the details here. I'm not being dramatic. It involves an innocent life accidentally ended. It is horrific and soul shaking. And it is one more wake up call to me, to share with you.  No matter how tightly you try to hold onto this life, it slips through your fingers like a mist. Cancer strikes, unfaithfulness strikes, death strikes both young and old alike. One minute someone you love is here, and the next they're gone.

Sure I wanted to share our trip news. Praise my kiddos and dear hubby. But there is more. I have ever so much more on my mind today, dear friends. I write today, hoping to sway you, hoping to encourage you. Hoping you will see the importance of getting your life right with God. Of doing the best you can to show deep, agape, self sacrificing love to others. NOW before it is too late. You may not have another day yourself. Or your loved ones may not. THAT'S what life is about. Don't wait to get your life in order. And don't give up due to all the horrible battles you are facing. This life just isn't about things getting easier. It's about gathering strength for the fight and giving strength to those who have none right now. It's about obeying God and trusting in Him, His word and His church to get you through. It's about enjoying your weekend with Superman, laughing and hugging and kissing and cuddling, even though death and sadness are trying to beat down the door of your heart/mind because you KNOW that this old life is going to keep being hard. It just is.

Let's get a few things straight between us. Being right with God is NOT a feeling. It's not doing what your parents have always told you to do, or doing what your momma and daddy always did, and their parents before them. It's about true Un~denominational (not non~ denominational we accept all denominations) Christianity. Your salvation is not just something you should trust to "I think I'm ok." or to someone else's opinion! Study His word!!! So many people think they are just fine.MOST people don't think twice about God, about denominationalism, about how they all claim different roads to salvation but they CAN NOT all possibly be right!

KNOWING whether or not you are saved comes about by reading His word, obeying His word and living His word. Hearing, believing Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, the Holy son Of the Almighty God, it's about repenting of yous sins (completely turning away from them and not going back into them again), confessing that Jesus is the Christ and your belief and commitment to live for Him. It's about being baptized (fully immersed in the water) to wash away those sins, to put to death that old person/sinner you were and to raise up again a new person, one ready to live a faithful life for Christ. It's about starting today to dig and DIG DEEP (as my dear hubby would say) to be sure of where you will spend eternity.

Getting yourself right with God is NOT a state of mind. It's action, commitment and work. And it just needs to be done so badly. You just do not know if you have tomorrow. I never would have believed two years ago that my twenty seven year old sister in law would be gone now, that a baby, just turned 13 months with no health issues, would be gone. That a friend and cyclist in perfect non smoking healthy condition, would be gone.

Gone. That means no more time to get it right.

This post publishes both on my blog and my facebook. I love you, my friends. I wrote to share with you about our life. About our weekend, and the good fun times we have in our family. But I wrote to share more with you.

You many think of yourself as a close friend, a family member, or just as an acquaintance of mine. But if you're on my friends list, I love you, and I pray for you. And I ask you to examine your life next to God's word, and get it right.

Love, 

marie and Superman

Flirting, French Kissing and Fornicating Fools

This post is rated SM, that's for Smart Married people,
or for folks that plan on being Smart Married people some day.
If you're foolish, just stop reading right now,
because this article won't do you a bit of good.

Shwew...do I sound stirred up?
You can bet I am.

Me~oh~my, but I am fed up with Fools these days. Fools is just the Bible word for stupid folk. Folks that could choose to do better, but just won't do it.

Folks that think flirting is fun business, not foolishness that leads to French kissing and eventually to Fornicating. You think that's harsh? Do you really think there has ever been a French kiss without Flirting first? Do you really think there has ever been Fornicating without being preceded by French kissing? Really?

This is not a how~to guide...it's a how~NOT~to guide.
Please, read on.

Flirting has it's place...it's between two married people...
that are married to EACH OTHER of course.

French kissing belongs in the EXACT same place.

Of course Fornicating has no place at all in God's book...
except for those future and present residents of Hell.

Why do people think flirting is harmless??? I'll be the first to admit that I LOVE to flirt with my Superman. He's all mine. I can let my hand linger on his arm, or on his thigh, I can smile a sexy smile at him...it leads to lovely married things for married folk.

That's my intention. That's why I do it.
Because Flirting is not harmless.

It's provocative.

Innocent conversations start to linger on too long.
A light touch on the arm,
a soft laugh with a toss of the head exposing your neck,
a handshake lingering with gentle and provocative pressure,
fingers resting on someones shoulders with an inviting smile...
all of these are just so called "innocent" lures of Satan's that lead down a road
that many are unwilling to turn back from.

Good intentions of helping some poor hurting woman/or man (whichever is your opposite sex)
to get through a hard time may be just that to you... initially.
Good intentions...
but to Satan, you have swallowed the hook and imbedded it firmly in your jaw...and you'll not have such good luck removing it.

Yes, people in this old sin sick world need help...
and you AND YOUR SPOUSE may be just the ones to do it.
BUT NOT YOU BY YOURSELF.

Too many of our Christian friends have started down that path.
Well intentioned enough to begin with, then their egos were stroked and molded by that wicked one, in the form of a needy co~worker or friend with batting eyes and sheathed claws...and sometimes low cut blouses with plenty of cleavage showing.

I hate sin.

I HATE IT!!!

I hate the destruction left in it's wake as marriages are destroyed, children are devastated and wives or husbands are broken...left fallen to the ground weeping...
All wondering how this happened to a good Christian family.

I simply am beyond FED UP!!!

Wake up folks!

If someone needs help, get them help.
Talk to your spouse about them.
Come up with a plan together to help them.
But don't take the bait.

If someone starts flirting with you, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, IMMEDIATELY start talking about your handsome husband,
or your beautiful wife whom you adore.
Praise them, then move away.
Send your message loud and clear.
No, I'm not being dumb or paranoid.
Cliche but true, better safe than sorry.

The Proverbs writer, inspired by God,
warned again and again of the importance of not going NEAR the paths of sin.

"When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee; understanding shall keep thee:...to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. " Proverbs 2:10,11, 16~19

Compare that to those that are truly seeking God's wisdom! "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise(profit) of it is better that the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasure, and all her paths are peace...my son let not them depart from thine eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion: so shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck." Proverbs 3:13~17,21,22

"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it,
pass not by it, turn from it and pass away...Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are all the issues of life...Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established." Proverbs 4:14, 15, 23,26

"My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding; That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two~edged sword. Her feet go down to death;
her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable (unstable) that thou canst not know them. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her,
and come not nigh the door of her house;
Lest thou give thine honour unto others...Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well...
Let thy fountain be blessed:
and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
And why will thou, my son,
be ravished with a strange woman,
and embrace the bosom of a stranger:
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He pondereth all his goings." Proverbs 5:1~9,15,18~21

Don't linger or bask in the rays of compliments, flirting or affection from someone who has no right to give it to you, and from whom you have no right to receive it.
Run don't walk.
Your ego may be too weak...and before you realize it is, it may be too late.

Flirting leads to French kissing and then to Fornication...all things that outside of marriage lead to Hell and Destruction for us, and incomprehensible Pain and Hurting for those We love.

Wake up my dear ones.
And if you're already wide awake,
give those that you love a nudge and pass it on.

Love you all~

marie