The Hardest Lesson to Learn

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I know that the hardest lesson that ALL of us have to learn, especially when we are trying to walk through our Christianity, is to “die to self”. There are numerous verses that all carry the theme of ways that we are to “die to self” such as Galatians 2:20; Matthew 16:24-25; Romans 6:6; Luke 9:23; John 12:24 and Romans 14:7-8.

What does those words “die to self” mean, really? When we ask God to come into our lives, then we have to look within. We have to look at our hearts and our minds. We need to really delve into the person that we are now and decide how to “clean out” and get rid of those parts of us that don’t align with what God wants from us. We also need to look at all areas within (our thoughts, our actions, our beliefs, etc.) that need to be pruned and thrown into the fire. You see, they don’t match what you have now become. You have become a new creation.

It’s not easy to do that, at all! It takes us being honest with ourselves and seeing the parts of ourselves that need to be changed in order to be a follower of God. The most perfect example that we have is in His Son, Jesus, who came and lived with us on Earth. He loved and rebuked and taught and healed all of those who came to Him. He taught us about perfect love through the actions that he took. He didn’t die on that cross for His own glory, but for God’s glory and He took on our sin, so that when we take up our own cross and follow Him, we can then be with Him for all eternity.

Whew! That’s a whole lot of stuff to unpack, but it’s actually simple, really. just not the easiest thing to do. We need to take up our own cross, recognize that we have our own scars, as well as have our own crown of thorns in order to follow Jesus. Jesus is the perfect role model that we could ever have in dying to self. He humbled himself and took on our sin. That’s completely powerful stuff, right there! It doesn’t get more powerful than that, for sure.

So, my question to you is this…. are you willing and I mean TRULY WILLING to look within? Are you willing to get rid of those parts of you that don’t align with what God wants for you as well as from you? When you do clean out all that old yucky stuff…. trust me, all of Heaven will rejoice!

What did I learn from this? I feel like I am a better human because I have gotten rid of things that I have no more use for. They just don’t fit into who I am now. Oh, trust me…I still catch myself (not as often as I used to, though), so I’m not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. I’m still me, just an updated and better version, like Jennifer 2.0!

So, what can you learn from this? I know that you will be such a happier person when you let go of your old self. You will become a newer and better version of yourself. You will begin to look at things differently. The world won’t have changed, but you will be changed. It can still be a struggle to walk that path, just keep your eyes on Jesus. He will NEVER, EVER steer you wrong! What do you have to lose? You lose nothing and can gain EVERYTHING!

“How did you salt someone’s oats today?”

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Yeah, strange quote, huh? So this is how it came about, then we can discuss the deeper meaning. as well. I was enjoying the beautiful sun recently at one of the schools that I visit for my job as a behaviorist and I met an amazing lady named April Dunnehoo who works in Early Literacy with the HeadStart-Kindergarten students and teachers within the same parish. As we talked, we found a lot of commonality even though we work in two different areas of education, but found that some of the problems that she sees with these young students tend to become bigger problems as the students age due to the lack of skills that may not have been able to have had addressed when they are or were younger.

Anyway…we began to discuss how we need to find the fun in education in order to encourage our students to WANT to learn not just for the sake of learning. So, here’s where that above quote comes in. April stated that her dad had had an uncle who was wise, not so much in learning but in other, more worldly ways. It goes something like this, “You know that you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. You have to salt their oats so they get thirsty enough to drink.”

What struck April and I both was that “salting someone’s oats” can ALSO be about finding ways to draw others in to something so that they want to learn more. This isn’t all about education either. This can apply to everyday moments, God moments, historical moments… whatever catches your attention and makes you say, “Hmmm… that’s really interesting. I need to learn some more about that!” The main point is that you never stop learning.

Why is that important?

When you are learning, you’re growing. You can become more knowledgeable on any given subject, just because you read up on it or studied it or talked and listened to someone who knew more. You can then help pass that knowledge on to others so that they in turn can pass it on down the line. You may never know the full impact that you had because you helped “salt someone’s oats” and opened a door that they didn’t know existed.

What did I learn from this? That, I think, is why I do this blog. It’s not for my glory… it’s for God’s glory. If I can help make someone say, “Hmmm…I want to know more!”, I have then salted someone else’s oats and made them thirsty to want to know more. Now how much fun is that!?!

So, what can you gain from this? Have you ever passed on a little nugget of information or knowledge that made someone start to stop and think? It sure is a beautiful feeling of knowing that maybe, just maybe, you helped someone. in some way! We don’t know the impact that we may have to help someone. Perhaps you helped them to turn a corner that they didn’t know they needed. So, again, think very carefully on, “How did you salt someone’s oats today?” or can it be also, “How can I salt someone’s oats today?” Sure is something to think on, huh?

Giving Glory to the God Who Lives in Me

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Philippians 4:13 (“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”) comes to mind when I am giving glory to God. “Well wait, Jennifer! You said through Christ. What do you mean giving glory to God? Didn’t Philippians say Christ? What gives?!?”

They are one and the same. Let me explain…

We believe in a God who is not just one being, but, in fact, is three in one. We have God the Father (in Heaven), God the Son (on Earth) and God the Holy Spirit (within us) and each One lives within me. He will come and dwell in each of us when we invite Him in. We have to open the door and invite Him into our hearts. That’s how I know that He lives in me…. my door is wide open for Him to find a dwelling place there!

It’s so hard to know how to handle this world that we live in. As humans, we struggle because living life is a struggle. This world shows us, at times, nothing but chaos and fear. While that will still exist when we ask God to come into our lives, He helps us through and gives us comfort in His Holy Word, the Bible. I once heard it said that the Bible is God’s love letters to His people. Just like we have a living God, we also have His living Word. We can read the same passage multiple times, yet it will mean something different depending on the circumstances that we find ourselves in, at that moment.

So, what do you think? Will you take that leap of faith? Will you welcome God to live in you, too?

What did I learn from this? I will give glory to God in my valleys and my mountaintops. I will give glory to God is my sadness and my joy. I will give glory to God in my singing and my silence. I will give God the glory in my wondering and my questioning. I will give God the glory in my strength and in my weakness. I will give Him the glory because He is ALL THINGS to me.

There is nothing in this world that can beat that! NOTHING!! (Related post: Only God….)

So, what can you learn from this? Will you take a chance? Will you surrender your will to God? Just know that God wants our questions and our wondering because that means that we are actively talking to Him. He wants to help us and He wants us to know that we can trust Him to get us through, especially when we are going through difficult times. Actually… what do you have to lose? (Related post: Stepping Out In Faith and “What do you have to lose?”)

What does it mean to be rich?

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Oh, yeah! That sure is a loaded question, right? Of course, we know what it means to be rich… it’s all about the money and what I own and what I can claim to have! Right? In a technical sense, yes. It does mean those things.

However, there is a different way of looking at it as well….

According to the Bible, our spiritual wealth is where our true wealth is. We specifically look to Ephesians 3:8, in which the Apostle Paul states, “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.” In this statement, Apostle Paul emphasizes his humility in preaching God’s word, the gift of grace that he was given to do so (speak to others, for and about God), the blessings that can come from following God and His Words, as well as, gaining wisdom that can be found in Christ Jesus, God’s Son AND, get this, IS given to everyone!

When we are rich in and with God, then we can use that richness for His good, by ministering to His people through our generosity in sharing our love, faith, hope and comfort with others. Specifically, that means that we can show our love for one another, have our faith in a loving God, know that our hope is in a brighter future, and give the comfort that we can bring to others when they are hurting or needing help.

Yes, it’s good to be rich in money…but are you using it the right way? Is it all about taking care of only your wants and needs or does it also include using it for God’s children as well? It sure is something to think about…

What did I learn from this? As a teacher, when you are paid once a month, there always used to be this worry about stretching my money until my next paycheck. I did say “used to be”, right? I emphasize that because, within the last couple of years, I turned all that worry over to God, and, guess what? I haven’t worried since. I’ve also found that having trust in God also allows me to be more generous in numerous other ways as well through the giving and receiving of love, faith, hope and comfort to others. He’s opened my eyes to seeing His people and the world differently. He’s given me more of a discerning nature to see the good and bad. So, am I rich? In the money sense, not really, but that’s okay, because I am certainly rich in the spiritual sense! (Related post: An Act of Faith)

So, what can you learn from this? Being rich is so much more than about having money. Being rich is in trusting God to get you through but is also seeing others with the same love that our God has for us. It’s knowing and believing in the hope that comes from a loving God. It’s knowing and believing that comfort can be found through His Holy Word, the Bible. It’s also knowing and believing that we have a God who wants the very best for us and that we can trust His path to get us there. That, my friend, is where TRUE riches come from! (Related posts: The Faith-Fueled Journey and A Season of Perpetual Hope)

A Season of Perpetual Hope

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As I am writing this post, we are coming up on the Christmas season. Too often we get caught up in all of the lights and parties and present buying, so much so, that we may sometimes forget what this season is truly about. It’s about a loving God who sent His Son to be born of a virgin. It’s that untouched innocence in not only the Child but the Mother who carried Him. He didn’t come as a soldier to take away all of the things that were and still are wrong with the world. He came as a little baby.

I don’t know about anybody else, but there is something so magical about seeing a baby. For me, it’s about their innocence and their helpless need for us to take care of them. Imagine that…. the thought of Jesus as a small and helpless infant, who was totally dependent on the people around Him. That thought can, at times, be mind-boggling for us! Even though He was born on this Earth as a babe, He still represented and continues to represent a season of everlasting hope as a renewal for us to be made new as well.

This season of perpetual hope can also offer some healing as well for those who have lost loved ones and are going through their first year of separation during all of the holidays. That’s a struggle for sure. It makes it difficult sometimes to see that hope when we are sad. However, while we very easily see Christmas is a season of hope, we can’t dismiss that Jesus’ death on the cross at Easter is also another season of hope, as well. It was His death that has paved the way for us to be able to see our loved ones again. Before Christ died for us, we were separated from God and our loved ones by sin, but by dying on the cross, Christ took away that barrier. Now we know that this separation from each other is only temporary. So the cycle goes on and repeats as a reminder of how much our God loves us. He came as a child and died as a man…. all because of His love for us. (Related post: Jehovah-Jirah: Name of God)

What did I learn from this? It’s hard to put into words, how humbled I am. None of us are worthy of Him, but that didn’t stop Him from doing it anyway. No other religion can say that. It’s our faith in our God that gives us that hope for something better. It’s hard to see it now, but better days are coming and that is where my hope and faith lies. He hasn’t let me down yet and I know that He won’t.

So, what can you gain from this? I think and know and have experienced that as your faith deepens, our God shows up in miraculous ways. Things that seemed impossible before, now seem to have a new dimension. You experience miracles and wonders that give you hope for something that used to be just a dream. He gives you that hope and you know that it is real and true and genuine. (Related post: God’s in the Details)

“Takes a licking and keeps on ticking”

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The phrase above was an advertisement of the ability of a Timex watch to keep going even after it’s been through many “torture tests”. The phrase itself has actually become an idiom for an ability to endure hardship or stress and still continue to function.

So, why did that resonate with me?

As Christians, we are prosecuted and mocked and reviled for our beliefs. Yet, as Christians, we continue to persevere through those hard times. Once you understand and know and see the love of God, it’s value far exceeds any prosecution that you can endure. We want others to experience all of the joys and freedoms that we have experienced, knowing that He loved us so much that He even sent His Son, Jesus, to take up all of our sins on the cross so that we can be with Him for eternity. I don’t know about what you think, but that’s just absolutely AWESOME!

I also know that I’m not worthy of that level of love…. none of us are! Yet, He still became man, lived among us and then died. He never had to do that. The thing is, is that we have a LIVING God. He rose from the dead and visited with his disciples and others before going to sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. He didn’t leave us alone though; He sent us His Holy Spirit which guides us in our daily lives, especially when we invite Him to walk with us in the this earthly journey that we are in.

What I want to know is this…

Will you stand with God? When you fall down, will you get up and still give glory to our living God in the midst of it? When you fail, will you work harder to do better? When you recognize His love for you, will you talk about that same love with others? Will you do your best to live a Godly life, emulating the love that God has for us? Will you forgive those who have hurt you? Will you….

What did I learn from this? I am so humbled by the level of love that I have FOR Him and FROM Him. This blog that I write was done because He wanted me to do it. So, who am I to deny Him anything with all that He has given me? I see it so clearly now, where I couldn’t see it before! The twists and turns in the paths that I have traveled have all been preparation for right now. He was leading me to this moment. I will do anything and I know that while I don’t always understand His purpose, I have full confidence that He will show me in time what I need to see. (Related posts: A Blessed Path and Knowing and Believing)

So, what can you gain from this? Do you want to feel joy? Do you want to feel peace? Do you want to experience a love so deep that you weep in gratitude? Will you have difficulties? That I can answer with a firm “YES!” Just know this, once you give your life to God, there is NOTHING that He will not do to protect you! That you can rest assured in. You might take that licking, but He will make sure you will keep on ticking. He has a plan for you and He’s only just begun. (Related post: A New Chapter in the Book of Life)

Jehovah Rapha-Name of God

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The meaning of Jehovah Rapha is “The Lord Who Heals.” and is found throughout the Bible, namely, Exodus 15:26, “I am the Lord who heals you.”; Jeremiah 33:6, ” Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.”; Psalm 103:3, “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases”; Psalm 147:3, ” He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”; and Isaiah 53:5,
“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

This reference to a healing God is that He is the One who can and will and does give us that internal healing that heals the soul. When God came to Earth in the form of Jesus, His Son, we know that Jesus didn’t just heal physical ailments that people were suffering through at that time, He healed their souls from the sin that was, and is still, keeping us from being with God fully.

So many other religions require that the people make a sacrifice to their god in order to gain favor with them. However, in Christianity, we have a God who loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to be sacrificed for OUR sins! You see, our Christian God saw that we needed something more that would heal us not only physically, but mentally as well as emotionally. None of us deserve this level of love, but He gives it freely.

What does He want in return? He wants our hearts. He wants us to step away from the great tempter who only seeks to keep us from being whole and well. Our God wants us to know a love and healing that doesn’t count what we’ve done in the past against us. Our God is always seeking to show us where we are going, not where we’ve been. Our God is always seeking to meet us where we are and ask that we trust Him to take us where we never thought that we could go. Our God heals those broken pieces that we didn’t know that we had. Our God renews our spirit and makes it whole, again. (Related posts: “My peace I give you” and The Faith of a Mustard Seed)

What did I learn from this? I need God, every minute of every day. He gets me going when it’s hard to get up and go. He fuels my body with purpose even when I cannot predict the outcome. He gives me hope when the world shows me that there are so many who still need Him. He gives me the words to say when I am stuck. He gives me His love and comfort when I need it the most. He’s like a warm blanket by a crackling fire that wraps me up in His comfort and keeps me safe. That is the God that I worship. That is the God that I love because I know that He loves me just as much. (Related post: Reasonings)

So, what can you learn from this? You are never too far gone that God cannot find you. You are never too lost that He won’t give you a guiding hand. You are never so unlovable that God won’t wrap you up and hold you tight. He walks with you on a daily basis, but he needs you to open the door so that you can fully fill His presence. He loves you and wants you to know that He knows your inmost fears and seeks to comfort you in your pain and suffering.

The Gifts We Bring

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I love to watch YouTube videos and I just love seeing the people who are speaking out about how they came to believe in God, in Jesus and in His Holy Spirit. What I love most about seeing these videos is listening to them tell their stories. These are some who have been into some really bad things and have tattoos all over their body. They tell stories of where they came from and what they’ve done (drugs, prison, gangs, etc.) before God met them where they were and showed them a different way.

You see, so many of us look on the outside. Some ONLY see the tattoos or only see their past and hold that against them. God doesn’t do that. He challenges all of us to see past that to the new person that they have become. God challenges us to look for the gifts that we all can bring to the table regardless of where we’ve come from or what others think of us. Each of us has a story to tell. Each of us has a piece of the same puzzle that can contribute to the whole picture for the world to see. (Related post: Traversing the hills and valleys of life with grace)

I don’t know your story, but I’d love to hear it. I’d love to know the journey that you took to get to this point in time. Don’t worry, you are not alone. We all carry scars, but no one’s scars are bigger than the ones that are carried by Jesus. He came to this Earth as a innocent child and an innocent man to take our sins up on that cross so that we would have the opportunity to go and be with Him at the end of our lives. Those scars that Jesus has are to remind us that NOTHING that we have done or will do is bigger than His love for us. He knows that we have a gift to bring others to Him as well when we share our own scars, our own fears and our own pain. This is the gift that we all share.

So…. will you?

What did I learn from this? I learned that I am not alone. I learned that there are others who have suffered and continue to suffer through sin and shame, so much so, that we try to hide away from a loving God who only wants us to get to know Him. I learned that my gifts are there to be treasured but also shared, no matter what others say. I learned that I am beautiful in His eyes and that He looks at what is in my heart and what I try to do for Him. I’m not perfect but instead I am perfectly imperfect. Guess what? I can live with that.

So, what can you gain from this? Are you called to be a messenger for Christ? Are you worried that your sin will keep you from calling yourself Christian? Rest assured that God never holds your past against you. He welcomes you to a table with others who have traveled the same road of sin and shame. Aren’t we so lucky that we have a living and loving God who wants us to be a part of His family? So, what can you gain? Peace and a love so pure that it will bring tears to your eyes as you weep in gratitude. Your story has had a perfect ending after all. (Related post: The God of Everything)

Your Very Own Super Power

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For anyone who doesn’t know, I have been working recently in a local school parish as a Behavioral Support Staff, which is just a fancy way of saying that I help the administrators, teachers, parents (family) and students who are having behavioral issues in the school setting. I thoroughly enjoy my job even though it does have it’s ups and downs when you are dealing with people.

What does that have to do with you having your very own super power? Well… let me tell you about that because it’s something that I tell EVERYONE when we talk about behavior. Wait for it…..

Your super power is your ability to make a choice! Sounds simple, right? So why is something that is so simple, so hard to, well, actually do? It comes down to fear. We have a fear of making the wrong decisions as well as having the stress and uncertainty that comes with having to make a decision that others may find objectionable. Sometimes it can come down to determining that what you are doing or seeing or experiencing comes from a conflict of what you value which can (and often does) conflict with someone else’s values. In addition, we can have the fear of uncertainty about how our decision may turn out. We will second-guess ourselves when it comes to the choices that we make.

So, how can we make it easier on ourselves? It’s important to understand that you need to make a choice that is the BEST ONE for you and your family. Is everyone going to be happy with it? No, and that is part of the problem that we all have to contend with, as well. We all have to live with regret on some of our choices, but we can always use those regrets as a way to learn from our mistakes. In other words, the choices that we make (good or bad), can help us to grow in all sorts of ways.

For example, I always used to wonder why I had a need to skip from job to job. Sure, I stayed in them for 3-5 years, but it felt like to me that I couldn’t stick with one job for long. What I didn’t realize at the time is that I was not failing but, instead, taking something from each job and then using it in some way in the next one. It wasn’t until more recently, in which I realized that God had actually been laying the foundation for something bigger at the time. It has come to a point where I can now use the information that I had learned from my experiences and share it with others through what I am doing now.

Perhaps you feel the same about your situation or about the choices that you need to make. There’s nothing wrong with feeling that way at all. It’s hard to be brave when what you are is afraid. Just know that you are not alone. Trust that God will help you when you need to start something new. All you have to do is ask. (Related post: A New Chapter in the Book of Life)

What did I learn from this? The choices that I have made have impacted me in so many ways. I am more confident in my ability to make a hard choice. For me, it’s also a matter of knowing that I can count on God to help me when I do struggle with something. I know that God hears me and answers me. I also know that sometimes that answer will either be a “Yes”, a “No”, or a “Not right now.” I also know that I have the ability to wait on God and trust Him on this journey called life. (Related post: A Blessed Path)

So, what can you gain from this? You can gain your own confidence in the choices that you make. Sometimes those choices will be great and sometimes those choices will be wrong and sometimes those choices will be neither, just sort of in the middle. The thing is…. you can still learn and grow from every choice that you make. That’s the whole purpose of life… learning and growing and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! (Related post: The Seasons of Change)

ONE King!

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There have been some who have been having “No Kings!” protests and I know that their purpose is primarily because they are protesting President Trump and all that he stands for. However, we DO have a King and His name is Jesus. He was sent by God to live among us, to die for us and to ultimately rise for us. In John 3:16, it states, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God has loved us, throughout time, so much so that He sent His Son to be with us. Two thousand years ago, Jesus lived and walked and taught and shared and healed and showed us what it meant to be the One King that we so desire, now, to learn more about. We understand now that He lives in our hearts, and He walks with us in our struggles, and He teaches us how to love others, and He shares His Gospel with us through the Bible, and He heals us in our hearts and minds and bodies and He continually shows us that He is forever and ever the greatest King who has ever and will ever walk the Earth. There is NO ONE greater than Him!

Know this, we CANNOT come to the Father by ourself or through our own actions but we can only get to Him through His Son, Jesus. We MUST renounce everything that is evil in this world and within our own lives. We must first seek His Kingdom and His Glory. God gives us Grace and Mercy even though we don’t deserve it because of our sinful nature, yet God still made a way to Him because of His love for us. We can’t buy it through good works but we can give Him our hearts and do what we can in this life to bring others to Him. (Related post: Jehovah: Name of God)

What did I learn from this? I am a sinful person, but He has made me clean. I am ugly but He has made me beautiful. I am weak but He has made me strong. I am ashamed and He has made me whole. I am not worthy yet He loves me anyway. Everything that I do, I do for Him. It is only THROUGH Him that I am a better person. (Related post: The Faith of a Mustard Seed)

What can you gain from this? Go and look in the mirror. Ask yourself if you truly like the person that you see. Ask yourself if God likes that person. If your answer is “No” to any or even both of those questions, then humble yourself before God in THIS life, because for sure, the judgement will come in the next one. No one can escape it. I don’t think that you would want to wait until then to make up your mind about where your priorities are because by then…. it’s too late. (Related post: Why is it SO difficult to have faith, when we are faced with SO many things to fear?)