World of Want

Don't you find it ironic that we celebrate Thanksgiving by appreciating all that we are Thankful for? Only to turn around the next few weeks trying to fulfill our hearts desires and wants with whatever Santa will bring us and everyone else. I am so guilty of living from a state of contentment to a state of restlessness time and time again. And I have no excuse cause I know that the Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want. It is pretty much a commandment yet we do not treat it like one. We are taught not to lean on our own understanding, but on His because our thoughts and ways are not His. His thoughts and ways are higher. He has a better way for us to get from point A to point B. We just need to follow His roadmap. Take time to listen to what God has for you and I can guarantee that contentment will be your happy place. It is God's desire for us to never have to want. For He meets all our needs and wants. All we have to do is believe, ask and receive.

For Christians and Whoever wants to Know the Truth

Darla Dalton Robbins·Saturday, April 30, 2016

Awhile back Pastor Craig preached a message about Christians holding other Christians accountable for what is in the Bible. Non Christians should not be held accountable for those same standards. As a Christian you choose to live according to the Word of God so what is written there means more to you than someone who hasn’t chosen to live that way. 

I was raised in a family where most of my relatives and my friend’s dads were ministers, so the Bible has always been present in my life. I know we are taught not to judge, but to love and pray for those who do not choose to be Christians. And that is what I have done all of my life. I often have non-Christians challenge me on my beliefs and I only defend what the Bible says about what actions are called sins.

Let me be clear before anyone wants to cast stones. I do not claim to be a perfect Christian, one who never makes mistakes. I do sin, but I do know who my Savior is and I know that He forgives me of my sins, just as He does for anyone. 

There have been times in my life when I am so close in my walk with the Lord. Then there have been other times that I feel there is some distance between us. I do know though that even when I walked away He was never very far behind me. He promised never to leave me, nor forsake me. Even in my darkest hours and loneliest times God was right there waiting for me to reach out to Him. 

For the past few months, I have done pretty well considering that my mom just passed away in March. My father and sister just passing away a couple of years before and my mom ill since; there are a lot of things that have fallen into my lap to be responsible for. Well yesterday I had a very low day, like going thru a valley. Yet when I woke up this morning I felt inspired.

I woke up with a message on my heart. I believe that I have a battle cry God has placed on my heart to share with others. 

Here is the lesson some may have heard before and some not. If a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that occur gradually. This is how satan works to destroy society and Christians. He slowly puts situations out there that might ruffle the feathers of some Christians about homosexuality and such. If Christians respond because it goes against our beliefs we are labeled as haters and persecuted for standing up for what we are taught from the Bible. 

Daily, Christians are being put up to the test if they would take a bullet, metaphorically, for Christ or not and many are failing. He laid down His life for us, why don’t we love Him enough to do the same for Him? Not one person on this earth can offer us eternal life, only God. So I choose God over everyone else. 

Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Take the wool off of your eyes and do not fall for the tricks of the devil. He is evil and sly. No we can not always change the world, but we can start with our corner of it. People say if we boycott places because they have done something to offend our beliefs it won’t make a difference. I say yes it does! Money speaks volumes to a business and if enough people stop spending their money at a business it will fail. Just standing up for what you believe speaks volumes and actions can speak louder than words. God knows our hearts and anything we do to show our love to God and defend His Word is what truly matters. 

If I take a stranger into my home and he has lice I am going to help him get rid of that lice because I do not want to get lice. I can tell you that he doesn’t like to have lice either and he will be happy for me to help him get rid of it.

Same is the non-Christian that comes into the House of the Lord. They come in looking for relief from what is afflicting them. We as Christians are going to accept them and thru Christ help them get rid of their sin. 

A lot of Churches nowadays take in the sinner, but are afraid of offending them so they let them keep their lice, so the lice spreads and infects the Church. This is wrong. 

John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

Do not fall victim to he that is of this world. 

Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. 

This world was created by God and we were all put here with the intent to one day leave here and go be with Him in Heaven. First we have to want that. God gave us the choice to live according to the Word and choose Him and His Son to be our tour guide in this life here on earth. So when we choose to be a Christian we take on the commitment to have faith in the direction God leads us. Even if we stumble and get lost we need to take the initiative to get back on track with Him. He encourages us to help others find their way to Him so they also can be a part of His greater plan for their lives too. So we need to be praying for fellow Christians as they try to stay on track and for non-Christians to find their way to God. 

We need to defend the Word of God. That comes first. Even if it offends someone. When you do not stand up for what you believe then no one knows what you believe. 

I want the world to know that:

I believe that Christ is the Son of God. I believe in the Word of God. I will always choose God before Man. I believe that God created the world and He has prepared a place called Heaven for those that believe in Him and they will not perish, but will have eternal life!

Do not let the father of lies, satan keep you from the joy and peace that God can give you here on earth and in Heaven for eternity!

Reunite!!!

 

 

re·u·nite

 to come together or cause to come together again after a period of separation or disunity.

 

This will be our 5th year to come back and reunite on Van Buren to cruise VB a few times again. 

This also marks my 25th year of graduating from High School. I can't believe this group has already been around for 5 years. It just goes to prove time flies when you're having fun!  If you are a newbie to my blog and want to know more about this group I am talking about you are welcome to check it out at 

vanburencruisers.com  

 I was telling a fellow earlier today about our event and how it showed the younger folk how we communicated back in the day before computers and cell phones. I said we had to actually put gas in our cars and go find our friends. They were usually out on VB on Friday and Saturday nights. He noted that gas prices nowadays probably make it too expensive for people to cruise like back then. I thought about it, but then replied I wasn't sure that gas was more than cell phone bills.hehe

This year the car show will be closer to VB just because I like to mix it up a bit now and then. We will probably have it downtown again in the future. There was rumor or concern that the city wasn't going to let me have it downtown. Nope just thought we would try something different this year. It will be at the Central Christian Church behind McDonalds..  Catch me out at the cruise at Galaxy Mattress on VB & Owen K. Friday the 13th. You can register for the car show, buy a shirt, buy a ticket to win a gas card or just say Hi!

I will see everyone on VB.

'Til Death Do Us Part

Last month I found this book called "The Respect Dare" by Nina Roesner. I know that God is always throwing us bread crumbs to go in the right direction. This is one of those bread crumbs. I am learning so much. I am leading this in a Bible Study at my church to a group of ladies. I just had to share with you so maybe you could be inspired to learn about God's perfect plan for wedded bliss also.

Modern society would not look highly on what God intended for His perfect plan for marriage, whether it was for the Church and Christ or husband and wife.

Ephesians 5:22-33

New International Version (NIV)

²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

 The definition of respect  is to consider worthy of high regard; esteem. God does not give us the choice to only respect if our husbands deserve the respect. We are to respect him regardless. We should not be focused on how someone else behaves, but how we behave. Our actions will affect someone else and how they treat us.  When we build our relationship with God, He fills in the void where we may have felt unloved or unappreciated. Put your focus on God and off of your husband and respecting your husband will be a lot easier. 

Here are some wedding vows I found online.. 

Female

I, _____, take you, ______, to be my wedded husband. With deepest joy I come into my new life with you. As you have pledged to me your life and love, so I too happily give you my life, and in confidence submit myself to your headship as to the Lord. As is the church in her relationship to Christ, so I will be to you. _____, I will live first unto our God and then unto you, loving you, obeying you, caring for you and ever seeking to please you. God has prepared me for you and so I will ever strengthen, help, comfort, and encourage you. Therefore, throughout life, no matter what may be ahead of us, I pledge to you my life as an obedient and faithful wife.

Feminists would have a heyday with that. I can hear them now.."What do you mean submit or obey?" These are things that should naturally come to us as they would being a mother to our children. As Christians we are taught to serve one another. This shows that we care for each other and want the best for each other. If someone is sick we help take care of them. If someone is having a hard time we are there for them. So the one that we are the closest to, our spouse we should want to do the most for because we have chosen them to be our mate for life.
My husband and I have had a rocky marriage. Partly because when we were married we were on the same page. We were both Christians and our values and beliefs were the same. Years into our marriage he lost his faith and since then there have been a lot of struggles. I know that if I did not have God in my life I would probably not stay in my marriage. I would be too weak to stay. Alan says hurtful things at times. I take them to heart and I get down on myself. I know that if he were serving the Lord, his heart would be different and he would treat me better. I am willing to overlook a lot because his relationship is between him and God and I know that one day he will find his faith in God once again. I have to believe that. That is what my prayer is and in God's time; He makes all things beautiful. (Ecc. 3:11) My focus on God and not on Alan also helps me treat Alan better. This helps with our relationship. If he says hurtful things, I am learning to not strike back and fuel the fire, but put it out. Applying this to our lives is really making a difference. God is so amazing!

I have left my husband a couple of times. I packed up our four children and moved to my hometown. Both times God restored me, made me stronger and put a stronger love and desire in my heart for Alan. When we took our vows 17 years ago we said "til death do us part". That is a vow not to be taken lightly. We must put forth the effort to make our marriages survive. There are a lot of obstacles in life. The devil likes to throw us a lot of curve balls. I didn't count on the one that I waited until I was 24 years old to marry and be all the things that I desired for my husband; to become someone different. I felt betrayed. I have told him this many times and it turns into a fight. I have since learned that only God can change him back and it is not my place to meddle. I must keep my vows to obey God and He commands that I respect my husband. So if I am holding up my end then I know that God will hold up His. I can only improve on who I am and how I treat others.

I encourage everyone to take the "Respect Dare". It is a lesson we can all learn from. The world only offers us deceit and confusion. As the song writer put it in eloquent verse "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." All good things are possible when we focus on His direction for our lives. Follow His breadcrumbs. His plan is solid proof. Not necessarily easy, but definitely worth it!! Joy comes in the morning! I wish happiness for us all and through God that is possible.

God Bless Her Little Heart

What was supposed to be a just a routine well child check up turned into a wake up call. My 6 year old, Julia has been a very healthy child all of her 6 years of life and very active. She chooses to even eat healthy on her own.
Our regular pediatrician was not available on this particular visit due to her own health issues. The substitute pediatrician was listening to Julia's heart and turned and looked at me and said she heard a click noise she thought and would be ordering a echo-cardiogram for Julia. I think time kind of stood still as I heard her say that. I was shocked. It definitely was not something I was expecting to hear about this perfectly healthy child.
Well I reasoned with it of course and decided well this was a newer doctor and she was just extra curious, so we would go along with it, but I was sure everything was fine. We went to have the test run and no alarms sounded from the staff, so we left and I even forgot about waiting for the call for the results, so once again I was shocked when they called me with the results the following Friday. They told me that Julia had atrial septic defect, which is a hole in the heart that had not closed on its own, so since it was rather large we would need to have it repaired. Otherwise Julia would be at risk later in life for heart complications, that could be fatal. I was definitely more concerned now. We met with the cardiologist and was given a choice to have it repaired non-invasive up through an artery in the leg or by open heart surgery. My husband and I kind of smirked well of course we would choose the less major way to go, that was a no brainer.
We scheduled the surgery, got Julia all ready to go to have the procedure done and she is actually kind of excited about the experience. We were on track to be ready to go back to school after her short recovery time. We had explained to her after this minor procedure things would be good and back to normal for her. Then only a short time after they took her back to surgery, the surgeon comes out and tells us that he is unable to repair the hole this way that we will need to schedule to have open heart surgery to patch the hole. The size of the hole was much larger, more like the wall dividing the the two upper chambers wasn't there. Needless to say I was heart broken. I did not want my baby girl who had been so healthy to have to have this major heart surgery. I knew she had to, but I didn't understand why God had not let us take the easier path.
The big surgery day has come and gone and Julia is recovering wonderfully. The surgeons and the nurses told us how amazed they are at how well the surgery and her recovery is going. I know that most of the universe was calling out to God, my Father to have mercy on my child and let her have a successful surgery and recovery. That is what I know I can trust. We do not always know the way that God will answer our prayers, but we can have the faith that He is always in the process of answering them the way that He knows is the best. I am so blessed and grateful that I have a praise story to share. Even through the sorrow I went through, it has made my joy that much more wonderful. Through Julia's experience all of the hundreds or more that had passed my burden on about her on their prayer chains and social outreaches so many got to see how through their prayers God worked amazing results.
A nurse had told me after the surgery that she was amazed how Julia had not had any symptoms because the hole was so large. I know that my Heavenly Father was keeping a hand on my baby girl and that He will continue to be there for her and me and the rest of our family.
You definitely can not take one day for granted. We are not all given those second chances, one more tries or one more days, to have with our loved ones. I thank God, that He allowed the right Dr. to hear the murmur that found the hole and blessed us with great surgeons to give Julia a second lease on life. May God bless each and everyone of you with as much joy that I have. I can say that I am amazed too by God's amazing grace, but I am not surprised, because I know that my God is an Awesome God and He will never fail me.

Mother of The Year 2034

This year I was a snoopy mom. I read my daughter's text messages. When I find her old notebooks, I read poems she has written in them. Why do I do this? Because my daughter does not open up to me about  how she feels unless she is angry about something and then she automatically accuses me of not caring about her. I will not be voted "Mother of the Year" this year.   I don't care if she gets mad at me for being snoopy. See she has had a friend take his life and another friend try to take hers. At 13 you are sensitive to everything 10 times more than when you are 28.  I worry about things like suicide becoming a trend. I will do whatever I can to help her through her teen years, especially these tender ones.
   We don't always agree on clothes or music, but we often find common ground on movies and tv shows.  She seems to get upset if I like the music she likes. I think she is happier when she finds the kind that annoys me. We both need help through these teen years.
   Sometimes she wants to be treated older and other times she resents when you act like she is older. Knowing when to treat her the age she wants when she wants is the puzzle.  Maybe if I had more time to devote to her. A lot of the time she is okay with being a sister to three others, but then there are times she doesn't like that either.  I pray that God will instill in her the confidence and motivation she needs to find happiness.
   When she is the mother of a teenager someday, then she will be able to look back and understand what I went through. I hope then she can appreciate how much I loved her and wanted to protect her at whatever the cost. She will see for most of the time that she thought that I was unfair and didn't care was when I cared the most. She will see when I said no and she resented me for it, that her safety meant more than her happiness at the time. The sacrifices made to help guide her right, while risking our relationship. They were all made so she will live to have the opportunity to be a mom someday down the road to her own teenager.
   She will then understand the value of a loving parent and will say my mother is the "Mother of the Year"! It might take to the year 2034, but it will be worth the wait if my parenting pays off.
  Good luck to all the mothers of the world especially through times of crisis you go through with your children. I pray God gives you and me strength and wisdom to carry us through them.

United We Stand!! Divided We Fall!!

What a loaded statement. What do you think it means? You would think it would be obvious that it means if we all get along everything will work out.  We are taught daily against this theory. We are taught to look out for number one. Be all that you can be. Be accepting. And then the popular word "diversity". That term means a condition of being composed of differing elements..opinions. I can see how "division" could be a factor here.  How can a nation stand together if it is so diversified with different opinions, beliefs, etc.?
We are supposedly in charge of putting people in charge to run our country. A president, congressman, leaders.  This should be sacrificing roles for these individuals. I have no quarrel with paying them a salary for their work, but I do not believe that they should be paid above the salary of a military person who puts forth more sacrifice than them to  protect and serve our country.  We do not have much to choose from in this up and coming election because who would want to lead a country that does not stand together? Scary how the Bible starts playing out in my mind here. It speaks of dark times when people feel there is not one to turn to and then all of a sudden a leader comes forth and people are fooled by him to lead them. We all want a hero to come in and save the day, but I definitely do not want the Antichrist to be that hero.
I am begging and pleading all of America to not be blind and vote Obama back in office. Do I really need to remind you of his selfish acts. He put our country in 10 times more debt than we have ever been in. He and his wife take off on elaborate vacations at our country's expense.  They should be ashamed of their actions and any one who sees how bad they have behaved with their responsibilities and votes for him again should be ashamed to call themselves Americans.
There needs to be a casting out of demons in the White House of all the obvious bad seeds there are and  the puppet masters that hide in the shadows, they are like a stronghold on our government.  We don't need crooked people in those seats that are getting paid off for their vote.  We need people with strong moral fiber that actually have a backbone and truly have our best interests in mind.  Pray fervently for our nation that we can find those leaders and put them in charge of our nation. Too many different opinions, etc is going to be the ruin of our nation. We need to all stand up and support whoever is really standing up for our conservative heritage, the one that is for the people.
If you got through our borders to be an American than you better act like one pledge our flag, speak our language and pay taxes like the rest of us, otherwise I suggest you get out and stop muddying the waters. America it is time to take back what is ours and stop giving it away!!! UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!!!