My Crazy Faith

Taking a break between the "end times" stuff and the upcoming "predestination" stuff: Tony Evans is my all-time favorite pastor.  He always gives messages that convict, challenge, and comfort.  Listen to some of his sermons from his YouTube channel and be encouraged.   There are so many great ones to choose from. You can't go wrong with any video of his.  I found him to be the most biblically-accurate preacher (especially as I researched Calvinism and found out how wrong it is), who is also great at helping us practically apply God's truths to life. [Update: I removed the list of sermons I originally had here because most of the links were broken.]

I just gotta say that I feel pretty good today.  It's been awhile since I've felt so ... relieved, I guess.   And I think it really helped to vent the other day .  To complain a bit.  To not have to try so hard to filter everything I say.  (And yet, I did filter.  I was careful.)  But it felt good to be honest.  As honest as I could be. And it helped that an eye visit for two of my sons (right after I wrote that post)went well.   Given all the "waiting for the next pummeling" that I tend to feel every day, I have a really hard time handling some of the most basic things that other people can easily handle.  Last minute changes in plans throw me for a loop.  Too many things scheduled in one week (say, 2-3 things) stresses me out.  Being asked "How are you doing?" makes me want to activate my cloaking device.  Allowing the kids to drive in a car with anyone other than me or my husband freaks me out.  (I used to be...

I love this quote from Napoleon about Jesus: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires.  But on what did we rest the creations of our genius?  Upon force.  Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him."  ( link ) Sadly, I think many Christians are more willing to die for Him than to really live for Him.  Dying for Him is usually theoretical, but living for Him would require a lot of actual, real-life changes. Will you be counted among the faithful ones?  The ones willing to die for Him and  live for Him?

Allow me to vent.  And don't get too alarmed.  I'm fine.  Really, I am. I was reading today about a woman who gave a prophetic word of encouragement to a young girl who needed to know that God saw her, that she wasn't overlooked and insignificant.   It was a sweet thing, nice to know that God would reach down to tell a young girl, "I see you.  You matter to Me." But it also made me a little sad.  Because it made me think, "Me, too, Lord?  Would You send me a note that You see me?  I could use a little encouragement, too." It seems harder when you're older sometimes, especially when you're well-grounded in the faith.  I mean, life is easier in a way because I know what I believe, Who I believe in, and why I believe.  I've had my turns when God's reached down to encourage me before.  I know Him well!  So I do not struggle with my faith.  I have gotten to the point where I know it's Jesus or nothing, where I know I wo...

Can anyone relate to the idea of being exhausted from the energy it takes to just keep breathing (first song link below)?  I've been there, too.  It's probably why I long so much for eternity.  I long for the day when we can finally rest from our troubles.  But until then, I cling to the Lord and take each day as it comes, with His grace, help, strength, and wisdom to get me through.  Worn by Tenth Avenue North Healing Begins by Tenth Avenue North By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North Hold My Heart by Tenth Avenue North Love, Heal Me by City Harmonic Fell Apart by City Harmonic Praise the Lord by City Harmonic Honestly by City Harmonic Oh, What Love by City Harmonic   I AM by Crowder Paralyzed  by NF I'll Keep On  by NF Lord, for those struggling to hang in there, to keep their faith, to keep on living ... surround them with Your heavenly angels to protect them from evil.  Comfort them and guard them while the...

I love this !  (Particularly the giggling Ryan Gosling picture!)   Are the "snowflakes" so delicate that they can't even bear to hear the proper names of body parts?  And then what happens when "front hole" becomes too gender-specific ?  I mean, wouldn't they eventually realize that "front hole" is still just referring to a woman-specific body part?  Maybe a man's part should be called a "pee stick"?  But then wouldn't that make women who want a "pee stick" feel bad that they don't have one?  We can't call one a "pee stick" without calling the other a "pee stick."  I mean, how fair would that be!?!  Why don't we just call them "pee-pee spot 1" and "pee-pee spot 2" so that they sound as similar as possible?   But then ... who gets to be #1 and who gets to be #2?  Doesn't that sound like we are ranking them, as if one is "better" than the other?  Yeah, t...

This cockatoo's reaction to his owner's "disappearance" is too cute.  It makes you wonder what's going on in that tiny, little bird brain!

As an introvert who tends to hide in the background, this "news story" made me giggle.  I can so relate!

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been in the news a lot lately for their relationship troubles and for his substance abuse.   (I feel bad for celebrities, for how everything they do is picked apart by the media and dissected under a microscope by millions of people.  That's got to make your problems 100 times worse.) Say a prayer for them.  No one is outside of the reach of Jesus.  No one is beyond His forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love.  Pray that God protects them with His heavenly angels and keeps evil away, that He puts His truth right in their paths and gives them eyes to see and ears to hear.  Pray for healing in their relationship, too. And whenever you hear of any other celebrity or neighbor or friend struggling, say a prayer for them, too.  It's those who struggle who are closest to finding the Lord - because we know how much we need His help.   Prayer does matter!  It's not just a formality.   And if you're lik...

A question popped into my head the other day as I was contemplating this whole "What if it is the end times?" thing. I was imagining what it would be like to "finish the race" - to finally run across the finish line into heaven and into the Lord's presence.  I was thinking about what I would do in that moment. For years, I've imagined that I would cross that finish line ... and then I would immediately curl up into a ball all alone somewhere and just start sobbing.  And I would cry and cry until I couldn't cry anymore.    Life has been so ... I don't know ... full of struggle, I guess.  Lots of feelings of failure and being not good enough and too many broken dreams and dashed hopes.  I have run and run so hard sometimes that I have thoroughly exhausted myself.  And lately, I have gone through intense times of anxiety and depression and extreme loneliness and pulling back more and more from people for various reasons.   I mean, I ...

I said in the last post that there was one article on a Christian News website that bothered me enough to remove the link to that website.  But then I re-added the link, and decided to simply write about the bothersome article here. The article is entitled "What The Early Church Thought About God's Gender."   In this article, the author is trying to make a case for God/Jesus being feminine, more feminine than the Word really portrays them.   I have no problem with saying that God/Jesus has a feminine side - a gentle, loving, nurturing side, like all people do to some degree.  Or with saying that since God created man and woman in His image then it must mean that feminine and masculine characteristics come from Him and are evident in His nature.  It's just that men got the more masculine traits and women got the more feminine, and that men and women together in marriage give us a more complete picture of the total nature of God. That's all fine.  But w...

There are a few "end times" and "Christian news" sites that I like to check up on now and then.   When it comes to the "End Times," I mainly prefer sites that give me headlines about what's going on around the world that may be related to the end times, such as major earthquake and volcanic activity, political and international conflicts, Israel news, etc.   I don't care much for the sites that are sensationalized - that make huge deals out of every tiny thing and that try to fit every little cosmic or world event into a Bible verse as some sort of "proof" that the End Times are here.  I'd rather read the normal news stories for myself and get an overall picture of how close we seem to be getting to the end. Of course, no matter how close we think we are to the end, it won't happen until God wants it to happen.  All we can do is wait for Him and live the way He wants us to, in anticipation of standing before Him someday.  An...