"I loved you before I met you"

A very popular song has the words "I loved you before I met you". This verse says "commitment and love" to us. Do you know that someone is committed to you? Do you know that someone does love you?

Commitment defined is "the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc." Synonyms are dedication, devotion, allegiance, loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity and bond.

When we get married or attend a wedding, we are reminded that we need to be committed to our partners until death parts us. This means that we need to be loyal and faithful. It means we should honour our fidelity and that we are bonded in love and life. This is not always easy as the people around us as well as our spouses often let us down in these areas. 

But...have you realised that God is fully committed to you unconditionally and eternally?
2 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful, because he cannot be false to himself". This tells us that God can't be anything but faithful to us because when we accepted Him into our life, He committed Himself to us as much, if not more that we committed ourselves to Him.

How often do we slip up in our commitment to God? 
Imagine if God felt let down every time we slipped up in our loyalty, faith and bond with Him.
Think back to how you treated the person after knowing they let you down. Now, imagine if God treated you that way. How would you feel? How often would He do it?

I'm not trying to make you feel guilty but just want you to think about it. God is a forgiving God so why can't we forgive those who trespass against us. I am not saying it's ever easy and I am not saying I get this right in my own life but how would we feel if we did? Would we experience less anger and bitterness? 

So....How committed to Him are you?
God wants us to love Him before we get to meet Him face to face. Like when we marry one, we walk in the blind faith that he/she will stay committed to us no matter what, and so God asks the same of us. He too wants us to walk with  Him with blind faith, knowing that He is committed to help us live the life He intended for us. For every mountain we climb, God is there with us, pushing from behind, urging us not to give up on Him and keep moving towards His promises.


Every time you kneel, never forget that even though those around you might be disloyal or seem uncommitted at times, BE SURE that God is fully committed, loyal and dedicated to you. You are bound to Him in Jesus' blood and nothing can break that bond.

A Living Legacy

Everyday we watch adverts about leaving a lasting legacy for your loved ones after you have passed away. Most of these adverts are talking about money. For all of us, this is important but also is creating lasting memories so we take photos, send cards, buy gifts, etc. But what about leaving a LIVING LEGACY behind?

I had my Bible open trying to find something to write about this month - too many options! Paging through it, I realised that my Bible contains probably just as many memories as my albums and journals. Notes made next to Scriptures, highlighted verses, lose note references, bookmarks made by my child, thank you notes, etc and then it dawned on me.

One of the things I pray for is that my child gets to know and have a personal relationship with God, grows up walking the path He has laid and feel eternal joy in His love and grace. I also want my  child to be able to find comforting answers and stories when facing issues in their life, especially when I have passed on one day.

It dawned on me that, yes, I want part of my legacy to be that my child has money to survive and cover any costs but as we all know, even money doesn't last and runs out eventually. However, I can leave a LIVING LEGACY behind for my child - my BIBLE - GOD'S WORD.

Together with God's word, I leave memories that can help my child live a wonderful life, see that I also learnt lessons and that she could learn from God and I in one instance. My child can read and page through my Bible knowing that Mom also faced issues and wrestled with God and also laughed and smiled with the same words.

The Bible was written so we could know how God's wants us to live, love and learn. He left the Bible as His LIVING LEGACY for us. So how awesome is it that we can do the same for our children. Many, many years ago, families would pass on family Bibles to their children. Family trees were written in there so their children knew where they came from and I am sure notes were written in them too. Who wouldn't want to know what Crazy Aunt Dot was thinking and feeling?

How comforting it could feel to know that one of your most treasured items will become a LIVING memory for the ones you leave behind.  Those same pages that you cried over, smiled over and read will fill their souls, give them comfort while allowing God to embrace them with His word.

"All Scripture is given by God and is useful for teaching, for showing people what is wrong in their lives, for correcting faults, and for teaching how to live right."

2 Timothy 3:16

What do you want your LIVING LEGACY to be? 

What's in your box?

In the Bible, Jews tied small leather boxes to their foreheads and left arms. It was a box of scripture.

Always remember these commands I give you today. 

Teach them to your children, and talk about them when you sit at home and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 

Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign. 

Tie them on your forehead to remind you....

Deuteronomy 6: 6 - 8

In Scripture, God asks us to keep His word and commands in the front of our minds always. He wants us to remember His word because remembering His word will help us live the life He intended. 

On my desk at work, I have a small box of scripture I received as a gift. Every Monday I randomly select a Scripture verse and lean it against my PC speaker and throughout the week, I read it. 

Have I managed to memorise it by the end of the week? With this brain, uh...no but I do pray and believe that I have either learnt something or been reminded of something which in turn helps me to live better and behave better. I also hope that it reminds me of God's love and power happening in my life.

I find it interesting that they wore their box of scriptures on their forehead and left arms. It was worn on their foreheads to remind them (i.e. in their memory) and keep the scripture close to the front of their minds. Even back then, Scripture held a special meaning for each person that wore it. I also found it interesting it was worn on their left arms because your left arm is  closest to your heart. Scripture should always be in our hearts and our minds. Even the Jews learnt that simple rule. 

Imagine if we walked around today wearing a small box on our forehead and/or on our left arm. Imagine going up to someone who is wearing one and asking them what's in their box of Scripture? Wouldn't we be conveying the right message to others? Wouldn't it be a great way to discuss God's word?  Wouldn't it be a great way to learn from each other and show love towards each other?

So...why don't we? Each one of us has a "life motto" or a Scripture verse which as a special meaning to us. Let's try to keep that in the front of our minds and on our left arm (i.e. wearing your heart on your sleeve). Let's ask God to give us the confidence to share this with others.

So what will be in your box? 

Will you wear it and live it in your heart and in your mind?

Professional brainstorming?

People keep telling me that I have good ideas or good advice when having random chats about others dreams, goals and ideas. It got me thinking....is there such a thing as a professional brainstormer? Of course, when I said it out loud to myself, I ended up laughing too because who would pay for my time to bounce or discuss ideas around a table to help someone improve a business or start a business. Then I started thinking about it seriously.

Brainstorming is discussing ideas or goals and then coming up with suggestions on how to achieve these goals. Is this the same thing as being a counselor or life coach? 

Sometimes people need another person's "fresh" outlook or perspective of what they think could be a good idea. Sometimes people miss some pros and/or cons regarding their idea. This is where a "brainstormer" could also come in.

So this brief blog this week, is to ask...

What do you think? 

Do you think businesses and/or aspiring business owners would use a service like this?

Three is One but still Three

This week I finished reading the book Crossroads by WM Paul Young. He also wrote The Shack. I found it fascinating how he imagines the Holy Spirit to be a woman and it got me thinking about understanding the Holy Trinity namely being The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. I know many people have also tried to explain it but I thought I would give it a go too.

We are always told that the Holy Trinity is three people but are actually one. Thinking about this made me think about what the Bible says about marriage where two become one. Now, we don't seem to have a problem understanding this concept so......how much does it change adding one more?

Marriage is when two people are unified with God's blessing and therefore become one. Yet, they still operate as two individuals. As a couple we become so in tuned with each other, that we start viewing the two as one. They start being unified by thinking alike, spending time doing different things together and even talking alike. Spending most of our time with our spouse also helps in creating the unification. However, they are also able to operate as their own person. To me, this means that their spirits are combined yet still has the ability to operate individually.  The bond is intimately intertwined with emotion. They are connected yet separate.

                                                              

So...let's tackle the concept of three. As I am writing this, it's starting to make sense. The Holy Trinity, as mentioned before, consists of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. The Father being God is our creator, our ruler, our saviour. If you drew a triangle, God would be on top. He is the one sitting on top of the mountain overseeing everything on earth. The Son is the man God sent down to earth to forgive and save us from sin. He is the one God sent to teach us. However, God's spirit connects Jesus to God and such they operate as one. The Holy Spirit is the person God sends to live in all of us. The Holy Spirit is also known as our Helper who helps us stop doing wrong, helps us to feel peace and love and helps us live the way God intended. The Holy Spirit also comes from God and has the Lord's spirit coursing through Him which in turn courses through us which connects the Holy Spirit to Jesus and God and as before, they operate as one while still being individual.

Going back to the triangle concept - a triangle can be drawn with a one continuous line yet it has three corners. As per my explanation above, God would be place on top as He is the Overseer of all things. At one corner we would have Jesus, the son as He is our Saviour and at the other corner we would have The Holy Spirit as He lives in us and as you can see are all joined to form One.

           GOD

HOLY SPIRIT JESUS

As per the marriage the Holy Trinity is also (to me) an intimate bond, a unification of three and full of emotion.

 

Have I got it right or completely wrong? 

Did it help you understand better or confuse you more? 

Stand Strong

Today, we keep telling each other to "stand strong", to "not give up", to "find strength" in our life. Do we really know what that means? How do we stay strong when we are overwhelmed with life?

In the Bible, strength is a theme that appears regularly. 2 Corinthians 12: 10 tells that through hard times, insults, weaknesses, suffering and all kinds of troubles we can still be happy. We can be happy through our strength. This verse also tells us that when we are weak, we are truly strong. This means that every time and every day, we get up after having people beat us down, we are showing our strength and our ability to see the happiness during the hard times. God's power in our life gives us the strength to walk and work through whatever issues we are facing. Happiness shows our strength which helps us to focus on God's power in our life.

Psalm 18: 1 teaches us that God is our rock when times are tough. We don't need an earthly person to lean on when we feel weak and defeated. We have God to lean on and He is always there, non-judging and loving unconditionally. We don't need to make an appointment to speak to Him when we need a boost of strength. We can approach Him and talk to Him any time, any where, no matter what's going on. He is always listening and watching.

So, how do we keep staying strong when we know life is making us weak? By focusing on God and He keeps us strong and all His asks in return is for us to love Him with all our hearts, all our souls and all our strength (Deuteronomy 6: 5). Sometimes to me, this seems like a daunting goal to achieve. It makes my issues seem easier to deal with than trying to do this but it is a lot easier than it sounds. All God is asking us is to make Him the center of our universe. He wants us to always acknowledge Him, stay in a personal relationship with Him and listen to Him and in return, He will hold our hand and walk the path He has set out for us, even if we don't always understand. God grows our strength through our love for Him.

We can see God's gift of strength all around us. Strength is when a child walks miles to school because he wants to learn. Strength is when an aged tree withstands the storm. Strength is when an abused women won't give up in leaving her abuser and making life better. Strength is when a blossoming flower won't whither when a breeze blows. Strength is as simple as asking for help when we are ashamed of our circumstances. Strength is our ability to face our trials and issues head on, holding God's hand knowing He is teaching us, guiding us and leading us to the life He promised.

Finally, strength is not when we achieved the goals we have set for ourselves, it is the journey we endured to get there.

......STAND STRONG..........

Galations 5: 1

Our time

When someone passes away, we tell each other that maybe "it was just their time to go". We seem to use this as a comfort more than a realisation. But do we really know what that means - "its our time". A lot of the time when we say those words, many of us mean that God took them because it was their time to join Him in heaven but do we really understand that and do we really mean what we say when we say those words?

When God calls us to do something we humbly obey and follow his guidance which always ends in joy and success. As Christians, we believe and often express our excitement to join the Lord again in heaven but when the time arrives, we get scared, worried and sad. This confuses me. If we spend our life, no matter how long or short it is, expressing our joy to meet Him again, then why do we get scared and sad. Isn't this what we have been working towards our whole life on earth? Eternal life with the Lord?

This Thursday was Ascension Day and we celebrate it by having a special mass hearing about Jesus' rising into heaven. I often wonder how we would feel if we or the people around us sees our soul rise to heaven when we pass away. Would we still be sad or would it give us joy and/or peace knowing that our loved one's soul is going where we believe it to be?

To me, I can only imagine the scene when Jesus rose. I imagine tears being spent and then all of a sudden bright light showers the skies as Jesus ascends into heaven and the light stops the tears and showers their grief with peace and love, helping them know that even though it was Jesus' time to leave them, He will always be filled with joy, peace and love in heaven. An awesome sight!

On the flip side, I can't imagine if one of our loved one's souls goes the other way. Would that be dark and depressing for the soul and us? But yet, would it also still give us peace in "knowing"? We are very much a "see it to believe it" society and I wonder if this also gets in the way of our faith, of believing in the "unseen"?

Honestly, what I think it comes down to, is we know it happens because God shows us with Jesus and we just have to keep having faith that God knows and that is all that really matters at the end of the day. 

The Bible tells us that their is a time for everything, that God has a plan for each of us and we are in His book. We just have to keep trusting that He knows what's best for us, when He needs us to join Him and be filled with His joy, peace and love.