January 15 2015

January 15 2015 Greetings My Friend Phrases I am mulling over: “And Abram believed and it was counted righteous” I hear a couple of thoughts to this. First all you have to do is believe, God is God and Jesus is His Son. I stop and think, “I believe all the way down in the bottom of my heart.” Believe that is it, nothing more but I find my belief grows stronger when I read the Bible, pray, worship and live my life as if God is God. The next phrase is one I wrote in my journal after reading the Bible. The question I ask is “How can I serve others today?” I wrote “Live what I believe and believe what I live.” Along with this I also “hear” ‘share the Gospel and sometimes use words.’ My lesson is to live what I learn from God. Paul wrote “Be imitators of Christ”. This teaches me that as I learn I must put into practice the things I am learning in my faith walk. It is in this way that “I am a new creation in Christ.” The more I learn and grow in my faith journey the more I change and grow to be like Jesus. I will never be as perfect as He is but I do change from a self centered person into a God centered person. The more God centered I get the more caring, loving and “whole” I am. I am not the dysfunctional loving person I once was. For me I am an enabler and I tend to think my enabling ways are healthy. They are not, in fact my enabling ways doesn’t help me or the one I am enabling but keeps us both stuck in the muck and mire. The only way I have been able to even begin to break my enabling traits is “believe God.” Day by day as I pray, read the Bible, associate with other believers. As I grow in God’s love and learn then I find myself being encouraged to “go forth and make disciples of all nations.” My old idea of evangelizing was beating people up with the Word. Today I understand that evangelizing is learning to be in relationship, to live what I learn and to believe in the changes God is making in me. When Junior and I are out in public people are watching us. I don’t always realize how we affect people but we do. Sometimes we are silly and enjoying each other as others watch us. Sometimes Junior is talking to me as an equal and others see us. Once in a while I am bragging on Junior and I am heard. These small ways are spreading what we live and believe in a quiet manner. I don’t always have to be in public to live what I believe also. As Junior renovates he is working for me and on to the Lord. As I clean, cook for Junior I am working as on to the Lord. Sometimes Junior comes in and tells me about a struggle he is having with one of his projects and I listen, give a back and forth which allows him to think out his project. For me as I have been learning to live with disabilities I find myself talking out ideas that I think will help me. Junior offers his input and this helps me to be proactive with my health issues. These little things are ways we believe and live what we believe. Our belief is both internal and external and in the quiet of our lives we find that we are sharing the Gospel. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet