April 18, 2017

Greetings My Friend, In the church we know that Christmas and Easter will bring people to church that will not come throughout the year. I have heard these people referred to as "Chreasster's", it is good to remember the birth, the death and resurrection of our Savior. To be honest even though I went to church all year in a round about way I looked forward to these holiday's more for the family gatherings, the awesome meals we put together and the times both good and bad we had at these gatherings. No where in all of the celebrating was the thought of the reason for the season. As my faith has grown I find that taking time to reflect on the cross has helped me to focus on the gift we have been given in Jesus. This gift has opened the door to a relationship with our God that we could never do without a Savior. Jesus brings me hope here on earth, today with all the strife that surrounds each of us. I am facing Parkinson's, deep sadness at the loss of special relationships in my life, the scariness of our world and I am able to keep my head held high, hope in my heart because of a Savior who gave His life for me. For awhile I found myself asking the question," Do I take Jesus home with me after church and live with Him during the week?" Many church goers show up on Sunday but come Monday they have left Jesus at church and live life as if they never met Him or made the choice to follow Jesus. God does not call me to only follow Him on one day of the year or one day a week but each day of our lives. Once we invite Jesus into our hearts and ask God to forgive us our sins. Some of us say that we live under grace so the way their lives are lived is they continue to sin because God is gracious He will forgive them. God is a gracious God but that does not give us the right to keep sinning which means we have not fully given our heart to Jesus. I say this because if we truly have given our hearts to Jesus we would be convicted by the Holy Spirit to change our ways and line up our lives as God teaches us in the Bible. Our confession of Jesus means we truly see the life we are living is destructive and is taking us nowhere fast. Many of us come to Jesus when we hit rock bottom, we have no where else to turn so we turn to Jesus. If we truly have turned our hearts to Jesus we will begin to change the way we think and act, we will be more caring and honest. We want to please God, make God first before all relationships and in doing this we begin to have healthy relationships, to walk away from the things that are destroying us. Opening our hearts to Jesus becomes a way of life and then we will want to give this gift to others. It is hard for me to not talk about the hope I have,to tell how He is changing my life and the only courage and strength I have comes from Jesus. Jesus left heaven, lived the same life we live, without sin though and then took on our sin and died a horrible death. Unless you have truly experienced Jesus in your heart it is hard to understand this precious moment, life and an eternity with Him. I face a lot of these things knowing that there is a greater prize waiting for me called heaven. I have little understanding what heaven is but the Bible does teach me that life there will be worth it and for some reason I know, that I know this is true. I also know without a doubt that heaven is our choice, we either will believe and accept this gift or we will live eternity in hell. I want to live and give this hope each day of my life even as my health fails I sense God will have work for me to do which comforts me immensely. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet