I want this blog to be light-hearted and fun. It's why I started it, because we all need to take our lives with a bit of laughter. I do feel the need to expound on what really makes me tick as a person, though. I am a wife and mother. It's who I am and what I do. It's what I love, but that's not the core of me. What I believe makes me who I am, and makes me love what I love. Here's what you really need to know about me...
I love God. I grew up going to church and hearing about God. Being a Christian seemed completely normal in my world. There does come a time, however, when a child has to decide what they as a person believe aside from the beliefs of their parents. I realized that I wasn't perfect. I'm still not...my family would totally agree. The Bible says that "all have sinned". I know that to be true. I do wrong.
I believe this life is not all there is. The Bible calls this our "short life" and eternity is our "long life" to come. I believe the Bible is true and when it says there really is a heaven, I believe it. I know that the bad things I do keep me from going to heaven and having peace with God ("the wages of sin is death" or being separated from God forever). That is not a destiny that brings much peace, is it?
I also believe we have a God and Creator who loves us. The Bible says God is love, and calls Him our Abba, or Daddy. So...all those feelings of commitment, fulfillment, and devotion...the LOVE we feel for our kids, God feels for us...for me. He doesn't want to be apart from us in this life or the next. That's why I believe in Jesus. He was God and man at the same time. He never did anything wrong to deserve being separated from God, yet He endured it so we don't have to. The Bible says, "He bore our sins in His body on the tree...".
I do believe that God created us to be like Him...sentient and thinking. We all know that we can choose what we want to do in life. We feel it to be true, don't we? It's up to us to decide what to do with the life that we have. We can live for ourselves, doing whatever we want, or we can 'reinvent' ourselves. We can change our minds about how we live--that's called repenting, or being 'born again', to use a Bible term. It's been happening for years...In John 3, Nicodemus learned about it from Jesus Himself. I've heard people say that being 'saved' or 'born again' is as easy as ABC. A -- Admit you do wrong; B -- Believe Jesus faced your consequences for you and accept the Bible to be true; C -- Confess to others you are living for Him now...by what you say, what you do, who you are. That's why I believe it matters what we do. Doing good things doesn't opt you out of the natural consequences of your wrongs. If my son hits his sister on the head, then gives me a kiss, he still gets in trouble for hitting even though I'm glad he loves me. God has forgiven me for all the bad, silly, spiteful, WRONG things I do. That's the beauty of God's love. It's all-encompassing. I don't want to keep doing things that are wrong, because I'm so thankful for what He has done. My life has been reborn and reinvented. I want to be like Him in what I do. The Bible shows the way, and God speaks to us through prayer and closeness.
One of the neatest things about growing up is learning how wise your parents are. You get closer in wisdom as time goes by and although you still have a parent-child relationship, you begin to also have a close friend relationship with the ones who know you better than anyone else. You don't want to hurt them by deliberately going against them. That's why it matters what I do. I can't bear to violate God's laws on purpose. It's not always easy, but I love my Abba/Friend God, and want Him to be proud of me. That's why I am who I am. That's what I'm really all about...
