In the light

I have had time to absorb God's word over the last couple of weeks. It has been pleasant.

Sometimes we get so caught up, we just throw a few minutes here and there..but don't truly take the time to read, study, and absorb His word. It is sorta funny to me sometimes how I might have read something many many times over a vast number of years, and then BOOM. I understand what it says. God's word has this effect on me. I know that His word never changes...so it must be me!

I am so thankful that God has given that opportunity, to change. Not everyone allows it. Some people hold onto things that have happened, words said, wrong actions taken....... and they just keep on holding on. They can't see past the incident, and everything just stops for them there. I have been guilty of it myself. There was a person that I was like this with for years. YEARS, even after becoming a Christian. I heard her name and would cringe. The thought of her just made my blood get hot. It is so crazy. She has no idea the amount of time I have spent allowing a particular event to define her for me. She has no idea, and I seriously doubt that she cares at all. I however, kept it alive and updated. Refreshing my mind with continual bad thoughts and hurt feelings.

I can only imagine how horrible my life would be right now, if God were like that to me. If He never gave me another chance. If He didn't care to give me the opportunity to change. If He didn't even try to move past my failures, my sins.We should be following the example that was given us. We cannot be the same person we once were. We cannot assume other people are the same as they once were. It is like the Bible talks about in 1st John, the outside of the cup being clean, but the inside never touched. God looks to the inside, He looks to the heart. He knows your heart.

Do you need to give someone another chance? Do you maybe need to not give another chance, but let go of the hurt and anger and pain it caused you? Do it. Don't allow someone else to steal your JOY in Christ. You can't be in the dark and in the light.

Here comes Sunday!

Sunday~ I love Sunday because I love going to church! We were talking last week at our woman's bible study about sacrifice. Our study prompted us to reflect and discuss the sacrifices we make as a Christian. I was blank.

Then I sort of had to laugh inside, four or five years ago... I could have given you an unending list of sacrifices I would need to make to be a Christian. Actually I already considered myself a Christian, so I guess they would have been sacrifices made to attend church. Even getting up early would have been a huge sacrifice for me.

The amazing thing is, none of these things even matter anymore. The "sacrifices" are things I want to do, I desire to do. It is so true that allowing God into your life, establishing a personal relationship...changes your heart, your mind, your thoughts. It does not even take effort for the change. I never understood this before. I can't explain it now. It all has to do with GRACE.

I am not doing anything different in my life due to requirements... I am doing things different in my life due to a changed heart, changed desires. Then to top it all off, my life is so full of joy and peace and love~ more than it ever has been. It is like once I quit trying to find all of that on my own, it was just handed me to me. It is funny to me now, I seriously laugh out loud....

August 1,2009 Creation Museum

Yesterday we went to the Creation Museum with Bill and Teresa. It was VERY crowded. It was exciting though to see how many people wanted to spend their weekend learning more about God's word. There were a huge variety of people and that made it even cooler.
LOTS of exhibits. The surroundings of each exhibit were so life-like that sometimes you had to really think about if it was real or fake. There was a lot of information. For the amount of people that were there and the amount of information, it was a little bit overwhelming to absorb everything as we followed the crowds through. I did learn several interesting things that were new to me. I loved having science and religion on such a united front. I also felt amazed at how much faith it must take to not believe that there is a God. They made some very good points about that. Another of the things that I really appreciated was having the facts presented to me on both fronts.
I would highly recommend going, but not on a weekend if you can help it. Or, if you go on the weekend.. have an early lunch prior to going and then arrive around noon. You'll miss the craziness of eating there and I think miss alot of the crowds in the exhibits. I would also suggest going to their website and getting a listing of shows that are playing and special exhibits..so you can plan your day accordingly. The lines to see the shows/videos were pretty long waits. Average wait time was about 30 minutes sometimes longer. I am sure this had some to do with it being on the weekend.