The Old Passed Away…

2 Corinthians 5:17 ~ This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! ~

Hear ye, hear ye… A new year us upon us… And old one passed away…

Over the last week or so God has been dealing, showing and sharing a few things with me and for me.  2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that when we come to Christ everything before that point is no longer of matter to him. Everything that we did or didn’t do is wiped away and we become new in him. At that point we are like a new baby and it is up to us what we want to become in Christ.

This is an awesome gift God gives us. Just think GOD has not only forgiven us but he has truly forgotten our sins. Now we all know of reaping and sowing and even thought we are forgiven we still may have to pay the consequences of our deeds prior to coming to God. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us or has not forgiven us.

When God brought 2 Corinthians 5:17 to me I thought ok…. I know this and live in the gratefulness of this gift. But God was revealing something new to me.  I had served God for many years (18 years) prior and then I allowed myself to be blinded for a very long time (10 Years). When I came back to God as the prodigal son did (torn and broken) I came back with the memories of what I had done when I served him all those years ago. I started standing on God’s word that says “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29. I started remembering the way God used me and the dreams and desires I had.

My heart started yearning to do the works I had once done. But something was missing, something wasn’t quite right. I wasn’t so confident in it any longer. I felt as if I lost something. As God started leading and using me I was stunned because it wasn’t in ways I THOUGHT I should be used. But I said here I am Lord, if this is where you want me then this is where I will be.

Then a couple days ago the light bulb turned on in my head. A friend sent me a text with a word of God. As I read it I was accepting it but wasn’t stirred by it. I saved it and read it over and over and as I read it God showed me that I was living in the past. A good past, but the past all the same and that he desired to do a new thing in me. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.  Talk about a revelation… I was desiring old things.

Since then I now ask God to do a new thing in me, a different thing and if he desires the same old thing also. I want to walk in the here and now of God. Not the remember when of him. So I am now I am looking forward to the New Year. He has heard my prayers and is bringing the desires of my heart to pass. My desire is to do his will and be who he wants me to be. I am truly a new creature in Christ DAILY….

Amazed

Lord, you constantly amaze me. You know the secrets of my heart and answer my unspoken prayers. You reward those who seek you in ways that satisfy our very souls. You bring laughter where there is sorrow. You bring strength where there is weakness. You keep my soul even through the darkness. You are my encourager and deliverer. You are MY LORD.

God's Grace And Mercy In My Life.

Luke 9:62  But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Anyone who knows me or reads anything I post online knows that I am constantly proclaiming how wonderful and amazing God IS. Sometimes I feel Like the psalmist always singing of the wonders of God. I use words like amazing, wonderful, and awesome when referring to God. I live daily in the appreciation of God's grace and mercy. I know first hand of his restoring power, of his never ending and unconditional love



I look at others that have been living for God for many many years and have put their hand to the plow and never turned back. I believe a special grace is upon them. I am not that person. I ask God why is it that some endure without letting go and other don't. I don't know why,  but I do know this. I know and understand God's grace in a way they could never understand. (Not saying I know his grace better. just different), I know after I fell away, walked away, turned my back what ever you want to call it,of his forgiveness, and restoration. 


Sometimes I feel that I am looked down at or prejudged because I let go and looked back. But did it mean I didn't love God? NO. I have never stopped loving God. I stopped loving me andthe decisions I made which cost me so much. We all know this doesn't happen over night. It is a missed day of prayer here. No time to worship there. A couple days without feeding myself with God's word and in no time it is all gone.

I know now that even when I thought I was so far away from God, he was always right there waiting for me. I walked away for over 10 years and life hit me hard over and over, then one day I realized just as the prodigal son did. That I would be better off broken in my father's house than the way I was living.

When I fell to my knees on my kitchen floor and cried to my father that I wanted to come back, he didn't stop and give me a lecture or think of whether he should accept me or not. He just reached down with his loving arms and took me in and hugged me and loved me like a lost child that was found.

Through all the years I was away from God there where so many times my life could have been taken but I look back and see how God had protected me even then. Today I know God in a way I never thought I could know him. In the 18 years I previously served him I thought I couldn't love him more. But oh was I wrong... I not only love him more, I appreciate him more, I need him more and I desire him more.

By all rights, I should not be fit for the kingdom of God. But God loved me enough to bestow his grace and mercy on me and received me back with open arms. So daily I proclaim his goodness, I live in awe of him constantly. I see the wonder in the small things in my life. I appreciate each day I have.

It may not be easy but we have all heard the saying " I would rather live in darkness with God than in the light alone". I have been there and Oh, how God lights up my darkness each and every moment.