Giving Up

Most of the time we think of "giving up" as a negative term. However, I want to share with you today how "giving up" saved my life.

I had started to share many months ago about my Spiritual conversion, but sort of chickened out because of my pride.  Recently I have seen and read many articles about gay marriage, homosexual relationships, ordaining ministers who are openly homosexual, etc. Most of these articles have been well written. I wonder how many people really change their mind after reading these articles, or if they only cause them to stick to their guns more tightly and cling to their previously held beliefs?

I can't remember how long ago I read the article in WORLD magazine, but it was something that stuck with me. It has clung to my brain more than the philosophical, biblical, amazingly balanced, well written articles that I have read since then (and I have read a lot of them).

If I could find a link I would link you directly to the article.  In the meantime, I'll give you a general overview. The article was written about a practicing lesbian who had a spiritual conversion. She was attending church for quite awhile while in this relationship, but her partner never attended with her. At some point, she came to the conclusion that in order to grow spiritually she needed to get out of this female-female relationship, but it was hard. So she started asking people in her congregation, "What did you have to give up in order to come to Christ?" And their responses amazed her. From the outside she was seeing these Christians as people who were "practically perfect", involved in church, soccer moms, homeschooling moms, hardworking dads, and the list goes on. Yet each one of them had something they had to give up.

I have many sins that I could list here from prior to my spiritual conversion (and after). However, if someone were to ask me directly, "What did you have to give up to come to Christ?" I would say sexual sin. The way that I filled the void of my Heavenly Father was through intimate connections with men. Am I just as much of a sinner as any homosexual? Yes. This is the main reason I never get into arguments or "discussions" about such topics. I know who I am, and where I once was. Do I agree with their lifestyle? No. Do I agree with anyone having sex outside of marriage? No. Was I once that person? Yes.

The reality is that I had major sin in my life before coming to Christ. I gave that up to come to Him. Was it easy? NO! Especially when I started dating again after my Spiritual conversion. It was tough! Do I still have sin in my life? Yes! However, when I look at where I was ten years ago (I just celebrated my 10th Spiritual birthday last month!!) and where I am now I am continually grateful for the grace God has shown me and the ways He has worked in my life.

I still have "sins of the heart" as my preacher-husband likes to call them. Anger and pride are the two that I work on the most. Self-control falls in there somewhere, but it is usually accompanied by anger or spurred on by my injured pride. And this is life. We are all running in the race, whether we know it or not. Whether we are going toward Christ or away from Him.

I hope this has been an encouragement to you all to remember where you once were, and where you are now. Whether that encourages you to keep fighting the good fight, or to get back in the race, or to give up whatever it is that is holding you back from a closer relationship (or any relationship) with our Heavenly Father.

Grow in God's grace.

From the Mouths of Babes

Trent's (paternal) grandmother has not been while for awhile. In January she finally went to the doctor and they found a large hard tumor in her throat. She could not swallow any food or liquid by the next weekend. They decided to put in a feeding tube at the end of January. Two weekends ago she was feeling pretty well so Trent and I took the girls to see Granny and Pappy. Granny has trouble talking because it hurts her throat, but she did say a couple of things and was very pleased to hear Anne say Psalm 23. We had a nice visit with them and I was so thankful that we were able to go, tell Granny and Pappy in person that we are expecting again, and just visit for a little while. Granny even laughed a couple of times, and looked as though she was really enjoying watching the little girls play together.
This past weekend things went downhill very rapidly. Granny was having quite a bit a of nausea, and then was vomiting quite a bit. Friday the decision was made to call hospice to come to the house to check on her. This was done, and when the nurse checked the feeding tube she saw that it had become dislodged and recommended that she see a physician as soon as possible. She was taken to Hospice by ambulance, and Pappy rode with her. Trent's dad and aunt followed behind in the car. She was told she could get the feeding tube put back in or she could choose not to. Granny chose to have it put back in but when she was taken to the hospital the physician said there was nothing wrong with it. There was some confusion and frustration, however, many of us feel that this is really near the end for Grandma. She is 85 years old.
In order to prepare Annie for the death of her great-grandmother (Granny), I was reading her the story of Jesus' death and Resurrection from her little Bible. She was really into it, and we were talking about how it was really sad that Jesus had to die, but he did it because he loves us and wants to see us in heaven. And I was explaining that if we tell Jesus we are sorry for our sins and ask him to come into our hearts that he will never leave us and we will get to go to heaven when we die. And while we are still alive we can be Jesus' friend.
I had said to her something like, "Isn't that so great that Jesus did that for us?"
And my little 2-year-old said, "Yeah, and when I go to heaven Jesus will hold me in his arms and I'll hug him!"
I had tears in my eyes as I saw the love that this little one is starting to have for Jesus. She is starting to "get it" and beginning to understand the awesomeness of our Jesus.
Later we had a friend and her children over for lunch. Halfway through lunch Annie said, "Heather, guess what? I love Jesus!" Again, I had tears in my eyes as this dear child is sharing her love of Jesus with everyone she knows. What a great challenge that was for me! My 2 year-old is beginning to share the gospel! Who am I sharing the love of Jesus with??
I hope you all enjoy that story as much as I do and were encouraged by it!