What does God Require of Us?

So, everyone has been writing about the Ashley Madison leak. You know, it’s a big deal when this kind of stuff happens. And then there is the media, and it seems to make a mockery out of the fall of those who claim to be “Christians.”

And all of this on the heels of the Josh Duggar scandal, and once again, the Duggar family is on the front of magazines. Not in a good way. It’s really awful, and it is heartbreaking.

Why are we so shocked to see it? Why are we so surprised when church leaders, pastors, and our neighbors are on that list?

Who ever said that he is perfect, or that any Christian, is perfect? If anyone said Christians, or anyone for that matter, are perfect, that person is a liar.

Here’s what the Bible says about us.

We are formed with dust, and it was God who breathed life into us. (Genesis 2:7)

God knew us before He formed us. (Psalm 139:13)

He has numbered the hairs on our heads. (Matthew 10:30)

Our bodies will wither and die. (Isaiah 40:7)

There is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

We will continue to make mistakes. (Romans 7:15-21)

Even the thief who died on a cross next to Jesus and those who crucified Him were forgiven. (Luke 23: 32-43)

We have a choice. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

Jesus is the only way to Heaven. (John 14:6)

He will never turn us away. (John 6:37-40)

Jesus died so we can live with him forever. (John 3:16-18)

If we struggle, we should pray and confess our sins to our brothers/sisters. (James 5:13-16)

When I say “us,” I mean all of us.

We are all flawed human beings, and maybe we should look at others with the compassion that Jesus had for them, and really, for all of us. God knew what we would be before the creation of the world, and He still chose to give us breath and life… and a free will to make choices that could ultimately lead us away from Him.

I certainly am not excusing what anyone has done. What I am saying is that we have a responsibility to help restore what the enemy is trying to destroy. When families fall apart, when marriages come unhinged, what are we supposed to do?

This is what Jesus tells us.

Love God. (Luke 10:27)

Love People. (Luke 10:27)

Do justly, love mercy; walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

That’s it.

If our actions do not fall within those categories, we are doing it wrong. And the true thing is that the world is watching us. They are watching to see if we love our brother when he falls, or if we crucify him because “he deserves it.”

Another thing is this – we can’t expect people who don’t know Jesus to act like they do.

I feel sorry for everyone who is involved in this. My heart goes out to the spouses who are heartbroken from the actions of the ones they love. It also goes out the ones who are wrapped up in this web of deceit. Maybe instead of gasps of disbelief or a wagging finger or shaking head, we should come alongside these “sinners” and pray with them, give them resources to heal, and stop judging and leave that to God alone.

My last thought it this: if you are caught in this addiction, or someone you love is, I would highly recommend the resources from Pure Desire Ministries, https://www.puredesire.org.

Love God.

Love People.

That’s our calling, People.

The First Vacation in 10 Years

We work hard every day, take care of our families, and some of us cannot afford to travel. It’s not that we don’t want to go because there is sometimes I would like nothing more than to put my family in our car and drive far, far away. But Jim being a teacher, we don’t always have extra money. We can’t take the money that’s meant for food, utilities, car payments, etc. to go on a vacation.

We had not, as a family, been back to see our family in Idaho for exactly 10 years this summer. 10 years!

But this summer – Ah, yes, this summer was different for our family!

Our oldest son got married last week in Idaho, and we decided that we were going. The drive from Texas was about 1700 miles… a long drive, for sure, but it was so worth it. And my bosses let me off for the week with short notice. What a blessing!

Our oldest kids couldn’t go with us, so it was just us and the younger three.

The first day, we drove to Farmington, New Mexico and stayed in the Holiday Inn Express there. It was a very nice hotel, great pool, and an interesting restaurant called Blake’s Lotaburger was located in the parking lot. We were eating hamburgers at 10:00 mountain time, 11:00pm central time, our normal time zone. Of course, vacation time is different than our “normal” time.

 

 

It seems every time we leave Texas, my allergies kick up, and this time was no different. I think I took Excedrin Migraine almost every day we were gone.

 

Our second day, we drove through the scenic areas of NM, CO, UT and ID. The mountains were crazy-cool, the Indian Reservation areas were – well, there are no words. 

We made it to Jim’s brother’s house around 10:30pm. When we drove into the wrong driveway, he was sitting outside laughing at us. It was so funny!

My mother-in-law has Alzheimer’s, and she is in a very nice home. Seeing her was our first mission on our first day in Idaho. 

 

And we also had to visit Taco Time. If you haven’t been there before, make sure you do it!

I won’t go through and tell every single thing we did, but I will say this: We had a wonderful time! The family took time out of their normal schedules to hang out with us and make sure that we had a good time.

We have some friends we met when we lived in Oklahoma, 20+ years ago. How strange is it that of all the cities in all the states - they would move to the same town Jim's family lives in? It was awesome to see them, too!

 

 

We were able to spend time with Connor and Krista at their house, too. It was great meeting her for the first time and getting to know her. She's our daughter-in-love now!

Connor and Krista were married on Saturday in a field in rural Idaho. It was simple and beautiful, and Jim was asked to do part of the ceremony. We hated to leave, but we knew we had to get home.

 

 

It was hard to say goodbye to these people we love. We are hoping that 10 years doesn't have to pass for us to see them again.

 

So, we drove straight through to Texas this time.

I am the usual driver because I get carsickness. When it came to a point where I just couldn’t go any longer, Jim took over. There wasn’t really a time where both of us couldn’t go on, so that was great. And we went home straight freeway – Boise to Salt Lake City to Cheyenne to Denver to Wichita. And that’s where we met up with my parents and sister for lunch. We spent a couple of hours with them, and then we started the drive home back to north Texas. When we were getting close to the border, it seemed it was taking FOREVER. But then we were in our house, and when we hit our bed… Ahhhh… You never know how much you appreciate your bed until you try to sleep in a car and only manage a couple of hours of sleep in 36 hours.

I slept almost 11 hours straight and hardly moved at all.

And then it was over.

I have to say, though, it was just marvelous. My desire to get in the car and drive away is gone, and we have these fantastic memories to last forever.

The whole trip cost about $1,000. I thought it would be so much more than that, but when you take food in your car, and you can make PB&J sandwiches driving down the highway instead of eating out constantly, it can really save you money.

I’ve had a new attitude this week, although I was exhausted the first few days. The word “grateful” describes how I feel.

I'm Finally Back!

I’m almost giddy that I can get back into my blogger account!

My laptop died several months ago, and I haven’t been able to purchase another. At least the guys at the Geek Squad were able to retrieve everything from my hard drive, so I didn’t lose anything except the machine itself.

I’ve missed writing on my blog. So many things happen in life, and it’s good to be able to sit down and think about it. Today, I’m thinking about the great encouragement I receive from this passage:

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life; 

the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

I don’t really know where I would be in my life without the gracious and far-reaching love that Jesus Christ has for me.

While the world may seem to turn upside down, the truth is God is still on His throne. He is not surprised at what happens to us, around us, for us. And although times can be somewhat difficult, and oh, have they been difficult over the past few years, I can so clearly see the strand of Love woven throughout it all.

And He does it for everyone who calls His name. He makes us new. He makes us Flawless.

It's Hard to Ask for Help Sometimes

I’ve been fighting a battle.

Granted, it’s not near the magnitude of the battles that some people fight… cancer, death, divorce, the very serious situations.

I’ve been at battle with an infected sebaceous cyst, and it has lasted for six weeks.

I think the thing that has bothered me the most is that I needed help. I couldn’t really function as normal. My husband has been a trooper, and when he was out of town, my kids stepped in to help me. I’m the wife and mom! I’m supposed to be helping them.

Not the other way around.

And even a coworker volunteered to help me so Jim wouldn’t have to come over to my office on his lunch hour. Every. Single. Day.

Asking for help when you need it humbles you.

It’s easy to go along as a self-sufficient person until something happens to change that. And it also reminds you that you need other people.

When you are taking care of yourself and don’t feel the need to rely on anyone else, it can make you feel empowered. However, it is very isolating, too.

There really is no shame is leaning on someone you trust and letting them in to take care of you if you need it. Chances are - it will happen.

And chances are you will be the helper, too.