Category: Uncategorized

A Man or Woman After God’s Own Heart

This week we said goodbye to a true woman “after God’s own heart.” Some have said it must have been her time and God took her, but I don’t believe that.

Satan would love nothing more than to remove God’s hardest workers from this world and leave the rest of us discouraged. Satan would love for those left behind to give up on God and stop doing His work. Satan’s entire goal since the fall of the angels is to take as many people as he can to share an eternity with him in hell.

He knew when he took Edna’s Kujawski from this world that he couldn’t force her to spend eternity with him. He lost the fight over her soul decades ago, but how many souls are in jeopardy now because she isn’t here to lead them to God like she would have done if she had been allowed a few more years.

We are all grieving our loss right now, but this is not the time to fall into mourning. This is, instead, the time to answer the call to arms. This is the time to put on the full armor of God as Edna and her beloved husband, Gordon, did and fight for those souls; because we, Christians of many different denominations but one faith, are at war.

Sometimes the battles of this war require God’s children to fight physical battles for injustice. Sometimes these battles require God’s children to be the closest thing to a Bible that someone “reads.” And sometimes these battles require God’s children to feed and clothe people and let them know that He loves them like Edna and Gordon did.

Whatever your assigned battle station is for this war with Satan, make sure you are there. If you knew Edna, don’t let her legacy end with her. Honor her by honoring God and keeping her service alive. If you didn’t know her, your life has been somehow touched by someone who loves Jesus, loves others and proves it. Honor them.

Be known as King David was known – a man or woman after God’s own heart.

Digging Broken Cisterns

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13

When I read this during my devotions today, all I could think was, “Wow, does this fit with society today, or what!?!” It describes the cause of every problem the United States is facing right now. It describes every problem the Christian community is facing right now. It describes every tough situation I’ve ever faced.

Going back to Jeremiah’s time, I cannot understand how the people of Israel repeatedly turned away from their God after He so openly and obviously took care of them in such miraculous ways.

Then I look at today and wonder the same thing. How did this great nation which I love turn from God. How do people not recognize how much He has done for us?

Then I look a little closer to home and wonder how I’ve done the same thing. I may not turn away from Him as fully and openly as the children of Israel did in Jeremiah’s time. I may not turn from Him in the drastic ways that many of the leaders of this nation have done recently. But I’ve still turned away at times in my life. I’ve built my own “cisterns” and found that they don’t hold water.

Shame on this nation. Shame on His people. Shame on me! It’s time to go back to the only well that never runs dry and never drink from any other source.

Words in a Sermon

I listened to an online sermon today from a very well-known preacher I have loved and respected for years. Two things leaped out of that sermon and struck me as very important. I believe they are important enough to share with you today.

In chapter 4 of the Gospel of John, Jesus did the unthinkable. He met with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and not only had a conversation with her but also asked for a drink from her cup. The Jewish people and the Samaritan people did not associate. The animosity between the two groups was deeply ingrained in their histories despite the fact that their lineage could be traced back to shared ancestry.

Jesus broke social norms and purposely met with this woman whom His people would have shunned.

The first thing that jumped out of the sermon to me was the fact that the Samaritan woman knew He was Jewish without being told. Jesus was obviously Jewish. He didn’t hide His heritage. He didn’t deny His heritage. He didn’t nullify His heritage in order to validate the heritage of the Samaritan woman. He didn’t say His was better. He didn’t say His was worse. He kept His heritage but focused on what was important – sharing the gift of salvation.

The main idea of this sermon was that we need to put the Gospel before everything else including the terrible racial divide our nation is experiencing right now. We shouldn’t do that by erasing our heritage or by demonizing our heritage but, rather, by letting the Gospel of Jesus change hearts and souls.

It was a very inspiring sermon full of hope and faith and was even more remarkable since it came from a preacher who has experienced discrimination due to his own heritage.

The second thing that really struck me as noteworthy from this sermon is that hidden in his very inspiring message was a common misconception. I have heard this same misconception in every single sermon I’ve ever heard that includes the Samaritan woman. She is always portrayed as a woman of loose morals who couldn’t keep a husband. The preacher I heard today did exactly what I’ve heard my whole life. He said that Jesus was pointing out the sins of this woman and giving her the opportunity to change her ways.

A few weeks ago, I would have agreed with him completely, but that was before I participated in a Bible study by Kristi McLelland called Jesus and Women In the First Century and Now. Through this study, my eyes have been opened to set aside my Western vision and look at the Bible using the Eastern vision that it was written in.

In the time of Jesus, women had very few rights. Women were not allowed to divorce their husbands, but men were allowed to divorce their wives for anything as insignificant as burning the bread. We don’t know why this Samaritan woman had been divorced five times. For all we know, she may have just been a terrible cook. Regardless of the reason, she had little to no choice in it.

Jesus wasn’t pointing out her sins and giving her the opportunity to change her ways. He was giving her the justice and mercy she needed to lift her up out of the shame that had been forced upon her. Those who preach otherwise have good intentions, but they are just people. People aren’t perfect. They don’t understand everything and make mistakes.

The two things I took from this sermon seem to conflict. One was inspiring and the other was incorrect. The most important part of both of these points comes down to this one thing. It’s all about Jesus. He is what matters. Sharing Him is what matters. Showing people His mercy and justice is what matters. The rest are just words in a sermon.

Three Strong Women

Strong Woman #1:

She watched as the water rose a little higher each day. The beautiful pasture behind her house was gone. The only evidence her house had not been built lakeside was the many trees still trying to climb above the rising floodwaters to reach the sky above. The barn that normally stored her husband’s equipment and tools was in the middle of this new “lake” and reachable only by boat.

She stood on the back step of her house explaining to her friends by live-feed that they couldn’t stay at their home any longer since it, too, could only be reached by boat. She asked for prayers for everyone living in her rural community, but she also made sure we knew she was going to be fine because God was already providing for her family.

She was so positive about her dire circumstances that it was inspiring.

Strong Woman #2:

In an interview following the hurricane that devastated her community, she admitted to looking at her husband in the midst of the storm and telling him they weren’t going to make it. They did make it but had to climb through rubble to get out of the building that collapsed around them.

Her life, her community, her town in shambles – she went to work. She was the mayor and her people needed her to be strong when they couldn’t be. She organized; she helped; she found resources; she did whatever she needed to do to help the people counting on her. All the while, she kept a line of communication going for the community to both give them needed information and also lift their spirits.

She was so positive about her dire circumstances that it was inspiring.

Strong Woman #3:

She listened to what the doctor had to say. The diagnosis was worse than she had originally been told. It was cancer and it had spread. She was no stranger to cancer. She was a widow of nearly six years because of cancer. She had fought it a few years ago in her own battle and won.

She looked to the doctor with a brave smile on her face and told him she was going to hold on to what her very wise grandson had told her five years ago when she faced her first battle. That young boy, who was wise beyond his ten years, told her that if she won that fight she was going to get to stay with him, the grandson. If she didn’t win, she would get to stay with Jesus. “Either way, it’s a win/win situation for you, Grandma,” she repeated.

She was so positive about her dire circumstances that it was inspiring.

These three woman have all recently found themselves in circumstances that would break many people. I’m sure they each feel overwhelmed and afraid at times. As of this moment, all three are still living in their respective crisis. Despite their circumstances, they are all three a beautiful example of the Proverbs 31 wife. They are all inspiring.

“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue…’Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all’ (Proverbs 31:25-26,29 NIV).”

What if Jesus Wrote Our New Year’s Resolutions?

My lunch box looks like my new year’s resolution has something to do with eating healthy. (We won’t discuss the donut I got at the coffee shop this morning on my way to work.) My credit card statement looks like my news year’s resolution has something to do with living on a budget. Both of these are probably good resolutions and things I should do, but they aren’t my new year’s resolution.

In the first Sunday sermon I heard this year, Pastor Phil asked, “What if Jesus wrote our new year’s resolutions?” Wow! What an interesting thought! What if He did? I think my resolution would be “do not be afraid and do not worry.”

The list of Bible verses instructing us not to be afraid and not to worry is nearly endless. Here are just a few.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff, they comfort me.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

My list could go on for a very long time, but I think you can already see the pattern in these five verses.

Don’t worry and don’t fear. If you are focussed on Jesus, He will take care of you. Life may not always be trouble-free and painless, but He will be with you to sustain you through this life until you reach the end of it, and then He will meet you at the gate to the next life…the one that lasts forever.

With Just One Breath

One breath… Take one breath with me right now. Feel your chest rise as your lungs fill with air. Feel it fall as you exhale. Let’s do it again, but this time close your eyes. Make it a long, slow, deep breath. Imagine you can not only feel but can also see the air as it enters your nostrils, passes through your throat and down your windpipe, then flows into the passages of your lungs eventually passing oxygen to your bloodstream. As you slowly exhale, imagine the carbon dioxide flowing out of you only to be replaced by more oxygen in the next breath.

Some of us have no difficulty breathing. Others struggle with every single breath we take. Easy or difficult doesn’t change the fact that your heart needs oxygen from our breath to continue to beat. Each breath we take is important, but there was one breath taken – one simple breath – that changed the course of humanity. There was one breath taken in all of history that impacted every person living today and every person who has ever lived.

That one breath…

There was no machine to force the chest to rise and fall in an artificial rhythm. There was no one performing CPR trying to stimulate the lungs to inhale on their own. There was nothing but stillness. For three days the body with unmoving lungs and unbeating heart lay on stone carved into a cave tomb. For three days all of humanity was lost in death.

Then the stillness was broken. He took the breath – the breath that changed everything, the breath that gave us hope.

I Peter 1:3 states, “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

With just one breath…

Use Your GPS

We love being on the trails on our quad. It’s a two-person Outlander and perfect for the trails in Michigan. We go trail riding every chance we get; but, with our busy lives, that is only two or three times a month at the most. Every trip is a blast.

Yesterday started off at the South Branch trail head. We saw several more riders than we normally do, but the trails were still quiet and peaceful. For most of the day, we were all alone without another soul in sight. It was perfect.

The Michigan trail system is pretty well organized. Most trails are numbered and marked to let you know what trail you are on and who is allowed to be on that trail – quad, side-by-side, dirt bike or snowmobile. We always have a printed trail map with us and recently started using a GPS app on our phone with trail maps downloaded. Both of these mapping resources have kept us from getting lost which would be easy to do with so many trails and back roads intersecting in the “middle of nowhere.”

Yesterday, while I was enjoying the scenery and relaxing on the back of our quad, I realized just how important our maps are – both the GPS app and the paper map. We usually check the GPS when we come to an intersection, but yesterday we basically did a mental coin flip and just decided “let’s try this way.” When we got to the next intersection a couple miles away, we noticed that the trail we had taken without checking the map was actually not for quads. We weren’t supposed to be there even though there was no sign stating this fact. It was missing. We immediately checked the map to make sure we chose a legal trail at the next intersection. We got back on track before we got in trouble.

How many times does this happen to all of us in life? We think we have enough experience to choose the right path without checking the map God has given us, and we realize later that we are somewhere that we are not supposed to be. This has happened to me so many times over the years that I couldn’t even begin to list them all.

All I had to do to avoid these wrong-turns was to listen to God’s word but I didn’t. Oh, I may have told myself I was listening to God when I took the road; but, if I later found myself on the wrong path, it meant I wasn’t really listening to Him. I was wrapping His word around my will instead of my will around His word.

In Psalm 119 verse 105 David says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

Genesis through Revelations is the GPS God has given us. Some of it can seem a bit confusing at times, but that doesn’t mean the answers aren’t there for you. Use that GPS to keep your life on the path God wants you traveling. If you stay on the wrong path for too long, it could mean circumstances far worse than the ticket we could have received yesterday for being on the wrong trail on our quad.

“Who Told You That?”

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted to my blog – nine to be exact. I’ve written a few things but they just didn’t feel right. They didn’t feel worthy of posting, so some wait patiently in a notebook and some quickly found the nearest trash can. Despite the fact that I have known for a long time that God has called me to write, nothing I wrote felt good enough to me.

This week I realized why.

Monday I pulled out my copy of The Quest by Beth Moore. It’s a Bible study I started a few months ago but didn’t finish. I started reading the answers I had written back then in response to some of Beth’s questions, and I realized why my writing “wasn’t good enough” but I didn’t do anything that day to change it.

Then I received a message today from God. Well, the message was actually from Facebook, but God can and will use whatever means He needs to in order to get His children to listen. I heard His message weeks ago when a handful of people asked me in the same week if I was still writing. Then I heard His message through Beth this week. Today’s message from Him sunk in when I received a notification that said, “1,014 people who like Forgiven Faith haven’t heard from you in a while. Write a post.”

Four hours later that number has increased by five. I don’t know where all these likes have come from. I haven’t posted since November of 2017 and the last I checked it was only in the 300s. My writing is not enough to attract 1,000 readers and I don’t promote, so I don’t know how my likes increased that much. I do know God has used that number to convict me.

God told me four years ago to write. I fumbled through writing for about three years. Some of my posts were terrible, but some were pretty good.

Somewhere along the way, I guess a year ago, I made a grievous error. I listened to a newly published author who is not a faith-based writer or even a faith-based person. That counsel was very discouraging and I have been unable to focus my thoughts on writing since that time. I learned the feel of writers block.

The counsel I received from Beth Moore this week is helping to reverse the impact of the false counsel I internalized all those months ago, however. There are two questions she posed that really spoke to me. The first felt like a knife in the chest and the second, a knife in the back.

“Where are you?”

When Adam and Eve first sinned, when they ate that infamous fruit they immediately knew they were wrong to do it and they hid from God in the garden. God knew exactly where they were but He wanted them to come to Him, so in Genesis chapter one verse nine, “the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?'”

God has been asking me that same question in more ways than I can remember and today He sent it to me by Facebook. I was knowingly ignoring His directions and was not writing. I was coming up with every possible excuse to explain why I had not done what He had instructed just like Adam and Eve did. I had thrust that knife into my own chest.

Then God (and Beth) asked, “Who told you that…? (Genesis 1:11)”

Who told me my writing was unworthy of publishing? Who told me I was doing it all wrong? Who told me I was wasting my time writing faith-based blogs and stories? Who did I allow to stick a knife in my back?

It wasn’t God who said any of those things to me; and, since it wasn’t God, why was I listening?

I’m back. Good or bad blog post, I’m back. I pray I don’t disappoint.

Thankful

“Thank God for unanswered prayers” is not just a line in a Garth Brooks song. Today I am very thankful that God never answered the prayer I prayed nearly every day for more years than I care to remember.

For most of my twenty-five year marriage, I begged God to change the heart and behavior of my husband. I begged God to convince my husband to be faithful and to truly love me. I couldn’t understand why God never answered that prayer.

Two and a half years after I finally divorced that man, I realized why God ignored me for all those years. God had something better for me…better than anything I ever imagined. I have a wonderful life now with a wonderful man who loves me dearly and would never even consider being unfaithful. He shows me every day how much he values me, how much he loves me and how much he respects me.

On this Thanksgiving day I am very thankful for one particular unanswered prayer. Even more than that, I’m thankful for a wonderful man who treats me like a princess every single day. God knows what He is doing. Wait for Him.