Christian Living Archives -

The Bible Is Black and White – Stop Trying to Make It Gray

The Bible is black and white. However, so many people try and see Gray! I hate to be the one to tell you….. There is no gray! It’s the same Bible that it has always been and it will never change. Stop looking for Gray!!! It cannot and will NEVER exist.

faith, bible, inspiration

The good news is… while reading theses black and white pages. Something happens. You get LIGHT! And Light is full of color. Scientist says the light is essentially all colors mixed together, which appear to our eyes as white. They can see this from pictures taken from space. They also state that Rainbows are light separated into its colors. Each color in the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet) has a different wavelength. Rainbows are Gods promise I don’t find this to be a coincidence since the Bible is living. For the word of God is alive and active.

Gray is defined as a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is a color “without color.” When you try to tweak the Bible to gray. You’ll find your life almost matches the definition of gray. dark, dismal, or gloomy: dull, dreary, or monotonous. Why would you want Gray? Instead, read it for what it is and get light! Light defined is the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible. Light is vibrant and bright! Jesus is the Light! “The light of the son”

When You Think Your Daughter is Marrying the Wrong Guy

My daughter is getting married. When she showed me her engagement ring, I would love to tell you, I was jumping for joy in excitement. But the truth is… I wasn’t.

In fact, when I heard of the proposal, I got tears of sadness. This wasn’t the man I envisioned for my daughter. Their dating history wasn’t favorable in my eyes and he was rude and disrespectful to me in my own home to the point where we became those parents who closed the door and locked it with a dozen deadbolts. married wrong person

When You’re a Christian Who Hates Christmas

I’m a Christian who hates Christmas. I know I shouldn’t use the word hate because it is such a strong word so I’ll tone it down a bit. Over the past few years, I’ve dreaded Christmas.

I go to church regularly. I believe that the Lord is my Savior. I believe we are saved by grace, but yet being a faithful Christian, the Christmas spirit doesn’t come easy to me. Christmas used to be an enjoyable time of year. But lately, it’s stressful, expensive, and hard to find joy. I put weeks of work into the holiday with decorating the house, preparing foods, and shopping for all the gifts. It all gets overlooked in a matter of seconds Christmas morning when the exchange of gifts occur. The kids rush from present to present giving the impression that they really don’t care about the gift they opened.

Gift giving is more like gift expecting.

I have a love/hate relationship with gift exchanges. Gift exchanges are impersonal with family and close friends. In my mind, if I wanted to get you a gift I would. I don’t need to be forced to give a gift through an exchange. I do find them fun when I don’t know the recipient well. It’s a great way to get to know them better.

Where is the giving… Just because? God gave his one and only son to us. He asks us to accept the gift with nothing in return. That’s what the spirit of Christmas is all about.

That’s where my heart thrives. I thrive when I purchase gifts for others who aren’t expecting anything. I don’t expect to get anything in return. I also get disappointed when those friends or neighbors show up a few days later to return a gift. If I was on your Christmas list to begin with, I’m thrilled. But if you went out of your way to get me a gift, because I gave you one then please don’t! I just wanted you to know that you are appreciated. You are loved. The gift was given without any strings attached, just how God loves us.

Dictionary.com definition of Christmas: The annual festival of the Christian church commemorating the birth of Jesus: celebrated on December 25 and now generally observed as a legal holiday and an occasion for exchanging gifts

Urban Dictionary definition of Christmas: The celebration of the birth of commercialism. Oh yeah, and Jesus.

The Urban Dictionary definition is really how my heart feels and that’s why I’ve dreaded Christmas.
I know I must sound like the Grinch. But commercialism has ruined my spirits.

My husband doesn’t understand why I feel this way. Perhaps it’s because he actually gets to sit back and enjoy the season. He’d help if I’d ask him. But I rarely ask. I usually take on all the responsibilities myself.

I don’t want to hate Christmas. Therefore every year, I have to step back and really remember what this season is about.

It’s about Jesus.
It’s about Giving.
It’s about Joy
It’s about Love

It’s still an EFFORT to get into the spirit of Christmas. So I’ve put together some tips that help me get into the spirit. If you’re feeling the same way I do hopefully these tips can help you, too.

Decorate. When the Christmas tree is up, you’ll find yourself drawn to the light, the beauty etc.
Give. Without expectations. Buy a gift for a neighbor, friend, store clerk etc.. Or Pay it forward the next time you are at the coffee shop, gas station, etc. to a random stranger.
Focus. Sit and watch the joy of children running down the stairs in excitement. Listen to their laughter, see those tears. All those joys and emotions we forget about.
Volunteer. When you give of yourself to those in need, your heart can’t help to change.
Participate. Examples: Caroling, glittering lights, concerts, parades, ballets, ice skating, decorating gingerbread houses and more.
Gather. Get together with friends and join in on the spirit. Have a gift wrapping party, cookie exchange, movie night, etc.
Read, Watch and Listen. Enjoy some Christmas classics or listen to your favorite Christmas songs.
Relax. In the end, everything will get done. Just take it day by day.
Remember. This season is a season. There will be a time when the kids are out of the house, we’ve lost loved ones and we need not take that for granted.
ASK. Get help from others.

What are ways you get into the Christmas spirit?

Live Expectantly – Free Printable

A few weeks ago at church one of the sermons really hit me. The pastor talked about how we view ourselves as ordinary. But that’s not how God see us. Out of the ordinary is where the extraordinary gets to show itself.

Pressing Pause – 100 Quiet Moments for Moms

Ladies, let’s get real for just a moment. Do you try to put God first and find it to be hard? I do too! We’re busy as soon as the alarm clock goes off in the morning we are non stop for the day. I have a hard time finding time to read any book on it’s own but I’ve found a solution.

pressing pause quiet time for moms

Lack of Communication is the #1 Relationship Killer!

Today’s technology is amazing. A few days ago, we walked into our friends house and they were video chatting with their parents. They talked for almost 2 hours. In a push of a button their parents were able to catch up with each of them and their grandkids. How awesome it that? Decades ago, we didn’t have that capability. Our best communication at the time was by phone. Even then it was difficult because the cost involved to talk long distance was quite expensive. Then of course going back even further than that we relied on letters. For as far back as it goes, communicating is important!

It got me thinking about how most of us have this amazing technology in the palm of our hands but yet we still take that for granted and make no effort to communicate. Think about it? How is your relationship with your friends and loved ones?

Church vs Sports and Why We Chose Sports

Church vs Sports. When your schedules just don’t mix. Which one do you choose?

In the summer we enrolled our kids for Wednesday night Awana. Which happens to run during our school year. For those of you who don’t know what Awana is, just think of the Boy/Girl Scouts, but Christian based. The kids learn bible verses, etc and earn awards, jewels and so on.

In the fall we decided to enroll all of our boys in baseball. Fall ball for us starts Sept/Oct and runs for about 12 weeks. Normally we swap and let the twins play during the spring and our youngest son play during the fall. We were optimistic having all 3 boys playing. It shouldn’t be too bad right?

14 Days to Finding Meaning in the Mundane: Living in the Current

Today I had an opportunity to listen to someone’s personal struggles. She dealt with giving a child up for adoption and later found out her second child was deaf and her third child with cerebral palsy. She got deep and said that when she gave her “perfect” child up for adoption that was going to be the hardest thing in life she had to do, needless to say that wasn’t.

It’s easy to look at others people lives and feel they have it worse. Trials happen often some bigger than others but yet we forget that it grows us into the person that we are. Just like the time when my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, that time in my life was so hard. I developed an abundant amount of faith and found peace when I prayed over her at a time I was sure she was going to die.

Ecclesiastes 12:4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets

This verse show us how to live life in the current, go with the flow of life. Find joy in life in whatever situation you are facing. The rough one, the ones that you have to fight to get out of bed on. Those are the ones that you are going to remember. God is working through you through this time and I promise you will see the blessing later.

14 Days to Finding Meaning in the Mundane Series:

Introduction

Everything is Meaningless

Pleasures are Meaningless

A Time for Everything

Marriage is Work

For the Love of Money

14 Days to Finding Meaning in the Mundane: Using Your Gifts

Last year my daughter graduated from high school. When I asked her where she wanted to go to college she told me that she didn’t want to go to college but wanted to go to cosmetology school instead. As her mother, I dreaded hearing those words. Why? Because our society tells us she needs college, to get a great job and make lots of money.

14 Days to Finding Meaning in the Mundane: Rainy Day

I am terrible at saving. If money wasn’t automatically going into the retirement account we’d have no savings at all. I always assume that our job is secure which makes it easy for putting savings last. But back in October, when the government shut down we found out suddenly our one income family, had no income coming in.

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