Broken to Beautiful

Let me just start with this:

Guilt is from the devil.

Is that a little too bold for you? Perhaps you think I believe we should never feel bad for anything we do. That is not the case. But-

There is a difference between repentance, and guilt.

The one is combined with God's great love and forgiveness, the other hopelessness. If you know of a sin you committed, repent and accept His forgiveness.

Why do we hang on so tightly to guilt? Because we feel we deserve it, and you're darn right. In fact, we deserve Hell. But guess who loves us too much to leave us to our own stupidity? You guessed right; our Heavenly Father.

What does this deserved guilt get us? Do we get brownie points for extra humility? No. Our own guilt rips us away from the arms of our Lord! We end up feeling like we can't enter His presence until we're good enough. If that's what you're waiting for, then you've condemned your own self to Hell. 

Newsflash:

You can never be good enough, in your own strength!

That's when something beautiful happens! Jesus took our guilt on Himself, we are clean! Unfortunately it took me years to figure out just exactly what this meant.

You know how after a while, the paint in your room gets chipped and scratched? Maybe even stained, permanent marker? Some sort of food? So what you do is paint over it, you just cover it up. That's not what He did! He tore down that disgusting wall, and constructed a whole new one! No dings, scratches, or stains! Perfect, blameless.

Last week this information, finally, traveled the 18 inches (or in my case, 10 inches!)  from my head, to my heart. Believe you me, the effect was...boundless!

I AM GOOD ENOUGH.

Let me say that again, You are good enough...through HIM!

He re-built you, He bleached you, He scrubbed every inch of you until you were squeaky clean!

Share the hope!

Tell people about that ugly wall, and when they see the new you? They'll want what you have! Share with fellow Christians too! It is always so exciting to see God work in others lives!

Take this away with you today:

Let go of the guilt, and let God.

XOXOXO,

Random fact #11- The length of an elephant is the same as the tongue of a blue whale!

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Sugar Coated

Don't believe everything you hear from professing "Christians."

Almost every lie has a little bit of truth in it, unless you are looking very closely, it is too easy to overlook the lie!

Here's a couple I've heard of late:

"Hey! Live a little, God wants you to enjoy your life! Why not go have some fun? Make some mistakes. God wants you to make mistakes so He can forgive you!"

 Is there any truth in this? Yes...but more than 80% of it is a lie! Seriously? He wants me to intentionally make mistakes so He can forgive me?! Pretty sure I sin all the time accidentally...and besides that, do you realize we were born in sin (Psalm 51:5)? 

"You don't know heartache until you've had a boyfriend break up with you. You will be heart broken by someone eventually, and the older you are the worse it gets. You should get a boyfriend really quick."

 Okay, about 10% of this is truth. Yes, someone will break your heart eventually, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be because of some romantic fling you had. My heart was broken at a very young age, my beloved grandmother died. My heart has been broken many times since as other loved ones have left me as well.

My point here is to be careful. Put everything everyone tells you through a filter; your God filter. Take the truth, throw out the rest!

Line everything up against the Word.

XOXOXO,

Random fact #9- More people are killed each year from bees, than from snakes!

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Our Hearts Cry

How can I keep doing this to Him? How can He continually forgive me?

I have let so much distract me; family, friends, music, movies, the internet, reading, etc...

Dear Reader, 

Learn from my mistakes! There is NOTHING but God! Take this verse to heart:

"Who have I in Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." -Psalm 73:25-26

Let this be your cry forever. I don't care what trials or blessings come...this should ALWAYS be your heart.

Pray:

"Dear God, 

Refresh my soul! Turn my heart back to You."

Reader,

Take this to heart also! Memorize it, engrave it into your very heart!

"There is a Name I love to hear,

I love to sing its worth;

It sounds like music in my ear,

The sweetest name on earth.

Oh how I love Jesus,

Oh how I love Jesus,

Oh how I love Jesus,

Because He first loved me.

It tells of One Whose loving heart, 

Can feel my deepest woe;

Who in each sorrow bears a part

That none can bear below.

It bids my trembling heart rejoice;

It dries each rising tear;

It tells me, in a 'still small voice,'

To trust and never fear."

Holy Holy is He, worthy is the Lord. 

XOXOXO,

Random fact #7- Summer on Neptune lasts for 40 years, but the temperature is -328°F.

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Forgiveness

Forgiveness doesn't just happen. The bitterness and the hurt feelings don't just go away overnight.

Choose it! God already forgave them, by refusing to forgive, you're pretty much saying that your opinion and feelings are higher than God's.

And who are you really hurting with all this bitterness? The person that hurt you? Nope.

It really hit me the other day as I was listening to the radio, a Matthew West song came on called forgiveness. The lyrics went like this:

"Forgiveness; it'll clear the bitterness away,

it can even set a prisoner free,

there is no end to what its power can do.

So let it go and be amazed,

by what you see through eyes of grace.

The prisoner that it really frees is you."

Surprise!!

I know...such a little thing, yet it made a world of difference.

So remember, by choosing to forgive, you are only doing yourself a favor. And if you reaalllyyyy can't come to forgive them, ask God to be your forgiveness. Believe me, He comes through EVERY TIME. Where we are weak He is strong, and that's a promise. :)

"The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace." 

Psalm 29:11

Go in peace and strength, with a smile on your face and forgiveness in your heart. Be a light to this world!

XOXOXO,

Random Fact #5- The first movie to gross over $100 million was Jaws.

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