If only life had a delete button!

 Like I shared in my post "What would your sign say?" God has been putting it on my heart lately to share with you more of my personal story.  If you read my blog, you know I'm a Christian, but what was I like before?  Well...not too good.  If you can imagine it, it's happened to me, or I've done it.  I'm not sure I'm ready to share the details, but any way you fill in the blanks, you'd probably be right.  The video does a good job of explaining what I felt like.

Sometimes I wish that there were an "delete" button for parts of my life.  Do you ever feel like that?  There are so many things I wish I wouldn't have done, and sometimes guilt and shame gnaw at my soul.  I especially regret all the years I wasted by choosing to do things that I knew were wrong, totally out of communication with the God I had known.  But wandering off the path is subtle; it only takes a few missteps  sometimes to completely lose one's way.   I think of those times as wandering the desert, dying of thirst, while God would have quenched my thirst if only I had turned to Him.

It was about five years ago when I got down on my knees and surrendered once and for all.  I told God that my life would be His and I would do whatever He called on me to do.  I cried out to Him for forgiveness and I know that He did and does, but I found that it's harder to forgive myself.

God's Word has been a healing balm for my soul.  He says in Romans 8:1-2: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

The price has been paid; it has been nailed to the cross.  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.-Romans 5:1-2

If my great and holy God has mercy and forgiveness for me, then I must make amends where I can and accept the grace He freely offers.   Our enemy would love for us to keep seeing ourselves as the people we were before, because it takes away the joy of our salvation.  But we don't have to listen to him.  God says:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of son-ship.  And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. - Romans 8:15-16

And Psalm 103:12:. ..as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Father, I thank You for Your love and forgiveness.  Only You can truly transform us in the new creations that we are when we turn our lives over to You.  I pray that You will touch each one reading this with Your love; that You would wrap Your arms around them and fill them with Your peace.
In Jesus name, Amen.

As always, I wish you blessings :)

An answer for Jack

First of all, who's Jack?  He's an awesome guy.  He swept my mom off her feet after an awful divorce, married her, and has been her Prince Charming.  As a bonus he loves my brother and I too, which hasn't always been an easy task.
So the other day we were talking, and I wanted a question to answer here in my blog, like in "Answer for Anonymous."  That was a lot of fun, because I love to research topics.  Let me make one thing clear though, he is very learned when it comes to the Bible and spiritual topics.  So his question is difficult, and goes something like this:

If we ask for something in God's will, the Bible tells us He'll do it.  But how do we know what His will really is?  And since God knows everything that we will ever do, feel, or say, why then do we even  need to ask God stuff?

Huh.  Why indeed?  I started talking to God about it and searching my Bible.  One thing struck me right away, though; I think that the quality of any relationship comes down to the quality of its communication.
If we don't ask, how do we know when He answers, sometimes in great and awesome ways?  When we ask  for specific things and He answers us directly, it confirms our faith and our relationship.
Then I began to look at what the expert had to say, God in his bodily form, Jesus.
This is what he told the apostles about prayer:
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  This, then, is how you should pray:

He starts with praise:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name,
He expresses His desire for God's will:  your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
He asks for food to sustain him for just this day:  Give us today our daily bread.
He asks for forgiveness:  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
He asks for deliverance from evil:   And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:6-13
(Above italics are my words)

I came up with a summary:

P- praise and worship
R- repentance
A- acceptance
Y- yield to his plans
E- empower us to overcome evil
R- rations for this day

A lot of people claim the verse John 14:13-  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Asking for something in Jesus' name means asking for the same thing Jesus would have asked for....not just adding on "in Jesus' name" at the end of a prayer.  I came across this verse-
Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
If you are delighted in the Lord, what is it that you will want?  You will want to be filled with his Spirit.  You will want to follow His will.  You will want to lead people to salvation.  You will love your neighbor.  You will be filled with compassion.  You will forgive.  In other words, you will want what Jesus wanted.  That is asking in his name, in his spirit.

Perhaps that is the ultimate expression of our surrender to God; that we no longer want our will, but His, recognizing that He knows all; the past, future, and present and submitting our will to his.  It's all about becoming like Jesus, wanting what He wanted and doing what he did.  Not in our own strength of course, but through the Holy Spirit who is within us.  When our spirit is in tune with what God wants, we will ask for the things that are His will.

We have God's will for us in concrete form: his word.
He promises us:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.- James 1:5
He will give us strength:
The Lord gives strength to his people.- Psalm 29:11
God has a distinct plan for your life:
"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."- Jeremiah 29:11

I pray that God will bless you with his infinite love.