Heart Talk

If you think people can change overnight, think again. It's just as hard for them as it is hard for you and me.   It honestly took me 23 years to accept Christ as my Lord and another 3 to really start obeying. Don't get me wrong, I have been praying since I was in kindergarten. I became a Marian devotee at the age of 12, praying the rosary every night and doing all sorts of Novenas. After all, we share the same birthday. At least according to the Roman Catholic calendar. Was the relationship with the Lord Jesus present at that time? I am not so sure about that. I just knew he was there for me. Was I there for Him? Sometimes. More often, I was disconnected. Honestly, I was a lost child.


But the length of time doesn't really matter to our God. He understands the difficulty. He waits for us and constantly calls us to receive him in our lives. He is after all an Eternal God, so time is not a thing for him but more for us. It is said that he will come again in Matthew 24:30-31. We can start simply by opening our hearts to Him, through His word and through His church. It's that getting to know stage that's fun and believe it or not,  exciting. You eventually realize that your God is pursuing you more than you are pursuing him. He invites you everyday though you come to Him only when you need help. You then, wonder why and ask...why me? --- Why not you? You, who are the best of all his creation. Did He not choose you to be steward of everything else as in Genesis 1:28? He loves you and you are the most important thing to Him. That is the answer...LOVE.


And yes, we are all sinners in this world. We all have our own struggles. Nobody is really perfect. We are all capable of sinning. In fact we are born to sin, and temptation is everywhere.  That, which we call sin is what keeps us from being closer to our Lord. Think of blurred vision. It's not seeing Him clearly because of perhaps a spec on your eye or worse, conjunctivitis. Whatever it is that keeps us from having that relationship with God will be obvious once you start seeking him and you find it a bit of a task. Thus, the challenge is to eliminate what blocks our perspective.  Its' never easy though, because most of the time those things are what we love most. Do I even have to enumerate? Is it worth it, to give up all those things to be with God? Without a doubt. His promise compares to nothing spectacular enough in this world, an everlasting life in His presence.  How awesome is that!


So if you can't see or feel God, does that mean he's not there? Absolutely not! He is there. In fact, God loves you so much that He sent his only son to suffer for your sins. He wants you to be with Him and He wants to save you from the pain that sin can cause. He wants you in Heaven after this lifetime. He has forgiven you even before you asked for forgiveness. Along with His resurrection, you are a new person in Christ, 2 Corinthian 5:17. He in fact has empowered you by grace, through the holy spirit to overcome all temptations in this world. If you accept Jesus as your Lord, he will live in your heart  through the holy spirit and everything you can do, by faith...John 17.


I believe the response to love is also love. Your creator loves you, He wants to prosper you and make you happy and free, Jeremiah 29:11. The call is to honor Him and glorify His name and presence in your life. In doing so, you show your love. Not for his approval, for nothing we can do can save us. Not by good works are we saved but by Jesus and what he did on the cross some 2000 years ago, Ephesians 2:9. 


A guide to LOVE: 


1 Corinthians 13:3-8


      ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸ Love never fails...

Let us not make Him wait any longer. Come to Jesus and be free! Trust him with all things. Love and be truly happy.  

Daily Vitamins

I slept late last night, reading a book. I woke up this morning and found Mikel on the couch, writing. He said good morning in an excited tone. His first question to me,  "twenty-four minus twenty-eight is?".  I asked if he meant, twenty-eight minus twenty-four. He said yes and told me how it was the same equation. He went on to show me how he would come up with the answer. He stamped 28 pieces of triangles and crossed out 24 pieces. He therefore got 4 as the answer to his query.  Nobody really told him to do equations in the morning. It just seemed like he had a question in his mind and knew he could do something to answer it. I'm just glad his own curiosity prompted him to practice the things he learned days ago.  For the next 30 minutes he was doing math equations on his sand board, all on his own. He would come up to me for checking every time but he really owned this activity, and I feel so proud of him. 


I thank the Lord for the blessing of curiosity and inquisitiveness.  I believe this is what drives us to learn more and to find answers to questions. It is in that keeping abreast that we learn to speak words of wisdom to people who need to hear some. And it is through reading about God that we learn more about Him and His heart. Curiosity becomes desire when you know how good the God you're serving is. And what better and easier way to know about Jesus than through the bible. 


Today, a friend sought advice about a relationship. I had told her my thoughts about her situation. She then asked me if I still read the bible. Of course I do. "The bible is called the bible because it has everything." My friend replied by saying that she wants to start reading again in the morning, just like drinking her daily vitamins. I'm glad she said that and I actually liked her analogy. The bible is indeed very much like a good supplement, complete from A-Z. It keeps you up when you feel under the weather in this life. If you need to hear what God has to say, His will for you, the bible is such a great medium. Yes, there's no need for that Facebook application to tell you what God wants you to know. You don't need the internet to get a hold of God's message to you. It's all there in the wonderful, colorful book, the Holy Bible. So grab a copy now, read and converse with the Lord. Experience how it can bring your health back like no other vitamins can.