Jesus wants a relationship, not our religion~~

This morning as I logged onto Facebook to begin posting my daily devotional to my "Masters Servants" ladies prayer group, I noticed that one of my dear Facebook friends, Sandra, had posted a picture on the page about her relationship with God being about her relationship with Jesus, not a religion. I've posted many similar things myself over the years on Facebook, Twitter and Google. Bravo, I thought to myself and liked the comment myself with an Amen. Thanks for the reminder, dear Sandra.

As I sat thinking about that, I realized how many of my secular, non-Christian friends just don't get it. Religion is something man made, a relationship with Jesus, is of God. When you begin to add rules about how and what will get you into Heaven, you've crossed the line into religion. 

You have to go to church so many days a week, you have to attend certain classes, you have to work you way into Heaven by performing different works on earth. You can't eat certain food on certain days, or drink caffeine or dance? So many rules, pick the religion and they can most likely name their rules to you. If having to follow all the rules were the case, would God's Grace be totally sufficient for any of us? What is the point of His Mercy and Grace if we have to work our way into Heaven by following a set of rules laid out before us.

Not that all of the rules are bad. It's wonderful to attend biblical classes and to grow in the Lord's word, but neither God nor Jesus require you to do that to be accepted into Heaven. You must do one thing  Romans 10:9 tells us "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Once we are saved, we are saved, and there is nothing WE can do to improve upon that. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."

God's amazing Grace saved us, there is nothing we can ever do to improve upon that. Notice how the verse in Ephesians says that our Salvation is a gift from God, not by our works, so that that we can never boast about it. God doesn't want any of us boasting about how we made it a little bit better by what we did. It has nothing to do with us, it has everything to do with Him.

That is why religion always falls short of God's Glory. Religion is all about legalistic rules. Our Lord God has ONE Rule, and that is you must confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead. He makes it incredibly easy for all of us, doesn't He? 

When I think about all the different people all over the world who have accepted Jesus Christ from a sermon on TV, or a missionary that had a revival in their country or met them in a field in their country. Our loving God made it so easy for us to be accepted by Him into His glorious Kingdom. Stop and really think about that. Many people will never attend a church service in their lives, yet they are still children of the Living God the minute they accept Jesus as their Savior. That is all God, and that is All God's Grace.

So now, I ask you~~ Are you following the rules of man or the rules of God? Who are you bowing to? Are you listening to the "rules" of your religion, or abiding by God's only rule? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Take a hard look at your "religion" and see if anywhere in the Bible it says anything about having to complete anything before you can gain entrance into Eternity. I sure couldn't find it. If you can, please point it out to me, I'd love to look that up and I will stand corrected.

As I said before, it's very meaningful and often traditional to be baptized, confirmed in your faith, and attend classes, Sunday school and church sermons to better understand the Lord's word, but no where that I've found in the Bible does it say that is a necessity for a Holy and Righteous God to accept you. There is but one thing you need to do "Confess your sins, Believe that Jesus is Lord and God raised Him from the dead." Period. End of discussion.

That is how the lowliest sinner can be accepted on the Cross next to His Savior by confessing with his mouth that Jesus is Lord. Many souls have been saved in the last minutes of their lives by confessing their sins and turning to God. That's what His Mercy and Grace are all about. It's never about works, it's always about God's Mercy and Grace. Praise His Holy Name~

My verses for today are above in red.

My Prayer for today:

Dear Heavenly Father:

Thank you Lord for making it so incredibly easy for all of us to spend Eternity with You. Thank you for accepting us into your Kingdom with no rules just our confession and our belief that Jesus died for us and is sitting at Your Right Hand. You are amazing and we are so Thankful for everything you continue to do for us each day we live on this earth. Thank you Father for Your Grace and Mercy. We are so unworthy.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I Hope You Dance ♫♫

Sometimes, something will come up in your life that triggers a sweet memory. I think we all have those moments, don't we?

Yesterday, a friend of mine posted a song on Facebook that brought memories flooding back of a dear friend that we lost about 7 years ago, Eunice Carter. 

Eunice was one of those people that I think God puts into our lives for a particular season. We became close with her shortly after I was diagnosed with MS, and after her beloved husband of 60 years (Ray) passed on and we only had her a few short years, but those years with her were wonderful. It was neat to have a doctor to be able to talk about MS things, and a strong Christian doctor to boot. We prayed together about alot of things and she was a source of strength and comfort for me in many ways. She was also very close with my husband Steve and was a big comfort to him during a very trying time in his life.

Eunice was quite a character. Raised on a farm in Ohio, she put herself through medical school (which was quite something back in those days) and had her medical practice in her home until she retired. She was one of the few doctors that wrote the actual questions on the AMA entry board exams! WOW, now that's a doctor! Compassionate, and caring with a quirky sense of humor. That was our Eunice. She loved to come over here for dinner on Sundays and taught my husband how to make a martini just the way she liked them with dirty ice! Yes, she did take a drink every now and then, mainly martini's and said proudly, she would have never lived as long as she did without it. She never abused it and I actually never saw her take more than one martini at a time, but boy did she enjoy those martini's! One of the pleasures of life she would say. 

She went with me to some MS seminars because she was always interested in keeping up with the latest medical information. She was quite a wiz on her computer, especially for her age, and there wasn't much that scared her. She got two doggies after her Ray died, Bella and Tiger and you would see her walking those dogs on long walks. I can still see her zooming around town with those two dogs in here Prius, one of the first Hybrids on the market. She always wanted the latest and greatest! They were a big part of her life in those later years. Her doggies, and her church family are what mattered most to Eunice. Her kids, two sons, both lived out of town and she didn't seem them often, so her church family was the one that she clung to.

      A gathering of the old "Vamo Church" gang at our house, Christmas 2005, Eunice is in the front in red.

Anyway, back to my story. Eunice had given me a copy of the book and CD I hope you dance by Lee Ann Womack. I remember receiving it shortly after I had a flareup and was feeling down. Eunice always had a way of cheering me up. That book and song were so light and wonderful and uplifting I did feel like dancing again, and in those days I even could. The gift was a welcome relief from the drama of another round of steroids~

Hearing those words of that song this morning were even more meaningful because at this stage in my life, my legs really aren't working much at all, and dancing definitely isn't on my plates these days. I got a little teary eyes thinking about Eunice giving me that. BUT, and this is a big BUT, the Promise of Dancing Again is always there for me because I know that when I get to heaven, I WILL be dancing again. I am so looking forward to that day!!!

Hope is what we all hang on to. Hope to see loved ones again in heaven, hope to be able to dance again, hope for a pain free day, hope for a restored relationship with a loved one we've grown apart from, hope to be healed from a sickness. That book and CD "I hope you dance" lifted me up when I was down. and gave me hope. Hope is something we all desperately need. The Bible has many verses about hope, because the Bible is literally a book of hope. One of my very favorite verses is from Romans 15:13" May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

What is your biggest hope? What brightens your day? What makes you dance? My biggest source of hope is my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Knowing Him on a personal level has given me hope for the here and now and hope for the future: my future on this earth, and my future in eternity with the Lord. And what a glorious hope to look forward to! Thank you Lord!

My verse today is above in red.

My prayer for today:

Dear Heavenly Father:

Thank you for giving us the feeling of hope. It is such a wonderful gift that we hang onto many days. Thank you for something to look forward to: the anticipation of a new event, a restored relationship, a pain free day. 
Thank you for my friend Eunice and what she meant to our family. I am looking forward to seeing Eunice again in Heaven one day. That is another hope I have and I am thankful. Please Lord, give your hope to those who need it most.

In Your Mighty name I pray,
Amen

A Melancholy Past or Glorious Future? You choose!

When you live with chronic, debilitating and degenerative disease like MS, there are often times when you find yourself looking back on your former life before you got sick, or as one of my MS friends calls it, "your able bodied life."

It's very easy to have something trigger a memory of times gone by, times that were easier for you, times when your body seemed to work normally like it was before you got sick. I guess that is also the plight of getting older, but at a much slower pace. Your body ages, you slow down and can't keep the pace that you used to when you were younger. But you expect that, it's part of the aging process.

Well, when you have MS, take that slower pace up to warp speed and try being cut off at the knees when you are in the prime of your life. Just when everything seems to rolling along nicely for you. Everything's great and then....you can go from feeling just fine one day to not being able to walk, or talk, or be numb over every inch of your body the next morning. Right in the middle of a career, raising a family and enjoying life to the fullest. WHOA~ What the heck is going on here now?? Stop the merry go round, I want to get off while I still feel good.

That's the reality of living with this nasty disease. It attacks silently and it is ruthless with it's victims, that's for sure. Getting back to being melancholy, I think we all have those kind of moments, don't we? Sick or not? Looking back on your life and grieving what could have been? But, for people with MS, sometimes it's the simplest things we grieve, like being able to take a walk around the block, climbing a flight of stairs or going for a bike ride or run. Things that the average person takes for granted each day, and doesn't pay any mind to on a normal basis. Those simple tasks are longed for by someone afflicted with MS. Some of us can still do some of them, but it's never as easy as it looks. Everything is a BIG deal when you have MS, trust me when I say this, I know.

                                 Some folks affected by MS, can still walk with these type of walking aids.

I have a lady in my Facebook prayer group that posted how much she missed being able to run. That she has gone by the track where she used to run and was grieving those times. I surely can relate to that. I wasn't a runner, but I used to love to go for long fast paced walks with friends around the neighborhood, catching up on everyone's life, what's going on with the kids, school, etc.

One of the things that happens when you get sick is you lose many of your former friends. It's sad, but it's just a reality. Many people can't deal with people around someone who is sick all the time. It's hard for them to understand when you have to cancel because you just can't handle it: you're too tired, your legs don't work, you're in tremendous pain. Being ill with a chronic disease can get very lonely at times.

You may see your old friends every now and then, but in reality, they don't and can't understand what your new life is, and it's easier for them to deal with what they are used to. As the saying goes, "You don't really get MS until you "GET" MS. Sad but so very true. I don't begrudge any of my friends or even family members. They are caught up in living life, and can't understand someone who isn't doing things at the same pace they do. That used to be me, by the way, and it was probably you too, if you have MS and are reading this.

That's why the internet is so wonderful for those of us who are home bound by necessity. You can reach out to anyone on the other side of the world who may be going through exactly what you're going through. The invention of Facebook and other social media sites are straight from God as far as I'm concerned. I have met a whole new group of ladies and men from around the world who are going through the same exact thing as me. They "get it."  We talk, we email, we facebook, we skype, we have made a new life for ourselves out of the ashes of our old life. That's a God-Thing is what I think.

Memories come and go, and it's easy to find yourself caught up in the "pity party" of why did this happen to me Lord?---- if you aren't careful. It's a slippery slope. Everybody has challenges in life. Every single one of us. Feeling Melancholy at times is normal for any of us I think, but dwelling in the past isn't good. It prevents you from living your best right now and your best in the future. If you try to hold onto the past with memories, clinging to the way things used to be, you can easily prevent yourself from grabbing onto the great things God has in store for you right now and in the years to come. What's the old saying " You have to let go of something old before you can grab onto something new?

                            Not always easy to do, but very important when you live with chronic illness.

That's kind of the way it is with MS. If you cling onto the old memories of what your life used to look like, you an so easily get caught up in living in the past, and totally miss the new and exciting future that God has planned for you. MS changes who you are, there's no doubt in my mind about that. It certainly changed me. It made me closer to the Lord. It took me a long time to accept that I had MS and it wasn't going away. I had to kind of re-define myself and looked to my Creator for His help in doing that. All the things that I thought were so important before I got sick I realized pretty quickly that they didn't amount to much. But the Lord has been able to use me in my new life and for that I am very grateful.

I've always thought that one of the reason I got MS was that I could be a much more effective witness for Jesus sick than I ever was healthy. I guess I'll have to ask him about that when I meet Him at the pearly gates. Until then, I'm thankful for the life I have. I'm thankful for my supportive husband, who is my best friend, my confidant, my lover and my caregiver all rolled into one. The Lord has surely used him in all this too. Thank you Jesus for this life you have given me. Help me to use it to Your Glory each day. To suffer for you is an honor and privilege. Thank you for Your amazing Mercy and Grace which greet me anew each day to help and guide me. Help me to live up to Your Word when you say:  "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps: 1 Peter 2:21. Give me the strength to follow in your footsteps each and every day.

                                                          Your Grace and Mercy are new every morning ~

My verse for today is above in red.

My prayer for today:
Dear Heavenly Father:

I don't know why I got sick, but you do. Help me to accept the life I have right now and use it to Your Glory always. Help me to reach out to others who are suffering and show them the way home to you.

I pray,
Amen