If I Were Forced To Wear One Outfit

If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

If I were forced to wear one out fit it would be a dress and cowboy boots.

The Blessing Of Forgiveness

God forgives our sins and He command us to forgive those that offend us. When we do, we have a lot of blessings that come our way.

I remember the exact day God forgave my sins. I ever remember the place. I had been praying silently for God to please forgive me while I was grocery shopping. I had worked so hard to tear down the walls I had built up when trying to protect myself from ever being hurt again. I returned my cart to the corral., and was walking to my car. I was over powered by an intense heat on the top of my head. As I got to my car I thought I was having a stroke. As I sat down the heat rushed through my body. What felt like an eternity only took about 4 minutes. After I felt a heavy weight had been lifted off me. I felt amazing.

I don’t tell of this account often because I think people will think I’m crazy. But I knew it was God showing me He forgave my sins -everyone.

Forgiveness is a powerful action that releases us from negative emotions and allows us to move forward. It creates space for healing and growth. It brings on peace and closure. It allows us to focus on the present moment and the positive aspects of our lives.

When God forgives us He begins to transform us. When God forgives us He expects us to forgive others. Unforgiveness is like poison. It destroys our lives.

It’s impossible as human beings to avoid offending others or being forgiven by others. While we do not have the ability to control how others feel or act when they are offended, we do have free will over our own lives to decide how we react when we are offended by others.

Forgiveness is wholeheartedly the secret of a happy full life. While it’s not easy to forgive others, it’s what God commands us. Even if the other person is not really sorry, we still have to forgive them in order to fulfill the will of God.

In order to understand what forgiveness means, we need to look at what it is not.

Forgiveness does not justify the offender. Forgiveness does not make the person being forgiven innocent. Forgiveness is not approving what the other person has done, but overlooking it out of love, and with the expectation that the offender will benefit with a profitable change of action and attitude

Unforgivable Sin

How many sins can you list that God won’t forgive? I used to worry about this because was not a good person in the past. Some of the things I’ve done are probably on that list.

The only sin that can not be forgiven on God’s list is rejecting Him and refusing His offer of forgiveness and new life in Christ Jesus. When we do this it is saying that the Holy Spirit’s witness about Jesus is a lie (Like 12:20).

It is serious to reject Jesus because of who He was, He wasn’t just another bible teacher; He was God in human flesh -but when we deny this, we limit Him and assume He is unable to save us.

Jesus is God’s appointed means of salvation. Our greatest need is to have our sins forgiven, if we don’t have any reason to expect God to welcome us into heaven. But by Jesus’s death and resurrection, He provided a way for us to be forgiven and cleansed of all our sins.

Blasphemy is a thoughtless mistake. Think about the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t jump to a conclusion about Jesus, if you follow the Book of Mark, you’ll see there is a progression to their unbelief. They were initially curious about Jesus and His ministry. They had questions. And in time grew indifferent, but their indifference metastasized into a malicious attitude that became so hateful and vengeful that it nailed Jesus to the cross.

“The unforgivable sin is marked by a hardened attitude and an embittered and unrepentant heart” -David Jeremiah

Blasphemy is a progressive rejection. When God convicts us of sin and presents us with the good news of the gospel, it’s dangerous to neglect it, especially if our proclamation becomes chronic. After continued resistance, we can become so hard-hearted and sin-hardened that our souls become calloused. Our ears can’t receive the truth. Our minds shake off the conviction of the Spirit. Our conscience becomes cynical and while God’s grace is still available to us, we push away from it.

The Pharisees had become Jesus-resistant because of their time-lapsed attitudes in their evil hearts. Tragically, the Pharisees devoted their lives to copying the Word of God and yet couldn’t see Him when we walked up to them.

They had copied Isaiah 53 about the Suffering Servant. They copied Psalm 22 about the death of Jesus. They knew Micah 5 and the prophecy of our Lord’s birth. Yet, their hearts had become so hardened they couldn’t receive His grace when it arrived in Jesus.

It is possible to become harderen to spiritual truth by living in the middle of it.

It’s denying the deity of Jesus. By attributing the miracles of Jesus to Satan they were saying He could not be God. Yet by His miracles, He was showing Himself to be nothing and no one less than God. Only God Himself could do what Jesus had done.

It’s the Holy Spirit who witnesses to the deity of Jesus in our world today. So if you refuse to accept the ministry of the Holy Spirit or you attribute the ministry of the Holy Spirit or attribute His ministry to Satan, you deny Jesus’s deity.

This unforgivable sin has haunted people for centuries. If you are bothered in your spirit that you may have committed a sin God will not forgive, the very fact that you have anxiety over that is evidence you have not committed the sin. If He is still working in your heart, it’s not possible to have committed the unforgivable sin.

The unforgivable sin is hardening your heart against God by repeatedly refusing to respond to His appeal to your soul. By continuing to resist and reject the Lord you build callouses on your soul until the conviction of the Spirit of God no longer registers in your heart. Over time you become hardened. You hear and the Word of God, and it makes no impact on you. If you die in that condition, there is no further forgiveness available. For those who reject Jesus, there is no forgiveness anywhere else, anytime, either in this world or the next. He died for you, and if you reject that, there’s no other sacrifice for sin.

Don’t worry that you’ve committed the unforgivable sin. But if you know Jesus as your personal Savior, be concerned. If you’ve resisted Jesus and refused Him as your Savior, and if something happens and you do, you will have committed the unforgivable sin. You don’t get a second chance after death.

Whatever we do concerning Jesus in this life we shouldn’t gamble that we have time to respond later.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near“ – Isaiah 55:6

When the Lord becomes your unforgettable Savior, you’ll never have to worry about the unforgivable sin.

My Spirituality

How important is spirituality in your life?

My journey in spiritual life is a huge part of who I am today. My journey has helped me understand how vast the divine is, and how little I truly understand.

When I was young I didn’t understand who God was. I used to pray that He would get me out of the situation I was in -to save me from the pain and suffering. At a very young age, I definitely believed in something higher than myself. But I couldn’t understand why a good God would keep me in the situation I was in. I always knew I was different and the answers were somewhere.

I have made a lot of mistakes in life. But later in life, I knew I had become spiritual I began to spiritually know who I was and I began connecting to God more and more. I began looking beyond the surface of things and trusting the process of how lives unfold.

I began to believe that I was born of God and began being changed by His grace when I chose to surrender and be obedient to the Holy Spirit and began to live to please God, my entire life changed for the better.

Practicing Self-care

How do you practice self-care?

Self-care involves working at good physical health and well as mental health. And makes you feel good about yourself.

Healthy practices reduce stress and release feel-good hormones. There’s one rule I do for self-care and that’s whatever I choose to do should refuel me and not make me stressed of anxious. Our physical self-care impacts our mental health .

Regular exercise, eating healthy, good hygiene, periods alone so I can meditate and receiving needed health care along with getting my nails done and my hair done on a regular basis goes toward my self-care.

There Are No Coincidences

The world likes the idea of coincidence. It takes away any accountability to acknowledge the existence of a Creator or purpose in our lives. If things just happen by chance, then our actions really don’t matter. But the Bible leaves no room for coincidence.

God is sovereign. He is the Alpha and the Omega, all-knowing and all-powerful. (Revelation 22:13; Romans 11:33-36; Job 42;1-2). From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation it is evident that God is in control. Even before Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, God knew that Jesus would have to die on the cross to bring redemption. He knows every decision we will make and the consequences we will experience. For God, there are no surprises, accidents, or karma.

God cares for us -His creation. He knows the number of stars in the sky and even the number of hairs on our head (Like 12:7). He accounts for every detail from something as simple as a flower to the complexity of the human heart. Matthew 6-28-30 says,

“Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toilm neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But of God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t He much more clothe you, you of little faith.”

God has a plan, He weaves together all events and all decisions for His greater purpose of redeeming His creation and being reunited with it. Moses coming across a burning bush was not a coincidence (Exodus 3:1-17), God meant to meet him there. Abraham finding a ram to sacrifice instead of his son was not a coincidence. God knew Abraham would be faithful to Him and provided an alternative sacrifice (Genesis 22). Jesus arriving in Jerusalem the week of Passover was not a coincidence. Jesus Himself would take the place of the Passover lamb forever destroying the power of sin with His final sacrifice.

In Isaiah 46:9-11 God says,

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times that are not yet done. I say. My counsel will the stand, and I will do all that I please. I call a ravenous bird from the east, the man of My counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken. I will also bring it to pass. I have planned. I will also do it.”

A few passages in the Bible have phrases with the undertone of coincidence. Such as the account of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 it is said the “by chance” a priest passed the beat-up man on the road. Yet when taken into the context of the Bible as a whole, it is clear that while the priest passing by was unexpected from a human perspective. God already knew that it was not the so-called righteous of society, but the disliked samaritan who would stop and help the man. Perhaps the role of coincidence in God’s eyes is best captured by the words of Albert Einstein, “Coincidences are God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

Is Evil Increasing?

Evil is coming out of the c, set. No more hiding in the darkness, we can see it in the daylight. The problem with defining evil centers around perspective. Those who are captive to sin have a different worldview of evil. The verse from Isaiah reveals why one man’s evil is another man good,

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight” – Isaiah 5:20-21

A view of self without the biblical mirror provided by God gives off a false self-image. We see ourselves as the experts on right and wrong. Our rationale is primarily guided by our feelings and emotions. Pride rules over decision-making and pride separates us from God. Pride is was caused satan (Lucifer) to be cast out of heaven.

The Bible is the only moral guide we have. Outside of it, we have chaos. Without a clear moral code, we have everyone deciding for themselves what is their moral truth. We see it all around us, men and women making decisions and choices that are biblically wrong and in some instances even evil. They justify and rationalize what they do as right for them, and declare their decisions and actions as truth.

In the Bible, God reveals Himself to us, the origin of mankind, the fallen nature of mankind is sin, the redemptive work of Christ Jesus, and clarity on what is good and evil. The only worldview that counts is the one that is provided by the creator of all life. God is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end. He is truth. He is the starting point for all life.

Evil has always made its presence in the world. But, I do believe we are seeing a rise of evil at this time on earth all around us and it’s undeniable. One of the key indicators that evil is on the rise is because of the cultural unity around sinful behavior. There are several terms America has come to familiar with. Cancel culture, social justice, critical race theory, LGBTQ, transgender, same sex marriage, woke, and white privilege.

They are different but they have one thing in common, they seek universal compliance. There is no room for dissent. No discussion, no other point of view that the culture acceptable view. We have seen this throughout history, where one group or another rises to power and seeks to transform cultural thinking, actions, and behaviors. What we see that stands out today is the demand for compliance. In the 70’s we have an overall cultural attitude of “live and let live.” In other words, you do your thing and I will do mine, we don’t have to agree we just have to tolerate it.

Today “live and let live” has been replaced with what I choose to do you must accept, defend, and promote. In such a culture, morality loses its definition. There is intense social pressure to conform to group thinking. Legislators are passing laws, written to defend immorality.

Psalm 7:14 says.

“The wicked conceive evil, they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies,”

Those in power are seeking to determine the truth for everyone. The battles rage in court, the loses weight out the wins. Religious freedom is at risk as evil rises up to crush it.

Throughout history, there have been evil empires. What we see now is the coming together of a one-world empire that seeks the submission of all mankind. An empire where evil is called good and good is called evil.

No one wants to suffer but in a fallen world, it is unavoidable. Whether physical pain or mental anguish suffering is part of the human condition for everyone. Exactly what it will be like is not yet clear, but it seems unlikely that it will be favorable to those who follow Jesus. The signs if opposition are already apparent.

Persecution is simply a clash between two irreconcilable value systems. The clash is what we are seeing now, and it is ultimately between those who believe, trust, and love the God of the Bible and those who do not.

Wasting Time

How do you waste the most time every day?

I have a few time-wasting activities they are spending time on social media. Social media is a drain on my life it doesn’t mean anything. It does not serve any purpose.

Television is also a waste of time for me. I spend probably 3 hours a week watching crime/ murder shows. Which entertains me but in reality I could be doing something practical such as spending time with my dog or reading.

Social media and television are a distraction in the sense that they are unproductive. It is said that excessive social media and television can cause depression, anxiety, addiction and distorts our self-image and is mind draining.

Food That Transports Me Back Into Childhood

Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

Anything that reminds me of what happened in my childhood is usually is a trigger for me. Such as tuna fish. The one in the can. My mother fed that to me for years, so much so that it’s all I can remember eating until I was 4 years old. It’s just not eating it, it’s also the smell.

Focus On God Not on people

“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Messiah” – Galatians 1:10 (Messianic).

God did not make us to be what someone else wants us to be. God made you to be you. If we are going to become all we can be, we have to refuse to be defined by others.

Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh‘s daughter (Hebrews 11-24). Moses had an identity crisis. He was born as a Hebrew slave but was raised as Egyptian royalty, the grandson of Pharaoh, As an adult he faced two options: He either pretended to be Pharaoh’s grandson for the rest of his life and live a life of luxury, fame and power. Or he could admit who he really was: a jew,

If he admitted who he really was, his family would kick him out to live with a slave for the rest of his life to be degraded and humiliated and live a life of pain and drudgery.

Which would you choose?

Most people today are living lies. Culture tells them who they need to be. They are trying to be people they are not. Moses refused to live a lie because he was a man of integrity. He insisted on being who God made him to be despite all the peer pressure.

Who are you letting determine your identity?

Is it friends and family? Are you living someone else’s vision for your life? I lived for other people most of my life and it exhausted me, living someone else’s dreams didn’t work for me. Always trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations doesn’t work.

The Bible says,

“But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak; not as pleasing, but God, who tests our hearts” – 1 Thessalonians 2:4

Maybe we all need to make a resolution that we will no longer be letting other people press us into their molds. We will be who God wants us to be. We will do what God wants us to do and fulfill the plan that He has for our lives, not someone else’s plan for our life.

Then take a huge sigh of relief that real success in life is being who we were created to be and nothing more.

Historical Figures

Who is your favorite historical figure?

My favorite historical figures are the “Founding Fathers.” They played a key role in securing the Independence of America and created America’s government.

Each Founding Father offered unique contributions to the creation of the Republic, some of the Founding Fathers thought, wrote, fought, and served public offices but all of them contributed in some way.

The Founding Fathers are the most important people to study (especially today) to gain an understanding of the American ideals of freedom and liberty.

It is sickening that these the theories have not been passed down to all people here in America whether they are here legally or came here illegally people need to understand what America is founded on and work to keep the freedoms we have.

The Founding Fathers left an unparalleled legacy in the world and it is being destroyed by evil men who have cold hearts.