what a week!!

Wow!! If I have one more person ask me if I watched the election stuff Tuesday night, I swear I will scream! I DID stay up late but I was "vegging", (is this a real word?), with a movie. It's not that I wasn't interested in what was going on, I was. I spent the day in prayer for our country. I'm not going to say who I voted for, it doesn't matter, does it? Obama won! I'm more concerned about where we go from here. I'm concerned that we finally elected a black president for the first time and I'm very concerned about the racism that is rampant in this country. I worry that he will be assassinated before he gets sworn in. Many people are upset about the outcome of this election, and we shouldn't take that lightly!

God's word says to pray for our leaders and the responsibilities that are placed on them. I will be praying for Obama, just as I would have if McCain had been elected. We should always pray for our president whether we agree with him or not. That's biblical!!

I think I'm more concerned about the "heart" condition of our country than I am about who our president is. We're living in a country where babies are aborted everyday and where states are deciding if gay marriages should become legal or not. Am I the only one who sees how far away from God the U.S. has slid? We've slid so far away from God's standards of what He said is right or wrong and yet we still ask Him to "bless us!" Why should He? Why should He bless the people who choose to walk contrary to His ways?

If we want God to "bless" our country, then we need to repent! We need to turn around and go in the opposite direction than from where we're headed. We need to value each individual life as much as He does. We need to see marriage as the union of a man and a woman only, no other conditions are acceptable. I didn't make these "rules", He did a long time ago. If you remember, God never changes, WE do, but not Him! We also need to remember that He didn't make these "rules" to make our lives harder, but because He knew what was best for us. His ways are always going to be what's best for us, but we think our ways are best, after all, times are different now, so surely we know better than He does how to fix things. Are we kidding??

I truly believe we are living in the end times. I believe the rapture is closer than we think at times. That's okay with me, I'm ready to go home, but if I'm wrong, then what do we do with the time that we have left?

The only hope that the U.S. has, is if a revival takes place very soon. We need to get back to our "roots". We need to see what's important in our lives in light of what God said was important. We need to stop going after the "stuff" for our lives and start seeing the people that God has placed in our lives. They're what's important. They're what matters to God. With God, it's always been about those whom He's created, not about the stuff that man has created for himself. God loves His people! God loves you! Do you believe that? When we grasp how much He loves us, then He uses that love to reach out to those around us with the love that only He can gives us for them. It's not something that's inside of us, but it's something that God places inside us the moment we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives.

It's the Holy Spirit that makes the difference. We get tripped up when we stop listening to His voice. When our lives get sooo busy that we don't take the time to read His word, pray, or just sit before Him in silence, then the world's voice becomes the voice that we hear. Satan tells us lies and we in a very short time begin to question our beliefs and where we stand on very important issues in our lives. We begin to rationalize that maybe God sees things a little bit differently than what we've been taught and that possibly we've misinterpreted what He meant. Is Satan good, or what? It's so important to walk daily with Him so that we continually recognize His voice and we are able to discern whose voice we're living our lives by.

I believe the key word for our times is "discernment". It's the compass for our lives. It's what guides us when there are choices to make. The definition for discern is, "to separate, distinguish between". Wow! Isn't that just what I wrote about, our being able to distinguish between whose voice we're going to live our lives by?

Every year since I became a Christian, God has always given me a special word, or special part of my life that has been the focus for that particular year. Without a doubt after writing this blog today, I know that my special word for 2009 is discernment. That's a big challenge for me! It will mean digging even deeper into His word so that I will know without a doubt, what He has to say about the choices that will be placed before me in 2009. It would be so much easier to live my life just following what the world claims to be right, but my life was bought with a great price when I was 19 years old, so. . .thanks but no thanks, I'll take the "road less traveled".

So. . .what is God saying to you today? What "word" or area of your life would God like to change, but you just can't quite let go of yet? Do you believe that He's a big enough God to trust in? He never promises us an easy life, He just promises to walk with us through it. When life gets really hard, He carries us through it. I think that's why everyone that I know loves that poem, "Footprints in the Sand". What a loving reminder of His tender love for us. It's amazing to me that He can still love me when I mess up so many times. I know, you all think I'm perfect, but He knows better, hehe!

Well, it's another long blog. I thank you for your patience in taking time out of your busy lives to connect here with me. Take heart, once I finally start working full time again, I probably won't have as much time to blog, so I think that they'll definitely be shorter ones. You just wait and see. . .