Soul Sister Time

            Even though I am at the mercy of God every day of my life, I often lose touch with this reality.  I’m pretty good at accepting God’s boundaries and living within the freedom they bring to my life.  I consistently follow the commands of Christ and have ordered up my daily life according to what God asks of us for basic living.  You know the phrase: I don’t dance and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do -type living.              So, I need the Word of God to break me out of my mirage that I am not desperately dependent on His mercy day and night.  In my devotional reading, God broke into my delusional spiritual space by stunning me with James 3:2: We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check .             I can easily delude myself, but the truth James points out sets me free to see myself for who I really am.  I am truly a soul in reckless need of the mercy of God. The truth i

            Contrary to human wishes, God’s ways are rarely what we naturally want.  Why? Because His ways are far beyond our understanding.  When we first experience God’s ways as opposed to our own, we are offended.  We all want a God whose ways sync with what we want.  As you grow closer to God, you begin to discover that His contrarian ways bring you what your soul most needs even if it is the very thing you are attempting to avoid.  When you open your soul to God’s contrarian ways over and over, you begin to gain confidence in His ways.             If it is possible to explain, I would say that Paul explains it best in Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!      How unsearchable his judgments,      and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord?      Or who has been his counselor Who has ever given to God,      that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things.      To

                There are major times of change in our lives.  The major life changes are more obvious at adolescence and midlife.  The appearance of pimples and grey hair are much expected but little accepted.  Still they testify to the transitions of life. Other major changes happen when life experiences force them upon us.  These experiences can be happy ones such as a marriage or a new venture or times of loss such as a divorce, a demotion, or death of a close loved one.                 God is always for us, but He is very active at times like these.  He does not want us to go astray.  He sends people into our lives to guide us. The problem is that the enemy of our soul is attentive at times like these as well.  Our souls are in a tender state and it is vital that we remain anchored in our relationship with God to weather our storms that force us into the transition.  It’s easy to miss God’s gifts if you don’t have a wise other to give you a clear perspective about what is hap

                The celebration of Labor Day is about spending your time doing anything but working.  It’s so great to have a whole day not to work at the end of summer.  The smell of grilled meat, along with laughter and delight fill the air just because we don’t have to work!                 Labor Day is a national holiday of rest from work.  God assigned a spiritual discipline of rest from work one day each week.   He assigned it so that we would learn how to appreciate the privilege of work and to strengthen our bond to Him. The Jews made it a labor to rest.  There were so many rules about rest that they condemned the work of the God who gave them rest.  Jesus purposely healed others on Sabbath to show that rest is not work and work is not rest.  John 5:15-17 is one example: The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.   So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.   In his defense J