Soul Sister Time

I’m learning to become excited about Jesus’ ifs .  If I want what Jesus wants for my life there is one thing I can count on.  It is that what He wants for me is not what I want at first glance.  It makes me feel much better to know that the leader of the disciples, Peter, reacts to Jesus’ ifs that way too. I really appreciate Peter.  He always opened his mouth and said what everyone else was thinking but may have been afraid to say.  I would rather risk ridicule than to live in ignorance. Even though Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus did not fire him from being the rock on which He would build His church.  He gave Peter far more than a second chance; rather He gave him every chance he needed to make him into the kind of man that legend tells us watched his wife be crucified for her faith, and then asked to be crucified upside down since he didn’t feel worthy to die in the same manner as his Savior.  I love this about Jesus.  He doesn’t give up on us even when we would give

             Psalm 66:5 says:  Come and see what God has done,   his awesome deeds for mankind!   Those words say it all about who God is to us.  He is always for us.  He has our back.  Even in the worst of circumstances we can find His goodness. Our enemy, the devil, is the one who wants us to think that God is against us.  The reverse is true.  The devil wants to blind our eyes to what God has done and how His awesome deeds are always for mankind!  Are you aware of how much God constantly woos you?  Do you have any concept of what He has done for you?  Do you know that He does what He does for you? Spiritual breakthroughs happen when you get the concept that you are loved by a God who never does anything that is not based on His love for you. I know what you are going to say.  Why did that baby get raped?  Can you think of anything worse?  What is the worst event that has happened in this world?  How many horrific things are taking place in this one moment?  There is no w

            On the church calendar, Eastertide is the season between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost Sunday.  Just like Jesus appeared to them for forty days after His resurrection until His ascension, we need forty days to allow our souls to adjust to Easter Sunday each year.  Resurrection Sunday is a day that calls souls to church.  Our church offered nine services to accommodate all the people who enter the church.  Some come alone; others as part of a family obligation.              During the weeks of Eastertide those same souls go back to their lives.  They don’t let the light they sensed drawing them to church continue to burn and reveal what is greatest about life.  They return to their life as they love it without consideration of their church experience.  It is a place where they are more comfortable.  They might feel smarter there—rather than believing in God as a crutch.  They feel more in control there.  Less is asked of them there.  There is no need to be sacrific

Every Easter season God shows me something personal and meaningful about the familiar story.  This year I was led to focus on the love of Easter.  In doing so I noticed more about the love that led Jesus to embrace His cross. Being egocentric and as vain as I am, I thought it was for me that He died.  While He was hanging there, He was thinking about how He couldn’t spend eternity without me.   Oh, yes, and I thought He had you on His mind, too.  I could understand the love He has for the whole world.  I knew it was love that held Him—nothing else could hold the One who created the Universe to a shameful cross. But John 14:31 shed more light on the love that fastened Jesus to the hard wood of the cross.  It was His love for His Father.  John writes :  But the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.   Come now; let us leave .  That was that.  He left the upper room where He had finished the Passover meal with His disciples