Questions With No Real Answers

Good morning/afternoon/evening, depending upon which part of the world you happen to be in at the present time.

I was going through my face book messages, re-reading precious ones or deleting those that are no longer relevant, when I came across a question which I have not really thought much about, until now. It went something like this; 'In thinking about church in general one wonders who in church has actually experienced God in their own lives for real and in a tangible way!!'

I guess, initially, I thought a little about it, but then just dropped it into the too hard basket. Being one of those people who believe that God puts these questions in front of me for a reason, I began to ponder, more seriously, upon it. It wasn't long before more questions filled my mind and I had to start writing! Being human, I can only comment from my own experience and so your comments would be a great help to me.

Is there a difference in the way we perceive God when we go through a ‘dramatic conversion’?

I am one who had a 'road to Damascus' conversion. I know how Saul felt when the scales fell from his eyes and he could 'see' for the very first time. I wasn't heading for Damascus, but I was 'heading for hell' at a great speed and it was only by the Grace of God that I 'fell off the train' and landed in His arms. That was the first time that I actually realised that I had experienced God in my life. If He hadn't sent a retired missionary to sit by my side at work and tell me that I was a part of the world for which Christ died, I would still be on that train to eternal damnation. The thing about that is that I thought that I was 'good' before my conversion. I didn't think that I was hurting anybody, I gave a little to charity and I was 'nice' to most people that I encountered - all things considered, I was a 'pretty good person'. Of course, I was looking at myself and I don't know many people who can see their own bad points. The swearing, drinking, smoking and other things not to be mentioned here were 'my business'. One of the most important things that I found out, was that I was hurting God. He created me in His image and I chose to go my own way and live as I like. Wouldn't that make any father sad!

If someone is ‘raised’ into Christianity, do they fully realise what they have inherited?

This is where I need your help, because I really have no idea how I would feel if I had received Jesus into my heart back in Sunday School days. I teach Sunday School and run a Kids' Club and I tend to think that, even these little ones who have asked Jesus into their lives, really experience different relationships with Him. That is not to say that Christ is not in them, but I can see a difference in the way that each of them relate to Him a little differently. Do they, as I did, think that they were 'good enough to go to Heaven' before they accepted Christ into their lives?

Do 'those raised as Christians' realise that their ‘little sins’ make them as big a sinner as those converted later in life?

Romans 3:22-23 says 'This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.'

Do the ‘dramatically converted’ realise that ‘all of their sins’ have been covered by the same blood?

It took a little time for me to realise that there is no 'little sin' or 'big sin'. A sin is a sin and we are all guilty. Christ died for the one who told a lie and repented as well as for the one who murdered and repented. It's sometimes hard to accept that the Blood of Christ covers the sins of all who believe on His name and repent

Is it ever too late to realise a 'touch from God'?

Remember the thief on the cross to whom Christ said, ' Today, you shall be with me in Paradise.' It is never too late to ask Christ into your heart. He is ready and waiting for you to acknowledge Him as your Saviour.

If you just wandered on to this blog, and don't know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, talk to someone at your local church and ask them to guide you in the steps of Salvation. Remember, God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way.

Heavenly Father, I just want to thank You for the great gift of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus given as a free gift. Thank You that Your love for me is so great, that You gave Your one and only Son to die on the cross at Calvary to pay the price for my sins. That price was His death as nothing but the Blood of Christ could wash away my sins.

Praise You, Father, for Your power of resurrection enabling Christ to rise from the grave, victorious over Satan and setting the captives of sin free.

For those who still do not know You as Father, I pray that Your Holy Spirit will lead them to search for You and that one day, they will know the peace and love, that I have found in You. 'Amazing love oh what sacrifice. The Son of God giv'n for me. My debt He pays and my death He dies, That I might live. Amen

Be Still And Know That I Am God

Hey there fellow bloggers and readers of same. You all know, I'm sure, what it's like to get a thought stuck in your head for days at a time. I sure do, and sometimes I never work out why a particular thought might choose to get stuck! Well, let me fill you in a little, history wise, and then I'll get to the thought.

Some time ago, I got the idea that God wants me to do some kind of 'mission work' when I retire. I guess I got the idea because I heard that some of our Cross Cultural Workers need someone to help to look after their children. So, I started thinking about retiring and going to Africa. If you have read my previous blogs, you will realise that I am fairly well equipped for the 'looking after children' part of the job. However, I have never been to any part of Africa and I have never actually done any professional child minding. Apart from that, I am fast approaching the last year of my 50's and I do have responsibilities within my Church that I enjoy doing. I also have family and great friends here and I will miss them dearly if I go away for any length of time.

Well, I didn't know what to do, except pray. I didn't feel any leading, one way or the other on what God wanted me to do, and so I asked family and friends to pray, for God to reveal His plan for my future. Now to get to the thought.

Psalm 46:10 says 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.' The first part of that verse has been on my mind, in my mind and has virtually taken over my mind, for the past fortnight. In that time, I have felt more at peace than I have ever felt before. Nothing seems to worry me, nobody seems to upset me and I am perfectly at peace mentally. Instead of trying to anticipate God's will for my future, I have left it in His hands to let me know, in His perfect time, what He wants me to do.

People often ask me when I am going to retire and my answer used to be, ' When I turn 60'. Now, my answer is, 'That is up to God'. Some understand what I mean and, unfortunately, some just look at me as though I'm nuts. That's OK though because I know that my Heavenly Father has planned my future and who could ask for a better plan than His.

I do still have a very strong feeling that God's plan for me does involve 'mission', but when, where and whatever lay in His hands and I shall continue to 'Be still and know that He is God'.

LEST WE FORGET

Today in many villages, towns and cities across the world, services will be held to pay respect to and remember, with love and thanks, those brave members of the Australian and New Zealand forces who lay down their lives for their country. The ANZAC tradition of courage, determination and mateship, was established during World War I on 25 April, 1915, when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. It was the start of a campaign that lasted eight months and resulted in approximately 25,ooo Australian casualties (almost 8,000 fatal). It is appropriate to note here, that the Australian States only became a nation with Federation in 1901.


In 1916, the first anniversary of the landing was observed in Australia, New Zealand, England, and by troops in Egypt. That year, April 25 was officially named 'ANZAC DAY' by the acting Australian Prime Minister, George Pearce.


Today, we remember those who served, not only in WWI (1914-18), but also World War II (1939-45), The Korean War (1950-53), and The Vietnam War (1962-75) as well as those in Peace Keeping Forces throughout the world. (apologies to any not mentioned)



We are thankful, as a nation, not only to those who lay down their lives, but also to those who were so greatly affected, both mentally and physically by the terrors of war. Thankyou to all who served in whatever capacity.

'They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for those, mainly, young men and women who forfeited their lives in the wars of this world so that future generations would have a hope of living in freedom. It has been said, Father, that maybe only ten percent of those who served, knew Jesus as their Saviour but we pray that they may have influenced others to accept Jesus Christ into their lives.

As we remember, especially, those who gave their lives for the sake of others, help us to remember and be thankful to Jesus Christ, who gave His life so that all who believe on His name shall not perish, but have Eternal Life and be seated in the Heavenly realms. Amen.

Short post tonight as I must leave for work very soon. I delight in sharing fellowship with Christian friends and family and was truly blessed tonight as I shared in a wonderful meal at the home of my brother and sister in Christ. With their parents and children and others we shared a few hours around the table and just enjoyed each other's company.
Thankyou Lord for Christian fellowship and for Your great love for all of us. Thankyou for the freedom to worship you in all things that we do. Amen.
God continues to bless us day after day, don't forget to thank Him.
See you again soon:- Susiegee xox

Well, hello there again, it's great to see you. I wasn't sure if I was going to publish today, but God has been good to me again and provided this.

I was visiting a Facebook friend's page the other day and found this. (I hope she doesn't mind me using it here)

"Do you know the relationship between your two eyes?

They blink together.

They move together.

They cry together.

They see things together.

And they sleep together.

Even though they never see each other.....

Friendship should be just like that."

Do you have a friend like that? One that you may never see, but with whom you act in harmony.

My relationship with my Heavenly Father is just like that. I cannot see Him physically, but I know that He is always with me. He leads me and sometimes just walks by my side. He shows me the beautiful things in His world and sometimes shows me the terrible things in mine. We laugh together and many times cry together. He knows the inner secrets of my heart but will never reveal them.

Thankyou Lord for being the best friend anyone can ever have. Amen
I have to go now so remember, God loves you and wants you to be His friend and so do I.

'I will never leave you nor forsake you'

Well, here it is just gone 1am in Adelaide, Australia and I am still sitting at the old key board tapping out my thoughts when I probably should be getting some sleep. I learnt, yesterday, that what I am doing is called diarising and I guess that's correct as I don't actually have anything planned, I just write as I think. My thought for today comes from the book of Hebrews.


Just about every time that I pray in public, I thank God for His promise that He will never leave me, nor forsake me and that is found in Hebrews 13:5. Why do I cling so tightly to this promise?


I think it has quite a bit to do with the human need to belong. Sometimes that need is so strong in someone who feels unloved, (whether they are or not) that errors in judgement occur and we can end up accepting inappropriate people or groups, just to achieve that feeling of belonging. These choices can end up hurting us and leaving us more miserable than when we were alone, as we end up seeking any relationship, whether it is suitable or not.


That is not so when God is the one to whom we choose to belong. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God has known us forever, not just since we were born; forever. It says that even before we were formed in our mothers' wombs, God knew us. When someone has known us for that long, and still wants us in their life, there must be something really special about that person. God knows everything that we have ever done, everything that we have ever said, even every inner feeling that we have ever had, and He still wants us to be part of His family.

I am so glad that I ended up accepting a relationship with God and I know that He has kept that promise to me. Even when I 'wandered in the wilderness' when my late sister was ill and eventually passed away, I knew that He was with me helping me to accept things as they were.

I don't really know how to close this post, except to say, 'Thank You Lord, for Your promise that You will never leave me, nor forsake me. Thank You that I can call you Abba Father and that You call me daughter. Thank You for all of the wonderful gifts that You have bestowed upon me through Your beloved Son Jesus Christ, who died and rose again so that I may have eternal life. Amen

This blogging thing is all pretty new to me, and so very exciting. I guess I would like to continue to share my views on selected Bible passages as I feel the need to do so. It's a great opportunity to glorify my Heavenly Father and that is what I want my life to be about, so don't be surprised if a little bit of 'me' also gets put into this blog.
You read in my last post about being able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Well let me put a little of me here, to show why I believe it.
I was brought up in the era when 'children were meant to be seen but not heard', and it was my father's belief that there were enough children in our family, and therefore neighbourhood kids were not encouraged to visit; brothers and sisters could play together. Well, that was OK, but remember, I was the youngest for 9 years, and my older sister was 7 years my senior. That meant that I played football, cricket and marbles with my brothers and grew up to be quite a 'tomboy'. It also meant that I didn't do a lot of verbal communication and as I matured, I found it difficult to chat just for the sake of chatting. (I still don't often initiate discussion but if I have something I believe is worth saying, I say it).
I received Christ as my Saviour, and started to attend Church at the age of 38 and it wasn't long before I started to run a Christian based club for kids up to 12 years old - absolutely no problem talking to them and it filled a void in my life as I was single and childless. Soon after, I took on leadership of the youth group and once again, no problems with communication.
As in a lot of small Churches, it wasn't long before I was elected onto the leadership team and became responsible for the children and youth ministry, and just as an added bonus I got the treasurer's job too. No problems there, you might think, but what comes with the election to council???? you got it in one - meetings, reports to council and the dreaded, stand up in front of all of those people and report to quarterly and annual members' meetings.
Oh Lord, what have You done; how did You let me get into this mess? I can't even initiate a friendly conversation; how can I speak in front of all of those adults. Remind you of anyone?? Remember what Moses said when God told him that he was chosen to lead God's people out of bondage, and that he had to go and tell Pharaoh to free God's people - it went something like this - ' Oh Lord, You have the wrong person here, surely my brother Aaron would be better at that than I am. I stutter and stammer and get so confused when I get stressed out and I'm sure I'll make a mess of the whole thing'. (OK a little poetic license was used there) Well, that wasn't what God had planned, so He simply told Moses to trust Him and things would be OK - well they weren't quite the words He used but you get the drift and it all worked out to the glory of God in the end.
I can tell you, it all worked out in the end for me too - not only do I get up in front of people to report, I also get up in front of people to lead Church services. God has equipped me to serve Him just as He said He would and that is one of the reasons that I have never been happier in my life. That is why I believe that, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'.
That's it for now, see you again soon.

Many Christians fail to realize just how much we are capable of achieving because we do not fully understand the strength and wisdom available to us through Christ Jesus. Since reading, 'Living Free In Christ', by Neil Anderson, I have realized that there are so many truths in God's Word that we just gloss over and don't really believe that they refer to us.
Take Philippians 4:13, 'I can do all things through Him who gives me strength'. That means you and I can do all things, not just those brave, outgoing people of the world. With the help of Our Saviour, we are able to do great things but remember, these things are to glorify God, not man.
Romans 12:3 tells us that we each have been allotted a measure of faith and all we have to do is grab that great gift and believe that we can accomplish the things that we believe God wants us to do. He will never ask us to do anything that we are not capable of achieving and He will always fit us for whatever He asks of us.
Heavenly Father, I just thank You from the bottom of my heart, for the great gift of faith that strengthens me and allows me to accomplish great things to Your glory. Help me to never doubt that You love me as your daughter. Thank You for the special gift of caring for children and the elderly which has brought me closer to You. I especially thank You Father, for the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus which was only made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Your One and Only Son. Amen/