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By Lisa Van Mater

I pray for the lost, the broken, and the poor,

I pray for the words to tell them there is more.

More to this life than heartache and pain,

More to this life than self-centeredness and self gain.

More to this life than hunger and disease,

Jesus gave His life on the cross, and did it with such ease.

In a world where we are lonely, and running out of hope,

He’s weeping up in Heaven and He’s throwing down a rope.

He’s begging for you to grab it, so He can show you there is a way,

All he wants is for you to accept Him, into your hearts today.

He wants to tell you that He loves you and you will never be alone,

He will always be with you, if you let your heart be His home.

Life won’t suddenly be easy, but you can feel a little more secure,

Knowing God is at the forefront of everything you endure.

He already gave up His life, so you could have a chance,

To someday go to heaven, He’s already forgiven your past.

He paid a hefty price, because His love is greater than all,

He will never ever forsake you, and He listens when you call.

He is so much more than we, could ever give Him credit,

And if you give Him the chance, I know you won’t regret it.

I pray you call upon Him, today with a quickened pace,

I pray that you will someday, feel the warmth of His embrace.

I pray that you will give your life, to the One who’s truly deserving,

Because He’s always had His eye on you, He’s always been observing.

He’s seen you when you’re hurting, and He reached out His arms without hesitation,

He’s seen you when you’re worrying, sad, and filled with desperation.

He feels everything you go through but He feels it a hundred times more,

Because He want’s so badly for you to know Him but your thoughts of Him are obscure.

I pray today you will make a choice to take the gift Our Father in Heaven has given,

No matter how dark your past you can repent and turn from it all, by His grace you will be forgiven.

Being judged or being held accountable?

          All to often, I hear people saying, " He/She has no right to judge me!" The question I see myself asking more and more is whether or not they are being judged or being held accountable? There is a difference. Naturally, no one likes to hear that we are stepping outside of the path God has laid for us. Especially not from a fellow brother or sister in Christ. But Jesus himself commanded us to look out for our fellow Christians and confront their sin.
           I was recently held accountable myself. My family has been experiencing some financial hardships and I stopped attending church, outreach, and even missed a few women's studies I lead. I was approached by my faith family about the matter. If this had happened a year ago, I would of immediately been on the defense. I probably would of assumed they were" judging" me. The last thing I would of accepted was that I was doing anything wrong or outside of what God expects me to do.
          However, I realized I have grown more than I thought, and did not get offended. I prayed and thanked God for giving me a faith family that cares enough about me to confront me when I am not doing what I know I should be doing. My sin was letting my hardships become bigger than God. I let physical emotion, depression, and worry take over where I should of let my faith come in. And God showed me that through my faith family. I was approached out of love and concern and set back on the path I needed to be on. With Christ leading at the front lines!
          I understand that some christians confront out of self-satisfaction, pointing out things they do not like, rather than actual sin. But even then, why worry about it? God will take care of those who judge. Don't get aggravated or offended. Accept it! Pray about it and give it to God! Human nature is to lash out in anger but really we are only driving up a wedge between ourselves and Christ. We are letting Satan win another battle. Never, underestimate the power of humility! Let it go and then Praise God for giving you the ability to do so!
           Something else to ponder...When we claim others are judging us, aren't we also guilty of judging??? Not one of us knows the heart of another. Only God knows our hearts.I pray we all let God be God! I pray that each and every one of us will ask God to help us just let things like this go. I pray if we are wronged, we will forgive quickly so that it does not become an interference in our walks with Christ. I pray if we wrong someone that we have the courage to apologize and ask for forgiveness from that person and most of all from God.

            Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 19:11

A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger.
And it is his glory to overlook a transgression.

Matthew 18:15-22

If your brother sins go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as Gentile and a tax collector.

Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

            

2 Timothy 2:24-25

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged.

With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the world; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Galatians 6:1

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

James 5:19-20

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Matthew 7:3-5

Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

                     

Pressing on.....

         Today, I was reminded of a very important fact we often overlook in our walks with Christ. These past few weeks have been almost unbearable for me. I will not lie, a few times I almost felt like throwing in the towel. I have been suffering with financial issues, sickness after sickness, problems with our vehicle, just one thing after another. I have been in prayer a lot over these tough times I am facing and I have asked the question, "Why God? What are you trying to tell me? When will it all end?".
          This morning was the final straw for me. I had to take my son to the emergency room and as I sat there in the waiting room, I started thinking. I was really worried because of my sons past health history but it was like suddenly I felt as though He was telling me "Don't worry! I am taking care of this." If I hadn't felt that momentary interuption what would I have done? I hate to say it but I would have kept worrying. I would of kept doubting Gods ability to keep His promises. I would of sat there wondering to myself "Ok God, where are you? I could really use some help right now!" And I find myself doing that a lot lately.
           I find myself getting angry because I try to the best of my ability to follow God and His will but these terrible things keep happening. The reason is I am spoiled. We are all spoiled. We spend so much time focusing on all the wrong in life that we often over look the rights. We have been conformed by this world to have a very low threshold both physically and emotionally. When pain and suffering hits we take the easy way out and ask God Why when in reality we don't have the right to. All of us our guilty of this at one time or another, but the truth is, when we do this we make our problems bigger than God. We make our hurts and our suffering more important than God. We should be standing up saying "Oh boy, you don't know what you are up against! Don't you know who my Father is????!!!"
          All we are doing when we allow this to happen is letting something else in this world take the focus off of what is really important. GOD! When this hit me, I litterally felt like crawling under a chair and hiding in shame. I don't have enough fingers to count just how many times I myself have done this in the past weeks. Am I going to go hide under that chair? No. That is what Satan would want me to do. Instead I will press on. I will keep this reminder in a place close to my heart and when something else comes up I will remember to let God take the wheel. I will remember that even though I feel like giving up sometimes, God will never give up on me. And when I think I can't take anymore I will remember that it is just Satan trying to deprive me of what is important in life, my relationship and focus on following Christ. I pray that we all find that strength that God is so willing to give us, to just keep pressing on!

Getting the hang of this...I think!

My name is Lisa and I am 31 years old. I am married with 3 children. Being a stay at home mom with some time on her hands, I though I might start a sort of on-line diary to share my walk with Christ. I started my walk about 15 months ago and recently, my women's group suggested I start a blog. Needless to say, "Here I am!". I am hoping to share real-life experiences that many Christian women face today. I welcome you to walk with me! =)