It is Well With My Soul

So this past week to week in a half have been fast and slow, fun and sad, easy and hard.  Some tears were shed, laughs were heard, memories were made, and several hours were wasted.  Life is moving full speed ahead, no matter how we try to drag our heels in the sand and come to a stop, the world is moving faster each day it seems.  I mean here we are mid-May all ready, how is that possible?

Jeremy turned 9 this past Sunday.  My baby is no longer a baby...he is smart, loving, caring, tall, and handsome.  His baby face is leaving, being replaced with a big boy face.  He is finishing up 3rd grade and just finished taking EOGs for the first time this year.  His smile lights up a room, you can't help but smile when you see this kid.  He is amazing.  Just like his brothers.  God sure has blessed me with 3 pretty awesome kids.  I don't say it enough to any of them.  I love them so much, but it seems life is moving by so fast and pretty soon they will be out on their own.  We had a birthday party for him at Nascar Speed Park on Saturday, which was really nice, but also very overwhelming.  Luckily all of the kids were picked up by their parents with nobody getting lost!  The mama in me was pretty nervous.

I started waking up at 4:30 last week to go walking with Gail.  The first morning we only did 4 laps, by yesterday, we have all ready moved up to 7 laps.  It is a struggle to get up each morning but having somebody to do it with helps so very much.  This morning I didn't get up, but I had a horrible night sleep.  I normally sleep through everything, but the storm we had woke me up around 230 and I really didn't sleep well after that.  I hate that I chickened out, but I really wasn't certain that the storms were completely gone and honestly, I think I was just too exhausted - physically and mentally.  We won't walk tomorrow morning either because she has a prayer meeting, but we will get back to it on Friday.

I have gotten into "conversations" with several people over the marriage amendment since the 8th.  I try not to talk politics or get into confrontations, because it upsets me and I don't normally react in the best way.  THis week it came up several times on Facebook...most I didn't comment to, but one from my 2nd cousin, i did.  Her post basically said anybody who voted for the marriage amendment were judging....I finally snapped and replied....I don't call them bigots or judgmental because they are judging me and my vote....I was very nice - told her I respected her view and preceded to tell her why I voted the way I did.  I also had a talk with my sisters...and was very shocked to hear how they both felt.

I was also confronted by my 12 year old niece, who believes she likes girls.  I believe she is too young to be dating let alone to be making decisions that affect not only the rest of her life, but also her eternity.  I replied several times but she always had smart replies or more questions.  She is very set against Jesus because she can't see Him.  I told her at one point that she can't see air but she relies on it to breathe.  I also found the following statement when I googled "Is God real" - "Considering you won't accept any evidence in anyway shape or form anyway, I wil just quote the late Pastor Irwin Lutzer, who said before he Died. "The Blood of Christ is enough! I have no other argument I have no other plea, It is enough that He died and that He died for me!" - To that she replied that Christians were the most judgmental people she had ever met. 

She talked about religion.  My response to her was this:

"I don't care about religion, religion is not what I believe in, I believe in a relationship. God is my Heavenly Father and through the blood of Jesus, I am able to have a relationship with God. He is my protector, He is my friend, He is there when I need Him and even there when I pushed Him away. He is a constant in my life. I am sorry you feel that way about Christians, I would agree that many people who claim to be Christians don't act right, but putting us all in that category isn't true.

As far as believing in something that you say has no pictures or physical evidence, all I can tell you is that Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." I believe in Him not because I have seen Him personally, but because of how He has changed my life. Let me ask you this - Have you ever seen air? Probably not. Do you believe it exists? Most likely - yes, since you have to be able to breathe to live. You believe in air because of what it does for you and yet there are no pictures of air.

I am not judging you or any other person for wanting to participate in same-sex relationships. You and each person who does this will one day have to stand before God at the Judgement throne and there you will be judged. I do not judge because I don't want to be judged for doing the judging! However, I will not change my views because the world tells me to, if you think I am being judgmental because of that, then that is something you have to deal with, and I am sorry you feel that way. I am living for eternity not for today. We are called to love our neighbors, which doesn't just mean our next door neighbor, it means to love everybody as if it were Jesus himself standing there. I am a sinner...I love sinners, but I don't love their sins!"

 

I don't know if my responses to any of these people this past week are right or wrong, I can only do what is in my heart. Jesus died on the cross for me and all of my sins, the least I can do is stand up for the Word of God.  God loved me enough to send His Son to walk this earth.  His Son loved Him enough to live a perfect life and take all sin on his shoulders on that cross.  Not his will but God's will be done.  I am not perfect.  I am lacking in areas in my walk with Christ, but I am trying to love like Christ.  That is all I can do.  The Bible says to love God and to love our neighbors.  I don't hate anybody, but I do love them enough to tell them what the Bible says.  The Bible says a marriage is between one man and one woman. The Bible says not to be conformed to the world.  How do I know the Bible is true??  The Bible is the only book that has been in existence for over 2000 years, it has been found to be historically accurate, hundreds of prophesies from the Old Testament have come true in the New Testament, but most importantly because I have asked Jesus to come into my life and I can see the difference in me.  And in the end, it is all well with my soul.

 

It Is Well With My Soul - Horatio G. Spafford, 1873

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
   When sorrows like sea billows roll;
   Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
   It is well, it is well, with my soul.
   
   • Refrain:
     It is well, with my soul,
     It is well, it is well, with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
   Let this blest assurance control,
   That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
   And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
   My sin, not in part but the whole,
   Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
   If Jordan above me shall roll,
   No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
   Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
   Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
6. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
   The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
   The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
   Even so, it is well with my soul.