Broad is the path to destruction

This week as I've watched some of the big topics in the news, I am more and more in tune with the fact that America is travelling the very broad path that is not God-centered but worldy. It is the path that Jesus speaks distinctly about in Matthew 7:13 and 14
13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at:
14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, few there be that find it.
Another way to say the verse is that "easy is the way" to destruction, and "difficult is the way" that leads to life. In plain terms when people say making the decision to follow Christ is the easiest one to make, that just isn't really the case. Jesus tells us plainly here it is hard. If it were easy, more people would do it. Isn't that so cliche? With everything in life I feel like I'm told, "if it were easy everyone would do it." But honestly, it's true. Our Savior tells us, few there be that will sherk the ways of this fallen world and follow the true and living God.
These verses were on my heart not only because of some of the big news stories going on right now but also because of a very saddening interview I saw with Alanis Morisette this week. She was asked about her interest and love for religion. The question was, "What religion do you follow? Is it Hinduism, Buddhism?" And Alanis said, "I pull from all of them. They all carry the same central theme." The questioner said, "What central theme is that?" And she said "innate goodness." Seth and I looked at eachother with complete SADNESS in our eyes. That couldn't be more of a horrible fallacy. It is the biggest lie Satan could tell any of us. It is the true and utter OPPOSITE of what the God of the Universe, the Holy God says about us:
Romans 3:9-12
9What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
This is definitely sad to know, but the truth hurts...and the good news is we have a God to deliver us. But he won't do it by us weaving together our own truths and our own realities. I'm so sick and tired of hearing people talk about their own truth and what their spiritual reality is. This life is not about developing our own religion. That is in essence just worshiping ourselves. And if we aren't worshiping the living God, the Bible is also clear that we are of our father the devil. Many probably gasp at that name, but he is as real as God, and many there be that follow him.
So, pray for Alanis Morisette...she is deceived by Satan into thinking she is inately good..that is so deceptive. She is tricked into believing a lie that removes her need of a Savior. And as for the rest of America, a country that used to be so Patriotic, but now I feel we are possibly the most unpatriatic nation I know of, BROAD BROAD BROAD is this path to destruction...and we are taking the easy way toward it. The devil is tricking so many of us: whether it is telling us that sin issues are in fact civil rights, or whether it is trying to turn this Christian nation into one that does not follow the God of the Universe, or whether it is telling us that we are born with an inate goodness, BEWARE. We have one authority under Heaven and that is the Holy Bible, the living word of God. Stand for it, and it's infallable words. Satan will send deceivers to tell you that you are following a dead book. BUT YOU HAVE A NOBLE CALLING to accept that God gives us ALL THAT WE NEED to enter in the straight and narrow way to life through Jesus Christ. It is accepting His Son as your Savior who's bloodshed covers your every sin, past present and future; because you WILL sin. We are born geared that way. For all the good in the world that we want to do, we are sinners in need of a Savior. And if you are confused about what stance to take on any of the issues in the news, turn your ear to the word of God. The answers will be there. Stand for them. I tell everyone, if God was in favor of XYZ in the Bible, then I'd be 100% in. But I cannot change the ordinances of that book. Don't be worried about sounding mean or unloving. People will get offended because the gospel is offensive. Some of you were probably offended when I just quoted the verse in Romans that flat out told you that you are not good. Jesus steps on our toes to show us that we need Him. Then when God can look on us and see Jesus' blood flowing through us, we are good because He is good. "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8
Love,
Andrea

This is an original Praise and Worship song that I wrote in 2010

The brevity of life

Seth's (and my) Aunt Cherie in California sends me lots of fun notes and sometimes fun gifts in the mail, but she always attaches daily devotional readings. Today, I received this sweet reminder about our precious brevity of life and time. See below:

" Suppose your bank credited your account each morning with $86, 400.00, carried over no balance from day to day, and allowed you to keep no cash in your account. Then suppose that every evening the bank cancelled out whatever you failed to use during the day. All of us have such a bank. Its name is time. Every morning it credits us with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever time we have failed to invest for good during the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back with time -- no drawing against tomorrow."

--Author Unknown

You must live in the present. Invest it in order to deepen your life and your family. And most importantly, seize God's invitation to eternal life with him right now. Don't let another second go by unsure where you will be in eternity. We are only promised this very second. What a noble calling!

1 John 1:9

For if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Attitude is EVERYTHING

My husband is always quoting me "sayings" to help me keep my attitude in check. A huge weakness of mine is letting my outlook on a situation comletely ruin it for me. There are so many cliches out there pertaining to attitude such as: The glass is half full instead of half empty, or The grass is always greener on the other side. Sometimes a time in my life gets completely ruined because my bad attitude gets the best of me.

So this past week my husband and I were at the beach with his Mom and Dad, and younger sister. Also, my entire family was there for at least part of our stay there. We had the blessed opportunity to vacation with extended family AND our lodging was free.

Now, I will preface the rest of my story by telling you quickly about my beach nightmare from last summer. Last summer I was 6 months pregnant with my youngest son, Malachi. I broke out in the pregnancy rash known as PUPPS (not sure what the acrynym means), but in a rush to the nearest medcheck since we were leaving for the beach, I saw a nurse practitioner, and I literally was diagnosed with Scabies. NO KIDDING. I consider it "hell week" because the night before we left for the beach we had done 17 loads of laundry, quarentined our home for 14 hours, and to top it off, we lathered ourselves and our (16 month old at the time, Landri) up with pesticide cream to kill these body bugs that I never imagined in a MILLION YEARS I could have caught. Even when I was a public school teacher I avoided headlice. How could I, a stay at home Mom with no gym membership contract Scabies? Well, the fact is I indeed did not have Scabies. But, for the time being, I thought I did and because we were leaving for our vacation with NO TIME TO GET A SECOND OPINION, I spent a week at the beach on vacation reading the book of Job and trying to make the most of it. I had intense spiritual warfare happening within me. I felt Satan nearby almost on my shoulder taunting me. It was one of the worst weeks of my life. I was inflamed with a rash to beat anything I've ever seen...I will attach a picture of just my wrist so you can get an idea of what my entire body looked like: SCARY HUH? Now imagine the mental anguish that it's live bugs. Every thought possible went through my head like, "how, why?" I was sinking into a dark dark abyss. And it itched LIKE CRAZY. So now realize that it was an immuno reaction to pregnancy and I have a risk of getting it with each subsequent pregnancy....I would almost rather it really have been scabies so I know there's a good chance never again:(

Ok, on with the point: So on top of all the cleaning and the horrible time of getting stared down on the beach, and the sun aggravating my rash and being miserable, I had put chemicals on my pregnant body and my husband and daughter which neither of them had signs of anything it was all precaution...all to kill the "bugs" that I didn't even have UGH! Along the way as it was mentally EXHAUSTING AND I showered 4 times a day while there and got stared down by everybody like "why is she in the pool etc" my incredible husband encouraged me to stay focused on God's grace and the beauty of the ocean and that I would get thru it, and I didnt' want to regret not living in the positive light of the moment that I was on the vacation I'd longed all year for and I wanted to savour it all. So, I kept a great outlook and it ended up being an AMAZING TRIP where I grew ever closer to the Lord and was able to count the many numerous blessings in my life. We ended up seeing a dermatologist at the beach because I was getting no better, and she quickly told me I did not have scabies but that I was experiencing PUPPS. She gave me the needed steroid to supress my reaction and I actually cleared up within a week. IT WAS AMAZING, and I had an incredible end of the week. I KNOW I would have been so sad to get home, learn it was what it was and I wasted my whole trip feeling sorry for myself. What I did was listen to the husband God gave me, and pushed through. ALL OF WHAT I DID BY THE WAY was against what my flesh wanted to do. I wanted to cuss and have a bad attitude. I wanted to be a party pooper and just feel sorry for myself. But praise the Lord I didn't.

Now, onto this past week at the beach. I was convinced after last year, that no beach trip could ever be that miserable (and it wasn't so bad) so I would forever have incredible trips to the beach. And this past week was awesome, only my attitude was the pits all because we stayed in a resort off the beach instead of oceanside. It took us (what seemed like forever) every day just to load our kids and stuff up to meet the family at the beach. It became extremely waring and exhausting and we felt like all we did was RUN. My husband even said once, "I'm ready to go home to rest." I wish one of us would've stopped and said "ATTITUDE CHECK!" That beach trip is over and all I want is the whole thing back. It was only on the last morning of the trip that we vowed to make it a great day inspite of ANYTHING....it was the best day of the week. I have such a regret that we didn't make the most of it. If I would've taken a second to remember my hell week last year and how I enjoyed it, staying a few blocks from the beach was SO MINOR! Satan came after us again, and instead of looking back to last year and showing marks of mature Christianity, we sulked. So, whatever it might be for you, wishing your kids past the stage they're in thinking the next one will be easier somehow, or wishing the summer away for school to start, or wishing the snow to melt away, or grumbling because your hotel isn't on the beach when in reality you're blessed to be at the beach at all, just STOP. In his letter to the Philippians Paul commands us that whatever situation we are in therewith to be content 4:11. Also, James says to consider trials PURE JOY! Not because they are fun but because it is in those trying times we come out on the other side as purified silver, God is magnified as his strength is made perfect in our weakness, and there is a guarenteed purpose. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven. Enjoy the seasons of life, and find your "code word" that will help you to pause in those moments of bad attitude that will help you remember to stop! Seth's words to me (that he forgot this past week) are "push through." Sometimes he'll just go "Babe, two words." And I know what they are. We all need reminded to keep the glass half full or to just graze in the grass on our side of the fence and be thankful. Just look at these pictures of our healthy and beautiful familes! We area BLESSED! Love to all!