God's Plan for Our Lives

God is not biased or prejudiced. He calls all people into a personal relationship with Himself, knowing full well that the majority by far will not take Him up on His invitation. But those of us who do can expect Him to use every situation and circumstance, every experience in our lives to achieve His goal of conforming us into the very image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Paul's description of God's plan for our lives in Romans 8:28-30 is described as the transforming of our inner being until we speak and act as Christ would.

God knows everything there is to know. He knows the past, present, and future all at the same instant. Even before the creation of Adam, He knew which people were going to accept His invitation and which people would simply brush Him aside to their great loss. Those who accepted this gift of salvation would be made to be like His Son, our Redeemer. And no one has a righteous excuse for rejecting God's offer ... everyone has received a revelation of Him of one kind or another, if not in written or oral form, then certainly through creation (Romans 1:20). Those who have been saved through faith in what Jesus has done have had their sins forgiven and have been declared blameless by God.

Salvation begins the incredible journey where the Holy Spirit works every single circumstance, whether positive or negative in itself, to bring about spiritual good and to cause the believer's faith to grow. However, even as we mature in our spirituality and yield our lives to the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, we still find ourselves hindered by our bodies of flesh and we will fail repeatedly to represent Christ in an honorable way.

To be like Christ, we must stop living for the flesh and start living for Jesus. God has already set the time for each of His children to be glorified, becoming one with Christ in body, soul, and spirit forever and ever (Ps 139:16). The day of perfection for us still lies ahead; until then, we must continue the journey of following God's will and being made into the image of His Son. We must continue our journey that He planned for us all every conscious moment.

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Well, top of the mornin' to all of you (even if it is almost noon)! Boy is it good to be back! I was absolutely miserable without my computer. I had so many things I wanted to write about and now that I can write, I can't remember what all those things were. Guess I should have written them down or something. I should know better than to trust MY memory. I have the world's worst memory. I always have had a horrible memory.

Lot's of things going on. Yesterday we had our small group. For the next six weeks we will be studying the Covenant affirmations. My church doesn't have "doctrine." Instead, we affirm certain truths. We affirm 1) the centrality of God's Word, 2) the necessity of the new birth, 3) a commitment to the whole mission of the Church, 4) the Church as a fellowship of believers, 5) a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit, and, 6) the reality of freedom in Christ. That wraps up everything the Covenanters hold dear to our faith. So many churches separate themselves out with a long list of doctrines. All the shoulds and shouldn'ts and the musts and must nots. But we just affirm these central beliefs and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. I love my denomination and I praise God that He led me to the Chapel in the Pines all those years ago up in Arnold. When God called me I didn't know anything about the Chapel. But every time I drove past it on the highway, I felt a pulling sensation there. One day I got brave enough to stop in and inquire. It was like I had no other choice. I HAD to inquire!! They told me they were a catholic church and I understood them to say a Catholic (capital C) church so I left feeling really, really confused. Why would God be calling me to a Catholic church? But still every single time I drove past the Chapel I felt this incredible feeling of a "pulling" sensation. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I got up the nerve to go. Which with my background of the JWs, going to a Catholic church was like sinning against the Holy Spirit. I mean, it was bad enough that I was even considering attending a church in Christendom, and way beyond forgiveness if it were a Catholic church. (The JWs teach that you are eternally lost if you go to any church in Christendom but ESPECIALLY if it's Catholic. They view the Catholic church as Satan's visible agency on earth. I believe it took me 2 or 3 times to actually get out of my car and go inside from the parking lot.) I just sat out there in my car debating whether to risk it all by stepping foot inside Christendom.

But I knew almost as soon as I walked in the door that this was where God was calling me. After seeing the changes God had brought to me, M accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior and was baptised too. We stayed with the Chapel until we moved down to central California. While there we attended the Evangelical Free Church which is very much like the Covenant church. Then when we moved back up here I started attending the Covenant church here in town and I've been there ever since. The point of my story here is that I believe I was called out of the JWs by direct action of the Holy Spirit and I was called to a Covenant church. After all the bondage of the JWs, God, in His love and grace, knew I needed to learn about the freedom we all have in Christ. What a marvelous God we have! So I'm just saying that I'm thankful God didn't call me to a Christian religion with a lot of rules and regulations. None of us will ever make it to heaven by keeping a bunch of rules. The Bible makes that clear. If you're ever near a Covenant church, make it a point to visit. You might just find a home away from home.

So anyway, on Monday (yesterday) I led our small group through the introduction of the affirmation series. We decided that since none of us really wanted to lead the study that we'd all lead by trading off the responsibility every week. So I did yesterday's and Margaret will do it next week and so on and on. It's a perfect time for my son to begin attending church as we take up the study of the affirmations. With his life so up in the air right now, I'm not sure he'll be able to make it to small group but I hope he will. It would give him a good, solid foundation.

Our weather has turned very Fall like. We actually got a half an inch of rain last Friday night and early Saturday. First measurable rain in months and months. It was glorious! It must have really rained hard during the night because when we got up Saturday morning early to go do our shopping my Portulaca plants were beaten down onto the ground, poor things. They've recovered somewhat but they still look smashed. It's cold enough in the mornings and late nights now for a wrap for going outside. I had to get to church early last Sunday as it was communion Sunday again and I ended up wearing my coat because it was flat out cold! Of course by the time church let out I was lugging this ridiculous big coat around. But I had really needed it earlier.

Tomorrow night I have an Executive Board meeting and then the next night (Thursday) I have a Deacon Board meeting. So things will be somewhat busy this week. At least this week I'm not preparing to lead the small group again. K and Tamara are due home late tonight and she has to go back to work tomorrow and he has his job interview tomorrow too. I feel very confident that he will be hired on at the new casino. There aren't that many people out this way who can do what he does. They usually have to look at bringing somebody out from Reno or Vegas for the position. So I can't really see them NOT hiring him. Also K heard from his ex-boss (not the one who "at-willed" him) and it seems that Margaret is not happy with the way K was treated. Margaret is the owner of the casino/hotel/convention center and although she no longer really runs the place she's still very powerful. What she says still goes. I don't know if she's upset enough to help K out but it's nice to know she's upset over the way he was treated. They owe him a severance package. Everyone in management who has been let go by the casino has received a severance package ... except K. He got nothing but his last check. They've got a little savings but it's going to be so hard for them to develop the habit of NOT spending money. You don't drop from a six-figure income to unemployment and not feel that pinch, I don't care who you are. K made a very high income but he was so generous with it. He helped us out a good number of times and did the same for his in-laws. He bought his cousin's son a new bike for his birthday because his cousin and her husband had divorced and the boy wasn't going to get anything for his birthday. K did stuff like that all the time. He was very generous with his money. A severance package would have taken care of them financially until he finds other employment. He has an appointment with a law firm in Sacramento this week to go over the possibility of him suing for a severance package. The attorney told him over the phone that it sounds like he's got grounds to sue successfully. I'm hoping Margaret will do the right thing so that K doesn't have to sue them.

I worry that he won't get the job and then I worry that he will. There is nothing locally for him in employment so he will have to move somewhere and I don't want him to move away. Period. Not now, not ever. At least if he gets this job at the new casino he won't need to move that far away. Still, it will be a journey for us to go see them or them to come see us. But I will just leave all this in the Lord's hands and rest in what He does in their lives, in our lives. At least we have a car good enough to go on a trip to see them now. I love my car. I'm blown away by what great gas mileage it gets! With the Cadillac we were putting gas in the car every time we turned around. Every few days. With the Corolla I put gas in the car only once last month and still had half a tank when I filled it the other day. It's wonderful to just get in the car and go somewhere. M will be getting his foot operated on within the next month or two and it's so nice to know that we have a nice car to make that trip down to Sacramento and back. My son and daughter-in-law were so good and loving to just give us this car with it in almost pristine condition except for a little body work that needs to be done. All the important thing like tires and brakes, clutches etc., are in perfect working order and they even delivered it to us with a full tank of gas. The Cad was a gift too from my sister who ended up with three vehicles after her husband passed away and when she downsized, she gave the Cadillac to me. So really we've been fortunate in the vehicle department. Now that I think about it, the little pickup I had before the Cad was a gift from my father. So I haven't had to actually buy a car in a couple decades and that's been really nice.

I can't believe how good God has been to me these past couple of weeks! I mean, He's always good to me but just especially so the past two or three weeks. I can't believe I no longer need to pray for Ken's redemption and salvation. He has secured that for eternity for himself. So I pray instead that he will learn to roll with the punches and to not think that God is knocking him for a loop every time something goes wrong. I pray that K will come to the realization that God loves him so much that He chose to die to establish that relationship with him. According to Watchman Nee and a few others, immediately following baptism comes a period of rest. I pray for this rest for K&T. I pray that God will reveal His magnificent Self to K in a way that reassures him that he did the right thing by accepting God's offer of salvation. I pray that he will feel a real sense of "belonging" within the body of Christ. I pray that this particular church body will just wrap itself around K and give him a sense of peace and comfort. I was so worried that K would be stumbled (at least temporarily) by the damage Mike's car caused when it rolled down the hill. But then Tamara told me they went to church while they were in Hawaii so that's really good news for me. K has always felt, for some reason, that God is punishing him. Every time something happens to K, he immediately thinks it's God kicking him around. So I also pray that this tendency will abate rapidly and he'll be able to rest in the sureness of God's promises. And I, too, need to stop worrying so much. Worry and being a Christian are mutually exclusive terms. I need to bring that fact home to myself and I pray that my loving God will do that for me, to give me a sure sense of completion in K's life. Not that K's life is complete, but that my part in praying for his salvation is over and done with. K is now secure in God's promises. K is saved forever and will never need to wrestle with this issue ever again. When we are saved we are saved eternally because salvation isn't based on anything we do or don't do. It is firmly and entirely based on what Jesus has done for us. If we tried to obey every rule and stood ourselves before our God in the radiance of our own goodness, even if we did this with our entire being, with every ounce of energy and passion, we would still stand before God condemned because redemption can't be bought with any of our riches. Salvation was paid for by Christ Jesus. We could never live up to the level of holiness that the Lord demands. "Be perfect as I am perfect," He says. If we tried with all our strength and might and will, we'd still fail because salvation can't be bought with anything we have or do. It took the very blood of Christ, poured out for us on the cross to which He willingly submitted, to pay the debt we owed. Our salvation is not based on our own holiness for God requires more holiness than we are capable of producing, so in love God reached out and supplied what was needed for us to become His very own children. Because of what Christ did we can stand approved and accepted before God. It has absolutely nothing to do with our conduct or our desire. It has everything to do with who Christ is and what He desires to give to His Father. Therefore, we never risk our salvation during any of our earthly struggles. We are eternally saved! But as humans we have a hard time accepting such a gift. We keep wanting to work for our salvation. It seems to make so much more sense if we get in and work at being saved. But Scripture is clear. We have absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. Except to accept it. And we can never, ever do anything to lose this salvation. It is an eternal gift from God. But it's important to note that while we can't lose our salvation, we can hurt our relationship with God. We can wound the heart of our Savior. So I must get about the business of not worrying. I can trust my Almighty Father. He will not disappoint me. He will not fail me.

This hasn't been much of a blog today but I'll get back into the swing of things ASAP! (I hope!) I need to get in and write more devotionals. I used my time during my absence to write out several prayers. There is a group of us forming at church who have been asked to take turns giving the congregational prayers on Sunday mornings. I am part of that group and I spent my days off making sure I felt comfortable with deciding to give the prayers before I actually volunteered to do it. Pastor is just looking for ways to "spice up" the services on Sunday and he thought if the morning prayer was given by a variety of people, it might be a good thing. So I used my creative energies to write up a few prayers (which they encouraged us to do) instead of writing devotionals. Now I'll need to get back to writing devotionals. If we have a group taking turns at this, I shouldn't need to pray any more often than every few months. I would love to be able to just stand up there and say a prayer from my heart but Pastor really would rather have us write them out beforehand to eliminate the possibility of having our minds suddenly go blank. And I'm not that good at impromptu praying anyway. I tend to get rattled.

Guess I will post this and get back to you in a couple days. I am so grateful to have a computer again!! I honestly appreciate having one. I didn't think going eight days without a computer was going to be so hard. Boy! was I wrong! I spent a lot of time out on the deck, mostly when I was climbing the walls inside the house. I don't have all my chores done yet today, so I shouldn't even be writing at all. And to make matters worse I didn't do yesterday's chores either since we had small group. I will need to make adjustments for Mondays. It's just too hard to make myself do them in the afternoons after small group so I'll take the Monday chores and divide them up into the other days of the week and just take Monday's off. I may have to do the same with Sundays as I seem to let things slide on Sundays after church. Guess I'm a morning chore person. Anyway I'll post again in a few days. I've decided to cut my blog down to two days a week to give everyone plenty of time to read the post before I post again. Take care all of you and I really did miss you!!! It's so good to be back in the swing of things. Bye ...