BE PECULIAR!

As I have grown in faith, I have learned that once you decide to follow God, you step through the “looking glass.”  In other words, once you become a follower of Christ, you are routinely asked to adopt ways opposite to the ways of this world.

It is Sunday morning and I am sitting in th DollHouse quietly watching Paris Hilton (my cat) sleep.  She is actually snoring- sleeping so soundly that I am almost envious. 

Shouldn’t she be worried that there is no cat food in the house?  

No!  P. Hilton trusts me absolutely.  She knows that I love her and that I will not allow her to starve.  

I have learned a lot about God from my cat.  

I have also learned a lot about God from the various trials and victories that have confronted me in the last 5 years. 

Here are a few of the rules that I have teased out of my most recent adventures through the Looking Glass

1. If you want more (money, a new car, a new kitchen floor etc.) give what you have away in love.
2. If you want happiness, seek, with God’s help, to be holy and righteous.
3. If you want a good job, pray first, listen for God’s answer, then based on God’s direction, begin your job search.
4. If you feel lonely, cease all activity and seek God quietly before reaching for your girl squad, guys or your significant other.
5. If you feel depressed, shake it off by rejoicing and recounting the miracles in your life and God’s promises to give you peace, joy, love.
6. If you have made a mistake, confess it to God, ask for forgiveness, believe in faith that the slate is wiped clean, and do better with God’s help.
7. If someone has wronged you, do not take matters into your own hands, pray for the wrong doer and be kind.  God promises that he will avenge His own.
8. If you are overwhelmed with problems or debt that you cannot think how to fix, ask God for help, determine (with God’s direction) what tiny steps you can take and in faith (with laughter) leave the rest to Him.  It is already done even before you ask.  This is a promise.
9. If you feel like you are cut off from God, remind yourself that God lives within you and no matter how you feel or what dire situation you are in, God has not forsaken you.  Keep reminding yourself of this until it “clicks” and your heart leaps.
10. If you are sick, call for the elders of the church to pray for you, and ask God to stir up the Holy Spirit within you so that you can access the spirit of good health that God gave us from birth.   The Holy Spirit will direct you to the right doctor, medicines, scriptures, books, and life style changes that will heal you.

On this side of glory, these rules fly in the face of logic.

Why should you give away the little bit that you have to gain more?

If you need a job, why waste time praying about it for a few days when you can start applying to washingtonpost.com jobs now?

Why would a sick person call for elderly church members to help? Aren’t they sick themselves? What can they possibly do?

Oh the mind, can go on and on challenging each of the 10 rules outlined above.

But, God calls us to be PECULIAR!  

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. - 1 Peter 2:9

We are a peculiar people who have been given a peculiar challenge.

At the core of God’s methodology is requirement that we rely on Him only.

• We must not rely on the Washington Post job section.  
• We must not rely on the doctors to heal us.  
• We must not rely on our friends to rescue us from a melancholy mood. 
• We must not even rely on our intellectual prowess to solve our financial woes.

We must rely on GOD first!  He will direct our path.  

We must trust God absolutely: come what may.

When you understand that God can and will handle everything in your life (your mistakes, your goals, your challenges, your fears) then you can relax.  

Right?  Yes.  You can relax.  But make no mistake, you will still have to work.

Remember, once God gives you your “marching orders.” You will then be asked to MARCH FORWARD.  You may be asked to visit washingtonpost.com and apply for 50 jobs.  You may be asked to sell your car to raise funds to visit a doctor on the other side of the country.  You may be asked to research President Obama's new student loan forgiveness program to reduce your monthly bills.  

But, in your MARCH FORWARD, you will not be alone.

You will march forward with supernatural power in the form of the Holy Spirit.

You will march forward with a firm example of what can be accomplished with God in the form of Jesus the Christ.

You will march forward with a loving Father to guide and direct you in the form of God Himself.

Oh, the battle is the Lord’s.  And it has already been won.  All you have to do is continue to MARCH FORWARD come what may.

I promise, darling.

Encouraged.

Though the temperature is still in the mid 30°, the birds sitting atop my Brookland porch are currently heralding the arrival of Spring.  

I hear their animated twitters and chirps.  And, I am encouraged.  

Standing still on this new plateau, I take a moment to look back over the past few years with a sense of wonder and incredulity.  It has been such a loooong winter at the DollHouse: so many downs, so many sad moments, so much pain.  And yet, there have also been bursts of bright colored highs sent by a benevolent God to offset the deep indigo blues.  

Today, as I peek back over my shoulder, I see a rainbow of such magnificence that I know without a doubt that each trial and blessing was divinely orchestrated to prepare me for even this very moment.  If God can fashion my zig zag past into a vibrant rainbow, surely, He can reset the clock and give me back the time it would appear that I have lost. 

Time - on this side of glory is tricky.  If you are not careful, you can fall into one of the Anti Christ’s (AC) favorite traps.  The AC delights in stealing our Happiness by focusing our attention on the past and how much time we have lost.  He enjoys twisting us up into pretzels: bowed over by worry, anxiety, fear.  

But darling, don’t listen to the naysayers. 

No! You have not lost any time.

No!  It is not too late for you to achieve the desires of your heart.

It is NEVER too late when you have supernatural God power.

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

Today, thanks to the grace of God and a new Spiritual awakening, I know that each and every happening in my past (the good, the bad and the ugly) has prepared me for this exact moment.

Today, I am confidant that what ever I have seemingly lost, will be restored.  Why?

Because through my studies of God and His word, I have come to understand (better) who God is.

I am telling you the truth. 

God is good.

God only does good things for His people.  

You can absolutely trust God’s plan.

No matter how bad it feels.  No matter how bad it looks. No matter what you have been through.  God can turn it around and give you flowers for ashes.

And [He] will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten…  Joel 2:25

I promise, darlings.

To read more about what I have learned in my quest for Happiness in God VIST www.bflyforjesus.blogspot.com