Evangelicalism

MIRACLES–they aren’t dead!

christianity, testimony

The past week I have learned that God is still capable of miracles. I know you’re reading this and saying to yourself, “Duh, He’s GOD.” But do you really believe that in our society today He still does miracles?


Yesterday in church, the pastor preached out of Acts. He read about how when Paul was in Ephesus, God empowered him to do miracles–cast out demons and evil spirits. His rags were taken and, with the faith of those using them, they were rubbed on their bodies in order to cure their bodies. Even though God was physically not there, and neither was Christ, God empowered them through the name of His Son to still make miracles. So if you’re one of those people who think that when Jesus died on the cross, miracles didn’t happen afterwards, you are obviously wrong.

My pastor told us a story about how when he was abroad in another country, there was a person who had AIDS. His team prayed for this person, who was completely skinny, sick, and the doctors said that there was no chance of healing. They were healed the next day. They, overnight, had meat on their body, was walking, and was healed! A miracle.

At Filipino Church this man gave his testimony about how he was lost, so lost in who he was and fighting God. One day we was in his golf cart and was going through a tunnel/mine thingy when the whole cave thingy collapsed on him! Yet, a bubble of air formed as it raised back up a little. His body was pretty much crushed, but the air provided him relief so that he could be rescued. There were a lot of consequences from the accident–he acquired this disease where his legs were badly inflamed, all of the time (as well as back problems). The doctors said that he would never be able to get out of the wheelchair. He drove himself absolutely mad–he started thinking about chopping off his legs and getting prosthetic ones. He started practicing, and got all the things ready–the chair, the belts for his legs, the telephone with the button for 911, and a chainsaw. He went to pull it, and….nothing. He pulled it and pulled it and pulled it again, but nothing happened. He grew angry, sooo angry at God. He yelled at God when suddenly, there was this rush in his legs–he could feel the blood flowing through the rest of it. The burning was gone. He stood up and put one leg forward, in complete disbelief. He put another leg forward, ridiculous! And he walked. At that moment, he dedicated his life to God. God gave him two miracles, and softened his heart so that he would come to Him.

Who says miracles don’t happen? I thought they were dead. I quit believing a looooooong time ago that the relationship between my parents and I would change (especially my mom). My parents went through a very messy divorce that resulted in them basically abandoning me emotionally and I would even say physically. A week ago, my mother and I got into a huge fight when I made this fact known to her. I was sick of feeling unloved, because I hadn’t gotten anything from her in the two years I have been away at college–no letters, phone calls, money; nothing that said, “Hey I’m thinking about you” or “I’m proud of you.” It seemed more like she abandoned me then my father. The Lord, after many years of me not being able to get through to her, softened her heart and made her see my view on things (if only a little). Since last Wednesday, she has bought a cell phone plan and has called me every day, bought a new computer and internet to start corresponding with me that way, and has sent me two letters, as well as giving me a nice sum of money for college. She is texting me, sending me messages, etc. It’s so weird, because for the first time in my life, my mother is putting herself out there to build a relationship with me. We are forgetting the past and moving forward with a new relationship. It’s so weird!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I know that it’s only a miracle from God.

I know that if you read this testimony, it may not seem like such a big deal compared to the others. My point is, God works miracles, they just look different. So if you’re like me and forgot that miracles exist, please forget that. God is mysterious, and it is what makes Him so beautiful ♥

My mother…the Church.

church

Today in church, Pastor Josh said, “If God is our father, then church is our mother.” A lot of Christians today say, “God, I like you and all, but I hate the church.” This is like telling someone, “I like you and all, but I hate your wife.” It’s not right! The Bible talks about the church as the bride of Christ, so this analogy is very accurate.


The Bible also talks about the church being the body of Christ. Can you imagine a husband telling his wife, “I like you, but I hate your body.” ??? Yeah, death wish.

The point of this is just thinking about the church, her mission. I hope that one day we can get back to the place where we live for the church, because living for Christ means we should live for the church as well.

Also, the church isn’t just a building, it is a body of believers. If you are living for a building, then you are making that building an idol. But to live for a body of believers, to serve them in abundance and love them unconditionally…that is what I mean by living for the church. We live for Christ, and our brethren. We live to please them both. We live ultimately to glorify Him through exalting our brothers and sisters.

I kept my personal rant out of this, ya’ll should be proud :)

♥Heather

Finally understanding what it means to "die to self"

christianity, testimony

I think that in the back of my mind, I always knew the definition of “dying to self”. We hear it all the time. My absolute favorite scripture (as seen in the heading of my blog) talks about it. Here’s Mark 8:35-38:

35″For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36″For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
37″For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
38″For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

A few weekends ago, I asked the middle school girls of a discipleship-now weekend what “losing your life” means. To die to self, deny yourself. We read this passage and they were stumped. I proceeded with this explanation: Before we know Christ, we have a set way that we talk, act, look, etc. We roll with who we roll with, and we act how we want to act. But when we come to Christ, we change all that. We start acting like Christ, and this permeates every part of us. So we are denying our old lives and “dieing” to it. That is why baptism is such a great symbol for us… it symbolizes that not only have our sins of that old life been washed away, but our life itself is renewed, thus our “rebirth”. It makes sense…it’s pretty simple.


I’m going to tell you about the life I died to and why this is so real for me.

Growing up, I dealt with a lot of crap. Life wasn’t easy for me at all (and it’s never gotten much easier). Now I know that most feel the same way as me, but I’m going to explain myself. I grew up in a very secular house; love, especially the unconditional love of Christ, was not present at all. My parents got married because they got pregnant with me. Living in the hood, I got picked on all the time at school. I was beat up every day until I finally fought back. There was a lot of anger harbored in me for quite some time (and still even harbored, I’ll get to that).

Even though I accepted Jesus into my heart, my culture still was a part of me. I grew up in a place where if someone so much looked at you the wrong way, you were expected to fight. And I did. When someone said something that displeased you, you would have to go off on them and curse them out. It was the only socially accpetable way. So the first 17 years of my life, that is how I dealt with things. My senior year of high school, I dramatically changed. I realized that it wasn’t profitable for the kingdom of God. And now that I go to a Christian school, I am better at keeping my cool. It’s weird to think about how different I am from my old self…and I think that people who knew me growing up would agree.

Lately, I’ve seen a bit of my old self, which has sparked this blog post. There was something that happened earlier this week that caused me to behave completely out of my character; I resorted to telling someone off. And every time something has been said to me this week, I have really struggled with not doing the same. I grew up in a culture where this behavior was expected, but I don’t want to be bound by it. “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”

♥Heather