Meeting Him In The Deepest Part Of My Soul

I guess I still struggle with this notion when I brought up the thought to my husband who sat next to me as I was browsing some sites in the Internet last night.

“Why is it that Christians are Lutherans, Baptists, or others? Why not just Christians?”

Even those perfect-looking churches are all made up of once broken people, transformed by the work of the cross. Even those ministers or pastors were once lost, found and reformed by Jesus’ saving grace. Like my husband. Like my child. Like me…And you…

We were all prisoners of many kinds of sins, freed by our Savior Jesus Christ. Am I wrong to say that? Why can’t we be called just plain “Christians”? For everything we attained or lost should be pointed and reflected back at Him Who rescued us from the pits of hell? Doesn’t Jesus deserve all the glory? All the honor? All the thanks and praise?

CHRIST….IAN [I Am Nothing]

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” –John 15:5

Isn’t a Christian  one who is to conform to God’s character? Someone who is called to walk with God as Jesus did? One who is called to live not by his/her own strength but by the power of God? What do you think? Do you struggle with this like I do?

This year, I want to search for His answers in the deepest, not the shallow part of my soul.  To have my roots grow deeper into His love. I can’t do it on my own, that I know. Only by His grace. [“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:13]

The past year had shown so much pain and suffering. Countless lives worried as they faced mountains of trials. Christians included. But as true follower of Jesus, we are called to endure so we can follow God, show trust in Him, draw nearer to Him, please no one but Him, imitate Jesus and reflect Him to those who don’t know Him fully well.

In the prison where I work, deputies do unannounced shakedowns to catch inmates off-guard. During that time, that is when they usually find illegal substances like pruno [alcohol they make from fruits], drugs, or shanks [any improvised weapons]. When our world seem to be shaking, maybe we should consider that God is shaking it to call our attention and truly listen to what He is saying.

 “5Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.” – Proverbs 3:5-7 [NIV]


“so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…” – Colossians 1:10 [NIV]

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”

- 1 Timothy 4:7 [NIV]

Lord, help me find and meet You and hear You speak in the deepest of my soul. Guard me in all of my ways. That I may give you all the glory You alone deserve. Lord, forgive me for all of my lack of attention, those times I remain dry and not wanting to desire for more of You. Lord, I trust only in Your own understanding. Not mine. Give me the strength I need Lord to know more of You and less of me. All the glory, honor, thanks and praise belong to You Oh Lord. Thank You for Your love, mercy and grace. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Please silence my playlist...

You Are Beautiful

“Oh my!” exclaimed the dental assistant. “I can’t remove this temporary crown. Let me call the dentist.”

True enough, the dentist had a hard time, too removing my temporary crown this morning when I went there so they could replace it with the permanent crown. The assistant had applied a strong glue as it would take me a few weeks for this morning’s follow up and she didn’t want the temporary crown to come off loose. She surely did a great job doing so!

How it hurt  a bit, as the gum got a little irritated with the pulling and yanking. Until it finally came off and my new tooth looked great!

And so it is with a new life with Jesus! How can we not be aware of His power and saving grace! We are rotten inside that is replaced with His righteousness. It surely hurt, maybe a bit or maybe even too much, when we are being stripped off of the things of this world.

Photo Credit

“You have a new good-looking crown,” uttered the dentist.

But I was hearing a different Voice as I stared at the calming framed of art in front of me, as the yellow glare of soft light shone over my face, it was clear: “I see My Son, Jesus as I look at you. Yes, I do not see those ugly sins anymore. You are beautiful.”

Those words spoken with unfathomable love.

The dentist handed me a mirror to look at my new crown. And as I stared at it, I knew I had no right to question those words I heard because it was the truth! I should question myself instead: "How do I look on the One Who loved me [us] first?"

“God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.” – 1 Corinthians 1:30 [NLT]

Silence That Destroys

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ...”

- Ephesians 4:1-6 [ESV]

I worked on New Year’s Eve, surprised that there were three of us assigned that night in the Clinic. With the constant shortage of staff, that was a nice night to be staffed well. Though on a holiday, we usually did not anticipate that it would be busy. True enough, the night was calm. We got done entering the doctor’s orders in the computer in a short amount of time. Then….Silence… Except me, in a joyful mood, chatting with each of them. In between those two nurses, silence…

I had brought some coffee cake for my co-workers to enjoy. Seeing the Intake Nurse walked in, I hollered to offer her a piece and was going to greet her a Happy New Year. But she was walking so fast, almost running kind of strides to head back to the Intake after getting her much needed supplies. She didn’t hear me or she pretended she didn’t. But it didn’t hurt me. I was just wondering what was going on.

Much later, another co-worker told me that the acting charge nurse was not talking with the other nurse working with me and her. Something happened between them. And so it was between her and the Intake Nurse. That was why she was rushing to get out of the Infirmary.

Nursing pride in their hearts… Not willing to forgive. Not willing to yield. Not willing to cooperate. Not willing to compromise. That was the problem. No one wanted to go lower and respect another’s opinion until they had invisibly created a big wall in between them. They started warring with each other.

The silence enveloped me until I found myself quiet, too. The words I wanted to utter stayed in my mind. I felt sadness seeing this state of work habits amongst us. I sensed immense sadness to know how much time was being wasted having these kinds of attitudes amongst ourselves. Please pray for correctional nurses at my work. And for me!

No one can drive us crazy unless we give them the keys. ~Doug Horton

We are at war as believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a waste if we are divided instead of united. We are His body and what a shame that we are allowing to have the spiritual enemies to have a gain by using our differences to divide us. We must be united. We must be one. We must not be at war amongst ourselves but with our spiritual enemies. Silence can be beneficial or not. Being quiet when we should talk may create disunity. But silence, in perfect timing, will help connect and build bridges instead of creating walls.

“Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” – Philippians 2:2 [ESV]

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” – Philippians 1:27 [ESV]

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”

– 1 Corinthians 1:10 [ESV]

“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” – 2 Corinthians 13:11 [ESV]

“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” – Amos 3:3 [ESV]

Driving But With One Focus

“Go to the next lane,” my husband told my son… “this lane you’re on leads to the freeway.”

My son’s hands steadily moved the steering wheel a little to his left.

My son knew how to drive for how long I don’t remember. But this time, he needed more hours of driving time to accumulate before he applies for his driving license. I often asked my husband since he was off this whole week, for both of us to take him and allowed my son to drive in different streets here in our area and a little farther sometimes. I wanted him to get familiar with places and not to get comfortable getting directions from a voice-prompted box up on the dashboard. I wanted him to get more opportunity to drive especially at night when the surroundings are darker and some of the roads are not that easier to see sometimes.

I feel like that. We are all driving in unfamiliar roads no matter how many years come and go in our life’s journey. Even if we take a wrong turn at times, it’s okay. We can choose to learn from our mistakes. But what’s not easy is to have that courage to say that “we are wrong” and accept the responsibility to apologize and return to the right road we were once in.

As we are already on our second day of 2011, we will be facing many unfamiliar roads. Forget the wrong turns. Forget the discourteous other drivers who loved to be ahead of others. Forget the fear from having cars that had broke down and got stuck in scary places. We are given God’s greatest blessing when we chose to drive on that narrow road. Whatever happens as we drive, we are already given this greatest hope and joy that is up ahead. We have his direction [Word] if we truly listen to it. Just like how my son trusted my husband, we will be okay if we follow His direction by completely trusting in Him.

“God the Father chose you long ago, and the Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Jesus Christ and are cleansed by His blood.” – 1 Peter 1:2

We are not promised that our drive will be smooth. For sure, we will be driving not expecting what is to come up ahead. But whatever hindrances come our way, may our driving techniques show other drivers who don’t know Jesus of what it’s like to be guided by Him.

When fiery trials come our way this year, may we learn to accept them as part of a refining process. A process that will burn away the impurities and prepares us to meet the Greatest Driver up ahead.

I leave you with His awesome answer and direction:

“All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.” – 1 Peter 1:3-6 [LAB]

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!” – Philippians 4:4

Lord, give us the strength, the guidance and discernment to live our lives holy for You are a Holy God. Help us focus on what lies ahead. On those things that are imperishable. Protect us Lord as we drive through unfamiliar roads. Sustain us with your gift of joy that no matter what goes on outside, our inner attitudes will always reflect the joy we found in You. Thank You Lord for Your grace, love and mercy. Thank You for giving us the true direction on where to go. Heaven and earth will disappear but Your Words will remain forever. Glory be to You Oh God! In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.