JESUS AND ME

Tell us your story about Jesus

recent posts

about

Just a girl who loves Jesus

  • Romans Road

    Have you ever heard of the Romans Road? It is a path that the Book of Romans lays out for us, a path that shows us why we need Jesus and how to find Him. This was brought to my attention – again – as a way to help others find their way home to the amazing life that only Jesus can offer. 

    As I sit here and watch the hummingbirds flitter back and forth from the feeder it reminds me of our endless search for food, water, finances, love – whatever it might be you are searching for. It seems the little birds can never get enough. Is it that way with you? It sure seems to be with me – but I’m learning. I’m learning that the only way to fill that need to keep searching for something is to reach out to Jesus. I’m learning to have peace with the knowledge that God has this all under His control. We think things are going crazy in the world, in our lives and they are for sure! But God has a plan for our redemption, through Jesus, to cleanse us, so we can walk with Him again, without the shame and fear that Adam and Eve brought into this world when they sinned.

    So look at this Romans Road. See if it makes sense to you today. If it does, please email me so I can welcome you to the land of the living, the truly alive family of Jesus! 

    Rm 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for Salvation to everyone who believes …The righteous shall live by faith”. We cannot work harder, do more, be better, or act more righteous to receive the gift of salvation. It can only be given through our faith in the truth of Jesus’ gift to us through His death. He took all of that sin upon Himself that we might return to the garden with our Lord. 

    Rm 3:10-12 “None is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one.”

    We are born sinners due to Adam and Eve’s belief in what the serpent said, over what God said.

    Genesis 3:1-4 “Did God actually say “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” ESV Unbelief is what leads us all to death. Unbelief in what He says is true, what He does is right, what He plans will happen. Eve did not believe and Adam went along leading us all into this mess. 

    Rm 3:23-25 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God  and we are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” God made a way for us all to return to the garden of His making through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus did this by His own volition, God didn’t make Him go to the cross! Jesus did it for us! John 10:17-18 ”For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

    Rm 5:8 “but God shows His love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” Rm 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rm 10:9-10 ”because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Rm 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Rm 10:13 “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

    Are you ready to call on His name as your Savior? Don’t wait, I waited until I was 46, many lost years of going my own way. Don’t make the same mistake that I did. Jesus loves you and wants you to be part of His family, so pray this to Jesus today!

    Jesus I have sinned, I’m a sinner that has chosen to go my own way. I know I am unable to work towards salvation by my own efforts. I need you, You died for me on the cross, you took the punishment that I deserved, so that I can be in eternity with you forever. Forgive me for my sins and cleanse me with your righteousness that I may stand before God clean. Today I choose to walk in faith with you, to place my trust in you for salvation. I choose to be a part of your family, Lord, to no longer go my own way. Thank you Jesus for this gift of love and mercy!

  • What do you choose today?

    Bobi, my friend, told me about the day that Jesus shined the light into the darkness for her and as she put it “the veil over her eyes was lifted”. 

    She wasn’t particularly searching for Jesus, she had been raised a Catholic. When her parents got divorced Bobi was about 11 yrs. old and the family stopped going to church. Bobi knew who Jesus was but never had the personal connection that is essential to live a true life with Jesus. (John 3:3)

    Bobi’s sister prayed for her for 14 yrs. That is a long time to wait for a prayer to be answered but the Lord had a plan. He waited till she was ready, open, and willing before He reached out to her and thank goodness He did! He wants none to perish (Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke 15:7). As Google puts it the gospel illustrates “God’s relentless, personal, and joyful pursuit of a single person”. Thank you Jesus for that or all of us would be lost to the darkness. 

    Bobi’s sister and brother in law were visiting and for whatever reason God decided that was the day for Bobi to make that personal connection with Jesus! As they were about to leave Bobi experienced an overwhelming sense of love and peace emanating from them and she never wanted it to stop! She knew it was the Holy Spirit that was wooing her and drawing her to Him. Jeremiah 31:3 states “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with unfailing kindness”.

    Bobi accepted Jesus as her Savior and Lord that day and started the journey of life with Him. 

    Jesus’ ways are so different from ours. He loves us unconditionally. (Romans 5:8) He gave us free will that we would be able to choose this amazing life with Him. If we didn’t have that choice we would be like robots – that choice is essential. What are you going to choose today? To walk in the darkness a little longer or to open the door to the light and love of Jesus!

  • SIN CREEPING IN

    I have been sleeping really well lately. This is not something that has happened since the beginning of this year due to a variety of reasons – new knee – crazy illness’ – car troubles but I thought I had hit the magic 3 and I was done with troubles so I was sleeping really well!

    Not last night. I woke up too hot and uncomfortable. I tried to lay there and go back to sleep for about a half an hour and then decided sleep would not be coming back to me so I got up and went to the kitchen to get some water and what did I find! A bug infestation in my kitchen sink!

    I usually sleep until about 7 or 8 am and it was 5 am at this point. So like my little bugs in the sink I hurried around and cleaned up the dishes that I had left in the sink that the bugs were loving! 

    In Arizona if you don’t use all the drains in your home little buggies can come up into your home so I went around and put bleach down all of the drains – waited – then added hot water for a good 10 minutes to kill the little guys that were hiding there. Crisis averted!

    As the day went on I pondered on what would that scene have looked like if I had woken up several hours later? At 5 am they were all in the sink except one hearty little guy who had made it all the way over to the fridge, 5 ft away! They might have been everywhere! Yikes!

    Did Jesus wake me up so I would not have to face a kitchen full of little beasties! (Luke10:31) Or was it a coincidence? I actually don’t believe in coincidences. How did this happen? I hadn’t cleaned up the dishes last night and hadn’t done my monthly clean up the drain job, sliding down that slippery slope again.

    Is that like sin in our lives? When we don’t say our prayers/connect with God on a regular basis does the sin start to creep into our souls like the bugs in my sink? (Romans 3:23) When we let this connection with God lapse for too long does He give you a nudge – waking me up at 5 am – to clean out the pipes, clean up the mess we have made before the mess is overwhelming and get right with God. (Ezekiel 36:25) 

    1 John 1:7 says that “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Chris His Son cleanses us up from all sin”. I pray that I will be more diligent about being in right standing with the Lord each and every day so sin won’t have a stronghold on my life any longer. (Rooted, week 5, pg. 107) https://www.experiencerooted.com

  • Jesus and me

    John 1:5, KJV,  “The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” was the first verse I read as a new Christian in 2001 that showed me exactly where I had been before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Jesus had broken through the darkness within me – He had been everywhere but because of the darkness I couldn’t comprehend what the light/Jesus was.

    I had been seeking answers to an experience I had at The Chapel of the Holy Cross in Arizona – uncontrollable weeping for no reason I could think of. I prayed to the God of the universe to show me why that had happened. About 6 months later at church with a friend who “needed” to be there, Jesus broke through my darkness and I remember saying “this is it”! This is what I was searching for – Jesus! The light shined so bright that day I couldn’t see anything else and my whole world changed.

    Did you have a moment when you saw the light clearly and accepted Jesus? I know the before and after – our lives were a mess/sinful/empty and then we felt clean, full of His love, but that moment of pure clarity – when the light shined into your darkness – what was it like for you?

  • FAITH IN OUR DAILY LIVES

    Do you ever go along and think you are doing good, praying, practicing what Jesus preaches and then something happens. I was there today thinking I had it together. Then something came along to disrupt that peace that only Jesus can give (Philippians 4:6-7) and out the window it went. Instead of KNOWING that God had control of even this situation I began to spiral down, what if’s, how would I cope without…, what should I do, how would I do it, instead of just trusting that the Lord and maker of this world has the plan and the ability to carry out that plan.

    I didn’t have faith like Daniel in verses 2:17-23. He just KNEW that God/Jesus could take care of whatever came his way, even interpreting a dream that to all others was an impossible thing to do but with” God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26, Luke 1:37 (my favorite verse), so he just trusted that God would show him the answer. 

    I pray that someday I will get to that point, just knowing that God has this – I don’t have to stress out and find the answer to the problem. Instead, just sit down and pray for God to show me what it is He will do in this situation and what He would have me do. It may not be what you think He will do or it may be, but either way we can always remember that He is there for us – a place to rest (Word of God Speak, Mercy Me) from the weariness of this world.

  • What is God calling you to Do today?

    Do you ever feel like God is calling you to do something you don’t particularly want to do? Hmmm that happens to me periodically. One biggy is to write this blog. I’m not a blog writer, heck I’m not a writer at all! but He placed it on my heart – years ago now – to write a blog – to interact with people about their experience with God. Forgive me Lord for my tardiness!

    I study with a group called BSF and during the lecture today God convicted me about the things He has asked me to do that I have pushed to the side – too busy, too tired, don’t know enough, don’t want to! Well if we want to grow, be more, be what God has intended us to be, then we need to accept the God given requests He sends to us (Ephesians 2:10).

    This doesn’t mean that we become yes people to every request that comes our way. But when we feel the leading of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, God, whatever you want to call it we NEED to answer! He has something amazing in store for us, surely not what we expect or maybe even not what we want, but what He wants for us to grow and be more Christ-like and isn’t that the goal? To live a life that is free with Jesus – breaking the rules of division and prejudice?

    Know that in our world God is in control, Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails”. No matter how crazy it is and it will get crazier for sure – He has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11) – He is even directing all the minutiae in our lives and the huge things like leaders and governments. He has it all under control! that allows us to be at peace – to not be afraid (Isaiah 41:10) and know that what is happening in our lives and others is for our good (Romans 8:28). Thank you Jesus for your lessons today!