My thoughts on this Covid-19 quarantine period. What is God telling us?

We are living in a time of confusion and uncertainty right now.  We’re not sure what’s coming next, when will I be able to leave my house again? Will life return to the normal we knew? Will our jobs return, our businesses reopen, will I be able to go to my favorite restaurant again, and will my hair dresser be back soon?  The questions go on and on.  If you look at it honestly you’ll see the questions are mostly self-centered and focus on our own individual needs instead of looking at what is happening in the context in which I believe we should be seeing it. 

This virus is a wake-up call from Heaven.  We were created to give honor and glory to God, not to worry about if our roots are showing or if we’ll be able to get our favorite hot wings again.  People aren’t seeing the bigger picture because they’re focused on themselves and their cabin fever.

Is this virus a conspiracy from China?  Is it an economy killer?  I rather think it’s a nudge from God to remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24 about the second coming.  The disciples wanted to know what to look for.  Jesus said there would be wars, famines, earthquakes in places where they’d never happened before, that Christians would be tortured and killed, that even Christians would be deep in sinful living, that people would hate one another, false teachers would be everywhere and popular, sin will be accepted as the thing to do and those who stand against it will be ridiculed and persecuted.   Any of this sound familiar? 

Military conflict took place during every year of the 20th Century. Earthquakes have tripled in the last decade and have increased in strength and destruction in that same time period.  Christians are tortured, imprisoned, and beheaded in nations all around the world and even in the United States Christians who stand on God’s Word are called intolerant, bigoted, and have even been called deplorable by a recent presidential candidate.  We see an insurgence of pornography, alcoholism, drug addiction and you can now purchase marijuana openly in almost every state of this country. This has become the self-absorbed, self-satisfying generation.  We’re more interested in having the latest designer everything than we are about our own souls.

 We see rampant hate as groups like Antifa, Black Lives Matter and others keeping things in turmoil.  Turn on any Christian television station and you’ll hear preachers teaching things that aren’t found in any version of the Bible.  I heard a preacher tell his listeners to just tell God what you wanted, he had to listen and do it.  The prosperity gospel and seeker ministries are very popular.  People don’t want to attend church and hear sermons on sin and repentance; they want to hear that God is love and that he loves everyone and he won’t turn anyone away.   They want to go and hear music and praise and “FEEL” something. Salvation has never been about a feeling.  The world wants everyone to say that whatever you choose to do is okay. Isaiah 5:20 talks about this very thing “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” or in other words, there’s a price to pay for thinking like that.  We’re supposed to believe that gender is fluid (whatever that means) that people can be non-binary (somewhere in between), or can be changed at a whim.  Sexuality is whatever you want it to be and it’s ok and nobody better disagree with it, no matter what God says.  It’s okay to have a drink, or two, or a bottle whenever you feel like it, to smoke, to take drugs to mask your pain and loneliness and on and on.   God says otherwise. 

So what’s next in this wake up call?  You might ask, “Isn’t this bad enough?”  But no, it’s only going to get worse.  Jesus also said in Matthew 24 that this is just the beginning, the “birth pangs”.  Think of it like Braxton-Hicks contractions…the warning that labor is about to begin. 

Right now is the time to get serious and make sure your house is in order.  Remember the parable of the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins.  Are you wise?  Is there oil in your lamp or have you been having a party, and forgot to go buy oil?  Or in other words, is your life ready for the Master to come and take you home?  Ask yourself these questions:  If I died today where would I spend eternity?  Is your answer a definite yes or is it an “I hope so”?  Secondly, when you stand before God (and you will) and he asks you, “Why should I let you into my Heaven?” what would your answer be?  If it’s anything other than “Because Jesus paid the price for my sins” you will not get in.  There’s no other way but Jesus.  You can’t buy your way in, you can’t earn your way in, and you won’t be able to charm your way in.

WHY is it so important to have salvation settled now?  Because of what’s coming next.  Seven years of terrible tribulation,  21 judgments from God that will only get more and more terrible, more frightening, more costly…judgments that are a plea from God to believe in Him and accept his Son as Lord and Savior.  A sudden disappearance is going to happen.  Jesus talks about that in Matthew 24. We used to sing a song that said, “Two men walking up a hill, once disappears and one’s left standing still. Man and wife asleep in bed, she hears a noise and turns her head he’s gone.”  Christians call it the Rapture…when Jesus comes back with a shout of the archangel to take his children home to heaven.  Why?  Because what is coming will be so terrible God has provided a way that Christians won’t have to go through it.  I Thessalonians 4:16-17 describes the rapture “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  There are other verses throughout scripture that backs this up. 

Next will appear a charismatic man, so much so people will be mesmerized by him and accept anything he says.  The Bible calls him the Antichrist.  He will sign a 7-year peace treaty with Israel and promise peace for the world.  Because people are so devastated by the disappearance of all the Christians as well as all the babies and small children, they will believe anything he says.  But he can’t, and won’t, deliver on his promises but instead will bring war, famine and death to the world.   By the end of the 7 years of tribulation ¾ of the world’s population will have died from famine, war, disease, persecution, starvation, worldwide earthquakes, and other judgments. 

What will happen at the end of the 7 years of horror, worse than anyone can even imagine?  Christ will return to the earth and destroy the Antichrist and his followers and set up his earthly kingdom for his children.  You find that in Matthew 25: 31-46.  In spite of what you might believe, Christians will not float around on clouds strumming a harp or singing in a choir for all eternity.  No, we’ll be working, building, living and worshipping God in the New Jerusalem.  Those who don’t believe will be cast into eternal darkness in a fiery pit called hell from which there is no escape, no second chance, just eternal separation from God and from those you love who believe in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

So, bottom line, if you died today where would you spend eternity?  Do you recognize your need for Jesus?  Just saying you believe in God, or you attend church regularly, or you belong to church, you attended Sunday school as a child, or anything else isn’t enough.  You MUST, according to scriptures, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”.  What does that mean?  You must recognize that Jesus died on the cross and paid the price, the only acceptable price, for your sins.  You must admit you are a sinner and repent…that means turn away….from your sins.  You must ask Christ to forgive your sin debt…that’s redemption and become the Lord of your life. 

The Bible covers it all in the book of Romans: a road map, if you will, to salvation.

No one is good enough to get into Heaven on their own 

Romans 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 6:23a  For the wages of sin is death;

BUT GOD offers a solution

            Romans 6:23b  but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So what do you need to do?

Rom 10:9-10  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Put your name where that whosoever is)

What does God give me?

            PEACE

Rom 5:1-2  Therefore being justified (Justified = Just if I’d never sinned) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

FREEDOM

Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation (no more consequence or punishment for my past sin) to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Last, look at John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

But read it a little differently:

John 3:16  For God so loved (put your name here), that he gave his only begotten Son, that (put your name here), believeth in him (put your name here), should not perish, but have everlasting life.

It’s not hard, it’s really simple…so simple a little child can understand how much God loved them and what he gave so they could have life  forever with him in his beautiful heavenly home.

You might ask, “how long do I have to make this decision?”  Nobody knows but God.  The Bible says that death is an appointment and we all have one.  Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”  Judgment is immediate after death. 

So I ask one more time, “If you died today, where would you spend eternity?”  I end with the words to an old song,

I got up on Sunday morning, went to the church at ten,

I listened to the words that I'd heard time and time again;

The preacher spoke of sinful lives, it seemed he spoke of mine,

But I was young, I had plenty of time.

 I walked on down life's pathway, living as I wished to live;

Out to beat the other fellow, out to get what life could give;

Making money is not sinful, having fun is not a crime,

So I'll just wait, I've got plenty of time.

Plenty of time to decide where I'm bound,

to eternal darkness or to a heavenly crown;

I'm just a young man, not yet in my prime,

So I'll just wait, I've got plenty of time.

Before I knew what had happened life's scenes had passed away,

And millions stood before God's throne for it was judgment day;

Now eternal darkness beckons, and the name it calls is mine,

But I thought I had plenty of time.

Eternity waits, I've got plenty of time,

to think of all the days Christ could have been mine;

My chance is over, earth's days are left behind,

And here am I, I've got plenty of time.

Acceptable Sin

This week's Supreme Court decision has left my heart heavy with despair at the path our nation is taking.  We, as a nation, have convinced ourselves that there are sins that are acceptable, because in the name of love it must be right.  We've convinced ourselves that our "rights" as human beings are being denied.

It's a bit like taking a broken chair and adding a little paint to it, making it look so nice, but the chair is still broken.  I don't have to stop and examine a slithering snake to know I want no part of it and to quickly call my in-house snake exterminating husband.  We need to be the same way with sin.

We've quit calling sin, sin.  We pretty it up.  Adultery isn't adultery anymore.  It's having an affair.  That sounds so much less offensive.  We don't lie, we simply don't want to hurt someone's feelings so we bend the truth a bit.  We don't call people sodomites anymore.  Now they're gay, lesbian, confused, transgendered and a whole alphabet of other conditions that doesn't change the fact that their sexual identity is not what God created mankind to be.  We work very hard not to be offensive when we speak, so much so that we offend God by trying to justify sin. 

Gay marriage is wrong.  Pretty it up all you want but God says marriage is between one man and one woman, period.  God meant is so much he said it FOUR TIMES in scripture. 

Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Matthew 19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Mark 10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

Ephesians 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Never does it say that man shall leave his parents and be joined to another man, or woman to another woman.  Sorry.  I think God's pretty clear about His definition of marriage.


God is quite clear with what we're to do with sin when it's recognized.  TURN AWAY, repent, run away as fast as you can.  I think of sin like a huge vortex, churning and spinning trying to suck us in.  The Bible tells us that in the last days these things will happen.  It tells us to look up that our redemption draws nigh. 

In the meantime.....I will follow Jesus.  Anywhere he leads me I will follow on.  Whether my views are popular or I'm ridiculed.  I'm following right behind my Lord. 

It's a NEW day!

I can not believe I have not written a blog post in years! Not weeks or months but YEARS! I'm sure it wasn't because I had nothing to say but more because I was, as the Bible says, "weary in well-doing." I've undergone many changes over the past months and years and am liking the me I am now. God has changed so much about me from the clothes I wear, the books and television programs I watch up to the way I keep and decorate our home. I am learning the true meaning of Philippians 4:11 "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
 
I think Paul was speaking of many things, including the need to be the person God created us to be and that we need not bend to outside pressures to be anything other. I see so many women trying to be the perfect wife and mother, keep a perfectly organized and spotless home, yet the condition of their soul is black with sin. I see loneliness, unhappiness, bitterness and discontent. It's about the need to have more, do more, know more...but there's never any contentment.

Sometimes I think we've become a generation of lemmings being led off the cliff by the voices that tell us what we have and who we are is not enough. God tells us that's not true! Psalms 139:14 "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." So, the Princess will continue to ponder and hopefully begin to share many of the things I have, and am, still learning and coming to understand as God works in my life. I hope you'll keep checking back!

BEING PERFECT

Is there even such a thing? I don't believe there is, no matter how much we struggle or work being perfect is something we can not accomplish in this life. What I have to remember is that in God's eyes I am already perfect and that should be more than enough to accept myself as I am.

I don't think we should take this to mean that it's okay to laze around and never try to improve or grow in life, but I do think it means that we need to accept ourselves as God's creation and stop nitpicking and cutting ourselves down in our insecurities and doubts.

There's a reason in any bookstore one of the largest sections is Self Help books. I actually think it's rather funny that almost everyone has an opinion on the best way to lose weight, the right exercise program, how to overcome depression, fears or...well you get the idea. People are constantly looking for a way to make their life happier, to be more content, to overcome, ...but I've come to realize the only way to be an overcomer is to be content in the arms of God and to understand that He loves us just as we are...scars and all.

COUPONING!!!

I have discovered the joy of couponing! Not only do you save significant amounts of money on groceries and other items but it's a lot of fun! Yesterday I did my major grocery shopping for the month and saved $98.27! I love BOGO's and thankfully our grocery chain does those weekly and our other local chain has 10 for $10 sales weekly as well.

I'm not as crazy as some of the ladies on extreme couponing, but I do enjoy saving money on what we use. I can't see myself stockpiling three years of toilet paper, in the first place I'm not sure where I'd put it, but I don't see the need for anyone having three years of toilet paper or 150 bottles of body wash. I also do not spend 60 hours each week cutting, planning, plotting and shopping. I spent about an hour cutting, searching and planning and saved almost $100, or 50% of my shopping costs.

When you watch extreme couponing you'll notice they seldom buy big ticket items, fresh vegetables or meats. That's where anyone spends their money. I've started buying my meats at our local grocery store's 5 for $19.99 counter. That generally provides us with almost 2 weeks of meat.

We also participate in the Angel Food Ministry where you can purchase boxes of restaurant quality food for a limited budget. We purchase the $46 a month box. If you've never tried it, go to www.angelfoodministry.com and check on the menu for May. There are several different price options/box contents. I like the $46 a month box as it has the best variety for the money. May's box even includes 4 New York strip steaks.

This has become a new way of life for me and I find I am truly enjoying it!

LEARNING TO BE FRUGAL

Daddy told my husband when he asked for my hand that I was "high maintenance." He wasn't kidding. I like the finer things in life and if it sparkles I like it. When I go into a jewelery store the piece I choose will always be the most expensive thing in the store. However, I did not marry a billionaire and as the economy has changed I've had to learn to economize and change the way I look at things. I've begun couponing and sale shopping and have truly been enjoying it. Just this past Saturday I bought 5 5# bags of Gold Medal flour, 2 pkgs of Crisco shortening (the sticks), 5 1# bags of brown and confectioners sugar, 5 pkgs yeast, 4 Angel Food cake mixes, 4 large bottles of REAL McCormicks vanilla, 2 bags of coconut, 1 lb bag of walnuts, all for $35.00. That's enough baking products to last me the remainder of the year. We have started purchasing from Angel Food Ministries, restaurant quality food at a minimum price. We buy the $41 box and have enough food for us for a couple of weeks.

I'm learning how to bake my own bread, not with a bread machine. I'm cooking at home more, shopping the meat sales, and using coupons to get things at a very low price and stocking up. I'm learning to buy clothing with pieces so I can mix and match with other things, and figuring out I don't need new clothes every season.

I'm also realizing that we need to take heed to what scripture teaches us about the last days. Yes, I firmly believe we are living in the last of the last days. Scripture teaches
Luk 21:9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
Luk 21:10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
Luk 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

As things change in our world we need to be prepared. I remember a song from my teenage years that said, "a piece of bread will buy a bag of gold." I don't think we should be afraid, but prepared, like the 10 wise virgins were prepared in the book of Matthew 25:1-12. The wise virgins had oil in their lamps and extra, just in case. The foolish virgins were not prepared and the Lord turned them away.

I know I want to be prepared.

THE WORST DAY OF THE YEAR

Well, it's the worst day of the year for me anyway. The day I sit down and figure out the taxes. I guess it's the worst day because I don't like the way the government spends my money. I don't like the complicated and confusing way they write the forms. I certainly don't like that the middle class and small business men end up carrying the weight while the rich and huge corporations walk away relatively scott free. But hey, that's just my opinion and I can help to change things the next time there's an election, just as I cast my ballot in the last election.

I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, to look on the bright side and to follow the Biblical principle to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's".

I think I need to keep singing, "O say but I'm glad, I'm glad. O say but I'm glad. Jesus has come and my cup overrun. O Say but I'm glad."
Keeping a positive attitude is everything, I've discovered. I can choose to have a great day or a lousy day and I need to make that choice before I open my eyes and place my feet on the floor in the morning. Before I go to sleep the night before I whisper a prayer and ask God to bless the next day, to help me to be in a good mood, to make it a great day. I have no doubt God does his part, it's up to me to do mine. I need to keep the negative thoughts and comments at bay, I need to keep a song in my mouth, a smile on my face, and God's joy in my heart.

I'd better change the title of this post then....okay, so it's not the worst day of the year, maybe simply one of my most stressful.