The Father, Son And The Holy Go-between.........

We can all understand and identify with the Father & Son characters in the trinity, we all have a parent and we are all someones child, regardless of how that relationship has been for you, I think it is reasonable to say we can draw a parallel from our experiences to understand the identities of God and Jesus.

So The Holy Spirit, ever known one of those? Is the Holy Spirit there just to translate messages to and fro between us and God? When we finally 'get' a piece of scripture we've read a dozen times, is that the sum of the Holy Spirits role?

You could look at Him like that, but He is so much more.

Last night we read John 16, a passage I have heard many times, but for some reason last night it really moved me.  Probably just the Holy Spirit giving me a dig.

⁷ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
⁸ When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
⁹ in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
¹⁰ in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
¹¹ and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

Jesus is telling His disciples He has to leave them and go to Heaven to be with God, but instead another person will be with them in His place, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus sees that as a good thing, as a progression in the plan.  The Holy Spirit will highlight to us what is going on in the world. He will bring to our attention the sin in our lives and the need to make it right.

So, how to identify with the Holy Spirit? Ever watched the news and been enraged at injustice? Seen a charity fundraiser with images of starving children and cried in despair? Watched a country get torn apart by war and prayed desperately for peace?

If there were no God, you wouldn't feel emotion at such things, the Holy Spirit is God and we do all feel there are terrible injustices, that is the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to the truth around us.

Jesus took the form of man, so when He was on earth He could only talk to the people who were with and around Him, He couldn't be all over the world at once.  God is in Heaven and we are on earth,  the Holy Spirit is on earth so that God and Jesus can be with us whoever or wherever we are at all times.

What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you lately?

I Will Live My Life For You............Will I?

This song is very special to me, I'm sure all of us as Christians are in awe of the love Jesus has for us.  But when we sang it in Church this morning, it spoke to me differently.

God told me, "I accept your thanks for my sacrifice, but I want you to make some sacrifices, I want you to show the grace & love I have shown you to the ones that have hurt you beyond your understanding"

If I am living and giving my life for Jesus I have to express that in my attitude and actions to others.  I can't excuse it with, "but you will never believe how much ..........hurt me".

This has been a battle of mine for a while, and although I have done forgiving and talked and gone over and this and that, I just couldn't seem to get over that final hurdle of letting go of the
hurt.  I have prayed and others have prayed (including some of my fellow bloggers!) for a restoration of my marriage, and I really felt God say this morning that I could do it, I could freely give my life to show the grace that I needed to show, because God showed that same grace to me, knowing that I would hurt Him beyond understanding.

I have probably heard or read a million times 'we should live like Jesus and treat others with love etc...' but it is difficult to put into practice unless you are asking God through His Holy Spirit to help you do that.  That is why I know that today I understood the words of living my life for Him, to be relevant to what I was going through, because I had been asking God to work in me in that way.

Weekly Song round Up

OK, this week has made me think of a load of songs about young life and how it can be wasted!

The bonus in the Tom Petty video is it has Johnny Depp in it!

So many kids are out there making bad choices Skid Row 18 and Life These might just be fictional songs/stories but even if it comes true for one young kid it's too many. Alice Cooper I'm Eighteen I've gotta say I don't think I would ever want to repeat my teenage years and they weren't that bad compared to some, but I've got my skeletons that I buried and they affected my future.

I suppose what I'm thinking is if you know or have influence over young adults or kids who are just out of school, pay attention.  I think a big problem is teenagers don't realise there are people who will do anything to help them straighten their life out.  It took me 20 years to accept a little help and like I said I don't think I had it too bad, but my family I think, are unaware of what I was going through because I just didn't think there was anything anyone I could talk to.

Too Much Too Young

This week one of my daughters ex-classmates was killed when the quadbike he was riding crashed while being chased by the police.  He was 17.

He had been in and out of care and had made some bad choices, but by all accounts he was a nice lad.

I just can't get over the age. 17.  All you've ever really done is gone to school, everything is ahead of you and then.......it's over.

One of my friends has a niece who is dangerously ill with anorexia.  She is 18. I believe she has been ill with it for a number of years.  She is on the verge of being sectioned and if this happens it could put an end to her chances of pursuing a career in nursing.  This dreadful illness is threatening her whole future at just the age of 18.

One life tragically taken by a catalogue of wrong choices, no doubt led to by the lack of a stable up-bringing.  And another hanging in the balance because of a catalogue of believed lies.

I met my husband when I was 17.  That changed my future. What have you got if you haven't got your future?

The Post That Never Was.....

So, I just poured my heart out to you guys who may end up reading this when I realised there are only two people I need to talk to.

God and my husband.

God knows the score already, but I'm hoping he might let me in on how on earth I'm supposed to keep moving forward.

As for hubby, well, guess we just have to talk and keep talking.

So You Don't Forget........

 

 

Over at Gypsy Mama Today's Five Minute Friday topic is

Remember…

 

When I was at a very low point my dearest friend gave me a beautiful card with these words written inside.

"So you don't forget.......

You are......Loved

                     Forgiven

                     Valued

                     Worthwhile

                      NOT Guilty

                     Trusted

                     Needed as a Mum, a wife and a friend

                     Shame free

                    Made in God's image

                    Dependable

                    Here for a purpose

                    Special

                    ...........so smile! :)"

That card will be valuable to me for the rest of my life, maybe there are some words on there that you need to remember about yourself.

 

The clocks have gone back, it's Sunday night, that means only one thing in our house.......hide & seek in the dark!

This has kind of turned into a routine tradition over the last few years, that through the winter months we play hide & seek in the dark.

When we first did it a few years ago the kids were all a lot younger and it was really good fun, and as parents, you know, you humour them and allow them to continue with these little games.  The kids are now 16, 14, 11 & 7 and it is on the 7 year olds insistence that we play, she counts down the weeks to the clock change, and now everyone is doing a little humouring.......although it still is fun!

Now ordinarily our house would be a death-trap if you tried to walk around in it with the lights out, but herein lies the beauty, if you want to play, you have to have picked everything up! And they do, they really do, so once a week our house gets a good pick-up done, all that remains now is for me to give it a clean through on a Monday.  We'll see.

The counter is chosen by whoever needs the loo first. We count in the bathroom and usually play within an hour of having our Sunday roast.........

With it being dark, you don't have to be too imaginative with your hiding, so I can choose my favourite spot, laid out on the sofa, and still be joining in.

Usually the only thing to give away our hiding places is our inability to contain our bodily noises, I know what you're thinking, but I'm talking about the odd cough or sneeze of course.

Anyway although some of us groan a little at what has become a 'tradition' and we all make out we're really only playing along for the little one, it is one of those things that the kids will talk about when they're older to their kids, it's a memory maker, of course it's not our only memory maker, but it's probably one of the more routine ones.

Any family bonding habits within your household?