TBT RE Post of And In This Corner The Battle With Our Past

Friday, August 20, 2010

And In This Corner The Battle With Our Past

Have you ever felt like you were in a boxing match with your past? I can hear the announcer now "and in this corner weighing in with all the past hurts and mistakes is the one and only vicious PAST. And in this corner there is little old ME." "PAST comes out swinging with all its might first with a hurt to the heart, then a mistake to the gut doubling ME over and right back with two more hits to the heart and ME is down for the count." "I believe its over for ME this time with hits like that ME won't recover." That's how it feels when your past hurts and mistakes try to defeat you. It is like you have been thrown in a ring to take a beating from the heavy weight champion, but it doesn't have to be this way. Once we give Jesus our hearts and life and he has forgiven us our sins, then the past is just that the past. It's like a tag team match, we just have to take the hand of Jesus and he goes in and defeats the past in our place.

When we become Christ followers we don't have to be hurt by our past mistakes and we don't have to let the old hurts hurt us, but even the strongest in faith will have times that the past will cause them pain. It doesn't mean our faith isn't as strong, it just means that is when we need to reach out to Jesus and remember that we are forgiven and a changed person. We aren't that person we were when those things occurred. We are a new creation in Christ, a new person. 2 Corinthians 5:17"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."(KJV)
In the past couple of days I have had to remind myself that the past is past and that my Heavenly Father loves me unconditionally. The things of my past don't have power to hurt me anymore because I am a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus, loved by my Heavenly Father and forgiven. We all can think of something that we wish we hadn't done, or think of things that have been said or done that has hurt us and if we let it, it can and will beat us up. If we give our past power it will hurt us, but we don't have to give it that power. We take its power away by turning it over to Christ Jesus and then leaving it there.

Recently my past mistakes were thrown at me by someone close to me. It is easy for me to let it get me down. In fact I was very hurt by them bringing it up. The blow from my past knocked me to the ground but didn't knock me out. I called out to Jesus and he helped me back up off the mat and got me back into the fight only this time I let him take control. Jesus gave me the power over my past.

The apostle Paul had a past of persecuting the Christians, but once he gave his life to Christ and became one of the believers, he went on to tell others about Christ. He had a past that he didn't like, but he used it to remind people that Christ took all that with him to the cross and totally forgave him. He couldn't change what he had done, but he could change who he was then and that is exactly what he did when he asked forgiveness and became a follower of Christ. No longer was he that man that persecuted believers, he was a man who gave his life trying to encourage believers and show sinners the way to Christ.


Christ wipes our sins away when we ask forgiveness and remembers them no more.
Ps 103:12 " as far as the east is from the west,so far has he removed our transgressions from us"(NIV) That doesn't mean that He can't use our past to help others. He can use that to help us witness and tell others what he has done for us. Paul reminded others of his past so that they can see how far he had come from that past and how much Christ had done for him. So our past doesn't have to have power over us and hurt us anymore. Just remember we are forgiven and we are not the person we were in that past because of Jesus. PTL

KO the PAST in Jesus name. Ask forgiveness and it is done. Ask Jesus in your heart and you are a new person. Let God change you into that new creature in Christ. Then the PAST no longer has power to hurt but can be a powerful tool to help. Thank you Jesus for your love, mercy and forgiveness and for this new person in you.

Written by
Deb Forbes
Aug. 20, 2010

Spring Has Gone On Spring Break

If you are like I am you are over Winter and ready for Spring. We had a few days of warm nice weather where we got out and walked and enjoyed the sun but then it got cold and snowed again. Then it went back up to 70 degrees and was nice only to wake up yesterday to cold and snow flurries in the day. Today it is only going to be in the 40's and then tomorrow a chance of thunderstorms and 60's. This up and down weather is for the birds speaking of which they are back and singing outside my window every morning. I bet the birds don't care for the warm then cold back to warm weather either. I think Spring got here and decided to take Spring Break like everyone else so hopefully it will be a short break, come back Spring we miss you but come and stay awhile.


I am not complaining really just wishing for Spring and I do want Spring this year and not jump right to Summer and 90 degrees. I enjoy getting out and walking, hiking and having picnics without being overcome by heat. With my Myasthenia Gravis the heat makes me weak fast and harder to get my walking in.  So Spring come and stay awhile please.


I have been able to walk some and my husband and I are trying to get built back up to walking every night. I am hoping to get up to 3 miles that is my challenge but just being able to walk 1/2 mile is great. I have in the last week walked a little over 1/4 last Sat., Wednesday a little over 1/2 mile, Thursday a little under 1/2 mile and Friday back to 1/2 mile.  This is not bad after being sedentary all winter. I am trying to get back in shape and this walking is part of that.


My daughter and granddaughter inspired me to try to lose weight by using myfitnesspal.com that is a food journal and lets you log in your food and it gives you the calories for the day and keeps track of how many calories through out the day so you know right by looking at it how many you have left for the day. You enter your info and how much you want to lose and how fast and it calculates how many calories you can have a day to achieve your goal. It is an easy way to help you see where you need to improve. I was shocked the first couple of days when I put my food in how many calories I had eaten when I really had not eaten much all day. I was eating the wrong things and it made me see where I needed to improve. Great app and website to use. I just started Sat. March 22, 2014 so I will let you know how it is going week by week. This is my before picture.

  Last I thought I would share with you  a thought that came to me when I was thinking how I don't like and want this temperature going up and down. God says he doesn't like it when our commitment to Him is up and down either. Some times we are really on fire for God and other times it seems like we let other things distract us from God and living and doing what He has for us. It says in Rev. 3: 15-16 NIV
¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.




Wow to think God gets disgusted with us for being lukewarm enough to spit us out. I don't want to be lukewarm I want to be on fire for God. So every time I think about the up and down temps I will remember these verses and work at being on fire for God and not be like the weather hot then cold.
Hope you have a good week and follow along with me while I try to get in shape and see if I can get up to 3 miles in my walking.

TBT Post From the Past Re Posting Puzzle Pieces of Life

For throwback Thursday I thought I would use a post about how we are all important in God's plan.  We are all a part of the Puzzle of Life and we are important pieces to that puzzle.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Puzzle Pieces of Life

MY PLACE IN THE PUZZLE OR WHERE DO I FIT IN!

Do you sometimes feel like you don’t fit in anywhere? I think we all have felt that way before even at church sometimes. Have you ever felt like you’re not as important as everyone else or that you’re not needed there because you have nothing to offer. Do you think that someone else is more important than you are and that you don’t have anything special about you? I think everyone has probably felt this way at sometime or another. It is easy to think that what you have to offer isn’t as important as what others have to offer but God says we are all important and we all have our own special work that we can do. God loves each one of his children the same and wants each of us to use our talents that he has given us to glorify him. We are all important to him. It is like a shepherd and his flock. All the sheep are important and if one is lost the shepherd will go and look for that one. Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?”(KJV) All of us are important and one is not more important than the other person. We all are the same and we should work together to the Glory of God. It is like a puzzle, is the corner and straight edge piece more important than the inside pieces? No they are all important for if you are missing just one piece no matter if it is the edge piece, corner piece or inside piece of the puzzle the picture or puzzle will not be complete. So each piece is just as important as the next piece and has its own special place in the puzzle. The same is we all have an important job to do for God just like each piece of the puzzle and if we try to forget our job and do someone else’s it doesn’t work just like if you try to force a piece of the puzzle into the wrong place, you might get it to sort of fit but the picture will still not be right. We should not think that someone else’s job is more important and therefore we should be the one to do it and get the recognition because first it isn’t about recognition and second it won’t work out and neither job will get done. We need to go where God wants us and do what he has for us to do and do it to the Glory of God and not to our glory.

Then we should also not limit people and assume that they can’t do anything important either. If we limit people we are limiting God too. An example of this is
when I got sick and had to be in a wheelchair I had so many people say to me that they felt sorry for me now that I couldn’t do anything. I just laughed because I can still do a lot of things just not the same ones as before maybe. They just couldn’t see past the physical limitations to see that I was still a vital part of God’s work. It’s true I have things I can’t do but they are replaced with things that I can do like holding others up in prayer. That is one of the most important jobs we can have in God’s work is to be a prayer warrior. I also can still witness and teach. You see they thought I wasn’t as important anymore but God knew just how important I was and God uses us all and has a job for all of us to do so I am still a piece of the puzzle that is needed to complete the picture or puzzle. We are all needed in Gods work, every single one of us believers and every believer is called to go out and witness and work for God. Mark 16: 15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (KJV) Each of us is important and needed in the puzzle of life to be completed when Jesus comes again. So next time you think that I can’t preach, or I can’t sing or I can’t teach or I am not important remember that everyone has something they can do for the Glory of God and each one of us is important and we all have some kind of talent that God has given us to use for his work. We all fit into the puzzle somewhere and each of us is just as important as the next one.

Throwback Thursday Post From Past On Being God's Masterpiece

I hate that kids and people are bullied and hurt by actions and words of others. With the Internet now days the bullies have found a way to humiliate and destroy others and it has to stop. People are being destroyed by these acts. I wish that I could take each one by the hand and tell them they are special and loved. For throwback Thursday I have re posted one of my past post about us being God's Masterpiece. We have to pray and step in to stop bullying.

Monday, February 25, 2013

God's Masterpiece

Matthew 5:14

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid

 I love the verse Eph. 2 : 10 NLT  ^"For we are God’s Masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago". I love to quote or think of this verse every time I think that I am not good enough or I am not special. When I think there is nothing that I can do or I have no talent I recall this verse and know that none of that is true according to God's word. We are special and God created us and made us new in Christ so that we could do the things He has planned for us. It might not be what we would think of doing, but it is what God has planned for us. He made each one of us unique and special, His masterpiece. So when I am thinking that I am not enough then I am really criticizing God for He is the one who made me into who I am. God has a job for all of us to do, we just have to pray, and meditate on what it is and then jump in and do what God has planned for us. Most of all I try to remember that I am special because God made me and He made me and molded me into the person He wants me to be.

Another favorite verse of mine is Jer 29:11 NIV   ^"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
God has a plan and it doesn't include harm but hope and a future. What a great promise from God.

I try to repeat both of these verses everyday along with Rom 8:1KJV "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit". and also Rom 8:28 KJV "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." and Rom. 8: 31 NIV "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

So next time you are feeling down or thinking that you are talentless or not special remember these verses.  Try to memorize them so that they come to mind when these feelings start and remember most of all YOU ARE GOD'S MASTERPIECE and HE LOVES YOU

Ash Wednesday Beginning of Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. As a child we would give up something we really loved for Lent but I don't think I ever really understood why. We are not Catholic but we always did follow Lent. I know one year I gave up candy, another sweets, and once mashed potatoes, which are all of my favorites. I just did it because we all were but didn't really think about it much except for the fact that it would be a long 40 days.


Now that I am older I understand that Lent is a time to focus on God and to draw closer to him. This should be everyday I know, but this is the time to prepare our hearts for Easter. It is a time of reflection and looking at what we need to change to be closer to God and ask for forgiveness. It is a time spent on God and spiritual things that gets our hearts and minds ready for Easter. I want this year during Lent to be spent reading and meditating and spending time with an open heart with God, growing closer to Him.


I have started a reading plan on youversion.com for the Lent season that focuses on the last week of Jesus' life before His Crucifixion. I have read these passages so many times before but I want to really study and I am praying that the Holy Spirit will reveal what God wants me to learn and see and to grow closer to the Lord.


I hope you will spend time in prayer and reading your Bible and just letting God speak to you too this Lent season.


youversion. com has many Bible reading plans for Lent season at http://blog.youversion.com/category/reading-plans/


Most of all just find a devotion or study or just start reading the Gospels about the last week of Jesus life and spend time focusing on God, Jesus and prepare your hearts for Easter