The only certainties in life are death and taxes...

...and suffering!

Our question in the Essentials class this week was " What does God do about suffering?"

As a reminder, last week we talked about how sin brought death, death ignites fear, and fear motivates us to sin...a vicious cycle that only God's prefect love can drive out in order to free us to live a life unbounded by the demands of this world and empower us to live out His commands.

But how can we reconcile His perfect love with the guaranteed suffering in this world?

Scared (un)to Death...

As I stated in my last post I am on an 11 week journey of seeking answers to the Essential Questions for Responsible Christian Growth.  Week 2 of our study has been titled "The Problem is Life to Death" and we dove into the implications of sin and why life is so hard.

Act 1: The curtain is drawn back, in a garden we are introduced to God, a man, and a woman.
Life is not a daily grind, it is full of joy and purpose and good communion.   

Act 2: Enter a snake...(Why does it always have to be snakes?)

What's Love Got To Do With It...?

I started a new small group bible study this week hosted by one of our Mission's department ministers.  The idea, from what I gather, is to evaluate 10 essential questions for our growth in the Christian faith.  The class was outlined to be a place to mature since it has been observed so often that there are "plateaued" faiths in the walls of our churches, that they have become a place to silently receive teaching without producing significant changes in how we live or pray or interact with the world around us.  Sanctification, learning about God and what He has planned for us, how he loves us and how we are to love others are life long processes, journeys that are not complete until we are with Him for eternity.  

And so we come to lesson 1: "Love God and people"...really?

Boundary Lines...

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage" ~Psalm 16:5-6

I learned a little something about boundaries last week.  I recently adopted a dog and overall he is a GOOD dog.  He is house trained, he listens to the word "No," and he is just generally not a loud dog (which I appreciate a LOT early in the morning).  However, I had to be reminded the hard way that he is still a puppy, still only a year old, and still has a lot to learn and mature into.

I thought I would do him a favor and leave him on the patio while I was at work, you know give him some room to stretch his legs so he wouldn't be stuck in a small kennel all day long.  I wanted to give him freedom, I wanted to let him have more space, extend the boundary lines if you will.  Then the storms rolled in…

This wasn't the timeline I had planned...

"The heart of a man plans his ways..." - Proverbs 16:9a

And boy did I...plan my ways I mean.  I had it all figured out.  I would graduate, get a job, work a little while, meet my husband, be married at 25, buy a house, get a dog, and start having babies at 30.  Nothing wrong or sinful in those plans, but here's the rub, they weren't God's plan for me.  After graduation everything seemed to be "on track," then all of a sudden things seemed to going out of [my] order.

Before you speak...

I was invited again to post on the Radiant blog and I am so excited to share what I have been learning about the power of the tongue.  BUT, before I begin I want to explain a bit about Radiant...

Forgiveness is not Forgetting...

Too often I have listened to a lesson on forgiveness and have felt the weight of guilt and condemnation (forgiveness-guilt if you will). Lies from the enemy creep in and whisper "you're not over it...what they did still stings so you couldn't have forgiven them...you aren't friends with them any more so how can you think you forgave them..."