For Such A Time As This

As far as I know, this phrase was first used when Esther was queen of Persia, by being the wife of Ahasuerus, king of the Persian empire. She was queen when Ahasuerus decreed that all the Hebrews be destroyed and the Jewish people be killed at the urging of Haman. Esther's uncle, Mordecai spoke to her and told her that she had been chosen by God to be queen of the Persian empire for such a time as this so that she could save the Jews from extermination.

Since that time, anyone called of God to accomplish a certain task at a certain time has used the phrase, for such a time as this. And in the days that we are living in, there are many who have been appointed "for such a time as this." Appointed and anointed to share the grace and mercy of Almighty God, to share the good news of Jesus Christ, who lived, died and was resurrected so that we might have eternal life, spending eternity with God.

I believe I was born so that I could share that grace and mercy that I have received and to tell everyone I meet that Jesus is alive and well and that He is still rolling stones away from tombs, setting captives free, giving sight and hearing to the blind and deaf. Healing the sick and restoring hope in the hearts and souls of all who call on His name and repent of their sins. His love is all around us, if we'll just allow ourselves to feel it.

But, at this point in history, our people are at odds with one another. We're allowing our differences to create hate and enmity within our hearts and souls. If we don't agree with someone's point of view we classify them as our enemy and we seek to hurt or destroy them. There are no scriptures in the Bible that tell us that these things are justified or right. There are, however, scriptures that tell us these things are unacceptable to God. Jesus came to teach us how to live, and all we have to do is follow His example. Jesus never accused anyone for their sin! He never fought with those who didn't believe. When He traveled to Nazareth, His very own people refused to see Him as He truly was, so He departed that region. He didn't declare war on them and try to destroy them, He merely turned around and left them where they were.

Jesus never got into anyone's face and screamed that they should follow Him; He merely went where people could listen to His teachings. If they attended that was great. If they didn't, that was fine, too. Jesus never tried to change the rule of law that governed Israel and Judea. He obeyed the law, but He still did what He needed to do in teaching the people that He was the Messiah and that God loved them. Even the woman at the well was not treated with anything other than love and respect. And she had been married so many times and was living with a man who was not her husband. But Jesus didn't tell her she was a harlot, adulteress, sinner or anything of that nature. He simply invited her to drink of the living water that He provides and told her to go and sin no more. Even though He knew that she could not live her life without commiting sin. The command to go and sin no more is not given in the spirit that we will never make a mistake, it's given so that we strive to live our lives without sin.

For such a time as this, I was called by God to bring His message of love, hope, grace and mercy to the people that I can reach. And that's what I try to do each and every day. I don't always hit the mark, but I still keep trying. I still keep telling every one I can that Jesus loves them so much that He died the most horrifying death imaginable so that every one who accepts Him as Lord and Savior can find peace, love, grace and mercy. Eternal life with God is a bonus! Nothing we can do would ever earn us salvation. We aren't told to clean ourselves up and do things to pay for our salvation. We were saved by grace through the mercy of God. Our works are not done to earn anything; they're done to show others what God can do and to fulfill the command of Jesus to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the widows, to house the homeless and to share the Love, Grace and Mercy that we have received from God. If you see someone thirsty, give them a drink. If you see someone hurting, offer solace and hope.

Stop the hatred; stop the shouting; stop the belligerence; stop the enmity! Humble yourself and allow Holy Spirit to guide you and counsel you. I know it's not the easiest thing to do, but it is worth the effort to do so. The result will be peace beyond understanding and joy that can't be spoken. And love like you've never known.

New Love/First Love

I'm 60 years old and I've never had someone be in love with me. I have been in love, once, but it was not returned. I was settled for, not chosen or "the one." I have loved when I wasn't "in love," and while those relationships were nice, they weren't meant to be the permanent, lasting relationships, they were merely practice for the real one.

The one relationship where I was in love, I was settled for because of health issues Kerry was dealing with. I was settled for because there was no hope that someone else would come along and be the love Kerry wanted. While I knew that going in, and I was okay with it because I was so madly in love, later on I felt cheated and deprived. My love wasn't diminished, but I felt like I deserve to be loved the way I love. And although I dated, I didn't find the one, so I gave up. For almost 25 years I didn't try to find love, I just lived my life believing no one would ever love me like that.

My comment on love was, "if God wants me to have it, He will rip off the roof and throw it in."

There's a possibility that I may have found that love, or it found me. A month into the relationship, there's something really special going on but I cannot say that I've found "the one." I've found someone who COULD be "the one." While I had never heard the words, "I love you" from someone I was in a relationship with before, I got to hear those words a couple of weeks ago and it felt so good, so right, so now. Yes, it would be easy to question why it took so long, or to ask what was I doing wrong that I couldn't find it earlier in my life, but the truth is asking those questions and getting the answers wouldn't change anything. I would still be 60 years old and experiencing something I've never experienced before. I don't feel the need to question, I only feel the need to experience what is happening in the here and now.

Everything happens in God's time. When you give your life to Him and you place all control of your life in His hands, then things happen on His schedule and there's not much you can do about it. Yes, I could try to force it, like I did with Kerry, but nothing will really come of that because it's not the soulmate God created for me. And that's who I want: God's choice, not my own. This new love may very well turn out to be my first true love, but it may turn out to be just another preparation or just a taste of love. I don't know, yet. But I do know I'm going to enjoy it for as long as God has planned.

Are You Kidding Me?

I keep hearing about the hardships the people of the Gaza Strip are enduring, but I don't hear any news reports about the hardships the people of Israel are facing! It's always about how the palestinians are being denied basic human rights, but no one talks about how those palestinians have denied basic human rights to the women and children of Israel whom they've murdered or the survivors of the Israeli men they've murdered who have no means to support themselves. When are we going to stop bending over backwards to make the palestinians victims? They are not victims! They would be if they had ever declared themselves a sovereign nation and established a state for themselves. They occupied the land now known as Israel for almost 2,000 years and never established themselves as a nation. They claimed their nations as those of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, etc., but they never made any move to establish the land where Israel now exists as a state. Only after Israel took possession and resurrected their nation did those who had lived on that land for thousands of generations claim they wanted a state on that land.