My Way Or Else !! Really

If you threaten your family and friends to block or delete people from facebook (or any other site) and if they don't do this command of yours....you threaten them with.....they can not have anything to do with you or your family........YOU are in a prison and now they have entered it with you.



Live life, enjoy life, take the chains off I can tell you freedom feels GREAT! and that freedom comes from knowing who you are in Christ. 

It also comes from repenting from the wrong you have done, forgiving others and moving forward in the changes. I'm tired of the petty stuff.....life is too short and we will ALL stand before God someday. Don't hurt others because you are mad at someone.

Ephesians 2:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Love

Do you understand this part of Scripture or do you gloss over it?   Luke 6:27

I can tell you I have in the past and still would like, at times, to gloss over it.

I’m supposed to love as God loves (in the Greek it means actively doing what the Lord prefers, with Him—by His power and direction.

God loves everyone; He died on the cross and was raised for everyone…..no exceptions! If we are to love like that it will take His power and direction, at least for me!

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Did you notice it say ‘who hear me’.

That means we are to listen to Him, to hear God’s voice which prompts Him to birth faith within.

Then He goes on to say it’s our ‘enemies’ we are to love and do well to. We are to do good to those that hate us, bless those that curse us and pray for those that mistreat us.

So let me see if I’m loving as I’m supposed to…..someone tells awful lies about me, my husband or my daughter; someone may murder one of my loved ones; someone may steal from me; someone may make advances towards my husband; the list can go on and on…….

Then He goes on to say -

If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If they strike us we turn the other cheek, they steal we give them more and while they do wrong to us we are to do to them as we wish they were doing to us.

In the worldly way of thinking this is asinine. Why should I do this to someone so obviously evil and mean? We rationalize and say they deserve everything I do back to them. I can make my lies bigger than theirs, I can reverse it and flirt with their boyfriend/husband, and I can kill for revenge...….stop right there!! 

That is truly the world’s way of thinking, acting in the flesh and not the Spirit. That does not make things better for anyone. It does not give you or anyone else a chance to see the truth of God’s Word and His ways. It will not increase your faith in Him. You see God has His reasons for telling us how we are to respond because it is His desire that all be saved – ALL.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36

More can be said about these Scriptures but I will stop here for now.

Read these, look up the Greek for love, enemy, etc. Ask God to give you revelation and wisdom.

Love like He loves and you will be amazed.

Christena Hammes

Has Breath Publishing LLC

(c)

Hear  - Greek - 191 akoúō – properly, to hear (listen); (figuratively) to hear God's voice which prompts Him to birth faith within

Love - Greek - With the believer, 25 /agapáō ("to love") means actively doing what the Lord prefers, with Him (by His power and direction). True 25 /agapáō ("loving") is always defined by God – a "discriminating affection which involves choice and selection"

Enemy - Greek - 2190 exthrós – properly, an enemy; someone openly hostile (at enmity), animated by deep-seated hatred. 2190/exthros ("enemy"), implies irreconcilable hostility, proceeding out of a "personal" hatred bent on inflicting harm (DNTT).

Lies Something to Think About

This is an older video but I felt the Lord wanted me to post it - so I'm obeying.
I hope it blesses you, helps you repent and return to your family or friend - that it shows you love conquers all. Or that it gives you hope to hang in there while you wait for the person to see how much forgiveness and love really is in your heart. I know we are waiting on someone to return to the family and it's not always been easy but our love has never died!

A Gift for My Granddaughter

A Gift for My Granddaughter

You turn two years old today (yayyy!!) and even though we will not get to be a part of the celebration with you and your family, you are still here in our hearts and we imagine what we would do to celebrate it with you. I’ve walked isles of toys and clothes and imagined buying them for you. I guess I’m just saving money for the day you will enter our lives again. J  Will you ask for a pony?

Here is one of the gifts I would have liked to give you

You were born with problems, there were tubes and monitors on you from birth, surgery the next day but here you are 2 today!

You weighted 5.9 oz and you were 20” long –  even with all those tubes you were the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen…..but then again so was your mom and your Aunt  lol – our family just can’t help having beautiful babies!

How grateful we are to God.   Savannah you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). Do you still have the quilt we had made for you?

           

Your Grandpa Rob, and Aunt Lena and I love you with all our hearts. We think of you and your mom and dad daily and lift up prayers.

These quotes make me think of you -

‘A granddaughter is a gift from above ... one to cherish and to love.”  Author Unknown

“Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.”  Lois Wyse

"As a reward for being a great mother  you become a grandma and when you have great grandchildren that's because you are a great grandma!!"

"Grandchildren are a grandparent's link to the future, and grandparents are the child's link to the past." Author: Unknown

I can tell you my sweet Granddaughter that your mommy was a joy to raise.  Aunt Lena and I enjoyed every moment we had with her. There were sibling squabbles but that’s normal, forgiveness came and off they went.

 So I know one day you will get to hear about their adventures and how people always thought they were best-friends before they knew they were sisters.

 I’m so grateful to God for making me Lena and Amanda’s mommy and blessing me with a wonderful husband (your Grandpa) because you were born out of this love too. 

You are loved so very much! 

Hugs, tickles and kisses to my little Savannah.

We love cats and your Aunt loves butterflies so here’s a Birthday wish from all of us!!

My beautiful Savannah – HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

Here’s your cake. I know they had your room decorated in frogs, hope you like it!!!

Life or Death?

For the longest time I chose death and didn't even realize I was doing it !!!

Lies

This is an older video but after listening to it again I've decided to repost it.
God was truly speaking to me that day!

Parents May Know a Little?

Have you ever stopped to think that your parents may know a 'little' of what they are talking about? Are you brave enough to read on? Will you read with an open mind? an open heart?

You see you just might want to listen a little better when they offer advice/warnings because they have lived through some of the things you are considering, some of the things you've already done.

Parents do not warn you because they want to hurt you or stop you from having fun. When my daughters were born I never said, 'I'm going to take all their joy away and expose them to all kinds of pain.' Duh NO it was more 'Father, give them a life full of joy, health, and peace'. Show me how to teach them right from wrong, to protect them from the evil in the world and to protect them but not smother them. I want my daughters to have full, wonderful lives.'

So you see (and I'm sure deep in your heart you already know) we want to protect you, guide you away from the lies, from things we've experienced or seen our friends experience. Most of us already know the consequences of certain actions and we don't want to see our children go through it, we still remember the pain of wrong actions and words.

Some of you have chosen to be offended by this.

Some parents don't always say it in the best of tones but is it really worth turning your backs on the ones that love you the most? If you have walked away from your parents, if you have done the things they warned you against and you feel they won't forgive you - that's a LIE. You both may need to let go of some pride to get past the lie BUT please return to your family. Your parents love you no matter what you have done, no matter what you have said, you can't kill the love they have for you. You will find they have their arms and hearts open just waiting for your return. Heck I'm sure they have already forgiven you so you can bodily return to your family. Love between a parent and a child is an amazing force. I'm so very honored and thankful for my daughters and I know your parents feel the same.

Don't kid yourself (parents or children) we ALL make mistakes, we all have bad judgement calls and rotten attitudes at times. So forgiveness is a two way street, it's never just ONE person that is wrong.

My challenge to you - are you adult enough, mature enough to step forward and say, I'm sorry and I love you? You can tell the person what you are sorry for if you want but I'm sure they won't even hear anything past the

"I'm sorry", they will be so full of joy and yea lots of tears so give them a break if they can't answer back right away.

What is holding you back? Go further, think about when you become a parent (maybe you are one now). What do you want for your child(ren)? It's not that much different that what your mom and dad wanted (still want) for you is it?

One day you will be looking back and saying, 'no I wasn't perfect but I did the best I could with what I had and what I knew. And my love never died, it only grew.'

Your child will know and pick up on your emotions, they will mimic you and use your excuses. Once you have your own children you will see the many changes that take place in your priorities, what you thought was important for you to have isn't so important anymore. Your parents gave you life, you taught them unconditional love, don't shut them out now. One day you will miss them, one day your child will ask you about your life and you will remember all those times your parents were there for you, took you places they didn't care to go, bought you things while they went without and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, would do it over again! A parents love is a pretty amazing love.

Believe me, we do not want to see you hurt or unhappy but we have learned to let go and hope you return. 

And remember our Perfect Father, He is showing us the way and we all have a choice to be blessed or face the consequences of going our own way .... “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

A Marriage Journey

My husband and I are thinking about doing a video together on our marriage adventures. If we were to put several together, what would you like to hear us share?

I can tell you we've been through our share of frustrations, control, anger, tears and confusion. Even now we have something very hurtful going on in our family, but God is amazing even through this. Now 26 years later (together for 29 years), we are so very blessed with an amazing marriage. It has and will continue to withstand all the world throws at us.

We have thought about sharing our adventure of praying together. What a disaster that was in the beginning, but God even used that! We had someone about fall out of their chair when my husband shared a portion of his prayer in our 'early' days.

So with that said, please share my blog with others and leave some ideas.
Thank you!

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Mark 10:7-9