Totally cool!

I just gotta share this one...

I have always LOVED watching baptisms (and even more so when people share their testimonies too).  It's a special once-in-a-lifetime moment when someone vulnerably stands up in public and declares their faith in Jesus.  And it's a moment we should all celebrate and feel honored to witness.

Well, today my neighbor - whom I've been doing Bible study with (along with her aunt) for the last few years after she became a believer in 2020 (see here) - decided (rather spontaneously) to get baptized during a church service at the beach.  

And not only did I, her aunt, my husband, and my son get to go with to support her, but I got to get in the water with her (in my jeans, because I didn't know this was going to happen), pray with her, and help submerse her in the water too.  

Totally cool!  And I am so honored and humbled to be a part of this amazing moment in her life!

(And now we keep praying for her husband.)

Two songs for the presidential election

I posted these for the 2020 elections too, but here they are again for this election season:

A couple of Tim Hawkins songs as this election season gets under way, just for fun:

Jimmy Buffet for President

The Government Can

If you can't do anything about it, may as well have some fun with it!

Those darn price-tag stickers

 

What's marriage like?

It's like this:

The wife goes to bed before the husband and is just falling asleep - perfect comfort, perfect temperature, perfect silence - when the husband finally comes to bed.  And while he's rooting around for his pajamas with his phone's flashlight, adjusting his blankets, and shaking the bed while getting adjusted, he wakes the wife up.  

And then, since his added body heat quickly causes the bed to get a lot hotter, the wife becomes overheated and has to throw the blankets on and off again until she adjusts to the temperature change.

And then as the husband falls asleep quickly, the wife - having been thoroughly woken up now - realizes she has to go to the bathroom.  And so she gets out of bed to use the bathroom, waking herself up even more, while the husband lays there asleep - perfect comfort, perfect temperature, perfect silence, snoring gently.

Yep, that's what marriage is like.

Okay, that's kinda cute

I'm no country music fan (no offense), but I just saw this video and gotta say that it's kinda cute and catchy and a whole lotta fun: 

Songs about Whiskey from Christian singer, Anne Wilson

Listen to it before you judge it.

Calvinism for beginners

How do you help someone understand the errors, dangers, and cult-like tactics of Calvinism when they aren't even really sure yet what it is or what it teaches?  Where do you start?  

My kids know that my husband and I believe Calvinism is a corruption of God's truth and character.  They know because we left our church over it in 2019 - the church they grew up in for many years - and because we haven't stopped researching and talking... venting?... lamenting?... complaining?... about it since.

They know we want them to avoid it.  But I'm not sure how much they really understand for themselves what it is and why it's wrong... or if they would know how to recognize it if they encountered it unexpectedly in a church or book, if we weren't there to point it out and explain it.  

And so to help them (teenagers right now) understand for themselves what it teaches and why it's wrong, we recommended that they watch some Soteriology 101 videos about it.  But then after clicking on a few, I realized how overwhelming it could be to try to find clear, concise videos that would help a beginner understand the basics in a simplified, easy-to-understand-yet-comprehensive way.  Many videos about Calvinism online seem to jump right into the middle of it, assuming that you already know something about it, about its teachings, errors, use of terms/Bible verses, tactics, about what Scripture really teaches, etc.  

Stop!

I saw a meme like this the other day and thought it was great.  But they left out one of the "stops," and so I had to fix it:

For all hurting or ashamed people:

(repost) 

To anyone who's done anything they are ashamed of and who wonders if there's any hope for them ...

Come to Jesus!  Find the forgiveness and grace and healing that only He can give.  Others might turn on you and might never offer forgiveness, compassion, or mercy.  

But Jesus is running towards you, asking you to grab His hand, to let Him love you and forgive you and make you new.

(And to anyone who's been hurt by others, who's been carrying around deep heart wounds that need healing ... 

Come to Jesus!  He's waiting for you, to heal your broken heart, to give you peace and joy and life.)

Who else can you turn to?

Who else offers healing and hope like that?

Who else can fix what's broken in your life and heart and soul?

A taste of what we Christians believe

about God's grace and mercy, forgiveness and love:

Two inspiring testimonies: Jim and Rob

I found these while looking up videos on forgiveness for the next Spiritual Warfare post I'm writing (on my other blog), but I wanted to share these in their own post:

"Jim Carrey: Shocking Faith Testimony 'Suffering leads to salvation'" (5.5 minutes long)

"Comedian Rob Schneider discovers Jesus, forgiveness: 'I needed...to be home" (17.5 minutes long - Well said, Rob!)

And here's a bit more about Rob's journey, including two great comments he posted.

It's so wonderful to see hurting people come to Christ!

For my new friend who's struggling:

 Thank you so much for talking with me yesterday.  For sharing your hurts, losses, and struggles honestly.  It was a real blessing for me.  Honest, real, vulnerable people are my kind of people, the kind I respect the most.  😊

To you (and anyone else who's hurting or struggling), I dedicate some of my favorite songs, ones that help me when I'm hurting and struggling.  I've had many of those times myself.

(You might also like this post: Healing your soul from Calvinism's damage.)

From my favorite band, The City Harmonic - the band that got me through my hardest times.  Their words became my prayers when I was so broken that I didn't have my own words to pray anymore.:

Honestly (I understand this)

Fell Apart (My favorite opening line in a song, ever)

Oh, What Love (One of my all-time favorites - grace, forgiveness, mercy, healing, hope, purpose, all wrapped up in His amazing love!)

Praise the Lord (This is the key to getting through painful trials with our faith intact, even if it's a bit battered and bruised in the process.)

Here and There (My favorite line: "And if I'm barely hanging on ..."  I get that!  "Barely hanging on"... but clinging to the Lord with every last bit of strength I have.)