Syria... seriously!

This will be a relatively short post. As an american citizen it is hard to see what goes on in the rest of the world because we are so absorbed in what we are doing in our own little corner of it. Most people do not understand international politics. Fortunately, my sister keeps up to date on things of that nature, she is a history buff past and present and possible future. However, our current president, Barak Obama, is pushing to strike a blow at a country for a chemical weapons strike that was preformed against it's own citizen. No one is 100% sure which side launched the weapon and it shouldn't really matter. The country is in the middle of a civil war. We should not be involved, but since we have already supplied weapons to the rebels we technically are. I was not for that move. I'm VERY MUCH so opposed to this one. I have contacted my representative from my congressional district and voiced my negative response to the possible strike against Syria as have MANY people in the US. No one here wants another war. We were promised, I did not vote for our current president, by this man that he would remove our presence from the Middle East, now we are sending more troops because this 'anti-war' president wants war. Please, those who read this from other countries, note the majority of the American populace do not... DO NOT want war. If we were to intervene I would prefer it would be in the giving aid and opening our gates to the refugees, not ending more lives.


DON'T be Silent

Leigha Cabrera

Things that make you go hmmm.

Tonight my son got out of bed and came to the kitchen rubbing the sleep from his eyes and asking for a small snack. I obliged and got him a small bowl of cereal. He ate it quietly on my lap and drank some water while we cuddled. As I sang him back to sleep I realized how much I miss rocking him in the rocking chair while I gave him his bottle (I nursed for nine months then I just couldn't keep up). I remember sitting in that rocking chair with him and praying for him as I held him to my heart while he slept. I almost always fell asleep and woke up when my daughter would come in and ask when I was going to put her and her sister to bed. Oh the small things. :) Don't worry I was never out for long and his bedtime was an hour before the girls so I had plenty of time for them.

It's those small things that seem insignificant in our lives that touch us the deepest. In retrospect I can't believe how much I miss that half hour to forty five minutes of time that was just me and my little guy. This little man who is exactly like my husband in every single way. They both laugh and smile the same and I just LOVE it. Then my son will give me looks like his oldest sister and my heart leaps with joy to see the sibling similarities.

He is a rough and tumble kind of kid, just like daddy, but inside he needs to be held and cuddled and hugged and kissed (just like daddy). He loves one on one time and follows his daddy around like the most precious puppy that ever existed. I wasn't expecting him. He was my surprise pregnancy, but it is the absolute best surprise in my entire life. His sisters were both planned, but in one day BOOM everything was different. I needed him. I needed his silliness and how he tickles you to apologize then flashes his perfect little smile that makes you melt. I needed his stubbornness and how he mimics my "no no" and "ah ah ah" when he doesn't want you to take away the cell phone he's been playing on for an hour.

Yes, my son is one of a kind. He'll dance to music and pass a soccer ball just to get your attention for a moment. It's these small and amazing things that are easy to miss, but important to recognize. Thank you Lord for my son. I don't want my life any other way! I just can't believe he'll be three soon.

Please note my son asked me to shave his head like his daddy's. When I did I got the most interesting surprise when I realized he and daddy have the same bumps and same head shape! I love it!!!

Just a piece of paper?

Marriage. Any marriage, just marriage in general is such a subject of epic proportions today that I have to say we are very flippant about it. I have heard quite a few people, and the number is on the rise, say that marriage is just a piece of paper. They could not be more wrong.

A marriage certificate is a piece of paper that is used by the local, state, and federal governments for tax purposes. It verifies that a man and a woman (and in several states now same sex couples) have chosen to live as one. One household, one income, one family. It is legally binding (look up bind in the dictionary, it has several definitions that prove interesting). Divorce is messy. Normally that is the case and it takes a lot of rigamarole to get through one. So... marriage is JUST a piece of paper. No. Wrong.

I can't make arguments with anyone.
They don't work.
Everyone has an excuse as to why they think that.
It comes down to one simple fact.
Sex.
Sex is so common now that marriage seems superfluous.
Marriage is more than sex and living under the same roof.

Marriage is simply this.
Two people (whom the government no longer defines as a man and woman) who come together to form a new family apart from the ones they were apart of.
It is a public statement to family, friends, government, and TOTAL STRANGERS that you have committed yourself to that other person, hopefully, until death you two part legally, physically, mentally, emotionally, and yes spiritually. This commitment is sealed with a kiss, literally, and signified by the exchanging of rings that says to everyone in the world that you are committed for life to someone else.

Commitment is more than a piece of paper.
I'm wrong?
Then why did the LGBT community FIGHT so hard for their marriages to be legally recognized by the local, state, and federal governments? They obviously feel that it's more than a piece of paper.

Why?
Because it IS more.
Don't believe me?
Ask one of them why they fought so hard to make it legal for them.

Just sayin'
Leigha

(PS with all this being said I do want to point out that I am a proponent of traditional marriage. This doesn't mean I am anti-gay. I believe what I believe and what I believe is this, God made us all in His image. He gave us a free will in order to choose whether or not we would serve Him. After all it is not true love if it is forced. I have chosen to be a Christian. Others have not. This does not mean God loves me more. God loves every human being on this planet the same.)

What Love is.

In Galatians 5 verse 22 Paul outlines the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God. This same Holy Spirit is what God sent to Earth after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension took place in order to guide the Christians as they go through life. The first fruit mentioned is Love. OH my what a fruit! That is probably the most potent and sought after 4 letter word in the English language and of course it's infinite translations across the globe most of which are not 4 letters. But I digress. The meaning is the same and that is what is so important.

Now I'm not talking about the selfish I want you please want me back sort of love, I'm talking about true unyielding, unassuming, selfLESS, undying, always forgiving, consuming, beat back the lie of loneliness type of love. That is what Love is. That is the type of love people will spend their whole life looking for. Some people find it, some people never do, but don't stop searching for it, and still others give it up for a myth. It's real. It is very real. Christians should know it well, but we don't. Many of those who give up on finding such love claim Christ.

Now let me give you an example of this type of Love. There is a pastor, his name is Saeed Abedini, he is a Christian and he is in prison in Iran because of his faith. He has been beaten to within an inch of his life. He has been hospitalized and allowed to regain some of his strength, but he was returned to prison and has probably been poisoned either on purpose or because of his state of health his immune system can't handle life in prison. Now he is coughing up blood and will be fasting along side his muslim inmates as they celebrate Ramadan, which is a high holy Islamic holiday through which they fast and pray. Even though he is in the worst situation he could possibly be in he has spoken of Jesus to his fellow inmates and some have become Christians. He will be praying along side those who have beaten him and as he kneels beside them I'm sure he will be praying for them. That is Love.

(I would like to note that this man is an American and so is his wife who is desperately trying to get him back to the States to be with her and their children. Please pray for them.)

He is in the worst of the worst and yet he prays. He reaches out to those men around him and tells them about Jesus and how much they are loved by Him even though the mock and hit. Corre Tin Boom, Richard Wurmbrand, and others like them were prisoned for being Christians and treated to the worst atrocities that man can inflict on each other and yet... they prayed. I know they struggled. They tell you in their writings they struggled and saw their friends fail and yet... they prayed for their captors out of Love. Why? How? How can you pray good things for people who are treating you so bad? Jesus came to save the world through this Love and we beat him, mocked him, beat him more, nailed him on a tree, and hung him in the air to slowly suffocate to death and GOD didn't strike us down because of the LOVE he has for HIS creation and the sacrifice that had to be made so we could KNOW that Love.

Love has nothing in common with lust or sex.

This is what Love is. Love is a verb. Love is the action of placing others in front of yourself without loosing yourself. Love is giving without expecting. Love is overlooking the faults and finding the good. Love is being there even if you aren't wanted. Love acts when others refuse. Love sees past the faults. Love does not care about differences.

Love is joy. Love is peace. Love is patience. Love is kindness. Love is gentleness. Love is faithfulness. Love is self control. Paul even calls it the greatest.

I honestly have no better way to sum it up than 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes,what is in part disappears. 

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

As a Christian and as a wife and mother I search and seek this type of love. When I became better aware of all that it brings and stopped fighting for everything that kept me from knowing it... it changed me... and I pray that it keeps changing me because what is on the other side, even from a distance, looks pretty darn good. 

Don't be Silent

Leigha

Well, well, well, what should the title be?

I hope everyone out there is doing well today! I just wanted to tell you guys how much I enjoy writing. I love it! To write something is to experience my imagination manifested in a real way. Giving people a glimpse inside the ponderings of my mind is such a thrill. When I write I try so very very hard to give you the absolute best of what I am looking at, but at the same time leaving enough out so that you can fill in the gaps with your own mind. By doing so I am stretching everybody's creativity muscles. This is fun. 

Please note there is a difference in my writing to entertain style and writing to inform style, I like both, but I'm talking about my writing to entertain style right now. 

I have several projects that are completed, several in process, and several that are just ideas on a page to wait until their time comes. I would absolutely love to write professionally and bring in income from what I do, but right now it's just an aspiration. I do believe that one day I will, but very possibly not in the context that I am seeing for it. God's plans are after all His own and I've prayed that he guide me down the path that he wants me to take. 

It's not a crazy in depth search your soul blog post today; more of an in case you didn't know. Writing is such sweet satisfaction. I don't truly consider myself an artist or artistic. I'm just a scribbler, scratching away at my paper stack trying to bring a smile to someone's face. I think that that is important, making people smile and giving them a moment of happiness. Hopefully that moment will turn into 2 or 3 and then more. How about you? Do you like making people smile? Do you like having someone give you that opportunity to smile? I'd love to know.  (: 

Leigha

We've got it wrong... so very very wrong.

Why? Why does the church in the US and probably in other 1st world countries have it all wrong? Well, during some pretty in depth prayer time God revealed some important things to me and wanted me to share them with the as many people as I can. I blog. I feel it is ineffectual, but still, I blog.

First off my father, who is a pastor, has been preaching on prayer. Prayer is an amazing thing. I've have, as recently as Tuesday of this week, experienced prayer answered and pretty quickly I might add. This is not always the case. You can pray for years about something before God answers it and it normally is not exactly what you were expecting, sometimes better, sometimes no. Anyway, back to dad. His series on prayer has been eye opening and challenging and I've loved it ever so much.

One of the sermons was on praying without ceasing, at least that is what stuck out to me. Now I pray. I pray over my food, over my kids before they go to bed, when I read my bible, and if someone needs prayer I will pray for them, but without ceasing? No, I don't do that. Well... I didn't. BUT something clicked while dad was preaching. Something deep and revealing and true. I WANT to pray. It's easy to pray without ceasing. Why? Because God will lead you in small prayers for various people or the same people throughout the day. I'm not perfect at it yet, but I'm praying I get better and I know I will. Why? This is the kind of prayer God likes to answer pretty quick because we are asking Him to give us a greater desire to communicate with HIM. THAT'S what He wants. He wants us to want and yern and desire to talk to Him. Because He loves us.

So, Leigha, what does all this have to do with what God showed you about the church in the US? A whole lot! We don't pray unselfish prayers for others like we should. We don't practice or preach the fruit of the Spirit like we should. We pray for our finances and our kids and our kids college or for a better job or all the mundane things in our lives that are good for us to pray for, but don't really improve our lives as Christians. Our growth has been stunted and we ain't gettin any better. THEN we see how the world is living and we shake our heads and our fingers at them and say "No, no, no. You can't do that." And they stick their tongues out at us and respond, "Whatever. I do what I want."

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5: 12-13 "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. 'Expel the wicked man from among you.'"

In Matthew 7:1-2 it CLEARLY states, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." and in verse 6 is says, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." (PLEASE NOTE: Jesus spoke in metaphors that were well understood in the day. I am not calling non-Christians 'dogs' or 'pigs' it is meant to say do not take things of value and put them were they are not valued)

Matthew 7:6 really jumped out at me. I treasure and value the word of God and His truth. I try very hard to live by the values and statutes given to us by Christ while he was on earth and the instruction given to us in the Bible. I fail... wow... I really fail, but I'm saved not perfect. Anyway, we can not, I repeat, CAN NOT hold those who are not Christian's to the same standard we are SUPPOSED to be holding ourselves to. To that 'enth' as Christians we should not be judging our brothers and sisters in Christ unless we are weighing their actions against the truth of God. THEN we need to get on our knees and say, "Lord, so and so seems to be struggling with this. Provide a way for them to have victory over it in Jesus name" Do so in LOVE (the first fruit of the Spirit) so that they can beat it back with a stick and GROW, God will direct them to help if and when they need it. As for non-Christians, we should be praying simply that they may come to see the love Christ has for them and for them to choose to follow Him and become a Christian (we can pray for other things as well, but this should be our primary prayer). GOD DOES NOT SEND PEOPLE TO HELL!!! HE WANTS US ALL TO BE WITH HIM IN HEAVAN! HELL WAS CREATED TO PUNISH SATAN AND HIS DEMONS, NOT HUMANS. We can address the rest that goes along with that later. It just needs saying.

Here is where it all gets tied into a neat little bow. As Christians we have preached against sin and judged others and so judged ourselves. God will measure it against us. We have been living the same way as those 'outside' the church and not repented and have so judged ourselves. God WILL measure it against us. WE are at fault. NOT non-Christians. WE have sinned against THEM. WHAAAAA?
Yes, WE have sinned against THEM. We preach and preach and preach and for what? NOTHING. They've heard it. They hate us. Our religious fervor is just like Shakespeare wrote...

...a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing. — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

People don't want a religion that points out all their bad faults and then condemns them if they don't accept it and writes them off. How pompous are we? We are all the same. Blackened selfish sinners with no hope and no help unless Christ is allowed to enter and clean it up. We have to show people the fruits of the Spirit in our daily lives the ones talked about in Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is no law."

Pass the word. Jesus wants you to have love and joy and peace, he wants you to experience patience and kindness, and faithfulness, and he wants to give you self control. He wants to love you and bring you into paradise to spend eternity where there is no pain or tears. He wants to start relieving that pain while you are still on earth. How bout it? Think you might be interested in that? I was. It's turned out to be the best thing ever. I don't regret it. 

I can't be silent, please don't you be silent.

Leigha

Something occurred to me

It did... something occurred to me. I was doing my daily devotions and I realized the thing I've been praying for and begging God for was right in front of me. I wanted to tell people about Him and Jesus. My answer was my blog. I have almost no hits, but people do stumble across it from time to time. Some of them even like what I write, especially my vampire story. If you haven't read it, please do, I think you might just enjoy it. Anyway. I wanted to write to you about what I learned today while reading in the Bible.

The book of Romans Chapter 4 Verse 25- Chapter 5 verse 1 reads:

'He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.'

Now what exactly does that mean? Basically if you believe that Jesus lived and died and that he is the Son of God sent here to do just that and if you accept that truth and not only believe in it but decide to LIVE in it that you will, no matter what, gain peace with God, which also means peace in your soul. Who wants to feel true unyielding peace? I do! and I have felt it and feel it from time to time. It never leaves, but because life and selfish desires and ambitions crowd in I loose sight of it sometimes, but it's never far and always returns.

 God did not send Jesus to judge or condemn. My dad said in his sermon on Sunday 'God loves people so much that he HATES to be away from them' and it's so true. God sent Jesus to earth in order that he would have a way to reconnect with you. True, honest Christianity that Christ outlined for us is very simple 'Love the Lord your God and serve him only and love your neighbor as yourself.'

I'm human. I failed. A LOT.

I was judgmental and harsh. I felt puffed up because of my salvation. I. Was. Wrong. It is not my place to cast judgement. It's God's. It IS my place to tell you how much He loves you and wants to be able to communicate on a one on one basis with you. I hear him. He does talk to those whom he loves (everyone). He doesn't want to condemn you to hell. He wants to give you more life and peace and hope than you ever dreamed of. So how about it? Does true, honest Christianity sound that bad? Are you curious now?


Leigha