The Word and His Pen

 I feel God pressing on my heart to write this post.  Love, I believe is a mistranslated and misunderstood word in a majority of today's world. This leads to the question, if there is a truly loving God, or if God really loves us why would He allow certain things to happen? When perhaps we should question our knowledge of the situation and our definition of the word love. One argument against Christianity is that if God is a truly loving God, He would not have allowed His Son to die, especially not to be crucified. True love looks past the pain of the moment, the temporary situation, to the ultimate result.  Another example of that would be a toddler wants to watch whatever show she wants to watch on tv. Would loving her just let her watch whatever she wants to? Then after she has watched whatever she desires, she may wake up screaming and crying from nightmares she had during her nap. She may be unhappy when peramiters are given to what she watches, but love doesn't want...

 Why is it important that we know who we are? Why does it matter? Why is there a fight with identity? I think nearly everyone has experienced identity struggles at one point or another. Or everyday. It's a huge thing. Insecurity and confusion can plague all ages. Though I think it's effects are most seen in teenagers. We are not children yet not adults. Insecurity and confusion run rampant in these years. The results are suicide, hurting self or others, running away, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and much more. So much pain.  Currently, in America, we are living in the age where it is said, pushed rather, that everyone should just do what feels right to them. How frightening. Flesh running rampant. I could easily go on with this subject for a long time, but the current spiritual state of certain countries is not the main focus of this blog post. It is only a piece. Because it does tie into the identity battle.  However if the current (albeit unmoral) philosophy i...

I’m going to be working on a series about identity, its importance and the challenges of finding who you are.  Who are you?  Is it a simple question? Maybe. But here’s the facts. Most people today are extremely confused about who they are. When you know who you are, and you are confident and secure in your identity it affects how you live.  What do you root your identity in? Who do you say you are? Let’s work through the layers with a worldview perspective. Who am I? Say someone walks up to me and says, who are you? The conversation may go something like this.  Friend: Who are you? Me: My name is Grace Miller.  Friend: That’s your name. Are you merely a name? Who are you? (This is when people may start listing credentials and qualifications.) Me: No… I’m a high school student…  Friend: That’s something you do. Who are you? Me: I am the eldest child to my parents and a oldest sister to my sister. I’m one of the youngest grandchildren to both sets of my grand...

 Moving to America naturally has brought along a lot of culture shock.  Culture shock is very hard to deal with. As I grew up we only visited America every couple years, just for a few months, then we would go back home. So, American culture is largely foreign to me. Moving to a foreign culture that is so vastly different than the one I grew up in is very hard! There are so many frustrating days and instances that make me just want to go home where things were easier. Where things made sense. There are days of struggling, frustration, crying, and wanting to go home. There are learning days where different things are explain to the point where they finally click in my brain a little bit more. And then there are days where I have to make choices about which cultural mindset I want to work in, often I choose a mix. Because both cultures and countries have their flaws, which is the perk of mixing cultures, you can pick the best of both worlds.  Anyway, one big layer of cultur...

Easter Sunday our church was able to meet all together in person. The worship was fantastic, but in the midst of it a thought struck me that leads to this blog post. In the midst of wonderful worship there was a tiny fraction of sadness for me. I can’t clap. Back home worship was very energetic, drums, clapping, dancing, and loud singing. So that is a big part of what I’m used to and for now with a paralyzed arm I can’t clap. So, that was one of the times that I miss having both hands. I use the American Sign Language sign for applause which is to raise your hand straight up and turn your wrist back and forth. But it’s not the same as clapping.  So, that thought led me to this question. How many things are constantly taken for granted?  I’m going to narrow that down to what I’m asking myself. What have I taken for granted?  Because if we were going to look at the broader question truly, it is common in this moment where I am, for life to completely be taken for granted. W...

 So, this post might be a little bit late, but only a little.  Easter. The Son of God coming down to earth to bring the Kingdom of God to earth, died on a cross, and rose again three days later.  So what does that mean? What does it mean today? How did it change the world? How did the Son of God change the world by dying and coming to life again? A few thousand years before that humans chose sin over what God told us to do. When we took on sin it made a barrier between the natural relationship we had with God. God being holy separates Himself from sin.  For a few thousand years sin and darkness ruled the earth but the Light of God was always present even in the smallest of ways.  Then it was time for God to send His only Son to die for the children who had left their Father and sold themselves into slavery to darkness. We, human beings, had unknowingly given ourselves over to darkness. Darkness held us as slaves.  God did not want the children that He lovin...

 Thud. Thud. Thud. Then the ground shook. I woke up with a gasp and the shaking stopped. For a moment I was confused. Where was I? Where was Jesus? Then everything came flooding back with painful force. “Oh…” I moaned aloud as tears sprung to my eyes anew. Perhaps too loud. I looked around but the guards were nowhere to be seen.  Why had the ground been shaking? I looked up at the sky. The stars were fading, and the sky was turning a soft gray before dawn.  I took a deep breath, and another. Then I looked around cautiously. I saw nothing different even though the ground had been shaken. So, I stood up slowly, groaning slightly with the pain of a tense and bruised body. “It’ll be over with soon.” I muttered shakily to myself. I carefully looked about once more. No one was around. I need to get this over with quickly. I cannot stand much more pain.   I took a deep breath and began climbing up the tree to a sturdy forked branch about midway up the tree. I paused on...