I Am Reminded

What a fascinating day Wednesday was.  Niece had about 2,000 questions concerning her new life  and walk in God and yeah, it was great for me to even remind myself of a few things.  So, no this is not reflective of Niece, but of my examples I used to talk her through her questions.

We all have a past without God, so given that, how did that affect where I should be with God?
Well, if you were 12 when you discovered the real God, then you will have a rich full life walking in His Spirit if you are able to.  If you were 40, well, you will still be walking in His Spirit and still doing what He wants.  Difference?  We place a value on that lost time, God does not seem to hold that against us.  By extention:

I have made a real mess of things and now He hates me.
Show me the one whom does not fail, and I will show you a liar, with apologies to Milton Berle.
We all fail, we can thank that darn human nature for those failures, they may grow rare across time but they will be there until we are perfected through death.
So, you decided to take charge of your life and live it without His input?  Welcome to humanity.  But, through constant confession and acceptance of his forgiveness, without condition, we continue to move forward in our walk with Him.  The trick is eventually being able to let go and allow Him to lead.....  It is called walking by faith and not very popular anymore.

So, I walked my walk and did not listen and now God will not use me.
Contrary to popular belief, God knew your failures long before you were born.  He knew what it would take to bring you to Him in real repentance, He knew what it would take for you to turn it ALL over to Him, He knew everything - but He allows you the freedom to really mess up and then welcome you back and gently move you forward.
I like to compare God to sort of like a GPS system.  You are told your path, you deviate and it recalculates what it will take to get you where you need to be.  Mess up again?  Recalculate again.  God, is very flexible, His goal is to assist you in getting you where He needs you.  And that may very well be over a rough road, without which you might have been of no use what so ever!

No He can not use me now!
I hear this one a great deal!  And the answer is, "Really?". 
You are a teenage expectant mother, and think your testimony will have no impact on other teenagers?  I have seen an entire church brought to its knees by a pregnant teen, whom took over the stage to confess, apologize and ask forgiveness.  Think that had an impact?  Wow!  Conversely, she could have started a ministry reaching out to other teens, helping them cope as she had to learn how to do.  Two approaches, both valid.

I want the "forget it all" pill.
Sorry, if it existed, I would taken that one!  We have our memories, we have our past, we are stuck with them.  But, the point is not be ruled by those memories or that past.  With time, they can grow dim, perhaps even forgot, but it is amazing how little it takes to flash them once again before our mind's eye.  Return of the condemnation, return of the self loathing, return of the need for Him.  So, I am not going to be defined by the horrible and incredibly violent person I was before I became a Christian.  Equally, I will never forget what I have done to others - I want to remember their faces and their pain - not to let it define me but to always remind myself what I am capable of apart from God.  Equally, I want to remember the freedom in the eyes of each person I have led to the Lord.....

So, I am reminded.
We all fail.
We all have the ability to agree with God concerning that failure.
We all have the ability to turn from our past and walk a new direction.
We all have the ability to be anything our God desires of us: Free, Bond or Slave - His choice.
We all have the ability to bring either shame or glory to His name.
We all have the ability to serve one another in love, apathy or hate.
We all have the ability to walk His path, with His assistance.
We all have the ability to become nothing for His sake.
We all have the ability to wear the crown of the Martyr or the Conqueror.
We will all stand before Him one day, show Him what we did with what we got.....

My mentors, a lifetime ago: Bill Bright, (i forgot your first name) Innes, Jess Moody, Francis Schaeffer, Dale Swanson - all invested heavily in the worse scum of the earth (me).  What they showed me was not a philosophical God bound up in books, but a living breathing God - whom is there, whom is all powerful, whom is very, very real.

And it has taken the beating I have endured across the past 18 months for me to say, "ENOUGH!", and take a stand once again for the real God, not the one of this age.  Yeah, not real popular with my family now, not real popular with my church, etc.  But, I was not called to be popular - I was called to be a witness for Him.  Sure, I have fouled up with regularity, but I am not going to let those failures define, it is over.  I have a walk to walk, a path to be on, and I feel God's hand pushing ever so gently in directions that I fear but I recognize it - I just have no idea how to respond currently. 

Other than on my good knee.....