messymiraculousmommy

In less than 550 words, the Master Teacher Jesus narrates a powerful redemption story. This story has a hero, a villain, a seemingly unimportant character with a critical role to play, an underdog and the one who reports the big news. This story has a painful beginning, a long wait, the climax and the thought-provoking ending. This parable is found only in the Gospel according to Luke and is never lost even among around 30 parables. At different points of my life, I have been able to relate to the 5 different characters mentioned: The father who made a decision to let go of something he could not keep forever, the son who sought out his own path, the unimportant character of the son’s employer who was critical in God’s plan, the older brother who resented being the responsible one and the servant who carries the great news! This story stands out poignantly, because even if you do not relate to anyone in this story, it still has the potential to be the story of all of us. 1. ...

  Galatians 5: 1: (It is) For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.   Free from the need to worry? Free to trust! Free from a debilitating fear? Free to live abundantly! Free from sickness? Free to serve others who are sick! Free from pain? Free to accompany someone else who is in pain!   Free from a need for vindication? Free to trust in Divine Justice! Free from the desire to retaliate? Free to pray for those who will me harm! Free from hatred? Free to will and act in accordance with the eternal good of my opposers! Free from unforgiveness? Free to bless those who curse me!   Free from rage? Free to be passionate about something that bears fruit! Free from guilt? Free to experience even more of God’s love! Free from ignorance of my sin? Free to start a new way of being! Free from toxic people and environments? Free to grow in health!   Free from a long-carried ...

Rise up, Church and take your place in history TODAY!  What we do now matters for all eternity!  For the last 24 hours, the world has watched, vented and wept as the United States of America split apart with many in rage, grief, shock and dismay and many others in stupendous joy! Lifelong friends can't face each other, families are ripped apart, communities in fear of the majority group in their state. The ripple effects are felt all over the world because so many of us have friends and family in the United States. We who are called to be God's people, a royal priesthood, one Holy Nation, we rise up and take our place in history today!  1. Remember that our battle is NOT against flesh and blood. DO NOT fall into the trap of getting angry, hostile, dismayed and grieved over the countless souls who do not know Jesus and therefore cannot choose life while they are still entrapped in the kingdom of darkness. It's not their fault. Please don't be angry with them.  2. Reme...

  “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil His promises to her.” My Bible sticker called out to me with this promise from Luke 1:45.   But what exactly has the Lord promised ME?   As I looked back on my journey with the Lord, I realized that in the beginning of our relationship, His promises to me were all comforting: promises that He has good plans for me (Jeremiah 29:11), promises that He will renew my strength (Isaiah 40:31), promises that His grace is sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9). And indeed, true to His character, God has kept all these promises to me, all the time.   But in recent years, His biblical promises that seemed to hit home most deeply have been the not so comforting ones:   1.   Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12) 2.   In this world, you will have trouble. (John 16:33...

 I was once told by a livid atheist: "Forgiveness is not the prerogative of Christians."  I looked straight into his angry eyes and saw the all too familiar struggle: he knew he was wronged and he wanted justice. And he knew he was thirsty for the wrong doer's blood and he didn't like that about himself. His experience and his intellect were telling him that it would be better to forgive. He had even convinced himself he could forgive just as easily as any openly Christian person like I could. But his entire body screamed NO! I DO NOT WANT TO FORGIVE! Of course, the main reason for that was that far from being repentant, his wrong doer was smugly celebrating his wrong doing in full public view. His wrong doer was getting away with the crime and no one could stop him. As one who cared deeply for both these atheist men: the wrong doer and the wronged, I could not convey to them how to forgive each other without Christ in the picture. If you want to leave Christ out of t...

Every Easter, my childhood parish choir sang this song: " I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider fell into the sea ." And I would cringe. After all, what kind of a human being celebrates the drowning of many horses and their riders??! As I grew older, I just refused to sing that line, even as part of the choir. I wanted no part in rejoicing over anyone's death. I was a pacifist to the core before I knew what the word pacifist meant.  Obviously, I had never read the Bible and I had no idea that these were the very opening words of an actual song sung by a historical person- Miriam- after she was delivered along with her entire community from 400 years of slavery.  Miriam was born into slavery. That is all she knew. Until she stood in the waters of the river Nile as a young child and watched an incredible miracle. The daughter of the man who had ordered all Hebrew baby boys to be murdered, heard her baby brother's cry and chose to...

Growing up in a convent school, we were taught that abortion is wrong. But that's all we ever heard about being pro life. So it's easy to assume that's all there is to it. Over the years, having faced infertility and caring for our elders who couldn't care for themselves, God Himself has taught us so much more about being pro life: 1. God is the Author of Life (Acts 3:15) And only He has the moral authority as Creator (not creation) to decide the natural beginning and natural ending of human life created in His image and likeness. I am not God.  I can't create life.  And I can't decide when human life ends.  It's not just the five year long frustration of being unable to conceive that brought me to accept this. It's also the day my doctor told me that nothing else is working with me, so it's time to do IVF. We had already done our research and so I knew that it was fine to assist natural reproduction but definitely not to replace it by dissociating...