Category: Faith

when life gets in the way of you and god atozmomm.com

How NOT to Feel Guilty When Life Gets in the Way

by atozmom, posted in Faith

To say this year has been strange would be a graniose understatement. Everyone is coping the best they can and in different ways. And it seems as if things change on a daily basis. Making plans has become futile it seems. Some people have cancelled plans to go and see family and friends. Some people have hardly left the house. Others have moved states or even left the country to flee the chaos that life has been.

In the midst of COVID-19, living your life, dealing with your job (or your job loss), taking care of your kids (maybe even schooling them at home for the first time), and still doing all of your chores and some of your activities at least, you may have forgotten to pray every night because you are worried about what your future looks like. It may have been a while since you’ve opened the Bible because you truly don’t feel like it.

Most of us have been banned from attending church, further pushing us away from God and pushing Him our of our minds (no, attending church online is just not the same community that God intended). The world is against growing with God (which it always has been, but it’s infinitely harder to do so now).

DON’T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT NOT GROWING WITH GOD!

Life has gotten in the way of your growth with God, and I’m here to tell you that it’s okay. God knows everything. He knows your heart. He knows your soul. He knows your intent. He most definitely know about this COVID virus and what it’s done to our world.

We all move through times in our life where we are extremely close to God and where we are far away. It’s okay to be far away. You don’t need to beat yourself up over it.

One of the best things about God is that He is there when you are ready. He knows you’ll turn back to Him. And He patiently waits. He forgives you. So forgive yourself.

Do what you have to do to mentally, emotionally, financially, and physically survive this pandemic. THEN, God will be there.

you breathe because of god's grace atozmomm.com

God & Coronavirus

by atozmom, posted in Faith

“There are two great certainties about things that shall come to pass – one is that God knows, and the other is that we do not know.” (Spurgeon)

“You do not even know what will happen tomorrow.” James 4:14

“If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:15

We live by God’s grace alone.

The uncertainty in life should make you do good, not just speak good.

do all children go to heaven atozmomm.com

Do Children Go to Heaven?

by atozmom, posted in Faith

It’s always a tragedy when children die. After all, parents are supposed to die before their children, not the other way around.

Parents then wonder:

Is my child in heaven?

The Bible has a partial answer:

1 Corinthians 7:14: “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your young children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”

Thus, the children of a Christian parent are saved, at least until they come to an age of personal accountability (which may differ for each child). However, we have no similar assurance for the children of parents who are not Christians.

Furthermore, David lost a child seven days after his birth. His response assures us that, yes, indeed, children of believers go to heaven:

“But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23). David was fully confident that he would meet his son in heaven. This passage is a powerful indication that babies and young children who pass from this world will go to heaven.

All children, even young ones, are born under sin and are not innocent. It is God’s mercy that allows them into heaven.

God is good, just, and full of mercy and love. He wants what’s best of us, even in heaven. Believe in Him; the rest will work itself out.

Bible Reading Plans!!

by atozmom, posted in Faith

Image result for reading bible

To help kick-start your desire to stay in the Word over the summer, I’ve compiled some great bible summer reading plans.  Feel free to return to this page and dive in whenever you have a moment and don’t feel bad if you miss some days.  These are just quick guides to help you!  Happy reading!

This one is to read the book of Psalms in June, July, and August:  HERE

This one is more of a year long one but it’s got a plan for different books of the Bible so you can pick a month and do whichever you want:  HERE

This one is just 5 minutes a day for 5 days a week.  Again, pick and choose which months:  HERE

Finally, my favorite link of all. This one has a bunch of different Bible reading plans based off of themes.  You can go chronological or Christmas or in order. Great choices: HERE

If Jesus Does NOT Rise, We Do Not Rise

by atozmom, posted in Faith

Jesus must rise from the dead in order for us to be justified before God.  Jesus’s resurrection is God’s stamp of approval on Jesus’s sacrifice for us all.  God accepts the sacrifice for us.  We can now rise as well!  If God had not accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, it would be eternal damnation for us all.

Romans 4:16-25

Ponder the following quote:

I Am His and He is Mine

by atozmom, posted in Faith

Happy Easter!

Today I’d just like to encourage all of you to cultivate a heart of gratitude.  For what God did by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins.  Ask for nothing today but only praise Him.  After all, you don’t need anything else.

Know God through Faith.

Grow a circle of believing friends.

Discover God’s calling for your life.

Make a difference in this world.

I am God’s and He is mine!

God bless each and every one of you!

New Year’s Resolution: Read the Bible

by atozmom, posted in Faith

I found this nugget on Fox News this morning and had to share.  Its argument for reading the Bible is the best I’ve ever read.  So consider this a challenge to read the entire Bible in 2015.  No other resolution will change your life as much.

God bless!

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/12/26/resolved-read-bible-in-2015/?intcmp=features

Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and the Truth Chasers Club

by atozmom, posted in Faith

I normally don’t promote other products or ministries or otherwise on this site.  But this one I will make an exception.

(Note:  I was not approached by this organization to write this or otherwise promote them as I often am nor was I offered any compensation in any way.  This is a review and an opinion based on my experience and should be viewed and read as such).

I was told by a friend about 3 years ago that there’s a club called the Truth Chasers Club where kids receive bible studies in the mail.  She got me the information and I enrolled myself and my kids in it.  Ever since then, we have been receiving bible studies in the mail.  I have since dropped due to time constraints, but my kids LOVE it.  They love getting mail and they love doing their lessons.

The lessons are based on age and grade so the younger kids have less reading and more hands-on activities such as coloring and book marks.  As the children age, the lessons increase in size and content as well.  Every time the kids receive their old lesson in the mail with hand-written notes and it graded along with the new lesson.  You only receive a new lesson when you’ve returned the old one (unless you are like us and you lose yours–then after a month or so they send you a duplicate one!).

I normally don’t pay much attention to these as the kids do them on their own, but this last lesson is the one that has prompted me to write and recommend them.  The lesson was on death and what happens to a believer when he or she dies.  It compares the body to a house in which the soul lives and when you die, the house is buried but the soul immediately goes to be with Christ.  It is accompanied by a lovely illustration of this.  It was awesome in terms of explaining death to little kids, which is always a challenge!

These lessons are FREE!  Let me say that again:  these lessons are free (much like BSF or Bible Study Fellowship) as their mission is to promote Jesus to children around the world.

I visited their website (www.cefonline.com) and they are doing much more than the Truth Chasers Club to promote Christ.  They train children and adults in evangelism and also do after school Bible clubs known as the Good News Club.  I cannot attest to any other part of their work except for the Truth Chasers Club for that is all I have experience with.  However, they have been around since 1937 and seem to have a great reputation for spreading God’s Word and the Good News.

That being said, they have encountered resistance and concern from parents ministering to their children (which CEF says they always have permission from the parents to do).  I have no opinion on this matter as I don’t know much about it.  However, all of this is recent and in today’s increasingly secular society and the push against Christ, you have to approach it as such.  In my mind, you can’t do enough to expose kids to Christ.  Again, I have no opinion on any other work CEF does other than the Truth Chasers Club.

In conclusion, I do recommend the Truth Chasers Club.  I have seen nothing that goes against what the Bible says as truth and my kids love it.  It has valuable lessons and fun kid activities.  And it’s free!  Just another compliment to your Biblical teachings at home and at your church, much like BSF is intended to be.  Invaluable if you live in remote areas far from church and community or lacking such amazing bible studies as BSF.  Check them out and decide for yourself at www.cefonline.com  You can enroll online.  Let me know what you think!

Ever Notice Your Calling is Not Your Choice?

by atozmom, posted in Faith, Life

I’d love to take the path most taken: put my kids in school, work out at the gym, sip coffee with friends, go shopping, take vacations, and lead a normal, suburban life.

But I can’t.

And I don’t have a choice about it.

I must follow where God leads and that’s not exactly the way I’d go and certainly not the easy route that’s for sure.  I’m called to write:  a path full of rejection which I’m not good at taking.  I’m called to homeschool–a bit out of the mainstream but growing by leaps and bounds as more and more parents realize what a classroom full of 30 kids is really like compared to 3 kids.  I’m called to be a wife and mother and care-taker of animals.  And I’m sure I’m called to other things; I just can’t see them at the moment.

Not that my life is hard.  In fact, I’m very, very blessed.  I have a hard-working husband who supports me in all I do.  I have wonderful, healthy kids who are growing up strong in the Lord.  I have 2 dogs and 2 cats to care for.  I have a home, cars, God, and love.

Yet for those who are blessed, more is expected.  I am called for more and I can’t quit until it’s achieved.  My calling is also not my own.  I don’t think I would have chosen it.  In fact, I know I wouldn’t have.  I would have chosen to be born to royalty (or at least to millionaires) and led a cushy life for the my brief time here on Earth.

But I wasn’t.

I was called to lead an ordinary life in a not-so-ordinary fashion.

All because of God within.

It drives me, propels me, forces me to do so.

Even when I have no desire to.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20:  “…You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”

I am God’s.  And I’d have it no other way.