More attributes of Jesus

by Sharon O | Nov 8, 2010 | Uncategorized

Our Pastor yesterday was sharing with us as he continued the topic of ‘knowing Jesus’.
A few more of the attributes of Jesus we don’t often think about are Grace and Justice.
He was full of grace, and compassion, and kindness and forgiveness.
He was also full of Justice for He was fully God and could not tolerate sin and evil.
Pastor said, “If you read the interactions of Jesus He deals with women much differently than He deals with the men.” The reason for that was the fact that women were low in status and had little value in that culture. They were devalued and when he ministered to them he collided with the theology of the day. (And he knew that)
He saw they had value.
He saw they were needing His touch and He saw they were searching from their heart.

That brought great chaos to the leaders of the day for He was not supposed to talk to women or heal them (remember the woman who grabbed the end of his garment?) Women were valued in the presence of Jesus and that made the rulers of the day upset with him.
In John 8:2-10 Pastor said Jesus was ambushed into a situation so that the leaders of the day would see what Jesus would do and build their case against him.
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts; where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and ask her, “Woman, where are they? no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” (Pastor said there should be a question mark there because in reality the only one who stood there without sin was Jesus and he could have thrown the stone at her and he knew that)
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
GRACE…was shown to her.
The leaders of the day wanted to ambush Jesus into judging her and in the process they became the judged. Jesus declared the truth to them and he revealed to them their hearts intention of judgement. They had to have set her up in order for them to know she was in adultery so they were more guilty than she was to catch her in the act. Just as they set Jesus up they set her up too. Pastor said, “Jesus was teaching and all of a sudden in walked these men dragging a half dressed woman wrapped in bed sheets caught in the act.” How would they know without being a part of it?

Pastor said, “Don’t we wish we could know what he wrote? It must have been revealing enough for all of them to leave.” Jesus exposed their hearts of stone and condemned the ones who were accusing. Did he write down specific names… did he write down specific sins only those who read would know about? They left…one by one.
They left…one by one… which tells me he dealt with each heart individully.
Grace was shown to the woman standing near him in a bed cloth…
transparent with her shame exposed. Grace was shown to her heart.
Grace mixed with love was shown to her with compassion. Jesus said, “leave and not only leave here but leave the life you have been living. You don’t need to live that way.”

Justice was when Jesus found the temple being used wrongfully in the selling of animals and exchanging of money. Jesus was angered and drove them out removing them with force and strength. In John 2:13-20 He was God refining and cleaning out the ones who were abusing the temple for wrong purposes. He made a whip and used his anger… the anger of God against sin and forced them out of the temple. (Pastor said, “I don’t think he used his inside voice.”)
Jesus was not just a quiet gentle person.
He was God full of Grace and Justice and He used His power when He needed to.
The ending question was this:
What part of your life do you need refined and cleaned by a grace filled powerful God full of justice and strength?
Pastor said, “Jesus became the voice for the voiceless.”
The women of the ‘day’ had no voice. They had no purpose and no value. Jesus did not stay within that law he stayed within the soul searching God laws that asked questions.
Questions of the heart.
He showed compassion when it was against the rule of the day.
He challenged those who challenged him and gently cared for those who sought him out.
He was an advocate and a Judge.
Will you also make him your Lord and Savior so he can gracefully move into your heart and show you what needs to be refined and cleaned?
This is just a little something to think about today.
God in His Holiness was gentle enough to have grace towards a women standing before him in shame wrapped in a bed sheet.
What are we wrapped in?

A new week ahead…

by Sharon O | Nov 8, 2010 | Uncategorized

We went to a marriage seminar this weekend.
It was good, it was challenging, it was thought provoking and it brought a bit of tears.
The whole topic was heavy and good.
It will take me a few days to process it all.

I will share in a few days the ‘whole idea’ of the seminar.

For now I think I will just wish you a good week.
I pray it is a good one for you.
I pray that you will feel blessed and rested.
God bless you as you press in and ask him to give you a restful renewed heart
and a spirit within you that is ready for worship.
Blessings to you on a new week ahead.

A time for thanks

by Sharon O | Nov 1, 2010 | Uncategorized

November 1st.
The beginning of a new month and a new season…
it’s a time of giving thanks and pulling our hearts into a new direction.

Thanksgiving when I was growing up was actually a very special day.
In the midst of the chaos of a strange and distant home we always knew that thanksgiving was at our grandma’s house. Actually it was grandma and grandpa’s house but he was often a silent figure sitting in his upholstered rocker swivel chair next to the side table holding his coffee or snacks.
For many years grandma did all the shopping cooking and preparing.
She would shop for days and make sure all the food was ready for cooking.
The dining room table decorated with china and crystal goblets along with fancy napkins and other accessories that went along with a beautiful table. Usually there would be a wonderful fresh flower arrangement and candles near by.
I will always remember how the multi colored lighting reflected off the dining room light making the ceiling a kaleidoscope of beauty and color.
As little girls we would anticipate the day at grandma’s.
Starting our day watching the Macy’s thanksgiving day parade on the console tv. Then prepping ourselves with showers or baths and setting out nice clothes for it was not a day for jeans… it was a day for pretty outfits and hair done. (I still remember the pink foam rollers wrapped around forming curls in my very straight hair).
I will always remember the china and the crystal and the forks and spoons ‘just for’ the pickles olives and cranberries. The turkey would cook and the potatoes would boil and grandma would stir and cut and prep the olives and pickles and we would gather in the kitchen and the guys would gather in the living room. There was always ladies chatter and men’s chatter not really saying much in the process.
It is funny now for me to think back because even though the dinner was fancy and proper and wonderfully made. The conversation was ‘stilted’ and maybe not even real. As children we didn’t really know that but later as the years moved on it became more true that the tradition was just that…
dinner at grandma’s.
Not a family reunion of warmth and love.
I am not saying we didn’t love each other, it was different. It was more out of obligation than wanting to be there in a warm and welcoming setting.
In the home my husband and I have made our thanksgiving is just as fancy.
That was a rule I brought into the relationship… that holidays were to be special.
A time for celebration and remembering.
We serve on china and crystal and with matching assorted plates and bowls, we have cloth napkins matching the cloth tablecloths. It is a tradition of beauty captured by my grandma and passed down from me to our children.
The difference is the conversation and the mood.
We thank God for the beauty and the bounty and the children’s voices and the hum of soft music. We are thankful for life is truly a gift for us to enjoy and give out.
We are thankful as we look upon the faces connected to us by family history.
I remain thankful for grandma’s traditional beautiful table setting and all that she showed me.
Even the lesson to ask and listen and ask more and listen deeper.
For in the faces of family and through the blessing of the meal…
we will join our hearts together.
I pray this November will be… for new traditions… new love and new life.
What do you pray for?

It is the story

by Sharon O | Oct 29, 2010 | Uncategorized

Ann Voscamp writes a beautiful blog called ‘A Holy Experience’.
If you have never experienced her style of writing and her words from the heart I encourage you to add yourself on her blog list. You can click onto it from the emblem on the right in my favorite section.
A few weeks ago there was a writing conference in Hershey Pennsylvania called The Relevant conference. Ann was one of the speakers and so many of the ladies who attended it have been writing about their thoughts and feelings this last week. It is has been such a blessing to read them and see what God has done. Ann was just one of the many speakers who shared their hearts and their words from God to a group of ladies who were searching and who went with the hopes to improve their writing and increase their readers.
They say that is not what they learned.
It wasn’t about ‘blog readership’ it was about the Lord meeting them in a new and deeper way.
One of the blogs I read shared what Ann said to them and I am now going to share it with you.
I hope it is ok to do that.
I felt the words were so real and so true they must be shared whether you know who Ann is or not. This blog is often about healing and God’s ability to take what was broken and make it whole again. Sometimes it is different but most of the time is returns to the question, “how are you doing with God?”
This is what the blog writer shared from Ann:
You don’t have to come to the keyboard knowing what you are going to say. It comes from God to us to heal us and then through our story to heal another. Story is the way the Spirit of God binds our wounds. When these words find their mark. God heals two hearts ~ yours and mine.

When I read this I said ‘YES’ to myself.
That is what this blog has been for… to share stories of hope and healing.
To share that we must often step back and think about the journey we have been walking and living before we can press forward.
To share what God is doing in and through the power of words~ good and bad.
Someday I want to go to the relevant conference but not to go and find out how to increase blog numbers or readers or visits. But to go and find out how to focus in and draw deeply from the well of God’s grace and mercy and wisdom and love. So that can be shared in a deep and meaningful way to those who read.
This blog has always been God’s.
It is not about me and I hope it has not reflected a ‘me’ attitude.
Some things shared might be personal but the intention is always to challenge the readers into a new and deeper ‘way’ of thinking.
I hope it does… I hope it challenges… I hope it encourages…I hope it shows a peaceful gentle spirit who ‘sits’ with me in the chair as I write and listen and then push ‘publish’.
The prayer from my heart is give the reader ‘something to think about’ and give God the glory in the process.
If that ever changes and the story becomes different.
I will close down the blog and end it.