History Doesn't Have to Repeat Itself!

Isaiah 43:19~ "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." God gave me this verse several times last year through his word, christian radio, in conversations with others and in books I was reading.   It seemed like everywhere I turned this verse was starring me in the face!  It wasn't until a few days ago that He allowed me to understand just how He is going to use this verse to do some pruning, uprooting and cultivating in my family tree.


We've all  heard the expression, "history repeats itself".  That is not only true in world history but also in the our family history.  Another truth is that one nation or one person can stop history from repeating itself.  God has been revealing some things to me lately in my own family tree that I believe He wants to redeem.  I'm just one person, but with the Lord as my Shepherd and His Holy Spirit directing my footsteps I believe I can change the shape of my family tree for generations to come!


This year I've spent some time experiencing God as "Revealer".  Some of the things he has revealed have been joyful, some painful, but all good.  Sometimes in order to move forward we must look back.  In the song "Safe" by Natalie Grant are these words: " I'm not gonna hide, I'm not gonna run away.  I'll uncover the scars and show you every mistake.  Your love is mending my blisters and the bruising shame.  Here with you I am safe." In order for God to heal our blisters and bruising shame we must be honest, open and transparent with Him.  It is then He will gently begin to reveal & heal us from the inside out!   Pain is part of the package but God is right there applying His Word which is like a balm, a healing ointment. He desires for His children to be whole. God is in the redemption business, but it will require our cooperation! 

So as I have looked back at my own family history; God in His love and mercy has revealed and uncovered some things that He wants me to stop, so history doesn't repeat itself in my grand children's lives.  When I was first saved an older woman in Christ told me I could start a new legacy with my family.  I didn't have to continue in the legacy left to me by those who went before.  We began a new legacy when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Yet the legacy doesn't stop there, part of building that new legacy is taking stock of the past and learning from history in order to not repeat it.  We have to live intentionally not haphazardly in order to create a new family tree.  One that is holy and healthy.  To leave a legacy for those coming after us.  A legacy that is rooted and grounded in God's love through Christ Jesus.

The first few steps in my journey to wholeness will be difficult ones, but courage as defined by Dictionary.com is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.   Lord help me to be strong & courageous!  I'm ready for you to do a "new" thing!  I love you My Redeemer!  Listen to the song below, Awesome!

You Are An Image Bearer!

This morning before my girls headed out the door for school I talked to them about being "image bearers" for Christ.  I wanted them to have something to remember throughout the day as they entered their battle field.  A visual picture is always something that sticks with us.  So, we talked about how every coin has the image of someone on it, whether it's George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.   The image is molded into the metal.  Every time we look at a quarter we are reminded of George Washington. When we reach into our pockets for a penny we are reminded of Abraham Lincoln because his image is forever minted or ingrained into that particular piece of money. 

In Genesis 1:27 God's word tells us "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."  We were made in the image of God!  We were intended from the beginning to be image bearers of our Creator.  So, what does it mean to be made in the image of God?  The word image in the original language is the word tselem which means: image, likeness or resemblance.  In the beginning we were made in the likeness of God.  We were made to resemble God.  How cool is that! 

Now, we know the rest of the story.  How the crafty serpent twisted God's truth and deceived Eve and she and Adam who was with her; took the bait, hook, line and sinker and sin entered into the world.    Sin distorted and marred the image of God in us. According to Genesis 5:3 -  When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.  So no longer "image bearers of God" but image bearers of sinful man.   But God had a plan,  the Father knew one day His one and only, perfect, sinless Son Jesus Christ (born of a virgin), would restore us back to God through His shed blood on the Cross.  He would be crucified, to die a cruel brutal death for our sins and be placed in a borrowed tomb and on the third day He would rise from the grave ALIVE (not a ghost) flesh and blood.  He would once again be joined with His Father in heaven, seated at His right hand, making intercession (praying) for His children. 

Jesus Christ has made a way for us to be restored and reconciled back to our Father.  To once again be "image bearers of God".  2 Corn. 5:17 - Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (18)Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, (19) namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (20) Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (21) He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

So, if you are saved by the blood of the Lamb Jesus Christ if you have repented of your sins and asked Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you of all your sins, to be the Lord (Adonai - Master) of your life, you my friend are a new creation.  No longer marred by sin, but now you and I are image bearers of Christ. 

With that being said, let me ask you a question.  Remember the coins we talked about earlier, when we look at a quarter we see George Washington's image.  If you are a born again Christian think about this question, when people look at you do they see the image of Jesus, the image of God? 

Whose image are you bearing? 

Growing Up is Hard Work!

A few weeks ago, while commenting on a friend's post in regard to her 12 year old daughter's attitude, this thought popped into my head,"growing up is hard work".  Wouldn't you agree?  So many obstacles to overcome.  Think about it.  When a child is born they are completely and utterly dependent on their parents to feed, bathe, clothe, wash, protect, shield, teach & care for them.  They can do nothing by themselves.  As they grow and begin to sit up, crawl, drink from a cup and eat by themselves you begin to see this need for independence and also a need for dependence. 

Looking back on my parenting years early on I clung to the verse "children obey your parents, for this is well pleasing to God, that it may go well with you and you may live a long life on the earth".  Oh yeah, and the commandment "Children honor your parents....".  This is a command from God Almighty and I believe with all my heart that we should teach our children these truths and require obedience, honor and respect  from them.  However, what I don't believe is that we are to drill it into their heads 24 seven!  I did this with my oldest son for years, but didn't do a lot of checking in on my own heart and attitude towards him.  Honor is a little like a two way street.  We can't expect our children to honor and obey us if we give them no respect or honor can we?

God who is the Father of us all is respectful to His children and He gives us honor.  Yet, we sometimes  expect them to behave according to "the book", while make excuses for our dishonorable and disobedient attitude.  This is not right.  I think it is easy for Christian parents to forget the heart of the law because we are so busy when they are young laying down the law, having them memorize the 10 commandments and other scriptures they "should" know because after all, "God's word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Him". 

What  I have learned in my 26 years of parenting is that many times my children's attitudes are often a reflection of my own attitudes or behaviors.  OUCH!  That hurts, don't like admitting that one!  At the same time we have to remember that growing up is painful. 

Growing up hurts!  That's why when children are growing physically we call it "growing pains".  I remember as a child waking up at night and my legs or feet would just ache.  My mother would rub them with lotion until I fell back to sleep.  Maybe what our children need is for us to be  more merciful, more understanding, more patient, gentle, slow to anger, less irritated by their growing up pains!  Maybe what they really need is a little "balm" on their pains.  Instead of wanting them to be the perfect little cookie cutter Christians.  We need to take a long look in the mirror and own our own bad attitudes and behaviors. 

Growing Up is Hard Work!  We are still works in progress so expecting little Johnny or Suzie to behave in a "godly" way 24 hrs. a day is unrealistic at best!  Do you and I behave "righteously" at all times?  Are we perfect?  Absolutely NOT!   What they need to see is a parent that will humble themselves and apologize to them or maybe instead of getting mad or irritated at our children we should  first stop and don't say a word.  Maybe we  need to just pray and ask God to help us exercise the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23) that we possess by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. 

Now before some "law abiding" christian begins to read into what I'm "trying" to say, don't hear me say; you shouldn't have rules, you shouldn't correct your children's bad behavior or attitudes.  I'm not saying that at all.   You should do those things how else will they learn.  We are their first teachers, it is our God-given responsibility to "Bring them up in the love and admonition of the Lord" but, Ephesians 6:4 also tells us, - "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord".  God's word is clear we are not to embitter or enrage our children.  Not to provoke them to anger but to bring them up in the discipline & instruction of the Lord. 

 Discipline - comes from the word - paideia

1) the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment) It also includes the training and care of the body 2) whatever in adults also cultivates the soul, esp. by correcting mistakes and curbing passions. a) instruction which aims at increasing virtue b) chastisement, chastening, (of the evils with which God visits men for their amendment). 

The word for instruction is nouthesia which means admonition or exhortation.  The root word of nouthesia is -nous - meaning: 1) the mind, comprising alike the faculties of perceiving and understanding and those of feeling, judging, determining a) the intellectual faculty, the understanding b) reason in the narrower sense, as the capacity for spiritual truth, the higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognising goodness and of hating evil c) the power of considering and judging soberly, calmly and impartially 2) a particular mode of thinking and judging, i.e thoughts, feelings, purposes, desires.  A derivative from tithēmi -1) to set, put, place a) to place or lay/ b) to put down, lay down 1) to bend down, 2) to lay off or aside, to wear or carry no longer 3) to lay by, lay aside money c) to set on (serve) something to eat or drink d) to set forth, something to be explained by discourse 2) to make a) to make (or set) for one's self or for one's use 3) to set, fix establish a) to set forth b) to establish, ordain.  As we can see from the word of God discipline and instruction is hard work.  Requires the Power of the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom, discernment and discretion in parenting. 

Growing up is hard work!.  While there will be times when we must be hard on our children and experience the grief and pain that goes along with that as a parent; most of the time we should extend, grace, mercy & forgiveness to them, as God has extended to us through His Son Jesus Christ.  Yes, there are times when we must punish bad behavior, there will be times when we need to pick up the "rod of correction" and drive childishness out of the heart of our children in order to help them grow up to be good earthly as well as kingdom citizens.  Mostly though, we must "practice what we preach".  We must walk the talk, this is where I've found the rubber meets the road.  It is in the every day living out the common life where we are to be their example of what a grown up in Christ looks like. 

We must remember Growing up is hard work!

Renee Peebles
Zebulon, NC