How do you Feel???

http://livingwithoutreligion.org/

What do you think??? There is a new billboard up in Grand Rapids that says their motto! How does it make you feel??? I'd really like to know! Here are my thoughts on what is straight off of their homepage:

1. I already live without religion. What I have is a relationship with God. So I support the name of the URL.

2. The first paragraph indicates that "to hope, to care, to love. We have all experienced these fundamental feelings." Sorry but hope, care and love to me are not feelings... they are actions... they are lived out... they are desires... they are ambitions.... not feelings. Happy, sad, mad- those are feelings. Continuing from that paragraph "They help define what it is to be human. These important elements of a fulfilling human life are experienced by religious and non-religious people alike." Again, what I have is not religion but that's not the point.... do you really think you can be fulfilled with feelings?!?!? Trust me... I haven't met a human being YET that isn't in need of God... HE CREATED US THAT WAY!!!! So feelings will NEVER fulfill you!! Only God can truly fill your life and your purpose here on earth!!

3. To quote "One reason this myth persists is many religious believers see their god or their faith as the basis for emotions such as hope, caring, and love. We don’t deny that the religious may find inspiration in their beliefs—but our religious friends should not presume that accepting their beliefs is necessary for a fulfilling life." Inspiration?!? I find aspiration from my God... I aspire to be just like Him, thank you very much!! And again what I already said above... go ahead and believe that you can feel fulfilled without God but I guarantee you won't EVER feel full! P.S. I'm not a RELIGIOUS friend... I'm a believing, living it out, PRAYING FOR YOU friend!

4. "We who are nonreligious lead meaningful lives without reliance on the supernatural. Moreover, we believe anyone can find meaning in a life that is human-centered and focused on the here and now instead of the hereafter." I'd like to hear what you have to say about this on judgement day.

My final thought on "living without religion" - I already do that. I live with God in heart! And I can't wait to spend eternity worshiping Him!

The statistic this website posts is that 1 out of 6 Americans has no religious affiliation.... but the most important stat is that 10 out of 10 people that believe in God and Jesus Christ will go to heaven and 10 out of 10 people that do not believe in Him will go to Hell. 

Consider this song!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ScWCfNPpI

Living it out!

To hope, to care, to love. We have all experienced these powerful, fundamental feelings. They help define what it is to be human. These important elements of a fulfilling human life are experienced by religious and nonreligious people alike.

To hope, to care, to love. We have all experienced these powerful, fundamental feelings. They help define what it is to be human. These important elements of a fulfilling human life are experienced by religious and nonreligious people alike.

To hope, to care, to love. We have all experienced these powerful, fundamental feelings. They help define what it is to be human. These important elements of a fulfilling human life are experienced by religious and nonreligious people alike.

To hope, to care, to love. We have all experienced these powerful, fundamental feelings. They help define what it is to be human. These important elements of a fulfilling human life are experienced by religious and nonreligious people alike.

Does Your Prayer Life Need CPR?

Hey girls! You've been there right?? "Dear Jesus, Thank you for my blessings, thank you for creating me..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"! Well NO MORE! I have just finished a great study on the Lord's prayer!

 It teaches you that you need to focus on the concept of each phrase that Jesus prayed in His prayer not the words specifically:

Our Father, who is in heaven
(Acknowledge God's relationship with us)
Hallowed be Your name
(His name is holy and worthy to be praised)
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
(Pray that the kingdom of God will reign and come to those who need Him and seek His will for your life)
Give us today our daily bread
(Ask Him to provide for your needs for TODAY)
Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors
(Not only do we need to be forgiven for our sins but we need to forgive others that have wronged or hurt us)
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the Evil One
(We need strength to overcome temptation and we certainly need God to defeat Satan!)
For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever Amen
(God's kingdom and power needs to be evident in our lives and we need to praise HIM for it all!)


So next time you start praying girls- Take each section of Jesus' prayer and REALLY pray. Talk with God. Have a convo. Speak as though He's your BFF! No fancy words. No made up emotions. Speak your heart! Besides He knows when you aren't being sincere so be real!

This is how I picture myself when I communicate with Jesus!! :)

Living it out!

The New Love of My Life!

Hey girls!!! It has been FOREVER! So what's happened since I last posted????

NUF SAID!!! :) This is my angel- Melody Faith Begeman! And I'm in love! Well now that I'm a stay at home mom... I'll have WAY more time to blog so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check in often to see the latest! AND COMMENT AWAY!!! Love you all!

Where Have I Been?!?

Hey girls!! Where on earth have I been?!? Just busy that's all! :) Christmas is coming up and that's always a busy time for me so hang in there and I will post something worthwhile soon!! :) LOVE YOU ALL!!

Soap Box

I don't like to get on soap boxes.... ya know rant and rave and yell and scream my point of view, my opinions, my ideals. I don't like to nail people with how I feel but lately I have been stewing over some things. Facebook statuses are tools from Satan sometimes. I'm a firm believer of that. When friends post their rants and raves as their statuses I have a hard time letting it go and not telling them how I feel, but I breathe a prayer and God says, "Pray instead Jen. Their eyes are not open."

Please excuse me for a minute as I step onto my soap box....

I refuse to believe in tolerance and relativism!!!

OK getting down now...

But what are those things??? What does it mean to be tolerant??? Good ole dictionary.com puts it this way: "Tolerate- to allow the existence, presence, practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance; permit." And the thesaurus: "accept, bear, condone, consent to, endure, go along with, live with, sit and take it, stand for, submit to" These are just a few. 

Does God call us to be tolerant? Tolerant of sin? Tolerant of other religions? Consider these verses:

Exodus 23:1-3 “You must not pass along false rumors. You must not cooperate with evil people by lying on the witness stand.  ²You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. ³And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor."

And what's relativism??? Dictionary.com says "any theory holding that criteria of judgment are relative, varying with individuals and their environments." HUH?!? Basically it means faith and religion is different for everyone based on where they are in life. So whatever you WANT to believe and FEEL is right is right for you. And whatever I WANT to believe and FEEL is right is right for me. But God definitely DOES NOT say that in the Bible:

John 14:6 "Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

That's pretty clear. There is no other way to heaven. There are no other gods. There are no other things you can believe and do that will lead you to God except through Jesus!!

Girls DO NOT BE LEAD ASTRAY!!!! Don't let other people convince you that because you are a follower of Christ that you are "narrow-minded" and "judgmental"... No no no.... you are grounded on the solid rock and that means that no, you won't tolerate sin and evil. You will love others no matter what but you won't ever give them the idea that what they are doing is ok with you! AND THAT'S NOT BEING NARROW-MINDED OR JUDGMENTAL! It's standing for righteousness and believing in the RIGHT way not the WRONG! 


Girls, know that in today's world the common belief is "You believe what you want to believe and I'll believe what I want to believe and it's all ok!!" That is not ok and will not lead them to heaven or to God. John 14:6 is clear and not up for debate! 

BE STRONG! STAND FIRM! LOVE OTHERS! DON'T BELIEVE EVIL! 

OK.... really I am getting off the box now. I just get tired of hearing people say that I'm being insensitive and judgmental of people. Go with this last phrase girls...

LOVE the sinner.... HATE the sin!

Living it out (sometimes louder than other times),

I went back...

This past Friday I reluctantly went to the Otsego Homecoming game. Now why reluctantly??? Because I've already been through high school and don't really like putting myself in places that bring all of that back. Well sure enough, had a lot of fun BUT it brought up all kinds of memories, thoughts, emotions, reflections, prayers... so on and on.

First, when I was actually at the game a few thoughts occured. One for the players on the field my thoughts were, "How does it feel to win?" "Do they really connect as a team?" "I wish I had this much fun watching the team when I was in school!" (Otsego lost a LOT before the past few years!! :) )

Then, my thoughts went to the band. I was in band... I was a band nerd, geek, dork whatever you call it nowadays I was one of 'em. But hey we were good and won trophies and that's what mattered! :) I was the drum major for 3 years (the one that leads the whole shebang) and this brought back SO MANY GOOD memories of victories and fun and friendships and I teared up a little. I loved marching band. Everything about it and to see it go on without me was a little sad.

Next, my thoughts went to the students in the stands. Actually they went to Vicksburg's students first because I could see them and HEAR them better than Otsego's (and yes I was sitting on Otsego's side!!!). I thought "Wow, what a crowd!" "That's pathetic that they are louder than our students." and then "Hmmm.... they actually watch and cheer as the game is going on... unlike our students who aren't really cheering their classmates on, on the field." Now ladies, I'm not knocking on Otsego's student fans... just observing! I had to laugh at the group of boys that paraded down the track without their shirts and OHS painted in blue and yellow on their chests.... good to know that that group of boys never leaves the stands!!

All night I couldn't help but notice how many teenage kids were simply EVERYWHERE!! Goofing around, making out, doing whatever they wanted.

After the game, on the drive home I had time to reflect on a few things. I couldn't help but think, which kids are going to a party tonight and getting drunk? Which kids are going home with friends to get high? Which couples are going to have sex tonight? My heart broke. If I could have anything to do with it.... NONE! But as hard as I try to fit into those tights, I just can't make myself SuperWoman. I thought to myself, "Man I would love to sit with all of those kids and tell them how NOT worth it it is to do that stuff. How much it will mess you up and how long the road is back to erase it all. I wish I could make them understand." It was a very somber and sad drive home.

Once my husband and I were both home (he gets to live vicariously by instructing the drumline-I'm jealous.) we talked about when we were in high school. I started the conversation with "There is no way I would go back and re-live those 4 years. Those were hard years and they're even harder now." Matt began to ask what I would change about high school... oh sheesh... what would I change..... these are just a few things:

my grades in a few classes
some of my friendships
a lot of my attitudes
the majority of my focus
my relationship with my boyfriend (who did become my husband)
so so so many of my decisions
and especially my relationship with the Lord

He was curious about a lot of that so after explaining a few he agreed that those were mostly his too. But I did tell him that I wish I could have the simplicity of my teen years back. Now that we have bills to pay, life decisions to make, a child on the way, financial issues, marriage issues and all of that grown up junk, I sometimes wish I could go back to getting up for school, driving my '92 Buick into Otsego, having an easy day, hitting band rehearsal or soccer practice and then coming home to sit in front of the TV until about 10:00 came around. But after reminiscing, Matt and I both agreed that we are glad to be where we are and that those 4 years went the way they did. We learned a lot during high school!!

So girls, be content where you are. God has you there for a reason. DON'T go to those parties, drink, get high, have sex, but enjoy your teen years in the Lord because life gets tougher after 18. Oh yeah and GO BULLDOGS!!!! :)

Living it out,

Here's the Link!!

This is the Oprah interview with Kristen Jane Anderson!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iRDt96Lu3Y