A Most Important Question

What must I do to be saved?

That question was asked by the 1st century jailer of Paul & Silas and it still remains for us to ask today. We are troubled by our failures and our consciences bother us; we wonder what can rescue us from our fallen condition.

Their answer to the jailer was quite simple: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved".

What does that mean to us today? We must turn away from our race towards hell & destruction and turn TO God in Christ. Turning from our life of selfishness is to repent of the sins that have kept us from belief; turning to God in Christ is trusting in Christ as an actual person who completed His God-sent mission of an awful, violent death on the cross to release the penalty of sin.

We are the prodigal son/daughter who realizes that we can't do this thing called life on our own and we turn back and run to the Father's open arms. We cannot continue to run to God and run to sin at the same time.

Does that mean we will never sin again? Absolutely not! But it will be against our better judgment and deepest longings. Sin will no longer dominate us. As a child of God, we will be obedient to repentance and will put our complete faith and trust in Him and His Word.

How do we know if we are thus saved? Faith is a gift that God gives us; we can't grow our own faith, but we can grow in godliness. The evidence of our salvation will be lived out in us through the filling of the Holy Spirit. A continual examination of our hearts will be needed to see if we are growing or not. Disciplining ourselves to studying God's word is necessary so that we can rightly discern the condition of our hearts. Are our lives filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & discipline? Or are they characterized by immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, strife, jealousy, anger, etc?

Salvation is past, present and future. We have been saved from the punishment of our sins; we are being saved from the power of sin and we will be saved when we are with Christ bowing at the feet of our heavenly Father.

What must YOU do to be saved?

A Mom's Heart

How does a mom blog about some of the most momentous occasions in her life? I don't know how many times I've had a new blog window open, only to sit and stare at an empty white box; the words just wouldn't come. Last year held more changes than any year I can remember so far.

Last April 1, Adam & Heidi announced their engagement with an August 1 wedding date. Yikes! Four months to prepare. We did it and it was gorgeous, exciting, fulfilling and fun.

Words are a feeble attempt to describe my heart...my mom heart. It's hard to comprehend my first-born son being a husband.

My prayer is that as he faces the challenges that are sure to come, he will frequently fall on his knees before an Almighty, Holy God petitioning for the Spirit to give him the capacity to love his wife as Christ loves the church.

I love Heidi with the love a mom has for a daughter.

I pray that whatever circumstances she is faced with that God, through the work of the Spirit, will help her to reverence, with an awe-filled respect, the man He has given to her.

It was with great joy that Jerald & I were able to pronounce a parental blessing on their union.


Also on April 1, Colin had an accident at work that put a bolt through his hand.

Talk about jolting a heart to get that call. It just hurts to know my kids are in that much pain...hurts my mom heart. Praise God he's doing well, although the scar is very visible and he hasn't gotten complete mobility back.

In September, Nicole started school at Azusa Pacific University in the northeast corner of Los Angeles.

We are extremely excited for this opportunity Nicole has to spread her wings and see what God has in store for her.

We decided to take the family and drive with her to California.
It was a very pleasurable 2 1/2 day drive. We were able to see God's awesome and diverse creation.



The first weekend we helped her get settled in


and spent orientation with her.



We got to meet her 3 roomies; how comforting and reassuring to my heart...my mom heart to see her ready to tackle whatever God has in store.

After leaving Nicole there, we headed to the condo on the beach that we had rented for a week.







What a joy it was to my heart...my mom heart to see the family have such a great time together.

On top of an extremely full year, I now get to look forward to more changes. This May, we are looking forward to welcoming our new granddaughter into the family. My heart will soon become...my "nana" heart.
And THAT will be a blog all of its own.