Dear Seeking Sister,
Here is a poem I created one morning while pleading for forgiveness for my drunkenness the night before. I was talking to God requesting that He simply take my desire for alcohol away. I knew He could do this for me, so as we talked the following poem is what I recorded of that conversation.
I hope you enjoy it. I’d love to hear/read your thoughts about it.
Hello Seeking Sister,
Hebrews 5:8,9 states, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. (NIV)”
At first this made me think that Jesus wasn’t perfect from birth. That He became perfect through learned obedience during suffering (e.g. “once made perfect”). Did this mean that after being perfected He was then the source of our eternal salvation? Continue reading Was Jesus perfect from birth or was He made perfect through His earthly life?
Dear Seeking Sister,
Exactly 10 years ago on this very day (see my personal testimony), I made the decision to trust God and believe the man they call, Jesus the Christ. My serious doubts didn’t magically disappear. I asked tough questions. To be honest, I was kind of hoping I could find proof God and His love I heard so much about didn’t exist. I had a chip on my shoulder of sorts and I was angry. It feels weird to say it (write it) now, but I wanted to call God out! Continue reading day of reckoning
Dear Seeking Sister,
The gospel confronts us with the hopelessness of our sinful condition. A typical response when the gospel is shared with an unsaved person is often, “I’m a relatively good person.” People tend to have a rather high opinion of their morality. The concern here is that they are not measuring their “goodness” against the standards of their Almighty Creator.
They fail to realize they are saying they are “good” based on a comparison of the people around them and the acceptable norms of their culture and society. The problem occurs when this society is a Godless society and compromising on God’s Word is found everywhere.
It is overwhelming to be faced with the fact the gospel teaches us that we are an enemy of God, spiritually dead in our sin, and in our state of rebellion, we are not even able to see that we need life. We are dependent on God to do something in our life that we could never do.
The Good News: God did that something. God came to earth in the flesh as a perfect sacrifice for our sin. And it wasn’t a sacrifice of being crucified dead, Jesus’ sacrifice was made to God the Father fully knowing He would have to take in and on the full wrath of God. He did that for you and He did that for me. We owe Him our life.
David Platt in his book, Radical, put it like this:
“What happened at the Cross was not primarily about nails being thrust into Jesus’ hands and feet but about the wrath due your sin and my sin being thrust upon his soul. In that holy moment, all the righteous wrath and justice of God due us came rushing down like a torrent on Christ himself. Some say, “God looked down and could not bear to see the suffering that the soldiers were inflicting on Jesus, so he turned away.” This is not true. God turned away because he could not bear to see your sin and my sin on his Son.” (Radical, by David Platt, p. 36)
If you want to learn more about God, Jesus, and the saving grace only He can provide, visit the page I created below to help.
In His Grip,
Tammy
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Seeking Sisters:
The most important person in my life growing up was my grandmother. My love for her can’t be understood by anyone other than my Heavenly Father. Based on some of her actions when I was very young, I realize she knew exactly how important she was to me. God truly blessed me with her.
Her favorite hymn was, IN THE GARDEN, by Charles A Miles written in 1913. The words are so beautiful and I didn’t come to appreciate them until after she was gone. I also had no idea it was based on John 20:15-16. Continue reading In the Garden
Dear Seeking Sister,
If you’re struggling with a form of addiction, my advice is to give it to God and let go. “For [His] yoke is easy, and [His] burden is light”, Matthew 11:30 NIV. Commit to meeting Him daily (or more often) for private prayer time. Let Him work in your life. Let Him help you find what you’re searching for.
I created this short post in order to link to my sobriety story. In it you’ll read an example of how I gave a burden to God.
In His Grip,
Tammy
Dear Seeking Sister,
Recent bible study has led me to think about emotions. I have a tendency to suppress feelings, especially strong ones. I know it is unhealthy, but it is my first reaction when I feel something volatile stirring inside me. My education taught me that the main reason I suppress relates back to the neglect I suffered as a child.
Identifying why we suppress emotions
excuse us for doing so. It is immature and unhealthy. If we are to grow in Christ and mature along our walk we need to deal with our emotions in a healthy way. The following phrase from a movie I recently watched struck a chord with me.