Entering a new phase in my life:  Senior Coalition Leader for Mango for Governor 2018 Campaign

Here it is January 5, 2018 and I am just beginning to organize Seniors to work for the election of Paul Mango for Governor of Pennsylvania.  I am looking for people who are involved or want to be involved in Productive Passionate Aging to enroll other Seniors who want to see Pennsylvania the Keystone State in fact as well as name.  Come along with me and give me a call or text at 717-496-3996 or email me at rachelins@earthlink.net.  Hope to see you on board the Team!!!

Letting God be in Control

Wow!  I am finally back writing in my blog.  James 1:14 (NLT) says, "Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away."  It is always the "flesh" the "self" that wants to be n control.  I have been abstinent since 9/7/11 and now that the five year mark has been passed I am having more food thoughts than before.  I have to remember that the focus in my life has to be on serving God and obeying Him.  This means giving the food thoughts to Him and allowing Him to fill the space with joy and contentment.  It is all about faith and trust.

Finally 2014 and I Can Get Into My Blog!

I have been trying all year to get into this Blog and post something new but Google bought the Service, I no longer have the old cell phone number they had and I couldn't find the right password.  But wonder of wonders finally I was able to get through their authentication process and I now have a new password.  So in 2014, I plan to post what is happening to me going into my 79th year (on 7/29/14).

Last night it snowed in Shippensburg, PA where I live but we only got a couple of inches.  So today I walked to my printer friend, Nancy Godfrey, and she did some copying for me because my printer is once again almost out of ink.  It was only a few blocks but it felt invigorating.  Yesterday I walked for almost an hour.  As I get older, the name of the game is being ACTIVE!  I'm supposed to be able to walk 1/4 mile in 6 minutes.  I can probably do that because it takes me around 15 minutes to walk the six blocks to the Senior Center.

Nancy gave me a list of scriptures to cover the Bible all year in an unusual way.  Seven days of the week different readings: First the Law, then History, then Psalms, then Poetry, then Prophecy, then the Gospels and last, Epistles.  I will try to attached it here.  Well, I guess I can't but if you will email me at rachelins@earthlink.net I will send it to you.

Well, this is all I have time for today.  I will try to post often.

Keeping rules or not

³¹But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don't we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it. (Rom 3:31 - New Message Bible)

I grew up living by rules.  My Dad was a preacher and we, his kids, had to set an example for everyone in the church.  At least we were supposed to.  We didn't wear lipstick, we didn't go to movies, we didn't play with our neighborhood friends on Sunday . . . I could go on and on.  When I was a teenager and wanted to wear lipstick, Dad made it clear to me that to wear lipstick was not a sin - it was a cultural rule in our church.  The people believed that wearing lipstick would signify that the woman was a sinner.  Dad asked me how I would feel if they considered me a sinner because I wore lipstick?  I said I wouldn't like it.  He told me that I should decide for myself and, of course, I decided not to wear it.  I didn't want to be branded a sinner by the church people.

Dad was trying to tell me that keeping rules is not how you receive salvation.  We do not follow God by keeping rules but by relying on what God has done for us.  He gave His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross that we might be free from rules.  But that doesn't mean that in following Jesus, we don't have rules.  As we allow our lives to be lived through Christ, some things are just more appropriate than others.  When we focus on what God does in our lives, we want to follow Him each day.

Habits can be good and may even be life saving.  When habits become addictions or even obsessions they are harmful.  So I have to be careful that my following Christ is a living, daily, dynamic walk.  Thus the first thing I do each day is have a conference with my Leader as to what today is going to be about and then I follow.  Prayer and Bible study become the food and the direction for my life.

Don't go against the grain

^9-11"If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up."  Rom 2 (Message Bible).

Seems like I was always the one going against the grain.  The saying is: you can do hard time or easy time but your're going to do time.  Well, I almost always did it the hard way.  Instead of going with the flow of God - asking each step for guidance and then following it - I usually tried it my way first.  I preferred not asking because it was easier to seek forgiveness instead of permission that I thought would be denied anyway.   As a teenager (so many years ago) I thought that what God had for my life was like green beans.  You know, "eat your green beans, they're good for you."  I hated green beans and wouldn't I hate what God thought was "good for me," too?

Now, 60 or so years later I can look back and see that God only brought me good - true good.  So I can look ahead and know that only good is in my future.  I don't have to go against the grain.  I can embrace the way God does things and get the wonderful payoffs: peace, joy, happiness and that full feeling that comes with a very satisfying meal. 

What God do you worship?

Today I'm beginning my Blog from the Book of Romans.  This was written by Paul and it shows what a scholar he was. "They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. ^24-25So God said, in effect,  'If that's what you want, that's what you get.' It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!" (Rom 1:23-25 New Living Translation)

These words seem harsh and they may not mean a literal pigpen but when we don't worship the true God it can seem like our life is filthy.  It comes down to what am I worshiping?  What makes my day bright each day? Is it food? Is it shopping? Is it drugs? Is is alcohol? Is it TV? Or is it communing each day with the God that made me?  King David had an uneasy relationship with God.  Sometimes very good and sometimes he sinned greatly.  But in Ps 139:23 (NLT version) he said: ²³ "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts."  The deal is to be always open to the God that made me and not to invent a fake god - such as food (speaking for myself.)

So what do I do today?  I give the day to God and ask him to lead and guide me with whatever it is I have to do, always making sure that I serve the true God.

Be sure to protect the mind

"Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.^{[d] 16} In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.^{[e] 17} Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph 6:13-17)

Salvation is turning to Christ and accepting that his death on the cross buried all of my sins if I simply accept Christ as my Savior.  Prov 18:10 says, "The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."  When I start to feel discouraged I simply call on the name of Jesus and the discouragement is gone.  When I am fearful I call on Jesus and the fear is gone.  When I feel guilty I turn to Jesus and He reminds me that He paid for the guilt on the Cross.  So I am set free. 

Most of the battles I fight today are in my mind.  The mind is very powerful. Someone once said to me, "If you want to know what you believe, look at your life."  The mind is constantly turning our thoughts into reality so it is important to have my mind covered by the helmet of salvation.  When God rules our mind, all of our true hidden desires are continually being thrust into reality.  I know that God knows better than I do the true desires of my heart. That guy I wanted to marry but it never worked out.  Thank God!!!  That car I thought I wanted but when I got it, what a disappointment.  I still felt the same emptiness.  Only God can satisfy the emptiness inside.

This is the last chapter of Ephesians and what a teacher it is.  Paul sitting in prison talking about the faithfulness of God.  May God show you God's faithfulness today!!!