MIRACLES... this TOO is my story

[source]

She said, "No one, sir."

Then Jesus said, "I don't condemn you, either.

Go home, and from now on do not sin any more."

John 8:11 (ISV)

MIRACLES... Jesus' life was filled with MIRACLES and when He touched this woman's life, a MIRACLE began... and as He touches my life, I see His MIRACLES for me or in me or hopefully through me...

...our lives are a series of MIRACLES if only we open our eyes and look to see His Miracle of life in YOU and around YOU!

To me, Jesus DOing this was indeed a MIRACLE not spoken of as one, but to this woman, in that day or in this day, having Jesus change her life & life direction, forgiving her and saving her from condemnation and shame, with the HOPE to MOVE FORWARD through His simple but profound words, "Go and don't sin", do not continue down this road of life, this way...

The above may not be included in what you remember as one of "The Miracles of Jesus" but the following is known as His first;

Jesus FIRST miracle

"changing water into wine"

because His mother asked

"Whatever He says to you, do it."

JOHN 2:5 (NASB)

EXAMPLES of DO's and DON'Ts

I see both of these scenes

as

MIRACLES

Since last week's WFW and for quite some time, I'm on a MISSION. I am being led to put together my personal life testimony and so this is part of a current series of posts (actually for quite awhile now) that God's putting together with me to DO just this... as I work through two current books I've been reading & DOING, one of which I will be sharing here as a study, starting in September until the end of the year "The Power of a Praying Woman" by Stormie Omartian and the other I was working on with my small group in my MN home church, but will be continuing with another church online, also this fall, as they "DO it" together church wide, "Life's Healing Choices" by Jon Baker along with a few more books I'm reading currently.

Both of these books are making an incredible life transforming impact on my life and my Christian walk... there's always room for more MIRACLES...

Each day of my life with Jesus is filled with MIRACLES, seen and unseen, but believed by me as

MIRACLES

to

HIS GLORY!

Join in Word-Filled Wednesday for more of God's precious Word glorifying HIM from blog to blog

What do you hear God telling you

TO DO

or

NOT DO?

What MIRACLE do you

need

or

you'd like to see

in your life?

If you don't want to answer either of these questions in the comments here, I'd really like it more if you'd answer the question I poised at the end of this weekend post: if you would do me the favor of sharing the song over there... just skip to the end and read the question and write your answer... the two that shared are FABULOUS ONES so I've included their lyrics!!!

*part of a series that I've been putting together for my personal life testimony. If you notice, MIRACLES is the third word in my aMazing Grace... blog title. I've already done MAZES & MESSES...

• MESSES... this too is my story...
• MAZES... this too is my story...
• THIS IS MY STORY... Part I.
• WHERE DO I BEGIN...
• TOMORROW WILL BE PART II
• of
• "THIS IS MY STORY"
• Part III next week (all ready to publish)
• 

2 Corinthians 3:3 (The Message) says:

... Peggy,

your very life is a letter...

that anyone should be able to read by just looking at you.

Christ Himself wrote it ...

...with God's Living Spirit...

and we publish it

right here

[personalized last week's WFW for my story]

MESSES... this too is my story...

MESSES...

yep, the story of my life...

continual messes having to be picked up,

cleaned up, cleansed

straightened out Mazes...

This may look like a MESS, but the MESSES I'm talking about are wrongs; wrong choices & decisions... the 'Christianeeze' word is SIN. Many of us tend to shy away from that word: SIN.

People that aren't in church especially, but even many of us in churches. Many of us do not recognize our many faults as SIN. Our failings to make the right choice or healthy choice are SINS. Any wrong doing or poor choice in thought, word or deed.

Some believe that nothing is a SIN just a difference in perspective. But the Bible tells us and history does as well that WE ALL ARE SINNERS, WE ALL HAVE SINNED... yes, everyone of us. And there is no gradient of SIN. SIN is SIN. A MESS is a MESS. It will always be a MESS.

Perhaps it is easier for us to relate to it this way: there are or have been times in our lives when we have really MESSED up. Some MESSES involve other people. Some MESSES are just our own MESS that needs fixing. Many MESSES affect more people than you may be aware of at the time of the MESS. And some of those MESSES disappear at the time but lo and behold, they show up again later because we never really took care of cleaning them up correctly or completely just haphazardly for the time being or maybe we had no idea how MESSed up we were, maybe we were in a BLAME game or running away from facing the truth. Maybe we were believing lies and buried in deception.

Whatever the reason for the MESS, God is ready and always waiting to clean us up, wash us...

If you're even a little bit like me, you don't want to live the kind of life where you are barely hanging on, merely finding ways to cope with your MESS, your misery, your circumstance just to get by. Many of you have had this feeling like me that you absolutely would like to START your life over, or at least before this MESS overtook your life... 'I have been there, done that'... and I just don't want to continue THAT WAY.

I, for one, do not enjoy going around in circles, those MAZES that I showed you but still have not given any specific MAZES, but the ones where you head out in one direction and find either a dead end or you end up right back where you started. Especially if this WAY leads you into the same MESS that you were either trying to get away from, make right or move beyond. Especially the same territory or valley that you already thought you'd passed through.

And then you find yourself coming back to the same problems, the same habits, the same hurts, the same hang-ups and patterns from before, the same frustrations, same limitations, same mistakes... same MESSES. We need to steer clear of ending up calloused, hard-hearted, bitter, unforgiving, anxious, impatient, hopeless, unteachable with a negative attitude that will creep into ALL of our ways, sometimes without our awareness because we have not stopped the MESS

"We need to put our expectations in the Lord, He is the only One who should have power over our souls. We will never be happy until we make God the complete source of our fulfillment and answer to our longings and we need to stop putting those expectations & longings in other things & people." (from Stormie Omartian's book that we will be starting in September)

I decided, after far too many years wandering through the wildernesses and the deserts in my life, that I wanted (no, it was more than wanted) I needed to break free and break out of any self defeating cycles of repeated patterns and habits... NO MORE MESSES without a complete CLEAN-UP: HIS CLEANSING! Life was demanding that I become an OVERCOMER not just a SURVIVOR!

So you may be thinking (if you've been following my posts)..."ohh so that's when she gave her life to Jesus and accepted Him as Lord, and Savior. When she was MESSed UP the most. This is when she finally gets down to sharing her testimony ... and what no details of these MESSES?...the nitty gritty." No, not yet (sorry) I'm just not sure that sharing my MESSES really frees anyone. 

[Yes, confession is good for the soul, but ALL of theses MESSES were confessed back then & dealt with... and because much of my life involves other people's lives, I'm at this hard point of not sharing their story or messes and bringing any shame, condemnation or judgement on them. Yes, bringing issues into the light, does free me & hopefully them but not in a public place of infinite eyes forever.]

No, I have to admit this was not the beginning of my life knowing Jesus Christ, as my Savior... sad to say... this had to happen over and over again throughout my journey with Christ... until I finally GOT IT... awakened to all the knowledge I had in my head, learned but not totally submitted, and it sunk right down to where I thought it had been all the time... my heart. I knew the words, I had said the words, I even had meant the words the many times I found myself repenting for the same MESSES, but I had known Jesus & read His Word for many years, until I found out that I had not truly made Him LORD over my life or allowed Him to change me, transform me & mold me into ALL He desired me to be in Him. I had been working on doing it my way. I just had to make the wrong right. I made the MESS and I will do whatever it takes to FIX it, CLEAN it up and I'll keep trying until I get it right.

Perhaps, now I'm closer to sharing a personal life testimony...

THERE ISN'T A MESS

that

JESUS

cannot

CLEAN

UP

COMPLETELY

and
then

HE NAILED IT

ON

CALVARY

FOR

YOU

&

ME

Other parts of this MESS:

• WHERE DO I BEGIN..
• THIS IS MY STORY... Part I.

MAZES... this too is my story...

* went back and removed images or things that might make this a problem 

MAZES... this too is my story...

... MAZES ...

yes this was a true depiction of my LIFE ...

[source]

... that is ...

B.C.

BEFORE CHRIST

[source]

HE straightens out my life,

takes away confusion and going around in circles

HE makes the MAZES aMazing

no longer with dead ends, cut offs or repeated patterns

HE directs my steps

MOVING FORWARD

³ Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,

“Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! 
Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!

⁴ Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills.

Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.

⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!”

ISAIAH 40

I'm in the process of trying to share a personal life testimony, parts of this MAZE in other posts:

• WHERE DO I BEGIN..
• THIS IS MY STORY... Part I.

MAZES... this too is my story...

MESSES... this too is my story...

more parts are coming

STAY TUNED