It's Christmas Time (2016)

Hello again! I'm actually posting on the usual day today! Yay! Christmas time is such an enjoyable time of year. I ended up posting last week's blog two days ago because I have a hard time resisting the lure of cold temperatures and Christmas movies. This Christmas is special because it's Mom and I's first Christmas in the new house. We had a lot of fun being a bit more decorative this year. I can't wait to spend Christmas Eve with my family; it's always super fun. 

I've been watching a lot of Christmas movies and enjoying life in general. 2016 has been a very blessed year. I have so many hopes for 2017. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! I appreciate the support & prayers for Molly's Zone and my life in general so so much! I know that I am called to be a writer. I've enjoyed this so much. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for me. I will be taking a three week break; I'm looking forward to catching up on my shows, movies, and doing some reading. My first post for 2017 will be on January 10, 2017! To be continued....

How to Overcome "PTSD"

I'm a part of the most reckless, irresponsible, self glorifying, blame shifting generations in all of history. We are a kind of people that so often chooses to base our emotional stability and our confidence on the amount of attention we get on either Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Some people treat social media as a personal diary. We share so much with others the very things that we could be sharing with God. We are a generation that focuses on fulfilling our needs through the people around us instead of letting Christ fulfill our very needs and wants. He can do so much through us to reach other people who may be lost, but there are so many of us who don't allow Him in as much as we should. Why am I writing about this? One, I felt led to because of prayer about my writing, and two because this very struggle is something I have fought with my entire life. I'm almost 25, I've been saved for going on 13 years. It's not easy. Completely living for Christ is one of the hardest things I've done; surrendering to His will for my life last year made things both better, but yet more difficult. The devil tries to steal my restored peace daily and continues to tempt me, but I won't let him have any of me ever again. I have a terrible time dealing with needing people, and I just wanted to share a strategy that I have noticed is helping me live a more peaceful, fruitful Christian life. Am I perfect? No. Through my journey the Lord is teaching me so much. I'm thankful for my salvation and the process of sanctification; it is a rough thing to endure at times, but it is beautiful nonetheless. The four part strategy outlines the very core issue at hand: (P)roblems (T)hat (S)in (D)evelop and also the cure, which is what will be discussed tonight: (P)ray for a Purpose, (T)ake Responsibility for You, (S)ay Goodbye to Any Present Sin, (D)on't Look Back, and Don't Go Back. Sin starts small, but so often takes you farther than you want to go, costs more than you want to pay, and the cut of sin's sharp knife goes much deeper than you think it will. 

In order to start seeing God move in our lives, we must first pray for a purpose. Everyone needs a reason to get up in the morning. Each soul has a specific purpose on this temporary Earth, but we must be willing to surrender to His call for our life; it won't just fall out of the sky. Tell Him you're sick of the dull life you have, and that you're willing to do what He wants, and not what you want. PRAY FOR A PURPOSE. The silver lining in some of your darkest moments is that you may be placed in the perfect position for Him to use you; your broken state might possibly lead you to a place you never imagined He'd put you. Lean not on your own understanding but on His; acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. 

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:6 KJV)

Secondly, you MUST learn to take responsibility for your actions. The easiest thing to do is to shift blame on others for the messes you make. What's easy to do is to pick and choose which commandments you keep.  What's easy to do is to profess Christ and have some sin that you think is a secret in your life. It is no secret. God knows all. You can't hide anything from Him. It is so simple to justify our current actions and reactions on our childhoods. I don't think I've met anyone who's just had the perfect picturesque life. Hello, life is hard. Being a human is hard. None of it is easy. True repentance is a great thing, because it brings us back into fellowship with the Lord. Deliverance from sin is possible, you just have to come to Him.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV)

Part of taking full responsibility for our actions is by asking to Lord to begin removing sin that might be taking up valuable space in your life and saying goodbye to it. We all sin. That's a fact. We all have areas in our lives that need worked on. I'm not saying be perfect, because that's impossible. My question is why indulge in the pleasures of this world when you have so many blessings God has for you that you are missing out on simply because your life doesn't bear any fruit?  He physically died for you and for me and every soul on this earth... Why wouldn't you want to serve Him?? I'm being a bit bold tonight, but you know what? I don't care. I will NOT be a halfway Christian. There's nothing that brings me more joy than doing what I'm doing right now. Enjoying my house, my family, a closer relationship with Jesus, writing. I hope it leads to more one day. Do I still mess up? Oh yes. However, His grace forever remains greater than my sin. 

The last and most crucial part of conquering "PTSD" is to not look back on that part of your life and DO NOT go back to it. What I mean by don't look back, is to not dwell. Yes, remember it. Remember what it taught you, but nothing more nothing less. Don't let the devil drag you back to your past and condemn you over and over. I struggle with this myself and that's one of the reasons why I wrote this....because I know a lot of people do this too. Don't let him steal your present joy by him bringing up something that you and God have already dealt with. Self indulgence is  a difficult battle too; if you indulge in pleasing yourself it usually leads to bigger and unhealthier indulgence. The key is temptation denial. Saying no. The hardest but best thing you could do to combat the devil. An easier explained analogy would be that of a no-carb diet. Let's say you go on a diet and have a somewhat reachable goal of a healthier you. Carbs are very bad for your health and you know it. (But that piece of greasy cheesy pizza looks so good right?) You are doing really well, when you are tempted by this pizza and so you indulge. You messed up your diet for the week so you decide to just drop the diet for a week and start back next week. So you indulge more and more and more. Then it gets so bad, you just decide to give up. Diets are hard right? So is the Christian life. It's not something that is meant to be easy. The journey is rough. Don't you dare give up. God won't ever give up on you. Giving Satan the satisfaction and  just halfway doing things is what keeps you from seeing any "healthy results" in your life. The best way to restart your life is realize that your "PTSD" can be cured. The cure is Jesus. Let Him turn your mess into a message; it's the best decision I ever made.

Are You Sealed?

Writer's block is always frustrating for me. The past week or so, I'd been praying about what to write on next, and I'd asked for prayers several times. I usually like to keep up with the weekly routine of posts, but for awhile I've been slacking just because I felt that I didn't want to write about myself.  I felt I needed to spend some time glorifying God. I couldn't come up with any topics.  "Molly's Zone" wouldn't have even been part of my path if it wasn't for His  continuous mercy and intervention on my life, after all. I don't deserve any praise; the Lord deserves every bit of glory. For I am just a sinner saved by grace. The way He answered my prayers and the prayers of those who prayed for me just wows me. A topic I never would have considered, but I thank the Lord for putting it on my mother's heart and I thank Him for having her share it with me.  

Saturday night, my mom gave my office a fresh paint job. I love it! My walls are now "Edgecomb Grey"- a light, grey color that gives my office sophistication with a touch of coziness. The accents of red that I have in my furniture in this room just come to life. New life brought to a room brings fresh inspiration.  I love you Mom! Thank you so much! I still love it as I'm sitting here typing away and I smell the lemon cookie tart melting in my tart warmer. Blessed! Blessed! Blessed!  

The topic came Sunday morning while I was getting ready for church. My mom all of a sudden came in to where I was and said "You've been looking for something to write about."  I said "Yeah." She proceeds to tell me about this stain on the ceiling she saw as she was painting the night before, telling me that the stain had been painted over, but it had not  been sealed because the stain was still very much visible; she said for stains to totally go away, you have to first use a special sealer before you can paint over it; she gave me the idea of using that principle to write about in terms of applying the same thought to people. What a great idea! Thank you Lord! 

Are you sealed? The most special and final sealer is the blood of Jesus Christ. Going to church won't save you. Being a good person won't save you. Religion won't save you. You will look and feel great for awhile, but your "stains" will show again and again until you trust in Him for salvation. Salvation by grace through faith is the ONLY way to Heaven. The moment you trust in Him, ALL your sins will be forever GONE. Past, present, and future. What a great God! However....this thought brings me to the second point of this post.  

Life as a born again believer does not mean that we will live the rest of our days completely sinless. My friend, that's impossible. We are still human. Once you are saved and "sealed" you become a new creature. Your life is not your own. You are a child of the King. Salvation is not a license to live in sin; it is NOT a license to live as you want to live. We are to live for Him, because He died for us, bought us with His blood, and there are people in this world who still need saved. Friends are great, and I'm blessed with some of the best and I cherish you all. As a Christian, you MUST NOT compromise. Stand your ground; it is far better to stand with Christ, and have a few great friends, than to stand with the world and have a multitude of them.  Romans 6: 1-2  KJV says: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 1:6 KJV goes on to say this: Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. "  He forbids us as Christians to live in sin

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The last point I want to make today is also that Jesus did not save you so that you could live with a judgmental, unforgiving, holier than thou attitude. As much as we are all tempted to do so, none of us have the right to say who's born again and who's not; that is between God and that person. We are so quick to throw stones at others, but we don't want to look at our own sins. Remember what Christ brought you from? We ALL sin and come short of the glory of God. Think of it this way if your faucet needed replaced, and you had to buy a new one...you wouldn't forget what the other one looked like or where it leaked from would you? Same idea applies here. You don't forget. The fact that you're sealed, doesn't mean you won't get a "stain" somewhere else along the way or that the faucet you just bought won't "leak", but Jesus freely offers us forgiveness every day as evidenced by 1 John 1:9 KJV: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  You "patch up" the areas that need mending by repenting and turning from that sin, you learn from the experience and you go on with life. I want to end this by saying if you don't know Jesus, and you've been trying and trying to paint over something and you're trying to convince yourself you'll be okay in the end, maybe you just need sealed. There is hope in the ultimate sealer. Jesus is where I find my hope. Jesus is the most loyal friend I have. He's granted me mercy time and time again when I don't even deserve it. Fellow saved Christian, I'm sure He's helped you too. He's seen you through your good times, bad times, and ugliest of times; perhaps you just need an attitude change; maybe you just need to be reminded of what He's done for you.

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you". (Ephesians 2:29-32 KJV) God bless you all. Jesus loves you.