It's my great pleasure to introduce my third child, Maria to you. She is a wonderful seventeen year old high school senior who loves music, reading, political discussions, bible study and her family. Her talents are many: below she discusses her interest in graphics and photography which she has explored during this last year of home schooling. Her photos introduce each month in the devotional: Selah: Daily Quotes for Daily Meditation. -Tina
Like any Christian, my
relationship with God has not been a walk in the park. However, it could have
been a lot easier for one reason: if I had known how much He loves me.
I was home-schooled and
grew up in the church. My dad was an associate pastor and my mom was a worship
leader: the perfect beginning for a perfect Christian life. Unfortunately, I
did not use the resources at my disposal and I subconsciously created my own idea of
Christianity. As an eight year old this was my idea of Christianity: “God
loves me and saved me. BUT, if I do one thing wrong I have to start all over
again”. As a result, every night for about three years I re-accepted Christ as my Savior. However, I think the key problem was simply that I had never
accepted God as my Father versus as my Master. I had the incorrect perception that God the Father was constantly trying to kick me out and Jesus His Son was the mediator constantly having to accept me over and over again.
What finally helped me understand how salvation works was the reality that I could do nothing to earn it. Salvation is a gift and I accept it; that’s it! The next things I learned were 1) God is the One who sent Jesus to die on the cross to save me, and 2) that His love is unconditional.
Ever since I realized those truths, my life has changed
immensely. I used to suffer from feelings of depression, however, once I knew that the GOD of the universe LOVED ME unconditionally, that killed any
feeling of depression that I had. I used to believe that God was pretty much
in control of who lived, who died, who He accepted, and who rejected Him. However,
finally using the resources I had, my parents showed me that everything wrong
with this world came from Satan, and although he is defeated, humans are still
able to give power over to him; unfortunately, giving him the right to hurt
whoever he wants emotionally or physically. Ultimately, it is the Christian’s
responsibility to take back what Satan has stolen, give life to what he has
killed, and restore what he has destroyed. God gives us the power to do all
of this through the Holy Spirit who
lives in us.
Next time something bad or negative happens to you or someone else, know that God has the BEST in mind for you and the world.
Next time something bad or negative happens to you or someone else, know that God has the BEST in mind for you and the world.
I am in constant of
awe of His grace and love. Not only that, but in His unwavering love for ME! He
calls me His daughter and rejoices over Me! No matter how many times I roll
this over in my mind, I never really get over the thrill that comes to me. Every
moment that I lost in past believing that His love is conditional and limited, is a
moment compared to the rest of eternity I get to spend with getting to know Him
more and more. I could probably go on for all eternity, but I digress and leave
you to discover or rediscover the immense love that God has for YOU!
