The Wrong Side Of The Heart.

What is a testimony??
Evidently, some people have a different view than I do of what your testimony is...and even what it means to have one.  Google says: A declaration of the spiritual truths one knows to be true, through the witness of the Holy Ghost.  Ok. That's a good one. :) A testimony, to me, is just that: what we know to be true. I know that Jesus Christ died on that hill as a sacrifice for me and my sins. I know that. I believe that. And that one statement is what allows me to live my life. Period. 


So...why is it that some people think that their entire testimony comes when some tragic event happens? I don't understand what is missing. Bad, tragic things happen to us because satan doesn't want God to have the glory in it...and they all come from satan. He doesn't want us to live our lives praising Christ! And when that awful, bad, tragic things happen, I'm not gonna lie, its hard to praise and magnify Him! But the concept that God GIVES us those bad things to make us go through something horrible just to be close to Him...could just possibly be the dumbest thing I have ever heard!!!! 


Now...I will say this. I believe with my whole heart that God does allow us to experience those bad things. He doesn't have to, but He does. But its all for the greater good. I know that every single thing that is the farthest away from "good" that has happened to me in my life has, in fact, brought me closer to God. All of those events give me reassurance that God is who He says He is. That faith makes me a witness...a disciple...a Christ follower...a bible-reader...a lover. And when I tell people about what Christ does for me...and what He has done for me during my entire life...I choose to include some of those bad things. They have shaped my heart into who I am because I fully relied on Christ to help me. 


The Cross is Enough! Do you not understand what Jesus did for us!? The pain and the suffering he endured for us... willingly! I don't deserve crap! But everything He gives, I gladly except. Good or bad. 
But when I hear, "God gave all these bad things so that I could have a Testimony"... It's almost like saying that God didn't think much of you our your faith so he decided to slap you in the face with trauma! Couldn't be farther from the truth!

You don't PRAY for bad things to happen to you....you PRAY for the strength to endure them... and look only God to help you get through.  You don't PRAY for bad things to happen to you so that you can be a light to others.

For me, the greatest testimony is one that is told by actions, with an over flowing of grace and love and joy from their heart..... NOT told by bad things you may, or may not, have to get through...but expresses the GLORY of Christ!

The Cross is Enough for Me!

Sometimes we just never know....

So...every once in a while...death comes and knocks on the door. Not in my own life...but in the lives of those around me. Early Saturday morning, Christopher Acree passed away.

The story goes: He was at the 5th Quarter  and couldn't drive home. Someone called him a cab, but when he got to his grandparents house, he couldn't get in because someone had his keys. So his plans were to just climb into a window. He somehow fell off the ledge. His grandpa found him early Saturday morning. 

I'm just not sure what to think at this point.  Do I think about all the ways this could have been prevented? Do I think of all the missed opportunities I had throughout the years to witness to him? Do I think of what he went through, if anything, when he was taking that last breath?

Death.

We all have to experience it. That is one thing we aren't spared from. Its the one thing that we, as humans, know absolutely nothing about. It's scary.