Caught in the CrossFire
My name is Debbie Cross and I am a Christian. I've become revitalised in my faith and have opened a blog to share my journey with God, my loving Saviour. I detail my daily struggles, quiet times and verses that mean a lot to me.
My journey is possible because of one act.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
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No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Romans 8:39I’ve had an extremely lazy weekend and despite my reluctance to get off my butt and do something useful, I’ve made an observation about my relationship with God that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Yet, I suspect a ton of Christians do this.
During this week, with school and homework and stress, I didn’t struggle to make time for God. I needed him this week to take my mind of everything and sustain me and so, I didn’t give spending time with him a second thought. I just did it.
This weekend, however, I’ve had all the time in the world to study my Bible and have proper quality time with God… and haven’t. I’ve sat around, thinking way too much about other things. I find myself playing Xbox, watching TV and doing pretty useless things for the mind and body.
You would think that if I could make time for God during a busy, school fuelled week that I’d manage a bit of time at the weekend. It’s definitely a sign that I take time with God way too much for granted. I tell myself that I have all the hours in the day to sit down and reach out to him, and then I find myself curled up in bed on a Saturday night apologizing and promising that I won’t repeat the same mistake. Yet I do, time and time again. I suppose it’s a valuable lesson. Time with God is crucial. I get far too settled in what the verse above promises. I know that nothing can separate me from God and because of this, I think a few skipped quiet times won’t do me much harm. But there’s a definite change in the way I think and perceive things without that half an hour each day. I dwell more on negative thoughts and my mind wanders to places that God protects me from when I dwell on him instead. He doesn’t need to give me any of his time, but he does. I should be following his example and feel motivated by this promise and praise the fact that all the moments I spend with him NEVER have to end. I never have to fear losing him or failing him so badly that he throws me away. A God like mine is worth spending time with, and next time I feel myself putting him on hold, I’m revisiting this verse.
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What’s every broken bone in comparison to the healing we’ve received from the Lord? Why condemn ourselves for every failure when we’ve overcome the grasp of Satan? Why suffer silently when he called us to dry all our tears? Why dwell on all our imperfections when we’ve been made blameless in his sight? Why resent the Lord for every infliction we face when we go through our days, failing to acknowledge how we inflict others? Why do we claim to serve a God that we can’t spare a second of time for?
Our priorities are seriously messed up. We need to set them straight.
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Every minute spent living for ourselves rather than for God is one more minute spent with our future hanging in the balance. Every single second we spend ignoring the gift of Salvation is one less second spared to make the greatest decision of our lives. Don’t waste time - God may not wait around another second to reclaim this world.
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I’m sitting across from one of my best friends, Meghan and we’re chatting to our hearts content! We’ve been discussing how we all have certain characters that can be used in different ways to glorify God. It’s a bit like one of my earlier blogs where I was looking at Gods character in comparison to mans character! We’ve been trying to determine what our personal characters actually are. We decided that I’m not confident but I throw myself into things which in turn, brings confidence. Meghan, on the other hand, is an introspective person. Her presence is almost in her lack of presence – she doesn’t have to talk constantly for you to know she has thoughts that are deeper than most. We bring out other qualities in each other though, which reminds me of how God works in our lives sometimes. My “go get em’” attitude, in Meghan’s opinion, makes her feel more confident whereas when I’m with Meghan; I find myself more sentimental and open than I would be around anyone else.
In the same way, God enhances certain parts of our personality to serve him. We sometimes look at our Christian friends and wish we had the things they did! Their confidence, self esteem, or maybe their capacity to empathise for others. But in reality, we all have something unique about us that God utilises to serve him to our fullest potential! I admire Meghan, as I do all my friends. I love how she’s so connected to nature and feels God presence so strongly in it! When we want other qualities our friends have, instead of craving it, we should be inspired by it. This is why Meghan and I’s friendship is so amazing. We constantly inspire each other in ways others can’t sometimes. We remind each other on a daily basis that we both have the potential to do great things for God. We want each other to succeed in all we do and thus, resent nothing!
We’ve come to know each other’s personalities inside out! And we trust that God will use them to encourage each other and to encourage others! It’s a blessing to have a friend who understands you in ways that you can’t even understand yourself!
“The night is almost over, the day is almost here, so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of life” – Romans Ch13: v12
We spent a good 10 minutes trying to find this verse because Meghan loves it! Funnily enough, my favourite verse is very similar and can be found in John Ch 16: v33. We rejoice in the Lords divine rule over this world and our lives!
We believe we’re part of something truly epic! And we’re excited to see what God has in store for us : D We have absolute faith in each other and absolute faith in our Lord!
