Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Why This Blog Was Dead, Part 1

Scroll down in this blog. The last post I have here was written sometime in August 2010. I have not posted on this blog for nearly eighteen months. There is a reason. Pretty soon, you are going to know that this isn’t that kind of homeschooling blog. So many of you are sweet, chipper, and upbeat. I can be those things, and they are good qualities in a blogger, but this is the place where I will be real. If you don’t mind that, you are in the right place.

My life hit some roadblocks in the intervening time. I don’t want to go into the details right now, but it did not involve any immorality or substance abuse. No one died, got into an accident, or became seriously ill. All three of my children are doing well, praise God, and so is my husband, our parents, and all of our relatives. I am still married, and after 22 years, that’s pretty amazing. We don’t have any significant money problems, our cars are running, and our house is still the comfy old shoe of a 1960’s colonial that it has always been in the 19 years that we have owned it.
In short, we have much to be thankful for. Yet, in the midst of apparent prosperity and blessings, it is devastating when dreams die or have to be put on hold. This is especially true when you know that your dream’s fulfillment would please God. When you have prayed about it for years, and it’s a desire that you know that you were created to do, it’s not easy to give up and say, “OK, God. I don’t know what you are doing. I don’t know why you have lead me here only to leave me at the side of the proverbial road, alone, without a clue how to find my way back.

So you get up in the morning, determined not to blame God, and move forward, though I am human, and the temptation is great. I want to believe the gooey nonsense that the TV preachers are serving up. I’d love to have “my best life now” by saying the right prayers, “naming it and claiming”, or just believing enough. But the truth is, despite what a few charlatans may have lead you to believe, following Jesus isn’t like that. 

The Bible actually said that our lives will get harder if we follow Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” It won’t be a walk in the park, unless you can imagine a park occupied by angry protesters. People will stand in your way. The rest of the world will not understand your priorities. Don’t pretend that people will think that you are a nice, reasonable Christian, because if you are really following hard after Jesus, you are going to look like Him. You are going to look like a crackpot. And you have only to look at what happened to Jesus to know how the world likes to handle His type. Why are you expecting something else?

2 comments:

  1. Real is good JennyM. Be yourself, blog with your 'real' self and we will still love you!

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  2. Thank you so much for your encouragement, Lisa!

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