NO SUCH THING AS FAILING GOD!

     As a former leftist, liberal, feminist, then uppity church pew dweller, then prodigal, and all around screw-up, I know about as much about YHVH GOD, who created the universe as the average human screw-up. I'm far from an expert, but I have studied the Bible inside, outside, and upside down. I've studied the historicity of it and how GOD dealt with His people throughout the ages, especially His heroes who were total screw-ups. (They were all men, by the way, no women screw-ups in his heroine list that I could find!) I have lived in the fiery furnace of affliction for decades, some by my own doing, some not, and there is one thing that keeps coming back to me, and it's as old as Genesis. GOD predicted man's downfall and need for redemption before he even created the first man. He foreknew of their need deliverance. There is not one event or period of apostasy that GOD did not predict and even anticipate for his people and for each individual. The plan was set, but man being a dense as he is, he had to learn the hard way. I'm like that. I learn by trial and error, mostly error. What I'm going to tell you isn't rocket science, so it is not going to require a very long explanation. (But don't count on that from a writer!)

       GOD IS OMNISCIENT!

   What does Omniscient mean?  Well, it means that before you were born, GOD knew every mistake you would make. He knew about that mathematical error on your first grade math paper, to the low score on your SAT's because you were out partying the night before the exam.  He knew about the D you got in Geology 101 as a college freshman, because you skipped class that was the maps portion of the course and you turned in a blank final exam.  He also knew about that girl or boy that you would charm into bed because, well, they were hot, and you were dumped by the love of your life. He knew about that bad marriage and all the mistakes you would make in it.  He knew that child you screwed up the first time around parenting because you had awful parents and you had no idea what you were doing as a new parent.  He knew about that guy you fell head-over-heals in love with right after your husband dumped you.  He knew that you'd cave into your heart's desire even though you knew how wrong it was.  He also knew the pain you would suffer for that decision for years to come, and that's what brought real spiritual growth in your life.  He knew that after the biggest mistake of your life you would dedicate your life to Him, even if that meant a lonely existence with no new love in your life for the rest of your days.  

  Are you catching on?  He knew all the mistakes you were going to make. As a matter of fact, He actually weaved the lessons you would learn from them into your life to teach you how to be a better person and servant.  He loved and corrected you like a son or a daughter, because He knew that you would be a devoted one.  GOD knew that all your mistakes would get you a PhD in the college of Hard Knocks, and you would turn it all around and write a block buster book that would go viral after you left this earth.  The whole time you were screwing up, He knew that there would be other screw-ups who would someday need a screw-up to look up to!  Learn this one fact, there is no way to fail GOD, because even if you did not do all those things like I did,  He knew that He had a purpose for your life, and He was going to accomplish it whether you wanted Him to or not.  And, here's the kicker, for those outside the family of GOD, you did not fail Him either, because He knew that you would never turn to Him and want to turn your life around to do something good for the Kingdom.  It's impossible to fail someone who knows your every thought, word and deed before you were even born.  

     If you are a parent, tell me, do you love your children?  Are they perfect?  Did you ever stop loving them with each mistake they made?  When they were born did you expect them to be perfect, or did you know that there would be a lifetime of mistakes that they would make before they turned thirty? It is just like you understand your rebellious teen because it's a phase, one you yourself went through.  Your child did not fail you when they went through that awkward stage of thinking they knew more than you at the ripe old age of fourteen.  We cannot fail the Omniscient Creator who knew long before you took your first breath that you would be total screw-up, but one that He loved enough to send His Son for so you could live with Him forever in Paradise.  The next time you see a post where someone confesses to fail GOD, send them my way, so I can straighten them out, because that's my job.  

 RIZPAH AND OTHER UNKONWNS (Part 2) 

   Since beginning the new wonderful job GOD has given me, I've not written a single word in almost nine months, but that doesn't mean I've not contemplated a thousand things.  This one theme of "nobodies" has been on my mind for a very long time, and I knew that my previous post Rizpah and Other Unknowns Part 1 needed a part 2.  I just had to wait until the Almighty gave it to me.  This story of Naomi has been on my mind for sometime, as I myself have many times considered myself a Naomi, a Mara, bitter because of one man's decision.  Many times, I have felt abandoned by GOD, however, I know that "emotions have no intellect and facts have no feelings;" a truth my Savior taught me many, many years ago.  

    A few years back, I studied this book with my favorite TORAH teacher.  For your studying pleasure, may I suggest you listen and learn from this great teacher.  The Book of Ruth.  In that wonderful study, I learned more about this books true message from the Hebrew aspect.   When I studied it in the Christian church, I learned a completely different lesson from it.  That is true for all of Scripture.  If we do not know the true ancient Hebrew mindset from the writer's and listener's perspective, we miss the most meaningful truths from Scripture.  We must take off our 21st Century lenses, our contemporary (Christian) glasses and see it from the writer's perspective, the listener's perspective and from those living out these wonderful stories.  The premises of this post is about people who are nobodies in people's eyes, but somebodies in YHVH GOD's eyes.  The Most High has a Name, He gave it to Moses because He wanted it known to His people.  It is Yod Hey Vav Hey.  He wants His name known, and He does it with nobodies. The nobody I'm referring today is called Naomi, or Mara, in her own words. 

    This poor woman was subject to the sin of her husband and sons.  Yes, I said sin.  Her husband left the Holy land of Bethlehem and went to a foreign land, one he was told never to dwell in.  He went because of a famine, instead of trusting YHVH GOD to be his Provider. He went to provide for himself and his family.  Then, after he earned for himself, he kept his family in that foreign land instead of returning to the place from which YHVH GOD had placed him.  Not only did he commit this sin of self-reliance, but he taught his sons the same sin.  YHVH GOD's judgment fell upon him and he died.  So, what did his sons do?  Did they return to the Holy land and bring their mother home? Did they choose obedience to marry only  their own kind?  We know the answer to that.  They married Moabite women, which they knew was a sin against GOD.  So, GOD's judgment fell upon them, also.  Not only were they not allowed sons of their own in the ten years they were married, but they were taken out by GOD Himself, and rightly so.  

    Naomi, the nobody in a foreign land, who was not allowed to do her own thing in a man's world back then, did what she knew to be correct after the judgment of GOD fell upon her husband and sons.  She returned to the land which GOD told them to dwell, and she took her daughters-in-law with her, because when a daughter joins a family in marriage, they become part of that family for life.  One foolishly returned to her own land and family, but one wisely chose the better route.  Maybe she did because her mother-in-law taught her of this Wonderful GOD she worshiped and obeyed.  The nobody named Naomi submitted to the male authority in her life, her husband, because that was what was expected of her, but when GOD took away that authority, she did the next best thing, gave herself back to her Creator.  He, in turn, did not let her down, although, from her perspective, she saw it differently.  

     She saw herself cursed of GOD, but her perspective did not matter to her God, because YHVH GOD had a better plan, a better redemption that was awaiting her when she obeyed.  She was an old woman, too old to be married again in order to reproduce, but not too old to be redeemed.  The book of Ruth is the name for the book, but it is not the main theme of the book.  The book's main character and theme is really about Naomi's redemption,  and the ancient Hebrews would have known this.  Most Christians have adopted this book as a book about a gentile woman grafted in to the Israelite branch, just as they are grafted in by Yeshua into the Vine.  Sadly, some Christian denominations think they have replaced the Vine and have become the vine themselves, hence replacement theology.  Isn't it ironic that some gentile Christian churches  have replaced the true theme of a Hebrew book with a gentile main character, when the true meaning of the book is about a faithful Hebrew woman, discarded by men, but protected by YHVH GOD.  Naomi, a nobody widow who was somebody to GOD,  somebody enough for Him to rescue from a foreign land who practice pagan god worship, and brought her back to redemption through His Patriarchal Laws for the provision for women. 

    It is call the Levirate Marriage Law, and it is to protect women, because GOD honors women more than man likes to admit or obey.  I learned for over two decades that the theme of the book of Ruth is about a kinsman redeemer, a Hebrew named Boaz, for a gentile named Ruth.  Boaz  is a predecessor for a gentile's Kinsmen Redeemer who is the true Israelite Messiah for the Hebrews and also the gentiles.  Yeshua is the  Kinsman Redeemer for a people grafted into the Israelite Vine.  Gentiles are the branches grafted in, not the vine themselves.  Note, Ruth did not take Boaz home to Moab, instead, she was grafted into the Israelite religion and custom and under the Laws of Moses.  So, again, this post is about two nobodies who were rescued and redeemed by The Most High, one a true Hebrew, and one a gentile. Yet, these two nobodies, back then,  now live in infamy because of their obedience.   Ruth was just a recipient and benefactor of Naomi's obedience. We too can benefit from that spirit of obedience and humility as nobodies to men but somebodies to YHVH GOD.  Our obedience does not only benefit us, but those watching us, also. 

     REJECTED BY MEN, ACCEPTED BY GOD

For almost 30 years in the Christian church, I was rejected by pastors, because I asked too many questions. It's okay for a man to ask questions, but in Christianity, it's never okay for a woman,, especially one who asks the hard questions. I've had pastors show me the door, want me to leave, ignore me and treat me like a second class citizen, especially after my husband divorced me. I could almost read their minds. "There's obviously something wrong with her, because her own husband rejected her." So, I stopped going to church. I stopped for almost eight years. I asked GOD why I was always rejected in church and never fit in.

I believe He said, "Maybe, you never fit in because I did not design you to fit in." For thirty years, I was compelled to go to church, because that was obeying Hebrews 10:25. Christians tell you that you are obligated to go to church or there is something wrong with your walk with GOD. You are compelled to tithe, because that's the part of the "Law" they want to keep, the rest, well, that's obsolete. To them, Jesus replaced the Law, but not the tithe. Christians have been teaching this for generations. I've been dismissed by church people because I do not go to church, and yet, I've learned that I was going for the wrong reasons. The Holy Spirit had to re-program me, and it has taken this long, because GOD's revelation through the Holy Spirit is progressive. For a while there, I swore I'd never step foot in another Christian church just like 36 years ago I swore I'd never step foot in another Roman Catholic church. And yet, here I am contemplating whether or not I want to go to a Baptist church this morning that I've been invited to recently.

I'm a different person now. I've stood alone with YHVH for eight years never once being rejected by Him. In fact, I was chosen and anointed to know more, to study more, and to know some of the secrets of YHVH that the devil has blinded most Christians to. I won't go into those secrets, because this blog post is not about that, however, many of my other posts have been. I don't blame Christians at all, they are only repeating what their pastors have told them. I don't blame pastors, they are only repeating what their seminary professors have told them. I don't even blame the seminary professors, because they have been repeating what Biblical commentators of old have told them. Who do I blame? The enemy of GOD of course.

The adversary began the Roman church, not the Roman Catholic Church, the Roman church, the one that took over in the 2nd Century AD. It all went bad from there, 1800 years of bad. It was the same in Jesus's day, it was the Rabbinical teachers, the teachers of Halacha, the oral law which was a combination of the Talmud and the TORAH. It was the adversary who got into men's brains and corrupted the Word of YHVH, and why Yeshua had to come, to bring back the purity of the TORAH, which means instructions. Here we are 2,000 years later, and we are at the same exact point. Yeshua/Jesus is not coming back to teach the purity of the TORAH this time, instead He has sent the Holy Spirit, and it has lit on fire those of us who were called and anointed to bring the truth to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like the day of Josiah, the TORAH has been hidden in the walls of the Church, and YHVH has made sure that it has been found.

One of the secrets of GOD is that He is bringing the two houses of Israel back together like He promised for thousands of years in the Hebrew Scriptures. He is bringing the stick of Judah and the stick of Ephraim back together again. Ephraim is the gentile Christian church this time, and Judah are the Messianic Jews. We are all His, but we are not united, yet. The Christians love the verse "blessed are those who bring good news" when referring to missionaries who go to remote parts of the world to bring the Gospel to those who've never heard it. Well, blessed are the feet who bring the TORAH to those who have never heard it, also, because the Gospel is the TORAH and the TORAH is the Gospel. I want to bring the good news of the TORAH to my brothers and sisters in the Gentile Church, but many don't want to hear the TORAH, because they've been told it's the LAW, and we are not under the LAW anymore. Well, if GOD did away with His laws, then there'd be no sin anymore and no need for a Savior.

It's a shame that my gentile brothers and sisters in the Christian church cannot find the Grace that is in the TORAH, because they believe Jesus is the Grace of the Gospel. I want to help change that. My brothers and sisters in Christ have replaced the Holy Days YHVH declared in the TORAH for the unholy days the Roman Church declared. I want to help change that. Lately, I've been doing a lot of study of the time during the Maccabees, the Hellenistic period where the Jews began to blend in with the culture, and I could write a whole new blog just about those times, but it would only sound like the days we are living in now. Christians believe there was a period of silence of 400 years between the two testaments in the Bible, but there was no silence from YHVH at all. YHVH was just as busy about His work then as He is now. Jesus said in John 5, my Father is always working and so am I. There was no time of silence from YHVH, it's just that the Roman Church convinced men that there was because of their hatred of all things Jewish. The Roman Catholic Church and many protestant churches have convinced their people that they are the new Israel.

I recently heard from a Messianic brother who found me on a Psalm119 ministries site, and he and I have been emailing. When I told him that I visited a Baptist church he rebuked me and told me that I was sinning to meet with my gentile brothers and sisters in Christ on the first day of the week. I asked him where in the TORAH did YHVH tell us to not meet any specific day to worship Him? I can tell you where the Roman church made it illegal to meet, but there is no day of the week where YHVH told us not to meet and corporately worship Him. In fact, Romans tells us that our true act of worship is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. In other words, obeying YHVH is an act of worship, not just singing a song on any particular day or meeting on any particular day. Obeying YHVH means obeying His Instructions, i.e. the TORAH, which Yeshua did. Shouldn't we walk exactly like him to the best of our ability? The reason for Jesus coming 2,000 years ago was two-fold, to bring back the purity of GOD's Instructions and to do what the TORAH could not do, and that was to save us and give us eternal life with Him in Paradise. He did not abolish the TORAH, he taught it and obeyed it.

So, I contemplate going to church on the first day with my Baptist brothers and sisters, preparing to be rejected again. If I am, well, I'll wipe the dust off my feet like Yeshua told us to do when we are not welcome, and I'll continue to pursue YHVH and His Righteousness wherever He sends me. If that is only to the blank page, then I'll do it there.

Clueless People Vomiting GOD's Wrath

       With all due respect to the late  R.C Sproul, with whom I vehemently disagreed with on many points, has some really great points in some of his better sermons. I chose this picture to illustrate the point of my title.  Church people are clueless when it comes to relating to non-church people.  I was not a church person for the first twenty-six years of my life, so I remember well living outside the walls of the church without the great Translator, the Holy Spirit.  I know what it's like to hear "greek" when a born-again holy roller said something.  Most church people are the type that have been sitting in a pew since they were in their mother's womb. They don't get us and we don't get them. How can they, they were never one of us.  When I refer to church people, I'm talking about the ones who know nothing other than the morality gospel.  The word gospel means good news, the morality gospel is not good news.  The morality gospel says, "You people outside the church are dirty sinners, and you are all going to hell, unless you conform to the likeness of us,"  PERIOD. 

     Beside the fact that hell is a fictional place, the doctrine of eternal conscious torture and torment was made up by the church, (written about in a previous blog post: The BIGGEST and most EGREGIOUS Lie of Christianity), church people usually use the Bible and Scripture as a weapon and not for healing.  Jesus came to heal and teach, not to condemn.  I know this, because after over two decades as a church person, I did the same thing. It was after a period of being a prodigal, I remembered what it was like to live on the outside.  I wish church people on the inside would get that using Scripture as a weapon does not bring life, but kills instead.  Most of them are too busy bathing and being baptized over and over again in their own self-righteousness that they have lost the entire purpose of the coming of Jesus to bring us to the Father. 

   

    Maybe I can give you another example of if you haven't worn their shoes, you can't walk in them. I've never been a drug addict, henceforth, I do not know their struggle because I've never walked in their shoes.  With that being said, as a cancer survivor who was on some serious pain-killers during radiation hell, I do understand slightly what withdrawal is.  About two weeks after the last treatment, I noticed some alleviation in the pain, hence, I took off all the patches and threw them in the trash.  BIG MISTAKE!  The next day, I woke up, and I wish I hadn't, because I was freezing and sweating at the same time.  I was as sick with the "flu" as one could be without actually having the virus.  Going off all that pain medication in one instant like that was the equivalent of going cold turkey off Heroin after being on it 24/7 for three months.   It was then that I got a whole new appreciation for their struggle.  So, to say I can relate to a drug addict is only in the sense that I get what withdrawal feels like, but I never had the desire to go back to pain medication after that. I can empathize only partially. 

   What is so sad about the ineffective evangelism of the Christian church is that these people raised in it don't understand those who are not.  Only the Holy Translator Who speaks all languages can. The best and only thing one can do is love them and pray for them, because if God wants them, only He can do what it takes to win them. Let GOD convict them instead of you trying to convince them.  The only thing a human does by trying to convince and outsider to live by insider rules is to push the outsider further outside. 

  

    Now, to many, I may come off that way as self-righteous, and I'm sorry for that.  Yet, there is the other end of the spectrum and that is that GOD is all-loving, never judgmental, loving unconditionally, because GOD is Jesus, and not the other way around.  Jesus is part of the Trinity, he is the GOD the Son.  He did come to judge, but he judged the self-righteous right.  He also came to tell sinners that there was a way out, but that way was narrow, and few find it.  He was talking to his own people, the Jews, well, I'm talking to my own people, the church.  The road is narrow, and sadly, many people in the church are on the broad road, the road to destruction, because they have been taught a lie.  The lie is all you have to do is believe in Jesus, and regardless of what you do, you are saved, because if you obey the TORAH, which means INSTRUCTIONS, the same INSTRUCTIONS Yeshua obeyed, well, that's a works doctrine and you are not under grace.  Jesus did not come to abolish the TORAH, GOD's INSTRUCTIONS, he came to do what it could not do, save us, but that doesn't mean we throw the instruction manual out.  

   If we use grace as a license to sin, then we got our license from the devil, not GOD.  We have a license to do good, to live right, not just a  get-out-of-hell-free card.  In other words, if you're sleeping with the flavor of the month and going to church every Sunday, you have created a god in your own image, one you can accept instead of the One who wants to accept you.  Stop going to church, because He hates a hypocrite.  Let me explain what the true and proper "fear of GOD" is, and it's not what you think.  We devoted ones aren't afraid of his wrath, what we are afraid of is the dreaded "wooden spoon" from heaven, maybe y'all from the south would understand the "switch" better. Those who truly belong to YHVH GOD, or are truly working out their salvation in Jesus with fear and trembling cannot go on sinning or living in sin, because the Holy Spirit won't let them.  Sometimes, GOD has to put a hook in our noses to bring us back to him, (2 Chronicles 33)  and blessed is that man GOD will go that far to bring back to the fold, even if he thinks he's still in the fold sitting in a pew every week.  

    

  

ONE TRUTH or THOUSANDS OF DENOMINATIONS

     A newer pastor from a church of which we used to be members, one of the MANY who were invited to preach, and persecuted until they left, called me to ask if we were once members of this congregation, and I said yes. He tried to get me to come back to church on Sunday. I told him I was not a Christian, that I was a Messianic Jew. He said, and I quote, "Well, if you believe in Jesus as your Savior, then I consider you a Christian." I corrected him and told him that Messianic Jews are NOT Christians, because we know that Christianity is a  man-made religion. I told him that I've studied the Scriptures and church history too well, and I cannot go on living the lies I've learned in Christianity. I began to tell him the truth, and he quickly and abruptly ended the conversation and wished me well.  

    This is something we face daily, we lovers of the TORAH.  Christian pastors avoid us like the plague, because they know what the seminaries have taught them: Anyone who believes in Jesus as their Savior is a Christian, and they must fit and conform to the mold, and it's their job to make them conform.  They choose to believe the lie that Yeshua began Christianity.  He did not.  He came to teach TORAH, which means instructions.  He came to divide Halacha, oral law created by man from TORAH, which is GOD's instructions to man.  Halacha is what man added to TORAH, which was strictly forbidden by YHVH GOD. 

   So, the lie that Christianity began with Jesus and his Disciples began with the antisemite church, the Roman Church.   The evil ROMAN Catholic Church lied 1800 years ago and created a corrupt system of government for the followers of Yeshua HaMashiach. They stripped them of their ability to read Scripture on their own when Jerome translated the Scriptures into the Latin Vulgate. (Which went against YHVH GOD's intention of keeping the Word of GOD in a common language most could read.)

The ROMAN Church intentionally harassed, persecuted and murdered any people who tried to get the Scriptures into the hands of ordinary people. If this doesn't boil your blood, nothing will. The great murderous Roman Catholic Church

  Their new system of governance is just as corrupt as the US Federal Government has become. They spawned a rebellious daughter called the Protestant Rebellion, which in turn created in and of itself a just as Corrupt system of the governance of spirituality, dividing it unto thousands of denominations with different sets of rules and by-laws to live by. The Reformation was only people who wanted to rebel from the Mother church, but keep from her what it liked and wanted, i.e. infant baptism and some of the sacraments, including pagan holidays baptized into Christ.

Matthew 5

17 “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. 18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened. 19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

Yeshua HaMashiach the Son of YHVH GOD was a Torah keeper, and he taught us to do the same. PERIOD. We were told by Sha'ul, the Jewish Pharisee who became a follower of the Jewish Yeshua taught us to walk as Yeshua did. The Roman Catholic Church invented a gentile Jesus with new rules and regulations, and a new gentile Paul, neither of whom ever existed. The Protestant church only extended the corrupt teachings of the Roman Catholic church, and stripped the Scriptures of the Jewish heritage, mostly Martin Luther who hated the Jews, because he could not convert them. The Roman Catholic Church outlawed the Hebrew Scriptures and the Torah completely. Yes, the Roman Church outlawed YHVH GOD's own Instructions which is Hebrew is translated Torah that He established with Moses. Now, that's arrogance.

 NO SUCH THING AS FAILING GOD

       As a former leftist, liberal, feminist, then uppity church pew dweller, then prodigal, and all around screw-up, I know about as much about YHVH GOD, who created the universe as the average screw-up.  I'm far from an expert, but I have studied the Bible inside, outside, and upside down.  I've studied the historicity of it and how GOD dealt with His people throughout the ages, especially His heroes who were total screw-ups. (They were all men, by the way, no women screw-ups in his heroine list that I could find!)  I have lived in the fiery furnace of affliction for decades, some by my own doing, some not, and there is one thing that keeps coming back to me, and it's as old as Genesis.  GOD predicted man's downfall and need for redemption in Genesis 3 and their need for deliverance in Genesis 15, as well as hundreds of other verses in the Whole Counsel of GOD. There is not one event or period of apostasy that GOD did not predict and even anticipate a need for redemption and deliverance for His people.  The plan was set, but man being a stupid as he is, he had to learn the hard way.  I'm like that.  I learn by trial and error, mostly error.  

     In fact, I daily delete my posts on my social media like I clean out my junk drawer in the kitchen.  I don't want to be guilty of posting something wrong about GOD, because as Job's friends found out, GOD's wrath burns against anyone who does not tell the truth about Him. (Job 42:7).  I highly suggest that one take note of that verse before one puts up anything on their social media about the character of the Creator.  There is nothing that irritates me more than when humans bring GOD down to our level or post Bible verses that aren't there or out of context. GOD already came down to our level, and He did a fabulous flawless job of it in Yeshua (Jesus).   He did not fail the mission, but we have thousands of times.  What I'm going to tell you isn't rocket science, so it is not going to require a very long explanation. (But don't count on that from a writer!) Even a kindergarten student could get this.  

       GOD IS OMNISCIENT!

   There, now are there any questions?  What does Omniscient mean?  Well, it means that before you were born, GOD knew every mistake you would make. He knew about that mathematical error on your first grade math paper, to the low score on your ACT or SAT's, or the D you got in Geology 101 as a college freshman, because you slept through the maps portion of the course and you turned in a blank final exam  because your dormmates were going to a frat party the weekend before the exam, and you've never been to a frat party before, and you thought you'd be safe skipping the maps portion of the textbook when cramming the night before the final!  Sound familiar?  

    He also knew about that girl or boy that you would charm into bed because, well, they were hot, and you were dumped by the love of your life; payback, you know? He knew about that bad marriage, that child you screwed up the first time around parenting because you had awful parents and you had no idea what you were doing as a new parent.  He knew about that guy you fell head-over-heals in love with right after your husband dumped you during your cancer treatments, and you went to bed with him, knowing full well it was wrong.  He also knew the pain you would suffer for that decision for years to come, and that's what brought real spiritual growth in your life.  He knew that after all your screw-ups and stupid posts you put on your social media that you would turn back to him with every fiber of your being. He knew that you would dedicate your life to Him, even if that meant a lonely existence with no new love in your life for the rest of your days.  

      Are you catching on?  He knew all the mistakes you were going to make. As a matter of fact, He actually weaved them into your life to teach you how to be a better person and servant.  He loved you like a son or a daughter, because He knew that you would be one, a devoted one, even whilst on your prodigal road, worshiping some random B country singer to get as far away from Him as you could, because life in general broke your heart and you blamed Him.  GOD knew that all your mistakes would get you a PhD in the college of Hard Knocks, and you would turn it all around and write a block buster book that would go viral after you left this earth.  The whole time you were screwing up, He knew that there would be other screw-ups who would someday need a screw-up to look up to!

  
   Learn this one fact, there is no way to fail GOD, because even if you did not do all those things He knew that He had a purpose for your life, and He was going to accomplish it whether you wanted Him to or not.  And, here's the kicker, for those outside the family of GOD, you did not fail Him either, because He knew that you would never turn to Him and want to turn your life around to do something good for the Kingdom.  It's impossible to fail someone who knows your every thought, word and deed before you were even born.  

     If you need another example of this concept, if you are a parent, tell me, do you love your children?  Are they perfect?  When they were born did you expect them to be perfect, or did you know that there would be a lifetime of mistakes that they would make before they turned thirty? It is just like you understand your rebellious teen because it's a phase, one you yourself went through.  Your child did not fail you when they went through that awkward stage of thinking they know more than you at the ripe old age of fourteen.  We cannot fail the Omniscient Creator who knew long before you took your first breath that you would be total screw-up, but one that He loved enough to send His Son for so you could live with Him forever in Paradise.  The next time you see a post where someone confesses to fail GOD, send them my way, so I can straighten them out, because that's my job.  I'm the screw-up everyone needs to know about, because I did all those things, and until I stop breathing, and even after that, GOD will accomplish though me that which He ordained before Genesis 1:1 was ever written let alone spoken. 

  Three Races, 

Two Horses and 

 One GOD! 

     Most of my readers know that  I can relate almost anything that happens in the natural to  spiritual events in heavenlies, and that is because I know that GOD is intricately involved in everything that happens on this earth because it's His creation. When a carpenter builds a house with his own hands, by the time he's finished with it, he knows almost every grain that runs in every plank of wood that built that house. He knows every intricate detail in the design, planning and construction.  GOD is much like that with His Creation and with time and events. 

      I am convinced that one of His most favorite creations besides humans, of course, is the horse.  If you have ever gotten close to one, you can see the Hand of GOD by it's stunning beauty. It wasn't until I came to the horse capital of the world that I truly discovered them, and not until I watched my very first Kentucky Derby that I truly realized the magnificence of this creature. The muscle structure of that animal when it runs just screams Divine Artistry as you see each muscle working in coordination with the bone structure. Although horse racing is as much big business as church business has become, I truly believe that GOD can speak and move through horse racing at electrifying speed if one know where to look.  

        If you haven't lived in a cave, you know that the two superstar horses this year are SOVEREIGNTY and Journalism.  If you know as much about horse racing as I do, you know that there is the Triple Crown in horse racing like there is one football Superbowl, and one NASCAR  500 Cup series race that bring out the best of the best.  The three races are The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes.  Every once in a blue moon, one spectacular horse will win all three in the same year. The last time that happened was in 2018 with JUSTIFY.  He's my spirit animal, because that most astounding animal did something no other horse has ever done in the entire history of horse racing.  He came out of nowhere in the end of January, (my birthday weekend), raced for the first time in three qualifying races, and scored enough points to get into and dominate the Kentucky Derby. He then went on to easily take  the Preakness title, and finally, he received the coveted Triple Crown title in the Belmont Stakes.  I totally got into this series, because I knew my future depended on a horse race, not financially, but in terms of hope and trust.  It was just one of the many times my answer and my relationship with GOD flourished from a fleecing!  (Judges 6).  For your enjoyment, Each leg of the the Triple Crown won by JUSTIFY)

  

    I fell crazy madly in love with that horse, not so much because of his breeding, but because of his name.  I was going through one of the most awful times of my life, and there have been many, but I clearly heard GOD promise me that He would JUSTIFY all that I have been through for a greater good. I'm not into gambling away the provisions of Jehovah Jireh, but I have no problems betting my hopes and dreams on a horse race, and GOD has always come through for me. The previously unknown JUSTIFY accomplished what no horse has ever done, then faded into the background by retiring from racing. His present job now is to reproduce other thoroughbreds.  Are you seeing what I'm seeing?  I'm a nobody with the hopes of doing the same.  He's my spirit animal because I see in him what GOD sees in me.  

    I really got involved in this years series when I learned that a horse name SOVEREIGNTY was in the Derby. SOVEREIGNTY is one of GOD's greatest character traits and the one I've battle with the most.  I told Him, (as if He didn't already know), that He could not let any other named horse beat out His SOVEREIGNTY, and that He had to prove that His Name ruled over all.  As usual, He did not disappoint.  Two of the best races I've ever seen were this years Kentucky Derby and The Belmont Stakes. (The Kentucky Derby 2025 and The Belmont Stakes 2025)  

  Recently, I asked GOD about this year's races and why SOVEREIGNTY was not going to run in the Preakness.  I knew there had to be a good answer with a deeper spiritual meaning to this, because he would have easily won the Triple Crown this year.  GOD always answers our questions, but sometimes we have to wait for the answer.  I believe GOD let me know that He took SOVEREIGNTY out of the 2nd leg of the race to show me that  the horse named Journalism does have a stake in the horse racing world and he is a powerful force.  It was then that He expanded on that answer, and the deeper meaning hit me like a Jockey's whip.  Journalism was the bonafide winner of the Preakness and came in second in the other two races just behind SOVEREIGNTY.  

     Now, if you're not putting this together yet, let me do it for you. Journalism represents man's word, and it represents man's free will.  Journalism is what man wills and writes, whereas GOD's Word is has complete SOVEREIGNTY over man's word and will. So many people have told me that GOD stays out of man's free will.  I always disagree.  Man's free will and word are subject to GOD's  SOVEREIGNTY. Two of my kinship Bible characters,  Jeremiah and Jonah wanted to run from GOD (Jeremiah 20 and Jonah 1), but GOD's SOVEREIGN rule and calling on their lives prevailed.  GOD had ordained a work for them to do, and as much as both butted heads with Him, His will accomplished that which He ordained.  Man's free will does carries weight in this world, many times a negative one, but GOD's SOVEREIGNTY will always win over it, because GOD will forever JUSTIFY those who follow close after Him. 

    I have run from Him and fought with Him over dozens of things that have happened in my life because of some men's free will and how it has negatively impacted my life.  However, each time He has stopped me cold dead in my tracks.  He has a race for me to run and a prize for me to win, and He knows that eventually I am going to succeed and come out in first place and win this Spiritual Race. GOD's SOVEREIGNTY will rule the race I've been running against other men's will.   If you are anything like me and you are fighting GOD's call on your life, no matter how much you lay back, no matter how slow you run, if GOD has an ordained plan to do a great work through you,  His SOVEREIGNTY will get you where you need to be and when.  Those other horses in the race will be there with you, and you need them, because if there were no other horses, they'd be no need for you to run!  

 LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS:

Is that why we are born?

      A while back, I remember reading about how it's human nature for everyone to seek love and happiness as our main pursuits over our lifetime. Who doesn't want to be in love, be loved, or be happy?  The sad fact of this part of the human nature is that sometimes we will pursue these things at the expense of others.  While we are pursuing love and happiness, at times, our pursuit causes grief and despair for others.  So, is it ever okay to pursue these things at the expense of another or if it causes grief to a fellow human being?  I think maybe that's why our divorce rate is just as high in the church as well as outside of the church.  If we aren't happy with our spouse, or we don't feel our needs met, well, we go looking for someone else to supply that which we need. 

     As a victim of divorce, I too sought refuge with a new and future potential spouse, until GOD denied me that lifetime happiness for nine years.  For years, I struggled with that, wrestling with the Almighty like Jacob, and finally letting Him prevail.  It finally occurred to me that my personal happiness in this life wasn't in the forefront of GOD's mind or desire for me.  That was a heavy pill to swallow.  What I did realize is that the Kingdom of GOD is the utmost importance to Him and building it was just part of my assignment, even if it meant the sacrifice of my best life now, as one popular evangelist titled his book.  Should we really pursue our best life now?  I've learned, no, we should not, especially at the expense of others. Being a single parent was GOD's will for my life whether I wanted to be one or not.  Did GOD will my divorce? I would say no, He did not, however, someone with free will did.  Free will is given to us when we are born. It's after we become children of GOD that we must decide if we are willing to give up that free will totally, partially or not at all.  

     Every time I try to make sense of something in my life that hurt me or tested my resolve to follow GOD's leading, I look for a precedent in the Bible and how GOD dealt with it with His servants. Some of our contemporary struggles can be found in the Scriptures, but some of them can only be solved through the principals taught to us in the Scriptures.  Blended families is just one of those things not mentioned in the Bible, but the principals of how to deal with them can be.  I can't find blended families with shared custody in the Bible. The ONLY reference I can come up with referring to any kind of a step-child scenario is in Genesis when Joseph told his family about his dreams.  When his father  Abraham was offended by the second dream, he referred to Leah as Joseph's mother, when in fact, Rachel was Joseph's true birth mother.  So, there's a step-parent, however, the birth mother or rather other wife was already dead.   The only other reference to divorce and a "step-child," would be in Matthew with Herod and Herodias and her daughter, who seduced her "step-father" with a dance. Herodias was called Philip's wife by John,  even though she married Herod.  Marriage and divorce is the equivalent of polygamy in Bible days.  Our courts may deem our marriages dissolved, but does GOD?  Doesn't the Scriptures say, "What GOD has brought together, let no man put asunder?"  

    It is a very good possibility that GOD doesn't have a second husband for me, and until recently, I couldn't understand why, seeing how my husband divorced me and took up with another.  It occurred to me when a friend of mine told me her back story of how when her mother took up with another man after leaving their father, the two daughters didn't exist anymore, or that was how they felt. That truth hit me like a bolt of lightning. Why it didn't occur to me before that shocks me.  I could not be an excellent, superb wife to a second husband and devoted full-time mother and father, in this instance, to the five children who needed me when their father left. Likewise, that other man couldn't be a devoted husband to a third wife while trying to maintain some stability for the three children who desperately needed a good stable father.  Not only did their mother put them through one divorce, but less than ten years later, she put them through another divorce with their step-father. GOD hates divorce and the damage it does to children is why.  Those precious children needed a devoted father for stability, and that's what they got, because as far as I know, GOD has denied that man any true and lasting love to fill that void in his life.  His children were more important to GOD than that man's need for a woman or wife in his life.  Back when I met that man, I wanted to love on his children, but GOD wanted me to love on my own.  I can look back now and see His Wisdom was best. As humans, it's always after the fact that we realize just how faulty our reasoning and rationalization was. 

     Because there are no blended families with shared custody in the Bible, I took that as a clue from GOD regarding what He is doing with me or going to do with me.  My children were His priority, and my first assignment was to be a devoted parent, not another spouse, trying to make another husband happy.  It was at that point that I realized GOD's will was best, as usual, I re-committed to sacrificing my will and pursuit of personal fulfillment and happiness and just accept His will and move on from there, asking Him how I can still be a better example or servant leaving something good behind. I usually accept my assignment and consider GOD's will better for all even if it's not what makes me happy in this life. It's never about me, but it's always going to be about what's best for the Kingdom. I can accept that and still be happy even if it's not what my heart and humanity craves.