The Christians I Don't Hang Out With

"But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless."   ---Titus 3:9

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Awhile ago I returned to Twitter after Elon Musk said he'd buy it and make it fair. (Hope springs eternal. heh.)

I only signed up with Christians, strangers who mentioned God in their profile. "It'll be peaceful," I said. "We'll strengthen each other," I said.

It'll be all Truth and Light," I said.

Ha!  シ

Ok, some of the Christians were a delight. They shared verses and biblical perspectives and also prayer requests. Some are emboldened to speak out against Today's tyranny. All those are wonderful.

But many others? They concentrated upon these, below, which all my life I've never liked, stuff which appears like Christianity, but I wonder--

The Bible says it's ok to drink alcohol. How much do you think is ok?

Calvanism vs. Armenianism. Pick a side.

Mega churches. Ever godly?

Exactly what was the Apostle Paul's thorn?

Birth control. Does God ever allow it?

Hymns or modern worship songs? Which does God prefer?

Women in churches. They shouldn't speak, right?

Some one-piece bathing suits are more revealing than bikinis so bikinis are ok, right?

Oh, for Pete's sake!

To me, anyway, that is not true Christianity. Sorry.

Then today they argued about there being too many black people in commercials. When I said I'd witnessed a new broader spectrum of all races, the crowd chewed me up and spat me out.

Darn ol' Twitter anyway.

Well, a girl needs to go where God can use her most efficiently. Where He can best use her time, her gifts. So I'm moving forward. Oh, I helped some folks there, but mostly I spied people who made excuses to stagnate remain the same.

What would I rather talk about?

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Loving our neighbors as ourselves.

The Holy Spirit's place in our lives. And Grace.

Expressing gratitude daily.

The presence of God.

Revival. Repentance.

Heaven.

Spreading hope. And joy. And encouragement.

Frankly, I love how God nudges us to change, especially when it sets us a whole level more free. 

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Speaking of Truth.......by the time we finished attempting to declutter our basement, we discovered it was a bigger, badder secret than we'd imagined. Never again. Oh my, never again will we collect that much stuff.

Oh, and for the record--I'll be returning to Gab. It's similar to Twitter, but there's a whole different spirit about it; a friendlier one. And the inspiring, emboldened folks from Twitter often post at Gab, as well.

P.S. I was going to bail out of Twitter, but instead, went back and unfollowed the vast majority, keeping only those folks I know by name or reputation or with whom I've had meaningful interactions. Not promising to stay there forever, but just seeing if this makes a good difference.

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Oh my! Kindred Spirit City. (My fellow lovers of autumn may enjoy this young woman's ideas, as well.)

And this weekend Tom and I watched an older documentary on Prime about Babe Ruth. Bittersweet, but inspiring.

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Following Grace. Yes, Another Post, But With New Stories.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."   --- Matthew 6:19

--or--

No moments of procrastination ever felt nearly as marvelous as taking an active step.

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For 11 years Tom's and my basement was Our Bad Secret. By comparison, some folks from Hoarders looked like neat freaks.

Oh, over the years, Naomi and I did what we could. Yet no matter how many bags we carted away or how many boxes we rearranged or relabeled, still, yeah. Bad Secret status down there.

But next Monday a waterproofing crew will arrive (all I understand about that procedure is I'll be writing a gigantic check) and Tom asked if they would also haul away junk. 

"Sure! For a price, Buddy." 

Yet all these Bad Secret years later we're oh-so-willing to pay it and call our Estate Sale Season done for good and forever. No more tempations from yard sales, either.

While we wait, we wade through those 11-year-old boxes, lifting stuff other people could probably (not?) use. Then ol' Debra bags it and lugs it down to the Salvation Army drop-off (she needs the exercise).

At 4:30 this morning, Tom was basement bound, again, being as ruthless as possible. (Some of this clearing is so the waterproofing guys won't mutter, "Lazy, hoarding bums.") Back up here I asked, "Have you learned your lesson yet?" to which he replied, chuckling, "Oh yes. Definitely yes. Never again."

And although our minds wander too often to that crowded, mildew-ish (even with a dehumidifier) basement--other than that--much grace is upon us. Finally we're getting this sorted, released, cleared and done and wonder of wonders--in peace!

See, years ago we'd have worked on that basement simultaneously rather than apart, each complaining about the other's hoarding tendencies, each growing more heated until yelling may or may not have occured.  ツ

But go being married 4 decades and--hopefully--you're wiser and can give your partner lots of space and time because you, also, are learning lessons monthly. Again, hopefully.

And oh! That estate sale season. Those 25+ years felt like real-live time travel episodes and provided memories, instances of imagination and blog fodder, as well.

Yet even the Bible states no season lasts forever so yeah, probably it's best we avoid estate sales altogether. That long season of grace was remarkable, but while aging I'm noticing it's best to veer far from anything which might bring discontentment.

My house in Heaven? Already I'm certain of this: it's gonna be one 'blast from the past', indeed, and yet I can wait till God's correct 'season' for that. 

Come visit me there someday and I'll show you around.

Have trouble releasing things from your past seasons? This always helps me:

"But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt."   Genesis 19:26

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."   --- Hebrews 4:16

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Speaking of estate sale houses... I do have grace to view these haven't been-changed-in-decades houses locally at Realtor.com. This one reminded me of many of those estate sale houses I dreamed my way through--

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Tom and I watched a good movie this weekend, A Dog Year. 

We watched via Prime. Just a small amount of language, but an animal does pass away, though not the star (dog) of the movie, which ok, is probably a spoiler, but personally? I prefer knowing ahead with these animal movies whether the dog is gonna die--or not.  ツ

Oh, and this! The 50th year celebration of the tv show, Emergency!

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Not For Book Lovers Only

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace..."   --- 1 Peter 4:10

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Uh oh. My book snobbishness is showing.

See, from my 3 favorite 'booktubers'--

Mitzy Reads and Writes

Kate Howe

Chantel Reads All Day

--I've compiled a (long) list of books they made sound remarkable. 

Yet now? I'm thinking probably it's the women, themselves, who are the remarkable ones. They make me smile and inspire me to previous Avid Reader of Books status, even while recommending books I'm iffy about or even, uh, no-ish.

Book talk--any book talk! How it motivates us bibliophiles.

But anyway, finally I'm attacking that list of mine. Most of these booktubers' recommended books are at Open Library so I zip over, begin reading and uh-oh. Eight times out of ten I'm disappointed.

I'll not share specific titles (lest I offend scads of you and you never return here again), but below are some actual comments I noted about certain books on my list:

 

Read it all, but well, it barely kept my interest. Meh.

Began great, but a ghost appeared. I skipped toward the end and discovered it was real. Sigh.

Read part, but far too depressing.

No. Just no. Too complicated to say why.

Began it, didn't like it. Immediately lost interest.

So-so. Maybe I'll continue reading later. Probably not.

Started, but it's too silly and I don't care that it's a classic, either!

But you know? From age 14 I've experienced this, and well, after 50 years you get used to loving books no one else has even heard of (or desires to read).

Speaking of age 14 (or 13), that's when I realized which gifts God gave me:

Encouraging others

Writing

Teaching

I knew and other people noticed and told me, as well. God never meant our gifts to be a confusing secret! (Where's the wisdom or efficiency in that?)

And still it shocks me (no, really) the comments at various ministry sites where elderly older folks exclaim, "I have no idea what my gifts are. Please pray God will show me."

We'll all use our gifts in Heaven to also keep it running smoothly and what I'll always appreciate? That I began practicing those gifts early. That (mostly) I didn't let being a goofy kid stop me from doing what I loved, including reading books my same-age friends never did.

This all created traveling a unique pathway. 

One of not only joy, but an awareness that Jesus remains beside me even when others quietly walk away. Always He'd, instead, direct me toward those He knew would want (and receive, not reject) my help--and Life went on.

And I wouldn't trade a moment of it.

 "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them..."   --- From Romans 12

Still not sure of your God-given gifts? Go here (scroll down). (And for Heaven's sake, don't complicate it! Complication ruins everything it touches.)  シ

The more we know what we like and what we don't and where we want to go, the less confusion we'll experience.

Our God-given gifts are not to be treated as a hobby. Instead, much of our time should be devoted to ministering to others through them as God meant we should, not part-time, but as full-time as possible. In Heaven, we'll be held responsible for this and for our serious thought and action given to His individual calling within us.

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My Top 8 Favorite Books:

1. The Bible
2.  Chicken Every Sunday
3.  Thoughts of Home
4.  Anybody Can Do Anything
5.  Mary Emma and Company
6. . Mama Makes Up Her Mind
7.  The Calico Year
8.  Martha's Vineyard Isle of Dreams

My Top 8 Favorite Book Series:

1. Tobey Heydon series by Rosamond du Jardin
2.  Little Britches by Ralph Moody
3.  Judy Bolton by Margaret Sutton
4.  Janet Lambert's 2 teen series
5.  Nancy Drew (originals only) by Carolyn Keene
6.  Ramona Quimby by Beverly Cleary
7.  The Ladybug Farm series by Donna Ball
8.  Gladys Taber's Stillmeadow series

I discovered Downie Live, a new-to-me Youtube traveler and Tom and I are enjoying his latest train adventures.

Seriously, I was one goofy kid. I used to love watching Lawrence Welk and often sat upon our couch viewing it alone.  シ

(Thanks for sharing this at Facebook, Dolores!)

Coming soon to a nation near you!

Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15