Morning Glories: Seek to be Restored

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
Psalm 51:10-12

I can’t read these verses without singing the song in my head. Do you know which song I’m talking about? It’s one of my favorites. I love it. I love these verses because the psalmist perfectly portrays our complete reliance on God, especially in our darker times.

Nobody is perfect. Christ Jesus is the only One who lived on this earth and lived it perfectly. He was in always tempted as we are, yet without sin! {Hebrews 4:15}

We do fall, we all do. {Romans 3:23} And when we do, where do we go? We go to God {at least, we should}. Isn’t it comforting to know that even when we mess up {and we will}, we can always go to God for restoration and renewal.

These verses also really shows us that there is joy in salvation, and that means when we are separated from God, there is no joy. At least no true joy, spiritual joy. It is so nice to have that joy in Christ, such a comfort and a blessing to know that when we are within the flock, we can rest assured that we are protected, cleaned, and can live joyfully and contentedly.

May we always seek to be restored if the situation arises that we need to be! I hope your day is beautiful, and if you encounter storms, I hope that you are safe and protected, and your loved ones as well!

What is WRONG with us?!

I am so appalled.

We don’t have cable TV or anything so I don’t know much at all about new movies that are coming out or different shows that are on TV. I just know about ones that I might be interested in. But I do find out about movies via Facebook sometimes, if someone has gone to see or is going to see a new movie that is out, and I can sometimes go look it up to see what it’s all about, out of curiosity’s sake.

There are some movies out there that I really don’t have to look up, though, especially ones with curse words in the title or other titles with sinful connotations.

And okay, I have given up on being surprised with the nasty garbage that Hollywood puts out. It’s to be expected. {That doesn’t mean I don’t think it is wrong, because I do, I’ve just stopped being surprised by it all}

But what has me so appalled and what makes my stomach churn is when I see members of the Lord’s body posting on Facebook that “_____________ is my favorite movie of all time!!!” or “I’m going to see ________________!!!” or “I just saw ________________ and it was [insert positive adjective here]!!!”

What is wrong with us?! Why is it okay for Christians to go see these types of sinful movies?! And we can’t blame it on “well I didn’t know it was going to be like that” because the great thing about having information right at our fingertips is that we can look up things like this on the internet if we have any question. And let’s face it. If it’s got bad stuff in it, even the mild stuff is going to be in the advertisements because that is how Hollywood draws the WORLD in.

Are we the WORLD? NO! We are separate from the world!! Or, we are supposed to be anyway! And yet I see all the time about Christians going to see movies like the Hangover {Hello, HANGOVER? yes, that sounds like a GREAT, wholesome movie there…}!! Really?? Really??

There is this great website called Kids In Mind that gives movie reviews and ratings so that families can see if they are appropriate to take their kids to {or let their kids go to – a side note, if your kid is not an adult and lives at home with you: YOU HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO SAY NO!}. I went to it today when I saw that a Christian young lady was going to see the Hangover and right there on the front page:

And let me also say that I COULD NOT stomach the reasons why they had such high ratings {because you can click on the movie and see what content was rated}. It was DISGUSTING.

WHY is a Christian going to see this movie, and what’s more, WHY ARE HER PARENTS ALLOWING THIS?!

I am just so, so appalled by this.

Parents NEED to take responsibility and Christians need to stop giving place to the devil!

And now I’ll get off of my little soap box here… ugh, I need to go scrub my eyeballs!

Jesus, the Great Physician

Every time I start to get sick, I can just imagine what my mom will tell me. If it has to do with a cold or any of those symptoms, whatever she has to say has something to do with Vitamin C. I'm no doctor, but I figure there's something to that Vitamin C. Usually if I am coming down with a cold, I can get rid of the symptoms pretty quick if I boost my Vitamin C intake, whether it be by supplements, or orange juice, that sort of thing. It is taking a lot more to get rid of the sickness we're getting over now, but a little more Vitamin C makes a bigger difference, to me at least.



We live in a Sin-Sick world. You can't deny it. This world is full of depraved people, perverse minds, and people who just don't care a thing about what God expects of them in their lives. It's sad. It is so, so sad. The devil has so many followers. He has infected this world, and the disease of sin is spreading like wildfire. We can't turn blind eyes against this. If you don't see the fire, you're in danger of being burned as well. This world is sick. And all of the Vitamin C in the world can't help it.



But there is One who can help. Jesus Christ, the Great Physician.

"When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Mark 2:17

Christians have the responsibility to bring the Great Physician into their home. Parents usually do not hesitate to take care of their children when they are physically ill. Usually Hubby and I will watch Benjamin and if he doesn't get any better with our home care, we call the doctor and set up an appointment. However, when one is Sin-Sick, there should be no waiting. If there is Sin in the home, the Great Physician must be brought in right away. We all know how serious Sin is, left unattended.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Christian parents have a huge responsibility to keep their children Spiritually Well. While there does come a time when the child is able to make adult decisions, when the child is under your roof, they are your responsibility. The Father/Husband should be the highest earthly authority, and Christ, the Great Physician, is always to be the Highest Authority.

I don't have teenagers. It wasn't too long ago that I was a teenager. I'm only 21. I can remember very well the feeling that sometimes came over me of just wanting to do my own thing, or doing what my friends were doing. A verse that always brought me down to earth was this one:

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15

We can't be a part of the world, and be a part of God's family as well. It is the parents' responsibility to keep our children separated from the world.

Now. The entertainment industry is thriving, and honestly it seems all young folks, or perhaps just everyone in general, revolve around the latest movies, music, shows, and sometimes books. We don't have cable in our house so usually we don't know what new movie is playing.

But I do know of one movie that I won't even list on my blog because even the title of this movie has a curse word in it. And it broke my heart completely when I saw that a Christian young man that is even a member of my family was going to see this movie. And even more than that, his brother was going with him... and who was taking them? Their dad.

Their dad was taking them to see a movie which had the title of profane language.

What is wrong with this picture? Well, everything. You know, what would happen if we got to Heaven and there was a log of every single movie we had ever seen right there in God's hands. And His finger would run down the page and point out every movie that you really shouldn't have seen and then He'd ask you, "Why?"

Or maybe He'd ask the parent, "Why did you let My child fill their head with this filth?"

I don't want to be the parent who is responsible for that sin. I never want to be that parent.

Christian parents have the medicine for any sin that infects our children. We have the Bible. We have God's word, which sanctifies us.

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17

We can't let our consciences become seared {1 Timothy 4:2}. We can't become like the world, and we certainly can't let our children become Sin-Sick either.



We need to take this Sin-Sick world to the Great Physician, starting with our own families, if there is a need.