After all...

 

                                                            “...the powers that be are ordained of God”

                                                                                                Romans 13:1

 

Yes, I changed my tune, and now I am [surprisingly] marching to the beat of a different drummer. 

A year ago no one could have convinced me I would be rooting my heart out for Donald Trump the way I have been over the past several weeks. When Donald Trump announced his run for the White House back in July 2015, my first thought was ‘he’s crazy’. Surely he’s only doing it as a joke and to garner attention. I shrugged it off and laughed at the prospect thinking he’s making a fool out of himself and hoped that eventually he would just go away.  Unfortunately, he didn’t, and his foolishness was confirmed the moment he opened his mouth!

As a Hispanic female, sister of a handicap man, and whose parents never received a college degree, I literally felt every punch he threw out whenever he spoke in a degrading way about Latinos, handicaps, females, the elderly and the uneducated. EVERYTHING Donald Trump said affected me personally. And I was offended. The more he spoke the less I liked him. The less I liked him the more I just knew there was no way in this lifetime I would give him my vote, let alone my support. 

Over the past year I have been unapologetically outspoken against Donald Trump, and the deep hesitancy I had about voting. I knew I would not be voting Democrat, but I also knew that if I voted at all I would not be going to the polls but rather someone would have had to drag me kicking and screaming! I simply could not stand the man, and for what is worth, I couldn’t stand the woman either!

On the one hand, I saw the arrogant, greedy businessman who is too proud to even admit he has ever faulted, therefore he has no reason to ever ask for forgiveness, and on the other hand the arrogant, greedy politician too proud to admit she’s ever done anything wrong even when the evidence is mounting right before her eyes and the word ‘guilty’ seem to hover over head like a flashing neon sign with arrows pointing at her!  

I don’t think there is any way to separate the two in an effort to decide who is the better one.

It is now no secret that the only woman to have ever made it this far in a presidential election, has a proven track record of being a deceitful, conniving figure willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her ambitions, even if it costs someone’s life.

My rationale was sinking in, so much so that if I decided not to vote I could think of a million ways I could justify my stance. After all, both had given plenty of reason not to support them.

That was my mind, but my heart was a different story.

                                                            “ For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17

Is kind of hard to reconcile rebellion of any kind, or anger, when trying at the same time to please God. It’s even harder to try to reconcile how we think things should be while knowing all along that God is in control and has a purpose for everything.

In all honesty, I don’t think I asked God more than once to please show me who I should vote for during this election. That must have been the fastest prayer I have ever prayed and the most difficult. I hate to admit it but it was like pulling teeth without anesthesia. It hurt! It was more like grumbling through my teeth a very quick ‘GodpleasehelpmedothisAmen!

But who am I kidding!

‘For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest   it altogether.’  Psalm 139:4

No sooner I asked I began to be reminded in a daily and constant basis of who is in charge. Scriptures began flowing through my mind and before I knew it I could see the bigger picture.

Oh, we can argue this election is about us, about the supreme court justices, about the economy, about healthcare, about national security, the reasons are endless. But the truth is this election is just one part of a much larger platform in the grand scale of spiritual events scheduled to take place as the return of God draws near.

In the end, is not going to matter who wins the election. God already knows who the next president will be for He has already appointed him or her and has a purpose for doing so. 

‘The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked   for the day of evil.’   Proverbs 16:4

 There have been many times during the past year, where I have felt like Daniel the prophet being taken into captivity. I keep being reminded I don’t have to like it, I don’t even have to understand it, I just have to trust God, and pray.

 No, Trump is not the polished, articulate, eloquent politician we have become accustomed to have in office. When I listen to him I tend to cringe thinking ‘oh dear, what is going to come out of his mouth next!’ In all honesty I don’t believe he has the experience or the knowledge to take on the highest office in our nation. Although he has been described by many in the evangelical community as a believer, a Christian, the truth is judging by what the bible says, even in that he comes rather short. No, I am not talking about ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ I’m talking about ‘knowing them by their fruit’ and how difficult it is to see in him the Christian part of the believer he is supposed to be. Which is why so many evangelicals will firmly state that Trump does not represent them as a republican/conservative or a Christian leader. He simply has never behaved in public in a manner consistent with someone who knows The Lord.

But I know that this is all supposed to be happening exactly the way it is. Trump is like a curve ball nobody was expecting but God knew was coming. And I hope he hits a home run today.

Precisely because he has no idea what he’s doing, so when good things start happening the only way it can be explained is ‘by a miracle’ and God receives all the glory!

Truth be told, win or lose, we are living in the time of the end and everything in this nation and the world is shifting and aligning for that last great battle. And now more than ever, what our country needs is not a better president or a female president, because when everything is weight in the balance the one thing that’s lacking is not leadership, is repentance. What our country needs is a broken heart and a contrite spirit with which to turn from our evil ways and humbly seek His face so that our land may be healed!

 And because of that, I cannot vote for or support an individual who disregards the sanctity of life and marriage, who advocates for the very things that God calls abominations, who is willing to eliminate the words ‘under God’ from our pledge of allegiance and is willing to increase our vulnerability to terrorism by holding the door opened to perpetrators while committing treason with everything entrusted to her. Someone who runs her campaign on the premises of helping women and children, yet does absolutely nothing when a female minor gets attacked backstage by the very person she invites to her rally.

 

Is time to crush the spirit of Jezebel!

May Trump prove to be a diamond in the rough and may he allow himself to be a vessel onto God!

 

God bless you and God bless America!

 

 

https://youtu.be/9TB0pfojhOw

 

Why the Bible is my source of morality and useful guide for my life.

                                    “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

                                                                                                Psalm 119:105

 

I was born again Wednesday, August 7^th, 2002 at approximately 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon.

My husband had taken our girls to the movies to see the sequel to Spy Kids which had just been released that day too, while I stayed home minding other household business.

I remember when I was 16 years old, coming home from school to my mother telling me that my favorite actress, Natalie Wood had died. I was so sad. I thought she was so pretty and talented and young! For some weird reason I told my mom that day that I thought I too would die young. I specifically told her I would die when I was 36. I don’t know why those words came out of my mouth, but I just had a feeling that would be the case. She was so upset with me when I said that.

That weird ‘prediction’ would stay with me throughout my 20s and 30s. I would think about it every now and then and wonder why I would think such thing. Then I turned 35 and felt the clock beginning to tick, for reasons other than childbearing! The closer I got to 36 the more anxious I would become! Then I turned 36 and I could not sleep until way past midnight! Right after the clock struck twelve I literally held my breath and thought ‘ok…I’m still here.’  I went to bed and the next day I woke up happy as can be, thinking ‘Thank God! It was a false alarm! I made it!’

But then I spent my entire 36^th year of life with this constant thought on my mind of what would become of me when I died. Every morning on my way to take the girls to school, we had to cross a bridge, and every morning I would get stuck in traffic right over the water. And every single morning I would have the same thought, ‘what if something happens right now and my car plunges to the bottom of that river….where am I going to end up?’ That was my [annoying] thought day in and day out for a good part of a year.

I believed in God, I went to church, I read the bible, I prayed, and yet none of those things ever made me feel secured. There was still a great doubt of where exactly I would spend my eternity. I was frustrated and I was scared. I couldn’t understand why I had such void.

Growing up my life was a mixture of rituals and idolatry. Saturday’s we would go to my mom’s house to visit her family, where we would witness her mother and sisters gathering at their personal altar hidden in a room, full of images that even the catholic church wouldn’t recognize, or visiting the local tarot card reader to find out what the future would bring. Then Sunday morning we would go to the cathedral to hear the mass given by the priests. Wednesdays was rosary day and if it was the first of the month that meant it was the children’s turn to recite the prayers in front of the images.

I actually hated doing all of that. I hated being in a room full of creepy images, I hated standing in front of statutes repeating ‘prayers’, I hated being around the psychics. And is not like I was a teenager suffering from the usual puberty related rebellion. No, I was younger than nine years old and already knew there was something terribly wrong with what I was doing.

            “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusts in them.” Psalm 115:4-8

I was a spiritually hungry soul at a very early age, and even though I did not understand many things, deep down I knew that the hunger and the thirst I suffered from would not be filled by any of the elements I had been exposed to at that time.

It would be years, many years, before I would finally recognize and accept Jesus as my savior and surrender my life to Him. See, it didn’t matter where I went to church, or how often, whether or not I read the bible (because at the time I really didn’t understand it either) or if I prayed, since half the time I wasn’t even praying to God. It mattered that I did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Until that day I lived in a tug of war between the flesh and the spirit.

                        God is not interested in religion….

                                                God is interested in a relationship!

And God wouldn’t give up on me.

One day I had a dream I was sitting on the steps of my old elementary school, but instead of the usual setting of parking lots and playgrounds it was an ocean. Its waters were raging back and forth and a storm was in the sky. Then it stopped. Everything became calmed. And then I heard a voice saying to me ‘you have to put your life in order’

I’ll never forget that dream. It was as if one of my parents was lovingly chastising me and gently encouraging me to get my act together!

But every child needs correction more than once, and one dream wasn’t enough to make me want to quit my unrighteousness. Sometimes it takes life taking us in a good, out of control, downward spiral before we can finally make the effort to look up! I was drowning, and didn’t know how to swim in such deep waters. I needed a life guard.

                        “Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul.

                                    I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into

                                   deep waters, where the floods overflow me.”

                                                                                    Psalm 69:1,2

And just as I was beginning to give up, considering how many different ways I could fake it till I made it, frantically looking for help and for answers in all the wrong places, just then, God reached out to the depths of my soul, and rescued me.

                                                “And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”         1 Kings 19:11,12

Our lives are full of strong winds, earthquakes and fires we call influences. Good ones, bad ones, positive, negative, destructive, edifying. From the moment we come in unto this world there are voices calling out to us. We spend our lives listening and absorbing and making decisions based on what we hear. We are asked to do things, told to do things, encouraged to do things, tempt to do things. We listen, we follow, we act and react, we imitate and repeat, eventually creating the habits that will shape us and mold us into who we think we are supposed to be. And we call it our life, thinking it is up to us to figure it out.

But life is not a mystery. Neither is our purpose in life.

In this world everything comes with instructions, including humans!

Contrary to popular believe, life does come with an instruction manual! And it is called The Bible! The Word of God. You know, the One with that ‘still small voice’. The One who says:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the     door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.”

 REVELATION 3:20

God didn’t just randomly ‘knit us in our mother’s womb’ one day hoping we would figure ourselves out as we grew up. On the contrary, God knew us before the world was even created! Even then He knew who we would be, what we would look like, who we would become, what choices we would make. Including whether or not we would choose Him.

Yes, He knows us. He knows our frame, that we are dust. (Psalm 103:14)

Therefore He gave us His Word and His commandments, so that we may have direction for our lives!

In the book of Leviticus, God explicitly told the people of Israel which behavior would bring them a blessing and which one a curse. In the New Testament Jesus explicitly told the woman who was about to be stoned for her immoral behavior, to ‘go and sin no more.’

If we want to know what is acceptable in our society, we look to the world. But if we want to know what is acceptable to God, we need to look at what is written in the bible.

Now more than ever we need to turn to that only source of good morality. The only scale that can accurately measure the weight of righteousness against worldly ungodliness.

The bible is my compass and my center. It is the only place where I can actually ‘find myself.’ The bible is my dictionary, my thesaurus. The only place where I can find the answers to all of my dilemmas. It nourishes me, leads me, guide me, strengthens me and straightens me when I fall out of place.

I am not perfect, I’m definitely not good, I fall short of the glory of God every.single.day! And I know that even my very best efforts are at best nothing more than filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) I don’t deserve the grace I have been given and much like Job and King David I think to myself,

 ‘what am ** I ** that You are mindful of me!

                                    Psalm 8:4

To answer the question posted recently of ‘why the bible is my source of morality and a useful guide for my life’, I can tell you all this; if it weren’t for it I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have a reason for living because I wouldn’t know my purpose. I wouldn’t know what is expected of me or how to achieve it. Without the bible I wouldn’t have awareness of sin. See, in the bible God gives His law, and by the law is the knowledge of sin, (Romans 3:20), else we wouldn’t know which ones of our actions were wrong. We wouldn’t know consequences or correction. We would just go through life living recklessly and without hope.

Without the bible we…I…wouldn’t know forgiveness. Without it I wouldn’t be aware of the fact that even when I sin there’s hope for me, because He Is faithful! (1 John 1:9)

Without the bible I wouldn’t know that there is nothing I can do to cleanse myself, forgive myself or save myself, and that the only thing I need to receive any of that is simply to believe!

“For God so loved the world, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM should not perish but have everlasting life!” John 3:16

The bible is definitely a useful guide for my life, and I hope it will be for yours as well! Read it and listen for the voice of truth!

By the way...

I was born again August 7^th, 2002, a little over two weeks shy of my 37^th birthday J It turns out I did die at 36 after all! J And got the best present ever! I got the gift of life...Eternal life! J