And Now Something Totally Different

Every sunrise is a gift from God!

Kauai sunrise 2003

Last summer I had a conversation with a lovely lady about my faith. She wanted to know what I believed about God and she asked many questions. I've thought about that conversation often since then, praying for her and praying that my words answered her questions.

As a Christian it's inevitable that someone will ask, "How can a loving God send people to hell?"
My response is, "He doesn't!" Let me explain.

Without getting into heavy theological areas where I have no business treading let's keep this to simple facts.

God is good. In Him is light, and joy, and peace and blessings. In this world we all enjoy these gifts, whether you believe in Him or not. The sun rises every morning giving light and warmth. We enjoy laughter and smiles and love and friendship. Heaven is an extension of this state of blessing, except that God will be present. It will be like the Best Day Ever that never ends!

In this world there is also evil because mankind is sinful. We have a human nature that runs counter to God's perfect will and as a result bad things happen. Consider a place where evil abounds because there is no force for good to quell it? That is Hell. Hell is the absence of God. The sun never rises in Hell. It's like the worst, most horrible night ever that never ends.

In this world we have the opportunity to choose God. To accept His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. To live in harmony with His will. We can also choose to ignore His gift and all of His benefits. One of which is eternity spent in His presence. The alternative to eternity in God's presence is eternity separated from Him. That is Hell. God is Light so without God, hell is absolute darkness. God is Love so without God, hell is a place devoid of love. You get the idea.

Now back to the question and my answer. We choose our place in eternity when we choose to believe in Jesus Christ or not. Everyone who has ever walked this earth has been nudged by the Holy Spirit to consider God and His love for mankind. God does not want anyone to experience Hell so He communicates with us in our spirit; it's that still small voice that urges us to believe.

Hell was created for the devil and his cohorts. It was never God's plan that His beloved creation should ever know a day without His presence. Of course, He wants us to choose Him, to exercise our free-will in saying yes to Jesus Christ. It is our CHOICE. The only ones that God sends to Hell are those for whom it was created. WE choose whether to spend eternity with God or without Him.

My prayer is that you will consider the question of eternity. If you are teetering on the fence I pray that you will fall into Jesus' loving arms.

If you have more questions, please email me: nkrueger410 (at) gmail (dot) com.

blessings everyone, have a wonderful week
nancy

Happy Heart Wisdom #3

I meant for this to be posted yesterday but the beautiful weather was calling.....Al and I loaded up the dogs and headed to Huntington Beach. We met up with Andy and Kellie and Uriah for a lovely walk along the beach. It was the perfect way to enjoy a perfect day!
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and the people with phones fell down on their picture taking job so I have no pictures to share just really good memories. :)

I just can't get enough of the Summer Fresh collection so I used it for this week's Happy Heart Wisdom

This passage means so much to me. The Word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything He does.  I think about all the times when my faith has been tested by circumstances and uncertainty. God has always been there for me. In my experience my faith in God has never been in vain. We are being tested now. We've jumped into the world of the self-employed after many years of steady paychecks. We are "working without a net" as we like to say. 

Looking back I realize that every time we have taken that first step of faith to follow His lead, even if it feels like that first step is taking us right off the edge of the cliff, God has been there to catch us. We have been blessed over the years when we have made the hard financial decisions, the ones that sometimes make no sense to others: the job changes, our decision to have me stay home with our sons, years later leaving my job so we could be foster parents for our nieces. None of these decisions came at a good time financially, but they were in God's timing and we always ended up in a better place than we were before.

I know I can trust God because He wants what is for my good. His unfailing love fills the earth, it surrounds me and reminds me that He can be trusted. He has never let me down before; I know He won't let me down now.

My prayer is that you will know the unfailing love of God, that you will know and trust in Him!

blessings,
nancy