The Chosen

The Chosen. Have you heard of it? Have you seen it? If not, I highly recommend you check out what the world is talking about, with this awesome, faith building series. It shows a very captivating, realistic side of Jesus, his ministry, and the many miracles he performed. It shows the type of people who were drawn to him and how he chose and taught his disciples. I'm confident it will touch your heart in a way you won't expect, and you will no doubt be encouraged and upbuilt by the compassion and love you will see portrayed of our Lord and Savior. 

A dear friend commented to me, that she thinks people love The Chosen, because it shows the very human side of Jesus. One who laughed, smiled, joked, danced and who would even take the time to play with the children. As you watch the program, think about the title. In one of my earlier posts, I shared that I recently decided to read the Bible cover to cover, and one thing that has really stuck in my mind is how many times the scriptures speak of God choosing his people. I decided to start writing down every scripture that talked about the chosen or the called. Here are some very thought provoking scriptures that I thought I would share with you.

Matthew 22:14 "For many are called, but few chosen."

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you.."

Matthew 11:27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

Romans 8:28-30 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those who He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these who He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."

Ephesians 4:1-4 "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unit of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all in all."

It's all pretty incredible when you think about...God calling people to be his. What's even more incredible is that Jesus didn't come to call perfect people, but he called sinners. Many feel like they aren't good enough, that God couldn't possibly forgive them for whatever it is that they struggle with, or whatever is buried in their past. But that's simply not true. Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". If the called were all perfect people, living perfect lives, there wouldn't have been any need for Christ to come to earth to redeem us.

I hope you found those scriptures as encouraging as I did! There are many more, but these were a few of my favorite. I also hope you will check out The Chosen, as you will see very life like accounts of Jesus calling ones he chose, to follow him, that were considered not worthy by the pious religious leaders of that time. You can find it on YouTube and cast it to your tv, or you can get the App and watch it from there.  Here is the Youtube link: https://youtu.be/q6sHNLmYbAM . Keep in mind it's being funded by 100% voluntary donations!

Here are a few of the countless grateful reviews!

Even my 14 yr old son couldn’t stop watching!

I watched the first season marathon style while stuck at home after my son’s surgery. He would wander in the living room and end up staying a while, asking questions, laughing, and (here’s the kicker) not looking at his phone! The last 2 episodes he stayed for the entirety of the episodes. He asked questions that could only be answered by starting over - which we did! This gave us a wonderful opportunity to not just share the gospel story, but explore the humanity of Jesus, discuss the history of the time, and answer all of his questions about the “flash backs” to the Old Testament. My son doesn’t sit through ANY show - even major motion pictures unless we are at a movie theater. The fact that this series had him fully engaged to the point of asking questions and talking about it with me after is HUGE!! I am struck by how any license taken with the backstories or the characters personalities never veered from the biblical script - it just filled in the blank. I was expecting some deviation as we’ve seen so many times in Bible movies and mini series of the past. You only ENHANCED the biblical script and didn’t change it in any way. I am downloading the app to watch season 2. I am 100% behind you and this movement, and I am diligently praying God uses this to mount a spiritual revolution calling people to Christ and deepening the faith of believers everywhere. God bless you and the work of your hands!!

 

Yes yes yes!!!

I’ve seen this multiple times over and I’ve been an advocate for it for months and months. It feels like pulling teeth to get people to watch it... but once they do! Support this project. Help others see Jesus through the eyes of those that followed Him. It’s not dry material, it’s incredibly deep and the character development is miraculous but not unbelievable. Director and creator Dallas Jenkins and team have done an incredible job at showing how God truly makes us new as He comes to us and as we get to know who He is. I’ve cried, I’ve laughed, I’ve been convicted, I’ve fallen in love, I’ve suffered, I’ve questioned, and through each episode, Jesus shines as an equalizer that turns everything for the good of those who love Him and are called (“Chosen”) for his purpose.

As an app, this is definitely unique. Since when do you find yourself not having to pay a subscription, wait through advertisements, create an account that requires your firstborn, or jump through a variety of multiple hoops? It gets cumbersome for people that haven’t seen it to convince them to download it. People act like it’s such a hassle. But it’s one not a single person I have convinced has regretted. And in all reality, it’s not any harder than downloading redundant apps like “Google.” Not to dog Alphabet/Google or anything...

Blessed beyond measure!!

Oh I am so blessed by this series! Blessed to tears, many times! I grew up watching more Bible movies and stories than I can count, and this is now my favorite of them all. Even watching the whole first season twice, I look forward to watching it again before long and am on the edge of my seat in anticipation for season 2! What matters to me most when watching Bible accounts, is: does the depiction of Jesus show authenticity, love in his eyes, tenderness and compassion? In this series not only do I see that every scene he's in, but he portrays a calm confidence that is neither cocky nor insecure, and that is a very necessary attribute. Also it reveals his humor and genuine understanding as he meets each and every person right where they're at and connects with them! I also appreciate the time and care that directors and writers took to capture the real humanity of each of the disciples, in their varied and relatable struggles. Thank you Chosen team, from the bottom of my heart for passionately putting this together! I will continue to pray that this production will radically touch the hearts of believers and not-yet-believers alike! That they may come to realize more than before the truth of the love of Jesus more deeply and fully!

“I have called you by name, you are mine”

Can’t believe I just found out about this show today. I’ve already watched episodes 1-7 and about to watch episode 8. Hey go hard or go home. & we aren’t supposed to leave home right now 😂.. but I can’t express how much this show moved me in just one day. The healing of Mary Magdalene was so moving. I was raised in church. I know all the stories. But to see some of them acted out through the eyes of someone like Mary ... really puts it in perspective. Possessed to the point she was declared unable to be saved by man. & they are calling her Lilith. When Jesus said “Mary” for the first time I was shook. Then he healed her. 😭😭 I’ve been praying for a long time that God would help me learn to understand the love of him and Jesus because I am very physical. I can’t see him. I know he’s there. But how can I love something I can’t see? Watching these stories depicted on screen by the INCREDIBLE acting crew, shows how loving and giving Jesus really is. & that all God wants us to do is follow him. I can’t wait to see more!!!!! I wish there were ten seasons to binge 😭 I cry every episode. What a perfect time for this show to start really surfacing too.. these are trying times. The world needs the healer.

Blessings & Joy,

Lisa

Refined By Fire

Are you feeling tired, frustrated or discouraged? Maybe you've been sick, or are fighting a health battle. Maybe your worried about your children, your family or our future. Perhaps your going through a difficult time financially, work has slowed down, or you've lost your job. Worse yet, perhaps you're mourning the loss of a loved one. If that is the case, then my heart truly goes out to you my friend, you are not alone.

Most of us, are right there with you, feeling the very real effects of a world that seems to have gone completely mad. Going through any one of these things under normal circumstances can be extremely difficult and discouraging, but in this Twilight Covid mess were all in, the trials seem compounded, and yet many are going though multiple trials at once. It's exhausting isn't it? It often feels like were literally, living a nightmare that we can't wake up from. 

If you too are feeling this way, or know someone who is, then I want to share something that really changed my outlook on going through difficult times. It definitely gave me a fresh perspective on how to view the trials and difficulties we find ourselves facing. I came across a couple of passages in God's word, that really encouraged me, and I hope they do you, too. 

The first one is in 1Peter 1:6,7-"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

It's a very interesting example. A refiner uses extremely hot temperatures to melt the gold or silver, which then causes the other metals or impurities that ruin it's value, to separate from it. Refining is a very time consuming process, but the end result is worth it, as the refiner is left with a pure product. Without the refining process, and heat being used, the gold or silver would remain with impurities, and wouldn't have the same value as if it were pure. So too, when we feel the heat of life's pressures and trials, we are actually being refined by God.  

I also found much encouragement in Zechariah 13:9-"This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' "

Daniel 12:9-10 says, "He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand." "

Adjusting our thinking, and realizing that God allows us to go through trials and difficulties, in order to see what were made of, by testing our faith, and refining us, can help us stay more determined to remain faithful and close to God while enduring, through difficult times. 

When God answers prayers, he doesn't always come to the rescue right away.  He often allows us to go through the difficulty, feeling the flame so to speak, then he pulls us from the heat, which if we allow, brings us closer to him. Knowing that we aren't alone, that it is all just temporary, and that were being refined through the process, definitely puts a different prospective on going through trials and difficulties. It still isn't enjoyable, no hardship is, but our reward for being faithful is so much bigger than anything we could imagine here.

There's a Christian song I love called "Fires", that references going through fire and feeling the heat of the flame...I found the song very fitting, see it posted below.

I hope that you find encouragement from the scriptures I shared above. Know your loved, and much more valuable than gold in God's eyes. Trust in him, draw close to him, and he will walk you through the fire.

                                                   ~Blessings & Joy,

                                                             Lisa

Link to song below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ggZd-SmSs

                                           "Fires"                                             

I remember how You told me
That life may not be easy
And everything that I need
You've already given me

I remember how You told me
I can trust You completely
So why am I doubting
When You proved that You'd fight for me

You've walked me through fires
Pulled me from flames
If You're in this with me
I won't be afraid

When the smoke billows higher, oh and higher
And it feels like I can barely breathe
I'll walk through these fires
'Cause You're walking with me

I'm changed by Your mercy
Covered by Your peace
I'm living out the victory
Doesn't mean I won't feel the heat

You've walked me through fires
Pulled me from flames
If You're in this with me
I won't be afraid

When the smoke billows higher, oh and higher
And it feels like I can barely breathe
I'll walk through these fires
'Cause You're walking with me

I can face anything
'Cause You're here with me
I can do all things
'Cause You strengthen me

I remember how You showed me
The price of my redemption
Lord, how could I question
When You proved that You'd die for me

You've walked me through fires
Pulled me from flames
If You're in this with me
I won't be afraid

When the smoke billows higher, oh and higher
And it feels like I can barely breathe
I'll walk through these fires
'Cause You're walking with me
I'll walk through these fires
'Cause You're walking with me

Finding Peace in Difficult Times

 

Welcome Back! If you have read my previous posts, then thank you for letting me share my story with all of you. It's healing in a way, to be able to share my past, and what my family and I have been through. I honestly couldn't have gotten through it without my complete reliance on God. He strengthened me, and always answered my prayers, reassuring me that I was doing the right thing by leaving, and that he was calling me out. As I said from the beginning, it is my sincere hope that someone who reads it, may benefit from it. There are literally thousands of others out there like me, who have similar stories. Most of you weren't raised in a cult as I was, however, it seems that every day that passes we are learning more and more things that shock us about our world, and nothing is what we always thought to be true. In fact, this last year I have often thought to myself, I can't believe I'm going through this again...and once again, it is my faith in God that has, and is, carrying me through. I'm not going to use this platform as a place to express my political views, as most of you who know me personally, know I definitely have them....but I do want to share with you things that I have found have really helped me, when I was struggling the most.

After my experience with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and coming to realize that I had been lied to and deceived my whole life, about most things that I believed to be true, I learned to question and research EVERYTHING! So when Covid hit, and things didn't make sense to me, I started researching. Once again the feeling of falling down a rabbit hole so to speak, was all too familiar. I was shocked at what I was finding, and was even more in shock that this could be happening once again. When I was questioning the Jehovah's Witness beliefs, I was labeled an "apostate" by the church elders and others, in order to keep my friends and family from listening or taking me serious about anything that I had found. It was a tool that is used to discredit and to discourage critical thinking. Similarly, like thousands of others around the globe who wanted answers about Covid, I and those like me, began to be labeled as a "conspiracy theorist" when we started sharing our findings. Now the label is common place on the daily news. All of this, in an effort to undermine and discourage anyone from doing their own research and from finding the truth. Just like I said when leaving the Jehovah's Witness faith, the truth should be able to withstand an examination, if it is the "truth". And after everything I have been through, one thing I hate the most is deception. So if something doesn't seem right, or seems off, I will always look for solid reliable information to find the truth about it. 

 Cognitive dissonance, a term I learned when researching the Watchtower, is in full play today. I've experienced this personally, when my parents were trying to share the truth about the Jehovah's Witnesses doctrines with me, but I couldn't process what they were trying to share because it just wouldn't compute in my head, and what I believed to be true felt threatened. What is Cognitive dissonance you say? It's when people get upset when their beliefs are challenged. It's a mental conflict that occurs when your beliefs are contradicted with new information. Alarm bells go off in your brain when you feel threatened on a deeply personal and emotional level, which causes you to shut them down and to disregard any rational evidence that contradicts what you had previously believed to be the truth. This conflict activates the part of your brain that involves personal identity and your emotional response to threats.  

Perhaps you have experienced the same thing? We have been told so many lies, its hard to know who or what to believe anymore, and some things are just too awful to want to even begin to process as truth. I found myself glued to the news, trying to understand what was happening, only to be mad or upset with what I was hearing. Since the election though, I've turned off the news. I have come to the conclusion that it's just propaganda, better known as "fake news media". I can trust none of what I hear, and very little of what I even see. My husband though, still likes to watch one of his favorite news programs in the evening, and so I will watch that with him, but for the most part I have decided to spend my time listening to, and watching other things. Let me tell you, it has definitely helped my stress level to just turn it off. So if you are finding your upset, and stressed out from watching the news all the time, I would highly encourage you to do the same thing. That's not to say that I'm not still getting the news, as I still want to know what's going on, but I am not getting it from the traditional media sources who have proved to be nothing but talking parrots, getting their scripts from the same source. I have chosen to get my news, from Telegram, which I briefly scan through from time to time. At least I'm not listening to it all day as I was before. 

The other thing that has really helped me, is that I made a conscience decision to start listening to the Bible on audio when I was working around the house. I'm not proud to say, that at 54 years young, I have never read the Bible all the way through from start to finish. Sure I have read many scriptures over the years, but I never took the time to actually listen or read it all the way through. I would keep track in my notes, where I would leave off and I would pick up on it again the next day. I found it so enjoyable, filling my head with positive, uplifting things from God's word, rather than filling my head full of things that were causing me anxiety and distress, that I didn't even believe to be a accurate source from any more.

In time, I decided that before I did anything else I was going to get up, pray, and read a little from God's word. That small change has been one of THE BEST decisions I have ever made. My mind is at peace now, and I am no longer stressed out about what I see happening on the news. Two different, lovely ladies I admire, said that's how they start their day, and so I decided to give it a try. It has made such a difference in my outlook, and gives me something different to think about that's positive all day long. One scripture that comes to mind that was shared with me is in Isaiah 26:3-"You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You.."  

We've all been through a LOT, especially this last year. Many of us are continuing to go through and face very difficult trials. Satan is definitely working overtime trying to divide us, and to discourage us, and to make us feel hopeless. But by keeping our mind fixed on God, he will keep your mind at peace, as we go through these difficult times hard to deal with.  So that is what I wanted to share with all of you. Keep the faith my friends, and know were in this together. God will carry us through. Much better days are ahead of us! Have a great week my friends!

~Peace & Joy,

Lisa