Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Quote Scripture Or Live Scripture?

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Quote Scripture Or Live Scripture?: It is easy to quote scripture, or wise words, but another thing to live it out . I might be able to do it for a day or two, but for always? ...

Quote Scripture Or Live Scripture?

It is easy to quote scripture, or wise words, but another thing to live it out . I might be able to do it for a day or two, but for always? Not so much. What does it take to live what God's word says? First and most important, I need to know Jesus personally. He needs to be my very best friend, and He needs to be the final authority on where my life goes, and how it should look. 

When I made Him The Lord of my life 30 some years ago, He forgave me, He brought me into His family, and He said He would never leave me! I have left Him, many times, because I thought I was so smart. I had a better plan, He was too slow, or I just didn't want to do what He wanted. Been there? We all have. God is so patient, so kind, so merciful, I can picture Him shaking His head, at me, smiling, and setting me back on track. 

Those visions of course make Him seem more human, where in reality He is so much bigger than that. He is God, magnificent, mighty, and my salvation!  His word is absolute truth, and if I follow it, He will make my daily life match what His word says. Key word here, being He enables me. On my own, I am a disaster waiting to happen, or already there!

Interesting fact, when He disciplines me, I really hate it, like any child will. Then as God reaches into my heart, through His word, or wise council, I begin to see things His way. I have learned that His way is beautiful. What I thought was a good plan, was not, and what He wanted was perfect, for me and those around me. Like Johah, I try my best to run, hide, say no, but believe me, God really does know best. He knows what I need , and what I need to change.

When I "get it" it changes me, grows me, and I move closer to Jesus! As I get older, I am a little more willing to listen and do sooner than I used to. I still don't always like to be reproved, but it is for my best. I am blessed to have my husband John, as the spiritual leader in our home. He is also a pastor,

and I learn from his leadership often. The senior pastor at our Church is also a Godly man who is not afraid to tell us all exactly what God wants, and what His word says. These and other Godly friends are my backup, my go to for guidance.

Do I still have trouble living out Scripture? Of course, I am human, I am a sinner, I still have skin on. I am not going to stop trying, learning, studying. I will continue to ask forgiveness when I mess up, I will keep on loving Jesus, and I will try to listen sooner, wiser, and put self behind me. I will remember that "With God all things are possible!"

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Simply Amazing!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Simply Amazing!: Do you have days when the joy inside just bubbles up, inside your soul? If you are a believer, and follower of Jesus, you have had days like...

Simply Amazing!

Do you have days when the joy inside just bubbles up, inside your soul? If you are a believer, and follower of Jesus, you have had days like that! For me it is a joy like no other. It doesn't come from material things, or other people, money, or explainable things.

Usually this joy comes out of nothing in particular. It is most likely on a day when God has shown me my blessings, one by one! It can be triggered by loved ones, or answered prayers, a sunny, blue sky day, or by nothing at all.  It is all about the Love my Jesus has for me!

You see, when I am filled with joy, I realize that this child, filled with sin, is a loved and cherished child of God. He loved me before I existed. He loved me before I knew Him. He loved me before I came to a belief in Him! It is illogical to someone who does not know Him. They do not understand the joy either.

Joy, an emotion for well-being. Can that co-exist with heartache, pain, disaster, or being at the very bottom, emotionally?  Can Joy be present when your world is falling around your feet in pieces? Does joy live where nothing is going right? Yes, the joy of The Lord can. I never understood that when I was living for me, apart from God. There were days when joy was a stranger.

If you are devastated, overwhelmed, sad, lonely, hungry,homeless, hopeless, how do you have joy? The Bible tells us in John 14:27, not as the world peace, but Christ. The world, or those who don't have that relationship with Jesus, look at things from a world view. The world says joy and suffering do not go together. Psalm 100 is a Psalm of Joy.

If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, asked Him to be The Lord of your life, you can be sure you will be in Heaven when He takes you from this world. That is the basis for my joy in all things. Do I like trouble, pain, or bad days? Of course not, but I can still be joyful. I don't know where the joy comes from, but it is real, and it is sweet. It makes me content, it makes me happy, and it makes me want to laugh out loud! 

Today it was answered prayers, good friends, and beautiful Fall weather! Tomorrow....who knows?

Tomorrow may be a terrible, no good day, but I will still have my joy! My joy is deep within my being, because Jesus loves me, and He cares about me! My prayer is for you to have and know that same joy! Believe me it is like no other joy!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: He Gets Me!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: He Gets Me!: Soul mate would define the love of my life! He is my closest friend who totally understands me, even when I don't want him to. We have t...

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: He Gets Me!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: He Gets Me!: Soul mate would define the love of my life! He is my closest friend who totally understands me, even when I don't want him to. We have t...

He Gets Me!

Soul mate would define the love of my life! He is my closest friend who totally understands me, even when I don't want him to. We have the same beliefs, humor, and thoughts. We are perfectly suited in temperament and attitude. Don't we just sound perfect?  Well we aren't! God did put us together, but it took awhile, because we weren't paying attention. God never gave up on us or our stubbornness. You see we both over the years were convinced we were right, and we knew what we needed, and we left God out of our plans. I am so grateful He didn't let us go. I can imagine Him saying, "I love you too much to leave you like this."

We did not meet until we were in our 30s, but we found out that our paths crossed much earlier than that. I was born in North Omaha, adopted, and grew up in Sioux City, Iowa. I lived down the alley from John's cousins. When I was in 5th grade, a new school opened two blocks from my house. The first summer, in honor of that they hosted a summer week long program. Every day there were games, food, fun, and crafts on the playground. I was there every day. John was visiting his cousins, so he was there too. If we met, neither of us remember, but God had us there at the same time. Many years later,  after we were married, yes we did meet again, I found my birth family through one of John's childhood friends. You see her brother was married to my sister. John would have met Paula's brother and my sister when they met in Omaha and were married.

With the history we had and didn't know it, it would be half a lifetime before we actually met, fell in love, and put all the pieces together. I often wonder if we had  been believers then, and allowing God to lead, if we would have been together much sooner than we were. I wonder if parts of our life would have been very different. Of course the story as it played out shows what God can do in a life, and how He arrainged His plans all around us, in spite of us and our actions. We have always been able to enjoy the same music, long talks, and humor. We do love to laugh. We have both done some pretty silly things, but we can laugh at ourselves. Those memories are always there to recall from time to time, and then we get to laugh all over again. One day we went shopping with John's Mom at Brandeis in Omaha. There was a column close to where we were shipping. It had a small hole drilled in it, for some reason. John got my attention, and told me to look in the hole. I wasn't sure, but he convincingly told me I had to see this, it was really something. I fell for it, and stood in the middle of a busy store with my eye up to a hole in a column. When I realized he had "gotten" me, we had a good laugh. He is a story teller, and he can make up stories, and convince you they are real, until he comes to the punch line.

Of course one of the funniest things ever was a phone call. That was back when they had pay phones and some you could drive up to so you didn't have to get out of the car. John pulled up, got his quarter out, put the phone up to one ear, and proceeded to put the quarter in his ear instead of the slot in the phone. We laughed so hard, we couldn't breathe. We love laughing together, and it sometimes doesn't take much to set us off. We do have our serious sides, and there have been so many times John has been my hero. He is a Godly man, who has encouraged my walk with Christ. I don't always like to have him hold me accountable, but He is usually right, and He knows what I need to be doing. 

Mostly we are a team. He has strengths I don't have, and I have strengths he doesn't. We complete each other. Sometimes he has to be the strong one and pick me up from where I fell. Other times I get to be the strong one for him. We are equal, but different. We are different, but the same. And we have gone through trials, that our God has gotten us through. We are part of God's triangle. I am at the bottom on one side. John is on the bottom on the other side. God is at the top of the triangle. As we grow closer to each other moving up the triangle, we grow closer to God at the top. As we grow older, we become more in tune with each other and with what God wants for us. My Soul Mate, my love! God knew we would be a perfect fit!