That would be a put off for the many women I know who are active in their churches.
Catholic by birth, Protestant by time.
I work on Sundays; in fact I work every day and five nights a week.
I read the Bible usually in the morning; I sing Hillsong specials with my youtube app.
I was a daughter (my folks have long since passed on). I am a sister, a mother, a grandmother and a friend to a few, acquaintances of many. Oh yes and a woman with dreams and expectations.
I live with two aging cats, lots of books, in a railroad dusty two bedroom apartment. The sink is filled with dirty dishes. The laundry basket is overflowing. The trash needs emptying.
Point being? I don’t fit the mold of a prominent Christian woman. I have more in common with the down to earth, pay-check-to-pay-check, potted garden, lover of tv and sports than prominence can define. I have hated life. I have loved life. I have more questions than I have answers. I graduated from college in the 70’s, but didn’t know how to find a job, been on welfare, crawled from the pit of wanting for my two children but never having enough and not knowing where to turn. Youth. Middle age. Now beyond. And I love Him. He didn’t make mistakes; I did. Yet He still loves me.
That’s why I created this blog site, for those who feel left out of the mainstream Christian definition and yet whose heart belongs to God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
God moves in us all whether we are classical, jazz, pop or rap. I just want to make sure that we who worship and love to the left or the right of the mainstream have a voice. God hears us all. He loves us all. He says seek. We all seek. We who have questions, doubts and fears need to know that questions, doubts and fears are ok. We are still and always will be loved in His Eyes.
I have lived long enough to be able to look behind me and see how the dots have been connected, that every success and failure have had their balance, that in some way every question, doubt and fear has been answered. My faith is simple. If He said it, it will happen. Promises are promises. When the first time He renigs on a promise, I don’t have to believe any longer.
Risha is my 27yr old cat, a trailer stray brought home by my daughter when she was 8ish. Risha steps into the litter box, pauses, looks up at me as if too ask “am I coming or going?” then proceeds to miss the box entirely. She walks slowly on unsteady paws that sometimes give out from under her. Her frequent travels are always the same, round and round the apartment and then back to sleeping. My walk with God seems to be much the same. I miss the mark. I get tired and my legs give out. I travel the same path with the same questions day after month after year. But I love Risha as she is; God loves me as I am.
Six journal entries into this blog I began to wonder if my blog was legitimate on the Christian playing field. I was approaching questions not as an authority but as a seeker, sharing what I had found. So I googled ‘the best christian websites. These women bloggers had class. (I lost my class when I couldn’t find a job.) These women had dignity. (I lost my dignity when I couldn’t feed my kids for two months.) They had authority, a this-is-the-way-it-is confidence. (I lost my confidence when the collection agencies began to call.) But I do have grit. I do have a boots to the ground mentality. And I do believe. That’s what we have in common: we believe in God, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit.
So I’ll write on,
hoping through my own self discoveries,
I can be a voice, a friend, and a helping hand
to those just shy of the norm.
But by my coherent independence from the norm, do not think me rash or bigger and better than The Word, insolent or incorrigible. Every time I read Hosea’s first chapters I am reminded of who I was and who I am now and whose I am now and for always.
” She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished upon her silver and gold that they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will uncover her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. I will put an end to all her mirth, her festivals, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals. I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, “These are my pay, which my lovers have given me.” I will make them a forest, and the wild animals shall devour them. I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she offered incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord.
Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. On that day, says the Lord, you will call me “My husband,” and no longer will you call me “My Baal.” For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. I will make you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.”
For this and for Him I write and read and breath; I create and share. I owe it all to HIM!
I was a daughter (my folks have long since passed on). I am a sister, a mother, a grandmother and a friend to a few, acquaintances of many. Oh yes and a woman with dreams and expectations.
God moves in us all whether we are classical, jazz, pop or rap. I just want to make sure that we who worship and love to the left or the right of the mainstream have a voice. God hears us all. He loves us all. He says seek. We all seek. We who have questions, doubts and fears need to know that questions, doubts and fears are ok. We are still and always will be loved in His Eyes.
Risha is my 27yr old cat, a trailer stray brought home by my daughter when she was 8ish. Risha steps into the litter box, pauses, looks up at me as if too ask “am I coming or going?” then proceeds to miss the box entirely. She walks slowly on unsteady paws that sometimes give out from under her. Her frequent travels are always the same, round and round the apartment and then back to sleeping. My walk with God seems to be much the same. I miss the mark. I get tired and my legs give out. I travel the same path with the same questions day after month after year. But I love Risha as she is; God loves me as I am.
Six journal entries into this blog I began to wonder if my blog was legitimate on the Christian playing field. I was approaching questions not as an authority but as a seeker, sharing what I had found. So I googled ‘the best christian websites. These women bloggers had class. (I lost my class when I couldn’t find a job.) These women had dignity. (I lost my dignity when I couldn’t feed my kids for two months.) They had authority, a this-is-the-way-it-is confidence. (I lost my confidence when the collection agencies began to call.) But I do have grit. I do have a boots to the ground mentality. And I do believe. That’s what we have in common: we believe in God, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit.
” She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished upon her silver and gold that they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will uncover her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. I will put an end to all her mirth, her festivals, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals. 
I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, “These are my pay, which my lovers have given me.” I will make them a forest, and the wild animals shall devour them. I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she offered incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord. 
I will make you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.” 