No Other Name

Sharing my testimony with my sisters at SDG



I blogged a few days back about feeling free. I have the freedom to go places now that I have a car, yes. But I am only free to make the choices I make because I have been freed from bondage by my Savior. Galatians 5:1 reminds us of this telling us, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."


We are reminded in Acts 4:10-12 that it is only through the name of Christ that we can be saved. I remember this with much joy. My Savior gave everything for me, suffered even unto death, that I, Rachel, might be saved. How glorious!!!! How wondrous!!! If I am free, it is only because I have repented and come unto my Savior.


I am so grateful for my Savior, and for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The LDS church had its semi-annunal general conference this weekend, and the messages given by our general authorities were wonderfully inspring and uplifting. I am so blessed to belong to a church where we "talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ" (2 Nephi 25:26) 

found at weheartit

Free

I am free today. I got my first car and got to drive around all by myself. I have the freedom to go where I want when I want to, need to, whatever. It is glorious!!!! Freedom rocks. I just got into my car today and drove. It was so so so wonderful.

I am also free from my unpleasant job. I am so glad. I will find another one and will be much clearer abut my expectations and the employers. No more misunderstandings, of the preventable sort at least. This last job was miserably full of them, but it is over. Yay.

Free feels good!

It's Not All About Me!

I am in a very self-centered period of my life. Young, no children, getting a divorce...sometimes I forget that I am not the only one with struggles, that not everything someone does is a reflection on me. I am convicted by this feeling over and over.

I need to get outside of myself so much more. I need to serve more, give more of myself to others. I need to do more than remember that I need to do this, more than just say I am going to serve. I need to do it.  I can begin by praying that God will show me who I can serve. By looking around me and really seeing others. This is my challenge for this week, to really see others, to see them as God sees them, and love them as He loves them.  (And I'll keep doing it after this week is over, I just need to get started)

If there is anything I can do for you, even if its just a simple prayer, let me know.

found at weheartit

I Refuse to Be Numb

Some days I feel completely numb. Nothing reaches me, and my heart feels cold.  And I hate it. And so I pray that I will feel something, everything. Pain comes first, joy will come later. 

found at weheartit

I have to feel the pain to get past it. If I just seal up my heart, nothing will get in. Not joy, not spiritual promptings, not the love of God. And so I let the pain in, and ask for God to heal me. To stand against the pain for me (Psalms 94:16-17). For He is my Healer, my Savior; with His stripes I am healed (Isaiah 53:5). As He heals the pain, He shows me what love really looks like. God is love. I feel the pain, but I feel hope, too. And know that joy is coming, just like Josh Wilson's song, Before the Morning, reminds us. 

 

So thanks to all my lovely Soli sisters and other readers who pray for me. My prayers are with you.

Vision in My Head

I am finally getting a car this weekend. It is a gift from my dad, and I spent less than $1000 getting it running. A great great blessing. I can't wait to get it and have the freedom of driving.

And right now I cannot get the image out of my head of packing up that little car full of all my stuff and driving away. Going somewhere brand new and finding myself. (Too bad it is not a hatchback, cuz I'll have to leave my little blue armchair...)

But where would I go? And with what money? And so it remains just a dream.

Accepting the Challenge to be Positive

Just when I was ready to be negative for a while, God created a little miracle. Three, count them three!, of the blogs I read regularly had posts on being positive yesterday. The first from the inspiring Gitz: life. The second from adorable Amanda: The Pollyanna Project. And the third from my dear friend, Kristin: Happy, Table for 2.

All three focused on shifting perspective. Stop focusing on the negative, on what we don't have, and look at what  we do have, what God has blessed us with, and how He sees our lives. This was a much needed paradigm shift for me. I have accepted Amanda's Pollyanna challenge: to choose positivity, to choose love, to choose to smile. I  have taken to heart Gitz's advice to open my eye's to God's perspective- the eternal one that is so much grander than this small view we have now.  I have chosen, like Kristin, to see the happy coming up, to have faith.

I am so grateful for these dear girls and how they helped me look beyond whatever unhappiness or toughness may face me currently, and reach for the hope that God so graciously holds out for me. I choose to hope in my God, who will strengthen my heart (Psalms 31:24).

Who inspires you?

found @ weheartit

As of Late March

Joining up with Critty Joy again for this monthly meme.

Lately, I have fallen away from the bloggy world a little.

Lately, I have been spending lots of time with great friends.

Lately, I have been struggling with old emotions resurfacing.

Lately, I have conquered an old temptation. Hurrah!

Lately, I have whined and in the process said too much, and now need to do some damage control.  

Lately, my car has been getting some work done, it is ready! I just need to get it legal to drive on roads!

Lately, I have loved working in the nursery at church.


A short, honest post. Enjoy!