Check It Out!

You guys have been very helpful with your feedback on my new website, and I now have one that is alive and open. Thanks so much -- and please, chime in at:

RecoveryintheBible.com

This painting by Claudia Wood Rahm is entitled I Am the Vine.

Today's Question

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE BORN-AGAIN?

I do not want to be among the many who, we are told, will one day say “Lord, Lord” but to whom Jesus will reply, “I never knew ye.”  That scripture is frightening to me, because I know that DENIAL stands for "Don't Even kNow I Am Lying."

My question is this: how do I know I know Him and not just about Him? How can I trust that I am a born-again Christian? And answer, at least today, is that I can tell by the fruit. I now have Fullness of Life! It starts with how eagerly I start each day with Step Eleven, which do diligently and with great gratitude. It may sound presumptuous, but I now know it is Biblical to say that I am obtaining the Mind of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:16). I now have a relationship with the Maker of the Universe that is up close and personal. That is real and interactive. That has produced EVIDENCE He for me, not against me. That has led to others with whom it is safe to ask questions like this one -- and invite discussion, differing viewpoints, honest conversation. So today's question:

How do you know that you are born-again?

This photograph is from a Facebook page called 3dfirstaid visual architecture

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

From Adam's RIB! From his side to be equal but different. Under his arm, protected and, at guarding his heart. Thought you guys might like this, as we, born-again women in recovery, find one another by His guidance. Thank You, God, for Divine Connections. Thank You, God, for RIB!

This image was posted a few days ago on Facebook by Gina Hazen.

Recovery in the BIble (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

I am very interested life application of the Bible to my regular, ordinary life and, in my blog, I am seeking to stimulate honest interaction (and civil discourse) even we we disagree. As born-again women of God, we need to find each other! I thank God already for the Divine Connections into which He has already led us. Hopefully this blog is a safe place for seeking God's wisdom and His power to apply it in real life (Step Eleven).

Lately, with the decisions coming out of the SCOTUS, I have felt frightened by the morphing of meanings. Suddenly many Christian truths are Politically Incorrect and on the verge of being called Hate Speech. Really? Christians know God loves every single person He ever made! Further, that in Him and by is Holy Spirit, so do we. Christ is radical LOVE and we, as His disciples, proclaim the freedom to choose -- or choose to refuse -- that LOVE.

Speaking truth in LOVE is not typically perceived as loving these days, now is it?. Orwell predicted this would happen! And so, today, I am asking this question:

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Pro-choice or Pro-Life

The opposite of pro-life is pro-death, yet we use the word choice instead of murder.

Gay or Straight

The opposite of straight is crooked or twisted or bent, yet we use the word gay instead.

Left or Right

The opposite of right is either left or wrong, yet left has only one opposite (as does wrong): right.

It is 1984 in 2015. Am I alone is noticing the morphing of meanings? Am I alone in seeing Thought Police on the near horizon? I know God's got all this, that He told us there would be such as time as this, that all would be well eventually. I also know that He has led us to find each other, divinely connecting us to one another. Therefore I ask what you think about all this:

How did this happen?

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

Thank You, God,

For the purpose You have given me

To help us find each other:

Christian women in recovery.

After 25 years in recovery, I finally see that my Step Twelve is Step Five. I am to carry the message the God wants us to get real with Him, with ourselves, and with each other.  It seems God wants me to help Him connect born-again women in recovery to one another. It is biblical for me, as a woman, to  reach out to other women, and so, I am looking for other Christian women who are in Twelve-Step recovery.

God has been very patient with me. I first heard His "get real" message in 1999 -- and am only now really starting to walk it out. For the last three months, I have working to develop a website to help this happen, which is still in draft form. The blog portion of it is a total mess at the moment, but if you wish to have a look at this draft site, please feel free to Google:

RecoveryintheBible.com

If you do decide to take a look, there are three specific questions on which I would VERY MUCH appreciate feedback before I finalize:

1.   Are you able to navigate easily throughout the site?

2.    Were you confused at any point(s)?

3.    Is there anything missing off-putting or “broken” at the receiving end?

Hopefully this new website/blog will help us connect with one another in encouraging ways. And according to God's Word. And so, I ask this question today:

Could this be a Divine Connection?

This photograph is by Kristofer Rowe.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

Twelve-Step meetings have ruined me! I am now addicted to Praise Reports coming through people sharing from their true experience: what challenges have just happened, how God guided, and what happened next. 

• Rigorous honesty. 
• Dirty laundry, washed and hanging out for everyone to see.  
• Evidence that God is real and eager to help.
• True stories of broken-ness and repair. 

My trust in God seems to increase most by hearing other people's miracles -- hot off the press -- and sharing my own. Experience, strength, and hope: I believe this is how the Church is meant to gather. So... when I enter a quiet, pre-programmed religious ceremony, I feel like, "This is backwards!" 

For me, the time for tippy-toe quiet every morning in my daily Step Eleven. The time for sharing and celebration is when we gather. Church is for testimony! Telling how is helping in our everyday, ordinary lives. To me, God intended Church to be what we find in Twelve-Step meetings: His medicine, which is trust in Him. Gently administered through His loudspeaker system: one another. 

As a woman, I am seeking other born-again Christians in recovery, Divine Connections. You?

This image was posted yesterday on Facebook, and I just grabbed it -- now I know why!

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

In the near future, I will  be transferring from this blog into a new blog on a new website for Christian women in recovery. The new website is still in draft form, but I practicing the new blog here, hoping to offer honest questions and elicit honest replies.

Recovery led me into a Direct Connect with the Maker of the Universe and to realize that God was giving me Divine Connections to others who would encourage and edify me -- and vice versa. Comments and conversations -- even confusion if we encounter it. My goal is a Question Corner that will be a safe place for seeking God’s wisdom in our lives -- and receive it by His Grace. Currently, I envision posing three types of questions:

• What is Divine Intervention? 
• What is Direct Connect?
• What are Divine Connections ? 

Today's question is this: what do you think of this approach? Interesting: maybe, yes, not? 

This photograph is by Eric Jonas Swensson of Sound Shore Media.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

LOVE AND LET LIVE

In the United States of America, freedom means respecting every person’s individual dignity: accepting we have been given freedom of choice, even to make choices that are unwise or illegal or outright wicked. God loves each one He has ever made, and by Him in us, we do the same. Therefore, my latest slogan is Love and Let Live. This came to me after someone recently posted, "Frankly, I don't care WHAT you believe unless your belief includes the power to control what I believe." I think this new slogan means r refusing to demonize one another, even when we disagree on stuff. What think you?

This image came from some wise person on Facebook.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

In the matter of applying God's Word to my real life, here’s an example of the kind of questions I am asking myself (and God and others) at this time in our nation. I feel gratitude for the saints of Charleston, who chose radical LOVE over divisiveness and hate -- and for the Sea Change that has everyone pulling down the Confederate flag -- finally -- for that flag was symbolic and being flown in high places. However, I am shocked by suggestions to remove all sorts of other things -- such as statues. It is one thing to take down an antiquated former flag; it is another to erase history. So my questions are: where does this stop? Would we remove the Holocaust Museum? Are we not supposed to LEARN from history?

This photograph is by Kristofer Rowe.