My first vivid memory of Mama was when she rammed her finger down my throat, saving me from a chicken bone bent on turning me blue. At the time, I was sitting in a high chair beside a crowded table.
As a small child, I remember the warmth and security of snuggling beside her at the Tabernacle church in Granby, Missouri where we attended. With so many sibblings, I had to fight for that spot.
I don't think she sat down at all on Saturdays, since all day she prepared for Sunday. Church clothes had to be ready. She killed three chickens by putting their neck under a broom handle, standing on it, and yanking it off. We helped pluck them, but she cut them up for Sunday fried chicken. Then she made about three or four chocolate or apple pies.
She also made sure we got our Saturday night baths. After supper she dragged the oval metal tub into the kitchen, heated water on the gas stove, and hung a sheet or quilt over the door to the living room. Heating and changing water kept her pretty busy. We "washed off" during the week. Seemed like she was always giving us "spit baths" on the way to church.
Mama did the greatest thing any mom can do: took us to church, told us about Jesus, and read the Bible to us and prayed at bed time.
Rest in Peace, Nellie Mae Watson. I'll be seeing you some day.
Romans 5:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us; and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God has sent His love message to everyone on the playground, on skid row, and on the planet -- not just one person or a select few.
God doesn't take sides. He doesn't see color or race or country or creed. He cares and provides for the bottle sucking infant and the bottle sucking husband who abuses his wife.
God sent His Son to die for people we don't even like. God loves those who don't love Him. There is not a person on this earth that has breath, that is beyond the mercy, grace, and love of God.
What about our circle of love? Do we see everyone we meet as a person loved by God -- so much that He died for them?
God's love changes lives. By His grace, He changed mine.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see
John Newton
Are you saved? What does it mean to be "saved"?
Romans 10;9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth The Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
It's that simple -- believing in your heart in Jesus (our righteousness) and confessing. It's not repeating someone else's prayer or doing good deeds. It involves the heart.
Saved from what? From God's wrath and the horrors of hell.
Today, most people deny the existence of a place called hell. Even "so called" preachers, pastors, and Bible sholars reason it away, even though in the Bible Jesus speaks of it often and with certainty.
There is no reason for anyone to go to hell. Jesus died on the cross for every sin. Only the sin of unbelief will keep you from being saved.
There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. Where are you going to spend eternity?
Salvation does not come through our own righteousness but through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. You and I have no righteousness to offer God.
If you could take the best out of every man that has ever lived since Adam and put it into one man, that man would still need to be saved from the wrath of God' final judgment.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us . . .
We inherited Adams sin, and the only thing that cancels sin is the precious blood of The Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast.
You can have an intimate and personal relationship with God. Ask Him to come into your heart, to forgive your sins, to save you.
It is impossible to get through life without experiencing the pain of betrayal, disappointment, rejection, abuse or hardship inflicted by people in our lives. The challenge is how we respond. The apostle Paul gives us the victorious Christian response.
Colossians 3:12-14 Put on therefore, as the elect (chosen) of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness; humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And, above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Forgiveness involves receiving God's enabling grace that is necessary for us to forgive. While speaking the words of forgiveness is important, forgiveness involves a healing process that often takes time to complete.
Forgiveness is not easy. It invokes releasing any desire for revenge or retaliation. Your love for God should be so great, it motivates you to aspire to forgive as you have been forgiven.
