Doorpost of the Past

Legacy means a gift, something handed down. As I think about leaving my legacy and what will be passed down once I am gone, I can't help but think of the past as I reminisce of my childhood, marriage, family, career, etc. I begin to let my mind wander down memory lane. The journey is pleasurable, stopping along the way at great memories that make me smile, but then I change course.  I quickly move to a path that leads me to the missed opportunities, the regrets, the "wish I had" and "wish I hadn't"(s). But as soon as I allow my mind to go there, I hear this in my spirit:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:38-39

God covers all bases, all scenarios, all situations, all circumstances in this scripture. NO exceptions. There's NOTHING that we can do to separate ourselves from the love of God. Nothing that we have done or that has happened in our past that can keep us from the close, intimate relationship with God that He desires to have with us.

In order for us to move forward, to experience and fulfill our God-given purpose and begin leaving our legacy for our children, families and friends, we have to close the door to our past.  Shut that door for good!  There's no longer a reason to go in and out of that door.  I can recall when I was a little girl my Nannie saying "Shut that door!" when I would come in from playing outside because I was letting flies into the house.  I smile as I think of even now my husband telling me to "Shut that door" as I let all the cool air out :)  When we keep opening the door to the negatives of our past, we are letting the bad (flies) flood in and the good (cool air) rush out.  Instead, all we have to do is have that doorpost to remind us of what was and is now!  Inscribe on that doorpost that we are new creations in Christ, that we have been forgiven and our sins wiped clean as far as the east is from the west. With that freedom, we can begin to live a life worthy of leaving as a legacy. A life that is not limited and restrained because of our past, but a life that we are able to live boldly and passionately because of who we are in Christ!   A life that God (and our families) will be proud of and can say "Well done, good and a faithful servant."

A gift to help us start our brand new legacy today:

Though you cannot go back
and make a brand-new start, my friend.
Anyone can start from now
and make a brand-new end. - John Maxwell

"Great is His faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning." Lam. 3:23

Obeying the Word

For several weeks, I have had in mind that I wanted to start a blog. I keep a journal-not really up-to-date though, but I am hoping that I will be better at maintaining this digital footprint. Many things have happened recently which have now pushed starting a blog to the forefront... I have attended 2 funerals in the past week, one of which was my Nannie. She was 91 years old and lived a wonderful life. I imagined my funeral as I looked around at the people attending. I want people at my funeral to know that I loved them, how I lived my life for God's purpose and that there would never be any question about what I valued. I realize that these things will be primarily known by WATCHING how I lived my life, not READING about how I lived my life. However, I want to use this forum as a small piece of my legacy-a place where you can catch a glimpse of who I am and a place where I can document the journey of this legacy that I am leaving. Secondly, as I have been surfing the Internet and questioning if I should start blogging,I ran across some startling sites. Now, I'm a googler. So anytime I want to find something, don't know what it is or just curious and exploring, I'm going to google it. I was searching for blogs that had something to do with faith and came across a website of moms. This website had top 25 blogs about faith and over half were blogs about pagans, witches, magic, wiccans, etc. WHAT?????? I expected to find mostly Christian faith based blogs, with some other religions represented, but never imagined this. I even checked to make sure I googled the right thing-apparently I did. This was shocking and disturbing to me-I want people to know the Jesus that I know. To know that God is our comforter and source of strength. To live this earthly life by faith, the faith that comes by hearing the word of God. To know that He has equipped and called us for His purpose. Whether this blog is ever read by anybody other than me, I know that I am called to write this because of the following verse:

Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only! Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the DOORPOSTS of your homes and on your city gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

My goal is to build my faith and those around me by inscribing on the doorposts of my life. Let this serve as a reminder for me to live my life as God commanded-to love God and love His people! To take every day, every opportunity, every moment and use it to teach, lead, empower, encourage. I'm going to being looking for doors of opportunity because then I'll have a doorpost to inscribe on! Stay tuned~