Christianity

Follow the Illuiuminated Path

~ Rachel Willis ~ Leave a comment
“9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” Proverbs 3: 9-10

Hi guys, it’s been awhile. Let me catch you up. After a two year divorce, I am back with my ex husband, and have been for over a year. We live together in a white, two story homestead, with my three cats (now two cats, sadly), our dog, about a dozen chickens, and two boys (we tried our hand at goats, but after they contracted some disease, we decided that we weren’t goat people).

The past year and a half has not been without its difficulties. My man and I thought we had worked everything out before the big move, but as it turned out, one last item still triggered much anger, from the both of us. the worst part of night was that it was my twenty-eighth birthday, and things turned ugly. Things also turned sour on the fourth of July, just a few weeks later. Many people might say that I’m foolish for staying, but prayer has been an essential part of my journey, the other part is trust. I go the the Lord in times of toil, I mean really go to Him.

What I do is go to websites where people take prayer requests and send them mine; the other thing I do is go to YouTube and turn on a man who prays for people, their homes, their relationships, their families, and every night, for, at least, a week, I turn him on. The results have been astonishing!

First, we have a few bad days, as the evil spirits are getting kicked out. Next, miraculous things begin to happen. One in particular comes to mind. Remember that item I mentioned earlier? That item was recovered, the very same week I had the YouTube prayer on at night. If that isn’t God working, then I don’t know what is!

Everything has been calming down, since over a year ago. For the first time, in a long time, I feel less anxious about my life, and more like the rails are going back on the track. Something the Lord has been working on with me is humbling myself to, basically, start from scratch. In other words, the way He was leading me before, in my professional pursuits, is how He wants me to begin again.

Last year I was hasty with starting an online gluten free grocery business, but the cost outweighed the return, and I decided to shut it down. The next thing I tried, was launching a new magazine, but as I was fired up, had a team, and was making a trip to California (for a story), COVID-19 hit, and then not only did my enthusiasm take a hit, but lifestyle, and habits. Even though I completed the kickstarter, the kickstarter video, and promoted my campaign professionally, it still didn’t make it. Looking back in retrospect, many business moves were done in haste and with very little prayer involved. My man was laid off, at home all the time, and threatening to sell the house. In an earnest attempt to convince him to stay, I opened up three businesses at once, one included the kickstarter, but because I didn’t follow God’s advice and went forward on my own, all three of them crashed and burned, just like the online gluten free grocery store that I tried out in 2019.

Lesson learned

God is in charge of your finances, period. If you aren’t following His plan for your life, and taking the steps he has laid out for you, then, as a declared Christian, expect to crash and burn, because God wants you to be a shining example of Him on earth. It is our jobs, as Christians, to shine God’s light from within us by following His ways.

Sometimes, all it takes, is a step back and beginning again, right from the start, with God’s guidance.

Wealth gained vastly will dwindle, but whoever caters little by little will increase it.”

Proverbs 13:11

Word for word of what I was doing wrong. God will always redirect your steps, in the way you should go.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for allowing me to fail, because I know you will pick me back up again. Thank you for helping me to see that I need to follow your guidance, with every part of my life. Please keep me humble, as to continue to remember to put you first, in all things. Please bless our families and loved ones.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Another Millennial lost in a Helpless Generation

~ Rachel Willis ~ 1 Comment

“Before I have formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

As you all are well aware, there was a new law passed in the state of New York that allows abortion up to the point of birth. Up to the point of birth. Are you kidding me? Now, we can actually see the human form, feel the human flesh, and hear the baby’s cries. This has turned into outright murder. Just because a human may not value the life of that child, that does not mean that God does not. Just because a human may think it best to just go ahead and kill that child, God brought that child life.

This morning I woke up with a vicious attitude and just wanted nothing to do with going to church, because I did not want to see anybody, be rude to them, and then proceed to hurt them in any way that would damage any friendship built up between us. But I went, and guess what, I heard about babies getting killed and my generation ever tightening the notion of ours being the absolute worst. We are not doing ourselves any favors by voting to kill innocent children, especially when there is another option that was put in place for women who want to carry their child to term, but not keep the child, and that is called adoption.

It is no wonder that I, personally, have been conflicted and confused about what actions to take in regards about what to do about living in a way that pleases the Lord, and in a way that I see is not perfect, but not so bad that it is considered evil either; something most twenty-something year-olds Christians have to make decisions about. There are situations that, us as women, tend to fall into and it is girl after girl who falls. Men come along, sweep up our heart, blindsiding us, we try out birth control, take the morning after pill, while completely unaware that our “man” is looking at porn and the only reason us girls feels so compelled to preform more and more in bed is because, for some reason, we feel like we are not enough. This goes on until someone ends the relationship, or the girl winds up pregnant. Decisions, decisions. Other times it is because of the evil act of rape that the girl winds up pregnant. Oh, decisions to make here too. It does not help that literature, music, and television practically glamorize the act of killing babies.

For every young woman who has used the morning after pill, this is for you. Our God is a God of forgiveness, but only if you decide that you are out of the business of killing babies. Maybe pray every time, because I understand that this is not any easy topic to think about or discuss. A person is a person at the time of conception. A person is a person when God has decided they are, even before the time of conception, even before you ever thought once about being a parent. You may have a sex that was not the one you hoped for, but every child that is placed in every parent’s life, was the exact child that God had intended to be in their life.

Also, there is hope for our men too. All we have to do is pray, be Godly, and let God take care of the rest. Don’t try to change your man, you can and will do more harm than good.

Millennials, please, let’s step it up. Go read your Bible and stop making things up about The Word that is untrue. Every person is special to God. Every person has a place in God’s plan. We are simply in his world, we can by no means “fit” him into ours. He is too big and marvelous for that. Let’s start repenting and looking to God for His guidance.

Dear Lord,

I thank you for this surge of disscontempt. I thank you for turning it around and making it into something useful and good. I pray for my generation of millennials, understanding that I am no where near perfect, that we, as a collective, can stop feeding our flesh and caring more about the heart and taking care of our souls. Remind us all that we are no better than anyone else, and that our weight is equal. That we have all sinned, whether a lot or just a little bit. Help us all to reach out and care for each other, reaching out with a hand of understanding, instead of a hand of judgement. For if we feel judged in our own heart, that we always remember who loves us, most, just the way we are made.

In Jesus name,

Amen

 

Reformation 500: A Short Tidbit

~ Rachel Willis ~ Leave a comment

Reformation 500:

A Short Tidbit

portrait-of-martin-luther-1543

Today is the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, or the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Catholic Church. It was a time of great change. Many were beginning to come out of the dark and middle ages, as books became more readily available, to the higher classes, as the printing press had been invented by Johann Gutenberg sometime before 1450, and it was improved over the years, so the copies could more readily come out. Martin Luther was one man who took advantage of the idea of books getting printed for the masses. He pianistically translated the Holy Bible from Hebrew / Latin to German, so that those in Europe could finally read it for themselves, instead of relying on Catholic priest, dictated by the pope, for what the Holy Bible said and how it should be interpreted. He used all the ways in which people could understand the Holy Bible, such as simple illustrations (like movie posters today) for the masses that were illiterate, small pamphlets, which were so popular, that they made for easy transferal of new thoughts and ideas, just printing off The New Testament, that could be bought with one week’s pay, and the whole Holy Bible, that would take an entire month’s earnings to purchase. Luther wanted to get out the good news, but why?

1517
October 31, 2017

In a time of poverty, death, exploration, enslavement, manipulation, and revolt, the Popes of the time wanted to control the people, even to the point to them believing where they would go after death, so that a new church could be funded and built for them. “In 1517, Pope Leo X declares indulgence for rebuilding St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, a rebuilding that began in 1506 under Pope Julius II. John Tetzel raises much money for the new basilica by telling people they must buy indulgences, or they and their loved ones will suffer in purgatory,” (LutheranReformation.org). Luther, a Catholic Priest, had been influenced by the Bible and the writings of the early church philosopher Augustine, and retained the simple and true belief that one cannot get to heaven on good works alone, but on the blood and salvation of Jesus Christ. Jesus in the only way into heaven because he is, “the way, the truth, and the life,” ( ). Therefore, because of all the abuse the Popes of the days were exploiting on the masses, for newly remodeled church, Martin Luther decided to end it and he nailed his 95 Theses or, “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg 500 years ago today, October 31, 1517.

lutheran rose
Luther Rose

Bibliography

Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, The. “Reformation.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Feb. 2017, www.britannica.com/event/Reformation.

History.com Staff. “Martin Luther and the 95 Theses.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/martin-luther-and-the-95-theses.

Missouri Synod, The Lutheran Church -. “Reformation 500th Anniversary | News, Resources, History.” Lutheran Reformation, Lutheran Church Extension Fund, The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Thrivent Financial Foundation, 31 Oct. 2017, lutheranreformation.org/.

Waugh, Barry. “The Importance of the Printing Press for the Protestant Reformation, Part One.” reformation21.Org, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Oct. 2013, reformation21.org/articles/the-importance-of-the-printing.php.

portrait-of-martin-luther-1543

 

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