Titus 2 Tuesdays

I loved the idea I found on this and this blog about women sharing wisdom they gleaned from other women.

Titus 2 says "...Guide older women (I guess I am considered 'older' now being as I am knocking on 30's door =) into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don't want anyone looking down on God's Message because of their behavior."Today I want to share a story my dear, sweet, wise, on-fire-for-God friend, Michel Powers shared with a group of us on a Walk to Emmaus. She is an amazing Titus 2 woman and I am so thankful for her! (please excuse my poor ability to paraphrase when shortening her original story- it does not do it jusice)In reference to entering heaven and seeing God she begins, "I can see myself as a little girl in a beautiful pink dress jump up into my Daddy's lap. I hug Him, snuggle up to in His lap, and He tells me how much He loves me and how long He has waited to hold me. I ask him, "Daddy what are all those books over there."

Daddy: "Oh, honey those are all the old family photo albums."

Little girl: "Oh, show me the one of them. Please Daddy, PLEASE!!! (they open the album) Look, Daddy there is Adam and Eve and that mean old snake. I hate that snake."

Daddy: "I do too...but we know the end of the story and that mean old snake gets his punishment in the end."

Little girl: "There is Noah, look at all that water. Oh, I can't believe how beautiful Ester was. She was so brave. Daddy, there is a photo album with my name on it!!! Can we look at it?"

Daddy: "Of course sweet girl."

Little girl: "Oh, there's me when I was born. I was so cute, look at those rolls!!! Oh, there's my little brother's first birthday, my first day of kindergarten, and there's a picture of when I fell and needed stitches."

Daddy: "I bottled every tear you cried that day."

Little girl:"Look there's a picture of me getting my braces in third grade and my 8th grade graduation. Oh, no Daddy what happened? There are pictures missing. These pages are empty...where did my pictures go?"

Daddy: "I took those pictures out because they weren't good pictures."

Little girl: "No Daddy they weren't...I made a lot of bad choices - I remember now. I am glad you took them out...those aren't good memories"

Daddy: "You asked me to forgive you for those bad choices and I threw those pictures away...I don't even remember what is on them anymore..."

The story goes on to talk about the little girl seeing that the pages start filling up with pictures again as soon she started living for God.

Isaiah 43:25 God says “I—yes, I alone—will BLOT out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again."

The Hebrew word for blot is machah; it means to destroy, wipe out of memory, exterminate.

It amazes me that because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Easter my sins are separated as far as the east is from the west. There is no condemnation (no shame, no guilt) for those that are in Christ Jesus. WOW!!! God threw those nasty, ugly, hurtful pictures and memories into the a lake made up of the blood of Jesus. Complete forgiveness. Perfect love.

NEW LIFE. ABUNDANT LIFE. ETERNAL LIFE.