Salty Zebra

   What a wonderful opportunity to look at what it means to Abide in Christ! I have been well and thoroughly blessed and I hope you have too. As I look over this study today, I want to share with you those highlights that I will take with me into the future. I also need to revisit the subject I promised to, scripture memorization. I am sad to report that I was unable to memorize the entire passage, though the first few verses are loosely cemented in my mind. I printed and posted this passage in my kitchen and bathroom so that I would be able to look at and work on it several times a day. I did so, but, as I mentioned before, each time I looked at the verse I was working on, it seemed like the first time I had read it! It was so frustrating 🥹 . I think for the next study, I will pick ONE verse to work on. I will print it and post it in the same places and work on it for the whole eight weeks (six weeks of study + break weeks). We’ll see if THAT works!  The first week of t...

This I command you – to love one another.   John 15:17  I’ve been reading a lot about love lately, writing a lot about love lately, talking a lot about love lately, but what is love? Going back to the source of truth, and what should define love for us, I was reminded of the perfect Bible verse to explain this: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [Romans 5:8 NIV]   How did God model love for us? By dying for us. By sending His Only Son for us. By laying it all down and doing what we needed, beyond what would have been nice, or helpful. So how do we follow in His footsteps? We can’t go around dying for other people every day. Really, we could only do that once, and not in the same way He did, so most of us will not follow this example literally. But what we are told over and over and over in the Bible is that we are to love others. And God’s love is sacrificial. It knows no borders or barriers. It is not...

   I was blessed with three pregnancies, all of which resulted in the birth of a healthy (well, healthyish) baby boy. Some of these pregnancies were hard, especially the labors. I didn’t know how long labor could last until my third pregnancy where I was in labor for five days, in the middle of a heat wave, with a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old at home! Yes, my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart that whole time. But little did I know that the waiting for these precious babies was easy compared to what was ahead!   As my pattern had proved out, by the time my third baby was about 1 year old, my heart started longing for another. The thing was, three c-sections in four years had devastated my body and it was clear that I couldn’t do that again, not any time soon at least. That was ok though, because since I was 16 years old, I’d had a heart for adoption, international adoption in particular. I think it was influenced by the time I spent with my niece when I was that age. Sh...

  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.   John 15:16   You did not choose me, but I chose you   I did not choose Jesus, Jesus chose me. Without Jesus, I was lost. I had no hope. There was nothing I could do about it. So often we encourage people to, “Make a decision for God,” but on their own they can never do that. It is only when Jesus chooses them that they feel the need and the clarity to make Him their Savior. I don’t claim to understand or seek to explain the intricacies of this. I trust that God, in His perfect wisdom and timing, has it all worked out. What I do know, and need to take away in remembrance from this verse, is that it’s all about Jesus. His will, His plan, His timing.   and appointed you   I have been put where I am in this world, in life, in health, in everything, on purpose, for a purpose. I am appointe...

  My middle son and his life-long best friend I no longer call you slaves because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father.   John 15:15  I have a rocky and bizarre history with friendships. I remember my first best friend, Mia, when I was in kindergarten. She lived around the corner from me and we would play at each other’s homes all the time. In October of my first grade year, they moved me into third grade, so we didn’t see each other as much, and the next year we moved to McNeil Island in the Puget Sound so that pretty much ended our young friendship. Forty years later, I still remember her though!   As an adult, I learned that most friendships are seasonal ones. They have to do with a shared activity or group, like a church or homeschool co-op. I still follow many of the people that I had these types of friendships with on social media. I still pray ...

  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.   Ephesians 2:10    Crafting is in my blood. I can say this because most of the hobbies I have embarked on have either been inspired by or accompanied by my mother, if not both. As long as I can remember, I’ve watched my mother with one hobby or another. She’s done everything there is to do with fiber pretty much, from taking a raw fleece through washing and picking and carding and dyeing to knitting or crocheting with it, or even doing felting and weaving. She’s done leatherwork and stained glass. She’s done the most intricate, incredible paper crafting. People often ask me if I take after her and I just shake my head. I could never live up to her levels of skill. But, from her, I’ve received my joy and interest in crafting.  I think that God and I approach our crafting differently, though. When I have a beautiful piece of fiber in my hands, all...

   What does loving like Jesus look like ? We can talk about the theory of it, the mentality, all day long, but true love requires action. So, if we are to put feet to our faith and act out what we know, how will others witness the love of Jesus poured out through our lives? Romans 12:9-13 gives us a roadmap to follow with our lives. Love must be without hypocrisy   First off, it must be genuine!   So often we are taught to, “Fake it till you make it,” but the world can see right through this. One of the world’s biggest criticisms of Christians is that they are hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another. This is not the witness we want to have for Jesus who would never do this! Love expressed through us must be sincere, or not expressed at all. You are not better off showing someone a fake love. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good   I looked up “abhor” to confirm my understanding, and where I thought it meant, “hate” it actually means, “extr...