Category: advocacy

Faith, Dance, Books, advocacy

Asking for a friend: How can God allow Evil and suffering in the world

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 1

Corinthians 13:12 MSG

What we know about Evil:

1. God is Not the author of evil

God looked over all he had made and saw that it was very good

Genesis 1:31

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone. For everyone sinned

Romans 5:12

2. Though suffering isn’t good, God uses it to accomplish good.

Sometimes God uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life

2 Corinthians 7:10

We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope

Romans 5:3

3. Suffering will cease an evil will be judged

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 NIV

4. Our suffering will pale in comparison to what God has in store for his followers

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18 NIV

5. We have a choice for bitter or for better

Memory Verses

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NIV

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalms 34:18 NIV

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalms 34:18 NIV

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Faith, Dance, Books, advocacy

Asking For A Friend:What difference does Easter Make?

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:3‭-‬6 NIV

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
1 Corinthians 15:14‭, ‬17 NIV

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:20 NIV

Because Jesus has Risen, I can have…

1. Forgiveness for the past

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23 NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 NIV

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Romans 4:25 NIV

2. Power for the future

Memory Verses

and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
Ephesians 1:19‭-‬20 NIV

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13 NIV

3. Hope for the Future

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NIV

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
John 17:3 NIV

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:3 NIV

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Faith, Dance, Books, advocacy

Crosswords: The word of trust

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:44‭-‬46 NIV

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
Amos 8:9‭-‬10 NIV

That day will be a day of wrath— a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness—
Zephaniah 1:15 NIV

Memory Verse

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

What is so Good about Friday

1. God’s love was the catalyst for the cross

2. God’s longing to be with his beloved compelled him to remove any barriers.

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:21‭-‬22 NIV

The Bottom Line: The message of the cross is one we have been commissioned to share

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:18‭-‬20 NIV

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Faith, Dance, Books, advocacy

Crosswords:The word of Victory

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28‭-‬30 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.19.28-30.NIV

Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.
Exodus 12:22 NIV

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
John 19:13‭-‬14 NIV

“It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.
Exodus 12:46 NIV

Who does John say Jesus is?

Memory Verse

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29 NIV

What did Jesus finish?

1. Jesus delivered us from our slavery to sin.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1‭-‬3 NIV

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Genesis 2:1‭-‬3 NIV

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.
John 19:31 NIV,

2. Jesus initiated the new creation

3. Jesus finished it; we need to respond to it.

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Faith, Dance, Books, advocacy

Crosswords: The word of identification

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
John 19:28‭-‬37 NIV

What Does This Word Reveal about Jesus?

1. It shows that Jesus was Truly human

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:6‭-‬8 NIV

2. It shows that Jesus was the promised savior

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
John 19:28 NIV

They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
Psalms 69:21 NIV

A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.
John 19:29 NIV

3. It shows Jesus’ love for us

Memory Verse

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 NIV

Only The One Who hung on the Cross and said, “I am Thirsty, can satisfy your thirst.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
John 7:38 NIV

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Faith, Dance, Books, advocacy

Reflecting

Hey, I hope you’re having a beautiful blessed day! Today is one of my favorite days of the week. It’s dance class day. I can’t wait to see what @chelsiehill has in store for us.
I’m doing a lot of reflection this week because it’s my birthday week, and one theme I’m always thinking about is community. I’m a woman who is still connected to the people she grew up with. I’ve always had an awesome family support system, and I am now connected to an awesome group of women. Who look like me. The answer to the question of why didn’t I get connected sooner is this, God knows he created a stubborn person when he created me, but he also knew that he would be able to put these women in my life and that I would embrace where he put me. I’m grateful for every person in my community.

boundlessbabe

Faith, Dance, Books, advocacy

Crosswords:The word of Abandonment

Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

Matthew 27:37‭-‬46

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8‭-‬9 NIV

What to remember when we don’t understand:

1.  God is good

Only God is truly good

Mark 10:18

2.  God is for me

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:31‭-‬32 NIV

3.  God is with me

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5 NIV

The Better I know God:

1.  The less I ask why.

2.  The more I ask What

Memory verse

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

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