“There is no way to follow Jesus without him interfering with your life.”

A thought by Kyle Idleman (2011-05-24) in his book, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 30). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

That is true of anyone who is important to me. Almost 37 years ago a girl named Margaret started interfering with my life the day I fell in love with her and the day she became my wife. The same was true when our son Brett came to live with us in Phoenix, Arizona and Stefanie our daughter in Valparaiso, Indiana. But along with the interfering comes so much enjoyment and pleasure. I wouldn’t trade the life I have had since each one of then came into my life. It is also true of Andrew, Stef’s husband and Marissa, Brett’s wife and of course Ashlyn and Addison my two granddaughters. My life has only gotten better and better.

Love has a way of interfering doesn’t it? So I welcome the fact that when I fell in love with Jesus He interfered with my life to the point that I am sitting here in a Starbucks writing this to you because He gave me a purpose for my life. Yes He interfered with my life plans.

Margaret and I were thinking the other day about our life together and where all God has taken us. We have lived in Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Nevada, New York and in a couple of months we are moving back to Florida. Now if I wanted to just live all my life where I was born in Huntington, West Virginia then I guess God interfered with my life but He has allowed me to live in some of the best places anyone could ever live.

He has also allowed me to have a friend who sees in the future and who can give me the power to face anything, the Holy Spirit. He has also given me a book, the Bible that is a manual on how to really live life.

He also has interfered with my guilt by taking it away when I asked Him to. He has forgiven me for when I went through what I call my three year jerk time when I was taking my family and Him for granted and living for myself. I just about blew it. But He forgave me and got me back on track and He never ever brings that time up to me. It is just as if I had never done it.

He has interfered in the way I handle money. He wants some of it. He really wants all of it but He also supplies all my needs. I cannot believe how He has taken care of us. I mean we really couldn’t ask for more than what we have. We have tried to give it away but He keeps giving it back. We just paid off one of our cars this week and He wants us to give it away and we are. But we have another car, a Mustang convertible that is also going to be paid off at the end of this month. It really is unbelievable what God has given to us because we let Him interfere in our life.

Of course we have also had sickness. Margaret is headed into her fourth year of having cancer and her second year of diabetes but God has been there through it all. God has been what we have needed.

I could go on and on to tell you of how that Margaret is able to work at home and of how we are going to be able to own our own home in Florida.

But I'll stop and tell you that the best thing I ever did was to ask Jesus into my life to interfere in my life. There is no way I would ever go back.

What about you?

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life. It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed. Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life. Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you. You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good. Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident. In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose. In other words you are not an accident. I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth. In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man. And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ” Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like? Like that characteristic is a curse or something. Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God. Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Je...

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