The Gift of Life

    With all the news of Planned Parenthood, I think its set a lot of Christians to thinking. Some are saddened. Some are angry. And some are okay with it all. Honestly, I don't think abortion became a strong reality for me until I heard that the aborted babies were being sold off, just as if they were merchandise coming off the shelf. Once I could wrap my head around this concept, I began to cry. Any of my family or friends can tell you that I am not a cry-er. But to hear what was being done to these completely innocent lives, broke. my. heart. But it also set me thinking.
      Today I want to share with you a bit of my story. I've never openly shared my testimony before, so this should be interesting. :) But here goes.
      I was born nine weeks before my due date. I weighed 3.3. I was a very sickly baby. The doctors struggled for months just to keep me alive. I was saved at an early age when I was 5, but didn't fully understand the nature of my commitment to the Lord until much later.
    I didn't realize what a sick baby I was until I was about eleven or twelve. It was then we were watching a home video taken soon after I was born. I was in the hospital, in my fathers arms. He talked sweetly to his new baby girl, as the heart monitor beeped steadily in the back round. It all seemed so calm and sweet. And then the alarm went off. My heart was slowing down. My dad stood up, I could hear the nurses calling to each other, trying to hear one another over the alarm, and then the camera stopped rolling. As I sat on the couch in our living room, I felt my own heart pounding. The camera came back on. I was in my dads arms again, completely fine. I breathed a sigh of relief. (as if I didn't know I was going to make it. ;) ) But I realized, I. Could. Have. Died. Right then in there, a tiny baby, struggling to stay alive; God could have chosen to take me home right then and there. But He didn't. For some reason He had left me live. It was then that I decided I wasn't going to live a self-served life- He let me live for a reason, I was going to use the life He had given me to live solely for Him.
     This week when I came to understand the full nature of what was going on at Planned Parenthood, I was convicted once again. My mom held me and let me cry. When my tears subsided I told her, "Thank you for choosing to let me live." Mom almost died when she gave birth to me. She had had complications in all of pregnancies, but mine and my younger brother's were the worst. Mom pulled me tighter and said, "Of course. Precious gifts. You all are precious gifts from God." Not only had God let me live, my parents, by God's grace, went through with their pregnancy with me, knowing all of the risks that they were taking, because they valued my life.
      But I think most importantly, the Lord gave me NEW life. NEW life in Him. I was saved at a early age, something I have always been thankful for. He called me to be His child and saved me from sin and living a life centered solely around myself.
     As we come to the "end" of the story, the question begs an answer- why? Why did God let me live? Didn't He have enough people on the planet that someone else could have taken my job? Of course He did. God could have given what He wanted me to do to anyone He wanted. But He didn't. He let me live. I'm eighteen now and looking back on my life, there are several times that He could have chosen to take me home, most recently being almost hit by a car. But He didn't. He's given me these eighteen years for a reason. And He's giving me how many ever years more for a reason. What's the reason? The reason is to glorify and honor Him.
     You've been given a life. If you have been saved by the Reedeemer, you've been given new life in Christ. If you have, don't ever feel like your not good enough. Because your not, but Christ is. And if He's living inside of you, then you can do what He's called you to do, no matter how hard. (Philipians 4:13) He's let you live for a reason. You have a purpose. Glorify and and honor God in your life. LIVE for HIM.

1 Corinthians 10:31
   "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." 
   

Wars of the Realm: Rise of the Fallen Book Review

    I know what your thinking, book review? Shouldn't this be on the other blog? And you'd be right, yes it should be. But due to technical difficulties, and this authors bad case of forgetfulness, *cough* I am having to post it on both. ;)

 The 2nd book in the "Wars of the Realm" series, (sequel to "The Cloak of Light") was highly anticipated by young Christian's all over the US. Chuck Black is highly respected for his well loved series, The Kingdom Series and The Knights of Arrethtrae, it wasn't a big surprise for me to hear, many were looking forward to the Cloak of Light. After The Cloak Of Light left off at a cliffhanger, young readers were even more eager to read Rise of the Fallen.
   
     Many were surprised to find Mr. Black's book was different in the way that it did not follow the perspective the main protagonist in The Cloak of Light. (I have not reviewed The Cloak of Light, but there is a link to a great review here, written by my good friend Maria.  http://knightoftheprince.blogspot.com/2014/08/book-review-on-cloak-of-light.html

  Instead, Rise of the Fallen tells the story from the perspective of the angel Valdius. Valdius, the last created angel, is a warrior, daily fighting demons and sin for the King of Kings and the salvation of the human race. We journey with Valdius through the history of the Earth including, Noah and the ark, the tower of Babel, the birth of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, the holocaust, and much more. Mr. Black digs deep into the heart of history and tells these stories through the eyes of the Vadlius.

  But what kind of sequel would it be if it didn't continue the story of the first book? I am so glad you asked! Because Rise of the Fallen while exploring the Biblical, historic stories, Black also tells Valdius, commander and warrior in God's holy army, gets reassigned to guard the life of one seemingly insignificant man.
 
     Valdius begins to question his task: Why has he been reassigned? And what can be so important about a young unsaved man living in Kansas? Valdius continually seeks answers as he fights to keep this man, Drew Carter alive, and also wars with the demons to save Carter's soul.

    In this review, I have split it into two parts. First one of dislike and one of likes. Please understand that I do not to wish to put down the book or Mr. Black. I don't want to hinder anyone from reading the book, please know that. Read my review, but please, get the book and read it for yourself. I simply am trying to express my likes and dislikes in this review.

    I will state, that we don't know a lot about angels. I know this. I understand that this is a fictional view. The points that I state below, that I disagreed and agreed with are merely my opinion. 

     THINGS I DISLIKED:

    Black says in chapter 4, page 28, "For nearly five thousand years, he [Vadlius] had watched humans perfect the art of war, and he had learned from them." I find it very hard to believe that the angels would watch humans and learn from them. Of course, I cannot prove this, but Angels are supernatural creatures. God's holy army. I think God could use us to teach angels, because He is God, He can do whatever He wants. God does use us, but I wanted Mr. Black to elaborate that God doesn't need us to help Him.

    On the same page Black says, "At first the warrior angels were hesitant to embrace the ingenious tactics of assault, but the Fallens [demons] relentless pursuit of utter destruction forced the warriors of Elohim [God] to adapt or be dissolved."
    I find this to be very unrealistic. You really think that the warriors of God, God's supernatural army, that He created to be warriors, would have a hard time defending their own Creator? I don't think so.

    Also, Valdius continually struggles with doubt. Doubt is the cause of faithless-ness. We also see him struggle with his pride as he finds it hard to understand why he was "demoted" from being a warrior to being a guardian. All of this is perfectly understandable, its only human correct? Even as Christians, children of God, we doubt, because we're sinful. We struggle with pride, because we're sinful. In the study guide in the back of the book to chapter 38, Mr. Black says angels are sinless. Then why in the world does his main character angel struggle with sin? I understand making a main character that doesn't have feelings would be extremely difficult to write, but I don't think giving Valdius a struggle with sin was the best way to go about it.

    And also Mr. Black says that Valdius feels like the least of the angels, because he was the last one created. Honestly, I think with a Perfect God, and a Holy army, that there would be no feelings of feeling like the least or the most. I think there would be a perfect order, but maybe that's just me.


    Things I liked:

    One thing I really appreciated was Mr. Black's boldness to speak against sin. The book opens up on the steps of a abortion clinic and spiritual warfare there. Also Mr. Black talks about how sexual perversion, homosexuality, drugs, and many other sins, are wrong, but without going into detail. 

    One of my favorite parts in the book was the arrest of Jesus before He was crucified. The creativity of the twelve legions of Angels actually being there, waiting to defend their King, but by Jesus saying, "Do you not know my father could call twelve legions of angels if I asked Him to?" was telling the angels that it was not in the Plan for them to defend Him at this time.  This was clever on Mr. Black's part.  

    Another part I really enjoyed was the tower of Babel. Mr. Black took a lot of fictional license with the story, but it was interesting to see how it could have happened. (I will not say anymore so as not to give away too much. :D)

    I think the part I liked most about the book was at one point when the five thousand people gathered to hear Jesus preaching. Valdius and his commanding officer, Danick are watching the scene and this is the dialogue that plays out:

    (Valdius) "What do we do now, sir? Surely there's great work to be done now that He's here."

    Danick shook his head, "No, my friend. There is nothing for us to do. Don't you see? When He is here, we do not need to be. He is sufficient for everything!" 

    This really struck me as I came to realize, though the book was about angels, and the angels were cool and certainly mighty creatures of the King, I also realized that its God who directs their actions. God does not need angels, but uses them for His mighty works through out the world. I really appreciate Mr. Black's boldness to state that it is God who is sovereign.

    My parental advisory for this book is this: There is nothing inherently bad in this book. There are just some very hard subjects mention and some of the descriptions of the demons could be frightening for younger readers. I will not give a age recommendation, because honestly, it depends on how mature the reader is. This isn't a book for the innocent, but I believed it was originally geared toward older readers anyways.

   In a summery, there were many things I liked about the book, but also many things I did not like. Out of five stars I would give this book a three. If my review has aroused your curiosity, you must read the book for yourself and tell me what you thought. :) Please feel free to leave comments below and tell me what you thought of the book and of this review. :) 

     I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.



  


    



 

What About the Little Guys?

    Like most people, especially in your teen years, you have probably at one time or another experienced self doubt. I am not talking about the kind of self doubt where you say something to the effect of, "I need to find myself and then maybe life will get better..." I am talking about the kind of self doubt where you feel like you can't do ANYTHING right. Where EVERYTHING you do feels like its completely and totally wrong. This is what I call feeling like a looser. I think that's a better term then self doubt, don't you? :)
    Recently, I have been questioning some things. Am I doing what God wants me to? Should I do this? Or should I do that? What does God want me to do about working, about school, about.. you fill in the blank. We've all been there. Don't worry, its not an uncommon place to be. Its just not the right place to be.
    A few days ago I decided to start reading II Corinthians as my Bible reading. I had recently finished reading I Cor. but took a break to read the first couple of chapters of Luke as it was nearing Christmas. So, after Christmas I read the first chapter II Corinthians. As I writing in my journal about my thoughts on one of the verses, what I was writing sounded vaugly familiar. I thought to myself, you probably just read this and thought the same thing years ago. So, I didn't think anymore of it till today. I read the first 5 verses of chapter two and realized what I had done. I had begun reading I Corinthians again instead of read the 2nd. I laughed at myself, but something about those first five verses caught my eye. I read them again and this is what they said;

I Corinthians 2:1-5
    "And I, brethern, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech, or of wisdom declaring to ou the testimony of God.
    For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
    I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
    And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 
    that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

    From what I can tell from what this passage says, it sounds like Paul wasn't a very good public speaker. It also sounds like when he came to preach that he was nervous, with, which comes nervousness, comes a lack a self confidence. 
    Have you ever gotten in front of a bunch of people maybe at a recital or to make a speech and your knees shake, your throat feels dry and your heart is pounding. And all you want to do is just get off that stage? Paul felt that too. 
    But what else does the scripture tell us? THAT GOD USED PAUL. God used Paul's lack of confidence and his lack of eloquent speech. How? So that people would come to trust in God, not because of Paul's "persuading" them, but that through Paul's weakness they might see God's strengths. Why? So that they would not put their salvation in men, but in God.

    What's my point in all of this? My point is, no matter how small or insignicant you feel, nor how much of a looser you think you are, remember this. First remember, you are a sinner. (Don't click off, I never said I was motivational speaker. :p) Without Christ, you have no good in you. BUT if you have been saved and born again, you are a child of God. That is where you find your worth. You are a knight of the King of Kings, and that's worth more then anything earthly that will give you confidence. Have your confidence in Him, not yourself. You can never give yourself the kind of security that you are looking for. The only true peace, the only true security comes from God. 

    Ir your a child of God, God will use you to further His kingdom.  He will use your talents and gifts and your weaknesses. He won't just use a part of you, He's gonna use all of you.

    So remember, God does use the little guys. :)