Chelsea Zerwekh!

I am so excited to start this monthly thing, and am proud to introduce you to a wonderful woman I have had the opportunity to get to know (just a little). Enjoy her story and go check her out.

Hello there! I’m Chelsea and I blog over at Hobby HoppingHousewife. Shannon recently shared with me that she wanted to start having people guest blog and share their testimonies. And I’m so excited because she asked me to be the first one! (Actually, she asked me a while ago… but I had to figure out the right version of I wanted to go with. I mean, we all have a short version and a long version and the really long one. Hahha. I needed a blog version and it pretty much starts, continues and ends with my husband.)

I met Justin way back in high school (by way back I mean like seven years ago! Ieesh!) through a friend that he was dating. He was a Christian, uber honest and quite the hopeless romantic. Like watched way too many sappy movies of what girls think a guy should be like and then times that by ten. Don’t get me wrong, that’s really great and all, but he was doing it for the wrong girl. Little did I know I would be the right one (six years laterish)!

High school came and went and so did they people we dated… and then we found each other on facebook! Shortly after that (shortly meaning like a day) I went to Verizon to get something fixed or whatever and they deleted all my contacts! It was terrible! So when I got home I sent a message out to my friend friends (ya know, the non-acquaintances, the people I was actually friends with) and Justin saying that “I lost my numbers, please send me yours.” Little did Justin know that I was fishing for his number and that he was the only one that I sent the message to that I didn’t already previously have. Best part, he took the bait! He texted me later on that day and we went on our last first date that we’d ever have.

So anyways, I didn’t grow up in a religious home. My dad claimed he was a Christian and my mom a Catholic. They supposedly couldn’t agree on what to raise us as, so they did neither. Which is whatever. Going into the relationship with Justin, I knew he was a Christian, but I wasn’t because I didn’t “need the help” and could “do it all on my own.” I also knew this would be an eventual problem for us because I knew he’d only marry a women who had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

The further into our relationship I started to see that Justin’s faith was growing and his walk getting stronger. That he would have these things called convictions and the more his faith grew, the better man he was becoming. And as I saw all these incredibly good things in his life that God was supposedly doing for him, the more it made me rethink and question what I believe.

I remember he told me one night, “the thing that makes me the most sad is that if something were to happen to us and we died, I wouldn’t get to see you in Heaven.” Oh man did that bring tears to my eyes! And that’s when I really started to rethink things.

He eventually asked me to come to church with him. I loved him so much and I knew how much he wanted me to know God and how important it was to him, so I went. And kept going. And then one day a friend of ours asked if I wanted to do the media slides during worship because no one else was and that it wasn’t that hard. I said yes because Justin was doing sound and we would get to do it together so that meant more time spent with him. And to spend more time with Jus meant going to church more, and hearing the word of God more.

And then Justin sat me down one day. And I knew it was coming. He told me that he loved me more than I could possibly know, but he couldn’t marry me. That he would wait forever, but he had made a promise to God that he wouldn’t do it unless I gave myself to Christ. And I remember wanting to cry so badly when he said that. I wanted to tell him that I wanted it for me too, I just didn’t know how. But instead, I just sat there. I could see how much it pained him to say that to me. To tell me that he loved me, but he loved God even more.

That all really gave me the kick in the butt I needed. I had a meeting with the pastor because I didn’t know why I just couldn’t let go and let God. And then I found myself praying sometimes. And so I texted Justin that.  And he asked if we could pray after he got off work, and we did.

Through Justin I got to see God’s love, His light and hear His word. I am so blessed.

Love,

Chels

Romans 11, With A Twist

Hello Friends.  Lets just ignore the fact that I skipped posting last week.

My excuse: classes started.  Even though I only have 4 this semester they are kicking my butt.  For any of you that care, I am taking Statistics (again -_-), Sign Language 2, Cultural Geography, and Ceramics.  I have class everyday! I did this on purpose though because I n  Yes, I am lazy and unmotivated, but I am also a wonderful planner because I am forcing myself to wake up at 7:30 and get going! Yea!

eed something to do to get me out of bed.

That’s enough about me though, let us talk about Jesus!

Romans 11 is worded slightly weird.  There are certain things that Paul says that are just worded backwards and kind make God out to be somewhat of a favorites kind of guy.  He’s not.  I mean, He has His covenant with the Jews and all, but just to be clear right off the bat, God doesn’t have favorites.

There is only one part of this chapter that I really, genuinely loved.

Verses 16 – 23

16 If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

            Here Paul was talking to the Christians. He is warning them not to feel superior because God rejected some Jews. Abraham’s faith is like the root of a productive tree, and the Jewish people are the tree’s natural branches. Because of faithlessness, the Jews were the broken branches. Gentile believers have been grafted into the tree like a wild olive shoot. Both Jews and Gentiles share the tree’s nourishment based on faith in God; neither can rest on heritage or culture for salvation. This is from my footnotes.

            What I loved about this was how it talked about getting your roots right, and how none of us are saved just because we have Christian parents, churches, friends, anything! We have to own our faith! We need to make it our own, and we all deserve to do this. Take up your cross and follow Him. Let your roots be steadfast in Him. Build your house upon the rock!  It’s all throughout the bible. A constant reminder that it our roots are not in God we cannot bare good fruit, we can’t be a light to others, we will not have a relationship with Christ, and we cannot own out own faith. It is that Hardcore!

            Think of these roots as your heart, or better yet, your brain (I am sick of people acting like the heart does all the work). If your brain did not connect to the rest of your body, you wouldn’t be able to function. This is also a kind of cool analogy because neurons kind of look like trees, haha.  Anyway! Brain equals roots! We need to set our mind on God in order for our bodies to function properly.  Without Him our brains can’t function and we will not have roots to our body. Is this making sense? We would be body dead. Unable to act or control anything that happens to us and unless our minds (our roots) are strong enough we will become the devils puppet. 

Do you get it? Unless our minds are strong enough we will become the devils puppet!

Think about that this week and here is your challenge: make your roots stronger this week! Build upon the rock, take up your cross, you can do it.

Have a beautiful week! Love you!

Song of the week:

The Best Is Yet To Come

By: Stacy Kent

Because it is a wonderful song and she has a beautiful voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5zWotTNXoM

Romans 10

WooHoo! Still keeping on schedule!

Also, I have an awesome little announcement. I am going to start doing testimonies of people that have an impactful story, so everyone! I will be doing one a month starting in February.  Chelsea Zerwehk  I am really excited for this little segment and hope if reaches the readers (you) in a different way than the previous post have been.

will be the first to share.

If you guys ever have any ideas or request feel free to share them with me.  Also, if you wish to share your testimony on the blog let me know, because I would be more than happy to ‘publish’ your story.

Anyways…on with Romans 10!

I didn’t really get interested in this chapter until about verse 9 when Paul explains to us what we need to do in order to be saved; “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  I think my favorite thing about this is that there is no guessing.  We don’t have to try and figure out what we need to do to be saved, we are told, straight up.  It’s not living a sin-free life, or giving all our money away, or being a pastor.  Nope, it’s simply believing and having faith, which when you kind of think about it, isn’t a huge task to ask of us.  Countinuing off of verse 9, I also really verses 10 – 13:

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."”

I love how verse 10 breaks it down, kind of, and tells us what we get from believing and living with God, righteousness and salvation. That’s a pretty good trade-off, but this also means that we can’t only believe.  We must confess with our mouth, actions, and hearts that we have faith in God.  It says in Matthew 10:33 “if you deny me before man I will deny you before my father.”  I feel that that verse is one that gets overlooked a lot and isn’t really recognized for its harsh truth.  As Christians we hear these verses all the time and they begin to lose their sting, but I want to encourage you to look at the word in a new light because it’s important that we still take these verse seriously and that we are still convicted by them.

The next little bit that stuck out to me was verse 17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  What jumped out at me in this verse was hearing, we learn and grow by hearing and listening.  Think about it…how did you find out about God? From someone telling you, right?  Whether it was the church, a friend, a parents, etc. but someone one in your life told you about the Christian faith, and that’s why you’re here now.  The seed has to be planted for a relationship to grown, and for some people in your life you may be the only one willing and able to plant that seed, so I encourage you to keep an eye out for opportunities to share and if and when that opportunity presents itself to you, don’t pass it up.

Lastly I want us to notice verse 21: “But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’”

I like that this verse reminds us to not always think that the people in the church are always the most spiritual.  Sometimes they are the ones that are most blind, and sometimes it takes a “non-believer” or a new Christian to open there eyes a bit.  So just a little reminder, don’t be afraid to ask questions or challenge what someone else says, because maybe they really need the eye opener.

I am back at school coming this Monday, so I hope I am able to stay on schedule.  I have a lot to write about.  God has been working wonderfully in my life this past month, and I thank him everyday for it.  I have been pushed out of my comfort zone so many times this month, and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me in this coming year.  Alright, I am done talking about me (for now).

Have a wonderful week friends!

Romans 9

Hello all and happy night before most of you have to go back to work/school.  Fortunately for me I have nothing but time on my hands so I am able to stay “on schedule.”  So here we are, Romans 9 just above halfway done.

There are 3 critical points within this chapter that I want to touch on, the first being in verses six through eight. 

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

Here Paul is referring to the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 17.  It is not by biology or flesh that we are Abraham’s decedents, therefor inherits to the promise, but through the promise we are decedents.  I feel that this is an idea that is often overlooked by most readers.  We are simply sons and daughters of Abraham, and I knew when I was little I definitely thought we all came from him.  I blame this on the song we used to sing in Sunday school “father Abraham.” Here is the song if you so wish to hear it.  However, there is more lineage than that, but I don’t know it.  Every promise God makes in the bible is a promise to us now because we know it is a wholehearted promise. 

The second point is verses eleven through sixteen.  Here Paul will truly show us what God’s about and will break down for us what we are in His likeness.  These verses, for me, are very convicting.

for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

God knows our hearts before we even develop them.  He knows who is pure and who is stone.  He does not reward one over the other though and he does not hold our coldness against us.  He simply uses the one that allows themselves to be used.  Paul quotes Exodus 33:19 in verse 15 and here we are shown that out God cannot be controlled and He is not at are beck and call.  So often we question and challenge Gods will for our lives, but who are we to do this against our creator?  My foot notes put Gods way simply for us: “Keep in mind the kind of God we worship: He is sovereign; he is not arbitrary; in all things he works for our good; he is trustworthy; he will save all who believe in him.  When we understand these qualities of God, we know that his choices are good even if we don’t understand all his reasons.” 

Let that sink in…

In verse twenty and twenty-one we are given a summarized illustration of the verses above:

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

The last point I want to touch on is in verses thirty to thirty-three. 

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Paul is making an extremely important point here.  It is made numerous times throughout the bible but we, having the forgetful nature that we do, need to be reminded constantly.  The point being: actions speak louder than words.  The Gentiles, Gods not chosen people, gained righteousness through their actions and faith, not through the law.  Where as most of the Jews stay so strict to the law that they are distracted by it.  The Gentiles understood Gods grace and did their very best to honor him with their lives.  My footnotes so nicely put that here “Paul explains that God’s plan is not for those who try to earn his favor by being good; it is for those who realize that can never be good enough and so must depend on Christ.”  The Jews worked to be good enough and the Gentiles lived by favorite saying: “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”  Another wonderful point that my footnotes make is about verse 32.  Many people feel that they need to earn their way into heaven when this is not the case at all.  “God asks us to be humble but many of us are unwilling to humble ourselves because that requires us to put our will at Gods disposal.”  This ties nicely back with verse 20, we think we know what is best for ourselves when in actuality we know nothing.  Maybe we don’t feel that God taking away our child, parents, pet, ect. was fair, but it was best because out of that we have been able to turn to God and grow in our relationship.  We grew in our relationships with those who love and care for us, with our church family, and so much more. 

God made us strong enough to deal with whatever he throws our way, he gives us the tools we will need and he will always be there.  God tells us this in 1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Challenge of the week:  Look at everything you life right now good, bad, difficult, happy, heartbreaking, etc. Now…thank God for it, all of it. Whether he is blessing you or challenging you, you are growing. 

Also, here is a fun little story I found, it’s really short: http://2good2lose.com/thoughts.shtml 

Romans 8: God Is Always There

It may be because I am a bit out of tune and haven’t read in a while, but this chapter stumped me a few times.  Some of the ideas don’t make that much since to me so maybe when you read through this you can let me know what you thought.

Romans 8 begins by explain what we are as humans.  We are weak and undeserving but God saw our strength and what we could do, he had grace for us.  In verse 2 and three it says “for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” Gods spirit has always been present and with every new born Christian the Holy Spirit is made stronger and Gods light in the world becomes brighter through us.

My favorite verse in this chapter is verse 10: “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”  This is, to me, a really good reminder that we need to live by the sprit.  Our flesh is already dead, so what’s the point of living by it?  It is important to have faith and trust in Gods plan for us, trust that whether it is good or bad it is what is supposed to be happening. 

Verses 12 and 13 really highlight these ideas, and verse 17 reminds us that being a Christian isn’t always rainbows and calm seas. 

The next section, verses 20 to 30 is become a bit unclear.  We are to inherit the kingdom as Gods his children.  We are waiting to be accepted to his kingdom by the redemption of our bodies (verse 23).  This makes since, but it’s a difficult thing to be clear on and wrap our heads around. 

In verse 26 it says that the Holy Spirit helps up when we are unable to conjure up the words to use to speak with God.  It says that the Spirit intercedes for us, which makes since because the Holy Spirit is our link to God.  We are not always left to our own resources and efforts.  Our God is gracious and He meets us where and when we need him to.  He wont make us get there on our own.

Next in verses 28 and 29 we are reassured.  Even though things may not always be easy and things may not go the way we want or the way we planned, they will always work together for our good.  The only thing we need to worry about is being like Christ.  Which should be enough in itself to worry about.  We need to trust God, pray, share, ect. like Jesus did when he was flesh.  It is our job as Christians to be the body of Christ.  This means taking the beatings and persecutions as well.  Things are never promised to get better and in fact they will probably get worse, but we need to have faith even in the hard times or we will sink just like peter.

This chapter ends on a wonderfully positive note: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angles, nor principalities, nor things present, not things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Not even Satan can separate us from Gods love.  If we are perusing Him and we have faith, God will always be there.  Even when we walk away and being to sink He will have His hand stretched out towards us waiting for us to grab on so He can pull us back to Him. 

He will never leave us or forsake us.


Song of the day and Really awesome Christian band you should check out!

Superhero
by: Family Force 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WUjyooSz-M