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