Stop the Judging

Proverbs 3:11-12 - My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his re proof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Isaiah 61:10 - I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Luke 6:37-38 - "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

Dear God, sinner saved by grace. That is all I need to see myself as. A sinner saved by grace. Sure, I have autism and sure, I get frustrated when I do not live up to others' unrealistic expectations of me, but I am a sinner saved by grace and only need to be concerned with what You think of me. Mikki and Mark tried to change me to what and who they thought I should be. Tom tried to force change when the one who really needed to change was him. He was less forceful though. Ginny was the only person other than my mom that accepted me for me. But even they are not as important as You. Your opinion of me is that I am Your child, and that Your Son paid my ransom so I can be free to be me, who. You created me to be. Anyone who sees me differently needs to look at their own reflection. Stop judging myself. That is a little harder, but so true. Do I look like someone else? Do I act or talk like them? No? Does it matter? Not really. You did not create us all to be exactly alike. The spectrum of Your creation is as beautiful and mysterious as the spectrum of autism. Thank You for the beauty of differences. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Do Not Conform to the World

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Romans 12:2 (NIV) - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

Dear God, I want to have an ever increasing attentiveness to Your presence. I need my mind recharged and refreshed and renewed each and every night and day. While the world may want to make me exactly like everyone else, You did not create me to be exactly like everyone else. You created me to be my own person in You and to follow my own path after You. You created me, autism and all, with a purpose, and no one can change that no matter how hard they might want to try. It will take me a long time to recover from the abuses I went through at Oak Mountain, but I trusted You and took a first step and offered Tom forgiveness and trust You that You will work in his heart to bring about restoration and reconciliation. In today's America, we have a group of people calling themselves Christians but trashing on the president, trashing on the poor, and trashing on anyone who is not white, is not perfect, is differently abled. It is disgusting that they dare do these things while claiming to be Christians. Your words are very clear with respect to the president, the poor, and the differently abled. Your word is very clear with respect to how we are to treat fellow human beings. To do anything else is not Your will. Thank You for renewing my mind everyday and creating me in such a way that being different is actually cool! In Jesus' Name, Amen!

One of a Kind

John 15:4 - "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." 

II Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

I John 4:7-8 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

I John 4:7 (ICB) - Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. The person who loves has become God's child and knows God.

Dear God, help me to always stay on my path so I can become the person You created me to be, and help me to never let anyone try to change my path and deter me from being who You created me to be! Not everyone is supposed to be on the same path or the same journey, though their paths may indeed cross. If everyone was supposed to be the same, the world would be so dull and boring. It's like with the film, The Giver, where they stripped away color and emotion because they had decided that humans basically abused them and should all be the same. Yes, humans do abuse color and emotion, but to make everyone and everything the same? That film was good at teaching the importance of differences. And on that note, God, I want to ask that if You do not mind, I would love very much if Tom would forgive me knowing now that I am ready to forgive him when he is ready. And on another note, please, God, open the hearts of the people who keep protesting about black lives. Please open their hearts and their minds. They are being the racists of today and they are a mean bunch of hypocritical people at that. They read racism into everything if it doesn't agree with their mindset, and they are hurting their cause. Please, God, also protect the police officers. One of my former friends was a police officer and if not for him, who knows what would have happened after my car accident. He was off duty that night, but he still came to help me. Also, God, protect the innocent. We have lost special needs individuals at the hands of untrained police officers, unarmed, innocent of any crime. Police need to go back to what it was before-shoot to disarm, but don't shoot to kill. But considering how things are now, is it really smart to let a bunch of untrained citizens have guns as well? God, thank You for Your love and for adopting me. Keep us all safe. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen!