{"id":24628,"date":"2015-02-27T00:25:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T05:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=24628"},"modified":"2015-02-26T22:54:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T03:54:02","slug":"24628","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/02\/27\/24628\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperfect Yet Beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"encouragementbloggraphicromans15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For His invisible attributes, namely, <\/span>
\nHis eternal power and divine nature, <\/span>
\nhave been clearly perceived, <\/span>
\never since the creation of the world, <\/span>
\nin the things that have been made. <\/span>
\nRomans 1:19 and 20<\/span><\/p>\n

So after a long day I am out walking my precious dog with my youngest daughter and I see it—the sky is blue and pink…and there are clouds drizzled in between the colors…and the sun is breathtaking as it gets ready to drop off behind the ocean. \u00a0I stand amazed at His handiwork. \u00a0And I think of how good He is and how all He gives is good!<\/p>\n

Then the questions come: \u00a0“Why is there so much yuck in this world, mama? \u00a0Like why do bad guys steal Christians and their children over there?” I have to really think before I answer. Because haven’t I asked these same questions? When marriages end…and children suffer…when there is cancer and chemo…and childrens hospitals that are always half full…. \u00a0How do I answer?<\/p>\n

I begin to read in Genesis and how much God loved the first man and woman and how beautiful He made their their home. The Garden of Eden was flawless. Trees and flowers bore their fruit and food. Adam and Eve met with God everyday;\u00a0they walked with Him in the garden. Life was beautiful. Until<\/em> the enemy convinced them that what God gave wasn’t good enough. That they weren’t REALLY<\/em> satisfied and surely they wanted more<\/em>. \u00a0The fall of man was ingratitude. Here is the story:<\/p>\n

\n

The Fall<\/span> \u00a0Genesis 3:1-19<\/h4>\n

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, \u201cDid God really say, \u2018You must not eat from any tree in the garden\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman said to the serpent, \u201cWe may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, \u2018You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will not certainly die,\u201d the serpent said to the woman. \u00a0\u201cFor God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.<\/p>\n

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.<\/p>\n

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.<\/p>\n

But the Lord God called to the man, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d \u00a0He answered, \u201cI heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.\u201d\u00a0And He said, \u201cWho told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?\u201d \u00a0The man said, \u201cThe woman you put here with me\u2014she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then the Lord God said to the woman, \u201cWhat is this you have done?\u201d \u00a0The woman said, \u201cThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.”<\/p>\n

So the Lord God said to the serpent, \u201cBecause you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock\u00a0and all wild animals! \u00a0You will crawl on your belly\u00a0and you will eat dust\u00a0all the days of your life. \u00a0And I will put enmity\u00a0between you and the woman,\u00a0and between your offspring and hers; \u00a0He will crush your head,\u00a0and you will strike His heel.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the woman He said,\u00a0\u201cI will make your pains in childbearing very severe;\u00a0with painful labor you will give birth to children. \u00a0Your desire will be for your husband,\u00a0and he will rule over you.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Adam He said, \u201cBecause you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, \u2018You must not eat from it,\u2019 cursed is the ground because of you;\u00a0through painful toil you will eat food from it\u00a0all the days of your life. \u00a0It will produce thorns and thistles for you,\u00a0and you will eat the plants of the field. \u00a0By the sweat of your brow\u00a0you will eat your food\u00a0until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;\u00a0for dust you are\u00a0and to dust you will return.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

God didn’t mess this world up…we did. \u00a0He saw that we needed help so He sent Jesus to die with all this sin on Him, so that we don’t have to. Jesus was the sacrifice to save us. \u00a0God is good and all He gives is good. There is beauty that comes from the ashes of all this hard. \u00a0We may not actually see the good that comes or the one person that was saved through it…but God does and that is enough. \u00a0Yes, this world is suffering but there is a day when there will be no more bad…only good. But until that day, let’s keep encouraging each other, praying for each other, and reaching out to those who don’t know Him and together we can change lives for Him.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you know Jesus? \u00a0Have you ever asked Him into your life? \u00a0Oh friend, He is waiting. Will you pray with me?<\/p>\n

\n

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner, I need forgiveness. \u00a0I believe that Jesus is Your Son and the Savior of the world. I believe that You sent Him to die on the Cross so that I can live free and in eternity with You. \u00a0I ask Jesus today to come into my life and be my Lord. \u00a0Please walk with me and guide me and direct me. \u00a0Thank You for loving me. \u00a0In Jesus’ name, amen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Romans 1:19 and 20 So after a long day I am out walking my precious dog with my youngest daughter and I see it—the sky is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[5279,338,8495,425,8492,8493,589,8494,938,1547,8491],"class_list":["post-24628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-adam-and-eve","tag-encouragement","tag-genesis-33-17","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god-is-always-good","tag-hard-seasons","tag-kim-spring","tag-romans-119-20","tag-scripture","tag-sinners-prayer","tag-the-fall","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39pHp-24628","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24628"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24656,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24628\/revisions\/24656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}