Married to a doctor - mother of one son - stepmother to another - we live in a beautiful home nestled at the foothills - The "boys" enjoy golf - my athletic sport is shopping and we can't forget walking our dog, Polo - however, our most precious times are around the kitchen table having a Bible study.
What is this site about? Well, here is what it is not... It is not to influence you to buy real estate. It is not to pressure you into becoming a Christian. It is not a way to manipulate God within the business industry. Simply, it is about sharing. One overlooked facet about real estate involves the personal stresses that people assume when moving from one home to another, and for many, from relocating from one state to another. That is why our family shares personally with those who are trying to connect with this new community. Purely as an option, you are welcome to comb through my husband's journal entries about faith, and hopefully, his personal insights may provide you with some encouragement.
To date, I have lost over 35 lbs. I started this trek on September 1st, in which God laid upon my heart to present my entire person as a living and holy sacrifice onto Him. It has been a time of renewal, mixed with hard discipline, slimming of outward appearance and forging ahead with inward transformation. Essentially, there has been the changing of old behaviors into new ways of living – despite the fact that I still struggle with chronic pain. At first, I balked at the idea of trying to maximize my health. I have been through it all between allopathic medicine and a regimen of alternative remedies. I believed that I was doing pretty well by silently coping with pain and hoping for my days to pass by quickly. Regardless of my position about these things, God began putting me through a spiritual gut-check. Had I lost faith in the concept of sanctification and restorative health? Was it important for me to be obedient to Him even if I could only maximize my health 5%? These questions really prompted deeper thoughts. It wasn’t about what I had to do to gain favor or immediate access with God. Instead, it has been about my desire to become more intimate with Him by giving the fullness of my life in rational, spiritual service to God, whether or not I am stricken by pain. It has also been a time to quit doubting the faithfulness of God. “If you return, then I will restore you—Before Me you will stand; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman” (Jeremiah 15:19, NASB). In order to return to Him, we must not doubt His faithfulness and His mercies towards us. We must walk (mentally, physically and spiritually) proactively in love.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 6, 2007
Who are we? Why is it so important to become born-again in the spirit? As profound as these questions may appear, they represent the cornerstone of our identity and purpose. Imagine the concept of trichotomy, in which body, soul and spirit are represented with the use of different colored transparencies for an overhead projector. If the body was represented by a blue-colored transparency, and the spirit was represented by a yellow-colored film of transparency, then what would happen when combining the spirit (yellow) with the body (blue)? Well…the combined transparency colors would become green, thus representing the birth of the soul (mind, emotions and will). Once an individual has accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, then his spirit becomes reborn or born again. A new creation is formed within the body. The spirit experiences the birth of eternal life in God. This person is now a child of God, being promised the abundance of heavenly riches in love. At death, this born-again spirit is absent from the body and is given a glorified body. When the reborn spirit unites with the glorified body, then the born-again individual experiences a perfect soul. One that can fathom the love of God. One that has perfect knowledge. One that will no longer experience the sin and pain of this world. One that can live abundantly because of the love of Jesus Christ. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2, NASB).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 7, 2007
The best gift one can receive is from God, to be born-again in the spirit. It is far more valuable than money, success, or fame. Think about how important money seems today. But for eternity, money has no place in the economy of heaven. Isn’t it more important to invest our lives into something permanent and eternal? As American Christians, it seems as if we primarily see Jesus in the form of financial blessing instead of in the regenerative conversion of the spirit.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 12, 2007
I was asked in our Bible study what it meant to fear God. Simply, to fear God means to hate sin. This practical measure is found in Jesus, the Son of God. In Jesus there is no sin. When we abide in Him, we no longer regularly practice sinning. When we are intimate with God, we do not want to sin because we have the power of Christ within us that has fully atoned for sin. For those who have experienced the intimacy of God, they understand that they want to maintain this very special moment. It is a gift to commingle in reverence and love with the Creator of the universe. However, if we keep on habitually sinning in our lives, we essentially stand in blatant opposition to God and His laws. His holiness does not come second to our own selfish and prideful ways. There is no reverent fear or regard for God in this capacity. In fact, the Lord states, “…anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God…” (1 John 3:10, NASB).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 13, 2007
Personal comments about the fear of the Lord…We must not overlook the holiness of God when trying to form our opinions about His character and how our relationship works with Him. First of all, God is emphatically not simply our highest selves. He is far above human nature in regards to holiness and holy justice. Built into our concept of justice is the idea that the punishment must fit the crime. When the punishment rendered appears greater than the crime, then our response usually characterizes offense toward the unfair judge. In essence, I do not believe that many of us truly understand what it means to be holy or for that matter, what it means to live under the grace of God. If so, I think we would start to take sin more seriously in our lives. I believe that God does. Simply, look at His sacrifice on the cross as atonement for our sins. There was nothing fair or balanced in human terms regarding justice. The scales seeme quite imbalanced, in which love carried more weight against sin in the heavenly court of justice. Sin was eradicated so that we could commune with God as a family member eternally. Isn't this the by-product of holy justice -- love?
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 18, 2007
Do not lose heart and do not be afraid. These are words expressed by God for each one of us when dealing with unexpected trials. When I was returning home from Denver on I-25, I experienced auto transmission problems in which my vehicle was rendered inoperable. As I was sitting on the side of the road, I had one of two choices to make. Either I could get angry about my situation or I could accept this inconvenience gracefully, knowing that my character was being tested. I chose the latter. As I sat in my car for about an hour waiting for the tow truck driver, I pondered over a few things, decompressed from stress and spent some time with God. When the tow truck arrived, I hopped into the front passenger’s seat of his truck, for we had a long trip to the car dealership in Colorado Springs. The tow truck driver looked somewhat intimidating. He had a shaved head, a burly goatee, and seemed angry about something. As we communicated, he kept spilling out details of his own life – mostly were stories of misfortune, health calamities, economic poverty, and family problems. I spoke of faith and the realities of love. He intently listened though he seemed preoccupied. I found out later that this man did not have a dime to his name. When we arrived at the dealership, I emptied my wallet of cash, handed it to him and let him know that I was being used by God. My car problems were secondary to his needs that day. The man accepted the money, starting to cry and said that no one had ever done something like that for him. I explained how no one had ever shown love to me like Jesus Christ. Isn’t this an example of how Christians are to respond to those who are brokenhearted in this world? Seeds of love were planted on behalf of God. I am sure that the tow truck driver will consider a relationship with God sooner or later…
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 21, 2007
What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of “holy?” Purity? Unstained? Sinless? Perfection? Yes to all. More pointedly and encompassing, the reality of “holy” means “to be separate” or “a cut above something?” This is exactly the exactness of God. When Peter addressed the provinces of Asia, he wrote, “…be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1 Peter 2:15, NASB). How do we do this today within this fast paced, unrelenting corruptness of the world we live? First of all, we cannot make ourselves pure and unblemished from sin. We cannot earn this through good works or financial means. That is why Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. His atonement made us “holy,” in the sense that we have the righteousness of God within us, which is evidenced by the presence of the Holy Spirit for all who believe in Him. Our corresponding behaviors change when we abide in the truth. In other words, when we have the love of Christ within us, we will want to maintain brotherly love. We will resist partaking in the darker things of life. In essence, if you want to overcome the world and be guaranteed an eternal life of love with the family of God, then consider the following: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” (1 John 5:4, NASB).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 23, 2007
There is a great chasm between traditional medicine and healing through means of Christian counseling and the church. These polar opposites may offer some with treatable options about his or her poor health, but for many who have not experienced true healing, I believe that there are vast, unexplored options for the unhealed who struggle with chronic pain. I am passionate about this topic of trying to overcome chronic pain because I have lived with it for fourteen years. I have tried nearly everything imaginable to rid my body of pain and to restore it to its original condition. The journey has been quite frustrating. At times, the medical community has offered very good treatment in regards to reducing the acute, stabbing pain. However, relative to chronic, aching pain, both traditional medicine and alternative health approaches have not successfully alleviated the pain from my body. And for about 86 million Americans, chronic, lingering pain continues to leave nearly every health care professional baffled too some degree with what to do. Perhaps we are looking at healing in the wrong context. Perhaps recovery or restorative health in the traditional sense may not be possible for many. This would be easy to conclude based upon the objective evidence. What about the options in that undiscovered universe between traditional medical models and the proclaimed miraculous healings of the charismatic movement? For me, I have had to take a completely different approach about the whole idea of healing lately. Instead of trying to restore my health to its former condition, on September 1st, I decided to begin to move forward with my life, even though I was starting from a point that seemed hopeless. I had given up on trying to refurbish the old person and firmly decided to let God grow me as His new creation that He intended all along. In essence, God has shown me how to rewrite the script of my life, moving onward as He continues to transform my spirit, soul and body. Fixing my hope firmly in Jesus Christ has caused a change in the practical ways to live – in regards to how I think, how I speak, how I eat, how I exercise, how I grow my God-given gifts, how I worship God, how I walk in faith, how I show love to others, etc. I know that God will do the same for you…
