Seen as a Promise

Remember when I was pondering what love looked like?

Well, I found another thing to ponder. to mull over. to chew. Part of Alece’s comment on this post caused me to go “whoa! wait a second!”  She referred to the following as a PROMISE:

“My sheep know My voice and the voice of another they will not follow.”

Typically, I am/try to be positive, upbeat, excited about things. Except with this verse and other cut and dry type verses (like some in 1 John), my heart and head do a 180 toward “what if I’m not one of those sheep.” Not a good place. But, then, when I keep reading in the chapter I find…

“and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” -John 10:27-28

Now as if seeing the first part as a promise wasn’t a big enough whoa…throw in the mix that NO ONE can snatch us out of His hands then I’m totally sitting in awe.

He keeps peeling back the layers, exposing new truths, and shedding lies…and I am ever in awe at how the Bible truly allows me to dig in and see all sorts of new things no matter how many times I’ve read a passage.

What are you reading lately? How’s God been leaving you in awe?

Pondering…

Pros

1. I like blogging
2. I like writing and expressing myself through words.
3. I love having a written record of events, thoughts and random things even if I only look back on it once or never do.
4. I enjoy seeing how many people visit my blog and sometimes leave comments
5. I hope that my words sometimes encourage, provide hope, invoke thinking, provide insight, are “real” and relatable to the people that read my blog
   • I like reading some blogs myself and I have been impacted by their words–even if I’m only a “lurker” and don’t always comment

Cons

1. I don’t know my audience
   • I don’t know how to engage authentic, open discussion and comments without knowing my audience
2. I’m not sure if blogging is a wise use of my time
3. Sometimes I look at the “stats” too often or want more comments…then I wonder why am I blogging.
   • EDIT: I realized that these two thoughts were not supposed to really flow together.  I meant this more of a “I don’t want to blog for the stats.  I want to blog for other reasons.  I want to have reasons for why I am blogging.” I did NOT intend it to come across as “If I don’t get high enough stats then why am I even blogging.”  Not sure if this is any clearer, but oh well.
4. I don’t really have a “purpose” to blog or a theme
   • The closest I have to a purpose is the hope that someone, somewhere might be positively affected by my words
5. I see value in the personal, honest posts yet I don’t want my blog to be a place to “vent” or “gossip” or anything related
6. I fear that I may have hurt or will hurt others who read my blog with my words–I don’t want to have a hidden agenda or use this space in an unkind way