HOPEful girl

          So far, in the gospel of Matthew, we’ve seen a God who was born in a manger, feeding trough for his bed no less.   We see a promised King takes on a posture of repentance and get baptized and now in the first part of Chapter 4, after 40 days of fasting, he will be tempted.   I can’t help but think of Jesus as someone who comes to us, a God who comes down to our level, who really wants to identify with us.     I see a savior King who meets us where we are at.   For so long, raised in the church, I had this image of God or Jesus as this far away diety.  I never thought that Jesus is someone I can have a personal relationship with.  Here in the second part chapter 4, we see the beginnings of Jesus first relationships. I mean besides with his parents, and God and his cousin John the Baptist. Ok so first relationships outside his relatives.  Why did Jesus get tempted?  Gods plan for our salvation incl...

  Christmas rejoicing brings us the  promise of a king, but where there is a king, must be a kingdom.  In this next chapter of Matthew , we see this term, ‘kingdom of heaven’ come up  but what exactly is this ‘kingdom of heaven’?  It really isn’t a physical place per se, but something more than that.  Some sources describe the kingdom of heaven as the gracious rule of God in our hearts.  The kingdom of heaven includes those who have converted or repent and those who profess.  Convert means to turn from your sin and accept Jesus into your hearts. Profess simply means to share this with others. To repent means to radically transform our lives, completely change direction (not much unlike the Wise men did after they saw Jesus) from selfish unbelief to humble, sincere faith that recognizes our sins that condemn us and then turns and looks to God’s Son, Jesus Christ as our Savior.  For some people, this can happen in a single moment. For othe...

  Week 2, Matthew chapter 2 The Nativity scene debunked.  Let us keep in mind, There are about 400 years separating the last book of the old testament and the first book of the new testament, Matthew.  Jesus who is supposedly from the royal line happens to be born under a cruel tyrant King Herod, King of the Jewish nation. King Herod was actually a descendant of Esau and if you can remember the story of Esau, weknow that he was a traditional enemy of the the Jews, so why is he here as a king of the Jewish people? It is believed that he converted to Judaism for political reasons. Who were these visitors from the east? These wise men also called the Magi were not kings, as the Christmas song puts it.  The were well educated advisers to the kings.  They were high ranking with power and influence. The were from Eastern lands or other nations.  Some sources say they were representatives from different nations. We see wise men frequently in the Book of Daniel; in...

  Matthew study week 1, part 2.  I have a confession to make.  One of my few guilty pleasures is binging on the Netflix show, ‘the Crown’.   Yes, I am one of those American cliches absolutely fascinated with the royal family.   I wouldn’t say I obsess over the tabloids, but I do pay attention and besides there is history that comes through in the show that I just find fascinating.  I think the reason I find it so interesting is  that you see these lives who were placed into these high positions not on their own accord by any means. They were born into it.  Yet we soon  learn amidst the gossip and scandal, they are not much different from us mere mortals.  And this is where Matthew begins, with the royal line of Jesus.  The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus.  Whenever I come to a genealogy section in the Bible, my eyes would just glaze over.  So many names and what’s the point anyway?  Well there’s act...

  Matthew Week 1, part 1 -Introduction  If you are new to reading the Bible and don’t know where to start, a good place would be in the  gospel (one of the first four books of the New Testament) or something short and fairly easy to read like the book James. There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting in Genesis because I believe a knowledge of Old Testament is necessary to fully understand the New Testament.  I was recently asked by someone who was new to reading the Bible, ‘where in the Bible does it start talking about Jesus?’  I love this question because although one can say it starts in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) , Jesus is actually mentioned in the Old Testament.   There are about 100 prophecies about Jesus in the  Old Testament that have already been  fulfilled.  Speaking of prophecies did you know that more prophecies of the Bible have already been fulfilled than those that are YET to be fulfilled? Just the one of ...

  I can’t believe its been over 6 months since my mom’s passing.  Sometimes it just feels like she’s on another one of her extended hospital stays, the one where she’s really sick and I have no way of reaching her. There are some mornings when I wake up in a state of panic, worry like I forgot something or something is missing. Then I remember I’m living in a world without my mom. I call out to God and that anxiety fades away as I go about my busy day. I’ll be fine until I see one of my patients that remind me of her or when someone talks about their mom.   Actually, I feel like I’ve been slowly saying good bye ever since she was first diagnosed with lymphoma.  I was in my 2nd or was it 3rd year of residency?  Questioning my attending if the finding of ‘lymphadenopathy on an Abdominal CT scan was a good or bad thing’.  Its a bad thing.   With treatment, my mom would survive that Hodgkins lymphoma only to be left living with the side effects of the chem...

  My first roller coaster ride happened on a Disney land trip with my family when I was around the age of 7.  I was left to spend most of the day with my mom and dad while my older teenage brother and sister went enjoying the park on their own each, with their invited friends.  So it was just me, mom and pops, the three musketeers  (or mouseketeers should I say).  This would be a common occurrence in the years that followed, as I was the youngest kid left after my brother and sister were out of the house.  I was very nervous and anxious about this scary roller coaster in the dark called space mountain. Since it only seated 2 in a row, my parents had the audacity to make me choose who I’d sit with.  It was like asking who was my favorite?!   I knew they both loved me and I don’t think I really had a favorite so it was a matter of choosing who was right for the job.  Now I was always daddy’s girl, always getting along, joking around and taking ...