Read an Excerpt
GOD'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
By DOUGLAS BEATTY, EVELYN BARTSCH, DEBBY WARREN AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2013 Douglas Beatty
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4817-2038-0
CHAPTER 1
Tug-A-War
Remember the time you sat at a picnic table in a park and there was no one around to interfere with your thoughts. You looked around the park and off in the distance are two dogs playing with a stick. On the other side of the park kids are playing tug-a-war with a brand new rope. You know this to be a new rope, for it was too white to be an old rope.
As you watched everyone play, you start to wonder how anyone can be so happy, while your world has turned itself upside down. There are many reasons why this perfect world you were enjoying now has turned itself upside down. Let's start off with the most common reasons: A love one has passed away, laid off from a job, you only had two more years before retirement. No money to pay your outstanding bills. You are about to lose the home where you raised your children, now they have repossessed one of your cars.
Now all this stress is eating you up inside. As you watch the kids play tug-a-war with their rope, you fell like someone is playing tug-a-war with your soul. The rope is pulled so tight it has your stomach all tied in knots, and your head feels like it is about to explode. At this point you just want to scream and cry out, "WHY". The saddest part about all this confusion is we don't understand the "WHY". And why this had to happen to us. Everything was going just the way we had planned. The only excuse one can come up with is God does not love us anymore. It is his fault a love one has passed away, especially a spouse, or a small child, who have gone before their time. Why were you laid off from a job you had for eighteen years? How are you going to support your family, and pay the bills with no money coming in? You believe this has happened because God turned his back on you.
Everywhere you turn people are telling you everything will get better; something is bound to come up! Just hang in there. Now here is the magic word. "Hang". With this tug-a-war going on, the only answer is to hang oneself. Right now you are trying to ease the pain with drugs and alcohol, and just for a moment you fell no pain, yet as soon as you sober up you realize the pain has not gone away.
You don't want to see a Doctor; he will give you pills, you can't afford, nor do you want to lay on a couch in some office, telling him or her your life history. Nor do you want to talk to a Pastor; for it was God's fault, you are in this house of pain in the first place.
Right before you come to your rope's end an old friend, or someone you just meet comes into your life. They invite you to join them in Church on Sunday. Now this rope just got much tighter. This was the last place you wanted to go for help. Now God has brought another burden upon your life. Everyone you meet is asking you to join them in church and you don't know how to answer them without losing their friendship.
Now the tug-a-war has two teams. One team is called Christianity, this team has several players. They are Holy, Hope, Salvation, Love, Faith, Forgiveness, and the team mate holding the end of the rope is Christ. The other team is called Ungodliness; the players on this team are Hate, Temptation, Liar, Dishonest, Unfaithful, and the team mate at the end of the rope is Satan. And tied right in the center of this rope they are pulling on is your soul. At this point in your life, Satan's team is winning.
Then one day, you have no way of explaining why you go to church. At first you didn't know all the where, when, and why's. Yet you went and to your amazement stood a couple at the door to welcome you into the House of the Lord. As you made your way into the church you see your friend. He walked over to you, and was blessed you found your way to church. You went into the Sanctuary and found a place to sit. It was the last row of pews, that way if things did not go well you could get up and leave without anyone knowing you left. Halfway through the sermon you are hypnotized by the words the Pastor is saying. The sermon was Tug-A-War. Everything the Pastor was speaking about hit hard on your heart. Tears came to your eyes as he called for all sinners to come to the Altar, and have God come into our lives, and ask for forgiveness. And through Faith all your pain will be healed.
At that very moment, the Christianity Team started to pull ahead of the Ungodliness Team.
It was not easy, yet as time went on you found yourself walking closer to our loving God. Then one Sunday you gave your soul to God, and asked the Pastor, "To baptize you in the name of Christ." As soon as you came up from the water, that rope snapped, the Christianity Team remained standing; the Ungodliness Team fell flat on their behinds. Satan was very upset with his team for they had lost another soul to Christ.
Then one day you got another job, and this one was better than the one you were laid off from. And all your bill collectors were willing to work with you, to help get you caught up with your payments.
When we see our world has turned upside down, don't feel sorry for yourself and blame God and others for your misfortunes. Take full responsibility, and go to God and thank him for what you do have, and ask for a guiding hand to help you through your hardships.
CHAPTER 2
The Loss of a Love One
The hardest thing, to go through is the lost of a loved one, especially at a young age. You have your life all planned out. First you buy a home, then the planning of children. Then one day all this came to an end. Either it was by sudden death, or a prolonged illness. Either way, the lost now has your life upside down. You sit in the house that at one time was a home, wondering what will come of your life now, for he or she has gone. Heaviness has come upon your heart, and you have no answer to why this burden was laid upon you. Out of wanting some kind of answer the first thing you do is blame God for your loss. You want to know why? Did you do something to have God bring such burden upon you. You can't think of a thing you have done to deserve such hardship. Therefore, God must have turned his back upon you, and taken away the one you loved.
Now the whole load of caring for the children and the finances has been dropped in your lap. Every day as you walk around the house there are things that keep reminding you of the one you lost. The closet, their pillow they sleep on, a coffee cup, their favorite chair, all these things remind you of the lost one. And every time you look at each item, you cry and ask God why? The more you cry the more you lose your faith in God.
Then one day after weeks, month, even years of morning you walk through the doors of the Church you left behind. And guess what the sermon was that Sunday. "Our Losses, God's Gain." Now when Jesus said, "Who so ever believeth in me shall have eternal life." He was not saying those who believed in him would live forever on Earth. Jesus was showing the only way to Heaven.
No matter how young or old our loved ones were at the time of their departure we need to bless God, and thank him for the time we did have with them. Knowing they are living with the Lord as he had promised.
Now that the one we love has gone to be with the Lord, God does not want us to lose our focus on the plan he has for us. He wants us to be a witness to the Love he had brought into our lives, and the time we had with them. It is hard to bury a loved one completely, for we want to keep hanging on to the memory. And this memory is a haunting, and hurting torment to our Souls. To save your sanity, do not hang on to a hurting memory, but a loving memory, and go on living the life God has in store for your life.
CHAPTER 3
The Unwanted Child
What is an unwanted Child? We could make a long list of unwanted children, but let's start with the basic. A child born out of wedlock, a child from a rape case, an unexpected pregnancy in a marriage, and the list goes on. All these cases are the result of an unwanted child. An' who takes the blunt end of this misfortune, "The Child!" The sad part through abortion is a lot of children have lost their life. One could write a novel on abortion, the only thing that matters is what God has to say about abortion. In the Ten Commandments, God has said, "Thou Shall Not Kill," through abortion this is what we are doing; killing a living soul.
One can cry they don't want this child because, they were raped, on a date and things got out of hand, or they are not financially ready for children.
No matter what the reason, we do not have the right to take the life of another human. There is an organization out there that can find a family willing to take this child. Sometimes it is hard to understand, but God had brought this child into your life for a reason. It might not be the way you had it planned, but it is God's plan. Therefore, don't kill what God has created, learn to except, and love this child God has brought into your life.
The next crucial thing happening to an unwanted child is abuse. This child has become a burden to its caretaker, its wants, and needs, are too much for them to handle. The child's crying has got the best of them. With all the stress in their life, and now a child it is too much for them. Therefore, they start abusing the child.
The greatest abuse of all is denying the child the love of God. The child needs to know with Christ, someone does love them. Christ they will learn to forgive their abuser, and to love others. Adults need to understand children need loving just as much as they do. As an adult we learn to need friends, who to trust and who to be a friend with. But a child does not know. The only one they have depend on are his or her parents. So be kind to your child, and show them love, and how to love back.
And through the Love of Christ, we will no longer have unwanted children.
CHAPTER 4
Divorce
What an ugly word, "Divorce" so many lives have been hurt by it. The dictionary calls a divorce an "dissolution of a marriage," what is the meaning of dissolution; termination or death. That is the way some feel after going through a divorce something inside of them has died.
The sad part is the divorce was over something simple. Both parties were too stubborn to give in and try to work it out. Two of the main causes of divorce are, love and money. It is the lack of both. Instead of being happy with what they have, they want more. And when the one they are married to can't give them what they need, then they want out of the marriage, to try and find what it is they are looking for.
If the one they are married to cannot satisfy their needs, why did they get married in the first place!! Was it lust, or I don't want to be alone.
Whatever the reason it was a selfish one. Now there are alot of life's that will be affected by this selfish act. If we would just take time to find the right person, the one who will meet our needs. There would be no need of a divorce. And the best way to accomplish this is through Christ. With Christ there will be no lust, or loneliness there is only love. One can find their needs in the House of the Lord, better than they can in a bar.
A divorce has a domino effect on everyone's life. The first to fall are the two getting the divorce, next to fall are the children, then the grandparents and list goes on.
When we want more this is greed. Under God greed is sin. The saddest part of greed is our needs and wants are never satisfied, we always want more.
When one has made their choice, do this through the love of God. God wants you to love one another the rest of your life on earth. And to have children an' bring them up to love the way God wants them to love, not hate. Whatever God has given you, be blessed.
With a closer walk with Jesus, we can stomp out this unwanted death, called Divorce.
CHAPTER 5
Perfect World
Remember the times when your mother woke you up, to get you ready for Church. You got all excited, because you got to go to Sunday school. It was exciting to learn all about Jesus, and the adventures he went on to talk about his father in Heaven.
Then you got older, and after High School things changed in your life. You were dumped into the fast lane of life, and things were moving so fast that Church was the last thing on your mind. When you got out from under the loving care of your mother, Satan saw an opportunity to move in and take over where your mother had left off. He showed you all the fun one could have if they would just follow him. And just like alot of people you fell into his trap. There were drugs, alcohol, and the social life. All the things you learned in Church when you were younger just went out the window.
Now for the next few years everything is going just as you hoped it would. You have a good paying job, you're married, and have two beautiful children. Every weekend, either you or a friend, are having a party, now these parties can get pretty intense with all the drugs and alcohol. At this point in your life you just take it as part of life. Your oldest boy is popular in school, he is on the Varsity team, and all the girls are madly in love with him. He is a chip off the old block just like Dad, he likes to party. Then on Saturday night he had too many to drink. He thought I'm only a few miles from home, I can make it. He would have made it, if he didn't try to out run the train to the crossing. Now this perfect world just came to an end.
You are drinking more lately, and you have shut yourself off from those who love you most. A year of self pity has driven your wife off, and you won't have anything to do with the only child you have left. Your friends won't have a thing to do with you; they can't handle your drunkenness, or you crying about the loss of your oldest son. They keep telling you to get help. Even your boss has had enough of you coming to work drunk, and fires you. And the first place you go to is your favorite bar to get drunk.
Then one day sitting in your dark house; for the utilities have been cut off, your stomach feels like someone had kicked it. You begin to think of the things your old Pastor use to say every Sunday in church, "One can not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
You got up and started to walk the neighborhood to find the nearest church. The nearest one to you was only four blocks away. You walked up to the doors, and there was a sign giving the hours of service; Sunday morning: Sunday School 09:30 to 10:30, Services from 10:30 to 12:00 or until God had said all he was going to say that morning. Now this little saying brought a smile to your face, something you have not been able to do for a long time. Right then you decided to come to this Church on Sunday to hear what God had to say.
When you walked into the Church you were amazed how the people treated you; it was like they had known you all your life. Then when you sat and listened to every word the Pastor had to say, a feeling came over you like you have not felt in years. Over the months you were starting to turn your life around. You cleaned up, and went looking for a job it didn't take long for you to find one. Then out went the alcohol, and in came the food. All the utilities were paid, even the mortgage was brought up to date.
You have made new friends, and there is a new love in your life. One day you tried to make contact with your ex-wife, but she had moved out of state and left no forwarding address. Every day after that, you would go to your knees, and thank the Lord for coming back into your life
You sit and wonder what had happened to make you turn from God. You are no different from a lot of people, who had fallen into Satan's trap. Once one has fallen into this trap it is hard to get out of it. All day and night God is dropping little signs to let us know we need to come back to him. Some need to have their whole world turned upside down to get the message. When this does happen to you don't blame God for your mishap; thank him for opening your eyes and heart to what you do have.
CHAPTER 6
The Love of a Sinner
What a wonderful life you are living. Monday morning at the water fountain you are bragging about the wild weekend you had. It started out Friday right after work. You and a few coworkers went to the club. You tell everyone at the water fountain, the coworkers you went out with are from another department, you only knew them from lunch. You brought this up because everyone was looking as if to say, "I didn't go anywhere with you!" They sure were glad you made this clear, because no one wanted to explain, why they wanted nothing to do with a sinner like you.
As you were telling your tall tale about the weekend, you were wondering how could these goody two shoes have any fun. After about two minutes, all that had gathered around the fountain started to go back to their desks. And as they left, inside they were laughing at your story.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from GOD'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE by DOUGLAS BEATTY, EVELYN BARTSCH, DEBBY WARREN. Copyright © 2013 Douglas Beatty. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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