Today is a great day to
be alive. I really believe this and strive to live accordingly, grateful for
every day. Scripture states, “But I will hope continually and will praise you
yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of
salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge” (Psalm 71:14-15).
As I write this letter to
you, the reader of Natural Awakenings
Gulf Coast, I am comforted by the words of David who continually praised
God through psalms and, as such, was rewarded by God in many ways. You may
remember the story of David and Goliath in the Old Testament, where David, a
shepherd boy, conquered the heavily armed Philistine giant with only a stone
and a slingshot. But it was only because he trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly,
so, God delivered Goliath to David. I’ve learned God likes to do big things
with ordinary people. You see it throughout the world. The God of the Bible is
alive today. He is accessible to us through His son, Jesus.
Jesus sacrificed for us;
he gets us. You may have seen ads on TV or heard of “He Gets Us.” I like this
organization’s ‘thought train,’ they speak to me. Here are just a few truths
from
HeGetsUs.com:
Throughout our shared history,
Jesus has represented the ultimate good that humankind is capable of aspiring
to. And though some no longer believe in God, most are still compelled by the
idea of a person capable of unconditional love for others despite their
differences. But many of us simply cannot reconcile the idea of that person
with the way our culture experiences religion today. Whether it’s hypocrisy and
discrimination in the church or scandals both real and perceived among
religious leaders or the polarization of our politics, many have relegated
Jesus from the world’s greatest love story to just another tactic used to
intensify our deep cultural divisions.
How did the story of a man who
taught and practiced unconditional love, peace, and kindness; who spent his
life defending the poor and the marginalized; a man who even forgave his
killers while they executed him unjustly—whose life inspired a radical movement
that is still impacting the world thousands of years later—how did this man’s
story become associated with hatred and oppression for so many people? And how
might we all rediscover the promise of the love his story represents? Those are
the questions at the heart of He Gets Us.
I hope that I am one of
the ordinary people that God uses to bring His wisdom to you in some small way.
Natural Awakenings is brimming with
wisdom on health and healing in mind, body and spirit. I hope you will receive
all of these in the following pages, with love and gratitude, because that is
always my intention.
May God bless you and keep you,
Michelle Smith, Publisher
