Greetings Family and Friends.
First, I want to tell you how much I love you. Yes, I love each and every one of you so much that I want to spend eternity in Heaven with all of you, someday. With that being said, I pray you will have an open mind and will continue to read this edition of the blog until the end and really think about your future and where you will spend eternity. I am certainly not writing this to judge you in any way, but I am to spread the Good News to those I am in contact with. I cannot in good conscious not say anything to each of you about this issue. I care way too much about each of you to sit back and say nothing at all. Many of you do not understand why I came to Majuro, Marshall Island for a year as a missionary. I get that. And I don't expect you to understand it completely. Let me tell you what a missionary is, for those of you that may not understand or know. Simply put, a missionary is someone who proclaims Jesus as Lord and Savior. I never thought I would be a missionary on foreign soil, even for a year and especially not in some third world country half way around the world on an itty bitty island in the Pacific Ocean! Well, God had other plans for me. That is how He works, His ways are not my ways. Boy, am I glad about that! His ways are perfect, and sometimes we don't always see and understand the reasoning for things until after the fact, but the Lord does...He knew what was going to happen even before we are born! This was one of those times. I would never have been able to do this if I was not single. After finding this position last year and praying about it, the Lord led me to the decision of this is what I needed to do this year and where He wanted me to be. As a Christian, I have learned that when the Lord tells you something, you just might as well do it, or He has His ways of getting you on the path He has planned for your life. I am learning so much! This is the only place I could have learned these lessons too. Which, again, God knew and that is why I am here. I have been asked if I get homesick, and yes of course I do. Why? Because I totally love my family and miss them so very much! I guess if I didn't love them very much, I wouldn't be too homesick, but I do! I didn't know how homesick I would be until I arrived. I keep busy and that helps. But most importantly, I am hear teaching students about God's love everyday, even if I am a little homesick every once and again. I'm doing the Lord's Work and that is what matters.
Let me change gears a little bit here. I could say...Ask Jesus to come live in your heart and your life will be better. You might say, "Better than what? My life is already good." So, that is not what I am going to ask. I want to tell you a little story. If I came up to you and said someone has just paid your $500,000 ticket, isn't that great!" You would probably look at me like I'm crazy and wonder what I am talking about. However, if I said you had a $500,000 ticket for driving past a stopped school bus, and you could not pay the ticket. Now, I come up to you and say that someone has just paid your traffic ticket that you couldn't pay; you would understand and be completely grateful because you know the debt that someone has taken upon themselves for you, knowing that they will never be repaid. Well, Jesus Christ has done just that for you! He has paid yours and my debt of sin, which separates us from God for eternity. There is absolutely nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that you or I can do to make ourselves good enough to get into Heaven. The only way into Heaven and to seal our eternity to live with God forever when we die, is to accept His gift of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. But first, you have to know and understand what He did and why He did it for you. Think about these questions: Have you ever stolen anything, big or small? What do you call someone who steals? A thief. OK, have you ever lied? What do you call someone who lies? A liar. Now, have you ever used God's name in vain, meaning using it in a way that is disrespectful, have you spoken disrespectfully of God and sacred things?  If so, you are a blasphemer. If you answered yes to all of these questions in your head, then by your own admittance, you are a blasphemous, lying thief. Guess what, I wish I can say that my answer to these three questions I just asked you was no, but I can't. If I did, then I would be lying. My answer is a resounding Yes! That was before I accepted Christ into my heart and He changed me. Am I perfect, no way! But, I am on my way to Heaven when I die. Is it because I am good? Nope. In Mark 10:18 it states that, "...none are good but one, that is God." Is it because I'm doing good works? Um, wrong again. Ephesians 2:8-9 says,"For by grace are we saved through faith; and not that of yourselves:It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any mand should boast." There is nothing you or I can do to "earn" Heaven. We get to Heaven by A-Admit what you are--a sinner who sins. B-Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin and rose again 3 days later conquering death, the grave, sin, and Satan. C--Confess your sins to the Lord Who loves you and is waiting to welcome you into His family and ask Him to forgive you your sins! You must repent, which pretty much means, do a 180 turn and completely turn away from the sin and do the opposite...never to return to that sin again. Will you mess up? Talking for me, yep, I still do. But when I realize it, I ask for forgiveness and repent...turn away from it completely. See, Jesus came from Heaven as a baby. He took on human flesh, to be able to understand what we, as humans, would go through. There is nothing the Lord Christ has not experienced or dealt with that we encounter. He came, so that eventually He could conquer death, the grave, and Satan; and so He could take the punishment of our sins~big and small~and allow us to accept His free gift of salvation. Until we accept the truly free gift He is offering, we are sinners, separated from God, and deserve eternal death in the lake of fire~Hell, forever separated from our Creator. Please, I ask that you at least consider this...those that are reading that have not done this before...and before it is too late. If something here gets your mind thinking and wondering with questions, please ask away! If you don't want to ask me, please find someone from a Bible believing church to ask. If it still doesn't make complete sense, ask them to show you in God's Word what it says. If I don't know the answer, I will find out! Your life, and eternity, is too important to not find out the answers! Again, I am writing this out of love for all that are reading this~family, friends, and maybe others I don't even know! I pray that this message today has spoken to your heart about where you will spend eternity. Don't take this post lightly, and whether or not you agree, please continue to read my blog. I love you and will be praying for each of you.
Sarah