Originally Posted: What if you knew...

***When I came back to Chicago 3 years ago for my surgery, I started a blog as one place all family and friends could go to read updates on my health. I then realized it was also a way of promoting awareness. Shortly after that, I started a second blog, for the purpose of sharing my faith. As time went on, I became convicted about something.

It was wrong of me to separate the two, as my faith, Jesus, is the absolute reason for my strength in getting through this. I could not exclude Him from my health blog even if others suggested to do so. Thus, I started talking more about my faith on my main blog. Now, many times, it's more about Him than me, which is where I came up with the current title 'About Me, Not About Me'. This story may be about me, but really it's not about me, it's about Him. That old blog still sits out there no longer being used. So I decided over time I will begin to move those posts from there to here to have everything in one place.

In just beginning to read some of my first posts, I've realized the amount of work God has truly done in me. A lot of times we hate the journey and want to get to our next destination, but it is in that very journey that God molds you into who He created you to be. Enjoy each mile of your own journey and know that God is working through you if you let Him.***

Originally Posted: December 4, 2013
What If You Knew You Were Going to Hell

It's been on my mind for a while now. Who am I writing this blog to? Who am I writing it for? Is it being delivered how God wants it to? I feel my thoughts get scattered and go off on tangents in different directions. I feel some of the message I write is for Christians, believers to stay on path with Christ. I feel much else of the message is for non-believers, those who don't have Christ. I pray that the message I write is inspired by God and that it touches the right person in the right way at the right time.

What is my purpose? Honestly, all I want is to fulfill both of those purposes mentioned above right there. I want to keep Christians, believers, on the path of Christ, as satan may often get in the way with temptation all around us. I want also to bring others to know Jesus, to lead them on the path of accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior. Within that right there, I feel it is so very important, yet unknown to many unbelievers, that they are in fact unbelievers. I know because I was there. Saying you are a Christian doesn't make you a Christian. Jesus makes you a Christian. You can't have Christianity without Christ; the name itself begins with Christ.

Why is this important? This is the most important thing in all of life, being a Christian. It is the most important thing because without Christ you will not, I repeat, you will not get to Heaven. I am saying this not from my own mouth but reiterating what is in the Bible. The ONLY, only way to Heaven is through Jesus. I encourage you if you haven't already, start reading the Bible. Don't be intimidated by its size or that you don't understand the words. I would encourage you to start in the New Testament, and also would encourage you to look up different translations of the Bible. I personally could not understand the King James Version. However, I find the New International Version and New Living Translation much easier to understand and both are often use within Christian churches. Also, I find God's Word and the Good News translations easy to understand. It is important that we find a version that we can understand, because we must understand the Word in order to be able to live it. Different versions do not mean different messages. The Bible is the Bible, period. However, just like we as humans talk differently, use different words, different languages, etc.. the Bible is in different translations so to give us a translation we can understand and relate to.

Being a Christian isn't a name tag, it's a life style, the only life style if you want to get to Heaven. Back up your declaration of being a Christian with actions. Profess with your mouth and believe with your heart that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved. It's not just believing in Jesus, it's trusting Him as your Lord and Savior, as your only pathway to Heaven... the way, the truth, the life.