Set apart

I love Fall! It is my favorite time of the year. I love buying school supplies, playing in the leaves, and carving pumpkins. The Fall Festivals are awesome and I cannot wait for the holidays to arrive.

I feel like I have been in a rut the past few years around this time of the year. I hate that. I guess it is mainly due to my own self pity. Only those who are close to me know until now have known that I have been unable to bare children. There are so many things to do this time of year that mainly include spending time with your kids. I have felt empty inside.

However, this year I am choosing to fix that. I feel alive again. I am looking forward to all of the opportunities even if I do not have children to call my own. I do have children to buy presents for and take to festivals at present. I choose to enjoy the present and not fret about the future to come.

I know God has set Philip and I apart from the rest of our friends who have children. Most of the time I just want to fit in rather than stick out, but I have to remember I am different for a reason. I searched for the words "set apart" in my You Version iPad Bible. When the results came in I was amazed how many references came up. Over 25 references returned and of all of the passages that returned, one passage stood out to me.

First Peter starts out with a greeting/background of Peter to the temporary residence of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. These believers were being persecuted for their beliefs and had left their homes due to it. In 1st Peter 1:2 we see:

"According to the foreknowledge
of God the Father and set apart
by the Spirit for obedience and
[for] sprinkling with the blood of
Jesus Christ.
May grace and peace be
multiplied to you."

This is the verse that is right before Peter writes about our "New Hope" or a "Living Hope" in Jesus Christ. He continues on in praise to "God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Verse 3) who has given us "According to His great mercy" new birth into a living hope in Christ. Peter goes on to remind us in verse 4 that we have an inheritance that is "imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading". I believe in the mix of it all I too easily loose sight of the bigger picture. I want my "inheritance" here on earth, but as I see here it is "kept in heaven" for me.

As cool as Fall is and as happy as children make me, the real reason for my dismay is I'm homesick. I need to stop focusing on my temporary residency on this earth and start praying for those I want to share my inheritance with in Heaven.

As I am writing this I gleen some help from a post from a fellow You Version user. He/She known as "RYB" closes their post with this prayer and I feel I should as well.

"Father,
Thank you for the living hope we have through your son, Jesus Christ. I pray that you bless every person that will read this post. I especially pray for those who are in the depths of despair and at the cusp of throwing in the towel. Meet them and intervene in their lives, don't allow them to give up. We thank you that you are GOD and you are over the flood.

In Jesus name,
Amen."