ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

you may have read my last post about forgiveness . i thought that was the extent of it. it didn't get any clearer or any deeper than that. i'm learning there are so many more layers. sometimes you have to forgive the same person, again, for committing the same offense against you, for the second [or third or fourth] time. you wonder why they didn't learn their lesson and you wonder what is causing them to fall into the same trap. but none-the-less, forgiveness is still commanded. seventy times seven. i was faced with this opportunity not too long ago: to forgive a repeat offender for a very similar offense. in my weakness and in the first moments, i cried out to God. why did this happen again? doesn't God see the sin that is being committed? does it not grieve Him? isn't there anything He can do about this person, to make sure that it doesn't keep happening? i was pointing fingers, casting blame, accusing this person before the throne of God. accusing b...

i just had to share with you the Word that God spoke to me this morning at church. our pastor is going through Hebrews verse by verse. and today we started at Hebrews 6:10 . while he was still in the introduction of the sermon and before he'd even mentioned Hebrews, i had read verse 10, underlined it twice, and had written my break-through thoughts in the margin. then, what floored me, is that he coupled it with another verse, one that is very familiar to me since i read psalm 103 very frequently. the combination of the two literally screamed freedom to me. God's lavish grace poured out on us, absolutely unbelievable, beyond comprehension, and just downright un-human. it is so backwards from our finite way of thinking, the way we tend to judge others on their sin and their shortcomings. the bad cancels out the good, so often, when we look at our own lives and other people's lives. not so, when God looks at us: ... as far as the east is from the west , so far has h...

2000 years ago today... the world was forever changed death was defeated. the grave was conquered. Jesus Christ rose triumphantly to life just as He said He would. Hope is the victor. Life is ours to receive. Peace is ours to experience. Grace has been poured out freely, abundantly. Rejoicing comes in the morning. i hope so much that you've believed, trusted, received. He did it all for you. i feel lighter this morning. like a burden has been lifted all over again. do you?  Hope has risen from the grave: alive, victorious and seated at the right hand of Almighty God, actively and constantly interceding  on our behalf.   oh, how he loves us. See, what a morning, gloriously bright,  With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem; Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,  As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"  See God's salvation plan,  Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,...

2000 years ago today.... i was bought with a price. my sin was washed away. Christ endured death on a cross because He loved me. He was betrayed by one of His closest friends. sold out to the chief priests. "tried" and found guilty of simply being Who He was. beaten and flogged relentlessly, until almost unrecognizable as the chosen Messiah. on the brink of certain death. torn and bleeding and dying and thinking of me. He dragged His own cross  halfway up to the place He would die. His body frail, weak, barely functioning. people spit on Him, mocked Him. they utterly disgraced Him. the King of kings and Lord of Lords. He did not say a word  in His defense. 2000 years ago today... Jesus Christ, the savior of the world who had done nothing was put to death, nailed to a cross. yet He willingly suffered so that we might be saved. [because some would never believe] He willingly suffered for the gl...

tear down the lies. put up the Truth. bow to the Truth. that is [in a really short nutshell] what Beth Moore teaches in Breaking Free, for how to live in freedom on a daily basis. reject the lies that the enemy throws at you, replace them with Truth from God's Word, and then listen to that Truth. do what it requires of you. last week, as part of our weekly study, Beth asked us to practice these steps in the area of forgiveness. she wanted us to write it all out, look up specific verses, bring it to our group when we met. i'll be honest. i didn't do the exercise, because i'd already [more or less] done it in real life just a few months earlier. i wanted to share my personal story with my Bible study group last thursday, but we ran out of time. so i'm sharing it with you now. not the in-depth details, but the most important parts. it's pretty long, but i hope you'll stick with me to the end. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  a few month...