Respect.....Just a little bit!

There are many, many people in my life, who do not have the same beliefs as Mike and I. There are many people who think we're crazy, gullible, and stupid for our beliefs. For some reason, when people don't agree with our views, THEY get upset that we believe it. They get attitudes. They roll their eyes. They act like our beliefs are in some way shape or form harming them. We are not preachy people at all. We will not hesitate to tell you what God has been doing in our lives, and we WILL give credit to Him for our lives, and our blessings. But we will never tell someone they are wrong for their beliefs. We respect what other people believe, and do, whether we condone it or not.

The reason I bring this up on my blog (which is about my daughter) is because it is very important to Mike & I that we raise Miah to be respectful, and open minded. We desire nothing more than for her to love and live every ounce of her life for the Lord, and to reach others through His love, and tell of His grace and mercy. We will raise her according to what we believe...but we will not raise her to be judgmental or condemning of others and their beliefs or choices in life. There is NOTHING beautiful or Christ like about judgement & disrespect. Neither Mike or myself believe that we have ANY right to judge someone else. We believe that we were saved, which means we were forgiven & redeemed. But we have NO upper hand on anybody, and we would never presume that we have any authority to tell someone they are WRONG.

I am HUGE on respect & tolerance for other peoples views & opinions, and Mike is as well. We pray Miah is the same way. Unfortunately I feel like Christians are painted to be crazy, out of their mind whack jobs, who push their beliefs on others, and don't respect ANYTHING but their OWN view  & opinion....and Mike and I certainly don't believe any of that has ANYTHING to do with being a christian at all.

I wish as human beings in general, we could all be a little more respectful of others, their lives, their choices, their beliefs and their actions. Whether we "agree" or not.


I leave you with one of my favorite songs. "Not Guilty" .. Such a powerful testimony of Christ and his unconditional love.

I stand accused
There's a list a mile long
Of all my sins
Of everything that I've done wrong
I'm so ashamed
There's nowhere left for me to hide
This is the day
I must answer for my life

My fate is in the Judge's hands
But then He turns to me and says

I know you
I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict not guilty

How can it be?
I can't begin to comprehend
What kind of grace
Would take the place of all my sin?

I stand in awe
Now that I have been set free
And the tears well up as I look at that cross
'Cause it should have been me

My fate was in the nail scarred hands
He stretched them out for me and said

I know you , I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict not guilty