Meet Alyssa

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Trusting God is a full time occupation-one not to be taken lightly or entered into swiftly. Surely it is the fertile hearts that bear the honor, and responsibility, of fruitfulness. And yet, "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do..." (Romans 7:15) This is the aim of my life: that in all things, yes. Totality. Completion. All. Every Bit. That in this allness of all things, this fullness, that I would die, that Christ might live through me. 

"He must increase, but I must decrease."

John 3:30

How easy to say; yet, how difficult to do.

But, God...

What an astonishingly beautiful two words these are, used in the Word again and again to bring hope to His children. He brought me a unique hope when I was eight years old. At that time, I was dead, (yes, dead!) in my sins. Only a child, and yet from the moment I breathed air, I was lost. A curse was on me. A curse that started with the bite of a forbidden fruit, an act of disobedience that sent humanity to a darkness that was never intended to be experienced by man. And yet it is so. We are all born into this curse and this darkness and separated from a perfect God who created us in perfection as well. But, believing we were wiser than God, we threw away the greatest gift imaginable.

His presence.

But, God! 

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:4-10

How miraculous! What ecstasy! If we are to but bow and bend our hearts in repentance to Him, who created us, who loves us with a love immeasurable, then He will restore to us this inestimable gift. 

His presence!

When I was eight years old, I experienced this! After watching the movie, "Left Behind," I wondered if I had been saved. If Jesus came back, would He be calling me to Himself, or would I be left behind? I could not answer that question at the time, but since that decision can say emphatically, 

"I am His!"

Are you His? If you have never made the decision to ask Jesus into your heart, then I beg of you, search yourself. Is there anything you can ever do that will truly make you right and whole with a Holy God? It is not a matter of our good deeds outweighing the bad. God accepts perfection. 

Or nothing. 

As sinful human beings, the only way we can achieve perfection is through realizing we cannot achieve perfection. Perfection, and; therefore, restoration with God, comes only through one thing: a perfect sacrifice. This perfect sacrifice came when God became a man by being born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a Roman cross (perfect sacrifice), and then gained the victory over death by resurrecting from the dead! He offers us the covering of His blood, that we may be perfect in the Father's eyes and restored to right relationship with God. If you take nothing further from this blog, then take this: God wants you. It's simple. Just ask Him, and you will be made new! The old man will die and a new man will be birthed in you! It is truly that simple. At eight years old, I died and became a new person in Christ. About five years later, I made that public through baptism, a symbolic announcement to the world that 

"I am His!"

Who is Alyssa Tabor? If you looked on the outside of my life, you would see a Youth Programming Specialist (Librarian serving birth-18 years) at a small public library in a mid-west town in the Bible Belt. You would see someone in love with the country of Ukraine and passionate about orphan ministry. If you know me well at all, you also aware of my insatiable desire for a good book, some hot tea, and chocolate. But, how do I want the question, "Who is Alyssa Tabor?" answered? What do I want the world to see?

JESUS