What Path Are You On? by Leanne Tipton

The more I thought about starting a blog, the more overwhelming it got. I knew I wanted to talk about God and life and this crazy world we are living in and how I believe with all of my heart that we are in the end times. The more I thought about where to start a blog, the more I put it off. There is just so much to talk about that I wasn't even sure where to begin.

This morning I was going through old files on my computer. I came across this picture of a path I had taken on a hike up in Welches, Oregon a long time ago, and I knew how I wanted to start my blog. Everybody has their own path in life.

Some people grow up in families who read the Bible, learn about God, go to church, pray, and serve. They accept that Jesus died for their sins. They accept Him as their Savior and Lord. They learn to trust God and grow in their relationship with Him throughout life. Sometimes as they grow they go through rebellious years and lose their way. God always welcomes them back with open arms if they repent and ask forgiveness. Since they have accepted Jesus as their Savior, they know they are on the path to eternal life. They KNOW they have an eternal home in heaven when they die or when the rapture happens.

Then, there are people who grow up in families who don’t believe in God, or maybe they believe there is such a thing as God but haven’t taken the time to read any of the Bible or get to know Him. They have never understood or grasped that without having their sins forgiven by God by accepting His son Jesus they will be spending eternity in hell. They go through life complacently and they are definitely not on a good path, but with God’s grace and mercy they can also have the reassurance of eternal life and forgiveness if they only ask Him.

Which leads me to ask: What path are you on? If you died today or if the rapture happened, would you be taken up to heaven or would you be left behind? If you think you would be left, are you willing and brave enough to step out on another path? What are you waiting for?

I believe that we are in the end of the end times. There is so much prophecy that is being fulfilled all around us daily. I will talk about that in future blogs. For now, I go between feeling excited, hopeful, but then sad......because I have family and friends who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord. If the rapture were to happen today, I know people who would be left behind.

If you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please think long and hard about why not. The reasons could be many – maybe the story of the Bible seems too far fetched. If that is the reason, there is so, so much indisputable proof that it is real. I will be talking about it on future blogs. For now, please reach out to someone, a pastor, a friend, or reach out here and ask questions, talk honestly, but whatever you do, reach out.

Or maybe you think that you are not good enough to go to heaven (nobody is or ever will be, we cannot work our way to heaven or behave well enough to get there). You may think you have sinned so badly that God would not possibility forgive THAT sin. You may think God could not forgive sexual sin, cheating, stealing, drugs, drunkenness, abortion, lying, porn, a violent past, abusing someone in the past. You are wrong. God CAN and God WILL.

We cannot go to heaven without forgiveness of sins. God sent His one and only son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Someone had to pay for our sins. Jesus paid our debt IN FULL, past, present, and future by dying on the cross in our place. The ONLY thing we have to do is accept it.

It is so simple, and yet sometimes we over think or put it off or think we don’t “believe enough.” Please don’t put it off. God wants us to accept Jesus. He wants us to live forever with Him and our loved ones in heaven. He never said to memorize Bible verses to get to heaven (good thing to do, but doesn’t get you to heaven). He never said to go to church to get to heaven or to try to be perfect to get to heaven or to serve in a ministry to get to heaven or to understand everything about Him to get to heaven. The only requirement is accepting that Jesus died for our sins and asking Him to be our Savior and Lord.

If you want to be on the right path, the path to eternal life, there is only one way. I pray that you find that path.

Salvation prayer

“Dear God, I know I am a sinner. I ask you for forgiveness of my sins. I accept Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for my sins. I ask Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. God, please come into my heart. Amen”