New year, just another year?

Hi all,

Good to be back! It’s been a while.
So, is this new year just going to be another year? I think that’s up to us. Life is not always about what it gives to us. Sometimes it’s what we put in to it. When we feel down and sad and forsaken, sometimes life is hunting us with pain and loneliness. Strength fails us to press on when we feel beaten down. It gets hard to believe the words that keep saying that there is hope, that things will eventually get better. We hear a story from someone else that came through a more difficult situation than our own, but still the pain wins over our faith and our situation feels worse then any other, no matter what others say. We hear that praying will help, that having faith in the Bible helps and we seek comfort there, but it all seems so far away from our heart. We feel guilty for not having more faith, for not being stronger, for not enjoying things we know we should, for not being a bit more thankful. Now, is it okay to feel sorry for ourselves? No! Is it okay to have pain? Yes! Actually, pain is a way that is totally against our way of thinking, but in many cases it’s the best way to become dependant on the One that wants our attention so that He can show us how deeply He loves us. Many think that pain is a cruel way for God to speak to us. But first, God doesn’t want to hurt us, He wants to love us. And when we need someone to love us, love comes to us the strongest when we need it the most. For a long time I have felt terribly weak and sad. Anything could make me feel that there was no hope anymore. Others were better than I, for me no succes, no one thought of me as someone special, everything seemed to be made just to hurt me. God took care of everyone but me. That’s exactly how it felt and there seemed no way out to freedom and victory. And if the feeling of victory was there, it didn’t last long enough to get over the line that kept me under. But………. somehow I realized that the Lord is so near. He can get me where I can’t go, and I’m here to say that He brought me to victory when my eyes were opened anew for Who my Lord Jesus Christ truly is. And now it’s so very wonderful to look back to those terribly hard times and finally realize that God was in it. He was the One Who looked down in love, Who gently took my hand even if I didn’t feel it at the time, and Who was leading me slowly but surely to that point where I would surrender and give myself to Him. Once we know how very much He loves us, it becomes easier to surrender and just know and believe that He is there and brings out the best in life through His devine wisdom and through ways that are beyond our understanding.Things may be tough sometimes, but I want to tell anyone who will listen that we will all cry out in tears one day and stand before the Lord with deep thankfulness, being filled with awe when we realize how much it was worth it all, all to know Him better.
So, is this just going to be another year? No way! Each day is a gift that gives us the wonderful opportunity to learn more about the God Who created us for His beautiful purpose. Likewise, each day brings us the challenge to pass on to others what beauty we have found in our life with God. A beauty that can’t be found anywhere else!
Let’s USE the days we have in 2009, to learn and to pass on the great love of God!
I’m ready for it now, so, let’s go!

Word or words…

The world is full of questions, people wonder why…
Why is there suffering, why death and murder? How can a God allow killing, why did He kill?
These questions have always come my way by people as soon as they heard or noticed that I was a Christian. I have even questioned and doubted God’s capability myself by wondering why He couldn’t fix things the way I thought they should be fixed…
Working at the Noah’s Ark in Holland, these questions are regularly coming my way, sometimes it’s a daily matter.
Also sinds working there I have come to see and simply know that the answer is very, very simple…
- Not to accept, that’s not simple for our human thinking!
But the facts are very simple and logical and there ARE answers for any question we may have!

And the very simple way to find answers for our questions is to go back to the ORIGIN!!!!!!!
Why is there death and suffering? – Go back to the origin of it! Where did death and suffering start?
How can a loving God allow death? – Go back to the origin! He made us to LIVE and live in a perfect environment with the right climate, nice animals, plenty of fruit and food to enjoy, it was called paradise…………… Does God kill because He likes to do that to what He once made as something perfect? Doesn’t sound like the same person to me…….
God wants paradise for us still, and that’s why He must destroy anything that gets in the way of that perfectness. Now where did imperfection come from? From God or maybe, just maybe… from US??????
WE have ALL sinned and come short of the glory of God! It was not HIM who “came short”!!!!
But even when WE have ALL sinned….. HE….again….. took care of creating paradise for us……
Paradise for us? In this terrible world? Yes! He took care of that “paradise” by making peace available through His Son Jesus Christ who was willing to be killed for OUR SIN – which caused death and suffering- and make peace for lost sinners to become new creatures made free from sin so we could fit into God’s perfect idea that He had for us in the first place… Something like…paradise…. even better yet, HEAVEN!!!

So where did love and a perfect life setting come from?
Where did death and suffering come from?

Go back to the origin, be honest and you’ll get your answers!!!!!!!

The result? Hate towards sin, love towards God and LIFE!!!
The purpose? HOPE and ETERNAL LIFE and PEACE even NOW!!!

Don’t mess with the truth, it will keep you confused and lead you nowhere!

In His love, Jacky Baken

What are securities???

Dear friends,
Here I am, finally back to blog a bit…
The thing that kept me busy thinking the last while is how fast life can change when you walk in faith with the Lord. It’s exciting, but sometimes also a little scary.
For those of you who have been following the news around me for a while, you know how I changed jobs very suddenly and how it was an answer to prayer.
This new job has taken me out of my routine of life and away from home a lot of the time. Before I took this job, my home was such a place of comfort, and it still is when I come home for week-ends.
Nothing compares to the freedom and quiet of living in the country, and having time to yourself with a dog and cat accompanying you in the cozy candle light. But did my heart find purpose in that? No!!
As much as I love being home and enjoying my quiet moments of comfort, my heart was -and is longing to be of meaning for the time that I have left on this earth. This means that I am not sure how I will spend the next months of my life. Right now I am living in a very luxuous appartment in the very centre of Rotterdam, once the largest harbour town of the world. Soon I may be living with people in their home or in another appartment and for the time in Germany I am pretty sure that I can stay with good friends in an appartment all to myself.
However, the future doesn’t look as sure and planned as the past did when I was working close to home and got tired of the routine of leaving home at seven and coming back at five etc…:)
Right now there is no routine or straight schedule, but how can I feel more secure then before?
It is because now I am part of something the Lord has lead me to, which gives me the faith that He will provide. Not all the time I must atmid, but deep down in my heart I feel the happiness and confidence in the fact that although things seem insecure and strange, my heart finds purpose in what I’m doing and my security is in Him, which is more secure and steadfast then any home or family or routine!!
Said in short, following the Lord is a road of faith, but with Peter I know that when I say to the Lord: I left home and family for You and the Lord will reply: I returned to you in hundredfold what you have done for Me, I have to say AMEN!!!
if we find securities in this world, we don’t know what we’re missing…..
Nothing in this world gives us as much satisfaction and security as when we blindly follow the Lord, give up our lives of comfort and just follow Him in faith and then see how He provides when we are dependant! I encourage you to USE the time that we have left to let Him reveal Himself in power and provision as we leave ourselves behind to blindly follow Him.
This can be done at home or away from home, but if you dare to follow Him no matter what people think, I am sure that you will get to know riches in Him that otherwise you’d never had the chance to discover!!!!!!
I love you, God bless and keep you, He’s coming soon!!!!!