Is Magic Real?

 This is a question Micah and I have been debating. I say it's real. Magic is God's miracles. Of course there is dark magic. It references it in Exodus as "the secret arts." Micah says that magic is not real and all magic tricks are a deception and they want you to see things that aren't real. It's a slight of hand or something similar. I believe it's real. In Exodus, the magicians could do almost everything that God could do through Moses. They replicated the frogs, the staff turning into the serpent, the frogs, and even parts of the river they could turn to blood. That was very real. Dark magic is real; however, it comes from demonic forces and evil. And the biggest point is that there were limits to what they could do. They could not replicate the gnats that God did through Moses. What was even more telling is that they could not reverse it. There were clear limits to their power. God is all powerful and his magic is all powerful. He can do as he pleases. I also know that he purposely hardened Pharoah's heart so that he wouldn't believe. God didn't want pharoah to believe or he knew that Pharoah would never believe. So he used the situation to convince others that he was the most powerful God and that ultimately Pharoah would give in and give up. 

At times I have crazy dreams, and some of them are frightening. I can't make sense of them because they are non-sensicle in general. I often see things in my sleep; to creepy, crawly creatures like spiders and other things I just cannot explain. I wonder if they are demonic forces trying to attack me because I am a child of the King. I know they can't hurt me because of this, but I still know they are real. The demonic magic or "dark arts" are tools of the devil because he is trying to do everything in his power (and he has some) to get humanity to turn their back on God. He hates God so he hates us believers. Calling them mythical does it an injustice because it's saying you don't believe in evil. Also, just because something scares you or is unpleasant, it doesn't mean it's any less real. 

It makes me think of this verse, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph 6:12. 

Micah asks what the point is in contemplating all of this when I am protected and I am a believer. It's fascinating to me because the more I understand about all of this, the more I can wake up from my sleep and kick the devil in the teeth. 

I'm on God's side - the one who does perfect magic and he is all powerful. But I'm human and live in the world that is controlled by evil forces, and so I struggle. 

Update and feelings on shame

Update and feelings on shame 

This is the second most recent family photo we have taken, and it's already 2 years old! It's been forever since I've written in this blog. 4 years actually. A year feels like a month; my life is quickly passing me by. I struggle to hold on to Jesus and hold on to the all the good, because He is good. Life may not be good, but He is good. The last post I talked about losing my dog Luna. I still think of her and every now and then call my new dog "Luna." Our new dog is named Indy Rose. She has these adorable ears that stand up naturally. She is loud and is barky. As much as I wanted a calm dog, I somehow attract the ones who are snippy and demanding. When we have people over, she barks at them quite a bit and then finally calms down. She barks at me to let her out. And sometimes she just barks when she is excited and needy. She does have another bad habit of being naughty and getting into our bathroom trash and spreads the trash around. She wants more attention than I can give her at the present life stage. She also does this really annoying thing and hunts the grasshoppers in our backyard and eats them. She doesn't get the nasty crickets; she gets the big honkin grasshoppers. The ones who are big as a small pet. I think those are respectable due to their size and should live. So whenever I see one of those in her mouth, I take them out and yell at her to drop it. She listens to me most of the time. The other disgusting habit she has is to express her anal glands in my car on road trips. It smells like rotten fish and will make you find your gag reflex real quick. So whenever we go on a road trip, we have to bring baby wipes and air freshener. It's so much fun! 

We also have a cat named Ally. We rescued her and one of her kittens. Her kitten who we named Alex died last year from a physical deformity. He had concave ribs. I found him lying in the grass by the hay bale one afternoon when he didn't come when I called him. And Ally, she disappeared for a two months and magically appeared again around Christmas time. She is a ninja. I've decided I like cats in my old age. I'm definitely not who I used to be.