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The Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. I was among the thousands of people who had their insurance cancelled because it did not qualify under the new law. The President said you can keep your old plan for a year and this week it was reported that there may be another delay which would allow insurers to continue selling insurance plans that would otherwise be banned under the law.” (Fox News 3/4/14) My insurance company is not allowing this extension because they “want to be in compliance with the new law.” (Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan) On their website and emails they are stating that open enrollment ends soon.

It was so complicated to try to figure out which plan would be best for me, Karsten and Collin: Catastrophic? Bronze? Silver? Gold? I printed them all off, laid them on the living room floor, got a legal pad and pen and set to work. How much would this premium cost me for a year? Based on what I think medically will happen this year, how much would I pay out of pocket? Pay a high premium-low deductible or low premium-high deductible?? Yikes

God offers an open enrollment plan for His Kingdom. His plan to become part of His family and receive eternal life has no end here on earth and the requirements don’t keep changing. God make it simple to become a part of His family; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. (John 14:6; Romans 9: 9,10; Acts 4:12; Rev, 8:10)

The requirements are simple:

Repent from our sin (1 John 1:8,9; Acts 2:37,38)
Obedience to follow God’s ways (Matt 7:21; Luke 11:28; 1 John 2:3)

We don’t have to work so we can pay the premiums. Being a good person, going to church or doing good works won’t buy us entrance into God’s kingdom (Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 6:23). Jesus is the one who paid the premium for us once and for all times (1 Peter 1:18,19; Romans 8:1,2) and it’s free! No subsidies needed! God is the only person who offers such an incredible plan (Revelation 8:10; Acts 4:12).

The only similarity between God’s plan and the Affordable Care Act is that all people are accepted. It doesn’t matter your previous condition. God loves and accepts poor people, rich people, tax collectors, prostitutes, women, men, children and sick people (Titus 2:11). His plan is open to all.

God gives us the plan of eternal life and assurance of entry into The Kingdom of God. I’m glad I am a part of His plan. It’s easy to become a participate and it’s free! How about you?

On the journey,

Trish

I couldn’t resist:)

I enjoyed watching the Olympics, especially the figure skaters. They make their sport look so easy and graceful. They smile as they are competing but once off the ice they are panting. It must take a lot of work for them to build up endurance. The athletes discipline themselves to train many hours a day, 7 days a week to be the best at their sport. Yet there is only one winner.

Each of us runs the race of life. Paul tells us that you (plural-not individually) all run in such a way that you (all) will win. Our prize isn’t salvation because that is a free gift from God. We are saved by believing not achieving. Our prize is our heavenly reward. It’s the joy of hearing Jesus say, “Well done!” God blesses us on top of free salvation with temporal and eternal rewards for faithfully serving Him.

How do we run this race to obtain an eternal prize? Serving others, growing through circumstances in our life, prayer, Bible study and worship the one true God. It takes commitment, discipline and self-denial. We can’t sit in the grandstand and observe; or run just to finish instead of winning.

Unlike The Olympic games where there is only one winner per event, each one of us who are Christ followers can win the prize. There will always be someone faster, smarter, stronger than us. That’s okay because each of us is running our own race, with the opportunities God gives us. What we do for Christ will last forever.

Olympians exercise self-control. They don’t fill up on oatmeal fudge bars (my personal favorite) but keep a strict diet. They get proper amounts of sleep each night. Daily they train for their events. They do it to obtain a prize that eventually fades.

We are in a race to accomplish what God put us here for, a race to finish in a way to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:21, 23

How is your race going?

On the journey,

Trish