“Habits can sometimes be rooted so deep we feel it’s impossible to change… sometimes they are impossible, but with God ALL THINGS ARE MADE POSSIBLE…” -QO
Habits – Good or Bad?
There are good habits and bad habits, but how do we determine whats good and what’s bad?
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” -Isaiah 5:20
In this world, we are in the time where people say what we knew to be evil is good and what we knew to be good is now evil, we are in the age where people have clouded truth and see it skewed. We speak tolerance for the right to have our own way and yet show hatred for anyone who thinks differently, our world is falling apart but we feel its getting better… when will the calm come before the great storm?
I recently heard a sermon that spoke on Good habits and that The Eternal created us to go in patterns, to create and go through habits, but the thing is we can form good or bad habits.
We are given instruction on how to form good ones, the follow good patterns instead of the wrong ones, but those ways are rejected even though it is proven time and again that HIS WAYS ARE GOOD. Down to science and human behavior, the things God said to us from the beginning are being proven today to be right and true, it is the way we can be BETTER, more HAPPY and more of what mankind was always meant to be… Yet we reject wisdom and we cling to the foolish ways of the world that is ruled by another god we rather serve than the True one who actually loves us.
“Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice?” -Proverbs 8:1
We cry out for a better way but do not want it when given to us, we want to do things our own way and we act like the boy who cried wolf, we pretend to be a victim of a known enemy but when it does come, we will know the truth of the cost of our actions. We don’t believe that punishment will truly come, but it will and there will be ‘Weeping and gnashing of teeth ‘
“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drinks of the cup. For he who eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we wound judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” 1Corinthians 11: 28 -31
We need to look at ourselves and examine our own hearts, to see what it is that is making our souls so sick and tired, we have gone away from what is right, forming bad habits, following the bad patterns of the world, justifying our choices and then weeping because we are unhappy. Good patterns in our lives are hard to see because we don’t make them, because we find them too hard and too against our nature as if our nature is good. But who ever said that our nature was something good? Your happy life coach? A youtuber? person on TV? A famous person? A pastor who says just give me money and you will receive blessings?
The Eternal gave us everything we need, we are to seek truth for ourselves to the best of our ability, examine ourselves, form good habits according to the Word and run the race to the best of our abilities. We need to start listening to our original Coach, the one who knows us better than we know ourselves. So what are the things we should do? Here are just a couple of things promoted in the Bible:
Eat right & Exercise; Our bodies our our temples in which we are to treat well to the best of our abilities. Eat what was meant for us to eat and stop gambling with your health just because you want something and if you have the chance to walk a little further to the office or store go ahead and do it, do some stretches to loosen those muscles and relax your body, make the habit of taking some deep breaths to get oxygen to your brain and muscles. It will promote being less stressed and feeling a little better. Do what you can and when you can just move!
Watch what you absorb; we need to fill our minds with pleasant things, wholesome and good. Which is hard in this day and age so start with trying to avoid the stuff you know you shouldn’t be watching/reading and listening too (you know what)
Spend time with your first love; just like any relationship worth anything we need to take time out for the ones important in our lives, God being #1. start with taking a couple minutes out the morning and before bed, then slowly add time. A small prayer while going to work or school, a small conversation about how your feeling in a moment of being overwhelmed, The Lord is always there so He won’t miss anything.
Love on others; God is many things and Love is a big part… He wants you to first Love Him and then Love everyone else! Something as simple as giving a smile to a stranger, holding a door open for someone, letting a friend or loved one dump on you without wanting anything in return. Small things add up and keeping a good attitude about it all matters a lot, it shows love and the more you do the easier it will be and the habit will form and in this you will find yourself feeling better.
One of the things the sermon I heard talked about was replacing bad habits instead of just trying to stop them. Because we need habits, just not the wrong ones… we should just take the negative away and fill in the spot with positive. Replace something bad with something good.. it’s hard and a process, but we are given will power for a reason, it all starts with your mind set… Decided to do something, decided to change, ask God for help and then get started. He will help you when you get weak, as long as you let Him, I guarantee it. Trust me I’m working on it myself and it’s hard, but whats different this time around is that I know that I’m going to get through this because I’m giving my struggle to my Lord and He is fighting for me even when I feel like I won’t make it. But I’m not sitting back and letting Him do all the work, I’m getting right into the grime with him, I’m putting in the effort. If you so desire He will do the same for you.
Self care is not suppose t be selfishness, caring for yourself also is selfless as you are making sure you are alright to help others, but there is a fine line to walk and having a guideline really helps out, question is who do you listen to in order to have the best outcome of self-love and self sacrifice? “~QO
Self Care;
Bible vs the world
I hear a lot about Self Care now a days
and it has become painfully apparent that The worlds version of self
care and God’s is very different, and yet both seem misunderstood.
Though I will admit now, I can only
interpret from the things I’ve experienced, seen and have come to
understand in my own life and those around me, as I am still growing
and learning in my own belief system according to my personal moral
code based on what I understand about scripture.
“Uh oh, that ice cream is looking
at you… go ahead, life is better when nothing is stopping you…”
that is part of a radio commercial I’ve
been hearing for the past couple of weeks when listening to podcasts
and music online. My mind always goes to… “Life is better?” how
is life better when things can’t stop you?
Alright you might be wondering why I
would say that, because everyone talks about not letting things stop
you and keep fighting til you win… Thing is I believe everything
has a balance, if someone is trying t stop you from going into a
construction site then maybe they should, maybe they cud save you
from pain r even death, or maybe the simple stop sign can protect you
from causing someone else serious harm, In a more heavier reason what
if The Eternal is trying to stop you from making a huge mistake?
In some things it is true that it would
be better if nothing was stopping you, if I’m low on gas and I notice
that the station on the corner has spots open and the price is low I
am more than happy if I have no place I need to be in a hurry, it
would be great that nothing is stopping me from my goal of filling
up, or I’m very hungry and my food arrives, I am pleased I have
nothing to hold me back from taking my food and getting ready to have
a delightful munching session… but that does not mean that
everything is better?
In this life we will have trails and
struggled, but The eternal says that these very things give us
character, makes us stronger, tougher… So that when other trials
come along then we can deal with them accordingly.
We have a lot of trains that come
through my area, and when I began driving I became very aware that
there was a lot more trains than I realized, because the tracks go
through between my block and the block over where all the stores and
businesses I normally go to are, traffic would be backed up for a
mile or so sometimes, more often when a train stopped at a crossing.
When you have a train stopping you from your destination it is very
irritating, and very inconvenient and over time the city finally
contracted to have a viaduct put in so traffic could go under the
train tracks… Am I glad this obstacle is out of the way? Yes, I am
very much, but I am also glad for the experience of having to deal
with that during my early years of driving because I learned to be
more aware of hearing the trains, I have learned to remember to keep
a good distance between myself and the driver ahead of me incase I
need to turn out and around, I have learned to prepare myself
mentally for ‘obstacles’ and not get angry or enraged because
something blocked me from my goal… it would pass and even if it
didn’t I could turn my wheel and turn back and go back down another
road I know will take me to the same destination.
I know I know, what does any of this
have to do with self care? Well I believe a part of self care is not
avoiding trials and obstacles, but to be willing to teach yourself
how to face and overcome the things that do stand in your way,
sometimes good things can come from it if you really try.
Self Care – Be careful of what you
consume
Which of the following to you falls
under Self Care?
a. Eating whatever you want, you only
live once
b. Constantly going on diets, you got a
weight in mind to get too
c. Watch your eating habits and get in
shape, Healthy body goal
d. Starve yourself, its the quickest
way to get results
The World tends to make it seem this is
a hard choice, though all sorts of media like music, movies and the
like, but when you add in Self care in a biblical view, then C would
be the obvious choice, because God had done more than enough to try
to help us know how to take care of ourselves and yet we tend turn
away from those very things for the sake of our own human nature.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying
that we can’t splurge here and there, and just watch what we eat. I’m
not saying we are all supposed to me super small and/or muscle bound,
but we should have goals to take care of our bodies.
Did you know that it’s proven that what
God said not to eat is actually not good for us? God gave a
particular diet that isn’t super hard to keep too, and not only was
it for us but for the earth as well… The Eternal had a purpose for
every creature he created that helps the world go round, but we as
human’s messed with the ‘Natural order’ and thus many illnesses,
diseases and defects due simply from what we eat while the world
tries to make it as if ‘We made it okay now’
How can we care for ourselves if we
aren’t even willing to do what is right for ourselves or each other?
Food is not the only thing we have to
be careful of when it comes to products to consume, going back to the
commercial, it in itself is harmless… but not to everyone, reason?
It’s not alone and there are many out there who fall prey to the
message it sends out, shaping the mind process of those who don’t
understand the influence that is behind everything we see, listen and
interact with.
“Things are better when nothing is
stopping you”
This tag line was decided upon because
it was determined to be the best thing for the company, the
commercial was designed so that it would get people to buy the
product… Have you ever thought about the time, energy and money a
company puts into a single commercial? And why do that do that?
Because they know not only will they get the money back from sales,
but make a huge profit because the people they hired are ‘
professionals’. These tag lines and jingles are meant to stick in
your head and persuade you this way or that by appealing to the human
nature already in you to buy, take, eat, wear, use things that you
probably don’t need or even wanted before it was put out there.
Though this is it’s main focus one has to come to understand there
another function these ‘Covet makers’ have, one that maybe even the
creators of this tag aren’t aware of… These messages, along with
many other simulacra messages are swimming around you daily and
can/will affect on your thought process on not just one thing, but
everything.
I know, some of you will say “I don’t
let message affect my choices” but truth is there are hundreds of
companies out there who hire professionals to get their messages to
affect your choices on the daily and how do these professionals stay
in business? Their methods work. I feel it’s foolish to think just
because we didn’t buy one product or another, that our minds can’t be
affected in other ways, because when we come down to it, what is the
main messages we get as a whole?
Want what you don’t have and do
whatever you need to in order to get it”
Is
that really a good message? Does this promote self care by getting in
debt or believing that things, money and attention is going to bring
you eternal happiness? I’m sorry but I have a hard time believing the
World has my best interest at heart, I’m not saying there aren’t
people out there who do, but as a whole… I think selfishness is
what is behind most motives and it is part of a vicious cycle of
teaching and learning to be selfish.
Self-Care: Be careful of who you
listen too
Our minds are designed to absorb,
filter, dump and sort all the information we receive; in this age we
are getting fed information constantly, combined with most of us not
getting enough sleep… that means our brains are getting overloaded
with info we can’t properly process or be aware of every little piece
and where it goes in our mind. Thus why It was told to us that we
should stay in the word daily, we need a hard-line that we can
consciously and subconsciously base the information we receive and
help our brains place it in the right area. So coming back to the
issue of Self care… The worlds standard of self care varies from,
“Do whatever you want, whenever you want” idea which isn’t self
care at all, it is a selfish driven motive that will most likely end
very badly for you; to “Be healthy, be careful of what you do, eat
right, take care or yourself and time away from the everyday bustle”
which is basically what God asks us to do in the first place.
Many people may feel that the bible is
all about restriction and servitude to a mean God who just wants us
to do what He says for no real reason but to order us around, while
many others think Christ is all about Love yourself and Love others,
do whatever you want because He covered everything when he died…
Sounds a lot like contradictions which isn’t possible when it comes
to God.
God is Love, but He is also just and
can be Stern only out of love, He made the world to work in a
particular way but we ‘His creations’ wish to do things our own way
thinking we can do it better,
Parent: I am trying to keep you from
making a huge mistake and getting hurt
Child: You could never understand, You
don’t know anything!
“Out of the way Old man, your
obsolete” Is practically what we are saying when we take our own
interpretation; take out or change meanings to His word and then
teach others to do the same (btw God help those who do this, because
according to what I’ve read some bad things are waiting for those who
go down that road) God had everything EXACTLY the way it was meant to
be, He covers everything and He even taught us how to correctly do
‘self care’ and that’s by listening to Him, our creator; Master of
all things; Being of extraordinary might, insight and unlimited and
incomparable understanding who DESIGNED us. Yet we think we know
better 😛
Everything God has told us to do has
only been to help us, from what not to eat (studies have shown why)
to taking the Sabbath days off (again, studies show why this is a
benefit) To study, being faithful to our spouse, waiting until
marriage, eating and drinking in moderation, and many other things
that we as humans DO NOT like to do and most of the world promotes
against, even though there are plenty of studies and clear reasons
why these are GOOD things to follow to better care for ourselves,
each other and our planet.
Parent: Eat your veggies, I gave them
to you for a reason
Child: But I don’t WANT veggies, I want
something sweet… you don’t love me!
I am not saying that we can’t discern
right and wrong, in fact God promotes us to USE the minds given to
us, He gives us choices, wants us to learn and become depended only
on Him, he gave s the tools to do so but instead of using a hammer to
hammer a nail down, we tend to use this really hard piece of wood
that we think will do just as good… After a while that wood method
is going to prove to not be the better tool and you might end up
getting you or another person hurt in the process.
So my point is this, Self care is a
good thing but it needs to be done right, figure out who you want to
listen too in how to go about it. Don’t ignore what the world says,
pay attention! Because that’s how you can know what is going on and
be more aware of what people are trying to sell you.
Pay $50 more for something that really
cost’s $10 because it has a name on it is not reasonable, what’s less
reasonable is selling yourself short to people who couldn’t care less
about you instead of following the one who loves you more than you
could ever understand… Which road will you take? Be sure its the
race you feel is worth running.
“Sometimes the path we choose can be terrifying, and then sometimes the path could be the wrong one, but whatever is to happen, fear must not grip us… we must look to be calm and trust that with effort,trust and hope, we can find our way,” ~QO
If we choose to stop running from things that seem to come up out of nowhere and scare the mess out of us, we will find it takes a lot of bravery. I picture myself walking a path that seems to grow darker and darker,or I’m driving down a road for so long with no signs and I begin to wonder if I missed a turn. I know the last sign showed me I was on the right path, but after a long time I begin to wonder anyways.
“did I miss a sign?” “Was there a path I was supposed to take that I forgot about?” I’ve dealt with this before and it’s terrifying, but then you see a sign that said “destination 39 miles” you take a breath and relax.
Now-a-days I have my (mostly)trusty GPS, there are also way more rest stops and landmarks on the road to reassure I am going the right direction when we go on a trip. We don’t have to pull over and look at the map anymore just to make sure we didn’t miss something and we can be in the safety of a vehicle… But life isn’t quite like that is it.
When we go forward in our walk of Life we don’t always have signs pointing us in the right direction, we don’t have a trusty GPS but we do have a map(The Bible), and like a map we have to learn how to use it… if we don’t it’s just a big piece of paper with different color squiggly lines with numbers and names on it, and the bible is the same. Just going to church, listening to a preacher speak is not going to equip you for life… reading sayings and reminders, listening to songs or just praying is not going to keep you on the right path unless you have all the instruments you need and you know how to use them yourself, you don’t have that then you best believe you’re gonna get lost.
How many of us are lost today? Perhaps you were on the right path and suddenly you realize something isn’t right and you did actually miss a turn, what do we do? Well just like driving a distance you DO NOT panic. You gotta pull over, accept the fact you are not going to get to your destination as smoothly and quickly as you had hoped and start the process of figuring how to get back on the right path.
“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things you have. For HE Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” Heb 13:5
Hebrews 13 talks about how we should conduct ourselves in a God-like direction and such, but easy I like about the above verse is that it reminds us we are NOT alone, God is with us and won’t abandon us. The bible is the best map you can have, though many misread it and reinterpret it for their own purposes, many who “Pose as ministers of light” will use these very same scriptures to mislead and point us in the wrong direction, some are even mislead themselves…
We can not allow ourselves to be fooled
by those we think should show us the Way, only Christ can show us and
only when we pray, read and learn for ourselves can we hope to have
our eyes opened and go in the right direction. The bible says “The
great dragon[Satan] was hurled down…who leads the whole world
astray…” Yes we have a real adversary who is swift and cunning,
he is a dragon, a powerful serpent who we can not take for granted.
He knows how man works, he knows how to place fear in us, he knows
how to misdirect, not just a few people, but the whole world… The
only way to defeat him and not be pulled into the lie of his tongue
with the masses is to draw close to the Lord and His truth… for
only the truth can truly set us free of the death that grips us tight
and place us in the sweet bondage of our savior and Lord who loves us
entirely.
So let us take a step aside from where we are, and just make sure we are on the right path, lets do this often so to be sure we are not deceived by signs that are not even real.
I have been led astray many times, and I slip and fall on a regular bases due to having fallin so far down a mud pit after making a bad turn. For a long time i didn’t have any hope to come back out of that pit, but then after a while I looked up to see my Lord standing there, holding out his hand; however I rejected it, knowing how muddy and dirty I was; how could I touch Him? One so holy and beautiful? But He did not leave or get angry, he crouched down and held his hand out again. I knew I wasn’t worthy, but then he reminded me that I am not past saving, I went through what I did because I made the wrong choices, now he was there to help me start making right ones.
It’s a struggle, but because of Him I am still here, still fighting; He gives me a hope that I can not explain or fully express. What I can say is that fear has tried to overcome me, but when that happened, Christ placed people in my life that would help me be braver. I’m still standing and still making my way to a better place, still on my path and I will keep going until it’s time for me to sleep and wait for my savior to return.
“You can choose to think one way and fight to not let anyone change it no matter what comes, or you can choose to expand your mind and seek truth so that no matter what comes to challenge what you think, you’ll know the Truth and there’s nothing that can change it”
(This is a older post i did not submit, i am sorry for taking so long to post here, life has proven to be challenging once again but i am trying to yet again get back on that horse)
Mind Set
Mindset… I remember being told that things can come across very different in the bible if we look at it in a ‘Eastern’ mindset rather than a ‘Western’ Mindset, The understanding of some things would change and I realize that maybe the reason why God gave us a complete history lesson in the Hebrew Culture in the Old Testament might have something to do with viewing His words in a different Mindset.
Now I’m not looking to change my religion to Judaism or anything, because that’s not Christianity. God said He is the God of the Israelite and the Gentiles, meaning we are set apart but so are they. However this made be think about my own mindset… How I view things everyday and why.
Things happen to us as we live our lives, things that affect our view points rather it be good; bad; truths or lies. Sometimes those viewpoints contradict what God tells us and maybe even pushes us to want to step away from His words. Culture, Life experiences, the way we are raised, these all have impacts on our lives but The Eternal tells us to seek TRUTH… Meaning not to go by what we think but what we can find out to be True.
We come across things we ‘think’ are true, but we can’t be sure until we test them. I know I have tested a few things, but many of them I never really had an issue in believing, but when it comes to the things that I have believed in for a long time with non-budging change, those are the tough things to test and challenge. So I have been attempting to do so… and it is so very hard. I now understand what people mean wheb they say ‘ they are stuck in their ways’ because getting unstuck is always a struggle and not many are willing to change.
This blog is a short one, forgive me for not posting for a while As this is a blog that is my journey in growth and understanding, It is life and things do step in the way and cause inconsistencies and I apologize for that. I thank you for taking time to read this and liking my posts, each one means a lot to me.
I
am going to continue to seek truth, to turn my mind more on the Lord
and seek truth in doing so, to find my way and get on the path The
Eternal has set for me, and as I do I will share my thoughts in the
process.
“Today in spite of what pain I face, I choose to Trust The Eternal Father, for no matter what may become of me, I am His and He loves me more than I could ever comprehend”
Love is patient… I have forgotten that little fact that makes a big impact in my life in trying to follow The Lord. I forget that God The Father and God The Son, LOVES me… with a love that surpasses all understanding. So when I fail, when I fall short and feel like there is no gaining my footing again, The one who created me is right there; He is coaching me to stand up again and is not going to leave me due to disappointment.
God is patient… Christ said if you have seen me then you have seen The Father. Christ was the embodiment of what The Eternal is like, He is Loving; just; merciful… He wants nothing more than for us to reach our true potential for what He created us for.
The world is heading down the edge of a cliff, and to me thats pretty much the biggest sign of patience anyone could have, to allow us to run around, ‘doing our own thing‘ hoping that most of us will come to our senses before He has to ‘catch’ us.
It says in God’s word that before we completely destroy the world and each other, He’s gonna step in and thats it… play time is over, the time and reign of Satan and our selfish human nature will come to an end and He’s gonna bring His Kingdom down to start a new era as it has meant to be. Can’t say He didn’t give us a chance
Trusting God has been a difficult thing in my later years in life, why? I tend to think it is because I have been eatting more of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thus my sight of The Eternal has gotten further from the truth, I’ve belittled My Father and Elder Brother. In spite of what I’ve seen and witnessed as a child growing up, having no doubt at all… I still became short sighted and lost trust because I stopped believing the ‘impossible’ and started lean on ‘reality’.
THE ETERNAL IS THE GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE!!!
As children its easier for us to believe in the impossible, unfortunately many use this to their advantage and cause those very children to stop believing, to stop trusting. Many have experianced Childhood trama which in turn often destroys trust in things or people. We can say “how could anyone tramatize a child?” Well its more than likely because they were done the same way or something convinced them this was fine… in short Sin isn’t something that only affects some of us, it affects us all… its a illness, some its is more obvious than others but we all have it, but it is up to us to battle it and our best weapon is The Lord.
Having Trust is hard to do for most adults, we see the world, we know how people can be… we get hurt by those close to us and we forget how to trust, but it is not impossible with God to learn to trust Him, not with just what we think He can handle, but with everything. Because He does love us and He wants us to Trust Him.
“Forgiving isn’t always easy, but it is always rewarding for the soul” ~QO
There are so many sides to forgiveness that people don’t seem to acknowledge. So many times I hear it as if it’s like there is this simple steps to forgive and yet for anyone who actually knows, there is so much more to it than that.
The bible is a book that you can not
just pick and choose things out of, there are pieces that fit within
each other all over the book and if you don’t understand one part you
might miss the understanding in another.
When the question is posed, “How many times should I forgive someone?” and the answer is there really isn’t a limit, as a believer in The Eternal we are to always forgive a person, but in hearing this we don’t always hear another part to this… ‘We need to be like little children’ and how do little children act once they forgive a person? In my experience after there is forgiveness it never comes up again, it’s put in the past and everyone is happy.
Now for us as we get older it is harder to do this, we put in other components such as:
‘Well if they did this once they could do it again’
‘they hurt me and I need justice, so I need to hurt them’
we even justify it :
‘I need to teach them to never do this to someone else’
‘I need to make sure they (and everyone else) I’m no victim and they never dare mess with me again’
‘If I let them get away with this, it’ll be like telling people they can get away with it!’
I am not saying to roll over and let people get away with murder, and I’m not saying to turn a blind eye to wrong things that were done to you, but these things should not get in the way of you forgiving someone.
Forgiving someone isn’t about weather or not they will be punished, because lets face it; not every circumstance will allow you to be justified or even stop them from doing it again. But forgiveness isn’t for them, its for you and as The Eternal’s children we have to give our battles up to Him; allow Him to take care of that person in a way HE see’s fit, because trust me… Our Father cares and though He loves us all, He does get angry with a righteous anger and will allow punishment even if we may never see it.
We can get in the way of God’s plans if we decided to take things in our own hands, and the bible says ‘Make room for His wrath’ and if you think about it, if we decide to be angry forever who is that really hurting? We could and will end up missing out on some major happiness that Our God has in store for us, and what we can do is nothing compared to what The Lord can do.
Think of Jonah, when he could have been rejoicing in the fact that such an evil nation repented and he gained hundreds of new brothers and sisters in the Lord; he instead went away and waited in hoped to see them all get burnt up; he had absolutely no love for these ‘barbarians’ and then was pissed because they chose to follow the Lord and in turn were spared God’s wrath… He cared more about a weed (his own comfort) than human beings who had to deal with the guilt of all the evil they had done in their ignorance. That isn’t to say Jonah was a bad guy at all, but his attitude did not reflect one suiting of a prophet or in that matter a follower of God; he allowed hatred to be in his heart because of what the people had done; how they lived when all the while God knew and He gave them a chance; The Lord forgave them of their sinful natures and offered them understanding just as He does for us, so who are we to really condemn others when we don’t honestly know their hearts?
Sometimes people do bad things and just don’t realize the real darkness of what they do, then sometimes people do know what they are doing and just want to hurt others for whatever reason; maybe they were hurt and are just lashing out. The danger comes when we could end up just like them… Hurting others because we ourselves are hurting, because of what others have done and we couldn’t forgive and let go.
Forgiving someone is not a sign of weakness, it is quite the opposite because it’s easier to be mad at someone; to be consumed by hatred than it is to let something go.
Forgiving isn’t condoning what another has done, it is allowing yourself to start healing from what they have done.
Forgiving is not forgetting… When I look down at my foot, though its healed from an injury and doesn’t show any signs of the pain that was once there, I still remember what happened and I still remember the day; the moment it got injured and how long it took to heal… but I am okay with it now, it is in the past and I will remember what I can do to avoid it ever happening again, but I don’t dwell on it; it doesn’t anger me; I’m just more prepared and more knowledgeable of how to go about things the next time.
Because wounds are apart of life, this life; and we can be assured that people will always be around to hurt us now, rather they mean to or not. We will get hurt by people we care about and we will hurt others, but the better we equip ourselves in the ways of the Lord and learn to fight HIS way, the better life will be for us. Pain is part of the process but trials build character.
Now, why have I decided to talk about this? Because I have been reminded just how important it is to forgive. Like others, I have found that though I had believed I had forgiven I had not; I had only pushed it into the back of my mind and since I didn’t have to face this hurt I had believed I had gotten past it; that is until it was put into my face again and I had to deal with the fact I hadn’t let it go. I not only left it in the back of my mind to rot, but I had allowed that hurt to morph into something very unhealthy. One of the problems was the fact I never talked about it, I never told anyone how much I had been hurt; I had not shared my hurt in order to fully forgive… instead I gave excuses and tried to forget what happened, but forgiveness is very important my friends; it may not seem like it is a big deal; maybe you tell someone and they look at you weird because it hurt you; but no one else has walked in your shoes, no one else understands your mind except one… And that is Our Lord.
So first understand that its okay to be upset, it’s natural and it is human. The bible says there is a time for everything, you just have to make sure that time does not linger. BE ACTIVE, BE INTENTIONAL. You have to face this hurt, acknowledge that you are hurt and then pray, pray for guidance in the next steps in order to forgive the one who hurt you.
Read scripture, speak to those who are of faith for encouragement and express yourself in a health way. Faith takes work and so does forgiveness… It may not seem fair, but trust me… you will gain from it and you may even be able to help others in the trials of their own lives. Have faith that The Father hears you, sees you, that you mean something great to Him, have faith He can use your pain for His glory and trust that He will take care of everything, all you have to do is work to forgive and view this as an opportunity to grow stronger in our God
“There is nothing to great or too small to go to our Father about… sometimes we feel as though we are being foolish and it is pointless to pray about matters we should be able to handle, but it isn’t foolish; it’s amazing and a gift we at times take for granted”
P.U.S.H. was a thing for a while, Pray Until Something Happens, but there was always more to that. Praying is a simple thing, however at the same time it isn’t, because there is more to it than just saying words.
The Eternal knows our hearts, when you really think about that fact it makes prayer; at least for me; more amazing. The Holy spirit (The helper sent by God and Christ) can translate our prayers and send them out to The Lord… Then our prayers are carried by a messenger who at times can be slowed down. That’s crazy to think about and sometimes you might feel like, “oh this prayer is way too small”, however if there were such a thing as too small of a prayer, then I doubt they would be answered right?
There have been times when I lose my glasses, I am going to be late for work and I just can’t think. So I stop and pray, “Lord please, calm my heart and help me remember” I have issues with my memory and sometimes if I do something off routine it becomes a big deal for me, it affects my mood, my day and when something happens where I need to remember something important to me or someone depending on me I could just start to lose it.
Just like a real parent (Which He is), when He helps me remember I realize that what’s important to me is important to Him, which gives me hope when a bigger prayer I’ve prayed hasn’t been answered, because I know at least if He heard my small prayer, He has heard my bigger one and there is a reason why it has yet to be answered.
So I pray… though lately I realized I have slowed this down, my mind hasn’t been on the Lord as much as it should and it came into a realization recently since my mother took on a role as a prayer warrior. She would remind me to pray and when I do, there is a difference… no matter if the prayer is answered in a way I expected or not, I feel better because I know I am heard by a Loving Father and Brother; I know that He knows my heart and no matter if I can’t really figure out what it is I need, Christ our High Priest will pass it in a way that is needed. I just need to do my job and use this resource given to me, because it does work and It does matter, because I matter to HIM and so do you.
“Being Strong in this world can break you quite easily, but being strong in the Lord will give you rest…” – QO
Being strong isn’t something The Eternal seems to really promote from what I understand, at least not in the sense of how the world views ‘true strength’… “The Eternal resists the proud” that’s been ringing in my head for a few weeks now and I really have to rethink my way of thinking in this area.
In the past, I would sing songs in church that would talk about how we are to be weak in The Lord so HE can be strong, to allow Him to fight our battles and to lean into His arms of mercy and grace. I understood what those songs meant back then and yet somehow I have forgotten that and I have forgotten how to be weak in Him; I have to fight against this thinking of ‘I got this‘ then when I see a challenge and start going to HIM to help me… Because lets face it, we can’t go through a trial without changing and its up to us rather or not we Let our savior help us come out changed in the right way or go at it alone and know that even if we make it out the other side, it will be far worse than it would have been if we had someone watching our back.
Lately I have felt like I have been drug through coals in my life for a long time, every time I get up and get pulled and I’m right back on the ground again… but this is actually a good thing; because I have come to realize I can’tdo this alone; If I didn’t go through this then I wouldn’t have started looking up to find Christ right there, waiting for me to take His hand which i had let go of.
I am starting to feel stronger in my weakness, and I know that it’s because The Lord is with me, He is answering my prayers and helping me understand how to be weak in a world that pushes you to be stronger than you are.
We all break, that is just how it is… We are humans and we break, our minds; our hears; our bodies; our souls… they break from the burden of the world, The Eternal knew this when He made us; in this we are made to look to Him, to trust, lean on and depend on Him so that we don’t have to break, we can be cared for, healed and recreated to do what we are created to do, to serve and help one another in this life, not to say ‘I need to fight for myself‘ but ”who is it I can fight for?‘ and when things become hard, when we find ourselves heavy laden, we need to take off that yoke and give it to our elder brother and take His, for it is light.
Seek The Lord with all you’re heart, mind and soul; rest in Him and allow Him to ease your weary soul. Cast your fears and worried upon The Eternal and place your burdens down at His feet and rest in His Mercies ~QO
“Surviving and Thriving are different from each other, just trying to get through the day shouldn’t be the mindset of a follower of The Most High, we should be looking forward to what opportunities can be brought in the new day we’ve been blessed with, to be more intentional with how we choose to live…” -QO
Living
with Intent
I
walk about day by day, doing the same routine and usually feeling
quite tired of it. Sometimes I think to myself, ‘This isn’t how my
life should be’ and I know that it really isn’t. Not that I shouldn’t
be ‘Here’ in my situation, but ‘here’ in this mindset of life. I
shouldn’t be trying to get through the week just so that I can get
some actual rest on the weekend, I shouldn’t be just letting my days
pass by and not ‘living’ for something, I should be living more for
God and that means living with intent.
I
listen to a lot of people’s problems, I hear them with an open mind
and try to give them some hope, I try to remind or let them know that
God is there, that things can get better; but they need to be active;
they need to be intentional; to not give up, and I need to do the
same.
Life
is full of problems and the world likes to make them seem far worse
than they are, it likes to push us until we break while acting like
our friend, but God doesn’t teach us what the world teaches; He
doesn’t want us to look at our own lives with disgust and to be
unsatisfied, He does not teach us that we need to waste our time on
meaningless endeavors that we think will define us and make us set
apart… We are already set apart, we just need to realize that we
don’t need the world for what we crave and lack; we need The Father
and His ways; He gives us the tools to combat the flaming arrows of
this world and even from our own nature.
A
way to think about it is this, If you get acid re-flux, You can take
pills to combat the issue temporarily so you can keep eating the
things your body is rejecting, slowly causing damage every time you
forget to take you’re pill or if you take it too late; or you can
change you’re diet completely, eat healthier and not only save your
body from unnecessary damage and hardship, but also reap benefits of
feeling better in general; however It’s not easy to give up something
we like or are used too; even when we know what the benefits are; we
rather go with the compromise and deal with the consequences later
and then moan about those when they come about…
Why
do we want to live this way? Well the sin of our nature makes us do
illogical things, but I don’t want to live like that anymore; I don’t
want the people I care for to live like that; and it’s hard to
change. If I am going to start living with intent and be an example
then I have to do things I don’t want to do, I’m going to have to
force myself to do better; there will be benefits to this and as long
as I choose to follow God and to changing my habits; my thinking and
sacrificing my current way of living; I know if this is the way The
Great Eternal wants me to go then He will help me. This is going to
be a bumpy and hard road, but I will have to press forward if I want
anything to change.
“When you spend you’re life doing things one way, it is less than simple to change… it comes down to a choice and then doing the actions that follow along with that choice” -QO
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve last posted, I knew when I started this blog that things were going to try and shift my focus away from writing this, just as it has in the past; but I am choosing to listen to what I believe I should do.
My mom has been working on ‘Listening’ to The Holy Spirit that The Eternal God grants His followers, and though it’s hard; she has been working on it more and it has given her more clarity and calmness than she has had in a very long time. I want that, I had that at a time; but I allowed things in this world pull me from that and now here I am, my mind struggling against the very thing that wants to help me.
As mom always says, “If The Lord wants to get something through to you, He can use the book ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ to do it…”
Well He didn’t use Green eggs and Ham, but He has been using people in my life; as He usually does. I don’t really believe in coincidences, I believe that things; most things, happen for a reason. More so, certain people (Or even animals) coming into ones life; either to help you; teach you or test you. Now I know the Lord Himself does not tempt us, but that doesn’t mean that He won’t use a situation to help teach us by giving us the chance to get out of a situation; to give us hope in it or even to give us a chance to help others.
Over the last few weeks I have been approached by several friends, both old and current; who have come to me with sever issues going on in their lives, coming to me for support; at first it was a bit overwhelming to happen all at once; but then The Eternal spoke to me; I chose to listen.
Through a New friend I was reminded that I am different in good ways, not everyone acts like I do; not everyone cares in the way I do; and maybe this is what God has called me for… Many may find me strange, but I’ve always known I was different; I never fell in a ‘category’ but I need to start thinking about the fact God created me unique just as He created us all special and allows us to have differences which is up to us to use for His glory or for our downfall.
Three times Paul asked for The Eternal to remove the Thorn in his flesh (Ailment) but then he came to realize it was there for a reason, he learned to accept it because it was for his own benefit and others.
My new friend has made me look at myself in a more positive light, I need to stop wanting to be different from what I am and accept all the thing that make me; I need to stop trying to change in ways negative toward myself; I need to stop rejecting myself and start listening to The Spirit given me that I’ve been fighting against.
I am a friend of whom can love on people, even those that I have never met, maybe I am meant to be a friend to many and blessed with a few in return. I have a loving family with whom I have been a help to and they help me, I have a hand full of true friends I can count on that I need to start allowing myself to lean on. I Have a love for wisdom and words, thus I can give over to those who may need just that. I will not become weary of doing good, and I can not allow myself to do so, which means I do need to take better care of myself.
I am choosing to listen to what The Lord has been telling me through His Word, I am choosing to start changing in a positive way that will help me be who I know I can be.
A Writer's Journal 