Beauty in your life- change your thoughts for a positive outlook
Describe one of your favorite moments.
This moment I cherished the most are my children being born, with my daughter, I was allowed to see her once after having her because I almost died. I was being kept of a intensive care unit for 2 weeks’s because my complications were servers.
My son being born, holding my son right after she came out with the vernic caseose still on him, will be engrained in my soul for all time.
The bond I have with my children is my favorite moment in my life.
What notable things happened today?
The most notable things today is cooking the father of my children a special meal. As well as thanking God that He chose us as His children.
Unconfessed sin can damage your soul. It wraps it’s tentacles around every part of our being and becomes a subtle growth until we are paralyzed. A wall goes to between us and God when sin is left unconfessed. Even if our sinning ceases, unconfessed sin will drag us down and back toward the past that we left behind.
Acts 3:19 tells us,
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.“
Repentance must go along with confession for it to work. It’s important to know that we do communion in our home. We don’t have to be at church or need a priest. Jesus came so we can have fellowship with Him always.
It can be done with a piece of bread or tortilla and an ounce of wine or grape juice. Jesus body was broken for you and His blood poured out for your sins. The prayer is in Luke22:19-20. First, say a prayer “Father God thank you for your grace that through your son. I eat this bread in remembrance of your body that was broken for me, I drink this wine/juice in remembrance of your blood that was poured out for me. I ask you to forgive my sins -list sins. At the end say Amen. There are many prayers for communion. Just pray from your heart so that they will not be empty words.
Then begin walking, talking, and acting like a forgiven person after confessing your sins. It’s important to away from those sins you’ve confessed. We can do nothing without God. If you mess up (everyone does) and repeat the sin that you were forgiven confess them again and keep working at it. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect but you need to keep on the right path toward forgiveness.
What are you passionate about?
Passion is what gives our lives purpose. Doing something important brings meaningful use to our limited time.
Over my life, I have had different passions. The passion I have at this period of my life is passion for God. This is probably a given if you’ve read many of my posts.
I was a broken, hurting, messed-up woman, and then God got involved and I was restored. He has done so many miracles in my life, from saving my life when I was an inch from killing myself to curing me of cancer. He is worthy of my unending praise. I will never forget what God has done for me,
Have you ever had a conversation with something that held a wild belief? Their entire worldview is built upon this belief. And they interpret everything through it. Every piece of evidence you present against their view somehow always ends up supporting their view. You cannot convince them otherwise. They’re totally convinced and their conviction is removable.
Sometimes we only want information that will reinforce what we already believe. Sometimes we’re so convinced of our view were not willing to openly engage in new information.
The Pharisees, rejected the evidence of Jesus because they were only willing to consider a Messiah that reinforced what they already believed.
In John 5:30-47, Jesus provides support for His own testimony. First, He cites the testimony of John the Baptist, second He cites His miraculous signs and wonders, third, He cites the testimony of Gods the Father, and lastly, He cites the testimony of the Scriptures. Jesus references human testimony, the testimony of miracles, the testimony of God, and the testimony of His Word.
It’s important for us to frame where this passage lies in the gospel of John. Jesus is still defending His equality with God to the Jews. He went into detail about His relationship with The Father. And then refers to various witness testimonies for additional support.
Jesus’s wraps up this argument by saying He can do nothing on His own and that His judgement between those that will inherit eternal life and those that will be condemned will be perfectly justified. And after articulating His status with the Godhead and pointing to it as His source of authority that He then appeals to what I call additional support.
many people like my father-in-law argue the point that Jesus and the Bible are just made-up stories. If you believe archaeologists and scientists there is more and more proof the every thing in the Bible is true. The walls of Jericho were found, they found evidence of Sodom and Gomorrah. The most preserved and intriguing artifacts were the troves of scrolls in the Dead Sea caves and the Jordan Valley. These scrolls are exceedingly rare finds and very fragile.
At all points to the “stories” or accounts I like to call them are true and real. When you boil it all down that things that matters most is are you trusting in Jesus Christ, so that you can be saved?
Worriers and overthinkers get buried in their obsessive thoughts. Imagine beings in a large made where each turn leads into a deeper tangle of catastrophic, distressing events. If you’re a worrier or over thinker that’s what its like.
Everyone overthinks their lives or options from time to time. Some people however cannot stop the wheels from turning or stop their train of thought.
If you do this or know someone who does. You know it is not a very pretty place to be. It’s a constant monologue of ruminating and worrying.
Ruminating involves replacing a problem over and over in your mind. Obsessing over thoughts and thinking repetitively about various aspects of a past situation.
In involves regret, self-loathing, and self-blaming. It’s associated with the development of depression, anxiety and even eating disorders.
People prone to such patterns of thought may overanalyze every single detail of the situation they are in. They often blame themselves for what happened and are overcome with regret. With typical thoughts like:
“I should have been more patient or supportive.”
“No one will ever love me again.”
Worrying is wanting to predict the future. It involves negative thoughts about things that might and might not happen.
“They will not like me in the job interview, I won’t get the job.”
“I will never be able to pay my bills next month.”
These thoughts are energy-draining and distressing. They could happen to anyone that’s under stress. But when you reach the point where your thoughts and worry are preventing you from doing what you want to do then it’s time to take action.
I have a family member that worries so much that she makes herself physically ill. No amount of worry or overthinking is going to change the situation.
When negative thoughts come or ruminations start, say to yourself: “Stop!!” adding that is more effective when you say the word out loud.
Some people I’ve known have even put a rubber band around their while to ping themselves while saying the word. The main idea is conditioning yourself to stop the loop of worrying (making future predictions) of rumination (obsessing over the past). Consistency is an important key here.
Realizing that thoughts are just thoughts is a way of dealing with negative thoughts. And we can change our thoughts.
When these negative thoughts come up ask yourself:
Fighting anxiety is one example where untrue thoughts are accepted as facts. Air travel is the safest way to get around, but people suffering from fear of flying accept their thoughts and fears as reality and then act upon them by refusing to fly.r
Using mindfulness techniques in which attention is paid to experience in the moment without judging them is a good way to reduce worry. Mindfulness can help us to distance ourselves from our negative thoughts and be more present in the moment.
Studies have shown that mindfulness has a positive impact on reducing stress-related behaviors such a rumination and worrying, as well as panic attacks and anxiety. Focusing on the moment makes anxiety about other problems impossible.
People plagued by obsessive worrying or overthinking do not always choose healthy ways like mindfulness to distract them.
There is a psychologists named Dr Edward Shelby said that people try to avoid rumination by engaging in a range of uncontrollable behaviors, such as binge eating and substance abuse.
But there’s a much better way to overcome any kind of distress by using distraction and shifting attention away from problems that we are obsessing over.
Here are a few ways to distract or distance yourself from the negative thoughts of worrying and overthinking:
The way we perceive a situation largely influences our emotions and behaviors. It is not the situation itself that determines how we feel, but the way we interpret it.
When we reframe our negative thoughts into positive thoughts it leads to positive emotions and healthier behaviors -including a reduction of damaging overthinking and worrying.
We can change the way we think and act by challenging unhelpful beliefs and attitudes such as over-generalization. For instance: I think every time I speak to someone they are going to judge me negatively just as my mother did. I can over-generalize this by imagining the worst possible outcome. When that doesn’t happen it can change my beliefs on how I feel about speaking to others. As I continue to push through my fear of being judged, and the fewer people react to the way I think they will it boosts my confidence to speak to more people.
When I incorporate this technique into my life when I’m stressed about speaking to people the less I will feel overwhelmed with anxiety.
Things aren’t going to change on their own. If you want to change your life, you have to take ownership of them. It won’t be easy but it is worth it –You Are Worth It.
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
My favorite season is Fall. The beautiful colors of leaves, the crispy air. But I believe all seasons have a purpose. As much as I don’t like winter, there is a purpose for it.
It’s interesting to me that the Bible describes seasons differently. Ecclesiastes gives seasons that we face in life. Times of birth, death, weeping, and joy. The Bible shows us that experiencing good and bad seasons in our lives is normal and is to be expected. And we should hold onto our hope in every situation,
Throughout history, scientists have tried to link the seasons to human life cycles and nature’s influence on our lives. Based on our emotions,
By using metaphors or setting details that invoke the appropriate seasons for the emotion heightens the mood.
“Hear my cry, God, listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth, I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” – Psalm 61: 1-2
Psalm 61 was written by King David at a time when he was far from safety. And let’s be honest, many of us can relate to what David was feeling. We all know what it’s like to sit in situations of darkness and wonder if light will ever come.
David knows he can call out to God in prayer. He knows that the only way he can rest and find safety is in the Rock of Salvation.
“For you have been a refuge for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. For you, God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name” – Psalm 61:3-5
In God, David has always found shelter. He has found rest, comfort, and retreat. So why would he not, in his darkest moments, cry out to God who is his “rock,” his hiding place, and his fortress? And as he cries out, David finds comfort in God’s grace and care.
“He shall be enthroned in God’s presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him. So I will sing praise to your name forever, that I may fulfill my vows daily” -Psalm 61:6-8
Sometimes, when our hearts are overwhelmed, all we need to do is cry out to God and ask that in our desperation and fear. God would place us on stable ground. God would comfort us and lead us to safety. God would shelter us and deliver us.
What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?
Americans are so very spoiled with luxuries. They are in abundance. But the luxuries I cannot live without would be bubble baths, candles, and wine. Along with my coffee in the morning in a quiet house.
If humans had taglines, what would yours be?
My tagline would be something that says “Don’t worry about me watch my eyebrows.”
I normally am a very quiet person, but sometimes my face says exactly what I’m thinking or feeling.
The word blessing brings to mind a variety of images for all of us. We say “God bless you” after a sneeze. “You’re so blessed” when life is good,
Blessed is a religious-sounding word that we use a lot. But what does it actually mean?
The Bible refers to blessing as flourishing and the multiplication of life. But it doesn’t always look like these things, and for many of us, life often looks and feels like the opposite.
We look around us and find a broken world filled with suffering, corruption, poverty, and war. We experience chronic illness, family dissension, and addiction. Our minds and bodies endure abuse.
For some, it feels more real to say life is about suffering than life is about blessing. And perhaps there’s a feeling within all of us that something has gone wrong.
The Bible has a name for this kind of and of dysfunction -the curse. In the Bible, the curse is when God hands people over to the consequences of seizing blessings on their own terms. It is a curse because, instead of abundance and life, we end up with scarcity, isolation, and death.
But where did this curse come from?
And is there hope for reversing it?
Origins of the curse
The account of the Bible begins with God bringing life out of darkness, ordering our beautiful earth, and blessing all it’s creatures.
The first blessing is when God creates animals. God blesses the animals, saying to them “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the land.” (Genesis 1:22). God’s blessing is about flourishing and multiplication of life. God shares His life-producing ability with others and invites us to participate with Him in extending the blessings throughout all of creation.
God gives us as humans an additional blessing that sets us apart from the animals. Humans are appointed as God’s representatives to rule over the sea and the entire flourishing world on God’s behalf. (Genesis 1:27-28).
The blessing is conditional, however. We are told that this gift of life and abundance is contingent upon the human’s trusting and following the one divine command: not to eat of the tree of knowing good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). This does not mean God only offers blessings to people who behave well; it simply means that choosing to trust God’s way of life and love is also a choice to enter into the blessing of real life.
This tree represents a decision for humans to trust God’s will or to trust their own. To trust God’s description of good and evil rather than trusting their own. Almost as soon as they face this decision, Adam and Eve encounter a deceptive slithering creature who says they can trust their own instincts more than God’s instruction. In fact, this slithering creature says they should. So they go for it and immediately experience the curse.
The effects of the curse
God grieves as He reminds them about the consequences of their choice. He had already told them that rejection of Him would end in rejection of a spiritual life, which means spiritual death. So He curses the serpent (Genesis 3:14-15), and He curses the ground (Genesis 3:17). Adam and Eve chose the curse of spiritual death instead of the blessing of a spiritual life. Notice that God does not curse Adam and Eve.
Instead, they experience the effects of the curse. Instead of fruitfulness in the land, there will be famine. When to comes to having children, the circumstances with come with pain, and complicated relationships that cause emotional and physical pain. Being fruitful and multiplying will now be filled with suffering such as infertility, jealousy, and sexual abuse. The ability to flourish, multiply, and share God’s life-producing ability with others will not disappear but will be disfigured and marred.
The curse affects the ability to experience the fullness of life and as we choose to distrust God’s direction, we leave life giving blessings in the garden and enter into the realm of curse. And death becomes
But even so, God gives us a promise as He did Adam and Eve. When God curses the deceptive creature who fooled Adam and Eve He declares that His would send someone who will ultimately destroy the creature and the curse. (Genesis 3:15). Death may be inevitable but this promise says it will not be permanent.
Reversing the curse
The curse spreads
Humans are fruitful and do multiply, but they end up multiplying grief, hardship, and violence instead of life. They spread so much death that they soak the ground with the blood of the innocent. (Genesis 4:10, 4:23-24, 6:1-4).
God continues the plan to reverse the curse and restore the blessing to humanity by blessing one family of a man named Abraham (Genesis 12). And Abraham would one day reverse the curse. That human is going to come through Abraham’d family.
Abraham and his family spread blessings to the nations (Genesis 13:1-3), but like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they are also deceived by false blessings. They seize and grab blessings on their own terms (Genesis 16:1-4). Years later, Abraham’s family, now the Israelites, grab a blessing by choosing a man to be king so they can be like all the other nations ( 1 Samuel 8:9). And the king’s reign leads them to destruction. Later King David tries to seize blessing by taking another man’s wife (2 Samuel 11), which leafs to his destroying family and destroying each other.
Each grab for a blessing leads to more curses. And God’s chosen family becomes a conduit of the curse instead of the blessing. Their accounts are filled with tales of deception and violent grabs for power resulting in the ultimate curse: exile from their land and slavery to foreign nations.
Yet, Israel’s prophets, who live through all of this, still trust in God’s promise to Abraham. They hold tight to the promise of the future Israelite who will reverse the curse again and restore God’s blessing for Israel and ALL the nations.
Jesus reverses the curse
Years later, a man named Jesus arrives. He claims that the blessing is coming in a new way -through Him. He says He is living in the way humanity was meant to live. It is 100% true and is the essence of real life. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6). The original blessing language.
Jesus comes to show us that He trusts in God’s wisdom. He chooses blessing, not curse.
The curse put to death
Jesus faced the ultimate human choice. He trusts God’s will and not His own. They Bible says that Jesus sweated blood from the pressure inside His body when He asked God to remove this cup from Him. To avoid being murdered.
Ignoring God’s will in the Garden of Eden made sense to Adam and Eve, but they trusted that sense over and above God’s will. And Jesus in His human “sense,” but He trusted God’s divine will the most. “Not my will, but your will be done.” Mark 14:36. By doing so He confronts and reverses the curse.
God reverses death by raising Jesus from the dead, the firstborn of a new creation. The curse is put to death, so that the blessing of God’s life could spread once more.
Life in the in-between
How does this kind of life spread in a world where children get cancer diagnoses? In a world where marriages fall apart, where our friendships struggle, and our environment suffers? In this world, our minds deteriorate under crippling disease and anxiety. Our world is filled with power grabs, greed, and abuse at every turn.
Believers in God will not escape the effects of the curse in this life any more than Jesus did. So how do we live in this in-between before the curse is entirely eradicated?
After Jesus’s resurrection, He blessed His followers and said His presence would be with them as they learned to trust in God’s blessings and to share with others (Matthew 28:18-20). In a sense, each time people choose to listen and trust God, they enter into blessing and reverse the curse.
God’s Spirit empowers followers of Jesus to live lives of blessing. By His Spirit, we become conduits of blessing to others by taking part in the curse reversal that Jesus began.
While death and the curse still have a hold on our world, Jesus’s followers trust that the power of God’s blessing is stronger. We do not live as those without hope, is does not make light of our pain and suffering. Our hope is not a trite “everything happens for a reason.”
We do not grieve as those without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), because God promises the blessing will eventually eradicate all remaining traces of the curse and completely heal all that’s been harmed.
We will fully and finally, experience God’s blessing and there will be no more curse.
“There will be no charge any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will serve Him” – Revelation 22:3
From Pity to Praise