Beauty in your life- change your thoughts for a positive outlook
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?
If there was a biography about me. The title would be, “A Life in Progress: A Story of her Journey and Growth.
God is not done with me. Even with a broken heart, my wounds, and scars, Even when I’m lost and it’s hard not to fall apart. God is still writing my story.
Most of us who drive realize fuel is an absolute necessity for our vehicles to run. We know that when the gas gauge reads empty or when we see that annoying light come on, it’s time to pull into the gas station and fill it up. How many of you have tried to see how far you could get running on empty?
I’ve said to myself “Just a few more miles. Slowly but surely the tank is completely empty, leaving on the side of the road a few times. And ended up calling my husband to bring the gas can.
If we look at our spiritual lives, many times we try to see how far we can get unintentionally, without spending quality one-on-one time with God. We think that a Sunday worship service should hold us over until next week’s encounter, or that a Sunday lesson should suffice until the Wednesday Bible study. The light comes on, the Holy Spirit reminding you that your spiritual tank is low and that it would be a good idea to pull over now before your stranded. But in our pride, we “keep on truckin along,” trying to make it to the next mile marker on our own strength, our own power, our own knowledge.
This is where we fail as believers almost routinely. Our egos get in the way of the Holy Spirit that is trying to get our attention. Meanwhile we remain on cruise control for the week. We try to fill our tank with friends, insightful books, worship music and all are positive things we use as a substitute to fill that void. These are not sufficient enough for sustained spiritual growth. This only comes from consistent, passionate alone times with God.
When our lives start to have problems or when we find ourselves struggling we blame God. When really the blame is on us.
Sunday, services, Bible studies, and prayer groups and time with God helps us to stay accountable and stay in close fellowship with Him. If we do this we will be able to hear God more closely and be able to let Him guide us in our daily lives and through the struggles that come out way.
The next time to look at the gas gauge in your car, picture it ad your spiritual gad gauge and see if you are running on empty in your spiritual tank too.
AskGod to fill you up to over flowing so we won’t be running on empty. Remind yourself ti step back and spend some time with God in a one on one meeting. Don’t run your life on empty, run on being empowered with God.
What were your parents doing at your age?
Answer prompt : What were your parents doing at my age. I was the last child, and my brother died on a scout trip at age 14. So I felt like I was an only child. My Father was a retired marine but also painted vehicles.. He would come home and drink beer and so to bed after watching television.
My mother kept the house clean and cooked. That was her job. My mother at age 59 passed away.
I really wasn’t close to my mother, because of the way she treated me. And my Father blamed my brother’s death on himself. And turned to alcohol to cope. And me I just tried to stay away as much of possible. My home was a difficult place to be don’t avoided it most the time.
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?
If I could change one law. I wouldn’t want to change a law, I would just like people to start following them.
Anti-corruption law and standards prohibit payment if anything of value by a person or entities to government oofficials. This law should be enforced to the fullest extent of the law.
I think anyone who works in politics should have term limits. People shouldn’t become politicians and become richer. The corruption in government is horrific.
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and everyone else, just as ours does for you. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones” – Thessalonians 3:12-13 (NIV)
Many of us have probably heard about the importance of having a strong relationship with God. When our heart is pointed toward God and our relationship with Him is right, this will overflow into other relationships in our lives and impact how we treat others. This applies to all types of relationships.
It is essential that we prioritize God in our relationships, no matter the connection. He should be the most important person in our lives and His Word helps guide us on how to love and respect others. When we prioritize our relationship with God, we take better care of the relationships in our lives.
Putting God First
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who live me and gave Himself for me“ -Galatians 2:20 (NIV)..
When we become true believers, God‘s wishes take precedence over our own desires. He becomes a priority in our lives. In Relationships, if we do not have our firm foundations in Christ we can be drawn away from this priority.
If we join a group of friends and suddenly spend all of our time hanging out with them instead of spending time in God’s presence or devoting all of our time to our significant other and forgetting to fellowship with other believers our relationships will suffer.
Mark 12:30-31 tells us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” This shows us what is most important in life both of which involve relationships.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” – Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV).
Not all relationships muddle our priorities in fact, many relationships can also push us go grow deeper in our faith.. We may have people in our lives who encourage us when we are struggling and loves us like Jesus. These people are a blessing in our lives. As Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”
We can build a Christ-centered relationship but we must first evaluate ourselves. Are we focused in Christ and striving to follow Him? Are we loving and caring for others the way God’s Word tells us to? If not, we can pray to develop these qualities and practice being more like Jesus.
It’s easier to become more like Christ Jesus when we surround ourselves with those who are striving to do the same. But, we need to remember that God’s Word tells us to treat those who love who do not have the same ideals or those who step on our nerves. Relationships of all know and take effort and love on our part. If we are struggling with this, there is no better place to turn to than the Bible, which offers wisdom on how to treat others.
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other one up. But pity anyone who fails and has no one to help them up. Also if one lies down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NIV)
When you have someone or a group of people who are committed to strengthening each other, it can help us greatly at different points of our lives. When we are at a low point where we are sad or hurt, we can rely on other people to lift us up. Even I good times these people are a great value.
Write about your dream home.
It has to have at least 5 bedrooms and a big kitchen with pantry space, and an outside kitchen. A workout gym. And direct access to the beach.
Last week in my Bible study we were discussing ways in which the Holy Spirit talks to us. So I’ve been looking into this and this is what I found.
There are four distinct channels of communication in which God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. Each one plays a unique role in our spiritual journey that provides insights into God’s will.
The Foundation: The Word
The word is the primary means by which we hear the Holy Spirit. Rooted in scripture, it is the foundation for all other forms of communication. It is said that 99% of all spiritual problems will be solved if we implement the basics. The word is the anchor against which all other messages.
There’s a quote by David Diga Hernandez that says, “The Word is the primary way we hear Him. It is the foundation, and everything else is measured by that standard.”
The Result Of The Word: Wisdom
Wisdom emerges as the natural outcome of immersing yourself in the Word. It is not a specific instruction but a purposeful pull of God on your life. The more you are in the word, the greater your wisdom will grow. It’s a form of the Holy Spirit that speaks to us.
Again Hernandez says that the more we engage with the Word, the greater our wisdom will be. This divine reasoning becomes a reliable source of guidance, making wisdom the second most trustworthy way of hearing the Holy Spirit.
Direct Communication: Whisper
The whisper represents a more direct form of communication from the Holy Spirit to an individual. While the Word and Wisdom are more frequent channels, the Whisper involves the Holy Spirit speaking directly to the believer.
Hernandez says, “The Whisper is where the Holy Spirit begins to speak directly to you. It complements the Word and Wisdom, providing personal guidance”
It is essential to distinguish the Whisper from Wisdom, mistaking me for the other can lead to confusion. The Whisper holds its own significance in personal communication with God.
Prophetic Revelations: Wonders
Wonders encompass the prophetic, where God communicates through signs and wonders, often involving other individuals. Wonders and the prophetic involve God speaking to others through signs and miracles. It is the least reliable way of hearing God due to the potential for deception according to Hernandez. It is crucial to approach Wonders with discernment, recognizing that even Satan can replicate miraculous events.
By prioritizing the Word and allowing it to cultivate wisdom, we can navigate the complexities of life, decern the Whisper of the Holy Spirit and appreciate the significance of Wonders in our spiritual journeys.
This framework should be grounded in the basics so it can lead to a transformation and powerful experience that brings forth the Glory of God.
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
Answer Prompt: The first thing I would do if I received great news the first thing I would do is Praise The Lord.
Have you ever found yourself having to go around the Sam mountain, having to deal with the same or similar situation time and time again?
I know I have in my life. How long do we have to through the same situations time and time again until we realize we have to try something different, such as looking at other options that are available to us.
In Deuteronomy 2:3, God told the Israelites, “You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough.” As a result of their lack of faith and disobedience, the Israelites spent 40 years instead of a few weeks traveling from Egypt to the promised land. At one juncture, they journeyed around the same mountain in the desert for such a long time that the Lord Himself told them, “it is enough.”
Mountains in scripture often symbolize challenges or problems. The Bible and our experiences teach us it is possible to deal with the same problem issue for many years, possibly for an entire lifetime.
What mountain comes to mind in your life? Is it possible for us to alter the course of circumstances in our life?
With God, nothing is impossible, significant turnaround in life requires unusual decisions and actions. Sadly, we are often not ready or willing to ask, seek, or knock until the door to our desired miracles or breakthroughs opens.
If God does not touch you, sometimes you have to touch Him. If you are still going around the same mountain in your life, make up your mind to seek, to knock until the door to that miracle opens.
Ask God to help us choose a different option that would produce a different result. I good result that can get us to move on.
Going around the mountain becomes exhausting, and frustrating, and can even produce a since of hopelessness..
The realization and acknowledgment of the lack of movement forward can be really helpful. It helps us recognize what is really happening at that point in life and can also identify our situation of why we keep going around in circles and not getting anywhere.
What do you need to do to move forward?
What are the possible reasons for going around and around?
Whether it’s unbelief in regard to God’s Word and promises for your life, A lack of trust in God, or simply not being able to let go of the past.
In order to move forward and embrace the future you may have to do something God has asked you to do before you can move on. Until this is completed you won’t be able to move on.
There are times when we may need to wait on God. But if He is bringing something to your attention -pay attention.
It is vital that we not only pay attention to what is happening to us, but also pay attention to what God is telling us. In order to get you to the destination God has for you. You can’t move forward until we begin to pay attention to why we keep moving through the same circumstances.
It’s so easy to ignore our circumstances or keep pushing them to the back of our minds. But, it is not the solution to the problem. Eventually, we have to face them head-on.
Isaiah 1:18, tells us, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson they shall be like wool.”
I read somewhere a while back that the engineers in China have developed a special coating which causes cotton to clean itself of stains and orders when exposed to ultraviolet lights. Can you imagine the implications of having self-cleaning clothes.
I remember thinking a self-cleaning coating might work for stained clothes, but only God can clean a stained soul. In ancient Judah, God was angry with His people because they had turned their backs on Him, and given themselves to corruption and evil, and we’re worshipping false gods (Isaiah 1:2-4). But to make matters worse, they tried to clean themselves by offering sacrifices, burning incense, saying many prayers, and gathering together in solemn assemblies. Yet their hypocritical and sinful hearts remained (Isaiah 1:12-13). The remedy was for them to come to their senses and with a repentant heart bring the stains of their sound to the holy and loving God. His grace would cleanse them and make them spirituality “white as snow” (Isiah 1:18).
When we sin, there’s no self-cleaning solution. With a bumble and repentant heart, we must acknowledge our sins and place them under the cleansing light of God’s holiness. We must turn from them and return to Him. And He the only One who cleans the stains of our souls, who is willing to offer us complete forgiveness and renewed fellowship with Him.
“0When the Holy Spirit reveals your sin to you, what’s your response? How does John describe the process of bringing your sin to God and reprnt of it
“And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. It is no great thing if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” – 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
The Apostle Paul is talking about ministers, Satan’s ministers, and he’s saying they can sometimes be found in pulpits.
Satan is not against religion. His chief tool is religion. He’s always wanted to be worshipped as God. Satan’s pride is what turned him evil. His temptation to you is not to be ungodly but to be like God, but to do this it his way.
When be tempted Eve, he said, “for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
Satan is the master of deception. Don’t think you could recognize him with human insight. Hollywood has made satan to look like a cartoon character, dressed in a red jumpsuit with horns. That’s why we have to walk closely with God.
“You, therefore, beloved knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away, you fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. – 2 Peter 3:17-18.
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?
I like to try new things. I like being out of my comfort zone.
A while back a had the opportunity to help a local artist in her studio. I think I worked there for about 5 months to help her through her Christmas orders from people. In return she would paint a canvas picture of my Father of a photo I took 6 months before he passed away. I cherish that painting. I left because it wasn’t something I planned on doing all the time.
I played bingo for years, but I realized it was becoming an addiction. And I was losing a lot of money. It wasn’t something I had success at. I ended up losing money and then felt the guilt afterwards. And it was becoming a weekly thing. I had to play. I was able to stop playing. But I had to ask God to help me resist the temptation of playing every week.
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