One Goal At A Time

Have you ever set a personal goal for yourself like, “I want a better job” or “I want to lose weight,” only to wake up 6 months later and you’re in the exact same situation?

Wow, I must be just terrible at accomplishing things. Or maybe it’s because my goals were terrible. Yes, they are desirable, but goals like that are vague and overly broad. They actually prevent you from getting what you want in life and let’s face it they make you feel defeated.

I tend to set goals like these. My goal-making process I have recovered is broken, and gets in the wayof achieving things I want in my life. So, I’ve decided instead of using goals so move toward a larger aspiration, that become impediments. I’m not going to let my goals use me.

There is a difference between goals and aspirations. If I think of the last few goals I’ve made the list goes like this,

  • Read more books
  • Lose weight
  • Control my spending
  • Eat healthier

These are not goals they are aspirations masquerading as goals. When I say some like I want to control my spending, what I really mean is I want to be financially secure,

The secret to everything I believe is starting to set short-term goals. Maybe many short term goals that build on each other. Maybe our personal goals need to stop being big, and non-defined and just be simple, measurable, attainable and relevant.

So, what’s a short-term goal? Short term goals should bridge the divide from where we are to where we want to be in a way you can actually achieve them. Short term goals are short for a reason, they should be things that can be accomplished within a quick period of time.

Sometimes it’s the short-term actions that help us discover what we want our long term goals should be.

Living your life without goals is like using you’re retirement to try and win the lottery. Without goals were just going through life hoping for improvements. Hope is important but not a strategy.

Goals are genius, they aren’t a magical ability that achieve great things. I used to think people who were good at achieving personal goals were born that way

In my reading I have found something called The Smart Goal Technique. What’s that?

Simple – Put into a few words and make it straightforward. More than that you will begin to feel overwhelmed.

Measurable – Your goal should be easily quantifiable. Find a way to tell whether you are doing it or not -something trackable.

Attainable – Be reasonable with yourself. Deciding to run every day when you haven’t ran since high school is a high bar to set. It’s great to be ambitious in the long term, but short term goals should be achievable.

Relevant – Ask yourself why this goal is important. Does it enhance or conflict with your larger goals? Does it align with your current physical, mental, and financial reality?

Time-based – Goals should have a time frame assigned to them. So, up you can adjust or improve on them as you go.

From my reading I learned that losing weight is not a goal. How will I know if I’m on track or not? Eating healthier is not a goal. How will I know at any given moment if I’m doing it?

If I do not try to be someone who can 3 miles a day.I can aspire to someone who lives a lifestyle that allows me to run 3 miles a day.

To lose weight I have to eat a healthy diet and exercise daily. Each of these things can be turned into a Smart Goal to reach the outcome of being a person who can run 3 miles a day.

My Top 10 Favorite Movies

What are your top ten favorite movies?

1. Wind River

2. The Apostle Paul

3. Gemini Man

4. I Believe

5. Mule

6. Max

7. I Am Legend

8. The Pacifier

9. Grand Torino

10. The Grey

Why do I write

What do you enjoy most about writing?

Writing down everything clears my mind and put some order to my thoughts. It helps my put some order to all the jumble in my mind. I read a lot so somethings things get cluttered up there.

Writing also helps me deal with stress. When my mind is busy it helps me understand what’s most important. It also helps solidify my thoughts and gives me a way to return to what I have written down and review.

Writing is also great therapy, It gets things out on paper, and gets the mental juices flowing to help solve some problems you may have.

Favor From The Lord

“But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head.” -Psalm 3:3

God favor can cover every area of our lives. He can take care of everything we will ever need -spirit, soul, and body.

How would your life look if you were surrounded, all day every day, by God’s favor? Would your actions and attitude be different of you knew beyond any doubt that success is ahead? Would you find the courage to go of your anxieties and fears? Of course you would.

Having God’s favor can change your life. The question is how do we access that favor each and every day.

If you have chosen to follow God, you already have His favor. God saves you because of His favor towards us, you don’t have to earn it, you just had to chose it.

Ephesians 2:8 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it isa gift of God.“

Simply put God’s grace is His favor. God’s favor is the power that changes things for us. You and I are saved by His favor, and it’s not just about reaching heaven when we die. Being saved means to be delivered, protected, preserved, healed and made whole.

His supernatural grace is so vast that it’s us in Ephesians 2:7 “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches in His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

You may be thinking “I can’t wait to until I get to heaven to see the fullness of God’s favor.” The good news is we don’t have to wait God can pour His favor on us right here right now. Even if you have not chosen to follow God.

Before I chose to start following God, my life as in shambles. But, even then I knew I was being protected by something. I experienced to many “close calls” in my life for not being protected. Even when I was rebelling against Him, God was still protecting me.

It’s God’s grace at work in our lives that keeps us safe. It was God’s grace at work in my life that enabled me to be saved. From the moment I chose to live a new, different life in Christ. God’s favor on me increased. God began working in my behalf. I went from living a wretched life to living a God favored life.

Psalm 5:12 talks about the saved child of God who serves Him. Jesus made us righteous when He shed His blood for us. His bloodshed and righteousness became available for all, and it came with the favor of God.

“For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor. You will surround him as with a shield.“ -Psalm 5:12

We should always see ourselves wrapped in God’s favor 24 hours a day. Every morning when you get up, and throw off the covers and jump out of bed we should be saying, “I am one of the righteous and God’s favor surrounds like a shield.”

You should begin to expect great things to happen. When you do, you’re life will be the same again.

Loving Where You Live

What do you love about where you live?

I live in a small, rural area. Without exception my town retains its values of hard work, responsibility, faith, and family.

Everyone knows everyone. And if they don’t you’ll be sure to meet them at a weekly get together at the park or the local farm market during the summer. There are things you won’t see here anywhere else.

My old railroad town has amazing stories of the past. A few miles away you can actually visit a old coal mine town, that is left almost original. It’s like walking into the past.

My small town evokes a quiet, laid-back lifestyle in a close knit community where people know each other, and can rely on each other. It’s where the people are connected at the root of the old time railroad, and coal camps.

Helper

Dissociation

What Is Dissociation?

Many people experience disassociation during their life. If you disassociate, you may feel disconnected from yourself and the world around you. You may feel as though you are detached from your body. It’s all the world around you is unreal. But everyone’s experience of disassociation differs.

Disassociation is one with the mine copes with too much stress, such as during a traumatic event.

There are also common, every day experiences of disassociation that we may have. Like being absorbed in a book, or a movie, that you lose awareness of your surroundings. When you drive a familiar route and arrive at your destination, without any memory of how you get there.

Experiences of disassociation can last for a short time -hours or days Or for much larger amount of time, like weeks or months.

Disassociation maybe something that you experience for a short time while something traumatic is happening. Some have learned to disassociate as a way of coping with stress ball experiences. This may be something that you’ve done since you were in your childhood.

I have found that many people who have had traumatic childhood experiences disassociate as a coping mechanism. Disassociation is a natural response to trauma that cannot be controlled. It could be a response to one traumatic event or ongoing trauma and abuse.

Disassociation might be a way to cope with very stressful experiences. Or some experience, then as a symptom of a mental health problem. For example, post traumatic stress, stress disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or borderline personality disorder.

Some people from different cultures disassociate as part of certain cultural or religious practices. People may even experience disassociation as a side effect from alcohol, medication, or when coming off of a medication.

Disassociation can be experienced in a lot of different ways. Many psychiatrists have tried to group the experience and give them names. This helps doctors make a diagnosis. But A diagnosis does not mean that you have a illness.

If you experience disassociation you may feel:

  • Detached or separate from the world around you
  • See the world as a lifeless or foggy
  • Feel like you’re seeing the world through a pane of glass
  • Feel like you’re living in a dream
  • Feel as though you are walking yourself from the outside
  • Feel as if you are observing your emotions
  • Feel disconnected from parts of your body or your emotions

Triggers often remind us of something traumatic from the past, which can cause you to experience Disassociation or other reactions. It can be something you here, see, taste, smell, or touch. It can also be a specific situation, or way you move your body.

It’s like a flashback. Where are you? May suddenly experience, traumatic, sensations or feelings from the past. The flashback might make you feel like you are reliving at a traumatic event in the present.

A flashback is a sudden, involuntary reexperiencing of a past from our event, as if it’s happening in the here and now.

The symptoms of disassociation often go away on their own. But many have learned to dissociate as a way of coping with stressful experiences. Disassociation may be a normal phenomenon, but like everything in life, all in moderation. It’s the brains defense mode. I believe it is an about valuable gift our brains are able to give us when we endure trauma. It shows that people are able to live through and survive, extra ordinary circumstances that no one would ever be able to endure without the brains ability to disassociate.

Why Does God Remove Some People From Your Life And Not Others

If there’s one thing I’ve learned to accept, is that people come and people go.. Friends you may have made in the past may no longer be around. People you expected to hang around for a while go. Why?

I think it’s because we serve an orderly God. He doesn’t just allow things to happen. He always seeks the best interest for His children. He allows things to happen for a reason. God brings people into your life with a purpose, and He removes people in your life for the same reason. However, it is in most circumstances we have absolutely no idea what the purpose is. We don’t comprehend the why.

Sometimes we are confused, and overthink that God is trying to hurt us or punish us when someone departs from our life. In all actuality He’s likely giving us a great reward.

So what are the main reasons why God removed people from our lives? And why do we have to let go of these people?

There is nothing accidental about life. If it is God’s will, it was part of His grand plan. And God’s grand plan entails that we enter heaven and be with Him. When we give God the authority to carry out His will for our lives, when wee entrust our lives to Him. The result of whoever or whatever stands in the way of God’s plan will be removed.

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a hope and a future.” we should trust God’s divine plan, and the Holy Spirits guidance even though we do not understand it yet.

Throughout the Bible there are many scriptures that helps us understand why God removed people from our lives.

Here are a few:

Solomon proclaims in Ecclesiastes 3:2 proclaims, “To everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Every event in our lives occurs for a reason. God enable pyto stay with us for some time, but after the season is done, He will take them away for our benefit. we may not know what’s going to happen tomorrow but God does.

Why Must We Let Go Of The People God Removed?

I’ve learned the hard way when God removes someone from our lives, that denying God’s will only results in His will failing. God is God for a reason -He sees and knows all. He determines what will and will not happen.

“I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.“ -Isaiah 46:10.

He writes the letters in our life story and flips through it’s pages. We have free will as characters in our story, but He knows the ending from the start.

We can spend time obsessing over the why? And we may even try to get the people back into our lives fora little while. But in all truth it will become clear that our only option is to embrace and accept the situation and move on.

Reasons why God Removes People From Your Life

1. God saves us from toxic people.

Remember that Jesus was betrayed by people (Matthew 26:23-25. People aren’t always as they seem, (friends and family). It’s easy to sometimes believe that people around us only have good intentions toward us. We believe they love us as much as we love them.

God sees heart and soul (Jeremiah 17:10), and anticipates what problems those people will cause us. He knows their deepest thoughts like He knows ours.

2. They have finished their mission in our life.

Sometimes people only emerge in our life to help us grow. Everyone imparts something valuable. Even though it can be a negative experience, we learn something from it.

3. God has better plans for us.

It’s our human nature to cling to things because we believe they are the greatest thing in the world. Yet, we have no clue what He has in store for us; all He needs from us is our willingness to trust Him so He can shower us with blessings.

1 Corinthians 2:9 declares it is written,

Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who live him.

4. God sends people we need; not who we want.

I think God takes people out of our lives because we don’t always know what we want -we just believe we do. We are only human beings; no matter how intelligent or intuitive we think we are, we can’t know what’s best for us. But, God does (Psalm 118:9).

He sends us people we need rather than who we want. As a result He does not always grant our requests. Maybe that’s God’s way of sparing us a great deal of trouble without our even knowing it.

5. God always wants to teach us something.

Sometimes God has no option to make us learn things the difficult way. I know sometimes I’m just to set I my ways and want things to stay easy. Sometimes I have to learn the hard way. And God has to tune me up.

One day, all evil will be done away with. But until that day, we can rely on God’s grace. He doesn’t always prevent tragedy, but His grace will always see though it.

I think God sometimes causes us to lose someone in order for us to realize that we are the only people we require in our lives. My Father was a safety net for many years. He was my rock on earth. Perhaps his passing away was a horrible event to have me set higher expectations for myself. I don’t think I would be who I am today, if my father wouldn’t have passed away when he did. God needed to show me I was capable of making the right choices on my own. Whatever the reason God blesses us through it all.

6. God wants us to get closer to Him.

God longs for us to be with Him. He wants fellowship with us. When people get in the way of our connection with Him, He removes people from our lives. Our hearts are continuously yearning for assistance. When some people are around and we are having a bad day, or a horrible year, our hearts reach out to someone to comfort us. That being the closest person to us -someone or something to make us happy.

There’s nothing wrong with letting others make you happy. According to God’s Word in Galatians 6:2 it tells us to, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way, we will fulfill the law of Christ.” But the threat comes when we use people to replace God in our hearts.

7. God always makes ways for us to experience something new.

Sometimes we are so busy hanging on to someone’s life because of our history. And as a result we can destroy our future by clinging to the past. If we want a new life, we must be willing to let go of the old one because the past will always be the past.

One of my favorite quotes says, “There’s a reason the windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror, because where we are going is more important than where we’ve been.”

Romans 8:28 declares, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who live Him; we have been called according to His purpose.

God always wants what’s best for us.

Positive Emotion

What positive emotion do you feel most often?

Gratitude is the positive emotion that I focus on most often. It’s an expression of appreciation that is value independent of monetary worth. It an affirmation of goodness and worth.

Gratitude is a emotion that I see few people thinking about these days. Everyone is so focus on negativity and complaining, that most people forget about being thankful for the little things.

I love the fact that every time my day is tough I am able to look around me and see the sun, and love of my family and friends. Not forgetting to look up and know that blessings come from above.

Gratitude is a feeling that is both temporary and a dispositions, trait. Gratitude involves a process that boosts my happiness and fosters physical and psychological health.

It’s a known fact that people who are grateful feel less pain, less stress, suffer from insomnia less, and have stronger immune systems.

If people would start with noticing the goodness around them, they would see gratitude as a gift that is useful. When you have a bad day. Stop and look for 3 things to be grateful for.

Why Aren’t We Most Appreciative?

Appreciation is opening your heart to allow yourself to be enhanced by certain qualities of people or by the beauty of nature or art.

Achieving Your Goals

How do you plan your goals?

Goals help to give us clear direction and help us focus on achieving the things that are most important to in our lives.

I set a plan for achieving my goals by pinpointing what is important in my life. Taking time to examine and determine the areas will lead towards being the type of person I want to be.

When I set a goal, I write it down. The key is to write down using clear and concise words. Why do I want to achieve this goal? And how much time will I put in each day to accomplish it. I will spend 2 hours a day working on achieving this goal.

Identify the obstacles that may come. Any goal is going to have optical or it wouldn’t really be something worth working towards. Identify the obstacles that you could standing in the way of your set goal.

Make a plan, now that you have a clear goal in mind, create a ship to ship map to accomplishing your goal. Keep the obstacles in mind that you have identified with steps to overcome them when they occur.

Go to have timelines with a start and stop date. Setting stock date helps us stay motivated and accomplishing our goals. There’s also helps to hear that they are giving Aiden important and priority to achieve our goals.

It is important to commit and block time for the goal. Acne is imperative to take action if you want to achieve our goal. Make sure you’re constantly working toward your goal. Whatever time you block out in your calendar be consistent and treat it as an important event you cannot miss.

It always helps me you have an accountability partner. Thinking about who in my life that I could trust to hold me accountable for my goal.this is someone that can help me become the person I want to be.

What Will Happen On Judgment Day

What really happens on the day that everyone must appear before the judgment seat of Christ?

Many believers wonder what will happen on Judgement Day. The first and most important thing to understand about the “final judgment” is that it cannot be avoided.

Regardless of how we may choose to interpret the prophecy of the end times, we are told “It is appointed to me once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). We all have a divine appointment with our Creator. John recorded some details of the final judgment. The Bible tells us, “And I saw a great white throne, and Him sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And a place was not found for them. And I saw the dead, the small and the great stand before God. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works…(Revelation 20:11-12). This scripture introduces us to the “final judgment” – the end of human history and the beginning of the eternal state. We learn from scripture that God will be just and fair (Acts 10:34) and that God can not be deceived (Galatians 6:7). We can be sure that no mistake will be made in our hearings because we will be judged by a perfect God.

5 things the Bible tells us will happen on judgment day

All Believers Will Stand Before Christ As Judge

We will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Not just unbelievers, but “we.” And not some of us, but “all of us.” The Bible teaches very clearly that all men, living and dead, saved and unsaved, must give an account to Christ. In his great sermon in the house of Cornelius Peter said, “That it is He which ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead.” (1 Petet 4:5). Those who were dead, those who have died since and will have died, and the living must give account to Jesus Christ who is ready to judge all men.

The Opening of the Books

The Book of Life is referenced in Revelation 20:11-15. We learn from this passage that the dead are judged according to their works, by the things where we’re written in books. God’s accounts are so carefully kept that, as Jesus said, we must even give account for every idle word. Each of us writes a book about our lives. Everything we do is recorded. Imagine what it will be like when God begins to look at our memories. If we have sinned, we have the opportunity while in this life to repent and be forgiven. Then God wipes it away, never to be remembered again. Then when the books are opened, we will only have to give accounts for our good works. I love the fact that we are given a chance to repent of our sins on earth, and not be judged by them on judgment day. But, I wonder how many will each judgment day without repenting and getting forgiven.

Reward in Accord with Deeds

There is teaching both in Paul’s writings and in the Words of Jesus that delivers will receive different rewards in accord with the degree that their faith expresses itself in acts of service and love and righteousness.

In 1 Corinthians 3:8 Paul says, “He who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” And in Ephesians 6:8, Paul says, “Knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is bound or free. There are varying degrees of reward for the faithfulness of our lives. But it also moves beyond that and also teaches that there is a loss not only of reward but of eternity for those who claim to be faithful but do nothing to show that they prize God’s gifts and love the Giver.

Salvation is Demonstrated By Deeds

The first purpose of the judgment waste make a public demonstration of the varying degrees of rewards that believers will receive for the exercise of their faith in obedience.

The second purpose of the judgment is to declare openly the reality of the fairy and the salvation of God’s people by the evidence of their deeds. So, when Paul says we, “will be recommended…according to what we have done.” he not only means that our rewards will accord with our deeds, but also our salvation will accord with our deeds. Jesus put it like this -and He used exactly the same words for good and evil deeds in 2 Corinthians 5:10.

In John 5:28-29, He said, “An hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

Accounts are Settled

The Bible tells us, “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and anyone not written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15). No wonder Jesus said that we should rejoice because our names are written in the Book of Life.

Then the accounts will have been settled, and everything put in its rightful place. Sin and death are finally gone forever. Out of all affliction and misery, and in spite of the enemy’s power, God, by His wisdom and might, has finished His work for all who have been gathered to Jesus’s right hand.

These are the ones who are written in the Book of Life and will live eternally with The Father and The Son in the new heaven and the new earth.

Emergency Preparedness

Create an emergency preparedness plan.

After a emergency, you may need to survive on your own for several days. A basic emergency supply kit includes,

  • Water – one gallon per person for drinking and sanitation
  • Food – at least a several day supply of non-perishable foods
  • Battery powered or hand crank radio for weather alerts
  • Flashlights
  • First aid kit
  • Extra batteries
  • Whistles to signal for help
  • Dust masks to help filter contaminated air
  • Plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter in place
  • Local maps (physical maps)
  • Back-up batteries to change cell phones

You can add soap, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. Prescription medication, and nonprescription medications.

Infant formula, bottles, diapers if you have babies in the house.

Pet food and extra water for pets

Put family documents and insurance policies, and bank account information in a waterproof portable container.

Blankets or sleeping bags

Match’s kept in a waterproof container in case you need to build a fire.

Make sure you have a established place to meet family members in case you get separated.

This is a basic plan you can prepare in advance it can kept in at home, work or in a vehicle.

It never hurts to be prepared for the unexpected.

Be prepared and stay safe.

Increasing Your Faith

God has not blessed one person with more faith than He blessed anyone else. When we see someone prospering according to the Word, whether it is their health, their finances, or their family, people get the impression that God must have given that person more faith. But, every believer has been given a measure -the same measure – of the kind of God-like faith.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.” -Ephesians 2:8

“For I say through the grace that was given to me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.“ -Romand 12:3

So, by reading this we know that faith comes from God. It is the ‘gift of God.’ But He has given it to every believer.

It is not something that God is going to do. We are not trying to get faith. We’re not praying for it. We already have it. Every believer already has this measure of God-like-faith.

God gets everyone started off the same way. Then your faith grows according to what you do with it.

I have to say, I actually never thought about faith this way, until I was lying in bed last night talking to God. I have always prayed for God to increase my faith. We can’t just wrapped out faith up in a napkin, and hide it like we haven’t used it at all. It’s up to us what we do with that measure. We are the one who increases it, not God.

God certainly furnishes the means where faith is increased. We can increase our faith by doing these two things.

  • Feeding on the Word of God and exercising it.
  • Putting it into practice.

The Bible very often uses natural human terms to teach spiritual thoughts. An example of how Jesus taught in His earthy ministry. And we can read it in the Gospels.

“It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every won’t that proceeds out of the mouth of God.“ -Matthew 4:4

Here Jesus is using a natural human idea to convey a spiritual thought. He is saying to us that what bread (or food) is from the body, the Word of Godis to the spirit, or the heart of man.

You know if you eat food regularly, it will build you up physically. But, if you eat right and do not exercise, all you do it get flabby and out of shape.

It’s the same way, you need to feed your faith on God’s Word. But we also need to exercise your faith, because if we don’t, our faith muscles will be flabby. We ain’t be able to do much spiritually when it comes to moving the mountains in your life.

We can feed our spirit on God’s Word and feed our faith, because God’s Word is faith food. But, we also need to exercise it, to develop it and cause it go grow.

In Romans 10:8, Paul called the message he preached the word of faith. He called the Word of God the Word of faith, because the Word will cause faith to come into your heart. God’s Word will build assurance, confidence, and faith in your heart.

The measure of faith we’ve received can be increased by doing things like feeding it with God’s Word and by practicing it in everyday living.

I’ve heard people say, “You either have faith or you don’t.” in one sense that’s true. You’re either a believer or a non-believer. But in another sense when people say that, they are implying that every believer has faith in every respect the same as another believer. But I don’t think that’s true. One person’s faith may not be the same as another person’s faith. There can be a measurable difference. The Word of God tells us that our faith can grow. That one person’s faith may not be as developed or as strong as another person’s faith.

It’s up to use what we do with the measure of faith God has given. We can cause our own faith to grow. For example, you can feed and exercise it so that when the storms of life come along, you will have strong faith. The person who does nothing with their faith will have weak faith.