Beauty in your life- change your thoughts for a positive outlook
What brands do you associate with?
I almost always shop outlet stores m. Stores where I can find deals on overstock, or past season items.
If it’s good quality and not damaged at a discounted cost, I’m in, I don’t really focus on brands if it looks good. I get it.
The only thing I’m picky about and buy name brand are shoes. I hate having hurting feet because of lower quality materials. I usually buy sketchers or clarks or timberline boots.
Our world today is full of books, podcasts, and blogs sharing life hacks that let us in on secret shortcuts or tricks that will increase our productivity or efficiency. These life hacks cover everything from time management to personal finance to working out to anything you can think of.
Why?
Because our culture has become used to the instantaneous.
We can get packages delivered to our door in less than 2 days. We can order food at the click of a button. And we can share our thoughts with the world and get feedback instantly from people all over the world.
We have become accustomed to quick results with little effort. Unfortunately, this way of thinking can seep into the way we read the Bible too.
Today, it’s easier to scroll through social media, like an image of a Bible verse overlaying a mountain landscape, and feel like we interacted with scripture than it is to spend half an hour reading the Bible and actually becoming a more effective follower of Jesus.
Jesus Himself told us in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
Jesus made it pretty clear when it comes to growing in our relationship with God, there are no life hacks.
William Wilberforce stated, “There is no shortcut to holiness, it must be the business of our whole lives.” There is only one way to grow and that is through abiding.
Abide in the Greek means to remain, stay, or dwell. So abide means to remain with Jesus.
The Bible is not something we can just scroll through and double-tap our favorite parts. It’s something we must read, study, and meditate on, and then let it transform our lives.
The world is becoming a darker place as time goes on. The uptick in violent crime as well as the weather changes and division in the Middle East is getting worse. With all that we need to gain an eternal perspective on life. What we read in scripture gives a grand narrative to our lives.
The Bible gives us the story of redemption and gives meaning and purpose to the world. When we see it that way, since creation, God has woven history together and cared for His people and kept His promises, it changes the way we view our current events.
There have been pandemics, elections, plagues, floods, racism, and civil unrest before, and every time God has been faithful. God has kept His promises.
While the world is falling apart, we don’t have to be. Because we know that God has proven Himself before, and He will prove Himself again.
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” -A.W. Tozer
That means we should do everything we can to have our view of God tethered to God’s Word and not our own imaginations.
The Bible is God’s divine revelation to His creation. It’s how He speaks to us. It is how He teaches us about who He is. Which means, if our goal is to have a real, personal connection with God, then it is only by immersing ourselves in His very words that we will grow in our understanding of who He is.
Spending time daily in God’s Word helps us tether our view to God to scripture. Not some version we have created for ourselves.
What could I Use more of?
I could use more nature in my life, where it is more walking, more finding a secluded place to read or enjoy God, and listening to the sounds around me, rivers, the rustling of the trees, this kind of quiet is good medicine.
If you have been watching what is going on in our world, you cannot deny that some pretty evil things are happening. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.
It is crucial to understand that the spiritual fight is not a physical fight. I think applying physical methods to a spiritual battle is a waste of time and ineffective because it fails to address the true nature of the enemy.
While the battle itself is spiritual warfare it can have both physical and mental effects in the natural realm. The core difference is that spiritual fight involves the spiritual enemy, whereas physical fights involve human opponents and the appropriate methods to addressing each are entirely different.
The spiritual fight involves an unseen battle against forces like satan, demons, sin, and negative desires. Our enemies are entities it aspects of sin that try to influence our thoughts, actions, and relationship with God.
I believe that there is an evil Spirit that takes control of people. Because otherwise, I don’t think most people could do the things they do. It’s a spiritual condition of the heart, that is rooted in a biblical understanding that our eyes reflect our inner state. Our eyes are the lamp of the body.
The unseen battle between good and evil that is happening in the spiritual realm is now being seen on earth. It is being influenced and manifests in physical world events. It affects personal struggles, societal trends, and temptations from the flesh and the world. It’s a fight for people’s souls, purpose, and connection to God. To resist these forces, we must use spiritual weapons like prayer, the Word of God, and faith, and resist the temptation to fight evil with evil.
The primary battle is against principalities, powers, and the rulers of darkness, which Ste evil spiritual forces.
There are three enemies in our world. In addition to satan, the struggle involves the flesh, which is one’s own internal sinfulness and bad habits, and the world which is the culture that promotes selfish agendas.
There are ways spiritual forces affect the physical world. People experience attacks on their identity, resistance in relationships, of discouragement in the way they are living. Along with that societies or cultures can be influenced to think and act in ways that oppose God, representing the workings of the world and spiritual forces. Then satan tries to lead people astray by tempting them with suggestions and, lies which manifest as internal urges and desires. I think these things together create a “perfect storm.” This is what I think is going on today in our world.
While the spiritual war was won on the cross by Jesus, making victory possible for believers through His sacrifice, we are still called to stand firm in our faith and resist satan, putting our trust in the strength that God provides. It’s a continuous struggle against the flesh and the world is ongoing, and requires a daily commitment to follow Jesus and crucify our desires to fight a physical fight (that will do nothing) intead of fighting the spiritual fight where everything matters.
We can see the difference between good and evil. We see when certain groups murder, riot, and destroy things while another stands in prayer, holds vigils, and supports each other.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice was given to me by an Indian women that I went too for prayer who was praying for to understand when I was suffering from intense facial pain.
After she prayed, she something that changed my life forever.
She say “you know you have to stop carrying your mother’s sin.”Ezekiel 18:20 tells us, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father” -Ezekiel 18:20.
For years I carried my mother’s sin’s because I felt like a sin myself. But, after she said that. I began every day encouraging myself to live with healthy emotional boundaries.
I didn’t blame myself for my mother’s bad choices, I stopped internalizing guilt and shame things that didn’t belong to me.
This changed my mindset to be able to protect my mental, emotional and spiritual health. I began to recognize where my responsibility ended, and let others face the consequences of their actions. And chose not to let others project thief sins and failures unto me.
In this world we are supposed to help people, but we don’t need to bleed for wounds that are not ours.
The last harvest in the Bible refers to the final gathering of souls as depicted in the parables like wheat and weeds in Matthew 13:36-43, and in the Book of Revelation. This event symbolizes God’s judgment where the righteous are separated from the wicked, emphasizing the importance of living a faithful life in preparation for this moment.
I usually avoid posting anything that the news is covering. But this one is hard to ignore what has been going on since Charlie Kirk’s murder on Sept 10. Many people are celebrating his death. Many are mourning. I think God is drawing a clear separation between the good and the evil.
In church this morning we were talking about persecution for righteousness’ sake. I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, This is the beginning of the great harvest! We need to understand the concept of the last harvest, in that it is the final gathering of souls at the end times. I believe that good and evil can only coexist for so long.
There are a few scriptures that reference the last harvest, they are:
There is a process of harvesting:
1. Separation of good and evil: At the last harvest, the righteous (the wheat) will be gathered to God, while the wicked (weeds) will be separated and face judgment.
When Charlie Kirk was taken from us. I think I caused a movement of people gathering together for the Kingdom of God. If you are a true believer in God, you have an assignment. We have to be ready to disciple these people to be ready to enter the body of believers, to get them ready for the Kingdom of heaven. We need to pray, intercede for others, and meditate on the Word of God.
2. Role of Angels: Angels are depicted as the reapers who will carry out this separation during the final judgment.
3. Opportunity for Salvation: The last harvest symbolizes God’s mercy, offering a chance for salvation to those who did not have it in their lives.
The significance of the last harvest serves as a reminder of the urgency for us to share our faith, and prepare for Jesus’s return. It emphasizes living a life aligned with God’s teachings as the final judgment will reflect our faith and actions throughout our lives.
I believe that Charlie Kirk’s murder woke a lot of people up, from just going with the flow, and accepting sin. His death began a great harvest.
Charlie wanted to be remembered for courage for his faith. That was his most important thing. The most important thing was his faith.
We should all want the same thing. “To be remembered for our courage of our faith.
“Jesus defeated death so that we can live.”
As humans we tend to carry more baggage than we need. We burden ourselves with a huge weight on our shoulders that we don’t need to, when we can put it down for God to carry.
When we visit a big airport, one thing we see is all sorts of baggage. I picked up a friend from the airport last year. I was meeting her at the baggage claim in doing so, I noticed the huge amount of luggage people had. I thought that’s a awful lot of weight in those bags and airlines have strict rules about how much each person is allowed.
It made me wonder how much baggage we carry all the time in our lives. How much baggage do we carry that we were never intended to bear.
Odds are we have bags in our hands right now. We pick up a suitcase of guilt, and a sack of discontent. We have a draped bag of weariness on one shoulder and a garment bag of grief, add a backpack of doubt an overnight bag of loneliness, and a trunk of fear, and pretty soon we are juggling more luggage than we can handle. No wonder people are tired at the end of the day. Carrying all that baggage is exhausting,
Baggage is our human condition. The question is how we deal with our baggage. Do we embrace it and learn from it? Or are we hurting under by it, unable to carry it, and then resort to ineffective coping mechanisms that can continue to hurt us?
The dictionary not only defines baggage as personal belongings packed in suitcases for traveling, but also past experiences or long-held ideas regarding burdens and impediments. The emotional baggage we carry around gets heavy and sometimes we don’t even realize we have picked it up. It can get in the way of our thoughts, hinder our growth, and slow us down. We often take on a lot of unnecessary weight and suffer the consequences.
Can you imagine someone who goes on a hiking trip bringing 10 bags filled with clothing? Huffing and puffing the entire weight all the way. That would be stupid. We would probably tell them that they should leave everything behind, right? Carrying too much weight slows us down and tires us out, but carrying nothing at all may cost us our lives. But going on a hike without water or the necessities also costs us our lives.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
We have to get rid of our baggage. The reason we are burdened is that we hold on to things too long. God doesn’t automatically remove our burdens without our permission. He tells us to cast them onto Him.
Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Yeshua…”
There are three ways to handle our baggage. I call it the A.B.C. method:
A. Assess your baggage
Search you heart and pray that God would reveal the baggage you’re carrying.
Psalm 139:23-24 says,
“Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”
B. Beware of Baggage
Baggage can come from anywhere. Be aware of situations that cause you to worry or compare yourself. Also, beware of other people’s baggage. You can sometimes see it in their attitude, choices, and words. Don’t let another person’s baggage create more of your own. I learned the hard way, and I carried my mother’s baggage for years. There is no point in denying or pretending our baggage doesn’t exist. It won’t go away, and there is nothing we can do to cover it up.
C. Check your baggage
Leave it all at God’s feet. Drop your bags and let Him pick them up. There is no weight limit. It doesn’t cost more for the heaviest bag. No matter what you’re struggling are -no matter you’re choices, your behavior, it doesn’t matter. Check your bags at the cross.
Whether we’ve had a troubled childhood, a bad marriage, or life was handed to us on a silver platter, we all have baggage. And that baggage affects everything we will ever do, every relationship, every opportunity we are ever given. But we can allow the living God to help us manage each day as it comes, in His strength, now our own. Jesus offers to handle every situation that comes our way.
What things give you energy?
I think what gives me energy is to learn something new. Having something to look forward to.
Being out in nature, seeing God’s beautiful creation gives me energy and de- stresses me. It is said that being outdoors triggers vitamin D production and boosts mood and energy, and rests the mind.
We have gotten really good at dehumanizing people over the past 10 years. So much so that it is affecting people’s lives.
When people can take a video of someone being beaten in the street instead of helping or even calling 911, or sitting and watching someone being beaten bleed out on a transit, with no emotion we have a serious problem.
Society has gotten good at framing certain groups as oppressors vs the oppressed in a way that reduces people to stereotypes it leaves little room for nuance.
The media and both parties of government use dehumanizing rhetoric that denies the humanity of a person or group that portraying them as less than human and placing them outside the bounds of moral consideration. This can create distance and erode empathy, making it easier to justify violence, discrimination, and neglect against a targeted group. This dehumanizing rhetoric is not just insults, it’s a powerful psychological tool that enables perpetrators to overcome moral objections to inflicting pain and suffering on others.
America was founded on free speech. It doesn’t give someone else the right to murder another, just because you disagree with their view. Too many people have lost their lives because others didn’t agree with their stance on life. As a society, we need to relearn that just because someone disagrees with you, it doesn’t give you the right to harm or murder them.
Dehumanization is used to normalize and legitimize actions like torture, aggression, or discrimination. It creates a climate where extreme actions are seen as a necessary response to a subhuman threat.
I believe over the last few years, we have seen the effects that dehumanization has caused. It’s time we learn to be cautious of the metaphors used in any speech and media, as they can shape perceptions and foster animosity.
However we may differ in opinion, we should all be able to agree that violence and the dehumanizing and bigoted rhetoric have to stop if we are going to survive as a nation.
“When we engage in dehumanizing rhetoric we diminish our own humanity in the process”
When we reduce people to terrorists it speaks volumes about who we are and the degree to which we are operating in our integrity.
What’s your all-time favorite album?
Naming my all time favorite album is very difficult. I have a few all time favorite albums from Jeremy Camp’s “I still believe,” to Casting Crowns “lifelong celebration of 20 years.” Then along with that it’s Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” and Anything from Creedence Clearwater Revival. But, I can also enjoy some good ole Bluegrass.
I use music to match or shift my mood. My preferences adapt depending on how I am feeling.
I think all of these are tied together somehow. Whether it’s faith, southern roots or classic Americana these artists are grounded in something real and have a story to tell. I care more about what the music means than a certain genre.
From Pity to Praise