Look Around

Look around, far and near. Where’s the joy, where’s the cheer? Why the fear? Why the frown? Why the smile upside down? Shake yourself from the dust. Scrape your soul from the rust. Know that this too shall pass. For in God we trust.

There is hope. If we sing our hope together. We have faith that it is stronger than the terror. No despair, no dismay. Everything’s I’ll be okay. He is with us night and day.

So, dry your tears. Take my hand, never fear. Let’s advance side by side. And let’s cast our fight aside. Don’t forget all the love, that we have from Above. And you’ll see with the dawn. All the pain will be gone.

Building A Bridge To Others

How can people build bridges to other people who might be different from us? We can start by remembering two things.

First, or a bridge to be built there can’t be an obstacle on the other. Side. We can’t strive with all our power to love someone or share the. Truth with them and still have it thrown back in your face. We need to be ready for it. To happen to us.

In 1 Corinthians 1:23, it says a stumbling block that people are forced to deal with or trip over. If you’re trying to build bridges with a stumbling block, we should expect some people to bank their shins and get angry.

Second. God is the real bridge builder. We’re the helpers. God invites us to co-operate in his work, but his work doesn’t depend on our plans of success. This should free us from fear from failure, but not from the need to strive for holiness. We need to be ready to be the instruments that God will use in the world.

We need to open a space where we can hear from God and obey him. Prayers, Praise, and Worship are vital to being receptive to God. We all need to fight against the noise that will keep us from hearing the word of God. When I hear God it’s not a voice it’s a feeling in my stomach I get an unction.

We are bombarded by advertising, calamity in the news, and violent music. The noise drugs us against he troubling truths of the human condition. It deafens us to hear God.

God is silence and satan is noisy. Satan is depicted as God of discordance and the enemy of harmony. Those who obey God create beautiful harmonies. Satan does the opposite. Satan is not a legend or a metaphor or a pre- scientific superstition. Satan is very real and personal malignant spirit, and he uses the noise of our culture and the confusion of our desires to turn us away from God.

Silence is more important than any other human work because it expresses God. We need to be humble and place ourselves where we can be of service to others. I am not afraid to state that I am a child of God and to be a child of silence.

What does this mean? It means that we need to cut out the noise from our lives. Listen to less music browse fewer websites and cut back on Facebook. We need to remember that God created us to rest in him, not the way people lay on the couch, but the a couple can sit together on a bench and share a love deeper than words. We need to have silence with him, it’s the silence with him that reveals himself and he plan to us.

If we prepare ourselves well, then when the opportunity to build bridges comes, the Lord will find us ready to do his work.

It can be haunting to look at the hostile, hurting world. But in reality we are in an exciting and fruitful time.

It’s our job to propose to the world a new truth about itself. That is to be loved into existence by a God who died at its hands, but nonetheless rose again in glory to save it.

Don’t Waste Your Time Proving Yourself.

There it is again, that feeling that I’m not enough. The belief that if I don’t prove myself that I’m going to let people down.

That’s it, the whole meeting was horrible because of me. Everyone is thinking that I don’t know what I’m doing. I need to get my stuff together.

Some times we obsess over simple things in life. So at the meeting, you were having a difficult time. Maybe had too much on your mind. Was worried about someone. We all have those days. It’s part of life.

In the midst of these thoughts. We can get a fighting feeling in your head and stomach. You may feel threatened and lock your focus on what just happened.

My husband and I go on a picnic and there are birds chirping, and beautiful trees around, we are doing something we both love, but I’m in my head brooding about the meeting I had yesterday.

It’s painful to reflect on a time in my life where I found myself stuck in this place more often than I’d like to admit.

It’s normal to experience fear, worry and doubt. It’s normal to feel like you aren’t everything you want to be. Some peop9e have deep discontentment that comes from that. It’s normal to feel like you must constantly be proving yourself to others and yourself.

Just because it feels real, doesn’t mean it’s true.

There comes a point in a person’s life when they realize running on a hamster wheel is not working anymore. They letgo of their struggle and find a different approach.

Shifting from what’s normal to what’s possible.

Try get rid of or avoid what we don’t want in our lives even thought it’s out of control.

Reading too far into things. Overthinking things that are not even real.

Believing in what is untrue, keeping you stuck in a pattern of self- defeating behavior.

Don’t let a molehill become a mountain, because that’s the way you choose to see it. It’s normal, but it doesn’t have to be your reality.

You can learn to shift your perspective to see things differently. Starting with the understanding that fear, worry, and doubt aren’t the enemies you make them out to be, it’s only information that you have the opportunity to respond to. When we don’t get carried away by it, you can use it to inform what matters to you.

Judgments, interpretations, and assumptions are a complete waste of time and energy. Why the need to always expand on what just happened? Stop making things up. It’s not helping. Simply learn to observe what is.

Proving yourself to others will only lead you to stress, anxiety, and burn-out. Instead, express your values, and what matters most to you in your life. Great the results you want.

Your no alone in your struggles. But you also don’t need to be controlled by what’s normal.

Reflect for a minute. What are some areas in your life that create tension, stress, and overwhelm you? What is the source of it? Would if you let it go?

What would you choose to do instead now that you are free.

What Your Anger Might Be Hiding

Hidden anger can manifest itself in a number of ways, many of which may surprise you.

Like:

Procrastination in the completion of tasks especially the ones you don’t like to do or want to do. What do you put off? Work deadlines? Phone calls? Laundry? Grocery shopping? Going to the doctor? Paying the bills?

Habitual lateless, are you later everywhere you go, or are there patterns to it? Always late for work but early to go out with friends? Or is it the opposite?

Sarcasm, cynicism. within what context do you typically make sarcastic, cynical remarks? Is it only with certain people or only within a certain context? Is your hidden anger tired to a certain person, in terms of what they bring out in you? Or isn’t more general, tired to how you feel in specific situations as opposed to whom you are with.

Do you sign frequently? Sometimes you may not even realize you are doing this, so make a note to be mindful of how frequently you sign and with what context. Again is it usually around a certain person, or is it more specific to an activity, thought, or situation?

Smiling while hurting. As with frequent sighing, this may not be something you are aware of. Next time you notice yourself smiling, heck in with your head and heart. Does your expression match what your thinking and feeling inside?

Frequent disturbing or frightening area a. The keyword here frequent. We all have bad dreams and nightmares now and then. But if they are persistent and you wake up feeling scared and I rested, anger could be the root.

Excessive irritability over things of little importance. Road rage is a perfect example. Granted, there are times when other people’s driving habits can be dangerous and warrant a strong reaction. But, when you lose it on the guy in front of you for missing the light or forgetting to turn on his blinker, the anger you’re feeling was already there, just waiting for the opportunity to erupt. The same is true of minor incidents throughout any given day, from spilling your coffee to having trouble with the internet connection.

Facial tics, foot movements, habitual first clinching, or repeatedly physical acts done unintentionally. Again these things are thongs you may not be aware of. Also, with all the other symptoms of hidden anger on this list, be open to noticing their presence a d mindful when they occur.

If anyone these things are true for you, understand these are not behaviors to be cursed. Instead, consider the warning signs that anger may be present. The key is getting to the root cause of anger, which the may or may not relate to a specific event. In fact, your anger is most likely tied to believes and relationships that span over a lifetime.

Hurt People Hurt People

I have a heart for people who are broken.

I was broken for so many years so, I understand where people are coming through and why they behave in certain ways.

Their reactions stem from past experiences that led them to believe that they accepted as truth. They are preconceived ideas projected onto others to protect their ego.

Instead of taking it personally, I recognize it for what it is and love the person anyway.

When you know where people’s reactions to you are coming from, it’s much easier to not take it personally.

It’s really not about us at all. It’s about them and what’s inside them coming out and projecting onto us.

I have been manipulated and hurt by hurt people who have wanted to hurt me?

I have backed away from relationships to see if they would really quit on me and leave. Most of them have. If they quit on me because I was behaving in a certain way, I told myself I didn’t need them, if they didn’t need me. The problem is I needed that person more than they needed me.

I’ve had people I looked up to say many unkind things to me. I was striving to be better in certain areas of my like and I didn’t understand why they had been so harsh.

Although I didn’t understand completely, I knew for fact they were hurting and hurt people hurt people.

Sometimes people say what they are actually feeling about themselves. We can sometimes we can tell others what we really want to say to ourselves.

It is very typical of people in general – can only see in someone else what we have in us. When we point the finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back as us. Check and see if you are projecting what you feel to the other person.

I have friends who would never contact me first. She always waited for me to contact her. She told me many years later it made her feel loved when people contacted her first.

She was set on feeling good about herself through other people reaching out that she didn’t reach out to anyone first.

When we know people don’t want to hurt us- they are just protecting themselves and attempting to avoid mental and emotional pain.

However, we don’t need to stand for it.

So what do we do about this behavior in others?

Do we accept it or shut it down?

In my experience, there are positive ways to handle this behavior

Recognize it for what it truly is.

Create a safe space for them to be authentic.

Have one, honest communication by asking questions and sharing your feelings.

Choose whether you want to move forward with this person.

The trick is to recognize it and not play into their behavior. Don’t try and rescue them, and don’t buy into how they want you to react. Don’t give them power. Love them where they’re at and be okay with the outcome.

I had a friend once who so to say pulled my strings. I was there every time she said she needed me day or night. Because I felt sorry for her and the situation she was in. I began to be upset and very stressed out. I hadn’t realized I was enabling her to do the things she did. Not helping her or me.

Talk to then in a safe, supportive environment and ask questions to attempt to understand their feeling and why they act the way they do.

When sharing your own feelings, speak using I messages, for example I feel sad when you behave this way. Or I would really love to do to dinner with you, so we can enjoy each others company. I want to understand better what you’ve been through and what causes you to behave this way.

You have a choice as to whether you want the person in your inner circle of friends or on the outskirts.

At times you might want to love and keep people in your life, and other times you might want to love them from a distance. And release them to God and pray for them to find healing and peace within themselves.

Remember that hurt people hurt people it is not about you.

Unless you have hurt the person in some way, know that they are acting from a place of pain a d a yearning for love.

Hurting people often don’t love themselves enough so they look for love and approval from others.

Be careful as you teach people how to treat others- no matter how much a person is hurting you deserve to be loved in a way that feels good.

Hurt people hurt people, however, they hurt themselves more. We don’t need to feel hurt in the process as they take themselves down.

Rise above and hopefully we can bring them with us.

Can You Trust God’s Timing In Yoir Life?

In life there are moments when trusting God’s timing is difficult. Saying- Why can’t It just happen now. I believe everything happens for a reason. No matter what may go through. God is always right by your side. In a time so riddled with uncertainty, something we can always be sure of is when life happens when it is meant to. We often find that life is more fulfilling when we accept God a realize the creator’s time is best.

Yes. I had a horrible childhood, and I was so angry and depressed for years and years. But I think God was right by me side and he was watching over me. To keep me from commenting suicide or causing harm to myself. The trials that I have went through made me the strong and happy person I am today. I know God has an amazing plan for my life.

We will all be subject to times where our faith will be tested. In a world that’s obsessed with highlighting evil achievements and forgetting the good ones, It’s easy for people to feel like we’ve been left out and the media has done nothing to help, social media has done nothing to help our feeling either. Setting us up to feel drained physically and emotionally. As well as a feeling that we have to ”keep up with the Jones’s. I’m sure many people can testify to feeling like God hasn’t heard our requests, but the truth is if He is making us wait, it’s only a matter of time before he comes through. I prayed for years for God to save my marriage, I even got to the point of telling him if he could not save it, then end it. Doubting whether he was even listening. He Was, my marriage is better now that ever before. One thing you can be sure of, he is listening, and working in the background for an amazing outcome.

Sadly we all have triggers when someone says something that ticks you off or hits you the wrong way. We need to identify what triggers us, as long as we keep giving in to them we will never be at peace.

God tells us that He has a plan for us and that prosperity will be ours and that we will never be in harm’s way as long as He is there. In order to truly trust God, separate yourself from anything that threatens your relationship with God. Whether it’s a certain group of friends, social media, or a television program. Anything that stirs up any negative feelings within you shouldn’t be part of your life. However, do not try to stop all these things at once.

Acknowledge your triggers and work on eliminating certain emotions over a period of time. These changes don’t happen overnight. So, don’t be too hard on yourself.

Don’t forget to pray- Prayer is a great way to solidify your relationship with God. Sometimes it’s not about planning what to say but instead, it’s about telling God what’s on your mind. There’s a lot of power behind speaking you prayers so your ears can hear what your saying.

1 Chronicles 16:11 encourages us to look to God for strength and to seek His face always. Whether in good times or not. And helps you realize God is in control. God is always ready to listen to what you have to say. Sometimes we try to be our own God but when push comes to shove we do not have the power.

As you wait for God’s timing don’t forget to remind yourself of God’s promises and reflect on the times when your prayer have been answered. If he’s done it before, He can do it again.

This is a difficult one, but stop acting on impulse, nothing will get all up in your feelings like acting on impulse. In a moment, it may seem like you are doing the right thing but don’t forget to question your actions.

I think of these things before I speak:

It is true?

Is it good?

Is it kind?

Is it useful?

Is it necessary?

Is the answer is you to these things go ahead and speak. If it’s not keep your thoughts to yourself a d don’t speak it out.

Proverbs 15:28 compares an individual without self-control to a city that’s been destroyed and left without walls. If you do things in haste you won’t get the outcome you truly desire and you’ll only have yourself to blame.

Wait for God’s timing is difficult but, it is worth the wait.