Beauty in your life- change your thoughts for a positive outlook
What are your favorite websites?
There are two main websites I go to on a weekly basis. They are mandyinthemaking.com. It is a cooking website from a lady from South Carolina. If I’m looking to fix something new she is my go to. She also does YouTube and walk you through 2 news recipes a week.
My other favorite website is jackhibbs.com. He is a preacher from Southern California. He is down to earth and teaches on biblical authority and Christian living.
Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live?
If I could relive a year I would like to relive age 32.
I could relive it with the wisdom I have now to make better choices and appreciate the things I overlooked.
Through it all I have become at peace with my past. The past shouldn’t dictate how we see our future.
They are there’s a reason the windshield is larger than the rear view mirror.
Would you agree the God knows everything? If that’s the case, then it seems like He could answer every question we ever had about life, and help us win every time. Which He can.
When I talk about being led by the Holy Spirit of God, I’m talking about seeking God for His direction in every area of our life -having answers, making the right decisions, and being the most effective in everything I do. No more wondering or wavering or frustration.
God wants to lead us, in fact we were designed to be led by Him.
Before we were even born, God had s blueprint for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says,
“For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
There is a plan for each of our lives, and it’s a good plan. God created us to do good things. And He wants us to do them, even more than we want to.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them.”
He has promised to lead each one of us into them when we seek and obey Him. There are many scriptures that promise God’s direction we should meditate on these to feed our faith. These scriptures are:
Asking for God’s direction and being led by His Spirit is so worth it. There is nothing better than being in the center of God’s will for your life. His plan is always the best. The key is we have to be determined to be led by God and nothing else. That may sound like a no-brainer, but let’s face it we’ve all been led by other things. We’ve let things like money, circumstances, pressure, and outside opinions make decisions for us.
Instead of being led by those things, we must look at the inside where the Spirit of God lives in us. Proverbs 20:26 tells us that our spirit is the light that shows us the way. That means, instead of making a pro/con list or reasoning things out on our own, we determine to seek God until we understand what He wants us to do.
I can pray and ask God about something and I can feel His spirit (the Holy Spirit) bring peace or upset to me. It’s a feeling I get when I need to do something or not.
When we are led by things on the outside we are relying exclusively on our own natural senses and ideas to lead us. We are trying to make decisions and go in a direction on our own.
Our human understanding is so limited. But God knows everything. Yes, He gave us a brain and wants us to use it, but sometimes His leading and the so-called logical direction don’t match. Always go with His direction. We don’t want to rely only on our understanding because we just don’t know everything we need to know.
I know that I know nothing. That doesn’t mean I lack literal knowledge, but the profound wisdom of recognizing that God knows everything.
In the world that seems increasingly chaotic, it’s crucial that true followers of God stay grounded in truth. The Bible warns us about a time when many will stop having faith, and led a stray, by false teachings and deceit.
How can we recognize these dangers and remain steadfast in our beliefs?
There is a set of truths we must live by and can devote ourselves to. It shapes how we live, and who we become. If we bleed, the all humans are made in the image of God, it profoundly affects how we treat others, view the sanctity of life, and engage with the world around us. Our beliefs have real world consequences.
Scripture gives us a sobering picture of the “last days” a time marked by spiritual deception and moral decline. Jesus Himself warned that many would be led astray by false prophets and false Christs. He spoke of a time when “the love of many will go cold” in Matthew 24:12, due to increased lawlessness. And we are seeing this trend right before our eyes.
In 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter cautioned about false teachers who would secretly bring in destructive heresies, and even deny the Master who bought them. He highlighted their motivations, greed, sensuality, and a desire for power. And there were many more that echoed Jesus.
We must remember that God’s timeline is nothing like ours. However, there is a sense today that things are intensifying and I believe this will continue until the time of Jesus’s return. There is a period of increased deception and spiritual rebellion.
In 2 Thessalonians Paul writes about a “great falling away” or apostasy that must happen before the Day of the Lord (Jesus returns).
We must navigate the times we are in. We can avoid being swept away by false reaching or being swept away by our own desires.
There are things we can do so we won’t be deceived:
The reality of spiritual deception should not paralyze us with fear. Instead, it should motivate us to grow deeper in our faith and shine as lights in an increasingly dark world.
Remember,
“Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world” -1 John 4:4
What historical event fascinates you the most?
The historical event that fascinates me is what is taking place right now.
The peace deals in the Middle East will go down in history. I believe Bible prophecy is happening right before our eyes, whether people realize it or not.
The hostages exchanged, Israel troop redeployments, government/transitional arrangements for Gaza. But even the deals warn of its durability is uncertain while government is unclear there are underlying tensions that remain.
My son ask me the other day how this relates to the Bible today my answer was the Bible tells us in the book of 1 Thessalonians that “when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes in them. A major peace deal involving Israel and perhaps many nations could throw us into the end times.
I believe this peace is temporary or a “false peace” after which conflict returns and the tribulation period follows.
All of these things must take place for Jesus to return. President Trump may not know it but God is using him mightily to bring these to pass. I would say we are living in pretty historical times right now.
There is a power in forgiveness the upstarts our ability to heal and free us from bitterness, anger, and resentment. The benefits are significant for both mental and physical health. By choosing to forgive, we can improve our relationships, lower stress and anxiety, and experience greater peace of mind.
This is a personal choice tore.ease the right to seek revenge and move past the pain, but it does not mean condoning the harmful behavior.
The Benefits of forgiveness
Forgiveness can reduce anxiety, stress, and hostility, and symptoms of depression. It helps people let goo bitterness and find greater peace of mind ind and can improve our self-esteem.
It’s no surprise that the word forgive appears over 120 times in the Bible. Jesus instructs Peter in Matthew 18:21-22 to forgive “seventy time seven” times which is often interpreted as an encouragement to forgive without limits.
Studies has actually shown that practicing forgiveness is linked to better physical health, including lowering blood pressure, a stronger immune system, and improved heart health.
Forgiving others is ultimately a way to set yourself free from the burden of holding onto anger, which can be a form of self punishment.
Forgiveness is not the same as excusing or condoning the wrongful actions of another person. Forgiveness is an internal process that can happen without a full reconciliation with the person who caused the hurt.
Forgiveness does not mean erasing the memory. It is not about pretending something didn’t happen, but about releasing the emotional hold it has on a person.
Forgiveness is a choice. It’s a conscious decision and an act of will to stop suffering from what someone else has done.
It’s about releasing the desire for revenge. It means surrendering the right to get even or seek retribution.
It can also be directed at oneself. Most people have a difficult time forgiving themselves for their past mistakes, foolishness, or shortcomings.
For much of my life, I was under the misconception that truly forgiving others meant letting go and allowing things to be exactly where they were before.
I knew I could never forgive my mother for the lies she told me growing up. I knew I didn’t want my children to spend any alone time with her. Mostly because I didn’t trust that she would not try to do the same to them. I couldn’t see a way to restore any relationship with her. So, I stayed away. Only visit when Father would call and wanted to see me.
I chose to focus on my own healing by acknowledging my feelings, setting firm boundaries, and understanding the situation without excusing get behavior. It was an internal process for my own peace, but not reconciliation. It involved seeking therapy and giving myself compassion.
It took a long time for me to identify my emotions. And accept that it was okay to be angry, hurt, and disappointed. I didn’t understand why she treated me differently from my siblings.
I had to understand the neglect and how it shaped me, without excusing my mother’s behavior.
I tried to look for the context and try to understand my mother’s past experiences to help me process what I was going through even though this wasn’t needed for me to forgive her.
I had to focus on my own healing. Prioritizing self-compassion and forgiving any feelings of guilt or unworthiness that arose.
I chose to set boundaries with my own children. I knew I had to keep my children safe. Even if that meant keeping them from being with my mother unsupervised.
I had to adjust my expectations and move forward. I had to accept that my mother didn’t provide what I needed. I stopped expecting her to change.
The hardest part was letting go of the past. I had to choose to release the burden of resentment for my own peace, and not about forgetting what happened.
What’s something you believe everyone should know.
I believe everyone should know about Jesus because His message is one of unconditional love, forgiveness, and hope. In a world that often feels divided and uncertainty, Jesus shows us what true compassion looks like -loving others even when it’s difficult, forgiving those who hurt us, and finding peace that goes beyond our circumstances.
Jesus didn’t just teach about God’s love, He embodied it. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He offers every person a way to be reconciled with God, not because we are perfect, but because He is merciful. Knowing Jesus changes how we see ourselves, others, and the world. It bring purpose where there is confusion, healing where there is pain, and light where there is darkness.
That’s why I believe everyone should have the chance to know who Jesus is because His love truly transforms lives.
What does it mean to be a kid at heart?
Childlike vs childish. To me being a kid at heart is being childlike.
To be childlike is dependence and trust in God. C.S. Lewis had an insightful way of saying expressing spiritual truths. He said “when I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” In other words, growing spiritually means becoming mature without losing the simplicity, trust, and joy of a child’s heart.
Being aChildlike means being dependent and trusting God. Having joy and wonder. Being obedient in love. Children obey not out of pride, but because of love and trust in their parent’s goodness – an attitude that should shape our relationship with God.
Being a child at heart means not pretending to know everything and depending naturally on love and guidance, forgiving easily and finding joy in the simple things.
Depending on our response, adversity or trials can be God’s greatest means of building faith or it can be an avenue for discouragement and self-pity. Faith in adversity cannot be polished without friction, nor can it be perfected with trials.
The apostle Paul spent over half his life serving Jesus, and yet he experienced suffering. It doesn’t seem fair does it? Why would God let one of His servants go through so much pain? We may be asking ourselves the same question because of things we face today. Many people believe the Lord should prevent hardship, but He doesn’t necessarily do this in this life.
Maybe our reasoning is backwards. We may think we are faithful followers of God and we don’t need to suffer, but suffering aids in the development of faithful people. If we all had a life without trials or pain, would we really know God, because we would never need Him. Adversity teaches us more about God, than simply reading the Bible ever will. If what we believe is never tested by adversity, it remains head knowledge. God gives us opportunity to apply scriptural truths to the difficulties we face, and in the process, we find Him faithful. For example, how could Paul have ever known the strength of Jesus if he had never been weakened by persecution, pain, and adversity?
Adversity can either build our faith or lead to our discouragement. If we believe what scripture says, and apply its principles to our situation, our trust in God will grow. That way, our faith will be strengthened through adversity.
My life completely changed when I decided to submit my mess to God. When I chose to focus on Him, it opened up my mind that I had a purpose. My life was worthy of something. It proved to be the only thing that filled my heart with contentment.
Our lives are driven by needs -Physical, material, emotional, as social. It ranges from the simple and tangible like food and clothing, to the intangible needs of love and recognition.
Some are crucial to our survival and well-being others are just good to have. Sadly sometimes are can’t tell if they need or want. Yet, we pour our time and effort, and even our lives into pursuing them.
We don’t always know what we need and even when we do, we may not know if they are really important.
Some work hard to earn a living and lose their health in the process, while others neglect their family while striving to build careers.
With so many different needs demanding our attention, it’s sometimes difficult to make the right choices and live our lives well.
It’s like packing for a trip. We wish we could bring all the things we need, but we know we cannot. We have to decide what to bring and what to leave behind. We have a list of things to bring, but we have to pack them.
I’m sure we’ve went on a trip only to realize we left something important behind. Or the other way around, we went on a trip and packed something we didn’t use at all.
We need wisdom to know what is important and necessary. If life’s journey comes with a suitcase, what are you going to put inside?
What things will you bring along on this journey that would ensure that you have a good and happy life? Will there be some things that you can leave out because they are trivial and you can do without?
These are some tough questions. But we need to figure them out. We don’t want to end up regretting the choices we’ve made, and not paid more attention to the important things.
Jesus taught that making the right choices means prioritizing spiritual things over material ones, accepting a life of difficult, narrow paths over the easy ones, and living a life that is both righteous and selfless. Jesus contrasts a “wide gate” and “broad way” that leads to destruction with a “narrow gate” and constricted way” that leads to life, saying the latter is followed by few people.
The right choices are not always easy and true spiritual life may involve hardship and difficulty.
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus suggests, “But seek first God’s Kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you are well.”
This means putting spiritual priorities ahead of material desires, should come first, if we focus on the physical too much we can cast a shadow of darkness over our life.
God is very wise, He knows our problems, what we are worried about, and if we put Him first all the other things will come.
Jesus linked the two to remind us that God is our ultimate provider. It is not our hard work and good plan that gets us into heaven. We need to have the right perspective. He is the only One who can truly provide what we need.
When we focus on God and His kingdom, all things will be given to us, but when we focus on going after our material needs, then we will end up with frustration and worry.
If we are busy in our lives with things that are only our wants, we are going to be merely going for existence. That’s not what God put us here for.
If we are made for a purpose of only existing we will never be content. It would be like a car with its engine running but no driver. Itburns up the fuel, but goes nowhere and over time the car goes dead.
Life without God is just like that. We use up all our energy, over time, our money, our energy, our time, our health, and over time, we drain our life away. Only to find out that we have gone nowhere and achieved nothing.
You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for?
If I was allowed three wishes I would wish for a perfect house on at least 3 acres of land with water rights and sustainable energy sources.
I wish there were no such thing as the pains that comes with old age.
My last wish would be to own a vehicle that never wore out or broke down.
From Pity to Praise