The number 13, black cats, breaking mirrors, or walking under ladders is something some people actively avoid. 25% of people in America considers himself superstitious.
Even if we don’t consider ourselves superstitious, We probably say “bless you” or “God bless you” when someone sneezes, just in case the devil should decide to steal our souls -our ancestors thought possible during a sneeze.
Superstition also explain why many buildings do not have the number 13 on there elevators or doors. Because it’s a concern about superstitious tenants. 13% of people in a survey indicated that staying on the 13th floor of the hotel would bother them and 9% said they would ask for a different room room. Some airlines also don’t have a 13th row.
There is no single definition to being superstitious, but general means a believe in supernatural forces. The desire to influence unpredictable factors and a need to resolve uncertainty.
In Matthew 6, Jesus’s disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. These men grew up hearing prayers in the synagogue. They knew the prayers of scripture. They even heard Jesus pray. Yet, they wanted to learn how to pray.
Over the years I have read many books on prayer. Each one has helped me learn about the heart and purpose of prayer. Yet no matter how skilled I think I am in prayer, or how well I construct and organize my prayer, no matter the length, there are times when I go to the Lord and simply have no words.
We might have stood muted before of the painful sorrows of life. Barely being about to breathe, much less give a voice to how our heart is broken by loss or paralyzed by great fear. And prayer just seems impossible when we feel like we are drowning in despair, fear, pain, sorrow, or shame. When I am made silent by the circumstances of life, I remember what David said in Psalm 77:4,
“I am so troubled that I can’t speak.”
I realize I am not alone. Psalms tells us the groans of David’s and the echoes of our own hearts.
“I am weary with my moaning, every night I flood my bed with tears, I drench my couch with my weeping” -Psalm 6:6
What God wants most isn’t necessarily a steam of eloquent words, but a broken spirit, and a contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).
When we bring a broken heart. Just a simple act of coming before His throne of grace reveals the content of our hearts. He sees our humble offering and if all we can muster up is “Help me!” that is enough.
The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. When we don’t know what to pray the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that are too deep for words. Even when our mouth is hindered, our sprit is not.
No matter how much of your anguish has gone unnoticed by others, not one moment has escaped the attention of God because He neither climbers of sleeps.
When our difficulties of life mute us, remember it is not how well we pray, but that we pray.
I have gone to God with my hardships of life (there have been many). I have felt the weight of my sin and the sting of arrows flung at me from others, and the pain of loss and heartache. God has given me mercy and grace even when I come to Him with wordless prayers, He has heard my heart.
“My tears flood my bed day and night. All I can do is cry out to You for help. Hear me Lord, Help me, Lord. Help me to know who you are. Carry me through this, comfort me with your love” (Psalm 6:6 -Paraphrased).
Throughout life, we will face many pressures that try and bully us into becoming quitters. The enemy tries to convince us into giving up.
Don’t do it!
You are not defeated and never will be unless you quit.
God had answers in every situation we find ourselves in. No matter how much the enemy tries to pile things on our plates, don’t despair. We don’t have to eat the cares of this life. God didn’t create us with the ability to handle everything. He gave us the ability to cast all our troubles on Him.
I don’t know about your lives, but mine it sure seems like once one thing goes wrong everything goes wrong. The great pile-up attack. They hit from every direction to try and make me feel frustrated and helpless.
We cannot handle it all, but we can trust God through it all.
Our job is not to deal with every troubled situation. Our job is to call all of our cares in every situation over to God because He can handle it.
I used to be a chronic worrier. Everything that didn’t go my way or that I was “in control” of I worried about it. Heck, I worried about other people’s worries. One day I heard God say “Kathy, I got this.”
The only thing worry does is make our blood pressure go high and make us sick. God is in control of everything in the universe. God’s Got This!
“Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there, for He always tenderly cares for you” -1 Peter 5:7 (TPT).
When we trust God we gain strength. Because our strength is from Him.
When life overwhelms us, it is natural to look for comfort. It’s easy to choose the things of the world to calm and comfort us, whether it be alcohol, drugs, or anything else that gives us comfort. But if we follow Jesus we should search for comfort in two places either His presence or His Word.
During difficult times we should shift our focus to the things of God, not the world, instead of looking for the comforts of earth or living in fear of our circumstances, we can look to the One who holds us up. But, it begins with recognizing who God is.
God’s Word is given to us as the rock to build our lives upon. We can turn to it when life happens and seek relief.
When we know the power of prayer and acknowledge who God is, His character, and worth, we can acknowledge who we are and ask for His grace. This draws us closer to God -the source of our comfort, our strength, and our peace.
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?
If you took the strengths of others and compared them to your weaknesses, how would you think you’d size up? Do you think this would make you feel good?
The funny thing is this is what most of has done at one time or another.
It’s a surefire way for a drop in self-confidence and unhappiness. It’s also not useful.
Whether it’s another person an animal or even an inanimate object there is no point. It will only drag you down and isn’t healthy.
It is also not who God created any of us to be. It’s important to be able to look at your own strengths and see your true value. It’s actually one of the keys to success, because without this ability, you will be unmotivated and won’t believe in yourself.
The fact that God created us to be ourselves, to be unique in our own way is a gift I do not take for granted.
We can waste our lives away wanting to be someone or something else. Be you. Be unique.
God promises to be with the elderly, to take care of them, and to sustain them through old age.
If I lasted to 100 years of age, my letter will only include promises from God.
Even in old age, I am He even when you turn gray I will carry you. -Isaiah 46:4
Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever. -Psalm 73:26
With a long life, I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation. -Psalm 91:16
You shall go to your father’s in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. -Genesis 15:15
These verses, tell me that God’s love and concern for the elderly is unending. They also suggest that old age is a normal part of life life, and that God sees it as a blessing and a reward.
Psalm 90:10 says, 70 years are given to us. Some even live to 80. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble, soon they disappear and we fly away. 
One of the best choices I’ve made was to go to a Bible believing church. But a church isn’t what makes you a follower of God. The preacher should teach us how to follow God. And what the Bible teaches.
Many people sit in church week after week without hearing the gospel or learning what it means to be born again. Or without being told they need to read their Bible. They think they can get to heaven by pitting in their time at a church.
The church building is not the church, but those who follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Jesus established the church for the purpose of fellowship and instruction on how to live in obedience to God and His Word. The Lord didn’t design the church to cater to people’s needs, establish community programs or blend into the community by embracing worldly practices. When it does it infiltrates the church.
Jude 1:4 warns of this,
“For certain (people) have crept in unnoticed, who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
God breathed life into the church to proclaim His truth. The church should never seek pleasures, but seek after God. The church should be a place to get spiritual food so that the inner person is fed, nourished, and developed into maturity. If it fails to do this, it’s not a church, it doesn’t fulfill the purpose of the church.
I have been to many churches in my life that we’re not Bible-based and there’s a not a peace that goes with these churches. The church I am at now I have been with 17 years, and when I entered I still have an overwhelming inner peace.
Retail therapy isn’t an official form of therapy but it can boost your mood.
Nothing lifts your mood quite like something new. The act of shopping releases dopamine which is a feel good neurotransmitter in our brains. This immediate reward system can help get rid of feeling of sadness or stress and gives us a huge boost of happiness.
Just like everything else shopping can become an addiction. An uncontrollable urge to stop, or excessive spending that’s beyond our financial needs.
Remember that their attitude is more of a reflection of them than you.
Distance yourself from them if their behavior doesn’t change.
One thing I’ve found is that judgmental people form opinions without knowing the facts. They judge based on their experiences, not yours. They judge on psychological biases. And some judge others to feel superior or in control.
My Pastor goes through a Psalm each week and tells us what the pertinent information about them. I thought I would share. If you press on the picture the whole verse will come up.
“Listen to me in silence, let the people renew their strength” – Isaiah 41:1
Most of us find it hard to be quiet. We feel our solitude with binge-watching or scrolling. We interrupt our prayers with thoughts about our to-do lists. We clutter our minds with lists of errands we must run to purchase thighs that will turn to dust.
We distract ourselves with things of this world when the Creator of the universe desires to fully inhabit our lives so that every minute we live is fueled with His purpose.
We are into the third month of 2025, how many days have you carved out even 15 minutes to spend with God?
Being alone with God is where you learn to listen. In the Bible, God gave visions and directions to people when they were alone.
In Genesis, Abraham was called to leave his people and go to a land he had not seen where God gave him the greatest covenant promises of his age.
In Exodus, Moses was alone in the desert when God called him aside to the burning bush and assigned him to free God’s people from Egypt.
In Samuel, David met alone with God in the quiet of his shepherd role before slaying Goliath .
In Galatians, Paul spent time in the wilderness before beginning his evangelistic mission
In Matthew, Jesus spent 40 days alone in the wilderness before beginning His own ministry and continued practicing solitude until His arrest and the greatest time of His work -the cross at Calvery. He often drew withdrew Himself into the wilderness to pray.
We need to employ our soul, mind, will, and our emotions in the act of listening, so we can receive answers, wisdom, and direction. We can gain clarity and confidence about our lives and our future as we receive things God speaks to our hearts.
“Call to me and I will answer you, the Lord says, and tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know” -Jeremiah 34:3
Taking time for quiet time with God, listening, prayer, and the study of God’s revealed Word in the Bible as a part of our daily rhythm, alone with God will become your favorite place.
“No matter where we are, how lonely the night, how dark the road, how dismal the prison, how big the problem, Jesus is always there” – Adrian Rogers
When we are filled with the Spirit our lives will overflow with joy, praise, and service. Not only will there be an income, but there will also be an overflow. We will become springs of river of the living water of blessing.
The burning of bridges signifies a deliberate act of severing ties with the past, making a conscious choice not to go back.
If we want to get rid of sin in our lives we have to burn bridges that lead to that sin, to deliberately and decisively cut off all access to a particular temptation or sinful behavior. essentially making it impossible to return to that path by removing all means to engage with that again.
A drug addict will often return to the same town, the same group of “friends” that they did drugs with after being rehabilitated which often causes them to relapse and start using drugs again. They have to break all ties if they want to have a successful recovery.
This bridge represents a pathway or connection to a sinful action, like a bad habit, a certain environment, or even a relationship that enables negative behavior.
In spirituality context, the burning of a bridge is used to describe the process of repentance, where someone actively removes themselves from the influence of sin to fully dedicate themselves to a life of faith.
Of someone recognizes that a certain friend is leading them towards harmful behavior, “burning the bridge” could mean ending the friendship to protect their own well-being.
If someone decides to adopt a healthier lifestyle, they might “burn the bridge” by removing unhealthy foods from their home and committing to a new exercise routine.
Old acquaintances, old haunts, and old habits are the bridges that we must burn in order to start down and remain on a narrow path. (Matthew 16:24, 19:29, Colossians 3:5).
From Pity to Praise 