Tag Archives: Faith

Give Us This Day . .

22 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Christianity, Faithfulness, God, Prayer

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Listening to the chorus of various birds singing and calling each new morning through opened windows, I have grown accustomed to hearing the special song of one species as a reflection of some words I’ve uttered aloud and silently countless times! Their constant and unique cooing song sounds rhythmically like Da da da dahhhh. Repeatedly each sings out. And to me I hear, “Give us this day . . . give us this day . . .”   Spring

Especially in the earliest morning each brand new day, I imagine these birds seeking their daily grace from God as well. I’m reminded of God’s faithful promise in His word found in Luke 12, beginning in verse 22 . . to cast our cares on Him, by paying witness to the birds and all of nature each provided for anew this day. These particular birds’ staccato message each new day reminds me of Our Lord’s Prayer, of which Jesus first spoke during the Sermon on the Mount, when He was asked by His disciples how to pray in the days just prior to His crucifixion. That prayer is our instruction on how to pray; found in Matthew 6: 9 – 15. As I’ve been taught and reminded over my lifetime to pray this: Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who’ve trespassed against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen. This most thoughtful instruction is a way to pray daily a prayer of intercession for all the world’s sake – as there is no “me” or “I” but rather “us” and “our”; in peaceful rest, with trusting obedience and faithful certainty that God is still and always God.

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From the Brooklyn Museum, “The Lord’s Prayer”, le “pater noster”, by James Tissot.

Give us this day, as we trust in, lean upon and rely solely on You, Father. We thank You for the infinite ways in which you’ve provided for our needs, and we ask Your forgiveness for the infinite ways in which we’ve neglected to take notice of the depth, breadth and scope of Your wondrous love!

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Changing Currents . .

01 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by in Attitude, Change, Choices, Conquering Fear, Discipline, Joy, Lessons, Peace

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Looks like Wuthering Heights out there this morning, with this misty, foggy morning we’re having. I’m enjoying the changes Winter brings; one day there’s warmth and sunshine, and the next a wet few days of cloudy chill. Change is good, it keeps us from getting used to the way things are; potentially growing quite restless from the boredom, sameness and constancy of our habits, patterns and thoughts. We are prompted by change to flow with it and to make the necessary alterations within to accommodate it.   DSCI0440

Without change, I would suppose even those things we value the most would soon meld into the growing stagnancy of our minds, thoughts and lives; thus making us a bit less appreciative and grateful for them. Change keeps us on our toes in life; it forces us to restructure, rebuild, renew and create. Change is disrupting, as it often moves us from the familiar and beloved, or at least from the all-too-comfortable realms of our world. It represents often times a bit of chaos, and with that our fears, doubts and worries are stoked into flames which threaten to consume our lives entirely at the onset. But change can also be the catalyst for something more; change can be the exact thing we need to shake us from our sleep, to motivate and to entice us into action which then betters our life. Learning to change our perspective in regards to the constant changing circumstances of our lives is key to how enjoyable our lives become and how at peace we are throughout. 532358_4001177101920_1572559675_n_large

Not everyone is accepting of change, as it usually represents a disruption to the patterns, ways and comforting familiarities of life; but change happens nonetheless. The best way we can learn to flow through life is to view life as an unpredictable ride on changing currents, leading us to unknown and uncertain places. Life becomes less a struggle when we accept the very nature of its constantly-changing transformation, alteration and uncertainty. And it’s often just our own fears, doubts and worries which make us doubt our ability to ride the latest changing current. We have to take control of our emotions in regards to the uncertainty and possible fears which changes represent to us. When we learn to control our reactions and emotions about what happens to us in life from within, we gain immeasurable peace, comfort and joy in life! What we need to face the unseen coming with these changes is faith in what we can’t see, know or prove. Faith in God, and His assurances to us, brings us the courage to face the changes and challenges of life head on, rather than to dread them! Have faith in today, through today and in God! For changes will come . . Signature02

Because Life Is Hard . .

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Attitude, Contentment, Faithfulness, God, Lessons, Peace, Wisdom

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Some things just hurt. They go beyond our ability to reason, to comprehend and to accept. Some things we will never be able to fully understand. The death of a child, the sudden loss of a loved one, the onslaught of tragedy or suffering or hardship which we endure just by living full lives, or the seeming unfairness and inequity of how things play out in life are all truly difficult tastes and realities to swallow. I wish I could pass along a trick which makes everything easier; but I can give you a way to make peace with what seems hard to handle, accept or process. encouraging quote (4)

Once we learn to accept that we aren’t here for our purposes, but that we are here by God’s choice, His design, at His timing, with the parameters and specifics of life He has assigned to us personally and exclusively for His purposes, we can be at peace with life! It doesn’t mean that we will be able to tolerate everything which occurs to us, or to process all things which we must; it won’t even mean we’ll always be amenable to God’s will for us. After all, we cannot help but want what we want, when we want it, because we have egos which drive our desires and drives. But in accepting our role in God’s plan, for His purposes and according to His will, we learn how to put God at the center of our lives with each progressive day we live! Each day we draw nearer to Him, growing in our relationship with Him and towards Him, we learn and practice relegating our ego to a secondary position. By putting God first, we are able to accept things which others find intolerable, which we ourselves would have found intolerable once when our egos were a priority! We are able to remain at rest and in peaceful contentment progressively more and more each day we learn to let God be the center of our lives. bible-verses-6

By making this choice to focus on God at the helm in every aspect of our lives – our will, our desires, our wishes and our emotional reactions to life as it happens – all becomes secondary to our trust and faith in Him! This is maturing in our relationship with God; our process of learning to put Him first for our own sake, honoring Him through our faithfulness, obedience and trust. And the rewards for our increasing maturity in our relationship with God are more peace of mind, better emotional control and more contentment for life! Signature02

Rough Seas . .

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in Attitude, Choices, Courage, Faith, Peace, Strength

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Life is pushing and pulling a lot of people . . rough seas ahead or already all around!
But rough seas are something in which we’ve all had to surrender, to live, to bide our time and to make our way before. They’re not new, perhaps just the reason for them is new now. It’s a new storm, a new condition, a new time of uncertainty and tenuousness. But we’ve gotten through them before, we must believe in our ability to ride these waves out too!    7aee159e3d-1

 

When life is pushing hard at us, our fears are rising, our troubles seem to be unending and our hopes are at risk of fading, what can we do? I suppose it’s easy to say this, because it’s not always easy to do this – but we can remain in faith, we can rest in God’s assurances and keep our peace regardless. But that’s impossible, you say!! “This is the storm of the century, these waves are too great . . I don’t deserve this . . this cannot be . . I’m already worn out”, and so on . . . etc., etc., etc.  That’s not to diminish how heartbreaking, heart-wrenching or how frightening this storm is! It’s not to impugn our fears, worries and doubts in this event versus others or those of others. It’s not about our expectation of what should be, or about comparing what is happening now to what happened prior, or even about what might yet be. It’s not even the case that we can measure our fear, pain or trauma against anyone else’s! 41Mqz+PSnBL

 

We have to find a way to roll with the big waves as they come, to survive as best as we’re able; and to expect that on another random, new, seemingly sunny day, another of life’s storms will develop. And when that next storm comes, will we be fearless, peaceful, prepared and know exactly what to do?? Probably not. But with the arrival of every one of life’s storms, because of what we’ve already been through, what we’ve already overcome and what we’ve learned about ourselves, we can confidently build our strength, perseverance and survivor muscles for this storm too! Confident that we’ve ridden other storms out and survived those . . our faithfulness in God will bring us assurance that we will see better days ahead with calmer seas, so our peace is much easier to maintain whilst in those storms!

Expect life, like the sea, to change on any given day in any uncertain way. That is the nature of the beast! But give yourself some peace and give God the burden of faithfully guiding you through these rough seas ahead!

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Flexing All Your Muscles . .

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Character, Choices, Faith, Faithfulness, Gentleness, God, Goodness, Growing, Joy, Kindness, Love, Patience, Peace, Self-Control

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Flexing All Your Muscles….

FruitMusclesPeople are capable of amazing & wondrous things in life . . it just takes a heart braced in awareness of what fruits lie within! Inside each one of us are the fruits of our spirit . . nine essential qualities or traits which we already have in ample supply, which merely require our awareness & our determined effort to flex like muscles. We might not use them, they might turn to mush, but they’re there regardless, just like other physical, fleshy muscles in our bodies. They’re just as real to a human as flesh & bone. We prove to ourselves that when we use our flesh-muscles, when we practice with them, strengthening them, purposefully flexing them, we make our bodies healthier & better able to cope with life. So if we do the same with the fruits of our spirit, we in fact make those traits stronger in turn, preparing us for life in this world filled with people, giving us the much-needed support & help to face life head-on! Flex all your muscles, those of flesh & those of fruit, learn to use what you have or lose the potential for what you might be! Developing the fruits of your spirit truly is just a disciplined effort to be a better human being . . one who lives in the world wearing their heart as a banner & exuding the following essential traits:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fruits of your spirit are nine muscles within you which empower a lifetime of amazing gifts!
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YOUR LIFE IN AD LIB . . .

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Dreams, Life

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YOUR LIFE IN AD LIB . . .

When I was young, there was only one reality for me.  I was only interested in being a wife and a mother.  Looking back, all the things I did, all the activities I practiced, my play, my favorite times, my significance, all was vested in that journey.  Lo and behold, the two things of significance I have not done in my lifetime are those very things which I spent my childhood playtime and chore time in preparation.  I knew how to cook, bake, clean house, sew and I observed with admiring eyes, the most giving examples of women who were devoted to lives at home with husbands and children.  So, why do you ask, have I not accomplished that yet?  Hmm, it never seemed right the times the roles were offered to me previously.  It’s simple.  Life isn’t always the way we write the script, but rather in how we read the script which was given to us for our lives!  Or perhaps, even more daring in theory, how do we go off script, and ad lib our lives?

Don’t be a victim all the time!  It’s easy to complain and admonish yourself, or worse, others, for what has or hasn’t transpired according to your preconceived script.  Simple to understand but difficult to believe, we may have to live ad lib.  Yikes!  It’s not that hard, haven’t you ever had a time in life when you have had to wing it?  It’s our faith, our magical molecules, our vast capacity for determining things with reasoning, thought, and cognition which permit us to make our way up as we go.  Pretense, acting, it’s all the same really . . . we might feel slightly better were we to know things ahead of time, but imagine if you actually knew the exact moment of your death ahead of time.  The only people I know who are truly eager for that are suicide bombers, who believe in their supposed heroism that the action of death will lead to glory somehow.  They are delusional.  The rest of us, with healthy psyches and emotional personnas, know without a doubt, that some things are much better left unknown!  

So, let go, let your faith guide you, believe in your own journey’s validity, have dreams, but sometimes let yourself make it up as you go!  You might discover the person you were really meant to be lives under the shadow and forced shell of the troublesome rigidity of that other person you think you should be.  Dare to dream, but also dare to let your heart, your instincts, but most importantly, your trust in your higher power be your guide.  The zig zags of life are what you’ll remember more than the sure steps you  planned ahead of time, I guarantee it! 

HOW TO DREAM BIG!

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Dreams, Life

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HOW TO DREAM BIG!

I’ll be frank here, dreaming is always in competition with my more practical side, the realistic side which screams, “Don’t you open up your heart to those foolish dreams, you’re just asking for trouble!”  I’ve admittedly been broken down, busted apart and found myself wondering why I ever dared to dream when they pan out and fall to pieces.  I’ve always gotten back up, stepped back into my “fantasy”, and hoped all over again.  The true nature of a positive thinker is optimism, but also the very personification of that optimism, is in the ability to re-form visions, to dare to dream again!

Living in this most arduous world today requires great faith.  We are bombarded with realism.  It’s not that everything we contend with is in fact new, but we didn’t actually hear about it every second of every day before.  We literally hear about the world’s issues 24/7, through our tv’s, our internet services, our phones, our friends, our constant communication!  It’s true that our world can crush our dreams.  We must learn to rise above the heartbreak, the disappointments, the devastations, the anxieties, the traumas, and all the dramas which play out each day upon our senses!  Learn to filter for the preservation of your own sanity, but also to encourage the nurturing  of your dreams!  They need bright light to grow to maturation, not the dimness of futility and despair!

Bring your heart along for the ride, let your imagination guide you and direct you.  All ideas are yours from Divine providence, so you should be encouraged to believe that each and every idea fostered inside your imagination has merit, has possibility, and has great chance for success!  Don’t let anything deter your dreams from living full, healthy, complete lives.  Let your dreams develop from their infancy as little seeds, born inside your thoughts, to full-fledged accomplishments, which you mark upon your checklist of lifetime significance.  Believe in the dream and believe in you!

RIGHT NOW . . .

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in God

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RIGHT NOW . . .

Right now in my life, I’m like an unfinished masterpiece.  I was reminded today when looking at the infant niece of a friend, who is ill and facing heart surgery, that life’s brevity is enough inspiration to constantly let yourself be shaped and formed!  I whine too much.  I moan and complain over such silly things.  I know nothing of pain, nor enduring it, in comparison to that of a tiny little 2-month old baby fighting for hers!

When God gives you challenges, it should automatically make you rise up and put your suit of armor on.  There shouldn’t be any question about whether you are able, or even whether you have enough artillery to fight.  Who cares!  If you have a challenge, you are equipped, as you were made to make it through.  We are not a sum of failed parts, but rather the realization of creation born of divine perfection.  Even in our imperfection, our purposeful lives make us meaningful and anything but failures!  So why is it, that when we reach a rough patch in our roads, we start to cower, not sure we are able to drive further?  Shouldn’t we just proceed, knowing that we are God’s most armed fortresses, with the Holy Spirit dwelling inside, filled with all the inherent strength, bravery and knowledge we will need.  We might not actually have the physical prowess, the actual bravado, nor the skills to know how to do something, but we have the best warrior we could ever hope to have, we have God in our corner!

So the very next time you encounter something, anything, even almost nothing, which challenges your ability to know what to do, or how to react, or which way to proceed, I challenge you to do what I have learned to do . . . ask God to help you!  It’s so simple.  In every aspect of life, I keep my inner ear open to God’s consult for direction.  I don’t consider anything to small nor too simple to call upon God for help.  If you get in the habit of constantly making contact with God about life, as you are living, you will soon learn that He wants to be a part of everything you are, all that you do, and the totality of what you aspire to be!

Let go and let God is a saying not because it’s catchy!  It’s a saying because others like you and I thought that somewhere along the journey we needed God.  So we made a habit of asking Him to help us with even the most mundane, as even in our comings and our goings, we can be assured, God is interested in our reliance upon Him.  He actually desires it.  He wants us to trust in HIm and to grow dependent upon Him.  It isn’t being needy nor is it being strange, it is the way your Father wants things.  So when you find yourself in need, give your cares to God.  Even in ordinary daily stuff, give it to God and ask Him to make the most and best of everything you do and say today!  Each day you rely on Him will be remarkably notable for its distinguishable calm, simple flow, and naturalness.  In other words, relying on God allows you to live life according to His will and therefore to be in His care!  You will probably notice a big difference when you give up control and let Him take over.  Life is simple, trust in God to lead you in your journey, if you make a mistake along the way, you will find Him willing to help you make the mistake into something beneficial for you!  God wants to bless you and love you if you’ll give Him the chance!!   Ask God to be your coach, your captain, your commander and your chief, let Him arm you for any battle, and trust that He will see you through anything, since He knows what you are going  through!  Have faith, don’t give up the fight!

THE UNFAMILIAR PATH . .

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

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THE UNFAMILIAR PATH . .

You know, you can have your whole way known, your whole life pointed in certain directions, but things can happen which change those courses without your permission as it were.  Suddenly, your pathway isn’t the familiar one you were just traveling.  You are pushed into an area of discomfort and fear, all the way around you is cast with a pall of something foreign to you.  
What do you do when you don’t recognize your way?  How do you know what to do and how to proceed?  I’ve found those places this year or so, it is a fearful journey if I let myself feel it.  I’ve struggled against the current, fighting to swim as hard as I could, but realizing, it is like a rip tide, I’m not able to fight it . . . I can only ride it out and recover from wherever it takes me.  To be on this ride is to be washed out to sea on a rip tide.  It is a battle, exhaustive and frightening.  It is not the worst thing people have experienced surely, but it is one of the worst times I have known.  I’m confronting things I haven’t had to confront as a “mature” adult . . . insecurity, lack of confidence, doubt, fear.  All those conveniently coming at the same time as this major challenge to further make things difficult.  It has been a bit of a struggle some days.  I don’t recognize the fighter I was, for the “adolescent” who now feels all those same tumultuous emotions of youth again.  It is to bring a woman who knows herself to a point of being a stranger before her own eyes.  

So, in that bleak place, how do I keep my faith?  That too has been a struggle at times.  I wish I were made of metal, hard and perfectly strong, but I weaken at times.  Life is like that.  We move and then we survey our progress.  We move some more and then we survey again.  We very rarely do as we did when we are younger, which is just move and move and move, and maybe some day, survey!  We are much more cautious generally as we age.  It is our nature to know the cost of our actions, versus the insolent youth who seem to defy the knowledge that life is not a constant.  We seem to need more caution when we just live, as we also find our faith less blind as when we were children, since as adults, it is more aware of life’s inevitable truth . . . bad things happen to good people.  But there are also lessons we hopefully learn as we age, about our struggles, which can define our ability to ride the tide calmly to our new destination.  Those lessons are that even in the bad there is something we can know of good, positive and which teaches us for the future to come.  It makes us better.  Well, most don’t like this, but it is true and it is good for us, like our vegetables! 

Another lesson concerns faith.  Without it, I would be and have nothing.  I would surely have given up on this world a long time ago had I nothing to believe in and if I didn’t have my sense that a greater power carried me during those times, like now, when I am not so sure of my own abilities.  Faith abides in me, it is my constant learning curve in life to be riding out the troubles I am in by believing God will make them all for my good one day.  Now it’s surely not an easy nor constantly abundant resource within me, but with the Word to ignite me daily, I can restore and renew the Spirit within me which keeps the torch of faith burning, much like a symbol of hope from within my own self, to inspire me to fight the good fight, keep my head held high, to cast my cares upon He who loves me unfailingly and wants my life to be joyful. That may not always mean He wants me to have what I thought I should, and that may mean sometimes I must learn a lesson or six about something which helps to shape me into a better human, but it also most surely means that I am in great and abiding care!

So the lesson I can pass on is this:  through the storms are made the better sailors.  God is our ultimate captain, helping us find our way, leading us back when we get lost and enabling us to discover, in the world and ourselves, the humanity He encourages us all to find.  Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.  Believe the God who designed you will help you find your way, He is more powerful than any force which mankind, or otherwise, has designed to destroy you, distract you, and to deny you from your true potential!

LEARNING AS I GO

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Life

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LEARNING AS I GO

Life is a process, you can dream about your whole life, plan it out in minute detail even, following your own set course, up until the time that life happens for real.  When life intrudes on how we are living, we must make a detour, we must set our course to new geographical coordinates, and find a new direction suitable for our amended goals.  All of us are learning as we go, we are taking our cues from what happens to us as we proceed, and when we are confronted by things which we must correct in our plan, we have no choice but to redirect, reconfigure and reconnect our internal hard-wiring to be accepting of newness and variation.  Life is a learning process, the minute you stop learning, you are either dead or on your way.  There is no way to limit the inevitability of life challenging us, making us hopefully rise, and not fall to each occasion, demanding from us a certain level of participation.  Life is not a spectator sport! 
Life requires your constant involvement, each day is a rude awakening of the unexpected, combined with the planned, all to make us expectant and surprised, in a fabulous match of emotional internal ping pong.  This is the trick of life, it isn’t ever what you assume it should or would be, it is always a mix of upsets swirling together with the planned.  There is never a time when we aren’t feeling something from a new source, or experiencing a different situation requiring us to look for navigational help.  Even when we share an experience with another human being, the way we deal with it, feel about it, and internalize the situation will always be uniquely our own.  No one else can ever know exactly how it feels to be us. That being said, perhaps we should learn to just go with the flow more often, as life will always take us for a ride, give us a thrill and leave us wondering why things cannot remain constant and steady a while, or just more often! 

How do we learn to let it ride?  Well, the older I get, the more I realize I don’t know about life, and its limitless potential to leave me dazed and confused.  Life is definitely a thrill-ride of surprise, shock, and less often, same-old, same-old.  I admit to being a fan of the routine, the usual, the constant, but the reality of life very rarely permits me to wallow comfortably in that state of being.  Life is rarely that “perpetually” anything, there are usually mishaps, snags, snafus, and dramas often causing unrest all at the same time.  The most important quality to have in life, as my burgeoning wisdom has taught me, is a sense of faith, unwielding and constant.  These most important qualities, hope eternal, faith constant and patience without end must reside perpetually within me.  That’s how you learn to live through life.  Love is a given if you are healthy and in touch with your spirit, but having those other qualities to tether you to the mast, assuring that you are going to find your way through, no matter the storm, is essential to your sense of victory in this life.   Life will shock you, it will lull you in to a sense of false security, thinking there are rhythms of calm and comfort ahead, then “pow”, along comes the first shock!  From that moment on, the only way to respond is to move out of the reaction mode and into the action mode, give up the “victim’s” role and learn to be a conqueror, as you go!