Category Archives: Blogroll

Blogroll, Enlightenment, Gratitude, Growing, Lessons, Mystery, Life,, Personal, vision

Lessons I’m Learning!

I guess I am probably at least to the half way point of my life or at least very close. Some people call this half time, which means I could possible have a third and fourth quarter left. Some see our lives broken down by the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall And Winter. If that’s the case then, I am probably coming out of my Summer and into my Fall. The one thing that seems to be becoming more and more real to me is the learning of lessons and the importance of learning the lessons. When I was younger, the older folks tried to tell me, and while we may listen, most of us have to learn for ourselves and we tend to insist on doing it the hard way.

Through the living of life and in the experience of hard fought battles which culminate in exciting and great victories or bitter and depressing defeat, we are shaped into who we are ultimately become. It is during this times that lessons are learned if we are wise enough to pay attention and learn them, so that one day in the Fourth Quarter Winter of our life, we can share them with the young bright eyes that are thinking to themselves: “I’ll show you!”

“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” -Proverbs 24:16

The greatest lesson I have learned is that I am still learning and so below I will share a few of the lessons I have learned and that I am learning along the way as I journey through this life.

1. You Are Responsible For You! We like to think we can change things and change people, but the only thing you really have the power to change is yourself and if you are honest with yourself, then there is plenty that needs changing, so open you lift, mind and heart to the supernatural and allow yourself to grow beyond yourself. It really is a never ending amazing journey.

2. Time Is A Precious Gift! When we are young, we think we have all the time in the world. It seems like it takes forever for Christmas to get here, but as you get older is seems that Christmas comes sooner and sooner each year. Don’t waste time, make your time count. It is a gift that we each have a limited amount of and once it is gone, it cannot be replaced.

3. Failure Is Not Final! We are raised to believe that failure is a bad thing and we are embarrassed whenever we fail, but most of the great things that we know, the things that have changed our lives, would have never became reality, if someone had not been willing to fail again and again. Take your chance and give it you best shot. Failure is simply learning another way that won’t work, which gets you one step closer to the way that will work.

4. Don’t Miss The Now! Now is what you’ve got. Yesterday is over, so learn from it and move on. Tomorrow is not promised, so don’t waste your time worrying about it. Today, right now, this moment is what you’ve got, so make sure that you make it count by getting the very most out of it.

5. There Is No Such Thing As One Size Fits All! What works for someone else, may work for you and it may not work for you. The reality is: Whatever advice, direction or instruction you’re given, you have to figure out how it works with you, because you are unique and special. This is why it is so important to get to know yourself, who you are , what you believe and why it matters to you.

6. Instinct Is A Gift, Don’t Ignore It! Some people call it a gut feeling, some call it intuition, some call it a sixth sense. Whatever you call it, you can’t afford to ignore it. Live you life long enough and you will discover that your instincts are better than you’ve been led to believe. You are continually taking in information, without even realizing it and just when you need the guidance, you gut steps up to try to help you make the right decision.

7. Gratitude Is Best Expressed Through Appreciation! God has blessed you with so much, but if you don’t appreciate it, then you could very easily wake up one day to find it all gone. Relationships are a very special gift and should never be taken for granted. All people have something to add to your life, if you are willing to take the time to discover the treasure. Show your gratitude through your attitude of appreciation.

Like I said: In no way am I an authority and I have not fully learned all these lessons, but I am learning them. This of course is not all the lessons, just some from the top of the list that I have been learning and that has impacted my life, living, blessing, success and victory. I encourage you to think about the lessons you are learning and share every chance you get, because it not only makes your life better, it allows your better life to make the lives of others better too…

Blogroll, Church, Discipleship, Enlightenment, Growing, Message, Personal

Sunday Evening Rewind!

I live for everyday – Sunday through Saturday, but I prepare all week for Sundays! Sunday is game day for the Pastor and all the prep work we have been doing all week finally gets to play on Sunday. I love every thing about Sundays and I love them even more now a days, because of what I get to do in sharing the encouraging Word of God.

When I was a little boy, I loved Sunday, because we went to church and I loved our church and all the folks that made it special for me. I love to stand with the Pastor and greet folks as they we leaving. I loved going to Grandma and Pa’s for a big ole family lunch of fried chicken, mac & cheese, green beans and homemade biscuits. I loved taking walks with my Pa around his property and riding to Jr. Campbell’s old store to get a chocolate solider and a pack of crackers.

I love Sunday’s now a days, because I really do believe that the Word is our hope and I so want people to get it and the difference it can make in our lives. I want people to see that is so much more than just going through the motions. I want people to grow in their spirit, so they can experience victory in their flesh and over come all the mental challenges that this old world try’s to beat us down with.

Today at Eureka, We talked about Devoted Discipleship and the fact that we all have a cross to bear. God did not promise this life would be easy, but He did promise that we would never have to walk alone. We talked about counting the cost by realizing that there is nothing more important than our relationship with God, because if it is right, then all the other pieces of our life will fall into place. We talked about the importance of making a plan to grow in our relationship with God and not just waiting for it to happen by chance. We need to let go of everything else and grab onto God with all we’ve got and He will do a work in us, to us and through us that only He can do.

After church this morning we had lunch with family and enjoyed some sweet encouragement and our fair share of laughter. This afternoon, I ran over to the Mineral Spring Park to watch my nephew Will Cantrell perform at his drum recital and then this evening, we headed back to Eureka to wrap up the evening with a little inspiration time in Bible study.

It has been another great Sunday at Eureka and I am ready to hit the bed and catch some Z’s, so we can get ramped up to do it all over again next Sunday. I love you all! God Bless & Press On! -Pastor MJH

anger, Blogroll, Control, emotions, Gratitude, Healing, life

Dealing With Anger Before It Deals With You!

There is nothing wrong with getting angry, in fact it is a natural human response that indicates that something has annoyed, challenged or frustrated us. The problem with anger is when we allow it to take control and call the shots for us, often causing us to say or do something that we later regret and feel shame for.

9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. -Ecclesiastes 7:9

So the big question is: How do I deal with anger before it deals with me? There are a lot of different things that we can try, bunt from my personal experience, there is not a one and done remedy and usually it takes a combinations of efforts to get untangled from the web that anger weaves.

The most important thing is to make a decision before you are angry that you are not ever going to allow anger to call the shots. This way, you go in from a strong place, which is much better than beginning from a place of weakness. Below are a few other ideas that will assist you in dealing with anger before it deals with you.

There is the famous “Count Method!” You can either count to ten or count backwards, but I have found that many times, this seems to get me a little more angry???

Take A Breath! In fact, take several deep breaths – in and out. Our breathing becomes shallow and rapid when we are angry and sometimes taking a moment to focus on and change our breathing works wonders in calming us down enough to get back our control.

Go For A Walk! Walking is one of the best things we can do for a lot of different things, but taking time to walk when we are angry allows us to process our thoughts and gives us some time to gain that control back that is so easily lost.

Stretch Your Frustration Away! When we get angry, our muscles tense up, tighten and we become a big ole ball of negative emotions. When we are in this state, it is very easy for us to say or do something that we are sure to regret later. Stretch it out – you will be glad you did!

Pray! That’s right, take some time to talk to God and also some time to listen to God. Prayer is powerful and God wants to help us be victorious in every area of our life, so just by making and taking the time to talk and listen to God, you are moving yourself to a higher level of living. It’s also a great idea to write in your journal, this gives you creative space to shake free of the entanglements of anger!

Practice Gratitude! This requires a major shift in gears, but if you make it, it will totally change things and fast, In fact, I keep a gratitude list in my head and heart of top blessing that I have in my life that help to remind me of the things that really matter. Thinking through this list gets me grateful and moves me to a better place quicker than almost anything else.

Now there are a thousand other ways to deal with anger before it deals with you. I encourage you to find your top three to five and have them in your arsenal, ready to draw whenever anger decides to raise it’s ugly head in your life. You’ve got this, because you were created for so much more!