Category Archives: life

Blogroll, emotions, Enlightenment, grace, Growing, humility, influence, life, love, positive, purpose

A Majority Of One!

It is hard to recognize the world we are living in now a days, because it has become so destructive, disillusioned and divisive. We look for things to disagree on and grab hold of things that will drive a wedge between us and others. We walk around with a chip on our shoulder, praying someone will try and knock it off, so we might have a chance to knock them off. It has gotten down right ugly and doesn’t look to be turning around any time soon.

The really sad thing is that we see this in places that it used to never be expected. We see it in churches, families and friendships. Now a days it seems the least little thing can become bigger than life and destroy what it took years to build and develop. In the Bible, we find Jesus praying for just the opposite for those that chose to follow Him. He prayed that we might be in agreement, unified and together as one. He knew that we are stronger together than a part.

“20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” -John 17:20-23

There is great power in our getting past our differences, which are usually not really a big deal anyway. Division is a tool of the enemy used to keep us a part, so that he can deplete us of our resources and sap us of our strength. This leads to our being broken with very little hope of recovery on our own. The real tragedy is that all of this work to block the blessing of God from flowing into and through our life.

It has never been a part of God’s plan for us to attack one another. It has never been God’s agenda for us to go to war with one another. God does not want us bickering, fighting and quarreling with one another. God wants us to come together with Him and with each other, so that we might be one united relationship of supernatural power that can face and overcome the worst the devil and this world has to throw our way.

Below Are Five Suggestions For Doing Your Part To Help Us Come Together As A Majority Of One:

1.) Look For And Yield To God’s Will! This means letting go and laying your will aside, so that you can pick up God’s perfect will as your guiding light and purpose in life.

2.) Deal With Your Own Challenges And Sins! My Grandmother used to say: Sweep off your own porch, before you start trying to sweep off someone else’s.” The truth is that we all have our on battles to fight and once we fight and find victory in ours, then we just might be ready to help others with there’s, not because we are better, but because we are learning.

3.) Practice Humility! If you really want to get good at something, then you need to practice all the time, over and over again. We need to practice humility, because just when we think we’ve got it, we usually get proud of ourselves and blow it!

4.) Be An Encouragement! Everyone needs some more positivity and less negativity in their lives, so why not start with yourself. If you will start, then you might encourage others along the way and at some point you will need someone to encourage you.

5.) Embrace Reconciliation! To reconcile is to become one, regardless of our differences. The truth is: What unites us (JESUS) is stronger than anything that can divide us.

I encourage you to do your part and promise that I will be trying to do mine!

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!

Blogroll, change, Creativity, Enlightenment, Growing, life

Changing Your Change!

So I’m on the road today and I really have not had a chance to sit down and write anything on the blog, but I have a very unofficial goal of trying to post something everyday, so I figured I would pull out my phone and see if I had a little something in my heart I could pump out.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I spent the whole first half of my life trying to change myself in an attempt to live up to what I thought was everyone else’s expectations. The problem with trying to change ourselves, is that it will almost always leave us disappointed, because there is always going some way, shape or form that the world uses to try and convince us that we need to change ourselves.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” -James 1:17

The reality is that you are who you are and trying to change who you are will leave you disappointed and frustrated every time. A better way of doing life and working for meaningful change is to change your actions and reactions. When we work to change our actions and reactions, a more authentic version of who we really are begins to show up.

If you stop and think about it, I’m sure you can identify at least three actions that you need to change. You know these action are destructive and costing you more than you want to pay. When we talk about needing to change who we are, we are really distracting ourselves from giving attention to the actions and reactions that need to change in our life and living.

Identify your three actions to change, make a plan on how you will do it and get to work. The changing of your actions will not necessarily change you, but it will allow the real you to emerge and you and others will find that the real you is a true blessing and gift to this world…