Tag Archives: challenges

Growing, mindfulness, Personal, Suffering, Uncategorized

Challenges Come And Challenges Go!

This past Sunday, I shared a message entitled ”Speak Blessing!” The message was basically an encouragement to realize there is power in our words and we need to choose them carefully. I do my best to practice what I preach, so my goal was to live a positive life and only speak blessing this week. Great goal right?

Of course you know what happens whenever you get committed to living a positive life? Life seems to throw as much negative as it can and before you know it, your best intentions have become paving material for a road to you know where…

Live life long enough and you will discover that this is in fact life. Just because you are thinking, living and speaking positivity does not mean that you won’t have challenges, disappointments and frustrations. Life is made up of ups and downs, mountain tops and valleys, success and failure.

I’m not going to go into detail of all that has gone wrong this week, but I will tell you, I am doing my best to stay positive, upbeat and teachable. There are a few things I have to keep reminding myself about and I’ve become very fond of the saying: ”What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.”

Here are a few good reminders for you to remember when you’re trying to keep in the positive lane of life, even while it seems that everything and everybody keeps trying to force you into the negative…

CHALLNGES GROW YOU LIKE NOTHING ELSE CAN!

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her classic on ”Death And Dying” said: ”If you shield the mountain from the wind storms, you never see the beauty of the carvings. There is a purpose to your pain. This does not make it easier, but it helps to know and remember that it’s not all for nothing. We are continually being shaped, grown and developed and this is what we call living.

GROWTH AND HEALING ARE A PROCESS!

We are born into this human experience as a baby, but we don’t stay a baby, we grow, develop and learn, but it takes time, because it’s a process. When we fall down and scrape our knee, as it heals, it gets a very ugly scab, which we are tempted to pick at and remove, but it is actually our bodies way of healing and healing takes time because it’s a process. This life is a process, so nothing, no matter how bad it may seem is ever final, not even death.

THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO LEARN!

The question we need to always run to is: ”What is this trying to teach me?” The quicker I learn the lesson, the quicker I get free to live the positive life of blessing I was created for. What is life and the challenges you face trying to teach you???

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Filled Up!

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”  Romans 5:3-5

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Fillerup!

No one likes trials and troubles, but everyone has them and while we don’t like them, it helps to know that when we do, there is a purpose.  The Scripture teaches us that we can rejoice and be happy when we face the challenges of life, because the challenges are helping us to develop and grow endurance.

Endurance is the ability to remain active and productive even when facing adverse conditions.  It is the picture of something that lasts, regardless of time.  As we face trials and troubles, God is using the problems to develop endurance in our lives.  We can rejoice because this endurance develops character.

Character is the moral and ethical traits that make you uniquely who you are.  Someone has said that character is who you are when no one else is looking.  As we endure trials, we develop character. And our character as it grows and develops produces hope.

Hope is a feeling that things are going to be better.  Our hope is in our salvation and the relationship that it makes possible with our Creator.  This relationship is based in the love of a Creator for His creation.  This love is grown in the relationship of trust, which is strengthened in hope of an even brighter tomorrow.  This day and every day after this, is possible, because of our relationship with, to and through the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with the amazing and blessed love of our most awesome friend and Creator…

Take some time today, even in the midst of challenges to let Him fill you up with His Spirit!

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Be Yourself And Enjoy It!

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I am not your normal pastor/preacher! To those of you that know me, that is no grand revelation!  I love God, His Church and People!  I try really hard to not be judgmental.  I know that I am a sinner saved by grace and that I have more than my share of challenges and struggles.  A lot of the new friends that I am making find it hard to believe that I am a pastor/preacher.  They have never known a pastor/preacher like me that is actually human and honest about his struggles, frustrations and yes even sins!

I have not always been this way. There was a time when I gave into the mold that traditional church people will often try to force you into.  My hair was alway perfectly parted to the side, my face was always cleanly shaven and I had a perfect collection of suits and ties to fit every occasion.  (Casual to me was a pair of khaki pants and a button down shirt!)  There is nothing wrong with any of these things and I still from time to time wear the suit, show off the baby face and sport the very conservative side part – this is a part of who I am, but only a very small and limited part.  I tried to look perfect and actually began to believe that since I looked it, then I must be!  (We should know better!)

Read this passage from 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 19.)  Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  20.) To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  21.) To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  22.) To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

I am learning to just be me and I have to tell you – it feels pretty good! Let me encourage you to spend some time with God and discover who He has made you to be and then enjoy being the you that He created you to be!  God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life – don’t let life and other people mess you up, drag you down and keep you from experiencing God’s blessing – just be the best you that He created you to be!