Love One Another

I don’t think a person can love someone and be ashamed of them at the same time. Maybe I’m wrong? Love and shame don’t seem to mix. Love draws a person in closer while shame pushes them away. Shame runs into the darkness but love is happy to show itself because it has nothing to hide. Shame endures nothing and breaks easily. Love endures all things; always hopes, always trusts.

Love never fails.

Surround yourself with people who love you – the real you – and not people who are ashamed of you. And be sure you are not carrying shame towards yourself or who you are; who God made you to be. The world needs who you were created to be. Don’t beat yourself up for not being perfect – no one is perfect. Be at peace with who you are and know that God loves you right where you are; and He wants you to love him right now where you are, on the journey, halfway there, imperfection and all, He doesn’t mind because you are His child and He accepts you.

Let’s learn to accept others for who they are. Shame doesn’t bring healing to anyone – it is love that heals the soul.

How Positive Words Improve Your Health

The direction of your life will follow the words you choose to speak. It’s like when you’re driving, you follow the direction your eyes are focused on. Ever looked intently at that huge pothole saying ‘going to miss that one’ and instead you hit it dead-center? Same principle applies.

“A sound heart is life to the body, but bitterness is rottenness to the bones.” Proverbs 14:30

Be thoughtful of what you think of others in your heart. Sometimes we can hold unforgiveness which turns into bitterness after enough time has past without dealing with the feelings. Forgive so that you can be free. Unforgiveness is like a cage and can affect your own wellbeing while the person you are holding in unforgiveness is free and not bound by you at all. You in essence have bound yourself. Be good to you and forgive. It doesn’t mean what they did was okay, forgiving others doesn’t mean they didn’t do you wrong. It means you are saying ‘I release you into the hands of God so that I can be free of the thoughts and free of the bitterness and I’m going to move on with my life without this weight. I’m giving it all over to God’. Release the negative feelings and it will make room to begin again.

Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. Provers 16:24

This sums it up. Be kind. It is one of the foundational expressions of love. Kindness is light, free and positive. Being mean comes from a very heavy place in our souls and leaves a bad taste in everyones mouth that sees us being cruel to others. If someone has done you wrong, turn them over to God’s justice. He works in mercy (which you probably don’t want to hear) but think of how many times you deserved worse, and God showed mercy to you. Be merciful to those who do you wrong. Speak kind words and let God deal with people in your life who are less than positive. Don’t fight fire with fire. Take the higher, healthier road.

 

My son my daughter, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
 Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
 For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh. Proverbs 4: 20-22

What this verse is referring to are the words of wisdom – that is – the words of God. Read his word. That is life to your soul and your body. God’s word is alive, not dead. It is active, not dormant. It’s living. So if you want active medicine for you soul and your body, devour his word daily!

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18

Thinking ill will towards others can be detrimental to oneself. How to exact revenge for someone who has hurt you or paying back evil for evil will only get you in trouble. Release them over to God. They will reap what they sow – just as you will. Sow mercy, reap mercy. Show kindness, reap kindness. Use your words to bless others not tear them down and you’ll feel better overall that you have control over the negative things that happen to you.

A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Be joyful! Don’t refrain but let your happy out for everyone to notice! Don’t be shocked when some people don’t like it – some people are just grumps that would rather stay stuck in their negativity. Don’t let them control you. Remember there are seasons for everything – but don’t ever lose the joy in your heart even through the bad times. Happiness, peace and joy are found in the Holy Spirit. Learn about God and relating to him and he will be your strength and joy through the good times and the bad times.

 

If you have questions or need direction on how to begin to make a change, don’t hesitate to contact me. Leave a comment or email me – you can also reach out on social media like Linked In or Google+. 

Love will get you to where you need to be~

Get Busy While You’re Waiting on God

Be ready when God starts moving.

When God moves, things begin to happen fast; in the meantime, take advantage of the ‘wait’ and learn more about him, about yourself, gain knowledge and strength because once things start moving you will not have time at that point to figure out what to do. Either you’re ready or you will be dragging behind – and that’s no place to be!

“For the Lord will execute His word upon the earth, thoroughly and quickly” (Rom. 9:28).

I love it when God moves. It’s precise and accurate and wow does it ever make an impact! God is not messing around, playing games and doing things just for the heck of it. He is deliberate. I love that about him.

There are seasons for everything.

Solomon tells us this. Two seasons I’m very familiar with: sowing and reaping. Or, to put it another way working-waiting-working.

You have to sow a seed, an idea, a dream before you can reap the benefits of it. You have to place it in the ground and let it die – isn’t that what Jesus said?

“I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 CEB

That takes work. Sowing isn’t easy. You have to let some things go, make changes, work on yourself and be diligent in your pursuit even when you can’t see one scrap of evidence that God is doing anything in your life or that anything is going to change. You have to, in essence, start living the change before it occurs. People can think you’re crazy, but remember, with God, all things are possible.

Being productive during the waiting season.

Then comes the waiting season. When the seed is growing, pushing out from the dirt (oh God, is it ever going to happen!?) This can be a very frustrating season. But sitting idle while you’re waiting is not the thing to do! Never wait without also filling your time with productive work.

Waiting on God is a two-part process. You are indeed waiting on him for direction or an answer or a way forward so that you don’t hastily make the wrong decision. This is a good thing. However, you should definitely be learning and growing in all aspects of your life during the waiting season. Never just sit and grow lazy during these times. I know, because I’ve done that – and it is absolutely no fun once God starts to move and I’m totally unprepared! That’s when I encounter disappointment and heartache.

Be learning; about him about you about the aspects of your dream or vision.

Gain knowledge and be ravenous when it comes to learning about his ways and about the people out there who are living in their dream. Learn from them, study missionaries and martyrs and business men and women – anyone who is living for God – and keep growing and stretching while you are waiting for your own harvest to come. By learning, you are in essence watering your seeds that you’ve sown. Your fertilizing and tending what you sowed. This is how to do it!

Then, one day when God says the time has come, your harvest will come in and it will be time to move. And guess what? After all the hard work you put in during the ‘waiting’ season, you’ll be ready to move with him!

 

If you have questions or need direction on how to begin to make a change, don’t hesitate to contact me. Leave a comment or email me – you can also reach out on social media like Linked In or Google+. 

Love will get you to where you need to be~

For more on the power of a seed and how faith works like one, click here.

The Power of Your Words

One of the most powerful tools you have is your word.

The Bible describes the tongue as one of the smallest, yet most powerful parts of the body. Like a bit over the tongue of a horse moves its entire body in the direction you want it to go, so the tongue moves our entire lives and wellbeing in the direction of our words. Think that seems impossible? That your life is a result of your words? I’m going to show you how it is possible.

The tongue – your words – house incredible power within them. Why do you think God exalts his word over his name?  Have you ever had to have faith in yourself that you could get something done? Well so does God! It’s just that he has full authority and knowledge of himself and so the word he speaks goes forth without doubt or error to accomplish exactly what He sent it to accomplish. Have you ever caught yourself talking to yourself saying things like ‘you got this’, ‘you can do this’, ‘be strong’? God doesn’t have to do this; instead, he spoke it once and it is truth:

“so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Isaiah 55:11

Done. He doesn’t have to build himself up like we do because he knows his word is good. Paul said we should build ourselves up on our holy faith. Which means we’ve got work to d0. God does not mince words and He takes them very seriously. What He speaks happens. If He were to say “Man this is a terrible day” then you can believe, it’s going to be one terrible day! But He understands himself and his power and the power of his words. And he tells us clearly that the power of the tongue holds death and life in it. He’s not joking. Let’s look at a few things we can do to start steering our lives in a more positive direction with good results.

Take a day and be cognizant of what you say.

Are your words overall positive, helpful and hopeful? Or are they negative, sarcastic and tainted with a hopeless outlook? Are the words you’re using building people (including yourself) up and encouraging? Or are they critical, dismissive and hurtful? The power of life and death are in the tongue. Proverbs 18:20

Is there a difficult situation you’re going through concerning another person? What you can start doing today is speaking positive and good words over them and the situation. Words are powerful and God hears them. Think about it; do you respond favorably to praise and encouragment? Then other people do as well. If we are biting and cutting others down then their demeanor will be overall downcast, angry and negative around us. Even if only as a self defense measure. It’s a reaction, like the instinct to stay alive, we close off to criticism. That should tell us that words are more powerful -affecting even the human body- than we perhaps thought. This goes for you as well, self talk is extremely important. Don’t put yourself down and be critical or negative of yourself. Learn how to be patient with yourself and forgive yourself. We are all growing and learning – God loves you and knows that we struggle. The Bible says his mercy endures forever. Know that.

Try to speak positive words over difficult situations.

I try to be aware of what I am saying as much as possible. We all can fall into a rut without realizing it – there’s something satisfying about speaking to someone about our trials and tribulations. There is nothing wrong in telling your story and seeking comfort from a trusted family member or friend. We have to be able to work through issues and someone else’s advice can be helpful. But just know that when you’re able to keep things positive you lead a healthier life. Talk through your problems and seek advice, but don’t degrade others or gossip about people. If you can limit this, you will feel much better, it’s a proven fact.

Stay positive – it releases positive energy.

I would also urge you not to get bogged down by this either. Saying you have a stomach ache is a whole lot different than saying I always get stomach aches. Stating what the current situation is, is not a problem. You have to communicate after all. But you can always speak peace over any situation – there is nothing false about speaking peace over your mind, your heart, your physical body or anything else. Stay positive – it releases positive energy (God knows this!) into everything around you. We are living breathing organisms and if God says you can speak life or death into something, you better believe you can. Let’s not kill the tender shoots of new beginnings or venturing into new projects you’ve never tried before. Practice patience and keep your outlook and words positive. I promise this will give you a much better, longer take-off area for changing your life.

Despise not small beginnings…