The Fool

IMG_20180614_052524_527 I posted this very early this morning, little did I know I would be the one who needed it most today! Often times things I blog on here I am addressing others but ALWAYS myself as well! Today has felt like a wonky day for me and I have felt my anger and frustrations getting the best of me. I could blame it on being pregnant and hormonal but that would be an easy excuse; I own and admit my faults in order to try to learn from them and grow!

I mentioned multiple times today that I believe someone, somewhere is trying to push me over the edge! I am not one to let things get to me too much, although I have short fuses in few areas, I still usually let it roll off. Now, if I get pushed so far, I will make it known 😱

Lately, I feel there are ridiculous and unnecessary events occurring that have caused such deep aggravation; just keep stewing inside of me. All these things seem so trivial when I actually sit and think about them, yet they’re nagging! I’m “doing the practical” (as my Uncle Tim would say) when it comes to solving the issues, but I’m irritated I even have to worry about these things. I’m very confident that in the end it’ll all have worked out for the best, but in the meantime I am working to be my usual self and brush it all off!

Having all this frustration built up lately has made it easier for me to get mad about little, meaningless stuff! It has made me jump to conclusions and assume things and I realize…that’s not seeing the light or the positive in the day/days, it’s taking that easy way out and focusing on the negative and letting it start to slowly take over. One negative thought leads to another and another and them it snowballs!

Today, I feel like a fraud for making that post and not putting my own words to practice! I feel ashamed for that fact alone, but also for letting my anger and temper get the best of me. I keep seeing and hearing a verse in my mind and I’ll post it below!

That last one says it all! Today my actions and words have been foolish…probably no different from the very foolishness I am irritated about! I can sit and attempt to convince myself that certain foolish behavior is different than the next, but is it really? I know better and I should always be striving to be better!

Everyone has their bad moments or days or even weeks and unfortunately years in some cases! Whatever category you fall into, I pray for you and what you’re going through. I pray that if you have current built up anger and frustration, you are able to give it to God and move forward without dwelling or stewing! Don’t sweat the small stuff! Whether small or big issues, God always provides solutions if you listen and follow His direction. I pray for all of us to let the negative go so it doesn’t start weighing us down and stealing our happiness and overall joy! Let us all be slow to anger! 🙌

Much Love and God Bless! 💚

The Importance of Prayer Continued

Today’s blog will build upon a previous blog called The Importance of Prayer. As I mentioned in the first post, I have been listening to a short sermon series on Prayer and I have been sharing what I take away from the sermons.

Screenshot_2018-06-11-11-53-47-1

Many are familiar with the verses above; they are often referred to as The Lord’s Prayer. It offers us insight to how we should strive to pray. Every prayer doesn’t have to sound perfect or be about the same things, but we should always pray for His kingdom and His will to be done in any and every circumstance. Prayer to us spiritually is like oxygen to us physically; we NEED it to thrive! Many Christians today are great at identifying problems around them, yet we aren’t taking steps to change our atmosphere! I’m willing to bet that most everyone reading this has two things in their homes right now: a thermometer and a thermostat. Many of us Christians are the thermometer, we help identify the issue yet we aren’t being the thermostat which actually changes the atmosphere around us. The thermometer will tell us the temperature, but it will not change the temperature. In other words, pointing out what’s wrong around us shouldn’t be our main focus; our main focus should be coming up with a process to better what’s around us. A major key to being a strong Christian is setting priorities in our life. These spiritual priorities come from our beliefs and values and they determine the direction or course of our life. We should be asking God what His priorities for our life are and making it a point to achieve them. By nature most of us tend to think of ourselves, but we should remember to always put God and His will first in our lives.

A kingdom can be described as a king’s domain. The kingdom of God refers to God’s sovereign rule in the hearts of man. We should pray for His will to be carried out by all of us, including those who lead over our country. In the United States, we obviously don’t have a king or queen to rule over us, but a President and Vice President; we also have Congressman and Mayors etc. Whether we are for or against any leader, we should alway pray that they lead us in a way pleasing to God. It is easy for us to place blame on this leader or that leader, but prayer can cause change! Not much, if anything at all, will change until our leaders operate on Godly wisdom instead of political benefit! Pray for your cities as well! One of our responsibilities as Christians is to BE the change we want to see; stop reporting the issues and go out and make the difference. We are called to influence our communities and come against the negatives/evil in prayer. I personally believe prayer can change anything and that includes our country! Nothing is impossible with God!

Screenshot_2018-06-11-11-38-50-1

In addition to praying for our leaders, we should remember to pray for our families. We should continually pray for any problems we have within our families and especially remember those who don’t know the word of God. Pray to make an impact on those who don’t believe, as we may be the only form of Jesus they ever experience. May we pray for direction and guidance from God on how to handle any issues within our families and know that it may not always be pleasing to everyone involved, but in the end it will work together for the good of everyone involved.

We should also be praying for our spouse. Pray for our relationship in general; that we are working together to build one another up and to help each other recognize our gifts/talents and encouraging each other to use those skills to reach others and strengthen our relationship with God. We should always want our spouse to excel!

Screenshot_2018-06-11-11-35-18-1

Of course we can’t forget to pray for our children! One thing we can never pray enough for in these crazy times is protection over our children. Let us remember to pray for children to have wisdom in their choices, especially when it comes to the friends they choose etc. May they always have wisdom to tell the difference between people who will help them grow and those who will cause them to wilt. May we pray for the salvation of our children that they may grow in their very own personal relationship with God.

Pray for your church. Whether it’s a church you visit or are a member of. Pray for the other believers and pastors to have spiritual wisdom and understanding and that they all continue to grow in their faith.

Last, but not least, remember to pray for yourself as well.

Screenshot_2018-06-11-11-39-43-1

Pray for your struggles, relationships, fears/anxieties/ stresses; don’t just pray for change in everyone else, but for change in yourself and your life as well. Pray to become more like Jesus and let our joy be our strength! Pray to be the “real deal” showing others through your actions and not just your words! Let others see Him in our lives. As I said before, we may just be the one and only contact someone else has with God! May all we do reflect God’s love, peace and joy so that non-believers question what makes us tick. 💚🙌

Screenshot_2018-06-11-11-41-48-1

I want to pray for everyone reading this, that you all may progress in your own faith and personal relationship with God. I pray we all recognize that we are the body of Christ and in order for the body to move and reach others, we must do more than just speak about the problems, we must become the solution!

Much love and God Bless! 💚

If any of you reading this have any prayer requests, PLEASE don’t hesitate to comment on this blog and I guarantee we will have several people praying for you. Also, if anyone just wants me to pray with them over their comment they leave, please let me know and I would absolutely be willing to do so. My words aren’t perfect, they’re not always the most sophisticated but thankfully our God doesn’t care about that, but only the sincerity of our words. 🙌

Time and Technology

Screenshot_2018-06-08-23-34-05-1

I’m a person who is constantly stuck in a different decade. I’ve always been fascinated by the 50s and 60s and I have loved 70s and even 80s as well! All of these timeframes have specific characteristics that appeal to me. One of the things is the simplicity of life. Of course I am not claiming these periods of time didn’t have their world problems, but we can all agree that certain aspects of life were more simple. Kids were kids and they were content with that. People could walk to most places and not feel fear the whole time wondering if any danger lurked around the corner. Parents were able to let their kids go out and freely play with other kids without worry that someone would come kidnap them or that the other children would shoot or stab one another out of anger. I can only write this as an outsider to most of the time periods, as I was born towards the end of the 80s, but I truthfully feel many who did grow up back then would agree with my points.

One HUGE thing is that technology wasn’t at all how it is today. Technology being so easily accessible has its advantages, but in my opinion, it brings many more negatives than positives. We all hear the word addiction and we immediately think of alcohol and drugs, but what about technology? I sit here on my phone typing this and I wonder, how much time do we all spend on our electronics? I can bet most of us underestimate the amount of time; we feel like, “oh I’m only on my electronics for a little bit, not long at all” and in reality its 4, 5 or 6 hours a day or even more! I have read that American kids spend about 7.5 or more hours a day on electronics, and worse than that, I have read studies that say adults can spend 10 hours or more. I can’t say for certain how accurate these studies are, but I can most certainly believe those numbers. With social media alone, we can easily lose track of our time spent. Granted, some people have to use electronics for work, but I know that most people use electronics beyond the work realm. I believe technology can be a useful tool when needed, but I hate that it consumes us and we become addicted to it without even realizing it. We are always documenting every detail of our lives that we lose connection with those special moments. We have so much information at our finger tips and many times I believe too much. I feel like it brings more stress into our lives. In my eyes, more harm than good comes from all of this access. As the saying goes, “everything in moderation” and I believe this can be the case for technology. A little can go a long way!

There is an app my husband and I have on our phones called Quality Time and it tracks how long you are on your phone and breaks down which apps you were on and for how long. It also keeps track of how many times you unlock your phone etc. I am in no way connected to this app or the promotion of it, but I believe it can be an eye opener. We all use the excuse, “If I had more time” yet if we only saw how much time we waste, we would be ashamed…at least that is how I felt upon first using the app. I truly felt that I didn’t spend that much time on my phone, especially when a lot of times I am on for 10 mins or so and back off…but I assure you, all those times add up throughout the day. It’s hard for me because it’s my main source of communication with my family, but that’s really no excuse. Before phones, people wrote handwritten letters or saw/talked to each other when they were able. Simple. Maybe I’m a little too stuck in the past, but I feel like less is better. I want to spend less time on electronics and more time with the people around me. I don’t want to be a person so lost in their phone or other forms of technology that they lose touch with reality. My husband and I have actually even contemplated downgrading our phones! We are definitely in the process of implementing technology free days and having designated time frames for when technology can be used and nothing beyond the specific time allotted. The world comes with enough stress, we don’t want to add more to our lives and definitely not more to our children’s lives. We want to be an example to them to enjoy the world around them; to live in the moment and take it all in. We want them to feel free to be kids without having that need to constantly compare themselves to others on social media or be bombarded by all the hate and division in the world. We are said to be living in times when anxiety and depression and suicide are at their highest and I believe an overabudance of technology and information plays a role in those rates.

These are just my opinions, you can take them or leave them. If you feel like you may be spending too much time on your electronics, try timing yourself or even downloading that app Quality Time and see how much time you are devoting to your phone and go from there. Make a plan of attack; determine how much time you want to be spending all together and when you’ve reached that limit, simply put your phone up out of sight. Inform people you contact on a daily basis of your plans so there is no unnecessary worry. Obviously this excludes times of emergencies.

I am really excited to start putting all of this to practice and maybe you’ll decide to join me! You may notice that I haven’t blogged as often and that will likely be the case. Instead of trying to blog daily, I think maybe every other day 👍I pray everyone can take a step back and evaluate where their time is spent on a daily basis. Time is such a precious and valuable gift we are given every day and I pray none of us take it for granted. May we all utilize our time wisely.

Much love and God Bless 💚

The Importance of Prayer

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Sundays were always a day I looked forward to growing up, because it would mean attending church. Sunday mornings would be for Sunday School followed by the actual church service with the whole congregation coming together to hear one sermon. My church was definitely one of a kind and I have never found another that can even come close to comparing. It has actually caused me a lot of aggravation and sadness, now that I’m older and living in another state, that I cannot find a church that lives up to my standards and idea of what a church is or can be. Our church was small, but close-knit. It was like a second family for me. Of course not every one person will get along wonderfully in any kind of group, but for the majority I felt we all truly cared for one another. Also, not everyone in a church is non-judgmental, but that also shows they are not extending their faith in the correct way. If you ever encounter people like that in a church while you’re visiting or even outside of a church, please don’t assume that everyone in that church or anyone that associates with that person is the same. Don’t let one or two cracked eggs ruin the whole dozen!

So, as I am older and living in another state I did not grow up in, I find it difficult to find that kind of church family again. People who welcome you with open arms and love you for who you are and want to help you grow in your faith. Since I have yet to find a church family, I often listen to sermons online from a church I used to attend back home…not one I was a member of and not my original church, but one I did enjoy going to. Today I listened to the beginning of a sermon series on prayer and the importance of it in our lives. I always like to share the message I received with others, so you can guess what this blog will be about!

Many of us believe in praying. We pray before meals, we pray before traveling, we pray when we have problems in our lives…but are we truly putting ourselves into those prayers, or just going through the motions? Are we sincere or has our prayer life become more of a tradition than anything else? Most of us have all learned a prayer or two as a child. “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food, Amen!” “As I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…” We all have learned those prayers or some versions of those prayers and have even memorized our own unique family prayers for bed time and meal times. I am not knocking any child’s prayers or saying we shouldn’t hand those down, but there comes a point in our lives where we need to break free from the routine prayer and speak more from our hearts. God isn’t interested in big words and fancy speech, He is more concerned about sincerity, honesty and humility. In other words, He craves us to be REAL with Him. He knows everything about us, but He wants us to come to Him and express our concerns or thankfulness. Of course He knows how we feel, but He wants to hear it from us!

Prayer plays a tremendous role in our lives; more than we give it credit for. Prayer can determine the level we rise in all areas of our lives. We can only go as far as our prayers take us. Prayer should be taken seriously and it should make a difference in our daily lives. When we treat prayer as some sort of tradition, we aren’t letting it make a difference in our lives after the prayer is over. Prayer should be of great importance and a top priority in our lives and after we pray it should change how we go about our days; it should impact how we interact with others, how we approach our problems and how we live life in general! It should be helping us grow as a person and also grow in our faith.

Taking the act of prayer seriously allows us not to lose heart. When we lose heart we want to just give up and give in and this is something that pleases Satan! He would love for that to happen to us! If Satan can get us to lose heart, he can get us to doubt and in turn lose faith, which makes him closer to his goal of destroying the gospel! Steal, kill and destroy, that’s what Satan wants to do. Prayer enables us to not only identify Satan in our lives, but it can help us to evade and escape from whatever he is attempting to do in our lives. It shines a light on his deceitfulness!

As I have blogged about before, prayer had helped me (and still does) during my extreme anxiety break downs. I always say I believe in the power of prayer! When we pray we should believe our own words and that God is there to hear us and answer our prayers according to His will and what is best for our lives. I’ll be the first to say that unanswered prayers can sometimes be the biggest blessings! It doesn’t mean we weren’t heard, it means God said no because He had something better for you and your life. We cannot see it at the time, so we wonder why God isn’t listening to us…but He is! Now anxiety and worry can consume us! We are in a constant fight whether we want to be or not and the enemy keeps on attacking; he’s relentless! We experience more worry and stress due to our wanting to be in control and believing we are in ultimate control of our lives. We take on all of our issues alone and forget that our God waits for us to bring that baggage to Him! We shouldn’t be carrying any of our own baggage! We should be going to God in prayer and handing it all over to Him to handle. He isn’t like a friend who says vent and unload to me and then they too become overwhelmed; He can truly carry your burdens now just as He did at the cross! He wants to take that weight from us and allow us to breathe easier and stress less. When we go to God in prayer we shouldn’t give Him our problems only to take then right back after we’re done praying; we should have faith that when we give those things to God, He is solving our problems for us and we no longer have to worry about them. It’s not saying to never come to Him over the same concerns, but we should believe that He is working for us! We don’t have to fight alone; God is our strength!

Prayer will allow us to become closer to God and that is a huge reason we should make a point to make prayer a point! Let prayer be a part of you and your daily life! Come to Him with words from your heart and not just words of tradition or routine. Come to Him in good times and bad. Prayer isn’t just about coming to God in times of need, but also coming to Him with thankfulness of all He has blessed you with! I pray that all of us take charge of our prayer lives and make prayer an important habit that we treat with respect. Let us not just go through the motions, but really put our whole hearts into our prayers to God. I pray even families start a prayer time together and put emphasis on the subject. May we all grow closer to God through our prayer life!

Much love and God Bless!

Doubt: Another Thief of Happiness.

Screenshot_2018-05-31-05-50-43-2

Doubt: A feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction.

How many times have you felt so confident in something and then doubt slithered its way into your mind? Doubt can be a product of our own thought process OR it can be placed there both intentionally or non-intentionally by others. No matter how doubt is produced, it has one main objective…steal/kill happiness or contentment. When we are on the right path in our lives and all is going well, that is when doubt likes to feed. I personally believe doubt to be yet another manipulation sent out by Satan himself. Who else gets more enjoyment out of dismantling us? He’s like a vulture who waits to pick us apart slowly, piece by piece.

To me, doubt can come hand in hand with anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, worry and the like. It can be just as hard to rid yourself of as well. I once said, someone telling me “don’t worry” is equivalent to telling me not to breathe; it seems simple, yet it can be hard to reprogram how we think. Doubt is another thing that does not do us any good, yet we can’t help but open the door and let it on in. There are so many quotes about doubt that ring true and I will add a few.

“Over thinking kills your happiness.”

“Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.”-Elizabeth Elliot

“The doubters are just dreamers with broken hearts.”-Atticus

“Not every thought you think is TRUE, and not every thought you think is YOU.”

We may be prone to doubt because we have been let down or our hearts have been broken too many times. We may be very untrusting and doubt arises from that. We may have doubts about many things we do because family, friends or even acquaintances along the way have planted seeds of doubt in our minds. Some individuals purposely plant doubts in our minds out of jealousy; they see great things happening for you and that’s their way of trying to bring you back to their level of unhappiness. Again, no matter how doubt forms itself in our lives, we have the power to throw it out. It usually strikes at times when you are on the right track and have things figured out and when your faith is strongest; don’t let it steal that joy and peace you have! Kill doubt with more positive thinking!! The more thoughts of doubt that begin to pop up in your mind, counter them with positive thoughts and affirmations. It reminds me of something I tell my son about fear…tell it to go away, and that it’s not real! Our God is bigger than any issues that come into our lives, we just have to do our best to rely upon Him and not be shaken! Let us keep out feet firmly planted in faith! Let us know that we are confident and doubt cannot take it away unless we let it!

I pray for all of us feeling any kind of doubt in our lives…whether it’s doubt about school, career paths, parenting, faith, appearance, capabilities, health etc. I pray all of us find our peace and let that and our inner confidence overcome our doubts. Fear likes to feed us doubt and I pray we continue to recognize that most of our worries and doubts are caused by fear and the majority of the time, they have no merit at all! May we stay strong in our faith and know that God is for us, not against us. He is there to have a personal relationship with us and is willing to help us out in any way.

Much love and God Bless 💚

An Anxiety Disorder Reflection

When I first started this blog I recall stating that I would comment and even write multiple blogs on anxiety and I’m here to make good on that promise 😉

Anxiety has been so prevalent in my life (the majority of my life) I now have to consider it a part of me in a way. Don’t mistake my statement as being accepting of my anxiety disorder, rather I have more of an understanding of it and know that although there may be times I am in control, it will likely lurk in waiting. I often describe it as going dormant or partially dormant, but I would never say I am “cured”. I’m a firm believer in a person’s ability to constantly better themselves, and that is how I look at rising above the disorder. I have no issues with the anxiety disorder label hanging over my head, I do however take issue with the control it can have over me as a person; physically, emotionally and even spiritually! Let me state that I do not always have good days and I do backslide in my own personal journey with anxiety disorder (yes, even after all these years) but after enduring it for most of my life, I have learned a thing or two about it. I’m not a doctor or counselor or anyone with a title, I’m simply an individual sharing her experiences with anyone who wants to listen in hopes that it’ll help them in some way!

I was reflecting on the disorder earlier this morning and remembering how much it has impacted my life and even still does. Anyone with anxiety disorder knows how much time it can steal from you; how many moments you miss out on. In times like these with social media you see so many photos of people who are worry free and just enjoying life on their vacation time…it’s hard not to say to yourself, “man, I wish I could do that!” With anxiety disorder, especially in a peak time, it is SO debilitating. You are unceasingly paralyzed with fear. You opt out of anything and everything, even when you don’t necessarily want to. At one of my absolute worst times with the anxiety disorder, I was living in a continuous and never-ending state of panic and fear. I’m not talking every other day or even once a day, I am saying every second of every single day for more than a year and the disorder was relentless; it NEVER gave up. That year sure seems lost to me. I hardly remember anything else besides what the disorder caused and how it altered my personality and just myself overall. I would sit on the couch at my parents house and be like a zombie. I would be expressionless. I lacked personal hygiene because it felt like such a chore and I had no will or energy to get up and do it. I was terrified every day was my last day. I was convinced I would die every. single. day. Every move I did have the courage to make was over-calculated in my mind; the worst case scenario was always the certainty. I couldn’t go outside because some crazy accident would happen. I couldn’t go out to eat or even eat new foods or foods I hadn’t in a while because I would have severe allergic reaction and my throat would close up and I’d die. I’d like to add that I have no known food allergies. I ended up losing so much weight because I could only muster up enough courage to consume apple sauce, bread and water. I cried at every meal when my parents or husband would attempt to get me to eat because I was petrified. Night time was no different and could even be the worst time for me. Fear and dread kept me from falling asleep every night because in my mind I would have a heart attack and die in my sleep and no one would be able to help me. I would have such bad whole body tremors/shakes. I can’t even put into words everything that I was unable to do. Simple every day tasks were forgotten and I was just this emotionless blob. I truthfully am not embellishing nor am I actually able to convey all that I went through. One of the worst parts was I felt like I was drowning in front of everyone. My head was persistently under water, my arms were in the air yet everyone was looking right at me and telling me I was alright. They couldn’t see the water. They couldn’t see me in trouble. So how could anyone help me if the people who loved me and knew me best couldn’t see how much trouble was surrounding me? They may have acknowledged my feelings but they truly couldn’t understand and therefore they couldn’t help. When I came to this realization, I knew there was only one person who could help me, that person was me…or was it?

Anyone who views these blogs can recognize that I am no one who shies away from my faith. During this particular peak of the anxiety disorder a lot that got me through was my faith. I believe certain events happen in our lives to bring us closer to God when we have become complacent. When we start veering off on our own and although still believers, we lose some of that spiritual spark. Many believers can talk a good game, but they end up, even unintentionally, treating God as a genie. Your life is going great and you go on your merry way and you’re just idling in your faith. You call upon God only when you’re in trouble. There is nothing wrong with calling upon God in times of trouble, but we should always be calling upon Him even when things are going wonderfully! In my opinion, this anxiety disorder is in my life so that I can use it to help others. I can relate on a personal level out of experience! I would never wish it on anyone nor do I enjoy having it myself, but it has allowed me to get here where I can share my story with all of you and hopefully make some sort of positive impact on your life. I want to give others hope who have been in those worst times and felt so alone and not “normal”. You wonder how far you can go before you actually snap and go crazy. At times, we already believe we are crazy. The great part is we’re not and we haven’t gone too far. We can always put our minds in reverse and come back to center! We’re not lost, we just took a detour! 🙂 I know the fear of opening up about it and having this image of someone taking us away in this white straitjacket and locking us in some padded room somewhere. It sounds unreasonable, yet many of us with anxiety have felt that fear. This is one of the many reasons I share my story with everyone so that anyone else having the same feelings can realize they are not alone and their feelings are shared by many other individuals. There is such power in reading or hearing someone who doesn’t even know you express exactly how you have been feeling; it offers a sense of comfort when you need it the most. I mentioned my faith got me through and it truly did. I would pray often or sing older hymns or modern Christian music in my head at night or even recite verses over and over until I was calm enough to fall asleep. I kept a book of verses with me specifically on the subject of fear. It gave me the boosts of confidence when I would need it and assured me that I would be able to make it through this. I so often cried to my husband or my parents that I would never be the same, that I would never find myself again. Anyone out there thinking that they are permanently lost and will never be able to find themselves again, I am here to tell you it’s not only just a possibility, but a CERTAINTY! You CAN and you WILL! At times, all we can do is buckle up and hold on and know that this will pass. I even purchased books on anxiety disorder, both religious based books and non and it helped me to better understand my condition and in learning more about the disorder I was able to regain more control. I am convinced I’ll always be a work in progress, but I am proud of how far I have come. I have a lot to work on still, but this peak time I have been referring to was 2010 for me, so 8 years I worked at it and still continue to! It’s unreal to think that I was married for just 2 years when this particular surge in the disorder occured, and I could never express my gratitude enough for my husband. I talked about how much I have endured, but he also went through all of the ups and downs with me. He stuck by me when most people would have run the other way and he not only stuck by my side, but he encouraged me and did his best to understand and help me along. He did whatever he could to ease my mind at times, yet he gave me tough love when I needed it most. It’s hard on a spouse to see the person they love the most suffer through something and not be able to help at all, just kind of sit back and watch and not even fully comprehend what is actually happening with them. My husband, Brandon, he’s definitely a hero of mine ❤ Yet another gift from God!!

I want to pray for anyone at there who is feeling anxiety to any degree, especially those of you in these peak times that feel hopeless and alone! I want you to know that not only God is with you, but I too understand and you can turn it around. It may take years for you to feel like you’ve gained even some control, but it will happen! I pray for you all to have peace and comfort when you need it most. My dream is that my words, whether now or in the future, help even one of you out there!

Much love and God Bless ❤

mountain

The Plague of Worry

Worry.

What good does worry do? What positive impact does it have on us and our state of affairs? How fast does it speed up our current predicament? Will it change the outcome of any problem?

Answers to the test: Worry doesn’t do any good. Worry offers no positive impact. Worry does not change the timeline in any way and has no say in the outcomes of our issues. In short, what is worry good for?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! (Yes, I DID say that using my best Edwin Starr impression).

In all seriousness, why worry? If you’re similar to me, you can agree with these points and still feel unable to refrain from worrying. To me, someone telling me not to worry is equivalent to telling me not to breathe; worry has played such a tremendous role in my life. Why is it that we can recognize and acknowledge worry for what it is, yet we allow it so much power and control over our lives? It honestly doesn’t do us any good, and if anything it only adds to our problems. Worrying can even lead to the unfolding of events that wouldn’t have even occurred otherwise. When we worry we only cause ourselves more turmoil. It’s unnecessary, yet we can’t help but do it.

As a Christian, I have faith in God yet my worrying isn’t a very good example of the strength of my faith. If I say I believe in God and still continue to worry and obsess over certain problems in my life, how much faith do I really put in Him? I wholeheartedly believe God protects me and wants what is best for me in my life. He works everything together for the good of my life. So why do I still worry? I feel I waste so much time worrying and I could be spending that time immersing myself in my bible studies or even sharing my faith and views with others. I could be making a difference in someone else’s life instead of focusing on what I cannot change in my own life. I conclude that focusing on more positive things we could do, and have the ability to do, will allow us less time to worry. Also, who doesn’t enjoy getting lost in a good book? I can think of no better book to get lost in! The Bible can give us the reassurance, comfort and confidence boost that we desperately need in our times of worry. It can help us understand how worry doesn’t serve any purpose in our lives and even aid us in leaving it behind. I struggle all the time with leaving it behind; it has a way of sneaking up on you! Still, I do strive to rid of it little by little and reprogram my thought process. When I start to feel like worry is overtaking me and my thoughts, I pray and ask God to fill my mind with positive things; thoughts that will be more beneficial to my life!

I FULLY understand it is MUCH easier said than done! I tell people that frequently! However, attempting is one of the easiest things we can do. We can at least try to rid ourselves of worry, even if little by little. Worry is a natural response to things we endure or are enduring, but we don’t have to allow it to take up a permanent residence in our lives!

I pray that everyone out there can take the first step and try to rid themselves of worry. I want all of us to have that confidence to order it away from us and stand our ground when it comes creeping back in! I want us to reverse the negative and replace it with positive. When we start to worry, let us ask ourselves those questions at the beginning of this blog. What good is it doing? What is it changing? Instead, let us ask ourselves what can we be doing to better ourselves, our situation or to better someone else’s life? What is something positive we can be doing with our time and energy. Time is a precious gift that is often taken for granted…do we really want to waste it on worry?

Much love and God Bless 💚

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Someone To Confide In

Another day, another blog 🙂

I’m sure you’ll grow tired of my posts, but I will press on! LOL

I’ve been talking to my little sister most of the day today and we mentioned the joy behind having people to relate to. We talk on this subject frequently; not only having someone to relate to but having someone to confide in whom we trust. Trust, for me, does not come easy at all and you may be like me as well. In addition I have many times felt misunderstood and unable to really find others to relate to. When we finally do find others we can trust fully, confide in and relate to, it gives us such a sense of comfort, peace and happiness. Those people are assuredly not taken for granted by us!

I believe blogging is an outlet in which people find others across the world that they can relate to. They may not know them very well, but they can read their writings and relate on personal levels. There is almost a sense of reassurance when you read someone else’s feelings and thoughts and realize, “hey, I’m not alone!” We get the same feeling from a select few in our lives as well, if we’re lucky enough to have people like in our lives! I am blessed to have a few people whom I can trust with anything. I can call them to vent to, laugh with, cry with or even just talk about nothing at all! I could not imagine my life without these individuals as they play a big role in my daily life.

It’s hard for me to type this out knowing that out there someone feels that all-consuming feeling of loneliness. They feel alone and cannot put their trust in anyone. They feel no one can relate to them. They may have no one or they may be surrounded by people who love them, but still they will feel these nagging feelings of isolation. I understand it can be a part of life; a process some of us go through. I wish no one had to feel that way. Many times, even with people around me, I would feel that way. I would be overwhelmed by these feelings that I was different and unable to really connect with another individual. A lot of times I believe we are under the impression that we are the only ones who feel not only these feelings but that we are the only ones going through the tough times we are. That’s why I’m such an advocate on being an open book and living as transparent as possible. I’m not implying to share your every waking moment, but sharing our struggles and feelings with those around us can give others that same sense of comfort and peace within. At the very least, if you can’t find that person, BE that person for someone!

I pray for all of you out there to have at least one person whom you can come to trust and come to about anything and everything. A person who brings a light of positivity to your life and even causes you to be overcome by joy just from simply talking to them or being in their presence. A person you can always look forward to chatting with or meeting up with. If you don’t have someone like that, I pray for God to lead them to you and your life! I would also like to point out that God can be that person for ANYONE. It may sound outlandish to some, but you can have a relationship like that with God. He is a constant; always there for you to confide in and trust. He is a constant source of peace, comfort and joy!

Much love and God bless! ❤

Empty Cup

Today I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I have had a lot on my mind and I’m not sure where this post will lead, but I will just go whenever it leads.

I’m tired, pregnant, a wife and a mom of 2 younger boys…that should explain a lot lol but in addition to all of that, dealing with your average stressful situations can some days be overwhelming, especially for someone who is prone to worry and stress. Some days I feel I could take on the world, while others I feel I can barely get out of bed. Some days the boys play together wonderfully and other days they like to pester each other. Certain times I can get my house work done while most of the time I can get only parts done, if any at all. I can be extremely hard on myself and set too many expectations for myself as well. I feel the need to always get every thing done at once and I tend to overload myself. I think many of us mothers can have a tendency to overwork ourselves; we put too much on our plates and then feel like a failure of we didn’t get it all done. We are constantly working so you would assume we would cut ourselves some slack!

Although I lack a self-care routine, I find that it is a great idea if you can manage the time. Take a few moments to recharge and take care of yourself. Doing something for yourself seems so foreign to me; I am the one who takes care of everyone. I don’t just take care of my immediate family, but I am always there for any other family members or friends who need me, no matter the time or how busy I am or even how stressed or anxious I am; I make sure I help them all, even if they wouldn’t or don’t do the same! In a way it’s flattering and honoring to have so many people look to you in their times of need, but sometimes we have to be “selfish”, in a good way! If we don’t take care of our own needs occasionally, we won’t be able to effectively take care of the ones we love.

My prayer today is for anyone feeling overwhelmed and spread too thin! I pray that you are able to take a step back, breathe, recharge, re-center and get back at it with more confidence and less stress. May you tell yourself it’s alright if not every thing gets done in one hour or even one day! I pray you allow yourself to prioritize and come up with practical solutions that will alleviate your amount of anxiety, stress and worry.

Much love and God Bless ❤

4fe686b7-1a48-4675-bf2a-1abeca181a8b

Forgiveness

I’m certain that almost everyone, at one point or another, has struggled with my next chosen blog subject…

FORGIVENESS.

There are circumstances which can be easy to forgive, but then there are those very tough times that you almost have to force it out of yourself. Why can it be so easy and freely given on one hand and then completely the opposite on the other? Easy, there are some actions that are either done to us or someone close to us that just seem inexcusable. There are hateful words spewed about us or people we are close to that will never be forgotten. So what is forgiveness really? Does forgiveness mean we just accept the behavior and forget everything that was ever done or said and pretend none of it ever happened? My answer, no. To me forgiveness does not obligate you to forget anything and it most certainly doesn’t excuse a thing. I would never want forgiveness to be viewed as something that enables others to continue with their horrendous behavior. We can be the bigger person and choose to forgive, not only for the other person but even for ourselves. Carrying around hatred, resentment, hurt, sadness and all the other emotions towards a specific person(s), on a daily basis for extended periods of times, it can be draining emotionally and physically. It can alter your life in ways you may not even recognize. Sadly, in us holding on, it usually only affects us the most. Most of the time this other person who wronged you is out there able to live day-to-day without a second thought and you’re stuck here day today reliving the past and holding on to all those strong emotions. It reminds me of the quote I come across often, “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” How true that is to me. Why give someone the power to continue hurting you every single day? There are some people who wrong us and show honest remorse, then there are many others who could not care less about how they have wronged you. They believe you should just accept who they are and get over it. Usually those are the individuals who have been enabled most of their lives; excuses made for their repetitive disrespectful, hateful, ignorant and disgusting behavior. These can be the hardest people to forgive, as they truly see themselves as a constant “victim” instead of owning their own actions. They tend to speak on the effect of their actions and conveniently leave out the CAUSE. Often they place the blame everywhere else except where it should be placed.

So does forgiving a person mean you have to forget how they’ve acted towards you and treated you? Does it mean you have to let repeat offenders back in your life? My answer, no and no. None of us are perfect or without fault. Our job is not to judge each other but help each other out. Forgiveness is something we should give freely because it was freely given to ALL of us…but that’s not to say we have to constantly take and accept the same abuse. You will always remember the words or actions, that’s pretty much inevitable, but it shouldn’t be something you let control how YOU feel as a person. Forgiveness can be very freeing and you can give it without letting the toxic people back into your life. If someone demonstrates an unhealthy pattern in the way they treat you, you are in no way obligated to allow that person access to your life. They show you on a consistent basis how they prioritize not only your feelings but others as well. Forgiveness can still be given without giving this person or persons a key to your life. This should not make you feel guilty in the least because you are looking out not only for your well-being but the well-being of your family as well.

Even the silent forgiveness can be a battle. You want to forgive someone in your heart, but you just can’t seem to tell yourself that you forgive them. Truthfully I have struggled with forgiving certain people, as you could probably conclude from other blog posts of mine, but when I had finally forgiven after YEARS of holding on, it was like getting a breath in after being held under water. Some people I made aware I forgave them and others I have silently forgiven, but in both circumstances there are individuals I have not let back into my life and it was for the best. If these people don’t bring positivity to your life and help you grow as a person, what is their purpose? Why give them the honor and privilege of participating in and benefiting from your life?

I pray that anyone struggling with forgiveness finds a way to make it work for them. If you can’t bring yourself to do it for the individual(s) who have mistreated you, do it for yourself. Choose to improve your emotional and physical health and allow yourself to heal. Allow yourself to stop living in the past so you can be happy and fulfilled in the present. Don’t give those people any more power over you or your life. Forgiveness is something we have all needed extended to us at some point, but the important part is that the forgiveness is not taken for granted; you learn from it and show that by your actions and the way you continue living. It’s reminds me of what my husband tells our kids about saying sorry. What does sorry mean? Sorry means you feel bad for what you did and (the most important part) you won’t do it again. Someone who is honestly sorry and remorseful will show you by not repeating their negative actions. They will be sorry on their own, not solely for being called out for what they have said or done. They will allow you all the time and space you need; days, weeks, months and even years. They will know they have done wrong and caused pain and they will maturely accept the consequences of their actions. They won’t feel entitled to your forgiveness, they’ll feel blessed and honored you even chose to forgive them. It’s very easy, especially during this point, to tell a toxic person from a non-toxic person. A regretful person from a non-regretful person. While both types of people should be extended forgiveness, both are not owed a permanent residence in your life. I pray God guides you in your decisions and your forgiveness process.

With all of this said, NEVER cease praying for anyone, toxic or non.

Much love and God Bless. ❤🙏

This slideshow requires JavaScript.