~Times and Changes~

The paradox of our time in history is that things change and along with change we need to develop broader viewpoints. 

So often we want to stay in a place where we are comfortable and where we deem peaceful. We want to keep things as they were. Never seeing the importance of thinking out the box. 

But with change comes a new perspective, a new thought process. 

I have learned when times are changing and the future is unclear, fear is the biggest motivator.  When fear enters our hearts and minds know that we are much stronger than fear could ever be.

President John F. Kennedy said these words in 1963.
"Danger written in Chinese represents two characters:

1. Danger 
2. And the other is Opportunity

Please hear this: Change = opportunity if you have the stomach for it.

Ask yourself this question, when are you tired  or learning new stuff? Be someone that understands that change is inevitable. And, if there no change, then there is no growth.

Also, change is accompanied by lots of noise. People murmuring, complaining, Etc. This is because people by nature are fearful of the unknown.

Don't you get distracted by the noise around you. Stay focused and move forward.
 

Remember, when change comes it gives us:

• A time to reflect.
• A time to be thankful.
• A time to welcome changes and except new challenges.
• A time to be focused and not allow distractions to send us in disarray.
• A time to cease from complaining.
• A time to call for teamwork. (Find someone you can trust and share your fears. Trusting that he or she will aid in keeping you encouraged). Remember to reciprocate.

Change is good. It brings with it Challenges, Innovations, Opportunities, Successes.  

~These are my thoughts ... I welcome yours~

~The work place~ and My Attitude...

"Can we find anyone like this man, one whom is the Spirit of God?" (Gen. 41:38

Most of us have a concept as to how the workplace should be. But, few of us understand God's point of view of the workplace with you and me in it. I sincerely hope that this will enlighten you and change what maybe a bad attitude into a good attitude.

The bible says that God has defined the place and time in which we are to live. "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance" (PS 16:5-6)

 God has uniquely gifted you to bring His presence and power in the area of your calling. Once you begin to realize this, God will use you just as He did Joseph with his employer, Pharaoh. Your life should be a testimony of the power , creativity, and and servant-hood of Jesus that it impacts your employer to the degree that he or she say the same thing about that Pharaoh said about Joseph: "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the Spirit of God?".

 When God accomplishes this in your life He gives you authority in your workplace. You will begin to see others drawn to you. You may begin to be ostracized as well. This too is part of your calling. Do not fear this. Embrace it.

 We should not be seeking to remove ourselves from the pressure cooker of life, but use that pressure cooker to reveal the power and grace of God through our lives to others. It is here that we will received our inheritance as we fulfill our purposes in and through our work life call.

Please keep in mind, Pharaoh was against God, but he saw the Spirit of God in Joseph because of:

1. His attitude when it came to his job.
2. His dedication when at work.
3. His work ethics.
4. His willingness to handle any task presented to him and not complain.

A: Please note: It is okay to inquire.

 Today ask God to give you supernatural wisdom and discernment to express the Spirit of God through you to your employer.

~These are my thoughts ... I welcome yours~

~Things Change~

In life things change. We may or may not like it, but things change. Good or bad, things change. There is positively no doubt in my mind that everything happens for a reason.

People either change, leave or die, so that you (I) can learn to let go.  We all know that things go wrong and when there are righted we can take a deep sigh of relief.

I've heard talk of sand storms that continuously change directions. You change directions but the sand storms of life chase or follow you. Well sometimes the fate of life's issues or problems are like that.

Over and over you play this out, like some mind game with urgency just before dawn. Sometimes these storms can change the way you think and act.

Sometimes these storms can change the very essence of who you were, your life style, your mindset and even your financial status. But, some storms you cannot run from. Some storms you walk through and deal with the pain. The pain of decisions because you were thrust into it.

You may get cut and bleed. The sandstorms of life can clog your vision, but when you cannot see, you must feel your way through.

Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you, but does it?

When these sand storms arise in our lives, our first instinct is to go into shock, get scared and cry. Which is okay and long as you get a focus. Some sand storms are allowed in our lives to strengthen us, to take us on a new journey, to let us see who we truly are. 

This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. 

Note: giving in does not mean you are giving up. This giving in means, you have excepted  what has happened, but not your mindset is in survival and conquering mode.

There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. 

And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.”

~Personal Victory~

But trust me, when a sand storm of this nature comes your way, you will have no choice then to focus on God, His Son Jesus and the ever presence of His Holy Spirit through prayer and praise to make it through!

I hope this reading makes sense to you. I've been there and no doubt will I will enter the Sand storms of live again. But this time you and I will be stronger!

~These are my thoughts ... I welcome yours~

Are you Secured By Him?

I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God, in Him I lean and rely and in Him I confidently trust. Psalm 91:2

I won't try to explain why I'm being compelled to write on this level  of subjects, but I'm humbly honored and pleased to have this glorious opportunity.

I know what I'm about to say has or will affect us. This inevitable.

Insecurity has or will happen to each of. When it happens there is a great fear that accompany it.

Once fear enters it distorts the ability for us to think clearly because we are focused on that thing whatever it maybe.

The goal of the enemy is to distract us from focusing on the power of God in our lives. Once the enemy which is the devil gets our attention we fall into disarray. This means we get very scared, feel very insecure, focus on the issue at hand and not the provision that God has provided already!

We simply do not think on God's solution, we think on the problem and we've all been there. I know I have and it is a terrible place to be.

Moving forward, I want to share something with you that if adhered to, will bring success into your and the life of those around once you share your victories.

Until we know the the security of God, we are in danger of becoming a stumbling block to other souls. We must understand what it means to be secured in God. And if we don't understand the security of and by God, of what use can we be to those who are crushed by sorrows, pain and hurt of which we know nothing?

Listen, these are the sacrifices of God:

• A broken heart, broken beyond an patching up. The word of God says this and this is Jesus speaking "He meaning God Me(Jesus) to bind the broken-hearted".The heart which has been bound up and secured by the Lord Jesus Christ will never get on a bus or train of selfishness, There is no selfishness left in it.
• Jesus said "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."

This is a very powerful statement made by Jesus.

This is a life comforted by The Lord Jesus: It is a life that says,

• For my Lord I live;
• By my Lord I am strengthened;
• And in my Lord I am secured.

Are you hurting? Feeling insecure? Afraid?

Go to The Books of Isaiah 61:1,2; Philippians 2:1,2.

~These are my thoughts ... I welcome yours~

~To Know and To Do~

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection...." - Philippians 3:10

If I asked you the purpose for which God made you, what might you say? You might give a lot of answers that required some action on your part. You see, most believers believe that it is what we do that makes the difference in being a Christian. Many believe that if they do good things we are okay.

The Christian walk is easy , but it is not easy because we don't know how or we refuse to yield ourselves to Christ and to the power of His Holy Spirit. We fail to understand that it is in our yielding we gain the strength and power to walk effectively. 

 However, the simplest answer to that question relates to one primary thing: fellowship. The most important thing God desires from us today is to have a deep and intimate fellowship with each of us.

You see , even in our secular lives, when we love someone we want to spend time alone with that person. By spending time with the person we love, we get to know them better and more deeply. We began to understand them. Their likes and dislikes. their needs.

Christ is no different. Because if you love Him you want to spend more time alone with Him in Fellowship, Praise and Prayer. Then, the more time we spend with Him, the more we know Him. The more we know Him the more we understand Him and Love Him. Lastly, the more we understand and love Him the more we desire to obey Him.

The apostle Paul said he wanted to know Christ, and by knowing Christ he could experience the power of His resurrection. I find this to be the hardest thing for many of us workplace believers to do. 

So often it is much easier to be busy with the urgent (or even Christian) activity in church, than spending quiet times before the Lord. Before we realize it, days have passed since our last quiet time with Jesus.

Jesus understood how important quiet moments were with His Father. Listen to what the word of God says.

 "After He had dismissed them, ( meaning the multitude of people He was preaching to) He (Jesus) went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone" (Mt. 14:23). 

This is why many of us stay midgets in the Lord, because we don't spend enough time with Him in fellowship and in prayer. 

The more mature I become in my relationship with the Lord, the more precious this time becomes to me. It is a time I look forward to almost daily. It offers me a time to reflect, to share my concerns with my Lord, and to hear Him speak. 

Set aside time daily to fellowship with The Lord Jesus in prayer and praise. It will changed your prayer life.

 I have come to understand that Jesus views us as His friend and He wants to spend time with us. We are depriving Him of His time with us when we put Him aside for other matters. 

Interesting things happen when we spend time with Christ and make prayer a priority:  By praying to Him before we focus on urgent matters, will make those so call urgent matters fall into place and seem minor.

Are you taking the time to get to know Him today?

As a believer, God has provided the Holy Spirit for you and I so that we can experience the power of the gospel that allows us to live the Christian life.

Today, if you have not done so, invite the Holy Spirit to fill your life to overflowing so that you can be a witness in your home,  workplace, church. 

I know this was long, but I was compelled to write it. 

~These are my thoughts ... I welcome yours~

~The Weight Of The World~

Hidden pain...
Often we either know people or have been in the presence of someone that we knew in our hearts were in emotional pain. We could feel and see their pain with our hearts and eyes. And still we were paralyzed as to what we should do.

Many people are simply hurting and wanting someone to simply take the time to ask "how are you"? "Can I assist you with anything"? "Would you care to talk"? or  a simple " You were on my mind and I wanted to call to say hello", or "are you okay"?

I'm writing this because of a recent event that happened. I was in a meeting and people were opening up and sharing what was on their hearts. All of a sudden a sister began sharing about the mental and physical abuse she encountered from her ex-husband.

As she began to open up, tears began to fall and she leashed out at her sister for something she had done sometime ago. The more she spoke, the more tears flowed and the more the tears flowed the hurt and anger came forth.

Listen, she was hurting inside, the pain was ever present, although this abuse happened some years ago. She had encountered a broken finger, broken arm and a broken toe from her ex-husband.

She went on to say she was living in her home feeling as though she was exiled. She stated that she just wanted someone to call her just to check on her, but no one did.

She said that she had thoughts of suicide, the tears continued to fall. All of a sudden, her sister attacked back, hitting the table and virtually calling her a liar and telling her that nothing she was saying was the truth.

But you know, if she believed that her sister offended her by something had done years ago, I believe the sister should have taken the time and compassion to hear her out and try to resolve the issue.

Bottom line is this, if you feel that I offended you, it doesn't matter how strongly I deny your accusation. Because in your heart that's what you feel I've done. Then I should listen and try to reach a point of reconciliation. Not attack back!

As the tears flowed and the pain and hurt were expressed back and forth between both sisters. I sat, looked and listened. I surmised that many people, men, women, boys and girl are carrying what they feel to be the weight of the world on their shoulders because their personal problems.

And, sometimes the heavier the weight they are carrying lead them to Isolation, depression and yes, suicidal thoughts that are sometimes carried out to completion.

Granted I'm not an expert on relationships, but I am an expert on hurt, pain, disappointment and suicidal thoughts. People need to reach out to those that are hurting and are in pain emotionally. AND, you cannot be afraid to get involved and so many of us are.

This could fall under the category of a family member or a friend or even a friend of a friend. Why are we so afraid to get involved? Why are we so paralyzed as to what we should do?

Get involved, but PRAY first that God will give you wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  Remember, we have not because we ask not. Is there someone you know that could very well be in this same category?

Weight of the world in a relationship:
In a relationship, whether it be a husband, wife or a significant other, it is important to understand that your words have a tremendous impacting power in your wife's, husband's or significant other's life. Kind words need to be spoken to him or her. He or she has given his or her life to love and care for you, to partner with you, to create a family together, to help raise and nurture your children.

If you are always finding fault in what your partner is doing , always putting them down, then he or she will have serious issues in the marriage, relationship and in life.

STOP BEING SO DOG GONE NEGATIVE, CRITICAL, BOSSY and PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY ABUSIVE!!!

Both husbands and wives and significant others today are depressed and feel emotionally abused because the ones they love and care for do not bless them with positive words. One major reason for relationships breaking down is due a wife, husband or significant other not feeling valued, needed, wanted or respected.

Start giving each other approvals, compliments, appreciations. Just start speaking positive, kind words and encourage one another.

There is so much more we could say and write on this subject, but time will not permit.

~Hey, these are my thoughts ... I welcome yours~

~Freedom-A-Reality of Self~

Freedom, independence, liberty refer to an absence of undue restrictions and an opportunity to exercise one's rights and powers. (Synonyms)

For many freedom is to do what you, go where you please, the right to choose and live where you desire. All this is external. Externally is where many of us live. We acquaint freedom with the statement I just stated.

But the freedom I'm speaking of consist of reality of self. Because when we come to grips with who we truly are, then and only then are we truly free.

To me, please notice, I said to me ... The most important kind of freedom is to be what and who you really are. You trade in your reality for role play. You trade in your sense of ACTING.

You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. Why?

Listen, there cannot be a large -scale revolution in your life until there is a personal revolution, on an individual basis or level.

It's got to happen inside first!

For true change starts on the inside. The mind acknowledges what is true and what is a lie. The heart must agree. Thus starts the revolution in your life.

We constant say to ourselves, "I need time for my self". But in spending more time for and with ourselves, many times we still fail to allow the real us to come forth.

Spend more time being you and less time trying to create an image that is not you!

Remember, it's okay being the true you. It's okay to be afraid, It's okay to cry, It's okay to show hurt and It's okay to share your fears, hurts and concerns!

Be you, Be true and allow yourself to experience freedom within.

~These are my thoughts ... I welcome yours~