Living from the Inside Out

I heard Joyce Meyer say today that if you want to live the life we are placed on Earth to have then we have to learn to live from the inside out. When we live our life in love and grace from the spirit inside of us that is connected to the holy spirit of Jesus then our life will be blessed beyond earthly measure. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Forgiveness is a gift we give to ourselves

Today's message at NewSpring was so POWERFUL.  Pastor Perry's message was so motivating and inspirational. Here are just a few of his quotes:

• He Forgave us when we didn't deserve it.
• Forgiven People Forgive People
• Forgiveness isn't an option, it's an obligation
• Unforgiveness is like drinking rat poison and expecting it to hurt the other person but it kills us
• Forgiveness="they" don't owe me anything anymore
• If your always telling other people about how someone hurt you, then you haven't forgiven that person.
• Unforgiveness is like driving a car around with the emergency break up all day. 

At the end of the sermon Pastor Perry had anyone that had people that we needed to forgive to write them on a paint stick and all at the same time we snapped them.  VERY POWERFUL SOUND!!!

Listen to Pastor Perry's entire message:
http://newspring.cc/series/love-revolution/broken/

Click on the link below to hear the NewSpring Spartanburg (11:15 service) break into freedom of forgiveness!!! 

 

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It is well with my soul

 I wanted to share a video and story that really touched me when I heard it.  It's a song  have sang and have heard my entire life but when you actually know the story behind the story it makes the words even more powerful.  The amount of faith this family has is inspiring!!!

Retaliation

I recently trusted someone with some personal property, money and friendship that ended up lying and stealing from me.  I truly believe this situation was a test from God to see how dedicated I am to living out my Christian faith in a real life situation. It's really easy to say we are going to walk in faith until people treat us unfairly. 

I wanted so badly to retaliate and find a way to "hurt" or make this person pay for what they did.  My dad initiated a response last night to this person that really touched me.   He informed this person that the money that was stolen from me would be considered a "love offering" from our family and to not worry about paying me back.  I can promise you that was VERY difficult for my dad to do but after I thought about his Godly response I followed his lead and realized this was definitely the best message to send to this person. 

Tonight I was reading 1 Peter and I came across this verse: Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:9. 

WOW....thank you God for this confirmation!!!!! I look forward to seeing how God blesses my dad for making this difficult decision to walk in faith.  So thankful for my mom's influence on my dad's response and my dad being a wonderful Christian man to witness to this person with his actions. 

Storm Warning

When Storms come in the south everyone runs to the store for milk and bread.  When I lived in Hawaii it was rice and toilet Paper. When I lived in Florida it was gas and bottled water. 

I can honestly say that when a storm is coming I have the urge to run to the store in each of these areas and be like everyone else and grab these "essential items."   Too be honest I usually pick up some Oatmeal Cream Pies and Sprite as my essentials to be stuck inside my house but I usually do grab the milk and bread to make me feel better that someone wiser than me survived on these items.

I thought about this scenario today (as I ran to the store to get my bread and milk...lol) and it made me remember how I felt about life's storms before following the directions that God has provided us to weather the storms.

I always ran to the "store" (aka:church) to get my emergency items when the storm warning came in.  Life storms are still happening in my life but with each one I feel like my emergency kit is more stocked and prepared. 
Read my Bible, Quiet time, Tithe, Serve at Church, Steady attendance at church!  All of these items keep me prepared to weather the storms as they come.

Now I'm going to go eat an oatmeal cream pie and drink some Sprite as Ry and I wait for this storm....milk and bread are safely in their positions in case the storm hits.  Still not sure what I'm supposed to do with these items in case of a winter storm.....feed the birds and make snow ice cream?????

Make More Space

I heard tonight that when the human brain was studied that we make more room for the negative memories rather than the positive memories.  As I started to think about the things in my life that STAND OUT the most in my life the negative thoughts BY FAR out numbered the good ones.  It really made me start to think that if I make the effort to  fill my brain with positive thoughts... that my brain would have to "make more space" for the positive thoughts; therefore push some of the negative thoughts to lower priority space in my brain.  HUM???  I do think that since I stopped watching the news, lessened the amount of meaningless sitcoms I watch (don't get me wrong...I'm still a devoted fan to several mindless shows), listening to praise music more than other options that my happiness comes much easier day in and day out.  Just something to consider for all of us that want to live much happier lives!!!

Here are a few quotes and articles that I found helpful as I did some research on this:

1.    "If we would spend the same amount of time dwelling on our victories as we do our disappointments; you would see your life go to a whole new level." Joel Osteen

2.   Occasional big positive experiences—say, a birthday bash—are nice. But they don't make the necessary impact on our brain to override the tilt to negativity. It takes frequent small positive experiences to tip the scales toward happiness. 

  http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200306/our-brains-negative-bias 

3.   It turns out that a strategy I started years ago apparently can be effective. I have a “kudos” file in which I put all the praise I’ve received, along with e-mails from friends or family that make me feel particularly good.

As Professor Baumeister noted in his study, “Many good events can overcome the psychological effects of a bad one.” In fact, the authors quote a ratio of five goods for every one bad.

That’s a good reminder that we all need to engage in more acts of kindness — toward others and ourselves — to balance out the world.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/your-money/why-people-remember-negative-events-more-than-positive-ones.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0

 

What if???

What if we really did sat back and allowed God to work out our problems in his time? 

What if we realized that Happiness is a choice not something that someone gives to us?

 

What if we we stopped putting our faith in people and put it in God?

 

What if we realized Forgiveness isn't something we give to the other person but a gift of peace we give ourselves.

 Joyce Meyer--6 ways to find and remove unforgiveness

Silence is the most powerful scream

So many people tell me their story of being Overwhelmed and I have given this link 
http://newspring.cc/series/overwhelmed/win-the-battle-with-depression/
to several people in the last few months to provide wisdom through Pastor Perry's honest account of his darkness, sadness and depression.  I listened to this message when I was overwhelmed and it HELPED me so much.  I listened to it again today and I'm so thankful for transparent people that share their struggles to help others overcome their own.  Don't hid or sweep things under the rug....reach out to others and God.  I promise you are not the only one suffering in silence!!!

http://newspring.cc/series/overwhelmed/win-the-battle-with-depression/

Flawed Character

I personally choose to NOT watch a lot of news but I did sit down tonight and watch the Lance Armstrong interview.  My take on this "man" is he misused his gift and we put people on pedestals that don't deserve it.  . However, it should prove to all of us that only ONE MAN is too good to be true....Yet He is!!!!    I pray for Lance and his family....I can only hope that he finds comfort in knowing the redemption that God has for him.
Update: After watching the second portion of the interview I wanted to comment back on the ending.  Oprah asks Lance..."What do you think the moral of this story is?".....and he remained set on he was still learning his lesson.  Oprah gave her direction and influence by reminding him of something he stated Godly ex-wife said to him "The truth will set you free"....while I do feel the truth is a step towards redemption ....ONLY GOD can set us free!  

What's In Your Closet

We all have things in our life that we are proud of and we like to flaunt them. It's awesome to celebrate our accomplishments but what is so empowering to me is to hear someones story of God's redemption over their sin being forgiven! We all need to stop running from the pain of guilt or sin that is separating us from God's plan to prosper us. My story is no different from any other sinner saved by God's grace. My sin is just as heavy and troublesome but turning it over to God is so empowering. To be able to witness to someone that may be hurting from the same troubles I had....is so gratifying and it lets me know that opening up my "closet" is what God wants us to do. Turn our sins over and let God rescue you!

Flight plan

I was reading an introduction to a book book called God loves Single Moms by Teresa Whitehurst and she talked about making God the traffic controller vs the co-pilot of our lives.
****see attached photo***
This analogy really made sense to me as I have habitually gotten in over my head, tired or impatient and said Jesus you just take over..I can't do this today. It's not about giving up or giving in...it's about checking in with our traffic controller to make sure our flight plan is on course.
When turbulence hits or weather patterns change in life....there is always a safe place to check in and guide us through the storm With prayer God can assist us with changing our flight plan.

Imperfection is beauty, perfection is boring

As I watched this young man sing all I could think of is...I wish we saw peoples perfections rather than imperfections. 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwun80_lazaro-arbos-auditions-chicago-american-idol-2013_music

 

 

"A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints."

 

I heard the quote today "A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints." I wanted to scream AMEN!  Jesus is a redeemer and we have all fallen short of his glory!  Find redemption that Jesus provides us all and lose the self-righteous religious views.  

  



Fighting for the same God

I had the privileged today to converse with a Christian friend over the decline of her church attendance and the significant rise in other "hipper" churches.  I realized after being exposed to both of the environments that they both serve purposes in the community. What I hope and pray will happen is religion will start to dwindle and Christian faith and Love will persevere.  I believe the reason the "church" is on the decline in this country is because we have made it more about the rules and hypocrisy.  Instead of embracing that we are all sinners saved by grace and we all serve the same forgiving God.  If we can all serve each other to build the Kingdom of God  rather than consider this a competition between churches then the devil can be defeated in this area!!!

It is about becoming a FOLLOWER of Jesus and surrendering our life to him.  One of the best Books/Bible Studys I've ever been in was NOT A FAN. 

Spiritual Love Tank

I often wonder what people this day and age consider "support".....is it a "like" on a FB photo/post or TXT msg. I sometimes wonder if the reason we are such a lonely society is because we can't figure out what each of us have time to accept and give.  I love modern technology and use it A LOT but I think God wants us all to be physically involved in each others lives.  I believe that is why when I started "serving" at church I started to feel more fulfilled even when I'm physically alone.  It fills up my spiritual "love tank" and feeds my soul. 

This just sums it up

What a blessing to have this moment caught in a picture!!! 

Peace in our Conscience

I recently trusted someone with some personal belongings and money....sadly I was mistreated and it has taken a lot of prayer to treat this person with any amount of respect.  I'm trying to reflect on my past and how I trust people that have "shady" morals.  +Joyce Meyer is my Dr. Phil of religion and she is currently preaching on a healthy conscience.  I need to pray more to use my moral guidance to reveal the truth about people and their effect it could have on my life.  She calls this time for me the Holy Ghost Spanking.....I've gotten my spanking and I'm glad I'm learning to let God lead me down the right paths.  I know that one of my gifts is to reach out to people but I don't have to let them reach into my wallet!!!!  DUH!!! 

Dream Smashers

Last night as I fell asleep and was praying that God continue to strenghten my drive and faith in him, he came to me with an idea.  Reach people that are lonely and need to hear his word the most.  My first thought was to reach the local inmates with a live simulcast similar to what we have at our local church campuses. In addition, have volunteers from the Care Team to be on site for the inmates to speak with. 

Then this morning I wake up to a devotional sent by Newspring (see link below: Dream Smashers) and I realized God is preparing me for the devil to attack any progress or doubt that may set in during the planning of this "idea". 

Of course I know the hurdles that come with such a big request from God but I know he is bigger than any of my hurdles.  I pray that God will open doors for any potential to reach the lonely and lost.  Please pray for doors to open and a constant "No is not an option" attitude to remain in my heart!!!

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Matthew 16:23(NIV)

UPDATE: Prayer Request on 1/14/2013 21:45
Sent an email to a local chaplain at spartanburg county jail to see if he has any insight or direction for this potential jail ministry.  Please pray more doors open rather than satans hurdles being thrown down.


Dream Smashers

Redemption Day

Today I was re-baptised at NewSpring Church and I want to follow God's lead in my life by sharing my Faith and Love with anyone that I can help. I hope and pray my transparency in my life will help someone to realize that we are all sinners saved by grace.  We all need each other to learn and grow in Christ. I hope I can provide a safe and informative place to support and be cheerleaders for each other.  I will post anything that inspires me or gives me the AHHH-HA moment!!!  I look forwad to your moments being shared too!!! 
Watch the below video to be inspired to find your gift that God has given you even in the midst of our earthly limitations!!! 

 

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/