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