I’m trying this new thing where whenever I’m upset about a situation, I think of all the good things in my life that make up for that one situation. Often then I realize the situation is pretty insignificant in the big picture of mi vida. Back in the day, and I mean about a little over  four years ago or so, I would’ve gotten extremely depressed over this and felt all “My life sucks!” But I’m going to write down the positive things in my life that make up for this situation and then ask myself if my life sucks at the end of this.

1. I live in a first-world country.
2. My parents aren’t divorced.
3. I live in a great house.
4. I have access to a car if I need it.
5. I have an adorable boyfriend.
6. I am able to use the resources around me to further myself.
7. I go to a new place of worship.
8. I’m in a healthy relationship with a guy who cares about me.
9. I’m healthy physically and mentally.
10. I have a craz yet loving family I’m close with even though they may not live on the same continent as me.
11. I’m smart and pick up things easily.
12. I am able to teach and communicate with students on a level that even teachers are ‘wowed’ at.
13. My Education
14. I have a drive to succeed.
15. God.

Now asking myself the same question…

And looking up, I’d be extremely selfish to say my life sucks.

This technique has helped me greatly with my anxiety, over-thinking and depression. Intitally my way of thinking has gotten me through a lot – and I don’t understand people who say things like: i hate my life and rant about how much things are not working out for them. Get up and DO SOMETHING about it. I’ve been better at controlling my emotions as the years go by. Ican see how many things I used to worry about were trivial. I encourage all to do the same, whether you’re psychologically all over the place like me or have an interest in self-improvement. It could also be because I’m getting older but I’ve always known how to deal with things. Don’t sweat the small stuff.Ah, the things you wish you knew when you were in high school. *chuckle*

What does Christmas mean to me? It can mean many things, but for me, particularly, it means one special event that has changed the course of history.

It means that a Holy Child was born in a manger; He was born so He could save Mankind from the dredges of sin.  It is not exactly known exactly when Jesus was born, but people think He wasn’t born on December 25th.  Nevertheless, this is when we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, so this is why December 25th is called “Christmas”. I have always believed in God, and in Jesus, but when I was in my late teens/early twenties I accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  Christmas has always meant more to me than before I accepted Him in my life. I can now see why Christ was born, and I thank God every day for His son to be born.  What would the world have been like had not Jesus been born??  I often wonder about that, and don’t even want to try to think of the answers. If it wasn’t for Christ, I would have always remained a sinner, and not know the peace, love, joy that only God (or Jesus) can provide.  I would have been separated from His love, and never know the glories of Heaven:  I would have been doomed to a lifetime of suffering, pain, torment in hell, and it would be ten times worse than what I’ve gone through now here on Earth. The world isn’t perfect, and it is getting scarier by the day; however,, I made the decision to accept Jesus, and now I have peace, joy inside, even when I’m going through trials.  Whenever I’m going through things, I can always count on God to get me through them, and He’s always with me; He will never leave or forsake me.  He is with me until the end! I celebrate Christmas as a way of remembering the birth of Christ, and I honor Him by singing the songs that have stood the passage of time, songs that glorify His coming to earth as a Babe in a manger.  Songs like “Silent Night”, “The First Noel”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, and “O, Holy Night” stir me every time I hear (or sing) them; they never get old or tiresome with me. Christmas not only means the Holy Birth or remembering Him:  to me, it also means family, friends getting together, sharing the love, joy, laughter, good times.  Christmas means presents, yes, but it means so much more to me. It means a time where I can reflect on the year and thank God for everything that He has given me. Next time you hear “O, Holy Night” or “Joy! To The World”, think about that First Night when Christ came to earth as a baby, and the Promise that God held, even in that miraculous event, that would change the course of mankind forever and ever; and the Promise that He will be returning home again to take US to be with Him, forever in Glory!

Kind of makes one feel pretty small, doesn’t it??

On that note, let me wish you the Merriest Christmas everyone, and think about why we REALLY celebrate it!

-Candy
A little gift from me to you…

Christmas Fashions

(more…)

You ask the question, “Why am I here?” As these words resound into the Universe you feel a strange sensation and your body is lifted to another time and place.

You find yourself walking through a cave.  It is dark and damp and seems to be inside your mind as well as out.  At first you think you are alone. Soon you become aware of other beings in the cave, although you can see nothing. You feel confused and fear clutches your heart and dries your mouth. A calm and quiet voice speaks inside your head.  “It’s the unknown that you fear.  In truth all is known and you are always safe. Trust me.” Slowly fear’s clammy fingers loosen their grip from around your hammering heart and fades into the blackness. Although it is dark as it was before, you have the sense now that whatever is here with you will not harm you.

In your hand a candle appears.  Its flicker lights the way a few feet before you, but not much more. But still its light is comforting and you continue walking knowing that at some point there must be a way out.  It never enters your mind that you might be going into the cave.  You just somehow know you are walking out.  You hear movement and shuffling behind you, but you don’t want to look.  If the voice said trust it, then you must trust it.  You firmly believe that it is your trust that will save you and lead you out of the darkness.

A hand reaches out and touches your lit candle with its own wick.  And so now there are two lights in the cave. You turn and see a friendly face, a familiar face and your trust strengthens. Then another hand reaches out and lights its wick and now there are three lights and your trust strengthens yet again.  And then another and another lights its wick with yours. As the light increases with each lit candle, so does your trust.

You seem to be the leader on some pilgrimage.  You feel the gratitude of those who follow behind you as they place their trust in you. And you know it is because you have placed your trust in something greater.  Before long the cave is luminous with candlelight and now you see that all you feared are but your brothers and your sisters who love you as you love them.

At last you reach the mouth of the cave as you knew you would and those who follow you crowd around.  You hear soft sounds of oohs and aahs.  Outside the cave the night is filled with stars.  More in number than there are numbers with which to count. Their light fills the night and shines upon you and all those who follow you.  You turn toward the cave and see that it is gone.  That dark, damp place inside your mind has disappeared as have the candles for you don’t need them any more.  All there is now, are the stars above you and the warm safe earth beneath.  You take the hands of those beside you and they take the hands of those beside them and together, hand in hand you all encircle the entire world. The stars’ light shines upon each smiling face and blesses you all with your own pure innocence and God’s own healing Love.

The voice comes once more, “I asked you to trust me and you did.  Now are you free and so have you freed the others. And that is why you’re here.”

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

Sometimes I pick up a book….and I feel so relieved. When I was in Israel and Egypt I still had “problems” bugging me. I opened pages to this book and WHAM I just felt…. relieved. I read this:

I take no credit for the text written above. Only parts of the text have been published on Soulistic.org – all content below is owned by Omartian and Harvest House Publishers.

The Power of a Praying Woman – by – Stormie Omartian. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Lord, Lift me out of My Past. (p.324-326) ISBN 1-4104-0144-8

Imagine that you are running in a race and you’re trying to reach the goal and ultimately win the prize. But, as hard as you try you can never get to the finish line because there is a heavy weight tied around one of your legs. You struggle to pull it along, but it slows you down and causes you to be so weary and exhausted that you are tempted to give up altogether. It doesn’t occur to you that this is something you don’t have to carry. I that been so much a part of you for so long that you never imagined life without it. Yet you can’t finish the race and secure the prize God has for you until you become free of it.

This scenario is true for so many of us. We are trying to run the race of life, but we are having trouble getting up to speed. That’s because we’ve been carrying excess baggage from the past around with us without even realizing it. In fact, we’ve carried it around with us for so long we think it’s part of us. Some days are so hard we feel like giving up and getting out of the race. But I have good news. God wants to take that burden from news. God wants to take that burden from you so you will never have to carry it again.

Whether it’s something that happened as long ago as your early childhood or as recently as yesterday, the past can keep you from moving into all God has for you. That’s why He warts to set you free form it. And not only that, He wants to redeem and restore what has been lost or destroyed in your past and make it count for something important in your life now. The truth is, you can never move into the future God has for you if you care continually stuck in the past. When you received Jesus you became a new creation. He made all things new in your life, and He wants you to live like it.

God says to forget the former things, but that’s not easy to do. How do we forget what happened to us? Do we need to have amnesia? Or a frontal lobotomy? Must we live in denial? Do we have to pretend that the past did not happen? Should we have part of our brain lip suctioned? The answer is no to all of the above. We have to pray that God will set us free form the past so we can live successfully in the present,

One of the great mysteries of the Lord is how He can take the horrible, the tragic, the painful, the devastating, the embarrassing, and the ruinous experience and memories of our lives and not only heal them, but use them for good. It’s not that He will make you unable to recall them, but He will heal you so thoroughly from their effects that you no long think about them with any pain. He will give you a new life you enjoy so much you don’t want to travel back in your mind to the old one. You will still have the memory, but you no longer have the pain. Instead, you will have praise in your heart for the way God has restored you to wholeness. And you will want to share your experience with others so that they can know this kind of deliverance, restoration, and healing is there for them too. [...]               Don’t Look Back : Once you step out of the past it’s important you don’t keep looking over your shoulder to see if it’s following you. That’s what Lot’s wife did, and it paralyzed her. It will paralyzed you too. And it will definitely slow you down in the race. Good runners look forward and keep focused on the goal.

Even if you have never had one bad thing happen to you in your life, or you have been completely delivered from every negative memory you have had, you still need to pray to be free of your past. That’s because even the good things of your past can keep you from allowing God to do a new thing now. If we get locked into what we did before, we may miss what God wants to do now. God is always wanting to take you to a new place in your life, and you will keep Him from doing that if you are hanging onto the way things have always been done. He will never allow us to rest on past success. If we rely on the way things have always been done, we aren’t relying on Him. And that’s the whole point.

I guarantee that no matter how hold you are, God has something new He wants to do in your life. Ask Him to show you what that is. tell Him you intend to stay in the race and you don’t want to carry any baggage from the past around with you. Tell Him you want to run in such a way that you will obtain the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). — Written by: Stormie Omartian.

I take no credit for the text written above. Only parts of the text have been published on Soulistic.org – all content above is owned by Omartian and Harvest House Publishers.

Love,

Every morning I read my ODB: Our Daily Bread devotional. It helps me understand my faith and now I’m more committed to doing it everyday.

http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml

About This Cover

December 3, 2009

Finding Jesus

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READ: Romans 8:27-39

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? —Romans 8:32

After someone stole a valuable ceramic figurine of Baby Jesus from a nativity scene in Wellington, Florida, officials took action to keep thieves from succeeding again. An Associated Press report described how they placed a GPS tracking device inside the replacement figurine. When Baby Jesus disappeared again the next Christmas, sheriff’s deputies were led by the signal to the thief’s apartment.

There are times when difficult circumstances or personal loss can cause us to feel that Christ has been stolen from our Christmas. How can we find Jesus when life seems to be working against us?

Like a spiritual GPS, Romans 8 guides us to God’s never-failing love and presence with us. We read that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses and intercedes for us (v.27). We know that God is for us (v.31). And we have this grand assurance: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (v.32). Finally, we are reminded that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus (vv.38-39).

Look for Jesus in the manger, on the cross, risen from the dead, and in our hearts. That’s where we can find Jesus at Christmas.  — David C. McCasland

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show,
The love of Jesus, what it is
None but His loved ones know. —Bernard of Clairvaux

If we focus only on Christmas, we might lose sight of Christ.

Luv, fin