Motivational Moment

God's way of answering the Christian's prayer for more patience, experience, hope and love often is to put him or her into the furnace of affliction”. So don't hate on the heat just endure the process.

Happiness vs. Joy

Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

So over the past two years I was searching for this THING. This thing I thought was happiness. I DEMANDED it, told everyone I met and knew all I wanted was it and in fact was on my knees each night begging God for it. It's almost comical that this week my professor has asked me to write a paper concerning happiness and what complete happiness is and just Sunday I sat next to my husband listening to the difference between what I SAID I wanted...Happiness and what it was I've truly been desiring which is JOY.

So the question is ...just what is the difference? Is there a difference between happiness and joy? They are both positive and desirable feelings, and it could be said, who cares? If you're feeling good, you're feeling good. Right? In my opinion...so very wrong.

There is a subtle but important distinction between the two, however, which can lead to a person being able to consciously make herself feel better. Happiness is observing or doing something you really like.

Joy is connecting with the source of life within you. Happiness is fleeting. Joy IS continuous. Happiness is dependent upon something or someone outside of yourself. Joy is self-enabling and comes from within. Happiness requires effort, joy is effortless. There's nothing inherent doing that CAUSES you to feel good. You feel good because you stop resisting. If you could do that in your daily life, there would be no need to go on vacation or GET AWAY. Most of us cannot afford to go on vacation the year round, or buy every little thing that strikes our fancy. But there is one thing you can do to feel better, even if your experiences don’t remotely resemble the life you want.

I had to practice feeling good. Seems weird to say it, but it's true. Most of us practice just the opposite every day. We worry about finances, jobs, health, and relationships The list is a long one. Why we do this, I don't know. I think its just a bad habit. But bad habits can be turned into good habits! I'm not saying I've mastered it by any means, but I'm learning and I'm getting better at it everyday.

This applies to everything in life. If you want to meet a lot of happy people, find excuses to be happy yourself. The more you resonate to happiness, the more happiness comes to you. Happiness comes from the outside, joy from within.

When you feel good, you feel God. Joy is a continuous state of happiness, a continuing state of positive emotion.

FAITH

There's this friend of mine I must give props to

This friend of mine has been with me since birth
Right by my side she's been there always
Even though I feel she's been around forever

Some of you may have crossed paths with her a time or two
This friend of mine can be as quiet as a mouse
Walking ever so softly or crashing through
As powerful as a hurricane

She goes by many names
Trust, belief and acceptance or just a few
She picks me up when I'm down
She dries my tears with encouraging words


She let's me know
He made bridges and highways I cross
He gives life abunduntaly, my JOY comes from him
The bills will be paid
The kids will be fed
and my BELOVED loves me too
She reassures me
When laying my head to slumber
To never question if the sun
Will rise another tommorow

When awakening she gives me the overwhelming confidence
That all my limbs will start me through another day
Yet sometimes
I put more trust in the tangible
Than the fact that God that created her for me



This friend of mine is called FAITH

She goes by many names
Trust, belief and acceptance are just a few
You may have crossed paths with her a time or two


Keep the Faith

What is PEACE?

It's waking up in the middle of the night for no reason, shifting under the blankets and feeling the heat of the person next to you. You turn around and see them in their most peaceful, innocent, and vulnerable state. They breathe as though the weight of the world lays on anyone's shoulder but their own. You smile, kiss their face in the most gentle manner so as not to wake them. You turn back around and an involuntary grin forms on your own face. You feel an arm wrap around your waist, and you know...


beautiful perfect peace

True Things

The wonderful fact about True Things is that your belief in them cannot make them any more true, and your disbelief won't take away from their ability to be True. I seek Jesus in order to be True. That way, affirmation from others becomes appreciated, but optional. --Me

Diamonds

Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs. - Author Unknown

Life is a wonderful gift that we’ve been given, but it is not always easy. We all, at some point, have life pressures that will test our strength and will to succeed. I will not let life's trials make me give up on my goals and dreams! I'm determined to past the test, press through and go to the next level of success.

It’s seems like in most success stories that I have read, breakthrough came right in the midst of the storm. So don’t let your emotions, people, and problems get the best of you!! You’re stronger than you think you are. It seems 'there are people that are waiting for you to fail and people that are waiting for you to succeed'. Who are you going to prove right? It’s your choice; stay a piece of coal or become a diamond!

I know this is for someone out there besides my self.... I need to remember this from time to time.

Quiet

Ever notice how everything is most quiet right before the sunrise?

I been up alot lately just before the sun comes up.

Taking a moment to calm the clamor and rest my soul.

The Lord knew that we would need moments like these before He gives us a new day

Abundant Life

Okay, so I know I've been preaching...or teaching, informing, or as one "friend" put it, on my church kick lately but everyone involved must know this is my life and I've been blessed too much not to stay like this...this time, for the rest of my life. You suffered through my painful year of "poor me, I'm so miserable" so now get happy or rather be happy for me, love me or leave me alone...but I love you anyway :-)

let's move on.

I am on a quest.


About mid- May, I came across the words, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

For those of you who are unaware...this is John 10:10.

So, my quest is to figure out just what Jesus meant by "life, and have it more abundantly". I mean personally. For me. I am well accustomed to the first part of the verse, but at some point, I got tired of playing the martyr.

There are a few things that I felt I lost along my way. While I managed to hold on to a single strand of sanity throughout it all, I accepted the notion that I could end up living out the rest of my existence....empty-handed. And I thought that is what the Will of God was for me. What He was pleased with. I thought that is what He took notice of. What caught His attention. I used to picture myself as a small girl wearing a pretty blue dress...with sad brown eyes pleading for someone to tell me how pretty I looked. I took this mentality into my relationships...and even as I interacted with God, I figured that I must do something to win His approval. My poison? Suffering.

That's what "bearing your cross" is all about, right?

Wrong.

I've inquired of God these past few weeks about what does it really mean to have an abundant life. Does that include a fat bank account? Good health? A vast array of friends? A lucrative 401K plan?

Is it different for each person? How do we recognize it when we're living it? And how do we obtain it?

Well. This is what I've gotten so far:

"Living Life Inside-Out".

Change is accomplished and KEPT when it happens inside out. When we seek to change our surroundings or our environment, we should pray that the change begins inside of us. One of two things will happen:

1. We will literally change our environment for the better. And have grateful hearts.

or

2. We will see our environment change...but only because our perception of it has changed. We see it differently....and gain a grateful heart in the process.

It's an ancient concept, yet still remains true: your attitude is the only thing you can control. I am amazed at how the world around me morphs when I decide to change my attitude. I almost wished I'd thought of it first.

Peace and Blessings,

PBM