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Do you ever get angry?  Do you desire to lash back at those that hurt you?  The bible says not to get angry.  Anger paves a way for destructive behavior and, well, we should just not get angry.  “Uh… okay.  I won’t.  Yeah right.”  Impossible.  We all get angry.  We all want to be right!  We all want our wrongs made right.  That is our nature.  It is, however, destructive.

Ephesians 26 (NLT) And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”  Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,

Forgiveness….  What is it?  What isn’t it?

The bible tells us not to let our anger control us.  In other words, don’t let your anger cause you to do harm to someone else.  Remember what our parent’s taught us,”if you can’t say something nice, don’t say it at all.”   The bible says that we should not let the sun go down while we are still angry.  Isn’t that hard?  Don’t you just get so angry at your spouse, your kids, your parents, your friend, your boss, your co-worker, the guy on the highway, that you just want to spit nails??  Don’t you want to punish the people that harm you?  If you said no, good for you.  Are you being honest? 

When we are angry, we sin.  We talk negatively, we act negatively, we yell, we fight, we curse, we hurt others.  Do you really feel better when you’ve gotten “revenge”?  Or do you feel worse?

When we forgive, we are not making an “excuse,” causing us to be a door mat.  We are choosing not to hold onto that anger, to further cause harm.  We are choosing not to feel the stress, the discomfort, or hear the noise in our heads about the situation.  Instead, we are choosing to move forward and bring peace to our lives. 

When you do something nice for someone else, don’t you feel good?  Forgiveness will also make you feel better.  You will feel less tense, less focused on all the junk, allowing you to once again focus on God and all the goodness!!! 

I understand there are crazy circumstances that you can say are too hard to forgive.  Your spouse cheated on you, left you, your kid stole from you… there are very bad things that happen.  Unfortunately, though, if you don’t forgive, (I didn’t say excuse and forget), you will fall into a pit that will get more and more difficult to climb out of.  This pit will lead you down a destructive path, that will cause you and everyone around you pain.

I pray for all of us that our anger does not fuel us to do negative things.  I pray that our anger will cause conversations that will allow us to grow, and become stronger, better people, and that forgiveness will easily pour out of our hearts!

Hi All!  I am five days post surgery and well, I am feeling a bit yucky, but I know blessings will follow.  I have needed to get this taken care of for the many years now, and thanks to insurance and to a great family that can help me through this time, I had it done. 

Just wanted you to know where I have been!

 Keep blessing others!

Happy Monday to you.  It is Labor Day and we are enjoying our day.  My husband is off today so we have been enjoying our family day. 

Are any of you regular meditators?   Well, I wanted to give it a whirl.  Perhaps I am drinking too much coffee, or not getting enough exercise, probably both, and certainly not getting enough rest, and well, I think that my monthly “moon” will be arriving soon, so I feel a bit high strung, if you know what I mean.  So, today, I lit a candle, put on some music from my hypnobirthing CD, and sat still.  I focused on breathing slowly and successfully blocked out the world and all the noise in my head.  That is so hard for me to do.  I blocked out my things to do list, my crazy thoughts about what everyone in my house is doing since I am not with them, etc.  I was successful.  I am not exactly sure what was supposed to happen, but I chilled out, and was still.  When my time was up, I opened my eyes, and felt totally refreshed, ready for the day.  I had more energy.  I gave my body the extra oxygen it needed.  It was great.  I am  writing this about 6 hours later and still I feel refreshed.

Adding this to your day might be just what we all need.   I am sure I am more pleasant to be around since I no longer feel like my insides are going faster than my outsides.  Phew.  I needed that!  I am going to do it again before bed, and again tomorrow morning.  I will let you know how it goes!

 Be Blessed!

Blessings!  They are all around us.  Do you see them?  Do you appreciate them?  Do you know where they came from?

I went to a staff meeting tonight at church.  It was wonderful.  Pastor Troy was back and totally on fire.  One thing that he shared with us is that he struggles with blessings.  He struggles with feeling guilty when receiving blessings.  He is not alone.  I am so grateful for having gotten to be apart of this meeting again.  I am glad he was open about this, because this is something that I struggle with too.  He put  it out there, and the way he did it… well if you have ever had the pleasure of listening to my pastor teach, you get it.  If not, check out www.flamingoroadchurch.com and you can see archived teachings online, and also check out our Internet Campus.  Very cool.

 Anyway, this made me think.   Using passages from both Philippians (4:4-8) and Ecclesiastes (5:18-20), he brought it home by sharing that by bringing God all things, we will find peace and will truly be able to rejoice. (Philipians)  To be joyful is a  decision, not a feeling.  We choose to be joyful, just as one chooses to be angry.  When we are joyful, things don’t seem to bother us quite so much. 

In Ecclesiastes, the author states ( TNIV), it is appropriate for people to eat [share a meal with loved ones], to drink, [enjoy entertainment] and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor [your job] under the sun….  When we receive His blessings, we should enjoy it, be grateful for it, and not simplify it or explain it away.  We are always afraid that when people hear of our good fortune, jealousy will arise.  We often shoot down our blessing to make others feel better.  When we shoot down, or say no big deal, to a blessing that God gives us, we are telling God that it is no big deal.  Just like the parent that cannot wait to see the look on their child’s face on Christmas morning with the gift that they worked hard to provide their child, God cannot wait to see us enjoy what he provides us.  There is no arrogance in this.  Blessings are not arrogant.  They are a gift from our Daddy God who loves us so much!

Embrace God’s blessing today and everyday! 

I have to tell you that I am on fire right now.  I love getting on fire about stuff.  It just feels fantastic and I long for it.  I have begun a new journey.  In a previous post, I blogged about being apart of my sister-in-laws home-birth.  It was such a wonderful experience, that I decided to go for my certification as a doula.  Working with pregnant women and guiding them to motherhood is right up my alley.  Though the certification process will take a little while, I am super pumped up! I will have the honor to be apart of people’s most intimate moments.  This truly is a blessing to me!

During my sister-in-laws, birth,  each surge (contraction), I breathed with her.  I felt so incredibly close to God - I am so grateful that I will have the opportunity again. I hope you will check back regularly to be apart of my journey.  If you or anyone you know is pregnant, drop my a comment, but don’t forget to leave me contact information!

Blessings to you all!!!

Do you have times when life just feels like a Merry-go-Round that never stops?  Perhaps one thing after the other keeps you spinning out of control.  This is the time to REST.   The reason you are feeling overwhelmed is because you ARE overwhelmed.  We often don’t stop and relax and let our minds catch up with our lives.  We just act like the “energizer” bunny and keep on going. 

When you feel these moments coming on, give yourself permission to take some “me time” and let the dishes stay in the sink, let the phone go to the machine and take time for you!  Give yourself a time-out.  You and EVERYONE around you will appreciate it.

Hugs!!

It’s A Girl!!  I have a new niece.  My sister-in-law gave birth Friday evening, to a beautiful baby girl, 6 pounds, 6 ounces and 20 inches long.   This day will be one that I will NEVER forget.  I had the honor and blessing of being her doula.  A doula is a birthing companion - a woman who supports the laboring woman to help her physically, and mentally, and makes sure that she is well taken care of.  What an honor!  What an incredible experience.

 It began Friday afternoon with her water breaking.  She was having a home birth, (water birth) so I arrived at her home at about 6:30 PM.  The midwife and interns were already there.  My sister-in-law was walking around, hanging out in between contractions.  They were not that strong at this point.  Long story short, after an all nighter, and no baby, the midwife, Debbie, checked my sister-in-law again and said that her water her resealed! Can you believe that??  Do you know what time this was?  8 AM!!!  We had been up all night, just to be sent home.  I didn’t know that could happen.  We all went our separate ways, knowing we would be back in the near future for the real thing.  Truly, the night was super fun.  I haven’t been to a sleep over in ages and it was a blast. 

I went home attempting to rest, but I have 3 kids, so do you think I rested after they had a full night’s sleep? At about 3 PM, she called and said, “I think we are on again!”  Her water wasn’t broken but she was having strong contractions.  So, I got myself together, threw stuff in a bag, packed up the kids, an away we went.  When I got there, I knew it was the real thing.  She was in bed, breathing threw each contraction.  She was amazing.  I can honestly say that she will forever be one of my heroes!  I have never seen someone so connected with her mind, body, and spirit.  It was beautiful.

 As I said earlier, I had the privilege to help her through her labor.  I am forever blessed and totally grateful for this experience.  My niece is here, healthy and of course beautiful. 

Be Blessed!

We got a puppy!!!  We are loving her.  She is a lab/schipperke mix.  We got her from the Humane Society last week.  I have been doing all sorts of reading about puppies and training them.  My goodness, let me tell you, if you don’t have one and haven’t had the pleasure of a puppy, it is so much like training a toddler!  I am constantly redirecting her from “puppy biting” us to a toy, or taking her out and praising for her for going pee-pee, (or poopie) and even getting up every couple of hours during the night to take her out!  It has only been a week, but Ginger is a blessing!  For the last 9 years, I have had a baby every 3 years.   This time, I got a puppy!!!  We are really excited. 

I will enjoy sharing about the puppy blessings as they come.  She is truly sweet, playful and fun. 

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like having a bad day.  I don’t even like having bad moments, but of course they happen to all of us.  It stinks.  Drains you energy.   Right now, I would LOVE to eat a ton of dark chocolate, with a chocolate milkshake chaser!  Yep, feeling a bit lousy right now.  

Today was not what I would call a joy filled day.  Not because it was all bad, but because like all of us who have the blessing of children, parenting is a tough business.  Sometimes in that tough business, in order to teach valuable lessons, we  have to set examples, and be the “bad guy” in the eyes our beautiful children. I don’t like the hat I had to wear today, but it was necessary. 

 We all have lessons to learn and we will keep walking into walls until we figure out how to do it right.  We can choose to go through this life and our lessons with a miserable attitude, or we can embrace the lessons and grow stronger. 

Let us always remember that our Heavenly Daddy is right here waiting.  I am going to lean on Him, instead of the chocolate madness I mentioned earlier.  

I sing.  I love to sing.  From the time I was young, and I am sure until the day I go home, I will sing.  When asked what my childhood dream was, I always reply a singer.  Of course I always envisioned I’d be a recording artist and travel, give concerts…. 

Has my childhood dream become a reality?  Sort of.  I still sing.  I sing everyday, but instead of it just being about me, I sing for God!  I would be lying if I said that I didn’t sing for my enjoyment.  I love it. I identify myself this way.  I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t sing.   I have not become the traveling, concert giving recording artist that I was in my bedroom, but I have the honor to serve God weekly at my church.   To lift Him up, using the gifts that He gave me, and to give it back to Him, is so awesome!

What is it that God has gifted you with that you can turn around and give back to God?  Are you a welcoming people person?  Then you would be a great greeter!  Are you great with babies and toddlers - then serve in the preschool.  Love elementary age?, how about serving in the children’s or youth ministries.  If you feel a calling to help the homeless, help those going through difficulties, there are ministries for you too. The possibilities are endless.  God has gifted all of us with something — it is our responsibility to use them for Him!  When we use our gifts for Him with a joyful heart and in an unceasing way, we will fulfill the plans that God has for us, and help others along the way to reach their potential too!

It is an honor to serve God!  I challenge you to give it a try.