A place to find Hope

Tag: anxiety (Page 35 of 37)

God Never Calls us to do Something easy

We are certainly in tough times in our country. The Pandemic virus is growing fast. There is mass rioting throughout our country. People are out of work because of the Pandemic. Children can not go back to school to learn.

I was told the other day that this is a huge sign of the end times.

It may be, but what do we do if it is?

We need to have FAITH!

1 Faith is always true.

2. Faith always goes forward.

3. When God speaks to us we have enough faith to say yes.

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God is in the business of doing the impossible. It sure makes you wonder why he is allowing so much chaos. Remember…God is in charge.

The world was shocked when President Trump won the presidential election. Shouldn’t have happened? GOD IS IN CHARGE!

He is watching over us. The next question is… Why is He allowing so much tragedy to happen? This is a tough question. However, God gave us choices. He allowed us to make our own decisions, and then face Him later. That is why dictators exist. That is why there is sex trafficking. That is why there are wars. That is hard for us to have to face, but it is reality with god.

All the rioters, seem to think what they are doing and is noble. They think they are heroes. God will be speaking to each of them later.

How about you? Are you walking the narrow path, or the wide path to destruction? God knows and you know. He knows every hair on your head. There is no place to hide from Him.

Now, I have made God sound like a mean, awful person. Know that He loves you very much. He made you in His own image. He wants the best for you.

BUT, we have to abide by His rules, not ours. There is a wonderful manual to guide you on how to act and how to be. It is called the Bible. If you read and live by it, you are in God loving graces.

So, God never calls us to do anything easy. A friend once told me,”Life is tough and then you die.” Pretty sad. That was many years ago that he told me that, but it still sticks with me today.

Don’t be allowing the dark side to overcome you. Look to the light, which is Jesus Christ our Lord. He died so that you have a chance for eternal life. I say you have a chance, because you have to accept him as your personal savior to receive that gift.

Life IS tough, but be strong and know that God is with you during your storms.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…Never, ever, give up!

How Many Times Should We Forgive Someone?

I have been watching the movement of Representative John Lewis from his hometown to the Capitol Rotunda, to be put on display.

This man was a furious warrior fighting for the black community. He marched with Martin Luther King. He was beaten many times, and was arrested 40 times for his support for the black community.

No man, since Martin Luther King, has done more for civil rights in our country.

He spent over 16 years in Congress.

Was he a Democrat or a Republican? DOESN’T MATTER!

He fought for what was right.

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We need to find more leaders like him. Dedicated to helping others and fighting for what is right.

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I am switching to some negative things to bring up another point.

Portland, Oregon has had 60 straight days of rioting. There are many fires, many beatings, many arrests, and many people hurt badly. Many of those hurt are police officers, trying to keep the peace.

The Federal Government has come to help. We will see how that works out.

There is widespread rioting in many other big cities. Interesting in that all of those cities are run by Democrats.

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So, should we forgive those who are rioting? If so, how many times should we forgive?

Jesus told a parable about forgiving. It started when Peter asked him how many times should he forgive? Seven times? (That was four more times than the Jewish acceptable number.)

Jesus rebuked him and said, “No! 70×7!” That is 490 times. (Matthew 18: 21-34.)

Some things to remember:

  1. As longs as there are issues, there is an opportunity for forgiveness.
  2. Our God is a forgiving God. (How many times have you asked Him to forgive you?)
  3. Forgiving others is a must to be a part of God’s Kingdom.
  4. We must mirror God’s love and forgiveness.

Some other thoughts:

  1. God has help mend any hearts that are broken.
  2. My sin was great, but God’s love was greater.
  3. For God so loved the world that He sent his only son, so that we may have eternal life.
  4. Pray for our leaders in the nation, and in your home state, to make decisions that are for the good of the people, and not themselves.

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Think on these things, and be at peace knowing that God is watching over you and protects you.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forskaen.

You are never unloved.

And above all, never, ever, give up!

Don’t Pretend to be Someone you Are Not

We can not do that. We need to be ourselves. God created each of us into a unique person. No one else is like you.

I actually fell into that trap during my teaching days. I went to graduation school to get a Masters in counseling because that seemed to be how you got promoted to principal quicker. I went for several summers. I neared the end where I just needed two classes to get my degree.

I stepped away from it at that point. I never went back to finish up.

WHY ON EARTH WOULD I DO THAT??

I realized that I loved being in the classroom with my students. If I became a principal my time with students would mostly be with the ones that needed discipline.

I really didn’t want to be a principal, and I fell for the trap of joining the rat race to try to get ahead.

I can not be someone else. God wants me to be myself. He wants me to be guided by him, not doing things to better myself for selfish reasons.

How about you?

Do you push hard at your work to get ahead. Do you try to keep climbing that corporate ladder? Do you want that beautiful car your neighbor has, because you feel people will think you are important?

God loves you the way you are. He created you in His image and wants the best for you. Don’t try to impress anyone. Just listen to God and walk the path He has for you. This way you are glorifying Him and not yourself.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

Garbage in Garbage out, or God in God Out

It seems like our country is on a pace of complete disarray. Rioting, shootings, burning buildings, people getting beat up.

How did we get to this point?

As retired teacher I can say that as each year went by, the students became more aggressive. I would talk to their parents about it and they would say, “They are just being kids,” and shrug it off.

If children aren’t disciplined properly at home. They grow up to be those who are on the streets causing havoc.

They have lived their lives with garbage in and garbage out. All they hear is garbage, and it is planted in their brains. Therefore garbage out, is what comes from them.

How do we turn this kind of problem around? We need to start in the homes. We need to teach what is right and wrong.

If there is a Godly home, the family will have a God in and God out. They will teach their children about God. Make sure they grow spiritually, and get them involved in a church.

As they grow, they will see that their lives are much more acceptable to others, and keep growing.

How about you? Do you talk garbage in, garbage out, do you have God in and God out at your home.?

I look at it this way. It is the monkey see, monkey do theory. If you guide you children and the proper path and be a good example. Your example will have then saying, “I want to be like them.”

But if you do drugs, drink heavily, and use bad language in your home Your example will have your children also wanting to be like you. Garbage in garbage out.

Take inventory of your life. See if your path is the right path for your children to follow.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

If You Found Proof that There was a Heaven How Would you Change?

How do we really know there is a Heaven? We read and hear about it all the time.

I have read the now famous book by Don Piper Called, 90 Minutes in Heaven. I have two copies in my library. One is signed by the author who wrote the book for Don, Cecil Murphy. I met him at a writer’s Conference. He was a really nice guy, and enjoyed talking to me. I was curious as to why he will help with a book like this. I wondered if it changed his a own life.

He answered both of my questions with, Because I totally believe there is a Heaven and we needed to get the word out.

If you haven’t read this book I encourage you to get it. It is a real eye opener.

Pastor Don Piper was on the way home from a conference. He was hit by a semi truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. However, a pastor friend was there praying for him even though they kept telling him it was too late.

The Pastor had been praying for 90 minutes when, Don came back to life. He was overjoyed and excited which amazed the EMT’s. He was excited That he saw Heaven while he was “Dead.”

Don’s life was hurtful, at best, during his recovery, but he kept telling people what he had seen. The rest of the story is found in his book.

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I saw a movie last night that was inspirational. It is call, Heaven is Real.

It is about a little boy who had a ruptured appendix and had to have emergency surgery.

His parents were told that he may not make it. The father, who is a Pastor, went to the hospital chapel and appealed to God to help. He shouted, Are you going to take my little boy away from me?

The mother was out of control in the waiting room. She too thought they were going to lose their son.

Then the doctor came in and said had he made it and to please come to be by his side. The relieved parents ran to their son and hugged him and held him close.

While he was recuperating he started telling he parents he was in Heaven. They decided he was just a little child of seven, and could be making this up.

However, as time went by he told them about things he couldn’t have ever known about. He talked about seeing his sister. He mom said that your sister is alive. He said, “No my other sister. “ The wife had a miscarriage before the little boy was even born. He even told them it was a girl, and the parents didn’t know what sex the child was. They asked him what was her name, and he said,”You never named her because she wasn’t born.”

Then the boy told his dad that he had seen Grandpa The dad said he died before you were born. The dad ran to get a picture of his father and showed it to the boy, and asked if that was who he saw. The boy said no, because he didn’t have glasses.

The father went up into the attic to find some old family pictures and found one of his dad when he was young. He took it bad to his son, and asked Is this who you saw? The boy said “YES!” People aren’t old in Heaven daddy. They all look young.

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These two events makes it very clear to me there is a Heaven.

Do you need proof? Are you skeptical? I can understand that. If you believe there is no Heaven, then you life has an end and you will rot in a grave. (I am so sorry that I am so abrupt here, but that would be the truth if you are right.)

The answers are in the Bible. Heaven is described. It is mention many times by Jesus. The Lord’s Prayer has it in it.

Some people fear this is a heaven. Others fear there is not a heaven.

Where are you? Do you fit into one of these groups, or are you like me and know for sure there is a Heaven and know you have eternal life, because of Jesus dying on the cross and coming back to life? Just like what happened in these two stories.

Take an inventory of where you are and take the right path.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

We Need to Spread Love, Not Hate

How can we exist will all the turmoil going on around us? The Pandemic is growing fast again, with even other strands coming with it that are much more contagious.

We still have huge unrest in our country. Rioting, arson, tearing down statues, killings, Looting, and terror.

Where do we go for help? What can we do to overcome this?

We have a ugly new problem raising in our country. It is the “Karen’s,” that are causing it. They verbally attack black people with hateful words and even have pointed guns at them.

They have no concept of love. They only know hate.

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What the world needs now is love, sweet love! Where do they get it?

Well… it is simple to figure out of you are a Christian. We are suppose to be the poster child’s for love, right? Unfortunately that is not completely true. There are people right in my home church who seem to love to degrade others.

I am very saddened by this. I can not understand how someone can hate so much. They must hate themselves.

What we need to do is put God first in our lives. We need to try to live a life like Jesus. He never sinned. He never was mean to anyone. He loved everyone.

Speaking of posters child’s. We should be a poster child that shows love to everyone. What a difference that would make in our world today.

If you are struggling with thinking about wrong things, take an inventory of your life, and see where it is coming from. Push the negatives out of your mind and feel it with love and understanding.

Love is not just a four letter word. It is the word that changes the world.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

So many Problems Attack us All At Once

I had a great message online from my church on Sunday. I also was on a phone conference with a dynamic young man who is on fire for the Lord.

From the phone call I wrote down two of the quotes from Taylor Wilkens, area leader for FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes.)

  1. Everything can be chaos around us, but God will help us through the storm.
  2. There are so many bad reports coming from TV and newspapers, when will the good reports start coming in?

He is spot on, and we need to realize that. We are never alone in this world. God is always there for us through the good times, and the bad times.

We are overwhelmed with negative TV, and news in general. When is the last time you saw a feel good story? We need to be strong and block out all of the negativity.

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Referring to the protesters, My Pastor said, “Fireworks are exciting. The start is good, but then it is just a pull of smoke.” This reminds me of all the protesters who think what they are doing is right, but in the end they are causing more harm than good.

My Pastor also said, ” You have a house that you have built. You worry about room sizes, where to put the windows, the paintings, etc. Did you think about the foundation? Most people don’t.” Our foundation is the Bible. We get all our guidance from it. If we live by the Bible, our foundation will be strong.

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We were told that in reality we are just apprentices for God. We are still learned and growing. You never out grow being an apprentice. I am up in years and I am still learning much.

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There is an abundance of fear in our world. We can help others with fear. Reach out to those around you. See how they are doing. Help them if they are struggling. It may be right in your own neighborhood.

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We read the story about Peter wanting to get out of the boat and walk to Jesus. We need to get out of our boat and help others. What fear is holding you back from getting out of your boat? Ask yourself, “Why can’t I get out of my boat? Remember, God is not done with you yet. He needs you out of your boat. If we walk with Christ and not towards Him in the water, we are at the safest place to be. I realize that stepping out of a boat right now with all the storms around us is hard, at best, but we Have Good on our side. We win!!

Sorry for the many different topics here, but they were building up in my head, and I was getting a headache. :0

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never every give up!

Have You Ever Lost Something Precious to You?

Had a wonderful message this morning from my online church. The theme was not to forget those who are not saved.

Pastor Chris started out with a question. Have any of you lost something that was precious to you?

He shared a story about his three year old son who went missing while they were at a restaurant. The Pastor panicked when a waitress asked them if they were missing a child. They realized that they were. She said “There is a boy out in the drive through in front of the cars.”

Pastor Chris leaped over a barrier to the drive through and sure enough. There was his son, with not a care in the world, admiring the flowers along the drive through.

He ran to him grabbed him and held him his arms. He kissed him and was too relieved to be angry.

What if a driver was looking down when they pulled out and didn’t see the boy???

They saved their precious child.

I have had not one, but to things have I lost that are precious to me.

The first one was my four year old son. We were at Disney Land. We were walking through all the hundreds of people when my wife said “Where is KC?”

He was gone! I couldn’t see him in the mass of humanity. We panicked and rushed to the “lost child,” center. They put out a plea to our son that said, “KC, your parents are lost. Please come to the center.” They gave him very clear directions. Nothing! We felt the fear of losing our son.

I told my wife that I was going out to our car to get something. (Forgot what it was.)

KC was only about four years old at the time. I couldn’t imagine him finding us in that mass of humanity.

I got near the car and there was KC. He was sitting there and waiting for us! How my son found our car out of the thousands that were parked, I do not know to this day, but we had our precious one back. I picked him and told him how much I loved him. I too was too relieved to be angry.

The second precious thing that was lost was my wedding ring. It, of course, means a great deal to me.

I woke up one morning. Walked to the den where I always put my watch and ring, and the ring wasn’t there. I did the whole house search routine. Nothing.

I remember that I had stayed at a buddies house after a late football game. I called him and told him about my ring. He told me he would look in the room where I slept. Nothing.

I have been searching for that ring ever since. I have never found it. When I do though, there will be great rejoicing like when I found my son.

What the Pastor’s message told us about, was the parable about the one sheep that was missing out of the flock. The Shepard left all 99 sheep and hunted for that one sheep. When he found it he rejoiced. He even went back to his town and told everyone about his blessing.

Yes, we have to think…leave the 99 and try to find one?

What is taught here, is that we may have some lost sheep in our neighborhoods, at work, even at church. We need to reach out those few and try to save them.

Then we can rejoice, and be blessed, because that one person has become one of the flock.

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If you are down and out. Reach out for help. Don’t wallow in your own self pity. None wants to come to your pity party. Seek help. Pray to God for His love, and His guidance. He will be there to see you through your storms.

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

The Sky is Falling-Chicken Little

This blogger has been reeling from all that is going on around me. The Pandemic is getting worse; There is still protests, and our country is severely divided.

It is hard, at best, to be cheerful, and excited. It takes every bone in my body to face each day.

I think I have scars from all of this. I actually hurt. (I know, that’s old age)

Then I thought of Jesus. He had scars all over His body, from thorns, whippings, a spear in his side, and spikes through His hands and feet.

However, the greatest pain He was going through was our sins.

There is one big difference. He will never lose His scars. They are scars of victory. The victory of eternal life for you and me.

When I think of that, my “poor me,” attempt is out the window. No one wants to come to a pity party.

What I need is to buck up and face my storms. When I am a afraid and discouraged, I need to remember that God is always with me. Where there is fear, God brings courage.

Have the fear dying from the virus? Well, to be honest, we should fear from dying and not knowing God.

God will lead us through the fires we face.

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How are you doing.?Do you not turn on the TV, because it is mostly bad news? Do you wish you could stay in bed all day?

We certainly hear you. Never let the dark side tell you the world is coming to and end. The sky is not falling like Chicken Little said.

Just be courageous, and stead fast in all of this turmoil.

GOD IS IN CHARGE!

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

How Can we be Humble Through the Pandemic, and Rioting?

Pandemic, rioting, businesses being burnt, statues being tore down, people being killed, and much more. So what can we do to counter all of this?

I have been thinking of this for several months. It was overwhelming for me, and I did not have good answers.

I watched my church message online yesterday, and they shared some ideas.

The first quote I heard was, “Nothing is impossible with God on your side.” That got me in a better mood.

Then they spoke of being humble. What? I am suppose to be humble when the world is crashing around me?

Then they hit me with a verse that woke me up! “Everyone who exalts himself will humbled, he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 5:4-6.

They mentioned that we need to stop going on rabbit trails. They are scattered and often lead to nowhere. I was doing that. I was running around trying to understand what was happening.

Then our Pastor give us four things to help us be humble:

  1. Love God more than yourself. We need to know who is in charge and lean on Him during the storms.
  2. Love others by serving them for God’s glory. When we reach out and help, not only does the person we help feel good, but so do we.
  3. Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. I often take this for granted. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us at hard times.
  4. We need to hang out with people who are also pursuing a God fearing life. Just being in a group of believers can give us a lot of confidence, and love.

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Are you fearful of what is happening? Are your storms getting to hard to face? Do you want to stay in bed all day to avoid the world?

You certainly are not alone.

I feel your pain, and I suggest you totally depend on God as your fortress. he is stronger than any Pandemic, He will hug you during the rioting. He will give you wisdom to understand. He has told us many times:

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Pretty clear there. We just need to rely on Him to protect us and guide us.

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Remember:

You are not alone.

You are not forsaken.

You are not unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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