Worldly wisdom says,
"If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck....
it is probably a duck."

But, be that said,
The only one who knows beyond the appearances
 of what a person says and does is God.
He is the only one who knows a person's heart.

So, when counseling,
stay out of the muck and mire,
Get back so quickly to God
and ask Him for His wisdom and guidance.

Lift up others to Him and leave them there.

And remember, He is the one who is overseeing all.   He is your guide and protector.   It is all for Him and no other.   In the end, it is not for people pleasing, or any other power around you.   What you say and do is to point to His goodness.

Lord, help me to know and love more of what You want me to know and love.

"The opposite of wasting your life is to live by a single, soul satisfying passion for God in the supremacy of all things.   Whatever you do find the God exalting passion of your life, and find a way to say it and live it and you will make a difference that lasts.   You will not waste your life.

Because I was created by God and for His glory, I will magnify Him as a response to His great love.  
My desire is to make knowing and enjoying God the passionate pursuit of my life."     -Don't Waste Your Life


Yes, Lord I want to walk in the way of Your laws and wait for You, Your name and praise is the desire of our hearts.         -Isaiah 26:8    

I will heal your scars.

I will heal your scars and make you strong.

There are no insignificant people.
He does not rebuke us for our human weakness.
All reform is from within.
If you are walking with God and tough times come,
don't look inward for a secret sin,
Look upward where you will find hope.
Legalism fills people with guilt or self righteousness.

The soul of the wounded calls for help and God does not regard it as foolish.   Job 24:12

Ask God not only to help you forgive, but to heal the hurt.

Intimate marriages, characterized by forgiving hearts,
are a great light house to the world.

Never listen to the voices of the world.
Never feel at the mercy of the world.
Listen to Me and anxious thoughts and tired nerves will become rested.
Man's little power is as clay beside the granite rock of My Power.
I will heal your scars and make you strong.

He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

All our heroes are shadows of God.   We love to admire their excellence.   How much more will we be satisfied by Him?   Who conceived their excellence?   He has all excellence, and embodies all skill, all talent, all strength and brilliance and savvy and goodness.   This is what I have been trying to say.  

God loves us by liberating us from the bondage of self so that we can enjoy knowing and admiring Him forever.

Dont't waste your life.  

I don't have to be afraid that I must choose between what is right and what is inevitable - between pursuing his glory and pursuing my joy.

He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

-Don't Waste Your Life

I am your SHIELD.   No buffets of the world can harm you.   Feel that between you and all scorn and indignity is a strong shield.   Practice feeling this until nothing has the power to spoil the inward peace.
-God Calling

Lord help me to know Your wisdom when speaking with other people.
It is not about pointing fingers,
but asking You, what do YOU want to teach in this.
What do you want us to learn.

"I am the one who teaches you what is good and leads you along the paths you should follow."

Doubt your own wisdom and rely on Mine.    I will teach you.
Ask Me to right all as you leave it to Me and go on your way loving and laughing.
I am Wisdom.
Only My Wisdom can rightly decide anything, settle any problem.
So rely on Me.   All is well.

"The fool believes everything he hears, but the wise man looks and considers where he is going." 
-proverbs 14:15

"He who guards his mouth keeps his life, but he who opens wide his lips come to ruin."
-proverbs 13:3

"Every wise man deals with
 knowldege, but a fool exposes and flaunts it all."
-proverbs 13:16

Treat others as you would treat Me.

He has anointed you and QUALIFIED you to preach the good news to the meek, poor, and afflicted.
He has sent you to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the physical and spiritual captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound.
To comfort all who mourn.
He brings you to Beauty instead of ashes, with the oil of joy instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit.
That you may be called oaks of rigteousness -lofty, strong, magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice and right standing with God,
the planting of God, that He may be glorified.

Fill your world with love and laughter.
Never mind what anguish lies behind you.
Forget , forgive, love, and laugh.
Treat ALL as you would treat Me!
With love and consideration.
Let nothing that others do to you alter your treatment of them. 
-God Calling

"He has lifted the curse of work. 
He has replaced anxious toil with trust in GOd's promise to supply our needs.   This has awakened in us a different passion in our work.   Seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, and the food that perishes will be added to you.   SO don't labor for the food that perishes.   Labor to love people and love God.  Think of new ways that your work can bless people and honor God.   Stop thinking mainly of profitability and think mainly of how helpful your service or product can become." -Don't Waste Your Life

Proverbs 21:1-2
1The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
            He turns it wherever He wishes.

      2Every man’s way is right in his own eyes,

            But the LORD weighs the hearts.

And they all forsook him and fled.  - Mark 14:50

It happened to Him too.

Ever hear of something bad happening to a friend of yours,
and wondering, 'could that happen to me, too'?

It makes the frailness our own reality that much more clear to us.

But don't be afraid.
Focus your heart.
Lean in closer to Him.
Sit with Him.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.   Romans 8:28

There are many examples in the Bible.
Consider Daniel in the Lions Den.   He was thrown there because of other people's jealousy and his integrity. But God stood with him.  

And again, Joseph was thrown in jail, because of another person's malice towards him and his integrity.

And when Elisha was being hunted down by a king, he did not have fear.
God allowed this blind man of integrity to see just how much protection he had.
He was surrounded by horses and chariots of fire.

Just because you maintain your integrity and obey God, does not mean that things won't happen.
Actually, often times you will know hard times BECAUSE you maintain integrity.

But sit with Him.
You sit with Him!!
He will maintain you.

And if what ever happened to you was partially your fault...
Maybe you DID make a mistake!
Learn from it!

When things around you tumble,
your true life is not jeopardized, 
your peace and joy do not have to be destroyed.
Aim at knowing Him.
He will keep you.

Rest in the power of God.

COME SIT WITH ME.

"It's all about attitude.
Be joyful, patient, faithful.
Do not conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."   -Romans 12:12
Do not think of yourself more highly than you should.  - Romans 12:4-8
Focus less on 'what you are doing' and more on 'who you are being'.
Think before you speak, take your thoughts captive, share them with God, replace them with His truth.
Speak edifying words.

""We honor God by earning our living.  Aimless, unproductive Christians contradict the creative, purposeful, powerful, merciful God we love!   They waste their lives.   'Do not labor for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.'  -John 6    There should be a significant sense in which we are not working for that food but for more.   In other words, don't FOCUS on the mere material things in your work.   Don't labor with a view to the perishable things you can buy with your earnings.   Work with an eye not mainly to your money." -Don't Waste Your Life  

Work with a view to bringing honor to God. 

Ever have someone in power and authority say to you,
Come, sit with me?     
And what follows is the feeling of peace, safety, and protection and excitement?
Well, there is Some One in power and authority who says to you:

COME SIT WITH ME.

"Keep close to My will and way in everything.   Keep close to Me, very close.  Think, act, and live in My presence.   How dare any enemy touch you.   That is the secret of all Power, all Peace, all Purity, all influence, the keeping close to Me. Abide in Me.  Live in My presence.   Rejoice in My love.   Thank and Praise all the time.   Wonders are unfolding.   

NO GOD, NO PEACE. KNOW GOD. KNOW PEACE.

Love and Laugh.
No matter what.
Your joy is in Me.
Peace, be at peace.
Stop all work and action with others until you can
get back with Me and have your peace restored.

Do not let those around you spoil your peace of heart and mind.
Do not let anyone,
any trouble,

any irritation,
any adversity,
disturb it for one moment.
Look on each difficulty as training to enable you to acquire this peace.
Every work, every interruption,
let none of it touch the harmony of the real you,
that is hidden in Me.

Significance. Insecurities in women.

What is that sense inside us,
the wanting to be great,
the search for meaning and significance.
Lord, Don't let my prayer time disintegrate into meaningless ruminations.

"Men are not one blink healthier then women are emotionally.
A person can be on target about something,
however without necessarily being healthy.
We have the same tendencies when we strive to control our guys,
and then when we finally get them to submit to us like whipped dogs,
we think THEY are pathetic!

Guys in a survey listed a number of top ranking insecurities in women (besides appearance).
Irrational jealousy,
full blown emotional episodes (whatever do you mean?!!)
obsession with what people think,
insatiable need for affirmation.

The men who responded DID NOT want women to feel insecure.

At the end of the day, both men and women want to be with someone they can respect."
-Beth Moore

Depressed? Need Significance and a Purpose? Know God, Get Joy.

Be the one that...
Doesn't notice the dirt on the floor, but the rose on the table.

"Follow My rules faithfully.  
Honor.  Esteem.  Value your spouse.
Love simplicity.
In honor, give preference to one another.
It is a daily call of surrender and obedience."

Some people are willing to do things for others in church and see it as part of their ministry and yet are unwilling to do the same things at home for their own family members.   Let the people in your sphere of influence see the changes in you! -Joyce Meyers

Do things as if you were doing them for God, not for men.
Serving God is serving the other person.
Not for what you can get back.
It goes back to:

DONT WASTE YOUR LIFE
"We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life.  God created us for this, to live our lives in a way that shows Him more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that He really is.   Every good work should be a revelation of the glory of God.   What makes a good deed good, an act of love is the passion and the sacrifice to make God Himself known.   Not to aim to show God is not to love because God is what we need most deeply".

Passion for God and the desire to know joy, are one and the same.
God's purpose for my life is that I grow to know and love Him
- and a result is I will have joy.
It is direction.
It is purpose.

I have a story to tell you.
This seems small I know.
But I am realizing that God is in the small, the mundane as well as in the great-

My husband called.
Wanted to know if he could order pizza for his co-workers.
I was alittle stressed, still hadn't been able to pay the mortgage yet.
He said that's fine. Nevermind.
I hung up.
He rarely asks to do that.

Honor your husband, value and esteem him.
This will glorify God, and will bring you joy!
Lay my life down willingly, 
not out of compulsion.


I thought, well, I have a few dollars in cash.  I checked Dominos.  My husband only needed to feed a total of four people.  To do it cheaply, I would have to get off my butt and actually go pick up the pizza (to save on delivery fees), and perhaps get a cheap dessert.   I know what it is like to be at work.   Any food is always appreciated.   I realized if i made a small effort I could:

1. Honor my husband
2. Do it without hurting us financially
3. Be listening to and reflecting God.
4. And guess what?   A nice side result of that is joy for me!!!

I ordered the pizza, wrapped up some cake I had made the night before, picked up the pizza, stopped and picked up some $2 cookies.

Wow, you would have thought I had brought them gold!
My husband thanked me at least four times. I am not going to lie, that is unusual!
His co-workers shook my hand and thanked me as well!

Glorifying God, getting joy, blessing others.

Are you trying to help, or are you trying to control?

"Follow My rules faithfully,
Honor and esteem, value your spouse.
Love simplicity.
Yours is a daily call of surrender and obedience."
-God Calling

Are you trying to help someone,
or are you trying to control them?

I am determined to swim upstream against the pull of my selfishness
and to be a servant and a blessing every where I go."   -Joyce Meyer

Serve your marriage partner and see it as serving God.

I am your guide and your friend.
You have different hopes and aspirations and motives and sense of reward.
Hours, days, months of weariness and heartache you have battled and overcome.
By a steadfast unflinching desire to conquer self and to do My will and live my teachings.
-God Calling

I want to bring glory to God by being kind, loving, hardworking, a person with integrity.

Thought for the day:
Children are not an asset, in the sense of property gained, children are one of the greatest and most
valuable blessings in a person's life.  Thank you Lord for our beautiful blessings.

Can you wrap your head around this?

"We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life.   God created us for this, to live our lives in a way that makes Him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that He really is.   Every good work should be a revelation of the glory of God.   What makes a good deed good, and an act of love, is the passion and the sacrifice to make God Himself known as glorious.   Not to aim to show God is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply.   If you don't point people to God for everlasting joy, then you don't love."
-Don't waste your life.

What makes you feel excited,
full of life,
energized?
What is your passion?

"Being happy in God is the way we glorify Him.
 It should be the single passion of our lives.
Seeking happiness in God and glorifying God are the same.
Don't waste your life.
What is life about?
What is it for?
Why do I exist?
Why am I here?
To be happy?
Or to glorify God?
God's purpose for my life is that I have passion for His glory and
that I have passion for my joy in that glory,
and that these two are one passion."
  -Don't Waste Your Life.

Love and Laugh -July 17

What ever sorrow the day may bring,
still love and laugh.

Learn how to be actively obedient to God.

HONOR - means to value and esteem.
your parents, your spouse, yourself, your God............

This is what I command you,
that you love one another.

I have all your affairs in My hands.

God will develop us and bring us to perfection.
He will fulfill His will for us.

Chiggers and Chigger Bites... Spawn of Satan? Perhaps. Camping at Uwharrie

Decided to take a great trip to UWharrie.   

There we could go camping and four wheeling in the Jeeps.

Great idea!   

Great fun!

Then of course, my husband got bitten by a spider and we all got chigger bites.

I am still just reading up on all kinds of wierd and wild ways to treat or prevent chigger bites.

Of course this is too little too late.


I was going to be adventurous and wear shorts.


Mistake #1.    Don't wear shorts.

Mistake #2.    I felt like something was biting my ankles, 

but I was in my tent, tired, 11 pm, so I went to sleep. I should have taken a shower &scrubbed them little varmints off !

Mistake #3.    At some points I wore sandals and never applied bug repellent.  Don't wear sandals, and DO wear bug repellant!

Mistake #4.    I wore the same pants....during the day I would wear one pair of pants or shorts, then at night wear some pajama's.   Mistake, the next day I would use the same pair.  Bring lots of changes of clothing.

The bites showed up on a Sunday morning.

We went hiking anyway!

 By Monday morning the bites were horrible and itchy.
I read up on all kinds of ways to treat the itch.

The blisters were itchy!

 I tried a paste of baking soda.  Some little relief.

I went to work.   The itch intensified.   That is when a co worker informed me that Chiggers are Satan's Spawn.   And there is no relief from the itch!
I went home.  I tried the vaporub and salt concoction.
I woke up in the night itching like crazy and throwing up.
By Tuesday I was miserable.
The welts had become similar to those of poison ivy.
The itch was crazy!
I tried:   Witch Hazel, Rubbing Alcohol, Campho Phenique, even Instant Ear-Dry, then Neosporin, and

              Hydrogen Peroxide.  Of course Benadryl.   (I did not try nail polish          because, before when I got chigger bites that didn't do me any good.)
   No relief.  I did not try an Epsom Salt Soak because there was too much of me that needed to soak.... and that would mean I would have to wash the bathtub!  I did not try ChiggerX because that would mean going out in 90 degree heat to get it.  heat makes the bites itch like crazy!

But by Thursday I was okay enough to go to work, I just made sure I wore clothing that was loose, as well as shoes that did not rub.

I read about a sergeant that made his men eat matches after lighting them, supposedly because the sulphur in the match would keep the buggers away.

I have heard to use listerine, deodorant, or toothpaste on the bites!

I have read to keep the little bastards off of you to:

Stay on the trail!  Avoid high grass and vegetation.
Apply Dawn, or Sulphur, keep yourself totally covered with clothing,
take a shower after being out, scrub yourself, change all your clothing and wash the clothes immediately.   I have heard of ChiggerX , Eurax, Chig-Away.   Use a bug repellent which has DEET.  Apply every two hours.  I have been told to stay inside when it is a certain temperature that the chiggers love.  I have been told to eat lots of raw garlic (which curiously has alot of sulphur!), lots of vitamin B. I have read that you can outfit yourself in Ex-Officio's line of clothing that is pretreated with permethrin.   The treatment lasts through 70 washings.  .

I am afraid I will probably have another run in with these horrible creatures.  Seeing as I do love being outdoors.  I think I may investigate buying some:
Dawn,
ChiggerX,
Sulphur.

Who knows, maybe my co-worker was right, maybe they really are spawns of Satan!  

You are not alone.

Trust in Me.
Dwell in My love.
Laugh and Trust.  Laughter is a child's faith in God and good.
Seek safety in My Secret Place.
You cannot be touched or harmed there. 
That is sure.
Really feel as if you were in a strong Tower,
strongly guarded and against which nothing can prevail.

We all get alittle warped when we are out of the herd.

"Many of my disciples have had to stay on in the dark, alone, and friendless.     They struggled on, singing as they went.  
If I have asked you to step on and up firmly, then surely I have secured your ladder."
-God Calling 

Be at Peace.  Fear not.   Give thanks.

There are no rejects from God's 'herd'. 

Do you know the theme music from the T.V. show Cheers?

"Everybody knows your name, and they are all so glad you came." 

We all want a place like that.  
A place where we belong.

There is no one who is not good enough,
not cool enough,
not smart enough to be in this herd,
His herd. 
Welcome all.
Because you know what?  
We all get alittle warped
when we are out of the herd. (or the family, the pride, the group, fellowship)

 

Messed up relationship?

Ever have a misunderstanding with one you love,
barriers get higher, misunderstanding.  Explanation seems impossible.  
The situation becomes ever more complex and insolvable.   Regretting, wondering how it could have been different.

... The Lord wants to teach us to commit, trust, rest.

Humble yourself under God's mighty hand and He will lift you up in due time.  Cast all your cares on Him, for you are His.   -1 Peter 5:6-7

"Leave them to Me,
There is nothing else that I am asking of you.
Leave them to Me.
You cannot fathom all that is taking place.
You don't need to know.  
I am at work in you,
in them,
Leave them to Me.
It will become clear. 
Trust Me."

Tell others they are beautiful.
Make others feel like the beautiful creation God meant them to be.

 

Are you just waiting for the next bad thing to happen to you?

To face the next thing, face Him.


Ever have your heart feel broken.   Things have gone wrong.   It seems that no one really cares what is going on in your life?
To face the next thing, face Him.

"Can you get the expectant attitude of faith?   Not waiting for the next bad thing  to happen to you but await with a joyful trust the next good thing in store?" 

Only by Your grace can I do that Lord.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.  -pasalm 37:7

Why feel sad and despondant?
He knows what you need better than you do.
The work that He desires is that you 'believe'.   John 6:29

Patience takes away all wobbling.  

As we live by correct priorites, cultivating our relationship with God on a daily basis, we will begin to experience a quiet joy resulting from a sense of security that we belong to God and He is indeed in control of our lives.

Meeting with God regularly prepared Moses for the next step. 
What's your next step?   Don't know?   Get away with God.

"We are given no books with carefully marked pages, and very often we have no director, for God leaves us without any support except Himself.
We are abandoned and live in darkness.   We are forgotten.
We are aware of our needs and our wretchedness, but we do not know from where or if any help will come.
Meanwhile we do not worry and wait quietly for someone to come and help us, and we keep our thoughts fixed on heaven.

God Himself provides us with books, gives us insight into our souls, together with advice and examples from the lives of the good and wise.

The world thinks that we are useless and it seems as if we are.  
Yet we are quite certain that by various means and through hidden channels we pour out spiritual help on people who are often quite unaware of it and of whom we never think.   God gives a special force to all we say and do and even our silence, our tranquility and our detachment, which quite unknown to us profoundly influences other people."   - Abandonment to Divine Providence

"I mean to save you more and more, and guide you on the way you should go.   Trust and be not afraid." -God Calling

"Your mean boss is not the enemy, your divisive neighbor is not the enemy.   The devil himself is your enemy, and you have everything you need to put him and his power under your feet.   You don't have to be mighty in stature to be mighty in battle.   You don't have to be beautiful or strong, or even physically fit to change the world, you just have to know that far greater is He that is in you then he who is in the world.   1 John 4:4   He wants to do abundantly above and beyond all that we could ever ask or think, but there is a clincher in this verse - it is according to His work within us."

Often times our current obstacles, setbacks and trials seem totally unrelated to the call of God on our lives, so they are easy to misinterpret.   It is easy to think, "I'd be living out my call if I didn't have to deal with this issue.   But the thing is, whatever 'this issue' is, it is your training ground testing and proving you, preparing you for a life of depth and significance."  

"Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered."  Proverbs 11:13.  

"I will not allow my past to speak to me except to teach me.   We had walked through years of crisis, health, and financial battles leaving me a a rootless, weary traveller, while so many others seemed established in their lives.   The life I longed for and the life I lived seemed a great distance apart."

Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV)

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

  

If you have two coats or extra food, give to him that has none.

"You are Mine.
Remember you are a daughter of a King.
Try to see yourself as surrounded by My servants.
They are doing everything for your well being.  
Feel this as you go through the day,
Feel this and all is well.

Lose sight of all limitations.
Abundance is God's Supply.
Turn out all limited thoughts.
Receive showers and in your turn, shower."
-God Calling

"He that has two coats,
let him give to him that has none,
and let him who has food , do the same."
-Luke 3:11

Stop Controllling Others and care for Yourself!

Expect not one miracle, but many!

STOP CONTROLLING OTHERS AND CARE FOR YOURSELF!

"If we listen to ourselves and our God we will not be mislead!   Give yourself what you need and learn to  live self and God directed lives.
Giving ourselves what we need and learning to live self and God directed lives requires faith.   We need enough faith to get on with our lives and we need to do at least a little something each day to begin moving forward.

Few situations in life are ever improved by not taking care of ourselves and not giving ourselves what we need.   In fact, we may learn most situations are improved when we take care of ourselves and tend to our needs.   Learn how to care for yourself.  

Giving ourselves what we need is not difficult the formula is simple.

In any given situation:

Detach
 and
ask what to I need to take care of myself?"
 -Codependent No More


This is not a selfish thing.
  God says:
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
So we must know how to love ourselves before we can truly love others.

We we learn our value,
that we are valuable because of Him,
We can lay our lives down willingly,
not from compulsion,
or a sense of martyrdom,
not being a doormat.
We become freed to give out of a true love.
We know what we are giving and why we give it.
It does not diminish us in value or meaning,
but actually points to the ONE who gives us all of our meaning.

"Why are you sleeping?  
Get up and pray,
otherwise temptation will overpower you!"
-Luke 22

Don't Waste Your Life -July 9

Help me to see my own faults and not to point to others.

Help us to love each other.  Encourage each other.

What is there in the world that if you didn't have it, you would pay a million dollars to have it, but in already having it, we ignore it?

Lord, for the blessings I already have, I thank You!   Open my eyes!
My spouse, my family, health, freedom, peace.........

"There are daily wonders that will waken worship if I open my eyes.
Lord, please open our eyes. 

He shook my dozing soul and threw the cold water of reality in my face so that life and God and heaven and hell broke into my world with glory and horror.   The mundate was clear, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.   There is creation and creator, nothing more.   And creation gets all the meaning and purpose from God."    -Don't Waste Your Life

You are being guided -July 8

"You are being guided but remember that I said, 
I will guide you with My eye.    

And My eye is My purpose,
My Will.

To guide with My will is to bring all your desires
 into oneness with My will, My desires.   

Make My Will your only will.   
Then My Will guides you!"

-God Calling

Are you playing God? Sooner or later all gods get fired, or tired. -July 7

Please help us to know You as we "do the next thing."  Please help us to be faithful to the duties of the present moment.

"Success in the temporal world would not satisfy you... "

Help us not to think of what we 'could have had.'
Please help us to see and be thankful for all that we DO have.

Being kind to our spouses is not a sign of being a doormat.  
I know who I am and I lay my life down willingly.  

"Those who won't care for their own relatives,
especially those living in the same house (our spouse, our children)  have denied what we believe.  
They are worse than unbelievers!!" 
-1 tim. 5:9 


"There are no slackards here!"  

"We are the same as the people that are our hero's.   It is  how we feel about ourselves that makes the difference.   We need to value ourselves and make decisions and choices that enhance our self esteem.   Learn to value yourself as if you are valuable, not desparate.   Trust yourself.   Assert yourself.   Respect yourself.   Honor yourself by being willing to think independently to live by our own mind, and to have the courage of your own perceptions and judgements, to honor yourself is to be willing to know not only what we think but also what we feel, what we want, need, desire, suffer over, are frightened by or angered by and to accept our rights to experience such feelings."   -Codependent No More

"Sometimes we impose ourselves on our controller,
but sometimes we are invited there, even dragged there.  
When was the last time somebody put you in charge of his or her problem.   'If you are going to tell me what to do, why don't you just do it for me?'   Sooner or later all gods get fired or tired.  
We are supposed to help one another
but how do we know when help has morphed into a quest for control?  
The first clue is that the helper is doing all the work.  
Simultaneously the one being helped lazily lapses into the mentality of a victim of his or her own weakness and all the while gets to be the center of the strong person's attentions.  
What a deal.  
You can't deliver people.  
Only God can.  
Let God undo that tangled up mess and retie your security to Himself.  
He is the One with the power."  
 -So Long Insecurity.

The supply will surely come. -July 6

"Never let yourselves think we cannot afford this or shall never be able to do this.   Say, the supply is not here yet, but if we should have it, it will surely come."    - God Calling



 

Place your trust in Me -July 5

"I am with you all the time controlling, bless, and helping you.   Place your trust in Me and place your affairs in My hands.   Trust Me."  -God Calling

In need of a friend? -July 4

"I am your friend.   A friend is ready to help, anticipate every need, encourage and ward off danger, a voice of tenderness to soothe tired nerves and speak peace to restlessness and fear."   -God Calling

We are the same as our HEROES!

"Do not weigh your spirits down with the sins and sorrows of the world,   Only God can do that and live.   Look for the loving, the true, the kind,
the brave in the many all around you."  -God Calling

"Giving ourselves what we need and learning to live self directed lives requires faith.   We need enough faith to get on with our lives, and we need to do a little something each day to begin to move forward.   We may learn most situations are improved when we take care of ourselves and tend to our needs.   We think our feelings are wrong and inappropriate.   We believe we are not important, and even if our feelings aren't wrong, we think they don't matter.   We are convinced our needs are not not important.

We are the same as our heroes!   We are all working with approximately the same material - humanity.   It is how we feel about ourselves that makes the difference, what we tell ourselves."    -Codependent No More.

Do not criticize.

Laugh, do not criticize.  Share with all and be friendly and loving.

Do not be critical or fearful.

"God is not a God of disorder but of Peace."
1 Corinthians 14:33

I seem to be fascinated with people in power.
They have the ability to rule with integrity or fall to the temptations of sin.
It seems that the pull toward weakness and sin is so strong.

Joseph seems to be one of the stronger characters of the Bible.
Hit with betrayal, envy, false accusations and given positions of power,
he seemed able to handle these things by keeping a close walk with God.
How?  -By keeping his focus on God and not on his situation.

1.  Fill in the empty crevices of your time with ME.
2.  See Me in the uninteresting, the dull, the sinful, the critical, the miserable, the sweetness of old age, the laughter of children, the wisdom of middle age.
3.  Do not expect understanding from others about your spiritual motives and aspirations, and do not judge others for not giving it.








 

"You must never fail to keep this time apart with Me.
The greatest work you can do is done in this time."  -God Calling

Be fed, strengthened, purified, enriched, and made holy by fulfilling the duties of the present moment.

God's calling is sure.  We don't have to worry about making a way,
 if it is in His Will. 

Peter had a commitment to truth, no longer to fame.
He had a new fire and boldness.
His self ambitious, self preserving ways had died and
the Spirit of God in Peter lived strong.
Living by faith means we surrender our will
and our logical reasoning,
so that we might follow God becaue we trust Him more than we trust ourselves.

We have to let our children see us relyiing on God's wisdom rather than our own.

My value does not come from money or the lack of it. -June 30

Take my blinders off.
Help me to see me as YOU see me.
Help me to know I have value,
Help me to realize that my value does not come from money or lack of money,
but my value comes from you....
Being loved by You.

Please help me to be enamored by You.
Please let me be so in love, head over heels, obsessed with You.

"Love and Laugh. Cheer all. Love all.
Always seek to understand others and you cannot fail to love them.
See Me in the dull, the uninteresting , the sinful, the critical, the miserable.
See Me in the laughter of children and the sweetness of old age, in the courage of youth and the patience of men and women. 

Do not expect from others or judge others for not understanding your spiritual motives and aspirations."   -God Calling.

Thank You that I can talk to You about everything.

Codependent No More -june 29

Ever have those 'lost feelings' ..... like "I don't belong anywhere."
Are you searching for significance and confidence?

Do you try to fill up your life with hobbies, work?

That won't do the trick.

You need - want - something more!

"FILL UP THE EMPTY CREVICES OF YOUR TIME WITH ME.
I AM what you crave."  
 -God Calling

If you were trained to not admit your feelings.
If things happened in your life, and people said they did not.
If you were berated for showing emotions.
If you were convinced by those around you that you are crazy.
If your existence has only been for the pride of another....
If you were molded to bring only glory to another human being
at the cost of your own essence,
Then you have been trained to ignore your gut feelings
and deny your reality. 
It is time to find out who you are and what your giftedness is.

"We are not helpless. Being ourselves and being responsible for ourselves does not have to be so painful and scary."   -Codependent No More