Philippians 4:4-9 New International Version
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
REJOICE ~ think about it!
Think upon things that change your view point. That sudden moment of knowing that God is behind everything you do. He knows all and wants you to think upon things that help us. He doesn't want us defeated or even feeling that way. Yet, there are times when we feel anxious. Just a little concern about something that takes our minds away from the peace of God. I've been there many times in life. Actually was just there are Sunday. I went to church and things were great. Came home to work in our yard and frustrations started. In the physically body we get tired. The sun is hot and we work a long day. Our hands and minds get tired, but the devil still knows how to bring division among a good project.
I would like to relate that to our spiritual life. We tend to be going along pretty good and we get that phone call or situation that just takes us away from God. We tend to worry, wonder and the tears become real inside of us. Ask you if you are guarding your heart like very 7 says above or you are allow your thoughts to go away from God's plan? A simple question and a simple answer to it all. Stop, rethink before you speak and those harsh words won't come to yourself or anyone else. It is much easier said than done, but it can be done.
Growing up, I heard words like ~ I wish I could die. I was a kid and then still a kid at 18 when I heard my mom say this over and over. Not positive words to my mind. I remember going to bed crying at night. I felt so alone and I ask God why, why, why and more why's of life. I never got an answer, I never knew the depth of my mom's sorrow of loosing my dad. I only knew of me being 18, just graduated and now what? The anxious thoughts kept coming my way. How do I help her? How do I take care of her? I need to get a job, but I am also signed up for college. All of this took a toll on me and I ended up in emergency with too much, too soon and I needed a change.
It was the beginning of me changing my life, but I quickly learned that my own decisions were important. I can blame my childhood, I can blame my teen years or I can do something about it. I made a decision to get better and wasn't sure how. I remember taking my mom to church because I knew that used to help her. It wasn't the complete answer because her decisions still mattered, but it was a beginning. Sometimes we don't see the BIG picture of things, but we certainly can start a new day with new thoughts. Thoughts that are powerful in a positive way and press forward. It's crazy hard to loose a love one and you never get over it. You learn to live a new normal. Still remember the joys of live and bring our minds to peace in a new day. Let me remind you of the verse above:
FINALLY ~
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Happy new day and thank you for taking time to read this. Please share it with your friends. My prayers continue for the readers of my blog, your family and friends. I know it's not easy to praise in the middle of heart break or heart change, but we do can life better with God's help and right decisions. Do you nice for yourself today and take a few minutes to rejoice over positive things in your life. It helps take the focus off the hard things.
~ Sparkie
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