Tag Archives: freedom

Dec14

DAY 348

Posted on by
Standard
The journey can be stressful. Press on the "real" resolution is not hiding. (Picture by Lisa R.)

The journey can be stressful. Press on the “real” resolution is not hiding.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

I have stresses (I know I’m surprised too). Here’s something else that will surprise you. I’m a psychology major. Why do I bring this up? Well the goal of my studies is to better understand human beings, human nature and how our reaction toward situations and circumstances affect our health and life in general.  So it comes as no surprise to me that it is not stress itself that harms us, but how we choose to cope with it. Some people use alcohol, others sex, and others anger. My coping skill use to be food. That particular stress reliever actually produced more stress in my life. Because it made me feel bad about myself, which ironically led to me doing it more. I am normally very logical in nature so this very illogical behavior had me confused (which produced more stress…it’s a horrible cycle). These days my stress reliever is cleaning which is a win, win. What’s my point. Many times it is how we chose to deal with circumstances and situations in life that sends us spiraling out of control. We innately know right from wrong, it was instilled at our creation. We have also been given the right to choose (freewill), unfortunately many times we choose “easy” over “right”. We more often than not will choose what feels good for the moment, instead of what IS good for the long haul. Today as I cleaned I thought of what needed to be done to deal with my stress properly. Stress like every other problem has an answer, and like every other problem the answer is not hiding, but it requires some work on our part to find it. Don’t run to the quick and easy fixes they don’t take care of the real problem they only mask it. Instead push through find the “real” solution. Kill the source, kill the stress.

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

So what am I thankful for today? Pushing through till I found the answer.

Nov28

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

Posted on by
Standard
I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Hebrews 9. ” It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But He has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” (Verses 23-28). Today is Thanksgiving, a time to remember our blessings. Today I am thankful that Christ came and made a way for me to have right relationship with God. I am thankful that He ripped the veil to give me access. Today remember that the grace and freedom that we have in God, came at the expense of another. Thank Him for His gift.

Nov27

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

Posted on by
Standard
I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Hebrews 8. “‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear” (Verses 12-13). Have you ever done something so wrong, so silly you wanted everyone to forget it happened? That what Christ offers us. He remembers our sins NO MORE. That saying forgive and forget, I can do forgive, but forget. Not so much. Yet in Christ it’s like it never happened. That’s the covering God offers in His Son. That’s the grace we receive when we say yes. I do silly things: All. The. Time. I am a pro at it, but God (see why they’re my favorite two words…) when He looks at me sees what Jesus has done. I am forgiven 100%. Today let’s live like we believe that.

Nov24

DAY 328

Posted on by
Standard
A change in perspective, a change of view. (Picture by Lisa R.)

A change in perspective, a change of view.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, then you know I have this belief. Change in perspective, change in behavior. I believe we have a choice. I reiteration this belief today, because I hear so many people say these words, “Well if she/he didn’t do what they did, I would not have had to react the way I did.” What?! Why would you give somebody else the power to determine how you act? God gave everyone, EVERYONE free-will. Therefore no matter how bad the other person’s behavior, our actions are still solely our CHOICE. If we want others to be responsible for their actions, we also have to be responsible for our own. I encountered a situation recently that reminded me how important it is to own up. On this journey people will make you mad, and push your buttons (on occasions you may envision running them over with your car…don’t). However their behavior does not determine our behavior. So the next time someone sets you in the direction of going off, remember you have the choice to be just like them or to rise above. Don’t take God’s gift of free-will for granted (don’t pass the buck, take ownership). If He wanted to He could have made us like robots, doing His bidding without any choice of our own. He’s God he has the right. Instead He gifts us the right to choose. So choose wisely. Our perspective determines our behavior. Change your perspective, change your behavior. Yes it is easier said than done, but it is also not impossible. It’s simply a matter of choice.

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

So what am I thankful for today? The right to choose my perspective.

Nov23

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

Posted on by
Standard
I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Hebrew 4. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Verses 12-13). We  can hide our true nature and our true intents from others, but not from God. Let me take a moment to talk personally about how true these verses are. God often uses His word to reveal things in my life. The Bible is, for lack of a better word a cleansing tool. The truth of it penetrates even the dirtiest of areas, and if allowed to makes new the filthiest of offenders. It is painful to see your heart, and face your own depravity. But the freedom of knowing your are no longer bound is worth all the pain. So today if you haven’t opened up your bible, take the time to do so. Let God’s word free you from what holds you down.

Nov16

DAY 320

Posted on by
Standard
The journey is better without baggage. (Picture by Lisa R.)

The journey is better without baggage.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

I don’t know about you guys, but in my family the garage is not a home for cars. No, it is storage. It is home to all things that we tell ourselves we will need later. Therefore, we need to keep them. However  years, years, and more years go by. So much time passes in fact that we have no idea what we have or what we are saving it for. So today I had the pleasure of paying someone $240.00 to lug all my “stored for later” items away (yes it was painful). The result, an actual GARAGE, a home for my car. NICE! The poor guy was like, “I have been doing this for ten years now, and this is the first time a garage has fooled me.” Hehehe. (We are excellent packers my mom and I). When Mr. Garage Cleaner first saw the garage he said, “Okay this is not so bad.” However as the piles got bigger, and bigger, he started to mumble under his breath, and at one point he exclaimed “&$&… this is a lot of stuff!” Hahaha. We hold on to things needlessly believing that we will need them later. Even today as we were cleaning out the garage my brother found a bag of tennis balls. He was adamant that we keep them, in case we want to play tennis. ??? We have no rackets. After the cleaning finished and I stood in a spacious junk free garage, I had this thought. “Why was I holding on for so long?” I have no idea what was hauled off. Clearly I didn’t need it, I don’t miss any of it.  On this journey we will be tempted to hold on to things we don’t need. This will lead to unwanted baggage. Let go. Clean out your garage. Your car needs a home too 🙂 .

“So why do you keep on following the rules of the world? “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!” (Colossians 2: 20-21).

So what am I thankful for today? A home for my car 😉

Nov10

DAY 314

Posted on by
Standard
A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. (Picture by Lisa R.)

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

Today is Sunday, growing up the days of the week were: Monday, Tuesday, Bible Study day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Church day. Therefore, today I went to, yup you guessed it, Church. My favorite part of Sunday service is Praise and Worship. Why? It calms me down, and prepares my heart to hear. I don’t know about you all, but the week normally beats me up. By the time Friday roles around, I am more than ready for a couple days of rest. Praise songs set me straight, they bring me to a place where I let everything else wash away and I just float. Today however, my floating was interrupted. What happened, you ask? Singing off-key happened, and it happened LOUD and proud. There was a gentleman behind me that was not blessed with the gift of carrying a tune (this is NOT for dramatic effect). He really, really wasn’t. But here’s the cool part that did not stop him from belting it out. He sang with ALL his heart (really, really, really loudly), he put his whole self into the song. He was praising the God who loved him first. My first reaction was, “What is that noise?” I became distracted paying more attention how he sounded, and less attention to what was being sung. I was just about to get indignant, (as though God only wanted people with great voices, which would exclude me, to sing His praise), when God’s small whisper came with these words…”Make a joyful NOISE.” He then reminded me that heaven would be like this, each of us praising God. This immediately brought my focus back to where it needed to be, worshiping God. God tells us to come, He asks us to praise with our ENTIRE being, Today the man behind me did just that. Yes it was noisy, noisy and JOYFUL…the best kind of praise EVER!

Oct22

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

Posted on by
Standard
I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Philippians 3. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Verses 12-14). You want to attain your future goals? Let go of the past, no one can move forward carrying weights that hold them down. Paul makes this point clear, for him to lay hold of the reason, for which Christ laid hold of him, he had to let go of his past self. Let Go: Such simply words to say and spell, but such a hard action to accomplish. Not only did Paul say we needed to let go, he said “FORGET”. Why? Letting go is one thing, but things that we let go of, if we hold them in our memory, in our heart we are liable to pick them up again. Therefore forget the past, press on to your future. The future God intended for you.

Oct12

DAY 285

Posted on by
Standard

choiceIt’s my pre-birthday…you don’t celebrate that? Weird. We have been doing family things all day, it started out with house hunting. Found one we all really liked, but decided against when the application fee was $500, and they could still tell you no. What?! Then we went out to eat. Spanish food, one word, YUM! After food came shopping, yunno, to walk off what we ate (makes complete sense). Shopping is my favorite form of exercise. So it stands to reason that this would be the tool God would use to teach me a lesson. On Friday my co-workers celebrated my birthday (it’s not till Monday aka Day 287). There was cake, balloons, and a Visa gift card loaded with money (sigh…I LOVE my co-workers 😉 ). Today during the pre-birthday festivities I decided I would buy a little something in honor of the “real” birthday. Here’s what happened, everything fit! Everything looked great, but I was not satisfied with any of it. I would decided on an outfit, or an item and then on my way to the register it would hit me, “I really don’t want any of this.” I swear I must have done that at least five times. As we drove back home (empty handed). I learned this lesson: On this journey, sometimes we gain more when we choose NOT to get. I had the ability and opportunity to buy the things I wanted, but it felt so unsatisfying. When I came home I was happy that I still had my gift, it hadn’t been squandered on useless stuff. People gave freely to allow me the opportunity to buy something I truly desired. I want to honor their giving. God has done the same with life, it is a gift He has given us freely. Don’t squander it on useless stuff…HONOR the gift.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).

So what am I thankful for today? Learning not to squander the gift.