Where Is Our Faith!

It is our human nature to be impatient, easily discouraged and depressed. It is also the devil’s goal to get and keep us there. Our choices, if we choose, are either stay in these dark areas or seek help from God who has given us the keys to handle these situations. Instead, we try to handle these problems our way and they become mountains. They are now worse than they were. Luckily for us, it is never too late for God. Another problem of ours is turning things over to him. It’s hard to let go. But what is faith? In Hebrews 11:1; Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is a gift from God to the Christian and faith can be increased by the growth of the "believer" through God's Holy Word and through various actions detailed in God's Word. Belief has action but without "substance" until faith has been applied by the giver who is God. Does it sound complicated? I hope not. Which brings us to hope. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in our lives. And we trust God enough that we don’t need to worry about our problems because he told us to trust in him already. Proverbs 3:5-6.

Leave the Judging To God

A newborn baby is excited, curious, and overwhelmed by the sights and sounds in this new world. But the infant can’t understand what they are and communicate about it. Even so he’ll only trust the people that have been taking care of him. We are adults and might still feel that same way. We lose that innocence as we get older. We don’t bounce back so fast after rejections and disappointments. In fact, it’s harder for us to get over it. As children when we hear the word no, it hurts for a little while but we don’t dwell on it. We accept it and keep moving forward. But our support system can’t be here for us forever and we tend to draw on others for encouragement and support. It’s just not the same. Life gets harder as we grow older. If we don’t force ourselves to get into the Word, we will be lost.

The sage, Sirach, paints a realistic picture of life’s ups & downs. That the lives of every man, rich or poor, from birth to death is burdened with fears, anxieties, and trouble. That they occur during the days and nights and at nights keep us awake. That death will overtake everyone as it has before us and will continue to do after us. It is God’s will and we should accept it. It is how we live our lives through His laws will allow us face the inevitable.

It is a battle everyday to do right. The more wisdom we gain, the more about living is revealed. Be careful how you judge others, you can’t objectively judge yourself. Let's keep our focus on God, He'll guide us!

Our God Is An Awesome God!

We serve an awesome God! Let’s give Him some praise! My brothers and sisters, each and every one of us will go through some type of trial as long as we live. Some of these trials blindside us when we least expect and knock us to the ground. We are always responsible for our own actions and can not blame or be angry with anyone else. We made the choice. But praise God He is merciful and loving. But as He forgives us, we should also forgive. It’s hard but we can’t move forward until we do. Let’s be real and practical for a minute. The people that God has placed around you are there because He intended them to be there. Some are part of a support group that you didn’t even know you had. They are always encouraging and hopeful! They send you those encouraging emails, make short phone calls, generally, they seem to be there whenever you need them. I don’t think that they realize that they are helping you. Let them know how appreciative you are of them! They should not be taken for granted! When these trials occur we take our focus off of God and concentrate on the problem that we can’t handle. The problem becomes major when we take our eyes and prayers off God and attempt to take control. We have to face the fact that we just don’t have enough experience, power, and authority to handle it. (Actually, we do if we harness the power within) Greater is He within us ………. It takes faith to realize that God is in us. Aren’t we supposed to turn our burdens over to Him? Well, why is it so hard? I guess we don’t trust our God enough to take care of us. Oh, you object? I do agree with you that I’m wrong but our actions seem to support my statement. That’s why we deal with a merciful, forgiving, loving, and awesome God! He knows that we will make mistakes, He knows that we will fall, He also knows that He has great things prepared for us! We got to get up and keep moving forward. He does want us to trust Him, because He is always there for us! We just have to ask.

Stay Positive & Aware!

No matter how smooth things can look on the surface, there can be turbulence underneath. One minute you're on top of your game, the next, you're crawling for your life. It this the way of life? Or is it God's way of keeping you humble? Through it all do your best to stay positive. No matter what you do, before you do it, think it through. I don't care what immediate benefits or gratification that you think you might gain, think of the effects afterwards and who you affect. You are representing somebody even if you don't think it's yourself. But someone is always watching. We are at the end of January, think back and recall your actions. I already did! Sadness and depression is easy to fall into. I don't like feeling miserable but there are times when I do. It's a fight that is not easy to win but with God's help we can. All of us through various degrees of separation are affected by someone's actions. There are people in this world and some of those that you work with that are deeply compassionate about how they feel and care about others. We are linked that way in the brotherhood of man.

History Is Now!

We are living in historical times. This blog isn’t all about my personal opinions. It’s also my historical register. There are so many things happening throughout the world. Port-au-Prince in Haiti had a 7.0 earthquake followed up almost a week later with a 6.1. The first was devastating enough causing thousands of deaths. The number of predicted deaths is staggering. Numbers might exceed 200,000 which might be a conservative number. There is no count of how many parents & children were lost. As for orphans, who will know the exact number. A republican has won a senate seat in Massachusetts for the first time in over 30 years. America is speaking out. We’re not happy with either party. Unfortunately, we don’t have much to choose from. Nevertheless, we need jobs, we need raises, we want health care without paying our life savings! Our politicians don’t seem to have us in mind, they are listening to the groups that have the deepest pockets! We need to get out and vote, people! Get these fat cats out! I am approaching the later years in my life and I have seen Presidents of this nation come and go but I have never seen anyone of them fight for every inch of their movement until now. Perhaps the history of having an African-American President is just that, history period. And because he is who he is, parts of this nation still carries hostilities and distrust towards him. One year has passed and it feels like three already. Whatever he is for, there are more against. Are we returning to the Jim Crow days? Is there really a secret conspiracy to destroy this country from within with another civil war? Moderate Republicans are no longer tolerated. If you’re not an ultra-conservative then you are not with the program. I digress. The weather can change so abruptly and extreme that we don’t have a clue from day to day what the weather will be like. And overseas, the terrorists are forcing us all to live in fear. Yes, these are historical times and we have forgotten to include God in them.

What's Your Vocation? Or Does It Matter?

Do you know your vocation? Do you think that what you’re doing is your calling? Do you think you missed an opportunity? Why? Some of us aren’t sure what we are destined to do. Some of us drift through life surviving the trials and tribulations of life and dealing with the consequences as best as we can. We don’t realize that we are where God wants us to be. We all want more than what we have. We work day and night, struggling, sacrificing, scrimping and saving and still it never seems to be enough. We see others hardly making an effort and question how can they be so successful. We shouldn’t be jealous of them but we are. As for our calling, we all can’t be preachers, teachers, CEOs, or have white collar jobs. There is nothing wrong with blue collar jobs, these folks have skills that are not always recognized. We can still do our part as true servants of God. We can treat each other like we want to be treated. We can smile at people. We never know who might just need it. Little acts of kindness can go a long way. We can be patient and tolerant of people that we don’t like for no reason at all. More important is treating our elders with respect and honor. They deserve it! We can look at each other equally and thank God that what we have is enough. We have so much more than what others don’t have and we still aren’t grateful.

Give Him Praise All Of The Time!

Too many times, I hear people pleading to God for help when they are facing distress. When everything was flowing smoothly, I didn’t even hear God’s name being mentioned. But I have learned that it’s not the way prayer works. God is a loving, merciful, and forgiving Lord. He cares very deeply about us but He also wants to see how much do we care about Him. We don’t take the time to appreciate the many blessings He gives us because we don’t take the time to serve Him, visit Him, or thank Him. When everything is fine we think that we’re doing all of this by ourselves. Oh, but when the dirt hits the fan, who do we call for help? Now we remember! Even when we do call on Him, we are still doing it half-heartedly. That’s right, why change now? Well, it doesn’t work that way. Do you deal with fakes, phonies, or wannabes? One thing about God is His consistency. He is always the same any day, any time. We’re the ones that need to change. Old habits are hard to break, so let us all try to form better habits. Let’s go to His House and praise Him. Let’s treat our brothers and sisters like we want to be treated. Let’s tell Him thanks for the many blessings we have. We might not be millionaires but we still have our breath, senses, and limbs. Everything else is gravy. Let’s pray more and complain less. It’s worth a try, you have to try. God bless you!