Living In The Smog

The smog will kill you if you don't rise above it.

Sometimes life can be tough. We get caught in the daily grind of living, making decisions that affect the rest of our life. Some of the decisions are good and some send us into a spin. Usually, the decisions that send us into a spin are the ones that have been blurred by stress and not taking the time to think the situation through.

I've suffered more than my share of making myself miserable because I did something without thinking. I brought my son up encouraging him to think, think, think about everything he does and before he says it. He does it all the time, somehow I don't always heed my own advice these days. Am I too busy, too lazy, too caught up in what others might say or have I lost some of the self-confidence I've had because of life's struggles? Possibly all of these.

During the last four months I've been on a journey of self discovery. I thought I knew myself pretty well. I've always had a sense of adventure and an insatiable curiosity about others' lives. Six months ago I was given the personal papers of a woman who died last December. I glanced at the contents of the boxes knowing I would get to them sometime soon. I've just completed my third book which is under consideration with a publisher as I write.

I'm about to move house again, so it's time I looked at that box. This week I sifted through the papers and the bits and pieces and found some interesting information. However, my head is in a space where I'm not thinking clearly. The person who gave me the boxes phoned me recently to say she was closing her second hand store and would I pass on the boxes to the historical society when I finished. Yes, I would do that. Aware of my fast approaching move, I picked up the phone to see where the historical society contact lived. Can you believe she lived across the street?

Deep inside of me I had doubt about giving the boxes back, but because I'm stressed at the moment, I ignored that feeling and thought the story wasn't interesting enough. Our son is visiting this weekend. I found a phone number on a loose piece of paper. He insisted I phone knowing my head wasn't clear. The person at the other end of the phone was the deceased woman's daughter. She gave me the contact name for a person in Mackay who has researched the deceased woman's husband's family.

Extraordinary! All the pieces of this story are coming together because my son insisted I stop a moment and think about what I'm doing. I thank him for his commitment to me and my career and his own career, and for seeing things that I can't because I'm caught in the smog of life.

Are you missing opportunities because you're living in the smog?

The Power of Prayer

During the past couple of months, I've been busy with book signings.

Because of spinal fusion, the bending and standing for lengthy periods has caused me much discomfort. Last Sunday night my right hip felt so weak I feared it might give way, so I went up for healing prayer. By the end of that prayer, my pain had eased to a dull ache. Next morning, I was pain free! Jesus is indeed the great healer.

The promise is in Psalm 103:2-3 "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases".

What a promise from the great creator. I believed, and I have received and been healed. All praise goes to him.

Sometimes I doubt the power of our almighty God. I'm wondering if my doubts hold me back from receiving the healing he wants me to have. Jesus performed healing throughout his ministry and we learn about the many successes he had. God is with us through the holy spirit so there shouldn't be any reason why we can't receive his healing today in all areas of our lives.

Do you believe in God's healing power? Are you receiving strength and grace that is freely available to you?

If you're struggling emotionally, physcially or spiritually, I encourage you to ask for healing only Jesus can give. You'll be amazed at the results.

Unstoppable Love

A few weekends ago our church ran a seminar called Unstoppable Love. Donna Parachin from Singing Waters Ministry and Rev. Andy Koornstra director of Staying Free Ministries came from Canada to present at this seminar.

Their presentations brought healing to people's lives in an amazing way and were relevant to life today. This healing gives hope, and for some people it means being able to really love people openly and honestly for the first time in their lives. They saw the problems in their lives were not only because of something they had done, but there were deeper issues buried inside of them they didn't understand. Donna and Andy taught us that these issues could have been a result of our carers also being broken and in need of healing, too. I learned how easy it is to blame ourselves and others without first seeing our situation from God's viewpoint.

Unstoppable love is what God has for us. He wants us to be whole and in relationship with Him and in relationship with others. Don't be afraid to reach out for his love because he wants to give it to you with no strings attached. How good is that!

Take time today and every day to spend time with the heavenly Father and he will transform your life into one filled with love, more love than you need so that you can spill that love onto others. Trust Him and see!

Are you practising unstoppable love with your family, friends, acquaintances and with people you meet every day whenever you're out and about. Take a few minutes to say hello and spread love to an unknown person and watch the person's face come alive. It's easy as stopping and saying, hello, how are you, and listening for the response. You never know how you will impact that person at that moment.

I'd love to hear from you--leave me a message to let me know how your unstoppable love has reached another.