Dating

Have you prayed and ask God these questions? When am I going to meet the right person? Is there someone out there for me? Will I ever find true love? Why do I feel so alone?

I have been asking the Good Lord these questions for years. People come into our lives, and there is an attraction. We start to talk with them, build a common bond and then we find we are dating. We give of ourselves and they do too. We enjoy each other’s company. After a while we feel that there is love and we give more of ourselves. But then expectations build and fall and we start to see “red flags” and then we ask the question; is this person right for me? So we give more and soon we feel we are losing ourselves because we give more than we receive back. Doubts creep in and the reality that this person can’t meet our needs fills our heart and soon we separate and we are once again alone.

Our heart is broken and we are devastated perhaps we feel we have wasted our time and wonder if we will ever love again. How could we have been so stupid!?

No one we ever meet in life is a waste of time. We learn new things from them, they learn new things from us and we find out what it is we really want, need and have to have in a relationship. No one plans on getting together with someone at the start and says; “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna break up with this person in four months and two weeks”. That’s just crazy!

NOW WHAT?! Turn to the Lord. Many times I have imagined myself sitting on God’s lap as He has held my head against his chest or standing in front of Jesus with His arms around me as I have poured my heart out, wailing at the top of my lungs; WHY? Life is a learning process and it has its ups and downs. There is a comfort that comes only from God and his Son. But are we willing to accept it? Are we willing to heal and let go of the hurt?

I have told the Lord many times; you may have created women BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO DATE THEM…oops did I just say that? Ladies please forgive me, us men are not much better are we? Oh take a deep breath and calm down.

There is someone out there for you. Do you realize how much work the Lord has to do in two people’s lives so that their paths cross? The timing has to be perfect! Both people have to be ready to see each other. Have you ever thought about that? Now I’m going to use a word that I hate. It is….PATIENCE!

If we trust the Lord, He will find us that person we seek, we need and that we can love for the rest of our existence. Just keep your faith, pray and be patient! (I really hate that word Lord!)

Seek!

Are you seeking for answers in your life? Are you standing at the cross-roads and don’t know which way to go? Do you feel like you are drowning in darkness and you can barely breath? Do you know that the answers you seek are sometimes already inside of you? How is this possible you may ask?

Some people seem to think that everyone around them has the answers to their life. But they don’t. If you have ever sat and talked with a friend about a problem you were having did they just hand you the answer? Or was it awakened inside of you because you talked it out? Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: (Matt 7:7).

Where do these answers come from? They come from our Heavenly Father. So often we bypass Him and we run to someone else for help. Why not stop and pray? Why not ask Him for help? Why can’t we be patient? Why do we always want a quick fix? Don’t you think God wants to help you? He is not some mean Being sitting on His throne reveling in your misery. He has the heart of a Father. But unless you ask Him for help He is not going to step in and interfere with your life. You have a free-will. You can choose to do whatever you want in your life and He will stand by and watch. Have you even given him a chance to answer you?

If there is one thing I have learned over my life time it is that He will never answer me the way I expect Him too. Sometimes He answers in such an abstract way that I almost don’t see it.

When was the last time you went to church? When was the last time you opened your heart to the Lord and poured it out? When was the last time you asked the Lord for help? It is never too late to ask.

So, JUST ASK!

The Broken Hearted

The heart is the one of the most important internal organs that we possess. When it stops working everything ends. With that being said, it is also no surprise that this organ holds so much meaning for us. It is from this organ that our life blood is pumped. It is also from this organ that we hold, accept and give love. We use phrases like; “You touch my heart” or “I feel you in my heart”. I have never heard anyone say; “I love you with all of my pancreas”. LOL! It just doesn’t hold the same meaning for us.

The Lord didn’t just put our heart anywhere; he put it in the center of our body. Why? It is the center of our life. So often we give our heart to someone because we feel a strong, lasting love we have never felt before. We feel at times that we can fly, and love could never feel sweeter than it does with this person right now. IT JUST FEELS RIGHT! And then suddenly this love seems to break, it crumbles and slowly what we were feeling disappears and leaves us with a huge hole in our heart.

We try to figure out what went wrong. We ask ourselves, was I just dreaming? Was any of this real? Did I make this all up? WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH!? And WILL I EVER HEAL AND LOVE AGAIN?!

Sometimes after we have experienced heart break we try to ignore what happened, we pretend that we are OK. We want to hurry up through the process and all we want is FOR THE PAIN TO GO AWAY!

Please consider this. Your heart is as fragile as a glass vase. It holds love. We can “see” the love we have for someone and in turn we can “see” into the heart of the one we love. When our heart breaks, it becomes shattered, and it falls into pieces. Instead of feeling whole we feel as if pieces of our heart are missing. At this point our heart looks just like a 1000 piece puzzle set. The pieces that are missing are the ones we gave away. How quickly can you put a 1000 piece puzzle together? One day, two days? Or does it take weeks, or maybe months?

The first thing we do when we put a puzzle together is we look for the corner pieces, don’t we? Faith in God is the first corner piece we look for. Prayer is the second corner piece. Forgiveness is the third corner piece and Patience is the fourth corner piece.

Everything takes time. Perhaps a broken heart is one of the longest healing processes I know. I have had many broken hearts, I tell myself never again! But I have learned that within every loving relationship I have had, and was almost destroyed by, taught me many lessons.

I have learned a lot about myself. What do I really want? What am I looking for, what do I need from someone? What am I willing to put up with? What am I willing to sacrifice for this person? And the most important thing I have learned is that I will never lose MYSELF to make someone else happy.

Every time we meet someone, or share life with someone, it is for a reason. We can learn something from them and in turn they learn something from us. It is never a waste of time and having regrets about past relationships is just plain STUPID! If you never take a chance you will never find the true one the Lord has for you. Life is a learning process. You stop learning when you are dead! Well, not really but that is an entirely new subject!

When we are alone and we are healing it is in those times that we CAN grow the most. We focus on ourselves and we find who we are. It is also in those times that the Good Father and His Son lend an ear and listen to us as we pour our broken heart out in front of them. You don’t have to put the pieces back together by yourself. Just ask them for HELP!

STOP, SLOW DOWN

My Dad has a favorite saying that he often said to me when I was growing up; “Life is like a rat race!” All too often in life we are running from one thing to another. We schedule too many things within a week’s time and then complain that we feel we are STRESSED OUT! We scream and yell at our family and fight with them.

Sometimes we like to convince ourselves that we are powerless and that we are victims of our own life. PLEASE! REALLY?! You and I are in complete control of our life. Is it really someone else’s fault when we make our own plans? Who decided to schedule four soccer practices, two dance classes, Boy Scout and Girl Scout meetings all in one week? WE DID!

Suddenly we find that we don’t have any time on the weekend for God. We tell Him we are tired, we are exhausted and all we want is ONE DAY TO REST! And then we convince ourselves that HE will understand. Oh, He does. He is the only one that will always understand us. I’m pretty sure there are times where after I tell him I am so tired and worn out that I just don’t have time to do something for Him that He simply smiles and shakes His head.

But what happens over time? We stop talking to Him, we stop going to church to see and hear Him. We have no time to help anyone, including ourselves. Is this life that we currently are drowning in what God really intended for us to live in? Is our life supposed to feel like one never ending ball of stress and grief?

STOP, SLOW DOWN! Please take a look at your life. Can you make changes? Yes! Will you make changes? You get only one life to build a relationship with God and his Son. Your life should be filled with joy, peace, comfort and most of all love.

If these things are lacking then maybe it is time to STOP, DROP AND PRAY! Take a long look at the way you are living your life. Stop complicating it with so many things that God keeps getting forgotten and pushed to the “back seat” of your life.
Don’t be a victim of your life! You make all the decisions that affect you. You can change your life right now! There is still time to find the Lord, He is right where you left him the last time you spoke to him…in your heart, waiting for you!

Spirits

Spirits have a greater effect on us than we think. Every book or song written, every movie or TV show produced was inspired by a spirit. Some make us laugh; bring joy to our hearts or cause us to cry. Then there are others that scare us.

Currently there are a number of spirits that have a strangle hold on our world. The first is the spirit of FEAR! It comes to us very quietly; we almost don’t even know it is there. It comes when we are at our weakest and it whispers things in our ears and speaks directly into our heart causing hope to dissipate and joy to fade. Suddenly anguish grows with uncertainty and soon we are filled with fear. We pull back from life and go inside ourselves to hide.

The second spirit works in tandem with fear. He is called DEPRESSION. Over the past few years I have watch angels destroy demons and spirits, but these two spirits cannot be destroyed. When I asked why, I was told “because man must be tested!” There have been times in my life where both of these spirits played with me. Yes I use the word “played” because to them it is a game. The only reason Satan employs them is to cause us humans pain and unrest. And they have been around before time began so they are really good at what they do. But we under estimate them all the time.

There have been two times in my life where depression over took me. The last time was this past year. Depression works very quietly and methodically. When we become devastated by something in our life it strikes us to the core of our heart, and that is when he comes. He sneaks in, the first thing he does is he builds on the “hurt” and then he causes us to feel tired, we believe there is no hope in our current situation. We draw back from our friends and family because all we want to do is to be left alone. BUT WE ARE NOT ALONE!

Fear steps in and tells us there is no end to what we feel, depression backs him up and we start to fall deeper and deeper within ourselves to the point where we lose our joy and life becomes nothing to us. And then another spirit steps in, the spirit of SUICIDE.

All of these spirits are filled with deceit. They ALL lie to us, but Suicide is the biggest liar of them all. He tells us if we take our life it will get better and everything will change, but that is NOT what happens. When we take our life, we are taken to realm where all three of these spirits torment us for all eternity. And we have no physical body so we can’t walk away or ignore them any longer. Some would call this Hell!

I’ll be honest with you; I was on anti-depression medication for over a year the first time. But last year this fight with depression was worse than before and I didn’t want meds this time. I found myself driving to work one day and I began to break down and cry. I went to the Doctor and explained what had been happing to me, that all of a sudden I would just cry, I told him either I was ovulating or I was depressed. LOL! He said I was depressed and put me on a medication. The problem was I had some side effects this time.

This whole time I kept telling God, “YOU CAN FIX ME WITH ONE THOUGHT!” I prayed and prayed, and pleaded with Him all the time. And after only after a very short period of time I woke up one morning and said to myself you don’t need these meds anymore. And I was done with all of these spirits!

What allies do we have to help us fight these spirits off? FAITH! PRAYER! AND TRUST IN GOD! And knowing these SPIRITS are there to try and destroy us. We are not ignorant any longer as to what is around us. Spirits are REAL! If you are depressed go to your doctor, HE IS ANOTHER ALLY, and get medication to help yourself. You are NOT weak because you need meds. If you have side effects try another med. Depression goes deep into the brain's chemistry and these meds help US change the negative, defeated outlook we may have in our lives and it give us a fighting chance!

DON’T GIVE UP! YOU HOLD THE KEY TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE and God is there to help YOU, help YOURSELF! Keep fighting!

To Stand and Fight!

Christ said, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first”. But what does that mean? The first one to give up will be the last one in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the last one who stands and fights for his faith shall be the first one in the Kingdom of Heaven!

Every day we battle LIFE, within our faith, jobs, financial problems, family or relationships. My wise Grandma always used to say, “Pick your battles”. You and I pick our battles. The important thing is that we never give up! There are days where we can take on the world and pity to the foolish mortal that gets in our way. And then there are days where we are on our knees crying and pleading for everything to just go away.

Throughout every battle you learn about yourself and your enemy. You evaluate your strengths and protect your weaknesses. Sometimes we charge right in and attack. And other times we evaluate the situation, wait patiently and then attack! Mistakes are our best educator. We can always learn from our mistakes if we are wise.

Our faith is our best defender. When the world says, “There is no way!” Our faith stands strong and lays waste to everything that opposes us! On those days where we feel we are falling apart and there is no hope in sight, we call out to the Lord.

Do you know what the shortest prayer is? One word, “HELP!” Sometimes we can’t even find the words to express to Him. The important thing is to seek His help and if that is with just one word, THEN USE IT! Sometimes the Lord tests us just so He knows He will hear from us. Don’t waste this time He’s given us to fight and to grow in our faith. We are living in the end time and time is fading fast. But His love and strength will always be there one step ahead of LIFE. Don’t give up, don’t give in! Ask Him for “HELP!” STAND AND FIGHT!

Where is God?

A Sunday school teacher asked the question of her class. “Where is God?” All the children sat quietly and said nothing. The teacher spoke up and said, “God is so big that He created this planet and everything you see. He is so big that He created our solar system and the entire universe. But children, He is small enough to fit into your heart.”

Is God in your heart? Many times when we think of God we think of this powerful figure sitting on His throne looking down at us with a stern look on His face, deciding how He can make our lives miserable. And that most of the time perhaps He is just not even smiling or happy with us. Maybe sometimes we feel He is so far away from us that we don’t even think He knows who we are.

Please consider this. If God made us in His own image don’t you think that sometimes He feels just like we do? He smiles and laughs. He gets angry and disappointed. He gets sad, His heart breaks and He cries, and there are times when He feels hurt too. We are human and we have many emotions. He is our Heavenly Father and He understands every one of our emotions because He gave them to us.

He is the Supreme Parent. If you have children and you see your children are suffering don’t you feel for them? Don’t you agonize with them? Wouldn’t you rather take on what they are carrying so their lives will be better? But you know in your heart that for them to learn they need to experience life, all the good and not so good that life holds. And you can’t interfere. But you can give them a hug, you can listen to them when their heart is broken or they are suffering. And you can tell them how much you love them and that you will always be there for them.

Our Heavenly Father feels everything we feel! He is as close as we will let Him be. But there are times where He cannot interfere. But He is always there to give us a hug, and to listen to us whenever we want to talk with Him. And He will always love us, and He will always be there for us. And if you let Him into your heart He will lovingly help you carry whatever troubles you. But you have to be willing to let Him in.

Where is God now…