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Just for today. Living our best life one day at a time.

Living our best life one day at a time. Living just for today.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Just for today. I will adjust myself to what is and not try to adjust everything to my desires. I will take my fate as it comes and fit myself to it. Sinclair L.D. Johnson

Last night I picked up “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy. The section I flipped to was goals, but one of the points he is making is that the compound effect doesn’t just work in the positive, it also works in the negative.

We may have little choice in the direction our life takes sometimes, but we do choose our behavior and certain behaviors lead us in certain directions. Loneliness is one of the things that cause us a lot of pain. Being lonely is not only about being alone. We can be lonely in a group. We can be lonely in a school filled with people. We can be lonely in a large family, and we can be lonely in our marriage.

One of the things we need to learn to do is to amuse ourselves. This may be something that is harder and harder for us to learn to do as we are stimulated from birth. “I’m bored,” was a dangerous thing to say on a farm. There was always something that needed to be done.

The amount of books some people read is amazing. Remember the saying, “There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away.” This is great for readers. Many people who love to read never have enough time to read. Pastimes are exactly that, activities to help people pass the time.

It may seem callous to say, people for the most part have to fix their own problems. The truth is if they don’t fix them who will? If we don’t know how to find a marriage partner we can find a matchmaker who may help us. Being married does not guarantee we won’t be lonely. It doesn’t guarantee we won’t be depressed. If marriage the most intimate of relationships doesn’t guarantee we won’t be lonely then what does?

There may be nothing that guarantees we won’t be lonely except finding something we can do that is so interesting we forget we are lonely. Some of us might eat when we are lonely, drink alcohol or turn to drugs. All of these will not make our life better.

Just for today, I will not worry for I have the tools and resources to deal with whatever comes my way, whenever it comes my way. Dina Kleiman

One of the organizations I think makes a huge positive impact is Alcoholics Anonymous and all the other Anonymous groups. One of the things they do is give people a platform to talk. A place to acknowledge their problems, people who will support them, and in turn they can help and support others. I imagine they are online these days. Online isn’t as good as in-person but it might be more assessable to a lot of people.

Back to the compound effect. The decisions we make in our lives will compound. Just like priming a pump our decisions and habits may take a while before they become evident but at some point, our decisions, actions, and habits propel us in a direction. If we don’t like the direction, we will have to change our decisions, habits, and actions.

The hardest thing in life is looking at someone, knowing what they should change, and not know how to help them. They have to help themselves, and we have to help ourselves.

Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Unknown

You don’t get over an addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you don’t create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will catch up with you again. Unknown

It’s up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind. Steve Maraboli

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The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success Hardcover – Sept. 15 2020

by Darren Hardy  (Author)4.7 out of 5 stars 1,704 rating

Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? by [Belynda Wilson Thomas]

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Don’t worry, be happy. Can we not let worry steal our joy? Gratitude and prayer are they the antidote to worry?

Gratitude and prayer are they the antidote to worry? Can we not let worry steal our joy? Don''t worry, be happy.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

I couldn’t sleep last night because I was worrying about things I can’t change. Most of what we worry about is out of our control. It can be hard even when we don’t want to have those thoughts to get rid of them.

When there are no good solutions we have to trust that the people making the decisions are making the best ones they can. Someone has to be in charge, someone has to make the decision, and if it isn’t us, what is the point of worrying about whether it is best to open a store on a Monday or a Friday? We need to get back to our circle of influence.

We will never know if some of the decisions made were the right decisions or if doing things differently would have been better. We are where we are, it is what it is, and things will unfold how they will. We will look back in hindsight but we may never know if there was a better way.

Worry is not totally bad; there are some advantages to worry. Worry can guide us to recognize what is meaningful if we don’t already know. It can help us predict possible bad outcomes before they happen so we can avoid them. We show people we care about them when we worry about their welfare.

Decisions are easy when we get to choose between a good and a bad outcome. Some of us still seem to choose the worse outcome. What about when we have to choose between two good outcomes, how do we know which one to choose? How about when we have two bad choices and we have to try and choose the best of the worst.

Worry is a conversation you have with yourself about things you cannot change. Prayer is a conversation you have with God about things he can change. Unknown

We may be second-guessing choices people in power have to make. We may think they always make the wrong choice. We can live secure knowing we don’t have to make those choices. We have the luxury of criticizing them, but not being accountable for making them.

When we worry we often become irritable, confused, insecure, and have nightmares. This does not set us up for a better day tomorrow. What can we do to minimize our tendency to worry?

Can we avoid the sources or situations that generate the worry in the first place? Last night after overhearing a conversation about how bad things can get, my mind kept churning because it is hard to eliminate the fear behind the worry. We often fear change and we worry about the unknown but if we can develop a sense of adventure for new experiences and outcomes perhaps we can embrace them without having to worry about them.  Good things come out of bad situations. Can we focus on the positive even if we don’t know what that will be? Can we practice an attitude of gratitude for what we have and the knowledge we will have the strength to deal with what will come?

Can we take a wait and see attitude? Things will be better or worse but worrying about them will not make them better or worse. What we can’t control there is no point worrying over. Can we learn to be, instead of trying to control things out of our control? Perhaps we can expend more energy on the things within our control like reaching for too many cookies, cake, chips, and chocolate. We need to develop faith. With practice and faith, we can overcome worry to some degree. We need faith in ourselves to deal with what will come and know we can rise to the occasion. If we have faith we can pray for strength and for the outcomes we prefer but know we can also deal with the outcomes whatever they are.

Faith is the opposite of worry and even though we know this. It can be hard when certain things we hear or see get into our minds. We have a hard time shaking them. We may hear a song we can’t get out of our mind does worry work the same way?

In Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor she says, “While the dark night of the soul is usually understood to descend on one person at a time, there are clearly times when whole communities of people lose sight of the sun in ways that unnerve them.”

Are we worrying about things we can’t change instead of counting our blessings?

Worry is a total waste of time. It doesn’t change anything. All it does is steal your joy and keeps you very busy doing nothing. Unknown

Worrying is using your imagination to create something you don’t want. Abraham Hicks

Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles it empties today of its strength. Unknown

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Learning to Walk in the Dark by [Barbara Brown Taylor]

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Faith in things unseen. Faith in times of uncertainty. Faith in the process of life.

Faith in the process of life. Faith in things unseen. Faith in times of uncertainty.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. Martin Luther King

I was reading about compassion last night. Some of us feel there is never enough money to spend on helping other people, but we often want that to be someone else’s money. We aren’t pulling it out of our own pocket.

There are people who believe that we cannot give without pitying people we give to. This is why some people believe that charity given through religious organizations is often more effective than through government means. The religious organization can give to people and let them know that they are loved not by us mere mortals, but by God. When people are honestly told someone believes God has a plan for every life and we can do all things in God who strengthens us. What a message to hear in a time of hardship, when we are lost, broken and without hope. This is one of the cornerstones of 12 step programs; it may be why they work.

George Bush talked about the bigotry of low expectations. Isn’t it better to tell people they are not using all of their potentials than that they don’t have any potential? This is all you can do so I don’t expect much is not a good way to build society. Isn’t it better to hold people to higher expectations so they have something to strive for?

When we lose hope we might lose everything. We need to find a way to carry on. I believe people of faith have a strength that people without faith don’t have, a belief in God’s plan for their life.

People are more likely to turn to faith in times of trouble, turmoil, and uncertainty. With faith, we can be humble and confident. We don’t take credit for everything in our life. Oprah said, “God had a bigger dream for my life than I did.” Many people can probably say this. If we believe that God can forgive everything then maybe we can forgive ourselves for our shortcomings and forgive others for theirs. We have all missed the mark and failed. We can start anew with faith, strength, and fortitude.

A man of courage is also full of faith. Marcus Tullius Cicero

How we look at things may affect us more than we think. When we can say, thy will be done we get out of our own head and surrender to what is, deal with what is and believe we have the strength to get to the other side.

There are people who say they never walk alone, God is always with them. This gives them peace, strength to do what they would be afraid to do. In times like these many people will be leaning on their faith more than ever. At the end of this more people will tell us that they felt the presence of God in the midst of this. When things are bigger than us faith may be the one thing that keeps us going.

We need faith to believe that all things can be used for good. We need faith to believe that out of bad times come good times and there are lessons to learn we could learn no other way. We are stronger than we think we are, we can get through this.

Do we have faith? We have faith when we plant a seed when we trust someone to do what they say they will do. Our world works on faith in ourselves, in others, and for some, in God.

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark. Rabindranath Tagore

A faith is a necessity to a man. Woe to him who believes in nothing. Victor Hugo

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all, if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that he exists. Blaise Pascal

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Finding Faith: A Self-Discovery Guide for Your Spiritual Quest Hardcover – Feb 1 1999

by Brian D. McLaren (Author)

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Cries for help. What if when we ask for strength, courage, fortitude, we get it even if we aren’t sure God exists?

What if when we ask for strength, courage, fortitude, we get it even if we aren't sure God exists? Cries for help.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength. Napoleon Bonaparte

A very strange thing happened this morning. It was time to get up, but I lay in bed for half an hour. I got up, had a shower, took my sheets off the bed and went downstairs, put the dog out, and looked at the clock. It was 2:20 Am. I went back to bed.

I was sure I was up at the right time, even later than I had planned. I’m not one that does well without my sleep. I could have used the early hours, but the rest of the day would probably be a write-off.

What makes us so sure we are right about something that we are wrong about? It can be about anything. Other people can even point out to us we are wrong, but it doesn’t resonate with us.

It seems we are at war with ourselves sometimes. We want something, and yet we sabotage ourselves on our way to achieving it. We succumb to temptation, but sometimes it is temptation we agreed to. Last Monday, I fasted until dinner, went to the gym and the chocolate bar I love was on sale at a store close by, but I had to drive to get to it. I told myself that because I fasted it would be okay to buy the chocolate bars. I bought them and ate them.

Sugar is one of the things I stay away from, so if I’m going to do the good thing by fasting but then sabotage myself by eating chocolate bars, I wouldn’t eat if I didn’t fast, am I accomplishing anything?

If we’ve ever felt God spoke to us, do we also feel spoken to by someone who doesn’t have our best interests at heart? Who wants to lead us into temptation, lies, and deceit? In Wild at Heart John Eldredge tells us we must be warriors, to be honest, he’s talking to men, but women have their own battles to fight.

Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength. Unknown

I looked at a book yesterday called Jezebel and the author was saying he performs exorcisms and who is exorcised the most is Jezebel. She and her husband are mentioned in the bible. According to what I read people influenced by the Jezebel spirit have fear issues, and use control and manipulation to ease their fear issues, and fear of rejection. They need to be in control because then they feel they can’t be hurt or wounded.

One of the things we have to be careful of according to John Eldredge is after we have resisted deception and intimidation; we are encouraged to simply cut a deal. John Eldredge says many of us fall when we feel we have accomplished something. We begin to kick back, relax. Do we really think when we hear of politicians and ministers being taken down by an affair that they decided to torpedo the whole thing they’ve spent their life achieving? That this was their aim? They had a moment of weakness, maybe the battle seems won, and they relax their discipline. It doesn’t take much for whatever our weakness is, the siren call gets louder and louder, we drive to the store with chocolate bars, a bar, strip club, or where hookers hang out. We put our diet, sobriety, marriage, livelihood, or life in jeopardy.

The bible tells us to say, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”

Some of us may not have deep faith. Jordan Peterson says he lives as if there is a God. What if we do that? We can ask for strength even if we aren’t sure there is one. We can act as if there is someone who will help us deal with our demons, someone who will help us with our choices, and someone who will give us strength in our times of adversity.

What if we don’t need to be sure, what if we ask for help even if we aren’t sure? What if we get help, and still don’t know where it came from? What if we act as if we believe, and live by the principles that seem to produce better lives?

It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more ‘manhood’ to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflexes. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind. Alex Karras

Most great people have attained their greatest success one step beyond their greatest failure. Napoleon Hill

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Wild at Heart Revised and Updated: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul Paperback – Apr 17 2011

by John Eldredge (Author) 4.2 out of 5 stars 299 ratings

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Thankfulness and gratitude. Sunshine and rain. Can we use everything in our life for our growth? Do we listen to that still, small voice?

Do we listen to that still, small voice. Can we use everything in our life for growth? Thankfulness and gratitude. Sunshine and rain.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

I’ve had all kinds of experiences with God in terms of revelation through a still, small voice or dreams or coincidences. M. Scott Peck

Today it is raining. We need it, my garden is dry. I’m remembering three days of rain at home in Saskatchewan when I was a kid. My little dog doesn’t like to have to go pee in the rain. I have to watch her to make sure she does pee and doesn’t just come back to the door for me to let her in. She tries to fool me a few times and ends up staying in the rain longer than she had to. Finally, she complies, and I let her back in the house.

We all have things in life we need to do even if we don’t like doing them. Some things we know we should do but something always derails our intentions. Somehow even though we said we wouldn’t eat ice-cream last night we ended up with a bowl of it, and because there wouldn’t be much left we finished it. Willpower is not the way to build the life we want.

If we want to make changes in our lives we need to build the changes into habits. It could become a really bad habit if I sat down each night to edit my novel with a bowl of ice-cream. I need to not buy butter pecan ice-cream even when it’s on sale. Especially, when it’s on sale that’s when we really load up on goodies. We went to Costco the other night and came home with a giant bag of chocolates, a giant bag of M&M’s, and a giant bag of Doritos, but the nuts were too expensive. We didn’t have a Costco membership for years because the two of us in Costco went crazy. Then we had a Costco ice-cream on our way out.

I’ll see how my willpower holds out. I haven’t touched the M&M’s or chocolates, yet. Some people believe if we keep snacks in the house all the time we won’t overindulge. It works better for me when we buy them when we want them, and don’t have the siren call in the house.

I also bought a tray of fruit I hadn’t seen before which turned out to be plums, and not the tastiest plums either. Next time I see them I will know what they are, and that is why I bought them.

The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be. I believe you can only do this when you stop long enough to hear the whisper you might have drowned out, that small voice compelling you toward the kind of work you’d be willing to do even if you weren’t paid. Once you tune out the noise of your life and hear that call, you face the biggest challenge of all: to find the courage to seek out your big dream, regardless of what anyone else thinks. Oprah Winfrey

If we keep our good habits and make it harder to fall into bad habits we can meet our goals. Indulging in foods that don’t agree with me too often leads to not feeling well. Feeling great regularly is such a blessing. Indulging in ice-cream every night is not actually as good as going out occasionally for a really great ice-cream.

The couple ahead of us at Costco had a bill of $365.00 and it didn’t look like they had that much in their cart. Is Costco a budget buster or a budget saver for most people? The gas looked cheap but the line was too long to even think of joining.

My husband and I will have to set a limit at Costco, decided on ahead of time. It can be dangerous just piling in one thing after another. Who knew a Costco membership would be a new area of growth for us.

Life is about learning and growing, and there are lessons and growth around every corner.

A strange thing just happened. My daughter is taking an exam today. Last night I dreamed I was upset at her because she was still here and I was worried she would be late for her exam. She just told me she checked her exam information and the exam is at 1:00 instead of 9:00. In my dream, the exam was at 10:00 instead of 9:00.

We are told to listen to the still small voice within. What is that still small voice trying to tell us that we don’t listen to or acknowledge?

You may be living under the illusion that when God ignites great things in your life, He’ll announce it with a big bang. He might. It’s more likely that He won’t. So stop waiting around for the big bang. Pay attention to the subtle clues and the still, small voice. God lives in that place too. Steven Furtick

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The Process of Realization: A detailed description of the process of every kind of realization, the law of attraction, from quantum fields and mind, to the matter Paperback – Feb 20 2017

by Ivan Antic (Author) 3.9 out of 5 stars 3 customer reviews

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Forgiveness sets us free. We can have peace, or we can be bitter.

We can have peace or we can be bitter. Forgiveness sets us free.

Forgiveness – painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Mahatma Gandhi

This is our life we have to make the most of it. At funerals and visitations, the point is brought home more fully. At some point, it’s all over. Whatever we didn’t do, fix, make amends to, make right, forgive, build, learn, achieve, see, or experience, the opportunity is gone.

The splits in families are evident if you are watching from the sidelines as I was. The woman who died is who I knew. She was one of the funniest, fun loving, full of life people I’ve met. She had a hard life with two marriages ending in divorce, raising six sons and losing one to cancer in his twenties.

At the funeral home, I was watching interactions between the attendees. A small group chatting and laughing was approached by a woman and immediately one of the members left. The one that left was I believe the deceased’s sister. At least there wasn’t a scene but differences can’t be put aside even in death?

It makes one wonder about one’s own family and how things will be handled? It is my belief that when we don’t handle things while someone was alive we have more to regret after their death.

When we got home we watched “The Shack” on Netflix. This was a book pick for the book club years ago. I didn’t realize it was made into a movie. If anyone is looking for a movie or book whose central theme is forgiveness this is the book or movie for you.

Holding a grudge doesn’t make you strong; it makes you bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make you weak; it sets you free. Dave Willis

The author’s wife encouraged him to write a book for his children, and that is who the original audience was intended to be. It was self-published and through word of mouth became a best seller on the New York Times bestseller list.

There is a part in the book where the protagonist Mackenzie meets Wisdom. Wisdom tells Mackenzie he is here for judgment. He asks, “What am I being judged for.” He is told he is not being judged, he is to be the judge. “Which of his two children does he send to heaven and which to hell?”

“I can’t choose”, he says.

“You must,” Wisdom says.

“Take me,” he finally says.

God has told Mackenzie earlier that she has seen what each person went through before they did whatever they did. She says that she does not condone what is done, but wherever there is evil the results will be felt. We all have free will and our choices lead us where they do. Forgiveness is what severs the chains that bind us to the hurt, betrayal, and loss that ruin the good that is left in our lives when something horrible happens.

We don’t choose what happens in our lives, we do choose how we react to what happens. Forgiveness can help us move forward better, instead of bitter.

Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace. Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, peace, and love.

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How Christianity changed the world.

Christianity Made the Modern World - photo of pink rose taken by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The Christian gospel is a two-way road. On the one hand, it seeks to change the soul of men, and thereby unite them with God; on the other hand, it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so the soul will have a chance after it is changed. Martin Luther King Jr.

As our friends left last night one of them said. I expect this to be in your blog tomorrow. We talked until 4:30 am, about everything but much of it revolved around, Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life.

We somehow got on the Industrial Revolution and my son said, “we believe the Romans had the knowledge to build steam engines but didn’t. Some believe the rationale for not building steam engines was they were a nation powered by slaves. What was their impetus to change?

The impetus for change according to my son was Christianity and the belief we are created in the image of God. This brought about the push to abolish slavery and to get rid of the Divine Right of Kings.

Our friend loved Jordan Peterson in the beginning but no longer feels the same way. We were trying to understand why and it has to do with atheism. Jordan Peterson asserts “atheists really believe in a God, and act as if they do.” What my son believes this means is, you are allowed to not believe in God and live in Christian countries, because of Christianity.  Christianity has created so much of what we value.  Jordan Peterson asserts that even if you don’t believe in God it is useful to act like you do. What this means to me is everything you need to live a good life is found in the Bible. If you follow those rules, you live a good life, if you live a good life you are more likely to be happy, if you don’t follow the rules you are more likely to fall into a life that seems like hell.

Should we not press it home upon our consciences that the sole object of our conversion was not the salvation of our soul, but that we might become co-workers with our Lord and Master in the conversion of the world? Lottie Moon, Baptist missionary to China (1840-1912)

Christianity brought us the enlightenment of all people being equal – even though it has taken a long time to implement. Slavery is gone from the Western World because of Christianity. Christians became the abolitionists. It was non-conformist Christians that brought us the Magna Carta, and the right to vote. It was Christianity that promoted mass education, democracy, and human rights. It is Christianity that brought us laws to protect the common man.

Christianity has shaped every area of our lives, its influence is so huge we take its heritage for granted and forget that Christianity was the source of this civilization.

It is Christianity that created Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 Step Program. Believing in a higher power is useful, believing there is more strength to lean on than just our self, allows us to believe we can do things we don’t believe we can do alone. If thinking makes it so, then believing in God even if you can’t prove there is one, is useful. So many people turn their life around when they find God. This falls right into Jordan Peterson’s belief it is useful to believe in God because how can you not feel empowered if you believe “all things are possible through God who strengthens me”?

If we become a secular world and lose our belief in God, what else would we lose?

“Where there is Love and Wisdom, there is neither Fear nor Ignorance.
Where there is Patience and Humility, there is neither Anger nor Annoyance.
Where there is Poverty and Joy, there is neither Cupidity nor Avarice.
Where there is Peace and Contemplation, there is neither Care nor Restlessness.
Where there is the Fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter.
Where there is Mercy and Prudence, there is neither Excess nor Harshness.”
—Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

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How Christianity Made The Modern World - The Legacy of Christian Liberty: How the Bible Inspired Freedom, Shaped Western Civilization, Revolutionized Human ... Transformed Democracy and...Heritage by [Backholer, Paul]
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How Christianity Made The Modern World – The Legacy of Christian Liberty: How the Bible Inspired Freedom, Shaped Western Civilization, Revolutionized Human … Transformed Democracy and…Heritage Kindle Edition

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Prayer is talking to God. You’re not alone.

Talking to God photo by Belynda Wilson Thomas

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God is always ready to listen anytime you are ready to talk to him. Prayer is simply talking with God. Unknown

Last night a new Toastmaster gave his first speech titled My Spiritual Journey. He talked about the conversation he had with God when his mother was dying of cancer when he was 15 or 16. God told him he could have ten more years with her. She recovered and he forgot about the conversation with God as he went about becoming a young man going to University and building a life. His father called him and told him his mother was very ill. She died ten years after his conversation with God.

It made him start having conversations with God again. This time he felt the conversations were one sided. He was talking to God but God wasn’t talking to him. Years later he felt God talked to him again, telling him that God was everywhere with everyone, all the time.

I’ve never had the experience of thinking God talked to me. An Aunt of mine was dying of cancer when I was about 16. My father and his brothers flew to Los Angeles to see her on her death bed. Her son was about 16. She prayed she would be granted enough time to finish raising her son. She got that time and much more. Later she accompanied her son on missionary trips to China.

If we can talk to God we are never alone. What do you need to talk to God? I don’t think you need anything just voice your thoughts, or meditate, whatever you find comfortable doing. I think this is the tricky part. Many people don’t feel comfortable talking to God.

When you pray, be sure that you listen also. You have things you want to say to God, but he also has things he wants to say to you. Joyce Meyer

I’ve always felt comfortable talking to God. I was very young when I started and that might make a difference. When we are young we don’t question if we can, or if we should, or who are we to think we can, we just do. It becomes comfortable. It is what we do in time of need, when we need answers to questions no one else can give.

In a strange way this relationship with God seems divorced from Church. I don’t know how to explain it. Walking in a forest, being by myself, out in nature or by myself at home is when I talk to God.

It is the most comforting thing in the world to talk to God when things don’t make sense, seem overwhelming and out of control. Being able to talk to God gives us strength to deal with what is. Whatever will be. We don’t have a choice, we have to deal with what is, the good the bad, the happy, the sad. Knowing we can get through it is different than thinking we can’t. We must get through it, the only way forward is through whatever lies ahead. Talking to God can make it better.

One night I dreamed I was walking along the Beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was only one. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat. I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord. “You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me? The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child is when I carried you.” Mary Stevenson

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Adam Weber