I work in a group home now,  it saddens me to hear the way the words and opinions of others have deformed these people’s thoughts and feeling about themselves. There is power in the words other say to us. But we must not give them the last word. Sometimes people didn’t even have to say anything, their actions speak. Body language is very vocal  and can carry a lot of weight when we are vulnerable, and we can not be strong all the time. Ultimately we have to decide who are we living for. More often than not we tend to hold on to the words spoken to us. Everyone wants to be loved and accepted. But if the people you have in your life are keeping you down then tell them so! Most importantly don’t believe it. We are all beautiful. We are all necessary and needed. God created each and every person here. He created us out of love regardless of how your life seems. You are important to Him and your happiness is important to Him. Greatest of all there is a reason for your being here and it has nothing to do with being depressed, defeated or disregarded.

Remember hurting people hurt people. We are all broken in someway and we may be the ones doing the hurting. We hurt ourselves by thinking down about ourselves. Now here is where we could wind up finger-pointing and that helps no one it just makes excuses and keeps us from solutions. We learn things and we can unlearn things. Remember how we talked about habits? Our thought process and reactions are out of habit. We make habitual responses to regularly occurring situations. Perhaps if we modified our responses then we would break the cycle.

Every thing aside you must think speak and respond to life in away the brings joy and peace. If you are hoping and praying for bigger and better things in life you will never enjoy them as long as there is hurt in your life. I’m not saying success won’t come but I’m saying unless you have compassion for yourself and those in your life you will never truly be happy.

We can all crawl out of the darkness. But it needs to start with good thoughts kind thoughts loving thoughts about our selves. We can not love others if we do not first love ourselves. That can also be said about most things caring, kindness, generosity, compassion on and on. But I digress I think you get it. You are a great person tell your self that and perhaps let some one else know you think they are great too.

God bless! Enjoy!

The second lie we tell ourselves is ” that’s good enough.”  I will not dwell on that one because all that can be said is, ” you are settling.”  Take it from some one who has settled far too much in life. Settling never makes anyone happy or satisfied! Don’t settle for good enough!

You are trying to change some deeply engrained habit. It takes time and commitment. Think how you will feel say 10 minutes after you eat those chips or buy that top. Perhaps defeated is a good word. Change is hard enough without us sabotaging our selves, stay strong make the commitment stick. Resistance is NOT futile. I have heard many numbers of days, weeks or months are necessary before something becomes a habit or one is broken. Personally I feel the stronger the hold something has the long it takes to battle against it. For myself I think a vice is a vice and we may have to battle it all our lives so we must always be on guard against it. Awareness is key to personal happiness. It is so easy to slip back into old habits. Be on guard, you are doing great, stay on the road to personal freedom!  The change will affect every part of your body and life. You will be flooded with confidence and courage! I will add the most important thing to remember, God is for you! Pray for strength to over come!

Now lets say you are not a Christian but you still know about commonsense. So much of what Jesus taught and did was common sence when it comes to living a happy full life. Sorry happy and full do not come from wealth so the pursuit of wealth is in it self living for money. I just deleted my ramble, remember it is not about does and don’t. Lets go to dieting no one should need a list you were born with common sense , USE IT! All packaging has everything you need to know about what you are putting into your body. If you do not exercise you are not burning enough calories plus you probably are achy and sore. Get moving to pump that blood through your entire body. If you are broke all the time stop spending more than you are making. If you are not happy figure our why.

It is okay to rely on yourself. Who knows you better than You? No body! You know what you like and what you don’t like. Those are the only two does and don’t to consider. Notice I did not put worry. Worry solves nothing in fact it is a great defeater of those who are trying to change. So my advice for you today is, pitch the list of does and don’ts and rely on your own common sense to help you change.

This does not mean you never seek wise counsel. It does however mean that you use that beautiful brain you have been given to create the life God has for YOU! Yes God is the wise counsel you should seek. Seek it though His word not by the actions or opinions of others. Go to the source!

Now after saying all that I am not in any way suggesting we cut ourselves of from others and their opinions. We can learn so much from those who struggle with the same issues we have, and we can learn from them too. The problem comes when we think we need to copy what they did and how they did it.  We are all individuals and we will each find our own way to wellness that suits our life and our way of living. Start where you are and grow from there. It is a process a life long process it requires patience and kindness towards yourself. Blessings to all who are on the road to perfection or as close as we can get here.

Any real and lasting change that comes into our lives is never forced. Growth and development comes from an internal desire to be more  than what we are now. The truly significant changes in my life have come from the prompting of the Holy Spirit. He lets me know the burden or habit or attachment is not needed any more. They hinder and hold us in bondage and keeps us from moving forward into the next step God has ready for us. Change can be scary but it is a constant and it is if we allow, it  will make use wiser happier and more fulfilled people. So let go of the chains that bind. Grab hold of the plans God has for you and live as you never would think possible.

Questions, questions, questions! True but they are questions that may just help you discover some surprising things about how you truly see yourself.

So what does any of this have to do with the post title? While going along on a roll as I have started this month to try to over come some all to tiring habits I was doing great then surprise the old habits and patterns snuck  back in. But! I rejoice in the new level of self-awareness I’ve achieved. My slogan is no more” when things get tough I will whine” but “when things get tough I’ll get tougher!” I am digging in my heals and I am overcoming all those old habits that keep me in bondage and fearful, feeling I am never going to have victory of fulfillment. Because I am going to have a life of victory and fulfillment. Why? Because I want it and God wants it for me too. So I chose to hold on. If God is for me nothing else matters I will take Him at His word. AMEN!

I have just celebrated my 49th birthday. Wow I am in my 50th year. Am I where I thought I’d be? I don’t know because I never really thought this far down the road. I am however very pleased for the most part at how my life has turned out. I was blessed to receive several birthday cards and gifts. So I know I have friends and family who care. As I look at the cards I felt so happy to know that people actually took time and filled out cards and mailed them. The gifts were given by people who took time to make them personal. These people really know me and they like me! At least I think they do, you would not send a card to someone you don’t like. Would you? I was blown away so thanks everyone. I went for a great lunch with Joanne to  a wonderful tea room in Lambeth with awesome food and the scones well delicious is a good starter word. Such a generous and thoughtful person I have not met in a long time.

So what is all this leading up to? Thanks for asking! Well sometimes we don’t really know what or how people think of us. I was blessed to have that shown to me this week. You know when you look at people you don’t really know what they are thinking or feeling. I tend to not be aware of what people are thinking about me. I am loud to a fault at times. When I find a cause I am absorbed by that cause and can not handle it very well when those around me are not as excited as I am. So where am I going with this?  Well I have a new mission. This time in Toronto and I am super excited because I have people coming with me. As well I get to organize it! Yippy!!! I think I should have kept my mission page open since this is a life long thing for me I hope to go on one trip per year and continue to grow in local service too. I love it! While it is sad that there is no shortage of need in our world it is a huge privilege to have a heart to serve and try in some small way to make another’s life a little better. I thank God for that as it is He who made me this way. He is also the one that keeps me hanging on. I LOVE GOD!

I was blessed yesterday to be able to reflect on the path God has put me on. If we all stopped and reflected on where we have come from and where we are now we would see God! Now not all people are of faith so they may just think it is lifes random events. But as you grow closer to God you see the is nothing random about it. It is his plan for you. He does have a plan and a purpose for every single person. The best thing you can do for yourself is ask Him to reveal it. You will never regret it. The good the bad and the ugly God uses it all.

So in closing I say to you, live your life to its fullest, reflect now and then but never stay in the past and always hope for a better tomorrow. Love prayers and blessings to all!

Happy autumn everyone!

Yet there are so many who suffer alone and at this time I am not just referring to cancer patience. While in Hamilton I visited a garden of an old houses beside the YWCA. This house is a huge stone house more along the lines of a mansion for its day. As I read my bible and looked around at the beauty the gardens offered I saw litter. No big surprise, so I go over to pick it up. Sadness fills my heart.  Laying there is part of a news paper, empty Timmies cup, a strip of rubber band and a used needle. Not long before I arrived some one had sat down and tried to escape the pain this life has given them with drugs. Their pain will come back as it always does. What hopelessness to feel that this is the only escape. We all have hurts yes we all get lemons. But we must over come the hurts in our life by confronting them. We can not change the past and dwelling on it robs us of any joy we may have in the future. This experience brought me back to my trips to Winnipeg’s inner city. So many hurting broken people side by side. Why do we not reach out more, love more and consider others more. We encounter the hurting everyday. The mentally ill wonder our streets. We consider profit and money over the needs of the weak and out cast. Our families are broken. Crime is a growing industry. On this I will say that child sex trade is the third largest illegal industry in the world next to drugs and weapons. These are children WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!!!!!?????? I’ll drop it for now.

So in all the brokenness of our world I say thanks to God that my eyes are opened and I am able in small ways to help where I am with what I have. He asks nothing else of me. Except that I have faith in His Son and His word and believe that I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living through those who also love Him and are called according to His purpose. Be a light!

So what is worse than being broken? Not knowing you are broken. Or not knowing  that there is a God who can help you in your brokenness.

Love and prayers for wholeness, health and happiness,

Thank you.