In Tough Economic Times Count Your Blessings Not Your Money
It’s been an interesting year as our household has gone from two incomes to zero. On one hand, I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I didn’t say that there have been mornings of feeling panic and anxiousness. But on the other hand, those feelings didn’t last long especially when we count our blessings each day and how rich we are – the word rich doesn’t always translate to cash.
We have looked at this tough economic time in our lives as a blessing. Frankly, we were a little unconscious when it came to money. Never being big spenders or living beyond our means, we never focused on a strict budget either. Now our circumstances require that we watch every penny we spend. We have scaled back our spending dramatically. With every purchase we make we now are forced to make a choice. Continue reading
Who Can You Set Free Today by What You Say or What you Do?
Have you been set free or are you weighed down with the burdens of life?
There are some days, weeks, even months when living a life guided by God seems so easy. There is a flow that happens. Joy fills one’s heart. You wake up in the morning and feel a sense of gratitude for everything.
But then doubt and fear can set in. This has certainly been the case with trying to grow a business from the ground up. You’re putting your heart, soul and energy into it, but at the end of the day or week or month, there is no consistent revenue for the effort. It can seem overwhelming. It’s easy to want to give up and go find a “job” and work for someone else.
When we face challenges like this, it is particularly important to lean on your family. In this case, I mean our family of faith. Brothers and sisters in Christ.
That also means having a solid place of worship to attend to be lifted up in the presence of God with like-minded believers. If ever there was a time I needed church, it was last Sunday. I had hit a valley again.
The sermon was called, “The Power of the Spoken Word.” Continue reading
Get Rid of Clutter and Get Organized in Your Mind through Meditation and Being Still
This is the second half of How to Free your Spirit, Clear Clutter from Your Life. The first half addressed physical clutter and this half will address clutter that is in our minds.
This picture shows a very cluttered room. It can also illustrate our minds, but instead of furniture and stuff, think of these items as thoughts that cram into our brains. The thoughts include our to-do lists, worries, doubts, fears, work tasks, family commitments, preoccupation with appearance, age, abilities – you get the picture. It’s stated that we have upwards of 60,000 thoughts a day and we’re bombarded with 5,000 advertising messages a day. That makes for one cluttered mind. So how do you get your mind organized? You clear some of that clutter out. How? Through meditation or simply catching your breath.