The Great Reminder

One of our ministry leaders from church sent out a reminder to us on the team about a meeting. Many people including myself responded with “thank you for the reminder.” Then as I read in a book Life Repurposed by Thom Gardner, he points out how we can at times feel overwhelmed but God reminds us of how He came through in the past.

He is The Great Reminder!

In the scriptures that Thom Gardner referenced (Exodus), we were reminded of how in an insurmountable situation, God had Moses raise his staff so the Israelites could literally walk on dry ground through the Red Sea while at the same time their enemies were being defeated! The problem was thouroughly solved!

Recently I was talking briefly with an older woman who said she was having clear memories about specific situations from her past and wondered if that was a good thing. She wasn’t depressed by them or overwhelmed just didn’t understand why.

My Holy Spirit response was “sometimes God wants to remind us of how we felt, thought, or what we we were experiencing then and how He turned it to good! He wants us to see how at that time we thought that the situation would take us under but look at you now, you are over… above and not beneath, says His Word to us!

At times, we forget how our lives used to be because things are so different now, hopefully much better than ever before. And if not better in some areas, the reminders help us to recognize that if we chose to trust God, if we chose to walk by faith and not by sight (that Red Sea is overwhelming and looks like it’s all over), you will see the salvation of the Lord operating on your behalf! You see, God is for you and not against you! He loves you and like most parents, wants the best for you! He has a way to bring resolve, solutions, healing, or help  that goes beyond our mental capacity.

The key is will you trust Him?. Will you choose to walk by faith? Will you, in obedience do what He says? Our response is important so He reminds us of Himself and His ability so we will Move Foward everyday and keep choosing His way for life, and the way He wants to use us in the lives of others and in advancing His Kingdom on earth! We all have an assignment from God, but like Moses and Jesus, we must willingly with trust surrender to Him and His ways versus our own.

Then we must choose to be still and listen to hear what He is saying. He sent Holy Spirit to remind us, to help us. Once we sense what He is saying to us, then it is our choice to do what He says (to obey), regardless as to how we feel or think. Remember the Red Sea… be reminded of the past ways that God worked it out. Then move forward with confidence in Him and His ability knowing that He loves you and will never leave you or forsake you!

Thank God for the reminders that come to help you to do life His way, to remind you that you can do it! To remind you that you are not alone and Faithful is He who calls you and He will do it! (1Thesslonians 5:24 )

He is the Great Reminder!

AWESOME

God is so very awesome!

His word is so on point!

If we seek Him, we will find Him!

The thing is, how or what He reveals is up to Him and for His own purposes.

He is schooling us in His ways and it is up to us to choose to accept and obey! To do what He says! To do things His way!

As He reveals, He is healing us of faulty thinking, beliefs, and thoughts leading us into a renewed mind; the mind of Christ which is so different from this world’s way or the reasoning of humanity.

God created, He knows that His will is good even when to us it us unknown, we must choose to trust Him alone and stay under the umbrella of His keeping for His plans and promises to eventually be shown.

People will see and know that He alone is God when they experience you the people of Almighty God at rest in the middle of your test.

Life is the test and He knows what is best for every creature, every creed and will bring the satisfaction that leads to our rest making us the best we can be because of Him whom we choose to be our Lead. Him who set us free!

So stop and wait and don’t be late, stand still to see His salvation! He will continue to bring you to the God place where your success is sure!

©2023 Rosalind Stanley

Prayer Response to 911 Attack on America

Today, September 11, 2022 we remember the attack on America and the many lives lost and families, businesses, and entities destroyed or damaged. 

Let’s take moments throughout the day to say a whispering prayer for all of the families, friends, and entities that suffered greater personal loss along with the countries loss and mourning. 

We don’t  necessarily blame ourselves or say that God was or is mad at us as a nation instead praying the following prayer is to say we do need to humble ourselves before our Creator, confessing our national sin, repenting (meaning choosing to change) and be “one nation under God…”  that we we were established to be. Let’s close the doors that are open to enemy access, spiritually speaking, and look to Our Loving Father God to heal our land. 

Many are proclaiming “let’s make America great again” as a slogan, but truthfully, America’s greatness comes through Our Great God in whose name this land was dedicated. This is what all Americans should agree to, to align with the way of the God of this nation. This must happen individually, as families, business and corporations, organizations, especially ministries and churches, which combined will have a national impact. 

I ask you to join in and pray this pray with me in sincerity as a means to turning what was intended for evil to the God kind of good that will supernaturally cause right things to happen! (Check out: Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11)

PRAYER RESPONSE TO SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACK ON AMERICA 

Oh, Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, who made man in your own image and likeness and breathed your breath of Life into us; the God who demonstrated your awesome love to us while we were yet sinners by sending your Son to die for us, that we might have Life and that more abundantly -your Son, Jesus, a living testimony of your faithfulness to mankind. 

Lord, hear this prayer that I (we) present to you this day. I (we) acknowledge and confess the sins of America, including myself and all my family, The Church of God, and all those that proclaim your Name. 

We have acted wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed your commands and decrees of your Word, The Holy Bible. We have ignored the prompting of your Holy Spirit. We have yielded to our fleshly desires. We have joined the world in their worldly pursuits engaging in all manner of evil, though we call ourselves a Christian nation. We repent Lord and ask that you would have mercy on us. 

Touch us afresh by your Holy Spirit. Refresh and renew our spirits, souls, and bodies. Teach us what it is to fear you, Lord, to revere you. Inspire us to fear you, Lord, to love you, to obey your word. Cause the stoniness (hardness) in our hearts to become hearts of flesh, softened, yielded and pliable in your hands. 

Deliver us from evil. Protect us from rating sin, rather help us to humble ourselves below your mighty hand and let go of the weights and sins that so easily beset us. Cause us Lord, to hunger for and thirst for righteousness. We acknowledge our desperate need for you. We need your Presence and your Power, Lord. Cause the power, Jesus Christ in us, the Hope of Glory, to rise up in your people. 

We come weeping and mourning before your throne. We stand at the foot of your Cross in humble submission. We desire to really know you Lord, and to live according to your laws and commands, to your Word of Life. Show us your ways, Lord, so we will follow in your precepts. Touch your Church in this hour. Cause your Body to rise up and to stand tall as true representatives of Jesus Christ on this earth. We turn from our wicked ways and turn to you, Lord. Heal our land. Comfort us in our grief. Protect us from further destruction. Provide your wisdom to our president, government and peoples that we may respond to this tragedy in ways that please you, that are led by your Spirit. 

Raise up in this hour, your men and women of God to serve as priests and prophets of God that will provide godly insight and guidance to our president, government, and the peoples of this land. Bring revival to our land. Lord, bring revival to our land! Thank you for hearing our prayer, Lord and thank you for responding to our heartfelt cry.  In Jesus’ Name. AMEN 

Written 2011 BECAUSE OF GRACE™ 

© 2018 Rosalind M. Stanley Prayers for Living: Prayers to Help You Get Through Life

The Purpose for Living

Disclosing myself, I have periodically struggled with “why” am I on this earth. Especially after the illnesses and deaths of many loved ones and friends over a seemingly long stretch of a few years. Then there are other issues of life, ministry, and vicarious sadness because of world events or others’ pain that has touched my soul. No, I have not been suicidal, thank God! Nor in major or some form of clinical depression, thank God! But, yes, I have been going through “the class of what true faith in God is and how now do I live.”

Well, as our Loving God would have it, I have heard and received many words of encouragement, confirmation and rebuke regarding this. They have reached to depths in my soul that I did not know existed. They have come unanticipated and by means unexpected. My mother always said, “In God, there are no coincidences.” He is at work, in me and in you, “to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:1-13). We must underline the word “good” because the enemy of our souls wants us to focus on the sad or bad things that happen and cause us to assign these feelings and thoughts to God. God is always in the process of “turning things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). We are all called by Him, but do we love God is the question that our hearts must answer. Hearing His purpose for your life depends on it!

This loving God thing is a challenge that we must fight through. Experiencing the ugly in life and the pain that comes with it often, very subconsciously, causes us to assume that God wasn’t or isn’t with us or that He doesn’t care or that He caused it or allowed it to happen when He could have intervened. I won’t address that, this is a battle you have to fight on your own, that is, if you believe that God is the Creator and Master of the Universe and you want to have a real relationship with Him. If you do, He will answer you in the ways that He knows you will hear and accept. You must allow yourself to get quiet enough to hear Him.

For me, as I continue this fight and struggle, the power and blessing of the peace of God and joy of the Lord has helped me to stay on point in my love for and gratitude toward Him (Romans 5:8, read it), and in my ability to keep walking forward. He, being my Strength, is a real reality because most of the time, “I got nothing.”

I want to share a word that has recently touched and inspired my heart (hoping that it does the same for you). Then, two confessions; one I wrote as a result of Him correcting and comforting me and the other from a devotional by Jana Alcorn, Hope Speaks: Boldly Transform Your Life.

“I’ve got great plans for you (add your name) as you rest in Me and trust Me with everything. I am doing a new thing in you and in your life. I am renewing your faith, hope, and love. My joy will exude through you and My peace will be your inner strength that will get you through all that I assign you. Walk by faith and not by sight. Let Me be the Director and Controller of your life and all the days ahead of you. It is My good pleasure to bless you… I have not forgotten what I have told you and what I have promised you. It will come to pass! And it will last! Take heart and believe this word that I the Lord, Your God am giving you today!”

Confessions:

I decree and declare that:

“I have a unique purpose for being on this earth and choose to allow that purpose to flow and grow as God reveals it to me.”

“God has a design, purpose, plan and will that is still effective in my life. His plan is still on and I will give myself to the power of God’s Presence to work through my past, my present, and on my future!” (From: Hope Speaks)

Be encouraged and let God work in you and on your behalf. He is a Good God!

Purchase my recent book REVOLUTIONIZING FAMILIES:

https://www.amazon.com/Revolutionizing-Families-changing-live-love/dp/1542803748/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523909556&sr=8-1&keywords=revolutionizing+families

FULFILL YOUR DESTINY IN 2017

Most of us have a hope for our future. Some are certain about what they want for their future while others are in search mode. Many have expectations that have come from some childhood exposure that now has been developed and is in full operation; some still in contemplation or preparation.

Having a destiny means that inwardly or intellectually, you are aware that there is more to you than what is currently seen or known about you. There is more! Whatever that “more” is, is linked to an aspiration. When thinking about aspiration, usually words like riches, wealth, good health, success, fame, helping others, changing a condition from negative to positive, breaking negative generational patterns (poverty, addiction, lust, abuse, etc.) or other words come to mind. Aspiration inspires the reason for seeking your destiny.

It is important to know that you have a destiny to fulfill and having the aspiration to seek to fulfill your destiny. Destiny believers and seekers have hope and a motivation for life and living. Without this, most people live unhappy, depressed, confused lives or allow others to tell them how to live. If your aspiration for the destiny you have chosen is disordered, then reaching your destiny will be disordered.

Often a person is driven by a negative desire, to turn it into a positive. Good choice! Some are driven to prove to others that they can reach a particular destiny. Not so good of a choice, but hopefully, eventually leads to a healthier reason. Others may feel that destiny seeking and reaching is only for a few who they consider are called, anointed or gifted. As a result, they make a decision to continue to do what they’ve been doing, retire, then die. It you are doing your very best at what you do and with no doubt, and have peace, believing that this is God’s will for you, then good choice! However, if you are settling because you don’t think God has more for you, or are afraid to try something new or a new nuance to what you’re doing, not a good choice.

What am I getting at with all this destiny talk? Simply to encourage you to pursue your destiny here on earth; (just as I have been encouraged to…) “follow your dreams,” (thanks Ashley) and “let your faith be bigger than your fear” (thanks Melissa). And “Mom, (put your name here) you can do this!” (thank you Vicki). And also, to make you aware that your destiny here on earth is finite; it has an end to it, a timeframe. If you do want to fulfill your destiny, the question is why? The why answer is crucial. If your answer is to please God, to fulfill His will for your life here on earth, and to bless others along the way, then you are on the right track. This is your inspiration; you have been inspired by a Bigger cause, a Bigger Person, than yourself.

Any other reasons that does not include Your Creator, are disordered aspirations and motives and require tweaking. You must take time to meditate, to pray, to read God’s Word (The Bible) and seek (or deepen) your relationship with Him. This will help you to learn what he created you to be here on earth. Then, you have the responsibility to choose to trust Him to direct your path and give you what you need to go about fulfilling it.

However, it doesn’t end there. God has predestined us! Ephesians 1:5 says: He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will— (Amplified Bible) This doesn’t mean that we are puppets on earth or that no matter what we choose, God won’t work with us. Yes, He has given us gifts and abilities and will open doors that match and lead to what He knows is good and right for you. But you can choose! He has placed desires in our hearts that as we seek Him, they come to focus. (see Psalm 37:4)

Being predestined, a pre-destiny, an already worked out plan, is a spiritual disposition. (see Isaiah 46:10) God has prepared an eternal, infinite destiny for all of us! It is the destiny above all destinies that getting right, rightly focuses our destiny here on earth. The requirement is seeking Him and being in relationship with Him, God, The Father, through Jesus Christ, The Creator, The One who is, was and will ever be, the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever!

Eternal life in Christ is the pre-destiny that God has prepared, however we must choose it.

He won’t force you to choose Him and His ways of earthly living, even though He will provide many earthly opportunities for you to choose Him. The bottom line is you and your choice.

So, as 2017 has already begun its movement in your life, “Fulfill Your Destiny” by being sure that you are in Him (Ephesians 1), in Jesus Christ, the only way to the Father God. This is your (pre) destiny forever, only if you choose.

But maybe you don’t want to serve the Lord. You must choose for yourselves today. Today you must decide who you will serve. Will you serve the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River? Or will you serve the gods of the Amorites who lived in this land? You must choose for yourselves. But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”                                                                                                                         (Joshua 24:15 Easy to Read Version)

BE THE YOU THAT GOD INTENDED FOR YOU TO BE

AND

YOU WILL UNIQUELY FULFILL YOUR EARTHLY DESTINY

____________________________________________________

Rosalind Caldwell Stanley is a Licensed Professional Pastoral Counselor, trainer, speaker, wife, mother, grandmother, and sista friend. She and her husband Arthur share in a blended family of five adult children (including her son in law) and eight precious grandchildren. Roz’s latest publication, Family Life: Revolutionizing the Way Families Live & Love can be purchased at www.amazon.com. She is accepting new clients and is available for speaking engagements or group sharing. Her contact information is 757 454-6393, rozbecauseofgrace@gmail.com or website http://www.christiantrngctr.org.

Love Others the Way God Loves You

As I read from a book “Still on the Journey,” by one of my spiritual mentors whom I have never met, Jessica Kendall Ingram, I was blessed with a Holy Spirit revelation that I want to share with you.  

The book is a devotional, as she calls it, “a collection of spiritual meditations and reflections.” As I read the reflection entitled “A Lesson on Forgiveness,” I was enlightened and challenged in my love walk. 

I received a new perspective regarding my praying for God to help me love with His love. When encountered with a difficult person / situation that I know requires my forgiveness and willingness to hold no grudges, respond ungodly or totally dismiss the person, I usually pray, “Lord, please help me to love that person the way You love them.”

Dr. Ingram notes in her journey that she “asked God in total sincerity to help me love him (the him is not her husband) the way that God loves me, with all my faults, frailties, and failings. I prayed for the ability to love him with godly love.” 

I have, too, as hopefully, you also, been on a journey of choosing God’s way over mine. This produces inner conflict and often leads to brokenness. It’s a tough process but yields greater results like spiritual maturity, which means pleasing God more and being a greater asset to His people. 

Anyway, the Holy Spirit quickly showed me, through her words, that only asking to love the person the way He loves them keeps me somewhat emotionally detached, a bit objective and in control (having leverage in the relationship or with the person) even though God does give me the power to love them with His love. However, my loving them, though higher than my human way of loving, is at a lower level of God’s way of loving, where my flesh or sin nature is still in operation. 

To ask for God to enable me “to love the way You love me” causes humility, is an eraser of self righteousness, giving me the ability to “see” the person from a more genuine and loving perspective, letting go of all distain and possible attempts to protect myself from further hurt from them. 

Just to note: I still need God’s wisdom as to how to engage them even after I have forgiven them and have chosen this higher/deeper dimension of loving. This is because I can fully trust myself – my heart and soul (mind, will and emotions) to God and am no longer needy for or ignorant of the place that I had been with that person or in that situation.

Choosing to love people the way that God loves me, and you choosing to love people the way He loves You requires that you first think about / meditate on God’s love for you. You must recognize it and acknowledge it for yourself. This alone brings about an awe to God that humbles the hardest heart because not one of us is perfect and not one of us is deserving, in and of ourselves, of the ways that God shows / gives us His love, even through our sin and the uncertainties and difficulties of life. 

For me, meditation on Jesus and The Cross including all that followed (you get it, we just reviewed it at all of our churches Easter/Resurrection Sunday: ) is what keeps me emotionally, mentally and spiritually balanced. The fact that I have salvation, eternal life through Jesus Christ, because of God’s love for me from the foundation of the world, is enough. But then the fact that He continues to shower His love on me as I journey through life is more than my heart and words can describe! 

So I challenge you to take your love walk to a new place. Choose to love others the way God has loved you. This is without holding judgement about or against them, not holding grudges, realizing that they are still on their journey and are not perfect either. Yes, seek God for wisdom because all forgiveness and love doesn’t mean continued relationship if the person is abusive; that is a whole different blog. 

So, take the challenge being sensitive to your attitude, thoughts and behavior. Then be honest with yourself before God if you are not loving His way. And, using this all familiar line, “I’m only human” doesn’t cut it. God has called us all who say He is our Lord and Savior, to a different standard giving us the power to operate in it – to live it out, and yes making mistakes along the way.  

God’s Love to you as you increase in your love walk! 

  (C) 2016 by Rosalind Stanley

Rosalind Caldwell Stanley is the author of Family Life: Revolutionizing the Way Families Live & Love. Purchase it today from Amazon.com

“Soul Food” to Heal Your Soul

When I think about soul food, I immediately think about collard greens, black eyed peas, macaroni & cheese, grits, fried fish or chicken, cornbread, sweet potato pie, and other rich and tasty foods which are often cooked with ingredients not so good for a healthy body.  The food, however, when presented to us looks and smells so good that we inwardly surmise, “who cares, it’s too good to turn down!” So we eat. Some of us discipline how often and how much we eat (knowing that too much is not good for us), while for some, it’s the normal way of eating. Research concurs that wrong ingredients fed to our bodies can over time hinder our mobility (obesity) or lead to various sicknesses and death.

However, when it comes to our very soul, we often do not give second thought to what we feed it. What we choose to feed our souls can greatly affect our daily living and determine our eternal existence. Our soul is our mind (beliefs, thoughts and thought processing), our will (decision making and daily choices, or willingness toward a specific way of being, doing and speaking), and our emotions (positive or negative, intense or repressed, affections and feelings). The mind, will and emotions are linked together and operate as a car with all of its parts that keep it driving properly.

Many people go through life not even realizing what a “soul” is or that they even have a soul. Not knowing or not understanding is ignorance. Ignorance is open territory for anything to happen within our souls, and anything usually is the negative rather than the positive. Some of you may have heard the cliché, “ignorance is bliss,” meaning what you don’t know won’t hurt you. The truth is that what you don’t know can slowly kill you and cause you to miss out on the kind of life and eternal existence that God, who is our Creator, has for you!

So, why am I making a big deal about this, you might be wondering. Well, truthfully, as a person, first of all, then as a counselor for many years, I’ve eye witnessed many people whose souls are sick. They became sick because of what they’ve been fed. The feeding either came from their childhood experiences, relationships, or from ignorance about their soul and/or the authority and control that they have over their own soul. By eating the wrong soul food, they have indirectly, unknowingly, or unintentionally allowed other people or external situations to influence and control their mind, will, and emotions.

My purpose in writing this is to let you know that it’s never too late to get healing for your soul! It will take you being willing to admit that your soul is sick in some ways then determining to get healed.  Just like going to a medical doctor when your body is sick, a diagnosis of where the sickness in your soul lies would be necessary. This allows the helper (little h and big H) to assess your soul needs then give you the right prescription for healing. This could be an instantaneous healing but more than likely, will require a process of time and application of the correct soul food that will change and rearrange the affects and influences that your soul has endured in order to bring about true healing and restoration.

True soul healing comes by way of the Truth that sets us free (John 8:32). The feeding is the process, which is the application of the prescribed Word, along with prayer specific to you for your soul. It’s a time of yielding to and determining to “know the Truth” (by the way, Jesus is the Truth and is the Word of God – John 14:6, John 1:1-14). Most of what our souls are fed is counterfeit soul food. It looks good, smells good, sounds good, and for a time tastes real good, only to eventually make us sick in some ways (Romans 3:23).

Our call and purpose at CTC Counseling, including our training and all activities of Christian Training Center, is to help people find healing for their souls and/or to move forward in their lives, ministries or organizations with good, godly and healthy perspectives about conducting the business of life and living. Since our relocation to Virginia, we are reopening soon to be available to help you, your family, and friends, your church, ministry or organization get the soul healing that is yours to be had. We’ll also notify you of upcoming training sessions.

Call for a counseling appointment

at

757 454-6393

Be sure to leave a detailed message with your name, email address and available meeting times then we will be sure to get back to you, ready to serve up the kind of soul food that leads to a better lifestyle and relationships than what you are experiencing now! What you eat determines whether your daily living will be positive or negative and also leads to your eventual eternal existence.

Note: How we live and what we believe impacts our children and families either positively or negatively. Families were established by God and are the foundation of every other institution in society. Family Life God’s way can directly impact other families in our society. 

Purchase my new book on Amazon.com to help your family and other families live God’s Way. 

Family Life: Revolutionizing the Way Families Live & Love

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Life-Revolutionizing-Families-Live/dp/146641393X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428705176&sr=8-1&keywords=rosalind+stanley

EMOTIONAL WHOLENESS

This is a topic that can go many ways. However, I am choosing as a basis, the biblical worldview along with insights from secular mental health. Both have validity. Both help in the process of Emotional Wholeness.

I recently attended a webinar put on by SAMSHA (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) which covered this very issue. The need for faith communities to connect with mental health providers and vice versa in order to be better equipped at reaching the millions of Americans dealing with some level of emotional / mental health issue.

You see, the term mental health distracts us from the fact that some parts of a persons issues are emotional however are connected to their thoughts (mental). And, some of the mental issues, especially diagnosable mental disorders, are connected to the physical, meaning the brain and it’s chemical activity. And some come in the form of actual physical sickness when not properly addressed and/ or treated from an emotional/mental/spiritual perspective. Some issues are spiritual in nature that then affect the emotional, mental, and physical aspects of a person.

Much of this information requires educational awareness from these different entities and directed at different populations of society for understanding, respect, and positive action to be implemented. This is what I appreciated about the SAMSHA webinar. The spiritual (and again, my worldview is biblical), secular mental or behavioral health, and related medical aspects are important to be understood and addressed. Often, we overlook all of the possibilities of a persons emotional problems because we are narrow minded or shortsighted because of our beliefs, area of expertise, or limited understanding.

Emotional Wholeness means being emotionally healthy. Healthy brings to us the connotation of being healed. All of us at one time or another suffer an emotional crisis; a death of a loved one, a broken relationship, a church, work, friend or family betrayal, failed attempts at what we see as success, disappointments of various kinds or fear and anxiety due to the pressures of life or realities of terrorism and war.

All of these and other items can produce emotional distress and cause a temporary period of emotional duress. Some people process through it in a healthy manner and come out stronger having learned their capacity to cope in a healthy manner at deeper levels. Others respond by engaging negative coping mechanisms which if activated for too long become a destruction force to their emotional well being. Even though seeking assistance when dealing with an emotional issue is warranted, it is especially recommended when negative ways of coping continue.

Each of us, unless there truly is an untreatable brain disorder (which is questionable by those who believe in consistent soaking prayer), has the capacity for emotional problems. Grief, anger, anxiety, bitterness, resentment, rejection, sadness, depression, ungodly, negative or irrational thinking, unforgiveness, relationship issues, and the list can go on, introduce themselves to all of us at varying times of life. To address them (deal with them) is essential to Emotional Wholeness. Not dealing with them in an appropriate and healthy manner leads to our own demise, very subtlety.

Many of us carry with us, from our backgrounds, pride that we can handle it by ourselves. Or, we subconsciously believe that if we share the truth about our emotional pain and/or our ungodly, negative, irrational thinking (use the term that you are most comfortable with), or “stinkin’ thinkin,” that we will be looked upon negatively. This is when it is recommended that you seek out someone, (even a friend or family member) whom will be confidential. All mental health providers and pastoral counselor’s or church leaders (should) are held to a vow of confidentiality.

Some people don’t really recognize that they have an emotional issue, only that they tend not to get along with a number of people or don’t have friends or end up in arguments and fights more often than most people, or keep starting a romantic relationship that never blossoms into a keeper, unfortunately blaming the other person or people.

Emotional Wholeness is your potential! It is possible! It may take a while, depending on your personal issues. But, aren’t you worth it? Or is worthiness your issue? My purpose in this writing is as usual, to help you. To suggest that you think through your life and issues, to think about yourself. Then to assess where you are and decide whether you are emotionally whole. Also, to decide that if you do have some unresolved issues, how will you handle them.

Lastly, let me say this, we need to stop judging each other the way that we do and realize that everyone is dealing with something, or has or will. And that the issues of our lives, though unknown to everyone, may in fact be affecting a person causing a particular attitude or response. That this is probably not their norm or is only their norm because of unaddressed emotional issues. Have compassion and empathy (put yourself in someone else’s shoes) and pray for them. Say a kind word to them. Encourage them regardless as to their attitude, words or behavior. If you cannot do this, accept the fact that you, too, have emotional or spiritual issues that need to be addressed, then address them.

We all need some help in some aspect of our lives. God made us to need one another and even commands us to help / love one another. Let’s change our world by working on changing ourselves. Then being more willing to be a complement to others rather than bringing wounding to the wounded.

[See the following passages in the Bible that speak about emotional healing: Isaiah 53:4&5, I Peter 2:24, and 3 John 1:2 (NKJV)]