Several previous blogs that you might find helpful if you desire additional perspectives on quieting your mind and focusing on God are Has Fear Nested In Your Faith? and Is Your Journey Hopefull or Hopeless.

I find for myself the following four steps help me quiet my mind and focus on God.

Step 1: Maintain a Schedule

Whether you are working, retired, or a student, set and keep a schedule. The regularity of routine reduces stress. Two important factors include sleeping and eating. You don’t always have to set an alarm to keep a wake-up schedule. In our area, the birds are the alarm clock. For others, it may be the angle of the sun shining through the window. Whatever regularly wakes you up, get up with anticipation of a good day provided by God.

You also need to decide what your regular eating schedule may be. Some people do intermittent fasting. Others believe in three meals-a-day. Some eat only when they are hungry. Whatever you choose, being consistent in your meal times allows your body to function in the balance between rest and metabolism. If on certain occasions you are hungry or there is an opportunity to eat “off your schedule,” don’t let that become your stress. Maybe a lunch or coffee with a friend is just the moment you need to quiet your mind.

Additional regularly scheduled events may include your bath/shower, teeth brushing, and other personal care activities. When you keep these at regular scheduled times, again your body and mind are able to relax. This is especially important as you wind down for your evening, bedtime routine. While some people might claim that a schedule confines them, a schedule can free your mind of the constant chatter of “what’s next.”

Step 2: Ability to say, NO!

This may be very difficult at first. Too many times we don’t want to hurt someone else’s feelings or think a task won’t get completed. No is your safety valve in protecting your time and your sanity. I spoke with a friend the other day, and the conversation was about getting people involved in an upcoming project. I told her I realized she was busy and I might need to ask someone else. She said, “You know, they say if you want to get something done, ask someone who is busy. You know they will finish the task.”

I’m getting better at saying no. Remember, if you set your schedule, you honestly can say “No” because you know it won’t fit into the time you have allotted. You are the only one who will protect you. One example in my life is being asked to bake treats for the Church Fellowship time on Sunday morning. I know that will take extra time on Saturday or early Sunday morning that doesn’t fit into my routine. I volunteered to give money on a regular basis to provide coffee, paper goods, and other items. I’m able to experience the comradery with the other ladies, and still protect my needed space.

There will be times that emergencies arise and we have no choice but to say yes. That is important in our loving compassion for those around us. But, if we are always saying yes, without regard for our own physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health; we have become slaves to the acceptance by other people. Remember, Jesus said in Mark 12:30-31 and Matthew 22:37-39, that the second commandment after loving the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” An anonymous writer states, “in order to be kind, compassionate, and generous to our neighbor, we must first be these things to ourselves.”

Step 3: Reduce Social Media and News

Check out the previous posts suggested. I look around and think that God never intended for humanity to be as busy as we are and as bombarded by electronic information that has mushroomed over the last several decades. This too can fit into your scheduled time. I can be a news junkie if left to my own devices. I have chosen not to start the day with news, because I wouldn’t find the “right” time to turn it off. I’d not want to miss the next “breaking news.” I have chosen to watch one-hour of lunch news and evening news. I avoid looking at FaceBook and other social media posts during my “working” hours. I give myself a limited time each evening to catch up on electronic news feeds or family FaceBook posts.

I know there are some people that live on their social media platforms. They are sitting and waiting to see the next comment or post. Too often this gets people trapped in the emotional drama that seems to permeate cyberspace that is far removed from the conventional norms of respectful discussion in a face-to-face environment. My husband has started to block and delete long-held friends. Not because they have differing opinions, but because of their hateful and nasty comments. Reading those types of comments created headaches, upset stomach, and sleepless nights. Again, you will be the only person who will take care of you. This is when repeating the Serenity Prayer can be helpful to detach from the actions of others.

Step 4: Surround Yourself with Positive People and Sounds

You really do have the ability to choose whom you surround yourself with. There are interactions that cannot be avoided, but you can limit the time spent with individuals that surround themselves with negative vibes. Begin to take assessment of the people in your life. Is it the people or could it be the location? There are some places you may find that are less than positive because of the music or the scenery. I’ve found that certain music in restaurants takes my mind back to the sadness of my adolescence.

This leads to your ability to choose the music or sounds within your environment. Make every effort to choose uplifting and encouraging sounds and sights that come into your eye and ear gates.

Furthermore, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are worthy love, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, or if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8

So, I encourage you to take a deep breath next time your mind seems to be off to the races to be fearful, discouraged, or overwhelmed with negative thoughts that won’t stop.  After that deep breath, quote the Serenity Prayer to remind yourself that you (and I) have NO control over others and their actions or reactions.  The only thing we do have control over is ourselves…and often that is a FULL TIME JOB!  Let go and let God! 

In the craziness of our world, it takes tremendous effort to find a quiet place. It takes time to quiet your mind and your heart before the Lord.

Francis Chan

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God bless you. Stay hopeful!

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There really aren’t that many in Scripture, seven I think, but the question came up, “Why did God make so many holidays? Why did He even care about something like that?” In Leviticus, God calls the days memorials, and when referring to one of them, God said it was “so that each new generation will know.” Those special days were not only a reminder of who God is and what He did for the Jews of that time but also a way of teaching their children and grandchildren who God is.

So what does this have to do with Halloween? You may already know that Halloween’s original name was All Hallows Even (or Eve). It was shortened to Hallowe’en and then to Halloween. And just like Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas and New Year’s Eve is the night before New Year’s Day, All Hallows Eve was the night before All Hallows Day. All Hallows Day most likely can trace its roots back to a day set aside to honor Christian martyrs. By the 700s, the festival had evolved to include all saints and was consistently celebrated on November 1.

Well, all you need to do is walk the aisles of Target or look out your front window at the neighborhood decorations to know that the holiday has “evolved” a lot more since then. And while all that can be an issue to be dealt with by Christians, my point is that the holiday itself was originally an attempt to honor those who had given their lives for God’s glory. Some Christian traditions, on each day of the year, celebrate a different man or woman who lived their lives for God. As long as the people are not worshipped, this can be a great way to recognize God’s work in the life of His people and celebrate it. Just like the ancient Jews were told to observe special days to remind them of God’s goodness and use them as tools to teach their children, we can use our holidays now in the same way.

As I mentioned earlier, God called the weekly Sabbath day one of these holy, special days. We not only need a few special days each year, we need weekly (and daily!) reminders because we so quickly become anxious and forget the love and power of our God. Holidays can help us remember what God has done in the past, what He is doing in our lives and world now, and because He does not change, what He will do in the future. So use every chance you get to remind yourselves, your kids, your grandkids, and those around you who God is and what He has done in your life. Even Halloween.

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God bless you. Stay hopeful!

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Time Keeps on Slipping Into the Future and Time in a Bottle

Or what about the music groups Journey and Foreigner?

We have a certain attitude as we move through this journey of life. The attitude is either one of hope or hopelessness.  An attitude of looking at the glass half full or half empty.

Definitions:

Hope – (noun) the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; (verb) to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence; to believe desire or trust.

Less – (adverb) to a smaller extent, amount or degree; most certainly not; (adjective) smaller in size, amount, degree, lower in consideration, rank, or importance; (noun) something inferior or not as important.

Full – (adjective) completely filled; containing all that can be held; filled to utmost capacity; (adverb) exactly, directly, very; (verb) to make full as by gathering, pleating, or tucking material.

Too often we place our hope in what we can see, things like our spouse, job, government, education, or healthcare.

However, our real hope to gain “fullness” rather than “lessness” is in looking to Jesus.  Colossians 1:27 tells us that the Christ within us is the HOPE of GLORY.  Our hopeFULLNESS is in “Jesus BLOOD and RIGHTEOUSNESS”

(Think of the hymn: “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”).

HopeLESSNESS is when we look to “chariots and horses… governments and banks (Psalm 20:7)” to be our resource, rescuer, or our savior.

My hope is in King Jesus, and Jesus alone.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, not yet seen.”

(Hebrews 11:1)

Let us begin to believe what the Bible says, “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Let our faith arise to believe and then live as if we believe that God is FAITHFUL to Himself and His word. What He says He will do, will be done!

What promise in God’s word do you need to latch onto and hold on unwavering in hope until you see God moving on your behalf? Once you’ve seen God work in your life it stirs the inner you to have hopeFULNESS in God, not hopeLESSNESS in your circumstances.

In God’s economy Hope equals FAITH and Hopelessness equals FEAR. A Hope filled journey is not one without trouble. Jesus himself said “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b).

Jesus also said, “…for he (God) makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

Begin to look at God’s ability to create beauty for ashes in whatever the circumstance you are facing…God alone brings HOPE to the hopeless.

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God bless you. Stay hopeful!

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1. To give something to someone and receive something in return.
2. A marketplace where financial securities are bought and sold.
3. A conversation or discussion between two or more people.
4. A point where passengers, cargo, or vehicles change from one form of transportation to another.

You have probably experienced each form of exchange listed.  Can you imagine what the number of exchanges is per day worldwide?  I asked the app to tell me.  It replied that based upon the four listed definitions, it could be billions or trillions.

The Great Biblical Exchanges

Did you know Biblically there have been only two great exchanges?

• The first exchange was when Adam traded the Glory of God as his covering and inheritance.
• The second exchange was Jesus redeeming and buying back the covering of God’s Glory and the inheritance God intended for His children.

Every account within the Bible demonstrates God’s interaction with humanity as individuals and as nations.  The Bible proclaims God’s communication in an effort to showcase how Adam’s and Jesus’ choices affect humanity’s lives today.

Many people live day to day without awareness they are living in a spiritual realm governed by God. This spiritual realm is governed by the choices we make regarding our belief or not in God.  Our day-to-day living is a constant marketplace of whether we receive or deny the gift of Jesus’ redemption to buy back our inheritance.  The destination of one’s soul and spirit after the physical body dies is a transition to either Heaven or Hell. This is an example of the transportation of exchange.

What Are the Great Exchanges?

If you are like most stock traders, they never make an exchange without researching the commodity in which they are interested.  Here is a brief overview of the GREAT EXCHANGE that governs the lives of humanity.

Adam and Eve

• Made in God’s Image

“So God made man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1:27

“This is the book of the generations of Adam.  When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.”

Genesis 5:1

• Communicated With God

Genesis Chapter 2 and Chapter 3

• Administered God’s Authority (Inheritance)

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Genesis 1:28

• Forfeited Inheritance

“The ground is cursed because of you.  Through hard work you will eat food that comes from it every day of your life.  So God sent the man out of the Garden of Eden to farm the ground from which the man had been formed.”

Genesis 3:17, 23

GOD TO THE RESCUE

• We are His Children

“Know that the LORD is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

Psalm 100:3

• This is My Father’s World

“The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it.”

Psalm 24:1

• Plans to Provide for Your Future

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

• Knew You Before Your Birth

(King David speaking of God) “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb….Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Psalm 139:13-16

Jesus and the Cross

• Significance of ATONEMENT (EXCHANGE)

Definition of Atonement: Noun – Satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.

• Jesus the PERFECT SACRIFICE (EXCHANGE)

“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith…”

Romans 3:25a

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

Romans 5:19

What is Our Response?

Not making a choice is choosing to remain in the separated state from God that was initiated by the transaction of Adam and Eve.

God knew His love would be spurned even before time began.  But, He provided the exchange to align His children with the Glory and inheritance He planned from the beginning.  A choice to believe that God has loved us since before time began is the BEST choice we could make.

When we choose to believe in Jesus’ transaction of redemption, we also now choose to allow our lives to be transformed into His image and reflection of His character here on Earth.  We become part of the Great Exchange and tell others of the unimaginable, but free LOVE gift of being brought into the family of God.

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God bless you. Stay hopeful!

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