Day Five – Removing Clutter

September 18, 2023

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV

I tell yah! I’m getting the hang of removing clutter! For months, weeks and days, I’ve been after my son concerning his stuff stored at my home. Well! He finally came back to Colorado to visit his children. And, yesterday, he stopped by to visit and go through his things. He had several large totes and a few backpacks stuffed with paperwork. As he was sorting through his belongings he was sweating and claiming my house was too hot. I felt fine. The temperature in my home was spot on for me! But! It wasn’t for him. He was the person doing the work clearing his clutter.

I learned from this moment that sometimes we crowd our lives with other people’s baggage, even when we don’t have space available. And if we don’t insist that they take their physical and emotional baggage with them it becomes ours, whether we want it or not, whether we can handle it or not. Let’s pray!

PRAYER

Father God, help us to know when and how to help others. Amen

Day Three – Removing Clutter

Friday, September 15, 2023

Failures and fears are the part of the journey we call life. Don’t let them stop you or derail you from your chose path.
Debasish Mridha

Well! Happy Friday! Yesterday, I was busy with other matters. It seems finding those spiders the other day [dead and alive] temporarily derailed me from my journey of decluttering. However the tasks I did accomplish were just as draining; yet, finding solutions to what seem to be unsolvable problems was emotionally freeing. So, I venture to write, I did work on removing clutter from my life but this time it was mental clutter. And! I say, emotional clutter is worse to manage than material clutter on any given day. Let’s pray!

PRAYER

Father God, keep us on task to free our wonderful lives from things that steal our joy. Amen

Day Two – Removing Clutter

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

You may have had unfair things happen to you, but the depth of your pain is an indication of the height of your future.
Joel Osteen

Yesterday, I prescribed during this clutter removing journey 15 minutes for meltdowns once a day, taken as needed. Why? Again, clutter is a sign of indecisions. Indecision leads to procrastination. Procrastination is the beginning and the end to some people living life in dark holes. Not me! I remember my beautiful life before spending the last seven or so years licking and tending the spiritual wounds of others, as my life fell deeply into despair. Inviably I too sustain spiritual wounds. But! My wounds went unattended because the circle of people I once traveled knew not how to care for them. In a nutshell, “life happened” and so did clutter. And! If I am to resume the life I once knew as a better person I must cry over my losses, give my burdens to God and allow Him to heal my wounded soul. For after all, it is He that controls the Universe. Let’s pray!

PRAYER

Father God, heal my wounded soul and the souls that are also wounded and reading this prayer. Amen

August 8, 2023

Finding Your Way – Living Your Life

“The lazy Christian has his mouth full of complaints, when the active Christian has his heart full of comforts.”
Thomas Brooks

My days always begin around 3 in the morning, long before I get up and start moving. I lay awake thinking about what I need to do first, ways of improving my life and how I can help my adult children reach their goals without being an overbearing meddlesome parent. However, on this particular day, I started with soaking the dishes from yesterday, folding clothes I’d washed and dried from yesterday, putting a load of clothes in the dryer from yesterday wash, putting another load of dirty clothing in the wash and waking my husband that isn’t mobile because of a bad hip to “Jeff, you need to wake up and start living your day.” In his mind I’m sure he’s thinking “what the heck can I do when I can barely walk.” And I know this is how he thinks because this is how he chooses to live! He waits on me and our son to do most everything for him . . . and sadly he’s enjoying the luxury so much that it robs him of having a meaningful life. Let’s pray!

PRAYER

Father God, Proverbs 20:4 says, “The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.” Lord help those that are struggling with laziness. To their dismay, them sitting around doing nothing but passing time waiting on others to do even the little things they can do for themselves rob them of abundant living. Open their eyes to the knowledge of strength is always gained by first helping ourselves and then others. Amen

August 5, 2023

Finding Your Way – Praying for Enemies

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. ‘ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
Matthew 4:43-45

Why the heck would anyone pray good things for their enemy! Really! That has always been my mindset for however long. Honestly, I don’t even know what interaction with whoever produced that spiritual hair-raising mindset. But! God opened my eyes to why we should pray for our enemies as I was telling my husband about all the demons that held my current enemies captive.

As I began to list all of their demons and say to my husband, “There isn’t anything good about them. Why does God allow them to live? They give nothing to making this world a better place.” OMG! No sooner than I spoke those words the Holy Spirit immediately with love and kindness showed me why God loves them despite what they’ve become and or what they’ve done to me. Simple, they are His and He wants to really be their Heavenly Father. And my mom’s death has put them in my life for however long it takes God to teach each person [directly or and indirectly] valuable lessons for our spiritual journey. Let’s pray!

PRAYER

Father, God, I love you more and more with each new day. Today, Lord, I pray for my enemies. I pray for peace for their wounded hearts and for your joy to enter their lives giving them hope for their life’s journey. In Jesus name I pray and in Jesus name I ask. Amen

July 27, 2023

Finding Your Way – Fruits of Suffering

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)

Happy throwback Thursday! Ten years ago, on July 26, 2013, I posted an inspirational story about the struggles of a butterfly. It was befitting for this however long series titled “Finding Your Way.”

I’ve often seen people fall completely apart when facing trials and tribulations. The emotional stresses tied to struggles sometimes paralyze folks to a point they can’t see the forest for the trees; thus, rendering them helpless. And as a result nothing gets done to the best of their ability. As to why finding your way through difficult situations is so very very important to living an abundant life.

“A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body. Neither happened! In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand: The restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us. We will not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly.” ~~Author Unknown

July 21, 2023

Finding Your Way – Evil Intentions

They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.
Isaiah 59:5

Yesterday my son called to tell me about his son’s unfortunate situation. It was identical to what he had experienced with his son’s mother. Apparently my grandson went to visit his toddler twin girls. When he got to their home he’d learned their mother had taken them elsewhere, thus, ensuring he would not get to visit with them. My grandson became upset and called his dad about his heart wrenching reality. My son told him not to do anything foolish over the matter and explained what had happened to him and what I’d told him about dating.

What I told my son when he was a young man: “if you want to know how a girl will act, meet her mom. Chances are she’s going to either be a carbon copy or polar opposite but more likely a carbon copy.” However that analogy can also be applied to social groups! If you want to know how a person thinks, observe the circle in which they travel. And! Even then you gotta be careful because you will always find chameleons in any social structure.

My grandson is very young and has little to no life experience; therefore, he’s paying a heavy price for his youthful follies. I pray he makes it to manhood without too much emotional baggage. Because, sadly, he’s not getting it when it comes to cultivating healthy relationships. His drive to score sexual encounters prohibits him from learning everyone has desires and or agendas. Let’s pray!

PRAYER
Father God, thank you for this day not promised. Heal the brokenness of people that have cultivated evil in their hearts. Speak peace and blessings to their life. Amen

July 20, 2023

Finding Your Way – Perfect Peace

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3

A few days ago I was in a meeting that I’d hoped for a better outcome that would end years of infighting. It was clear from the opposing side there was no resolution because their message was about getting revenge based upon their objections that were filled with lies and half-truths. As I sat in silence I listened intently and wrote most if not all of their grievances. And as each of their complaints were addressed with satisfactory and truthful answers to explain my actions, then they began to inundate the meeting with off-the-cuff complaints. And I’d already addressed foreseeable issues before they became an avenue for anyone to say I’d wrong them. Today as I start my day I’m in “perfect peace” because my mind and my actions were done for the love I have for Christ. I live my life in such a way that I want to convey to God I’m grateful for every blade of grass. Because! I learned decades ago we can only be our best and have perfect peace when we learn the art of gratefulness in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER

Father, someone’s life is filled with an untold amount of stress. Speak gently to their souls on being grateful as learning this critical life lesson will open the door to your perfect peace. Amen

June 26, 2023

Finding Your Way – You’re Loved

“Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared this story and if I have I’m sorry for sharing it again but it’s such a powerful story that displays God’s love for you and I. I’ve been trying to change how I reach people concerning how they matter because I don’t want to send the message that I’m down on my luck. Especially since I have an amazing life! But! There was a time life sucked for me and my children. Well! Let me stop writing about whatever’s and get to the story. It’s long but worth every moment you read this message.

I had a brother once. He was my all in all when it came to family. Sadly, he was accidently killed by friends. I think I’ve shared how he died with you once or twice but I’m not sure. Well anyway when he died I felt alone in the world. I asked God why he took the only person I knew loved me. I was angry! Yet life kept on rolling. The trash was being picked up and people were going about their days as my heart was crushed. One day I went home and sat in a corner in my living room and began telling God about how I felt. That’s when he showed up! Literally! He was so big and we were so connected that I felt His presence was infinite. I’ll never forget that moment nor that day! Because that moment reminds me when I feel unloved and unlovable that I am loved.

PRAYER

Father God, thank you for a day not promised. Help us live life to its fullest showing you appreciation for your never ending mercies. And my special request is, if you’re not too busy can you please stop by and visit with a believer and or an unbeliever that is suffering from broken hearts, thus showing them you care. Loving you always! Amen

P.S.
God does love you and I love you too! I’m just an email away! Write me anytime. If I don’t respond post a comment letting me know you sent me an email and I promise to respond. Blessings to you and yours from me and mine. ~Annette

June 16, 2023

Finding Your Way – The Choices of Others

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be: and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9

Back in the day when I was a younger mom, single and very envious of those I thought were doing better than myself, a sister in Christ said, “I’ve learned to grow where I’ve been planted.” Back then l was puzzled by her statement. Honestly her savory words went over my head because she was one of those people I envied. She was married and her children had a father; therefore, I’d summed up her life as the greatest! Never comprehending everything she knew and loved with the exception of her husband and their children was down South as she learned to live in Colorado. And as a young woman she was having to navigate through life’s journey trusting God’s promises without being under her parent(s) love and guidance. Today, I feel great shame about my past mindset. It never dawned on me that she was making the best of life despite a choice or a series of choices made outside of self.

PRAYER

Father God, thank you for life. Today I pray for those that struggle with envy. It shields true feelings concerning fear, failure, hate and starting over. In essence it’s robbing people of living their best life. Give their minds and restless spirits your peace in learning and putting into action how to grow where they’ve been planted despite unfavorable choices. Amen