Being Generous in a Financial Crisis

Psalm 112:5 (New International Version)

⁵ Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.

Wow, what an awesome promise! Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely.

When I read this I think “Well that is all well and good but I have my own issues, it is a recession. How in the heck can I be generous?” Really, how?

This is one of those times that I can’t do it on my own. I can’t be that kind of generous because my sinful self, and this world tells me when times I hard I need to look out for me and my own. It is a time when I really need God’s love in my life to help me to let go and know that since it is God’s will it is good.

Dear Lord,

I pray to you for the kind of faith that allows me to do good and follow your will even though times in the world seem hard. I pray for that kind of generosity and love when I feel the opposite.

Amen.

Can I have faith like Peter?

“But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”- Matthew 16:15-16

Jesus asked Peter who he thought he was and Peter answered him faithfully! "You are the Christ"!

wow!

Can I have faith like Peter? no, not on my own anyway, my sinful self won't let me. It is not as easy as saying I believe. I only believe through the holy spirit who brings the understanding of my Lord and savior Jesus Christ into my heart. Can I have faith like Peter?

Yes, with Christ's help which is always available. Christ loves me and wants to help me and I can pray and feel his loving arms wrap around me. Can I have the kind of faith that when asked who Jesus is to me I can answer "the Christ, the son of God, who came into this world and died for my sins, who loves me so much that he saved me from the sinful self that couldn't possibly embrace his love.

Do I have faith like Peter?

Yes! Because Christ died for my sins, I have the faith that he is my savior!


My Prayer:

Dear Lord,

Thank you for coming into this world and saving my life. Thank you for saving me from the sinful self that does not allow me to experience your love. Thank you for life Lord! I love you and I thank you for the ability to love you.

Amen

Response to project anxiety

Stop, do not worry, you are God's child. Rejoice in being here and able to work and be happy for the challenge of a difficult project. Look forward to the harder projects, it means you are worthy and it means you can do it. You would not have been chosen to do a project you are incapable of.
Stop worrying, stop second guessing and stop asking for validation.
I am great!
I am am confident!
and I can do it!

Can't write, too busy dealing with my writers block

Me: Here I go, sitting down to write in my blog.
Resistance: What do you mean write? You can't write, you don't have any ideas.
Me: I guess that' s true but shouldn't I at least try?
Resistance: Why try? You don't have anything to write about, you would just be wasting your time! Why not do something more productive like read TV show summaries on Wikipedia?
Me: While that does sound appealing I really enjoy working on my blog. It is all about the process for me and I should probably just sit down and write something.
Resistance: That is ridiculous and foolish, there is no point in writing anything unless it is perfect the first time.
Me: That is not what my good friend and coach Tara Rodden Robinson says on her blog. She says that I should meet inspiration halfway by either stimulating my creativity or just writing something.
Resistance: Oh no! not Tara! You have bested my with your use of the best performance coach around. But I will be back the next time you pick up your camera!

Being Happy is a Choice

Is being happy a choice? When I have felt unhappy in the past it definitely did not feel like a choice but there have been things that have helped me get through an unhappy or depressed period that we do have the choice to take.

• Look up a friend and talk to them, let them know you are unhappy and talk about it.
• Smile on purpose - Even if you are unhappy smiling or laughing on purpose can help.
• Write a gratitude journal - often for me, being unhappy can result from dwelling on negative feelings and negatives occurences. Try writing 5 things you are grateful for that happened during the day each night (or in the morning, whatever works best for your schedule).
• Pray - the Lord's love is with you even in a bad time; he loves you when you have done something wrong and feel guilty, and he loves you when you are depressed. Talk with him.

Being happy might not feel voluntary at times but we can choose to do something about it. By taking action we are choosing to be happy, by not we choose unhappiness.

Do not be ashamed of the Gospel!

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”- Romans 1:16

I love this one! It is a great help in a troubled time where it can be "offensive" to share Christian faith.

My Prayer:

Dear Lord,

I praise your Glorious majestic name open and in the streets! I am a poor and unworthy sinner who is incapable of good no matter how hard I try and I thank you for entering my heart and forgiving my sins! Please give myself and other Christians the strength to stand up and proclaim the glory of the salvation you promise us no matter where we are! I love you and praise you Lord and pray in Jesus' name!
Amen.

Some of the Daily reminders I use every day

I keep a daily reminder list in Remember the milk as am item in my !daily list. Here are my current reminders.

It is OK to be high energy even when you don't have energy, greet everyone who comes in with the best smile you can muster! Always give your best no matter how much you have left!

Remember resistance is the enemy! if you feel resistance to doing something that is the exact thing your soul wants to do!

Remember to smile big and smile often when people are there and when they are not.
Smile at God and rejoice in the smile you get back from him all the time.

I am God's child and the people I interact with are also God's children.
Love them by listening to them and making that moment about them. Stay with God in prayer and live your day trusting God's glorious will!

Smile big

Remember to smile big and smile often when people are there and when they are not. Smile at God and rejoice in the smile you get back from him all the time.

Prayerful affirmation for a more loving prayerful day

I am God's child and the people I interact with are also God's children. Love them by listening to them and making that moment about them. Stay with God in prayer and live your day trusting God's glorious will!

My hair will be pink in October

Every year I run or walk with my team in the Susan G. Komen race for the cure! This year is amazing in that I not only can support the cause by raising funds and participating in the event, I can help support my friend Tara who is walking in the 60 mile Breast Cancer 3 day!!
Please visit Tara's HQ on the Komen 3 Day site and read about the work the foundation does.
http://tinyurl.com/tara3day

She is almost half way to her goal of $2300 so please visit and support her even if you can only donate as much as $5 it will make a big difference. She only has to September so help is needed!

My Team's goal is $3000 and if we make it I will be dyeing my hair pink for the entire month of October. If you are able to come down to Temecula on October 18th 2009 and would like to join me in the walk please go to http://tinyurl.com/KomenHikers to sign up.

Please pick Tara over me. I have a team and ton's of fund raising efforts behind me and my goals for the Susan G. Komen foundation, so if you would like to support this cause please donate to Tara's goal - http://tinyurl.com/tara3day She is on her own working very hard and she needs the help. Tara, you are the cure!

You are welcome to join me walking and raising funds so if you can come down to Temecula on Oct 18th you are welcome join me!

Meditation challenge - listen to music

I challenge you to do something simple. Listen to entire song doing nothing else but listening. Sit, lay, lounge, etc and listen to an entire song without thinking, multitasking, etc.. Give the song your full attention.
An average song is 2.5 minutes long. You can do it right?
You may be surprised. I just tested this concept and I am almost picked up my phone to tweet 3 times.
This is a good mental exercise so I hope you try it and practice it often.

Fishers of men

Here is the prayer offered in my daily devotional and my prayer inspired by it.

Today's prayer -
Dear Lord, You have told Your disciples to fish for souls. Grant us the willingness to follow Your instruction and send the Holy Spirit so the catch may be blessed. In Your Name, I ask it. Amen.

Dear Lord, please help me to not only witness your word but to want to. Fill me with your holy spirit to help me be an example of Christian life to help bring people to you. Please help me not only to do this but to want it with every fiber of my being.

Amen.

I find myself torn when praying. Sometimes i just go with the motions in prayer and ask God to do things for me and ask him to help me do things I think he wants for me. I feel like this isn't enough, I feel like what I should be doing is praying for God's will and praying to actually want it rather then just praying for it to be in my life. If God's will is there I might be too scared to actually move forward with it. Courage is not exactly my strong trait. I pray,

Dear Lord! I praise you and worship you! I confess that I am sinner and cannot accomplish anything on my own Lord and most of the time I do not want your will in my life. I pray to enter my heart and help to shape my desires to be your desires! In your holy name,

Amen!