Monday's Blessing
Isaiah 54:13

"And all your spiritual children shall be disciples, taught by the Lord and obedient to His will, and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children."

Gosh, emotions are difficult to deal with.

Furthermore, any number of physiological factors can offset you.  Besides the issue at hand, your central nervous system can become easily overwhelmed from a number of factors.  Some of these include:
​

• Anxiety, panic, hyperactivity
• Exaggerated startle response
• Inability to relax
• Restlessness
• Hypervigilance
• Digestive problems
• Emotional flooding
• Chronic pain
• Sleeplessness
• Hostility, irritability and rage
• Chronic Illness

Our emotions tend to ebb and flow like the ocean waves.  It would be wonderful if they asked permission to come and go, but they don't.  They just do their own thing, and without warning.  If you have any of the above issues, it can compound things quite a bit. Knowing that you have an added excitement factor can help keep things on track.

A rebellious child does a lot o things without a parent's permission, and just wishing that child wouldn't do that won't change a thing.  The parent must discipline the child to bring about change.  The same principal holds true with emotions.  They are often like rebellious children, and the longer they are allowed to do as they please, the more difficult it is to control them.

If we are unable to get the situation under control, symptoms of Parasympathetic Response will be:

• Depression
• Flat affect
• Lethargy
• Deadness
• Exhaustion and chronic fatigue
• Disorientation
• Disconnection and dissociation
• Complex syndromes
• Chronic pain
• Low blood pressure
• Poor digestion

The first 15 years of my life were spent inner-city.  Here emotions were volatile, and it seemed normal to let them rule my life.  I learned that if you didn't get what you wanted, you yelled, argued, and stayed angry until you got your way.  I learned how to manipulate people by making them feel guilty.  Starting at an early age took years to undo what I learned and accept people for who they are.

I encourage you to control yourself and teach your children at an early age how to do the same thing.  If it is too late for that, then begin where you are now, because it is never too late do the right thing.  
​
This Week's Meditation:

I trust you God to call on me to get my emotions in check. 

Pray:

Help me to confront each situation as it comes.
Don't allow my emotions to control me.  
I know freedom from this is a blessing given by you.

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind.  And realize God has you in his arms always.

Monday's Blessing
Hebrews 10:22

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

A guilty conscience is a miserable thing to live with.

There are some things you should keep between you and God, but there are some things that need to be brought out in the open. Here's John's story:

John worked for a HUGE Fortune 500 company.  His life was looking up each day as he quickly made friends with one of the senior advisers.  He was young, wet behind the ears, and learning the ropes.  Because of his quick-whited thinking skills that could answer questions outside the box, John was often asked for his opinion from his boss.

One day his boss bent John's ear concerning a fellow employee, Ben.  Ben had been working for the company six years and was a trusted employee.  There was a position opening up, senior marketing adviser, and John's boss thought he'd be a commendable pick with all his experience.  But, there were a few personal "short comings" with him that he noted from the water cooler gossip floating around the room.  

John wanted that position, but he was under qualified.  So he quickly embellished any scenario he heard about Ben.  His boss listened intently and become quite concerned over his over indulgence with alcohol during happy hours at a local bar.  Of course, this story was "padded" from John's perspective as it only happened once.

Knowing he had his bosses full attention, he added a few more ugly details about his personal life.

John got the job.  His boss "threw caution to the wind" and decided John had the determination and loyalty the company demanded.

A few short years later, John and Ben became best friends.  They shared life together which included work, family, and golf on the green.  

10 years later, after the birth of his children, John found his Christian roots and began attending church.  What he had done to his friend began to plague him more.  It got to the point he had trouble looking him in the eye.

John finally spilled the beans.  He couldn't stand it any longer.  

Ben, fully startled, looked back at John.  "How could you? I always trusted you."

But, Ben had risen in the company over the years and was not in a position to ostracize his friend. He uttered, "Hey, it's been a long time.  No hard feelings.  You free this Saturday?"

John was convinced if he had not obeyed God' calling life would have taken a drastic change.  God is willing to forgive us for anything, but we must confess it and make restitution wherever possible. 

This Week's Meditation:

I trust you God to call on me to cleanse my conscience. 

Pray:

Help me to confront a situation from my past.
Don't allow my fear of consequences to deter me.  
I know freedom is waiting for me on the other side.

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind.  And realize God has you in his arms always.

​Monday's Blessing
Matthew 26:8

"And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, For what purpose is all this waste?"

Reading crucial Christian texts inspire poverty and living amongst pestilence. After all, all of our great saints have removed all worldly possessions and lived among some of the most incomprehensible places on earth.  Places that we wouldn't even dream of taking a step in let alone working with those most unfortunate.  

This ideology follows us.  After all, to be a good follower and practice the faith we must learn to be tolerable, roll up our sleeves, and infiltrate such opportunities.  Knowing our great forefathers followed such direction initiates such thoughts in our own current situations.  Sometimes, those thoughts are so deeply ingrained that we feel guilty for some of life's guilty pleasures.  

These teachings come from the Bible which encourages prudence.  God wants us to be good managers of our resources and not be wasteful.  But, there are times God has a tendency to get extravagant with those he loves.  He wants us to bask in what he gives us because he loves us.  

Instead when we are blessed proficiently we get stingy and cheap. We think, "Oh, look isn't this wonderful?! But, I don't really need that; I can do without it."

I think when these opportunities are laid at our feet, we deprive ourselves sometimes thinking we are not worth the indulgence. We don't want to waste anything for ourselves - after all, someone may need it - a child, husband, or other family member.  In trying NOT to WASTE anything we miss out on God's special blessing for ourselves.  Then we whine, "My life is so full - I have no time for me! I am so busy doing for everyone else!"

Take another look at today's verse.  It is a time right before Christ's suffering.  He went to Simon's house, where a woman named Mary came up to him and poured expensive perfume on his head as he was relaxing at a table.  He must have just finished a wonderful meal from his friends.  When the disciples saw what she did that became angered and exclaimed, "For what purpose is all this WASTE?!" They went on to state, "This perfume could have been sold and money given to the pour."

Oh how we miss messages.  Jesus spoke often of the poor.  He encouraged all to remember to help those in need.  He NEVER stated that we must deprive ourselves of any indulgences in the meantime.

He quickly turned and told them not to bother the woman, because she had done a wonderful thing for him.  He added that such a thing helped him prepare for the days ahead.  (Matthew 26:6-12) This love she showed him helped give him strength for the upcoming persecution, trail, suffering, crucifixion, and death.  

Jesus was stating at this point and time in his life, the extravagance was worth it.  

Don't live a reckless, wasteful life, but do remember at times you are work a little extravagance.  

This Week's Meditation:

My happiness and function with God are one.

Pray:

God gives me happiness.
​During these times I must accept graciously.   
My happiness and function are one with God.

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind.  And realize God has you in his arms always.

Monday's Blessing
Romans 9:1

"I am speaking the truth in Christ.  I am not lying; my conscience (enlightened and prompted) by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me........"

Nobody likes a fake deal.  It's ingrained.  We don't like fake advertising, phony small-talk, or fake people.  In our world there's that great facade game.  People put on plastic smiles and tell everyone they are fine while inside their world is crumbling.  We are fantastic illusionists.  

I believe we do all of this because as Christians we often believe we should feel better than we actually do, or that it is wrong to feel the way we do, so we hide our true feelings from everyone.  Sometimes we try to hide these deep feelings from ourselves.  We pretend to have faith while we are full of doubt.  We pretend be happy while we are simply miserable.  We even pretend to be in control and have it all together, but at home, behind closed doors, we are totally different people.

We don't want to admit we are living phony lives, so we stay so busy so we never  have to deal with things as they really are.  We may even bury ourselves in volunteer or church activities so that God's blessings will "find its way" into our lives.  But, actually we are not speaking with God, we are hiding from God hoping we'll gather his love by osmosis. During these times, he is showing us truth, but we'd rather immerse ourselves in work for him rather than really listen to him.  

Well, God wants us to be honest and real with him, too.  Don't fall into a trap thinking all your feelings are wrong.  After all, he did wire us.  He knows us.  Being a person of faith does not mean you will never have negative or ungodly feelings.  We will experience feelings that need to be dealt with, but we can always exercise our faith in God and ask Him to help us not allow our feelings to control us.  The Bible says we live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). That means we don't make decisions based on what we see or feel, but according to our faith in God and His promises to us.

This Week's Meditation:

I am under no laws but God's.

Pray:

I offer up to you the good, bad, and ugly.
I trust you will deliver me from this mess. 

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind.  And realize God has you in his arms always.