Category: Give Yourself Permission To Live Your Best Life

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Recent events have left me heartbroken. Confused.

The Bible told me certain things that don’t seem to be happening on my timetable. After talks with a very kind man, who died in 2014, I came to believe in the following:

“Trust in The Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways-acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths”-Proverbs 3:5-6

I just don’t understand. Did I not trust enough? Did I not listen enough? Because about 5 years ago, just after he died, just after my life seemed to be fitting into place, it shattered. A final horrible shatter. Causing aftershocks lasting until today.

I tried so hard to get it back on the right path. But it just seemed that the harder I tried, the harder others worked to take me down.

So then why the following statements in the Bible? Are they actually real?

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

Do NOT WORRY;

Matthew 6:33 “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”

Matthew 10:38 “whoever does not take up there cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it”.

I gotta tell you-I am so confused. I don’t know if I did the right thing or not, but I lost the ability to have two most important things in my life under my roof a significant portion of the time and I feel like a complete and utter failure. Worse yet-I have struggled the last few days feeling like God failed me.

However, I want you to understand that you need to read to the end. This post will be happy. After all-life is full of ups and downs, right? And God never promised that our life would end up exactly how WE wanted. It will end up how HE wants it to end up.

These are the final instructions from Paul in 1 Thessalonians 16:

“Rejoice Always, 17Pray Continuously, 18Give Thanks In ALL CIRCUMSTANCES: for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Paul to the Philippians:

“Rejoice in the Lord Always. I will say it again: Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which trancends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus”

What causes fear?

The threat of loss.

Loss of money.

Loss of children.

Loss of job.

Loss of husband.

Loss of house.

Loss of friends.

Loss of family.

Loss of dignity.

I have a secret to tell you.

You don’t have to fear. There is nothing to lose because God has already written your book. The devil wants you to believe that he hasn’t. However, Colossians 17 says this:

“He is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

I was three years old when my new husband was given this New Testament Bible.

Quite perfect for a blog such as this, don’t you think?

I was brought up Catholic. When I thought of God, I thought of a loving father who looked at me with happy eyes, unless, of course – I did something bad. When I was little, those bad things weren’t so bad. Maybe I tried to incriminate my brother for something that I actually did. Or, maybe I said the Lord’s name in vain.

As I got older, those bad things I did got worse. I started to think that God was mad at me. The Catholic Diocese that I was in did not do a good job of letting us know that everyone sins and that God still loves us. The Catholic guilt set in – the number of sins that I was completing were beginning to rack up. And my fear of going to confession was increasing. My fear of pretty much EVERYTHING Kept increasing. I was a worrier. And it was the 90’s. People didn’t talk about worry much – they just told people not to do it. So if you were a worrier (like me) and couldn’t stop – you thought something was wrong with you.

When I was in my 20’s, I met a boy who wasn’t very churched, so we decided to settle on a Methodist Church. Within the early days of this Methodist Church, I learned that God was a God of love and understanding. Mark 10:17 and Matthew 6:25 were two often read passages and sermons were easily made from these.

I Joined the Choir, and each year we sang an Easter Cantata on Palm Sunday, Matthew 6:25 – “Do Not Worry About Tomrrow” was one of the songs in the Cantata.

It talked about the birds and the flowers and how they didn’t worry about their next meal or how they would be clothed and yet they were so beautiful.

For Who of You, By Worrying, Can Add a Single Hour to His Life?

I sang this song at least 5 years in a row. I would say that it took at least 4 times for the song to actually start to kick in. To this day, I think about this song in my head when I read this verse in Matthew.

In Mark 10:17-31, Jesus talks about a man who thinks that he has followed all of God’s Commandments since he was a boy. Jesus told the man – you need to do one more thing – Go and sell all you have and then give all of the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven.

The man was very sad because he was so rich – Jesus looked around him and said “How hard is it for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God”. The last will be first and the first will be last.

I think that this can be true – there are lots of ways that we can give of ourselves to god. When my first husband and I got divorced, I said a prayer and gave myself to God. I told God that I would put myself and my children in his hands – I would put my trust for my soul in his hands. It has not been an easy time. Things have happened that have been heart wrenching and downright scary. But through it all, I have felt the presence of God. His hands wrapped around me. I have felt his kindness in others when they give me just the amount of comfort that I needed, just when I needed it.

I truly believe that I have been lifted by angels here on earth. I have been lifted by my Parents, My current husband, by the angel that helps me with my Discharge Monitoring Reports, I have been lifted by my boss, I have been lifted by my angel neighbor across the street, by the wonderful teachers that love my children and give me words of encouragement, by the small words of encouragement I get from the mothers of my children’s friends. You are all angels and you have been sent by God.

Thank you – And Than you to others I may have missed.