UNDERSTANDING THOSE GUILTY FEELINGS...

FREEDOM HOW GOOD IT IS!!!

GUILTY FEELINGS....We see so much of this in the lives of clients in our office, unnecessarily I might add!!!

I was thinking someone that stops by "Mary’s Place" might be dealing with some of this.

Lately, Phil and I have been talking about how we need to “Rehearse the Gospel” to ourselves to secure our mind, warding off the scheme of the evil one who wants to rob us of The Truth.  In practicing this, it will remind us of what we have In Christ and who we are In Him.  It will cause us to be stable and settled in Who We Are In Christ and will be motivated Disciples.

Going back in my files I saw this Handout we use as a helpful tool.  We don’t need to live with Guilty Feelings we need to live in Victory in the work on the Cross.....

Hope this helps if you are dealing with these feelings, keep this handy to go back over from time to time....

CONSEQUENCES OF GUILTY FEELINGS

Divided Mind
Drains Energy
Doubts God
Wants To Be Punished
Fear and Insecurity
Compulsive Behavior
Depression – Unresolved guilty feelings with control will lead to destruction
Affects the Human Body
You can lose all hope which can lead to harming yourself if not emotionally...physically!


HOW TO DEAL WITH GUILT

Admit I am wrong if guilt is real.

Identify the source of your guilt. Trace it back to the source.

Confess/see what was done on the cross/ walk away from guilt. This will cause you to disconnect.

Ask yourself is this “real guilt or false guilt”?  

Remember and state this:  “I have the gift of His Righteousness”.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLES MATTER...

At the beginning of the year, as a lot of others, my husband and I started thinking about losing weight. You know that weight we had so intentionally gathered over the Holidays, with those traditional foods we think we HAVE TO HAVE!!!

The effects from this problem, our out of control eating, was beginning to cause problems to our health and that was a “luxury we could not afford”.  You see, we both have risky health issues and that means we must be more responsible if we want to be around enjoying life and ministry to it’s fullest. And...one major reason, we have a grandson we want to be around to see his life unfold. 

I had open heart surgery in 2003 and three years ago my husband came head on with Wegener’s Granulomatous that at this time is an incurable blood disease.  We joke around saying, “we both are the healthiest sick people you know and we shouldn’t buy green bananas because we might not be around for them to ripen”. 

So here is the TRUTH!!! We are all dying but we don’t have to speed up the process we can do things to give us good health.  3 John 2 has an important message we all need to apply to our lives...

3 John 2 "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good
 health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting 
along well" (New International Version)

Over the weekend we went grocery shopping and had the best time making our selections.  We made sure to stay on the periphery of the store where the good stuff is available.  It seems the more you go inside the aisles the more it is unhealthy, with packaged items. 

Saturday afternoon the kitchen counter was full of things we had gathered.  I enjoyed cleaning and storing it in the refrig.  What do you think?....













We are discovering lasting results by eating on this plan recommended by my husband's doctor and I joined him being I am the food preparer and it's working!  We feel so much healthier and one great benefit is watching the numbers on the scales go down as our bodies are "releasing" the pounds.

If you are interested, here is the diet for good health that makes so much sense in obtaining good health.  It is an Anti-Inflammatory Diet that's really easy to follow. The only change we made is we drink the pure grape juice instead of the wine, we have even cranked up our Juicer, making good fresh juice drinks from organic carrots and other veggies.  I will have to post about that some day, honestly people, we are becoming like new people one cell at a time each day...Life IS Good it REALLY IS...

HOW WE CAN FACE EACH DAY ...PLACED INTO CHRIST....

Went to bed last night thinking about all my friends and family facing difficulties.  I realized we are not promised a tomorrow with no pain, but we are promised we can face the “Tomorrow’s” and can live it to the fullest, In Christ! Each day in a NEW DAY!

Galatians 2:20 
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”

I will never get over the Truth of our Identity in Christ, that makes us know we can face each day no matter what it holds.  Just think when we become Believers we  have His Life, we take on His History when we receive Eternal Life. We get a New Beginning when we get His Life.  We get a New Past, a New Present and a New Future....2 Corinthians 5:17 ”Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. 

Notice the remarkable difference of before and after the Old and New.....

In Adam you had an old self
In Christ you have a new self

In Adam you had a sin nature (Ephesians 2:1-3)
In Christ you are a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)

In Adam you were in the flesh (Romans 8:8)
In Christ you are in the Spirit (Romans 8:9)

In Adam you could only walk after the flesh
In Christ you may choose to walk after the Spirit or after the flesh.

Don’t you agree, we can only live our lives trusting each day, living In Christ?
He will lead us through each day because of His work on the Cross.  He said, IT IS FINISHED!

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN'T GO ON....

"I FEEL LIKE I CAN'T GO ON".....Those are the words we hear often and I have felt that way too, many a time. Tonight I heard it again from someone special to us.  I could relate as I have been walking beside them through this trial.  I even feel like how much more can they take?

I want them and anyone who might be feeling this way to know there is nothing too big for our God, I believe that with all my heart.  Not one thing can come in our path unless it passes through His Hand.  He knew all about it before He created the world.

If you should be reading this right now please pray for this family as they walk this road.  Father knows who it is and will hear your words prayed over them.

This song is dedicated to this special person.  Listen as the words are sung of how He DOES Delivers us. Tomorrow is a new day...  Psalms 30:5b says “Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

THE LOST ART OF THROWING VALENTINES...

Ever heard of “Throwing Valentines”?  If you lived on Claire Drive in Atlanta, Georgia back in the 1950‘s you would have and had fun participating.  

When I was a young girl, I could not wait for night time to go door to door "secretly surprising" my friends. Not many talks about it these days, it's truly a Lost Art. 

Preparation for that night began as soon as stores had Valentines for sale on their shelves.  The bigger the package the better.  I had lots of friends to give to at school and then on that special night.

Before that special day arrived, I would sit down with a pencil in hand taking great pains to collect just the right card for my friend.  

I would write my words saying what I wanted them to read.  When I finished, I would divide them. One pile was for school and the other was for “throwing to my neighbor friends” that night.

On the day of Valentines, we were asked by our teacher to bring our cards in a bag and a decorated box for the cards we would receive at our Valentine’s party. I was so excited!

After a day of study, the teacher would ask us to put away our books and get out all the things we bought for this special time.  

The room mothers would have arrived and put out the decorations, table clothes, cupcakes, and drinks all in red and white.  We got so excited the teacher had to call us down and to stay in our seats.  I think she actually let us get to a certain level of “out of control” to let us express our emotions over this special time.  We would immediately act at her command, knowing the sooner the better. 

The cards were all distributed by this time that had been written by our friends.  If I got one from "that special boy" my heart would flutter!  The food would be “downed", the room cleaned and on our way to our homes, we would go to get ready for the night.

When the night time came, I would set out with my bag of Valentine cards to give to my neighbor friends.  It had to be a well thought out act to sneak up near their porch and throw their Valentine.  You would run up quietly on their porch, place the card near the door, throw a small rock, then hollow "Valentine" and run as fast as you could so you would not be seen.  It was fun looking back and watching them come out and get what you had carefully written from your heart. 

I couldn’t wait to get home to find several cards with rocks beside them.....

Here's a picture of my house, 9 miles south of downtown Atlanta. There were lots of steps for one to climb to slip a card down, throw a rock and run. 


My family knew they better not touch one until I got home. They sat with me as I looked through all the cards received that day and night.  Some were so funny we would laugh till our sides hurt.

Those were fun times that have been lost in our day.  Things and times change but you can still find the cards at the store.  Fancy ones now with a bigger price, too!

Why don’t you go and get that well thought out card for the one you love. It will still be fun and the one who reads what comes from your heart will feel your love. Better not practice this "Lost Art" today, if you throw a rock you might get in trouble, sad to say.  Be safe and hand it or mail it...

Hope this memory back in time takes you back to the “good ole days” of the Lost Art of Throwing Valentines.  Back then things were safer times and living was easier.....

While searching the web I found a blog from a person who had practiced the same fun times, take a look through their eyes...

   "When February rolled around, Cone Mill Villagers developed their own Valentines Day traditions throughout the community......"Somethin’ we used to do those people that we’ve talked to, other people not from the mill villages haven’t heard about. We used to throw valentines. Valentine evening after it got dark, we’d have these valentines and we’d go knock on somebody’s door and holler valentine and run and hide. And then, you know of course they’d come to the door and get the valentine, throw it on the porch. And some of them for fun, and my brother I think was one of them, tie strings on the valentine. And the porch bein’ up off of the ground they could get down there under, kinda, the porch and start pulling it when somebody was trying to get the valentine. But that’s something that we have really heard when we talk about it people don’t know what we're talking about. [Laughing] But I think all the mill villages did that."

Excerpted From: http://conemillvillages.weebly.com/february.html

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So here's hoping you have a Great Valentine's Day with the one you love. Here is mine to you that stopped by...

LOVE AND VALENTINES DAY....WHY RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT....

February is the month we think of LOVE and RELATIONSHIPS. 

Valentine’s Day is just a few days away.  It’s not just about getting a box of chocolates...

....... although that is nice for us girls!  or if you get "THE RING" you've been waiting for....

What is it REALLY about?... and....Why have relationships?  That’s a question you might be asking.  It is important and they are not an option.  We need each other. We can minister the grace of God to each other. We each can experience Him as we walk together. 

Having godly, healthy relationships, intimate relationships is God's prescription for dealing with broken, fragmented, sinful, damaged relationships or no relationships at all.

God's answer is get engaged in relationships, enter in, become a part of other people's lives and let them become a part of your life, giving and not expecting anything in return.  You know what? You get back much more than you give, believe me I know!

It is even healthy. One study even shows we sleep better when we keep good relationships.  Living a solitary life will shorten a life. 

Let's see a what a few verses in the Bible says about Relationships...

Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 4:9  “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

Proverbs has lots to say about this subject but one that is one of my favorite and I have seen it first hand is Proverbs 27:17  “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”.

And of course the Love Chapter from Paul’s hand....

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, 
but have not love, 
I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.  And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, 
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, 
but have not love, I am nothing.  And if I dole out all my goods, and 
if I deliver my body that I may boast 
but have not love, nothing I am profited. 
Love is long suffering, 

love is kind, 

it is not jealous, 

love does not boast, 

it is not inflated.
It is not discourteous, 

it is not selfish, 

t is not irritable, 

it does not enumerate the evil.

It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth  

It covers all things, 

it has faith for all things, 

it hopes in all things, 

it endures in all things.
Love never falls in ruins; 

but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or 
tongues, they will cease; or 
knowledge, it will be superseded.
For we know in part and we prophecy in part.
But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded. 
When I was an infant, 
I spoke as an infant, 
I reckoned as an infant;
when I became [an adult], 
I abolished the things of the infant.
For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known.
But now remains
 faith, hope, love,
these three;
but the greatest of these is love."

So who is it you might be thinking of right who is dear to your heart? Let them know today how much they mean to you.  Are you in LOVE right now? Does your heart beat faster when he walks up or she looks your way? Do they add to your life, helping you grow in become a better person? These questions are important for a lasting commitment in a  healthy relationship.....ENJOY THE ONE YOU LOVE ON VALENTINE’S DAY.......

LET’S SING ABOUT HIM TODAY!.....

PSALM 59:16
But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in time of trouble.

It’s Friday morning been a good week for me how about you?  We're excited, got kids coming in looking to enjoy the weekend with us.

Checking mail as you know we do each morning, I found this verse emailed to me.  The message I got was to SING ABOUT HIM! That's a good way to set our mind for a good day and week ahead.

Inside my Spirit I have a feeling of Joy coming over  me thinking "What a Savior I have!" He LOVE'S YOU AND ME, did you get that?  HE LOVES YOU AND ME!!!  Stop and let that soak in.....

We have all we need to face any trouble as the verse says, He is my Strong Fortress, my Refuge in times of Trouble I am going to sing about this all day.  I will put this song here for you to hear what’s in my heart and maybe you will begin to do the same ALL DAY LONG let’s Praise Him together.AND SING SING SING.......