Tag: depression and addictions

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If You Are Going the Wrong Way, God Allows U-Turns

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We have a bookstore for you to check out. There is the book I feature as excerpts in my post for sale there. The book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World,” is on a special sale right now with some good savings.

This book reaches out to those who may be suffering with anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, self-doubt, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.  

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Today’s excerpt lets us know that no matter what path we may take, God allows U-turns to get us on the right path.

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 Chapter 44

 

If You’re Going the Wrong Way,

God Allows U-Turns

 

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out,

that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Acts3:19

 

Time is always ticking away! In my home we have a battery-operated clock that makes a loud ticking noise for every second of the day. The clock had been right at my computer desk and I could hear it as I worked. It made me think that my life was slowly going by. What have I done with my life? My life was ticking away, and I could see (and hear) each second go by.

The clock got moved into the utility room, but not before its cadence of marking time prompted me to do a “bed check” of my life. Bed checks are something that all military people understand. As you sleep, the barrack sergeant comes through and makes sure everyone is in bed—to make sure everything was OK.

So now every day I do a bed check to see if I am OK. It is so easy to “slide” if I don’t constantly check up on myself.

We tend to get all fired up about our commitment to God, even go to the church altar for prayer. We have a close encounter and are very happy. Life is good and we’ll serve God forever.

Then we get very busy and miss a few Sundays at church. Bible study gets scheduled on the evening all of our friends get together to play Bunco or go bowling—or whatever. We rush out of the house in the morning and collapse into a chair when we get home at night. There’s just no time for reading the Bible and praying.

Eventually, we fail “bed check.” We get wrapped up in our own world and get in touch with God only when there is a crisis. He will still be there to help, but our lives have lost their real meaning. We have allowed ourselves to go into a spiritual twilight zone.

Time is ticking away. There is no way to buy it back. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. But as long as God gives us another breath, it is not too late to turn around and get back into the loving arms of God. Our God is an awesome God. He loves us very much, and He will be there to accept us in whatever state we have allowed ourselves to lapse into.

As we get back into the center of His love and try to walk in His path, we will have done a spiritual U-turn.

 

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

 

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:7

 

Further Adventures

Do your own bed check. Think about the direction you’re going. Do you need to make a U-turn? God allows you to get back in His love any time you want to seek Him more. His love is everlasting. He never forgets you. He never turns His back on you. After all, He even knows every hair on your head doesn’t He? Make that big turn and drive (or dive) into the loving arms of your heavenly Father.

 

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny that if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just enough to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong?

 

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If God Brings you to it, He Will Bring you Through it.

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We have a special going on right now in our bookstore. The book “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly world,” is on sale for $15.99. In the retail stores it is $19.99. There is a special price cut in shipping as well. A total savings of over $6.00.

This book reaches out to those who may be suffering from anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, self-doubt, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

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I have another excerpt from the book “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” This is one of my favorite chapters in that it shows us the way to be strong when the storms and trials hit.

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Chapter 43

 

If God Brings You to It, He Will

Bring You Through It

 

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

Psalm 91:4–6

 

Sometimes God allows things to happen to us to let us know He is there for us. I have known people who have had things happen to them that caused them to turn to God for help—for the first time in their lives. 

September 11, 2001changed many lives. Events of this proportion seem to change lives every time. He uses situations to make people stronger and to send them a message. These are the close encounters that help us grow.

If the steps we take seem to come to a wall we can’t climb over, we need to consider whether or not God might have another plan in mind. We need to pray to Him and seek His will. That kind of prayer will be answered faster if we ask for the wall to be moved!

We’ve all been through personal crises—health issues, loss of a job, separation from a family member, the death of a dear friend or other things that have thrown us for a loss. At those times we wondered if we’d make it through the situation. It was devastating at the time.

God knows everything about us, and knows what will happen to us even before we face hardship and fear. The most important thing to understand is that God prepares us for this kind of hard times.

I told you about how close I came to committing suicide and how I thought I had nowhere to turn. In reality, I had a source that was there for me all the time. It just took me that frightful moment to realize I could turn to God for help. God let me come to that point. He brought me through it, and He will bring each one of us through any pain and tragedy we face.

We need to stay close to God, and always rely on Him for comfort. We can do this by reading the Bible each day and praying. There is never a time I read the Bible without finding something new that gives me peace and strength. The same verse in the Bible can have a different impact depending on what I’m going through at that time.

I have a friend who puts the date next to a verse that stands out to her and notes what it means to her at the time. When she looks back years later, she can recall the circumstances that made that particular verse stand out to her.

God does allow sorrow, sadness and danger in our lives, but we will be able to cope with it much better with the knowledge that He is there for us when we need Him.

Second Corinthians 1:9 says: “In our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”

Another version says that Paul thought it was good that they thought they were doomed! How amazing to see that his faith let Paul know that he and those traveling with him would be killed if it weren’t that God was there to save them. Do we have that level of trust? We should. The same God who saved Paul is the same God that is with us today.

I would like to suggest a book for you to read. It is an amazing book about a man who was declared legally dead for 90 minutes and lived to have a huge impact on people’s lives. The book is 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey. It was published in 2004 by Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group,Grand Rapids,Michigan.

Don Piper was in a horrible car accident and was pronounced dead by the medics. He was stuck in his car for 90 minutes, and the first part of the book is about what happened to him while he was supposed to be dead.

A friend “just happened” to be going by the accident scene that day and refused to agree with the medics that Don was dead. He prayed over Don the whole time he was supposed to be dead. That part of the book is amazing enough, but then when Don began to recover, many wonderful things began to happen. It is a story of lost hope, and how God brought him through the hard times and made him a stronger person than he could have ever dreamed.

 

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, “Do not fear; I will help you.”

Isaiah 41:13

 

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Proverbs 3:24

 

Further Adventures

  1. Spend time praying each day. This will help you know ahead of time what God has for your future. Often through prayer God sends a message for you to understand. We shouldn’t wait for a crisis to start seeking God’s help.
  2. If you know of someone who is troubled by a trial God is allowing, be there for them and help them to know that He will help them through it. Let them know they don’t have to fear, because God is with them.

 

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny that the more we depend on God, the safer we are?

 

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Hate is Not a Family Value

I want to thank those who have been signing up for the RSS feed. It helps us climb up the Google Search Rankings. Help us keep climbing by signing up today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title to do that.

_________________________________________________________

Our bookstore has a timely book on a special sale right now. It is called, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” This book reaches out to those who may be suffering from anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, self-doubt, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

In the world we live in today, there are many who are facing one or more of those afflctions mentioned above. Click on the “Booksote,” tab at the the top of this page to check it out.

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I have another excerpt from the book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.”

This excerpt talks about how hate is not a family value. People spread hate, and don’t seem to care how it affects others.

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Chapter 42

 

Hate Is Not a Family Value

 

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 5:43–44

 

I have had students say things to other children that I couldn’t help but think came from their own homes. Surely these 8–11-year-old children couldn’t have learned so much hate anywhere else. They learned about discrimination and bigotry right in their own homes—perhaps because the parents also grew up with hate and prejudice.

Hate should not be a family value, but it feeds on generations of hate. And it will not stop being handed down as long as each family member continues to let hate breed within them. Someone needs to break the chain so that it stops in this generation.

If you are one who fuels hate, prejudice or discrimination, it has to stop with you! We must realize that it can stop when each of us decides to do something about it and banish it from our thinking. We accomplish nothing by showing hate or even simply looking down on other people as “beneath” us. We are all people of worth, and we need to respect that in everyone.

Proverbs 22:6 reminds us of this important thought: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it.”

As parents and grandparents, change can start with us. We have the responsibility to teach our children to love and respect others. Imagine what a change there would in the world if everyone started to respect and love each other.

God didn’t create anything that wasn’t good. Each and every person (and thing) on earth was created by God. He does not make mistakes. He has a purpose for everything and everyone He created. Each of us has the same value to Him. Therefore, we should consider everyone around us as one of His creations and love them as we would love ourselves.

Hate never works any good in the end. We may try to hate, and shun someone, but we are the losers when we do. We wallow in our own mire and muck trying to hate our neighbors, but the only misery it causes is our own.

It really is so much easier to love someone than to work so hard at hating him or her. The stress level is much higher when you hate someone, and you never feel like you’ve won the game. Loving someone reaps many rewards—peace, for instance. Hating someone only destroys the crop—and eats away at you.

Avoid the rush. Be one of the first in your world to reach out and love those with whom who you’ve had conflict. They will be surprised, and may not react right away. But in the end they will respect you. They will have the burden on their shoulders to either accept your peace offering, or they will be the ones who get to wallow in the muck and mire.

Who would you rather it be—them or you?

 

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:27–28

 

Further Adventures

Think about what your parents taught you. Are they values you want to pass on to your children? Are they values you live by today? Do they teach tolerance and love? If not, do some soul-searching. For the sake of your children, take time to evaluate your thinking. If it isn’t quite what you think you want your children to know, do something about it. Get into the Word and see what God says about loving your neighbor—and yes, even loving your enemy.

 

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny that when you smile you have more face value?