www.dailysignsofhope.com Archives

September 30, 2011

Be Still and Know That I am God

It has been a few days since I last posted. I have been busy with my blog at: www.dailysignsofhope.com. It has been growing so fast that we are ranked # 2 out of 6.1 similar sites according to the Google Search Rankings. We are averaging about 15 new RSS feed subscribers a day.

I would love to start that kind of action here as well. Please take a couple of minutes and sign-up for the RSS feed here. It really helps this site move up in the rankings.

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I have some exciting news! I just had a trailer made for my book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” I received an email yesterday with the final draft in it, and I approved it. They said it would be 3-4 days before it hits YouTube, and the other video outlets on the web. I will be having it as a regular feature on this site when it comes out.

I am very impressed with the quality of it, and I hope you will too. Keep checking back to see when it comes out.

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Often times when we pray we are doing in a noisy, or busy place. It is very difficult to concentrate when that is happening. Look at it this way:

Imagine you are at a party with a friend and you are trying to talk to them. There is a lot of noise, and clamor. You are trying to whisper what you want to say in the other person’s ear.

The one listening will not be able to hear what you are saying. That could be what happens when we are in a crowded and noisy area when we are praying to God. We can’t concentrate, and will not be able to get across what we really are trying to say.

We need to find a quiet place when we “talk” to God. We need to be able to concentrate on what we are saying, and who we are talking to.

God says, “Be still and know that I am God.” He is telling us that He is our God, and we need to quietly follow Him, and be connected through prayer.

The next time you pray, think about the quality of how you are praying. Think like God is sitting right next to you in a chair carrying on a conversation with you. Then share your hurts, and thoughts about others you are concerned about. It will bring the level of your prayers to a new high, and you will feel much closer to God.

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Just a reminder that the book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World,” is on sale right here on this site. All you need to do is click on the “Bookstore,” tab at the top of this page. You will find a description of the book and a copy of the cover.

The book is on a special price. It is selling for $19.99 in the retail stores, but if you order on from here, it is only $15.99. The shipping is cut in half as well. A total savings of over $6.00.

Did you realize that it is less than 90 days until Christmas. Time to start thinking of that.

Never, ever, give up!

September 19, 2011

Life is Tough and Then You Die

It would be nice if you would take a minute and sign-up for the RSS feed to the site. Google ranks sites according to the amount of RSS feed subsribers they have. If you haven’t already signed up please do it now.

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I am happy to announce that we now have a bookstore over at our blog: www.dailysignsofhope.com. It was just added a few weeks ago.

The book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World,” is also there to be ordered.

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What follows is an actual excerpt from the book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” This book reaches out to those who suffer from anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, self-doubt, and hopelessness.

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LIFE IS TOUGH AND THEN YOU DIE

Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

—Psalm 30:5

GOD DIDN’T PROMISE us a rose garden—besides, there are thorns in a rose garden. He allows us to go through the storms. He wants us to learn from them and grow.

We question if God is still there for us when we have a crisis. Things pile up and we wonder,

Where are You, God? He allows things to happen that are very hard to understand. Why would He let bad things happen to us?

The psalmist wondered the same thing. In the psalms, crying and wailing come out with a vengeance. Psalms can be also joyful and uplifting, but some of them are not joyful, and they teach us that it is OK to question God. It is OK to voice your true feelings to Him. He knows how to handle your feelings—even your anger.

Despair and anger are combined in Psalm 89:46–47:

How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? …For what futility you have created all men!

In our world today there is much despair and anger. There are gang wars, school shootings, sex abuse, battered wives, seniors getting scammed, racists and terrorists. All of these could cause even the strongest Christian to act on that anger. You have choices. You could seek justice like a vigilante. You could forget it and let it build up inside you, or you could turn it over to God, who is the only Supreme Court Justice in heaven.

He will judge those who have wronged others.

We should never stop being angry or sad about what happens in the world, but we need to turn it over to God, and let Him bring peace in our life.

Too many people have decided that acceptance of wrong is much easier than trying to fight it. Some live in their own little world and go on as if nothing were happening around them.

I saw this in action when I was in the military. Uncle Sam had me stationed in Korea, and we were traveling through Seoul, Korea. I saw an old woman sitting and leaning against a wall. She was begging for help because she was ill and starving. No one stopped. They just kept on walking by.

All military personnel had been instructed that under no circumstances were we to get out of our vehicles—just keep going. This was because if you tried to help someone they could claim you were the one that caused the problem and then get a big settlement from the government. There were rumors of Korean parents throwing their children in front of army trucks to collect a settlement. We retraced our route on the way back to camp. By then, the woman had fallen over and was dead.

I was very angry. I felt helpless. I wasn’t allowed to help the woman, and she died because of that.

I didn’t know if I could make any difference in life. Could one person out of the billions of people on this earth make a difference?

My mother once remarked that she didn’t know why she should get out of bed anymore. She has macular degeneration (partial blindness) and has to use a walker. Her two main loves (besides my brother and me, of course!) were reading and working in the garden. Now she cannot do either of them. I could understand completely what she meant, but it hurt me deeply that she felt that way. I again felt that same helplessness because I wasn’t able to help her.

Why keep going on? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The weak fall by the wayside. You spend your whole life trying to have a good retirement, and the cost of living eats up all of your income. Evil seems to win—and good seems far away.

The prisoners in the holocaust had all the reasons to be depressed and to commit suicide. They didn’t do that because they kept clinging to their faith in God.

Is that the secret? By just turning our hurts, frustrations and failures over to God, we can have peace? Of course we can. God is the key. If there is no God, anything goes, but everything is meaningless.

If you stay the course, and always let God hold your hand, everything will have meaning, things will come into focus, and everything will fall into place.

As of this writing, my mother is still alive. She is 94 and lives in an assisted living home. She has trouble understanding why she has to be the way she is as far as her health. The world is coming to the stage where 100-year-old people are more common than ever. But many of them are clinging to life assisted by a machine, or they do not have a quality of life that they prefer.

We have developed many new drugs to help people live longer, but we haven’t invented ways to make them happy. We spend millions to help the poor in our country and other countries, but the number of starving children in Oregon alone is growing at an alarming rate.

Its got to the point that there is an AIDS epidemic. School drop-out rates are at an all-time high. Pornography can be found for free on the internet. We thought that we sent racism away in the 70s, but it is still staining our society today.

It is no wonder that we feel depression, despair and apathy. This world is not a rose garden anymore. The thorns are tearing at our skin, and leaving scars that won’t go away.

Let me make something very clear: God will take the world as you see it today and make it into the world He wants. I’ve read the end of the book—and we win. The end is all set, and it is up to us to believe it.

So—can you make an impact on the world? You are just one grain of sand on the beach. Can you make a difference? God thinks you can. He made you with a purpose in mind. Yes, I said you.

As you read this book, God has a plan for you. God just needs you to ask Him what it is. You can make a difference for others in this tough world.

I used the Psalms as an example of despair and anger. Now let the psalmist soothe you and let you know God is there for you and will carry your burdens for you.

Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight.

—Psalm 119:143

Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will never let the righteous fall.

—Psalm 55:22

Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need: rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.”

Psalm 142:4–6

(Think of the Korean woman dying on the street.)

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Psalm 94:18–19

(This should be our prayer any time we are depressed or sad. We can read it to God and let Him comfort us.)

Further Adventures

There are times when you feel so low that you are not sure you can make it through the day. Use this time to pray. Sit quietly with God and share your deepest feelings. Do not hide anything. (God knows even your inner thoughts.) Let Him know that you need to lean on Him completely right now, and He will pick you up and carry you the rest of the way.

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny that God knows our every move, but we go on like He is not watching us?

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NEVER, EVER, GIVE UP!

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This was an actual excerpt from the book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” You can order the complete book, by clicking on the “Bookstore,” tab at the top of this page. There is a special sale going on right now. In the Retail stores the price is $19.99, but on this site it is only $15.99. The shipping has been cut in half as well. A total savings of over $6.00.

September 16, 2011September 16, 2011

Mighty Mouse is on the Way. Mighty Mouse will Save the Day

Please sign-up for the RSS feed . It is very important for Google Search Rankings. When you sign-up you are notified when there is a post. Thank you for considering.

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Over at my blog: www.dailysignsofhope.com, the sign-up is incredible. I had 17 people sign-up for the RSS feed in one day and it has averaged 10 people a day. because of that the site is ranked # 2 out of over five million similar sites. (Yes, that is millions.) Check it out and see why so many people are signing up there, and come back and do it here to see the rankings sky rocket here as well.

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Here is another excerpt from my book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” This book reaches out to those who suffer from anxiety, fear, depression self-doubt, addictions and hopelessness.

This excerpt is my top 20 countdown to find ways to cope in this not so friendly world.

(My apologizes for the font size changes on the countdown list. I can’t seem to correct that. They were fine in the book I copied them from.)

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DON’T DESPAIR—MIGHTY MOUSE

WILL SAVE THE DAY

I use to love the cartoon “Mighty Mouse.” The song always got me pumped: “Mighty Mouse is on the way. Mighty Mouse will save the day!”

Here is the Doug Bolton “Top 20 Countdown” that will help you save the day and love God. With apologies to David Letterman.

20.Do you have trouble getting to know someone? Is it hard for you to make friends? Remember: Strangers are family once you get to know them.

19. The world is divided into two categories: the ones who will accomplish a great deal, and those who won’t accomplish anything. You will be the one who will accomplish much, if you allow God to help you.

18. No one is going to love you more if you are fat or skinny. They will love you because of the person you are.

17. When you hate someone and want them to hurt, you hurtyourself. Spend more time trying to help others feel good about themselves, and you will feel good about yourself too.

16. You do not need to let stress control you. You do not need to be a workaholic. It is OK to rest. Jesus takes over when you can’t cope.

15. When you feel depressed because of losing a loved one, remember God knows your pain. He saw His only Son buried.

14. When someone is trying to degrade you, it is time for selective hearing.

13. You just took another breath while you read this. Thank God for it.

12. When you marry, you need to stay together even when the skin starts to wrinkle and the excitement fades.

11. God’s goal is not to make us happy; it is to make us His. It is not to give us what we want; it is to give us what we need.

10. If God doesn’t come to your rescue right away, maybe Heis waiting until you give away your pride.

9. Don’t apply labels to people until you have examined the contents.

8. Everyone is unique even down to the fingerprints and DNA. God has a plan just for you and wants you to use the talent He gave you. Yes, you!

7. The greater the future you have, the greater the attack willbe from the prince of darkness. Pray for God’s protection, and Satan will be fish bait!

6.While you can’t control someone else’s heart, you can control yours.

5. Don’t say, “Thanks, God, I can take it from here,” and then not check in with God until the next crisis. Pray without ceasing.

4. All the great hitters in baseball fail two out of three times.

3. The most common command in the Bible? “Fear not.”

2. Practice makes perfect. Study God’s Word each day and learn more of His love for you.

AND the number one reason you will conquer depression is … (Drum roll please)

1. God made you in His own image. Shouldn’t that make you think He wants everything to go well for you? Trust Him to provide all your needs—emotionally, physically and spiritually.

The teacher blood left in me now has an assignment. Start your own positive list of thoughts to help you fight off depression. Read it every day and add to it.

You can make it through a life that was a swamp full of alligators and horrible storms! Now you can move on to more sunny days. You can move on to where there is hope. You can move on to the light at the end of the tunnel. You can move away from those alligators that will be made into shoes if they don’t leave you alone.

Depression and the many other mental afflictions do not go away in a flash. I still have bouts with them from time to time, but I quickly concentrate on the positive. I concentrate on God and all His love He has to share with me. I concentrate on my family, my children, my grandchildren. I concentrate on the good things that have happened in my life.

Because I do all that, I see that the pluses far outweigh the negatives every time. It is like the song says: “Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your many blessings; see what God has done.”

If you can’t think of enough blessings, know that I love you with all my heart, and so do millions of other people who suffer with the many afflictions in their lives. We know your pain, and we are praying for you daily.

We are many, and Satan is only one stupid misguided angel. We can defeat him if we all work together. We are an unbeatable team when we have one goal. That goal is to live productive Christian lives in which we stand on solid ground, not on the shifting sands of our emotions.

Prayer has saved my hide more than I want to admit. My hide would be hanging on Satan’s prized trophy wall if God hadn’t saved me. Now Satan is grass and I am the lawn mower with God’s help.

This can be the way it is in your life as well.

Never, ever, give up!