I love the language in Psalms. The writer describes things in a totally different way than you would intially think. When I saw this verse this morning, it made me pull up short. I have been known to talk a lot, especially at work. We do a lot sitting at our desks, so its easy to fall down the rabbit hole of random conversation. Sometimes, I know I could be engaged in more productive activities, such as work. I know, I know. I should know better.
I’m not saying that idle chit chat at work is wicked. I’m just saying that idle talk can walk you into trouble. Sometimes just sitting back and observing or focusing on what you need to do can be advantageous.
You notice more when you are talking less and listening more.Talking too much can have you saying things you dont mean.Be aware of your surroundings and who you are conversing with, it could make a big difference. Remember your words matter.
Do you all do your drafts in some place other than WordPress? I am seem to be having trouble sharing them from the notes in my phone, to the WordPress app. It doesn’t really make any sense to me and it didn’t start until I started my 31 posts in 31 days (1)
Do any of you have experience asking for help from WordPress? The website seems pretty daunting to me so I just putter around until I figure out what I am trying to do. I know other sites boast really awesome technical support, do you feel that is true for WordPress? This is getting frustrating because it is slowing up my progress in uploading my posts.
If you have any suggestions for dealing with technical issues that would be great.
Another one of my favorite verses. I love a promise from God. He always keeps them. No matter how long it takes. I was wrestling with some decisions I was making and God sent this as a reminder for me. I’m so thankful that God cannot fail. You should remember that as well in your day to day happenings. You may not see but God is always working on your behalf.
What are you afraid of? I just realized that I am afraid of change. I never really thought I was a person afraid of change but one of the ladies in my caregroup asked me yesterday if I was of change and after thinking about it I had to say yes. We are doing a bible study on faith in a larger study on the fruit of the spirit by Beth Moore. Beth asks when you are afraid to have faith what is holding you back. Everyone said fear of disappoint, myself included but after we started talking about prayer requests, I realized I am afraid of change. I haven’t had many changes in my life. I worked in the same department at the same company for eight years. I also worked their in Undergrad, so there was no true change for me there. I lived in the same apartment for 3 years before I got married. I hate moving. As I look back over my life, I realized that I don’t take the opportunity to change very often.
My fear of change could potentially be blocking me from my blessings. An opportunity came up at work and I was thinking of all the reasons that it could be bad. I never thought for a moment of the positives that could come from the change. There is growth in change. I realized that if I let my fear of change hold me back, then I am telling God he can’t be with me wherever I go or whatever situation I face. Its a control issue. The longer you stay in a situation, the more you have control over, you can anticipate the variables. I say God is in control of my life, but if I let fear rule me then truly, I am saying I control my life and not God. That’s not the life I am trying to lead.
One of the girls in the group said that I was just creating a lot of this in my mind. I created a story. It doesn’t have to end that way. I am projecting my feelings onto a situation that had not happened yet. What if it was good? I have never even considered that. I chose to focus only on the negative. What if I chose to focus on the positive instead? I also made a pros and cons list. After looking at the list, the pros were definitely outweighing the cons.
Change is something that is inevitable. I am working hard to embrace change and not run from it. I don’t want to block any blessings because I am afraid. I trust God to work everything out for my good.
I didn’t think it would happen this fast. I really appreciate you coming along with me on this journey. You followers are truly organic, and I am super grateful.
If you haven’t noticed, I definitely haven’t been doing a post a day which, I knew I wasn’t going to do. I am a little behind and feeling the pressure. I have time though, so I am trying not to freak myself out. Its been a good process even if I have done as well as I thought I would. I have already learned some things which I take as a good sign.
I have to be incredibly intentional, which was really my main goal of this exercise.
I have to write even when I don’t feel like writing. I don’t feel like writing more I thought, lol
The more I am hanging out, watching tv, listening to podcasts, things that have a spiritual bend, it also takes away my inspiration to write. I am on summer break because I work in a high school so I am only working part time. That should give me plenty of time to write. Definitely not! I am finding lots of non-productive ways to fill my off time.
I need to be more organized in my time.
Being perfect is not going to happen but I can still put forth 100% effort.
So stick with me. I am just going to continue to trudge along.
*Update
I will say it is getting easier. Post ideas are flowing. Writing is not feeling like a chore. I haven’t run out of things to say and I have only used a few prompts from the prompt list I made when I first started. I’m excited to see what the next two weeks look like.
I have always believed in the Lord sending me messages in dreams. Often there is lesson or something practical I can take away. I once had a dream that when I use mean tones in conversation with my husband, it hurts his manhood. I knew that in my head but seeing the visual of him crumbled over in my dream after I said something to him really gave me the visual I needed to change what I was doing. Since then I have been working on how I speak to him. A dream inspired this 31 posts in 31 days (1) God told me if I stop treating my writing/blog as a hobby and started treating it like a job I could really start to grow.
I had a terrible dream this weekend but it definitely helped me. My husband was out of town over the weekend and I went out with some friends. I had a good time with them, came back home, got in the bed went to sleep. I had a dream that seemed so real that I was afraid to get out of bed after. I dreamed that I woke up because a man slid in my bed and he wasn’t my husband. He clearly was there harm me. In my dream I immediately started praying please Lord let this be a dream. Then I woke up. I was shook! I needed to check and see if anybody was in my house and thank God it wasn’t but I couldn’t sleep for a long time after that. When I finally went downstairs and checked my house. I realized, I had left my front door unlocked. Not good! That was certainly a warning from God. You better believe I will be checking my doors twice before I go to bed at night from now on.
God uses dreams all the time to speak people in the bible. I used to worry if a dream was from God or just my own subconscious. I believe it can be from both. I recognize God in my dreams because I know his voice.
I saw some really interesting articles online about dream interpretation. I know people who go to dream books and try to see what their dreams meant. I have done it on occasion myself, but I don’t do that anymore. The article I read online says that, the symbols in a dreams are primarily ours. Nobody can interpret them for us except God. There are common dreams that everyone has like falling or being embarrassed in front of a crowd but typically God knows us and uses symbols we will understand. If I have a dream that I feel needs further explaining I will write it down and ask God to explain it me. Lord was there something in the dream I needed to know? Was it a warning? Was it prophecy? Writing them down has been great because I can see things come together later on.
I am not talking about spiritually or emotionally investing in yourself which is important but how much money do you spend on your well being? I never really paid that much attention before to that kind of thing. I don’t spend a lot of money on myself per se but what I do spend tends to be on experiences then something that gives tangible dividends.
I know I need to work on my writing if I ever want to write books that people will want to read and buy. How much do I invest in my writing? Business owners how much do you invest in your business? How do you determine if its worth it or if you have spent enough? People always say it takes money to make money. Another saying is you get what you pay for, so if I am putting out a product that I didn’t really invest any money, what is the quality of that product?
Writing is multilayered you are first and foremost selling yourself before you are selling a product. I have to be comfortable with the world knowing my business. I think I have more or less gotten over people knowing my business. I have moved on to level 2. How bad do I want it? What are my writing goals? What am I willing to sacrifice and invest?
It’s been almost a year since I published my first post. I need to start thinking about what’s next. If I put money into myself, into my writing and I don’t succeed, did I waste my money?
Spending money on my writing is taking the step to take it more seriously. A way to be held accountable and get some good constructive criticism.
Bloogers/Writers have you taken classes? Were they helpful? Do you have any recommendations?
When I was looking for writing prompts for my 31 posts in 31 days (1) one of the prompts was, is your astrological sign accurate, why or why not? I was instantly intrigued because astrology is not something that Christians typically talk about.
Do you believe or practice astrology? Do you read your horoscope in the paper or online? I have never been one to really get into astrology but I do look at my birth sign and try to see if the traits attributed to me are accurate or not. I hate to admit they are pretty accurate. I am a Virgo. My birthday is September 13. When I look up characteristics of my sign, I am not surprised by what I find.
These traits go well together and fairly accurate in their position. The bible is not a big fan of astrologers however. God is not into it at all. There are several verses that speak openly about astrologers, diviners, etc.
As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm
“When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. read more. “For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.
I personally don’t think it is that bad to know about your personality, and why you do certain things. I don’t personally believe it is a gateway to other dark spirits or things like that. I take it for what is and leave it at that. I have never believed in my horoscope because they are just to general to be true. As I have been digging deeper to figure out why I act the way I do, I have realized that a lot of things are based on nurture or how I was raised. I don’t want pass down any negative behavior down to my children and I will not be using when they are born to determine their personality. When I need answers to things I turn to God not to the stars.
Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. Interlude
Psalms 4:4 NLT https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.4.4.NLT
When you get mad do you instantly snap? Do you let it boil under the surface, simmering until you are ready to explode? It takes a lot to make me mad, to which I am very grateful. When I do get mad I can’t say I remain silent and think about it overnight.
This is of course the best option to handling any situation where someone makes you angry. I never saw this scripture before. I have always heard the one from Ephesians.
While this verse is different from Psalms the concept is similar. Don’t be controlled by anger. Try to resolve things while you are upset, don’t let your anger linger but if you can’t handle it sleep on it before you say something you regret.
Always finding the silver lining 