YOU

 

Why are you here?

What is your purpose?

Everything in life was created with a specific purpose.

When the inventor - the creator  set out to make something he had a specific purpose in mind.

-Edison created the  lightbulb to illuminate a room.

-Ford created the Model-T to enable people to travel faster.

-Dr. Vanghetti created the first artificial limb.

-Alexander Fleming was the first to discover penecillin.

So it stands to reason that the Creator of the Universe - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had a specific idea in mind when He knit you together in your mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13)

But WHAT IS God's plan for you ?

Why do you have the interests and gifts you do?

What part of God's cosmic plan did are you supposed to fulfill?

Rick Warren addressed this topic in the 90's with a very popular book called The Purpose Driven Life.

And not long ago a movie called Hugo hinted at our purpose as well. I particularly liked this line:

“Life is like a machine, there is no unnecessary parts, every part has a purpose just like in a clock; therefore, I have a purpose and so do you in this life.”

-Quote from the movie HUGO

Personally, I think that the more we learn and grow in God the more He reveals to us the very specific, detailed plan He has for our lives. But while in the process of discovering ourselves and God's incredible plan for our life's purpose, there are many general purpose goals we all can strive for as being part of the Christian community. I like the way this poem kinda sums it up:

MY PURPOSE

by Henrietta Heron

To be a little kinder

With the passing of each day;

to leave but happy memories

As I go along my way;

To use possessions that are mine

In service full and free;

To sacrifice the trivial things

For larger good to be,

To give of love in lavish way

That friendship true may live;

To be less quick to criticize,

More ready to forgive,

To use such talents as I have

That happiness may grow;

To take the bitter with the sweet,

Assured 'tis better so;

To be quite free from self-intent

Whate'er the task I do,

To help the world's faith stronger grow,

In all that's good and true;

To keep my faith in God and right

No matter how things run,

To work and play and pray and trust

Until the journey's done,

God grant me the strength of heart,

Of motive and of will,

To do my part and falter not

His purpose to fulfill.

I'd really like to discuss this with all of you. Please share what you have learned about your own life's purpose and what you'd like to learn and/or know.

It's interesting that I can look back on my life and see key things that happened in my childhood or young adulthood that are playing a significant role in my life now.

How about you?

BOOK REVIEW: A Symphony of Seasons by Connie Arnold

FREE...FREE... Leave a Comment For A Chance to Win!!!

Us bloggers try to help each other and will do almost (I said ALMOST)

anything to entice YOU -  to leave a comment.

My friend Connie Arnold, has just come out with her

 4th book of poetry called A Symphony of Seasons and this post is part of a two week blog tour she is doing to feature its March 29th release.

So what's in it for you?

A chance to win some cool FREE stuff!!

Anyone who leaves a comment on this post TODAY will be entered in a drawing to win either: 

 

 A Vivaldi Four Seasons CD or a hummingbird suncatcher windchime.

Enter the drawing for these two prizes by leaving a comment below. Additional entries can be earned for comments left on the blogs listed below during the tour, for following this blog, and for sharing this post or any of the posts during the tour on Facebook or Twitter (be sure to post a comment here when you do that so you'll get your extra entries).

You will receive a free gift with your purchase of a signed copy of A Symphony of Seasons from me during this tour, a beautiful framed season photo with one of my verses on it. A beautiful gift for Mother's Day, graduation or other special occasion! Photos are by photographer Gary Strader.

More details about a chance to win can be seen on Connie's blog.

I first discovered Connie's poems a few years ago when we

were in the same online author's group.

What I liked most about her poetry site and books was the way she

coupled photography with simple poems that resonated  truth.

Obviously, since this is her FOURTH BOOK she's hit on a

winning combination of incredible photography taken by Gary Strader

and heartfelt poems that write heavenly words of truth on our hearts.

To be perfectly honest I am not a genuine poem lover but Connie's

poems refresh, challenge and inspire me.

I ordered a few copies of her last book and found them to be fabulous gifts.

Rich enough visually to appeal to almost anyone and gentle enough in the

 word-truths presented that believer and non-believer alike would enjoy them.

A Symphony of Seasons has many different types of poems that could be used for special occassions. There is a birthday poem, a Fourth of July poem and the one featured below:

A Hymn of Thanksgiving

By Connie Arnold

Join in joyful singing to God,

your voices in harmony raise,

with grateful love offering to God

a hymn of thanksgiving and praise.

Join in worship and giving thanks

to God throughout all of your days,

with gratitude singing to God

a hymn of thanksgiving and praise.

Join in expressing thanks and joy

for all of God’s marvelous ways,

with adoring hearts lifting to God

a hymn of thanksgiving and praise.

******************* 

So now it's time to comment for a chance to win!

You could comment on the post itself.

You could comment on poetry in general.

You could comment on Connie's books.

You could comment with YOUR OWN poetry.

Or you could help me with a tag team poem just for fun.

I'll start it... and you add a line and so on.

It doesn't matter what you comment as long as you for a chance to WIN WIN WIN something FREE FREE FREE!!

********************

Here's my very feeble attempt at what I hope will be a funny tag team poem.

See what you can add to it in the comment section:

"Blogs are green

Posts are red

Commenting might just ____________ "

(you write the next line!)

Connie's other sites are:

www.conniearnold.webs.com

www.conniearnold.blogspot.com

www.childrensbooks.webs.com

www.childrensauthorconniearnold.blogspot.com

FEELINGS... Nothing More Than Feelings...

In Hinds Feet for HighPlaces Hannah Hurnard tells the story of Much Afraid and her desperate attempt to be free from her emotionally abusive Family of Fearings.

 Her cousin, Craven Fear is the worst.

 He bullies Much Afraid and tells her she will never be anything more than a limping, dwarfed, good-for-nothing loser. And every time she starts to make progress towards the High Places, Craven Fear shows up and tries to browbeat her into going back to the Valley of Humiliationwhere the rest of the fearing family lives.

 For awhile, Much Afraid cowers in Craven Fear’s presence until she realizes that every single time she cries out for the Good Shepherd He shows up and Craven Fear flees.

Much Afraid soon learns that although the Good Shepherd will be with her at all times, she alone must choose to face the pain required to get to the High Places. The following excerpt explains the process well:

“She bent forward to look, then gave a startled little cry and drew back. There was indeed a seed lying in the palm of his hand, but it was shaped exactly like a long, sharply-pointed thorn… ‘The seed looks very sharp,’ she said shrinkingly. ’Won’t it hurt if you put it into my heart?’

He answered gently, ‘It is so sharp that it slips in very quickly. But, Much-Afraid, I have already warned you that Love and Pain go together, for a time at least. If you would know Love, you must know pain too.’

Much-Afraid looked at the thorn and shrank from it. Then she looked at the Shepherd’s face and repeated his words to herself. ’When the seed of Love in your heart is ready to bloom, you will be loved in return,’ and a strange new courage entered her. She suddenly stepped forward, bared her heart, and said, ‘Please plant the seed here in my heart.’

His face lit up with a glad smile and he said with a note of joy in his voice, ‘Now you will be able to go with me to the High Places and be a citizen in the Kingdom of my Father.’

Then he pressed the thorn into her heart. It was true, just as he had said, it did cause a piercing pain, but it slipped in quickly and then, suddenly, sweetness she had never felt or imagined before tingled through her. It was bittersweet, but the sweetness was the stronger. She thought of the Shepherd’s words, ‘It is so happy to love,’ and her pale, sallow cheeks suddenly glowed pink and her eyes shown. For a moment Much-Afraid did not look afraid at all.”
― Hannah Hurnard, “Hinds Feet For High Places”

For Much Afraid, and for many of us, being willing to embrace the pain that put us in the Valley of Humiliation is the first and greatest step towards freedom from fear, bitterness, anger, resentment, jealously.

Christ Jesus dwells in the High Places, and He desires us to be in the High Places with Him.  But we cannot drag our human weights of resentment, hurt etc with us as we try to climb higher. Instead we must choose to leave them behind as we seek higher ground.
 
I have discovered that the letting go of unhealthy feelings is a decision; an act of obedience. Nothing more than a  simple choice to obey God’s word on the matter.  

Let me explain: 
 
I used to think that I had to wait until I felt the freedom from the pain of rejection in my life. I would pray often for God to help me feel better about the lifetime of bullying I had endured at the Craven Fear in my life.

• To be free from the FEELING of deep hurt and rejection.
• To be free from the FEELING of sheer panic every time I knew there was going to be an encounter with Craven Fear.
• To be free from the FEELING of shame that I wore as some sort of twisted security blanket.

But then I realized that no matter how hard I prayed, the FEELINGSwould rise up at the most unexpected moments and cause me to convulse like someone suddenly struck with food poisoning.  

• A childhood memory would flash fresh across my consciousness.
• The benign rejection of a co-worker would strike a blow at the soul level.
• Anger over the most insignificant of issues would threaten my peace.

“How can I get rid of these FEELINGS?” I cried to God.

And then, as is so often the case, the Gentle Shepherd came to me in His still small voice:

“The High Places are not attained through feelings, but through decision.”

• A DECISION, to honor the Craven Fear in my life because God’s word says to. (Exodus 20:12)
• A DECISION not to return shame for shame. (Matthew 5:39)
• A DECISION to forget the offences done to me. To stop mulling them over. To not base a current relationship on past injustices. (I Corinthians 13)

Dr. James Hughes, a Psychologist based out of Dallas, Texas confirms this:   

“Your feelings will get you nowhere in life. But your CHOICES will get you everywhere. It is your CHOICES that have brought you to the place in life you are at this moment.”

What feelings do you struggle with? How do you deal with them? Do you see the value in choosing to move forward - whether you feel like it or not?

Join the discussion. Your thoughts/opinions are important to me. Leave a post and let's talk about it.

-Debbie

ONE DEATH - ONE JUDGEMENT

Junior Seau's self-imposed death has once again shone the spotlight on the darkest, most slimiest trick of the enemy of our soul: SUICIDE.

 

And according the New York  Times, Seau's suicide follows close on the heels of other NFL players:

"Seau would be the second former N.F.L. player to commit suicide in the past two weeks. Ray Easterling, a safety for the Atlanta Falcons in the 1970s and a plaintiff in a high-profile lawsuit against the N.F.L. over its handling of concussion-related injuries, died on April 19 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In February 2011, the former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest, saying in a note that he wanted his brain donated to the study of football head injuries." (New York Times, May 2, 2012)      

But NFL players aren't the only ones killing themselves lately. Consider these other high-profile attempts or complete self-imposed deaths:

Daniel Von Bargen, Seinfeld actor who shot himself in the head.

Nick Santino, Soap Opera actor who appeared on seven episodes of All My Children and six episodes of Guiding Light. He overdosed on pills and left a suicide note saying that he killed himself because he lost his best friend - his dog, a pit bull named Rocco.

Don Cornelius, The man behind Soul Train... shot himself in the head.

Tyler Clementi, Who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommates posted an intimate video of him on the internet.

The American Military,  So far in 2011, the Army has recorded 246 cases of confirmed or potential suicides among active duty and reserve soldiers. That number appears to be below the 2010 level of 305 for the full 12 months, but above the second-highest year -- 2009, which had 242 suicides.

And the list continues of both celebrity/ high profile individuals, teens, the elderly, the abused, the jobless and just about any other category you can think of.

It's a problem.

A very big problem.

And one that I feel compelled to speak out about because personally I think the devil has duped alot of people into believing that suicide is an acceptable escape.

But it is not!

According to Hebrews 9:27 from the Holy Bible,

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

Or as The Message translation explains it:

 ^"Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences."

My heart breaks for the men and women who have taken their lives.  

And for their families.

The pain that Junior Seau's children and ex-wife must be going through at this moment is unfathomable. Imagine getting a simple text that says "I love you"... only to find out that moments later your dad put a gun to his chest and shot himself.

Junior Seau's Mother Upone Hearing Of His Death

I know that this is normally not the kind of post I write, but I felt so compelled to speak out.

Suicide is wrong.

Suicide is not of God.

Suicide is against all Biblical principal.

There are no second chances after death -

The Bible clearly says that man is appointed ONCE to die and after that the judgement.

There are many, many scriptures about trusting the sovereignty of God. About letting God be God. Letting God fight against your enemies. About standing still and seeing the salvation of the Lord. About not harming yourself - or others. About honoring all of His creation - including yourself. About Christ's love and protection for us. About the value of our lives. Here are just few of them:

Christ says: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)

The Apostle Paul Said: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:13)

 The Apostle Paul Also Said: "If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best! " (2 Corinthians 4:8-10, The Message Translation)

What do YOU THINK?

Has your life been touched by someone who has attempted or commited suicide?

Do you have any  scriptures / spiritual insights on this topic that you'd like to share ?

Check back