I remember reading the best-selling book, "The God Chasers" by Pastor Tommy Tenney, and even today, I wonder... Are there any God chasers in the Catholic Church?  How about the Baptist or Methodist or Full Gospel churches?

I'm not talking about Church goers or man pleasers, but God seekers. 
 
The Bible says that "God is no respecter of persons." 
 
Why are we? 
 
There are seven things God hates, one of which is "one who sows discord among the brethren." 
 
Why do we?  Why do we judge and criticize those who are not of the same "faith" as we? 
 
Jesus said, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” I try to live my life by that Scripture as well as my own personal motto which is: Don't mock what you don't understand.
 
Many of us used to wear bracelets that encouraged us to think W. W. J. D. We spout the phrase, “What would Jesus do?” We don our pins and proudly display bumper stickers, crucifixes and key chains, but how often do we really consider what Jesus would do in our situations?  How many of us talk the talk but don't walk the walk?

Even Jesus praised the Canaanite woman for her faith. Why can't we praise each other? How many of our church doctrines and church laws (regardless of the denomination) are Scriptural based but man enforced without the love, mercy, and forgiveness commanded of us by Christ? 
 
Why have we made love and forgiveness a job instead of a joy?  
 
How often do we approach the altar of God with sin in our hearts, minds and lives?  How often do we really repent whether through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or on our face before God?  How often do we go to church without really going to God?  How often do we seek the approval of man, or seek God's hand and not His face?  How often do we really worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, instead of ritual and tradition?  How often do we put church over God?  How often do we really minister to Jesus?  Do we sit at His feet, seek His face, serve Him with our whole hearts or do we become enslaved by what we once loved?  How many of our priests and ministers have lost their reverence for God and simply perform rituals?
 
Some say the Catholic Church is the one TRUE church, started by Jesus, but how often do Catholics practice what they preach?  How often do we fast and pray other than lent?  Do we really hunger and thirst for righteousness?  How often do we fast from negativism and feast on the positive? 
 
What about you?  What about your church? 
 
I AM NOT writing to judge or condemn any religion or denomination - I am writing to encourage ALL people, all religions and denominations to become more lovingm more forgiving, more accepting.

In other words, to be more like God.
 
So, let us pray.... Dear God, we cry out to You.  From the bottom of our hearts and the depths of our souls, we repent of our judgements and ask your guidance on changing our minds and hearts to love our neighbors as ourselves. Open the floodgates of heaven, Lord, and make us one heart, one mind, one in our desire to be an instrument of Your peace, a vessel of Your love, a fount of Your wisdom, a channel of Your blessings and a conduit of miracles. AMEN and Thank YOU.

Something to think about!
"Inspirational with an Edge! ™
"Coaching in Pjs" ™

Get your copy of The God Chasers at Amazon in Large Print Paperback, Audio (only 99c with your Audible trial membership) or on Kindle

As Christians we are encouraged to become more like Jesus, but how is that possible in a world where hearts have grown cold and mutual honesty, integrity and respect is almost nonexistent?

In his book, Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado offers us numerous examples. I own this treasure trove of encouragement and have read it numerous times, but I must say, loving as Jesus loved/loves and living as He lived, is not easy!

Sometimes it seems as though Life sets out to prove just how difficult a task this is. Not wanting to get into particular situations here, let’s suffice by saying I have never considered myself capable of emotions strong enough to actually hurt—I mean physically—hurt someone. But I have. I’ve experienced anger, so deep, so raw it nearly rendered me incapable of feeling basic kindness much less compassion.

I’m not proud of it and am certainly not advocating acting on those feelings! But there have been a few times in my life I can honestly say I’ve experienced something so fierce, so strong… so dangerous that it actually scared me.

I’ve seen social media posts that say when asked WWJD remember that turning over tables and taking a whip to someone is not out of the realm of possibilities.

Yeah, there are times when I’d like to do that.

Or worse.

Without a qualm.

Hard to believe, right? Especially for those who know me personally.

Hard for me to believe too.

Thankfully, I haven’t felt such intense rage like this often or in a long time.

So how can we be more like Jesus when we have such undesirable emotions?

Scripture gives us the answer… “But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Matthew 5:44 and Romans 12:14: “Bless those who persecute you [who are cruel in their attitude toward you]; bless and do not curse them.”

So that’s what I did and continue to do: Pray and trust that God has the entire situation under control and will show Himself strong on my behalf, help me see the people/circumstances in a different light, or change my heart completely. I’ve prayed, “Lord, I’m willing to forgive and I surrender this situation and these emotions to you, but only YOU can make the forgiveness true in my heart.”

Three other prayers have proven beneficial when faced with something like this…

• Ho'oponopono, the ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness, meaning "to make things right." I’ve studied and practiced this prayer and am a Certified Ho'oponopono Practitioner. With this prayer you take full responsibility for your emotions by apologizing to and asking forgiveness from the perpetrator(s), saying “thank you,” and ending with, “I love you.”

 
Which isn’t easy when our ego mind screams, “yeah, but…!!!” One thing that helped me was to add, “I forgive you and I release you to God,” at the end of my prayer. Another was to write the prayer in full using the person/people’s names. In her book, The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, Edwene Gaines suggests writing your forgiveness statement 35 x twice a day for 7 days (70 x 7). I have this book and will discuss it at a later time. I want to re-read it first. 😊

Surrogate Tapping for those involved helped too.

• The prayer of St. Francis of Assisi and the Amni Christi are wonderful too because both help you focus on emulating Christ.

 
Have these things made me more like Jesus?

Maybe, a little, but I know there’s always room for me to learn, to heal, and to grow.

Something to think about...
PamT
​
“Inspirational with an Edge!” ™
"Coaching in Pj's" ™

​I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts so leave a comment!

In previous posts I mentioned Suzanne Giesmann, her book on Mediumship and her "Messages of Hope" podcast. What I didn't bring up is the fact that Suzanne has a free app called, The Awakened Way.

This wonderful hub is filled with gifts of eBooks, meditations, and daily messages from Spirit. There is also an "inspire" button that you can pray for guidance and touch and it will bring you to a previous daily message. Kind of like opening a devotional, the Bible or a Bible app to a random passage. 

Yesterday, I asked in prayer for a sign that I am on the right path in my journey to grow my writing/editing/coaching business. I hit the inspire button and up popped a missive about dealing with holiday stress...

"The holidays are not the issue. Your thoughts around them are." (paraphrased)

This doesn't apply to my question, I thought, but kept reading. Lo and behold, the note went on to say something like, "let go of those old, negative thought patterns and make room for new, fresh, exciting, truthful ones." (paraphrased)

Ok! Message received loud and clear so I went on about my day.

Later, after a bout of rain showers cleard up enough to take my dog out for a bit, I looked down on the carport and saw a heart-shaped water spot. 

Suzanne always ends her daily messages with, "you are so loved," so I took this as a sign that God heard my prayer and answered. Not only through the message but with this heart. 

At the moment I did not have my phone with me so I went into the house and came back out to snap the one you see here. Note: the blob on the left side is a paw print LOL! Here's the cool thing though, the next time we went outside after still more rain, the heart was gone.

Signs and synchronicities are all around us, folks and no, IMHO, it is not wrong to ask for one when you need it. In fact, Suzanne and other spiritual teachers say all the time that our "unseen helpers" (as Dr. Jesse Duplantis puts it) are always willing to give us one.

I've written about this subject before in This and This post. I hope this encourages you to open up, ask and look for the signs you need from God when feeling unsure if you're on the right path to creating the life of your dreams.

Something to think about!
PamT
“Inspirational with an Edge!” ™
"Coaching in Pj's" ™

The whole purpose of this blog is to share with you authors, books and religious/spiritual/new thought leaders whom I admire and follow on a regular basis to aid in my spiritual quest.

Ever since reading The Secret and other books by Rhonda Byrne, I've discovered many teachers of the Law of Attaction and the power of the mind. Brian Scott & The Reality Revolution is one I discovered on YouTube and whose work I love.

He has recorded himself reading some of the most influential new thought leaders of our time, like Joseph Campbell, Catherine Ponder, Ernest Holmes, Napoleon Hill, and many more. His soothing, gentle, yet powerful, voice makes these books come alive.

With over 1000 podcast/video episodes, you're bound to find several to catipult your spiritual walk to a whole new level. 

Check out Brian's books, The Reality Revolution and Activate Your Unlimited Power on Amazon. You won't be disappointed.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.
PamT

Ever since I read her book, A Return to Love, I have been a HUGE fan of Marianne Williamson.

This woman writes with a deep sense of love and wisdom that I've found incomparable - and I read a LOT of spiritual nonfiction!

The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love is no exception.

Filled with nuggets of gold like: "Even the tiniest thought of forgiveness, of mercy, of love, can change the trajectory of our lives."  

AND

"The Mind of God is an infinite ocean of loving thought and when we think with love, we are thinking with God."

AND

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and the only way we can achieve that is if we learn to think as God thinks. Asking Jesus to hlep is a way to get there."

Isn't this an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G concept? When I think with love, kindess, mercy, etc. I am thinking as God thinks! With the "mind of Christ" as the Bible puts it!

I know it's so easy to get caught up in unloving, judgemental thinking in this crazy, angry world, but just imagine if we would take time out often throughout our day to consciously think in this way. How much more peaceful would our lives - and the lives of those we are in contact with on a daily basis - be? 

I, for one, am up for the challenge.

How about You?

If you LOVE Jesus and deep, spiritual truths, read this book! In fact, read any of Marianne's books. You won't be disappointed.

Something to think about!
Pamela S Thibodeaux
“Inspirational with an Edge!” ™
"Coaching in PJs" ™