The question has been posed, integrity examined …. “Do you REALLY believe all this positivity stuff? Do you REALLY believe it can change a life?”

In John, Jesus said “This is the work of God, that you believe…” Now I know the Scripture goes on to say that we believe “on him whom He hath sent” meaning we are to believe in HIM. But think about it….

He also said, “Whatever you say when you pray, believe you have received, and it shall be given unto you.”

God told us in Deuteronomy that the power of life and death are in our tongue. So to answer the question, Yes, I believe….

I believe Jesus is my Lord and Savior but He is also my brother, friend and teacher. I believe God is the Almighty creator of the universe as well as my loving father who wants to bless me with the wildest dreams in my heart.

I believe God is much bigger than the boxes we put Him in, especially those outlined in the Bible. I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God but it has been written by man, filtered through human consciousness and subject to the circumstances and culture of the time. I believe there are depths and levels of faith and spirituality we may never understand but I also believe it pleases God when we try, ask questions, seek after answers, and knock on doors of knowledge.

I believe, next to love, gratitude is the greatest asset we can ever aspire to have. I believe fear is our biggest obstacle and judgment and guilt are useless wastes of energy. I believe we can rise above our circumstances and “call those things that be not as though they are” (actually the word here is were…. past tense as in been there, done that…so why is it those things we desire are not showing up in our life?)

I believe you can not have a positive life with a negative attitude. I believe, with the help of God, you can create a better life for yourself than anyone in your family has ever experienced. I believe selfishness is the root of all evil and that money is simply a means through which God blesses you so that you may be a blessing to others and thereby build His kingdom.

I believe love is the most powerful emotion and we are at our highest level of spirituality and closest to God when we give it freely, without expectation of reward.
I believe some people love their misery. They are comfortable in it and although they say differently, they really don’t want to change, but want others to change for them. This is the highest level of selfishness.

I believe you can’t change the past but you can change the future by your thoughts, words, emotions and actions of today.

I believe the past is over, the future isn’t here yet and today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the ‘present’ and we would do well to live fully in the moment. I believe our past may be a contributing factor in our lives today but with love, gratitude, and forgiveness, we can rise above the pain of that time and life a blessed and happy life.

I believe heaven is nearer than we think and our loved ones who’ve crossed over as near as our next thought and if we listen close enough, they will continue to speak to us and  if we let go of our preconceived notions of heaven being “out there somewhere”, we will experience it here on earth.

I believe life is 100% perception…how you perceive things is how they’ll be for you.

I believe with God all things are possible and nothing is impossible to them that believe…. Believe in God, believe in yourself, believe in your dreams, believe in your goodness, believe in your beauty, believe in the power of love, peace, joy, happiness, bliss.  Believe God is on your side and wants to bless you and quit speaking the opposite!

I believe we “eat the fruit” of our words. Speak negative (poverty, lack, sickness, disease) and you’ll attract those things into your circumstances. Speak positive and you’ll create a better life for yourself and those around you. I believe we give too much of our power to others by allowing them to control our thoughts, feelings and emotions.

I believe forgiveness unlocks the door to happiness and opens channels of blessing because when we forgive we become more like Jesus.

I believe when you heal your own life, you do your part in healing others.

I believe there is no time in eternity, so the reason creating a new life takes ‘time’ is because we let doubt and fear block our good and I believe we talk ourselves out of miracles every day.

Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I never have a bad day despite all I believe. But I will tell you this much, as I continue to walk by faith (not by sight) and speak words of life and love, gratitude and peace, those bad days or incidents are less traumatic and easier to get through than they were before I understood the power of my own thoughts and words.
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Something to think about….
“Inspirational with an Edge!” ™
"Coaching in PJs" ​™

Dealing with multiple family issues in varying depths of negative physical & emotional drama, I keep hearing the message…. “When you starve your spirit, the body compensates.”

Or in most instances, over compensates.

Illness, weight issues, depression, addictions; many times these are all physical and emotional symptoms of a starving spirit.

The Bible teaches us that “a merry heart does good like medicine” (Prov. 17:22).

Proverbs 15:13 tells us, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”

Bible believing Christian or not, there are medical studies that substantiate this idea. But forget medical proof for a moment and think about the people in your life who are ill.

What does their countenance (face, attitude, actions) reveal to you?

Are they upbeat and positive or “down in the mouth”?

Are they the picture of health (acceptable weight, tolerable or manageable level of physical ailments, sensible/rational attitudes, realistic/practical actions) or just the opposite?

Now I’m not going to try and convince you that every person who has been a victim of physical or mental abuse or who has contracted an illness of some sort is merely suffering because they neglect nurturing their spiritual life. I know many devout spiritual beings who suffer diseases.

Nor am I making light of either.

I merely want to point out that feeding and nurturing your spirit is one way to get your physical and emotional well-being on the mend. When the spirit is healthy, many times the body follows.

So how do we get from starving to nurturing our spirit?

Often a simple shift in perception from “woes me” to gratitude can start you on your way to spiritual health. Forgiveness also plays a huge part in this.

“I’ve forgiven but I can’t forget” is a cop out.

I know that sounds harsh but Scripture tells us to speak the truth in love and sometimes love has to be gentle but firm and sometimes the truth hurts; hence the term ‘tough love’.

The Bible tells us that God remembers not our sins, yet we tend to wallow in those perpetrated against us and/or cling to guilt and self-condemnation for those we committed against others.

If God, who is holy and just forgets our sins, who are we, to hold onto those memories and rehash our pain and anger, or disappointment and self pity?

Here’s the rub: As long as you feel and act the victim, you can not live a victorious life!

To put it another way: You can’t have a positive, healthy life (spiritual or otherwise) if you have a negative outlook.

Oh and if you think you are “only being realistic,” think again.

You are hurting no one but YOURSELF when you drag the past into the present and project it into your future.

“But it hurts so much…the pain is so deep….”

Then STOP focusing on it! Focus on today and the good present in your life right now.

Now that I’ve given you something to ponder, here are some ideas and resources….

• Prayer, fasting, and meditation are all proven methods to regain and optimize health and are as important to your overall well-being as diet and exercise.

• Read your Bible! Highlight Scriptures on health and wellness, depression and forgiveness, etc. Or better yet, pick up a copy of God’s Promises, The Tongue a Creative Force by Charles Capps or You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado.

• Start and maintain an attitude of gratitude.  The Magic by Rhonda Byrne breaks this concept down to expressing gratitude for the simplest things! She also offers a “gratitude journal.” Success coach and author, Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul books) also has a gratitude journal as do numerous authors!

• Read some of the books listed in my post What You Don’t Control, Controls YOU!

• Read and do the exercises in Marianne Williamson’s A Course in Weight Loss. This wonderful resource gets to the heart of the matter with practical yet very personal ways to connect with and nurture your spirit.
• Implement energy work such as EFT/Tapping
• Work with a Life Coach or Therapist

​These are just a few examples but I promise, as you get started feeding your spirit, you’ll see and feel a difference in your overall condition and discover more ways to enforce the new, happier, healthier you.

Something to think about...
*Image by Gizelle from Pixabay*

In last week's post I talked about Pam Grout's books E2 (squared) and E3 (cubed) in which there are experiments to prove the Law of Attraction works. I also gave an example of a couple of things that showed up for me while reading and looking for items in one of the experiments that included 8 things to be conscious of and watch for (this is actually experiment #2). Since that post, I remembered another thing off her list: The number 222. On our way home I spotted a bilboard sporting an attorney's office and guess what his number was? (areacode) 222-2222!

Some folks might believe asking God, or the universe for a sign is immature or showing a lack of faith. But, many spiritual teachers encourage us to do so and there are instances in the bible where someone asked God for a sign. Gideon for example.

Dr. Joe Dispenza says in many of his meditations to ask the Divine for a sign if you really connected. Another meditation teacher says to ask God or your angels for a sign not specifying what that sign should be, but instead, pause when asking and see what pops into your mind or drops into your spirit then say, "thank you," and be on the lookout for whatever was whispered in your mind or heart.

Meditation teachers also advise you to pay attention to whatever visions or "downloads" appear to you during your practice and to keep your eyes open to receive.

One day I had a vision of a butterfly sitting on my shoulder. Now, frankly, I've never had a butterfly land on my shoulder or anywhere else. Even though I have seen a lot of them. But what struck me about this vision was how colorful the butterfly was.

So I kept my eyes and heart open and while on vacation, this lovely young woman waited on us and her eyes were painted up to look like a butterfly!

Instances like these to me are miracles and wonders and help me stay in faith that I am on the right path spiritually.

​Signs can show up in many ways and forms so be open to how yours may show up. For example, you ask to see a bear. You may see one in the wild, on a bilboard, a picture in a book or magazine, on a license plate or bumper sticker, something on your SM feed.

Can you recall any signs in your life? Please share, I'd love to hear about them!

Until next time, stay open to the signs, miracles and wonders God is trying to show you.

​PamT

*Note: This event happened in 2013 but the information is as relevant today as it was back then.*

Have you ever asked for and/or received a sign from God? You’re be-bopping along and the solution to a problem or answer to a question suddenly appears in a book, on a billboard, thorough an unusual conversation, or on a marque somewhere and goose bumps rise on your flesh?

I love it when that happens!

Acts 22: mentions the miracles, wonders and signs of Jesus.

Acts 10:38 says, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

Jesus said that the things HE did, we should do also (and more).

I’ve often wondered if I really have or demonstrate spiritual power. I don’t always see signs and wonders following me so how do I know if I am making a difference in people’s lives? How do I know God is using me and whether or not I’m effective when He does?

Mark 16:20 says, “And they (the apostles) went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.”

In Acts 3:6 Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

Now THAT is an example of spiritual power I’d like to see evident in my life!

Granted, there are times when I feel His power working through me, hear His word being spoken through me and see revelation light someone’s eyes or face while we’re talking.

Sometimes I see evidence of Him working during a meeting or conversation, but most of the time it’s after the fact. But is that all…. Is it enough?

What about those ‘signs and wonders’ people speak of? I’ve never laid hands on the sick or raised the dead and certainly haven’t cast demons out of anyone.

Am I expecting too much or believing for too little?

While cutting potatoes for lunch a friend and I were talking and the song “She Loves Me Like Jesus Does” by Eric Church was on the radio. She commented how much she enjoyed it even though she wasn’t a “churchy” person. My answer to her was that we don’t have to be “churchy” in order to have a relationship with God & Christ. I then turned around and sliced a potato in half and… Well you can see the picture attached to this post.

Talk about goose bumps!

I’m not sure if this sign was for me or her, but the one thing I do know for certain is that everyone who hears this story & sees this picture is blessed in some way.

I believe we all have spiritual power and these things do follow us, but we’re so busy looking for the great BIG signs, miracles, and wonders that we ignore or miss out on the simple, yet profound things of God (like His omnipresence in all things and every place.)

We simply need to open our eyes (natural and spiritual) to see, and our hearts to receive.

One more thing…could it be that our lack of gratitude for the seemingly little signs, miracles and wonders in our lives block the big ones?

Something to think about!
PamT

As I sit here and ponder what to share with you today, I am reminded of the old adage, “Life is what you make it.”

If you are a firm believer in the Law of Attraction, then this statement is true in a very literal sense. (Uh, oh, many of you tuned out with the mention of LOA – thinking I’m going off on a new age, mumbo jumbo tangent, but bear with me LOL!)

The Law of Attraction states that what you focus on, you attract into your life. Not necessarily the same thing, but similar situations and circumstances that keep you trapped in that cycle of living - whether good or bad.


​The Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, therefore he is.”

Given these two examples, could there be some truth in that old adage? Can we really make life be what we want it to be, what we wish to experience?

“If these statements are true,” you may wonder, “then why is my life such a mess?”

After all, you didn’t ask to be born into the family you have, or don’t have. You didn’t ask for the layoff or divorce, illness or death that knocked you down, rocked your world, and trampled your faith into the dirt.

We all know those folks who are living examples of the old Hee Haw song about gloom, despair, and misery but what makes them different from others who have suffered a similar (or worse) fate?

Why is it that some can wallow in the negativity of their life for years while others simply deal with it, let it go and move on? Now I’m not saying that those who have the ability to move on don’t suffer. Far from the truth that is!

What I am saying is that they choose a different path–a way of thinking and behaving that brings peace and joy into their lives despite the circumstances.

If you talk to many people you’ll begin to realize one of the things that separate the winners from the whiners is the words of their mouth and meditation of their heart (mind).

In other words, their stinkin’ thinkin’.

Here’s a clue: If you want to change your life, you must change your thoughts and then change your words!

Even the bible backs this up with scriptures like… “I put before you life and death, therefore choose life,” and “the power of life and death are in the tongue, and he that indulgeth in it shall eat the fruit thereof,” oh and let’s not forget “you reap what you sow.”

Jesus said that it is not what goes into a man’s mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of it.

We’ve all heard the saying, “you can’t live a positive life with a negative attitude” and that is so true! If whatever “it” is that happened to make you so miserable transpired years ago – Get Over It Already!

Now I know that sounds harsh but be honest….Do YOU like being around a dark, nasty cloud all the time?

I know I don’t. No matter how much I love or care for someone, after a while it gets old hearing the same old poor, pitiful me stories.

We all have experiences in our lives that are far from blissful. Sometimes I look back and wonder how I ever made it through some of the circumstances that threatened to get and keep me down. I’m not better than the next person, so I guess what makes me different is that I chose to rise above those things, to think and speak victory over my life instead of wallow in a victim mentality.

Here’s the good news…You Can Too!
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Something to think about…..
Inspirational with an Edge! ™