A More Encompassing Vision for This Blog and My Writing

Life and writing depend on balance. Hence, this blog is no different.

I want to write about Infinite Blessings. However, there is more to it than just that.

Consequently, the question which recently came to mind is: What do I really want to write?

Several different answers came to mind in response. Hence, I asked myself a follow-up question: How can I encompass everything I want to write in one and is it even possible to include all of it in one theme or category?

Hmm… I thought on this for a while and came up with this:

“A Way of Life: The Faithful Trio of Prayer, Bible, and Thanks (A Spiritual Memoir)”

I am not sure if that exact title will stick. However, I can say this. I will stick with this theme, even if it is reworded, for weeks, maybe months, and maybe even years. So, this is my new blog theme.

If you dig around in this blog, or have read it before, you will know that these three aspects are vital parts to my life and writing. Hence, this theme is no surprise.

There is nothing more important to me than the faithful trio. And, if you are Christian, the same can be and should be said about you.

After all, the Bible tells us how we are to pray, meditate (think on, ponder, contemplate) the Bible, and give thanks 24/7/365. All the time. Morning, noon, and night. Forever and a day. Without stopping. Without ceasing.

Forgive my silliness in the previous paragraph, where I was quite redundant, even redundantly so. However, it was to make a point. I hope I made it. Let me try again just in case.

The Bible tells us to pray, meditate on the Word, and give thanks all the time, even as we do other activities. I want to spend some time trying to figure out how to do the faithful trio. The upcoming blog posts will be the story of my journey trying to do so. So, stay tuned. Tomorrow will be the start of a way of life and living the faithful trio. 

The World Does Not Define Me or My Calendar: A Way of Life

I want to live the best life possible.

I realize the world's definition does not fit my definition of living the best life possible. In fact, through my over four decades of life, there is one certainty I have come to know and try to live by: Whatever the world says is good, run from it, for it will surely lead to a bottomless pit where nothing is good enough and I will always want more. The world says to be happy, it's up to me. Look within, or so they say.

Hah! If left to my own devices, I would be miserable. I error. All the time. I am far from perfect. If I were to depend on me, I would be an abysmal failure. So, no... The world's ways are not and cannot be my ways.

Also, the world says identity is dependent upon certain things... career, children, hobbies, etc. This is how people of the world define themselves.

My first and foremost identity is: Daughter of God. (Daughter of a king. Sister of a Savior.)

Nothing matters more than that. That is who I am.

I am a wife. I write. I am the human of two cats and two turtles. Do any of these define me? No. Not really. I am the child, the daughter of God. This is who I am and is what makes me who I am for eternity. My other earthly identities are just temporary.

So, again, the world does not define me or who I am.

Nor does the world determine or define my calendar.

The world thinks that busyness makes us more important. It even things busyness will make us more satisfied. The seeking of more is the way of the world. Hence, the world says that your calendar needs to be full—and it even needs to have so many events or so many categories in order for us to be satisfied or considered as an asset by people.

The world says our calendars must be full or you are lazy or are lower in their sights.

The world does not define my calendar because it does not consider or value what I find important.

If all I have each day on my calendar was: prayer, Bible, and thanks, I consider myself a massive success. I will have at least planned to live right, according to the Bible, and hopefully I will have actually lived out my calendar as well. These things go against the pleasures of this world.

I realize my day is not mine. It’s God’s. If I plan anything, I plan on ways on how to live the faithful trio of prayer, Bible, and thanks.

This is a way of life… the faithful trio. Not the things of this world. This is how I choose to live. This is how I want to live. I am the daughter of God and my day is his, not mine. I will live the faithful trio 24/7/365. This is a way of life and is the best way to live. I am and will be infinitely blessed because of these things. 

(Photo/Image Credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC 2009-2016).

Joy vs. Happiness and Psalm 9:1-2 (MSG)

Lord, thank You for these verses. They have certainly blessed my socks off. And, that is putting it mildly.

I can live these verses for the rest of my life and I want to do so.

If my tombstone was large enough, I would want to include these verses on it. But, this would also do: "A woman of joy, who lived Psalm 9:1-2 (MSG)." So, until then, I want to try to live this verse every single day, moment by moment.

What incredible verses to live each moment.

Joy can be found in every moment. Happiness cannot. Joy is not contingent on anything. Happiness depends on choice and often times on outer circumstances and emotions, both of which change with the wind. Joy is inner and is deeper. It depends on nothing but faith. Joy is eternal while happiness changes by the moment and mood.

Joy is not something we can intentionally gain. It is given to us by the Holy Spirit:

Galatians 5:22-23 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Therefore, joy is not something we manufacture. Rather, it is given to us when we believe in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 9:2 The Message (MSG)
9 1-2 I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart,
    I’m writing the book on your wonders.
I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;
    I’m singing your song, High God.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Joy: Psalm 9:2 The Message (MSG): My new life verse

Psalm 9:2 The Message (MSG): My new life verse

Every now and then, a verse will come around and ruin me. This is one of those verses.

Let me explain, though, what I mean by ruin. It grabs my attention so much, so hard, so powerfully, so awesomely that I cannot think or do much of anything else after I read the verse. I become obsessed with it, in the best form of the word, where I memorize the verse, pray on it, meditate on it and think on it as much as possible. I spend as much time thinking on it and praying on it as possible and I also journal about the verse or verses. 

When a verse grabs me, my heart and mind, it is  challenge of me to look at any other verses for a while. The verse becomes what I eat, drink, and breathe. It becomes part of me and a way of life and living. 

Sometimes my focus on a verse like this lasts days. Sometimes, it lasts weeks. Sometimes, it lasts months. Sometimes, it lasts years. 

This is one such verse. So, stay tuned. I will write a great deal more about it at least in the next blog post.

This is my new life verse:

Psalm 9:2 The Message (MSG)

A David Psalm

9 1-2 I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart,

    I’m writing the book on your wonders.

I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;

    I’m singing your song, High God.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

The Blessing of Repeated Mistakes

I keep making the same mistake. Repeatedly. Over and over. I am a woman of redundancy with this error. I am constant with this wrongdoing.  (Have I made my point yet? I ask with a mild grin.)

The worst part is how I know I keep making it. I learn from my wrongdoing. I have my eyes opened. I repent and turn from my wicked ways. It works for a while. I even excel with doing it right. For a while.  Then, I slip and fall into my own ways. 

Ugh. 

It gets worse. I have repeated the exact same mistake off and on for over two and a half years now... Actually, it has been since Wednesday, November 06, 2013. 

I hang my head as I make this confession. 

How can I be such a fool?

How can I keep hurting myself in such a way and so deeply? 

When am I going to learn and apply what I learn? My life would be drastically different if I did. Is it because much is required for me to do so? Do I keep slipping because I realize how much I need to change in order to live in such a manner?

The previous paragraph is an important one, I realize I need to think and pray on for a while. And, I shall. 

I keep forgetting to count my blessings. This is my thorn. This is my error and repeated mistake. It is the one I have made since November 2012. 

The Bible says repeatedly and in different ways to always give thanks and to be grateful for everything.

This is how I should live. 

It is a blessing to make this mistake repeatedly because I know what it means to not count my blessings. I know the difference of what my life is like if I do count them. 

It is how I want to live.

I want to live a life of infinite blessing.

How Will We Choose to Handle Each Moment?

Life is a challenge--and that is on a good day and in a good moment. Our days and moments are not perfect. They never have been. Nor will they ever be. 

What sets us apart is how we handle every moment.

What matters is how we choose to handle each moment. 

Are we going to choose to complain, throw a fit, cry, holler, go numb, deny, ignore, regret, yell at God, or something else that does not help?

Will we search for, find, and count the blessings of every moment of every day? And will we try to remember them?  This what sets apart the wise from the foolish, the mature from the immature, and the godly from the ungodly. 

The Purpose and Meaning of Life: Be blessed with who and what we have now

All of us have a purpose. This purpose is what brings meaning to our lives. 

We all have the same purpose and the same meaning. It is what defines us as individuals and is what unites us. It is the appreciation of life as it is today and in this moment, no matter what is or is not happening.

If we cannot count our blessings for what we have now, we will never be satisfied and will always want more. If we cannot be trusted with the blessings we have now, why should we be blessed with anything more? We surely do not deserve more. 

If we are not thankful for what we have in our lives today and in this moment, there is nothing and no one that could possibly make us happy. 

What we have should be all we want or we need. And, if we are blessed with something or someone new or different, we need to count them as a blessing we did not anticipate. We should realize how blessed we are because what we had we already counted ourselves as blessed. With the new blessing, we are even more blessed and even less deserving.