Tag: mind

Journey Through October: Conquering Fear

On By sashakatzIn Journey Through October: Conquering FearLeave a comment

~week one~day two~

The Reason I Didn’t Read

I flinch at the thought of pain. It hurts. A season of pain usually means someone I love will be suffering. Maybe I will be stretched beyond my human capacity. There will be loss. I will have to dig deep into Him to locate answers, find direction. I will need to seek Him for air to breathe. For peace in the night.

I will have to apply the wisdom of the past to know He will deliver. I will have to Walk by Faith and Not Sight. I will have to believe that my greatest hopes for the circumstances will be worked out both in His perfection and creativity. I will have to take a step of faith to know His outcome is better than anything I may conjure up as good in my own heart or mind.

I will do all of these things while my heart is hurting. While I don’t understand. While I dream about better or different days. In between redoing the past and how I could have made things different. Had I been given the chance to replay. Surely things would have turned out better. Or, at least, less painful.

The past already taught me that once pain has come into my soul, it will take some time for the dirt to become fertile again. The barrenness will have to be carved out. Removing what is prohibiting or holding me back from growth. It takes a while for flowers to bloom again. Turning those pages felt like an invitation to relive all of it. All my pain. This is the reason why I didn’t read.

What hogs your space?

On By sashakatzIn FemmeFuel by Sasha Katz1 Comment

I was driving my morning route today, and I was feeling pretty good.  Driving in on time, not too much traffic, nice blue skies, good music . . . but, the embarrassing, vain part is that I was primarily feeling good (i think) because I liked the way my make-up came out.  I have been fighting with this black Bobbi Brown eye liner gel . . . and I somehow decided that I got it right today.  After a few minutes, I have the feeling that I am feeling a little too good about the make up scenario.  I am starting to laugh at myself.  God knocks on my heart and says . . . Is that all it takes to make you happy?  So if you like your physical appearance, you feel good?  But, if that’s not the case, then what?  Right God, You are right this morning.  That’s when I smile and feel the real kind of happy in my heart.  The truth in love feels good.

We are so easily swayed.  The flesh is always right there waiting to drop in and hog the space in which your spirit resides.  I am thinking about my very private friend whose name I will not mention (except that she lives in Florida so as not to confuse her with any of my other very private friends living elsewhere).  She told me recently how she struggles with her mind going in directions that eventually cause her to question her purpose in this life.  As I watched her talk, I connect with her struggle and think about how often our flesh draws us away from the Spirit of the Living God.  Think about how powerful the coupling of the flesh and the human mind can be.  A thought leads to a thought leads to another thought and you, who are so closely connected to Jesus, are now questioning the purpose of your life.

Now, think about how powerful the coupling of the spirit and the human mind can be.  A thought leads to a thought leads to another thought and you, who are so closely connected to Jesus, are now scheming how you can minister to children on the other side of the planet.  Planning to send a note to a friend with an encouraging word.  Figuring out how you can give to a ministry more than you planned.  When my mind is in accordance with the spirit, I am overwhelmed with lists and lists and lists of good works that I can do in my home, in my community and for my friends.  My thoughts and lists of thoughts are so uniquely God that I am entirely confident none of it comes from my own silly brilliance.  My own silly brilliance is flattened by God ideas and thoughts.  So, why is it so hard to keep the mind and the spirit on the same team?

There is no doubt that you and I have enough to do to keep us busy until our final date with life on earth.  None of our to-do lists will squeak out even a moment for spiritual things.  The answer is intentional feeding of the spirit.  I rely on email devotions and note cards on my office wall throughout the day.  If I find myself veering away from the spiritual things that come my way, then I know that means I need to take a moment to read that verse, quote or devotion.  I need to remain intentional about feeding my spirit if I want to keep my mind connected to the spirit.  The alternative is losing my spiritual space to a hog called flesh.  The alternative is missing out on a whole spiritual world of opportunity.  God has keys to an extraordinary number of doors that we will never get to open unless we are intentionally letting Him into our mind.  So He can lead our spirits far away from that stinky hog called flesh.  Need I say more?

FF Aug 22

Thanks to Kaitlayn Bouchillon for this inspiring illustration of the word.

With All My Strength

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Bindu Adai-Mathew, Mind Body Spirit ConnectionLeave a comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30

Last week in my blog, I quoted a similar scripture that was found in Matthew. But I found this verse in Mark a little more interesting because of the last four words in it…with all of your strength.

We are not only to love God with all three parts of our selves…but we are supposed to love him with everything we got. And I’m not talking theoretical love. In theory, who wouldn’t say they love God 100%? I’m talking practical, real day-to-day love. I’m talking spending time with God when you’re “too busy.” When you’d rather watch TV than read your Bible. Or would rather sleep in on Sunday then go to church and worship Him.

I think of last week. Last week started off good…great, in fact. I am five months into a new job that I felt was nothing less than an answer to prayer. Close to home, great pay, great co-workers, flexible boss. Wednesday morning, I even emailed a good friend who moved away just as I started my new job. I wanted to see how she was doing, but I also wanted to share how good God had been to me with this job.  But not less than six hours later, everything changed.

At 5 pm, I received an email from the company’s CEO announcing that our company is being bought out by our competitor, and their headquarters are located in Atlanta.  As I tried to hold on to my optimism that somehow my position would remain intact, our boss called a meeting to confirm that yes, the company would be undergoing a merger within two months, and while no discussions had been formally made regarding our jobs, he gravely advised us to start looking for new jobs.  Don’t wait for the new company to lay us all off, he said, glancing around the room and then sternly added, start working on your resumes.

To me, loving God=trusting God, and that isn’t always easy 100% of the time. It really does sometimes require all of our strength, doesn’t it?

Love the Lord with all my strength. But why, Lord, why? Wasn’t this the job you wanted me at? If it wasn’t, why did it fall together so well? Why did it feel so riiight?

Love the Lord with all my strength. Why me, Lord, why me? Why do these things happen to me? Why would you give me this job, only to yank it away from me like this?

Love the Lord with all my strength. But what’s going to happen, Lord? You know I need this job. You know we need my insurance. I have a family to take care of, Lord.

Yes, that is what I spent doing the last four days. Loving the Lord with all my strength. Trusting that He knew what was best, even if it didn’t make sense to me. Trusting that there was something even better. I had to go back to the basics and cling to what I knew to be true.

Matthew 6:31-32
Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

Matthew 7:11
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything; you may have an abundance for every good deed.

Philippians 4:19
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:34
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This month we’ve delved, dissected, and discussed the body, mind, and soul connection to God and how it affects our relationship with Him. No matter how strong your faith is, difficult times will come, and they will test what you know. When those times come, go back to the scriptures. Feed on them and let them remind you of the goodness of God. Let them remind you of His promise to take care of you. Connect back to Him with everything you got: body, mind, and soul.

Fall in Love Today!

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Bindu Adai-Mathew, Mind Body Spirit ConnectionLeave a comment

Go to fullsize imageBy Bindu Adai-Mathew

“For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” Matthew 26:41b

As I read JMathis’s post yesterday, this was the scripture that came to mind. When I read her post, I, too, begin to feel the strong stirrings of conviction. I’ll be the first to confess, that, I, too, have had many dreams of grandeur in terms of my writing ambitions. Yes, I do want to encourage women through my writing. Yes, I do want to inspire them to pursue their passions while also serving God. But secretly, I do confess that I’ve imagined doing all of this from my beautifully furnished home office…the one I spend my days in since resigning from my corporate day job. It has a beautiful view, this office…ocean view on one side…mountain view on the other…modern espresso colored desk and bookcase…a cozy velvet couch, perfect for sipping hot tea from porcelain teacups while trying to battle those pesky writer’s blocks! Oh, wait, I didn’t mention God anywhere, did I? Hmmm…well, it is for His glory anyway, riiiiight?

Yes, JMathis is right…sometimes our dreams take little detours that have nothing to do with our original goal of serving and honoring God.  I want to want what God wants for my life…really, I do! But somewhere in there, very quickly, materialism and hedonism quickly creep in and push God out of the way until there is no room for Him.  Sometimes, to be quite honest, both my spirit and my body are weak. So then what?

Pray. Pray for that desire to want God. Pray for that desire to want to please Him.

Lest we forget, it is the first commandment. All of us know the Thou shall not steal…Thou shall not kill…But how many of us know what Jesus described as the first and greatest commandment?

“Jesus replied. ‘And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all of your Heart, Soul, and Mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.’”  Matthew 22:37-38

And ironically, it is often the first one we forget.  Of course, most of us would say, yes, we love God…but can we say we loooooooooooove God? That we are in love with God? Jesus didn’t say just love God with your heart. He said to love him with your heart, soul, and mind. Basically we are told to love Him with every fiber of every aspect of our physical, spiritual, and emotional selves.

Why? Because He said so? Maybe… He is God…He makes the rules…But I think of it this way…remember the early stages of being in love with your significant other…Remember how you thought of them always? How you considered their feelings, sometimes before your own? What you wouldn’t do for them because you were in love with them?

Those of you with kids can think about them…yes, unconditional love at its human finest! What wouldn’t anyone of us do for our children? Sure, they’re helpless and unable to do for themselves, especially when they’re babies. But that’s not what goes through our minds when we look at them or when they cry. Love. Love gets us up in the middle of the night when they’re sick. Love keeps us up at night when they missed curfew. Love keeps us loving them even when they don’t act loving towards us.

Love is a powerful motivator. Imagine what YOU would do for God…not because you had to…not because you were told to…but because you wanted to…because you loved with God with all of your Heart. Soul. And Mind.

Jesus knew the power of love. After all, it was love that motivated Him to come to earth. It was love that caused Him to give up His life so we, too, could have Life. Not just life…but Eternal Life.

So my challenge for you today…tomorrow…and always is to love God. With every fiber of your being. Heart. Mind. Soul.

And let’s see what YOU will do for love…