How do you make up your mind about how to live with a mental illness?
Receive an official diagnosis (Accept It)
Research your feelings, emotions, and behaviors online (You Change)
Ask your immediate circle about it (Look At The Situation Another Way)
Keep it to yourself and hope for a better day (Do Nothing)
Stop thinking about it and let it go (Leave The Situation)
Which option(s) did/have you chosen?
Really, just how well ARE they working out for you?
And, are you happy with the outcome of how you have chosen to live your life? If you aren’t, then it is because … You are complacent in the way things are because you BELIEVE you’ve tried everything, and you cope with that by hoping a clean slate and a fresh start is out there in the form of a next paycheck, the shrink-wrapped snack, the partner of your dreams…
I’m not a fitness nut. For a brief time in my life I was, but stuff happened and I reverted back to just being a nut.
At the wonderful age of 64 I have few aches and pains. Both of my knees still work and if it weren’t for a frozen shoulder and some digestive issues I’d feel almost as good as I did at 16. I’m quite a bit fuller figured than I was then, but I’m okay with that. (Hoping I didn’t just jinx myself with all this talk of feeling good.)
Yesterday morning my Apple Watch challenged me to a 20-minute dance workout. I like to dance. No, I LOVE to dance. My morning routine usually includes dancing to at least one of the songs on my Amazon Echo playlist. Three to six minutes of cardio after which I shower and then sit down for a writing…
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.13 There above it[c] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.[d]15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.19 He called that place Bethel,[e] though the city used to be called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord[f] will be my God22 and[g] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
Today’s reading tells us how God set a promise to Jacob in verse 15. Jacob believed in this promise and as Christians surely we also should believe that wherever we go God will not leave us.
My sequel to my debut novel, Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, is coming along nicely. I’m about 65,000 words in and the penultimate scene is staring me right in the face. I went to bed last night feeling pretty good about my efforts. Then around two a.m. I woke up thinking, It all feels a little Nancy Drewish at best or a grown up version of The Little Rascals at worst.
Somehow I managed to go back to sleep hoping my subconscious mind could find a solution. When Studly kissed me before he left for work around 5:30 I told him my early morning thoughts.
“Easy fix,” he said. “More cleavage. Cleavage in every scene.”
I laughed and laughed.
Later, at my typewriter: Paula leaned over the counter, treating Mark to a view of her well-defined cleavage. In his mind’s eye he replayed all the…
It’s Wednesday, we’re alive and we’re here today! Thank you. Blue Daisy Practicing my artistic skills What do you think? Can a red daisy feel blue? Melinda
ME: I’m in a bad mood
HIPPOCRATES: Go for a nice long walk and if you’re still in a bad mood,
go for another walk.
FOR THE PLEASURES OF YOUR SOLES
When the world is chaotic, your mind is in a buzz,
with in an infinite overload of ‘out of the blue’ stuff.
Take your mind, heart, soul and spirit for a walk,
listen out for the exhilarating sounds of nature’s call.
Soul of Mother Earth, to soles of your feet;
Heart to ground, centred in peace.
Heel, then toe, mindfully across terrain,
smell and touch the stability of Earth again.
Let the grass grow under your feet,
heart lifting moments, as senses meet.
Earth and Heart, letters are the same;
they’re just ‘sounded’ out in a different way.
Victoria Healing ~ 27.4.2021
Heel to Toe
‘When you realise Heart and Earth are spelled with the same letters,
10 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.2 They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.3 They all ate the same spiritual food4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”[a]8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.9 We should not test Christ,[b] as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!13 No temptation[c] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[d] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[e] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
1 Yield not to temptation,
For yielding is sin;
Each vict’ry will help you,
Some other to win;
Fight valiantly onward,
Evil passions subdue;
Look ever to Jesus,
He will carry you through.
Refrain:
Ask the Saviour to help you,
Comfort, strengthen and keep you;
He is willing to aid you,
He will carry you through.
2 Shun evil companions,
Bad language disdain;
God’s name hold in rev’rence,
Nor take it in vain;
Be thoughtful and earnest,
Kindhearted and true;
Look ever to Jesus,
He will carry you through. [Refrain]
3 To him that o’ercometh,
God giveth a crown;
Through faith we will conquer,
Though often cast down;
He who is our Saviour,
Our strength will renew;
Look ever to Jesus,
He will carry you through. [Refrain]
A song of Testimony, and what a testimony we have in verse three. Tis true when we overcome sin we are rewarded by God and it is by faith we conquer that sin. Yes we as humans get knocked back from time to time, but it is through our strength and belief in God that as long as we look to Jesus he will carry us through
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation,[a] but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
The above picture reminds us that Christ died on the cross so that we may be saved from our sins, and also in verse 14 we as Christians are told if we forgive people (and we as humans some find it harder than others to do so) we are told God will also forgive us.
Christian Devotions 