Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: the best way to cope with other people's challenges is to be thankful for their progress.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: This world needs you. You are carrying somebody's miracle.  - Andrew Wommack

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you are in touch with God, He will answer your prayers faster than you think.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: (when learning a new habit) Change might seem hard, but it's easier than you think. Every time you do it, it gets a little easier.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: regardless of what effort I have to go through (...), the fruit (...) is worth the effort. I have to keep my eye on the fruit, and not on all of the work. - Andrew Wommack

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you feel you've won the battle but not the war, focus on what helped you win the last battle. It will help you win the next one too.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: help and encourage others who are going through what you have already overcome. It is a great way to remind yourself of how far you've come.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: people care more about you than you think they do.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: God will show himself to you when He thinks it is time, not when you ask him to.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day:
You deserve love.
You deserve success.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: people are very similar when it comes to dealing with emotions. You are not alone in your coping mechanisms.

Silence is the path to hearing God

I read this article today and loved how it describes the importance of having a quiet time in your daily routine.

http://www.intouch.org/magazine/content.aspx?topic=Silence_is_the_Secret#.VHFRdnP8Wv0

I have done it myself and I can say it helps immensely. When I sit still (ie meditate) I get closer to God. I hear His guidance. I feel His presence. I receive His healing. I highly recommend meditation to everyone.

Having a daily moment of stillness also helps me get centered and ready to tackle whatever the day brings.

If you've never done it, here's how to start: sit on a comfortable place, put on some earplugs if there is noise nearby, and try not to think about anything. Just focus on your breath: how it feels when you inhale and your body expands, then how it feels when you exhale and your body contracts. Focus your thoughts and your mind only on your breathing. If other thoughts come to your mind, gently and lovingly bring your focus back to your breathing. Try to do that for about 15 min. It is helpful to close your eyes so that you remove the visual distractions in front of you.
Try it for a few days or weeks. Hopefully you will notice a difference in how your mind behaves. It will also help you gain control over it.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you might think you have nothing to say, but there are people who don't know what you do. They have a lot to learn from you.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you are full of God, you get full of joy.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: Hold on to the parts of you that do believe in divine healing, and healing will happen.

Bible verse of the day

Bible verse of the day:
“But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony to me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 
Luke 21:14-15

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you are in touch with God, you can hear him loud and clear.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: a small step outside of your comfort zone can pay big rewards.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: keep your focus on the present, because you can't change the past, and you can't really control the future.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you are in peace, it is easy to trust your future in the hands of God

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: [you should] minimize the negative and glorify the positive. - Andrew Wommack

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: If you haven't accepted God's grace and love and mercy, you can't give it to other people. - Andrew Wommack

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: give love because you love the person, and not because of how much they love you back.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: Worry is nothing but meditation on negative thoughts. - Andrew Wommack.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: Just because you've failed, doesn't mean you're a failure, unless you don't get up and keep going. - Andrew Wommack

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: God will give you what you want when you are ready for it. Only He knows when you are ready. When you get there, you will know too.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you try to get in touch with God, even if you think you are not trying hard enough, He will reward you with His presence.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you have the power to create inner peace in your heart. Don't wait for it to just come to you, use your power to create it for you.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: a clean house equals a clear mind.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: one way to make a decision is to think about which choice you'd regret not making.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: If we are good stewards of what God gives us, He'll increase us and give us more. - Andrew Wommack.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: taking care of your physical and mental health are the most important things you can do for yourself.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: the less you worry about getting things done, the more you find time to do them.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: (talking about people who are self-critical)  Notice how much easier it is, during the course of your day, to receive blame and criticism than kindness and praise.  Panache Desai

Verse of the day

Verse if the day:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NIV

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you remove anger and resentment from your heart, it is much easier to act in kindness and selflessness.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: the best time to help someone is when they ask for help, not when you think they need it.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: moments of crisis help you see what really matters to you.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: [about allowing yourself to feel feelings of sadness] Feel them. Feel them all. These feelings are not going to kill you. - Panache Desai

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: if you are in the moment, you can get more things done than if all you are thinking is "I'm in a hurry".

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: When you have a heart full of love and forgiveness, it is much easier to focus on the positive and live in joy and peace.

Living in Trust

Image: openclipart

Today I want to talk about a revelation I had a while ago: live in trust, in all aspects of your life.


Before I talk about living in trust, however, I want to talk about 2 ways we don't live in trust.


Trust vs. Control


The first one is to live trying to control your fate.

For the past 4 years I had been living trying desperately to control my fate:

• trying to control my professional fate by looking desperately for a job - sending 100s of resumes to all the job postings I could find
• trying to control my financial fate by accepting a low-paying job - because I was desperate for any income.
• continuing to try to control my financial fate by working tirelessly on side projects - hoping they would become more profitable than my current low-paying job.
• trying to control the fate of a relationship by trying to get a person close to me at any cost - I even tried bribing them by promising to pay for their tuition if they came to study where I live.
• continuing to try to control my financial fate by looking desperately for cheaper places to live - looking at real estate listings every single day, calculating how much I would pay for taxes, transportation, etc.

When you live in control, you are not living in trust. You don't trust that that your future will be positive unless you take control.

Trust vs. Fear

The second way that we don't live in trust is when we live in fear.
Fear is related to control.
I see fear as an attempt to control the future.

A few months ago, I used to live in fear:

• fear that the person who had drifted away from me would never come back - so I kept trying to control them and bring them back.
• fear that I would not be worthy of love (from myself and others) if I didn't keep my house sparkling clean 100% of the time - so I spent all my free time cleaning and doing other house chores.
• fear of getting some deadly disease - so I would freak out at any strange symptom I would have and run to the doctor.

Getting out of the pit

The stress from all that fear and need to control snowballed into anxiety and panic attacks. I brought myself out of that horrible emotional state with a lot of hard work - and no medication.

One of the main pillars of my healing was focusing on myself. Instead of trying to control my exterior circumstances, I shifted my attention to understanding what was happening in my mind.

After I understood the fears behind my need to control, I then worked on changing my negative thoughts and behaviours.

That boosted my self-esteem, and I had more consistent faith. I felt confident that whatever happened in my life, I would be ok. I would survive.

And that's when everything started changing:

• When I stopped trying to get a person to love me (and instead focused on loving myself) they started showing me love. 
• When I stopped trying to get love from performing chores (and loved myself for who I am regardless of performance) I suddenly had free time to enjoy life.
• When I stopped running to the doctor to get a sense of security (and kept challenging my catastrophic thinking), I felt as healthy as a horse.

Living in Trust

Then, a while ago, I realised the connection between all the changes listed above: I was living in trust. And when, I did that, I finally got what I wanted. I didn't get it by trying to control my circumstances, but rather by trusting [God] that things would work out in my favour. I focused on love, inner peace and personal growth, and the rest took care of itself [or, God took care of the rest].

Following that, I had a revelation: I should trust God in every aspect of my life. Instead of trying to control my circumstances and trusting that my efforts will bring me what I want, it's better to live in Love and trust that God will bring me what I want.

• If I want a better job, I should meet people in my network and talk to them about what I want. Then trust that God will use the people in my life to bring me a better job.
• If I want to improve my financial situation, I should talk to people about what I would like my life to be like. Then let God work through them to give me suggestions or even put me in touch with someone who wants to help me financially. 
• If I want to get someone close to me, I should focus on defining what kind of relationship I want. Then trust that God will put the right person (possibly not the one I originally asked for) in my life.
• If I want to give myself love, I should do what makes me happy. Then trust that I will be in such a good mood that chores won't feel as stressful or time consuming.
• If I want to believe that I'm healthy, I should focus on all the times the doctor said I was fine. Then trust that I am really ok.

The key is focusing on love and peace, and trusting that God/the Universe will work things out in your favour. When you live in fear of losing something, it is much harder to get what you want. When you live in peace and trust that things will work out, they usually do.

So next time you are afraid, just focus on love and inner peace, and trust that things will work out.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you are worried about other people, just focus on yourself and let God take care of them.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: happiness can come from accepting yourself for who you are, instead of comparing yourself with others.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: the ability to "turn the other cheek" has to come from God, and not from yourself. 

He will plant it in you when you are ready. 

It comes from a place of forgiveness and unconditional, Godly love, for the person who is treating us wrongly. 

If you have to ask "how can I turn the other cheek if this person keeps hurting me?" then you are not ready to do it. 

Keep seeking the Lord and asking Him for guidance. 

He will eventually give you the ability to forgive and "turn the other cheek".

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: sometimes it takes looking back at where you were in the past to realise how much better off you are now.

Do you have faith like a mustard seed?

Image: wikipedia

You might have heard the expression "we should have faith like a mustard seed". I have heard it a few times after I started listening to Christian ministers. I had never heard it before then.

For those interested, it seems to be in 2 places in the Bible:

1. Luke 17:6 : "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you"
2. Matthew 17:20: "(...) if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

But what does that mean? Like me, there are probably many people who have asked/prayed for something and believed in it, but not received. Why? The Bible seems to say that only a small amount is enough.

Today I will share 2 different interpretations of what that means, and why we don't see the results we ask for.

Interpretation #1 - The Problem is the Unbelief

According to Andrew Wommack's teaching, having faith the size of a mustard seed means that even if you have a little faith, that is enough.
Additionally, he says that everybody has the same amount of faith. According to Andrew's teaching, when God made us, he put the same amount of faith in everyone. We all have faith the size of a mustard seed.
The reason why some people see more results (ie, what they ask for comes true), is because they have less unbelief.
According to Andrew, as you grow in the Lord, you remove your unbelief, and your wishes will more easily come true.

Interpretation #2 - Quality and not Quantity

Watch this video from 11:27 to 17:38.

What a beautifully emotional and passionate segment!
In it, Joe Amaral explains that it is not the quantity of your faith that matters (ie, is it big or as small as a mustard seed), but rather the quality (are you as strong and tenacious as the mustard plant?).
Besides explaining, he also does a wonderful job of motivating the audience to be strong. If you need faith and encouragement, do watch that segment!

Criticism

I understand Andrew's point, but at the same time, I see unbelief as lack of faith. In my opinion, he is still saying that the issue is the lack of faith. What he calls faith is the constant faith (as in "he is a man of faith") and what he calls unbelief is a temporary lack of faith (maybe due to stress, fear, etc).

For Joe Amaral, my criticism is regarding the requirement of understanding the culture in order to understand the passage.I believe it is important to understand the culture of Jeseus, but that alone doesn't help us fully understand what the Bible meant. One of the reasons why Christianity has so many denominations is because there can be many different interpretations to the same passage of the Bible - even after understanding Jesus' culture.

Some more food for thought:

1. Do we ever fully understand a culture? Even when we were brought up in a certain culture, we sometimes only fully understand it once we travel and spend time in another one. Then what about a culture that is 2000 years and many continents removed from us?
2. We will never clearly know what Jesus meant because He is not here to explain it to us. The Bible was written by the apostles (if I'm not mistaken) many years after Jesus gave the lessons. It was also written in one language, then translated into a few different languages before it was translated to English. A lot can be lost through time and translation, including cultural nuances.

Conclusion

I believe both interpretations are in fact complimentary. Having lack of unbelief (Andrew's interpretation) means being strong in your faith (Joe's interpretation). In other words, it means striving towards consistent faith.

My message is the following: be as persistent and as strong as a mustard plant, by working on building a consistent faith inside of you.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day: Godly character is an invaluable quality, worth far more than anything you could gain or lose by compromising your convictions - Charles F. Stanley.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: keep venting and eventually you will find the encouragement you need.

Notes from the Joyce Meyer conference - evening of 2014-08-20 - part 5 of 5

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22) Dave is a golfer, and he seeks it. He reads about golf, he practices, he watches TV shows about it, etc. He seeks it, he pursues it. 

Revelation: that's what "being passionate" about something means. Dave seeks it because he is passionate about it. I seek God because I am passionate about inner peace. So my job (since in this culture your work has to be what you are passionate about) should be a God seeker. (Lord, thank You for that revelation. I pray that You bring me even more clarity on that.)

23) Nobody has anything that they first didn't get from God.

All your skills and talents were first given to you by God.

24) We are not the owners of anything. We are only the stewards of God's things.

25) This was said by the man in the white suit (didn't get his name, will try to get it tomorrow): 

There's a hole in everyone's heart that only God can fill.

If you fill it with anything other than God, it becomes a black hole: no matter what you put in there, it is never enough.

Praise God, what a wonderful evening!!!

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Notes from the Joyce Meyer conference - evening of 2014-08-20 - part 4 of 5

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18) Start looking for what God is doing and not for what he isn't doing.

Somedays I wake up and I have a headache. And I want to complain about it, but then I think "hey, I can walk!"

19) Hosea 6:3

Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

20) God likes to play hide & seek with you.

God wants you to seek him.

He wants you to find him throughout the day. (related to item 11)

Every day when you wake up, say: "God, I don't want to miss what you will do in my life today." 

21)  Trust God even when you don't understand, even when it doesn't make sense.


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Notes from the Joyce Meyer conference - evening of 2014-08-20 - part 3 of 5

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13) When you wake up in the morning, before you even get your feet out of the bed, say "He is here", and feel God's presence.

14) There is nothing in your life that He is not delighted to fix.

15) Hebrews 1:3: "(...)He upholds the universe by the word of his power." 

He keeps the sun rising and shining every day, He keeps the sun from not shining too much so as to give us a terrible sunburn. He keeps gravity, electricity working.

It was so awesome to hear that because that has always been my definition of God (and one of the reasons why I see no conflict between religion and science - that's topic for another post). I still have it in my Facebook: Nature is my God. - also subject for another post.

16) [For 6 years, every month, Joyce needed a miracle of $40 to pay her bills. And it always happened.]

17) Story about 3 men in a furnace. Then the person who had trapped them in the furnace turned it up 7x higher. How many of you feel like you are in a furnace and instead of getting better it just got 7 times hotter? The men got freed from the bondage (the chains that were holding them prisoners) inside the furnace (it melted the chains away). Lesson: your furnace will eventually melt the chains and make you free.

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Notes from the Joyce Meyer conference - evening of 2014-08-20 - part 2 of 5

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8) Give God credit for what He does.

9) God has got you where you are (school, neighbourhood, workplace, etc) for a reason. You are needed there.

10) Every time someone speaks your name, they are calling you what your name means. 

For example, if your name is Victoria, when someone calls you, they are saying you are victorious.

11) Pray to know God more and more each day.
Pray to experience him, to recognise when He is working in your life - even in the little moments when He just lets you know He is there. For example, when little coincidences happen in your life.
[Joyce was thinking about what to teach in this conference, while moving some papers, and one of them fell from the shelf and when she picked it up she noticed it talked about anxiety. So she knew that God was telling her that that was the topic.]

I have those moments all the time. Sometimes it happens to tell me that I shouldn't do something. In those cases, I even talk to God. I tell him "ok, I got Your message, I won't do that."

12) Put your trust in God, not in other people or yourself. 

I can't put my trust in me because sometimes even I can't believe what I do.
Sometimes I screw up. Sometimes I think "how could I do that?", "what was I thinking?"

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Notes from the Joyce Meyer conference - evening of 2014-08-20 - part 1 of 5

What a blessed day! I feel so grateful and joyful to have attended Joyce Meyer's conference this evening!

Here are my "raw" notes. The items in italic are my own comments.

The show opened with a story about a Brazilian girl (how appropriate - thanks, God). She talked about her struggles and many of them were also mine (thanks again, O, Wise One!). And the way she talked about her feelings and expressed them was very similar to the way I see and express mine (Oh, Mighty One, thank you again!)

1) Be faithful in the little things, and some day you will be made king over much.
If you have a bicycle and you wish you could afford a car, take good care of your bicycle.
Don't curse it or complain about it.
How can God give you a car if you can't even take care of a bicycle?

2) Don't look to people to provide for you [financially], look for God.

3) (about your purpose in life) When you are not doing anything [while you haven't yet fulfilled/found His purpose for you], God is doing something in you.

4) (about moving) If you are where you don't want to be, don't leave until God releases you. 

This goes straight to all my fellow TCKs around the world, who think moving will fix their sense of belonging. 

I always knew that. I always felt like there was something I needed to resolve before I moved out of Brazil. And it happened just as I felt: the moment I had found a sense of belonging there, and felt like I could be 100% happy there, I got my visa to come to Canada.

5) Whatever your dreams are, God will give you something little to hold on to first.

6) [The footage from today will air on TV in 4 months.]

7) Plan B stands for better.

Go to Part 2

Feed Your Soul

Image: wikipedia

I hear Joyce Meyer and Andrew Wommack say things like "you have to fill yourself with the word" and "you need to study the bible every day". And I'm sure other Christin preachers and equivalent authorities of other religions say something similar. Their argument is that you need to read the Bible by yourself (and not just listen to their teachings), because when you read it by yourself, you will have your own revelations.

At first that advice bothered me. I would think "are you saying that I will only grow spiritually if I read the bible? That is wrong! What about people from other religions? Plus, I've grown so much without reading it. I've had many revelations on my own".

But then I read Pastor Chris' devotional of July 25. He said "what they [people who are facing difficulties] need is a Word-diet. They have to listen to God's Word (...) until the Word gets rid of their wrong mindset and reprograms them aright for success".

And I realised how much time I spend listening and reading religious teachings, and how I depend on them, how much I yearn for those moments in my daily routine and how much they help me.

So I have concluded that when they say "you should read the Bible", what they mean is that you should take time to study/meditate on religious teachings. Listen to and read people who talk about religion/spirituality, and think about what they are saying and how it applies to you. What can you learn from that? How does that help you?

The basic principle is simple: when you flood your mind with positive ideas and thoughts, you can't help but have faith that God/the Universe is taking care of you and everything will be ok. It is a great way to ward off anger, depression or anxiety.

At some point I also heard Andrew say "you have to saturate yourself with the Word". And he made that exact same point I have just made: when you fill yourself with positive thoughts and words, there is no room for negative and destructive thoughts.

And then as I had a conversation about this with my dad, he mentioned that all those activities (reading and listening to religious teachings) are feeding the soul. Just like we need to feed our body, we also need to feed our soul. When we feed our soul, we find peace. And when we have inner peace, it is easier to receive revelations (which is what Andrew and Joyce want us to have). 

Therefore, when they say "read the Bible" I now hear "feed your soul with positive words".

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you want to help so many people and solve so many problems, but you are just one person. You can't do it all alone. You need to get help from other people and/or join efforts with them.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: getting angry at bad drivers only prolongs the stress. The best way to feel better is to relax and let it go.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: diplomacy and assertiveness combined produce good results.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: fight anger with love.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: What is your purpose in life? use your body and mind for something good [as opposed to just making money]. Think about what you'd like to do to make the world a better place. Focus on what you'd like to do to bring love, joy and peace to other people [as opposed to bringing money or closure to you].

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: remember your successes and how you got there. If you have a setback, stay calm and repeat the same strategy. You will overcome it again. And it will be easier because you've done it before.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: it might take time, but God does give you what you want - sometimes He even gives you more than what you asked for.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you are not alone. There are many other people like you.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: God's supply is greater than your need. - Andrew Wommack

Lessons of the day

Lessons of the day:
1) Trust your intuition. It is worth it.
2) Don't worry about the 'how', just accept that God works through mysterious ways, and trust the He will bring you what you asked for.

Lessons of the day

Lessons of the day:
1) Putting God first might not make sense from a rational point of view, but it is the most rewarding option.
2) The love you feel for God should always be stronger than the love you feel for anyone else. 

Date Yourself

Image by Felix Francis

I've talked before about self-esteem and recovering from feelings of rejection. 

One of the activities I proposed for you to overcome the negative mood is to buy yourself flowers.

Another activity that really helped me was to have dates with myself. I know it sounds strange, but believe me, dating yourself is a wonderful experience. 

If you think it's too awkward to do that in public (for example, you'd feel lame going out to a restaurant by yourself), just do it at home.

Would you like to have someone cook you a special meal? Go ahead and cook it for yourself. Clean and organize your dining room as if you had a guest. Set the table nicely. Put on some flowers and some candles. Prepare the table for yourself as if you were someone else, someone who loves you dearly. Enjoy the meal and appreciate the love you put in preparing this meal for yourself.

You know yourself better than anybody else. So it will be very easy to please yourself. Do exactly what you know will make you happy (choose your favourite dish, put your favourite flowers in a vase, etc).

Would you like to have a nice romantic bath with candles, rose petals and bubbles? Why not! Set the mood, prepare your bathroom, light the candles, put on a nice relaxing music. Enjoy the fragrant smell of the candles, petals or bath foam. Lay there and appreciate the loving effort you put into making yourself happy.

What other self-dating ideas can you think if? What is your idea of a great date? What would you like to have someone do for you? Think about it and make it happen.

Treat yourself to something nice, then enjoy the love and kindness of that gesture. 

Date yourself.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you are more competent than you think.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: once you have summoned the courage and faced your fear, you will realise that it wasn't nearly as scary as you had pictured it.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: you can't go anywhere in reality that you haven't gone in your imagination. - Andrew Wommack.

This applies for both good and bad situations:

•  if you don't imagine bad things, they are less likely to happen to you
•  if you don't imagine/visualize what you want, you will never have it

Lessons of the day

Lessons of the day:
1) you have more in common with other people than you might think.
2) be not afraid, for God is always with you.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day (related to my previous post): Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: stubbornness might cost you more than you think.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: if you focus on being positive, you might find out that people don't dislike you as much as you think.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you might have been put in a difficult situation due to circumstances beyond your control. But you can always control how you will feel about it.

The Traveling Franciscan Monk

This is a true story experienced by a friend of mine. Some names and details have been changed to preserve people's privacy and/or because I don't remember them very precisely.

The Story

John lived in a farm with his parents in the countryside of Ontario, Canada. One day, a Franciscan Monk came to their door asking for food and a place to stay for one night.

His parents were kind people, so they said "of course". They gave him a nice dinner and a bed to sleep on.

The monk told them that he had been travelling throughout the country, on his way to China.

Fransican monks take a vow of poverty. So they are not allowed to accumulate money.

He depended on the kindness of strangers to have a place to sleep and food to eat.

He told John's family that in every day of his trip he had always had a place to sleep and food to eat.

The Lessons

After telling me that story, John commented that the world is a much kinder place than we imagine.

For me, there is an even deeper lesson to be learned from the traveling monk: he trusted God so much that he was willing to travel without any food, money or accommodation arrangements.

The monk had a blind faith in God that few of us do. He believed without a doubt that God would provide him with food and shelter wherever he went.

Reflections

Would you be able to do the same?

Are you capable of surrendering that much control of your life to God?

Notice how his faith had worked and he had always had food and shelter.

It takes a lot of courage to give up that much control of your life to God. But if the monk can do it, so can you.

Disclaimer: This post should not be taken as an instruction to anyone to throw away all they've got and go traveling like a beggar. If you decide to do that it is by your own choice. You have free will and are responsible for yourself. By reading this article you agree that you will not sue me if you decide to do that and then run into problems.

Conclusion

The message I want to convey with this post is that we should stop trying to control our fate so much. Instead, give the control to God and have faith that everything will work out.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: inspiration comes when your mind is relaxed.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: Motivation is contagious. Surround yourself with people who motivate you.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: sometimes a small action can cause great change.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you are in peace and secure of your self-worth it is easier to forgive others.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you stop waiting, things start happening.
Focus on something else and what you were waiting for will happen.

Circumstancial vs Consistent Faith

About 4 years ago, I was going through a very tough time emotionally and stumbled across this teaching:

First, I need to clarify one of terms I will use in this article. The speaker in the video uses the term biblical faith. I prefer using consistent faith because its not attached to any religion. Therefore, even people who are not religious can still understand what I want to say - and hopefully create a better life for themselves after reading this article.

Ok, now we can start.

Types of Faith

Basically, there are 2 types of faith: circumstantial faith and consistent faith.

Circumstantial Faith: you have more or less hope based on your circumstances.

In other words, if your life is going great and you don't have any major problems, it's easy for you to hope for the best, and to have faith that your future will be great. You are very confident in your ability to overcome any problems in the present and the future.

On the other hand, if you are going through challenges (loss of job, end of relationship, etc) you have less faith or hope that things will work out. You don't see how things can get better. You feel hopeless and lost. You don't believe in your ability to overcome problems.

Consistent Faith: you have the same amount of faith, regardless of what is happening in your life right now. You trust that things will work out, regardless of how hard things seem at the moment. If you are going through life challenges, you believe that somehow, in some way, things will work out in the end. It's not to say that you won't feel afraid, but you feel confident that things will end up ok.

Self-Esteem and Faith

Most people who have a low self-esteem, operate in circumstantial faith. If life is good, they believe in themselves and believe that they can overcome their problems. But if a problem arises, they lose confidence in themselves. If they are criticized or put down, they immediately loose their confidence. The moment they feel unloved by one person, their whole world comes crumbling down.

People who have high self esteem, are not so easily affected by their circumstances. Independently of what happens to them, they remain in a consistently positive emotional state. If they just ended a relationship, sure they do feel sad. But they know that they still have other people in their lives who love them. They keep things in perspective. Their world doesn't fall apart. (It took me many years and many break-ups to get to that point!)

What is the difference? The person with high self-esteem does not let their circumstances dictate their self-confidence and hope. Sure they also feel sad and discouraged, but they believe that everything will turn out ok in the end. The stronger a person's self-esteem, the better they are remaining hopeful in times of trouble.

Strength through Religion

I have met people who have consistent faith. They were also very religious. I was attracted to them for their kindness, and had opportunities to witness their hopefulness. Even though they were going through major problems in their lives, they had a smile on their face. They had no doubts that things would end up working out ok.

For example, I once met a baptist  lady who had just been diagnosed with skin cancer. However, she continued to enjoy life, laugh and encourage her friends (me being one of them). She faced the diagnosis with courage and faith that everything would be fine. Her faith was blind, she never even questioned (at least not on conversations with me) whether things would turn out ok in the end. She just knew that they would.

I always admired people like. I admired them for their courage, and always wished I could be the same way. When I found the teaching above, it helped me understand the difference between myself and them:  I had a very low-self esteem and operated in circumstantial faith.

Throughout my life, I have strengthened my self-esteem with self-analysis, journaling, reading about psychology, etc. When I found that video, it gave me a hint that maybe there was another way to do that. I could have improve my self-esteem through religion.

Therefore, I'm sharing this because it might help someone who is looking for more faith and more hope.

Conclusion

The point is: try to have more consistent faith instead of circumstantial faith.

I'm not saying it's easy. But if you can understand the difference, and start trying to switch from circumstantial faith to consistent fath, then you have already taken a huge step.

You might also find Part 3 of that lesson to be helpful.

Lesson of the day

Sometimes a conscious decision to focus on God, is all it takes to hear a revelation from Him.
How to make that decision? say out loud "stop" and immediately start doing a mindfulness activity (I will post some of my own mindfulness techniques later)

Lesson of the day

You are stronger than you think.

Lesson of the day

Face a small fear with a positive attitude and trust that God will take care of you. The fear you have might not even materialize.

Lesson of the day

The closer you are to God, the shorter the time will be between you asking for your desires and they coming true.
Tip 1: Use that time as a measure to know how close you are to Him.
Tip 2: To get closer to Him, always be thankful for when the time was shorter than you expected.

Buy yourself flowers

Image: openclipart

When you are feeling rejected and unloved, turn to yourself.  Give yourself the love that you've been craving for.
A great way to do that is to buy yourself flowers. It sounds silly, but it worked for me.

Besides silly it can also be fun.
I had fun at the flower shop, pretending that I was buying them for someone else.
I looked at the options and asked myself "what would she like?".

While I was paying, the florist asked if I wanted to write a note.
I gladly accepted.
I had fun again writing myself some loving words.
When you are feeling sad, unloved or rejected, you know better than anybody else what you would like to hear.

It can also be a secret.
Nobody else in that flower shop knew that I was buying the flowers for myself.
It made the activity even more special and intimate.

As I crossed the street, smiling and holding the flowers on my hand, the feeling of "secret" and "special" continued.
Nobody else on that street knew that I was giving myself a wonderful gift.

Try buying yourself flowers one day, and see how much love you can give yourself :)

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: when you are clear on what you want, and you believe you can get it, you will not be afraid to ask for it.