Encouragement | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the category “Encouragement”

29 Nov 2013

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

God always knows the true needs of His covenant people. At one point the Hebrews in the wilderness thought they needed the onions, leeks and garlic of Egypt, but God knew they needed manna. They fretted over new shoes for the rugged Sinai, but God knew they needed their old ones to stay new.

The people murmured that they needed water when all they could see was rocks, but God knew they needed the water in the rock. We can trust God to supply our needs, not our preferences or the misguided wishes we bring with us from the land that enslaved us.

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Choice, commitment, courage, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Life, Passion, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

25 Nov 2013

the missionaries prayer

God of love,
I Pray for the peace of Christ:
in the face of fear, to trust,
in the face of violence, to be gentle,
in the face of sorrow to be healing,
in all things to offer blessing.

Christ, grant me your peace:
with those who are rejected to stand in unity,
for those who are afraid to offer my hand,
beside the outcast to sojourn in longing,
to those who are cursed to offer blessing.

Spirit of compassion,
be the grace and strength in me
to risk for the sake of justice,
to suffer for the sake of healing,
to give of myself for the sake of love,
to offer blessing, to offer blessing.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, Beginning, commitment, community, compassion, confidence, connection, courage, determination, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Life, Love, soul and spirit, strength, Today, touch, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

22 Nov 2013

yay, it’s Friday!

Success is not a result of spontaneous combustion.
You must set yourself on fire.
– unknown

Find what you love and let it kill you,
fine advice from Bukowski.
Set your soul,
your very life, on fire.
Come alive with your passion.
Then let it loose
all over your world.
Feed it well.
Let it breathe.
Until your songs
rise from the ashes
of what used to be
your broken life.
It now glows beauty –
warms the worn and tired.
Your voice speaks grace to the lonely pilgrims,
the ones with the bleeding feet,
resting. or struggling, along the way.

AL 11/21/13

Posted in Adventure, attitude, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Passion, soul and spirit, thankfulness, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

15 Nov 2013

in the middle

The White
by
Patricia Hampl

These are the moments
before snow, whole weeks before.
The rehearsals of milky November,
cloud constructions
when a warm day
lowers a drift of light
through the leafless angles
of the trees lining the streets.
Green is gone,
gold is gone.
The blue sky is
the clairvoyance of snow.
There is night
and a moon
but these facts
force the hand of the season:
from that black sky
the real and cold white
will begin to emerge.

http://www.patriciahampl.com

Posted in awareness, beauty, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, fun, Gratitude, inspiration, Life, nature, Poetry, Seasons, thankfulness, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

13 Nov 2013

1 Comment

Emotional manipulation can be subtle or not so subtle. – Boyd Bailey

Emotional manipulation is on my heart today. I have been experiencing it in several of my ‘friendships’ and I am really sad about it and stinging a little from comments, inquisitions, judgments and the loss of respect I am experiencing for people I love. Even though I can spot it and stand against it at this point in my life, it is still painful. It is engrained in our culture, the emotional bully often wins over the weaker person who does not know themselves, but it is so unnecessary and brings such devastation to our relationships. Emotional manipulation creates unequal relationships. It puts one person in control of another persons life and destiny. It devalues the very choices and freedom that someone makes for themselves. I always wonder why really smart and talented people don’t get that. It undermines all the good they are trying to do in the world, because they have decided that what they are doing is more important than what anyone else is doing. Interesting to me.

I have experienced great manipulation in my life. From a very small girl manipulation ruled me. I was a peace-keeper, a people pleaser. I wanted to be popular. I wanted to be beautiful. I won’t go into a lot of detail at this time, but much of my life learning has been overcoming ‘professional’ controllers, abusers, manipulators. For many years my learning and observations were internal as I began to take responsibility for my life and live in awareness of myself, my choices, my actions, my peace. I was aware I was being abused, I was not aware that I was being manipulated by multiple people – some who I had originally thought had my best interests in mind. I found out differently. Then I began realizing that a large amount of people live their lives and build their ‘kingdoms’ through manipulation. I also realized that ANYONE who is truly your friend will not use you for their own benefit, but will give you the true gift of friendship: the trust and freedom to choose for yourself in every situation and love you with no condition.

As I began to get glimpses of God and how God manifests love, how Jesus manifested love on earth, what the attributes of love really entailed and I began to practice this unconditional love that I was getting glimpses of, it changed my life and it also revealed so much about what I had always assumed love was, what I had been taught love was. These revelations revealed that what I had been sold as loving behavior was mainly manipulation and selfishness. Many times it came so subtly it was/is hard to spot at first and I have learned the hard way and endured much in the playing out of relationships to discover that what I had been told was love, was in fact the exact opposite.

It is fascinating to me that no one on earth has ever given me ‘permission’ to be who I was created to be, or to speak my truth and yet God has healed me, given me this understanding, the ability, the backbone, the strength, the courage and the calling to do so.

Thankfully I’ve learned these lessons well. I’ve learned to trust my own journey and be strong enough to make my own choices. I’ve learned to say no. I’ve become adamant about not manipulating others or being manipulated myself. I’ve learned the words and attitudes to let go and walk away from. I’ve learned to grieve. I’ve learned to speak the truth in love. I’m still learning….I always will be…it’s a process…

www.wisdomhunters.com

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, confidence, courage, determination, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com

12 Nov 2013

i can see forever

Great friends may tell you what to do, because that’s what great friends do.
Best friends, however, wouldn’t dream of it, because they know there are plans we’ve made… that they can’t see.
– TUT – A note from the universe www.tut.com

Posted in attitude, awareness, Dreams, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Peace, People, soul and spirit, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

10 Nov 2013

I’ll be the one hootin’ over here…

The man who doesn’t relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on. – Elbert Hubbard

Yup, I’m in relax mode for a few days. I am at the end of caregiving – my patients are both safely where they need to be to get better. I will be moving forward into a new space very soon. On Friday, when the 83 year old dementia patient was safely on her way to a nursing facility, I was able to take a breath. I knew I needed a distraction so I went to the movies and saw Thor. Very entertaining, but I got rather overwhelmed and ‘dropped’ in the middle of it. I stopped at Carrabba’s, for a take home bowl of lovely sausage lentil soup and a piece of tiramisu, to celebrate.

I ate and went to bed. Not to sleep immediately, just to pray, to allow all the myriad of emotions to come and go, to think abstract thoughts, to allow tears to flow (as needed). As I sink into this release, and let go of the fight, the responsibility and preparation for death that was a very real threat. The people I was caretaking for are not my family, so everything has been more complicated and it has been a boundary line I have had to be very aware of and that has added even more tension.

Yesterday I basically did nothing. I sat and stared at trees for hours. I did a little painting. Laid in bed and did the same ritual as the night before. I ate because I needed to, not because I was hungry. I drank lots of water.

I carry all my tension in my shoulders and have had issues with my sciatica since my last pregnancy, in 1991/92. I am in much pain from those as I begin to decompress and relax from these past months of stress.

Today I’m going to church and then I have no plans, I may end up repeating yesterday. I may actually do some hootin’ and hollarin’ – I’m prepared and ready to do that, when that comes. I remember many years ago getting a traffic ticket that one of the very worst moments in my life and, after the officer had gone, I sat and screamed (yes, as-loud-as-I-could-blood-curdling screams) for at least 30 minutes, maybe more. I felt much better after and I have no problem doing it again when I need to!

I am sharing this, because there are many people carrying these loads and bags of caregiving. In some ways, I believe it is really harder to be a caregiver than to be the patient. The caregiver carries it all, has to handle everything, is also unable to move into a normal role with life. Caregivers watch people they care about devolve and grow weaker and they are pretty much helpless. Many times the patient feels they are better off than they truly are, or they become so depressed they cannot help themselves any longer. The caregiver walks a tightrope between caring and not becoming an enabler. It is very tricky, draining, difficult (to say the least) and takes a rough and rugged toll every day it lasts.

I am so grateful I have experienced this – I pray my time here learning will help others. I pray today that all the amazing caregivers to have moments of respite and be able to relax for life giving moments. Don’t ask for permission!!! You need this! Self care is not about being selfish – know the difference. Do some hootin’ and laugh out loud! Take a deep breath – I know how much you need it and hard that is some days!