Bible

All posts tagged Bible

The Power of Prayer

Published April 10, 2019 by Angela

Do you ever question that your prayers are heard? I very often find myself doing this. I truly know in my heart that Yes, God hears me when I cry out to him. But the waiting can be so difficult. Having to accept that the things I am going through are for God’s purpose, and it is up to me to figure out how to use it to not only honor God, but to help others along the way is not always, or ever, easy.

This scares me. I do not know if I am afraid of failing, or more afraid of succeeding. Either way, I know things will not change until I put myself 100% in God’s hands, and truly let him have control of my life.

Easy to say, and so very hard to do. Let go; and let God, right? But you have to be willing to wait on God to respond. It may not be what you thought, or expected, or even wanted, but he will indeed respond. In God’s time, not ours.

What is so very long for us is just a blink to our Lord. Trust that he is listening, because he is.

Prayer Quote 2 Chronicles 7 14

My anxiety is on fire this morning, I have gotten absolutely zero sleep, and now I have to go to work. I pray God halts this anxiety and that I have a good day at work, so I can come home and go to bed.

Do you feel like your prayers are not being answered? I would love to pray for you if you would allow me to. You can post your prayer needs in the comments, or email me if you want to keep it private. No one will ever be mentioned here, but I believe in the power of prayer, and me praying for others helps calm my anxiety. It is a win-win. One can never lose by praying.

You can email me at booksandopinions@gmail.com with your prayer needs, requests, or worries.

I visit a prayer website almost daily so I can pray for others. I really enjoy this website, but the only downside I see is that there is no way to tell a person what verses you may have prayed for them over, or maybe you have experienced the same type of situation, or even how God has helped you. There is just a set of praying hands you click on to let them know they have been prayed for.

If I can pray for you, please let me know! Even if you feel anxious about this, it will benefit us both 🙂

 

Turning One Day into Day One…

Published January 11, 2019 by Angela

…sounds pretty simple, yes? Apparently not for me. I am the Queen of excuses, the Ruler of Starting Tomorrows, and the Mother of Procrastination. I have an excuse for everything, most times two. There is always a good reason to start tomorrow. And we all know tomorrow never comes.

But today is here, and I am blessed and grateful to have it. It is a gift; and it is a gift I will not waste. I will do something positive for someone else today. I will do something positive for me. I will thank God throughout the day for giving me this day.

Focusing on the positives I have in my life, and I have so very many, may be just what I need to keep the anxiety and panic attacks at bay. That means I have to choose to not get angry about things outside of my control, or get frustrated with the people around me. That means choosing to be a better me. Which is completely in my control. I choose to be happy today. I choose to be grateful today. I choose to live this day to the fullest. Do you have goals for your day? May it be full of your greatest blessings!

Taking Back My Life – I Hope

Published August 15, 2018 by Angela

Things have been getting seriously out of control for me lately. Not with my job, or my kids, or anything of that sort, but seriously just with myself. I feel like I am fighting a daily battle that I cannot seem to win.

The anxiety is literally crushing me right now, and I have to find better ways to cope with it. I follow several blogs that deal with depression and anxiety, which is very helpful. It helps calm me down when I can breathe for a second and realize that I am not the only one who deals with these types of things. It may be time to find a support group in my town though.

Stressed Meme 1

I tend to avoid books on the matter because for whatever the reason may be, it seems to trigger my anxiety when I read books on it. I have been listening to Steven Furtick’s new sermon series, “Triggered: Taking back your mind in the age of anxiety”. I quite often turn to Steven Furtick as his sermons are fantastic! He is down to earth, and relatable.

I need to spend more time in my Bible, and less time on my phone. More time focusing on the many positive things in my life, and no time focusing on the things that may not have went the way I wanted or needed them to. I waste so much time and energy on regret, when I should be spending it on living full of gratefulness. I really have been blessed with many things in my life, and yet depression and anxiety have come to live with me.

Have you found a successful way to handle, control, or cure your panic attacks? I would love to hear about them!

 

As 2014 Comes to a close…

Published December 20, 2014 by Angela

…I thought now would be a great time to take a final look at my 2014 to-do list as I get ready for 2015! I first posted my to-do list for 2014 here: https://parenthoodandotherhorrorstories.com/2014/01/02/my-2014-to-do-list/

I felt it was better to not make any ‘resolutions’ per-se, as they tend to be harder to keep. So I have updated on how I was doing a couple times this year, and now I will just do a quick run-down of my successes, and not-quite-successes as I think about my 2015 goals.

1 & 2 – I both went to church and increased my tithes; yes, I know, it kind of goes hand-in-hand 🙂

3 & 4 – stop swearing and yelling. Definite improvements here, and yes, these too tend to go hand-in-hand. I am happy to say I can no longer claim I cuss like a sailor. The truth is I did, and thank goodness I do not anymore!

5 – make and take some me time – Yeah; not so much. The opportunity never really presented itself, even when I had planned for it. This is one of my top priorities for 2015.

6 – be more patient – I would have to say yes I am more patient, or I highly doubt the yelling and swearing would have decreased as much as it has 🙂

7 – Exercise – Not so much. Okay; not at all. Although I did by running shoes and used them…once. This is another top priority for me in 2015, since I have managed in the last few months to stress-eat back the 30 lbs I had lost in the past year 😦

8 – I did read the entire Bible. I did not understand it all, but I read it; cover-to-cover. 2015’s goal here is to spend time reading it every single day!

9 – I have improved my photography skills. I have taken some classes, learned most of the functions on my camera, and have taken some spectacular pictures this year!

10 – I have definitely allowed myself to be happy, for the most part. I will honestly say these last couple months of this year have put me in a real funk. Tired, depressed, and just not feeling good.

So, for 2015, besides making time for myself, exercising on a regular basis, and reading my Bible daily, I also will be continuing to work on getting my MBA, as well as polishing up my blogs. I want to get all of my social media accounts in order and up-to-date so they are easier for me to manage, while eliminating the ones I do not need.

It is my goal to get my Editing work off the ground, as well as finding a marketing medium for my books and opinions blog. I recently became a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, and this is a great platform for me to use as well as other methods I have been using.

I will continue to help and volunteer at my church, and hopefully I can increase those commitments. I will continue to love, nurture, and discipline my girls to raise them into the beautiful, polite, respectable girls they have proven to be every single day of my life.

I have been truly Blessed this year with my health, my family, new job opportunities at work, and much great success on beginning this new path of editing 🙂 I am excited to see what 2015 has in store for me!

Poor Planning On My Part…

Published October 8, 2014 by Angela

…does constitute and emergency, for me!

This is our first official day of WOW at my church (Worship on Wednesday). We got together last week for dinner and to discuss how we were going to do things this year, getting lessons ready, assigning jobs, etc. I have been teaching one of the small groups for several years now, and I do enjoy my time that I get to spend at church and with the youth groups.

So I have had the entire week to get things in order for the first craft project. Except I didn’t. I mean, I am pretty sure the items I need are already at the church, I had stockpiled a lot of craft supplies there for the last 2 years. But I haven’t really decided on exactly what project I am going to be doing. I am not quite sure exactly what the lesson is for the night, so I want to make sure I pick an activity that fits the theme.

Our youth Minister let us know we really want to focus this year on getting kids to open their bibles. There are lots of fun ways to get them to do this (search for verses, scavenger hunts using verses, acting out verses) and I think it is going to be another great year of WOW.

I just feel completely unprepared, and I have a very busy schedule on Wednesdays with other kids activities going on, plus I need to get my college work in for the day.

So here’s to winging it, and I hope it all works out, like it usually does 🙂

How Am I Doing On My 2014 To-Do List?

Published March 24, 2014 by Angela

Do you remember my 2014 to-do list? I certainly do! I have been thinking about it for the past almost 3 months, and I have definitely made some improvements! Here’s my list if you want to check out my some-what lofty goals. https://parenthoodandotherhorrorstories.com/2014/01/02/my-2014-to-do-list/

So, what have I worked on, and what do I still need to do?

1) I am going to church a lot more than I did last year. And not just because Erin’s confirmation classes moved from Wednesday night’s during WOW to Sunday mornings between services 🙂 I have went when Erin has decided to skip her classes. I actually read the verses this weekend which is the first time I have done this and I loved it! I can’t participate in activities as much as I would like to, but I do what I can.

2) Of course the more I am going to church, the more I am tithing. It feels good, but I have yet to reach that “give-till-it-hurts” level. Honestly, that is a scary thing for me! But, I have more than doubled my weekly tithing from what I was doing (I am not saying that for bragging rights of any kind, and I find it kind of rude that I am mentioning it, but it was on my list, and I got better! So I will not be bringing this one up again!)

3) Stop swearing. OK, this has gotten a LOT better. Really. But I wonder if the fact that I am still often thinking the words in my head means I have gotten no where? Taste your words before you speak them, right? I am still working on this, but I can say that my swearing is down to maybe a couple times a week; HUGE improvement. I’ll deal with the thinking-the-words issue later.  

4) Stop yelling. Yep, much better as well. I do not yell at my kids when they get me frustrated or don’t listen to me. I tend to just yell when I am upstairs, and they are in the living room or kitchen trying to have a conversation with me. What do I yell? “I can’t hear you. Come here so I know what you are saying!” Kind of ironic, huh?

5) Make and take some “me” time. Nope, not yet. Not really, anyways. I did have one weekend away without my kids this year, and am trying to plan another one. Generally I work 7 days a week if I can, and my college classes keep me busy. But I do still get my recreational reading in. And as soon as it gets above 40 degrees here in Michigan, I am going to the greenhouse for plants.

6) Patience. Yeah. I can say I have gotten nowhere with this one. I pray a lot. For patience. And forgiveness for my lack of patience. Really.

7) Exercise. LOL

8) Read the Bible. Not good here either. I have started 2 different plans, and the reminders daily that I have not got my reading done yet irritated me, so I deleted the plans. However, I do a bible study every Tuesday and with what we read in Church on Sundays and at WOW on Wednesdays, I’m getting some reading in. Yeah, I’m stretching that one.

9) Improve my photography skills. Hmm. Haven’t had my camera out of the camera bag for months. NEXT…..

10) Allow myself to be happy! Yes, I am feeling good, great in fact. College is going good, work is going good, life is going good. Of course there are still numerous bumps in the road, but I am for the most part; Happy!

How are you doing on your to-do list?