Category Archives: #spirituality

#inspiration, #spirituality

Angry

Have you noticed that people seem to be angrier than they have ever been? People are escorted off of airplanes due to incidents, road rage incursions are increasing, and people are protesting something every weekend. Bad things can happen when people allow their emotions to get out of control.

It’s not always wrong to get angry. I believe we should get angry when we witness injustice. If you harm a child then I am coming for you. Even though it’s protected by the First Amendment, it angers me when I see people burning the flag.

People are so stressed out nowadays. It costs way more to go to the grocery store than it did a year ago. The cost of insuring your car has risen 16.5% in one year, too. There seems to be no end in sight. Despair turns to fear and anger.

The best way to turn anger around is by practicing gratitude. Take inventory of all the good in your life. Do this regularly and watch how you change.

Being grateful changes the lens you see the world through…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Wholeness

Some babies are born with a small hole in their heart. This is called a septal defect and they typically heal on their own.

Everyone has a different kind of hole in their heart. It’s a spiritual hole. Oh we try to fill it with money and possessions, but those are only temporary fixes. So we chase more money and more stuff which, once again, provides only momentary relief. Then the chase begins again. And again. And again…

Only God can fill the spiritual hole. When you let Him into your life you will find peace and contentment. Your ambition doesn’t wane. It simply becomes more focused. You begin to look for fulfillment by pursuing your true purpose in life.

Start listening. God is always speaking to us…

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#spirituality

Transformation

I know many people who can quote verses from Scripture from memory. They can tell you exactly what the Bible says about a wide array of subjects. Now it’s true, the Bible shares what God says about every area of our lives.

The Bible is more than a book. It is the living word of God, and it has power. When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, Jesus responded with Scripture. The same tactic works today. The name of Jesus weakens the demons. They cannot stand it because it tortures them. Use it when you feel anxious or fearful.

The Bible is transformative. It changes you because it has the ability to. God works on us from within. We want miracles performed for us, but the real miracle comes from God’s strength that lives inside of us.

I encourage you to see the Bible as more than just a book. That’s because it’s much more…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

What A Waste

Almost every time I watch a video on YouTube, before the video begins I have a politician asking me for money. I have never sent a politician even one dollar. I waste enough money in Las Vegas!

In the past I have worked the phone banks for politicians. That’s actually a lot of fun. I got reprimanded (gently) by the campaign staff for asking voters “if they wanted one yard sign or two.” The campaign was running out of signs because my personal campaign was quite successful in placing yard signs!

If you want to use your money more wisely, perhaps buy a few sandwiches and pass them out to hungry people who live on the streets. Look them in the eye when you hand them their food. Let them feel seen.

The people you feed will remember you. The politicians won’t…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

When Darkness Comes

The easy times in life don’t last. Too bad, huh? But it’s good to remember that the dark, difficult periods don’t last forever, either.

If you are currently experiencing a challenging situation, I encourage you to hang in there. Take solace in knowing that your resilience is being tested. Strength is built during the hard times, not when life is easy. You will come through if you refuse to give up. Your resolve will be like steel.

Dark periods can feel like we are in a tunnel with no end in sight. Look for the light. It may only be a pin dot, but it’s always there…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Help Is On The Way

Everywhere on the internet we see pictures of people memorializing the events in their lives. I think it’s wonderful to see people experiencing great travel, personal victories, and I can’t leave out the back to school pictures. We should celebrate life’s special moments.

We are given a certain amount of time in this life. I believe we all want a lot of the same things: to live life fully and live freely. We want to live in safe neighborhoods and not feel like we have to look over our shoulders every time we go out. If you have these things, take a brief moment to thank your Creator. Not everyone in the world lives like everyone else.

If we are able, we should help those who are less fortunate. Otherwise we are making it about ourselves. Living selfishly is not living fully…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Liked

Is it important to you that you are liked? I believe we all want acceptance more than anything. It is the rare few who will accept us as we are. Those people are a treasure.

I am reading a book right now about how a young woman learned about God. She was homeless at 15, a drug addict, lost in this world. Yet, through a sequence of events only God could orchestrate, she found acceptance by a family. The family had two rules: she had an 11:00 pm curfew and she had to go to church with them. She agreed, mainly because she wanted a warm bed and some food.

In her rebellion, the girl would come downstairs wearing her pajama bottoms, fuzzy slippers and a hoodie with obscenities written on it. She was testing them. The mom never told her to change. She went to church and found people who genuinely were glad to see her. These people didn’t look at her with shame in their hearts. They accepted her.

It’s not important to me to be liked or accepted. I cannot control how others feel about me. But I will be truthful. Perhaps the truth is what some don’t want to accept…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Better Than

When I was nineteen years old, I had the privilege to live in Norway for the summer. It’s the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen. There’s a picture of the town I lived in at the end of this entry.

I worked as a tour guide for the American, British and German tourists who came through. One thing always pissed me off about the Americans: many of them made comparisons to the United States, saying “this is nice, but we have it so much better at home.” They might be talking about a flush toilet. Seriously. And the Norwegian toilets functioned just fine.

Insecure people compare and complain. No one is better than anyone else. God loves us equally, even the people I don’t care for. Insulting others is, technically, insulting the one who created them. I don’t believe that’s a wise thing to do.

If you feel the desire to compare, remember how important you are to God. He created you, and he didn’t forget about you…

Andalsnes, Norway
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Sad Stories

Everyone has a story. Not all of them are pretty. For eight years now I have been a volunteer speaker in detention centers, and for the last twelve months I’ve been doing the same in Texas prisons.

There’s the 13 year old girl I met who ran away from her abusive home. She ended up in Houston, dancing as a stripper and turning tricks in the shitty motel across the street from the club. She was addicted to heroin. The Texas DPS raided the club which is how she landed in detention. What hope did she have?

There’s the woman in prison who told me she didn’t think she could ever forgive her stepfather for raping her. She suffered the abuse from the time she was six until she was 13.

I will never forget these young women who openly and willingly volunteered their stories with me and the rest of the inmates. It took courage.

The point of today’s blog is this: be kind to everyone. We don’t know what they might be living with. You have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives by your kindness…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Tension

My childhood home was filled with chaos and violence. As a result, tension became my close friend. I was used to it subliminally.

When I became free of living in that hellhole I thought I could leave it all behind and create a new, better life for myself, free of tension. Boy was I wrong! I had this innate ability to be attracted to people who created chaos. It was like a tractor beam. When I was married, one day I came to the realization that I had recreated what I was desperately trying to escape from. In that moment I realized the common denominator was me and I had to do something about it. So, I began working on myself.

Looking inside myself exposed why I made the choices I made. Then I went to work to modify my thinking which led to better outcomes. It wasn’t easy working through this stuff, and it took time, but it was worth it.

Today I’m peaceful, content, and still ambitious as hell. Do I miss the chaos? In a word, no…

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