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Perspective

~ Em ~ Leave a comment

It’s amazing what a little change in perspective can do to your life. I have grown more in the past year than I have in the past five years all because I decided to change my perspective. I decided to have a more positive outlook on things and to look for the silver lining in every struggle I faced. Even though God blesses me on a daily basis with so much, I still wanted more. I couldn’t see that He gives me all that I need to come through every storm.

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For awhile I thought I was somehow being punished because there was this lack of growth and backtracking in my life. I hated my job, lost all focus and drive and was completely unhappy. I asked Him to make things better for me but what I was missing was that things are already pretty great. I saw that God was keeping me in the valley because all I was focusing on was what it would be like on the mountain top. Don’t get me wrong, He wants us to envision the mountain tops in our lives but what He taught me in the valley was to focus more on what I have a my lowest and how that will get me up the mountain.

You just have to realize that what you have and who you are is enough. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t work on bettering yourself. This means that when you put less on what is inhibiting you from growing closer to God and start counting your blessings, God will bring you up that mountain. Of course this doesn’t always happen overnight, so “until God opens the next door, praise Him in the hallway.” (Orebela Gbenga) I’ve learned this lesson the hard way but I now know that having a more positive perspective will help me get through every storm and climb every mountain that crosses my path. 

Therefore, I pray that as a generation, we learn to become less greedy and more grateful for things we do have and to not focus on what you don’t. I pray that God speaks in our lives on a more regular basis so that our hearts are satisfied with the route God has us on. God, I just ask you to guide us in our diligence so that our rejoicing and praise is the same in Your quietness and as it is in Your presence.

“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself, or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”

 Orebela Gbenga

Dimming Lighthouse

~ Em ~ Leave a comment

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Let me be a beacon of hope for the travelers of the darkness

Let me light the path to harbors of rest

Where guidance along the rocky shore provides a kinship to its maker

Let its favor also provide relief from treacherous waters

For the mirroring coast is a vivid pretense of what life could be

And when my glow starts to dim, let my strength feed from natural light

So that my warmth may continue to be a safe haven for the lost

Hydrants of Love

~ Em ~ Leave a comment

He made us to be like water

Our bodies as hydrants of love

Designed to dwell on a diluted sphere

Which consequently is as wet in form

 

He created us to be strong enough to hold ships

Yet feeble enough to slip through cracks

To constantly keep flowing

And to hydrate others in drought

 

When our fruit becomes tasteless and bland

Or our flesh needs to be dampened

We drink of His lubricating word

And soak in His quenching perspiration

 

With each sprinkle our souls are baptized and moistened

And a great flood destroys all unholy land

We are wiped clean to start anew

To be His replenishing well for the thirsty

 

03976841e3700c99ca09d6b902289759Michelle Williams once said in an interview that she wanted to “be like water, to slip through fingers but also hold up ships.” This quote conveys such imagery that it got me thinking about how complex water is and the different forms it takes. Think about it’s significance to our well being and existence. It’s crazy that God created us and created our world simply around a liquid.

In the Bible, God usually used water to cleanse or to baptize people and things that were unholy. So, what if God made us to be like water? To be the solvent that breaks the unrighteousness in each other or the chemical that causes reactions that change the world? Or what if we are meant to be the rain that washes away the mess the darkness leaves behind and furthermore, creates grow in earthly living?

Walk to End Alzheimer’s

~ Em ~ 3 Comments

Today was Charleston’s 2013 Walk to End Alzheimer’s at The Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina. My family and I have participated in the walk for the past three years in honor of my Nini, Betty Tallarico. My Nini is 90 years old and although she has had Alzheimer’s and dementia for about ten years, she still is the sweetest, most God-fearing lady I know. Of course we have to constantly remind her of things she doesn’t remember and she barely recognizes me but just thinking of her brings a smile to my face. Currently she lives in Texas and we don’t get to see her that often but when we do, we cherish every second. A lot has happened over the past few years with our family and her care, so it is almost a blessing that she doesn’t retain or remember much. But the bigger blessing is that she is still here. She is so sweet yet very hard headed. Her faith is deep and she loves with every inch of her being. When you tell her you love her, she replies, “I love you more,” which only makes you love her more. I included some of the pictures below of the walk today with my family along with a picture of my sweet grandmother embroidering. Check them out and check out http://www.alz.org to learn more about the fight against Alzheimer’s.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” -Abraham Lincoln

~ Em ~ Leave a comment

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  James 1:2-4

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:6-9

Or in laments terms, “Stay positive and look at the glass half full, not half empty. There is a reason for everything.”

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