Great Quote from my friend, Tonia

"Don't look at other people and envy them - look at them and think that perhaps they envy something about you. There is always something that you have that someone else doesn't."

Gal. 5:25 (MSG) "Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original."

Gal. 6:4 (MSG) "Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life."

Enjoy your day!

Jana

What to Think about...

Stressed?

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:6-8 NLT)

6Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
7And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]. (Philippians 4:6-8 AMP)

What is LOVE, exactly?!?

Ultimately love is a decision as Gary Smalley so eloquently put it in his book "Love is a Decision". It's not a romantic, mushy, gushy, warm, emotional "feeling". Some people are just "impossible" to love especially if we follow the rules of or feelings! :) SO...the God kind of love would have to be #1 a decision; we must choose to see God's value in people. Begin by caring deeply for other's. Does that mean to allow them to walk all over you and be rude and unkind or abusive? NO! Absolutely not! Which brings me to #2 a sacrifice; to pray for those who despite-fully use you. It is a sacrifice to show that sort of love, to care about another person's well-being (spiritual, emotional, & physical) even when they don't care about yours. Usually the mushy-gushy feelings will follow our decision to love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (Amplified Bible)

4Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

5It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

6It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

7Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

8Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

Have a great week,

Jana

Ask and You shall receive

Lack Wisdom? Ask for it and you'll get it. :) Read a proverb a day to keep ignorance at bay. (I think that's a Jana original...I'm so impressed with myself...hee hee)

Proverbs 9:3-5 (Amplified Bible)

3 She has sent out her maids to cry from the highest places of the town:

4 Whoever is simple (easily led astray and wavering), let him turn in here! As for him who lacks understanding, [God's] Wisdom says to him,

5 Come, eat of my bread and drink of the [spiritual] wine which I have mixed.

Proverbs 10:13 (New International Version)

13 Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.

James 1:5 (New International Version)

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Have a FABULOUS day,

Jana

Thankful

My challenge for you today...

Count how many times you complain/nag/gripe/b*^$#/or say something negative (Debbie Downer)...

Now count how many times you are thankful/grateful even for the little things...and I mean the smallest things...the things you think you deserve and don't need to be thankful for, the things that you feel should be done for you or your kids or around the house/work, etc.

Tally up the score. Which one wins?

Col. 3:14-16 (NLT): "Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."

Proverbs 17:22 (NLT): "A cheerful (merry/happy) heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength."

Choose wisely!
Jana :)

Trust

School is back in session!!! Whew!!!! NOW...which task do I attack first? I feel like I'm getting ready to climb Mt. Everest (my "to do" list) :) I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed...can I get a witness?!? But just as I'm short of breath and a heavy weight is settling on my shoulders, I remember what Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my burden in light." So, I step back, take a deep-cleansing breath, exhale slowly, and TRUST. Trust that my Heavenly Father will give me wisdom to know what to do first. Trust that I will complete the tasks that I NEED to complete, and the rest can wait. Trust Him in everything that I do in order to bring Him glory and not shame. Trust, Trust, Trust. Blessings for your week, Jana

Thoughts--by Tonia Borgelt (guest blogger)

By Tonia Borgelt

I have a science degree, biology to be more specific. Science deals with facts, data, research, rules... I'm not one to dwell on thoughts of the universe, or delve into the human psyche. But, I must admit that there is something to the power of thoughts. I recently read As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. (In addition, Orin has read ton of books about this kind of stuff, so we talk about it a lot). I'm beginning to realize that just like the tangible factual world out there, there are hard and fast rules to the human thought world. There is cause and effect in your mind just as in life. What you think about is who you are and what you become. I haven't even scratched the surface of what this book is about, but I wanted to write down my thoughts while I had a spare second. If any of you comment on this and call me a dork I'll be forced to think about your demise.

Distractions

Give me a "D"
Give me a "R"
Give me an "A"
Give me a "M"
Give me another "A"
What's that spell "DRAMA"

As women we can sometimes fall into the "Drama Queen" mode. Men don't like to be called "drama", so we'll use the word, "passionate"...it really all boils down to us being OVER-REACTIVE to the situations around us! :) We can "call it" whatever we want to, but when we lay-bare the reality, we just get plain, old, out-of-control emotions. You say, Jana, we've already talked about emotions in one of your blogs, and I say, yes we have, but we still live in our mortal bodies & we still live with our emotions EVERYDAY!

I like to think of "drama" as an "Emotional Soap Opera". In our "emotional soap opera", we live each day re-hashing meaningless, decade-old, sub-thoughts that occupy our every waking moment, thought, and conversation. Our "Emotional Soap Opera" or "Drama" has now become our distraction...exactly where the enemy of Christians wants us...distracted, confused and off-course from the God-given purpose for our lives; distracted away from what TRULY matters in this life leaving no room in our thoughts and conversation for God and His plan!

I read something once that comes to mind now, "Distraction is just one step away from temptation". I thought that was pretty profound. You may ask temptation to what? I can't answer that for you. We all know ourselves and what tempts us. My temptation will be different than yours. I may be tempted to be lazy and quit trying to discipline my kids. I may want to escape into another fiction novel and tell everyone else to go away until they can grow up and act right and take care of me! Some of our temptations might be more detrimental to our health, finances, etc. I'm not trying to preach "gloom & doom", but I think we all need to look at our Dram-o-meter. Are we focusing on what REALLY, REALLY, REALLY matters in this life and to our Eternal life. Are we making a difference where God has called us to make a difference. What are we pursuing? Are we having "Emotional Soap Operas" more than not?

In the pursuit of less DRAMA :),
Jana

Learn from the Roses

So I'm out doing my morning ritual; checking my garden for ripe tomatoes & checking my rose bushes for blooms to bring into the house...This is one of my FAVORITE things to do...I ABSOLUTELY love fresh roses. They smell fantastic and quite simply they put a smile on my face EVERY TIME!!! The yummy fragrance turns my thoughts toward my Heavenly Father and His wonderful creation, and my mind cannot fathom; it cannot FULLY comprehend His Greatness, His Love, or His Grace...He is TRULY amazing and words cannot describe him!!!!!! Awwwwww! Okay, now for my lesson from the roses...as you know, roses have thorns, so I wear protective gloves to protect me from getting pricked by the thorns. But today, one of the roses had HUGE thorns and one "got me"...it poked through the thick rubbery part of my gloves and made my thumb start to bleed! OUCHY! As I regain consciousness...hee hee...not really, but as I recovered from the initial shock of the prickly pain, I thought, "No matter what you do to protect yourself from pain or hurt, pain or hurt still happens. It's just part of the wonderful thing we call life. So suck it up! Lean on God and the help of His Holy Spirit to pull you through the pain/hurt, learn something positive from it and move on. If you run or hide from the hurt/pain, you will cut yourself off from the Magnificent beauty of the rose (life)!"

Life happens! We don't have control over what or how it happens. We do have control of the choices we make and HOW we REACT to the pains and hurts that come our way. We can try to protect ourselves...and we all have a bajillion ways of "trying" to protect ourselves (i.e. hangin' out with certain people, not hangin' out with people, shopping, eating, talking, sleeping, hiding, reading, escaping, you know what your protection plan of action is...). Sometimes in order to protect ourselves, we try to build high protective walls around us only to find that we've blocked out everyone INCLUDING God, and even with the high wall of protection around our hearts, the hurt and pain of loneliness and rejection scale the wall and invade our "protected" place.

When I finished cutting all the roses I wanted, I brought them inside to prepare them for the vase. I pulled off the extra leaves that would be in the way, and I broke off the thorns, so they would fit nicely in the vase. In order to break the thorns off I placed my thumb on the side of the thorn and gently pushed and presto they fell off! We can learn from the roses that life has it's thorns and sometimes they are big, hurtful, and scary, but we can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). We don't have to run away and hide from life and let hurts/pains rob us of the incomprehensible, unfathomable, fragrant, beauty of abundant life in Christ.

Take time to smell the roses!!

In Him,
Jana

Who's in Control?

During my morning workout, I listened to one of my favorite Podcasts, and the speaker's words began to sink deep into my heart...and frankly, rocked my world a bit! :) I think I have a 2X4 mark between my eyes... Emotions!!!! We all have them...Are they controlling us or do we have our emotions under control?!? With fear and trepidation I must confess that my emotions get out of control sometimes (okay a lot of times!!!) and they tend to control me; my reaction to situations; my tone with my kids and hubby; my perception of what/how someone said "something" to me; my offense-o-meter is red-lining more often than not! (Can I get a witness, somebody?)

Now, emotions were given to us by our Creator. They let us know when we are happy, sad, angry, hurt, tired, excited, over-joyed...you get the picture. But we need to be good stewards of what we have been given...that doesn’t just apply when we’re talking about money and material things! If we're not careful we can make our "feelings" our god, because we choose to bow down to them and obey what our "feelings" tell us to do! We have to CHOOSE to obey God and what He tells us to do in His Word...the Bible. Galatians 5:22-23 (Amplified), "But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge]." When someone hurts our feelings or offends us, what are we supposed to do? Romans 12:21 (NLT) says, "Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good." Hear what Jesus has to say in Luke 6:27, 28 (and you may want to curl your toes up, so they won't get stepped on too badly...mine are throbbing), "But I say to you who are listening now to Me; [in order to heed, make it a practice to] love your enemies, treat well (do good to, act nobly toward) those who detest you and pursue you with hatred, invoke blessings upon and pray for the happiness of those who curse you, implore God's blessing (favor) upon those who abuse you [who revile, reproach, disparage, and high-handedly misuse you]." And finally, Ephesians 6:12 (NLT), "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."

Okay, so I've thrown a lot of scripture your way, so let me summarize where I heading with all this info:

1. Self-control
2. Overcome evil with good
• Pray for our enemies
• Our real enemy is the evil ruler of this world (we'll call him “Satan”…in your best SNL Church-Chat-Lady voice)

So, when the "evil ruler" uses someone's mouth/actions to hurt or offend us, we are supposed to pray for them and BLESS them (implore God’s blessing on them). That means that we have to choose to tell our feelings "NO!", because you and I both know that we would rather call our good friends and tattle on the "mean" person that dared to say hurtful things to us or about us. We'd just love to call our small group attendees and "share" a prayer request about sister so-and-so or our kids or our spouse (not to be confused with true prayer requests and needs)! We'd want to defend ourselves and justify our "hurt" feelings, but the Bible is very clear what our action steps should be. When we pray for and bless our enemies, we are overcoming evil with good. Ultimately we are making our "true" enemy (evil ruler of this world) tuck-tail and run away and we are showing love toward the person who offended us. Now, I'm not saying that we have to buddy-buddy up with the person that has intentionally tried to destroy us, but we can show love by praying for them everyday. If you tell me that you CAN'T pray for them, then I would have to tell you that you are bowing down to your little "g" god...feelings/emotions and not letting the big "G" God of this universe work in and through you. It's okay to "feel" our emotions and even acknowledge the reality of their presence, but we MUST CHOOSE to not allow them to rule us, ruin our day, or ruin our lives. Make wise choices today, and tune in next time for more of "Jana's Thoughts".

Have a FABULOUS Day,

Jana