Healing And Encouragement

Nature’s Healing

For some, nature can be a very inviting place. It helps to revive the mind, body, and spirit. Feeling Down? Irritated? Stressed? Try stepping outside for about 15 minutes even if it’s just to sit on your balcony/ patio. It helps to clear the mind of our everyday thoughts, worries, and routines.

Nature also helps to put us in a better mood… It slows time down and allows us to live in the present moment if we let it. Inhaling the fresh air, listening to birds chirping or other animals scurrying in nearby bushes. beautiful winged butterflies visiting to enjoy the weather with us. Devices away and a sit on a bench in a nice quiet area gives us the space to connect with our inner selves and tackle any area that’s been nudging at us whether through prayer or making a decision on that thing we’ve been thinking about for the past… every day. Plus great way to get some steps in! Exercise :D! Peaceful and safe communication happens when our critical voice isn’t so loud anymore.

Being at a park in a city with my stepdad on some Sunday afternoons adds peace. While he is riding I enjoy walking 1 or 2 laps before being drawn by the lake, the different types of flowers, such beauty :)! Or by this track that leads to a little secluded area where it’s half shaded and half sunned-your choice! I sometimes sit here and relax, breathing deeply with my eyes closed, listening to the birds, or clearing my mind. Having a cluttered mind is very much like having a cluttered/ messy space. For some, it makes it challenging to focus or rest unless our space is tidy.

Next time you are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed, or down… Take a walk outside and enjoy God’s beautiful creation while it revives your body, mind, and spirit. 🙂

Beauty…

Seeing the beauty and good in life is IN the eyes of the beholder…

We complain at times about “bad weathers” first, there are no bad weather love, let’s take a minute to remind ourselves of this. All-weather does its job, the very thing it was created to do. “Lightning and hail, snow and cold, stormy winds that do his bidding..” -Psalm 148:8

We can still trust that God will take us safely through challenging situations. If he allows or causes things to happen, he has a way out, always! Let’s take snowy roads, for example, sometimes dangerous with ice underneath and causes accidents. We just have to trust that God will be the driver to take us to our destinations safely and alive.

When we complain, love, we miss the beauty, the good in our situations, our surroundings, our inner lives… I, for one love the different seasons here. I am not a fan of the cold lol, but I do appreciate it. See, I’m from the islands where it’s sunny all year round and rainy few months. The fall, I love the changing leaves and watching them fall into heaps. The bright colors burnt orange, yellows, reds. Spring, everything comes to life again. Beautiful purple and pink flowers, bright fresh green fields. It’s lovely. Summer, the warm sun, and opportunities for summer outfits creation. Fireworks… Winter, fluffy snowflakes, snow angels, chocolate tea, yes, please! Naked trees covered with snow, Christmas lights and decorations. All these are beauties we already enjoy. Yes sometimes we get challenging weather but maybe it’s only to slow us down, not to stop us.

God will always be with us, no matter where life takes us we can always choose to see the beauty in life. It will be okay.

Uncertain Times…? Troubled Relationships…?

Love, we face intense times where uncertainty, separation, and goodbyes are becoming sudden naturally, forced, or Relationships are either being profoundly challenged or ending. The easiest thing to do is walk away. The thought of starting over with someone new after more than 7 years together (even less) can be exciting, at the same time, hard for some.
But can I also remind you that the hard road, reconciliation, staying, and fighting can also be a beautiful experience?

Broken or troubled marriages/ relationships aren’t a surprise to God!! Only to us. And there’s no relationship under the sun that can’t be repaired no matter how far gone the relationship is. The only ones who can completely dissolve a marriage are YOU/ US. In the same line, the only ones who can nurture that same relationship back to health are YOU/ US.!
Yes, the romance might be gone. The love might be gone or has weakened. Maybe too many arguments, unpleasant ways, changes. Maybe there’s infidelity… Add to the list. Perhaps you’ve changed, perhaps they’ve changed.
But despite all that going on around us (earth being under heavy mourning), don’t forget that God is the healer, restorer, giver, and breather of life.

Love has died, I got you- “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the DRY wasteland.- Isaiah 43:19

Too much has changed, and you can’t see how things can be great again? Hold up- “But when it (whatever your IT- problems are) is uprooted,
it’s as though it never existed!
That’s the end of its life,
and others spring up from the earth to replace it. Job 8:18
“Again, you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31:5‬ ‭NIV

Maybe remembering the amazing times you shared together and how much in love you were. How you make each other laugh and how much you both have invested in together over the years won’t jog your memory enough to spark ‬‬something in you, or maybe it will? Things change, sometimes for better, some times not so pleasing but it’s apart of what makes us amazing beings, but let’s not forget we aren’t alone. God is with us.

Maybe you’re just tired, and that’s okay.

God can refresh your love for each other. He can reconcile any marriages, relationships, friendship… Yes, it might take time but he can turn things around to what you never thought was possible even if you’ve known this person for 10 years and have gotten used to them.
Don’t throw love away. Don’t give up on love, not while God is the God we say and know him to be. Don’t shut him in a box, expand that box! Let God take you and your lover to a new place 💖. Let’s stay together love, enough separation is already naturally happening. Press through if your inner voice/ heart tells you to.

Rom 12:12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

Stay #Experience #Testimony #LetGoLetGod #HeIsFightingWithAndForYOUS #PRAY

Don’t Give Up On What You’ve Asked God For

Love, when you depend on God, when you’re trusting him, waiting on him, bad breaks will come, disappointments may come, discouragement, delay… you name it.
But it doesn’t mean He is asleep on you or forgot about you. God WILL deliver what you’ve asked for or what he’s promised.

When you get tired, rest! Ask him for strength to keep standing and waiting and praying.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s us who walk away or give up; He never stops working. God can never fail!
It might take time, but ooh, when that time is complete & the gift finally arrives, it’s always worth it!
Don’t give up during the bad breaks or delays; cry out to him or take a minute for yourself but don’t give up on Him. 😌

Do your best to stay hopeful and joyful as much as you can. Whenever you feel hopeless and discouraged, ask Him to meet you where you’re at and restore your hope. I promise you He will; He’s got you!

Hab 2:3 “This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”
‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭2:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

#Testimony

Watch What You Allow To Permeate Your Mind.

Psst, be careful of outside thoughts trying to break into your mind and later breaks your spirit. This will steal your joy and slowly put out your light. YOU ARE LIGHT! Protect your energy!
Protect your gates, love!

Don’t give way to every thought that comes to mind.

Does it uplift you? Does it encourages leads you to make healthy adjustments and changes? Does it inspire you to grow, create, show love? Does it make your deepest inner (soul) smile?
Does it make you feel worthless, forgotten, empty, low, drained, depressed, condemned?

There’s always a choice to make.

My peace, comforter, strength, and favorite listener have been God the whole time. I mainly share my experience and testimonies here. I’ve vented, cried, prayed, and rested on God’s knees, and he’s helped and still is helping me.

You are and will never be forgotten. You are worth EVERYTHING in God’s sight! You are valuable, but you have to believe and accept this about yourself first. Joy is our core, it’s who we are, but we have to face fight thoughts that burdens us a soul. You have to make this choice to take back control and draw the line, set the boundaries. We have God on our side!

The mind is like a garden, what do you intend to plant in yours? 🌼🌺🌸🌻🌷🌹🌾🪴🎍

We won’t always have positive, uplifting thoughts it’s just the choice we make during these times and the patience we have and need.
And if you make a wrong one, or wrong ones, be patient with yourself. We are all growing and trying to do the best we can at the moment.

Doubting God?

We can’t allow doubt in while learning to trust God. God and doubt doesn’t and cannot go hand in hand, one will be forced to be eliminated.

We can’t always trust what we ‘feel’, sometimes our emotions aren’t the safest, depending on where we are spiritually/ mentally.

In that same token, it’s important to learn to trust our inner voice/ intuition/ discernment even if and when we don’t understand it! That’s where God mostly speaks to us. Get quiet and listen. We hear all the time to trust our ‘gut feeling/ intuition,’ but how do we know the difference between us speaking or God? The best way I can explain it is found in Heb 4:12 “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” You hear it loud and clear, deep on the inside. It comes with peace, power, love and authority. It’s a gentle and calming voice.

The holy spirit lives within us, therefore we have to be open to listening inward, not only what we hear outward and from others. Bonus, you will experience peace, his amazing peace here.

If God says something, it surely will be done! It will come to pass. There might be some waiting, some longgggg waiting but whenever we get tired, feel forgotten, or discouraged along the way, we can ask for new strength and comfort, and he will grant these and more.

Go on that uncertain journey, keep walking when the storm comes- and it will come- but standstill, “be still and know that I am God.”- psalm 46: 10

What has God promised you? How long ago was it? Be reminded today love, that his word will not return to him without doing. Keep standing, waiting, cry if you need to dry your eyes, and slip back into your confident outfit.

Pray with me, love:

Lord, before I met you, doubt interfered with my life ALOT! I don’t mean to doubt anything you do because I believe wholeheartedly that you are the only Almighty God, you are the creator, you are alpha and omega, and there’s nothing you cannot do!

My experiences in life, however, caused my trust to be shattered, and even as I’m walking with you, they still affect me from time to time. But, your word said, “not by might nor by power but by my spirit, ” (Zechariah 4:6) so lord, I’m asking you to help me. Permeate all of me with all of you and let me learn consistently and steadfastly to think the way you do and grow in knowledge and understanding that I may grow in being more like you. I desire what you see and hope for me.

Work on me, Lord, none stop; I thank you so much for this! For being in my life and by my side. Help me to work on doubting, especially when I’m having faith in you, when I’m hoping for something, and learning to trust you.

I believe in you with every atom of my being. Increase my patience, father, as I continue on this ‘sometimes uncertain’ road. Let me not rush or become discouraged when I bump into something or get distracted. Or when I meet storms or rough seasons along the way.

Thank you for your protection and guidance even when it seems I’m alone, and you’re not with me; help me once again to remember that “you will never leave me, nor forsake me” (Deuteronomy 31:8) in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mental Health Struggles.

Can we who are on the outside looking in, try not to tell someone in distress to “calm down, relax, stop crying, don’t cry, be strong, stop playing the victim, it could be worse, it’s not that serious, other people have been through worst or are going through worst, or to look on the bright side.”

Instead of giving coping advice, can we be strong for them since they are in a weak state? Can we pray for them since ‘right now’ they seem hopeless? Can we comfort them instead of constantly trying to fix things? Be our brothers/ sisters keepers…

Everyone handles situations differently! This is true! We aren’t all the same. What affects me deeply may be water under the bridge for someone else and vice versa. .

No one knows precisely how a person feels or what thoughts they battle during distress.
Being there, really being there for someone, means to listen or ask how we can help.

How would you want someone to respond or deal with you when going through difficult times? 😊

Prayer Heals… God Heals…

I suffered depression for over five years, cried myself to sleep many nights, felt sad, tired, and defeated most of the time. Some days it was so hard to get out of bed, go to work or just show up/ exist for the day. Not many understood my pain or would understand even if I explained as not everyone is open to the fact that mental illness is a thing. Also, you have to experience it to truly know what it’s like.

Introverts, as some of you know, enjoy being by themselves. It’s not that we don’t like the company of others. But during this time, I didn’t want to be around anyone- at all!
I even contemplated suicide.
Excitement wasn’t a thing or a word in my vocabulary! It’s almost like a heavy dark cloud followed me around all the time. My body/ shoulders were always tensed, and I viewed most of my emotions in a harmful and unhealthy way, even when they were healthy and okay as a being.

I struggled to find joy and peace. As a lover of nature, being outside helped me but to a small extent and a small amount of time.

I remember crying out to God many times, after forming a relationship with him- that he helped me created- that I was unhappy, drained, heavy, and exhausted 99 percent of the time. I wanted control of my mind back. I needed inner peace, joy, calm, etc. I was tired of being depressed and wanting to give up.
While I was encouraging everyone else through writing (and my blog), praying for, and with everyone else, I was secretly drowning in tears and pain. Still, I depended on him to rescue me even when it seemed nothing was happening. 😢

Last year (as I did the year before) I asked Him for a mindblowing birthday gift (yes, I’m particular and open with him and what I desire, he’s literally the best friend and spiritual father I could ever ask for). It was the week of my birthday; while talking with someone about struggles, with anxiety and depression, I noticed that something was different. I no longer resonated with “depression” it was as if it no longer existed in my life.
I realized then that I had been entirely healed of depression!!! You can imagine my emotion… I cried so hard sitting in the parking lot of my sister’s empty car. I was overwhelmed with many different emotions; shocked, joyful, surprised, and in awe.

My hope, joy, and peace were restored.
Inner healing in other areas had begun.

God is so faithful and wants to help us more than we can imagine and understand.
I called on him when I was in a challenging place. He heard and answered me. Today, though I still struggle with anxiety, I don’t worry because that too shall pass.

Whatever your struggles are, God can and will help you. Cry if you have to, vent when you feel like but don’t dismiss your emotions. They are apart of you! He will come to your rescue. It may take a while but don’t give up. Invite him in your present situations. He initiates a relationship with us, we need only to be open and receptive.
Prayer changes things!

Don’t be ashamed about your struggles love, it might be what someone else is waiting to hear, and know that they aren’t alone.

You Can’t Worry Yourself Into Peace…

Are you someone that worries you’re not doing enough, not good enough, or feel lazy if you’re not productive, wait for it- ALL THE TIME!
You feel better about yourself when you’ve accomplished or when you are accomplishing tasks.

Firstly, you ARE enough, and your performance does not determine your existence. You can’t and shouldn’t have to “do” your way unto bring approved by others! Others shouldn’t have to accept or approve of you only when or due to what you can do. That isn’t love!
You are created in love! God created you in love!! My dad always tells me that I was conceived in love!

Secondly, YOU ARE NOT LAZY!!
We are all created with a purpose, and that purpose will be known to us all, and we will fulfill what we are made to do. But if God gives us this purpose, it means it is divine, and we have to wait and allow him to birth this purpose. “Not by might nor by power but by my spirit, “ says the Lord- Zech 4:6.
“for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Phil 2:13

You are being stirred, something is in you that has to come out, but you can’t force it out on your own. Yes, you might feel a bit uncomfortable, but pregnant women go through different trimesters, sicknesses, discomforts. Still, they can’t force the baby to be born before time, or else it will be premature and might require staying back in the hospital for intensive care. Babies are born naturally within the usual 9 month period.
God will allow you to birth your purpose as well at the appropriate time, and things will flow naturally.

You can’t worry yourself into peace. You can’t be highly anxious about anything happening now. You can’t be hard on yourself for not being productive. Do what you can now… You can’t exhaust your mind, body, spirit/ soul and except to find peace. You have to relax! Rest and trust that God will direct your path. He will lead you into doing what he’s called you to do. You can’t hear his voice clearly in the loudness of your anxiety, but when you are calm, you’ll experience peace, and in harmony, you will be in expectation, you’ll be hopeful, and here, lives patience.

How can you be at ease or peace at a time like this, you wonder? There’s a saying, “man says show me, and ill trust you. God says, trust me, and ill show you”. Well, this is what you do love, you trust God, and he will show you. Make a firm decision to be at peace regardless of what your mind says or how you feel, the uncertainty that might surround you, and expect God to show up. This is you being hopeful and dependent upon God.

God won’t leave your willing soul hanging love.
Wait on the lord, be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart. Psalm 27:14
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST, who gives me strength. Phil 4:13
I can go on and on, but you get the point.

Do what you can for now until God inspires you to do what he wants…

Love Births Acceptance

One of the most significant heartbreaking issues we face today is wanting others to view life/ things the way we do or believe what we believe, and if they don’t, we separate ourselves from them. If they don’t accept what we accept or teach, we put them in a box and label them.

This is causing division among ourselves!

Maybe WE are the ones in the box, holding others hostage in our hearts… walking around heavy while they are free with clear consciences… walking around, loving, forgiving, accepting, healing, and growing.

We are given the greatest commandment, to LOVE each other!

Love comes with respect and acceptance of another even if they don’t walk, talk, or look like us.

Love should be our primary focus, if anything. It takes more energy to judge and criticize another soul.

This season of my life is more about inner healing, sincere love, and paying closer attention to acceptance. I don’t know what yours are, but everyone’s season is different. Listen to your inner voice. What is it telling you to do, change, work on, let go… Zoom in on yourself, love, quiet the outside voices and listen to your inner wisdom. It never steers you wrong. God’s spirit lives within us all, and he’s always talking to us; we need only listen intentionally🙂.