Soar On Wings Like Eagles

 How to stop worrying Most people are always worrying. We worry about food, clothing, shelter, and education. We worry about our future, where we live, about friendships, relationships, and family. We always want to be in a secure place, and we want a secure future. When we live a life of worry, we lose joy, and become unhappy people. Our inner worry oozes out into our everyday life. It affects the way we interact with others, and may even end up affecting our health. Worry is sickening. It is unhealthy. It shows how much we do not trust in God. We start doing things by our own strength. We start making our own plans; we plan our now, we plan our future. We might fall into an always planning mode if we do not watch out. Worry means we have ourselves on the throne. It can be a sign of pride, arrogance, and rebellion; at attempt to prove self-sufficiency. It may result from deep seated issues. It means we are trying to have our way, that we are doing all we can by our own strength to ac

 God does not see as man sees People say, "But I am not a bad person! I follow the law of the land! I do everything I am told to do!" We are living in the last days. We should have a sense of urgency; Jesus Christ is coming back soon. No one knows the day nor the hour. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us not to be naive, the times ahead are difficult. You should know this, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! People have become masters

 Be still and know that God is God Stillness! It means being in a place of inner peace, inner quietness, and inner contentment. It means to be in complete peace. It is defined as, "free from disturbance, agitation, or commotion." It does not mean stagnation, it means moving forward despite what is going on on the outside. It is a state of absolute surrender to God. It is a state of recognizing we are nothing without God. We recognize God is all-powerful and we are not. We recognize we do not control other people or the world. We pray and leave everything to God. It means we stop carrying life's burdens on our shoulders. We recognize salvation is a gift and what God requires from us is faith. We are not saved by our works, but by God's grace. When Christ died on the cross, He said it is finished. His death and resurrection means we only have to repent of our sins, acknowledge and accept Him as our Lord and Savior, and we will be saved. When we believe in our hearts tha

 Say what you mean and mean what you say No is a complete sentence. It does not need to be justified by explanations. It is a powerful word. It is a word that implies we know who we are, what we want, and what we do not want. It comes from a place of strength rather than weakness. It tells the other person that we have heard what they are saying, we have heard what they wanted us to do or say, but we choose not to; we choose not to go ahead with it. Many times we feel pressured to do or say something just to avoid offending the other person. Yet, what we fail to remember is that the moment we do something that we do not want to do, we end up betraying and doing a disservice to ourselves. People will guilt trip us, they will tell us all sorts of things in order to make us do or say what they want. But, we should never forget what we want and what is right and true. Is that what we want to do? Is that good for us? Is that the right thing to do? Saying no does not mean selfishness or pri

 Being secure in an insecure world  We human beings want to feel secure. We want a secure nation, secure neighborhood, and secure future. We want to feel secure in our families, in our relationships, and in our marriages. We want to be secure in our health and our finances. We want our children to grow up, mature and have a good future. Wanting security means we want a sense of certainty; a sense of knowing. Yet, we live in an uncertain world, where things change in an instant. Natural disasters strike, we lose our finances, we lose our jobs, we lose family and friends - whether through death or through growing apart. Marriages break all around us, relationships fail, friends part and go separate ways. People we were once close to become like strangers. People betray each other left right and center. Human bodies are stricken with illnesses. Mental illnesses are on the rise. People fall into depression, into despair, and into hopelessness. In an instant, our lives can turn around; what

 How to overcome rejection Rejection makes us feel alone; we feel like other people do not like us or do not want to be around us. It is a strong negative emotion of feeling unwanted, feeling like we are not understood, like the odd ones out, like others are better than us, like we are below others. Rejection makes us feel weird, unappreciated, criticized, and judged; it makes us feel as if nothing we do or say is ever good enough; it makes us feel as if we are not good enough or as if we do not matter. When rejected, we feel like outcasts. Rejection is defined as, "being excluded; cast off." It is a strong emotion, and when it happens, we start to feel unworthy. When under rejection, we may feel judged by others, talked about by others, avoided by people, laughed at, mistreated, abused - whether verbally, emotionally, physically, or financially; we may be taken advantage of and lied to. We may feel rejected by a school we had applied to, denied a certain job, secluded by fa

 Dealing with betrayal Betrayal is a strong word. We feel betrayed when people we trust go against us, when people go on to tell others something we told them in confidence, when people spread lies about us, when people do or say something that they know will hurt us; when people cheat, lie, and abuse us. It is defined as, "the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral or psychological conflict." Betrayal, whether in words or actions goes against trust. It hurts both the one betraying and the one being betrayed. It may be unintentional, though most times it tends to be intentional. Either way, it still hurts. Betrayal can be an act of revenge. When people are hurt, they may go out there and do or say things that are meant to hurt the other. It can be a means of 'getting back' at the other person. Betrayal comes from a bitter, unforgiving heart. When we are hurt, at times we may want to hurt those who hurt us if we are n

 Overcoming Regret Regret occurs when we do or say something and later on wish we had not done or said it. It can also occur when we failed to say or do something that we wish we did. Growing up people make a lot of mistakes; it is a process of learning; we try to find out who we really are and we may run into trouble occasionally. Most times, we tend to learn from others or through our own experiences. At times people influence us the wrong way and we find ourselves going in the wrong direction. We want to move with the popular crowd. We may end up doing or saying things we do not want to or would not have under different circumstances. The 'crowd' is a great influencer. We find ourselves moving with the trend. The 'trend' can be anything; from our way of dressing, how we walk, the way we talk, the way we interact with others, and such like things. We move with the flow. But do we ever consider if the flow is good for us? Is it the right thing to do? Does it go agains

 Be Authentic Authenticity means being completely ourselves, in the best way possible. The world is full of distractions and if we are not careful it is easy to be led astray. All of us have values which we stand by. Yet, many times we do not follow them. We find ourselves going further and further away from the true, best versions of ourselves. We find ourselves looking for validation from others. We do and say things in an effort to fit in. We do not want to be disliked. We want people to praise us. We look for attention whether consciously or not. We find ourselves boasting, being prideful, being arrogant. At times, we hurt people in an attempt to 'get back' at them. But do we ever count the cost? Why do we try to hurt and destroy each other? Do we ever consider the pain we inflict on others? We forget what we do to others does indeed come back to us. The Bible tells us that whatever we wish others would do to us, we should also do to them. With our words and actions we lea

 Spite Spite refers to intentional actions or words meant to hurt another person. It is a very common vice in the world. Spiteful people tend to hide it or give excuses for their words or actions. Spite can be directed towards an innocent person, or people can also direct it towards a person who has hurt them. It is very intentional, with the sole purpose of hurting another or in an attempt to 'prove a point'. Spiteful actions and words cause great damage, both to the spiteful person and to the other person towards whom it is directed at. A person might be deceived into saying they have the right to do what they are doing just because the other person did such and such a thing. It is rooted in hatred, bitterness, jealousy, envy, and an attempt at revenge. People do and say things in an attempt 'to get back at someone'. People will say mean things, disrespectful things, do hurtful actions, and they try to justify their actions and words based on what the other person ha