Author Archives

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Truth Is Our Friend

Nobody likes unwanted news. We don’t want to believe that a diagnosis is dire, or our behaviors are destructive. We don’t like to hear that someone important to us is not who we thought they were — we won’t accept that a person we’re invested in is a thief, a traitor, an adulterer, or an abuser. Some of us will do anything to avoid unwanted truths like these.

To cope personally, or to save face publicly, we spin or outright deny the facts — it’s remarkable how spectacularly we pull off mental contortionism in our quest to disguise them.

Which is silly if you stop and think about it. No amount of distortion, denial, fabrication, justification, deflection, or delusionment will ever change truth. Like it or not, truth is what it is.

Isn’t it a marvel that people who initially choose deceit out of shame or inability to cope, quickly progress to actually believing their own lies? They developed habits of deceitfulness, and expect others to adopt their deluded thinking. They slipped unaware into a lifestyle of lies, then wonder why they are off-putting to others. Their relationships, home, work and social lives suffer. Ever so insidiously, their physical and mental health are impacted. Persistence in untruths only compounded their troubles.

All of that extra web of entanglement could have been avoided. The truth would have set them free, and kept them free. As difficult as it seemed, even those truths they despised were best acknowledged and dealt with.

The good news is, it’s never too late to start fresh. And none of us has to do it alone — God will come alongside us to bravely handle even the most agonizing of truths. The benefits of trusting him to do so are immeasurable, including freedom from mental and emotional turmoil. If we want and allow him to, he will transform our tangled thinking into healthy truthfulness.

He will accomplish it in a way and at a speed that is best for each of us. If we need to slowly come face-to-face with painful, difficult facts, he’ll do it slowly. If we need swift and full immersion in unmitigated reality, he’ll do that instead. He knows us intimately, and much, much more than we know ourselves — if we allow him to, he’ll do what is best for us. He’ll personalize his perfect intervention, knowing and understanding fully why we accumulated all of our ridiculous dysfunctions.

Let God peel back the layers of amassed issues that were caused by untruths. Wait on him. Be at peace with not always understanding everything as he exposes and corrects wrong-thinking, and assists us in developing new, factual, healthy thought patterns and behaviors.

Trust that he is at work upending the chaos that chronic lies caused, for our long-term good. That’s the truth of it — truth is always our friend.

John 8:32 – “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Philippians 4:19 – And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

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Growing Pains

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

While perusing my files this morning, I noticed a dated exchange of emails with a friend. At the time, he was traveling in South America, which sparked a memory of one of my travels. My true tale included quantifiable experiences (actual, earthly, physical—whatever you want to call it) and intangible experiences, too (spiritual, divine, and incomprehensible). A humorous misunderstanding followed when my friend assumed that my story was cut and pasted from a novel. When I clarified that the incident happened to me, and I’d written it, he suggested I write a book.

That’s the back story—this was my email response:

“My Mom has said many times that I should write a book about the strange things that have happened to me. But I rarely tell people about them because they must seem like fiction. Many things people just can’t relate to. I used to think God was making me be a…

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Toddler Wisdom

Do you ever want to say, “Mind your own business”, but know that the best response is no response? Do you abide by the principle of overlooking the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye while attending to the plank in your own eye? If you do, you are very careful about which incidents with people require speaking up to advocate for yourself or others, and which are best met with silence. This is for those who refrain from objecting outwardly, but who are inwardly standing their ground. Enjoy!

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A6Bu96ALOw

Video rights belong to Ryan Hunley.

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9.11.01

“I Believe”

Violence is spread worldwide and there are families on the street
That all we do is eliminate our future with the things we do today
Money is our incentive now so that makes it okay

But I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way
I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way

Walk blindly to the light and reach out for his hand
Don’t ask any questions and don’t try to understand
Open up your mind and then open up your heart
And you will see that you and me aren’t very far apart

‘Cause I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way
I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way

 

Quote: The song is about the lack of love in the world. In an interview with thecelebritycafe.com, songwriter Eliot Sloan said “when I sing ‘Love will find a way,’ I mean ‘God will find a way,'” and that he has always believed that “God is love.”

Music: I Believe (9/11 tribute) by Blessed Union of Souls

“I Believe” by Blessid Union Of Souls (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

Youtube licensee: lady amanda 123, Thank you!

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Wrangling With Racism

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

It was a curmudgeonly time during the George Zimmerman trial. Heated. Cantankerous. Unfriendly at best. We heard one too many divisive comments on news interviews, social media, when out-and-about in our communities. Some outright racism. I suppose each side wanted to build their ranks, or defend their position, but it only made us acknowledge what a bunch of hard-headed, hard-hearted people there are on this planet.

While most of us strive for daily peace, some enjoy fighting. I’m talking about those who position themselves at the extremes of issues. They blend there with like-minded people in sweet security, or anonymity, and shoot off bombs of vitriol toward the polar opposition. The rest of us in the middle, between the poles of extremism, get the caustic fallout.

It’s no fun to realize that about humanity. Not for me, anyway. On top of that, I feel guilty. Because I was born white…

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My Bobsled Prayer

I found the following prayer today. I wrote it several years ago, when I was in a time of inaction and need, and apparently in a rather silly mood. Welcome to …

My Bobsled Prayer

I don’t know what to think, or what to do. I don’t want to move unless it’s Your will, but there is no recent sign of that will. Because of it, I am immobilized. Stagnancy has slowly killed my hope for change and willingness to risk. I am in a vicious cycle. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZSzqMRaiE4

Psalm 139:5 “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.”

Go ahead and push me, God. Move me in Your will. Create walls like the bobsled track, so that my thoughts, sense of purpose, and actions are contained tightly within the boundaries of Your will. Hem in my flaws and weaknesses, my insecurities and fears, my wanderlust. Contain my ideas, words, ambitions, interests … everything that makes me, “me”. 

Joshua 1:7 “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.”

Create conditions within me, and beyond me, that assure success in pleasing You. Position me in Your will. Propel me. Place containment walls close to assure correctness, righteousness, focus of vision and action, godliness and accuracy as I ride the bobsled run that is my life. 

YouTube credit and rights belong to Michelle Long:

Published on Mar 5, 2014 – She wrote, “First runs with the Go Pro Hero mounted to my helmet. Top speed would be between 120-125km/hr for this run.”
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You Have My Respect

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

People are complex beings. Yet we catch mere glimpses of another’s life and draw conclusions about him.

Only by knowing the mind of God about a person, can we be accurate in understanding him. Or let a person who knows himself inform us, as long as he is self-aware and willing to confide.

We have another option to gain insight: observing behavior. Religious people call it “judging others by their fruit”. But be careful — if we’re not mindful of the environment a person is in, their “fruit” can mislead. What if he is in a God-appointed time of winter, wartime, or injustice?

tree in winter for blog pgIs it possible for him to satisfy our need or desire to judge? A person in winter is struggling to survive, not bearing tasty fruit. He is wrapped up and withdrawn to survive the frigid, dangerous climate. He will only open up and bloom when the climate is warm, welcoming…

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When You Know a Fool

Proverbs 26

Wise Sayings About Fools

26 Just as snow should not fall in summer, nor rain at harvest time, so people should not honor a fool.

2 Don’t worry when someone curses you for no reason. Nothing bad will happen. Such words are like birds that fly past and never stop.

4-5 There is no good way to answer fools when they say something stupid. If you answer them, then you, too, will look like a fool. If you don’t answer them, they will think they are smart.

6 Never let a fool carry your message. If you do, it will be like cutting off your own feet. You are only asking for trouble.

9 A fool trying to say something wise is like a drunk trying to pick a thorn out of his hand.

10 Hiring a fool or a stranger who is just passing by is dangerous—you don’t know who might get hurt.

11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit, a fool does the same foolish things again and again.

12 People who think they are wise when they are not are worse than fools.

18-19 Anyone who would trick someone and then say, “I was only joking” is like a fool who shoots flaming arrows into the air and accidentally kills someone.

23 Good words that hide an evil heart are like silver paint over a cheap, clay pot. 24 Evil people say things to make themselves look good, but they keep their evil plans a secret. 25 What they say sounds good, but don’t trust them. They are full of evil ideas. 26 They hide their evil plans with nice words, but in the end, everyone will see the evil they do.

 

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)Copyright © 2006 by World Bible Translation Center

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Dream Big

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

As I walked at a track today, a coach worked at one end of the adjacent field, his young son played on the other. The boy sprinted, head down, football tucked at his belly. Zig-zagging left and right, he reached the end zone, did a little leap, and raised the ball overhead.

“What’s the score?” I called out.

“Fourteen to nothing!”

“Who you playing?”

“The Cardinals! Game’s over. I won,” he answered.

“And you are … ?”

“Packers!”

His invisible coach told him to take a rest (those were his exact words), so I was the fortunate recipient of some football information: He didn’t play on a team yet; flag football starts in third grade, pads in sixth; he wants to try all the positions, but when he plays his first game in sixth grade he wants to be the quarterback.

That’s five years away, for a kid who hasn’t…

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Teeter Totter Like You Ought

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.  Romans 12:3

teeter totterTo better understand Romans 12:3, I imagine a teeter totter. If we think of ourselves more highly than we ought, we hit ground hard on one end. If we lack self-respect and don’t think of ourselves as highly as we ought, we hit ground just as hard on the other end.

With God’s help, as we find our correct balance, whatever is in our lives that applied weight to either end shows up like never before. If those weights won’t allow us to obey God and assume our rightful new balance, they will have to go.

At the very least, they must keep a respectful distance so we can teeter totter like we ought!

Kim McMillan, author of “When I Loved Myself Enough”, put it this way:

“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.”

On the other end, Shannon L. Alder envisioned a road instead of a teeter totter, in a cautionary observance that misguided “love of self” leads to arrogance:

“When you think yours is the only true path you forever chain yourself to judging others and narrow the vision of God. The road to righteousness and arrogance is a parallel road that can intersect each other several times throughout a person’s life. It’s often hard to recognize one road from another. What makes them different is the road to righteousness is paved with the love of humanity. The road to arrogance is paved with the love of self.”

Balance. God, help us find it, and maintain it all the years of our lives.