Are you scared or sad? Inspiration follows

How happy am I? How happy are you? Has life been fair and easy on you? Did most everything work out for us? Are you ever scared? Can I be what I really want to be? While I know that I can not answer those questions for you and am intrigued what those answers are, I will take a shot at answering those complex questions and hopefully can relate a good story / lesson for all of us to learn. How happy? I am happy as much as I want to be. I know that is what I want to answer but life will throw me a barrage of problems and it can detour me from maintaining happiness and peace. Why is that you may say? I believe because EVIL wants us to lose so it can win. Who is EVIL? EVIL is Satan. Satan, ever since leaving Heaven many centuries ago, has been learning and getting stronger with Spiritual Warfare. He even attacks many faiths including Christianity and Scientology even if they don’t want to admit it. How happy am I? Most days 90% because of the variables and that is great considering it is about as close to perfection as any human can be. On the other days, it can be as low as 10% and then I get a spiritual boost. How can this be possible? It’s because God exists and talks with me and walks with me. Has life been fair and easy? No. Does most everything work out for us? I believe it is all about perspective. I would answer yes mostly. Now that I have answered some of those questions, I want to tell you a story about a woman who has had a little of Hell go on in her life. She does have though a rose garden the size of the state of Texas filled with love, happiness and family that has taught her so much and been by her side even when they did not have too. Amy lost her father in a car accident when she was young and then a short time later her mother died of cancer. It was just her and a sister for a long time. When you ask Amy about that past she doesn’t want to talk about it much. Instead she wants to talk about all that she has gained. 5 step siblings and they are mostly real close in age. She has strong people around her all the time. She says, “I know my God is real. I know that bad things do happen to good people and that’s ok. I live my life knowing that everything happens for a reason and it makes me stronger. God will not give me more than I can handle. Not everyone is meant to be in our lives forever, some are simply just passing through, making an impact.” When I heard Amy say these things it really got me thinking deeply. How do I look at life and have I really had a bad life? If I know that I am ok and God will not give me more than I can handle, then what impact am I in another person’s life? Then I ask why would a loving God put other people through Hell if I am not or have not gone through a living Hell. Amy helped me with this when she sent me a message via e-mail one day. “There are times when I say why me God…. I see it as life lessons or spiritual lessons which help me define who I am. It’s been repeated to me that ‘I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my parents?’ My reply is you move on with life in their honor. Your past does not define you it is what makes up the pieces of who you are… I know that when I truly turn my problems over to God things get better.” Amy is an amazing inspiration to me because of her grace, love, and strength. While she is not perfect, that is awesome because she keeps going and hoping. I believe it makes her and I strive to be better this day and the days to come. Money and stuff can not define you I believe and will NEVER be possible to take to the next life. That life is Heaven I believe. What do you value most about this chance in life? What do you strive to be better at? Jesus, for Amy and I, values that you love one another and try your best every single day. He came to this life, not to be a Savior even though he is, but I feel to be an inspiration to me and you. Just like Amy, Jesus helps me on a daily basis to remember all the bad and the good in my life and file it away. If I am not better for a long time then that is ok because I am trying to get there. One day when that last breath is taken by me, my hope is that God says "well done my son now rest as a thank you. You inspired others like all my children who accepted me." May Amy’s story inspire you and if not then give God a try and see if he inspires you. Be blessed!


Brad

And so it Begins….

Hello fellow bloggers and readers who have read this blog in the past. I am back to the writing process here on this page. I was going to submit the first blog of the new year a few days ago but I have been sick and now ready to blog away for what I feel will be a very interesting 2009. Why is it going to be interesting? Well, I can be political, philosophical or candid about it. I will give you a little of all of those. Politically, the President to be is going to be sworn in in a few days and he as you already know is black, a Democrat and in uncharted waters which makes it very historical. Philosophically speaking, Mr. Obama is in a minority position for multiple reasons. His views on society and power will be very different than most I believe. Candidly, because of the economy being the way it is and the historical move by Mr. Obama will make it an interesting year to follow both politically and economically. I also believe with all the various new things that each year brings and the shift of powers in the government will test many people’s theories that might all be proven wrong or right. Since we are starting off things fresh and new, I have decided to take a slightly different approach to this blog. I am going to continue themed blogs as in the past but have decided to also address things that are going on in the news and try to address them from God’s point of view and how that impacts us. I will hopefully show the pluses and the minuses of the issue and might even throw in a Bible verse or two that I feel might adhere to this situation. I hope that you will all want to continue reading and even add your thoughts about what I write. I also hope that you find these blogs both interesting and informative. I will try my best and pray that God can use me in the future writings. Happy New Year to you all and be blessed!


Brad