Category Archives: Inspiration

What the Bible tells us about Mindfulness

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There are many scriptures in the bible that give us examples of how we should be mindful in our thoughts, actions, and deeds.  They also tell us how we as Christians  should  fill our minds with the knowledge and things of Christ.

To be mindful is to be present and to have focused thoughts.  But what should we be mindful of?

Col 3:2  says “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on this earth”.

With all the chaos in the world,  we have the peace in knowing that the things of this world  or only  a moment,  but the one promised to us is eternal. ~Dr. stella

 

Shiny Objects Distracting You?

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“And others are they that are sown among the thorns; these are

they that have heard the word, and the cares of the world, and

the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things 

entering in, choke the word & it becomes unfruitful.” 

Jesus: Mark 4:18-19

 

This is a very popular parable that has circulated

around the globe evoking a sense of curiosity around what kind

of “seed” you happen to be in this world and where have

you been sown?  We have all heard at one point the

common saying, “you reap what you sow.”

So what kind of seed are you? and what have you

given power over to that is cutting off the life

source that enables you to bloom where you are planted?

 

Do you follow shiny objects resulting in

a very shallow root system so when the opinions of

other people and circumstances do not show up

in your favor your inner motivation and inspiration

become flat lined & unfruitful?

 

Or do you withstand the dark moments, with no sign

of light, having full confidence that your God given ability

to break through the dirt of life & bloom in the midst of it

all will override the momentary discomfort

of the growth process?

 

The choice for a deep reliable root system along

with the ability to bloom where you are planted is yours

and will make all the difference in the outcomes

you will experience on this journey of life.

 

I remember when my oncologist said, “it is our goal to

try to get you to 5 years.” In spite of that dirt

surrounding me I chose God and all of the healing and

love that flow from that choice with the gift of each new

day.  Live to bloom no matter what surrounds you.

Now Pause Breathe in the Holy Spirit and Exhale any tension in your body,

Today

Dear God,

 

As is the case with a beautiful garden, there is a

season when the blooms fade and the vibrant colors 

are replaced with dull, life less surroundings.  Yet, in

spite of the lack of life that is captured by the human eye,

there is the process of growth and strength

that is occurring beneath the dark, cold dirt.

As the essential life giving elements flow from 

your hand into the soil and seeds that lie beneath 

the surface, new life, growth and abundance

return once again to the faithful seeds that

don’t doubt their God given ability to bloom once

again…with more strength & expansion than

the previous season. May it be the same for me this

season. Remind me of my capability to bloom and live

a fruitful life no matter what surrounds me.

 

Because of His Love <><

Lauren

When you love someone, but you’re not compatible, you have a choice to make

IMG_5811When you love someone, even though you’re clearly not compatible, you have a choice to make.

1. You can choose to love them in spite of the fact they seem to break everything – especially your heart
– or –
2. You can eventually go your separate ways because of incompatibility

This wonderful choice began the day you were born…

Males and females were created incompatibly different from birth. If you believe the story of creation then you know man was made from the dust of the earth, and woman was formed from Adam’s rib, according to scripture. We know that dust of the earth, and ribs from a human being are also made up of completely different cells and particles. One could even say, they’re incompatible, right?

Jon and I have loved one another since our teen years, but admittedly the choice to love has sometimes been more than difficult over the course of our 33 year marriage. (BTW….my husband thought it was important for me to tell you that he read and approved this message. He was concerned I would be judged harshly if you didn’t know that ahead of time. Presh, right?)

Continuing on…

Being a male, Jon often sees things competitively – as in winning or losing, as in right or wrong. That means whether we’re in an important discussion, or carrying heavy things, or even grocery shopping, it all somehow becomes a game of winning or losing.

Being female, and an entrepreneur, I often see things as a collaborative adventure. I love discussing important matters, taking my time shopping to get the healthiest ingredients for my family, and though I don’t take myself too seriously, I view life as a series of moments. Evey moment is another opportunity to impact others in a positive, non-competitve way.

Being male, he often sees hunting for the right bargain or gathering the best wood to work on his next project – often enjoying time alone in his man cave. For most men, communication is not a favorite past time but they don’t mind being in the same room together.IMG_5837

Being female, I decide if something is in alignment with my spirit or not. I don’t mind making a healthy investment if so. I love working together because I thrive on problem solving, learning new skills and growing in relationship together. I also view healthy communication as vitally important to all relationships.

We were created to be different

I think you might agree that my husband and I come from two completely different perspectives. Although I believe that the influences we choose to put into our brains usually impact our lifestyle tremendously, I also believe that God made us different for a good reason. SO DIFFERENT in fact, that it often requires us to dig deep into our soul to choose forgiveness and love, which takes an act of unselfishness.

But here’s the thing…we need each other to live, love and learn. Jon and I together discovered an incredible secret to love that needs to be shared in a significant way. This is one reason for my article.

UNITY saves marriages

Did you know that unity is achievable even when we’re not compatible? Check this out.

“COMPATIBILITY is the state of existence or occurrence without problems or conflict.”

“UNITY is the state of being united or joined as a whole.”

Did you catch that last word?? WHOLE!

So being compatible is existing – while being united produces wholeness.

While you may think this is just symantec’s, I can assure you its definitely not. When we unite on important matters because they’re important, we find harmony and peace.

Jon and I didn’t understand that there was an actual strategy to marriage. It wasn’t until we were good and ready to walk away from each other that God allowed me to see it. That’s when I shared it with him, and we both finally agreed to get started to achieve unity the way Jesus wanted us to.

Unity doesn’t even glance at incompatibility

Discussions of unity turn up everywhere long before you’re married. If you think back to your dating life you might be able to see how you actually achieved outstanding unity over and over again.

You: “Do you want to go dancing?”

Date: “Sure. Do you?”

You: “Sure! Where do you want to go?”

Date: “How about trying out the new dance club downtown?

You: ” Okay! Lets go shake a leg!”

And off you went, leg shaking your way to a unified outcome. Then came discussions of growing old together, what your first house would look like, what type of trips you wanted to take together, how many kids you wanted to have. There were many unifying factors that started your relationship off. Some people call them goals or dreams to attain, but whatever you call them, your relationship has never been about simple existing.

Can you imagine what that might sound like?

You: “Do you want to go dancing?”

Date: “Huh? Do you?”

You: “Maybe. Where do you want to go?”

Date: “I’m not sure. There’s a new dance club downtown?

You: “Yeah I heard that too.”

And there you sit. No leg shaking, no more thought of dancing, planning or achieving some form of unity.

Unity produces an outcome of WHOLENESS the moment you say, “I do”. IMG_5839

The day you took your vows was like hearing “POW!” inside your head. I remember looking at the ring on my finger saying to my little sister, “Oh my gosh, I’ve just become Mrs. Frazier. Can you believe it?!”

Little did I know how utterly incompatible we were at that moment, or how utterly beautiful unifying would be had I only known the proper strategy for it back then.

Oddly enough, divorcing because you are incompatible is actually pretty lame because you’re just stating a fact without realizing that it has nothing to do with being married.

Lets take a look at two of the major excuses for break up’s for instance.

FINANCES: You may not like spread sheets and yet he may not be able to do life without them. You try to get him to use a normal check book and he insists on using spread sheets. You may have been fighting for so long about the spreadsheet issue that you’ve neglected to stay focused on the unifying factors of how much you both wanted to give, invest, save, spend, etc. Working toward unity allows you to come back to the goals you initially had together and find a way to support one another. This brings peace into your home, not to mention a few good snuggles.

SEX: You want more intimacy. He wants more sex. He doesn’t know that intimacy is something that can be accomplished in simple ways that would give him all the sex he wants. Working toward being emotionally connected is working toward unity. When he emotionally connects to you, you finally feel loved, cherished and ready to respond to his every need.

My husband and I have changed many aspects in our marriage in strategic ways, similar to those I just mentioned. We’ve learned to love each other differently, unifying on every level that is important to us to achieve success and stay joyfully married. We’ve learned to find the best in each other so we can enjoy our time together. In fact, we just celebrated our 33rd year as husband and wife, while accepting that we are unapologetically IMG_5845incompatible. We are also 100% certain that the trajectory of our marriage has changed permanently thanks to God’s amazing grace.

As I continue to share God’s original plan to UNITE us to WHOLENESS again, I’m very grateful that you, my dear reader, have a willingness to see the difference and apply it to your own life. If you found value in this article feel free to share it and leave your thoughts below. The more couples we can make aware of unity, the more marriages we can save.

Always Love,

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True Pride vs A Prideful Nature

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How to Recognize Pride vs. A Prideful Nature:

 

True Pride:

 

True pride that has its way in you is unable to hear and respond to the voice of humility.  Therefore it has an insatiable desire to dominate, be seen, acknowledged & recognized. The serpents of jealousy, envy and lack and scarcity slither around in true pride robbing it’s host of inner peace and confidence.

 

This pride gets easily frustrated & anger flares up when it’s plans are thwarted and people stand in its way of getting what it wants.

 

It is fueled by unbridled ambition that puts things before people.  The non-essential before the essential, and will do anything, often void of moral conscious, to get what it wants.

 

This pride is like a spoiled child and is seldom content or deeply satisfied…always wanting more.

 

A Spiritually Discerning Person with a Prideful Nature:

 

Know this: Even as a human being seeking to love, serve and honor God you will experience prideful flare-ups.  Often times you will think you have passed a godly character development class in earth school only to find yourself taking a refresher course ;  ).

 

The difference between a person who lives in service of pride and one who seeks to put God’s ways of love and service first and experiences occasional moments of prideful flare-ups is this:

 

As soon as pride shows up the spiritually discerning person will feel the burn of whatever action, thought, or word associated with the prideful moment within their biology.

 

Feeling the discomfort this person will choose to return to God as quickly as possible.  Identifying and adjusting their thoughts, words and deeds to keep themselves aligned with the higher good of all concerned, which flows form their intimacy with God.

 

The spiritually discerning person sees pride for what it is and seeks the higher ground of humility, love and gratitude.  They are also able to forgive others when they have prideful moments.

 

Basically, the truly prideful person is enslaved to pride as they continually choose it over the ways of their godly nature.

 

The person who has a prideful nature or tendency as humans do, yet is not a proud person, is one who rejects prideful flare-ups and quickly makes amends as they choose God over their prideful moment.

 

Begin again, and again and again with even more congruency today than yesterday.

 

Align your actions with your God given natural state of being filling your responses to life with love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness and self-control.

 

Authentic transformation beings with ruthless honesty and the ability to adjust and choose God’s abundant grace which always offers the opportunity to begin again.

“Dear God rescue us from the weak moments of the flesh which rob us of the knowing that we are enough IN YOU. We lack nothing, as St. Teresa of Avila says, when we have you. Fill up those spaces within our interior castle which are void of the remembrance that humility, love and confidence make up the foundation for lasting inner peace and life satisfaction.”

Because of His Love,

Lauren <><

God or Man? Flip Your Authority

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI5i-7cCHl4

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

 

Too often we give more authority to circumstance than we do to

our God given ability to overcome, learn from and move 

through perceived challenges in life. This week remember

that GREATER IS THE ONE who lives in YOU than 

the one or thing in the world.

 

Your experience of rising and 

falling depending upon how the world judges you is in 

direct proportion to the power YOU give to the outside

circumstance to define your worth, value and capability. 

If God is for you…who or what can be against you? Flip

your authority today: Give more authority to the strength of God

within you than you give to the opinions of people around you and

or specific outcomes. Failure is just a label we place on an

undesirable outcome.  Think about this for a moment, if

you truly believe that God has plans to prosper you and not to

harm you, to give you hope and a future then whatever pops

up before you can be flipped into positive forward momentum.

What if you take a moment this week before any potential threat

to your sense of safety and ability to overcome and you remember

this simple thought: God has overcome all that I feel has overcome

(or potentially overcome) me in my life…He sees all and is more

than capable of doing more than I can ever ask or imagine for

my ultimate good in this world, I am safe and connected to the

One that is greater than circumstance.

 

Because of His Love,

Lauren <><

Our Wonderful Counselor

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Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord , that shall stand.                                                         ~Proverbs 19:20-21 KJV

As we ponder on the right things to do in life and the right decisions to make, we need to first go the God for counsel.  We run to seek advice from friends, family, and therapist when the person with all the answers is right there… with you all the times.

Much of the problem comes from us being able to hear what he tells us, confident without uncertainty, that it’s his voice we hear.  This comes with strong conviction and dedication to your relationship with him. Through prayer and a continual building of a relationship with him, we are able to discern is voice, counsel, and instruction.

My constant prayer is that all of us are able to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the lord is talking, advising,  and consoling us in the right paths and choices we make.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!                             ~Isaiah 9:6 NIV

Lord, let us hear your counsel, and receive your instruction, so that we may be wise at the end!!

Dr. Stella

 

 

Oh Happy Day

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As I turned on my radio on this beautiful Sunday morning, the Sister Act’s version of  “Oh Happy Day” was on.  It is so refreshing to hear this song and remember the simple basics of God’s gift to us.  Edward Hawkins lyrics wrote that “God taught me how to watch, fight, and  pray.”  How did God do this?

  1. His blood on Calvary saved us from hell and we are now able to repent of our sins.
  2. We have strength through his spirit to fight the devil and evil.
  3. He teachings us in the bible  to pray at all times to Jesus.
  4. We are to watch for his return. Exciting!!!

Rejoice today and everyday knowing that no matter what we’re going or working through our worries about sin has been washed away.  What more do we need to feel good about on any given morning!

The Spirits Intercession For Us

 

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“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”  ~Romans 8:26 KJV

Sometimes we have so many prayers and intentions that when we have a quiet moment with the lord we don’t know where to begin.  It becomes overwhelming and this leaves us feeling like we forgot to thank or ask him for this or that.

The scripture above in Romans is so powerful because it tells us that God already know our prayers before we approach the thrown.  He knows all our wants and needs.

 I have found that when I center myself in quite meditate, I not only get the answers to my prayers, but also to the things that I should ask and thank him for.  What a great gift meditation is which God himself instructed us to do.

 How blessed we are to have the powerful God we serve whose spirit itself intercedes for us!

~Dr. Stella

Praise and Thanks

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I experienced the gift of an answered prayer this week and I am thankful.

Psalm 118:21 – I shall give thanks to You for You have answered me. And You have become my salvation.

As I thank the lord for this gift, I have also been in deep thought about the large amounts of asks I send to the thrown of Christ. They are plentiful.

What a blessing to know that we have someone to go to who answers our prayers!

But have we been as dutiful to thank him like we should?

Let us not forget to take the action to always follow these answered prayers with praise. The lord has been gracious to us and heard our voice, so we must remember to praise and thank him for giving us the desires of our hearts.

Winston Churchill once said: We make a living by what we got… but a life by what we give.

How true it this for our eternal life to come!

Dr. Stella