Heartfelt Prayer for Current Events

This week and last week I have not posted a Topic Tuesday  or Walk in Faith Wednesday because there has been so much going on where I would like to share my opinion but the issues are so big and complicated I can’t wrap my head around it enough.  However, even though I do not fully understand what is going on and all I know is what the media decides to convey, God knows the whole picture.  So today I want to share my prayer.

Dear Lord,

I thank you for the well being of my loved ones and myself in this time where so many tragic events are occurring in my country and far away.  Yes, I am blessed, but I could be in situations similar to these and I would want to feel your presence so I pray that Your presence be known to these people who are in so much pain.

I  pray for Nepal, as they have seen nearly 4,000 people killed and many more injured in the earthquake and aftershocks.  People’s families, homes and businesses have been destroyed.  I cannot begin to imagine the hurt and sadness of these people.  I pray that they will find strength in You to move on.  I pray for their safety as they begin to rebuild as well as the safety of those who travel out there to help clean up the brokenness.

I lift up the people of Baltimore whose city has become a scene of chaos and fear.  The people who feel justified in these horrible actions need a way to be heard for their needs to be met.  I feel for those families who lost their place of work and now have to find a way to support their families because of the irresponsible actions of others.  I pray for the children and the teachers who now have to put their lessons aside in order to comfort their frightened students who don’t understand what is going on.  I pray for the city leaders and police officers who are exhausted and are having to use force against those who are using the wrong actions to protest police force.  I pray for the cops who are guilty of the force that is being protested and that they will change their habits and make better choices for the people they are supposed to protect.

I pray for us as a country, from Treyvon Martin to Freddie Gray, to the incident at Valdosta State University where we as a nation are attacking each other.  Help us to learn to love each other, to stand for what we believe is right without dehumanizing others for their different opinions.  You have given us passionate spirits, help us to use that gift to glorify You and do Your work instead of attacking the people you have commanded us to love.

It’s been one week since the accident involving students at Georgia Southern who were killed on their way to nursing clinicals.  So many students commute on that road, as I did to go home, to see friends, or to meet requirements for classes.  The school has truly come together and shown love and support.  I pray that this is an example of what the rest of the country should learn.  It will be a long road to healing for the families, friends and students and I pray that you embrace them.

Lord, please grant us peace.

Amen

Choice

It’s Magic!!!

Don’t Hold Back

Times are a changing

*Some slight language but overall too funny not to share*

Poor Borg! She was too little at the top and too big at the bottom, and around the middle— don’t tell anybody, but she resembled an overfed baby! … Most dejectedly she waddled beside Rosa until Bets took her by the hand and whispered, ‘Borg, you’ve got to girdle that girth.’ Bets knew what she was talking about. Whatever your body structure is, it is up to you to make your body as beautiful as possible.

“Borg?????????”
“Her parents were really condemning her with that name.”
“It must be hard to be part of a civilization that travels space in a huge cube assimilating aliens, and ALSO have baby fat!!”
“Also, Bets is NOT a good friend.”
“Can you immediately unfriend someone after they say, ‘Girdle that girth’?”
“And the author tells us ‘not to tell anybody’ but then puts it into a fucking book? The shade!”

Excerpt from BuzzFeed article that had me rolling laughing! Woe betide you if you don’t laugh!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/an-honest-discussion-about-this-insane-1940s-etiquette-guide#.jomb7V5b6

7+3=10 & 10-3=7

I feel like a kid who just understood the relationship between addition and subtraction.

For anyone who’s ever gone through any changes in their life, had any doubts if they were making the right decisions, waited to hear God speak to them you NEED to read this book, “Just Do Something” by Kevin DeYoung.  I especially recommend it to all my 20 something friends, this book is very enlightening.  I was told about tit by a sweet girl in one of my Bible Studies.  I want to highlight nearly every word.

I feel like I’m in this huge moment of clarity right now.  Many of you know that over the past 2 years I’ve been through a lot of challenges and changes, which I’ll be the first to admit I am not a fan of. (i may at a later time share more of this story).   I like predictability and stability and clear reasoning.  While I definitely do not have all the answers, reading this book today gave me a sense of peace.  Going through times that are uncertain you are told to pray about it and search for “God’s will.” So we pray and we wait, and we wait, and we wait.  Sometimes we need to wait, other times we just hold off on doing something.   We like to think God’s will is specific to the who, what,when where, and how.  It isn’t necessarily that way.  God’s will is in the place you’d least expect it- the BIBLE.  He tells us to love and honor Him, and love others.  That’s it.  That’s all we need to know.  As for the “who, what, when, where, and how” we use the free will that God has granted us and make a decision.  God already knows what we are going to decide and has worked His purpose through His plan for our lives.  The question we should be asking is “how am I bringing Glory to God?”

This may sound simple, trust me I feel like I’ve heard it at least 100 times in the past few months, but for some reason the light bulb just seemed to turn on.  The anxiety I felt this week about my future has subsided.  I still have to make some big decisions and it still scares me a little, but I am reminded that my needs will be met.  I really hope that maybe that light bulb will go off for you too if you read this or better yet, the book.

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ for the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Mathew 6:30-33

Millenial Minds Part 2

Studies by the American Psychological Association were cited in many articles claiming that my generation, the “millennials” are the most stressed. I remember reading articles about this a while back, and now that I have this nifty blog thing it’s a great place to share these thoughts. Most of the articles I found were written about 2 years ago. However, I do not think it has changed. (They all had good points but I can’t just copy and paste 4 articles)

I am included in this group of millenials that deal with anxiety and/or depression along with some of my friends. We have graduated college or at least have a few years under our belt. We left school either not sure what to do with our degree or tried our field and found it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Regardless we have to find out, what can we do that will make us happy and make us money.

In the last post, I made generalizations that scope the worldview of this generation and raised the big question of how do we cope in this mindset we’ve established. We have been given the power of choice. In many circumstances we have the freedom to choose what jobs to go after and which to reject instead of finding one out of necessity. One thing to consider is, there are many new types of career opportunities but we are not the ones who created them. We are some of the first to be employed in those fields which means no one has really gone before us to show us how to get where we want to go. Coming into those fields it’s assumed we know how they work because we as millennials are automatically seen as tech savvy. (Truth: we are not all computer programmers) Just having the education does not guarantee us a steady job in our dream career.

Those that have less choice because they don’t have the education or need to provide for themselves or their family immediately still have the option to change their path and find something they would rather do. Either way, we find ourselves asking, “which way do I go”, “what if I make the wrong choice”?   The problem here is then we trap ourselves with those questions. There is so much pressure on us to do something great because we live in such a privileged time. We want the biggest and the best. It makes choosing nearly impossible and when we do decide we have a hard time sticking with it. What if something bigger and better is out there? So we take a chance and go for it, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Settling down is almost impossible.

We get stuck, talking ourselves in circles. To every option there are things that make us excited but also enough unknowns to make us doubt it’s a safe option. When we do pick something we are bombarded with questions from other friends and family (usually older) how this is going to play out and if we thought about X,Y, AND Z. Yes we thought about X, Y, Z and that’s what got us to this decision. No we don’t know if it’s going to work but we had to do SOMETHING. We are judged for every choice, which makes it harder to just please ourselves.

When things are in constant change a few lucky people thrive but most of us feel an immense amount of stress. It seems like everything that can go wrong does. We try our hardest and it never seems to be enough. We feel we lack direction and are worried about being able to support ourselves consistently. These feelings cause serious problems of anxiety and depression. It’s a growing problem for my generation meaning it’s a problem for the health of our society. Of course there is a spectrum of severity but the truth is most of us face this as reality and it only causes more stress. We have too many worries and don’t know how to cope. On the outside many of us look happy and adventurous if you look at our Facebook pages we’ve traveled and dated and bought some awesome sunglasses or delicious cupcakes. It doesn’t mean we’re not having a hard time and that our thoughts and feelings shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Link to the study:  http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2014/snapshot.aspx

Link to the study http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2014/snapshot.aspx

Trust Yourself. Listen.

Sorry for the absence, I was out of town middle of last week to the middle of this week.  Apparently doing things in the middle really sets off my schedule.

P.S. I should be posting the 2nd part of Millenial Minds tomorrow.