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| life is full of wonderful, beautiful, never ending opportunities. break the mold, go against the grain. live. your life. diana 
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| Oh man oh man oh man. WHAT a day!! :) God is Good all the time, all the time, God is GOOD! Amen. Jen was praying for our dinner to come (no, jk, she was giving thanks) and she prayed that whenever we meet up (clara, jen, mai, and myself) we can always pick up from whereever we left off as if it were yesterday. I said AMEN! to that. She continued to say that our bond is special because our relationship is founded on the love of Christ. Jesus was the one to have brought us together! AMEN to that!! We know it, we believe it, and we rejoice knowing that this special bond exists between us. Throughout the evening, we laughed, we talked, we shared, we encouraged, we had heated discussions, but at the end, what joy knowing that you have these people as your friends. These individuals, all after God's own heart. OH JOY. One thing that was particularly enlightening to all of us occurred when we went through each of our love languages. There were a lot of Oh's! and What!?? and How!?? hahhaha... useful info. haha Needed to post. Random info. yes. | | |
| I've been hearing about Dr. Chapman for the past few weeks now and interestingly enough, when I visited his website today, I noticed he had something to say on the topic of Anger. Hum. This guru on Love languages is talking about anger? Hum. Interesting. I will listen. And great thing I did because his talk is grounded in biblical principles and his simplicity makes it even more inviting and practical. Here are some of the main principles I picked up from this talk. Anger is meant to be a visitor not a resident.
Two types of anger: Definitive (when genuine wrong has been committed) and Distorted (no wrong has been committed e.g. we don't get our way)
- Purpose of Anger-motivate us to take constructive action to right the wrong that stimulated the anger. (understand this or else you’re going to get mad at yourself for getting angry).
Admit your anger-many Christians have trouble with this step because they view anger as wrong. Everyone gets angry. We get angry because we are human.
You can find the talk here http://www.moody.edu/mp/promo/garychapman/military/videos/mil_anger/Military_Anger.html So to work through my earlier anger with my friend O, Dr. Chapman lists 4 steps to process your anger. Admit your anger- okie, I admitted already in my post that I was "infuriated" with my friend. Although I still feel guilty for getting angry, I have to remember that the purpose of anger is to take constructive action to right the wrong that stimulated the anger.
Learn to restrain your immediate response- I slammed the phone on her but I was respectful to her on the phone. I needed to get off the phone to cool off or I'd say something nasty. Maybe next time, I can learn to restrain both my verbal and nonverbal actions.
Locate the focus of the anger-was a wrong committed? Is it definitive or distorted anger? I believe mine was distorted for two reasons. I perceived O's actions to be an insult to my right. and I was angry because I didn't get my way. I still don't know the full story of what was going on...perhaps, they needed to use the bathroom or the car broke down. Je ne sais pas.
Analyze your options- I could choose to lovingly confront the other person or lift that situation to God and let God handle it. I chose to do neither. I complained to God about this a little bit and because I believed this to be a spiritual battle, I asked God for his protection and freedom. Maybe I did number 2. Next time, I should probably lovingly confront the person and tell them how I felt about the situation and ask that they keep their word next time.
Hrm. I hope I'm going abouts this in a healthy way. I'm learning. My life journey over the past 2 years has been incredibly enlightening because it has been incredibly rocky. However, time has come for the test on my character, strength, patience, and reliance on God. So, every tumbling block that comes my way, everytime I fall, I will stand back up and push through looking forward to the prize and hope that I have in God, my Lord and Saviour. Amen. | | |
| Words have power in the spiritual realm.
http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurMinistries/Broadcast/TV/Archive/20071219.htm I found this sermon on Joyce Meyer's website and I thought it was fitting to post it up on xanga because this is a topic that concerns the majority. Words have power. They can be used to build each other up and/or tear each other down. Words can be used to spew venom to those we dislike or could be used to affirm our loved ones. Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+18-21 Often times though, I find that my words are not so gracious. They are tainted in bitterness and the words flowing out of my mouth are like poison. Although our friends and families may not always hear our poisonous talks and thoughts, our spirit does. The first "person" to hear our words and thoughts is our spirit. If I continue to spew out words of criticism, cynicism, and negativity...it doesn't do the spirit, the mind, the heart, and the soul any good. So, how do we make a turn around? It's a long and difficult journey for sure, but Joyce states that speaking the word of God outloud will be one powerful way to equip the spirit and to renew your mind. Amen to that. | | |
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