After this weekend I know the Holy Spirit is helping me, lol! I did NOT say the first thought that came to my head. Now it’s been 11 years since we divorced. And I got full custody of the two kids due to his history of domestic violence. Now you think after all that I would know better. Why do I believe anything that guy says? Ugghhhh.
My son wanted to go visit his dad over the holiday break. Not so easy since the ex took off to KY to hide from the police. There is a warrant out for his arrest in the state of WI for 10 plus years of not paying his child support. Yeah, welcome to my world.
So in my travels here’s a few thoughts going through my head and what I did about it.
Maybe I should just call the cops and have him picked up. He’s guilty.
He says he has no money but shows up in a brand new rental car every time. He still lies.
He promised to give me money for half of the cost of the school ring for my son. Didn’t bring it. Another empty promise.
He promised my daughter shopping money for Black Friday. Then he takes my son out shopping and gets my daughter nothing. What a jerk.
He said to meet halfway (4+ hours one way) and then is late – both times. I had to keep driving to meet them. Disrespectful.
He looks like crap. I wonder if he’s back to using drugs? Not a great role model for the kids.
He wants to do this all over again at Christmas. Are you freaking kidding me?
What I actually did say:
1. Yes, I will drive halfway. I know my son wants to see his dad.
2. Oh, running late? I’ll drive a bit further.
3. Nice car.
4. So what about Christmas?
Yeah, I know. I must have rocks in my head right? No, I think God helped me keep my mouth shut and put my son’s wants and needs above my own. My ex will always be his father-no matter what I think or what I feel. I don’t have to like it. I can’t change it. And I can’t change him – never could.
Thank you Lord for helping me keep my mouth shut and not making a scene in front of my son. Thank you Holy Spirit for guarding my mouth!
Psalm 141:3
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.
As I join the throng of High School Educators and Assistants I am learning the power of words on the next generation. I am humbled. And sad. It has only been a month yet I already see the “kingdoms” that some adults establish to prove their importance. I have seen good teachers who encourage and strengthen our youth. But I have also seen those who plant seeds of doubt and confusion.
What Seeds are your words planting?
Here are some Humorous Examples of Types of Teachers from Teachthought.com
Crazy Teacher – This is the teacher whose class you don’t miss. The one that roller skates into class on the first day of school tossing out goodie bags of highlighters and breath mints, and swigs Mountain Dew right out of the 2-liter bottle before putting it back in her purse.
Rebel Teacher – This is the one who mocks the principal when they turn their back, thumbs their nose at “the state,” and encourages students to stand on their desks and rip their SpringBoard book into pieces. Viva la rebel!
Over-Achiever Teacher – This is the teacher that has to have their class first at everything: first in fundraising, first to the lunchroom, first in reading goals, first in parent participation, and first to every PLC meeting–everything graded, in alphabetical order, with a “research-based strategy” ready to start the meeting. All in the name of education and “school spirit,” of course.
Fire-and-Brimstone – If you do not learn to read Chaucer or solve theorems with the same urgency as the Fire-and-Brimstone teacher, you’ll fail. At life.
Click here to read the full article. (Images from Pinterest)
Are you a water carrier or a fire carrier? Great post on gossip and fault finding and what to do when someone is gossiping or putting you or someone else down.
Blackbirds say they’re her friend
But their gossip never ends
Those Birds of a feather
really do flock together
The Bluebird sings as
She rides the waves in the wind
Down the river through the clouds
Her Spirit flies above the things they said
Bubbling brooks and rushing streams,
she’s chasing her dreams
Little boys with guns try to
shoot her down just for fun
Sunrise cracks open the skies
Out of her nest she flies higher
The Bluebird sings as
She rides the waves in the wind
Down the river through the clouds
Her Spirit flies above the things they said
Bubbling brooks and rushing streams,
she’s chasing her dreams
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us, Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. (Luke 1:78-79 MSG)
Influence is the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.
The Power of Influence
The power of influence lives in your words.
We have the ability to build someone up or tear someone down with our words.
Our words carry power and may live long beyond the moment that they are said.
Other people can either accept or reject our words – regardless if they are true or not.
Sometimes people say words over us that we accept as true when they are false.
We become what we believe.
The words we say over ourselves have the same influence – to build us up, or tear us down.
I have heard it said that the brain takes the shape of what it rests upon. They call this plasticity in psychology. It means you get to choose what you believe and that choice changes the functioning of your brain and the relationships between you and yourself and you and the world. Remember the story of the Eagle who was caught in the hen house? (Read it here: The Eagle and the Chickens)
I had a recent experience that really opened up my eyes to how our words have influence. Sometimes I go listen to live music at the local coffee shops and stuff. Not only here, but other places too. And this time I just listened – to the words of the singers and watched the crowd’s reaction to their songs.
Some songs were just downright depressing. Can I tell you I used to do that? When I first started playing out I did all my ‘dark’ songs. Ugggh. I can’t believe I did that. I think I just wanted to get it out and get on with it. No wonder the crowd was speechless afterwards. Forgive me for being so selfish.
Other songs that the musicians sang were positive and had the crowd smiling and singing along. And I finally got it. It’s not about our songs – it’s about their song – their story. As songwriters we should help them to remember something and then minister to them right there. Music Ministers bringing health and healing and song – now that’s what I want to sing about. I am not going to leave them sitting in the pain. From now on, I will use my words to minister to them and bring light into their darkness. Enough about my darkness, I don’t live there anymore. Be the Light.
I am learning a few cover songs to play out and about now. There is something about getting the audience to laugh and sing a long. It’s like I’m not the only one who ever felt that way or did that thing. And I am changing the ‘tone’ of my songs to a positive outcome. Enough whining and crying – no more tears in my beer!
I think it’s time to write a power anthem girls rock song, lol!
For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9 AMP)
This whole Kingdom thing, the invisible becomes visible.
The real is not real.
The dead live.
Life is everlasting. We don’t die – we just fall asleep till Jesus comes back.
Jesus resurrected from the dead. He brings life.
Wow, you either believe or you don’t . But don’t expect it to to make any sense logically. Seriously. It will not make sense in your head. That’s why they call it faith. You can’t prove it. but you can see it – like the wind. You can see what it does and where it goes by the way things move. It just is. Either you believe it or you don’t.
7 KINGDOM RULES THAT DEFY LOGIC:
1. Division means multiplication.
Remember the bread and the loaves? Divide it, break it, and it multiplies. Yeah. I think my math teacher was wrong! And hey, I guess I should have skipped that Calculus class, lol!
Remember Gideon and 20,000 to 10,000 to 300 with empty jars and trumpets? Here is a refresher. I had to read it again too. I just remembered God made absolutely no logical sense in this story, and I loved it!
3. Praise brings Victory – not killing each other.
Remember Jericho? Walk around a wall for 6 days and give a mighty shout. And on the 7th day – God brought down the walls! And the enemy was defeated with a shout! That makes no sense, but I love it!
4. The swords we use are not made of metal – but are the Word of God.
Kingdoms are thrown down – by the Word. Princes, Principalities, Powers are defeated – by the Word.
The Armor of God
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.Put on the full armor of God,so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:10-20 NIV)
5. Jesus brings life, and life more abundantly – not money, fame, fortune, or relatives.
Yeah. Life in the world is at war with life in the Spirit. That’s just how it is. Want money, fame, fortune? Welcome to the world. Want eternal life? Then deny yourself, take up your cross, and as He said, “Follow me.” Life isn’t measured the same in the Kingdom of God.
6. The Blood of Jesus brings life – not death.
In the world of logic, when someone bleeds to death they die. The life is in the blood. In Jesus case – his blood brings life, and life more abundantly! His blood protects us. His blood heals us. In the horror movies blood brings death. But in the Kingdom of God, Jesus blood brings LIFE! Forget not all his benefits:
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. (Psalm 103:1-6 NIV)
7. God SPEAKS things into existence. And so can we.
God said, ” Let there be light. And there was light.” Out of the mouth flows the abundance of the heart. The power of life and death is in the tongue. What are you talking about today? How sick you are? How bad you feel? How broke you are? Change your words. I had to start saying what God said. My mouth had to get into agreement with what God said, not what I felt. I am blessed. I have more than enough. My cup runs over. I am the head and not the tail. I will lend to many nations. I am loved. I am chosen. I am wanted. Out of all the people on Earth GOD chose us to be His! And then things changed.
Ever had a sick kid? Yeah, me too. My husband shared something with me the other day that bears repeating. He asked me, “Diana why are you praying speaking about the sickness, why not declare the Word over your son? Speak LIFE over him.” Whoa! Instantly I changed the ‘direction’ of my prayer. I said, “He is righteous, he is the blood bought son of Jesus, he is a child of the King, he is well, he is whole, he is healed in Jesus Name.” Guess what? The sickness left!
Speak the good you want to see.
Ever talk trash about someone? Gossip, backbiting, idle words? How about that sarcastic self? I read that sarcasm was really suppressed anger. Yep. Hey guess what’s for dinner? Those words will come back to you, the fruit of your lips.
And this morning I got this in my e-mail:
The mouth of the righteous is a well of life…
Proverbs 10:11
Speak The Good You Want To See
Anyone can speak what he sees, but it takes faith to speak what you want to see. Anyone can state the obvious, but it takes faith to see the invisible and call it forth!
Our Lord Jesus always spoke the good that He wanted to see happen. He practiced this so much that at one time, He said, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up” (John 11:11). Everyone else, including His disciples, spoke of a dead Lazarus, who was already wrapped in grave clothes and laid in a tomb. But Jesus spoke of a Lazarus who was alive, and He called forth what He wanted to see. He said, “Lazarus, come forth!” and he who had been dead for four days arose and came out of the tomb (John 11:43–44)!
The Bible tells us that “God…who gives life to the dead…speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed” (Romans 4:17, AMP). Beloved, you are made in the image of God and His Spirit abides in you. So if you want to see good in your life, then begin to speak it into your life. Jesus died on the cross to give you an abundant life. You have a blood-bought right to call forth a healthy body, a fulfilling career and a blessed marriage and family. Speak boldly the good that you want to see and start to experience it!
(Source: josephprince.com)
