Counting my Blessings

Tonight I climbed into my truck after doing groceries and thought to myself, "I have a full tank of gas, groceries and a home to go to. I am blessed." Then proceded to tear up a little. It has been a difficult season with my husband being out of work and all the stress that comes with that, but tonight I choose to count my blessings. Because when we choose to count our blessings instead of all our problems our perspective changes. Our problems do not seem so big or bad anymore. It is at this time that you should also get into your Bible and see what God has in store for you (I am going to dig into mine once I post this). You and I are now in a place where we can properly hear God's voice in our hearts and can accept what He has for us because we know that He is a good God and wants nothing but the best for us.
For the first time in ages, I am at peace with all the junk in my life and I hope and expect that I will be able to properly hear God's voice in my heart, now that my perspective has been changed and my focus is back on Him.
First things first though, count your blessings. Even if you can only think of a few small everyday items that we normally take for granted, like our warm houses or food in the fridge. God will do the rest.
I pray that this blesses you as much as it blessed me tonight.

God Bless
~Ruth

Attending Church on Our Bad Days

Sometimes making it to church on a Sunday morning is a full out chore for me. There are some mornings that I just do not want to "people." I do not have the energy to put on a smile and pretend that everything is going wonderfully in my life. I missed church this past week because of this and then last night as I was falling asleep, God reminded me that those are the days where we most need to be in church and fellowship with the body of Christ. These are the days when we need prayer and encouragement from trusted fellow believers. You see, the church is not for the healthy, I mean they are welcomed with opened arms, but the church is really for those of us who are lost and in need of a savior. Which by the way is everyone, but that is for another day. God tells us in His Word, the Holy Bible in Romans 3:23-24 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

You see, it is easy to attend on our good das when everything is going well, but it is even more important to attend on those bad days  so that way you can be lifted up by the body of Christ in prayer and best of all, God will get the glory, which is the ultimate goal.
So after God and I had our little heart to heart last night, I look forward to attending on good days and on the bad days as well. Because I also now that the devil would love for me to stay home and isolate myself away from the body of Christ, letting Satan win, and last I checked, Satan is not allowed to win.

It is my hope and prayer that those of you who are reading this take courage in knowing that you are not the only one who has bad days and now we both understand just how important it is that we attend church and connect with the body of Christ on a regular basis.

God Bless
~Ruth

Making Your Dreams a Reality

What is holding you back from your goals and dreams? Are you scared of the unknown like me? I have a few hobbies that I am trying to pursue and yet I am terrified. You see others around you working towards their goals and yet you cannot make yours a reality. For just over a year now my husband has been working hard at making his Youtube channel success and for a while, I was jealous that he was pursuing his hobbies and I was not. You have made commitments to yourself and are challenging yourself to take the first step and yet it feels impossible. All you can do is make excuses as to why you are not making your dreams or hobbies a reality. So what do we do?

First, find a friend to talk to and then get someone willing to be an accountability partner for our, someone who will gently push you and encourage you through the rough start.

You may also struggle with mental health like I, if you do then this is likely what is holding you back from your goals and dreams. If this is the case then seek help and then work towards your goals. But, before you do anything, talk to the Lord. Ask Him for strength and guidance. Philippians 4:13 comes to mind; I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God wants the very best for you. You may feel all alone, but I assure you that you are not. He is with you.

Then when it is time to start practicing your hobbies, dreams, and goals it does not have to happen in one day. It will take time. Start small, like 10 minutes a week and build from there. By starting small you will feel successful, accomplished and proud of your self for having done the activity. This even I took my puppy out to play fetch and brought my camera along. The first five minutes or so I took pictures of her and then the rest of the time was focused on fetch. But even though it was only a few minutes and a handful of pictures I feel accomplished and excited to go out again soon. Maybe even tomorrow.

All in all, it is a process and a journey and yours might look a little different than mine or someone else's but that is okay. That's how God planned it. All you need to do is figure out what you want to do, seek God and our friends for help. It's going to be scary and hard at first but in the long run, it will be worth it, and you will have discovered new dreams and experiences you never knew you wanted to experience or needed to experience. There will also be days when you want to give up or you will stumble along the way and have to start from the beginning again, and that is okay. As they say, Rome was not built in a day. It takes time, but it will be worth it in the end.

I pray that today's post and the posts that will be coming in the next few weeks will be encouraging, challenging and a blessing you to all.

God Bless

~Ruth

Putting Down My Phone

*This post is from August and I am now posting it.

I want to write but I do not know what to write about. I do not want to make up stories, I want to write about real things, just not sure what about yet.

I want to be a whole person, I'm tired of being addicted to my screens. To Facebook, Netflix, etc. I'm tired of being distracted from the important things in my life. Plus what I have realized since I started this post back in August is that social media is a huge waste of time, at least the amount of time that I was spending on it.

Yes, I have a rather full life, I work full time, have a wonderful hubby, a six-month-old puppy, attend and volunteer in my church, an apartment to maintain and the like. As embarrassing, as it is to admit something, is still running my life, my screen and it is now time to take back the control, or better yet, give it up to God. It is time to pursue the hobbies that I wish to put time into but keep getting put on the back burner, like reading, writing, and photography. It is time to start enjoying the people and things that God has blessed me with. He has given me an amazing life and it is time that I stop wasting it.

You see, I do not get out much, so social media has been my way of "getting out" and seeing what everyone is up to and "socializing." Yes, social media is helpful for keeping in touch for friends and family who are not close enough to visit on a regular basis but it is time to significantly cut down on the amount of time that I spend on it.

But it is time, it is time to put down my phone, pick up my book, pen and camera and enjoy God's creation. I'm not sure exactly what it will look like but as I write this I already feel free, excited and lighter. I suspect it will also help with my anxiety and depression. In fact, I wonder of there is a connection between screen time and mental health. I suspect there is and maybe I will look into it down the road. For now, its time to greatly reduce my screen time and increase my time to spend enjoying my other hobbies and see what happens. I suspect I will be a happier and healthier individual. It will be interesting to see if my hubby sees any difference over the next few weeks as well.

As always I pray that God uses my writing to encourage and bless you all. As you may have already figured out my writing is very real and raw. I do not plan or script it in any way. I simply get out my journal and let God do the rest. I pray that my posts will never be anything less.

God Bless

~Ruth