When everything seems to be going wrong that can go wrong, it is easy to start grumbling.
We criticize and complain about this and that, finding fault with our past or anybody or anything in the present that we think may be contributing to our difficulties.
And we ask, why me? What did I do to deserve this? Why does life have to be so hard?
Last Sunday morning I watched a program that highlighted a remarkable person. Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs, but he was not sad, depressed, disheartened nor discouraged. Instead what I saw was a confident adult who was comfortable with himself.
He had an enthusiasm for life that was infectious. Happiness and contentment radiated from his face.
Nick has authored several books, keeps an exhausting worldwide speaking schedule, swims and even plays golf. He has a beautiful wife and active young son.
I may have had difficult times in my life, but I had the use of arms and legs to work with.
Grumbling, blaming and complaining can quickly become a habit. It is easier to be a victim and find reasons why we should be excused from the rough and tumble demands or unfairness of life.
But oh what we miss when we do.
Life is too short and so full of opportunities and possibilities. I do not want to let a negative attitude keep me from discovering any of them.
Disheartened? Discouraged? Check out Nick Vujicic’s website, www.lifewithoutlimbs.com. You will find it difficult to stay depressed.
As I was sharing with a friend a page from my book, “A Love so Great, A Grief so Deep,” I thought about all the times in life when we get overwhelmed and lose hope.
When I wrote these words my husband was dying – yet there had been earlier signs for recovery. Here is what I wrote about hope.
Hope is the effort to fly with wings not yet grown. If I don’t hope – don’t try – don’t struggle, there will never be the possibility of flying.
I cannot live without hope. If I get bruised and bloodied because of it, so be it. But to live without hope is worse than struggling – flapping wings that don’t take you anywhere. Just like pushing against a stone, whther it moves or not, you become strong. By flapping our wings they atach themselves securely and begin to carry us. I want to soar like the eagles. I always have. I just never knew it required such a workout to accomplish it.
Hope! It is a gift I cannot refuse. Belief. It is the assumption that God catches you when reality doesn’t match your hopes and you begin to fall.
You may not be aware of being caught and held safely because the terror of falling is too great. But God is there regardless of how you feel, like the parachute keeping a skydiver from plummeting to earth. A skydiver has learned to turn his fear of falling into a heady joy of floating. When reality has dashed my hope, how do I turn my fear of falling into floating?
In order to fly, you have to exerise your wings. In order to fly you have to be willing to fall and “let go” of your fear of heights, let go and free fall – spreading your arms so you can catch the updrafts and float. In order to fly, you must have hope.
Hope can energize. It seeks new solutions as you learn from crashes what to do and what not to do.
Fear grounds you – makes you miserable, resentful, blaming. Fear eats you up and spits you out in the garbage dump! Hope reaches upward. Fear drives you down into the ground. Hope is the wings that will enable me to fly.
Marlene Anderson
My book, A Love so Great, a Grief so Deep, is available through my website and on Amazon. com.
I wanted to dedicate this blog to a dear writer friend of mine, Janalyn Voight, a Christian fantasy book writer whose book, DAWNSINGER is a finalist for a contest to get her books into Walmart.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have Christian books in Walmart? You can watch her book trailer and vote for her on the attached link. Ask your friends to vote. She is a talented writer. All you need to do is click on the link below, watch her trailer and push the vote button. You can vote once each day. https://getontheshelf.walmart.com/product/13f2/Dawnsinger .
If you, your company or product has a Facebook page, post a status message about the contest. For example, “Dawnsinger is competing in Walmart’s #GetOnTheShelf contest and add the link!
Friends. They are such an important part of our lives. This has been a wonderful month for me because I have had time to spend with dear friends who have either visited me or I was privileged to travel to their homes.
And the month ended with a week long writer’s retreat where seven women writers came together to write on their books and projects uninterupted all day and into the nights with time out for fellowship and helping one another with their craft. I was able to work on my latest book, The Next Step, as well as to receive valuable feedback for my manuscript, From Winter to Spring.
My blogs have suffered – but I am now back on track and you will see blogs on a regular basis. My free monthly newsletter will be going out today. If you haven’t signed up to receive them, please take time to do so. They speak to the obstacles and solutions that impact us through adversity and struggles.
May your vacation time be as blessed as mine has been.
When we were raising our children, we never had a lot of money. Even working several jobs required a tight budget as we paid bills, saved for emergencies and the future.
Vacations were either camping trips with the kids or a few days off by ourselves maybe once or twice a year. Vacation packages were not considered as they didn’t meet our financial means. While the camping trips could be stressful we managed over time to keep them as stress free as possible.
I also discovered that I could take lots of “mini” vacations if I chose to look at momentary breaks in life as a potential mini vacation. If I considered time outs as mini-vacations they would feel like one. If, however, I allowed myself to feel deprived because I couldn’t have a grander vacation, I would only feel unhappy and resentful. It isn’t events, after all, that make us happy or sad, but how we perceive them.
Happiness and contentment are states of mind. So is hopelessness and helplessness. We choose the state of mind we want to spend time in.
Mini vacations were any time we could step out of the pressures of the moment and allow some respite. A quiet but inexpensive night out gave my husband and I time to enjoy each other. A simple trip to the beach or the mountains for a day allowed us to wrap ourselves in the beauty of Oregon. It didn’t have to be fancy or cost lots of money to be relaxing. It could just be a day of reading.
If you are planning an extensive trip or vacation, consider down time within your vacation when you can just relax. Set aside enough money to cover expenses and resist unrealistic expectations which can set us up for disappointment.
And don’t forget. You can take a mini-vacation whenever the opportunity presents itself. These tiny day or weekend mini-vacations can revive your spirits and refresh your energy.
“What would happen if America abandoned the principles of faith and liberty? What if all religious freedom was outlawed and the Bible a forbidden book? What if the U.S. Constitution was lost to a forgotten history? Who would rise up and be the voice of freedom?”
So began an e-mail I received from a friend of mine, Pastor Michael Duncan, announcing the publication of his new book, “Shadow Remnant”. I not only read it, but was so inspired that I wrote a book review for his blog. On the birthday of the freedom of our nation, I would like to share that review with you.
Imagine a future where we have survived another world war, but in the process, we’ve lost our principles of freedom and individual rights replaced by a single head of state and government that ruled every aspect of your life: what you believe, what you can and cannot do, what you are allowed to read and learn. Religious freedom has been banned and replaced by a secular government who now takes care of you. Any rebellion against this ideology is immediately squashed with re-training and indoctrination programs. Nobody is allowed to rebel. All communication sources are carefully controlled to give only the information the government wants us to have.
“Shadow Remnant” is the story of a young man hunted by government police because he is a rebel and therefore considered a threat to the state. Placed in a re-training and indoctrination school, he escapes, is shot and presumed dead. But a member of the Shadow Remnant, living in the fringes of our forests rescues him and nurses him back to health.
During those days of recuperation he learns from his rescuer about God and love and grace and what his country was like a hundred years before. During his escape eluding the police, the boy remembers seeing this old dusty book in an abandoned building and realizes that it was a bible. He goes back to retrieve it, is captured and sent to a prison island for insurgents left to forge any way they can to survive.
It is here he meets his father who he long ago thought was dead. His dad was once a member of the new government. When he discovered some old documents that were copies of our constitution, he knew he could no longer live the lies imposed on the people by this new government. He became part of a shadow remnant of people who want to preserve what was. He was hunted down and condemned for life on this island. His wife was killed and his son sent to state schools.
This is a fast paced book that grabs and holds your attention from page one when we are introduced to Peter, the young man who escapes, is nursed back to health and then re-captured. We are introduced to the struggles on the condemned island and individuals who still dream of escape and the return of the America of long ago. Peter escapes again; this time to find other members of the shadow remnant. His mission is to share with others what our nation lost – liberty, democracy and freedom.
The story weaves through many perilous journeys. But God is with him and in spite of enormous dangers, he is able to reconnect with other members who guide him on his mission to broadcast to the nation what the founding fathers set up for us in the constitution.
Unbelievable? Perhaps. But when you read the history of so many nations that have fallen under the spell of having government take care of them, it isn’t that unrealistic. When you watch the news of people who are oppressed under dictatorship or socialistic rule, and compare with the freedoms we have, it is not only plausible but possible.
We give our freedoms away, little by little, thinking it is so nice to have so many entitlements, until we wake up and realize that along with the entitlements we have given up our freedoms.
Pick up a copy of Shadow Remnant today and reflect on what it might mean if we no longer have the freedoms we do.
When everything seems to be going wrong that can go wrong, it is easy to start grumbling.
