FAITH OR FEAR?

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Somebody out there, I know, is struggling with worries, problems, hurdles, challenges and is close to teetering on the so-called 'edge of the cliff of hopelessness'. Life, as we know it to be, is not all sugar and spice and everything nice. Sometimes it can be bitter and ugly and everything bad.

People react to this in a diversity of ways and means groping, stumbling, falling ... but amazingly rising up again and punching back at life even harder than before. Why? Because people are tough. It's in their DNA.

These make up stories of courage, strength, sacrifice, diligence, responsibility, hard work, sorrow, sadness, fear, hope, disappointment, misery, and the fighting against all odds scenario of life. I know; I have my share. But who doesn't?!

But whatever the things people go through it can never be denied that faith plays a huge role in their lives, be it in a small or great measure.

Faith, too, as many would agree is not easy. It can't be bought, haggled for, blackmailed into, coerced, forced, faked, pushed or pressured.

Faith is ---- your understanding of your God. And your response to that.

Be of good faith. The God you trust can be depended upon.

Have a blessed Sunday, friends!
God bless you.
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(Thanks to the internet for these wonderful images of magnificent inspiration.)

WHAT YOU DO WITH PAIN RATHER THAN WHAT IT DOES TO YOU IS FAR MORE ESSENTIAL

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An online friend once remarked in jest.... 'You smile to the world like you never knew pain. What a good life you must have.'
That's farthest from the truth; simply absurd. But if you don't mind I will consider that as a compliment though. You don't get to hear something like that everyday! So thank you, just the same.

As it's been said 'everybody has a story and is a story', right? I'm not different because I also have my story.

But I don't do Facebook to tell my story. It has its own place and time. A public place such as this is definitely not that place and time.

Pain. Now that is among the most spoken of or written about word in every history. It's experienced by every living thing, two-legged or four-legged, on our planet. Pain comes in many ways, in different seasons or time, for a diversity of reasons or causes, and in different shapes, forms, or sizes. 

It holds tightly in its grip the whole range of human existence..... the emotions, intellect, spiritual, physical, social, and every interaction feasible to our existence. Am I saying where there is interaction there will be pain, too? Following the principle of cause and effect, I'm saying possibly yes. Pain is an effect (one of several others more) caused by something or someone or sometimes even by the self. 

What do we do with pain? As we see it in people around us or in our own lives we either react to it ...or respond to it... as in fight it or take flight far away from it. 

I have learned through the years that.....'Reacting' could maybe make us even more miserable as it's done with the absence of thought. 'Responding', in effect, could take us to a higher plane of understanding and growth. 'Fighting' it could achieve for us strength of character... while 'taking flight' makes us even weaker in mind, heart, and spirit. 

Pain simply sits alongside its buddies... hurt, sadness, loneliness, frustration, disappointment, bitterness, depression, resentment, discouragement, confusion, and its other members of the same negative pack. They may seem or mean to break you but it can't succeed when you don't let them. They can't hurt you when you won't give them consent to do so.

Therefore, It can be said that what you do with pain (and its friends) rather than what it does to you is that which matters most, in any language. You define you. Nobody else will or can do that for you. 'Life is what you make it', so said a wise person.

And I would like to add....
Let your heart smile through all of life. There's always some reason to smile.

Blessings from above to everybody!