The Best Way to Know God

God asks that you let your body, mind and spirit relax in His Presence. He loves you. Can you imagine how much God loves you?

I bet you can't.

I know I can't fathom the depth of God's love.

Although He tells us how much.

First, let's find out why. He tells us in 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

How much does God love us? We have to search Ephesians 3:16-19 where the apostle Paul writes "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with the power through His Spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Can you imagine now?

I still can't.

But I can feel. I can feel God's love.

Think of the deepest ocean, the highest mountain, the widest valley, the longest road and you still wouldn't come close to how much God really loves us.

Thank God for His love. Thank God for His blessings. Thank God for Him.

I thank Him for you.

When you sit quietly in God's presence, you are opening yourself to receive God's blessing.

Can you feel it enveloping you and making your heart swell?

God travels with you through all your journeys. The high road. The bumpy road. The rough times. The good times. Everything you do is because of Him. Can you understand that? Can you accept that you need God?

When you have learned to thank God for all the hard times and the good times. When you have learned to thank God for your difficult journeys then, and only then, have you realized that to need God is the key to knowing Him, intimately.

That is the gift of all gifts.

This is how God loves us. "He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young." Isaiah 40:11

reference: Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Five Minute Friday - Fall

It's time for the "Five Minute Friday" blogging post. The inspiration comes from Lisa Jo Baker. 

What you do is set your timer for five minutes and write whatever you want according to the prompt Lisa places on her blog every Friday. Then you go back, link your blog and give support to those who posted before you. And, we connect on Twitter with #FiveMinuteFriday.

Ready.

Set.

Go.

Fall.

I love those moments right before I fall asleep. I'm drifting down into the subconsciousness of my mind. The day's worries are far behind me. 

My mind focuses on the prayer I pray right before sleep. Sometimes i make it through the entire prayer before I fall asleep. Sometimes I don't. 

I float away on the softest of dreams, just starting. Not yet developed into full stories for me to enjoy and get wrapped up in while my body rests. It's so nice to dream again. I've had night terrors for so long after the ECT treatments and I was afraid to fall asleep. Afraid of what horrors my mind would conjure for me to recall in the morning light. What terrors would keep me from sleeping at all. 

But, no more. I have sweet dreams now. Real dreams. Fun dreams. I dream. That's the best thing about falling asleep. I fall deep enough that I can actually dream. I awaken the next morning happy and relaxed. Refreshed from a good night's sleep. 

People don't realize how much your body depends on a good night's sleep. Your body needs to recharge. Relax. 

Stop.

Making Resolutions - The Relaxed Style

I read an article the other day from the Editor-in-Chief, Jill Herzig of the magazine, Redbook. She titled it, "Relax your Resolutions".

What a great idea.

Why didn't I think of it?

All of us feel stressed and pressured to come up with our New Year's resolutions. We pick our brains for something we can resolve to do in the upcoming year.

Of course, there are always the old stand by's to fall back on.

• Lose Weight
• Stop drinking
• Get in shape
• Less stress

Wait a minute. How can you resolve to have less stress in your life? For some of you, it could be downright difficult to make a major life change to include relaxation into your life. While others may find it a bit easier.

So, how do we start off the new year? According to Ms. Herzig, "it begins with the admission that we're all far from perfect."

Make resolutions that are fun to achieve. Make a resolution to have more fun in your life. Don't take life so seriously. You don't want to be the person left holding the sign "It's Too Late".

Live each day for today. Forget about yesterday. Don't worry about tomorrow.

Last year is done, over. Forget about it. (Of course, you may have heard that last sentence with a New York accent with every word run together, but for my midwest accent, every word is enunciated properly. Not to disparage other accents, only to show you how it sounds in my head.)

So, relax your resolutions. You're not perfect. Don't strive to be. If you do, then all your resolutions will have been used up and you'll only get one left: stay perfect. What fun is that?

Rene Coty said, "It's taken me all my life to understand that it is not necessary to understand everything."

That's how I strive to live my life. It's not important that I understand every exact thing that happens. Just be happy that I'm along for the ride when it does.

Like I said before, last year is over. Be done with it. Don't look back with regrets. Look forward with hope and fun.

Relax your resolutions. You're not perfect. Don't strive to be. It's better to be imperfect and fun.

And, in the final words of Ms. Herzig: "It'll be a great year if we achieve even half of our goals. Let's resolve, first and foremost, to have fun trying."

I so agree.

-- Happy New Year
Vicki