Such a beautiful day!!! :D

The White Robe

Deceits
Lies
To no one but herself, by herself

Masks; Her priceless possession
Camouflage; her only fashion
A rotten fruit with the nicest flowers

With no lenses
her lost soul in black filt
he saw

A white robe
with no price tag
he made for her.

by Obumselu Chimamaka Hephzibah

The Story of A Blind Girl

This is a very touching love story, it actually made me cry,
I hope you like it.

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her, She said that if she could only see the world she would marry her boyfriend.

One day someone donated a pair of eye ton her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her , "now that you can see the world, will you marry me?"

The girl was shocked when she was that her boyfriend was blind too  and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears and later wrote a letter to her saying

"just take care of my eyes dear"

Lost Love

You didn't know what you had until you lost it

You had me
day and night i was there with you
summer, winter i still remained

Same old
you treated and viewed me as irrelevant
you gave me up

Watched me as though i were different,
became so precious and priceless to another
a Sudden realization of how i really was and still is

You tried making it obvious, how relevant i still was to you,
But to you it seemed as if my ears were shut with an unexplainable joy written all over my face
The harden heart of yours broke into pieces.

You lost me.

by Obumselu Chimamaka Hephzibah

7 Things You Should Stop Expecting From Others

The biggest disappointments in our lives are often the result of misplaced expectations.  This is especially true when it comes to our relationships and interactions with others.

Tempering your expectations of other people will greatly reduce unnecessary frustration and suffering, in both your life and theirs, and help you refocus on the things that truly matter.

Which means it’s time to…

1.  Stop expecting them to agree with you.
You deserve to be happy.  You deserve to live a life you are excited about.  Don’t let the opinions of others make you forget that.  You are not in this world to live up to the expectations of others, nor should you feel that others are here to live up to yours.  In fact, the more you approve of your own decisions in life, the less approval you need from everyone else.

You have to dare to be yourself, and follow you own intuition, however frightening or strange that may feel or prove to be.  Don’t compare yourself to others.  Don’t get discouraged by their progress or success.  Follow your own path and stay true to your own purpose.  Success is ultimately about spending your life happily in your own way.

2.  Stop expecting them to respect you more than you respect yourself.
True strength is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.  It’s about having faith and trust in who you are, and a willingness to act upon it.  Decide this minute to never again beg anyone for the love, respect, and attention that you should be showing yourself.

Today, look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I love you, and from now on I’m going to act like it.”  It’s important to be nice to others, but it’s even more important to be nice to yourself.  When you practice self-love and self-respect, you give yourself the opportunity to be happy.  When you are happy, you become a better friend, a better family member, and a better YOU.

3.  Stop expecting (and needing) them to like you.
You might feel unwanted and unworthy to one person, but you are priceless to another.  Don’t ever forget your worth.  Spend time with those who value you.  No matter how good you are to people, there will always be one negative person who criticizes you.  Smile, ignore them, and carry on.

In this crazy world that’s trying to make you like everyone else, the toughest battle you’ll ever have to fight is the battle to be yourself.  And as you’re fighting back, not everyone will like you.  Sometimes people will call you names because you’re “different.”  But that’s perfectly OK.  The things that make you different are the things that make YOU, and the right people will love you for it.

4.  Stop expecting them to fit your idea of who they are.
Loving and respecting others means allowing them to be themselves.  When you stop expecting people to be a certain way, you can begin to appreciate THEM.

Pay close attention, and respect people for who they are and not for who you want them to be.  We don’t know most people half as well as we believe we do; and truly knowing someone is a big part of what makes them wonderful.  Every human being is remarkable and beautiful; it just takes a patient set of eyes to see it.  The more you get to know someone, the more you will be able to look beyond their appearance and see the beauty of who they truly are.

5.  Stop expecting them to know what you’re thinking.
People can’t read minds.  They will never know how you feel unless you tell them.  Your boss?  Yeah, he doesn’t know you’re hoping for a promotion because you haven’t told him yet.  That cute guy you haven’t talked to because you’re too shy?  Yeah, you guessed it, he hasn’t given you the time of day simply because you haven’t given him the time of day either.

In life, you have to communicate with others regularly and effectively.  And often, you have to open your vocal cords and speak the first words.  You have to tell people what you’re thinking.  It’s as simple as that.

6.  Stop expecting them to suddenly change.
If there’s a specific behavior someone you care about has that you’re hoping disappears over time, it probably won’t.  If you really need them to change something, be honest and put all the cards on the table so this person knows how you feel and what you need them to do.

For the most part though, you can’t change people and you shouldn’t try.  Either you accept who they are or you choose to live without them.  It’s might sound harsh, but it’s not.  When you try to change people, they often remain the same, but when you don’t try to change them – when you support them and allow them the freedom to be as they are – they gradually change in the most beautiful way.  Because what really changes is the way you see them.

7.  Stop expecting them to be “OK.”
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle, just like you.  Every smile or sign of strength hides an inner struggle every bit as complex and extraordinary as your own.

Remember that embracing your light doesn’t mean ignoring your dark.  We are measured by our ability to overcome adversities and insecurities, not avoid them.  Supporting, sharing and making contributions to other people is one of life’s greatest rewards.  This happens naturally if we allow it, because we all share very similar dreams, needs and struggles.  Once we accept this, the world then is a place where we can look someone else in the eye and say, “I’m lost and struggling at the moment,” and they can nod and say, “Me too,” and that’s OK.  Because not being “OK” all the time, is perfectly OK.

BY Marc Chernoff

Afterthoughts....
People rarely behave exactly the way you want them to.  Hope for the best, but expect less.  And remember, the magnitude of your happiness will be directly proportional to your thoughts and how you choose to think about things.  Even if a situation or relationship doesn’t work out at all, it’s still worth it if it made you feel something new, and if it taught you something new.

SALVATION

Empty
Failed and frustrated
Unloved and abandoned
Her thoughts of herself

With every cut of the blade more blood flows
but no more does the pain make you feel alive;
their words
Her reluctant acceptance

A sudden cry for redemption
Screams for liberty
Tears of repentance
From within, involuntarily

Silence
Enormous peace
An assurance of victory
From a smile on his face.

by Obumselu Chimamaka Hephzibah

If egg is broken by outside force, life ends,

If broken by an inside force, life begins,

Greats things always begin from inside.

Laughter is timeless, Imagination has no age, Dreams are forever.

A Miraculous Testimony

Its amazing how God works, He works in ways we can never understand. All we need do is have faith in him and see what he'll do in our lives. Here is a miraculous testimony of Lisa Paxton, i hope it helps build your faith.

Lisa Paxton, the wife of Cecil Paxton, former director of our Helpline prayer center. Lisa was born with cerebral palsy. She was affected in her legs and in her eyes. She had double vision and couldn't focus with one eye. She could not walk until she was about nine years old, when she began walking with the aid of braces and crutches. She also struggled with dyslexia, a learning disability. 

At 16, she was living with her family on a farm near Duluth, Minnesota. Her older sister came to visit and gave her a word from God. She told Lisa, "Before I leave, you will receive Jesus as your Savior, be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and God will begin to heal your body." Lisa had some church background from Lutheran and Catholic churches, but she didn't understand what her sister was talking about. She began to read a tract her sister gave her about heaven and hell; and she began to question God. One day, she left the farmhouse and went up a hill behind a barn to be alone with her questions. She began to cry out to God saying, "If You are real, You have to show me." She knew she was making a decision to turn away from God if He didn't show Himself to her. God gave her an answer immediately. As she walked across a field, she was hit by the power of God. She went flying through the air and landed on her back and was pinned to the ground. Not sure of what was happening, she cried out to God, begging Him not to kill her. When she got up, she began to cry from deep inside, and the peace of God flooded her. She knew she was forgiven. As she opened her mouth to thank God, she began to speak in tongues. 

After her dramatic salvation experience, God began a tremendous work in Lisa's life. She graduated from high school, which was not expected because of her learning disabilities. She then went to college to study communications. One day she passed out during a class and woke up in an ambulance. She was having severe muscle spasms, which is a symptom of cerebral palsy. She was hospitalized and put in traction to keep her body stable. There was extensive damage to the vertebrae and any movement could cause paralysis. Her brother began to call her daily, telling her that Jesus would heal her and she wouldn't need surgery on her back. He had a dream one day and a vision from God telling him that Lisa would go to Christ for the Nations Institute for one year, and then God would send her to a foreign country to give her testimony. Lisa didn't understand because she was on her back and unable to move. Lisa eventually reached a point where she knew that she didn't want to be in this condition any longer. She told God that she would rather die than live like this. 

At a family dinner after her brother's wedding, Lisa was sitting propped in a corner of the room. A couple came into the room, walked over to Lisa, and the man said, "So you're the one who ruined my vacation." The couple had been on a vacation in Canada, and God told them to go to Kansas and pray for Lisa. Although they didn't know her, the man saw her face in a vision. God had given the man specific instructions to fly to Wichita. There a man with a similar vision met him and drove him to the wedding dinner, where he found Lisa. He said that God sent him to lay hands on Lisa because God wanted to heal her. As he stood behind Lisa to pray, she began to feel heat, like hot oil, that started at her head and went throughout her body. Then the man grabbed her hand and said, "Rise up in the name of Jesus." When he said those words, Lisa was immediately in a standing position, and she began to take small steps. The pain was gone and she was walking. Her mother fainted when she looked up and saw Lisa walking. 

Lisa's healing is still in progress today. While working as a prayer minister, her left eye was healed. She now sees clearly and sees colors where she couldn't before. 

FORGIVENESS

When someone you care about hurts you, you can hold on to anger, resentment and thoughts of revenge — or embrace forgiveness and move forward.

Here is a very inspirational article about forgiveness i just read, written by a Mayo Clinic staff, that i think everyone should read. 

FORGIVENESS: letting go of grudges and bitterness.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Nearly everyone has been hurt by the actions or words of another. Perhaps your mother criticized your parenting skills, your colleague sabotaged a project or your partner had an affair. These wounds can leave you with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness or even vengeance — but if you don't practice forgiveness, you might be the one who pays most dearly. By embracing forgiveness, you can also embrace peace, hope, gratitude and joy. Consider how forgiveness can lead you down the path of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

What is forgiveness?
Generally, forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. The act that hurt or offended you might always remain a part of your life, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help you focus on other, positive parts of your life. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.

Forgiveness doesn't mean that you deny the other person's responsibility for hurting you, and it doesn't minimize or justify the wrong. You can forgive the person without excusing the act. Forgiveness brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life.

What are the benefits of forgiving someone?
Letting go of grudges and bitterness can make way for compassion, kindness and peace. Forgiveness can lead to:

• Healthier relationships
• Greater spiritual and psychological well-being
• Less anxiety, stress and hostility
• Lower blood pressure
• Fewer symptoms of depression
• Lower risk of alcohol and substance abuse

Why is it so easy to hold a grudge?
When you're hurt by someone you love and trust, you might become angry, sad or confused. If you dwell on hurtful events or situations, grudges filled with resentment, vengeance and hostility can take root. If you allow negative feelings to crowd out positive feelings, you might find yourself swallowed up by your own bitterness or sense of injustice.

What are the effects of holding a grudge?
If you're unforgiving, you might pay the price repeatedly by bringing anger and bitterness into every relationship and new experience. Your life might become so wrapped up in the wrong that you can't enjoy the present. You might become depressed or anxious. You might feel that your life lacks meaning or purpose, or that you're at odds with your spiritual beliefs. You might lose valuable and enriching connectedness with others.

How do I reach a state of forgiveness?
Forgiveness is a commitment to a process of change. To begin, you might:

• Consider the value of forgiveness and its importance in your life at a given time
• Reflect on the facts of the situation, how you've reacted, and how this combination has affected your life, health and well-being
• When you're ready, actively choose to forgive the person who's offended you
• Move away from your role as victim and release the control and power the offending person and situation have had in your life
• As you let go of grudges, you'll no longer define your life by how you've been hurt. You might even find compassion and understanding.

What happens if I can't forgive someone?
Forgiveness can be challenging, especially if the person who's hurt you doesn't admit wrong or doesn't speak of his or her sorrow. If you find yourself stuck, consider the situation from the other person's point of view. Ask yourself why he or she would behave in such a way. Perhaps you would have reacted similarly if you faced the same situation. In addition, consider broadening your view of the world. Expect occasional imperfections from the people in your life. You might want to reflect on times you've hurt others and on those who've forgiven you. It can also be helpful to write in a journal, pray or use guided meditation — or talk with a person you've found to be wise and compassionate, such as a spiritual leader, a mental health provider, or an impartial loved one or friend.

Does forgiveness guarantee reconciliation?
If the hurtful event involved someone whose relationship you otherwise value, forgiveness can lead to reconciliation. This isn't always the case, however. Reconciliation might be impossible if the offender has died or is unwilling to communicate with you. In other cases, reconciliation might not be appropriate. Still, forgiveness is possible — even if reconciliation isn't.

What if I have to interact with the person who hurt me but I don't want to?
If you haven't reached a state of forgiveness, being near the person who hurt you might be tense and stressful. To handle these situations, remember that you can choose to attend or avoid specific functions and gatherings. Respect yourself and do what seems best. If you choose to attend, don't be surprised by a certain amount of awkwardness and perhaps even more intense feelings. Do your best to keep an open heart and mind. You might find that the experience helps you to move forward with forgiveness.

What if the person I'm forgiving doesn't change?
Getting another person to change his or her actions, behavior or words isn't the point of forgiveness. Think of forgiveness more about how it can change your life — by bringing you peace, happiness, and emotional and spiritual healing. Forgiveness can take away the power the other person continues to wield in your life.

What if I'm the one who needs forgiveness?
The first step is to honestly assess and acknowledge the wrongs you've done and how those wrongs have affected others. At the same time, avoid judging yourself too harshly. You're human, and you'll make mistakes. If you're truly sorry for something you've said or done, consider admitting it to those you've harmed. Speak of your sincere sorrow or regret, and specifically ask for forgiveness — without making excuses. Remember, however, you can't force someone to forgive you. Others need to move to forgiveness in their own time. Whatever the outcome, commit to treating others with compassion, empathy and respect.

9 Lies to Unlearn Before it’s Too Late

The worst lies are the ones you tell yourself over and over again – the ones you live by.  Perhaps someone close to you ingrained these lies in your mind, perhaps you were influenced by the negativity of popular media channels, or perhaps they grew from simple, innocent misunderstandings.


Either way, next time you decide to learn something new for the sake of self-improvement, start by unlearning a lie that has been deceiving you.  Here are nine lies I have unlearned in my own life:

1.  Happiness is about getting what you want.
There are two ways people try to find happiness.  One is to continue to accumulate more and more of what they think they want.  The other is to appreciate what they already have.  The latter is the right path.  Happiness isn’t about getting what you want; it’s about wanting what you’ve got.  Happiness is not a goal, it’s a by-product of living well in each moment.

To be happy doesn’t mean you don’t desire more, it simply means you’re thankful for what you have and patient for what’s yet to come.  Sometimes it’s easy to get so caught up in trying to accomplish something big, that you fail to notice the little things that give life its magic.  So appreciate today for all it’s worth.  Today is one of the good old days you’re going to miss in the years ahead.

2.  Success looks a certain way.
You are not in this world to live up to everyone else’s expectations, nor should you feel that everyone else is here to live up to yours.  You’ve got to pave your own distinct path.  What success means to each of us is different.  It’s about spending your life happily in your own way.

You have your own personal calling that’s as unique as your fingerprints.  The best way to succeed is to discover this calling within you and then find a way to offer it to the world in the form of a beneficial service.  Ultimately, if you can wake up every morning and do something that makes a positive difference, makes you proud, and makes you smile, before you get back to bed, you are a true success.

3.  A busy day is a productive day.
“Work smarter, not harder” is one of the most common clichés in the personal development space.  But like most clichés, few people actually do it.  Go ahead and take a look around; the busy people outnumber the productive people by a wide margin.  Perhaps you’re one of them.

Busyness seems impressive.  It puts you in the heat of the action.  It gives you an elevated sense of accomplishment.  You’re always late for social engagements, barely have enough time for family get-togethers, and hardly get a moment to yourself.  Emails and texts are shooting out of your smartphone like machinegun bullets, commitments and meetings fill up your entire calendar, and sleep is an afterthought.  You’re like a rock star without a record.

Of course, it’s all just an illusion.  A commitment to anything more than the essential is to work harder, not smarter.  So flip it around and work smarter by putting first things first.

4.  To be brave is to not be afraid.
Truth be told, the only time you can be brave is when you are afraid.

Being brave is when you do something, regardless of your fears, because you know it’s the right thing to do.  In other words, you are afraid to do it because there are unknowns, but then you go ahead and do it anyway.

Whatever course you decide upon in life, there is always the possibility that something will go wrong.  There will always be difficulties arising that tempt you to fear that you don’t have what it takes.  To map out any course of action and follow it to an end requires bravery.

5.  To be strong is to not feel pain.
Life is often painful.  It requires a worthy struggle for growth and experience.  Anyone who says differently is selling a lie.

The strongest people are the ones who feel pain, accept it, learn from it, and fight through it.  They turn their wounds into wisdom.  It’s all about having the courage to take a break, to shed a tear, to dust yourself off, and then to get back in the ring to fight like you’ve never fought before.

6.  Everyone around you is holding you back.
Many of us don’t genuinely want to be responsible for our own fate.  Perhaps we daydream about “fulfilling our dreams,” but we leave those dreams firmly in the realm of fantasy.  We don’t research them, talk to people about them, read related books, etc.  Somehow we prefer the fantasy to the reality.  And there’s nothing wrong with that, until we say that someone else is “holding us back”.  That turns an idle fantasy into a barricade of lies.

The truth is, if you’re not working on something meaningful today, the only person holding you back is YOU.  If you aren’t doing anything about your goals and dreams, you have no one to blame except yourself.  Either you take responsibility for your life or someone else will.  Blame is a scapegoat – it’s an easy way out of taking accountability for your own outcome.  It’s a lot easier to point the finger at someone or something else instead of looking within.

When it comes to working hard to achieve a goal or dream – earning a degree, building a business, or any other personal achievement that takes time and commitment – one thing you have to ask yourself is:  “Am I willing to live a few years of my life like many people won’t, so I can spend the rest of my life like many people can’t?”

7.  You are automatically entitled to certain things from others.
People are sometimes led to have a sense of entitlement because they falsely believe they are owed something based on the social role they have chosen.  For example, if someone has accepted the role of being someone’s friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife, they feel entitled to get certain favors from the other person.  If someone has accepted the role of being a parent, they feel entitled to being respected by their children.  If someone has accepted the role of being a consumer, they feel entitled to be served to their specific wishes.

Of course, these expectations of entitlement often go unfulfilled.  Why?  Because nothing in this world is promised.  Regardless of your chosen role in all your relationships and walks of life, you don’t automatically get any more than you openly communicate, negotiate, and work for.

8.  You will feel comfortable when the time is right.
So many of us complain about the boring repetition present in our daily routines, yet we choose no clear course for correction.  We want to change something, but we never think the time is right.  Why?  Because the very source of our boredom also provides a solid foundation of comfort.  We are comfortable with our current surroundings.  Steering off the known track is risky, and we are subconsciously scared of what might happen if we do.

So, what happens when we stick to the current track?  Nothing.  We jog along the same circular track at a steady pace daily.  We pass by the same mile marker at the exact moment we did yesterday, and the day before, and the week before that.  There is not a worry on our minds because we already know the terrain that lies ahead.

If something makes you a bit nervous and uncomfortable, it means you’re doing it right and growing.  All great opportunities in life will force you to grow emotionally and intellectually.  They force you to stretch yourself and your comfort zone, which means you won’t feel totally comfortable at first.  And when you don’t feel comfortable, you will likely assume the timing isn’t right, even though it is.

9.  It’s already too late.
Nothing is too late until your tired heart stops beating.

If you’re reading this right now, congratulations, you are alive, which means it’s not too late for you.

Things can change if you want them to, at any age.  Right now you can choose differently and make something new happen.  Your future is immediate.  Grab on to it with both hands and keep on moving on.  When you come up on a roadblock and are faced with the choice of sitting down and doing nothing or doing something to make further progress, choose the latter.  Think, work, and climb if you have to.Move your life forward.

By Marc Chernoff

The floor is yours…

What self-defeating lies do people often tell themselves?  What’s one self-defeating lie you once believed was true?  Share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.

Always Seeking Approval From Others;You Cease To Live

"The unhappiest people in this world are the people whocare the most about what everyone else thinks"

Seeking approval from others is perfectly fine up until the point where you are compromising your health and happiness in the process.  It becomes a serious problem if you feel as though widespread positive approval from others is the very oxygen you need to breathe.  There was a time in my life when I felt exactly this way.

I literally felt like I was short of breath – almost as if I’d die if my peers didn’t approve of me, I did everything I could to win their approval.  And although I grew out of my awkward stage pretty early in my teenage years, the damage was done – I was left feeling insecure.  I was conditioned to seek and beg for outside approval at all times.

The bottom line is that constant approval-seeking forces you to miss out on the beauty of simply being yourself, with your own unique ideas and desires.  If you are led through life only doing and being what you’ve come to believe is expected of you, then, in a way, you cease to live.

9 Signs You're In A Bad Company

A big part of who you become in life has to do with who you choose to surround yourself with.  Sometimes luck controls who walks into your life, but you decide who you let stay, who you pursue, and who you let walk back out.

Ultimately, you should surround yourself with people who make you a better person and let go of those who don’t.  Here are some warning signs you’re in a bad company.


1.  They only make time for you when it’s convenient for them.
It’s obvious, but any relationship without regular interaction and communication is going to have problems, especially when there’s a lack of commitment.

Don’t waste your time with someone who only wants you around when it’s convenient for them.  You shouldn’t have to force someone to make a space in their life for you, because if they truly care about you they will gladly create space for you.

Being in a relationship with someone who overlooks your worth isn’t loyalty, it’s stupidity.  Never beg someone for attention.  Know your self-worth, and move on if you must.

2.  They hold your past against you.
Some people will refuse to accept that you are no longer who you used to be – that you’ve made mistakes in the past, learned from them, and moved past them.  They may not be able to stand the fact that you’re growing and moving on with your life, and so they will try to drag your past to catch up with you.  Do not help them by acknowledging their negative behavior.  Keep moving forward.

Holding on to the unchangeable past is a waste of energy and serves no purpose in creating a better day today.  If someone continuously judges you by your past and holds it against you, you might have to repair your future by leaving them behind.

3.  You feel trapped.
Healthy relationships keep the doors and windows wide open.  Plenty of air is flowing and no one feels trapped.  Relationships thrive in this kind of unrestricted environment.  You can come and go as you please, but you choose to stay because where you are is where you want to be.

If you want to be a part of someone’s life, all the open doors and windows in the world won’t make you leave.  If someone has closed them all in an effort to trap you into something you don’t want to be a part of, it’s time to find the strength to kick down the door.

4.  They discredit your dreams and abilities.
If you allow others to define your dreams and abilities, then you enable them to hold you back.  What you’re capable of achieving is not a function of what other people think is possible for you.  What you’re capable of achieving depends on what you choose to do with your time and energy.

People will throw all sorts of assumptions your way about what is possible and what is impossible.  Look beyond the presumptions and mental limitations of others, and connect with your own best vision of how YOUR life can be.  Life is an open-ended journey, and what you achieve comes from what you expect to achieve and what you work to achieve.

So don’t worry about what everyone else thinks.  Keep living your truth.  The only people that will get mad at you for doing so are those who want you to live a lie.

5.  They have lied to you more than once.
Love is a verb, not a noun.  It is ACTIVE in all relationships.  Love is not just feelings of passion and romance between lovers; it is also a behavior among friends and family.  If someone lies to you, they are unlovingly disrespecting you and your relationship.

When you keep someone in your life who is a chronic liar, and you keep giving them new chances to be trusted, you have a lot in common with this person – you’re both lying and being unloving to you!

Bottom line:  Those who avoid the truth and tell you only what you want to hear do so for their own benefit, not yours.  Don’t put up with it.

6.  Their negativity is rubbing off on you.
The negative people in your life don’t just behave negatively towards you, but towards everyone they interact with.  What they say and do is a projection of their own reality – their own inner issues.  Even if they say something to you that seems personal – even if they insult you directly – it likely has zero to do with you.

This is important to remember because what these negative people say and do shouldn’t be taken to heart.  Although you don’t have control over what they say and do; you do have control over whether or not you allow them to say and do these things to you.  You alone can deny their venomous words and actions from invading your heart and mind.  If you feel like these people are getting to you, take a break and give yourself some space to breathe.

Positive things happen when you distance yourself from negative people.  Doing so doesn’t mean you hate them, it simply means you respect yourself.

7.   They are excessively envious of what you have.
A little bit of envy is OK, but when someone is excessively envious of what you have, there’s a good chance what they really want is to take it from you.

Excessive envy doesn’t tell you how much someone admires you, it tells you how much they dislike themselves.  If you can, try to help lift them up, but also be careful that they don’t pull you down.  Oftentimes no amount of love, or promises, or proof from you will ever be enough to make them feel better about themselves.  For the broken pieces they carry, are pieces they must mend for themselves.  Happiness, after all, is an inside job.

8.  They motivate you to be judgmental or hateful.
Truth be told, no human being is superior.  No faith, race, size or shape is inferior.  All collective judgments about others are wrong.  Only judgmental hypocrites make them.

If you judge others by their skin color, their body size, and their outer beauty, you will miss EVERYTHING about who they really are.  It is amazing the quality of people you will learn about and meet in this world if you can simply get past the fact that lots of people are not dressing and living the way you do.

People who motivate you to judge or hate others are as bad as bad company gets.  Avoid them at all costs.

9.  They want you to be someone else.
Spend time with people who see you the way you are, and not as they wish to think you are.  Spend even more time with those who truly know about you, and who love and respect you anyway.

If someone expects you to be someone you’re not, take a step back.  It’s wiser to lose relationships over being who you are, than to keep them intact by acting like someone you’re not.  It’s easier to nurse a little heartache and meet someone new, than it is to piece together your own shattered identity.  It’s easier to fill an empty space within your life where someone else used to be, than it is to fill the empty space within yourself where YOU used to be.

5 Tiny Love Stories To Make You Smile

here are 5 tiny love stories i read that were really touching to me, the first one made me cry ^^. I hope you also find them touching

• Today, I operated on a little girl. She needed O- blood. We didn’t have any, but her twin brother has O- blood. I explained to him that it was a matter of life and death. He sat quietly for a moment, and then said goodbye to his parents. I didn’t think anything of it until after we took his blood and he asked, “So when will I die?” He thought he was giving his life for hers. Thankfully, they’ll both be fine.
• Today, my dad is the best dad I could ask for. He’s a loving husband to my mom (always making her laugh), he’s been to every one of my soccer games since I was 5 (I’m 17 now), and he provides for our family as a construction foreman. This morning when I was searching through my dad’s toolbox for a pliers, I found a dirty folded up paper at the bottom. It was an old journal entry in my dad’s handwriting dated exactly one month before the day I was born. It reads, “I am eighteen years old, an alcoholic who is failing out of college, a past cutter, and a child abuse victim with a criminal record of auto theft. And next month, ‘teen father’ will be added to the list. But I swear I will make things right for my little girl. I will be the dad I never had.” And I don’t know how he did it, but he did it.
• Today, my 8-year-old son hugged me and said, “You are the best mom in the whole entire world!” I smiled and sarcastically replied, “How do you know that? You haven’t met every mom in the whole entire world.” My son squeezed me tighter and said, “Yes I have. You are my world.”
• Today, I have an elderly patient who is suffering from a severe case of Alzheimer’s. He can rarely remember his own name, and he often forgets where he is and what he said just a few minutes beforehand. But by the stretch of some miracle (perhaps the miracle of love), he remembers who is wife is every morning when she shows up to spend a few hours with him. He usually greets her by saying, “Hello my beautiful Kate.”
• Today, my 21 year old Labrador can barely stand up, can’t see, can’t hear, and doesn’t have enough strength to bark. But it doesn’t stop her from wagging her tail a mile a minute every single time I walk into the room.

START CREATING YOUR OWN HAPPINESSS

 If you are waiting for someone else to make you happy, you’re missing out.  Smile because you can.  Choose happiness.  Be the change you want to see in the world.  Be happy with who you are now, and let your positivity inspire your journey into tomorrow.  Happiness is often found when and where you decide to seek it.  If you look for happiness within the opportunities you have, you will eventually find it.  But if you constantly look for something else, unfortunately, you’ll find that too.

START ENJOYING THE THINGS YOU ALREADY HAVE

The problem with many of us is that we think we’ll be happy when we reach a certain level in life – a level we see others operating at – your boss with her corner office, that friend of a friend who owns a mansion on the beach, etc.  Unfortunately, it takes awhile before you get there, and when you get there you’ll likely have a new destination in mind.  You’ll end up spending your whole life working toward something new without ever stopping to enjoy the things you have now.  So take a quiet moment every morning when you first awake to appreciate where you are and what you already have.

START VALUING THE LESSONS YOUR MISTAKES TEACH YOU

Mistakes are okay; they’re the stepping stones of progress.  If you’re not failing from time to time, you’re not trying hard enough and you’re not learning.  Take risks, stumble, fall, and then get up and try again.  Appreciate that you are pushing yourself, learning, growing and improving.  Significant achievements are almost invariably realized at the end of a long road of failures.  One of the ‘mistakes’ you fear might just be the link to your greatest achievement yet.

START NOTICING AND LIVING IN THE PRESENT

Right now is a miracle.  Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you.  Right now is life.  So stop thinking about how great things will be in the future.  Stop dwelling on what did or didn’t happen in the past.  Learn to be in the ‘here and now’ and experience life as it’s happening.  Appreciate the world for the beauty that it holds, right now.

START BEING HONEST WITH YOURSELF ABOUT EVERYTHING

Be honest about what’s right, as well as what needs to be changed.  Be honest about what you want to achieve and who you want to become.  Be honest with every aspect of your life, always.  Because you are the one person you can forever count on.  Search your soul, for the truth, so that you truly know who you are.  Once you do, you’ll have a better understanding of where you are now and how you got here, and you’ll be better equipped to identify where you want to go and how to get there.

What matters most is how you see yourself.

Don't be bothered about who was there....

9 THOUGHTS YOU NEED OUT OF YOUR MIND

1. “Life sucks and that’s just the way it is.”
The mind can be the harshest battleground.  It can be the place where the greatest conflicts are carried out.  It’s where half of the things you thought were going to happen, never came to be.  But if you allow those thoughts to dwell in your mind and fester, they will succeed in robbing you of peace, of happiness, and of everything that is beautiful in this world.

Tell the negativity committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up.  Don’t think yourself into a nervous breakdown, into depression, into hopeless defeat.  If you’re being negative when you’re alone, the warfare is in your mind.  The fight you’ve got to fight is in your mind.  You can’t change what has happened, but you can choose how you’re going to deal with it.

2.  “Those haters are right about me.”
Be wise enough to walk away from the negativity around you; don’t let it infect your thinking.  Don’t let someone else’s negative opinion ruin your reality.  No matter how much negativity is thrown at YOU by others, there is absolutely no need for you to stay put and partake in the decay they choose for their own lives.  YOU decide how your soul grows.

When the people around you give you every reason to be negative, think of one good reason to be positive.  There’s always something to be grateful for.  Say it: “I am lucky to be alive! I am happy to be me!  I have so much to be grateful for!  My life isn’t perfect, it’s just pretty darn good!”

3.  “The way it is now is the way it will always be.”
Don’t confuse your path with your destination.  Just because it’s stormy now, doesn’t mean you aren’t headed for sunshine.  And remember, you cannot heal a lifetime of pain overnight; be patient with yourself, it takes as long as it takes, but your happiness is well worth the wait.

You write your own destiny through the choices you make.  You become what you repeatedly do.  It is more important to know where you are going and why, than to get there quickly.  Do not mistake activity for achievement.  Every time you are tempted to react to the same old circumstances in the same old way, ask yourself, “Do I want to be a prisoner of the past, or a pioneer of the future?”

4.  “Life is supposed to be easy.”
Nothing worthwhile in life was meant to be easy; learn to take it easy with your expectations in this area.  Don’t expect things to be given to you.  Go out and achieve them!  It’s the only sane way to deal with life’s challenges.  If it’s worth having, it’s worth working for.

Anyone can run away and waste away; it’s super easy to do nothing.  Facing challenges and working through them, that’s what makes you strong.  And even on your weakest days you get a bit stronger.  So today, stop wishing for it and start working for it.  Talk is cheap.  Action is priceless

5.  “It’s easier to blame someone else.”
Too many of us only take credit for positive outcomes.  In other words, we take full credit for our successes, but deny responsibility for our failures.  A perfect example of this can be witnessed in school classrooms across the globe.  When students receive a good grade, they often attribute it to their intelligence and their excellent study habits.  But when they get a bad grade, they attribute some of their failure to a bad teacher, an unfair set of test questions, or a subject matter that “isn’t needed in the real world anyway.”

Realize that in order for you to grow emotionally, you must be willing to take full responsibility for all your actions and outcomes – successes and failures alike.  Because if you are too afraid of failure, you can’t possibly do what needs to be done to be successful.  Setbacks, failures, obstacles, and hardships are the contractors of life; they build character, strength and knowledge.

6.  “I just can’t stand X, Y and Z!”
Today, let your small annoyances go.  Move through your day consciously.  Make an effort to notice at least one insignificant little frustration that you would normally get frustrated about.  Then do yourself a favor and simply let it go.  Experience, in this little way, the freedom of being in control of the way you feel.  And realize that you can extend this same level of control to every situation you encounter in life.

At any given moment, the way you feel is the way you choose to feel, and the way you react is the way you choose to react.

7.  “They look a certain way, so they must be a certain way.”
Superficial judgments are made the instant one person assumes something about another person based on their immediate appearance.  Sadly, this likely happens thousands of times every minute, all around the world.   For example, someone might see a tall, well groomed man in his early fifties wearing a business suit, and instantly assume he is successful and reliable, even though there is zero concrete evidence to support this assumption.

Bottom line:  Don’t judge a person by what they show you in a single glance.  What you’ve seen is oftentimes only what they have chosen to show you at that particular moment.  Too often we jump to conclusions.  Talk with people, listen to their stories, watch what they do – this is how you get to know who they truly are.

8.  “Giving up and starting over is a sign of failure.”
Don’t try to diminish your losses from a past failure by continuing to follow the exact same path that led to the failure in the first place.  In other words, don’t do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.  If it didn’t work last time, and you haven’t made any significant changes, it probably won’t work this time either.

Sometimes we justify our decision to continue investing in a failed endeavor based solely on our cumulative prior investment, despite new evidence suggesting that the cost, starting today, of continuing to pursue it outweighs the expected benefit.  The logical thing to do would be for us to cut our losses and change our course of action.  However, due to the sunk costs we have already invested, we feel committed to the endeavor, so we invest even more time, money and energy into it, hoping that our additional investment will reverse the outcome.  But most of the time it never will.

When you can no longer think of a reason to continue, you must think of a reason to start over, and that’s perfectly OK.  There’s a big difference between giving up and starting over in the right direction.

9.  “It’s too late.  I missed my chance.”
Be done with regrets; they are an excuse for people who have given up.  You are still here trying and growing.  Life is about learning from the past, trusting your intuition going forward, taking chances, finding moments of happiness, and realizing everything is simply a lesson that happens for a reason.

Don’t stress over what could’ve been; chances are if it should’ve been, it would’ve been.  Focus on the present; you have a lot to look forward to in it.  Just do your best.  Every moment gives you a new beginning and a new ending.  You get a second chance, every second.  And YOUR best chance is happening right NOW.

Today, make it a point to defragment your consciousness and center your spirit on positive, productive thoughts.  Whatever you do, don’t get stuck on the one thing that ruins your day.  Smile and be grateful.  Life is too short to waste on negativity and destructive thinking.

What would you add to the list?  What negative thoughts and destructive thinking traps do you struggle with?  Leave a comment below and share your thoughts

Be done with regrets; they are an excuse for people who have given up.

There are two ways of being rich: One is to have all you want, the other is to be satisfied with what you have.

FAITH

Now faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things seen.

Many people think faith is acting like something is so when it really isn't so, and if we do that long enough, then it will become so. But that's not it at all. Faith is real.

Hebrews 11:1 says,

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is substance. This is saying that faith is real. It is the evidence of things not seen. Notice it didn't say "things that don't exist." They do exist. They just aren't seen.


God is real and does exist. He just can't be seen. He is broadcasting all His power and blessings 24/7. It's never God's transmitter that is broken. It's always our receiver that is the problem. If we ask God for something and we don't see it manifest instantly, most people question why God hasn't answered that prayer yet. They assume that because they haven't seen or heard anything, nothing has happened. That's all wrong.

There is a very good illustration of this truth in 2 Kings 6. Elisha, the prophet of God, was revealing the Syrian's battle plans to the king of Israel. Every time the king of Syria tried to ambush the king of Israel, Elisha would warn the king of Israel, and he would ambush the Syrian's ambush. This happened so often that the king of Syria finally asked his servants to reveal who the traitor was. He knew that the king of Israel could not be maneuvering like he was without inside information.

When one of the king of Syria's servants said that Elisha, the prophet of God, was revealing the words that the king of Syria said in his bed chamber to the king of Israel, the king of Syria sent his armies to capture Elisha.

Second Kings 6:15 says,

"And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?"

When Elisha's servant saw the Syrian troops, he panicked. He knew why they were there. They had discovered Elisha was the one telling the king of Syria's battle plans to the king of Israel. They were in big trouble. Look at the response of Elisha to this situation in 2 Kings 6:16: "And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.".

People who don't believe anything exists beyond their five senses would say Elisha was lying. He was confessing something was so when it really wasn't so, hoping that it would become so. But that's not the way it was at all. Elisha spoke the truth. There were more with him than was with the Syrian army. It's just that Elisha's forces were in the unseen reality.

The key to understanding this is to recognize there is another realm of reality beyond this physical world. Those who are limited to only their five senses will always struggle with this. They think Elisha was lying, and indeed, he would have been lying if all that exists is this physical world. You could count the Syrian troops by the thousands, and there was only Elisha and his servant. But Elisha wasn't lying because there was another world of reality. If you looked at the whole picture, the physical and spiritual world, then Elisha was right on. In the spiritual realm, there were many more horses and chariots of fire around Elisha than there were Syrian troops.

According to 2 Kings 6:17,

"Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And he LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

Gehazi's physical eyes were already wide open. God was opening his spiritual eyes. He was able to see with his heart into the spiritual world. And when the spiritual world was taken into consideration, then Elisha's statement was perfectly true.

Those who see faith as an attempt to make something real which isn't real will always struggle with those who see faith as simply making what is spiritually true a physical truth. Those who limit truth to only the physical realm would have called Elisha one of those "name it, claim it," "blab it, grab it" cultists. But in saying such things, they condemn themselves. They show they only consider what they can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel to be reality. They are what the Bible calls "carnal."

When Gehazi's eyes were opened, the Syrians didn't disappear. They were still there. The physical truth was still true, but there was a greater spiritual truth that emerged. True faith doesn't deny physical truth; it just refuses to let physical truth dominate spiritual truth. True faith subdues physical truth to the reality of spiritual truth.

Because Elisha believed in the realities of the spiritual world, he raised his hand and smote all the Syrians with blindness. Then he led the whole Syrian army captive to the king of Israel. Praise the Lord! That's not bad for an old prophet whom carnal people would say was all by himself.

Elisha was not just speaking some wishful statement, hoping that it would become a reality. He knew what was real in the spiritual world, and he controlled his emotions and actions accordingly. There is no indication that Elisha saw the horses and chariots of fire around him. He didn't need to. He believed it. Those who operate in true faith don't need to see with their physical eyes. Their faith is evidence enough.

I'm not believing for something that isn't real to become real. I've seen into the spiritual realm by faith, and I'm simply making what I've seen in the spiritual world manifest in the physical world. All of the things I'm seeing with my physical eyes now, I have already seen in my heart. I saw it on the inside before I saw it on the outside. This is a wonderful way to live. This is the normal Christian life. This is walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).