Tag: God

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Getting older isn’t so bad if you can put aside your insecurities


IMG_1078fb One of the hardest tasks I have had in my life is dealing with my ego, Though it isn’t a big one it sure likes to be the center of attention and when its not it makes my day rough. I have learned to pretty much keep it check for the most part but it likes to rear its head at least once or twice a day and I have to remind myself to not allow the selfishness, self-centeredness it brings to interfere or influence my actions, words and choices.
Seems like most people I have to face down that me, myself and I syndrome. It is even harder to face it down when you are a sensitive person who gets their feelings hurt easily, though most of the time I can hide the hurt but sometimes my ego gets control and it comes to the surface in the form of bitterness or anger and sometimes sadness.  Now I just turned 45 my ego is poking at my fear of aging, though it doesn’t bother me most the time it just seems when birthdays come I fall into the pit of self-pity for a day and then climb back out thinking how silly of me to be concerned with such superficial things. Vanity isn’t one of those things that bother me, so usually it is short-lived like a day or two around my birthday.

Getting older isn’t so bad if you can put aside your insecurities and don’t ponder on your mortality too much. I may look older but I still feel like I am in my early 30’s and it doesn’t matter what my physical shell looks like, it’s all about the spirit that dwells within. So now I have turned 45 I am going to put all my effort into putting my ego away in order to be the person I truly am within. Like it or not, I am who I am, at least until I become who I am to be.

May God shed some light in your darkness and pour his wisdom upon your mind and heart.

Ray Barbier

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it was a pretty good year that God blessed me with


008 In a few days another birthday comes around to remind me that I made it through another year of life. So much left undone and so much unsaid, but still it was a pretty good year that God blessed me with. Each birthday I reflect upon my past and think of what I could have done better and how I am going to do better in the future days to come.  For I am but a work in process and I am not ready to throw in the towel on improving who and what I am.

I pray that I will get to see many more birthdays and that I can keep improving myself through Jesus and through the will of God. I hope I can continue writing posts on my blogs that readers can enjoy and maybe give them something to think about.

Thank you God and Jesus for the followers, likers and commenters both positive and negative. Thank you for helping me to continually grow spiritually and mentally. And most of all thank you for this life I am getting to live.

Amen

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Some Random Ideas


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Too many times I find that I choose to be unhappy by focusing on the negative thoughts running amok in my head. I also have noticed when I put some effort into pushing the negative thoughts aside with a more positive frame of mind, my day seems to get a lot brighter and/or happier. So I have come to the conclusion that ones frame of thought controls not only the mood one is in but also significantly influences ones total outlook on life. To think positive, to reject the negative thoughts within yourself and that which comes from an external force can change ones day if not life. We are what we think or believe we are and we are either limited or expanded by those thoughts and/or beliefs. The power of thought along with emotions are what makes us the sentient beings God has created us to be, without self-consciousness and emotional awareness we would not have the great potential we as human beings have.

Ray Barbier

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The only one standing in the way is your self and you know it.


eyeSo your middle-aged and wonder what the heck am I doing here and why am I not somewhere better? Well one reason for all of it, you chose the path your on and you didn’t choose to change it yet. So what you’re in your 40’s you can change your path at anytime in life as long as you have the desire and determination to do so. Yeah your brain isn’t as quick as it was at 18 but it is a lot better at prioritizing than it was back then. Plus the brain is amazing, the more you use it the better it works. So stop using excuses as a way to avoid making a commitment to making a change that is definitely needed. The only one standing in the way is your self and you know it. Stop thinking life is over because your older, start realizing it isn’t over till we go home to God and Jesus.

Ray Barbier

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what I don’t like about myself I try to change and what I like about myself I try to improve.


004Sometimes I let what other people think of me bother me more than it should. If someone likes me or not is something I can not control and knowing that makes me see that they are going to think what they may no matter what I do or say. So do I really care if others lie me or not, well I would be lying if I said no, but it isn’t as important to me as it used to be for sure. All I can do is to try to be someone who I would like and try to be someone I could be proud of being. IF I am neither of those then I have a problem, I may not always love myself but what I don’t like about myself I try to change and what I like about myself I try to improve as well. It is an ever going challenge to improve oneself and to grow emotionally and spiritually.

Be who you are and make who you are someone you could respect and love.

Ray Barbier

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We do not always see the opportunities that surround us


IMG_1077The power of thought be it positive or negative  can affect the body as well as the mind. If you go around with a negative attitude it attracts more of the same. There is no guarantee if you are a positive person that you wont have to deal with some negativity, but you will not face as much as someone with a negative attitude. With so many books out there claiming they have secrets that will lead  you to better life and all that your heart desires, the only one getting what they want most of the time with those books is the author and the publisher. Not saying the don’t have some kind of truth to what they are saying, usually its all common sense or plain positive thinking along with visualization. Now I am not saying don’t buy those books or that they don’t work, I am just saying a lot of what they teach is out there for free if you look hard enough.

One easy way to be happy and have all you desire is to be more realistic in what you desire and expect of yourself and others. Though most of us would not be happy with that scenario so that leaves us wanting for a shortcut or easy way to reach our goals and find happiness in life. Reality is, there is no real shortcuts out there unless you have some rich uncle or you are a con artists or something along those lines. Hard work is always needed to achieve your goals, saving and investing wisely also helps. The one thing I have learned it is hard to get rich owning your own business bit its next to impossible to get rich working for someone else.

But is it really money, possessions and or social status we are needing or wanting? Will they really bring that happiness we think they will or will they just temporarily give us a happy high and then we find ourselves back where we started or worse? Financial stability always helps but to be rich is only having way more than we need. Sure I would love to have enough right now to retire and live like I do for the rest of my life. I am happy being a lower middle-class person and I don’t see any real need for me to be a millionaire. Give me a roof over my head a good vehicle, bills paid and 3 square meals a day with maybe a bit left over in the bank and I am one happy man. But that is me and I know there are those that want the moon and everything else they can get in their lifetime.

So does visualization and positive thinking work? Yes, but to the magnitude that some claim, probably not as often as we all would like. Sure you can attract things through positivity and visualization,  you can also get a lot of things through faith and prayer as well. Sometimes it is just the matter of opening your eyes to the opportunities around you. For most of us we do not always see the opportunities that surround us nor the gifts God has laid by our feet because we are too focused on the stress and worry of life to see them.

Positive thinking, visualization, faith and prayer all can bring you some happiness and even some wealth. but if you forget where your blessings and help comes  from (GOD) they can always be taken away just as fast.

Ray Barbier

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Just as Jesus taught us to do, He will do for us the same.


English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mos...

When we learn to put aside all our worries and stress we find that happiness is such an easy thing to obtain. As my mom always told me, let go and let God, thus let God handle all the stressful situations and let him be the source of your strength. Jesus taught if we see a neighbor or even a stranger carrying a heavy load that we should help that person carry the load. If they ask you to carry it a part of the way, you should carry it all the way. The compassion, fellowship and kindness in your heart should always inspire you to help others. Just as Jesus taught us to do, He will do for us the same. Jesus will help carry your load when you need it and he will counsel you when you are unable to discern which way to go.

We should practice compassion, understanding and kindness every day, for if we do not show any compassion, kindness or try to be understanding towards others how should we expect the same from God? The same goes for forgiveness, God through Jesus has forgiven us all and we should forgive others through Christ as well. If a person sins against you just remember you are a sinner as well, forgive him and pray for both his forgiveness as well as your own. Love the sinner and hate only the sin, we all have sin in us and none of us are worthy to enter the kingdom of God without Jesus. We also need to learn to forgive ourselves as well, we can not carry the weight of our sins and be forgiven at the same time. Christ died on the cross and was resurrected to wash or cover our multitude of sins. So you pray to be forgiven and truly repent then forgive yourself and forget your sin.

 All our strength, help and forgiveness comes from God through his Son Jesus Christ. We must remember this and thank God for that he has given, will give and even that which he has taken away.

Ray Barbier

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Give the battle to God and Begin serving God.


MP900321192 The Job, The Kids, your favorite TV show, even your battle with sin can be distractions from serving God. We allow ourselves to get consumed if not overwhelmed by every day life and the challenges we face each day and that makes it next to impossible to serve god. If we are devoting all of our energy, time and mental abilities to the world we leave very little to give to serving God. Of course we have to deal with everyday life and the challenges it brings, but there are a lot of things we could let go of or that we could hand off to others if not to god himself in order to make time to Serve God and help others.

jesus-christ-in-prayer_w725_h725 This world is stressful and can be quite exhausting, the enemy always tries to keep us occupied with what ever he can so we are to consumed by life to serve, worship or know God. Not only does the enemy use distraction he also tries to deceive you into believing there is no hope for you and that you can not be saved. He wants us to be lost and confused so we can not find our salvation and or serve our father and our savior. Through faith, prayer and serving God we strengthen ourselves and through reading the scripture we learn to focus on the will of God not our own.

MP900427741 (1) If you are in a battle with sin in your life stop fighting it on your own, Give the battle to God to fight. Begin serving God by helping others and being kind to others. The more you focus on doing things that are good the less you think of the things that are sinful or that you lust for. The more you dedicate yourself to serving God and doing his will the less hold on you the sinful nature will have. It is a life long battle that we must wage against our sinful natures but the war was already won upon the cross and by the blood.

 If serving God is your first and last thought of the day, then Serving God you will do throughout the day.

Ray Barbier

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we are the masters of our own thought, actions, words and emotions


65241To be happy one has to learn not to worry and stress over the things that we can not change. We should only worry over the things we have control over and change them if we are able. The things out of our control are going to be what they are destined to be so no reason to fret or worry over them. Those are the things we leave in the hands of God and have faith that he will take care of them or help us through them. Life is far less complicated than we humans make it out to be. We complicate our lives by over thinking situations and overreacting to circumstances. We should learn to be a little more carefree and definitely a lot less stressed out.  We need to learn happiness or the lack of happiness is all in our own hands. No one but our own selves controls if we are happy or not, it’s all within our own perception and our reaction to reality that makes happiness and/or any other emotion. We choose how we feel in reaction to the circumstances around us, no one else can choose for us how we feel. Others only can throw things at us we tend to react negatively to and from there we choose to be sad, angry, happy or even indifferent.  Though a lot of our reactions to external stimuli are programmed in us from our youth we can change the programming so we react differently. The bottom line is that we are the masters of our own thought, actions, words and emotions and we alone can choose to be happy or not.

 

Ray Barbier

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No matter who wins


Washington State Capitol - Olympia_1549a

It’s that time again, presidential election season. The time that all the major networks both on air and cable seem to be obsessed with the upcoming elections. So much spin, lies and words taken out of context it is hard to know what lie to believe next. I would love to see just one time a real campaign based on the issues and not on the misleading advertisements against the other candidate. Too little emphasis on fixing the problems and being truthful in modern politics and way too much mud-slinging and word bending. The last 20 years of politics has me sick to my stomach, not saying we didn’t have a few good presidents or even a congress that at one time would work for the good of the citizens, just that there is less reality in Washington politics than in a science fiction novel. They really need to get off of the mud-slinging and twisting of words and get down to the bare facts about the true issues at hand. No matter who wins this upcoming election, my hope is that the congress will get a grip and start working together on the problems our country faces and stops playing around with their party based agendas. Well God help us in 2013 and beyond, for I feel we will need all the help and blessings we can get if the congress continues to be like it has for the last 4+ years.

Ray Barbier

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