There is a part of God that is hard to understand. There is a part of God that we don’t encounter often and, when we do, the response is fear and uncertainty. There is a part of God that is hidden from us. This part is not evil, as God is not evil. It is hard to understand.
When we read, in my class, the story of Noah we encounter this part of God. A God who after many years of watching His people turn from Him finally, finally, says “Have it your way.”
A God who is sad and grieved by the wickedness of the people. We encounter a God who decides the best thing to do for His creation is to destroy most of it and start over.
Animals and children were destroyed. Plants and land were wiped away. This is not a part of God that we encounter nor do we always understand. In the story of Noah God reveals His judgment on His creation that He had called very good.
In this story He also reveals His love and compassion. He did not destroy the whole creation and give up. He saved one man, his family, and a set of animals showing His love, grace, and faithfulness to us, His beloved creation.
In our lives we sometimes feel as though we are meeting this God–a God of judgment and wrath. This is not the God we are invited to focus on. Through one man, Noah, the creation was saved and through one man, Jesus, the creation was redeemed.
Our theme verse says He has redeemed us, called us by name, and we are His. In times of uncertainty or distress we are invited to look to God’s promises in Jesus. We are invited to focus on the promise that we are His and He will be faithful always to us.
Noah trusted God and followed His command. Through the waters of the flood the earth was reborn. The earth was given a new start. Through the waters of baptism we were drowned and given a new start in Jesus. We trust the promises of God and as we follow Him, He shows His faithfulness in giving us new life.
God put a sign of His promise and covenant in the sky for Noah: a rainbow. Every time we see a rainbow we are reminded of the promise of love and faithfulness that God, no matter how far we wander, will not destroy the earth with waters again.
When sorrow comes, God promises are
shining rays of hope that breaks through gray skies to bring us warmth and helps us cope. He promises to give us strength to weather any storm, someone we can lean on to keep us safe and warm. So let your spirit drive you …. As God put people in your midst to guide you! In the book: The Power 0f NOW by Eckhart Tolle, it teaches you not to worry about things you can not control and to live in the moment with gratitude. http://www.jtdyer.com/hope-in-gods-promises/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7vjWrg7WYU .
(We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.)
We are spiritual beings . . . having a human experience Quote Pierre Teilhard de Chardin). For the first time the ultimate truth of Life has been revealed. The *Truth explains the real truth about the nature of the mind and spirit. The truth is the key to overcome the mental prison permantly and establish true fulfillment. What he is speaking is the nature of the Universe as described by the scriptures in ancient India. What a great teacher. I was so moved by The Power of Now I wrote a song inspired by the book. Check it out on my channel and let me know what you think!
Purpose of the universe. 1. Express itself in endless forms. 2. Obtain consciousness in this world. Basically, the universe wants to experience infinity while attempting connected to the whole. One becoming many while many are still one. I always wonder the why. Why is it the divine purpose of the universe to know itself? This model of the Universe is delightful, however Eckhart seems to describe it almost as if the Universe is a giant mega-ego. I don’t believe the Universe ‘wants’ anything. It just simply is.
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Eckhart is pure love. Thank you for posting. We all need to express the love this man shares with us. We are all connected not separate. Truth is that we do not know that the universe has a purpose, let alone what that purpose might be. Because I wrote about Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now and used it to attempt to solve depression and problems of suffering here using Ellen Degeneres’ movie Finding Dory as an example: http://bisayafilms.blogspot.com/2016/06/findingdorymoviereview.html
A person has a soul which is a part of the divine consciousness. The body is material which differentiates but consciousness is eternal which integrates. Once we know this true consciousness and link with each other at that level, we forget that a person is black or white, rich or poor, greedy or needy because all that involves our body form in some way or the other. When we look at ourselves as not what we look in the mirror but what we really are from inside at soul level we see our truer self. And when we see that self in others we understand that nothing is different and its all the same. i think 
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Happy thoughts!
The universe want to show us the higher self. Then its all about the invisible life and not the history we tell and learn our children or the done-history or the history in our world wive to day. Its all about the invisible spiritual person we are her and now and the life we are supose to fullfill here… 1:10
In Chinese philosophy, yin yang describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. The purpose of the universe is to achieve a present balance between doing and being. Tatva and lila. Om and dharma. Form and formless.
Dr. Jack and Peter Thor chat about understanding consciousness for a better life.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_pFdghRltY
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This book teaches you that your past will haunt you if you will let it and the future may scare you if you think about it. So don’t allow today to affect your tomorrow…this book is about present moment awareness. If you like the 66% that wake up every morning feeling a bit blue …you may not be the only one. The reason being that after a long night without foods in amino acids your mood elevating hormones are at a daily low!!!
Therefore, eating a breakfast that contains protein — will kick start your brain production of serotonin, oxyotocin, dopamine, and endorphins that helps you stay upbeat and calm. This is a major reason why, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While eating anthocyanin foods like spinach, kale and spring lettuce.
As well red cabbage, strawberries, purple grapes and sweet cherries.
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Which switch on the enzymes that increase serotonin levels by 20% in only 3 weeks by eating just 3 cups of them per week. While turning your frown into a smile is important too and stretching your arms with 2 pound weights is good for the heart muscle..
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Also, recently Finnish scientist discovered that enjoying 30 minutes of gentle activity each day that by taking a stroll, doing yoga stretches or tai chi benefits your body in two ways. Stretching eases symptoms of backache, headaches and any similar conditions. It prods the brain to release endorphins and revs your production of dopamine which uplift your spirit and raises your pain threshold.
When your rooting for your hometown sports team provides you with PRIDE, watching your favorite Tv show enjoyment or listening to music sends oxytocin levels soaring. High oxytocin levels ‘trigger oversensitivity to emotions of others’ Oxytocin is commonly referred to as the “love hormone.” It plays a significant role in social bonding, and recent studies have shown that the hormone can help people with autism and schizophrenia to better interact with others. Which, in-turn, reduces disease triggering chronic inflammation.
Have you ever noticed by getting outside in the mid day sun makes you feel so much better. Scientist generally recommend small exposures just outside of peak times. E.g. around mid-morning (10am) or mid-afternoon (3pm). In summer, mid-morning is an ideal time, as the presence of UVB is strong enough to confer a vitamin D benefit, but there is less risk of burning as compared to the midday sun …
In fact, research shows when you engage in outdoor activity it will boost your overall immune system by increasing white blood cell levels. While exposure to sunlight can lessen stress and pain, likewise, scientist have concluded feeling a sense of serenity will boost your energy levels, reduce blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tension which increases creative thinking!!!
Naomi Judd’s life as a country music superstar has been nonstop success.
But offstage, she has battled incredible adversity.
Struggling through a childhood of harsh family secrets, the death of a young sibling, and absent emotional support, Naomi found herself reluctantly married, an expectant mother at age seventeen. Four years later, she was a single mom of two, who survived being beaten, raped, was abandoned without any financial support and nowhere to turn in Hollywood, CA.
Naomi has always been a survivor: She put herself through nursing school to support her young daughters, then took a courageous chance by moving to Nashville to pursue their fantastic dream of careers in country music.
Her leap of faith paid off, and Naomi and her daughter Wynonna became The Judds, soon ranking with country music’s biggest stars, selling more than 20 million records, winning six Grammys. At the height of the singing duo’s popularity, Naomi was given three years to live after being diagnosed with the previously incurable Hepatitis C.
Miraculously, she overcame that too and was pronounced completely cured five years later. Naomi was still to face her most desperate fight yet. After finishing a tour with Wynonna in 2011, she began a three-year battle with Severe Treatment Resistant Depression and anxiety. She suffered through frustrating and dangerous roller-coaster effects with antidepressants and other drugs, often terrifying therapies and, at her absolute lowest points, thoughts of suicide. But Naomi persevered once again.
Naomi Judd always presents a happy face to the world, but in a new memoir the country legend opens up about a secret struggle with crippling depression.
Her latest book is River of Time: My Descent Into Depression and How I Emerged With Hope, in which she writes about suffering flashbacks derived from sexual abuse she suffered as a child, years of psychiatric hospital treatments and pharmaceutical drug poisoning. The memoir paints a darker picture of Judd’s life than she previously shared with her fans.
Judd reveals that shortly after the 2010 Judds reunion tour concluded the following year, she fell into a debilitating depression that caused her to believe she should end her life. She says she spent the next two-and-a-half years undergoing treatment in psychiatric hospitals, dealing not only with severe depression but also panic attacks, PTSD, toxic drug poisoning and addiction.
“I wanted to be completely honest that if someone took out a gun and killed me on stage, they would be doing me a favor,” she writes in an excerpt, according to Rolling Stone Country. “But I didn’t. I was there to inspire them and I could not let them down. I gathered every ounce of strength I had, straightened my shoulders, adjusted my suit jacket, found the will to smile, and strode out on stage.”
My story isn’t one of a victorious recovery from debilitating mental illness, but of a wary and humble gratitude for persevering through thirty terrifying months,” Judd says in a statement. “I’ve gained an appreciative hope and, in the past year, an on going purpose for living once. And, because I have survived and found peace, I feel a responsibility, as a messenger, to share what brought me hope and what’s kept me alive.”
