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Anthology which includes my poem, "The Strong Black Woman is Dead! Or Is She?"
D.S. White will not be held responsible for any addiction to the sheer entertainment, inspiration and/or usefulness of this blog. As with all things, use what you can, discard what you can’t and by all means share what you will with others. However, do keep in mind that common sense and necessary precautions are to be utilized when trying any links supplied herein.
My blog is worth $9,597.18.
How much is your blog worth?
P.S. I’ll probably add more as I think of them, but these are those that have come to mind, thus far.
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I attended two funerals this year, (one of which you can read about here) and was privy to three others, but not close enough to attend. Although logically I know it's a path of life, to begin and then to end. My emotional side says that it was five funerals too many.Just a few thoughts to ponder as you approach 2006.“…Unforgiveness hinders our communication with God? It most surely does. To remain unforgiving, you have to nurse the hurt, recall it quite frequently, harden your heart. In essence you slowly poison yourself with bitterness. The bitterness acts as a wall between you and God.
Two reasons:
Why do we need to forgive?
- Matthew 6:14: which states “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;”
- Romans 6:23 states that “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Which means that no matter how big or small the disobedience, the punishment is death.
Right about here, we get comfortable, because we’re confident in the fact that we love God, haven’t murdered, raped, committed adultery, blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, robbed a bank, embezzled funds or run over anyone with our car. Which is all good, but don’t get too comfortable just yet.
If you’ve never told a lie, been envious, run a red light, stolen a quarter from your parents, jaywalked, listened to gossip, failed to return a library book, cheated, or disobeyed God in any way; if you’ve done everything you were ever supposed to do every single time…then you have no need to forgive. But for the rest of us, the following are some practical steps towards the process of forgiveness:
- Choice -- Decide you are going to forgive - it’s the best gift you can give yourself.
- Love –Allow love to continue flowing – don’t shut down or close yourself off.
- Faith -- Realize that we forgive by faith, not by feeling: Utilizing faith allows us to act as if a thing is so, in order that it may become so. In other words…you may start out faking it, but your genuine desire to act on your faith will connect you to God’s store of faith for you.
- Obedience--We must forgive others if we don’t want to disobey God and break our fellowship with Him. As Christ forgave us without being asked we may need to forgive others who have not nor will ever ask our forgiveness. The forgiveness may be undeserved, but the reward of healing and reconciliation makes it worthwhile.
- Forget --You must be willing to forget past hurts. Forget about it. Stop willfully calling it to mind. Or if it does come to mind consciously replace it with a good memory or find something positive you learned out of the bad memory. You may even want to print out some scriptures dealing with forgiveness like Matt. 6:14 or Romans 6:23 on an index card and carry it around with you, to whip out when needed.
- Prayer – Pray for the offender, a biggie, I know.
- Turnover -- Give the hurt to God. Resolve to let it go.
I think the hardest thing for me to get about forgiveness is that it isn’t about me, it’s about obedience to God and in my obedience I reap the reward of being released from the yoke of my hurt. I had to realize that accepting grace means I have to be responsible enough to show grace myself. I had to remind myself of how I felt when I discovered that no matter what I had done previously, God still loves me. Or if you can’t relate, I reminded myself that no matter what a screw-up I was or still am at times, my family loves me.
Forgiveness is about passing on that kind of revelation, to others who have no concept of it themselves."
Join me in welcoming this week's tenant Dawn of Reflections in the Mirror! whose rental will roll over into the New Year, so she will have the distinction of being my first tenant of 2006.
LittleDarkRaven's Sin's Fate, rubydiamond80's Ho Hum What?, chatteress' Meeting people online, Vicki9170's A Little of This, A Little of That,republico's the republico journal, oheresy's Ripper Hollow, Nameless' Free to Ramble and most recently websavvy of WeddingsInABox - Visual planning blog!
A West Indian by birth, the word Carnival brings to mind three days of non-stop calypso music, steel pan competitions, bright skimpy costumes, gyrating bodies and sleepless nights.
Because this carnival displays the beauty of excellence in writing as told by women of beauty--Christian women.
This picture is from the office Christmas party eight years ago. I was on the climb up the corporate ladder, my prepubescent daughter was crossing all her t's and dotting all her i's at school. My mother's health was stable and she had a home attendant to assist her with household duties, I was the Youth Choir Director at church and sang on the Adult choir, in a long term relationship, I was twenty-five pounds lighter and I was a miserable mess.
Why am I telling you this on Christmas day?
Springboarding off of Guppyman’s idea to give a Christmas sale for the rental of space on his blog, I've come up with my own way of saying thanks to my all my renters of 2005 and especially my TOP six renters!
Dear Abbyliqua
Dee411
Divine Perspective
Age is Just a Number: Adventures in Online Dating!
Passion
Read Zone
Great News!In Sallie's own words:
For the first few weeks, I will host the Carnival. That will give me time to work out the bugs and it will not put a burden on other ladies during the holidays. It is my hope that after the first of the year other ladies will also want to host the Carnival. More on volunteering to host will be announced in the next few weeks.
What is the purpose of the Carnival of Beauty?
The two main purposes of the Carnival of Beauty are:
1. Encourage women by reflecting the beauty of Christ in our writing.
2. Meet women online who cherish the beauty of Christ that we might not have met otherwise.
more…
A little happy, happy, joy, joy moment.Please change your favorites accordingly:
Dear Abbyliqua
Dee411
Divine Perspective
I'm not getting older, I'm getting better...honest!
Passion
Read Zone
There’s Just So Much Going On!
Funny man Richard Pryor died of a heart attack on Saturday past. He died shortly before 8 a.m. after being taken from his home to a nearby hospital. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, he found a way to bring it to the forefront in his comedic routines.From: Subject Line:
[FeedBlitz] (paper clip image here): There are 2 new posts in "Dee411"
Would you believe it! I’m a reviewer! And it’s all your fault! Yes, you…your fault. It all began when you made your first comment, then the next. Then I made a response. I wasn’t sure if that was appropriate or where to make it, but I tried it anyway and to make sure you would find it, I put it on both our blogs...