His Presence and Protection

I certainly experienced Jesus protection yesterday. I was shopping at Office Depot in Redlands, CA when a hostage/shooting situation took place. We all ran out and in the process I tripped and lost my sandal but kept going. We took refuge in the store next door which happened to be Trader Joe’s until the situation was “contained.” The interesting thing is, seconds before the gun was fired, I considered going to the back section of Office Depot to look at some items there but felt lead to leave and go instead to a different store. I paused to text my daughter about 20 feet from the front door (still inside the store) when the gun shot{s} were fired from the back area and people began running past me saying “a man has a gun and is shooting!”

By God’s design……the scripture verse that I read and meditated upon before leaving home that morning was; “The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace. (Psalm 29:11). I felt both “empowered and at peace” (although a bit shaky) during and following the crisis….so much so that I would have kept my appointment that afternoon to tutor a high school student if I wasn’t barefooted! God is good.

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Why Jesus Came

Every moment of Jesus’ life on earth was lived to teach us about the Father……the Father’s love, the Father’s mercy and the Father’s plan of salvation. Every word He spoke, every action He took, pointed to God. By offering His life and suffering the agony that we never will, He spoke most eloquently and united us in a divine and eternal relationship with the Father, Himself and the Holy Spirit.

Easter Joy

Jesus came to earth,
To show us how to live,
How to put others first,
How to love and how to give.

Then He set about His work,
That God sent Him to do;
He took our punishment on Himself;
He made us clean and new.

He could have saved Himself,
Calling angels from above,
But He chose to pay our price for sin;
He paid it out of love.

Our Lord died on Good Friday,
But the cross did not destroy
His resurrection on Easter morn
That fills our hearts with joy.

Now we know our earthly death,
Like His, is just a rest.
We’ll be forever with Him
In heaven, where life is best.

So we live our lives for Jesus,
Think of Him in all we do.
Thank you Savior; Thank you Lord.
Help us love like you!

poem by Joanna Fuchs

Visit my website: http://www.grief-recovery.org to download FREE articles on healing from loss.

A Prayer for Grace and Guidance

     Father, touch the hearts that are deeply injured and struggling heal them with Your precious love. Mend the brokenness and the pain that lies so deep it can not be reached except by You. Perform a miracle of restoration and renewal during the coming Easter season as you did when you walked among us and made lives whole, not only for the moment but for eternity. Renew in us the hope that is so easily lost and help us to cherish and claim the promise You made in Isaiah 61:1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

      Lord, you called us to be Your ministers and carry on the work that You begun. Help us to respond to the call and NOT stand down due to fear, doubt or distractions. As you spoke to Joshua admonishing him to “be strong and courageous” and assured him that You would be with him wherever he went, in the same manner You call us to be Your tenacious warriors. May we persist when we would rather quit, may we tend to the needs of others when we would rather look to our own needs.

     May we heed the call and make a difference in the life of one person today and every day for the rest of our lives. Fill us with grace and mercy and show us the way. Amen.

 

Visit my website: http://www.grief-recovery.org to download FREE articles on healing from loss.

Give Peace A Chance

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“He has delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.” Psalm 55:18

I wish I could say that I’ve never wrestled with a problem until I was totally exhausted but instead gave it to God immediately and let Him deal with it while I praised and worshiped….but (sigh) that wouldn’t be true.

I’m the youngest in a family of 7 siblings and, while my brothers and sisters were protective when it came to outside threats, that didn’t exclude them from teasing and bossing me around and occasionally making me the scapegoat for their misdemeanors. Since appealing to a higher power (our parents) didn’t always bring the desired results, I learned to fend for myself at an early age. Actually I did it for many reasons including: wanting to shine in my sibilings eyes, prove that I was equal to any task, keep them from taking what belonged to me or in some cases…..prevent them from blaming me for their “accidents.” And since old habits die slowly (or not at all) my “I can do this” attitude carried into adulthood.

Looking back I’ve come to realize how little I actually accomplished for all the effort I expanded and how much easier it would have been if I had let God deliver me from conflict and allowed His peace to fill my life. It’s a new concept for me but one I’m learning quickly and as the saying goes, “better late than never.”

 

Visit my website: http://www.grief-recovery.org to download FREE articles on healing from loss.

 

Connect The Dots

On a particularly gloomy day, when I was feeling overwhelmed with the many difficult and seemingly unsolvable situations I was dealing with, I decided to make a list of the  blessings God has given me. I started with His gift of life and listed everything that came to mind….big and small. The list kept growing and my attitude kept rising. Now I keep a daily journal with the blessings for that day. Sometimes the blessings are big, healing for someone I’ve been praying for, and sometimes the blessings are less dramatic…..the joy of seeing my tulips in bloom.

I want to share the following email I received this morning from Max Lucado on that topic. I hope it inspires you as much as it did me.  

Life has a way of unloading its rubbish on us. Your boss expects too much. Your kids whine too much. Trash. Load after load of anger; guilt; pessimism; bitterness; and anxiety. It all piles up! As a result, we must guard our thoughts. Today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions. Today’s jealousy is tomorrow’s hate crime. Could that be why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:5, “Love keeps no record of wrongs”? Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we have a choice: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.”

Selfishness, step back! Envy, get lost! Rather than store up the sour thoughts, store up the sweet ones. Make a list of God’s mercies; the many times he has blessed you…the many times he has forgiven you. And you will find your thoughts resulting in happy days.

From: A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado

 

Visit my website: http://www.grief-recovery.org to download FREE articles on healing from loss.

Meet The Author

Come join me and 5 other authors at CSU San Bernardino from 12 to 3 pm on 2/6/16

Healing From Loss Workshop

While there are no methods or structured procedures for healing from loss, there are guidelines and benchmarks to help those who are starting their journey.

I wll be conducting Healing From Loss workshop series starting October 5th in Loma Linda, CA. Register by Oct 1 and receive a 30% discount. For more info and to register go to http://www.Grief-Recovery.org

What previous attendees are saying:

“I feel that the workshop was very helpful – safe place to talk about feelings. Would like a follow-up course.” Diane S.

“I had a huge loss, my husband was killled by a drunk driver. I felt very comforted through my experience at Paulina’s workshops. She presented material that both allowed emotional expression and thoughtful meditation on the grief experience. She is very nurturing and realistic in her approach to grief. Her workshops are Christ centered, providing tools to help a person move through the grief process and achieve the ability to go on in life without the one you love. Paulina really helped me a lot and I highly recommend her workshops for healing during grief.” Lisa G.

“It was a healing experience for me as I was going through a bad time. I’ll always remember your calm and caring voice explaining the process.”  Anita A.

“I found the workshop extremely helpful. It moved me from unbearable grief to acceptance even though I have my moments of grief I can handle them using the tools I learned from this workshop.” Cynthia.G

“Very enjoyable, good material, very complete. Many things that are helpful for life in general.” Karla H

Please visit my website: http://www.grief-recovery.org to download FREE articles on healing from loss.