Angelina by Dean Brody

Struggles and Finding Help

OK.  For those of you who keep up with my blog, before you bite my head off for not posting for nearly half a year lately, just let me give you a few excuses...oh yeah, I don't have any.  To be honest, life has been going quite well for me lately.  Lucas seems to be in perfect health.  No ear infections or anything.  My dear husband, Eddie, is doing pretty good as well.

And although things are looking up for me, I cannot even begin to explain the struggles that I have been going through lately.  There is a certain battle in my life that I'm not quite willing to share with the public just yet that I have been fighting for the past several months.  This battle has turned into a war, and to be honest, I'm waiting for God to win it for me. After all, there are no struggles in life that I can win all by myself, right?  Isn't it God who I have to turn my battles over to?

Other than this slight battle, everything else seems to be going really good.  I've been praying about mine and Eddie's finances, and just as quick as I started praying about them, God blessed me with a job where I'm making double triple four times as much as I usually make.  That's right!  I'm quickly getting used to a whole new standard of life that I'm not usually accustom to.  Sure, I've been blessed my whole life when it comes to finances, but for once, it's me that's paying for the things that I really want. It's so great not having to ask my family for gas money the things that I want or need.

This new job that I've landed is not a job that is certain to last any longer than tomorrow, so it's something I have to turn daily over to Jesus.  He is the one who is in charge of my future.  He's in charge of what happens to me and my family tomorrow.  And honestly, I completely trust him.  He's not out to get me.  He has my best interest in mind, and more importantly, he has my family's best interest in mind.

No matter your struggles, and rest assured that I know you have one, or two, or three, God is here to help you with them.  He is here to help you overcome your fears.  No matter your past, whether it be tangled up with drugs, lies, stealing, sleeping around, etc., God is here to help you.  He has helped me, and He is here to help you.  I come from a past that is full of lies and shame, but still yet, God has helped me deal with those sleepless nights where guilt and shame kept me awake.  He can help you too.  All you have to do is say, "God Help Me Please."

Trying to Keep My Nose Out of People's Business

For some reason I have been so nosy into other people's business lately.  I've kept my opinions to myself (good for me) instead of blasting them across social media platforms, but I really wish I would worry more about myself and less about everyone else.

Why do I feel the need to compare myself to other people?  The bible specifically says "Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.  Don't be impressed with yourself.  Don't compare yourself with others.  Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life." Galatians 6:4-5

No where does it say to make a careful exploration of others and the work they have been given, and then to sink yourself into that.  My life is my life, other people's lives are theirs.  I should not concern myself with their sins.  Their accomplishments.  Or their views on me.  

I really need to quit trying to do things my way.  The Bible says if I do, I will end up with a life that is full of "repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community." Galatians 5:19-21 

Oh my goodness, I cannot stress enough how much my life has already been the spitting image of what was mentioned above a million times over!  Ok, ok, maybe not a million times, but for years Galatians 5:19-21 was the exact description of my life. 

I do not want that life.  I want better!  I want to "Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit.  Then [I] won't feed the compulsions of selfishness.  For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.  These two ways of life are antithetical, so that [I] cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how [I] feel on any given day." Galatians 5:16-18

Lord that is my prayer!!!  Keep my nose out of other people's business, and direct my life in a way that I can live freely, completely motivated by your Spirit.  

The Many Reasons Not to Write for the Yahoo! Contributor Site

Yahoo! supposedly loves receiving freelance articles covering opinions of other sites, products, and, well, just about anything.  When I submitted an opinion piece on writing for Yahoo!; however, my piece was immediately rejected.  I found this somewhat amusing because they read and rejected my writing in less than three days.  Every other piece I ever submitted to them took almost two weeks to hear anything back.

Take a look below at the opinion piece they rejected of mine, and keep to heart what it is saying.  If you're a freelance writer looking for work, try out Textbroker, Writer Access, or even try getting some private clients, and as stated below, ABSOLUTELY avoid Yahoo!.

Yahoo! Contributor Network is Not Worth Writing For

First of all, the editors are obviously not up-to-par with grammar and spelling, as there are always an abundance of mistakes and errors that can be found in the articles that they publish on Yahoo!.

Secondly, as a professional paid writer, when not one article is accepted for upfront payment by Yahoo! and you have had thousands of other articles accepted by thousands of clients, you get the feeling that Yahoo! can't spot high-quality content when it's right in front of its face.

Furthermore, the review process takes WAY TOO LONG. Even if you write an article that is about one of today's trending topics, by the time it is reviewed, the trendiness is usually gone.

Lastly, the pay is horrible! An upfront payment of $4.00 for a 500-word article just doesn't suffice for the amount of time that it takes to type 500 words. On average, at least a payment of $15.00 to $250.00 for a 500-word article needs to be acquired.

All in all, I will not recommend the Yahoo! Contributor Site to anyone!

My My, How Things Have Changed

My my, how things have changed from where I used to be.  And I can't complain.  Things have definitely changed for the better.  Two years ago, three years ago, four years ago, five years ago....heck, I could go back to 10 years ago, and if I did, your jaw would drop-to-the-ground in disbelief as to the things that I was doing.

It was nothing for me to go on a ten day haul with no sleep.  No food for that matter either.  Nowadays, going more than a couple of hours without food, or more than 16 hours without at least a cat-nap, sure does something awful to me.  Anyways, point is, things have changed, and it's for the better.

God has graciously shown me his love.  Removing people from my life that needed to be removed, and placing the special one's in my life right where they need to be.  I can't even begin to explain how good it feels to be where I am today.

I'm not saying that life is all grand, because it for sure isn't.  I still battle with certain problems on a daily basis.   I still stay awake at night praying to God that he helps me overcome certain issues.   I still find myself battling some of the same fights that I have been fighting for the last decade.  Only thing that matters, however, is that I am still fighting.  I am overcoming my faults through God's spirit.  He is constantly and continually staying by my side just as he promises.

If you asked me two years ago if I was happy, I would have said no.  If you asked me the year before that and the year before that and the year before that.....and so on, I would have said no.  But, finally, I can say yes.  I am content with my life and happy to be who I am.

I guess the main reason behind my ability to be happy is that I have finally figured out who I am....

I am a child of God.

The Good Things in My Life

Can you believe I've only posted three postings over the last two months?  Me either!  I used to post nearly five times a week.  I really need to get back to writing more often.  Writing is what I enjoy most, so I'm really confused as to why I have given up on it.  Well, writing for pleasure that is.  I still write professionally on a daily basis, but that's not the same as this. 

Anyways, God has been so great to me lately.  Eddie and I and Lucas are fixing to move into our very own place.  I always thought building our own home would be so enjoyable.  Truth is, it's very stressful.  This might sound silly, but I'm constantly turning to God when it comes to choosing out vanities, cabinets, paint colors and more.  I get so stressed about it that I have to turn every little detail over into his hands.  That's the way I need to be about everything in my life. 

In addition to being excited about the house-building thing, I'm also excited about Eddie and I getting married.  It's looking like a wedding ceremony will take place sometime this fall.  Being married will definitely be a blessing because it is something that God will bless with his very own hands. 

So, what else is new?  Well, Lucas did great at t-ball.  Next month he starts kickball.  I do believe Eddie and I have a wonderful little ball player on our hands.  Whether it be baseball or basketball or football, he is going to be amazing and extremely talented. 

Other than all of the above, I am also excited about going to see Kevin James this September.  Eddie and I will have a great time going out cause it's something we don't get to do very often with him working all the time and everything. 

That's about it.  That's pretty much what's going on in my life.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  The pic above is of my sis and I when we went to a concert a couple of weeks ago.  My very first real-concert was going to see the biggest boy band in the world: One Direction.  To be such young boys, they sure put on a show.  I'm glad my sis had such a good time, and yeah, I have to admit, I had a pretty dang good time too.

I pray that all is well with you.  I pray that you are finding the joy you are in search of, for I know, whether we realize it or not, each of us is on a conquest for the joy of Christ.  God bless!! Thanks for reading.

Being Thankful

Goodness, it appears that I have really been lacking in my postings lately.  When I face many troubles, I have all kinds of stuff to talk about, but when things are going good, my words are sparse.  Truth is, when things are going good, this should be the time that I have the most of words.  My words should be focused around praising God for the peace and serenity he has implanted into my life.

Keeping this in mind, here are ten things that I am ever-so thankful for:

1. My son
2. My fiance
3. My family
4. My health
5. Shelter
6. Transportation
7. His Word
8. Answered and Unanswered Prayers
9. The power of prayer
10. His mercy