JusChrist4

Wow–thanks to Pastor Edward Ramirez for such a revelation to close out the year of 2017!

“I have come that they may have LIFE and have it to the FULL.”
John 10:10

My prayer for the day; My prayer for the journey….

Dear God, THANK YOU, for my life, my love, my family and friends. Thank you for keeping me in the midst of a very difficult year. You held it down! You managed to still do so much with me and for others.  I saw smiles in the midst of massive tears.  I heard laughter in the midst of agonizing pain. Thank you because none of us lost our minds in the madness but we found miracles in it.  We saw your hand literally over the face of our family embracing us in the chaos.  You were there just as the Word declares…

“Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”
Psalm 139:10

You’re just amazing God because we still have life when we faced death.
We saw light in the midst of darkness.
We see a way in the midst of the deepest valleys.
Your power and glory are there!

So apart from the gratitude here is the simple request that I bring to you in prayer.  May You continue to shower healing and great health over the Mendez family, Arvelo family, Ramirez family, Cruz family, Rivera family and the many more families that I am connected to both in the natural and in the Kingdom! We love you and trust you. This is our year for greatness! Why? Because You were there through the most daunting experiences and You are still here now.  May the family LIVE, LAUGH AND LOVE well.  Let the smiles be radiant and thankful hearts rejoice in this holiday season.  Make it happen –because You will always be the God of the impossible. Amen and Amen.

This is our time to emerge!

With Love,

Christina

I can’t believe how fast we got to Thanksgiving week! Unbelievable! So many things to be grateful and thankful for. However, in a mind where rumination exists this could be a time of turmoil as the holidays approach.  What can we do to counterattack that mindset? We can begin by working diligent to flush out those thoughts and focus on the positive.  There is always something to be grateful and thankful for. Even in the lack.

As Apostle Paul wrote:

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  Philippians 4:11-12

No matter what season we go through we learn how to be content. This is a state of inner peaceful happiness.  Instead of thinking so much on the things that we do not have or have been negative, we have to think of what we have left and what is positive. There’s life that continues for us and we need to find purpose in that. We can live again, laugh again and love again.

What are we grateful for? What are the things that we can appreciate in our life? There are family, friends and fellowship.  There are people that still love us tremendously. There are friends that need your words, your hugs and your time.  There are people that we can fellowship with and share encouraging words through times like this. We just have to come out of a state of inactivity to where we are actively seeking the good.

We have to nourish our mind. Not the pain, not the past and not with the things we can do nothing about.  We are grateful to have had wonderful memories.  We appreciate them. Now we also have the capacity to make new ones.

There is also a big world for us to travel upon.  The many places our eyes have not seen to remind us of all the beautiful things that exist.  Places to visit, coffee shops to sit in and landmarks to view.  This is all for us.  We just need to invest the time in travel because there is such a value in viewing new things.

What are we thankful for?  What are we pleased and relieved about?  I am pleased and relieved that I got through MANY difficult obstacles in life. Which leads me to believe that no matter which ones come my way, there is going to always be a way out.  Look at how far I have come. Look at how far YOU have come. We are not the same people, we are stronger! We become a better version of us.

We learn how to move away from rumination, which is the process of deep thought.  It is where we encourage negative thinking. We feed it. We keep it alive. We care for it and continue to give it life rather then let it die out.

“If you start looking for good news, you will find it everywhere.”
Renew: Breaking Free from Negative Thinking, Anxiety & Depression
Julie Winter 

So let’s start seeking the good. We find that in His word and we find that by changing our thoughts to reflect heavily and purposefully on what we are grateful and thankful for this holiday season.  Some people don’t even have a warm plate of food, but we do and we can help someone get theirs.  They will be grateful and thankful for YOU!

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Remember not to eat too much. 🙂 #justfortoots

With Love,

Christina

Driving out of the country part of Scotland, we can once again take in all the beautiful land.  So many trees, bushes and green pastures. It’s all quite breathtaking. I wish I could stay there.  We point to the colorful bushes and say–“Look at the many berries on the bushes!” Our guide says, “Oh no you don’t want those–they are poisonous!”

They certainly don’t look poisonous.  They look very good. I love berries! I can eat a whole plate of them easily. But no matter how good some things may be, some of it can actually be very harmful for you.  There are good things that can be negative –we just need to watch for that.

Just like the Word declares:

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
1 Corinthians 6:12

So many things are good–relationships, food, sports, social media, work…but what about when they have a power over you? What about when they bring you down? Or when the good things take the place of God?  Then the good thing becomes negative. Those things are also so hard to let go–because they are GOOD! But the negative effect that is occurring because we continue to keep certain things in our lives is not so good for us any more.

How do we identify those things?  Here’s a few to help….

Relationships— as T.D. Jakes says, “Value is determined by sacrifice.”  So is this relationship a benefit if there is no sacrifice?  Is the person willing to go the mile that you are going for them? Are they willing to lay down some things to accommodate you –just the same as you would do for them?  Are they willing to change behavior patterns–repeated wrongs?  Does that change?

Well there is your answer.

Food— Is this food healthy for you?  Are you consuming too much of a good thing?  Have you done research to certain types of food that you love that are good? How is your caffeine intake?  Your vegetable and protein intake?  What if you are loading up on fruits all day?  Did you know how much sugar they actually contain?  Have you gotten a recent physical?

There is your answer.

Sports— Oh how we love our sports don’t we.  However, are we damaging relationships that are good to have because we are competitive? Are we becoming too exhausted by them?  Are we getting injured by them? Are we taking too much time to contribute to them while neglecting other tasks that are just as important?

There is your answer.

Social Media— this is actually great! We get to keep in contact with family and friends from afar.  We get to stay in touch with pictures, videos and more.  But are you becoming affected by postings? Are the tags and yearly pop up reminders disturbing your soul?  Are you becoming sad, angry or frustrated by them? Do you feel excluded? Disliked? Unloved? Is this taking too much of your time by them?

There is your answer.

Work–we all need to make a living.  Is your job stressing you out on a daily basis? Are you losing sleep because of it? Are you spending too much time at the work place and finding that you no longer have adequate time to do life?

Well–there are some answers.  It is not that these things are bad for us.  They are good.  But when the negative begins to outweigh the good–the only thing that you can change at that point is YOU.  You can change what you do, how you connect, where you work, the healthy relationships that you can invest in, the food that you can enjoy and the time that you can take for exercise and sports!

Everything has its balance.  You just need to learn what is best for you.  The key to having a healthy life, is all based on the choices that you make in your daily routine. The things that don’t benefit you and begin to pull you down then take those away.  Reduce it. Doesn’t mean you have to eliminate the use of good things. Just keep things to a minimum so that you have the best of God’s best for you!

You can start today…. Make the things around you positive, by changing the things that can and must.

With Love,

Christina

I am just returning from an amazing trip to the UK, which they would call vacation as a “Holiday”! I would say that this was the best holiday ever! This was the second trip I made out this year to Scotland but this one was so amazing because it was a getaway from my normal world.  I needed the time to reflect, redirect, re-purpose, rejuvenate, re-calibrate, restore, replenish but most importantly —renew my mind!

You don’t realize how much we clutter our minds as we continue day to day with our busy schedules.  It is SO good and so healthy to get away with folks that you don’t live with to refresh.  There is a time to get away with your family indeed–that is a priority time to plan and save as reserved of course.  However, time away with friends that you love is truly a time well spent and well deserved.  This is bonding with your sisters.

They know you, understand you and allow you to take that time to settle your mind. You become a child again. Able to be that authentic loving version that you don’t get to put on most days.  I have a role as wife, mother, daughter, pastor, business professional and more. It gets so busy for me –jumping from role to role.  During this vacation it was just me being me…nothing else required. I fell in love with me again. I took the time to de-clutter. I took the time to discard so many negative thoughts that were building up and coming through every act.  It was becoming very toxic for me.

I finished reading a book, “Fiercehearted” by Holley Gerth and continued to dive into another good read called, “Renew: Breaking Free From Negative Thinking, Anxiety and Depression” by Julie Winter. This was a hearts cry of mine.  Can I be real with that?

My thoughts and actions were becoming disgusting to ME! Imagine what it was doing to others. 😦 I wanted to break free from that and breaking out to another place to reassess, refresh and redo all that was the best decision I could have made.  So timely.  I think I just reached the brink of a huge breakdown and meltdown that was seeping through. I didn’t enjoy being me.  I hated to wake up. I hated my thoughts and I couldn’t even focus. In a nutshell–I fell into another onset of a deep depressed state coupled with anxiety attacks because of my negative thinking!

There’s hope!

God led me to pick these books and be obedient to study them. My mind was becoming way too negative for me to function properly.  I felt so broken inside–so unimportant. I felt less than a person. I felt less of everything. And that is because I kept nurturing and feeding this one big lie that the enemy kept showing me.

“You don’t even matter!”

Shaking my head! Well I do matter. I am important.  I am loved. I am different. I have beautiful things about me. I am special. I am appreciated. By who—? By GOD Himself! And also by me! There are those that love and value me in their life! I am important to God’s Kingdom.  I have a specific assignment.  I have things to do, things to share, things to write, things to teach–but how could I do all that with the enemy tearing at my mind, heart and soul ALL DAY LONG???

RENEWAL!

Renew my thinking–because it starts within me. In comes the thought–Chrizzy flush that crap out! Bad word–I’m sorry, but call it what it is. Stinking thinking that needs to be flushed out.  Like crap sitting in a bowl –down it goes–and the smell remains but eventually will disappear into the air and it will smell pure again.

FLUSH IT DOWN AND OUT!

Because that is what the enemy wants to feed us daily–when God wants to uplift us daily. it starts in the mind.  If you are someone that is being weighed down and bombarded with the thoughts then this is for you too. Don’t leave it there. Floating around. Entertaining it…staring at it…rehashing it… keeping it alive… when all it needs to do is flush itself out and be discarded! CAST THOSE THOUGHTS DOWN!!!!

The feelings will then come into alignment with those POSITIVE thoughts. It is time to renew folks–renew our mind so that our ways of life become healthy. So that we can have the victory.  This “Renew” book reminded me to go to God first–to ask Him to reveal the “big” lie–so that all the little “reminders” trying to attach itself to the great big lie can be dealt with and discarded.

What’s the big lie for you? Identify that and use FORCE to cast it down.  Make it obey Christ –Make it obey His word. Wash yourself now–not with wipes but the water that comes gushing from His word.  That is your life source now and always. To cast is to use force folks! It is to use much effort… to destroy and to tear down. It is work! It is a daily and consistent job! That job belongs to no man but yourself.

More to follow on Renewing The Mind….. stay tuned folks.  My writers block has been SEVERED!!!!! Praise D Lord as Grandma Nelly says! Love her.  LOL

Let’s live again…laugh again…. love again… the right way.  Discard every negative thought and begin to love the God that created such a beautiful unique version of YOU! ❤

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭10:4-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

With love,

Christina