@nekaishi@KaoriLupine If we were all windows in God’s temple, it wouldn’t be a very good temple.
But we do need to remember we ARE part of God’s temple and endeavor to live like it- even if we don’t know what part we are or where we fit in. That’s why God’s the master builder and not us.
@Scarlet_BelleVr Romans 14 is an excellent one that we should all meditate on regularly.
Little changes in little places in God’s timing lead to big things. Not always as we expect it, sometimes not how we want it, but in the ways that truly matter in the end.
I can’t remember if I shared my testimony with you before or not, but the short of it is that I’ve wrestled with many of those same demons for most of my life.
Lost years of college to depression. Know what it’s like to stare down active considerations of suicide. Know what it’s like to not be motivated to put food in empty cupboards despite the store being a five minute walk away on a sunny day. Wrestling with self-doubt, self-worth, and pervasive loneliness, while trying everything I could think of to break through that wall and find meaningful connection.
From using behavioral changes like naps to reset my brain when I identified the descent into “depressive-cycle think” to pushing myself into extracurriculars and public gatherings that felt as foreign as oil to water, I spent 15 years wrestling with it and failing time and time again. Pockets of success, growth, understanding, but the inevitable return to a tear soaked pillow lamenting if it was possible that God had someone planned for me, or if I was destined to a lifelong slog as a bachelor.
Personally, I spent that time, psychologically tearing apart my own life & history to understand “why”. It took an incredibly emotionally abusive relationship combined with severe physical injury that I was humbled enough in a way that finally broke my pride, such that God could remake me. I had been a Christian for most of my life, but I didn’t truly and meaningfully submit myself to God until about 32. It wasn’t until that I fully gave my life over that things really turned around- not just my past, not just my present, but my hopes, dreams, and future as well. It didn’t happen in the way I expected mind you, I’m permanently debilitated now, but that weakness is truly one of the greatest blessings I’ve ever received.
We logic it. We think about it. But until we experience it at the heart level, we’re just kind of floating on the surface. Some keep floating into their 50’s or longer. I’m blessed that God tipped my boat over and dumped me into the cold so I could better appreciate His grace.
If you ever feel like a visit, let me know. Text is a poor medium for the volume I want to convey in empathy and life experience.
@NamikaVT@SibeyVT Excellent choice for your future health and happiness! May God bless you and your husband in all your future endeavors, living in Christ for Gods glory and kingdom.
Pray together daily, & be wary of temptations that would pull you from your path when you have low moments.
@nekaishi While you’re right about sex, to be fair, video games and online media pump dopamine into your brain and are this generations socially celebrated drug of choice.
The positive side effects are just a convenient justification to keep doing it, but it has its costs.
If they don’t know and respect your beliefs, if they don’t know and respect your history, they don’t know you. And if they don’t know you, they are not friends- they’re tourists. And even if they get to know a bit about you, that just makes them informed tourists with a detailed brochure on your life. There’s no meaningful investment. Just coffee and conversation with strangers who might be fun to game with.
True friendship is a deep bond. Too much of society today would call strangers with shared interests friends. You can have a deep philosophical conversation and share your history with strangers- but doesn’t make them friends, it just makes them informed.
Proverbs 17:17 summarizes friendship well, or if you prefer the more scholarly deep dive: https://t.co/lcHaO1HDDx
I like JD Vance. He seems like a peace keeping soul, a family man with a sharp mind.
HOWEVER. His performance in Switzerland demonstrates that he either doesn’t believe in the fundamentals of deterrence, or lacks the fortitude to perform them on the world stage.
Rubio 2028.
Lord, never let my personal theology blind me to the spiritual fruit of another sibling in Christ.
Theology is important because bad theology harms so many people. We need to arrive at theology with a humble heart, caring for the truth, not the opinion of others, and we pour blood, sweat, and tears into the work. I have studied the Bible, church fathers, history, and more to arrive at what I believe. I am not done yet and likely never will be until I leave this earth. I know that I deeply believe what I believe to be true and will tell you as much.
But I’m not arrogant enough to tell you that only my way is the path to heaven.
Catholics: I see the fruit in Fulton Sheen and Padre Pio.
Orthodox: St. Paisios had an amazing and wonderful legacy.
Calvinists: Spurgeon was a legendary preacher, and many of the greatest missionaries in the world believed in Tulip.
I may have had theological differences with everyone listed above, but I know God used them and they loved Him.
All of us believe manmade doctrines, period. Even those of us who say we’re biblical require the interpretation of ourselves or another.
While some theologies are better than others, Jesus saves us in spite of them, often not because of them.
Keeping this is mind, we all must know why we believe what we do. Yet we must also see the fruit of the spirit where it is, and respect it. I don’t tell God how He may or may not act; I am instead going to respect anyone acting in one accord with the Holy Spirit.
So never let my opinion be anything more than…my opinion. And let me care more for what truly matters.
@tuuu28283 Probably about 10 years old myself by my parents/grandparents. They wanted me to understand an important tool, its use, and to foster in me a deep respect for safety, the history, and what it can do.
@johnkonrad To be fair, regardless of the actual realities that follow it has been terrible public optics.
I get the practical. I get the political. I get contingencies and the intent. I even get a few of the hypotheticals. But the baseline public reaction of supporters like me ain’t great.
@geekyjenise Spiders are tolerated on property when outside. However I have a strict rule that they are only allowed *outside*. They creep me out.
The only relocation service I offer should they cross that outdoor/indoor threshold is a crushing trip to the porcelain express.
We attempted to get them weapons, but the middlemen stole the guns for themselves rather than getting it to the Iranian people. Without their population having weapons to fight back, there’s not much you can do from just air strikes. We blew up quite a few of their leaders, but we don’t want boots on the ground. We sent help, but not enough to effect a full regime change.
We are walking a tightrope politically during mid terms. Democrats gain a couple senate seats and the next two years Trump won’t be able to do hardly anything for anyone. Lose congress too and it’ll be perpetual impeachment hearings. It looks like republicans have a majority, but there are many traitors among them so it’s actually almost 50/50 in terms of policy and politics.
Plus Trump ran on a ticket of not getting America involved in wars- so it’s already the challenge of doing what’s right while going against the what you said you would do.
If he loses the midterms, then the Iranians are extra screwed because the democrats will take away both our bark and our bite.
Problem is that it’s a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation. Many want him to finish the job even though they didn’t want us to fight in the first place.
Short of it is? You don’t want to save someone’s ship if you sink your own ship in the process.
@infantrydort@johnkonrad Words fail to describe the amount of respect and admiration that I have for that legend. Quiet conviction, noble humility, deep honor, respectful hard earned wisdom, and a back straighter and stronger than most the country.
Inspiring.
I think it’s more commentary on those who are terminally online and shout things like “you can’t say that!”.
It’s definitely about those who can’t hold back and feel the need to insert politics into everything,
Do you need politics during Sunday worship? During soccer? During your birthday celebration?
His point is about reasonable discourse at reasonable times. Many folks online inject politics into their veins like an addict, and it’s frankly miserable to be around.
While it’s different for each person, the brain has its own form of muscle memory.
The more you think about negative thoughts, the better your brain gets at repeating negative thoughts. They become an anchor that prevents your ship from sailing to better waters. You try to pull the anchor up, but it gets stuck. Your brain gets comfortable being stuck.
You have to train your brain to stop clinging to the anchor- to stop focusing on the waters of the past, or it will trap you there. Sometimes we can break the anchor free. Sometimes we have to cut the anchor. That’s why it’s so important to think about the positive future and to repeat positive thoughts on where you are going. The anchor will try to pull you back, but you say it, “You are the past. I want to live for the future.”
It’s hard, and will take a long time. 3 years of living in negativity may take 3 years of seeking positivity to break the connection to the anchor. Step by step you’ll get away from the dark past towards a brighter future.
@johnkonrad Just got back from Cleveland Ohio.
A lot prettier than I expected.
But absolutely just as rough as I expected. Total culture shock going from Alaska to gangland USA. Can’t say I plan on going back.