As a young woman Mother Theresa, who was suffering from tuberculosis, heard the “call within the call”. She knew she was to leave the convent in Calcutta and work with the poor living among them. With only 5 Rupees in her hand, she started a school in the slums to teach the children of the poor.
Mother Theresa, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and India’s highest Civilian Award, set up nearly 570 homes for the poor in 125 countries.
With only 5 Rupees and battling sickness in her own body, Mother Theresa rose above poverty and made a better life for millions of people. One idea, one thought from God can bring significant change, not only to your life, but to the lives of those you know in your community and in your nation! http://bit.ly/1E6nKV7
Today we continue our discussion on Friendship, and friendship with God.
One night a man by the name of Victoricus appeared to his friend Patrick in a dream. Patrick had known Victoricus in Ireland when they were slaves. In Patrick’s dream, Victoricus held a letter with the heading “The Voice of the Irish,” and as Patrick read it, he heard the voice of a multitude of people crying and begging him to come back and walk among them once more.
You know, the ordinary person might be surprised and happy to have an old friend, or even a multitude, appear to them in a dream. But Patrick’s life was different. The Irish in the early 5th century were a barbaric collection of Celtic tribes, and they were regularly sending out raiding parties to capture slaves and riches. One day a great fleet of boats swept up the west coast of Britain and seized “many thousands” of young prisoners. Among these prisoners was a young man by the name of Patrick, who was taken to the slave markets in Ireland. Although he was educated and spoiled as a youth, he now found himself bound to slavery in the cold highlands of Ireland. Destitute with barely any clothing or food to eat, he would spend months with little to no contact with other humans. Yet in this barren place he developed a friendship with Victoricus, and a deep relationship with God.
Victoricus was a reminder to Patrick of Ireland’s need for help. He was an Irishmen trapped in the same slavery that Patrick had experienced. Perhaps you are like Victoricus and you need help? Or perhaps you’ve had a picture in your heart of someone you would like to help?
The dream appearing to Patrick to come and help the Irish was relentless, and finally he surrendered and trained for the ministry in France. A few years later he emerged from seminary as a young Bishop, eventually arriving on the shores of Ireland as the country’s first known missionary. By the time of Patrick’s death the Irish slave trade had ended, and murder and inter-tribal warfare had decreased significantly.
Today, you can be that friend, that caring voice of encouragement as Victoricus was to Patrick, and as Patrick was to an entire nation. You can help someone else find their destiny. So go ahead, take the risk, you won’t be disappointed!
I encourage you today to go to my website, www.LeslieMcNulty.com. We are here to help you, and have made tools available to you that will change your life!
Perhaps you can think of someone that you have wronged? Or perhaps someone has wronged you? If you have not allowed yourself to forgive you may be affecting your health! Are you an angry person? Have you considered the negative impact anger has on your health? According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, when you’re chronically angry you’re in a fight-or-flight mode—which can have effects on blood pressure and heart rate.
Forgiveness can get you out of the anger mode and eliminate harmful toxins that may be damaging your body. When you learn to forgive, your heart will thank you—because forgiveness has been shown to lower blood pressure. A 2011 study of married couples in the journal of Personal Relationships, showed that when the victim in the situation forgave the other person, both experienced a decrease in blood pressure.
Today we continue with the last three steps toward discovering emotional forgiveness.
Step # 3 is to become ALTRUISTIC or selfless, by giving the gift of forgiveness. Jesus Christ gave the greatest gift of forgiveness when He took our transgressions upon His body and died for us! He did nothing wrong, but God so loved us that He sent His Son to pay the price for our sin.
Christ’s words spoken on the cross ring out through eternity, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Isn’t this ultimately the voice of unconditional forgiveness, and doesn’t this give us the power to forgive? Sometimes in order to offer the gift of forgiveness we must remember or value an instance when someone else forgave us.
Once you make the decision to offer the gift of forgiveness, Worthington suggests Step #4, committing to public forgiveness. This can be done through writing in a journal, telling a friend, creating a certificate of forgiveness or even telling the individual that wronged you.
Step #5 is to HOLD ON to forgiveness. Psychologists say that forgiveness is not forgetting, but rather, forgiveness is a decision. Memories of the wrong incurred and the associated negative feelings will arise, but hold on to forgiveness! Remind yourself that you made a decision to forgive!
Scripture: Luke 23:34
As we talked about yesterday, today we will look at the first two steps toward discovering emotional forgiveness.
Step #1 requires you to RECALL the events and hurt as accurately and objectively as possible. I would liken this to accurate thinking—using our minds, not our emotions, to correctly understand and evaluate.
We don’t need to recall the event just to remember we are a victim or to punish the aggressor with our words. We recall to gain perspective. We can use our intellect to control our emotions, allowing us to control our actions and, ultimately, forgive.
The Bible tells us to “Bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Objectively taking our thoughts captive allows us the power to move forward.
Step # 2 is to EMPATHIZE. Try to understand what happened from the point of view of the person who wronged you. No one would suggest that this is easy, but by considering the motivations or short-comings of the other person, we may be able to replace negative emotions with positive emotions.
Dostoyevsky states, “Nothing is easier than to condemn the evildoer, nothing is harder than to understand him.”
Empathy is the process of putting yourself in the other person’s chair. Worthington, by looking at his mother’s killer as young, reactionary, and out of control, was better able to understand his mother’s senseless tragedy.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:5
I believe that you can find the power of divine forgiveness! You can accept Jesus’ forgiveness in your life for your own wrong doings, sins and shortcomings! And you can freely forgive those who have wronged you! Jesus said, ‘There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’
If you are looking for forgiveness today, say this with me: ”Jesus, I believe You forgave me 2,000 years ago. Right now I receive Your forgiveness, and I ask You come into my heart now.”
If you prayed this prayer, I want you to go to our website at www.lesliemcnulty.com and find the tools that we have for you. Tools that will help you find a life full of love, faith, and hope in the future!
God has granted us access to a relationship far greater than a master and a slave. He set all things before us so that we might enjoy the very best that life has to give!
We are not mere servants of God, but through God’s Son Jesus Christ we become children of God. Jesus called God Father! Have you ever called God ‘Father’? Perhaps you have called Him Creator, or you identify Him with the cosmic universe. But I want you to know today you can call Him Father.
Trust begins with a simple decision to get to know God through His words. How can you know all the functions of your TV or your cell phone if you don’t spend some time in the search menus or with the instruction booklet?
God only requires one thing for trust. He tells us, get to know Me and My words, and I will get to know you.
Quote: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” – Albert Einstein
How do you overcome apathy? First we have to understand it! What is apathy?
They observe but do not act.
They know but they do not care.
They hear but they do not respond.
They think of themselves rather than thinking of others.
Are YOU a part of the collective ‘THEY?’ Helen Keller said, “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all – the apathy of human beings”.
How many destinies can be changed when we emerge from apathy to action? Consider it: wherever you are today, you have power to initiate change! It does not matter your sex, age, or culture!
Just as Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Helen Keller overcame apathetic concern for their causes, you and I can discover renewed hope and expectation! Why wait? Let’s do it now! http://bit.ly/1NvFLQy
“A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” – Elbert Hubbard
The author of this phrase, Elbert Hubbard, also wrote a story about Ida Straus, and her death on the Titanic. As a woman she was supposed to be placed on a lifeboat before any of the men, but she refused to board the boat: “Not I!” She said, “I will not leave my husband. All these years we’ve traveled together, and shall we part now? No!” she said, “Our fate is one.” Hubbard then added his own stirring commentary:
“Mr. and Mrs. Straus, I envy you that legacy of love and loyalty left to your children and grandchildren. The calm courage that was yours all your long and useful career was your possession in death. You knew how to do three great things—you knew how to live, how to love and how to die.”
Ask yourself these three simple questions: Have I discovered the key to a full life? Have I learned to love with a full heart? What will I do when one day I face death? These questions, as simple as they may appear, lie at the core of a meaningful life! http://bit.ly/1FMgClw
TODAY’S QUOTE: It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Friends,
You will hear nuggets from this pen for years to come, even as I have given you nuggets for many years past. In all that is written remember that there is a vote that overrides all decisions. There is a card that trumps every hand. There is a law that supersedes all laws. That is Love. We make contracts with people because we are not sure of our future with them and any circumstances that may arise. God made a covenant with us for our benefit; He did not need it. Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Deuteronomy 7:9 In the garden there was only love. Before there were laws, there was love. Before there was an old or new covenant, there was love. Love is who lives in you. The mastery of love is what you saw in Jesus when you felt His embrace of salvation. But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. LOVE (1 Cor. 12:31)
HEALTH TIP: A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. -Tom Stoppard
