Blog topics usually come from the life-lessons I'm learning as I learn them and from the struggles and questions of those around me. Last night as I was going to bed, one came to me from one of those struggles. This blog is later in the day and last night's topic has been postponed by the perfect, gorgeous day God gifted us with today in Pittsburgh.
How awesome is our God! Today a friend took me to run errands and I got to enjoy this beautiful day on the move rather than just in my own yard. We had the car windows open and I was able to see the beauty of the Fall leaves, one of my favorite things. As an artist, I was noticing the exceptional beauty of the sunlight on all of nature around me. And I then realized how incredibly awesome our Creator is! He actually created all of this on purpose! He created seasons and atmospheric conditions so that sunlight appears differently and creates different effects depending on the season! This tells us what a Loving and giving Father He is to us! He cares about us enough to have even set our earth up this way for us!
One of the lessons for me in this is that He created each of us the same way, with the same care. And He did all of this for us, each one of us. This tells me so much about His majesty, Love, and care. I can't even begin to use it to think about the mind of God, that He was able to plan all this in advance. But He did! None of this is by chance. It tells me so much about His Love for us and the perfection of His creation as He did it. Yes, we've really messed it up so much, as He knew we would. And so He also planned for all of that, to help us in spite of that.
With all this in mind, we need to respect His creation - the earth and other people. We also need to respect ourselves. When you think poorly of yourself, you're thinking poorly of His creation! When you abuse others or the earth or yourself, you're abusing what He created!
Please understand that the God who made all of this and all of us is still working in our lives. He didn't just put all this together for us and then abandon us. So you can entirely trust Him in faith to help you receive the greatest good in your lives!
Off and on in my life I've pondered the question of free will and how involved God is in our lives. Today He helped me come to understanding. First of all, God has helpers - one part of Him, the Holy Spirit, is the messenger, as are His angels. The next point is that all we need is already here for us. Think about it - air, water, plants, food, resources, knowledge - it's already here. Getting to it is often a problem for people, granted. We can be tripped up by not knowing what we don't know, and not knowing where to find or how to get what we need. But it is, indeed, already here. Now, I'm going to do this with the subject of needed knowledge because it's easiest to explain.
Our part is to set intent to know and learn what we need and want, then take action to find it. What He does for most people is to guide those who will listen, to the sources they need. The guidance is in the form of gentle promptings. If you listen to the feeling to turn on the TV right now, the information you need is being broadcast on the set station. He knew it was on TV and gently prompted you to go turn it on then. If necessary, you're also prompted to change the channel to receive it. If you didn't listen, you'd receive the same gentle prompting the next time it's being broadcast. If it's a more important message and gentle promptings haven't yielded results, then bigger things happen to prompt you. This is natural consequences, not punishment for not listening. Let's say you need to go to the doctor now for a minor problem you've been ignoring. It's important for you to receive a message to do that and if you don't listen to gentle promptings the symptoms are going to get worse until you finally do something about it. God uses these gentle promptings whenever possible through other people too, not just media. You may feel prompted to go visit a friend. The friend will then be prompted to talk about the subject needed to give you the information you need. If you don't go or the friend doesn't respond to the prompting, another opportunity will appear with more prompting. Whenever possible, God uses what's already in place in the universe, the supply that's already there. And He gives us every chance possible to get exactly what we need, in the most natural way possible. That's because He has given us free will and therefore rarely uses His angels (unless they're asked) to provide intervention. It's not really intervention if you've asked for it - it's granting your request.
So why do you so often not get what you want, and seem to go without what you need? We have to do our part too. We have to set intent. We have to be in motion and do the work that's given to us to do. Most of all that work is to love others, give to them, be responsive to them, and to do the same for ourselves. We must also loves ourselves and be as kind and giving to ourselves as we are to others. We have to be open and willing, and to believe that good will come to us or we will miss the opportunities. And those gentle promptings are received the easiest by those in relationship with Him. Again, these are all natural consequences of our behaviors (remember consequences are cause and effect, neither "good" or "bad"). Some of us receive the information we need directly, because of our close relationship with Him. We are more able to listen and hear Him. (When I say "hear" and "we" please understand that yes, I'm including me in that group of those in close relationship. All of today's message came directly through Him. No one else supplied any of this. And when I say "hear," please understand that we don't actually hear his voice. So few have done that, because it's just too much for us. The "hearing" is an information download into our minds, which we also receive in our hearts. And those who aren't in close relationship won't even begin to recognize or believe that the messages came from God, so they wouldn't be received even if delivered.) Finally, because of free will, it's up to us what we do as a result of the messages. And how much and how quickly we receive depends on how quickly and willingly we are ready to listen and learn. God loves each of us, wants only what's best for us, our highest good. And He works with us, in our lives, to make that possible. But again notice, I said "works with us." We have our part to do too.
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