Words of Denver from "Same kind of different as me"

Whether your rich or poor or somewhere in between this earth is not a final resting place so in a way we are all homeless just working our way towards home.

Sin, Faith, Duty

Sin, Faith, Duty

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

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As I read this passage I am left with questions. I am left wondering when God says if he repents, forgive him. What does repents mean exactly? Below is the dictionary meaning of repent:

feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc. (often fol. by of): He repented after his thoughtless act.

to feel such sorrow for sin or fault as to be disposed to change one's life for the better; be penitent.

My mind is focused on "to feel such sorry for sin or fault as to be disposed to change ones life for the better".

To me this is repentance. So often people use the words I'm Sorry as a way of getting off the hook. I have struggled with this for a while. At what point does I'm sorry just not cut it? When do you draw the line and expose someone for not really being sorry? To me sorry means you are aware of what you did wrong and you are willing to work towards changing. What if that I'm sorry means that person is not willing to make those changes? I lived most of my life being told I'm Sorry by someone who was suppose to love me but chose to continue to abuse me. I took the abuse day in and day out but they always said they were sorry. So we forgive them right? Is that what God is saying? Now I am aware that not all situations are going to be abusive. I think abuse is a reason to stop and evaluate having that person in your life. Remembering that you are to forgive them and pray for them to be delivered from the stronghold on their life. You can do this from a distance though and not allow the abuse to continue. I think now looking at the situation minus the abuse. When the person says I'm sorry but continues that bad behavior and does nothing to make their words an action in their day to day you should hold them accountable. I think too we need to remember that you can forgive someone but not be OK with the behavior. You can choose not to be a part of it. I don't think forgiving someone means allowing them to continue to treat you badly and having them think their sorry is good enough. We need to remember in this that you can not change someone, only God can and only if they allow the change to happen. That thing called free will. That would be where this comes into play. When you forgive someone it allows you to be free. When you pray for someone who has wronged you it also allows you to be free. Am I being too cold to think that a simple I'm sorry is not enough? Should we just let those off the hook that easy? Allow them to be lazy and selfish thinking that them and their actions do not play a part in the bigger picture? I think this is for each one of you to decide. Being who I am and coming from where I have come from this is the decision I have decided to make. To hold those accountable as I would want to be held accountable. I don't want to allow the fake sorry's to bring me down and set me off course to the path god has set for me. I want to work on forgiving those that have wronged me but letting them know that if they choose to continue the behavior that they really are not sorry. I want to forgive and move on and know who to keep close to me and who will keep my light lit when the darkness starts to make it fade..

Vision

As I think through my vision lately and the days when I feel like it is passing through my fingers I am reminded through God that there is always someone fighting harder than me. As I read this story of a man named Moses in Uganda I am brought to tears. Thank you to this man for his vision and fighting for it, thank you for the man who was willing to go outside of his comfort zone to bring me and many others this amazing story. How blessed this man is when to many he may seem very poor.. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did. What an amazing God we serve!

Home buyer tax credits

For anyone thinking about making a move you might want to read this information regarding the tax credits available.

Any questions just let me know.

Have a good rest of the week!

~Anne

Some will,some won't, So what..

You are going to have people in your life that will care about you and what you want in life. There will be those that won't. I am challenging myself to focus more on those that will and less on those that won't. I need to stop putting energy and time into those that don't care and allowing them to affect my attitude, diminish my goals and my purpose. Start really believing who people show you they are. Know who does support you, cares about you and who will help you get to where you are going. Focus on the bigger picture and remember that allowing those who don't care or support you to be your focus will only allow your goals, dreams and those who do believe in you to slip out of site.

You are here for a reason, great things are in store for you. Each day remember, Some will, Some won't, So what !

Read - Discuss - Grow

So this Sunday starts the new book in The Bloom Book Club. I have just a couple more chapters left to get me to the finish line. I am excited to start hearing everyones thoughts and idea's on what each chapter means to them. I love to be in an environment where there is brainstorming and I am being challenged to think or view something in a way that I may not have seen before. If you have not checked this out yet and you are looking for a book club to be a part of we would love to have you join us. The ladies that head this up really work hard and I am thankful to them for all they do. The last book we read was "Crazy Love". That book changed the way that I think and my relationship with God. The book we are reading now is "Same Kind of Different as me". This is a little different style than the last book but very good. This book engages you in the journey of two mens lives and how God brought them together and changed each of them through the journey. You can look for new posts on the book to start either Sunday or Monday.

Have a great weekend!

~Anne

Disbelief

Someone said to me the other day that when someone shows you who they are believe them. I had to really digest this. Isn't this so true? Don't we so often see someones true colors and we don't want to believe it. They are so clearly showing you who they are and we just act as if it does not exist. I know that people are not perfect and they make mistakes but at what point do you just believe that they are the person they are showing you they are? If there is one thing I have learned in my life it is that you can not change people. You can encourage them to be better and hold them accountable for their own good but if they are not willing to do what it takes then you can not assume that for them. You can not allow them to bring you down or compromise who you are. So what am I showing to others of who I am? When am I going to just start believing people when they show me who they are? Is doing that putting God in a box and saying that he can not bring change or help them? All many things that have been whirling around in my mind lately which is a crazy place to be. Thank you for continuing to take the wild ride into Anne's World..

TGIF!

Discipline

Although I am not much of a New Years resolution person I have made the choice to start getting back into going to the gym again. The holidays took me away from my routine. So this week I started back and I feel great! It is amazing how good you feel when you leave the gym. Although I may be very sore it is such good therapy for my soul. I then question myself about why I am not always as committed to the gym as I should be. The answer is always "I don't know". I think this is true of many things in life. There are so many things that we know we should be doing and when we do them we feel so much better. So why don't we do them? I think the answer is many times "I don't know". It is weird to me how if we have no reason why we would not do it then why don't we do it? Why are we wired this way? I also find it very interesting how although we know what we should be doing we are surprised when we end on the wrong path and do not arrive at the destination we intended. There are some lucky people out there that can stay thin and in shape and not work out but it is rare. I fell into this same trap asking myself why I had gained 15 pounds and felt horrible about myself when all along I knew it was because I did not exercise or eat right. I did nothing to get to the destination in which I intended to arrive but then seemed surprised when I did not arrive there. I see this so many times with people in life. They really WANT to do something but they just don't do it. They don't want it bad enough or they just think it will happen on it's own. This year although I do not like to set New Year's resolutions I pray that I can be more of a "Just do it" kind of person. That I do not allow myself to justify things I know I should not be doing or not doing things I know I should be doing. I pray this for you too because I know how hard this is. I think it is very important to have people around you who constantly motivate you and challenge you. I am blessed to have people like that in my life. They make me want to do better and be better. I pray that you will find people like that if you have not already been blessed with them in your life. So here's to not just saying that 2010 is going to be a good year, here's to MAKING 2010 a great year!

Making Vision Stick

It is neat to have a moment when you can see how things come together and when you realize that God plan for you will never make sense at the time but that is where discipline comes into play. I will admit, I do not do so well in this department. I always viewed discipline as something negative, a sort of submission. If we always understood everything and had our plan all mapped out it would be boring and we would never learn anything from it. True faith comes into play when no matter how unclear things seem to be that you are willing to continue to do what you know you should do by continuing to follow God. Not play the game of walking away every time things get to tough or things don't go you're way. I always say that I do not want to play the victim in life. Just get over the crap and move on. What I failed to realize is that every time I walk away I was playing the victim. I am saying to God that it is all about me. What I want is more important than the bigger plan ahead. The devil will allow you to believe that it is all about you but it is not. Stay focused on the truth and stay focused on the bigger picture. When you pray for God to show you and guide you remember to have your eyes open to see what he is showing you. It will not always be in bold print with flashing lights. You have to really look for it but when you do you will see amazing things. Also remember that even in the ugly, painful, unfair things that happen to be praying and looking. It is in those times that God can be the most present in your life. I was depressed when this summer I turned 30. I kept thinking of the fact that I had not accomplished what I had planned and I was not where I should be. The truth is that I am where I should be. I am embracing the past years no matter how good or bad because it has brought me to where I am today and I am finally understanding who I am and catching a vision for the future. What I have realized is I have had vision but it was all about me. God has put a vision into my heart that I have a passion for because I am realizing that vision is from him, for why I am here and for the legacy that I will leave behind. What is your vision? Pray and open your eyes so God can reveal it to you.

God bless!!

I am not much of a magazine reader but I found a magazine that is pretty neat. It is called "all you". It has all sorts of things in it that are very helpful. They also have some good recipes. I just read an article about using your phone to save money and noticed some things I thought I would share. Below are some apps that I thought were neat:

* The Cellfire app- (free) delivers grocery deals to a blackberry or iphone. search for a local supermarket and choose coupons to download to your loyalty card. The discounts show up when you use your card to check out.

* Your shopping and see an item you like, but you wonder if it costs less elsewhere. With REDLASER ($2.00) on your iphone, simply point the phones camera at the product bar code. The app scans it and searches the web to find the best price.

* With iphone shopper ($1) check off items on your list as you shop and you can input prices to see your running total. the app helps you stick to your budget and lets you customize lists to your stores layout.

It is amazing where technology has taken us. I am excited to try some of these. Dustin has the redlaser and used it a lot around Christmas.

Another thing I have realized lately is that I need to eat breakfast more often. A lot of people say it helps to loose weight and it is a lot healthier. They had an article in this months all you with some ideas for each meal of the day. This drink caught my eye for a quick breakfast on the go:

Put 6 to 8 oz of fat free milk , 1 cup frozen berries, 1 tsp honey and a half a banana in your blender the night before and stash in the fridge. In the morning, pop it onto the blender base, puree and pour into a travel mug.

Hope some of this was helpful. Have a great weekend!!