Monday 2/14/22 – Reality Check

Good afternoon God, thank You for a restful and relaxing weekend with family and friends. Thank You for all the information that I’m able to expose myself to and thank You for helping me process the information I’m gathering from many different sources, as most of it is not easy and straightforward to process. Thank You for being with me at all times whether I realize it or not. Lord, I ask that You lead, guide and direct my words again today so I can share You with others that may be seeking You, whether they know it or not. Help me to lead and point anyone reading this to You, Lord. Whether they have a relationship with You or not Lord, allow me to share at least one thing that will start their relationship or deepen their relationship with You. I ask that you soften the heart of Your people and that no one that stumbles across this online journal thinks that I think for a moment that I have this all figured out. I’ve heard it said before that maybe I’m not who I want to be, and maybe I’m not who I should be but thank You Lord that I’m not who I used to be. Thank You Lord, praise You Lord, bless You Lord! In Your holy, mighty and precious Name, Amen.

What is Real? Reality: the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. Is reality relative? Do we base what’s real and what our reality is on what we’ve been told, what we’ve been taught and what experiences we’ve had? I picked up another couple of books and started reading them this last week. One book I picked off from my bookshelf is A Doubter’s Guide to Jesus by John Dickson. This was a book I picked up last year and thought it would provide me ammunition to “battle” my Atheist friend that I’ve mentioned before. Little did I know the journey I am on would lead me through twists and turns I could never see coming. If you would have told me even a year ago that I was going to have the experiences I’ve had, I would have said “not me.” Here I am and picking up this book that I never read for the intentions I bought it, and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time in my life. Side note: That reminds me, you may have already experienced this but something I’m in the process of learning is that God gives us desires in our heart and mind to do something or to purchase something, experience something, to give something away, etc… And when I think I’ve done what I thought I was supposed to for the reason in my heart and mind, sometimes when I look back I can start to see how His plan was something completely different than what I thought and more beautiful than anything I could have planned on my own. I think that one simple example in my life has been foster care, both my wife and I felt led to go through the training and we’ve only had one little girl so far but we thought we were being led to save a child, in turn the training and experiences saved us, possibly more on that another time. Back to the Doubter’s Guide to Jesus, I read this morning something that I wanted to share here regarding reality, “I don’t want to shape reality around who I am. I want to know what reality is and then allow that to shape me.” How many of us think we know what reality is until we wake up from the illusion that has been presented to us as our reality? Is it possible to see what a straight line looks like without having a straight edge to line it up with? How do we know who our enemy is if we don’t know the truth? I used to allow my career to identify me because that was my truth, that was who I was until I realized that I can identify myself as a child of God. I was working long hours not because I was being forced to but because it’s what helped me feel accomplished in my identity, I wanted to show myself that I was willing to sacrifice to maintain my income and my identity but what was I sacrificing? When I started my spiritual journey of waking up, I started to prioritize my unbalanced life. When my identity was found in my career; 1. Career 2. Family 3. Friends 4. God. It was not hard to see this due to the amount of time I’d spend with each one on the list. Now things have changed and while I’m certainly not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, these are my goals for my priorities now; 1. God 2. Family 3. Self/Career 4. Friends. With my identity as a child of God, I find myself in close relationship with Him and I believe as I ask Him to lead, guide and direct me, He does. It’s not usually how I think it’s going to go and usually turns out better than anything I could have planned on my own and that’s when I know it was His plan, His will, not mine. I pray that you find truth in your life and that once you do, you will help others reveal the truth in their lives and together we will continue to destroy the enemy. -A fellow humble warrior in God’s army

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:32 ESV

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil for Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen. -The Lords prayer