August 6 2015

August 6 2015 Greetings My Friend We have air purifiers in our home. Each week I take the covers off and vacuum the filter. I am amazed at the animal fur, dust and such on each of the filters. These filters help pull the allergens and germs out of the air. I have had allergies for a good portion of my life and I am still learning how to deal with them. Recently we’ve taken up the area rugs to help me and I feel the difference. The rugs trapped dust, fur and dirt even though we swept the rugs daily. Again I see that filters are a way to cleanse my life. While reading my Bible today I thought a lot about filters as well. As I read I recall times in my life where my thoughts were in the gutter, were angry and I could relive hurts like they just happened. I started to see how the Holy Spirit has been teaching me to filter my thoughts and focus on the good things in life. A Christian Counselor taught me the ACTSS prayer format and it has helped me so much. By learning to give God Accolades, confessing, being thankful asking to be of service to God and by asking supplications I sense that is how I have been able to learn to be “content in all things.” It has been a slow process sometimes I was making a lot of progress and sometimes I kept falling back into old habits. I sense the Holy Spirit has gently prodded me until I find that I attempt to not fear each day or step I take. I think back to the air filter again. Once I vacuum it I see the filter clean and free of dust, debris and fur. One week later I pull the lid off and again it is full in need of cleaning. My faith journey seems to go along this path as well. I need to be vigilant in order to stay strong in my faith. I can’t say I believe and then do nothing. The longer I walk in faith I also am learning that I can’t get to that comfortable spot in life and not continue to clean out the filter of my mind. I must work at it daily or one day at a time I will find myself walking away from the Lord. When I first began my journey of faith I found writing out my sin, my request and then nailing it to a cross helped me to keep my struggles at the cross. I liked “helping” God help me. God kept asking me “Where did you nail the struggle?” I replied “At the cross” He would then tell me “then leave it there.” Sometimes I had a hard time quieting my mind down so I found repeating the Lord’s prayer over and over helped me. As I have moved along in this journey today I find that I don’t need to nail the struggle to the cross literally but I do say often throughout the day “Not my will but Your will Lord.” I sense that the Holy Spirit will teach me other ways to stay focused, to let go of the ugly things in my life and to be honest I like where my life direction is much more so today. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you Love Janet