Tag: Religion and Spirituality

Keeping the Sabbath

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational ThoughtsLeave a comment

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8

In the passage above we read that we are supposed to rest. Our modern life goes totally against this principle. When God created the world including humanity everything worked inside a principle of balance.

Do you remember that ecosystem science project in school? You needed certain elements for everything to function properly. The same way our lives were designed to work, to have fun but also to rest. The Word of God doesn’t call us to exhaust ourselves and wait for a week vacation once in a while to recuperate, it says that out of every seven days we need one to rest.

Society works against this principle. Our “days off” are usually the weekends, and what do we do with those? Some people work, some people spend both days running errands, doing housework. And like a good friend of mine would say, How is that working for you? How is your body functioning on little rest? How is your relationship with God when your mind is cluttered with business? How is your relationship with those around you when they don’t have down time with you?

Like I said before, everything in God’s perfect plan has an order and a purpose, so aside from obedience conserving the Sabbath is about the balance in our lives to fulfill God’s purpose.

Be blessed

If you want to read about some of my own life lessons in my walk with Christ, check out my book Growth Lessons.

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In Growth Lessons, I was reminded of this beautiful truth: Our walk with the Lord is a process of growing up into the image of Christ. P. Yates

I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some common sense and light added to their life. C. Cunningham

Great for meditations and daily devotions. N. Thames

Perseverance

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts5 Comments

I heard the word persevere yesterday and it really stuck to my spirit. As a believer it is very easy to stick to God’s plan when things are flowing and going well. When things are not working and not moving in a positive direction we want a way out. We want to try something different and if we’re not careful we may stray for the right path.

I’ve been working out for a month (yes, miracles do happen!) and have seen great results, but the last week there have been no changes on the scale. I’m frustrated about it to say the least. I’m looking at other areas in my life where my expectations had placed things moving in a certain way; after all I’m doing all the right things and have submitted them to God.  Now God has brought up this word of perseverance.

My friend Webster, whom I had not talked to in a while, defines perseverance as a steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. Did you read that?  It says in spite difficulties, obstacles or discouragement. C’mon, sigh with me!

So then I went to the Word of God and I found a promise. Revelation 3:10 says, “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.” Wow, perseverance is actually a command and we will be protected during our test for being obedient. To me this means that the test is precisely the difficulties, the obstacles and the discouragement.

What are you struggling with today? What has you discouraged? If you don’t mind, share it with us so that we can pray together. If you want to share in private, do so at my email: therisingmuse@gmail.com

Hold on to the promise; good things are to come.

Be blessed.

Don’t forget to get your copy of my new book “The Road Home” available on Kindle and Nook. If you want an e-autograph, just place your request on kindlegraph.com

A good friend

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts, Writing Happenings5 Comments

As much as we may love our families, we all would have loved to have a say in to who would end up being part of the clan. God as always made a way and that’s why he gave us friends. Friends are the family we get to choose.

In some instances, friends are those who are there to bail you out of a situation without judgment, even before our family. They are the ones willing to tell you the truth when we don’t want to hear it. Even the ones who are willing to support you when you have a bad idea, tell you it’s bad, but because the friendship is more important; they rather be there when we crash than let us walk the plank alone.

God never intended for us to walk in life alone. He created us in a community. Even Jesus spent more time with 12 of his closest friends than with his family. The word of God tells us in Proverbs 27:9 ”Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.” Take this day to evaluate the relationships in your life and thank God for the friends He has placed in our paths.TheRoadHomeFinal

Talking about friendship, you will be delighted to check out my new book,“The Road Home”. Meet Desiree and her quest for true love, see how her friend Aimee supports her through all her ups and downs and is the one who shows her the way to the light at the end of the tunnel. The Road Home will be officially launching this Wednesday, June 13th 2012. Get ready to get your copy!

Let Hope Rise

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts1 Comment

There are some days that are harder than others. When life decides to throw us a curve we tend to think or worry about how we’re going to go on. The reality is that God is always working behind the scenes, paving the way for our benefit.

If we don’t lose hope and trust God and His love for us, we will know that no matter what’s going on, something good will come out of it in the end for us. I firmly believe that when a bad day happens, that the sun will shine in the morning and I always hope that I have the chance to see my challenges as an opportunity instead of seeing things as struggles.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So we’re not giving up. How could we!

Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us,

on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.

These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times,

the lavish celebration prepared for us.

There’s far more here than meets the eye.

The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow.

But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Blessings!

A SPECK IN THE UNIVERSE

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts1 Comment

By Ada Brownell

Recently a Christian astronomer spoke at our church. He has a giant telescope and goes out on his driveway in the middle of the night and takes pictures of what he sees. His photos of the universe have been published by some of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world, including those of the National Space and Aeronautics Administration.

Dr. Richard Hammer is a chemistry professor at Evangel University, and his work with astronomy began as a hobby. Now he’s teaching astronomy as well.

After showing slide after slide of the sun, moon, stars and planets spreading endlessly across the sky, he showed us several awesome photos and pointed out how earth is only a little speck humankind can see through the windshield of our technology.

He reminded us David asked, “What is man that God is mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4).

A whole universe, with galaxy after galaxy, and God chose this wad of whirling dirt moving at just the right speed with the correct amount of gravity and oxygen as the place to form a man and woman—His creation. We all know those humans rebelled and didn’t believe if they ate of the forbidden tree that they would die. After all, the serpent laughed and said, “You won’t die.” But not long afterward, they stood beside a dead son and then they died.

The last slide I remember Hammer showing was a photo of bloody hands, representing the nail-scarred hands of Jesus coming to deliver humankind from sin and death, and I couldn’t help but remember we are only a speck in the universe.

That night after we returned home I read 1 John 3: 1-3: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are the children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

John says it all.

© March 30, 2011

ada brownellAda Brownell bio

ADA BROWNELL spent 17 years as a newspaper reporter, mostly at The Pueblo Chieftain in Pueblo, CO. She has sold approximately 275 articles and fiction stories to 45 Christian magazines and wrote one story on assignment for US Magazine. Her new book Swallowed by Life is available at BookCoverImagehttp://amzn.com/1466200936

The Kindle version is http://amazon.com/swallowed-by-life-ebook/dp/B007BGCVSU/ref=sr_.1_3?s=books&ie+UTF8&qid=1330035854&sr+1-3

Her blog: http:/www.inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com

Website: http://www.ada@adabrownell.com

Faith and Mental Health

On By Naty MatosIn Articles6 Comments

 Mental Health is one controversial subject in religious circles. Emotional disturbances are not necessarily visible and therefore sometimes not viewed as real health problems and the treatment of there or lack of thereof is not always addressed appropriately.

Emotional conditions are usually viewed in religious settings as a lack of faith, a lack of prayer or lack of surrendering to God. I don’t discount that there are times were a believer’s struggle are due to those things, but as with physical healing, I wouldn’t recommend a cancer patient to stop or not engage in treatment; I wouldn’t discourage someone struggling emotionally to do the same. Matthew 4:23 (MSG) states, “People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them one and all”; which tells me that in God’s eyes they were all the same.

I think that sometimes believers fail to educate themselves in the nature of mental health conditions.  A high percentage of mental health conditions are biological in nature. Just like diabetes, they are due to a chemical imbalance in the body, in this case; the brain, which is as much as an organ as the pancreas is. Just like diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer, most mental health conditions have a pre-disposition genetic component. It is true that a pre-disposition doesn’t mean that it will happen, just that the chances are higher. This has been proven with alcoholism and depression.

Can God heal people from these conditions? Absolutely, however that doesn’t mean that these struggles are not as real as physical ailments and they should be treated as such.

Some churches have a more open minded approach to these issues and have counseling programs available to their parishioners. There are many Christian programs (like Celebrate Recovery) and counselors out there that can not only understand the condition but also provide the spiritual support to the person dealing with these struggles.

In my opinion there are three major mental health conditions that are majorly misunderstood within the faith community. Those are: depression, anxiety and addictions. Absolutely keeping God first in anything in our lives is a most. At the same time if you or a loved one is struggling with emotional conditions do not be ashamed to seek professional help, or to encourage and support a loved one to seek it.

James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another

and pray for one another,

that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person

has great power as it is working.

No Small Job

On By Naty MatosIn Articles1 Comment

I observed a man this morning in a suit trying to push a wagon of boxes. He was truly struggling to balance the load and pushing the cart. The boxes were empty by the way. It reminded me that the things we do, do not define who we are.

People have the tendency to place certain professions, jobs, tasks or qualities in a pedestal. The body has many members, and all of them have different functions, but none of them are less than the other.  Look at your hand for a minute, if you lost one finger, any of them, you would miss it terribly and you would have to make major adjustments to go back to “normal function”. The same is with the way we are as a collective, everyone has a function to do and nobody is better or worse for the position they have been placed.

I used to work with a brilliant doctor. It was a delight to hear this man speak, full of knowledge and wisdom, but totally technologically challenged. He couldn’t operate his computer or his cell phone. If some of us in the office didn’t pull out his e-mails and voicemails, he would not be in the loop of the things that needed to be done. That didn’t make him less or didn’t make us more. We had different skills and functions to complete.

I also remember being a manager. I’m a pretty gadget and technically savvy person, but for some reason the fax machine at that office and I did not get along (anyone remembers the movie Office Space, yes that was my relationship with the fax machine). I tried to not bother others and do my own thing. When I would disappear for a while and my assistant knew that I was not in a meeting, she usually checked the copy room and there I was fighting the fax machine. She would take the papers from my hands and get the job done in fifteen seconds.

My dad used to say, someone needs to sell hot dogs on the corner of the street otherwise I wouldn’t have a place to buy it, and someone needs to pick up the garbage, otherwise it would pile up in our house.

So no matter what you’re doing today, don’t look at it with the eyes of the world that classifies tasks as better or worse. Look at your job as a gift from God to render a service that in the large scheme of things it’s just as important as the next one to keep things working the way they should.

Luke 13:30
indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Blessings.

Beautiful and Handsome

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts2 Comments

As God’s children we should aspire for the best as we are the children of The King. With this I’m not talking about our expectations for others, but for our own selves. The media is filled with images that define beauty for us, and in my quest for meaning I decided to research the world view and God’s view on beauty.

When talking about the beauty in terms of human attraction these tend to be defined by gender. Women are beautiful; men are handsome. What does that really mean?

 Beautiful

I usually start with my friend Webster who says that beauty is the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).  It’s an individually pleasing or has beautiful quality; grace; charm.

Reading this also entails that beauty is very subjective. Something pleasing to my eyes is totally disgusting to the person next to me. Therefore beauty will depend on our personal experiences, our culture and our personal taste. Not much for an objective definition.

Of course I went to the Word of God and this is what I found:

  •  Proverbs 31:30(NIV)”Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” This one I found particularly interesting because Webster said that charm was part of beauty, but the word of God tells us that charm is fleeting.
  •  1 Peter 3:3-5 (NIV) “such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves.”

So according to the Word, in reality being beautiful has nothing to do with how we look, but who we are. I think this definition can transcend cultures, tastes and personal experiences. I could even dare to say that it doesn’t divide even by gender as a man can have a gentle and quiet spirit as well.

Handsome

Now for the gentlemen, this was Webster’s definition of handsome: having an attractive, well-proportioned, and imposing appearance suggestive of health and strength; good-looking; having pleasing proportions, relationships, exhibiting skill, taste, and refinement.

Once again it focuses on the outer appearance and the subjectivity of what is perceived by it, but in this case it goes further talking about skills, which is something that I think I never thought was included in this definition.

I found in Daniel 1:4 the following message, “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace”  The bible doesn’t deter much from Webster in this definition, it talks about no physical defect, which I’m sure is not talking about lack of flaws, but about a healthy body; but adds something to it, which is knowledge and the ability to learn. So for a man to be attractive, the six packs may be as equally important as the knowledge he presents, if not more.

The irony for me was that doing this research I found pictures that do not conform to our Hollywood mentality of beauty, which reinforces the notion that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Yes, I did find pictures of Brad Pitt in the midst of it and of  Julia Roberts, but I found pictures that defined beauty that are unusual for our traditional mindset. Here I share some:

Beautiful:

See full size imageSee full size image

Handsome:

    

So here’s the bottom line:

  •  Are you woman, being defined by the world’s definition of beauty or are you beautifying your spirit with the Word of God?  Also, are you looking at men within the God’s definition of beauty?
  •  Are you man, being defined by the world’s physical view of handsome? Or are you being teachable and in the search for the true knowledge? Also, are you looking at women within the definition of beauty that God has set for you?

Food for thought,

Blessings

Naty

Don’t wait too long

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational ThoughtsLeave a comment

I have the pleasure to share with you a new Christian Author friend Joana James. I hope you enjoy this!

The other day I wrote an article on Waiting on the Lord, but as it was pointed out to me today, there are two sides to every coin. It’s very important to wait for God’s timing before we move. It could be the difference between failure and success or life and death. But what happens when we wait too long? What happens when God says to go and we hold back?

There are several reasons why we may not move when God says to. One of them is fear. God may be moving us in a direction that we are afraid of. He may be calling us to a particular ministry that we feel ill-equipped for, so we say “Lord, I’ll do it later.”

Or we may have our own agendas, so we say, “God, as soon as I send all my children off to university, I’ll become a missionary for you.”

Or the devil may be planting seeds of doubt in our mind, “Is it really God talking? Maybe you should wait, if that house is yours, it will come back to you.”

I remember as a teen, I came across a poster and it has stuck with me since and I think it will stick with me for the rest of my life. It was the image of a woman’s skeleton sitting on a park bench. She was dressed in a bridal gown and veil and she appeared to be waiting for something. The caption above her head said “Waiting for the PERFECT man.” She’d waited so long that she missed her opportunity. She was dead, and she could no longer marry.

Some of us wait so long to move forward that we lose our opportunity for great things. We procrastinate and complain at everything God places before us. If we don’t think it’s good enough, or we don’t feel ready but whatever it is, we don’t move when God says we should. So we abort our destiny.

It’s so sad to see lives wasted because of procrastination. To see time, treasure and talent unused must certainly hurt God. My encouragement today is to move in the timing of God. Don’t run ahead of him, however don’t waste time either. By the time you are ready to move, you may just miss your destiny.

Joana James – Author of Nightmare at Emerald High & Alana and Alyssa’s Secret

Alana & Alyssa new     nightmare new2- front

Joana James Joana James is a young Christian author from the island of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean. She is an I.T. professional by day but in her free time she escapes from the logical world of technology into the artistic world. She is an avid reader and her kindle is her favourite piece of technology. Music is her best friend and that manifests itself through her love for dance and singing.

Joana writes stories that portray the reality of her world. Her first book, a two-part short story series called Rise from the Ashes featured the lives of two young girls struggling in dire circumstances.

Her latest book, Nightmare at Emerald High, brings to the fore a world that everybody knows exists but no one talks about.

Follow Joana’s blog for frequent devotionals and for a list of some of the best and most affordable Christian Books available for Kindle. http://joanajames.blogspot.com

Baby Steps

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts4 Comments

If there’s something that is constant in life, it’s change. We are living our life normally (whatever our definition of normal is) and all of the sudden something happens that takes the wind out of our sails. You are living and someone you love dies, someone in your household loses a job or both of you do, a relationship breaks or starts (yes, new relationships can be stressful too even as happy as you may be), the car breaks, someone gets sick, I can go on forever…and at that time you feel like life has hit you on an all time low. What can you do?

  • One moment at a time- The part of the serenity prayer has never been more true than in these situations. You can only handle your emotions and the situation that is in front of you. Fretting over what will happen tomorrow will only enhanced the anxiety and not solve a single thing. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” Matthew 6:34
  • Take care of yourself- even when some of these events may not be happening to you but to a loved one, you need to take care of YOU. When you’re on an airplane they always tell you to place the oxygen mask on you first and then on your children; that is because you can’t do anything for your kids if you’re not breathing. The same principle applies to other parts of life. “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul” 3 John 1:2
  • Take a leap of faith- When we are at our lowest, we automatically slow down life and we wait for that magical moment that will give us the clue that its safe and ok to get back on track. I have something to tell you that moment doesn’t exist, you make that moment. No matter what you’re going through, there is never going to be a moment where the pain magically goes away. You have to take a step in faith to move forward with life. You have to take a stand and that’s when you will find yourself again. Maybe it is a new self that you find, and that is ok. Life is all about changing and evolving as long as it is for good.
  • If you need to, seek help- Sometimes we have to build something and we only have a butter knife in out toolbox. There’s no shame on talking and asking for help. This happens to me all the time, sometimes all I need is to talk things out loud to hear myself and find the answers. Sometimes I need someone to correct my stinking thinking and speak truth into my life. Either way, seeking good council is a biblical principle, therefore use it!

Regardless of what you’re going through, know that you are loved by God. If there’s a particular prayer need that you have I would love to pray for you. If you have a prayer request you can leave it on the comment section or if it’s a private matter just email me to  therisingmuse at gmail dot com (have to spell it to avoid hackers…lol)

Be blessed