Quotation Saturday ~ Choose Wisely

Proverbs 13:3 (NIV)

“He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.”

SHAME

“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.” 
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

“You will never find the real truth among people that are insecure or have egos to protect. Truth over time becomes either guarded or twisted as their perspective changes; it changes with the seasons of their shame, love, hope or pride.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“I am ashamed of anyone who has eyes and still can't see.” 
― Kathryn Lasky, The Journey

RESPECT

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” 
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“How would your life be different if…You stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day…You look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.” 
― Steve Maraboli

“The truest form of love is how you behave toward someone, not how you feel about them.” 
― Steve Hall

“We live in a world where people hold no respect for others, only for what their ego or love of self, allows them to embrace as to what is right in their minds. Shaming people makes them feel good about themselves and in the process, they lose respect for their own self. Tis’ better to love all than to love self.”
- Joni Zipp

LABELS

“If you want government to intervene domestically, you’re a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you’re a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you’re a moderate. If you don’t want government to intervene anywhere, you’re an extremist.” 
― Joseph Sobran

“I'd be a conservative if I'd never met any. They're selfish, mean-spirited, egocentric, reactionary, and boring.” 
― Pat Conroy

“When the focus becomes ‘What would Jesus do?’ instead of ‘What has Jesus done?’ the [conservative/liberal] labels no longer matter.” 
― Michael S. Horton

“In essence, I find that the foundation of modern conservatism is driven by a clinging to God in fear of the world, whereas the foundation of modern liberalism is a clinging to the world in fear of God; albeit, the true foundation should be one's clinging to God in fear of God.” 
― Criss Jami

“Words can be twisted into any shape. Promises can be made to lull the heart and seduce the soul. In the final analysis, words mean nothing. They are labels we give things in an effort to wrap our puny little brains around their underlying natures, when ninety-nine percent of the time the totality of the reality is an entirely different beast. The wisest man is the silent one. Examine his actions. Judge him by them.” 
― Karen Marie Moning

“And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are. All we can say is that this is a good deed, because it helps someone or that's an evil one because it hurts them. People are too complicated to have simple labels.” 
― Philip Pullman

Free Will

“You hold the power within you to change, it’s a CHOICE. You either choose to remain the same or you CHOOSE to change. The CHOICE is yours to LOVE or to HATE.”
~ Joni

“God created every man to be free. The ability to choose whether to live free or enslaved, right or wrong, happy or in fear is something called freewill. Every man was born with freewill. Some people use it, and some people use any excuse not to. Nobody can turn you into a slave unless you allow them. Nobody can make you afraid of anything, unless you allow them. Nobody can tell you to do something wrong, unless you allow them. God never created you to be a slave, man did. God never created division or set up any borders between brothers, man did. God never told you hurt or kill another, man did. And in the end, when God asks you: "Who told you to kill one of my children?"

And you tell him, "My leader."

He will then ask you, "And are THEY your GOD?” 
― Suzy Kassem

“Have you ever stopped to consider the number of choices you make daily Paradoxically speaking, every time you have a choice to make and you don't make it, by default, you are making a choice not to make a choice, which is, of course, a choice. You have no choice in the matter. This is an important question because the more conscious you are about your choices, the more likely it is you will end up where you want to be at the end of your stay on this planet.” 
― Dennis Merritt Jones

Doctor Conspiracy

Matt. 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
***

I’m wondering if there is some sort of Doctor conspiracy out there in the world. Why are doctor’s so unwilling to work with other doctors?

Take for example the doctor in Omaha, who is overseeing my beau’s eye condition. Now I know there is more than one facility in the state of Nebraska, that can do an ultrasound on the eye. Let’s see, there’s an eye clinic right here in Kearney that specializes in lasik surgery, cataract surgery and cornea transplants.

We’re using the Omaha doctor because the Lion lady directed us to this facility. Knowing we live 4 hours away, why would the doctor not send us to a closer facility to say, get an ultrasound? An eight hour round trip, a ten minute visit. It makes no sense to me.

Since I’m not paying for anything and I’ve given it all up to God, I’m not worried where the funds will appear from to pay for all of this. They will come.

The butterflies arrive at knowing all that we have to endure to get from point A to point B.
It is not just beau who is involved here. Adam and I have endured the seven years of doctor visits, infections, ups and downs, first hand. Then there is his family who are all eager for him to see, and his friends who would love for him to come out and play also. But again, getting from A to B is going to take time.

Our first visit was the over view, what can be done. The second visit was to get the ultrasound to look behind the cataract to see how healthy the eye is and if surgery is at all possible, now this third visit, more tests. To see if there are any infections? I dunno, I just get, “Need more tests.”

If there is an infection, that will entail more trips until it is healed and ready for a cornea transplant. Then to be put on the donor list, and wait. Waiting is the hardest part. Then the surgery, then the after care keeping the eye, infection free. I know a dermatologist and sinus specialist will come into play real soon. Roughly, in a years time, he might see again! 

The surgery CAN NOT be done while their is an ACTIVE SINUS INFECTION. You might ask why? Because the cornea transplant is a fragile delicate tissue. A SNEEZE can damage all the work that went into transferring the cornea to the recipient. An ITCH can scratch the cornea. So all this combined HAS TO BE taken into consideration.

Idealistically, a perfect skinned man walks in with no allergies, gets the transplant and can see again. Realistically, we know, all this could be for nothing, and a rapid succession of sneezes is not a good thing with a freshly implanted cornea.

But I do carry hope! I don’t sit in doubt here, I just walk with faith that the Good Lord knows what is best for him and no one else can really say what the plan is. I haven’t doubted for a minute that there is a plan in affect and we are not able to alter the plan even with fervent prayer. When Jesus prayed for God to spare him, in the Garden of Gethsemane, God had a plan in place, and had He said “Yes, okay,” to Jesus. His blood would never have been shed for our sins.

***
Matt. 36:45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Fuzzy Friday

Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
***

I say fuzzy because I sit in amazement at society. They embrace the Twilight series as gospel, and are overlooking the message that God gave. Man can not serve two masters.
Meaning you can’t serve God, and accept the evil that wants to filter in through many different avenues.

Someone posted about the ‘dislike’ of this very topic, and the Christians came out in force defending the ‘entertainment’ that they were allowed because God don’t care what they watch or read.

From Eleanor*: Free Will. At the end of the day, if I am a good person, kind to others, believe in a Higher Power, I know in my heart that Jesus/God doesn't mind what I watch or read for entertainment. And that is how I rest my head at night in peace. Forgiveness and tolerance is the greatest gift HE gave.
 

Luke* responded: Forgiveness and Tolerance.... hmmmm... Was it tolerance he showed to the money changers, desecrating the house of his Father? Forgiveness was his gift at the cross, but every time Jesus encountered someone trapped in sin and offered his forgiveness, it was followed with the command- "Go and sin no more."
We have ALL sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, and yes, we can approach him after every fall, every stumble- but there is nowhere I read where it says "you are forgiven so that you may go chase after sin" and I'd prefer someone to enlighten me where that is, if it exists.
Furthermore trying to justify a movie by the existence of other movies is like saying that cheating is OK because there's an abundance of cheating and lying in movies and TV. Granted, sinners are everywhere, but there are those who are in it to seek it and those on their way out. Where shall we find ourselves when we get that call?
 

Theodora* wrote: We as Christians are called and commanded to be the examples to others...In Ephesians 4: 17-27 we are instructed...by the apostle Paul"So i tell you this , and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated for the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. vs 20 You however did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him, were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus, You were taught with regards to your former way of life TO PUT OFF YOUR OLD SELF, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; To be made NEW in the ATTITUDES OF YOUR MINDS and to PUT ON THE NEW SELF created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness"

Paul goes on in Ephesians 5:-17 to instruct us further "For you were once dankness, but now you are LIGHT in the world. Live as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consist in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them .For it is shameful to even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible. This is why it is said: "wake up O sleeper rise from the dead
and Christ will shine on you."
Be very careful then how you live- not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity because the days are very evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LORD'S WILL IS.

This went of for 57 replies! People are really waking up to God’s call. I’m just wondering if they are hearing or justifying their actions? I need no responses...I’ll walk around in the fuzz.

 

John 10: 21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

*names changed to respect the author's