ENCOURAGEMENT CHRONICLES. Archives – RhonieSays

Learning To Walk Through Tight Places

RhonieSays — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 18:46:32 +0000

Learning to Walk Through Tight Spaces – Matthew 7:13-14

Included in all of the many teachings in the Sermon on the Mount is this one called The Narrow Gate. Jesus is very clear in two short verses that there is a way that is right and a way that is wrong, and as God offered to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 30, Jesus is saying choose life, choose the right way, but you may go it alone.

As parents there is a lesson we have to teach over and over again; everybody who surrounds you is not your friend. Everyone who has your ear does not have your back. Jesus, our Daddy teaches us this lesson as well. The prodigal son that we are introduced to in Luke 15 discovered this when he left his father’s house with all of his earthly possessions and took off on his own. He was doing fine until he ran out of money. He chose the gate, the path that was broad and wide and every hanger-on and leach that could use him, used him up until he had nothing. This young man known as the prodigal son had to find out the hard way, it’s better to be in a tight space by yourself than in a wide place with those who don’t really care about you. So after all the money is gone, after he stops making it rain with his finances and his alcohol, suddenly he’s left all alone and he finds himself in a tight space. He finds himself unable to feed himself, he can’t support himself and he ends up working for a hog farmer feeding the hogs. He’s in a tight space but it is here that he comes to himself.

Here is a young man who has had it all, he’s had fine clothes, he’s had women and he’s had many friends. He’s had jewelry and he’s had the music and he’s had the parties and now he has nothing. The gate he entered when he left home was wide and broad and big enough for all these deadbeats to suck him dry and they did! Now he is in the pigpen, and as a Jewish man, this went against every law and teaching he had known all his life.

When we don’t heed the voice of our Father and choose the right path, thank God for mercy that sometimes He forces us into a place of revelation! It was in the pig’s pen, while he was slopping the hogs, cleaning and feeding the most disgusting animal a Jewish man could encounter, it was here in this wretched place that he found his way to the narrow gate that would lead to his future. It was here, alone, defeated, poor and beat down that he began to as the bible says, come to himself.

It was here in the tight space that he talked to himself, he came to his senses. It’s amazing how clearly we can hear when all the noise is gone. How clearly we can discern when all of the chatter of the crowd has faded away and he says to himself, here I am starving to death in a pig pen and the servants in my father’s house have food to spare! I’m going home! It was here in this tight space that this young man discovered his true self, he found what he was made of and the first thing he did was say I will tell my father that I have sinned. I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am sorry. I’m not worthy to even be your son, make me a hired hand in your house, but I want to come home.

The story tells us that he picked himself up and began to walk home. What a lonely tight walk that must have been. All alone, but on the way home. All alone, but walking toward destiny. All alone, but anticipating a home and a meal and purpose. All alone, but suddenly renewed in hope. And the beauty of this story is that the bible says the father saw him while he was still far off down the road. The father didn’t wait in the house until he got to him, the bible says that the father had compassion for him and ran to meet him, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Aren’t you glad your Father didn’t wait for you??

Beloved, there is a consequence to our decisions and beloved He does give us choices! Jesus, our Father, our Lord and Savior tells us, enter by the narrow gate. Luke’s gospel adds a word to this passage and he says, strive to enter into the narrow gate. This word strive means to press forward with all your might, to use every muscle in your body to strain to enter, it is a word that means to agonize.

Strain with all your might to enter into the right decision, pray and pray again. Press with all you have to get past your own feelings to get to the place of the spirit where the Father can speak because our flesh wants to take the easy road, the wide road the broad road but Jesus, the good, good father says no, don’t take that road! You’ll have lots of company but it leads to destruction. Many choose that road because it’s an easy one. Press in, agonize over your decision and then choose the narrow road that leads to life, there are few who find this path and live.

Jesus is saying if it was easy everybody could do it. Learn how to walk in tight spaces, learn how to find peace on the narrow road, learn how to get rid of all the noise and the distractions because you’re going to need to know how to hear the voice of the Father to make the right choices and decisions.

Learning to Walk in Tight Spaces. Somebody said, it’s tight but it’s right. Jesus is the narrow gate, He is the door, He is the way. The road to Him is narrow and so few choose it, but great is the reward of living for Him.

Grace and peace, Pastor G

Minister in the State of Ohio. In September 2013, Geneva and her husband started The Way Community Church and since then they have been serving the community and equipping believers for ministry. Geneva’s passion is teaching and developing and in September 2018 Geneva launched gwmiller ministries as a platform for her teaching, training and equipping of Kingdom people all across the globe for Kingdom building and Kingdom empowerment.

Click Here to view blogs by Pastor G

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Stop Holding Your Breath and Live!

RhonieSays — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 19:09:41 +0000

Anyone who suffers from anxiety can relate to holding their breath instead of enjoying life with ease. I admit anxiety has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Not sure what triggered it . . . maybe one bad outcome or some terrifying moment as a child, but whatever the root, I always expected bad things to happen. I would conjure up scenarios of negativity for anything that I was facing. I was constantly afraid and felt as if I was holding my breath, waiting for the next catastrophe.

I decided after living this way for many years I needed to find a way to exhale and breathe my way through life. It hasn’t been easy and there are times that I fall backwards into the anxiety loop, but here are a few simple things that help keep me from suffocating.

1. Accepting that things won’t be perfect
I now realize that anxiety can have a lot to do with wanting perfection. If I didn’t feel like the situation would come out perfectly, a level of panic always ensued. I had to learn to live in imperfect moments, which most likely were far from the bad scenarios I produced in my head.

2. Shutting down negative thoughts immediately
When I’m experiencing an anxious moment my imagination goes wild, but not in a good way because I’ve allowed negative thoughts to flood my brain. Learning to shut down those thought patterns and replace them with positive thoughts was critical. Taking the time to breathe slowly and intentionally helped clear my mind.

3. Changing my perspective on fear
Fighting anxiety means overcoming fear, which becomes very prevalent in those tense moments. I’m constantly learning to use fear to make me aware of the need to slow down, giving me time to think and redirect my thoughts towards a calmer view versus a panicked one of what lies ahead.

Life holds so many opportunities and we cannot allow anxiety to rob us of experiencing them. I had to change my thoughts and perspectives so worry wouldn’t always control me and how I was living my life. You can live in the moment and enjoy it by making a conscious decision to channel any preconceived negative conclusions towards positive results. The world is waiting on you, so take a breath and live.

By: Rhonie McBerry

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The Pit of Despair: Three Steps to Overcome It

RhonieSays — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 13:38:32 +0000

The pit of despair goes beyond a moment of sadness; it’s a place filled with utter loss of hope. An overwhelming sense of gloom about life’s circumstances can cause us to sink so low that we fail to see anything else around us. Agony, pain, and distress are just some of the discouraging emotions that can engulf us. The perception that few options are available can quickly crowd in, causing us to feel trapped. The goal is to climb out of this place as soon as possible, but we can’t climb without a ladder; therefore, let’s focus on three things that can help us climb that ladder.

1.  Realize this place is only temporary.

Nothing in this world is fixed. This place is not permanent; it will only last for a limited amount of time. Focusing on that fact we can picture ourselves projecting above and beyond where we are now.

2. Concentrate on encouraging our souls.

We will focus on the negative if we don’t make a conscious decision to feed our souls with positive affirmations. Even if we only utter one sentence. Things will get better; this is only temporary. The more we repeat positive affirmations to ourselves the less likely we are to stay downtrodden.

3. Make positive plans for the future.

We have to plan beyond our current situations. This is the key to climbing up and out. Writing out goals and focusing on completing one goal at a time will help us fend off the voices of doubt and discouragement.

Moving forward is the ultimate goal and these steps will help you begin the climbing process that leads to a brighter future.

Pit of Despair

This pit of despair encompassed the soul.

How this fall happened it’s hard to say.

Explosion of emotions may have caused the collapse.

The absence of light prompted all sensibility to disappear.

Hope is completely dashed.

Joyfulness where are you?

Search for the ladder of peace that will start the climb.

Grab onto encouragement that will illuminate the way.

Cognizance of a higher ground will lead to contentment.

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Silencing the Symptoms

RhonieSays — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 08:30:00 +0000

I can’t speak for anyone else on their healing journey but I can certainly give someone hope and encouragement as I share my experiences. In fact, that’s the very thing I’m trying to get past…my experiences.

When it has come to this healing journey my experiences with painful symptoms have been the hardest place for me to get past. Do I believe that Jesus healed me…Yes. Am I getting better and better every day…Yes.

The journey has now become silencing the symptoms that try so hard to speak. They try to speak of disease and not being free. They try to plant seeds of doubt so a harvest of distrust in my healing is manifested. They try to send me into the dark hole of hopelessness. When they occur, their voice tries to drown out the only voice that should be speaking…The Holy Spirit.

I love the way that Pastor John McCurdy spoke these encouraging words to me one time when I was in the midst of symptoms, “What you feel and experience may be facts. The truth is you are healed and the truth is more real than facts.” What a powerful statement. Therefore I must go to the most truthful place that dispels any symptoms that try to attack my body and that is the Holy Spirit. God in me speaking truths about God’s Word of healing that has the power to silence the cries of symptoms.

The only way to stand on God’s Word of truth concerning healing is to allow those words to be my medicine. It’s easy to have total trust in physical medicines, I don’t question their effectiveness but am I questioning the effectiveness of my spiritual medicine? Please hear my heart this is not a rallying cry to suddenly tell anyone to abandon any medications you are currently prescribed by your doctors. I’m simply starting the trust in my spiritual medicine should be just as easy to achieve as I do physical medicine.

Feeding on God’s Word! This is when my spiritual medicine will be the most effective. Here are a few verses of good spiritual medicine.

Isaiah 55:11

So is My word that goeth out of My mouth, It turneth not back unto Me empty, But hath done that which I desired, And prosperously effected that for which I sent it.

Isaiah 53:4,5

⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Psalm 103:3

³Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Exodus 23:25

And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee

Psalm 107:20

He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

I pray that this will blog encourage someone who needs to silence their symptoms as well.

BY: Rhonie McBerry

Rhonie, is a licensed radiation therapist providing care to those battling cancer. She learned to embrace a new normal after being diagnosed with Crohn’s. disease and uses the power of words to encourage others to see past their darkest day to a brighter horizon.

She is the author of Embracing a New Normal, God Has Drawn The Blueprints Vol I & II, Words That Surround Your Soul devotionals.

CLICK TO VIEW BLOGS BY RHONIE

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YOUR Journey

RhonieSays — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 22:50:15 +0000

I was driving home and I was driving the speed limit. The man in the vehicle behind me was getting impatient. I must’ve been driving too slow for him. Me? I was enjoying the sunshine and jammin’ to Fred Hammond. I wasn’t phased by the other driver’s impatience or his rush to speed ahead. He did pass me and in a short period of time he was far ahead of me. However, after driving for a few miles, I arrived at the third stoplight, looked to my right and there was Mr. Knight Rider. He had been in a greater rush than I was, however, we ended up at the same location….around the same time.

Life is kinda like that. Sometimes, it may look like people are surpassing you at a super speed. Sometimes, compared to them, it looks like you are being overlooked or it may look like life is passing you by. Nevertheless, the goal is to keep moving. If you keep moving forward, you will get to your destination. No need to compete. No need to hate. No need to be envious. No need to beat yourself up. And no need to wish you were in the other car. Focus on YOUR journey. Focus on what’s ahead of YOU. FOCUS ON WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU! Listen to what God is telling YOU to do and then follow His instructions. That way, you will get to where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. Trust God’s timing.

So, roll down your window, wave to Knight Rider, step on the gas and put on your shades. The future ahead of you is bright and it’s ready to make your acquaintance.

Love y’all. 🏾️🦋

BY: Jeannine Bradley

Jeannine is a singer, writer, worship leader, and spoken word artist.She wrote and directed two plays that were performed at Pace University in Pleasantville, NY, and is currently working on several other writing projects.

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Esteeming Others

RhonieSays — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 13:30:21 +0000

I once played golf. I don’t mean I played golf once, but I once played golf. I played a lot. I played for probably twenty years until I realized that I was paying good money to come home mad. As long as I knew I was bad, I had no problem playing for the fun of it. When I began to think I was better and
therefore should not slice my drive or three putt; that’s when it became an excuse to let my anger spew.

My relaxing hobby turned into an eighteen-hole, emotional roller coaster that usually ended with frustration. So I quit and I’ve not played in several years. But I still like golf and I like to watch the major championships on television. I will not put in print the amount of hours I sat and watched the U.S. Open. There will never be anything tangible that can be used against me in the years to come. But let me say, I watched a lot. And then a few years ago, it was the British Open, or what is properly known as “The Open.” And even though I did not watch it as much as the previous major tournament, I did find myself drawn to the South African winner whose last name can only be pronounced by a speech pathologist who has been trained in South Africanese.

Louis Oosthuizen, a twenty-seven-year-old, not only won, but did it convincingly by a whopping 7 strokes. And then after his final putt, he proceeded to hug his caddy who is also his golfing partner and friend; Zack Rasego. Louis hugged Zack, his caddy who is also his golfing partner and friend… and who is black. Let me write it one more time. Louis, who is white and from South Africa, hugged his caddy, who is also his golfing partner and friend, who is also black and from South Africa.

Apartheid was once the law in South Africa. It segregated races. It pitted race against race and man against man. It was not voted out until 1994. Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison because of his work against apartheid. Needless to say, South Africa is still battling to overcome the years of racism and prejudice, but they are making headway thanks to young men like Louis and Zack. I really don’t understand racism and prejudice. Oh I understand that we all think of ourselves in some way better than others. It may be because of our social status, education, or position, but we all have some prejudice.

What I don’t understand is how grown men and women can look at another grown man or woman and not understand that somewhere down the line; we are brothers and sisters. Our skin may be a different tint, but our blood is red and God has created all of us in His image. We all hurt, love, cry, grieve, get discouraged, and have a desire for purpose. We all are a blessed people no matter what color God has chosen to put on our exterior. It simply shows that God must love diversity. The problem with the races comes when we fail to heed the command the Lord gave to Paul concerning humility. He said, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Phil 2:3-4) What if every white man esteemed the Asian better than himself? What if every Hispanic esteemed the black man better than himself? What if for one day or one week, or one month, I looked out for your interests as much as I did mine; and you did that to me? What if that one scripture became the mission of every organization? It really is simple. Some think it is their calling to “make things right!” And sometimes there is a time to stand up for our rights. But lasting change does not happen when I have stood up for my rights, but when I have stood up for the rights of others. It happens when Louis embraces Zack and Zack embraces Louis and neither one know who made the first move.

BY: Gary Miller

Gary leads a church plant and teaches undergrad religion/apologetics. Gary also leads a ministry to hunters & fishermen. He has blogged for 17 years. Gary loves to cycle, run and do anything fit-wise. He is also passionate about prison reform. Gary walks day by day as an encourager.

gary@outdoortruths.org

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YIELD… Even When It Hurts

RhonieSays — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 16:19:14 +0000

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

It looked like the beginning of a beautiful relationship. The kind that documentaries like Black Love are produced to tell.

The kind that romance novels are inspired by. It looked like something as beautiful as all that and it was good because it had been a long time coming. My husband passed away nearly thirteen years ago, and the desire of my heart for the last 8-10 years has been to find love again. Not just marriage or regular love, but that powerful, awesome, best-friend, passionate steady love that I once enjoyed with my dearly departed. I was only 29 years old when I became a widow, and although I loved my husband to the depth of my core, I never thought I’d see the end of my thirties still single… and here I am in my forties.

I’ve spent the last decade-plus raising my daughter, cleaning up my relationship with God, and desperately trying to find my footing. I have immersed myself into my career and ministry and along the way, I have had countless prophets and well-meaning friends come to me with messages that my time was coming soon. Soon… And I believed… But soon, really does mean nothing when you’re talking about it inside the context of the God-factor, because He works and exists in eternity as we carry on in time, and time’s “soon” and eternity’s “soon” are two very different things. Thirteen years without so much as a workable prospect insight is not my idea of soon.

But one day an unexpected phone call made my years of waiting feel like they were living on borrowed time. I was introduced to a wonderful man of God who made me feel alive again, and he came highly recommended by some friends in whom I still wholeheartedly trust. It was something straight out of a Christian fairy-tale, or maybe it wasn’t so dramatic, but that’s the way I remember the beginning, and every prayer I prayed about it rendered a green light. Without going through a bunch of details, I will tell you that it was the right relationship and every interaction was sweeter than the one before. He spoke of marriage often, and my friends bubbled with giddiness as they prodded me to prepare for the impending wedding bells.

This time I not only believed, but I could feel it. I could taste it, I could hear the wedding bells chiming in the distance, and this time the man at my side seemed to perfectly fit. My heart began to safely trust. My mind began to prepare, and my optimism began to spring like a well… and then it all changed. Suddenly.

Just as soon as he had shown himself perfect, or not really perfect, but perfect for me, I saw the signs of a man unprepared for what we had so swiftly embarked upon… together.

I wasn’t inside my own head or leading myself own with desires of grandeur. No, this man was showing all the signs and saying all the words of falling in love with me, and then in a blink, it all changed. When I tell you it happened in an instant, I want you to know it happened in an instant.

The man I began to trust and let my guard down for became cold, distant, and just abruptly started to pull back. I found myself confused and scrambling around to pick up the pieces of my heart that I was just beginning to give away. I was blind-sided and the worst thing about it was, I couldn’t even accuse him of being an awful person. He wasn’t, he was just a man who’d bitten off more than he could chew. He was a man with good intentions, he thought so well of me but became self-aware enough to put something on pause that he knew he wasn’t ready to fulfill. I was thankful and devastated. I was back to square one. The wait that I once thought was on borrowed time, reclaimed its time, and boasted to me that it was still its show. My moment of coming up center stage and taking the long-awaited bow would have to… well, wait… indefinitely. But what about my plans? What about my soon? What about all the prayers I prayed that God Himself had green-lit? I prayed some ridiculous prayers too! God, if this is You, let him say this, and he’d say it.

God, if this is him, let him do this, and he’d do it. What about God’s promises of soon? What about my heart that was staggering from the blow of yet another disappointment?

What about me?

The questions were coming faster than the answers, and I began to do what I didn’t think I’d ever had to again, start the recovery process of healing from disappointment. You see, I know this process well. I’m no stranger to it, and I know without question that human life will be full of them, but not in this area. I thought I’d suffered enough. Was this some kind of cosmic joke? Did God find some sort of pleasure in allowing me to get so close to my dreams only to snatch it away just to see what I would do? I knew that wasn’t true. That isn’t His character, but in the area of love and even in the success of my writing career, I felt I’d been given all the tools to make something big and beautiful happen, but never the real opportunity. I’ve gotten close. I’ve gotten oh so close, on both accounts, but I was never really able to walk through the open door. What was God trying to teach me that I hadn’t already learned in the last disappointment?

What more did I need to render to fix my life to be worthy enough for this prayer to be answered, I mean fully answered with no take-backs and no almosts? To tell you the truth, I still don’t know, but what I can tell you is that in the weeks following this disappointment, I began to enjoy a closeness with God that was so unimaginably sweet that I grapple to articulate it in words. I found comfort and joy in His encouragement, and it seemed the more I presented my disappointments and struggles, the more of Himself He began to reveal to me. I was living a love story with God. I was basking in love far superior to the one I had prayed for, the one I thought I’d found and the reality of it was overwhelming. The love I was experiencing with the Lord was the kind I always dreamed was possible, but even in all my years of serving and loving Him, had never really touched. That type of closeness was reserved for the King David’s, the Apostle Paul’s, and the Apostle John’s, but I didn’t think that sort of intimacy with the Father was truly possible for me. I was too much of a mess. Too much of a hot head at times, too back and forth between being discouraged and encouraged that I felt I just wouldn’t ever get there. You see, ordinarily, the door of disappointment would swing wide open for discouragement, but this time yielded disappointment, opened the door to more of Him.

I saw my King in a form of His glory that has always been there, but I just hadn’t been privy to. I wasn’t broken enough. I was always so quick to pick up my own pieces and reason my way through my own deliverance that I was too blind to see the grandeur that He was so desperately trying to reveal to me. This time as I began to pick up the pieces, I realized I couldn’t. I was too tired, and my heart would not survive another rescue and recovery mission from me. I had to let God do the fixing, and when I surrendered, He showed up. He didn’t just show up to comfort me, I’d let Him in to do that before. This time, He showed up to change me, to be with me… to dwell.

So, I’ve written all this, not to air out the details of my disappointment. I already did that with God. I wrote it because I know I’m not the only one who’s had to suffer through a series of disappointments, and I also know that there are those out there who are going through even greater battles than a love story gone wrong. Some are reeling from the loss of loved ones, loss of jobs, incomes, marriages, and even those who are suffering through the loss of their health.

Some are watching wayward children wander even further away from God and their heart’s intentions when they birth them, and those who are starring down the barrel of a prognosis that is nothing but grim. Believe me, I get it, and the temptation is to feel that you’re alone and to wonder why a loving God didn’t prevent it. What I can tell you from this last experience is that if you yield it, He will come. If you’re anything like me, you know how to sulk. You know how to ask questions and answer them with your own cynicism because this disappointment feels oddly like the last five, but you also know how to carry on. You know how to throw scripture at it, to grin and bear it and eventually move on, but do you know how to yield? Do you know how to be brutally honest with yourself and with God and say, this one hurt and I am not okay? Do you know how to let Him in? To trust Him enough to believe that His way of fixing it is far more effective than our own? If we know and love God, in our intellect we have no issue with saying that His way is better, but when we’re used to licking and dressing our own wounds, it isn’t so easy to raise our hands and just let Him do it. The hardship for me has always been that I know without a shadow of a doubt that He is capable, but is He willing… and how long is He going to let this wound breed before He fixes it? Remember I told you His soon and our soon are totally different, but there is also a difference between patching a wound and healing it.

The Lord our God is in the healing business. We patch, He repairs. We do enough to get by, but His is a completely transformative and restorative work.

The latter takes more time, more effort, and requires more pain and grit, but it is also the more excellent way.

It’s the way that shows us what we are truly made of, and it’s the way that shows us how loving, how majestic, how utterly amazing, thoughtful, and kind He is! The Lord our God is for us and He will use ANYTHING, including disappointment to get close enough to us to have the kind of fellowship that not only comforts us but changes us into people that look more and more like Him. Be encouraged and be willing to yield. I promise you a great return on your investment to trust Him. Love,

BY: Ronda TruFiyah

Ronda has a knack for infusing great music with great verse! She is a single mother, a writer, a minister, a sister, a daughter, and a friend… but most of all, she is a child of God. She is His perfectly imperfect proof that broken things, battered things, and seemingly unusable things, can be revived and restored. The life God has breathed in her to revive her broken pieces is spoken through her poetry and books with the hopes that the hearer will also LIVE. Her work is a testimony.

Articles by Ronda

FALLING IN LOVE WITH JESUS

If you just fell in love with Jesus… If you just started speaking on His goodness.

If you just started preaching. If it took a whole global pandemic for you to turn your attention to Him… Don’t you DARE be ashamed!!! Don’t you dare sit quiet if mockers who are supposed to be rejoicing at your conversion, scoff at it. Listen to me! We all came to Jesus because of a pandemic. .Continue Reading…

CICK HERE TO READ ALL BLOGS BY RONDA

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Creating Great Relationships

RhonieSays — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 16:21:16 +0000

Do you get along well with people?

It’s an important question because, let’s face it, people are everywhere. People are in your family…on your job…in your neighborhood. You can’t get away from them! And the people in your life are not always the way you would like them to be.Your ability to get along with people greatly impacts the quality of your life. That’s why it’s important to know how to relate to all kinds of people—not just people who are like you.

Personally, I have had to learn how to work with all kinds of people…..

When you are in that situation, you learn that you have to talk to some differently than others. You have to understand them in different ways. You can’t expect the exact same thing out of every single person.

I’ve also learned that people respond to correction in different ways. Some need a little more attention than others. Some need you to pat them on the back at least twice a month or else they feel rejected…while others are fine if you don’t pay any attention to them. Here’s a common reason why our relationships get messed up: We all have a tendency to try to give other people what we need, instead of giving them what they need.

What “Makes Them Tick”?

One of the biggest mistakes we make in relationships is not studying people to discover their individual needs. If you will closely observe people, they’ll let you know what “makes them tick.”Many people are stuck in self-centered mindsets. For example… Some opinionated people don’t understand that everybody doesn’t want their opinion. Maybe someone who thinks they’re always right doesn’t “get it” that somebody else would like to be right once in a while. Maybe somebody who is a big talker doesn’t understand that other people would like to talk occasionally.To have better relationships, start thinking more about others and noticing their needs.

Put It into Action

This is where your love walk comes into play. Are you including others in your daily thoughts and actions? As I mentioned, walking in love includes drawing out information about others…not just getting people in a corner and talking their head off.I am so hungry to see people who are enthusiastic about walking in love—people who want to do what Jesus did. Acts 10:38 says, How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him..

There are so many ways we can do good. For example, how do you treat the server when you eat at a restaurant? Are you rude? Or do you take the time to consider how demanding their job is? Instead of complaining, give your server a kind word. Take interest in them and give them a generous tip.That’s what people who walk in love do—because they know that’s God’s way.

It’s Really Quite Simple

We have to learn to give ourselves away. When we do, the blessings of God will chase us down and overtake us. You see, God wants to help you be enthusiastic about loving other people every single day of your life as you do kind and caring things for them.If you will simply take the time to start studying other people, notice what their needs are, and then put that knowledge into action through your love walk, it will dramatically improve your connections...which will lead to great relationships in every area of your life.

BY: Kene Emmanuel

Mr. Kene Emmanuel is a Christian born in Africa Ghana. The second born of Mr. Geoffrey kene, an Elder with the Church of Pentecost in Ghana.

Kene Emmanuel dreamed of running his own Internet Media business and programming music with his own innovative style. The vision and early research for The Bells media networks began in 2009. The Digital Age was approaching so Emmanuel began laying the foundation for The Bells Media through social media.

Articles by Mr. Kene Emmanuel

BELIEVING IN CHRIST JESUS REDEEMS OUR TIME

THE MAN AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA- John 5:1-15 .

“Here a great number of disabled people used to lie- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, One who has there been an invalid for thirty-eight years. JOHN 5:3-9 Continue Reading..

CREATING GREAT REALTIONSHIPS

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Capable

RhonieSays — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 17:25:40 +0000

Let me be transparent about my love of cartoon movies. I find great humor in them and often they are laced with words of wisdom simple enough for both children and adults to grasp. One of my favorite movies is the Legos movie. I’ve watched it more times than I care to admit but in this particular instance, some words really caught my attention. In this particular moment, the main character Emmet was giving a speech to President Business as to what made him special and he said “you are capable of doing amazing things”. It was as if the Lord was speaking to me through the screen trying to impart some wisdom to me. I gravitated towards what was being said and I wanted to understand more about applying those words to my life.

It’s easy to read all the amazing Bible accounts of what people did and think how was that possible? What they accomplished seems bigger than life when viewed against my ordinary life. What anointing they must have had upon them that’s surely impossible to land upon me but look at what Jesus said in John 14:12-14 12 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in My name [[a]as My representative], this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified and celebrated in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name [as My representative], I will do it.

If we look at the word representative in the parenthesis it means appointed, to act, or speak for another. That’s the key! They were representing Christ and His Kingdom. He anoints His representatives to do amazing things, acting on His behalf. Now that same anointing and capability He places on me through the Holy Spirit to be His representative.

I’m to represent His:

His love

His peace

His joy

His kindness

His goodness

His patience

His faithfulness

Through Christ, I am capable of doing amazing things as a representative of His kingdom just like those in the Bible. As a representative of Christ, you’re also capable of doing amazing things.

BY: Rhonie McBerry

Rhonie is a licensed radiation therapist providing care to those battling cancer. She learned to embrace a new normal after being diagnosed with Crohn’s. disease and uses the power of words to encourage others to see past their darkest day to a brighter horizon. She is the author of Embracing a New Normal, God Has Drawn The Blueprints Vol I &II, Words That Surround Your Soul devotionals, and a host of blog posts on her website www.RhonieSays.com. Her hobbies include reading, photography, liturgical dance ministry, and eating sweets. Rhonie is the mother of two children and two granddaughters and she makes her home in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband of 22 years.

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Oil of Joy

Capable

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Oil of Joy

RhonieSays — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 12:00:03 +0000

I planned to write a blog in hopes that it would help someone that was mourning the loss of a loved one, especially during this time of pandemic where there has been a countless loss of life across the globe. While writing this blog I’ve had to deal with my own emotions of losing a loved one. I received one of those dreaded phone calls that leave you numb as the person on the other end delivers the horrible news; in this case, it was the news of the sudden death of one of my younger cousins. Therefore, I hope to find solace in my own words as I attempt to encourage you in whatever loss you may be experiencing. As followers of Christ, there is comfort in and through Him in which too often pain blinds us. Let’s get those scales of blindness off together.

There was a passage of scripture that I heard recently as I was listening to a podcast that struck a chord in me from Isaiah 61:3 and it is the verse” The joy of oil instead of mourning.” What a promise ringing from these words that we can all grasp on to during these difficult times. Whether we are experiencing where grief and holding in emotions that want to bubble over, mourning in which there are physical signs of sadness and despair, or maybe a combination of both, there is something we can hope to understand. We must realize this promise is a replacement, an exchange that can happen directly from God.

Let’s look at what is in the exchange:

-We can be saturated by God’s joy-God’s joy is based on strength in His faithfulness. We must believe that He is continually working in our lives because He is devoted to loving us. If we focus on the stability of that love we can have contentment and confident hope to endure our losses and praise Him in the process. His joy will be complete in us because He holds us steady with amazing.

Psalm 16:11-

You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy;

Romans 15:13-

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

-We can be filled with God’s peace-God’s peace is the right standing we have in Him through the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are restored to God and that harmony is what can hold us together in our time of mourning. We are provided with peace of mind amid our heartache that comes directly from the throne of grace.

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

–We can be comforted by God-God is the God of all comfort. “All” meaning He has the comfort to give for anything we are experiencing. We must look to Him and His word to find solace. Our souls can be soothed because He is near to the brokenhearted.

2 Corinthians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit

The oil of joy instead of mourning is indeed obtainable and available. The choice is ours to tap into the wealth of that Oil through Jesus Christ. We can exchange our grief and mourning with inner joy, peace, and comfort. It’s certainly time for me to release my mourning for that amazing oil of joy. What about you? Let’s make the exchange!

BY: Rhonie McBerry

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Oil of Joy

Capable

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