First Week Back, Fresh Look Ahead

 Hey everyone!

For many it will be the first full week back just completed and I know for me it's been one where I've decided to press into the new year with a desire to head in a new direction otherwise I'll continue going in the way that I'm going.

People talk of new year's resolutions at this time of year and, I must admit, I'm not one for them but instead prefer to reframe that idea as a goal setting exercise where I ask myself one question.

At the end of the year, what do I want to have achieved so I can look back on the year and say 'yes, this was a good year'?

Once I establish that I can then begin to look at what decisions I need to have made to ensure that happens...

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!

I've been looking forward to writing this one as the first one of a brand new year.

First off thanks for your patience whilst I've been growing through the grieving process since losing my dad almost three years ago now. It can't last forever, the process, but it's just that; a process. I've had to readjust my priorities in that time which has, sadly, meant that the blog had to take a back seat throughout. I knew I couldn't commit to the pace and quality I prefer to put out so had to take a big step back and walk through it.

I haven't exactly been prolific in my writing this past few years and it's a desire I want to correct this year in my bid, finally, to send Off the Scale finally to one hundred episodes which has taken me so much longer than I expected it would.

But such is life sometimes...

Grow, Then Continue Growing

Hey everyone!

Well, it's the first week after another birthday and I must say that, even though I feel like my home is in the valley just now, I can still see enough of the light to know that dawn is coming. The dawning of a new day of perspective shifting as I seek to follow Peter's advice when he instructed believers to continue their growth in Christ: -

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

This is a verse that has been repeatedly coming to mind at the moment as I remember that no valley experience is ever meant to be a permanent home for me; I am always meant to be transcending all circumstances to skate over the top of them. It doesn't mean I won't feel them, just that I am not meant to wallow in them so much that they end up becoming sinking sand to pull me under...

Everything is Connected to Everything Else

Hello everyone!

I'm glad to be sat here, writing this, in my local library given that I know it's been about a month since my last update. I'm trying to return to a more regular schedule with the ideal being to return to BAU, yet that is not as possible as I would like just now.

It'll come. In time.

Meantime, I want you all to know that I haven't forgotten about you, my dear readers however many or few there are out there. It may look that way but remember that appearances are deceptive oftentimes. The way things look in one season is not necessarily correlative or indicative of how they'll show up in the next season.

That's what this is for me; a shift in seasons...

Empty of Head, Light of Heart II: Forget the Past, Embrace the Now, Run to the Future

Hello,

I wanted to follow on from what I wrote a couple of days ago. I couldn't leave it there. I was pressed for time on a public access computer so had to wrap it up prematurely.

As somebody who struggles with managing my mental health, I find it helpful to write my way through my journey. Though, admittedly, most of that has transferred to my personal journal so won't make it on here. But the fruit of what I discover will, I'm hoping.

Let's carry on...

LS039 - The Already Manifest Blessing

So we conclude that there is still a full and complete “rest” waiting for believers to experience. As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works, just as God celebrates His finished works and rests in them. So then we must give our all and be eager to experience this faith-rest life, so that no one falls short by following the same pattern of doubt and unbelief. Heb 4:9-11 TPT

Hello!

In days like these where it can be too easy to forget one's blessings, it is helpful to have an anchor point in scripture where we can go to be reminded of the fact that all that we need for this life has already been made available to us.

It has been my aim, ever since God redirected my focus of this blog to more spiritual matters, to hopefully give examples of this manifest blessing in my own life so that you can see the power in transparency...

LS038b - This is Not the End II: - My God Will Finish What He Started

 Hello everyone!

In this climate of pandemic we are all getting used to living in it can be easy to get frustrated by things being out of our control. I want you all to know that, though that may be true of us, the same cannot be said of our God.

God is in control and He will see us through this!

LS038a - This is Not the End

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since I posted my last lifestyle update where I try to show you why there is always another way to face your problems. Even if I'm not perfect, or right all of the time.

Back Once Again

Hi everyone!

It's been quite some time since I've been able to post on here as I've been going to through quite a rough time of it, what with losing my uncle before Christmas and a rather unexpected encounter with a friend.

But I'm back now, or at least I intend on being. I have read a fair few books since I last wrote on here and will be looking to resurrect my review series, yet without rushing into too much. I know my limits a lot better now and have been trying as hard as I can not to push them, merely to lean against them to increase personal capacity...

This is My Life

Hi everyone!

Though I might not be able to see whoever reads this, know that I fully respect and love that you have taken the time to read this, an anonymous voice from somewhere across the internet.

My updates might have been sporadic for much longer than I have ever intended, it has not come without price. That price has seen an increase in importance for me to journal my way through this year's valley experiences rather than plastering them all over here.

Don't you worry, what I am hoping for, is a real sense of purpose to come through out of the aftermath of what I've written since starting my Faith Experience journals...

LS037 - Speak Life into Your Situation

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to post an update, letting you all know how I am doing aside from my reviews and news content that I have been posting.

It has been a really challenging few months for me as I have been forced to step back from my blog for a while to journal my way through. A lot of the stuff I cannot actually talk about on here because there are some things that are not meant for the public eye.

I have had to re-prioritise, as well, a lot of things as I am on week three of five of a course aimed at helping you to maximise the most out of your life. This, combined with the sessions I have been doing with my work and health provider, have got me to a place where I finally feel steadier...

LS036 - Heart, Body & Soul

Hello everyone!

Thank you for your continued patience as I have worked through some personal stuff. It's starting to clear up my schedule now so I will, hopefully, be able to churn out more regular content in addition to my "Off the Scale" series.

As already mentioned, I have some exciting projects coming up that I'll be incorporating into this blog, having decided not to create a new one. Instead I will be focusing upon polishing this to a standard that is befitting of my blog. It's going to be a slow process so further patience will be required whilst I change things around.

But there will be no new web address to memorise for my output, at least for the foreseeable future...

LS035 - Strength of the Heart

Hello everyone!

It's been a long time since one of my lifestyle posts hasn't it? Last time I looked at how the way we often view our situations is a good indicator of the truths we are starting to believe about them.

This time, mainly because I'm feeling better than I have been of late, I want to take a look at something that's a little closer to my heart; imperfection...

LS034 - Trials Perceived is Truth Believed

Hey everyone!

I hope you are all having a good Wednesday, or Thursday, or whatever day that you are reading this on. I know I am.

I have been doing some journalling today and I wanted to share with you some thoughts I've had based upon something I wrote in my journal; how we perceive what happens to us is an indication of what we are believing...

LS033 - Cero Miedo (or the Art of Living Without Fear)

Hello everyone!

Today, I'm going to be tackling a subject that many of us struggle with but very few of us might actually admit to struggling like this; fear.

Maybe just my mention of that word has sent shivers up your spine because we usually put "fear" and "change" in the same boat and I'm here to show you that this is not necessarily a bad thing to encounter in your daily living...

LS032 - Thinking is Believing

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the first devotional in quite some time. It's not been intentional as there has been a lot of personal stuff going on at the moment that I just don't want to blog about.

I'm not keeping you out of the loop for your best interests, but for my own best interests because I have come to realise that, in my life, I am clearly becoming too open a book for some people to deal with. I'll never apologise for that because it's who I am and it's what I do.

It's why I blog; what you see, is what you get.

Today, I want to look at some of the lessons I have learnt from keeping a rigorous check upon thought life...

LS031 - Clearing Up Pathways

Hi everyone!

It feels like an absolute age since I last posted consistently and, after the day I've had, I am hoping that it triggers some more content to be created for this blog.

First of all, I just wanted to thank you all for your patience whilst I've worked through my personal stuff that was never going to make it down upon here. I had to journal my way through this season and, now that my review is coming up tomorrow, I am looking forward to whatever the future may bring.

I want to share a few thoughts with you today on what it means for me, as someone who regularly struggles with anxiety and depression, to find positive life in the smallest of things...

LS030 - From Lip Service to Heart Service

Hello everyone!

I hope that you have been enjoying my "Off the Scale" series so far and we are moving ever onwards through our thirties with a view to continue until at least 100!

Today, however, and because it's been such a long time, I just wanted to post a really heartfelt post on some of the stuff that caused me to leave !Audacious Church...

LS029 - The Road Ahead

Hello everyone!

My last devotional post really got me thinking about a lot of issues I've walked through since leaving !Audacious and most of them were, as I've said already, related to the damage being at a place like that was actually doing to me.

I don't belong there anymore so it's time for me to continue to fix my eyes on the road ahead towards the destiny for which Christ is calling me onwards...

LS028 - Leaving the Past Behind

I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself. Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above.

Philippians 3:12-14 (GNB) emphasis mine

Greetings!

Today, I want to take a slightly left-field approach compared to recent posts as I have some stuff I want to get off my chest and I don't really have anybody to talk to about it so let's see what happens, shall we?

I recently admitted to having flaws (I know, I know, shock horror right?!), one in particular is my stinging nettle and that is sometimes, I fail to control my tongue in the manner that I would like. I am realising, over time, that though I will never be responsible for how somebody takes what I say to them, I will still be responsible for how I say it in the first place.

This has caused me problems and led me to a point where I realised the truth that some people in my life were beginning to be a negative influence upon me...