HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving. I’d like to take a few minutes to thank everyone who reads my blog. Thank you for making it worthwhile. I love writing, but without you, there would be no reason to put it on the internet. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, and have a happy, happy Thanksgiving.

As many of you have noticed, I haven’t been writing much lately. A lot has been going on in my life for the past year. My daughter got married, and my baby boy turned 18. My dad died after five long months of illness. My sister died after fighting cancer for eight years, and I’m still struggling with my own health issues. With all that has happened, I still have plenty to be thankful for.

God has been so good to me. I’m thankful for all the things he's blessed me with, like my family, our home, a way to make a living, and so many other things, but the things I’m most thankful for are his Love, Mercy, Grace, and forgiveness. I was dead in sin, headed down that wide slippery slope to hell. Then Jesus came and rescued me, and put me on the narrow road to heaven. I’m so thankful he saved me. I love him for that and I want to serve him and tell others how much he loves them.

I want to ask each of you to pray for me and my family, for everyone who reads this blog, and please pray that new readers will find this information and be blessed by it. Thank you again for reading, and again, Happy Thanksgiving. God bless you.

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© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

BITTERNESS

Allison was four years old and was complaining about a stomach ache. This went on for a few hours as her parents tried several things to alleviate her pain. When their efforts had failed, and Allison was not feeling any better, they took her to see a doctor.

After a few tests and X-Rays, the doctor came and told the parents what he had found. It seems that Allison had swallowed a few things she shouldn’t have. She had swallowed some toy beads, a dog’s chew bone, a deflated balloon, eight coins, some birdseed, and several leaves.

As I read this news story, I thought to myself, “Kids do the dumbest things.” After thinking about it for a few minutes, I concluded that adults do some pretty dumb things sometimes, too. We may not swallow strange things like Allison did but, we do a lot of things that bring pain and suffering on ourselves. I call this “Self-Inflicted Suffering.”

There are many things we do that bring us pain and suffering. One of them is to allow BITTERNESS to take over our lives. Bitterness is a result of keeping a record of wrongs done to us. Bitterness comes over a period of time as we refuse to forgive those who have wronged us. We relive those wrongs over and over. We hang on to them, and they grow and grow until we become bitter. I’ve been there, and it’s not a happy place to live.

Unwillingness to forgive comes from our pride. We’re not willing to humble ourselves and forgive others. Studies have shown that people who are forgiving have less stress in their lives. Bitterness causes stress, which causes emotional problems, and that can cause us physical pain, and can even lead to diseases, like high blood pressure, strokes, and heart problems. Our emotional wellness is directly linked to our physical wellness.

Our emotional and physical wellness are also connected to our spiritual wellness. When we suffer in either one of these areas, it affects us in the other two as well. So bitterness affects our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit cannot live in a heart that is full of bitterness.

Bitterness changes us. It changes us in several different ways. It even changes our physical appearance. Did you know that? A bitter person ages more quickly. They look tired and unattractive. Bitterness actually makes a person ugly. You can see the effect that holding grudges has on them. It’s sad to see a person in that situation.

Bitterness also ruins relationships. Bitter people are no fun to be around. Whatever we focus on all the time, comes out in our daily conversions. When bitter people talk, they talk about what they have been focusing on. Their anger, hatred, and whatever bad feelings they have for others. It’s not pretty.

Ephesians 4:31 says, “Put away all bitterness, hate, anger, crying, evil speaking, and all vengeance. Be kind and compassionate to each other. Forgive each other, just as God forgave you because of Christ.”

The Bible tells us to “Put bitterness away from us.” So let’s do that. Let’s put it as far away from us as we possibly can. To be bitter, or to not be bitter, is a choice. God has told us, in Hebrews 10:20, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” If someone hurts us, we should leave it in God’s hands, and get some rest. After all, we need our beauty sleep.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

LAUGHTER IS GOOD MEDICINE

In this life, we all have pain and sorrow. We all have stress from our daily routines of work and other responsibilities. We all have times when we feel down. We all have days when we don’t feel good and days when we’re literally in pain.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 17:22, that, “A merry heart does good like a medicine.” I’ve found this to be so true.

The word MERRY in this verse means cheerful, and the word HEART is just another word for MIND. So “A cheerful mind does good like a medicine,” or we could say, “being happy is good like medicine.” I like that verse, and it's completely accurate. When I’m feeling bad, and something makes me laugh, I actually feel better.

I don’t sleep well most nights and when I get up in the mornings, I usually don’t feel well at all. One morning when I woke up, I was feeling really, really bad. While I was trying to muster up the strength to get ready for work, I just happened to remember something funny from my childhood. It made me laugh out loud, and it actually made me feel a little better. I want to share that story with you, and maybe you can have a laugh, too.

I think I was around six years old, and my sister was four or five. Our older cousin was at our house visiting for the day. When he would come over he would entertain us with his wild stories. We loved his tall tales so we would listen intently as he tried to amuse us. I don’t know where he was going with this story, though because laughter interrupted his flow. All I remember is what my sister said just as he was getting started.

He said, “If you pull a hair out of your nose you’ll die.” My sister looked at him with her eyes as big as the moon. Then he calmly said, “I pulled a hair out of my nose one time.” Before he could say anything else, my sister gasped, as her eyes got even bigger, and with deep concern in her voice, she said, “Did you die?”

That’s still so funny to me, and no matter how many times it cycles through my memory, it still makes me laugh. I loved my early childhood, and I miss it. We didn’t have much at all, but we didn’t know it. Everything seemed so simple. We had no worries, no cares, and no big responsibilities, but we did have lots of love, and plenty of fun times to remember.

I hope you have plenty of good memories in your past. When you’re feeling bad, or sick, or a little down, try to remember one or two that will make you laugh or at least smile. I promise it’ll make you feel better.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6