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5 Tips To Overcome Stress

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Here’s 5 things to help your stress: 1. Change your thought pattern – You have to understand that you control stress, you are the one who allows it into your mind and therefore have the power to stop it. The person you listen to most is yourself, so its critical that you are constantly telling yourself things that are beneficial to you. Also, understand that the majority of things you stress about are things you can’t control anyways so let it go. 2. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise – You’ve probably heard it over and over again but the benefits of exercise are numerous and its particular effective against stress. 3. Write – Writing has been proven to help alleviate stress by releasing your racing thoughts onto paper. When you get your thoughts down on paper it gives yourself a chance to take a step back and see what really worries you. You often find the things that you are constantly worrying about aren’t in fact worth worrying about. 4. Have some “Me” time – Get together with friends and do something fun. Sometimes we are so busy that we forget to take care of ourselves. Make sure to take some “Me” time. 5. Read, Pray, Meditate on God’s word - There are at least 7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words for the word “Meditation”. Hebrew 1897. hagah, haw-Gaw’; to murmur (in pleasure or anger); to ponder:-imagine, meditate, mourn, mutter, roar, speak, study, talk, utter. Webster’s dictionary of meditation means to reflect upon. As you can see, meditating on God’s word really is an active process that involves reading , letting it absorb into your heart, understanding what it means, and applying it practically to your own life. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 How do you normally handle stress? What are some things that stress you out the most? Leave your comments below!
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The Secret To Moving Past The Hurts In Your Life Once and For All

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People will hurt you, that is a fact in life that is often times one of the hardest thing’s to both deal with and understand. Sometimes we have control over it (we did something that caused a person to react in a way that hurt us) but I would say most times we have no control over it (somebody did something to hurt us and we are in no position to change it). No control….this brief statement really scares people. The humanness in all of us wants to have some control and we expend so much effort trying to get control, over our relationships, in our workplace, at school. The problem though is that we never had control and never entirely will. This is a humbling truth that you must learn to accept. But you have hope. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” All things! That means every hurt, every trial, every circumstance, God will make it and mold it for your benefit! So today, read over these 5 key steps and start to move past the hurts in your life once and for all. 5 Ways to help you move past the hurts in your life: 1. Accept - This is really half the battle. You must accept the things that hurt you, the things people did to you whether they were intentional or not, you must openly accept them. Acceptance involves accepting your emotions, especially the ones you have tried to ignore and cover up for so long. By doing this, you will naturally be affirming yourself and will allow the healing process to begin. 2. Talk It Out – Find someone who is a strong christian and you can trust, then find a time to talk with them about your past hurts throughout the week. 3. Rebuild – Once you have accepted, you must now begin to reshape your mind, your thoughts, and your actions. You see, many people have accepted a distorted belief about their past, they think they are worthless, that something is wrong with them, or that nobody could love them because if they did than that person wouldn’t have_______(Fill in the blank). In this step you must reshape those old habits and it begins in the mind. Pray and read what God says in the bible specifically related to your hurts. Begin to see how God really sees you, “Special, precious, his thoughts outnumber the very grains of the sand on the beaches” for you! This is the step that requires the most work but over time you will start to see results. 4. Renew – In this step its important to keep maintaing and filling your mind and your life with Godly things so you don’t revert back to your old ways. 5. Love yourself! – don’t be so hard on yourself. We all make mistakes, we’ve all done things that are wrong and [...]
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Why is Divorce Rising?

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5 Possible reasons why divorce is rising at an alarming rate: 1. The media – their is no doubt the media has a huge influence over us and with all of the sex, swearing, and lack of respect being displayed for people to see it’s no wonder it’s spilling over into our own lives. We’ve become so desensitized into thinking that it’s normal that even the strongest christian has to wonder if they can overcome it . But is this the main reason? 2. Hypocritical parents – I’m a firm believer that a person’s actions speak louder than their words. You can tell your child a million times to respect you but if you fail to show them respect than you’ll never get it yourself. It’s time for parents to step up and take charge. Parents have a small window to make an impression on their children and if they make the same mistakes that their parents did, the chain continues through their children. We all make mistakes and some more than others have gone through unspeakable pain, but God promises to break that chain. So stop searching and start running…straight to God. 3. Instability in the family – This is probably related to number 2 but it bears repeating. Statistics prove that a stable family that doesn’t divorce is much more likely to have better emotional health especially among the children. Furthermore, the children are less likely to engage in promiscuous activities (pre-marital sex, drugs, alcohol) in order to ‘escape.’ My girlfriend whose family lives in South Korea told me that in their society divorce is less accepted than in america. She told me that divorce in Korea is considered very shameful and that most parents do whatever it takes to make the marriage work because of the children, no questions asked. Is america too lax on divorce? 4. Poor communication – A lack of communication in any relationship will surely lead to problems. The truth is, communication takes work, you have to be patient and truly listen to the person and then you have to express it in a way that he or she understands. This can be difficult since males and females both think and communicate differently. A book I highly recommend that my girlfriend and I went through was a book called Love and Respect. 5. Money, Time, Sex, Lack of commitment – All of these reasons potentially play a huge role in causing divorce. What do you think are some of the main causes of divorce? What solutions are there to preventing divorce? Do you have any personal experience with divorce or know someone who does? How did you handle it?
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The Secret To A Happy Marriage (By a couple married 40 years)

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Commitment: Lifetime together, divorce is not an option or a joking matter with us. Forgiveness: We are intentionally forgetful of each other’s frequent failures. Humility: We don’t believe we deserve each other–in the good sense! Dating: 1,2,3 — one night out each week, just the two of us, three hours together. Sex: We never say no to each other, and never say yes to anyone else. Prayer: Everyday while holding hands. Spending: No debts and no secrets. Disagreements: Speak the truth in love with the only goal of “we won” not “I won”. Criticism: Don’t put down, but make realistic requests instead. Compliments: Build-up, and believe it cannot be overdone. Kids: Lovingly prepared them to leave us as we prioritized cultivating our closeness. Loyalty: Speak positively, never negatively, about each other to others. Interests: We take an interest in each another’s interests. Differences: We respect them and don’t try to remove them. Church: Every week we worship, tithe, serve and invite–together! Best Friends: Do whatever it takes to make sure that’s what we are. Friends: Mostly couples, no opposite sex, and we each have veto rights. Jesus: As we love Him more we love each other more. [suffusion-widgets id='1']
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Should Homosexuality Be Taught in Schools?

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Gay marriage and gay rights continue to be a hugely controversial topic in today’s society. Here in California, on June 16, 2008, gay marriage was banned by Proposition 8 but gay supporters continue to fight to get those rights back. Some of the common arguments I hear for gay marriage is that everyone deserves a right to get married regardless of their sexual orientation. Many people think that by preventing homosexuals rights, it’s a form of discrimination that contradicts a country that preaches equality for all. I fully understand these arguments and I’ll admit that even as a christian, I sometimes wonder if it’s ok to to infringe on their rights. However, as homosexuality becomes more prevalent in today’s society, more and more questions are popping up about gay rights. Do you think homosexuality be taught in public or private schools, why or why not? Do you think its important to integrate homosexuality into the academic curriculum? Leave your comments below!
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My Top 5 Favorite Christian Songs

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My Top 5 Favorite Christian Songs: 1. Tenth Avenue North - By your Side http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdjRmM0Q0qs 2. Aaron Shust – My hope is in your lord http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW-JZrrEbt4 3. Jeremy Riddle – Sweetly Broken http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL-mF_FwPnI&feature=related 4. Delirious – My Soul Sings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Le95bUfig 5. David Crowder Band – How he loves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzfPHnoT0-0 What are your favorite Christian songs? Comment below!
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Is God Real or a Fairy Tale?

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First off, you should know that I used to be an agnostic. 5 years ago I wasn’t really sure of anything, in fact, I was more leaning towards the view that there was no God than anything. I also mistakenly had a lot of views about God, christians, and church that had been put in my mind from the news, other people, and my own experiences. Well, a few years later things started to change. I stayed with a friend for a month and it was there where my views of christianity started to change. At the time, I didn’t have a place to stay so they offered me a room in their house to stay until I could find a place. I stayed their a month and I noticed that things were much different in a christian home than my own. For one, the father was head of the household and demanded respect from everyone. This was not the type of forceful respect, this was the type of respect that a person earned because of his actions. The family prayed together, prayed for me, and their seemed to be a sense of security in the family that I didn’t experience in mine. I thought to myself, I thought christians were a bunch of loony cult people who worshipped a collection of fairy tales called the Bible. However, it wasn’t until I met with their Pastor that things really changed for me. I thought to myself, alright Pastor, let’s see how smart you really are. I asked him all of the tough questions, if God is real why do people suffer? If God is real, why can’t we see him? How do you explain a drunk driver who hits an innocent person, where was God then? For every question I asked he had a legitimate argument to back it up and at times even admitted that he didn’t know some of the answers to my questions. It was then sometime after during a pause between my christian attack of questions that I felt an overwhelming feeling of joy that I cannot explain. It was nothing I’d ever felt before and no I wasn’t on drugs. I can’t explain it other than I felt as if their was something far far greater than myself wrapping his arms around me. I broke inside and my heart filled with joy, I then accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. Another time I had been struggling with finding my biological mom and I had just begun dating my girlfriend. They were both strong christians and her mom didn’t know about my hurts or my adoption. One night, her mom called her and told her that God put a scripture on her heart to look up. ”"Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!” Isaiah 49:15. I broke down in tears and thought to [...]
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What Everyone Should Know About Pornography

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I knew I would have to write about this sooner or later because it’s an issue that I’ve not only struggled with personally but I know millions of other guys do as well, whether they admit it or not. It took all of God’s strength to write about it today but I wanted to share my experience with porn. Before I was a christian, I thought to myself porn is perfectly normal and natural. I mean, we’re guys right, we have needs lol? I was exposed to porn at a very early age when I was only 12 years old. My step-dad hid playboys under the sink and bed and I would go in there and look at them. When I first saw them I thought to myself, holy moly this is different! As years passed, I would delve in and out of porn and in high school my friends would even come over and we’d watch porn together. It was practically a porn party! Well, I eventually became a christian and all of a sudden I became hugely convicted when I watched porn. What was once so innocent now felt like I was guilty almost to point of committing a serious crime, and I was, in God’s eyes. Many of you are wondering why I think porn is bad? I’ll first attack it from a non-christian viewpoint. When a guy watches porn he is basically imagining that he is sleeping with another woman. It’s a ridiculous fantasy played out in the privacy of a person’s home and this problem isn’t isolated to males either, statistics prove that more and more women are watching porn as well. Now, if your in a relationship would you want your boyfriend or girlfriend watching another man or woman have sex while they play out this ‘fantasy’ in their head? Of course not! This might not SEEM to bother the other person in the relationship but it’s a seed of destruction that will grow more and more. From that seed can come several things (lack of trust, feeling unloved), the most prevalent and often final conclusion being that he or she cheats on you. Another point to consider is that most males will never admit they have porn. Porn is always done secretly. From a christian standpoint, God calls christians to fix our thoughts on things that embody him. Jesus said, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 God also calls us not to lust. When guys watch porn they are practicing to lust after women. It’s a fact I know all too well and eventually it spills out and affects the people you love most. I’m still learning to fill myself with God and to avoid porn at all costs. I put up norton software that blocks all porn and sexual material and I also have it on my phone. [...]
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What’s the Point of Going to Church?

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I hear this from a lot of people and I myself occasionally wonder if I might be better off studying for a test than going to church on sunday, but what’s the real point of going to church? Church, in its most basic sense according to scripture, is merely a place where people come to worship God. It’s not about the building, the money, or even the pastor, its about the people. So church really is the body of people who come to worship God, that’s it. When I go to church I not only get encouraged by others but I also go to hear God speak to me. Folks, if your a believer or claim to be a believer than you should ‘want’ to go to church. You may not ALWAYS want to go, but if you truly believe in God than you will want to go worship and hear your creator. I’ve always wondered, how is it that people profess to be christians and yet don’t go to church? They claim that they will worship at home but let’s be honest, you never do. Even when I missed church early on as a christian, I would say I would read scripture or listen to christian music but I just played video games or watched football. The truth is, if you truly believe in God, the God of the bible, than your actions will show it. You’ll go to church not only because God’s word calls us too, but you’ll do it because you long to be with our everlasting creator. Another thing that I hear is that church is for weak people or really evil people. Really? The truth is we’re all weak and we’re all sinners without God and the number one sign that your pride has taken over this idea is when you think you don’t really need God at all. For many non-believers, they think how would my life be any different if I turned to God when I see other christians doing the same thing I’m doing? We’re all sinners, we all make mistakes, but I can assure you that walking with God will transform your life. Stop listening to what the world is telling you and see for yourself. Generally speaking, those who often judge are those who never tried to truly seek it. If you seek a relationship with God he promises to draw near to you. So go to church, let down your walls and your previous ideas about church and God, and seek him with all your heart….You just might be surprised at what happens. Do you think people need to go to Church, why or why not? Leave your comments below!
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Losing the Security in Your Life

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Abandonment is one of those secret hurts that manifests itself in so many ways such as loneliness, depression, anger, and fear. I know this firsthand because I experienced all of these feelings growing up but at the core of all of it was abandonment. As I matured in my faith I have found three things, why we feel abandonment, how it manifests itself as destructive behaviors, and the solution for it. The very moment that my mom gave birth to me, she gave me away. I didn’t know at the time, but the moment that I needed my mom the most, she abandoned me. The same recurring message was sent to me again when my mom divorced, and again when she divorced a second time. I felt as though all of these people, the people most important in my life were leaving me, and why? It was like a message that was being sent to me (my heart) that said, Dear Peter, I’m leaving you because I don’t love you. When the people most important in your life are leaving you, it’s hard not to wonder if something is wrong with you. You add on top of that, growing up in a community that is largely very different from you (racially) along with a lot of racism and you could say I was a pretty broken child inside. How did I cope with all of this? All of the feelings that I had, anger, loneliness, depression, and fear had become a part of me. I started to believe that people really didn’t love me, that I had nothing to offer this world, that I was a failure, and maybe that was the very reason why everyone had left me. I ended up going on dating sites trying to get girls to like me, to see something inside of me that I thought my biological mother had missed. I drank alcohol and watched porn, I even ended up flunking out of my freshman year of college. I had no idea where I was going, who I was, and if anyone really cared about me. As I look back, I found that I had used those things as an escape, a place to getaway from the reality that I didn’t want to face. For some of you, the place to escape might be drugs, alcohol, prostitution, abuse, pornography, violence, romance novels, or even behaviors such as putting other’s down in order to make yourself feel better. All of these behaviors often stem from a core issue of abandonment. When the people we love hurt us and then leave us, we begin to feel as though something is wrong with us, that we have nothing to offer. This can’t be farther from the truth, which brings me to my next point, what is the solution? I tried a lot of things in this world to try and escape the hurts that wounded me for many years. I also knew a lot of people [...]
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