Lord Thy Grace is sufficient: Happiness

Lord Thy Grace is sufficient: Happiness:Life laughs at you when you are unhappy.

Life smiles at you when you are happy..

But Life salutes you when you make others happy.

Happiness

HAPPINESS

It took me some time to pen down my thoughts. The wait was significant as the topic is “Happiness”.

What is happiness and when is the last time you felt happy? Does it make you think hard?

People feel happy in various situations. Some feel happy when they travel, to some when they go shopping. Some are happy taking care of their house and some are happy being busy with their work and of course with no second thought most of us are happy to find or earn money….

Believe me or not moments of happiness are freely available. It is just about today’s walk in the garden…I saw 3 birds; one marching ahead and the other two following the first one. This brought a smile on my face. 

“Happiness is a choice”. We are always surrounded by such moments but it’s up to you to enjoy it or not.

Happiness and peace of mind are two sides of the same coin. One cannot be happy if there’s no peace of mind. If we make the right choices and the right decisions in life we will always be happy. However Life is not all that fair to everyone and the circumstances are complicated.

Just as we say that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Each moment of happiness has its own share of sorrow attached to it. 

Joy and sorrow go hand in hand and that makes life Sensational….

We should have the power to convert it into happy times. Being happy gives us the power and strength to handle difficult situations….

Love and care also contributes to the so called happiness. Love should not only be in your heart but should also be expressed to the concerned. The person you love should know that you care. This very feeling brings enormous amount of strength and even has the power to heal illness.

So Stay Happy and Make others happy. Would like to conclude by quoting these words  http://www.bestsayingsquotes.com/quote/life-laughs-at-you-when-you-are-unhappy-life-smiles-at-you-w-1102.html
       

Life laughs at you when you are unhappy.

Life smiles at you when you are happy..

But Life salutes you when you make others happy.

                                                                                            - Charlie Chaplin

#TESTING TIME, #TEST

Testing time

In his time, In his time…he makes all things beautiful in his time….This is what we all believe in. 

Sometimes we are put into test. Test of our faith, our patience and our perseverance. There are certain junctures of our life when we succumb to the abjuration and miseries in our lives.

#God always puts his dear ones into test. The righteous have to bear the brunt and the crook look secure. Lord has put his indisputable and staunch follower, “JOB” into test. So miserably in his life that he asked; “Why won’t you answer my prayers? He lost all his riches, his family and was left with nothing. Not even his clothes!!

At some point of our lives we all find ourselves in position somewhat like Job’s. Our world seems to crumble apart. Nothing makes sense anymore. God seems distant and silent. We cannot understand what he does and at the same time there is no end to his miracles. There are times we feel that we are pierced with arrows…but finally God delivers.

JOB 8: 20 says “God will never abandon the faithful”. This gave a reassurance to my faith. God bandages the wounds he makes. His hands hurt you and his hands heal.

God helps us by giving us several opportunities in life; finally it’s up to us to make use of it. God wants us to take initiative and have a strong determination. Only then can we overcome all hurdles and achieve success.

Here is a story about the man whose house was flooding? As the water level rose many people came to help him but every time he answered “God will save me”. Soon the man wakes up in heaven and asks God "Why didn't you save me" God replied " I sent the police, two boats and a helicopter, what else did you want"?

Let us not have a situation in life where we may have to regret for not making use of an opportunity.

Our God is patient and gracious but he wants us to children to respond.  Luke 11:9 says “Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you”. Amen!!

#Purpose of #Life

Purpose of life

We all live on this earth and go one fine day. Days are gone by where people will be sad for you or remember you after your death unless and until you were really close to someone and made a difference in their life….. Life is all here on this earth. We should do everything whatever we have dreamed of in this short span of time. It’s important to spend your life doing things that mean something to you. Something that gives you satisfaction and fulfillment.  

Death can happen any time!!!! People may find it crazy to discuss about death but the fact is who knows when and how things come to an end. A question passed by my thoughts; what is the purpose of my life???    Why God created me??? Why has God put in effort to create me and has sent me to this planet?  

Let us add an extra element of noble quotient to our lives. Apart from living to complete our education, acquire a high salary job, getting married, having kids and raising them up. Though  all these  is an important element of our lives and this to an extent forms our individuality and sanity.

A noble deed doesn’t necessarily be in monetary terms like in the form of charity, sponsoring a child’ s education, donating for an old age home etc…There is no ranking in doing a noble deed ; as the opportunity and ability to help may be different to each person. The least we can do is to live as a good human being courageously, consciously, with a heart that will move for people in need or just be a person who LIVES and LET LIVE.

This reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan…“A man while travelling was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on to the other side. Then came a Levite, (Levites are the ones who served particular religious duties and had exclusive rights to learn and teach) when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But then a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  Samaritans and Jews generally despise each other but he just looked at him as a man in trouble.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out some money and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

We as social being are introduced to some form of religion. Each religion teaches us to be a good human being. We are the temple of God. In order to be a good human being we just need to keep God alive in us, in our soul, in our actions. This will keep us away from being part of any evil.  Subsequently the world will become a better place with love and compassion.

#WOMAN - she is taken out of Man

#Woman a symbol of Beauty, Grace , Patience and Perseverance.

She is a doting mother, loving daughter, a caring sister, a dutiful wife.

We have an age old philosophy where we say that if we educate a woman the entire generation gets educated. It’s not only education but women deserve respect also. The society or for that matter a family that respects a woman and her sentiments grows. A woman always has a vision for her family and she puts her heart and soul into it to achieve it. Anybody can randomly ask ones mother and you will always get a convincing reply to this.

 Our society needs to learn to respect a woman by all means and make her feel safe. God created the world then created the man to have dominion over it. He saw that the man was lonely and needed a suitable company so he took one of his ribs and made woman. Named her Woman because she is taken out of Man but that does not make her inferior as is perceived in this male dominated society.

It’s the responsibility of You, Me and each one of us. We also need to teach each child be it a girl or a boy to respect a woman and her sentiments. With that I would like to add that it’s not only men that is to be blamed but women add to the state of misery of women. 

For Eg:

The brothels; many of them are operated by women.

The case of dowry deaths where again, a woman pressurizes for dowry,

Pressure for a male child leading to female infanticide …all which leads us to say that women have also contributed to this suffering which  is such a SHAME!!!.

In this era each girl child should be taught some form of self defense. It’s high time that we stand up for ourselves. To survive; to make a place which is safe and secure? Forget equality or being at par with men; women at least need to be preserved like any other form of nature.

Girls wake up from your fantasy and forget all those fairy tales. … Where a Prince Charming comes and rescues you!!!!! For it has been found that 80% of the human trafficking cases have happened to girls who run away from their homes ; blindly believing the fake promises and the sweet talks of their Prince Charming and finally land up in the deep pit of prostitution.

Women are matured, understanding and strong individuals who can take their own decisions. They consider family and career as important elements of their life. They are strong willed that’s why they can even sacrifice a flourishing career to make their family. At the same time; we women have made significant investment in educating ourselves and getting skilled hence we have the right to live up to our aspirations and ambitions.

 A woman is the one who draws strength from troubles, smiles during distress and grows stronger by following her dreams. So follow your dreams and chase them down and fulfill them ….

#Submission to the WILL of #GOD

                        #SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD

Recently I came across few lines that said “SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD WITH ABSOLUTE TRUST IN THE REDEEMING LOVE OF THE CHRIST”

These lines made me think how many of us are actually ready to submit everything to the will of God and sit carefree in one’s life. In today’s world of cut throat competition where each second is invested to yield a million or to acquire power “Submission” sound silly. We all are backed by targets and are constantly under comparison in all spheres of our life. Right from the day the child is born to the time he grows up to become nothing less than a doctor or an engineer and gets settled in UK or US ; in short becomes rich and famous.

We put in all our efforts, accept all unconventional and wrong ways just and just to be successful. We are more or less successful in this race and in the flow we forget to give our Lord, the Provider the importance that is deserved unless and until the day comes when things start getting wrong; there is depression and calamities, health problems, diseases etc and we start crying for help from # God.

The entire world  is going through a bad time viz inflation, war, rising crime especially against women. In the race to succeed we have no time to inculcate the values in our children who are the future. 

 For eg. We have so many families who stay separately; father works abroad, mother works in some part of the country and the child is with the grandparents or relatives in some other part of the earth. The concept of a family no longer exists or is diminishing. Isn't this one of the major reason for the rising crime?? There is no respect towards father, mother or towards ones siblings. All this is just to earn an extra penny. Is it worth doing all this??

We need to work to survive; after all we are living in a society but sacrificing your family just for your career or to earn a little extra is not justified. If we are supposed to shine we will shine anyways in some way or the other. Things will follow if we are protected under the shadow of Almighty.

The scripture says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for thee” and we need to have faith in it. The fact is that things are not under our control. The Lord our God has given a desire to know the future but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does. All that we can do to be happy is to do our best while we are still alive without expecting anything in return because you cannot add or take away anything from this earth.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verse 1 says” Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses”. He has set a time for everything and nothing can happen in this world without his consent”. These lines were an eye opener for me. We are all on this planet for some purpose. God has a plan for each one of us before we are sent on this earth.

Jeremiah Chapter 1 verse 4 says “I chose you before I gave you life and before you were born”. We are the children of God and we are all meant to shine, as his children. We are born to manifest the glory of God within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. We should all work towards it. Once we start the hands of God Almighty will guide us…..

PS: The above matter is a personal view and is not meant to hurt any individual’s sentiment.

#Relationship with God

#Relationship with God

Somebody who is with you in all times of trouble and will walk with you through all thick and thin in your life that is God and nobody else. My relationship with God and the unprecedented love that I have witnessed in my life cannot be expressed in mere words. My Lord is …

My friend in whom I can confide

A teacher who shows the right path like a guide

My mother, my strength

My father, my support system

From what I recollect is that my relation with God started right from my school days. I remember praying to him if I forgot a particular subject; may be a Math’s book and that particular teacher would not be present on that day. My faith grew from these small instances and my relation grew stronger day by day. I am fortunate to have parents who have inculcated the faith in me right from my childhood. Over the period of time going to college , work, I tried to stick to the teachings in Bible study which means you are not a part of the so called “peer group”…I know many people that who lead a Christian life will agree to this. It is not easy to lead a Christian life in today’s world where a person is judged upon the people with whom you hang out…If you don’t have a group around you ….you are termed as an “Introvert”. A black sheep in the group rather a white sheep among the other black ones in this context. Just being real and honest is unfortunately not acceptable in most societies.

Matthew chapter 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to  you”.                                                                                                                                      

Even today for even silly things I just close my eyes and pray. I realize that God is walking with me in every step of my life.

Our relationship with God can be developed on the basis of our own experiences it cannot be made in a day or two. Pray just pray to God before you do anything and you will find him miraculously helping you with it. 

From that I remember an article that I read long back “A mammoth 747 jetliner, while flying over the Pacific, sustained a tear on the side, threatening the lives of the passengers. The pilot however brought the craft back safely to the land. He was interviewed when he came to the land“What did you do when the plane ripped open and how did you bring it safely? He said I prayed to God and worked, he showed me a way.

Finally   “Follow Jesus not just because he can provide but because he can satisfy your deepest hunger the quest for eternal fellowship with him”…