Does God answer our prayers?

“If God answered all of your prayers, would the world look different or just your life?”

            This is a question that made me think for a while before writing this blog. It can be viewed in many different ways. When I read the question the first time I thought if God answered our prayers then the world would look different because it would be more peaceful and more of how people would like to see it. Subsequently I thought about my beliefs in how God addresses prayers and I asked myself; doesn’t God already answer all of our prayers?

            Doesn’t God already answer our questions? This is a tough question because we never really see the answer directly most of the time. I believe that God takes an indirect path to answer our prayers. I also believe that he doesn’t answer all the time in the positive way we hope for. He will say no to some prayer requests. When we pray we may ask God to help people or ask Him for something. His answer may be given through action of others. He may call people to become doctors and help those that we pray for in medical need. He may call people to become teachers for those who need educational help. He may even call you to help others through simple actions in life. God works through others including ourselves to answer our prayers. When we pray for a physical object then God could have someone get it for us or have our minds change so we don’t necessary want it anymore.

God will work to answer our prayers in many ways we just have to have the faith to listen and wait. We have to listen when we are called to do something. We have to listen to the answer. When we listen to God it may not always answer our prayers but it could answer other’s prayers. We have to wait and see what will happen. God is God but he doesn’t do everything at once. He takes his time and answers the pray when he feels that it is time to and at the right moment in our life. Next time you pray and are waiting for an answer remember that answers come in mysterious ways so listen and keep praying because everything will be just fine.

            After reflection God already answers all our prayers therefore I believe that the world wouldn’t be any different then it is today.

Present

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”

             Thinking about the past is very common in today’s world. Many people think about what could have gone better, how a stupid choice has affected their life today or about the fun they had in the past. When you think about the past it is very distracting and what can you do about it now anyway. Yes, you can learn from the past and change your actions and attitude so you won’t make similar mistakes again. If you constantly think about the past too much then it’s going to rule your life and you will constantly be living in the past.

            Thinking about the future is also a very common thing. This could be thinking about college, retirement or a job. When you think about these things it doesn’t always help your mental state. Many times it will make you stress out or even be excited or anxious. When your mind is in the future then your mind is thinking of many things that will probably never happen or happen in a way you would never expect. All this useless thinking can drain your energy. The future is a mystery and the only way to solve it is to get there and figure it out when the time comes.

            It’s not always the easiest to think of the present and not about the past or the future. Ways to think about the present more then the past or future is to focus all your attention on activities, people, events, and ideas that are happening right now. Involve yourself in enough things to keep your mind on your daily life. When you have a full schedule you don’t have time to think about the past or the future. Another way to live in the present is to do things you love to do. Even if its not involving yourself in a ton of activities, you could find something solitary to do like reading or painting.

            I’m not saying that thinking about the past or the future is a bad thing; I’m just saying that if you live in the present, life will be a whole lot easier and a lot more fun. Remember that the present is a gift. Live it to its fullest and never waste it thinking about your history or the mystery of tomorrow.

Disorganization

"One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries.” –Winnie the Pooh

There are many views and versions of disorganization. People consider disorganization to be either an advantage or disadvantage. There are levels of disorganization, which include messy, unhealthy and everything has a place but the place is everywhere.

The good and the bad views on disorganization are all dependent on who you are. I believe disorganization is a good thing at times but in other situations it is a bad thing and organization is key. When people think of it as a good thing they usually say that it’s fine and that they know where things are if it is disorganized. Winnie the Pooh always has a positive attitude toward it because you get to find new things that you have forgot you lost before in the disorganized mess. This way of thinking, I believe is awful because there is no reason to have things in a mess and you wouldn’t lose things in the first place if everything was organized. I would never be able to find stuff. The only reason I would agree with this statement is in my room because sometimes it gets a little messy and I’m satisfied with that. It’s very disorganized to an extent but it is organized in a way.

There are different levels of disorganization. There is the messy were everything is everywhere and it’s just what most people would think of when they think of the word disorganized. Another is unhealthy which is the max extreme where there is no organization at all. Everything is everywhere and nothing ever has a remote area where it goes. For example shirts and socks will be together. The last is just that everything is someplace and it has a place but it may not be considered organized; this one is below the messy categories on the levels. I believe that anything more then messy is too much because I would start to freak out not knowing where things are.

What matters is the way that you see disorganization or the level your disorganization is in your life, you should have some method of placing things and a method of explanation to the madness of disorganization.

Sisters

“Sister- a person who’s been where you’ve been; someone you can call when things aren’t going right; is more than just family; a sister is a forever friend.”

Sisters are the best things in the world. The relationship is a love hate, but in the end they each love the other and care about each other.

Love: Sisters are always there to talk to you about whatever is on your mind. If you have an older sister then they can share their experiences and they can relate to you more than many of your other friends. If you have a younger sister, then she is someone that would listen to you. Sisters also will do stuff together a lot of times. My sister and I will do a lot together when she comes home from college. We used to spend a lot of our time together prior to her going to college but now the time we do get together is more valuable. Whenever she is gone the bond grows and I miss her more ever day she is gone.

Hate: Sisters will always fight. It’s happens to almost all siblings. They will pull on each other’s hair, tie them up to something or sit on them. Both will pick on the other in ways that they won’t normally get them in trouble. Sisters can eventually grow apart because of growing up and moving away from each other. The farther the distance the harder it is to be together and to connect.

I always remember asking my sister for advise on clothing and what to wear with what. She is one of my favorite people to go shopping with, even though I dislike shopping. Since I don’t have great sense of style she always dresses me up like a doll. I also remember my sister doing my hair a lot and messing around with it. Fixing each others hair would be something we would do a lot on snow days because we really didn’t know what else to do so she would curl my hair or do other things with it. I loved being her little “doll”. These experiences with my sister will be in my memory forever because they are something a little sister will always remember.

What matter the situation is sisters should always be best friends forever. I hope my sister and me will always stay close together.

Motivation to Read the Bible

Many Christians want to read the whole Bible sometime during their life, but many don’t get the chance to because they don’t always have enough motivation or time. If you are one of these people then you need to figure out what motivates you and how to find time.

Motivation: If you want to read the Bible then that is a start. If you don’t want to read the Bible you should reconsider because it is part of the Christian religion and also a good book to read. One way to motivate yourself to read is to have a prize or treat yourself to something special at the end of each book in the Bible. One idea is to indulge yourself in something that you shouldn’t have everyday like ice cream because that is something that could be a treat for some people. Another idea is you could put money at the end of each book of the Bible and put it in a jar when you finish the book in the Bible and at the end of the Bible you can treat yourself to a trip or other fun activity. The Bible isn’t the easiest or the shortest read in the world but if you have the right motivation it can go fast and you can have fun with it. You know you don’t always have to read it from front to back; you can jump around to different chapters in the Bible.

Time commitment: The Bible takes time to read so you have to make time for you to read out of your schedule. Many book stores or Christian stores will have Bibles that are set up in a way that helps you read every day in order to finish it in a year. Also many apps are available which have this feature. This program can help if you have time everyday to read and you have the ability to keep up with it and not get far behind. Another way to make time is to find a few days in the week that you can read an hour or two and keep that up. This way it doesn’t have to be everyday occurrence, sense lives are busy it would be easier just to read a few times a week but for longer lengths. Find those little times in the day to read the Bible. Even if you read a few chapters at a time, it’s still working toward the final goal of finishing the Bible.

Hope you find a good motivational tactic and time in you life to read the Bible.