Sally Hanan's Blog, page 13

When you feel abandoned by God because of the hatred and unforgiveness in your heart toward someone, and you feel you can’t reconcile with God because of it…

Nothing is irreversible with God, and you’re now at the doorway into opening your heart to everything he has to give or keeping it closed.

The biggest thing about God is that we think he acts like we do, when all he sees is what he has put in us, all he does is love us.

All he’s ever wanted is for you to let him back in.

When we’re full of shame, we assume he doesn’t want to be near us. It’s actually the opposite that happens–he’s closer than ever, watching, waiting, hoping. And when you’re ready, you’ll tell him that even though you find it extraordinarily difficult to believe, you’ll accept that he loves you unconditionally no matter how much darkness you’ve allowed in, and you’ll give him permission to come back and fill your heart with all of the love and light he longs to give.

The more of his love you let in, the more the darkness will begin to back into a corner, until eventually your whole heart will be full of God’s light and love again.

He understands how much pain you went through to cause you to need that emotional wall of unforgiveness. It’s just that his love is always bigger, stronger, and more powerful than any pain. His love is always more healing than any wall. That’s my prayer for you—that you would accept that he loves you completely, totally, wholly right now, no matter how much the opposite feels true. And once that’s established, you can talk to him more about everything else going on in your heart.

The post When You Feel Abandoned by God appeared first on Pick Your Life .

People judge all the time, and then they post their judgments online for all to see. Religion, lifestyle, clothing choices — assumption after assumption about people they have usually never spent the time talking or listening to.

Public shaming for those posts, or creating more rules to stop them, is not the answer though. Neither is education, although education surely is one of the greatest gifts we can offer those who simply don’t know (yet).

Personally, I think the best thing we can do in response is to demonstrate the value of experience. Tell your story. Spend time with those you don’t understand. Travel. Listen. Appreciate. Share.

There’s gold in everyone.

The post Assumption after Assumption appeared first on Pick Your Life .

I’ve always been interested in the word fullness, because to me it signifies the longings of the heart. Because of that, I’ve always loved Ephesians 3:14-19, so I thought I’d take that interest a little further and look up the word fullness in the Greek.

What I saw blasted me in the best way, because I always thought those verses were about me being filled with all of God … but in truth,

Fullness is about family.

The Greek word is pleroma–a fully manned ship–so when every single believer takes his/her place and actively operates in his/her design and path, then we will experience the fullness of God.

The post The Word Fullness appeared first on Pick Your Life .

Sometimes Christians you’ve laughed and cried with do horrible things, making choices that end up serving only themselves and no one else. The devastation and sense of loss can be heart crushing. Some things to remember though:

1. They have to live with themselves forever. As long as they stay swimming in selfishness, they lose out on so much more than you.

2. You’re the free one.

3. God loves justice and mercy. Nothing you could do or say could trump that, so you can trust him to take care if it on his timeline.

4. God is always with you. David said even if he went to hell, God would be there with him. There will never be a second in which you are alone through this.

5. Five years from now, life will be different, but because you chose to stay IN Jesus, you will have more peace, more love, and more wisdom. You can’t beat that.

The post When Friends Do Horrible Things appeared first on Pick Your Life .

I think that many Christians have been indoctrinated with the idea that they don’t have to do anything and it will all come to them as it should, and if it doesn’t, then it wasn’t meant to be. That’s pretty much the same as saying that only some of us are predestined to be saved and we have no choice in the matter, which is absolute piffle.

So go ahead, people:

Choose your job, choose your house, choose your spouse, choose your life.

God designed you with a brain and preferences and he expects you to use them. Otherwise he would have given you a high functioning cauliflower instead of a noggin with emotions and stuff.

The post God Will Do All the Work appeared first on Pick Your Life .

Choosing laziness will always make you feel worse.

For example, if you’re sitting on the sofa eating popcorn and watching the fifth episode of a series, you’ve chosen to stay sitting there and snack rather than get up and do something that leaves you feeling satisfied.

Picture the feeling of a library book dropped back, of bed sheets washed and back on the bed, of the dog walked, of the washing up done. Now picture the feeling of those same things undone and staring at you every time you walk by because you chose what you thought was the easier option.

Laziness is never the easier option; it’s the harder one.

The easier option is to make yourself happy by choosing to do things that make you feel more alive, not more asleep at the wheel.

The post Choosing Laziness appeared first on Pick Your Life .

We always have a choice when it comes to our past. We can list off all our triggers and claim that our response/hissy fit is valid because – duh – our past; or we can see all the places in our past where Jesus has applied his truth and respond to current stress with that.

Either we’re going to live in truth or we’re not, and our Jesus is no liar.

He’s with you – you’re not alone. You matter.

He’s designed you perfectly – there’s nothing wrong with you.

He’s got your heart – he’s enough.

He’s your righteousness – you’re clean.

He’s in your future – he’ll be with you.

He’s your strength – all that power is inside you.

The post When It Comes to Our Past appeared first on Pick Your Life .

A brand is what people think of you. When your name comes to mind, what they think about, that’s your brand. — James Rubart

It can help to know what your brand is when you do anything entrepreneurial because then you stay true to who you are, to what drives you, to what keeps you aligned with your values and ideals.

I asked others about this on Facebook recently, and some people answered with a list of things they do or roles they fill rather than ways their presence affects a room or the person in front of them. They came up with

friendly, smiley, tall
chubby curmudgeon
great hugger, a safe place
too touchy, weirds people out
weirdo
mostly off the wall
scarves
introspective, kind of weird, crunchy mom
strict, baby factory, grammar nazi, word lover
consistent
caring, objective, empathetic, hugger
eclectic, creative geek
mother, grandmother, writer … hopefully loving, patient, wise

When I asked others what they thought my brand is, I got

HGTV fixer upper of self-help books
salty
smartypants
helper, a deep sense and desire to help people find that which makes a difference in their hearts, minds, souls, and lives
shamrocks and lucky stars
God inspired
pun loving
teacher
fun, humorous
witty
genuine
forthright
level headed, with a bit of an Irish devil sprite on one shoulder

I think it’s interesting that no one was willing to say anything negative about me whereas in their descriptions of themselves, they were sometimes more likely to look at what they thought people thought was wrong with them rather than what was great. I know that God always sees the great stuff he’s put in us. He doesn’t entirely care what others think. He knows he’s made a good ‘un.

The post What’s Your Brand? appeared first on Pick Your Life .

If you’re calling the devil’s plans for your life God’s plan (death, sickness, pain, and suffering), you have a warped understanding of God’s love.

Yes, God can help you know his presence in the midst of your suffering.

Yes, you can grow closer to God in the midst of your pain, because you need everything he has for you more than ever.

But he’s never the cause of stealing, killing, destroying.

Those things are exactly what Jesus came to end (John 10:10).

The post Calling the Devil’s Plans for Your Life God’s Plan appeared first on Pick Your Life .

I was lied to. My whole generation was. We were told that the world was too scary a place, that we should stay safe at home and never experience the reality of other people who didn’t think the way we did, who didn’t believe the things we believed, who didn’t treat others the way we did.

And then we had whole sections of society making all the decisions in education, government, the entertainments industry, family, etc. We abandoned ship because of our fear of man and let other, braver souls chart our futures.

Don’t diss the leaders you have today.

They are in place because perhaps you neglected your place.

The post I Was Lied To appeared first on Pick Your Life .