How to Live in Peace and Harmony

Thankfully, we’ve been given the intelligence to know and decide how to act in any situation. In other words, we inherently know right from wrong. But is it easy to make good decisions? Absolutely not! We know this by how long it took us to change our own lives for the better. But we finally did it when we had the best information to move forward.

One of the uncontrolled parts of our previously married life is that some of us, or we could say most of us, were “commanded” daily by our significant other to do some things we knew were not right at the time. But because we were pushed emotionally and, sometimes, physically until we complied, we resisted and didn’t act on our own decision. An extremely uncomfortable position, indeed.   

Making Informed Decisions

Now that we are on our own, we can strive to live in peace and harmony with others without giving up our common sense and moral values. Sometimes it's exceedingly difficult to lean in that direction, especially when certain questionable activities make us cringe and even doubt our beliefs because of the popularity of it all. This week on Saturday, October 31st is one of those misunderstood occasions that can tend to rub us the wrong way. Not everyone believes or celebrates Halloween. We want to do what we know is right for us, but how do we do that?

First, let’s remember we are each free to determine how we should act and why. There is absolutely no judgment here, only some truths we may have never considered. Celebrating Halloween or not is our decision alone, but to do that, we need knowledge of the subject--some pertinent information and historical facts to consider that will help us make an informed decision along the way. Amazingly, God has a lot to say about this subject. So, it is important for us to settle now how we want to reflect our Christian lives to others.

Second, we would be correct in saying the Bible does not mention the actual word Halloween. And perhaps for some people, there is nothing wrong or evil about dressing children in “happy and cute” costumes in general. But we should at least ask ourselves, what does God think about Halloween? Is it an anti-Christian event? When talking about the “darker” aspects of this October day, absolutely! So, we must figure out exactly how we feel about this “celebration” and how we want to handle it.   

Stay Safe and Do No Harm

God, however, didn’t leave us to figure it all out by ourselves. He’s good that way. He has our backs! God has definite instructions for us about certain questionable practices, no matter what day it is! Here are some eye-opening facts we previously may not have even thought much about.

Considered innocent by some people, the following activities are extremely harmful to us according to God’s Word (look up the corresponding verses to discover why):

• Witchcraft and fortune-telling (Lev 19:26)
• Occult (Acts 8:9-24)
• Sorcery (Acts 13:6-11)
• Magic (Acts 19:19)
• Mediums and necromancers (Lev 19:31, 20:6)
• Divination, casting spells, seances, channeling (Deut 18:9-12)

As if those customs were not enough, the Bible speaks in general about unexplored subjects such as:

• No such thing as ghosts (of deceased persons) (2 Cor 11:14-15)
• There are, however, good angels (Isa 6:2-6)
• There are also evil demons (Lk 8:2)

In addition to the above, Satan is not some fantasy in movies and comic books. He is our enemy, and he is real. His many demons are also real! They can and will deceive and convince us it’s okay to participate in activities such as psychics, seances, tarot cards, Ouija boards, crystal balls, and horoscopes to mislead, corrupt, and destroy us! This shows the importance of reading the Bible daily, otherwise, how will we ever know the truth?  

Amazing Truth

“Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them” (Ephesians 5:11 NLT).

“Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe--some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them--then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong” (Romans: 14:22-23 MSG).

 

 

How to Make the Best Change

In 1898, Dwight L. Moody, a prominent evangelist, and teacher conducted a contest to find “the best thought” out there. He said, “a good thought was worth a journey of a thousand miles.” The contest winner (name unknown) won a prize for sending in the following now-famous quote.

Men grumble because God put thorns on roses. Would it not be better to thank God that he put roses on thorns? [www.quoteinvestigator.com]

Most of us genuinely want to live a better life with less negativity but that’s a challenge for nearly everyone. So, we must ask, how do we make changes for the better that will become part of us and make a difference in how we live our lives now?

9 Changes for the Better

Recently while enjoying the pages of a friend’s scrapbook (she was single-again at the time), we found some of the best ideas for developing positive change in our lives. Perhaps these will give us many of our own “best thoughts” to carry us through.

1. Nobody can really tell you “the answer” to life’s problems so you might as well try what feels right to you.
2. Pay attention to what you feel. If you don’t like the way you feel, it’s usually a sign that you’re not getting what you need.
3. Dare to love yourself in a world that gives no guarantees (except God’s).
4. If you’re going to risk a change, try something likely to satisfy your needs while increasing your self-respect.
5. When you are considering a specific change, make a list of all the worst possible things that could happen (be prepared!).
6. Before you change, take a few moments to honestly compliment yourself for some specific and positive attribute.
7. After you try a change, evaluate the results. No matter what happens, congratulate yourself for your courage to try.
8. If what you are doing isn’t getting you what you want, try something different.
9. If you decide to take a chance, don’t just think about it, do it!

Honestly

Hopefully, the above insights do not sound selfish because they are not. They are ways to improve and make changes to our lives. Without knowing ourselves better, there is no honest way to help ourselves become women who are joyful, positive, and without whining or complaining.

The One who created us and loves us inside and out is anxious to give us good gifts. Gifts that will shower us with everything we need at a time when we need it the most. As noted by the woman above in her scrapbook, “I know that when I allow God to guide my steps, I am at peace on life’s joyous adventure.”

A “best thought” if we ever heard one!    

“The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you” (Psalm 32:8 NLT).

 

How to Listen to That Voice Inside

“One early morning around three o’clock as my husband and I was sleeping soundly, our four-year-old son somehow managed to unlock our front door and leave the house on an adventure! He walked all the way down our neighborhood block by himself in the dark.

“Eventually, he turned around and started back but got confused about which house was ours. Thankfully, he ended up in the yard of our next-door neighbors and tried to ride one of the bicycles left outside by their children that day making plenty of noise in the process. Several minutes later we were awakened by a loud knocking on our door.

“Being cautious, we didn’t want to open the door to a stranger in the middle of the night. So, we yelled through the door, ‘Who is it!?’ Our neighbor said to open the door because she had our son with her! ‘No way. That’s not possible,' I said. 'He’s asleep in his bed.’ Her voice (which I then recognized) came back with a panicked shout, ‘OPEN THE DOOR NOW!’

“Finally, we were convinced and opened the door. There stood our son in his pajamas, happy as could be. When questioned, he said he just wanted to find his new bicycle. We discovered that night what sleep-walking can do even to a child. And we were grateful for the wisdom of a good neighbor who listened to her own intuition in the middle of the night.” [B.C. 1973]

Possibilities and Imagination

Has that ever happened to anyone else? No, maybe not that same situation, but something that caused us to stop and listen to what’s going on in our minds. A moment when we are not sure what to do, but suddenly something tells us to turn around and go a different way or to stop and speak to that person we hardly know but who ends up helping us in a sticky situation.

Sometimes our thoughts, or intuition, will lead us into believing something is possible or likely. In fact, our gut feeling may have prompted us exactly like that when we finally made the decision to start a new single-again life. We saw it as a possibility. It may not have been our decision to begin with but slowly we listened to our own thoughts and started planning our future with some imagination.

No matter which stages we are in right now—shock, denial, fear, possibility, or I-can-do-this attitude—the fact remains, life goes on with or without us. So, let’s not get left behind and buried in the chaos of the past. Creating a life of peace and joy may be difficult, yes, but oh, so very worth it!

Welcome the Voice Inside

We all have voices inside from the time we are born. They direct us to choose right from wrong, truth from lies, friends from enemies, and harmony from pandemonium. The main question is then, how can we learn to recognize and separate the voices playing tug-of-war in our heads?

Maybe, just maybe, training our ears to accept the most decent and honorable paths will bring us our best life. To begin, we need to develop practices and patterns to help us stay on track, and then they will just become second nature to us. Try these one at a time and keep adding to them.

Comfort… life can be scary much of the time depending on which direction the world is going and, more importantly, how we respond to it. But there is one sure way we can practice this life-giving habit. Every morning open this amazing book called the Holy Bible and spend just a bit of time reading and listening to the heavenly voice of God. He will direct our best path.      

Trust… humanly speaking, it is difficult to trust just anyone. We know this from our previous relationship(s). But we can build better, more trustworthy friendships if we try.

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! you too? I thought I was the only one.’” [C.S. Lewis]

In the end, we need to remember, God is the only One whom we can put our faith in 100 percent of the time.

Prayer… Nothing we try will be more important than developing a habit of prayer. Many people don’t realize it’s not necessary to be inside a church building to pray or memorize a long, drawn-out prayer by rote.

In fact, the best thing about prayer is it’s simply a conversation with God. Since He is everywhere all the time, He can hear us speaking to Him and we don’t need any special words. Even just a one-line request, “Help me, God, to do well in this interview” is enough for Him to answer.      

“Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or the left” (Isaiah 30:21 NLT).