"True" and "Real" offers

What can you do and what can God do to keep you from torturing yourself with unfounded and therefore probably inaccurate thoughts about what other people are thinking and feeling?

What will you do the next time you find yourself being suspicious, exaggerating, guessing, or making assumptions about someone's behavior?

How would your relationship improve if you accepted people's words at face value?

READ:
Philippians 4:8
"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 praise worthy - think about such things."

REMEMBER:
1 Cor. 13:4-8a
"Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.  It is not easily angered.  It keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does nto delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails."

Matthew 18:15
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.  If he listens to you, you have won your brother over."

Have a blessed day.

BOOK REVIEW - The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux

Have you ever wanted to rewrite your past? Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn forty. They plan to share this momentous occasion together at a summerhouse in Maine, talking up a storm and taking stock of their lives and loves, their wishes and choices. But none of them expect the gift that awaits them at the summerhouse: the chance for eac... more »h of them to turn their "what-might-have-beens" into reality.... Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott met nineteen years ago in the most unlikely place: stuck in line at the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles. Not only did they each turn twenty-one on that memorable day, but on that day, they shared with each other their past secrets and their hopes for the future. They were three beautiful and extraordinarily talented young women with the world theirs for the taking. But life doesn't always go according to one's youthful imaginings. Leslie, now a suburban wife and mother, is refusing to listen to what people are saying about her husband and his beautiful assistant. Instead, she follows the career of a boy who pursued her in college: he's now a presidential hopeful. What would her life be like if she had chosen differently? Madison dropped a modeling career to help her high school boyfriend recover from an accident, even though he'd jilted her. Years later, he was on his feet again and Madison had met Thomas, the man who was all she'd ever dreamed of. But by that time Madison knew she had no right to Thomas' love. What if she had said "no" when her old boyfriend had called? Ellie became a famous, bestselling novelist, but when she grew tired of supporting her narcissistic, philandering husband, she divorced him. What was done to her in the divorce court cost her not only all of her earnings from her writing, but also her belief in herself. More that anything, Ellie needed to know why she'd been so brutalized by the "justice" system, and could she prevent its happening the second time around? Now, as Leslie, Madison, and Ellie reunite at the summerhouse, each ?nds a puzzling card from a "Madame Zoya," offering them the chance of a lifetime: to relive any three months from the past. Will the road not taken prove a better path? Each woman will have to decide for herself as she follows the dream that got away...and each must choose the life that will truly satisfy the longings that live deep inside her heart.

My personal notes:  This is a great book for women.  Each of them telling the stories of both their lives is an easy read and interesting also.  Personally I had a hard time putting this book down.  Although there is a supernatural twist to it, which I do not believe in: I looked past that and viewed the reading as an inspiration on how to take another look at my own mindset of thinking to look at things differently.  Our decision is not completely our own, of course, as God helps us through our day if we pray and ask.  We have a set of problems that we face today and we must remember "What Would Jesus Do."

May you be blessed on your journey today.

Jeremiah 10:2–3a, 12, 14, 23 - Our lives are not our own

"This is what the LORD says:
'Do not act like the other nations,
who try to read their future in the stars.
Do not be afraid of their predictions,
even though other nations are terrified by them.
heir ways are futile and foolish.
But God made the earth by his power,
and he preserves it by his wisdom.
With his own understanding
he stretched out the heavens.
The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge!
The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make,
for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.
These idols have no breath or power.'
I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own.
We are not able to plan our own course." (New Living Translation)

Many people read their horoscopes every day, and some take astrology very seriously, looking to the stars to discover their course in life. That is foolishness and emptiness. Nobody but God Almighty has the power of life ("our lives are not our own"). We cannot plan our own course with any help but God's. Only in worship of the God who made the stars can we connect with life. We become like what we worship. Worship lifeless, powerless things, and you become lifeless and powerless. Worship the one true God, and share in his power. Enjoy true life.