Faith Uniting Ministry

  Forgiveness - The action or process of forgiving or being forgiven; ready and willing to forgive; stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake. Forgiveness is not always an easy task for us to do; it involves willfully let go of feelings of resentment toward ourselves or someone who has committed a wrong, been deceitful, hurtful, or otherwise harmed us in some way. Over time if this resentment is not released it can create such a heaviness on our heart, mind, body, and soul that it can actually make us ill. Holding on to resentment, whether it’s self-forgiveness or forgiving some else, takes our power from us; it keeps us imprisoned living in the past – Forgiveness sets us free! Letting go of this burden doesn’t mean that we will forget how it felt, but it will release the burden we have been harbouring. Forgiveness comes from the heart; therefore, we don’t have to actually go to that person(s) and forgive them; we can forgive them in ...

  Have Faith that what is yours is on its way, “for we walk by faith, not by sight –“ 2 Corinthians 5:7 Faith has multiple definitions, including "something that is believed especially with strong conviction", "complete trust", "belief and trust in and loyalty to God", as well as "a firm belief in something for which there is no proof" We talked about belief; belief and faith go hand-in-hand; you can’t have one without the other. We must have faith in our beliefs, if there is no faith in our beliefs why do we have the beliefs? When we have faith in something, we believe and trust in it even if it is unseen. When we put our faith in a higher power we should trust without fear or doubt. When we put our faith in something or someone we should believe without fear, doubt, or thoughts of lack. Having faith means being all in; you can’t say you have faith in something and then let doubt or fear influence your decisions and choices. When we have faith i...

Beliefs Where do our beliefs come from and why do we believe they are true? Belief: an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists, trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something. Beliefs can come from may places; they begin at a young age and continue as we grow and learn. As we grow and learn we also realize that some of the beliefs we learned as a child are not true, but the belief is carried on because it is believed to create joy, traditions, even miracles. Some beliefs have been passed down from generations to generations. What about the beliefs that don’t create joy or miracles? These may be different for everyone; we don’t all have the same beliefs, nor are we all affected the same way by a belief. Take for instance the holidays; some of us love to celebrate them and it brings us great joy, while others can’t get them over with fast enough because it is not a happy time for them. When beliefs are not causing us harm, and they bring us true happi...

Fear : an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief  that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. What creates fear? Why are we afraid of the things we are afraid of? It surprises me how many people that say they have faith in God, live in fear. Fear of – going to new places, meeting new people, scared of the dark, scared to stay by their self in their own home, getting sick, fear of developing a family illness, fear of gaining weight, and so much more. And He said to them. “Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” Mark 4:40 What is really guiding us when we are afraid? A lot of the things we fear are beliefs  that we learned from others, movies; or someone’s fears; they are not coming from our true self. The more we let fear guide the way, the more things we begin to fear. This fear can lead to anxiety and stress, more fear, health issues, and more. Look at the things you fear; where did they come from? Why do you believe you should b...

Gratitude: a positive emotion; the positive state of being grateful; an overwhelming feeling of appreciation and thankfulness, and the desire to return kindness to others.    "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15    When was the last time you stopped and took the time to really give thanks for all that you have or said thank you for a simple act of kindness?     I am sure that we have all experienced being at a store and holding the door for someone who said, “thank you”, and someone who just rushed through without a word. We don’t hold the door for a “thank you”, we hold the door out of kindness and courteous.    Are we so busy that we take for granted something as simply as saying thank you someone for opening a door for us; or being grateful for the wonderful things or people that we have in our lives right now – no matter how big or how...

  What if You were "The Creator of Your Destiny"? What if we were “The Creator of Our Destiny” ?  As the creator of our own destiny, what would our life look like?  ·       reduced stress, happier, healthier lifestyle, prosperous in all areas of life, … ·       commitment to ourselves and our goals ·       educate ourselves ·       live in our dream house, own our dream vehicle, ….  Would we take our commitments and set measureable goals for each thing we committed to? What if we set a minimum, target, and outrageous goal for each commitment?  What if we wanted to be happier…our minimum goal could be to take 5 – 10 minutes a day doing something we love, our target goal could be 20 minutes per day, and our outrageous goal could be 40-60 minutes or more daily.  What if we wanted to be healthier…our minimum goal could be to add one exercise 3...

  What are your thoughts creating What if We Could Decide What We Want?     Let’s look at our lists from last week.  Did you commit to just one thing on your list, did you write it down, did you say it out loud, and most important…what difference did it make?   What if we committed to other things on our list or other things in our life?   Now, what if we were the creators of our own destiny; what would we create for these categories of our life: financial; career; recreation and free time; physical fitness and health; relationship with family and friends; personal goals (learning, spiritual growth, personal achievement); community service, contribution, and legacy.   What if we decided to create our own destiny: ·       would we commit to writing 3-4 things about each category that we would like to create and achieve over the next year ·       would we read and/or journal about them daily ·...