Crop Reminder :)

:) Good Morning all!...Quick reminder, The Scrapbrat Chat happens at 2pm est. time today at Scrapbook-bytes.com (it is a font challenge)...I am the hostess and would sure hate to sit in there by myself! That's the weird thing about hosting anything, it just isn't as much fun for some reason if you are the only one there...hm, curious isn't it?...lol
I also wanted to share an entry I posted on my personal blog the other day, it seems so relevant every day and God really dealt with me on it again today :), but even if your faith is not founded in God the lesson still holds true!
But first, here is a preview of the attendance gift...(there is another gift if you post your layout in the Scrapbrat Chat Gallery at Scrapbook-bytes)





Whatever Is True...
wow I have eaten more humble pie in the last year than I ever thought any one person could eat...
and, subsequently I have felt so low at so many points in the last year that I could barely lift my head up high enough to keep from drowning in my own self doubt...
God has done SO many wonderful things in my life, there is no doubt of that...and a lot of those wonderful things have to do with the change he has made in me and through me...
I was thinking the other day "why is it that I can barely keep my head up when it seems that I have it all?"...then I got into a discussion with a friend who said that they too were struggling...even as far to the point of contemplating suicide...
depression has been "part of my personality" for as long as I can remember and a year or two ago I was diagnosed bipolar...which makes an "easy out" for me to say "well I can't help it when I get like this..." (and by "easy" let me clarify by saying being depressed or bipolar is NEVER easy...it is just that when you "suffer" from these diseases, people just kinda almost expect it and always expect the worst in your personality)...now before I go where I am going with this, let me also say I am NOT saying medication is not necessary or that what I am doing is for everyone (well I mean I of course believe that people should go to God first, medicine 2nd, then follow up with a healthy dose of God as a chaser)....this is just how God has been working with me....
I am reading "Loving God with all Your Mind," and it is amazing that God seems to have spoke to the authors heart so much the way He did to mine :)
Any of you who have read my personal blog for any amount of time know that this is a recurring theme with me....I honestly believe we CHOOSE to be happy/sad/satisfied/discontent even if we don't REALIZE we are choosing that...now i am not repeating the horrible mantra "just get over it" because I do NOT believe (bipolar or not) that if you suffer from depression (chemical or environmental) that it is something you just choose to get over....I am saying that I can choose, on my bad days to say "life sucks...I am miserable...I am just going to be this way forever...everyone can see how horrid and miserable I am...I don't now, nor will ever amount to anything" or I can FORCE myself to see it for what it is, a bad day where the chemicals in my brain and body have went wonky and a day that will eventually turn to night, and a night that will turn to daybreak again, this is true of Christians and non-Christians alike, you don't HAVE to be a Christian to choose to be content (lol it just makes it a lot easier in my humble opinion)...and when God started dealing with ME on this I honestly said to Him with a snicker and a sneer, "yeah right, okay, whatever......" and i felt that way every time I tried this for over a month (lol and that has been 6 months ago and I STILL feel that way some days) before it started becoming almost 2nd nature
Philipians 4:8 says that we are to only to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things".....that is sound advice no matter who you are....
I am notorious for thinking "ugh, they said this so they must MEAN this..." and letting it eat at me for DAYS or WEEKS....or for being somewhere and just KNOWING that people are staring at me b/c of my weight or appearance (I have anxiety attacks b/c of this one)...or for just KNOWING that if someone is not being really sweet to me it HAS to be because i have done something horribly wrong and they are going to be cool towards me from now on....
Those sound like exaggeration, but they are about as true to how I feel as I can explain, and THAT my dear friends is how depression keeps someone locked up and tied down...
now I am learning to look at those same thoughts and compare them to Philipians 4:18.....are those thoughts TRUE (and real, as in the true reality of the situation?)....I cannot TRULY know what someone is thinking, so why bother trying to decipher it, if they are mad or meaning to say one thing I have to choose to believe they would tell me because if they don't it is their deal not mine....
is it noble? trust me, there is NOTHING "noble" about some of the things I let myself believe people are thinking about me...
is it right? well this can go 2 ways...for one, IF they were thinking that way about me it would not be RIGHT of them...and 2, how do i know if i am even right about WHAT they are thinking?!
is it pure? to be pure is to be without blemish or fault and the way i feel about myself is definitely not always that way :P
is it lovely? um no, or i wouldn't feel BADLY about it
is it admirable? hm do you admire someone who is always saying "oh well....sigh....my life is never going right....nothing good ever happens for me....why should I feel like it should...."....no, even though you may love that person, you definitely don't admire their company b/c it begins to wear YOU down...I don't want to be that person...
is it excellent or praiseworthy? obvious answers huh?
So today I am choosing to believe whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, excellent, and praiseworthy....
If I start to dwell on something that is not I can refocus myself to say "ok well the grass is a lovely shade of green, my kids are gorgeous to me, the sky looks blue/gray (this is true, somewhat boring, but true)" and not put a "but" on any of those things :D....if i think "but" i have to purposefully put it where it belongs, which is behind me...lol get it...butt, behind me...sigh yeah i crack myself up....
well I have went on enough for now, believe it or not I woke up in a REALLY sucky mood today, so thanks for letting me get this out and helping ME to feel better already ;)
Have a great day, if you choose to....
Remember: no one and nothing can make you feel inferior without your permission....
:) ~fantacy