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Become aware with how you spend your time.

With tons of distractions in front of us, mainly in the form of our phones, the internet, television and social media, we can find ourselves caught up and engaged with things that actually aren’t satisfying to our souls.

Even the creators of some social media apps discourage their own children from being consumed with what the world is falling prey too. So why do we not see the damage these addicting forms of entertainment can be for ourselves?

I challenge you to do something I’ve caught wind of from either a book I read or a podcast I heard on creating good habits, and that is to track what you do with your time. Our phones have the ability to track our use of apps on them and that can be a good starting place, maybe even a good wake up call.

Now take your recorded information and subtract the time spent on things just for your entertainment, not forgetting that almost all social media is a form of entertainment.

Evaluate how you feel about the time you are giving away to things that only bring you temporary satisfaction. If you don’t like how you’ve been spending your time, then take time to list out all the activities you’d rather be doing with your time instead.

For myself, this was engaging in a good book, studying Mandarin, connecting well with family and friends, attending a gardening class with my husband and picking up my guitar again. It was an evaluation of the lifestyle I wanted to live that brought me joy, good memories, purpose and living my life fully.

When we choose to focus on how we really want to live and what types of choices we want to make that build up our lives well, we will begin to leave behind those things meant to steal our energy and time.

Live your life well and start today.

You will either love me because of the information I am sharing in this video on the effects of social media use… or you will hate me!

I was personally struggling, and have been, for a long while with my brain automatically making me reach for my phone way too often. It felt like I was literally chained to the device.

The last vacation I went on I made it a rule that I would not be so tied to my phone. And I discovered that I felt really good with the clarity I had, the time to enjoy being in the moment and so on.

I went down a rabbit hole after that vacation, researching what our constant phone use and social media scrolling does to our brains, our mental health and even our relationships.

So join me as we can together explore these negative impacts and how to begin breaking our social media and phone addictions.

When someone in your life claims to be a believer in Christ, but does not reflect that decision in their behavior with you, please do not allow that to impact your understanding of God and your relationship with Him.

There have been many people that have been mistreated by another believer, a church or ministry, or leader within these circles and have walked away from God as a result. They have confused what has happened to them as God being the one who has hurt them, but that is far from the case.

What has happened is the result of us living in a fallen world where man has been given free will. And to be honest, even those of you who have been hurt will end up hurting others as well. It’s hard to not hurt others when we each have our own expectations we place on one another. We still have to fight our flesh daily, not yet having arrived to perfection.

So when another believer has hurt me I choose to remember these things, remembering when I have fallen short in my behavior with others as well.

When someone hurts us and they should know better, their actions are not reflecting God and His nature. Their actions are reflecting their sinful nature not yet sanctified.

There will be believers who reflect God’s heart more than others, yet still are not perfect. Giving one another grace and choosing forgiveness should be priority for each of us.

We will disappoint one another at different times, but we can put our confidence in the Lord Jesus who always reflects His Father’s nature perfectly.

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”

Hebrews 1: 3a

God will not mistreat us and will show us how to love well. Let us not allow the wrong doing of others towards us to distort our view of God. He remains the same and we can trust Him.

Are we entertaining bad doctrine? Myths? And leaving behind the roots of our faith in search for something that will distract us from our own issues and wounds?

Are we seeking out things to meet desires we have that are unholy instead of truly seeking the Lord for ourselves?

In this video, I discuss this topic centered around Paul’s warning to Timothy found in 2 Timothy 4:3. Paul warns us of people wanting their ears tickled, wanting to surround themselves with teachers who are more than willing to teach things that lead them astray for their own impure motives.

There has been and will always be false teachers and false prophets seeking their own gain via ministering to others deceitfully. And I’ll admit, some of these false ones might even be unaware themselves of what they are teaching that is incorrect.

This is why it is so crucial that we develop a relationship with the Lord ourselves and study the Word for ourselves as well. The more you understand the Word and the true nature of Him, found in His Word, the harder it will be for you to fall under deception.

I’ve come to learn how any struggle I’ve had with feeling insecure or not liking something about myself happens when my focus is too much on me. And being insecure can threaten to pull our gaze and focus off what truly matters, our affection for the Lord.

I’ve joyfully discovered that when I place Jesus as priority in every area of my life, my focus towards self diminishes. And when I choose to pour myself out for others in service to the Lord, my heart sees them and not myself. John the Baptist said it beautifully, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Life is not about just getting our needs met and our desires fulfilled. That will definitely leave us empty and full of ourselves. Will you decrease so Jesus will increase? Will you focus not on your insecurities and fears, but on your Maker? Is the validation, approval and love He has for you enough to pull you away from seeking those things from others?

Life is walking on this earth as Jesus did, living to serve and love others well. It’s allowing the Lord to take root in your heart more and more. And when we make Him the center of our world with all its lovely consequences, we have no room to feel afraid and uncertain, wondering if others will like us.

I am a nerd when it comes to hunting down understanding with anything related to our mental and emotional well being and how we can better relate to one another, and this new series allows me to share with you what I learn along the way.

Welcome to the first segment of “Chat With Amanda”… a video series where I discuss with you my latest mental health topic I’ve researched for your benefit (and mine ;).

In this video, I discuss what insecurity looks like in others, in ourselves, the difference between a person with insecurities and an insecure person, how we can work on our own insecurities we struggle with and the need to pinpoint where each insecurity comes from. I also share what a secure person actually behaves like and you might be surprised by what you learn!

Coming to the realization that we need the Lord in order to live for the Lord fully gives understanding with how to walk with Him.

And that dependance on Him is realized in the valley, where we come to our end and find ourselves looking for His hand.

If our lives were always comfortable and we received everything our hearts desired, how would that create in us an awareness that something glorious is missing.

You cannot experience His comfort till you are in need of His comfort. You cannot experience His love until you realize you are in want of it. You cannot know Him as your Redeemer, your Deliverer and Savior if you do not perceive your need for these as well.

You cannot be made whole until you acknowledge your hurt and brokeness.

You cannot live genuinely walking with Jesus until you tried walking on your own and failed.

We all need God in our lives. This is very true. Yet, only those that see they have a need for God to be in their lives are those that receive and follow Him wholeheartedly.

Be thankful for the trials and hardships that produced in your heart an understanding of who He is and what He means to you.

Be thankful for the valleys that brought you to this reality of your need for Jesus.

 

What if what you are walking through and have been walking through is to make you a constant overcomer in your life?

There are some of us that have been through a plethora of trials and we have grown weary and tired, but something is definitely happening within us. God is making us stronger and anchoring us deeper in Him.

What shook us to the core before, will no longer have that kind of power wielded over us again. And that is because God is making sure we are becoming unshakeable in Him.

This does not mean life will become simpler or easy, but it does mean we have gained a growth and maturity that will not allow trials and obstacles to destroy our faith, hope and trust in the Lord.

Blessings!

It is a good thing to desire to read the Bible.

Reading the Word of God is a spiritual discipline I have developed over the years walking with the Lord. In fact, I am just about to finish a plan I started last year reading carefully and thoughtfully through the entire Bible.

Taking in entire passages daily has been a joyful experience. I also take time to dissect a smaller passage of Scripture and meditate on those words as well.

There is so much to digest and it never gets old.

For those of you that long to have this built in discipline in your day to day, let me share a couple of tips that can help you.

Firstly, the more you read the Bible and meditate on it, the more you will want to read it. And the more you will understand what you are reading.

Include Bible reading when you spend time with the Lord. We often want to say our prayer requests to the Lord and share our hearts, but we lose time to just sit and give opportunity for Him to speak to our hearts. Reading the Word gives space for that to happen. God speaks often to us through His Word.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12, ESV

Be sure to have a mindset that reading the Bible is a joy and not a chore. Some of us have been brought up to read something as a child that we did not understand. Without that understanding the joy in it can be hard to find. This gets ingrained in our brains as something we do not like to do. Tell yourself it is a joy and that you get to read His words!

Living overseas with my husband, I realized easy access to the Bible was not an option for everyone. This reality changed my perspective with the activity of reading God’s Word. His Word is a gift to us. If we neglect this gift, we only have ourselves to blame.

Reading the Word of God out loud can re-ignite your spirit once again. If you are feeling burnout, feeling far from God or having to endure a hard time, give time to reading the Bible. It is a spring in the desert that truly never runs dry.

Because there is so much to gain from regularly reading His Word, make it a habit to read each day. Choose the same time and place to meet with God. At times it will feel like you are checking a box, thinking to yourself that it should not feel this way and maybe you should abandon this habit. But let me encourage you to not do this.

Daily coming to meet with God and daily reading the Bible, whether I feel like doing it or not, has grown to be a habit that is truly a part of me. I cannot see myself not spending time with the Lord or not pouring over His Word. It defines my relationship with Him. And He knows I will show up each and every day.

Any good habit and discipline we build into our lives begins with a choice and then the desire to do so will follow. If you long to grow closer to the Lord, to understand His Word more and to learn to hear Him more clearly, this discipline will help bring that into your life.

It is basic, it is simple.. but it is ever so powerful.

 

Sometimes God is behind the struggle we are being faced with. This doesn’t sound pleasant to hear, believe me I know, but it can bring the understanding you are searching for.

And if the enemy is just messing with you, God can still use your trial to do something beautiful within you!

I try very hard to not quickly blame a hard circumstance on spiritual warfare alone, making it a point to see what the Lord is doing in it. When we realize that much of our life leads us towards personal growth and maturing in the Lord, we will accept what we are walking through and posture ourselves humbly before God.

Our Lord is loving and kind! He loves you so much that He wants to see you step into the daughter or son He sees in you to be.