Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live.

-Norman Cousins

Since most of you either watched the game or heard the news about it, I would imagine that you already know what I'm blogging about. Must I say it? OK, I will....WE WON!!!! The Red Sox are champions and I'm loving it.
Man, as I saw them jumping and celebrating, I felt like I was there. My Sisters called while they celebrated with friends and enjoyed the team's victory...our victory.
Something interesting is to see that, even though I'm not the one that played, even though I'm not the one that was there batting or catching the ball, I'm still a winner. I'm a winner, because my team won.
Same applies in the spiritual world. The Bible states that we're more than conquerors. It states that our battle has already been won by our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He died for all our sins, but on the third day he conquered death, making us all (His children) more than conquerors. I mean, I didn't have to actually play in the World Series in order to win. My team won for me. Jesus beat death for us, so victory has already been granted and all that's left for us to do is celebrate. Celebrate having eternal life, celebrate being forgiven, celebrate having won the battle that Jesus fought for us.

Victory is indeed sweet. Go Red Sox!...but better yet, GO JESUS!!!!!!

Exposure, talking photography, is the amount of light that your film or sensor is exposed to. Now, exposure is determined by aperture. I guess you want me to define aperture, right? Aperture is the size to which the lens opens and this opening determines how much light will land on your film so it can be exposed. What's your point Cynthia? you might be asking. Well, let's imagine we are a camera, our heart is the film, God is the light and our willingness to open up to him is our aperture. The question is, are we exposing our heart to God at the right aperture? See, sometimes we don't open our heart to God to the maximum aperture because we are afraid that what's printed on it is not a pretty picture. I don't know you but that's the truth for me. Anger, envy, bitterness, unforgiveness just to name a few of the elements that compose my picture. I mean with a picture like that, who would want to be exposed. But what we forget, or I should say what I forget is that the more I expose my heart to the Light the more like the Light my heart will become. The more we open our hearts to God and let His light expose everything that is in it the more like God we will become. Once our film is exposed and we see the ugly picture He will then give us the strength, the wisdom and the power to change and become more like Him. And I don't know if you think the same way but that's a pretty picture!

If we could only see clearly at all times, if we would take the time to notice, we would see how blessed we are. Do you know how many times I've sat in my car thinking of the many things I wish I had? Many times! We all do it, we all tend to invest more time feeling unhappy about the things we lack. I could give you a long list that would have you reading for a while. Things I wish I had, problems I wished I didn't have, places I wish I had already been to, goals not yet accomplished, memories I wish I could erase, and so on... Anytime I want to, I can find many reasons to be unhappy and feel sorry for myself. It's easy, we all know this, we have all done it many times, I have done this many times.
Fortunately, there are times, like today, when my eyes are able to see clearly. There are times, like today, when I'm not blinded by my "I wants", but instead, I'm amazed by seeing and counting my many blessings. First of all, I'm saved! I'm healthy, good looking (you know I had to say that :)...) I have amazing Parents, who are ALWAYS willing to show me how much they love me. I have two beautiful Sisters, who are also my greatest friends and supporters. God has blessed me with a great job, a wonderful gift and passion for singing and an amazing, totally awesome Church I can call home. I've seem dreams come true and prayers answered. I have been blessed with wonderful, WONDERFUL friends who touch my heart and show me God's love time and time again. This is just to name a few. This list would actually be longer than the first. Can you believe it? I have so much, I have received so much by grace and so many times I fail to see what has been given to me, because I let myself be blinded by what hasn't...the cruel reality of human nature.
Today, I'm just glad to be able to see, to be able to embrace my many blessings and rest in God's promise to provide ALL my needs. He can worry about the things I want and still don't have, since He's my God and provider. And me? Well, I'll rejoice counting my blessings. I'll give back from what I've received by grace and, hopefully, one day God will allow me to be counted as a blessing on somebody else's list.
I like being able to see clearly how good my God has been to me. When the enemy reminds you of what you don't have, take out your list of blessings...he'll have no choice but to run and you'll have no choice but to rejoice.

Much love...

If all wishes came true I would be in Heaven tonight. Don't freak out, let me explain and then you'll see my point. On my flight back home today I decide to take out my iPod and listen to some music. After listening to a couple of songs, a new one started to play and that's where my journey began. The song was "Always" from Hillsong...wow. I've always felt connected to that song from the first time I listened to it, but it had never taken me as deep into God's presence as it did today. I listened carefully, I felt every word and, as I did, I found myself before my saviour. I walked in the streets of heaven with the best companion one could ever had, Jesus Himself. I sat under a big tree, played with little bugs without fear, felt the breeze of everlasting peace caress my face, stared into the eyes of love, true love. I told Him so much without words, He answered with a smile that filled my entire heart with the desire of never leaving His side. At that very moment, with tears running down my face, seating on my airplane seat, I asked God "would you just take me? Can I just stay with you forever?". It's just that being in His presence made everything else so insignificant, so small. He was all I wanted, He was all I needed. I thought about my family and how they would suffer if God decided to take my life, but not even that was strong enough to take away this feeling of wanting to experience His presence forever. Nothing compared to the feeling of being made whole, nothing was worth letting Him go.
I'm still here, He didn't take me, but things have changed. You see, our lives are never the same after we have walked with Him, after we have stared into His loving eyes. His love fills the deepest most hidden corners of our hearts, making us whole.
So, until the day I graduate, until my mission and purpose are fulfilled on this earth,until the day He tells me I don't have to come back, I'll continue to visit heaven through worship. I'll cherish every walk I get to take with Him, even if I can't stay. I'll seek His face knowing that He desires to be found and I'll never forget His smile. By the way...He wanted me to tell you that He's waiting for you. It's your turn to visit...

This was Promissa's second trip to Boston. It was non-stop since Thursday and it all ended today with Promissa ministering at 3 different Churches back to back. Even though we've learned a lot since our CD came out last May, we realize that we still have a lot more learning to do.
I'll tell you though, what an amazing feeling it is, to do what God has called you to do. We're tired, exhausted actually, but feeling like we've done our job. We have accomplished this mission, with God's help. We have, once again, overcome the obstacles that the enemy had placed in our way and we have received the victory. The victory that only those who persevere get to taste.
Wonderful God and Creator, thank you for choosing us, Promissa, to do this mission. Thank you for allowing us to bring life to others through our music. Thank you for choosing this three imperfect girls to fulfill your perfect purpose. We love you and forever thank you.

by Joyce Meyer
We all have emotions, and they are here to stay. I believe one of the greatest goals of every believer should be "Emotional Stability". We should seek God to learn how to manage our emotions and not to allow them to manage us. An excerpt from the definition I found in Webster's Dictionary states that emotions are "to excite and to move out." Think about this: You're out shopping, but you've gone for just a specific item you' re in need of. You've made a commitment to the Lord to get out of debt. You've promised Him to tithe and give offerings as He directs. You've agreed to really watch your spending and not purchase things that you don't need. But now while shopping, you discovered that the stores were all having a big sale of 50 percent off the already marked down merchandise. What would you do? You get excited. The more you look around, the more excited you get. Emotions are rising higher and higher. They begin to move out (as the definition said), and part of the devil's plan is for you to follow your emotions.

God wants you to use wisdom. Wisdom says wait a little while until the emotions settle down and check if you really believe it's the right thing to do. The bible says in Colossians 3:15 to be led by peace in making decisions. Don't let your emotions make your decisions. A good statement to remember is this: "Wisdom says wait; emotions say hurry."

An emotional person is defined as: "One easily affected with or stirred by emotion; one who displays emotion; one with a tendency to rely on or place too much value on emotion; one whose conduct is ruled by emotion rather than reason."

Be honest with yourself in this area; and if you believe that you are not managing your emotions, begin to pray and seek God about "Emotional Maturity."

In the past years of my life, I experienced a lot of ups and downs, or what we call "Mood Swings." Picture a swing, up - down, up - down, up - down. This kind of behavior was hard on me, as well as, everyone around me. I felt bad about myself. People out of control always feel unhappy about themselves. God created us to operate with a free will. We choose what we will do and what we won't do. There is a God-given desire inside the believer to do the right thing. When we allow our flesh to rule, we know we are out of control; however, we are created to be operating in the fruit of self-control.

Self-control is a freedom not a bondage. You are free to use wisdom, free to obey God, free to follow the leading of the Spirit. You are free not to be pushed around by your feelings. You don't have to do what you feel like doing. You are free to do what you know is wise.

Self-control will help you feel better about yourself. When I was experiencing so many ups and downs, it also made me physically tired. It takes a lot of energy to go through all kinds of emotional changes. I noticed, as God helped me to learn to manage my emotions, I also enjoyed more energy. Maybe you should stop and ask the Lord if that's why you've been so tired lately. Do you let your emotions manage you?

My moods were hard on my family too. After I was well on my way to stability, my husband, Dave, revealed a secret. He told me that during the years I was acting up, while he would be driving down the highway after work at night, most of the time he would ponder on the thought, "I wonder what she will be like tonight?" It is really very sad to imagine a person to have to be put through that kind of situation. My husband has always been very stable, and it is very comforting to live with someone you can depend on to be level and in control all the time. He was very happy for me, and himself also, when I began getting victory in this area. Children also need a stable atmosphere to grow up in. Stability is really an important issue for all of us.

Jesus is referred to as "The Rock". That says in itself that you can depend on Him to be stable, the same Jesus all the time—always faithful, loyal, true to His Word, and mature, not one way one time and another way the next time.

Jeremiah 17:8 and Psalm 1:3 both instruct us to be like trees firmly planted. I Peter 5:8-9 (Amplified) teaches us to be well-balanced, temperate (self controlled) to keep Satan from devouring us. To withstand him, it says to be rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined. Philippians 1:28 tells us to be constant when Satan comes against us. Psalm 94:13 says God wants to give us power to stay calm in adversity. All of these are referring to being stable. Make "Emotional Maturity" a priority goal in your life.

I'm going to close with these statements for your consideration:

1. He who lives by emotions lives without principle.

2. We cannot be spiritual (walk in the spirit) and be led by emotions.

3. Emotions won't go away, but you can learn to "Manage Your Emotions."

4. You can have emotions, but you can't trust them.