The Journey BeginsSample

A woman walks into an antique shop thinking it was a houseware store. She picks up a vase and accidentally drops it. She’s upset. The shop keeper is even more upset - “What have you done? That vase was 200 years old!” The woman replies “Phew, I’m glad it wasn’t new!” It’s easy to misunderstand value. Just like the woman and the vase, so often we misunderstand our own value and the value of others. But God places an extremely high value on people. Right at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis we are told that God looked at His creation and saw that it was good. You are good. He made you well. You carry His image. There’s no mistake about it whatsoever. He wants the very best for you and He’s an expert at restoring value to what’s been broken; He was the one to make every part of you valuable. You have the responsibility to look after who God has made you to be, by looking after your body, your soul, and your spirit. If you’re constantly exhausted through lack of sleep and exercise, your mind will not have the fight in it to overcome life’s battles and temptations. If you struggle with low self-esteem and only listen to what the world says about you, you’ll find it harder to relate to God and approach Him with confidence. And if you don’t look after your spiritual health, then you’ll find that it can affect your body – a sick heart is not good for your health. The good thing, however, is that you can help your life by working on the areas that need strengthening. Learning to love what He has made ( that’s you! ) and to take care of it will revolutionise your world. By showing yourself respect and self-control, and strengthening your mind about yourself and His truth, you’ll fortify your spiritual life. Spend time on things that feed your soul positively, good friendships, wholesome music, purposeful leisure, giving yourself space to breath. Enlarge the space, beauty and value you give to your emotional world and LIVE! When Christ entered into your world, a river of life started flowing out from the inside of you. It’s a river of all that life is meant to be - full, healthy, joy-filled, strong, creative, grace-filled and prosperous. It flows through your mind, your emotions, your body and out of you into the world around. When we let stuff get into our hearts like sin, a bad attitude and the general dirt of life, we find our spirit hindered. That’s why it’s good for us to go through a daily de-junking in prayer to keep our spirit unhindered and to keep the river of life flowing through our world. You’ll find it brings freedom to your soul and health to your body. “Just because we’re alive, doesn’t mean we have LIFE’. This river is the SPIRIT OF LIFE’, the Holy Spirit. He makes living things come ALIVE.” - Phil Pringle