December 31, 2009 Sharing Our Contentment

How awesome it is that we are all searching for Truth to experience how beautiful we are, created in God's image vs. the opposition of thought which can distract us to superficial want and the need for attention to bring self worth vs. where our hearts release control to God the only One Who is perfect in order that we may be transformed and renewed in our minds and in this surrender our eyes are opened wide to see the contrasting difference between the desire of our hearts vs. want. Once again I remember these unexplainable moments in my life when I search for understanding in the profoundness of it all and find these most amazing experiences are continuously available regardless of circumstances and strengthened in His unending, unconditional Love to supply every need, spiritual, emotional and physical, in my surrender and commitment to His perfect plan for my life. Yes, this Is Home where I am given the gift to live abundantly, Heaven within me.

I started my blog in December of 2007, today I end 2009 with the same expression and continuous focus for Love pouring in me from God, from you and receive It and the call to let It flow out and share It with you and your loved ones and pray that the desires of your heart may find that our most important need is realizing that all desire is complete.

The Living Abundant Life Love Letter...For God so Loved the World, He sent His only Son, Jesus....to believe Him and receive Him...in Him we are complete, in Him we experience the Father and His Spirit, In Him we are fulfilled and live an abundant Life. John 3:16

If we have no fear we will experience Him, we will see and hear, He is the Way, He is the Door. Receive and fill your heart with this continuous flow of Love....

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2540/4227964685_b915df65ae.jpg

My life is a beautiful run-on sentence :-)

Teresa Parsons

hisheartmyheart@gmail.com

December 11, 2009 Slowing down

I walked right passed a precious young lady and just said 'hi' because I was preoccupied to get something done. I realized what I did and turned around went straight back and said 'I love you, how are you doing? I am so sorry I walked by you without hugging your neck, I never want what I am doing to cause me to disconnect from others'.

The quickness by which we speak (and do) reflects the quickness of our thinking. I said to others several times yesterday 'my desire is to slow down'. Those of you who really know me, know that 'slowing down' seemed like such a foreign statement in my recent past but I am experiencing it now and want more. Now I must practice it 'within' myself, in my devotion time to fully experience God, when listening to others and connecting with them, when looking at the beauty all around me. I missed and will continue to miss so much when my mind is in a trap of speeding thoughts about me and what 'I' am doing.

Especially at this time of the year, I am experiencing this peace by finally being able to say, the only gift needed is to give and receive My Lord's Love with family and friends and this is exactly what I am doing.

The thoughts I share are slowing down 'within', this article shares some external methods.

Severe Anxiety: Slowing Down Racing Thoughts
By Paula J. Marolewski

Part of the terror of anxiety is the force and power of the racing thoughts that accompany it. Adrenaline reaches a fever pitch, sending the body into pure fight or flight mode.

Two things are essential at this point: to slow down, and to focus on something outside of yourself. To slow down, because your mind and body are running at breakneck speed; and to focus on something external, because the whole power of anxiety is that it wraps you up inside yourself and turns your mind into a prison cell.

Here are four practical steps to take to begin to slow down and shift focus:

Reach out. It is natural to retreat from others during the peak of anxiety: while you hate your racing thoughts, they are all-consuming. However, retreat is actually the worst thing you can do, because it makes it even easier to focus on your thoughts. This is the time you need to reach out to your support group. Call one of your friends or family members and tell them the substance of your racing thoughts. Be detailed. Get it all out on the table. Since you speak slower than you think, your mind will slow down as you verbalize your thoughts and fears.

Change locations. If possible, move to a different location: if you are in the house, get out. If you are at work, take a break and walk around. Physically changing location can assist you in mentally changing direction.

Work out. The problem with anxiety is that it tends to breed apathy: you want to sit and chew your fingernails, figuratively speaking. It will often take an act of will to physically get up and get moving, but it is worth it. Physical exercise releases endorphins into your body and brain, which can help you to feel better. Additionally, working out can distract you and therefore break the thought cycles in your mind. A competitive sport may be especially beneficial (i.e., racquetball rather than jogging), since it requires your mental attention in addition to your physical attention.

Be creative. Engage in an activity that will take up brain and thought space. You can’t think about two things at once, so you want to try to shift your thoughts toward something positive and pleasant. As mentioned above, sports can fill that role. Hobbies are another primary source of creativity. Volunteer work may do the trick. Your job may draw upon your creativity. Whatever it is, try to give it 100% of your attention

http://www.sinkyourroots.com/article_AnxietySlowDown.html

Teresa Parsons
hisheartmyheart@gmail.com

December 7, 2009 Living in the contrast

It is interesting what comes to my heart as I sit looking out through the sun room windows of our new/old home, thinking that it felt like we left Egypt, and now that we have arrived many thoughts flood my mind and my heart. It's all in the view...because Egypt and the Promise Land have no borders in this world. We choose where we live by surrender.

"An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows." Anonymous

Living boldly through darkness, through all that is treacherous and deadly, opens a greater experience within Light. Too often our choice is to isolate ourselves and choose one over the other, that is, darkness vs. light. The fullness of the greatest Light I experience within the darkness. There is no reason to fear the darkness because in the Light, that is, Jesus' Light, darkness is illuminated. We can be in the darkness and not be overtaken by it.

Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (every minute of every day of our lives) we do not fear evil as we press forward through all circumstances in the guiding Light of Jesus.

It is only His Light that has the 'possibility of changing the picture'.

He guides us. How else can we see? What we see with our physical eyes is only a microcosm and depiction of the reality that is infinitely available to us in this world.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/3038243867_f8cc60d561.jpg


Teresa Parsons

hisheartmyheart@gmail.com

November 26, 2009 An invitation to say Thank You

To everyone of 'you', Thank You for being in my life. It's that simple and that complex. I want to keep it this way. This way I see more clearly and don't miss all the beauty in you and all around me.

The order of my thankfulness
1. To God 2. because He gave me 'you'

So with this simple/complex perspective, now I can be thankful for the bounty because the bounty is not the focus.

Love always Tere


hisheartmyheart@gmail.com

November 20, 2009 Here I am Lord

Here I am Lord

Just the day before yesterday I was invited to do what Dan Millman did in the true life story of Peaceful Warrior as he was in a 'stuck place' of his circumstances. Like Dan I went (figuratively) to lay on top of that old car to stare at the sky until I could get it. I often get 'stuck' in circumstances and come to realize with gifted 'coaching' of a peaceful warrior how to find my way back to what is already inside of me, seeing how precious I am comes quickly once I lay myself out before the Lord, this is the only place I am set free..

Oh the fight of the mind with the heart or if you prefer the flesh and the spirit is hard as the tests become harder! What a sick feeling it gives me when I get stuck in my 'head and thinking', having a pity party with myself which slams my door on being able to accept the continuous flow of God's Love. It's like standing in the shower with a rain coat on...I stop the flow.

If you would like to watch this, here is a trailer from the movie Peaceful Warrior. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CTr4SzyJgc&feature=related

Here's my on the 'top of the car' experience:
I like me
I love me
I can do anything
I feel God's abundant Light and Love drenching and lifting me
I feel the beauty in the universe as I look out into the sky
I smell all the sweetness that is a gift to me
My sensations are acute and I am one with God
I want to die for this beauty and peace

And as a result of experiencing this, only after 'being' and 'allowing', (which is the door to my heart) Jesus to drench me with His great Love, I find myself full of strength, renewed, refreshed and replenished, once again not affected or focused on the darkness around me. Then again at Wednesday night bible study I felt like I was the only one there, in an 'on top of the world' experience while the Lord continued to pour His Love into me.

Here I am Lord,
fill me up with Your Love until It is overflowing and spills out onto someone else.


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1130/526337624_d08b31432c.jpg

And Mom, Happy Birthday!!! I feel close to you each day of my life. You are beautiful, you show me how to live Faith, Hope and Love in more ways than you could know. I see you and I love you.

To all of Laura Durham's family, my heart is with you today, having the assurance with you that this same Love pouring to you from Jesus will comfort you eternally.

Jesus reminds us. John 17:15 "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 "Sanctify them in the truth ; Your word is truth. 18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. 20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word ; 21 that they may all be one ; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. NAS

Teresa Parsons
hisheartmyheart@gmail.com

November 10, 2009 Friends

'Thinking aloud' in person, via phone or email, pondering life over ice cream or at a table eating together, drinking coffee together, walking or traveling together or being creative together, communicating with our hearts occurs all the time, whether one-on-one or in a group or distant in travel and time.

"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud." Ralph Waldo Emerson

A patient friend allows all that is needed to be said without requirements or expectation, and when one's light is a little dim, a friend is ready to share some light to help see when needed. A friend listens with compassionate understanding when the other is talking too much or even when acting a little weird and silly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZHmsVRshwU

You don't need a complete picture to see the smiles.


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/520543509_e883cd83e1.jpg


Teresa Parsons
hisheartmyheart@gmail.com

November 7, 2009 The Path of Truth

The Path of Truth leads us to peace and peace comes with surrender.

The inner work and the straight path to His Truth is not easy in this world, but there is no true peace anywhere except with Him and hearing His voice. It is here where it doesn't matter what any person does or doesn't do, thinks or doesn't think, because 'here' we are confident and know who we are and where we are going. My feet are on the Path of Truth. Here I can admit my own faults and be truthful about my own inner darkness. Truth sets me free to experience His Love and Light fully. And as I walk this walk this is becoming evident, "All men will hate (my observation - 'fearful of', hate is fear), you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:13. How is it that we can be so afraid of God's Love? With this, if my heart is not steady, my sight will move off course in the midst of the need for attention or approval from others. There is so much more to say in regard to this eternal journey.

In this wonderful fairy tale story (but so true to real life) a knight finds himself trapped in his armor and the only way out is with inner awareness and tears of compassion. He sets out on the Path of Truth to find a way to be set free through Castles of Silence, Knowledge, Will and Daring to the Summit of Truth. He is faced just before the Summit of Truth with a decision of complete surrender where he lets go....

"In that instant, he accepted full responsibility for his life, for the influence people had had on it, and for the events that had shaped it. From this moment on, he would no longer blame his mistakes or misfortunes or anyone or anything outside himself. The recognition that he was the cause not the effect gave him a new feeling of power. He was now unafraid." Knight in Rusty Armor, Robert Fisher

I have a personal choice to stay focused on my purpose and call, living Love and allowing deep interaction and conversation with God and keep this kind of armor that separates us all from building up and becoming a permanent fixture around my heart. On the Path of Truth you can't look to the right or the left only straight ahead. If there is a mountain or castle in the way there is no way around it, you must go through it to be set free. Surrender becomes an 'upward' fall which brings us to Truth and freedom.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/3290471956_9a7839f14d.jpg


Teresa Parsons
hisheartmyheart@gmail.com