please don't give up

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

Its crazy how just certain experiences in life can just rip us apart and leave us torn and tattered for many years afterwards. Like abandonment issues...something you went through when you were younger can just tear you apart like tissue paper and leave you picking up shreds of yourself for the rest of your life...trying to figure out how to live with what your past has done to you. Even just one event can come down like a hammer and shatter everything in its wake...leaving cracks and shards from your outermost layers down to the deepest layers not seen by most people.

But there can also be good that comes from that....good that could only come from something like that. Because sometimes it takes being ripped apart down to your soul to release the faith and strength you had inside all along that you never knew you had. Wells of passion and compassion for others that could not be released unless the walls were broken down. So even if you never feel whole again...even if you spend your whole life picking up those broken pieces of your fragile body broken off by that one event...there is still something good that can come from that. Maybe you had to be broken to release something incredible you've had inside you all along.

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

When you are seeking to be closer to God and doing what God has called you to do....now THAT is living life to the fullest! When you are investing in the eternal instead of temporary, that is living! Because if you don't have God you have nothing...I am not afraid to say that here!

The world thinks you have to travel around the world and be doing extravagant stuff to really be living. The world sees living life to the fullest in temporary fleeting things. I tell you, if you travel around the world meeting all kinds of amazing and famous people doing all sorts of crazy and wild things....no matter how fun it is....if you don't have God you have nothing.

When you have God....YOU HAVE EVERYTHING!! You have all that matters in this world if you have God! If you are poor and on the streets but you still have Jesus YOU HAVE EVERYTHING! When you study his word and spend time with him and serve the kingdom in how you were called...now that is living!

Because when you depend on the world to be fulfilled...it can't fill you! You will always be saying "what's next? What now?" Over and over you will have fun times and shortly afterwards say "what now? What is next?" Because you will fill yourself for a short time, but soon you will be empty again and need more. There's never enough to fill your heart in the world!

When I spend time in God's word, and praise him, encourage people, and write out whatever is on my heart.....THAT IS WHAT FULFILLS ME! Not concerts, not jobs, not meeting bands, not getting shares and shootouts from bands, not traveling, NONE OF THAT IS WHAT FULFILLS ME! Serving God is what completes me! When I spend time with God and serve him, that is when I really feel like I am living! Because that is when I am investing in the eternal instead of the temporary and fleeting.

So remember that out in the world....you can have the whole world but still have nothing without God....but you can have nothing of this world but God and have everything.

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

sometimes we become slaves to pain and the past....like we just let that pain from the past rule us and take over us....I'm not saying we should just forget past pain totally and get over it like its nothing, no no no some stuff is hard to get over....and some stuff really does echo through your life and affect who you are.....its when years and year go by and its still ruling your thoughts and your life, when you are still feeling like the victim of that past pain years later, when you can't forgive people and let anger take command over your heart, when you rely on substances, drugs, and self harm to forget that pain for a short time instead of dealing with it and overcoming it....its when you believe the lies that your past pain rules you from the moment it enters your life....its a lie!

pain happens, but it doesn't have to rule you! you don't have to be a victim of it your whole life! yes its going to really hurt for a little while and have its effect on your life...but it only has to be a small part it doesn't have to take over your entire life unless you let it.

Past pain also gives us an opportunity to make something good from it....because it gives us the chance to speak out and help others going through the same thing. So because you went through this someone else can benefit from it. So instead of being a slave to your pain...your pain is working for you for the greater good! And there is much good that can come from us through pain. Pain doesn't have to win.

So your probably have pain from the past in your life, but it doesn't rule you! It doesn't own you! You are not its slave!

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

We always have a choice! You always have to the choice to do good instead of evil. You always have the choice to resist temptation and not sin. And you ALWAYS have the choice to say no to those addictions instead of yes!

When your body and mind have been fooled by the lies that you can't say no it is incredibly hard to say no, but you can still say it! I know that choice to say no is hard, believe me I know! But you can still say it, even if it takes all the strength you have to say it you can!

So whatever you are struggling with an addiction too be it substances or things we do to ourselves...that choice to say no has never left you! It feels like it has, and it will be incredibly hard to say no, but you can still say it! And at first it will feel like a mistake to say no, but trust me if you hang in there you will be so glad you said no!

And if you fall down and say yes and relapse, its okay! We’re all imperfect people here who make mistakes...we all fall down sometimes. But what REALLY matters is that you get right back up and keep going and don’t give up! You might have said yes once, but you have to gather your strength and say no again to those things. And its so hard to say no again after saying yes, but you can do it I know you can!

So remember when your mind is saying you have to say yes to your addictions that the choice to say no is still there!

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

Evil isn't going to go away. There is not going to be a day on this earth where people stop doing terrible things. Its not going to happen. You can dream all you want of a day with only peace and love and no hate and no crime, but its not going to happen.

Evil is always going to seem like it is getting away with its deeds too. Its always going to seem like evil is prospering and winning while good suffers with nothing. Its not going to go away. You're going to watch bad people get away with stuff and prosper while the good people die young without prospering. You're going to watch it your entire life on this earth.

You can work until the skin falls off of your hands and you sweat blood to make the world around you a better place...wearing yourself ragging until you return to the ground and rot....but evil will remain on this earth.

Evil thinks its winning, but evil lost a long time ago.

Evil thinks it has everything, but it actually has nothing.

Evil thinks its free, but it is actually in chains.

To those that seek their rewards in this world....THIS IS IT! They have their reward in full right here, this is all they have! This world is all they have left. They looked to this temporary decaying world for riches and pleasures at any cost, and sure they got it, but this is it...when this world is gone, when their life is gone...that's it for them.

The thing is, God won a long time ago. We struggle with evil and suffer at its hand from time to time...even with the loss of possessions and the loss of life....but evil HAS NOT won! They can only hurt the body, but your soul is safe in God's hand if you say you are his. So they can do what they want with your body, but they CAN NOT get your soul if you don't let them.

Evil has taken its full reward from this earth, but we have our reward when our time on this earth is over. We struggle here temporarily, but it is all worth it for the heavenly reward that awaits us that is far better than anything here. A reward that is also eternal where the earth is only temporary. So they think they have everything, but they really have nothing. Because when this world is gone they will have nothing, and we will have everything because we were seeking the heavenly and eternal instead of the worldly and temporary.

Evil might be here to stay while we live on this earth, but that doesn't mean they have won. While they take and destroy and seem like they are winning by hurting and harming and getting away with it...remember that they have received their reward in full and that this is it for them. They have lost, and their chains are evident despite their denial of them.

God has won.

God is everything.

God is freedom.

It might not always seem like it here, but this life is but a blink. So keep your eyes on heaven no matter what evil is doing around you.

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

working with what you have.....

Sometimes you just have to work with what you have....because what you have is enough....because what God REALLY needs is for you to give your heart to doing what you can with what you have...and just take the plunge and have faith....because God is EVERYTHING and can do ANYTHING, it doesn't matter what you have or what you can or can't do....I make it a point to just work with what I have....a phone for a camera, instagram for editing, broken glass and dyed corn syrup, rocks, paint, and broken objects for my scene instead of something digital and fancy, rambling random words put together instead of something professionally put together built by skills and education....because i can't do that.....I can't give you professional writings and photography....I can't give you skilled public speaking or an extroverted charismatic person who commands attention on a stage with all my skills....nope, can't give you any of that.....What can I give? Well when God asked me what i was willing to do for my cause that he knew meant so much to me.....I said I would do ANYTHING...even go outside my comfort zone....and that's what God needs....for you to have faith that what you have is enough....trust in him, and take that plunge of faith.....and work with what you have.....

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

I started this thread over 3 years ago, and now I get my share my message on JesusWired!

Hope is always with you, keep fighting and don't give up!

https://jesuswired.com/hope-is-forever/

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

What do you do when you don't like going to church? What if you just can't get yourself to enjoy sitting in that room full of people and making eye contact with those at the front and all the people you speak to? What if that fellowship of people does the opposite of what it intends to do...and it makes you feel lonely in a room full of happy joyful people?

The best answer I can give you is to just keep going, and have faith in what God created the church to be...a place where Christians get together and enjoy each other, support each other, laugh and cry with each other, help each other, and learn and grow together. I have said depression is something you just have to fight against, and I think if you don't like church it's just something to have to fight against too...even if the fight never ends and you never grow more fonder of church.

Being a Christian isn't about putting yourself first after all and what you want. It's about denying yourself and putting God first. So maybe just making that sacrifice and doing what God wants instead of what you want...maybe that can mean something too.

There are ways to fulfill spiritual needs that don't happen in that building. Praying and studying in social formats that fit you better can help fill that hole that maybe church doesn't fill. I do bible studying on my own a lot, and I have bible studies that are more comfortable that fill my needs (like the one here!)

I don't know, I'm sure someone I know won't like this, but it's the truth and if you can't take it thats fine with me.

So yeah, that's my answer for you if you are like me and don't like church. Keep going anyway. If you don't have a church yet, keep looking. Don't give up on what God created and intended for us. Even if it feels like a sacrifice to go, just keep going.

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

What is the most valuable thing on earth? Humans have their own fickle standards that change from day to day, but what God has deemed valuable has never changed and never will. And no man can change the value or what God has determined to be precious.

Read more here at The Eccentric Sheep Musings on JesusWired!

https://jesuswired.com/eccentric-sheep- ... ing-earth/


(this is the next step in my outreach so views and shares on my column are very very appreciated and help my message reach more people)

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

So a little over 3 years ago I had just starting trying to do some sort of outreach after being inspired by Kevin at Rock The Desert 2013. I posted my first message here and on Facebook. I felt absolutely powerless to do any good for God. I sat there and wondered how in the world little 'ol me is going to get my message out there and make a difference to anyone. But God said keep going so I kept going. God has all the power...all we have to do is have faith in him and step out there even when what he is asking makes us a little nervous.

He's definitely make me nervous over the last 3 years. Like my videos I was like "are you sure? I'm terrible at this". And when I was doing that Secret X photo series I was soooo worried that all the Disciple guys would hate it and hate me if they saw it. I was legit scared of them seeing that series. Because I kept going in faith despite my fear some good stuff has come out of all that. God has always backed me up when I stepped out in faith for him.

Like I've said before, you will never know the entire impact you are making. Very few will speak up to you. You have to just have faith in what God is asking of you and keep going. Its not about what you get out of it anyway, its about serving God and serving others. So it shouldn't matter if you get any recognition or praise out of it...you should be able to keep going even if you never get a single good thing out of it. Its hard for sure believe me...I get those round of doubts of it I am doing any good all the time. You can't let that doubt stop you.

Now I'm sitting here at the start of 2017 and working on my third post for my column....something I never imagined would happen. Its something God knew would happen all along...which is why he always told me to keep going even when I doubted what he was asking.

So yeah, welcome to 2017. I'm glad you're still here. We had some loss and heartache along the way because not everyone we love made it to 2017, but here we are still standing and still fighting. Some of us had an easy valley to cross in 2016, but some of us had a giant mountain to climb that made us wonder if going on was really worth it. Either way, I'm glad you made it and you're still here. There's no telling what this year holds...you have to just keep going to find out.

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

Just something I've thought about a lot and then thought about it even more after seeing Disciple again recently...



This is probably thoughts people who know me don't want to hear me talk about, but for the sake of those who feel the same way I'm going forward with it.

So I think it was Artesia where Kevin Young talked about wanting to live and said "I want to live" when speaking about the loss he and those around him on tour had been dealing with. I've been thinking about that because I spend most of my days thinking more of the opposite.

That brings me to my question that I will try to answer...what do you do when you spend more days saying "I want to die," instead of "I want to live?"
First of all, even the midst of this plague of thoughts desiring to leave this world and go to our true home....there is a peace in the fact that when I say "I want to go home"....that there is a true home that exists to long for. And it's not a dream or a long lost hope...it is something I WILL see one day because it is promised to me. So just knowing it is ahead even if it is not in sight quite yet makes the journey a little less painful.

That's the beautiful part of God promises...he ALWAYS keeps his promises. So he has promised heaven for his children when they leave this world. So heaven is indeed ours and is waiting for us. So even if you trudge on today and every step feels difficult and unbearable, the light at the end of this tunnel is just ahead and worth every painstaking step to get there. So if that is how you must think to get through this day, I say do it because I tell you it's worth it to take those steps and keep going even when you don't want to keep going.

Second of all, there must be peace with the fact that God has decided it's not your time yet. And that's okay because his timing is the best. If you are still here it's because God still has a task for you here. This means there is still work to do. Focus on the what work God stills needs of you here. There will be all of eternity to be in heaven, but if you do not do your work here someone could miss the splendor of heaven forever because you did not share the love of God with them in the way God destined you to share it with them. And isn't a few more painful days here worth bringing another soul to God's side? I say it is!

Like Kevin said....you won't even know all of the ways you will effect people's lives and impact the souls around you. So you can not know when your job is done here because you do not even know all you have truly done.

God has an amazing way of turning all of our messes into perfection. All of my outreach is ONLY because of this mess I have been walking through for over 15 years...good grief probably almost 20 years by now. Even if it all feels like wasted time in the depths of despair, God can do big things for his glory with all of our trials and struggles. So I have peace with the fact that God has been able to do good things WITH this mess of mine.

So maybe it's okay to not be able to say "I want to live"....maybe at least for a while. Maybe as long as you can say "I must live because God still has a place for me here, and I will leave this world when he says it is time." If you know you still have hope and joy that perseveres where happiness fails, maybe it's okay to not be able to say "I want to live".

That's the best I can do with an answer for the time being I guess.

[ECCENTRICSHEEP]

God has chosen a time for your life to end. It could be soon. It could be far away from now. There is a point in time already marked for that. So if you grow weary of the darkness and hurt of this world, there is a point where that will end if you cling to the promises found in Jesus. So you don't have to fear this pain never ending....because IT WILL.

But...can you trust in the point God has picked for your life to end? Can you have faith that the time he has picked is right...or will you take it into your own hands?

Because if its not this day...if that time is not today for you to depart this world...it means you still have a mission here...a task that needs to be completed....because only you can do this task.

It also means that God will be with you every step of the way as you continue here through this what seems like at times a never ending cycle of depression and anxiety and despair.

It also means that God knows you can get through all of this with him beside you every step of the way.

So, will you take that step of faith and continue with us today? Will you take the plunge of confidence that God has already chosen the right time for you to depart this world?

Will you stay with us today? Stay with all of us here whom God has said today is another day for us to remain here.

[HerbeMannABg]

Oh, and because Ive made terrible mistakes when Ive had things printed business cards and brochures. If you are going to be "Peace of Mind Security Services", make sure you spell it "Peace" and not "Piece". See your original posts.

Unless you want to be, "Im gonna give you a Piece of my Mind Security Services"?

Cheers,
-Gary.