by Brian Shilhavy, Health Impact News: Former CDC Director Robert Redfield is in the news again today promoting his favorite topic, the “deadly Bird Flu” fear porn. This is another summer re-run, as this is a story that has been launched to the public multiple times since it made its debut in theaters in 2006 […]

A Prayer to Stop and Praise God When Things Aren't Going Well By Ashley Moore "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." – 1 Thessalonians 5:18, ESV  The bad days and hard seasons trick us into thinking that we are living a bad life, don’t they? We can so quickly spiral from a difficult circumstance into thought patterns like the following:  If God loves me so much, why is He allowing this to happen? Why does everyone else seem to be living such a happy and easy life, and why is mine so hard? Or what is wrong with me? Why can’t I get my act together? Troubles cause us to get tunnel vision. Our view gets smaller as we hyperfocus on all the complex parts of our situations. We lose perspective about how the Lord might desire to use this difficulty for our growth and sanctification. Even if we do realize these things, our hearts are often not in a place to accept them yet.  Can I make an honest confession? Sometimes, I just want to wallow in my messy circumstances. Many times, I resist what the Lord may be trying to teach me because I just want to be mad, crabby, or whiny about it for a while. Or maybe I feel sad, and I want to stay there because it’s easier than thinking about things from God’s perspective.  Please don’t hear me say this next part and think I am suggesting you overcome your feelings immediately. That is not what I am saying at all. Created in God’s image, we have emotions because He has emotions. However, we often allow our emotions to cause us to lose sight of our Savior rather than prompting us to draw near Him. God tells us to come to Him when we are weary and heavy-laden (Matthew 11:28). And there are no disclaimers in this passage about getting our acts together first. Neither does He say to have everything sorted out before we come. Or that we must dry our tears before we come. Or make sure we are perfectly in alignment with what His Word says before we come and ensure we are in complete agreement. No, He says come. And as we come, He takes the heaviness of our load and exchanges it with rest, peace, and guidance because He is gentle and lowly (Matthew 11:29). It’s not that the bad days or hard seasons never come. We have all lived long enough to know that trials and tribulations are inevitable. Rather, God is showing us how we might respond to adversity. In our key verse, God’s Word says to give thanks in all circumstances. Notice that the verse doesn’t say to give thanks for the circumstance. God isn’t asking us to thank Him for the horrible things we are walking through. No, He is saying while we are in the storm, do these two things. Come to Him and give thanks. Typically, the only things we can give thanks for in those challenging seasons are the unchanging character of God. But something beautiful happens in us when we do this!  As we focus on God and give thanks, He fills us with His perfect peace despite our circumstances not going well (Isaiah 26:3). God uses gratitude to exchange our troubled tunnel vision for thoughts about His presence, perspective, and peace. We don’t have a bad life because things are hard. We must go to God with our burdens and trade our big emotions for His rest and peace. The pathway to gaining God’s perspective on our problems is gratitude. May we learn to give thanks and praise God even when things aren’t going well.  Let’s pray: Dear Lord,Thank you that you are a safe refuge in the storms of this life. Lord, I pray you will show us how to bring our big emotions to you. Help us understand how you think about us and welcome us even when we fall apart at the seams and believe lies about ourselves, others, and you. Jesus, correct the ways we think and share your perspective with us. Help us to give thanks in every ever-changing circumstance for your unchanging, steadfast love.In Jesus’ name, amen. Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Ridofranz Ashley Moore is a writer and host of be the twopodcast. She is known for her relatability and for passionately writing and speaking about mental, emotional, and relational health from a biblical worldview. She has written for Kingdom Edge Magazine, Guideposts, Crosswalk, The Secret Place, enLIVEn, The Bubbling Brook and more. If Ashley isn’t writing, you can find her with her husband, three children, and two floppy-eared Goldens on their south Georgia farmland. The best way to connect with Ashley is to grab a free devotional or Bible study and join her newsletter at free.ashleynicolemoore.com. Teach Us to Pray is a FREE prayer podcast hosted by iBelieve writer Christina Patterson. Each week, she gives you practical, real-life tips on how to grow your faith and relationship with God through the power of prayer. To listen to her episode on What to Pray in the Morning for a Worry-Free Day, click below! Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! Visit iBelieve.com for more inspiring prayer content. The post A Prayer of Praise When Things Aren’t Going Well – Your Daily Prayer – June 20 appeared first on GodUpdates.

The destructive power of unforgiveness "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." – Matthew 6:12 The famous writer Leo Tolstoy thought he was getting his marriage off on the right foot when he asked his fiancée Sonya to read his diaries, detailing all of his sexual indiscretions. Instead, Tolstoy's confession sowed the seeds for a marriage that would be held together by bitterness, not love. Sonya wrote in her diary, "When he kisses me I'm always thinking, ‘I'm not the first woman he has loved.'" Some of his adolescent flings she could forgive, but not his affair with a particular peasant woman who continued to work on the Tolstoy estate. Another diary entry dates from January 14, 1909. "He relishes that peasant wench with her strong female body and her sunburnt legs, she allures him just as powerfully now as she did all those years ago..." Sonya wrote those words when this peasant woman was eighty years old. For half a century, jealousy and unforgiveness blinded her and destroyed all love for her husband. It's difficult to truly comprehend the power of unforgiveness. Years, even decades, after a person was wronged, he or she can hold onto bitterness so tightly that it is as if it happened yesterday. But God calls us to a higher level of forgiveness, one that understands our own brokenness before Him and forgives others because we were first forgiven. So instead of holding onto bitterness, let it go. Allow God to soften your heart and forgive others because you were first forgiven! Prayer Challenge Pray that God would reveal areas of unforgiveness in your life and give you the strength to forgive others who may have wronged you. Questions for Thought As you think back, are there people in your life against whom you still harbor bitterness and unforgiveness? What would your life look like if it exemplified the forgiveness toward others that God has already shown to you? Visit the Senior Living Ministries website Visit the Senior Living Ministries website The post The Destructive Power of Unforgiveness –  Senior Living – June 20 appeared first on GodUpdates.

The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), the largest airline pilot’s union in the world, published a diversity, equity and inclusion language guide to its members in 2021 instructing them to refrain from using words such as “cockpit,” “airmen,” and “manpower” in order to “reflect the diversity we have at ALPA” and to “create a more inclusive workplace.” “While the word ‘cockpit’ dates back to the 1900s, it has been and may be used in a derogatory way to exclude women in the piloting profession,” the guide explained, according to Breitbart. “Many women have heard a variation of ‘It is called a cockpit for a reason’ by a male pilot, suggesting that women do not belong in the piloting profession. The intent behind the use of the word is important. … While the word ‘cockpit’ dates back to the 1900s, it has been and may be used in a derogatory way to exclude women in the piloting profession. … Many women have heard a variation of ‘It is called a cockpit for a reason’ by a male pilot, suggesting that women do not belong in the piloting profession. The intent behind the use of the word is important.” The APLA also dislikes using the terms “mother” and “father” because those “may inadvertently ignore different family structures,” such as “caregivers, same-sex parents, stepparents, families with adopted members, and more,” Breitbart noted. The ALPA released a statement to Fox News, saying: Flying is the safest mode of transportation in the world thanks in large part to airline pilots, professionals that are all held to the highest training and qualification standards. There are real threats to aviation safety like efforts to replace pilots with automation or lower training and experience standards, but opening the doors of opportunity to ensure we have a robust supply of qualified aviators isn’t one of them. In 2021, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was slammed after saying of the company’s graduating pilot classes, “We have committed that 50% of the classes will be women or people of color.” This is insane. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby proudly states they’re using DEI based racial and gender quotas to reduce the amount of white people in the air travel industry.pic.twitter.com/HsyT2Bwut9 — Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) January 15, 2024

What does God want to carry onto completion in your life? What is your perspective on this area of your life?

Republican members of the U.S. House are moving to nullify the entirety of ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan committee that “investigated” the Jan. 6, 2021, protest at the U.S. Capitol, where…

(Natural News) Joe Biden’s displays of mental incompetence have become so egregious that his team is now calling on Big Tech firms to censor video clips in which his confusion is on full display.…

The findings are clear.