Tag Archives: spirituality
Doubt your Doubts
Doubt is like a prison holding you back from all you were created to do and be and, in my experience, fear is the captor. Start the new week by doubting your doubts and believe your beliefs
👍#beautifulcourageousyou #doubthasnoplacehere#itsamindgame #fearisaliar image credit @christianwomeninbusiness
Noosa – here we come!
Beautiful, Courageous You Noosa Event: ONLY 50 Tickets available for this One-Day Event held Saturday October 1st at RACV Noosa Pre-purchase tickets essential – no tickets available on the day of event.
Purchase EARLY Bird TICKETS HERE $95p/p includes Nourishing lunch, + morning & afternoon tea + all supplies & materials required for ALL workshops.
NOTE: individual workshops are usually approx. $120p/p. This is an opportunity not to be missed!
A Wonderful Book Review!
Illustration by Jose Lake 🙂
I read a really encouraging and inspiring book this week by Australian author Lauralee Berrill. Lauralee shares her journey from the depths of depression to the Divine discovery of freedom through the love and healing power of Jesus. The book is written in an authentic, raw format that draws the reader in to walk closely with the author.
There were definitely tears on my part as I ‘witnessed’ the incredible pain and trauma Lauralee walked through when she lost three of her own sweet babes, experiencing the despair naturally becoming of such agony. As she rose to victory over depression, stress and anxiety, my heart rejoiced with her every step of the way.
In her book, Beautiful Courageous YOU, Lauralee shares a wholistic approach to overcoming depression through nourishing our mind, body & spirit. Her views are perfectly approachable, easy to understand and void of formulas and strict theories which tend to discourage rather than inspire toward action.If you love reading books written straight from the heart, LOADED with hope yet spiced with reality, you’ll certainly take well to this fantastic book. If you’re a woman struggling with depression/stress/anxiety or know someone who is, I can highly recommend this book!
Thank you @beautifulcourageousyou for sharing your heart for the Glory of our King and the healing of His people! 🌸 Contact @beautifulcourageousyou to grab a copy of a life-giving book – Jose
Healing from Depression…Exciting New Book Release!
Official proof copy has arrived!
My greatest hearts desire is to impact the world with a message of hope. Endowing the reader with a deep reservoir of joy and an absolute personal resolve that whatever life throws at you – you can and will overcome, you will rise again to enjoy the mountaintops of joy and breathe in the atmosphere of hope!
The heartbeat of Beautiful, Courageous You can be summed up in a quote by Helen Keller, born blind and deaf faced great adversities, she writes I would rather be walking in the dark with a friend than in the light on my own. There is great reward in living in such a way that the focus is not on what you can get but rather on what you can give.
My desire behind the book is very much, coming alongside the reader, as a friend and walking with you until you are in a place of peace, joy and health.
The first chapter is about my journey through grief and severe depression then the following 29 chapters are all about the reader. With my background in Health Science I have covered healing for the body on a very practical level. Topics include; Nutrition, exercise, medication, natural therapies and many more…. Healing the soul covers the mind, will and emotions with some powerful exercises, hints and tips for managing stress and anxiety. Healing the spirit is a thorough and deep understanding of the unseen realm and how we can heal our bodies by addressing issues such as unforgiveness, anger, resentment and judgement etc.
Soon to be released mid June 😊 If you or anyone you know has ever suffered #depression or #anxiety this is a must read! Register your pre-order at beautifulcourageousyoushop.
Online availability at: www.westbowpress.com ; www.barnesandnoble.com ; www.amazon.com kindle et . and most major book retailer.
Workout for a Good Mood
While exercise has the potential to transform your body, increase feel good chemicals and keep you feeling confident and healthy, it also does wonders for your mind to be distracted from your worries and negative ruminating. In the very depths of depression I would spend most of my waking hours trying to reason with my unreasonable thinking. Much like a dog chasing his tail, I never caught up with reason. My real turning point was when I put on my running shoes and ran out along an old dirt road to visit some brown cows.
Exercise is much more than getting fit; rather, it’s meditation in motion.
I love to run with the sun on my skin, birds chirping, smells of the countryside, focused breathing and on the lookout for the odd brown snake on my path. With all my senses being stimulated it is hard to think about anything else. Often on days when I am feeling flat or just unbearably grumpy with my loved ones, my husband will point to my shoes and “suggest,” “You need to go for a run!” From experience, he knows all too well that I am a better wife and mother when I have been out for a run, having left my worries behind and fully engaged in the moment, distracted from whatever had been weighing me down. This works for me, and it will work for you also. After a 30 minute jog, a brisk walk, several laps in the pool or whatever exercise you choose, you’ll often find by the end of a session that you’ve forgotten the negative ponderings whilst being focused only on your body’s movements and the surrounding environment! Now go ahead and leave the screen time, get out and move that amazing body 🙂
Overcome with Power That Brings the World to Its Knees
There’s no escaping this layer of affliction called ‘life’, there comes a point in time however, when you must decide to either allow the darkness to overtake your life and become a victim of your circumstances or you can choose to courageously move against your fears, face every situation and determine to push on knowing that God is with you, His presence within us is our assurance that we can live in peace.
His peace is not just for getting through the tough times, but He has promised us perfect peace and contentment all the days of our lives. Where do we find this peace, this lasting cure for fear? In his book “The Sheperd’s Rod; Volume XV11”, Bobby Conner puts it like this: “This is the pattern we need to learn: As we turn our inner focus, our will, to Christ and place our affections on Him, adjusting our thoughts to the Word, we will discover abiding peace.” The Sheperds Rod: Volume XVII page 60
Although the scriptures admonish us to keep our minds on that which is Truth, this is easier said than done. In light of birthing our stillborn baby boy , my relationship with God became, fractured, to say the least, I knew I was supposed to face up to my fears with faith but instead of facing up to them I was overtaken by fear about ‘everything’!.
As days and weeks passed I slipped into a deep depression and eventually my faith was all but gone. As I write in view of hindsight I can see where the situation that I thought was going to swallow me up has become my greatest victory, the truth has set my anxious heart free, for indeed Jesus stated that we shall know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:32) Let me encourage you, whatever you are facing that threatens to overcome you, you will get through this and be an even more magnificent you… a beautiful, strong reflection of His Glory. YOU are an overcomer The Message version puts it like this:
Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5;5)
Now tune into Mandisa’s smash hit ‘Overcomer’ and start doin some ‘overcoming’ 😉 x
Keep a Grip on Hope
It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
Lamentations 3; 21-24 (MSG Version)
Shadow Boxing your Worry and Anxiety
Writing for this blog has been elusive for the past few months, life’s like that sometimes… elusive, indefinable and mysterious. As life’s circumstances have flooded in I found myself swept away, adrift in a sea of worry and anxiety dumbfounded with not much to say about anything. There was the issue… I had nothing to say, instead I just let life’s blows back me into a corner feeling beaten and defeated.
I panicked ‘God no I can’t be depressed again’, ‘I have been healed, delivered and set free’, I affirmed myself… then I heard the Lord say ‘speak to your circumstances’! ‘The circumstances are your reality but they are not Truth’!
Oh boy did I open my mouth and speak! Here I was shouting and bouncing around like a shadow boxer, my mind grew fierce with determination as I declared ‘no weapon formed against me shall prosper’ (Isaiah 54:17) , ‘God has a good plan for my life, plans to prosper me and give me a future and a hope’ (Jeremiah 29:11) and ‘Lord you promised that you will keep me in perfect peace as my mind is stayed on you’ (Isaiah 26:3) the more I declared scripture, that which was overwhelming and vying for my attention dimmed to a dull shadow in the Light of Truth.
Our words carry creative power, Romans 4:17 implores us to ‘call those things that are not as though they already were’. However, when we are exhausted, distracted and not made time to ‘come away’ with Him it’s easy to speak negative and talk about all that is wrong in our lives. Lesson learned… keep my eyes on Him, my mind on His promises, and be ready to spring into action speaking the Word at the onset of a downward spiral. Needless to say I am ready to ‘get back in the ring’ and this time I will stand until the final round’. 😉
Every Cloud is Lined with Silver
They looked… and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud (Exod. 16:10)
For the most part of this year I feel the skies within my soul have been amass with grey clouds, even on the clear bright sunny days my heart would beat anxiously at the thought of another impending storm. April has come and I do believe the winds of change have blown the grey storm clouds afar from me, yes the days ahead are bright. In the natural, nothing much has changed, what has changed is where I am placing my focus, choosing to rejoice in spite of what life’s storms may bring!
Get into the habit of looking for the silver lining of the cloud, and when you have found it, continue to look at it rather than at the leaden gray in the middle.
Do not yield to discouragement no matter how sorely pressed or beset you may be. A discouraged soul is helpless. He can neither resist the wiles of the enemy himself, while in this state, nor can he prevail in prayer for others…. We must keep faith, we must keep hope, we must keep courage, we must keep Christ. We would better creep away from the battlefield at once if we are not going to be brave. There is no time for the soul to stampede. Keep the skyward look, my soul; keep the skyward look!
(excerpt from Streams in the Desert by Charles E. Cowman)
Beautiful, Courageous You 