{"id":236,"date":"2022-09-28T19:06:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T19:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/?p=236"},"modified":"2022-09-28T19:06:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T19:06:37","slug":"always-encourage-and-celebrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/28\/always-encourage-and-celebrate\/","title":{"rendered":"Always Encourage and Celebrate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Always Encourage and Celebrate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good day to everyone.\u00a0 My fall schedule change has thrown me off of my writing routine.\u00a0 I hope to get back on my regular schedule soon.\u00a0 For those that do not know, I was present at a mass shooting at a local amusement park over the weekend.\u00a0 At no time was I in any danger, but as a manager I gathered my team and several guests into a building for safety.\u00a0 I tried to keep everyone calm and provided my phone to allow others to call family members and let them know that they were safe.\u00a0 We sat in the dark until midnight when the police came and escorted us out of the park.\u00a0 As I said I was not in any danger, but I did not know it!\u00a0 I am still processing these events and reliving the night repeatedly in my mind.\u00a0 I also think about \u201cwhat ifs\u201d.\u00a0 I believe that the Holy Spirit surrounded me and the people with me to keep us safe and give us peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you experienced a traumatic incident where you were not in control?\u00a0 How did the Holy Spirit show up?\u00a0 In some cases, these incidents lead to us losing a loved one.\u00a0 How do we process this?\u00a0 How do we see God working in this experience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em><\/strong>You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So, you must honor God with your body<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d <\/em>(1 Corinthians 6: 19\u201320)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em><\/strong>As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you: Live a life that is worthy of the calling He has graciously extended to you. Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Tolerate one another in an atmosphere thick with love.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Ephesians 4: 1, 2)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em><\/strong>Therefore, since we have been made right in God\u2019s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God\u2019s glory.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>(Romans 5: 1\u20132)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My councilor has told me to replace the \u201cwhat if\u2019s\u201d with gratitude and joy that we were protected by God and were \u201clucky\u201d to be where we were at the time.\u00a0 I need to focus on the positive things that happened to me, my team, and the guests around us rather than the worst-case scenario.\u00a0 I have not thought about celebrating what happened until today.\u00a0 Paul modeled appreciation, celebration, and gratitude as he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1: 3-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your<\/em><\/strong> faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(1 Thessalonians 1: 3, 4)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It occurs to me that this power of gratitude goes way beyond just acknowledging good works in times of joy, but using this God given power to demonstrate gratitude in times of grief and pain.\u00a0 What positive things happened?\u00a0 What good can come from this tragedy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you think of a time when you used gratitude in times of pain?\u00a0 How many of you attend Celebration of Life services in your church? We celebrate and show gratitude to those that have left us. We should use the tool of gratitude every day to allow us to feel the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives and the lives of others.\u00a0 We can use it in times of joy, AND in times of chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please share your thoughts here and practice gratitude daily!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS.\u00a0 The 3 people who were shot will all recover.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Always Encourage and Celebrate Good day to everyone.\u00a0 My fall schedule change has thrown me off of my writing routine.\u00a0 I hope to get back on my regular schedule soon.\u00a0 For those that do not know, I was present at a mass shooting at a local amusement park over the weekend.\u00a0 At no time was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}