2011 - A MIRACULOUS YEAR FOR ME :) :) :D

Waaaaaa....Finally am so thankful and grateful to God as He has been with me throughout this year and brought me here till the end with his abounding Grace and Mercy. One more day to survive in this year 2011 and get into the awaiting beautiful new year 2012 and I wonder what all gifts God has wrapped inside His arms to present me in the coming year too...... :)

Last year I remember the same time I have written a post about the miserable year 2010 for me and about how am entering into this year 2011 with so many hopes and wishes. And today am gonna share with all of you about what I feel about this year 2011....To start with simple words, my entire idea and gist of this year can be summed up just with a single word 'MIRACLE'...Yes my friends, it was a wholesome package of 365-days miracle..............

I started this year with prayers and praises in God's presence. And God gave me a wonderful promise this year from 2Corinthians 9:8 which says that,

"And God can give you MORE BLESSINGS THAN YOU NEED. Then you will always have plenty of everything - enough to give to every good work."

And when I received this promise, I started the year with great confidence and faith which, today has driven me somewhere great that I'm sitting now with a smile typing all these words with immense gratefulness to my Creator. 

In whatever phase of my life you take, be it educational or professional or personal or spiritual, God has blessed me in each and every domain of my life more than I expected or anybody else in this world anticipated. There were of course times when I had to face trials which drove me to a state of fear and depression. But, amidst all those storms, His mighty Hand was with me which strengthened me and raised me up softly to great heights. He was telling me,

"I am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand, and I tell you, "Don't be afraid. I will help you" (Isaiah 41:13)

which made me strong and able to do everything by His might and accomplish great things this year everywhere and in everything. 

To quote all verses He gave me and to specifically say all the miracles and blessings that He bestowed on me, this one post is insufficient and so I just wanna share to you a simple message or lesson that I learnt this year which will be surely useful for you too. Dear reader, life is not same all the time. There will be ups and downs, good as well as bad times. But during all times, don't ever lose your hope because of your situation or the people's discouraging words. Be of good courage and always put your trust and faith in God praising Him and honoring Him for everything and in all times. It will be be difficult of course, but try to practise this and then you'll start experiencing peace and miracles in your life. 

"It was good for me to suffer so I would learn your demands." Psalm 119:71

Remember always that If God is with us, nobody can defeat us.....Have a wonderful year ahead!
WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.....GOD BLESS YOU ALL! 

The longggggggg Journey where Blogging has taken me............

Its been almost more than a year that I started blogging which I came to know today seeing my first post which was on September 3rd, 2010. Its amazing that I've written almost 38 posts within a year, that too, each and every posts depicting some kind of intuition which arose within me. But, what I was thinking today was what made me suddenly to come into this blogging activity and am just gonna share with all of you how far this blogging has taken me into my life...............................

Basically, am a technologist and neither a poetess nor an English literature student to come into writing. But, the truth is that I always had that burning passion for writing as I had a good mastery over the language and got that expressive kind of character which is very much essential for an impressive writing. The fact is that I didn't get the time or opportunity to sit and share my thoughts with everyone through writing. It was last year that unexpectedly I got the opportunity or to say it more precisely, got the circumstance which led me to start writing a personal blog of mine. I was almost pushed to the situation of being at home for some time and a very best friend of me who knows very well about my caliber and God-gifted talents motivated me to start writing a blog as a result of which I started just like that playfully to pass my time.

 But to my surprise, this pleasurable pastime activity has taken me somewhere now to the extent of having writing as my part-time career yielding money for me. Yes, in a nutshell, there were many people who went through my blog and appreciated and encouraged me a lot. Furthermore, I also got a job as a content writer in a company which added more fertilizer for the growth of my talent. I started shining wherever I went because of my writing skills where people urged me to write some content for their business or organization or for many other purposes. And even further, now I've started earning on my own because of my writing skills which have almost now totally transformed my career of a software profession into a full-time web content entrepreneur.

And now its time for me to thank all those who adored me, motivated me and who were by my side to support me in all that I did which is the main reason for my present status today. Above all, I thank God that finally He executed His plan for my life so beautifully and surprisingly. Because a person like me who’s in a totally different career coming into this stream is something very odd and absurd but which can happen only for a genuine reason like God’s will.

Philippians 2:13 “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (NIV)

There is no problem too Big GOD cannot solve it!!!

Hi folks...Today I've got to share something which touched my heart very very muchhhhhhh.......which kindled all of my heart, mind and soul completely.... and am also sure that if you're a person who's going through extreme depression and frustration right now, you will surely be consoled and comforted once you finished reading this post of mine.....

Hope you'd have watched the video which is above as the whole matter that I'm gonna say is related to the same.

It was a couple of months back that this happening took place. 

On July 24th, 2011 (it was my mamma's birthday actually), Sunday........So I was about to go to church in the morning with a very heavy, burdened and stressed heart...unable to share my sorrow and grief with anybody else......and at the same time carrying a fake plastic smile on my face completely for the sake of my parents..... and I'm telling you...TRULY...nobody else knows how much anguished I was, expect me and the Almighty!

The church service began and of course, I wasn't able to even sing songs during the worship session. I felt that my distress and mental agony were entirely coating my throat restricting me from singing praises to my CREATOR. So, as a whole, even if I think now of how my condition was, I was simply just a living being who's a closed stack of unexposed and unexpressed worriesssssssssssssss!

And then the time of sermon came when the pastor gave a start by mentioning the title of the message as "REST FOR THE STRESSED!" On hearing the title, I was filled with sudden wonder as I felt that it was exactly suiting my status quo. With the key verses of Matthew 11:28-30 from the Bible, it was such a wonderful message which was soothing and consoling that I was just thinking "How faithful my God is! He has given exactly the word I should hear" feeling that God is straightaway speaking to me. 

And the moment which touched me exactly was when the Pastor concluded his message and started singing this song in a very comforting and reassuring tone which turned me soooo emotional. When I heard the lines 

"If HE carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders

I know my sister that HE (Lord) will carry you"

I was all tears...Yes....my grief-stricken heart wasn't able to control itself after listening to these lyrics. But then I became clear that there is a living God who's there to take care of me and all my burdens and I no need to worry anymore. 

So, my dear friends, whoever is reading this, am assuring you..........Whatever you're going through right now, its just temporary for sure! "THIS TOO SHALL PASS AWAY" Just always trust that when you cast all your burdens upon Him, you can freely rest in peace and joy because its He who created you and gave you life with a purpose and plan which will get executed beautifully once you handle everything over to him.

God Bless You! :-)

Liking the 'Like' button in facebook :-) :P

        As we all know, its very evident from the high degree of the usage of social networking sites like Facebook, twitter, etc that we are living in the age of social media (which has both pros and cons of its own). Whatever be its disadvantages, still people from the age of tens to sixties are crazy about using social networking. I even know an eight-year old relative of mine who has an fb account, tat too which is active enough in usage! And amongst all these kinds of social media sites, Facebook is the topmost ranked and used site by people all over the globe.....

               
And you know, am also a very very energetic, dynamic and occupied user of all these sites :D But this Facebook is the one which I love the most than all the others because of one cracking feature....which is none other than the 'LIKE' button in Facebook! Yes...this is an amazing attribute of fb which has made it so popular sweeping it across the world. With a simple and compact 'like' button, we all have fallen in love with Facebook, I suppose ;-)! Rather than saying all others, I'd say that I personally have an unique affinity towards the 'like' in fb....Even though it may seem so naive and silly, there's a lot more good things to say about this like button.

       Starting from the liking of statuses, posts, photos, links, pages, etc etc.........the list goes on and on that even without our knowledge, we come to know how many things we like in this world. There are lot more things that we cherish and admire on this universe than we dislike, murmur or hate. Just imagine all these without a 'like' button.....we would have just seen and gone away...But, this 'like' button gives us a realization about our admiring capacity as well giving some joy for another person by letting them know that we like their photo or post or whatever petty they have it in their profile.You know just when I click the notifications tab and find a msg like " so and so likes you photo", "x likes your post", it would be like a one-second flash of bliss as if I've done something great and achieved! Yes, truly, this magical button has a psychological impact on us, I guess!

                                               

                   Its after using this 'like' button in Facebook is that I started to realize how many things are there in this world to admire, glorify and when there are so many things that are good to see and appreciate, why do we always stick to the negative ones and unwanted ones? Doesn't this seem to be a little sensible? However, I like the 'like' in Facebook...Wat abt uuuu????? :-) :-) (My height of liking for the like : Even I have a 'like' button in my blog, if you liked my blog, please 'like' it :P)

Photography - An initiator of nostalgia that makes differences within a second.....

                     
                                                           Today I've come up to share something which stroke in my mind just in a flash of a second. AW..yeah...the word 'flash' tells all about it....its none other than the magical wand 'camera' which, by its instant flash captures anything which is focused. I have a huge collection of all my pictures right from my babyhood days till to-date which, when sometimes viewed, initiates a lot of reactions and emotions within my inner self.
                      Now i remember a quote which i read somewhere : "A photo is something which never changes forever even though the people in it change". This quote made me go into a deep thought....Ain't this sooo true? Even I too, sometimes when i look through the old snaps feel how things have changed so much, life changes, the people's changes, changes in our physical appearances, that this and so much more....just within a single glance of a picture. To say it more aptly, everything, both internal as well as external attributes of the elements in the pictures would have changed...tats wat i would say!
                    This photography is the only thing which makes us go into a state of 'nostalgia' within no time. I personally love this amazing constituent which stimulates our nostalgic feeling to a very great extent. Its the only record or proof of certain things that happened in our lives, which we can't get back but can go into that particular scenario and feel it just with a gaze on the picture. It can even refresh our feelings once we have a look at certain albums because even if we hold some grudges on certain persons, when taking a view of the picture in which how close we were to that same person, it will completely erase the grievance that we had on that person just at that instant itself. (this is my personal experience). So, isn't photography such a beautiful thing which can soothe our minds and rejuvenate our souls?
                      So, I wrote this post just to say that i really love capturing pictures and keeping it safe because it is the only entity that can bring our cherished, lost and yearning memories very close to our mind and makes us realize the truth that "CHANGE IS THE ONLY THING THAT NEVER CHANGES!"

Has travelling become my passion nowadays???

                                  Its a long time back since I blogged because of my tight schedule in professional as well as personal affairs. Hmm...well, it is this Sunday night that i've got a lil' bit of time to write something about my recent feeling of an instinctive zest towards traveling. 

Basically, I was a girl who merely hates traveling like anything right from my childhood days, especially, what i mean is the long journey travels by bus, train, plane, etc. But at the same time i was also a cutie pie who always had an invisible bond with the kind of traveling for a short period of time by my car and bike with my dada, mama and bro. I just loved those shopping driving and taking rounds within the boundary of my town :-) (tat was my maximum limit for traveling).

Whenever I was encountered with a situation that I had to travel a long way via bus or car or train or whatever mode of transport may be, i would turn out my face to such a negative reaction and start traveling with all the hatred in mind. Accordingly, for the whole journey i would be sleeping or would be prone to travel sickness like vomiting, headache, etc etc...Oh...Finally, it would be my parent's fate to face a hell lot of troubles b'coz of me for the whole journey. As a whole, to describe my traveling experience in a few simple words, it would be like an 'indescribable cruise to another world' (for both me and the ppl around me :-))

 Poor me, who was lyk tis since from my birth, fate turned my direction of life towards all the things which i hate the most. Yes...one of those is the frequent traveling experiences that I had to encounter in my life since the last couple of years. To be very frank, at the starting, I really went through tough times while traveling by plane or bus or train or car to distant places. But as its generally said that anything will become used to you when you keep on going with it, the same had happened to me too, I guess!!! All those traveling experiences has now really stimulated an ardent interest towards traveling for me now. 

The same long travels which I used to hate previously has now become a great opportunity of many positive matters for me. Be it the formalities of air travels such as getting into the airport greeted by the airport staffs, the check-in, baggage procedures encountering pleasant customer service people, then the paramount hospitality inside the aircraft by charming guys and gals....or the train journey which incorporates the wonderful sight-seeing scenario of nature or the meeting of ppl whom we have never even met before in our life.... or the bus journey where you can freely watch a movie...or a long drive in the car chit-chatting with your beloved ones.... i've realized that all these spicy things of traveling really add good experiences in our lives. 

The preparations for travel is what makes the journey more interesting. As soon as we start packing our Baggies, the spirit of the travel rises in as we take all the important things such as dresses, camera, coolers, passport and all other necessary things for the travel. I was a person who used to take two or three days for packing alone before two years, but now, to me and my family's surprise, I'll just take a packing time of maximum two hours before the travel. What a drastic change! How fate has changed me and my lifestyle!! Really amazing, rite? 

You know wats the best thing i like about and enjoy about traveling...... According to me, from my experience, the traveling time is a time when you can relax and contemplate about different thoughts that are going into your mind and you can even drive into intellectual decisions for which you weren't able to get answer for a long time. Its an awesome duration of time undisturbed by others while enjoying the beautiful aspects of Mother Nature. What i usually do now is just insert my head phones into my ears listening to ma favorite pleasant songs while at the same time praying or cherishing any memories or even planning and thinking about any crucial matters. Hmmm....tats how a girl who was having phobia towards traveling got transformed into a fresh person who really relishes the experience of travelling! :-)

Now i've started to wonder whether i've developed a passion towards travel without my knowledge....just instinctively.....:-)

How to Live as a Christian - PART 5

                               Greetings to you all in the sweet name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! So, this is going to be my final post regarding our current topic of how to lead a true Christian life. In this post, we're gonna have an insight into the valuable spiritual advices given in Chapter 5 of the book of James.

A WARNING TO THE RICH (James 5:1-6)

                              All these six verses at the start of this chapter is for the rich people who have been so rude and impolite to their workers that they are warned severely in a strong manner. This passage seems to be as an alarming sign for the elites who have been disloyal before God's eyes leading a life being cruel and inhumane towards their laborers.Its clearly said that its difficult for them to inherit God's kingdom.

BE PATIENT (James 5:7-11)

                           Patience....This is one of the hardest traits tat we can can ever hold on to...isn't it? But...the word of God clearly declares to be patient until the Lord comes again. In this passage, James had said that we should be like a farmer who plants his crop and waits for the rains in patience. Not even at any point in our life should we ever give up....Never ever lose hope and give up in life! Moreover, its insisted not to judge or complain against each other since we'll be judged guilty because of that. The tenth verse of this chapter asks us to follow the examples of the many prophets of God who remained patient amidst all suffering and afflictions that they underwent in their lives. They were happy at the end only because they didn't give up at their initial stages in life. Another best example is Job's life who was rewarded with abundant blessings for his patience. After all, our God is full of mercy and kindness. So, brothers and sisters, let us all try to be patient when we're undergoing difficult times in our life, putting all our hopes on the Almighty alone. 

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY (James 5:12)

                          In this single verse, there is a great truth that James had brought us...a fault which we always commit in our life. We are always used to make oaths or promises in the name of our parents, heaven, earth or God just for the purpose of proving our truthfulness. Don't we? But, that's a big blunder done in front of God's eyes, my frnzz.....Yes, when you mean something which is true to your conscience, just say 'yes' or otherwise, declare it with a 'no'. But not to make oaths or promises in the name of somebody or something else.  

THE POWER OF PRAYER (James 5:13-18)

                         Pray.... pray... and pray.....for everything and in all times.... without getting tired of it or stopping. This is the gist of this passage, because prayer can do wonders in your life, that nobody else or nothing else can do. If you have troubles, pray; If you are happy, sing praises (James 5:13); If you are sick, pray.....since God will surely heal you; And if you have sins, they'll be forgiven too. When you pray with surplus belief and hope, great things will happen. Prophet Elijah was such a person who prayed earnestly and his wishes were granted (James 5:17,18). Rather than just hearing it, you yourself can test it and experience what happens in your life :-)

SAVING A SOUL (James 5:19,20)

                         Finally, the last advice given for us to lead a worthy Christian life is to save souls who are driven by sinful lives and extreme sufferings. When you save a sinner by bringing him/her towards God, their sins will be forgiven and you save a soul from death to life. Shall we get ready to save such souls?????


Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, so we have seen the guidance or pathway of leading a true Christian life (rather than being namesake Christians) in this fifth chapter too, where its said about the importance of patience, prayer, our words, rich people's fate and about how to save a sinner. With all these things in mind covered in the book of James, right from Chapter 1 to 5, let us all try our level best to be really genuine Christians while leading our life in this materialistic fake world. Because, our permanent residence is going to be in heaven where we're gonna enjoy eternal everlasting life. Even though I'm not a preacher or evangelist, I've shared this post just to propagate God's word throughout the world, since its one of the foremost duties of a true believer of Jesus Christ. Hope it would have been a blessed one for you and your lives...May God Bless You!

How to Live as a Christian - PART 4

                      Hi all.....Its been a lil' long tym tat I came up with my continuation of previous post. Anyway, rather than blabbering,(:-)) I'll straightly go into the precious facts and messages conveyed in the fourth chapter of James. Here they come................

GIVE YOURSELVES TO GOD (James 4:1-10)

                                          Friends, have you ever wondered why we often go for fights or arguments with  others, be it with family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances...? Its b'coz of no other reason than our own selfish desires and needs that are lingering in our mind always. When we don't get the things we need, we go on arguing for it most of the times....isn't it right? We ask things to God and if we don't get them, then, undoubtedly the thing we asked is wrong or an undesirable one in the sight of God. Here, the Scripture says that, if you're being loyal to God, you'll hate the world in an attempt to become the friend of God. When yielding yourselves to the sinful and lustful and selfish desires of the world, you automatically become God's enemy and become a part of this sinful world. Verse 5 emphasizes on the fact that, the Spirit that God made to live in us wants us to live for Him alone (this can be taken with reference to Exodus 20:5).

                                     And verse 6 brings out the truth from Proverbs 3:34 which states that God also bestows his grace to the humble and not to the proud. So, the simple point is to completely commit ourselves into God's hands and stand against devil so that he'll run from you. When we seek His close relationship, He'll surely come to us. But on the contrary, its almost unfavorable to follow God as well as world at the same time in one hand. James, in verse 10, plainly declares that when we humble ourselves in God's presence, we'll be honored.

YOU ARE NOT THE JUDGE (James 4:11-12)

                               The couple of verses in this passage warns strongly not to judge others and their deeds or activities, because God is the only law-maker and judge and so its better to stop speaking ill of others, which we always commonly gossip and do interestingly. So, dear brothers and sisters, even though its a part of our human character, as true Christians, we ought to stop speaking bad against our neighbor. 

LET GOD PLAN YOUR LIFE (James 4:13-17)

                              Normally, in our everyday routine life, we plan different things pertaining to our personal family life, corporate life or in each and everything, we plan ahead of many things that we ought to do. This is not wrong, but the point to remember is to leave God to plan our life and to let Him have His way in our life, rather than relying on our self-strengths and abilities. After all, our life is like a mist, which is unsure of tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. (James 4:14). Hence, in the future, let us not brag about ourselves, and instead, say that, if God wants, we'll do this or that. (James 4:15)

Beloved in Christ, James Chapter 4 gives us guidance as to how to admit ourselves and our life completely into our Maker's hands and bring out the best in our life out of that. Additionally, James warns us about our peculiar human nature of speaking bad about others and judging them, which is a great sin in the eyes of God, who's only worthy of judging us. Well, with these things in mind, let us strive to lead our Christian life more worthy than ever. In my next post, I'll share the great things conveyed in James Chapter 5. Praise the Lord!

                                   

How to Live as a Christian - PART 3

                               Hi everybody, Well....Today again I've come up with the continuation post of the previous two posts of mine. We've been meditating on the book of James each chapter by chapter. And today I'm here to throw some of the seeds of the fruits given in James Chapter 3. I'll straightly go into our content of this chapter.

CONTROLLING THE THINGS WE SAY (James 3:1-12)

                                You know which is really the most dangerous risky part of our body? hands? feet? head? eyes????...... No, here in this passage, James clearly points out that its nothing but the 'Tongue'. The first verse itself starts with a warning to all those who are to become teachers that they should be even more careful and cautious than others since they and their actions and deeds would watched more by others and judged strictly. He emphasises this saying that they have to be more careful about their words that come out of their tongue. Here, he quotes the examples of horse and ship regarding the control of the tongue. Our tongue seems to be a small part of the body, but it has the capability to push us into destruction and spoil our entire life from being holy. The prophet James compares our tongue to the forest fire, which can spread to large areas and cause great devastating effects. He says that, we, humans can't able to tame our tongue since its wild and evil and full of deadly poison (James 3:8).
                               He brings out the reality of mankind so boldly that he says that we use the same tongue to praise and worship the God Almighty as well as to curse the people whom He Himself had created. Doesn't this seem so true and ironic? So, in the verses 10 to 12,he advises that this should never happen, relating this to different scenarios such as good and bad water coming from the same spring and the like.


TRUE WISDOM (James 3:13-18)

                                   This passage of Scripture makes us clear about true wisdom and understanding. The Word of God stress that true wisdom and understanding will be manifested by living right and doing good deeds with a gentleness that comes from wisdom. On the contrary, James speaks about jealousy and selfishness which are the two traits that lead to bragging about a lie hiding the truth. He undoubtedly tells that this kind of wisdom is not from God, but from the world; and it not spiritual, but devilish. Verses 17 and 18 gives us an exact answer about being truly wise, which states that being pure, gentle, peaceful , helpful, fair and honest and the outcomes of original wisdom from God.


So friends, the third chapter of James just teaches us two things : how we should be careful in using our tongue and being true wise with understanding, which guides us to leave a sin-free holy true Christian life. Let us all pray to our God Almighty for giving us the strength, patience and endurance for us to become like His only son Jesus Christ who was a worthy lamb, amidst this sorrowful and sinful world. In my next post, we'll have an outline of the fourth chapter. God Bless You!

                           

How to Live as a Christian - PART 2

                               Hello friends, I've again come up with the continuation of my previous post.....hope you'd have gone through the first chapter of James and contemplated on the underlying spiritual meaning of the facts given in it. Today, let me give a short outline of the second chapter of James and bring out the hidden spiritual fruits of Christian life stated in this chapter.

LOVE ALL PEOPLE (James 2:1-13)

                             Basically, what does the word 'love' mean? What do we think love is? According to my opinion, we, humans, view love as the affection and attachment or even attraction (at the young age) upon a person of our family (may be our parents or siblings) or else, on the other side of the coin, the feeling which comes upon a person whom we establish a liking at a starting point (mainly due to the attraction aroused in our minds due to their physical appearance, gestures or due to their effective flattering speech) which then develops into our hearts as a so-called feeling 'love'. But....friends.....is this really love all about? Is this the kind of love that our God Almighty and the Son of God, Jesus Christ also had upon the people? No...Its not!
                            What the Scripture says, especially in this passage of James is the unconditional love or the compassion or in other words, the unprejudiced affection and concern that we ought to have upon our fellow human beings, regardless of their race, status, creed, colour, physical appearance or any other such earthly attributes. Yes....it clearly pictures a scenario in the church service...how we treat a poor man in contrary to a rich man with a rich look. If we really look deeply into our hearts and self-analyse ourselves, tis is the reality folks....This is how we really are...... But the Word of God clearly and strictly warns that if we continue to be like these kind of human beings without a single trace of real love in our heart, we aren't going to inherit His kingdom, for sure! ((James 2:2-7)
                           James also quotes the main law found in our Scriptures from the Old Testament, "Love your neighbour, as you love yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), saying that, if we just obey this law, we are doing right or we're living a right kind of Christian living in this world. Basically, what He tries to emphasise into our minds is that, when we treat one person important than the other for no reason, we're truly sinning and are made guilty of obeying God's Law. Most importantly, the Ten Commandments or the Laws that our Father had taught us MUST be followed for us to be made free under His law. Its not that following all of them but leaving only one for granted.. So, as Christians, we are bound to show mercy upon others so that Our God will show His mercy upon us on the Judgement day....Tats it!!

FAITH AND GOOD WORKS (James 2:14-26)

                                        Already we came across 'faith' in James Chapter 1. But now, I would like to raise a question to you....... Is it enough that we sit still having lot of faith and doing nothing? is it ok? will we be rewarded by God for that? No frnzzz...... if there is real faith stirring up within our hearts, it will surely be manifested by our deeds.... I mean...our good works and actions in our lives that makes us right with our God. What James states is, having faith without doing anything is worth nothing...nothing! He says a beautiful example for this about a person without any food or clothes coming to us stating his/her problem. At this juncture, if we say plainly, "God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat" without offering him his needs, what is that faith useful for? its just a dead one! (James 2:15-17)

                                      Everyone have belief and faith....but showing it in deeds is the true way of living in faith on God. At this point, James ridicules us to be a foolish person having faith alone, doing nothing. The best person who's been taken as best example for living by faith is Abraham, who was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar, having complete extraordinary faith in the Almighty. If you read James 2:23, it clearly refers the Scripture about the faith of Abraham from Genesis 15:6, and so he was called God's friend (2Chronicles 20:7 and Isaiah 41:8)

                                    So, the simple point that we ought to notice here is that, just as a body without spirit is dead, so is faith without doing anything!(James 2:26)

Beloved in Christ, these are the two main virtues that are being focussed by James in his second chapter regarding the journey of our life as Christians on this earth. Just what we have to do is, have a look into ourselves and examine our conscience how we are really to the core..... Do we have the real love and compassion that Jesus pursued in His life or the worldly fake ones? Do our faith really accompany with good works or only by fashionable words? Come on frnz....let us transform us into worthy Christians before God's sight. I'll come up with the spiritual jewels of third Chapter of James soon.....!

How to Live as a Christian - PART 1

                              Last week fully I was completely going through the book of James in the Bible, where there are five whole chapters written by James, a servant of God, whose teachings were fully concentrated on how we should lead our life as true Christians. I found it really very useful for the growth of my spiritual life as well as I felt that it guided me perfectly how to have my life in this world. So, just thought of sharing with everybody and  I've started this spiritual post as 'part 1' dividing my posts into five parts, each explaining the five individual chapters of James. Hope it would be useful for you too...:-)

FAITH AND WISDOM (James 1:2-8)

                      First of all, the first thing that James speaks about is 'Faith'. What is faith? Faith is actually the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, concept or thing. So, as Christians, first and foremost we have to place our complete trust and faith in the Almighty that He'll deliver us from all kinds of troubles and tribulations of this world. It simply implies that we should always be filled with joy and happiness inspite of the tough times we may go through in our journey of life, having strong faith in the Lord because these difficulties test our faith and patience and we should prove ourselves to God, our Savior. The next thing is about wisdom which is an important trait that we ought to pursue for withstanding in this deceiving world. So, we need to ask God for gifting us wisdom and when we ask, we should not doubt. Verses 6-8 clearly states about the doubters.


TRUE RICHES (James 1:8-11)

                           These four verses clearly depict that a person is said to be rich before God's eyes only if he's 'spiritually' rich and not the earthly riches. True riches and pride lies only with the person who's spiritual enough, pleasing God.


TEMPTATION IS NOT FROM GOD (James 1:14-18)

                            This is a very important area that we have to focus on..... Even in our personal lives, we have the habit of blaming God saying,"God is tempting me" when we're facing tough challenges in life. No...Never...my dear friend...The Word of God clearly states that, "Every good action and every perfect gift is from God."(James 1:17). It is we, sinners, who are to be blamed for our own temptation and evil desires that trap us, leading to sin and consequently death.(James 1:13-15). So, hereafter, when we are facing temptation or trials or tribulations or whatever worse may be, when we stand strong in the faith and continue to be happy, God will reward us with a good life forever.... Let us stop rebuking Him for our own mistakes!


 LISTENING AND OBEYING (James 1:19-25)  

                            In all these verses, James teaches us how we should be....I mean...how should our character be. The main thing that is emphasised is that we should be willing to listen and slow to speak. (which is actually very tought for us...isn't it??). Also, 'anger' is also to be controlled by us, since the Bible clearly says that, if its present, it will not leave us to live the right kind of  life that God wants. (James 1:20). When I was reading this verse, I really got a guilty feeling and felt that I should atleast try to control the feelings of anger step-by-step, in the future. Its clearly stated that, so we should leave all these evil things and characters aside and in 'GENTLENESS'  accept God's teachings which is powerful to save us. 
                          All of us listen to the sermons and messages through church services, television programmes and so on. But, How many of us obey, follow and live accordingly? A matter to think over and over....Am I right? Yes friends, the Word of God warns us saying that when you listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves. Instead, we have to OBEY the truth and follow it in our lives. (James 1:22-25)


THE TRUE WAY TO WORSHIP GOD (James 1:26-27)  

                               Finally, this chapter conveys a simple message in these two verses. People who say that they are religious and do evil actions and deeds are just fools....tats it! Their so-called 'Religion' is an utter waste. The true religion and worship that God accepts is, being pure, keeping ourselves free from this world's evil influences. (James 1:27)          


My beloved friends in Christ, what I've posted is just a brief explanation of the first chapter of James in a nutshell. If you had gone through my post, side-by-side referring the Scripture, it would have been more useful for you...I guess! So, let us all strive to live as true worthy Christians in this fake world... I'll come up with the facts of the second chapter of James soooon..............................!

The Significance of Daily Skin Care Regimen

                                Today am here with a different kinda topic to share with. Yes...have you ever wondered or admired your own personality...I mean....your physical appearance....especially your SKIN? You know how God created us soo soooo beautiful with a soft and smooth skin? Jus remember your soft shiny smoooooth velvetty, feather-touch skin which you had the time when you landed on this earth right away from your mother's womb :-). But how many of us have tat same kind of skin that we had while we were a baby....tat flawless clear skin! The make-up pasted groomed skin cannot be compared in any way near to that fresh skin without any cosmetics, right? Why is it so? Why most of us do not possess a healthy skin? I have the answer for that. Its just because of our mistake tat we do not care and maintain our skin so much(in the right way) as we grow up. We do not give the importance to skin that we give for other needs for our body. Skin is a very important part in the body and its high time tat we realize it and give a delicate sensible care for it. I'll jus give simple ways to take care of our skin on a daily basis so that it doesn't loses its natural texture even as years go.....

 
To start with, first of all we all have to get aware of our skin, its importance and its functions. Our skin is the one which covers and protects our entire body. It gives shape and its the main reason behind our solid physical appearance that we've got. The fuctions of skin are numerous that they can't be fully explained here but the point that I mean to insist is that its the one which is the basic outward factor for others to determine and manipulate us. (I mean....the one which is the main source of first impression). Basically, a truth is, when our skin is flawless and looks shiny, tat itself manifests the physical and mental wellness of an individual. So, see how important it is!!!
                       

Since I'm a person who's a lil' bit beauty-conscious, I have a good idea about the daily care and maintenance that normally our skin ought to have and I'll share some of my ideas which are useful for you too :P. Here they come...................................


*  The basic and vital requirement that all of ours' skin need is the nourishment in the form of cleansing, toning and moisturising. Always application of a good quality cleanser, toner and moisturiser at night before going to bed serves to be an excellent skin food which helps to keep your skin not losing it moisture and natural texture, thereby prevents aging.


*  Avoid soap since it creates dryness on the skin. Use only facewash for face.


*  The greatest mistake that most of us commit is improper make-up removal which is the main reason for many of the skin disorders and imperfections. Always remove the make-up completely and neatly using a cleanser before going to bed.


*  The best and the foremost beauty tip that I would always recommend is, drink plenty and plenty of water as much as you can. Also, maintain a balanced diet which also has a greatest influence on our skin.


*  Sleep is one of the most vital one which is required for a beautiful skin. When there is inadequate sleep, our eyes display our sleepless nights through puffiness and under-eye dark circles which completely erase a face's beauty. You can apply eye cream at night before going to bed as a prevention for under-eye dark circles. After all, eyes are the most expressive and beautiful aspect of our face, they reveal everything!


*  Above all, as I have said earlier, our mind and physical appearance always have a contact with each other. So, maximum try to keep your mind in a normal state inspite of all the difficulties and problems that we encounter in life. Prayer is the only way for this. Pray to God earnestly, start your day after having an encounter with Him. Cast all your burdens upon the Lord and become free. He'll take care of everything. When our mind is completely depressed and stressed, surely whatever cosmetics you use, your face will be dull and it shows your mental illness. Another antidote for this is practice of yoga also. Always keep your mind into your control.


*  Grooming is always necessary in this polluted unclean enviroment. Therefore, a monthly facial at a good beauty parlour is always recommended which provides a relaxation as well as a rejuvenation for your skin. Moreover, there's no wrong in trimming your eyebrows and keeping them neat and clean which enhances the  features of your face.


*  Light make-up when you step out of ur home is always advisable. Eventhough natural beauty is good, this kinda little grooming shows freshness and adds beauty to your naturally beautiful face.


*  Moreover, weekly once its good if you do some steaming (opens the pores of your skin), scrubbing ( gets rid of dead cells and blackheads) and apply some natural face pack on your face and wash your face. Since its not affordable for all to always visit a parlour and treat their skin, the best way is to go in the way of natural home remedies which are very effective and long-lasting too.


*  Application of sunscreen when going out is necessary to protect yourself from the adverse effects of UV-rays.

                              These are some of the skin care activities that are necessary to practise which, when done, helps to preserve our precious skin getting affected by the well-known skin disorders such as tanning, pigmentation, pimples and acne, dryness, blemishes, blackheads and whiteheads, wrinkles and scars. For more home-made beauty tips, click this.
                             Finally, what I'd like to say is, beauty is not something which is related to the outward appearance alone, its a combination of inner as well as outer beauty. So, however we maintain and groom our face, its very necessary to keep up with our inner character too. B'coz  people admire only when you are a perfect blend of inner and outward beauty, and not in the presence of only the outer appearance. Other than that, its good to maintain your skin too and look awesome and young forever so that you'll gain more self-confidence, which is one of the most important criteria to be a successful person in lyf :-)
                           There is one beauty tip incomparable to any other, which is none other than...........
                            SMILE............It makes you pretty!                             

What is LOVE all about.....???

Immature love says, “I love you because I need you.” Mature love says, “I need you because I love you.”
~Erich Fromm

                                        This whole week..... wherever I go, its like Valentine's day special....gifts, roses, teddies and the list goes on.................. So, I thought that the concept of  Lover's day has gained that much importance universally that people make this day as something part of their lives. Yes...tats ok...but still my only doubt is whether they really mean the exact 'purpose' of the day and whether tat purpose is served or not..... Is valentine's day just a means of  entertainment or enjoyment with 'tat special someone' or is it a day that gives an opportunity to express your love to your soul-mate in an exact way that you wanted to? Is there a necessity for something like this day? 

                                     I wonder whether nowadays people, especially the adolescent boys and girls really understand the meaning of love or is it something like a means of 'timepass' for them. Wherever we turn about, we can see young boys and girls going together while cutting their classes and jus passing their precious time like tat, in an young age where they can accomplish great things in their life. But actually, according to me, what they think and do lyk tis at this age is not love but it can be mentioned with some other words like infatuation, attraction, lust and so on....Yes, its b'coz of their age and the physical and psychological hormone changes in their body that make them go into something like love affairs ( puppy love) which is so childish, ruining their entire future and career. 

                                  Ok...then if this is so, what is 'true love' all about? I donno to give poetic or cinematic definitions like "love is like the sky,stars..." and so on.... But when thinking practically, this is a gist of what I got exactly in ma mind abt the word 'love' : 

Love....I mean, the love which blossoms between a young man and woman can be held on till their death only if its a sensible and matured one unlike the other attractions and infatuations. Maybe, the physical attractions and appearances may be the first step to start a love relationship between two souls, but this factor is only a temporary thing and with this attraction and desire alone a love relationship can't last at all. In my opinion, a true love is the one which doesn't gets break-up at ANY situation in life other than one of the persons' death. So, literally, if we deeply think about this statement, it becomes possible and true only when both of them mutually have the same feelings and understanding and sharing for each other, right? not in a one-sided manner. Without knowing this fact, I feel pity for so many young souls, who fall in love with someone in an one-sided manner and go on lamenting and go into other unwanted habits, mistaking it as true love. So, basically, if its love, it MUST be double-sided to be a successful one. Some of the attributes of love that flashes into my mind currently are 'giving and taking' attitude, care, affection, being supportive, admiring, appreciating, missing, liking, being faithful and truthful, transparency, sharing and so on.... In a nutshell, perfect love is something like loving and accepting and liking the other person as a whole with all of their imperfections. After all, no man in this world is perfect! Also, a pair can lead their life successfully only when they are always in phase with each other, in the sense that, they are compatible and comfortable with each other. It is the only key for a peaceful, life-long love life. Whatever it be, my entire idea of love is simply, 
"Love after marriage is only true love and nothing else"....Yes, before marriage I can't accept tat it is love, its something like a liking or attraction towards another person and anybody can go through that....but even that love can be said as a true and genuine one only when it goes on nurturing and budding between the two after wedding as years progress. Now just take a lil' time and think, 'How many of them are like tat??? Why I insist this because, in real life, its after marriage that they go through tough challenges that challenge their true love for each other. It is that period of time when we can see the other person's 'real' and 'true' colour and the challenge about it is, do we continue to love them inspite of their negative characteristics. This is why many love marriages end in a break-up since the couple who love dearly before marriage fail to love each other after marriage. Then what is the use of their love and what is that love that they had? 

                                     So, my conclusion is, I have given my own creation of definition for love which is stated below : 

L - Liking and living for

O - Our

V - Valentine

E - Ever and ever....till our heart stops beating......

so that there is no need for a special day called 'Valentine's day', since each and every day of their life will be cherished as lover's day....................

 Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.  ~Peter Ustinov

DOWRY - payment for a girl's life?????

                                 Since I am a person who had been born and brought up from the Southern part of Tamilnadu in India, it is a place where exists a variety of ethnic customs and traditions accompanied by a conservative kinda people. Though you would have gone through my previous blog posts which pictures most of the beautiful and positive aspects of my place, this time I'm sharing a little bitter truth and information about the people (not the place), which, according to me, is one of the most negative matter I always ponder my mind with. And the thing tat I'm gonna deal with, today is...............of course.........nothing other than the dowry system prevailing here in my place to a very greater extent. 


                               Before going in-depth into my topic, lemme just present an illustration to give a start to it. Just have a look at the two pictures shown below.

Indian bride on her wedding day (before getting married)

A married girl who's tormented for the one and only cause - "Dowry"

                                                         Yes, this is the real portrayal of millions and millions of married girls in India who are going through the rash effects of dowry system. With reference to the two pictures above, when we look at the first picture, its damn cool in the sense that it shows the real 'inside' of the woman....how she feels.......how she enjoys her dreams about her new life. Her whole face is lighted up with extreme happiness and excitement, mainly regarding her soul-mate who's gonna be with her forever. But, on the contrary, when we look at the second one, why??? what happened? where has that blushing face gone? why is the girl's face filled wih 'questions marks' all over her face regarding her life? why??? why???? So many questions can be arised...........The answer?.................The one and only answer is, complete shattering of her dreams. To be more concise, none of her expectations were met in her husband's house. Instead, from the very first day itself, complete package of tortures and torments which were unbearable and shocking that it erased all the happiness in her face into sorrow. The reason behind this??? Dowry............Yes....this is not just a fake or imaginative condition. But, this is really the true harassment that's going on in many ladies' life because of the greediness and cruelty of the bridegroom's family.

                                    I wonder why the people's mentality is like this! Why are girls thought as something which is sold to the bridegroom's family? Isn't she a human being? Doesn't she have any feelings or emotions? Does money and assests and all other materialistic things play an important role in this world than the marriage life which is considered to be so pure? Why is this so? What is this custom? What does property, jewels and money need to make with an entirely different concept of starting a new family life? Are girls that much degradable, cheap and inferior to men? I have many more questions running in my mind...................Feel so pity for ample number of newly married girls who were tormented and chased by their husband and in-laws to get more from their home, as a result of which the daily newspapers get numerous incidents as news where poor, innocent girls commit suicide. Apart from that, the other side is, many of them being murdered for the sake of dowry too. 

                                Here in our district, I've come across, seen and heard about the extreme difficulties that girls face each and everyday because of this dowry harassment. The worst part of this matter is, a woman being an enemy to another woman...the mother-in-laws who make their daughter-in-laws die. But why is this and wats the solution for this? The current situation is , in my opinion, dowry is something which decides the fate of a girl's marriage life. When raking my mind regarding the solution for this, really I can't get a practical answer for this..............The only feeling that I got in my heart was that, when each and every individual take a decision to be against dowry, then that's the time when there will be atleast a tiny start for resolving this problem. But, I am longing for such a period to come in my place when the people become more broad-minded leaving their traditional and conservative thinking. Unless the people come to the ground of humanity, whatever laws or acts our constitution provide would be of no use....I feel!

                               My only desire is that the girls who get married should find their husband's family and house as a Heaven and not as a Hell. But will this current plight of girls change? Will have to wait and see.......
And thats the time I'll feel really happy because really I feel so much bad about this matter......... Always respect a woman and her feelings..............

We must remember that unless and until women are given their rightful place, 

no society or country can progress.
                                   --Prime Minister IK Gujral
                                      On Occasion of India 50

X'Mas 2010 & NewYear 2011 in Nagercoil

                               So, I've given a fresh and hopeful start to this year 2011 and wish that this year will surely be a blessed one. And this is the first post that I'm publishing this year. As I have written many previous blog posts about my hometown Nagercoil, its quite obvious that I always have a zeal to write something abt ma place. And what I'm gonna share today is how was Christmas and New Year celebrated here. This time its gonna be a visual treat since I've taken many snaps exclusively for the sake of this post :-).
                              Basically, an interesting information that I'd lyk to convey is, in the whole state of Tamilnadu, 80% of the christians are residing in Nagercoil, which means that the highly Christian-populated area is our place. Therefore, even as the month of December starts, I get soo excited about x'mas since it will be a really enjoyable celebration. Unlike the X'mas celebrations in the Western countries with snow, candles and Santa, here its a different package of enjoyments like lights, stars, christmas trees, manger, carols, shopping, crackers, family get-togethers, traditional church services and the list goes on like that...............

This is my 'home sweet home'

Magnificient Santa

CSI Home Church ( front view)

Duthie School Junction

State Bank of India, Nagercoil Branch

Side view of another CSI church

Calvary Lutheran Church

Heart of the Town - Tower Junction at its best!

One of my pals' house

                                           I think you'd have enjoyed glancing through ma snaps. Though I was not able to publish all, these are just some of the beautifully decorated ones........tat I thought of publishing them. So, that was how my place would look like at the time of the year end. Anyway, had a nice time enjoying x'mas 2010 and welcoming the year 2011.....:-)