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Rest in the Lord. Relax and have faith that Jesus loves you. Right where you are. “Just As I Am” is a hymn that captures this thought perfectly. You don’t need to do a thing to earn His love, and none of us can ever deserve His love. Remember the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant; Jesus didn’t ask him to repent as a condition of answering the centurion’s request. What impressed Jesus was the man’s faith. Despite being wholly undeserving, incredibly, amazingly, we still have His love – never forget that, and He will always bring you Home to Himself.
Never accept that you can lose your salvation. Once you are born again, you cannot be “unborn.” Jesus will never let you go once you have given yourself to Him. Anyone who tells you that being gay will cause you to lose your salvation is wrong. Remember the Prodigal Son. He rejected his father, asked for his inheritance before his father was even dead, took the inheritance – and left. Can you turn your back on someone any more than that? Did his father stop loving him? No. Does God ever stop loving you? NO. You may even fall away from your faith. When you come back, God will be there, still accepting you, still loving you.
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Don’t buy into conditional salvation. Are we supposed to repent and turn away from our sins? Absolutely. But must we? No. In fact we cannot be freed from all sin while we are alive. If it were really true that we had to leave all sin behind when we accept Jesus, and never sin again as a condition of salvation, then God’s mercy would not need to be infinite. He knew that sin would be a fact of everyone’s life, all of our lives. Jesus says that we should not only forgive the first time someone sins against us, but “seventy times seven.” That’s in Matthew, by the way. How many people would you forgive after they did the same thing to you, not once, not twice, but 490 times? And yet, that’s what Jesus commanded. How many of the church people you know could say they would be willing to do that? Not many, if they were honest. Probably not even one could. Yet God will, and does. Even if you accept the idea that being gay is a sin (which most, if not all churches do), remember that it is just a sin – it is the same to God as any other sin (any sin is enough to keep you out of Heaven, if not for Jesus’ vicarious atonement). You can take great comfort in knowing that Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient for you – there is nothing you have done, or ever will do that’s big enough to keep you away from Him.
Stand on the simplicity of Jesus Christ’s completed work. As Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, “It is finished.” But the Hebrew translation says, “It is completed.” Either way you want to say it, it means the same thing – when Jesus gave His life on the cross, He paid the price for everyone’s sin, once and for all. No one can add anything or take anything away from this work – it was completed by Jesus alone. No matter what else others may say is necessary for you to achieve salvation, remember that Jesus has already completed this work. Obey the 10 Commandments because it’s smart, and because you want to follow the rules God set out for us. But doing that will not get you to Heaven – not without Jesus.
Believe. Don’t let those who would hang you up on loopholes or technicalities convince you that you aren’t really saved. The Bible is very clear (they will tell you this, too, but they will mean something altogether different – don’t let them scare you). It doesn’t say, “Do good works to your neighbor to be saved.” It doesn’t say, “First, get right with God.” No, it doesn’t – read it yourself. Don’t listen to others telling you what it says, not even this article. But we can quote a little here: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that BELIEVETH on me hath everlasting life.” (Note that He says “verily” twice – that means it was important enough to repeat it. “Verily” means “I’m telling the truth here.”) That’s from John 6:43-47. It also says, “…and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.” —Isaiah 64:6. This means that you can do all the good things you want, but without Jesus, they don’t mean anything to your salvation. Very simply put, you can do nothing to get into Heaven or to save yourself – except to Believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. When it comes right down to it, those people are really saying that what Jesus did was good enough to save them, but not to save you. Let them know that you don’t plan to be the one to say that to Jesus Christ and see how they react.
Realize that your faith is your faith – nobody has the right to tell you that it isn’t real, or that it isn’t good enough. Christian faith is a deeply personal and intimate relationship between you and Jesus Christ. Sometimes, church-going people forget this, and instead become fixated on the dogma, or the rules, of their particular church denomination. Don’t fall prey to giving too much weight to the opinions of other humans. Instead, rely on God, and remember that only God can put on your heart what He wants from you. As you grow in your relationship with Him, you will know what things He wants you to change or to work on. Again, listen to Him.
Accept that you may need to find a new church home. Many Christian religious bodies, unfortunately, seem to feel that excommunication is necessary. First, they may pressure you to renounce your homosexuality. When you are unable to comply, they may inform you that you are no longer welcome to their fellowship. Never mind that Jesus would never do this – He insisted upon spending time and cultivating relationships with people the church despised. You’re in good company. Find a new church where you can be welcomed and accepted for who you are.
Listen critically and apply logic. Most people are simply resistant to ideas they themselves are not familiar with. Be logical and remain calm – above all, don’t buy into any hysterical exchanges about sinfulness, etc.
Be the gay person in their lives. Most of these people do know a gay person, but don’t realize it. You have an opportunity to show them that gay people aren’t contagious or perverted. If you can find it within yourself to help them see you as an individual of faith and value, you may be able to help others like yourself. Even if you are uncomfortable with their bigoted or ignorant questions and assumptions, you may be able to educate them.
Remember that this is your Christian Walk. No one can walk your Walk for you. Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t really saved, that your faith isn’t good enough, or that “even the devil believes in Jesus.” The devil may indeed believe in Jesus, but you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior – the devil has not. This is your Walk. Walk it your way, with a humble heart and your head held high, remembering that it is you who will stand before Jesus one day and answer Him as to whether you owned Him as your Lord and Savior – those people will not be able to answer for you. Have faith that He knows your heart and will know that your answer is true.
Maintain your sense of humor and humility. People who don’t have a gay person in their lives (or at least, don’t realize that they do) may surprise you with their reactions. Try to maintain a sense of humor if they make clueless or homophobic remarks, and remember that you are as clueless about other things as they are about you – try to keep a compassionate perspective.
Remain a person of dignity, integrity,support, and faith. Even if your present church refuses to accept you as you are, there will be others who will welcome you. Rather than crying forever over the things you have lost, try instead to focus on the blessings you do have in your life.
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How To Heal Your Soul: 7 Steps (With Pictures)
Understand the true nature of your Soul. The Soul is feminine by nature and your Spirit is masculine. The union of Soul and Spirit gives birth to wholeness. Because we live in a world of chauvinism we deny Soul (feminine) consciousness and elevate the masculine, thus creating an imbalance in our lives. Realize that your Soul is feminine by nature and due to the repression of feminine energy, your Soul suffers.
Your feminine energy is your 1) Imagination 2) Passion and Desires 3) Emotions and 4) Creativity. Likewise, your masculine energy is comprised of 1) Will Power 2) Action and Motivation 3) Intellect 4) Productivity. If you will value and support your feminine energy you also feed and heal your Soul. Explore the components of your feminine energy, learn and discover the powers of imagination, creativity, passion and emotions. When you spend time developing these qualities you also feed and strengthen your Soul.
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Deepen your connection with the Divine. Redefine your spirituality and bring it into whatever religion you practice. Spirituality is your personal and private relationship with God. Everyone has a relationship with God, even an atheist. It is a dysfunctional relationship, but a relationship none-the-less. It is similar to the mind. Every human being has a relationship with their mind, it may be well developed or severely lacking, but the relationship still exists. Everyone is spiritual, and through their Soul they can connect with the Divine. Deepen your connection to the Divine by whatever name you call it,it can help heal your Soul.
Explore passion and true pleasure. We have learned to replace our passions with duties and obligations. Most people have decided they don’t have time to explore their heart’s pleasures and passions and starve their Souls. Make time each day to do something you are passionate about or that brings you genuine pleasure. If you don’t know what your passions are then start exploring the possibilities and make a list of the top 5 ways you can have more true pleasure in your life.
Turn inward and explore relaxation meditation. When you relax you can quiet your mind and listen to the voice of intuition. If you are new to meditation it doesn’t have to take a lot of time to learn. The easiest way is to be guided into meditation with a CD. Google ‘relaxation meditations’ to find a good CD that can help you not only relax but heal your connection with your Soul. When you relax and turn inward, you can encounter the loving compassion of your Soul. Tip: Find a teacher whose voice is comfortable and soothing.
Dive deep into your feelings. Your emotions connect you to your Soul. Let yourself journal and express the repressed emotions that have been bottled up inside you. What lies beneath your repressed feelings is your creativity, passions, intuition and imagination. It is like finding buried treasure. The price you have to pay is your willingness to feel, accept, own and express those uncomfortable emotions of anger, hurt, disappointment and fear. When you do, you’ll create a more harmonious space for your Soul to dwell.
Ask yourself every morning; “What can I do today to help someone?” “How can I serve?” “Who could I call to lift their spirits?” When you give out of service and unconditional love you feed and heal your Soul. Being kind, loving and supportive of others is its own reward.
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How To Accept Christ As Your Savior: 11 Steps (With Pictures)
Understand God’s holy nature. Many people do not understand the concept of the Holy Trinity, and some explain it the wrong way. Early Christians’ beliefs about the nature of God say: “God is one while being in a Trinity”. The explanation of this is that The Father, The Son (Jesus) and The Holy Spirit are all one: The three of them refer to one and only one God, not by person, but by power, will and love. The Son has the same power and will as The Father and The Holy Spirit: That is why they are one God, and the three of them cannot be apart in anyway, they complete each other in everything. This does not mean if you pray to Jesus you are only praying to Him, this way, you are praying to God at once (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit). The Father and the Holy Spirit sent The Son to pay the price of our sins, by acceptance of the Son, because again, God is one by will, by power and by love. So when we say that God sent Jesus to Earth, we do not mean that God and Jesus are not the same. In the Trinity, they are different, but are one at the same time.
Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”
Romans 5:14: “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come.”
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Profess Jesus as your savior. Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Say, “Father in Heaven, I believe that Jesus died for my sins.” And God will impart eternal life to your spirit.
(John13:20) That is the Holy Spirit [2] (John15:26)
Repentance is the decision to turn away from sin and to turn to God and obey Him. Once you have done this, every other step will fall into place. If you still have a hard time with this concept, trust Jesus as Lord over you as well as Savior.
Talk to God in your own words. There is no protocol to follow in order to talk to God. God listens to your prayers even if you do not say them. But this does not mean He does not like to hear you seek His help and His forgiveness. God does not judge you violently, because He just is not a human being like us! He is your Father; He is your Brother and your personal protector and mediator, and He wants to become you very BFF (best friend forever)! God wants you to confess your sins to Him, because He wants to forgive you, and He wants you to tell Him your secrets, even though He knows everything about you. This is a promise: Matthew 7:7-9 “7 Ask and it will be given to you [worshippers]; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 [For] Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?”
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How To Get Shampoo Out Of Your Eyes: 14 Steps (With Pictures)
Keep your eyes closed when shampooing. Try to shampoo quickly and efficiently with your eyes closed. Doing so is not as difficult as you might think. If you are familiar with the space of your own bathtub or shower, you’ll know where to step and where not to. Squeeze a small amount of shampoo into your hand, then close your eyes and apply it as needed. Keep your eyes closed when you step beneath the shower head to rinse, and only open your eyes after you’ve rinsed completely.
Directions for use are printed on the back of your shampoo bottle. They will provide instructions as to how to best apply the shampoo. Some shampoos have specific directions as to how you can avoid getting shampoo in your eyes. Heed these guidelines when utilizing your shampoo.
Don’t rub your hands or fingers in your eyes immediately after shampooing. When you apply shampoo to your hair, you probably use one or both hands to do so. After applying the shampoo, your hands might have shampoo suds or residue on them. If you place your hands or fingers in your eyes while the residue or suds are still on them, you will get the shampoo in your eyes.
Wash your hands after shampooing your hair. If you want to place your fingers or hands on or around your eyes after shampooing, rinse your hands vigorously with water before doing so. You can use soap, but don’t have to. Ensure you rinse the shampoo (and soap, if using) from the palms and backs of your hands, as well as between your fingers. Only then can you safely touch or rub your eye.
Wear goggles in the shower if getting shampoo in your eyes causes a particularly acute irritation. You can purchase goggles intended for aquatic environments from your local sporting goods store. Wear them while shampooing, but remove them after you’ve finished rinsing the shampoo out so as to ensure your face gets washed properly.
Try a tears-free shampoo. Several shampoo brands have a neutral acidity, meaning their pH value is 7. When using a neutral shampoo, chances are that you will not notice or feel discomfort when some gets in your eyes. As their name suggests, these shampoos are perfect for babies or young children who cannot yet wash their own hair properly and are sensitive to the slight acidity of normal shampoos. These tears-free shampoos will cause less pain than a normal shampoo will if you get any in your eyes.
Use an eye shield. An eye shield is a cap with a small brimmed cap which resemble a golf visor. Place the eye shield on your head and ensure the brim is snugly against your forehead. By wearing the eye shield in the shower, suds from the shampoo will trail off the the sides of your temples or over the brim of the hat. Eye shields are especially useful for preventing shampoo from getting in the eyes of young children.
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How To See Your Steps On Apple Watch
Your Apple Watch tracks your steps as you move. You can check your Apple Watch to view your daily step counts. Doing so will help you reach your daily activity goals. Whenever you put on your watch, your steps will be automatically tracked.
Physical activity is important for a healthy life. According to research studies, 10,000 steps/day is a reasonable target to focus on for healthy adults. The good news is that your mobile device, including your iPhone and Watch, can keep tabs on the steps you take. On your Apple Watch, you can use the Activity app to view your daily activity.
We’ll first tell you how to see your steps via the Activity app, then how to add an Activity app complication to your Apple Watch face. Furthermore, we’ll give you a suggestion for a third-party app that can show your steps directly on your watch face.
How to view your steps on your Apple Watch
While on the Home screen (press the Digital Crown to open the sea of app bubbles or list of apps), open the Activity app on your watch. The Activity app is the one with three colored (red, green, and blue) circles on it.
Scroll down to the bottom. You can also turn the Digital Crown down to go to the bottom. You will see the Total Steps, including Total Distance and Flights Climbed. As you can see, my steps for today are zero because I have not worn my watch yet.
If you scroll down a little further, you will see a button called Weekly Summary. Tap that.
Now you can see your weekly progress, including weekly Total Steps, Distance and Flights Climbed.
How to add your step count to your Apple Watch faceYour watch face is your lock screen. This will offer a convenient way to view your steps. If you frequently find yourself checking your steps, this is the way to go.
There is no built-in way to view your steps as a complication on your Apple Watch face. So, you have a couple of choices:
You can add an Activity app complication to your watch face. Then, when you tap on the Activity complication, you can view your steps.
You can use a third-party app to view your steps directly on your watch face.
1. Add an Activity app complication to your watch faceYou can add the Activity app icon on your watch face. Here is how:
Go to your watch face (press the Digital Crown if you are on the Home screen).
Touch and hold the face until the Edit button appears.
Tap Edit.
Keep swiping left until you see the Complications.
Tap a Complication and then tap Activity.
Press the Digital Crown twice to exit. Now a shortcut to the Activity app will be placed on your Watch Face. You can easily tap that to open it and see your steps quickly.
2. See steps on your Apple Watch face with a third-party appThere are a variety of third-party pedometer apps for Apple Watch. One that we like is StepsApp. After you grab the app from the App Store on your iPhone, make sure it is installed on your Apple Watch:
Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
Scroll down and look in the Installed on Apple Watch section. If StepsApp isn’t there, scroll down and find it in the Available Apps section and hit Install.
After you have it installed on your Apple Watch, you’ll need to give it permissions so it can integrate with the Health app and use your Apple Watch’s pedometer – look for the permission prompts to pop up. Add complications from StepsApp to your favorite watch face (see above). You can also add complications using the Watch app on your iPhone.
There are a variety of complications available to add to your watch face. You can choose to show steps, distance, floors or calories, and there are different complications for each so that you can find one that will fit on your watch face.
You can open and set up things in the StepsApp on your iPhone, or you can just use the complications on your Apple Watch without ever opening the iPhone app.
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12 Tricks For Increasing Community Engagement With Your Brand
Platforms like Facebook and Twitter are naturally social — people are connecting and engaging about topics they love. So how do you, as a brand, tap into that without paying big bucks for it?
With a few simple “tricks” — shared by successful startup founders — you can encourage your community to naturally engage more with your brand on social.
Nail Your TimingDetermine when your audience is online and ask them questions. Bump Club and Beyond is a community for expecting and new moms. This audience is on their phones in the middle of the night while they are feeding their babies. Our “3 a.m. Feeding Club” asks these moms questions, which they gladly answer and help each other with. This is often our top post of the day in regards to engagement.
– Lindsay Pinchuk, Bump Club and Beyond
Hold Contests– Darrah Brustein, Network Under 40 / Finance Whiz Kids
Use the “Like” or “Share” Option as a Way to Answer QuestionsSince we’re talking about “tricks,” this one works well. We ask a question with two choices, and ask our audience to “like” if they prefer A or “share” if they prefer B. Usually it’s something silly like “Coffee or Tea,” or something very easy. People love playing games and sharing a little bit about themselves and their world. We don’t do this often, but when we do, we see a lot of engagement.
– Marcela DeVivo, National Debt Relief
Post Emotion-Based ContentOur best content has had an emotional tie. A picture of a beautiful trail at sunset with an inspirational quote or a picture of a rainy day with a quote oriented around a positive mention triggers an emotional response. Our audience is much more likely to share content like this, that relates to them, which has resulted in some of our most successful campaigns.
– Josh Sprague, Orange Mud
Make Readers Smile– Christie Kerner, Launch MiE
Make it FunnySometimes we post funny pictures of pets or inspirational quotes to brighten everyone’s Monday or rainy day. This will have nothing to do with our product, but sometimes it’s not all about selling, it’s about connecting with your customers.
– Jayna Cooke, EVENTup
Tell Stories Through ImagesRecent studies show that the brain makes sense of a visual scene faster than text. People also remember 80 percent of what they see and do, compared to only 10 percent of what they hear and 20 percent of what they read. So if you want to foster social engagement, share photos and infographics to make people more likely to lean forward. You can use those to point back to meatier content that people can devour if intrigued by the social.
– Shane Snow, Contently
Create Valuable ContentThe best thing you can do to engage your audience is by providing valuable content that they will want to experience. Be it educational, entertaining or both, make something that will attract your target demographic, and make it often.
– Michael Mogill, Crisp Video Group
Be TransparentTransparency is key to connecting with a community. We’re constantly updating our social media accounts such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook with marketing tips and tricks, but we also share what our staff is up to throughout the day. By offering an inside look into our day-to-day activities, our followers see the people behind the company logo.
– Shalyn Dever, Chatter Buzz Media
Share Customer Success StoriesWhen we reach out to customers who enjoy our product and ask them to share their story with us, it’s a win for everyone. We learn from and engage with our customer base, and they get an awesome in-depth profile on our blog and social media that they’re happy to share and retweet. It’s a great way to show everyone in our online community that we’re interested in their feedback.
Mention Bigger People or Brands– Juha Liikala, Stripped Bare Media
Give Readers an IncentiveIn our welcome emails, we tell students that if they tweet out a link, they’ll get exclusive access to a free course, set of videos, or an e-book. You can set this up to automatically check whether they actually did it. Incentivizing someone to share is one of the best ways to make sure they actually do it. Think of what you already have that you can give people in exchange.
– Mattan Griffel, One Month
What are some cost-efficient ways you were able to connect your brand to its community?
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