You. Only. Live. Once

Inhale…. Exhale
The sweet aroma of the chilling air swept up her nostrils and beat upon her skin, but there she stood. she stood there and allowed the biting winter air to have its way with her, just as she has allowed everything in her life, until she decided enough was enough. She has had her fair share of struggles, you know, the ups and downs of life, but learned how to dance in the rain. It wasn’t always easy, but she had to keep going. Many were the times that she felt like giving up and throwing in the towel and just moving along with the lazy ocean tides without a care through life, but then she remembered that God doesn’t give us more than we can bear, and He most definitely won’t leave His child to suffer or beg for bread. So, she kept pushing. Praying until something happened and having faith although sometimes it dwindled. Though she was dependent on God, she was eager to live a better life. So, she changed her lifestyle to one of self- control, gentleness, self-love, humility, kindness and self- acceptance. Thus, cancelling her life subscription to self-doubt, anxiety, depression, sadness, living up to people’s expectation and the idea of never being enough. She embraced her new existence through a “Spirit Empowered Life of Faith” and not a “Sin Empowered Life of the Flesh” remembering she lives in this lifetime but only once and she doesn’t have to be perfect. Her imperfection was her charm and gave her that whole lot of difference in a world of indifference as she carried the birth mark of Christ.
 
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
- Maya Angelou
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"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life." - John 6: 47
In our human perspectives, living life can be a chore sometimes. However, it is just a journey where we are allowed the unwarranted grace of God to experience the gift of being alive. Life allows us all to have different experiences as we learn to appreciate ourselves, the things and people around us and the love of God as He shows us that we don't have to do anything but be alive for Him to love us as His love is undeserved by us humans; who make a mess of ourselves every day. Amazingly, He's a God of compassion. He gives us His love so freely that us humans found it unnerving that someone could love us with no hidden agenda or price to be paid that He gave us the choice to worship Him and establish a relationship with Him. This was His sole purpose for our existence, for Him to love us and us to love Him in return through our praise and worship.
Throughout life I found myself at the famous "standstill", trying to figure out life and its free reign where we are given choices that ensure we have the best life experiences. I was stuck between choosing to emulate the lifestyle of Christ and living for God or living life on the edge with the sole purpose of just enjoying the now, never expecting anything to have a lasting effect on my future (the sad mindset most of us have). So here I am with two choices and having no idea which would be best, but having the benefit of growing up in a Christian household and was taught my whole life to take everything to God in prayer, I decided to go have a conversation with God. This conversation led to me being reminded of the many stories in the bible where the Israelites worshipped foreign gods and lived other lifestyles away from God which lead to the lasting effects it had on them compared to the stories of these people living for God and holding up their end of the bargain and how much better their lives were (Deuteronomy 29: 25-29, Jeremiah 16:11). I then asked how do these stories connect with this our present world that has a different way of living and I was led to the notion we humans have now that " You. Only. Live. Once" and we are all in for the instant gratifications. Those references allowed me to see the fact, that although we now have a different way of living and approaching life, the people of the bible days and us the people of modern Earth are not different and we are really one in the same, as both sets of people are searching for something to worship whether we know it or not but we refuse to give the worship to the right person, God, and we see this where the persons who choose/chose to worship and believe in God, lived a better life than those who chose not to by the experiences each group had/has to go through and the end result of each experience.
Life is a cycle. You have free reign with your choices but each choice leads to a different end result, just like an algorithm. You get to choose how you are to live your only life whether through instant gratification or prolonged gratification (Galatians 5:13). Enjoy your days and enjoy them well with self-control in your thoughts, actions and deeds as every choice we make has a lasting effect on our lives, whether we like it or not. Life comes in stages and stages means there are changes. Changes are important so we can evolve into who we are meant to be and not who we want to be or who anyone else wants us to be. Although we get stuck in our situations at times it is not for us to ask what is wrong with us but rather, what are we missing from the lesson being taught in our current life stage in order to move on to the next.  Love God, love yourself and those around you and learn to accept yourself for who you are. Live life to the fullest with choices you won’t regret later with remembrance that God didn’t call us to be perfect or to live a perfect life. Mistakes are there so we can learn a life lesson as He, God, is made perfect in our weaknesses.
"Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, 29There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's 30But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." - Mark 10: 28-30 KJV
 You Only Live Once. 

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“Be a light to the lost, strength to the weak and hope to the hopeless as an inspiration through your faith and walk with Christ.” 
​- Shanice Brown