LIVE WELL and BE REMEMBERED as the HERO you already are.

Recently a question was asked regarding expungement (expunction) of criminal records.  This reminded me of a scenario I've seen a few times that might be helpful to someone here. I have seen expungement (expunction) leave a “shadow” on a person's record. Here's the scenarios I've seen:  The “conviction” was expunged, but the arrest record with the police department wasn’t included in the destruction of the file. The arrest warrant was missed whenever the court expunged the conviction.  Since the entire court file gets destroyed, the arresting agency, which keeps its own records, has no order to show that the arrest should be removed from the record.  That scenario created a real issue for the individual since the file was destroyed with the court but not the arrest with the police department.  I’ve also seen one (1) conviction get expunged, but a companion conviction not be expunged. In that instance the companion sentence referred to the now expunged case.  My preferen

I'm currently reading (listening to) Finish, Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff.  Stacey Brown Randall recommended it.  (That's Stacey with an "e".)  It is such a great book. So often, our Perfectionism is the enemy to our achieving our goals.  For example, I have been trying to blog for a while now.  Everything has gotten in the way.  So often, if I can't get it perfect, I don't even take a step toward getting it done. How often does that happen to you?  How many more goals could you finish if you just started?  How successful would you be if you just took a step? I remember the day when someone in my family said "You see, we are Perfectionists."  It was explained to me like it was a good thing.  Now I know it's simply the enemy to progress.  In that same period in my life, I can remember trying to play baseball.  I remember standing over home plate and trying to make the perfect swing at the perfect pitch.  What happened?  The perfect

    The first chapter of the New Testament book of John is interesting .   The chapter starts out with John describing who Jesus is . John tells us the true identity of Jesus.   The chapter then transitions and ends with Jesus telling us who his earliest followers were.  Specifically, He even changing the name of one of his followers from Simon to Peter, which meant "Rock", so that Peter's earthly name better suited his Heavenly identity. Jesus is still doing this today.   He continues to proclaim our identity over us .  I believe this identity is tied to our natural gifts.  Those are the things that we are naturally gifted to do and enjoy. All too often the World around us is the one trying to tell us who we are or who we ought to be.    It is constantly urging us to be someone we are not. Jesus rejoices in who we actually are. I encourage you today to embrace your God-given Identity and natural talents.  If you don't know what your identity is, go on a journey

Divorce is ALWAYS hard.  I don't enjoy divorce law.  However, I enjoy helping people find peace .  One of my favorite scriptures on this is I Corinthians 7:15 TPT: But if the unbelieving spouse wants a divorce, then let it be so. In this situation the believing spouse is not bound to the marriage , for God has called us to live in peace. Too often the religious mindset would try to keep the marriage Paul is referencing together.  That's not what he is saying.  His emphasis is not on staying together simply to stay together.  He says " live in peace ."  His emphasis is peace . Too often people beat themselves up over having to let a spouse go, when it's necessary.  If the spouse has moved out, is hooked on porn, alcohol or drugs, guess what, they, typically want something other than the marriage.  Even a person's spending compulsions can be an addiction and an issue. Do you try to salvage the marriage? Absolutely .  Unfortunately, the evil that is addiction, a

The toxic people in our lives are ALWAYS difficult to deal with.  While we are exposed to these people in every facet of our lives, encountering those in our families is often the hardest. Toxic people are ABUSIVE.  Often, emotional abuse can be MORE damaging to us than physical abuse .  This is easy to excuse away and even blame ourselves for it.  Unfortunately, if we are going to live a joyous life, we have to make the hard decision to deal with them. I seem to find myself giving the same advice over and over again to people dealing with the toxicity in their lives.  Here goes: Work on your own "stuff".   I am a big fan of personal growth.  We all have issues to work through.  It's simply unfair to address the toxic person's issues, when you are not addressing yours.   Get a good counselor .   Regardless of what happens, you need a counselor to aid you through this.   Read helpful books.   Two of my favorites in this situation are Codependent No More and Boundaries

  " For #God will never give you the spirit of #fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty #power, love, and self-control. "  2nd Timothy 1:7 TPT Right now, there seem to be those who want you to be #afraid.  They want you to be #fearful.  Why?  For some, it's #control.  For others, it's financial gain. Scripture tells us to not living in fear, but in power, love and #self-control.  Why? Because those things that are to be feared in LIFE cannot affect us in our REWARD in #Jesus. The singer / song writer Keith Green stated it best when he said, "It took the Lord six (6) days to make the Earth.  Jesus has been working on our home in #Heaven for 2,000 years.  This is living in a garbage can compared to what He has in store for us."  Don't hold on to #garbage.  Don't live in fear.  Sharpen your #Kingdom perspective.