Faith Over Fear

A simple, but effective way to combat fear and choose faith to do the things you were meant to do…”no matter how crazy others think it may be.” ;o)

He sets you free =)

I was lost
But now am found
And you set me free
You gave me the sun
To shine down on me

I’m journeying in this flesh
To see if i can learn the highest way to live

I’m pulled to fear
Then I’m pulled to faith
But the only way to live is for the man above

He wants you to feel good
No sadness
No more need to cry

He came to free you
Of that heavy heart
You carry around

You see
He loves you just the way you are
Yes he does

You’re a masterpiece
Of the maker of the universe
That shows you just how great you are

No matter where you’ve been
You can always count on him

(Click here to listen to original song “Lost Now Found” by Jamie Pennelly.)

Reality check

I just finished my morning reading from Unto the Hills by Billy Graham, and he helped me realize something. Something I normally didn’t like to acknowledge or even think about, but lately, have become more okay with it. He made it clear that someday we will die. He also mentioned how in our culture, we like to ignore that fact. That’s so true. I think it’s still kinda taboo to talk about death. I studied social work in school and I took a class called “Loss, Grief, and Dying Well.” I learned that people have a hard time talking about death. Some physicians have a hard time delivering the news that their patient is dying and after that, some kinda abandon the patient because of their own issues with death. In class, we were told to speak about it openly and honestly.

What’s interesting is that when I saw that the title of my morning reading included the word “death,” I didn’t want to read it. I wanted to skip it. In my mind, I said something like this, “I don’t need to read this, I am so alive right now.” Yes, I feel so alive right now, but someday I will die. Now that’s a hardcore reality check. Makes me feel kinda bummed. But I want to put an interesting twist to it. Instead of feel bummed and lifeless, I can use it to put things in perspective. I feel I can use this fact to make me feel more alive and make myself that much more determined to live my life to the fullest and accomplish my dreams.

We have one life to live and we don’t know how long that life will be. Are we going to spend it in a dead end job that kills our spirit (brings us closer to death) or are we going to spend it living the life we know we were meant to live? If you don’t know how you’re meant to live, take some time to listen to your heart. I wrote a song about this recently, the lyrics are at the end of this post. I feel life is so so so busy nowadays that I feel that perhaps many people don’t know how to listen to their hearts and don’t know how to really do a deep reflection on their life, where it’s going, and where they really want it to go. I feel listening to the heart is so important because in it I feel you can find your dreams, what makes you happy, who your true love is, etc.

Reality check: we will die someday. What kind of life do we want to be known for? We have one life to live.

Can’t Go Wrong With Your Heart by Jamie

Put your hand on your heart
Has the answers to your life
Learn to listen to it
Will give you peace of mind

With your heart can’t go wrong
Holds the truth of it all
Don’t turn your back on it
Don’t let pride bring you down

Put your hand on my heart
Feel the beating of my heart
Don’t leave me standing all alone
Cuz you’re the key to my heart

Help a stranger

Today I helped a stranger. I never tell anyone when I do this. I do this almost every time I see someone in need. I decide not to tell anyone because I do it out of my personal desire to help anyone in need and not got any credit for it. Today is different because I started this blog and there’s something I really want to say about this. My blog’s domain name is live and love again revolution. This is the name because there’s been a stirring in my heart about helping people revive their lives and spread love in their immediate surroundings and then extending it to the whole world. I feel people need to revive their lives because I feel people have lost their sense of selves and are drowning in following what everyone else buys and does. Some examples are having an iphone, wearing the same clothes, having a 9-5 job they don’t care about, looking forward to getting wasted in the weekend, and then repeating the same cycle. I don’t feel this is living. Moreover, I feel we’ve lost our sensitivity to the other person, especially strangers in need. I’m so sure there are people who do random acts of kindness everyday, but I feel the majority prefer not to get involved out of habit or out of fear of standing out.

Today I was running some errands and there was this senior man sitting in his walker with a plastic bag next to him. I had just finished dropping off my UPS package, saw him, got in the car, then felt my spirit nudging me. It was nudging me to help the guy. What went through my mind was: what if he doesn’t need help, what will this lady in the van with her children think, what if he gets offended? But then I knew my spirit wouldn’t allow me to not do something. I felt there was something he needed. Whether it was a meal or some money. I got out of my car and asked him how he was doing and if he needed any help. He told me that he missed his bus and that he had no way to go home. He told me about the special bus he takes that takes him right to his door. I noticed a minivan with the bus company he was talking about parked at Wendy’s across the street. I told him I could ask the driver of the van if he could take him home or give us information on how he can get the bus to come and pick him up. He appreciated it. I went over to the driver who looked at me very suspiciously and slowly lowered the window only a third of the way down. But I smiled very sweetly and asked very kindly if he could help the person I was trying to help. He didn’t seem too happy about it because he looked like he was on his break, but he said he’ll go over and call for a bus to pick him up. The driver drove to the man and they started to arrange plans for his pick-up. Otherwise, the man would’ve had to wait who knows how long to receive the door-to-door bus service he receives.

I share this story because it was just a simple act of kindness that helped him out. I just feel moments like this bring love into the world and bring connection among people that is so needed. So back to the title of my domain “live and love again revolution.” I am passionate about helping people live again–to break free from the spirit of dissatisfaction that is so prevalent in our culture. To live a life that they can be proud of whether it be through their jobs, family life, with their friends, and in their hobbies. To not settle for what everyone else is doing, so that they can feel alive again. And to love again–to care about people again and step out of their comfort zones to create a culture of helping one another and not caring what other’s think.