Issues not visible become invisible but YOU and I know they’re there! This video gives a poignant account of the invisible wounds civilians and military soilders have encountered and the of stressful realities of their lives.
Author: danitaogandaga
Get Grateful, Not Green!
The term “green with envy” has been a well known phrase on the market for years. A search back to the origin proved to originate back in biblical times when Cain killed his brother Abel over their birthright which created the first murder in the history of the Earth house.
When we deal with situations in life where we believe that someone should not have what we want. For those of you who have had a strong desire to have something, there often was nothing that we would not do in order to obtain that thing. Sure, we may not have thought about the extremes of murder and bodily harm; but the issues of motive, consequences, and confrontation all come into play because the end result is having that “thing” in your possession even if it means leaving the possession of someone else.
Let’s look at a practical definition of jealousy: The fears and anxieties a person hoards due to the attention being given to or by someone special to them or the possessions a person has which create threats to self-esteem and resentment.
Motive plays a major part in creating an obstacle to being grateful for what we have and not resorting to the intense feelings of jealousy which cause us to covet another’s possessions. When you were growing up, do you remember being deprived of many things that it created an enormous feeling of anger and the desire to want to accumulate whatever you could. Do you remember having the mindset that by any means necessary you would obtain what you wanted? It could be attention, clothing, praise, information, or whatever the sort. Motives are the drivers to why we do the things that we do…..in essence, the human behavior that we exhibit on a regular basis which are comprised of our thoughts, actions, and habits.
Once you walk out the gestures of ungratefulness and head to jealously and being envious, consequences will follow. Just as the wages of drinking too much alcohol lead to a massive hangover, the result of being envious create a hostile never ending environment with tension within yourself. A daily assessment of self will prove to never be enough to make the bar of approval simply because there is an irresistible resentment and lingering lack of self-esteem to grab your net and fish for the purpose, passion, or things that create a sense of inner peace. Envy turns your motivated grateful eyes to green!
Selah…….take a coffee or a tea and marinate on this topic because it’s sometimes subtle and if not dealt with can create some immense gravity issues that manipulate your equilibrium.
Having taken the time to evaluate yourself–maybe you find yourself in a fragile state and are ready to confront your truth that you are not as strong as you think and despite your efforts, you still have hang-ups that you were not chosen to be Charlie’s girl or Becky did not ask you out coffee. Perhaps you realize that our front is up and you are on to yourself recognizing that you have gotten surfed up into the tides of envy and jealousy and want to come back to your senses of gratefulness, that space where you are so in tune with your storehouse of blessings from God himself and the perpetual thought track that a continual supply will always flow for you.
Let’s conquer, or at least begin to conquer the envy through confrontation with the following reflections:
- Go to the ROOT- Are you aware of what emotions and thoughts that you go through when that feeling? Do you find yourself being overdosed with constant episodes of the Kafashians or the Reeking Housewives of Refuse? Is a picture being painted before you where you are inundated with what you believe is an unattainable lifestyle causing you to consistently believe that you have absolutely nothing going for yourself? Well, simply get up out of your seat and turn the TV. Turn it off! The Jones’s have been replaced on the Plasma and the new kids on the block have hefty sponsors who ensure that followers crave for the vision they are telling on the tel-e-vision.
- Call it out– NO, I am not saying have “laying on the hands experience” necessarily, but locate yourself. Truth in the inward parts is so essential for obtaining your healing so start with truth. If you must journal it, scream it, speak it, or whatever, get it out and do not allow these harmful emotions to rot your spirit, soul, and mind. Tell it all to God because he knows anyway. Once your establish and commit to truth, the process for healing has begun and you open yourself up to be ready to take the necessary steps to healing from this vile emotion.
- Build a Fortress of Security- Create the time to do things that affirm your identity in being the most authentic you that you can be. Building your worth and setting personal goals ensure your focus on a more positive direction than consistently reminding you of what you do not have. Reminding yourself that you are unique and loved by God makes all of the difference. In addition, filling yourself up with scriptures which complement what God says about you can assist you on those days that you wish to compare yourself to others and desire to walk in their shoes. A couple of my favorite scrips are 1 Corinthians 3:3, Psalm 73:3, and Galatians 5:25-26
Getting free takes one step at a time. God is your source of strength and He will assist you in seeking truth. Being grateful is such an awesome experience because you always create a window of opportunities that can be available to you. God can work with that, so get grateful, not green!
This article is copyrighted by DanitaOgandaga.com.
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Cover Girl
Tally and I were recently on a road trip when I heard this song on a radio station. She had gone to sleep, sleeping peacefully in the backseat. There was no one else in the car, I begin to weep. The words of the song, which are captured in the video below (special thanks to the video ministry of Romans12ajay), begin to minister to me that with all of our hang-ups, insecurities, fixations, and stuff, God still loves us and desires to be in a real relationship with us.
It is amazing that when I was play dating in school, little boys would go around proclaiming their love for me but did not know the first thing about me, what color I liked, or what type flowers I was allergic to. When they would be asked a question by my friends, they would flounder their way to trying to read the lips of my other associates who would not even try to drop them a clue. Then one day, my dad accompanied me to the house of one of the boys who had surprised me with chocolates and balloons for Valentine’s Day. My dad asked him the same questions, What is my daughter’s favorite TV show? or What is her favorite sport? Dude, he could not even answer those questions. My dad politely had me to return the gifts that this boy probably asked his mama to buy, with my dad telling him, “When you get to know my daughter in a couple more years, maybe them you can share your candy with her!”
In this same vein, many of us have probably been proclaiming Jesus, Jehovah as our GOD, the beginning and the end, but have we really developed a real relationship with him where we can go to him snot mouthed and all pouring out our issues and asking him for his help? For years, I had a relationship with Jesus via my parents and when they died, so did my relationship with him.It was conditional, and after my parents left this earth, I went to the arms of the first identifier who could clearly articulate my “identity” since my daddy had so well. He always told me that Jesus loved me, but when daddy died, so did my desire to read the bible in order to learn what Jesus said I was or am and what He had done and was going to do to give me victory in my life. The greatest comfort I have is knowing that whether we accept it or not Jesus knows absolutely everything about us that there is to know. He knew your hair color before you decided to dye it platinum, he knows how much you really can take before losing your cool? He knows how many hairs you have on your head- with or without the weave—-what an awesome God. And He loves you and me anyway!
Have you found yourself at these crossroads? Rather than DEAL with the issue that we are facing in life, we mask and develop addictions to cover up-lesbian relationships with our best friends all because we are looking for love after being hurt by men, shopping to cover the pain of not having human relationships, or sleeping with married men, because of our inability to commit. It is time to take off the mask and ask God for the strength to deal with our issues. John 10:10 says that the thief (Satan) came with the sole purpose to kill, steal, and destroy us. God has and is come to give us abundant life that is overflowing with peace, joy, stability, and hope for a bright future!
Our latest situation may be a culmination of mess, but keep believing and being honest to God about it as well as to yourself and God will translate that mess into a masterpiece. You are beautiful. God loves you and He has great plans for you as Jeremiah 29:11 says, plans to prosper you and not harm you—plans to give you hope and an expected end!


