Arla Caraboolad MFT

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About Arla Caraboolad MFT
Arla Caraboolad's new series, Love's Playbook, is the Bible told as a story from a female, family-systems, cosmic-war, good-God perspective. Why? The Bible was written by men, who use few words, were mostly warriors, and who focus on facts with little or no emotion or explanation. She believes God's story could engage us and make us want to keep reading! After 30 years as a family therapist she understands that everyone sees through filters, even allowing for inspiration. Translation is not an exact science!
Beginning with episode one, God decides to go ahead with our creation even though it has been long delayed by a cosmic war between good and evil, and this little book ends with a detailed account of our creation. Then follow two books on the stories of Genesis, then Job, a simplified version of the oldest and most celebrated literary work. Next is Exodus, a new look at Moses' own story; book 6, Cosmic Crisis, goes through Deuteronomy and says God's laws keep us! If you have wanted to read the Bible but got bogged down, couldn't understand, or it scared you, (like it did her) this series is for you! It's full of carefully researched backstory, along with imagination to reveal the truth of an all-good God in a fun and easy-to-read story version. Give it a try. You can always check out the facts, most of them are in the notes. Enjoy falling in love with a new picture of God. Book 7, My Laws Will Keep You, is one of her favorite because of the story of Ruth, a wonderful presentation of the good news about God. To date book 10--Solomon through Elisha--is out!
Her first job after college was teaching high school English and math at the women's prison in California (1972). There, the question she heard most, "If there is a loving God, why did He allow what happened to me as a child?" begin 40 years of research about why we suffer, had culminated in her first book, The Worst Evil--Losing Yourself (2011).
Arla's adventure, after marriage, motherhood, and divorce, continued with going back to graduate school and becoming a Family Systems Therapist in 1987. Her goal is to make huge, difficult topics simple, and to help people find their true selves and an authentic relationship with God, who by the way, is all good.
Born in Minnesota, Arla married there in 1978, and had her daughter. This was after being transplanted in Southern California in 1972, from Lincoln, Nebraska, where she grew up and graduated from college.
While in Minnesota she owned a natural foods restaurant from 1976-79. Health had become another passion, leading to publishing a children's book Tommy Tortoise, and recently both an ebook and workbook version of Love Losing. A vegan cookbook that changes your focus from your looks to your health--reasonably--but it takes commitment to do the work of facing your triggers. (That's how she lost 30 lbs. and never thought about weight again. That plus exercise--she exercised on a mini trampoline for 25 years until she shattered her ankle in a car accident! And says, anyone can walk on a mini-trampoline for 5 min. a day. Now she uses a body ball.)
Arla moved back to California with her daughter in 1982 after a divorce. She says, "That was when I really learned to trust God, living as a single parent on $200 a month!" She went back to school at Loma Linda University and earned a Masters degree in Family Life Education.
She remarried Richard and became a step-mom to two more children. More education. She was licensed as an MFT in California in 1992. And now celebrates nine grandchildren!
She keeps up with a blog that posts here and her website--the life of Jesus in a year--called Know God in a Year, God-in-Box--Your Inbox from http://Godhelps.net and invites you to check it out.
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Blog postWe know from the remarks of the rabbis that Jesus did not attend their schools. Yet they were amazed at his knowledge and understanding of the scriptures. The story of his first Passover in Jerusalem gives evidence of his original mind and independent thinking.
Jesus was homeschooled by his parents and God. His mother was his first teacher, the Holy Spirit and Joseph her aids. From them and God he learned the lessons He himself had written in nature and inspired in scripture. He studi1 year ago Read more -
Blog postAfter Herod’s death, Joseph was directed to return home to Nazareth. In this poor mountain village, Jesus developed according to the natural stages of childhood, learning who he was.
Significant is the brief account of His early years. “The child grew…strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and…in favor with God and man.”
Two statements that speak of the simplicity and balance and human development of His life, and ten verses about the Passover trip when he was 12, are all there1 year ago Read more -
Blog postUnlike the shepherds, the Magi haven’t been prepared for Jesus’ poverty. They still expect, at the least, a royal entourage.
Arriving in Bethlehem, they again wonder at the absence of any sign of preparation for this awesome event or any guard for this baby king. This is highly irregular for the birth of royalty. He’s a descendent of the great King David–so yes, David’s hometown for his birthplace makes sense, but why doesn’t anybody know?
They are open to the Spirit of God an1 year ago Read more -
Blog postThese Magi entering Jerusalem on their camels, decked out for royalty, look spectacular and make the news of their questions and their mission spread like fire. They are scholars, honest-hearted men, but the priests in Jerusalem cannot concede that God would pass by them and tell these “heathen.” They won’t be taught by them! They won’t even go to Bethlehem to investigate!
The vivid account of the shepherd’s angelic vision had also reached them and was discounted. The priests label it1 year ago Read more -
Blog post#16
One night three students of the stars see an explosion of light in the far sky that seems to leave a new star. They know it isn’t anything fixed or familiar. And the conviction that it is special begins to grow. Have we seen it for a reason? They wonder.
God is always looking for people in every nation whose hearts are in synch with His. Such are the magi of the East who study the stars with a desire to know their Creator. They are wealthy, educated, men of chara1 year ago Read more -
Blog postSimeon turns from praising God, to Mary, “This child is destined to be a sign which men reject. The sword of sadness will pierce your heart also.” he begins.
God is speaking prophetically through Simeon to prepare Mary for the rejection of Jesus. He continues, “Many in Israel will fall and rise again because of Him, and the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”
Truly, the thoughts of all, from God to Satan, are exposed by Jesus’ life and death. We are living a1 year ago Read more -
Blog postSimeon just happens to walk into the temple while Jesus is being dedicated.
Just happens? No, Simeon has such a connection with God that he has heard Ruach tell him he will not die before he has seen the Messiah.
This morning he feels unusually drawn to the temple. Entering, he suddenly “knows” why he has come–here is the One he has waited for. With a joy surging up inside him, like nothing he’s ever felt before, he takes the baby from Mary and lifts him to God, exclaiming, “L1 year ago Read more -
Blog postA baby’s cry pierces the stillness of the temple. It is Jesus’ eighth day and He has just been circumcised as a promise to obey God’s law. An infant promising?
It was for the parents to promise to teach him God’s law. Boundaries are so important to child development in feeling safe.
Every first-born son of Israel was circumcised and dedicated to God as a priest and a symbol of the expected Messiah, God’s first born. After Moses, the tribe of Levi were priests, but each1 year ago Read more -
Blog postThe shepherds collect themselves in the darkness, still seeing the brightest picture in their minds, still hearing the sweetest music, and say, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what God has shared with us!”
They find Joseph and Mary and the baby in the manger under the star just as predicted. When they see Him they can’t keep the angel, his words, and all the singing angels to themselves. “…There were thousands of them!” they say, “…singing music like we’ve never heard!”
Mary re1 year ago Read more -
Blog postIn the same fields where David watched sheep as a boy, shepherds are lying by the fire, talking of the promised Messiah, unaware that a massive angel choir is waiting for their signal to burst into sight and song announcing the Christ’s birth. God sets up such sweet surprises for those who care.
Why shepherds? The messengers are sent to seekers.* Those who want to know, regardless of class.
The dark night is illumined by one angel in dazzling light and the shepherds shake.1 year ago Read more -
Blog post"Hooks to hang doubt on" was a phrase I wrote in chapter 11 of Love's Playbook 5. It describes a very important God-decision in the theory of freedom. God could wow us and overwhelm us with the reality of His existence, presence and power, but He doesn't. "They" don't because it would actually take away or ruin our freedom. In order for us to be truly free to make our own decision there has to be evidence of both good and evil that is balanced and adequate for us to consider1 year ago Read more
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Blog post"Hooks to hang doubt on" was a phrase I wrote in chapter 11 of Love's Playbook 5. It describes a very important God-decision in the theory of freedom. God could wow us and overwhelm us with the reality of His existence, presence and power, but He doesn't. "They" don't because it would actually take away or ruin our freedom. In order for us to be truly free to make our own decision there has to be evidence of both good and evil that is balanced and adequate for us to consider1 year ago Read more
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Blog postI asked permission to share this experience with a friend who really reminded me of my brother when I met him. So much so that in the beginning I wasn’t sure I liked him.We became friends with him and his wife in the last year, and he had an edge to him. My charming older brother had that towards me. And it left me with huge scars its taken years of work to undo. (It took me 20 years to figure out where my attitudes came from.) But of course there was an affinity too, because he felt like fam2 years ago Read more
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Blog postI finally wrote again two months ago but didn’t get it posted. It needed editing, and I never got to it! Tonight I woke up three hours after going to sleep and felt God drawing me out to come be with Them! Yes! I did have the sense that both Ruach and Jesus were here! It was so sweet! I shouldn’t say was, They still are, but now my attention is on this. After talking for almost three hours, They took me to Isaiah 58 which I had been wanting to read again, it’s one of my favorites. And I’ve be2 years ago Read more
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Blog postThe following is a post from God-in-a-Box–Your inbox. It is short devotionals on Jesus life, covering his birth to death in a year.
Jesus loves children, finding their pure openness and unaffected love refreshing. Little hearts are tender and impressionable, open to Spirit and strong to remember his stories–the kind of people he wants in his kingdom.
If parents give them every opportunity to learn of God’s love while they are young and their characters still adaptable, they wo3 years ago Read more -
Blog postI love it when things come together from five different places and make a whole clear picture. It happened this week.
I was writing about David, and marveling again that someone who seemed to know God so well could just lose it and go off the rails, steal someone’s wife and kill her husband!
Suddenly words from my journaling on John 15 this week came to mind, “I no longer call you servants, I’m calling you friends…” coupled with my own experience of God’s friendship plus3 years ago Read more -
Blog postI love my Saturday morning Bible study. The questions go deep. You can ask anything, challenge anything. We will go back to the beginning if we need to. Nobody has to feel bad saying “I don’t get that,” or “Can you say that another way?” Or “This is the first time I’ve understood that!”
This morning my close friend and co-leader said, “I just don’t understand how we have a dual nature. Is there some other way you can describe it?”
I immediately went to Romans 7 so everyone wou3 years ago Read more -
Blog postEustress is good stress. The kind that makes you feel alive and alert–excited about life. I’ve been experiencing both kinds of stress lately, but recently have been reveling in the good kind. Aging is not fun, one of my friends recently said, “Aging is not for the faint-hearted,” and I agree, but I wouldn’t trade the time I’ve been having for anything.
I think when you say to God, “Make me know You,” like French renegade– turned devoted priest, Charles de Focauld said, life gets reall3 years ago Read more -
Blog postProbably not a lot of step-fathers get honored for being great fathers, but some do and my son-in-law deserves it. I’m so glad he has taken on the task of fathering his three step-sons seriously.
And they respond.
Some of his notable acts have been taking the middle one to the hospital when he broke his arm clean off, and staying with him there all night long to make sure he was ok.
Another is selling his own ATV to put the money into the pickup truck and fix it up for3 years ago Read more -
Blog postI thought I might skip the confirmation of last week’s blog. It makes me feel so vulnerable, but I know vulnerability is a precious quality, and one I need. So at the risk of sounding crazy I’m sharing my journey–the experiment in making God real. Mother’s Day was a fabulous day.
I spent the day with Ruach (my name for the Holy Spirit if you are new to me). It may have been the best Mother’s Day ever–certainly the most different MD I’ve ever had. My husband and I were in an unresolved3 years ago Read more -
Blog postWhen your kids are far away or not in close relationship with you, Mother’s Day can be a hard day. Maybe even a day of regret and sadness. Today is one of those for me on all counts and I choose to be happy because I can. We can do that! We can choose happiness! It’s a gift God has given us–the choice to be happy and grateful when there seems to be no reason to be happy, or even evidence not to be happy!
This morning, this Mother’s Day choice is heightened for me becaus3 years ago Read more -
Blog postWhen your kids are far away or not in close relationship with you, Mother's Day can be a hard day. Maybe even a day of regret and sadness. But today is one of those for me on all counts, and I choose to be happy because I can do that! We can choose happiness! It's a gift God has given us--the choice to be happy and grateful when there seems to be no reason to be happy, or even if you have evidence not to be happy!
This morning, this Mother's Day choice is heightened for me because m3 years ago Read more -
Blog postI often say to people, “No one will ever love you like Jesus.” (And Abba and Ruach.) And I mean it, but my experience of it waxes and wanes like all love relationships. There is always an ebb and flow. That’s how I know love is more than feelings. It is a commitment. But it does have wonderful feelings at times, and this week I got to experience the true sweetness of God’s love.
One of the sweetest things about God is that They know when you really need some encouragement.
I w3 years ago Read more -
Blog postYou and your partner formed a relationship likely for many reasons. One of the strongest might have been the desire for a deeper and ongoing connection with another human… a connection that allows you to be spontaneous, real, supported, sexy, and adventurous.At the time, you hoped you had created a connection that would lead to a richer life.But it’s possible that you and your partner might have lost your way after the initial euphoria of being together. Many factors are involved in getting lost8 years ago Read more
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Blog postis written on a tiny piece of wood on my dresser. I gave it to Mom a few years before she died.
It seems appropriate to continue my joy-writing on my mother's birthday. She was a person of joy even though she had a difficult life and didn't get what she really wanted. In some ways I think she got more.
She so wanted an education. They couldn't afford it. She needed to work to help the family. It was still the Depression.
She wanted to become an artist and a writer8 years ago Read more -
Blog postI'm sure you've noticed who sets you off. It seems to happen again and again. And somehow there's always one or two up close.
Have you ever wondered why they get to you?
If you're like me, you've analyzed it with respect to what they do, how they misunderstand, how they "have to be right", etc.
But have you ever wondered if it's because you two are alike? (It's not a common thought, or a welcome one.)
There's a saying from way back, &8 years ago Read more -
Blog postIt doesn't happen often, but it did again yesterday. I intervene, help heal someone's false beliefs, and the entities behind them push harder, the feelings growing huge, as if they're there and refuse to leave.
I recognized them and used the authority I have in Jesus, but it was unnerving because the client struggling was a child under 12. Fortunately, the parent didn't think I was crazy. It made me angry that sweetness and innocence should be taken over by evil. Yet I know we live8 years ago Read more -
Blog post(This was written and scheduled the end of February to publish March 7--it still shows that on the side--but the schedule function didn't work, so that's why it sounds Lentish and Eastery.)
My computer hard drive crashed on Monday. So badly that it can't be rebooted. I have to buy a new one. I had already decided that I would give up negativity for my version of Lent, which seemed impossible, given my personality, so I was practicing when it crashed.
I was already sad a8 years ago Read more -
Blog postA request to God and one of my goals for the past three or more years is to be more tuned in to God's voice...more able to hear him and be confident that it is Him.
This scares some people, and I get that. My personality is fear-based and I have worked hard to heal it--asking God to show me what anchors it, in all its myriad forms. I am much less fearful today, but it is true that not every thought we have comes from God. So awareness is good.
However, I really believe God want8 years ago Read more -
Blog postI try to write here once a month. And today I came here to post, and noticed that February's post was still up! But didn't I post last month? I was sure I did...and then I remembered. I'd written about my hard drive crashing and scheduled it to post later that day. Guess it never did.
Oh well, April fools! Post it next month--tomorrow's is already written, and it's about God speaking to us.8 years ago Read more -
Blog post"Why do I need God?" she asked me. "I know people who don't have God and are happy."
I have a love/hate relationship with this question. On one hand I love giving the answers, and clearing people's misconceptions and misinformation about God. On the other hand, it's a huge responsibility, and while I love it, I feel the weight of responsibility. It is that important.
So I said, "Well if you are thinking about reality--you need God because He is.8 years ago Read more -
Blog postChristmas magnifies differences. Different regions and cultures, and even extended family have different traditions, different ways of celebrating, different foods that are special to them-- all within the same religion!Today we watched Rick Steve’s “Christmas in Europe”—featuring beautiful and lovely differences—all celebrating the same event. The spirit of the subject kindles acceptance, but food widens the chasm.I was surprised one Thanksgiving with my husband’s extended family. I always thin8 years ago Read more
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Blog postChanging your perspective may be easier than you think.
It actually only takes saying thank you to another person, yourself, or God.
Here's how it works: When you decide to be thankful, instead of worried, it stops the drip of CRH (I call it Critical Ruminating Hormone because it makes you worry.) That stops the adrenals from secreting ACTH which is your depression hormone. (I call this one Actually Creating Threat Hormone because it makes everything look black. It make9 years ago Read more -
Blog postI hate messy!
So why am I a therapist?
That's different. I'm good at professionally helping people find themselves and fix their issues.
But I don't like it when my kids are messy, or my friends are messy. They don't come to me asking for help. They don't show me their vulnerability. They want me to think they have it all together. Shoot, they don't even know they have issues! Don't even know they live in hell.
And yet I'm called to love them.9 years ago Read more -
Blog post(You remember I said her intimacy with God makes me jealous? Now you'll see why...)
InvitingYou Whisper it quiet. These words that feel liquid with the weight of Your love."you are my home"
I wonder if maybe I misunderstood. I ask what it means. And You dismantle me with Your words.
"I feel wanted, welcome, comfortable. I feel loved, desired in you. You invite Me into your moments, your feelings. You choose Me."
And th9 years ago Read more -
Blog postI don't want to change this blog this month. The one posted is too good, too complete, so well said and so true. It sums up the essence of being you--finding your authentic s,elf.
It's my daughter's words to her little boys. I just read it again, and thought how does she do it? It just pours out of her like that.
Perhaps she is so full of it because of the pain she has just gone through--is still going through. She has chosen to embrace it and it has developed her. The9 years ago Read more -
Blog postGuest post--My daughter's message to her three boys. For part one go to http://arlasoveralls.wordpress.comWed, May 29, 2013 [lovelycrumbs] three things -- part 2 You. You grew deep within me. A seed of Grace planted right into my Life.
The very existence of you is simply ridiculous Grace.
He creates only Good. You are Good.
You were born into a battle. We all are. This story is not about us. It's about Him.
And there is an ene9 years ago Read more -
Blog postIf you're a mother, you know how hard it is to watch your children suffer--to support them without directives, platitudes or judgment. But the worst is to watch and not bail them out--knowing that they need their suffering--it's how they learn and grow.
As a therapist, I am used to watching people suffer. Thank God, I know how important it is, how people need their pain, how they don't need platitudes or bailing out.
Thank God, also, that I have been over this road, hav9 years ago Read more -
Blog postthere is no moment of weakness that isn't wrapped in His strength http://lovelycrumbs.com I'm standing in a line. Seemingly unending faces stretched out ahead of me.
Clinging to folders that contain my life. My details.
The ground seems to tremble beneath my feet as though, in my weakness, it may swallow me up.
I'm fighting the tears. Biting my lip. Willing them not to boil right over and spill down my cheeks.
From the moment my feet touch9 years ago Read more -
Blog postCould you tell when you read the last post that my daughter was initiating divorce? She doesn't believe in divorce, is a product of divorce herself, wasn't going to ever get divorced, but here she is. Now she believes that she was physically dying in a marriage that didn't honor either one of them.
Should she have stayed for the kids? Some people think so. She believes they are already exhibiting less stress.
Having just spent two weeks there, I see they are doing well.9 years ago Read more -
Blog postwhen your Path becomes so narrow you have to let go My heart is ragged. The weight of walking through a sea of fear suffocating.Struggle. So deep in some moments, I wonder if I might simply explode. Become a mist, blown away by the winds of change.Mind so fragmented I fight to pin it down. To hold on to the Clarity as the moments whirl.This fight for worth. For my heart. It has Led me straight over the edge, falling far past safety. My comfort.And yet I am Real. It is in that moment tha10 years ago Read more
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Blog postOften the pain of becoming is like fire. As when a "sleeping" hand or foot begins to wake up. The blood supply has been cut off, and the rush that is life-giving hurts.
So it is when you begin to look at yourself and really face your situation. Face it and take responsibility for it. A mentor of mine used to say, "There is no pain like the pain of seeing yourself."
I have found that to be true, as has my daughter (whose posts appear every other month10 years ago Read more -
Blog postGuest Post -- Whole
I am weary.
Raw.
Forgotten.
All this living. This giving. Pouring out. Has left me weary.
There are lines of darkness curved gently across my face.
The evidence of little bodies grown, made, written across my belly. I am a canvas of motherhood.
A portrait with colors faded. The strokes of beauty cracked and dry.
There is quiet here. Not only this night, but most. The silence10 years ago Read more -
Blog postHow does someone become invisible?
In family therapy we often see that the middle child is invisible. They often feel unseen, not valued.
Interesting that my daughter, who was the only child of my first marriage, became the middle child of my second marriage. Could that have caused this feeling in her?
Yes, but there was more.
When she was in her twenties, she described the feeling of leaving her father behind at age two, when she and I moved to Calif10 years ago Read more -
Blog postRefining The dark of night is creeping across the sky and I feel the disappearing.
The anguish of the unseen. Heart wrenching and cracked. Writhing to be free of the desire for love. Free of desire.
I cannot stand carrying the weight of it. The crushing force of longing. The gravity of need.
Heart spilling out. Wounds bared open. The pieces of me thrown about the room. Muscle aching from the violence of lamenting. The agony of a soul crying out in complai10 years ago Read more
Titles By Arla Caraboolad MFT
Before writing this I have been known to say, "Pain is inevitable on this planet; suffering is optional." More Buddhist than Christian, it is a valid earmark for attitude or perspective. I won't tell you what I think, because I haven't fully finished formulating it. This is a book that requires careful consideration of all the factors involved. Writing it held some big surprises for my point of view--and this is very familiar territory for me. Looking through a family systems lens was helpful to understanding but not necessarily to how I felt.
This is the record that begins with the split kingdoms of Judah and Israel. In approximately one hundred years Israel will not exist. Then Jonah the prophet has his hour on the stage learning what he needs to learn. He grew up in fear of the Syrians and Assyrians who were and still are ravaging and pillaging from Egypt to Chaldea. A succession of kings and prophets lead from Jonah, Amos and Hosea through Isaiah and Jeremiah. Great men with difficult missions. Some of the kings were responsive and had thrilling rescues; some had tantrums and killed the prophets. Finally and sadly Jerusalem is burned.
Full-disclosure, I struggled writing this part of the Bible even Isaiah, which is my favorite book and partially included here. I have loved Isaiah's symbols and prophecies which helped make sense of the question of evil allowed by a good God. Enjoy these stories, good, sad, and ugly. The bit of researched back-story added is true to Spirit.
In this episode (Exodus 24--Deuteronomy) one can see that God’s laws and rules all come from parental love! Israel had just come out of slavery and functioned on a reward and punishment level of development--their mindset needed high structure and high nurture which Adonai gave them. He carefully spelled out all of His expectations for them. The problem was they didn't all want to obey. Just like children, they always pushed the boundaries and complained at any lack. They were very susceptible to the suggestions of the dark side, believing and acting out most of them, and making it very difficult for God to do what He wanted to do for them.
It isn’t always easy to understand God’s voice or actions unless you understand this huge backstory of a universal war, and all the little ones interconnecting with it. God's minor voice is His preferred will. His major voice is His allowed will.
Arla hopes to get people reading scripture again, enjoying it, understanding it, and falling in love with God. She would love for people to see that God's law is really just love--the character of all three Abba, Adonai and Ruach--and will keep us safe and happy until this war between good and evil is over. "His laws will keep us!" as it says in the Greek interlinear translation of John 14:15.
It’s true, the easiest way to lose weight is to stop thinking about food. But if food has become what you look forward to, your comfort, or your reward, that is difficult.
Sometimes education is helpful, especially if you have never learned how to be healthy, or how to eat healthy. But education can only take you so far without motivation. And willpower is so easy to override.
Eating is emotional.
That’s why Love Losing is here—to stir up your “want to” to give a common-sense, holistic definition to “healthy,” to discover, face, and heal the things that keep you stuck, and finally to help with your plan, menus, and recipes.
Being healthy is NOT just about food. And losing is not about starving.
Health starts with the way you think and feel about yourself.
Are you hard on yourself? Indulgent? Or just mindless? Being healthy is too much work?
Make it an adventure, tweak your focus, and learn what your body wants and needs. Then see how it gives back in energy, vitality and weight loss without you focusing on it.
Choose your way to a new healthy you!
Joshua doesn’t say anything. He is grieving Moses, and is feeling completely inadequate to take Moses’ place, and lead this huge throng of people. He’s thinking I can’t do this! I’m not Moses!
And so Adonai says, “It’s time to let Moses go. I’m their real leader and I will be with you just like I was with him. Follow My ways, and don’t veer right or left. My ways will insure success.” Joshua feels overwhelmed because he doesn’t know the law well enough. So God tells him, “Don’t be afraid, just be mindful and meditate on them. My laws will keep you.” (Jesus also says that in the Greek of John 14:15!)
Then Joshua takes on his leadership, to the point that he makes big mistakes because he forgets to ask Adonai for direction!
Can you relate? We seem to easily slide into one ditch or the other. By the end of the book, Joshua “gets it”—God’s laws are just relationship! But he worries that those under him don’t know that. And he is right. Even so Joshua was a great leader and a friend of God because he was teachable, another word for humble.
Here are the Biblical accounts of Joshua and Ruth with the gaps filled in to make an easy-to-read engaging story true to God’s heart, which is all good even if the people aren’t. Ruth is a beautiful love-story with the same message, this time to outsiders! It makes a point of noting the other two foreign women in the lineage of Messiah. Tamar’s story is in episode 3, and Rahab’s is here in Joshua’s story, and decidedly linked to Ruth’s. Enjoy!
Many say this story is just myth because there is no archaeological evidence. However, there is an amazing amount of precise and weighty evidence if you look at the right time--the time given for the exodus in 1 Kings 6:1. Archaeologists are looking 200 years too late. One word, “Ramses”, has thrown off the whole research world because Ramses renamed Tanis to his name when he became Pharaoh, so a late copyist of the sacred writings updated the name of Tanis to Ramses, for geographic understanding. Most probably he never dreamed he would throw the world off. But there was a mastermind behind it—an enemy who didn’t want Exodus to have historical validation. Why? It would validate God’s presence and actions in history, our world. There are cosmic beings and people who don’t want that, so the war of good and evil continues.
Filmmaker Timothy Mahoney was obsessed with knowing the truth, and has uncovered massive archaeological and historical evidence of the exodus. You can take his ten-year journey with him in about two hours in his film Patterns of Evidence Exodus. It is eye-opening, disturbing, confirming, confronting and comforting all at the same time!
Whether you watch Mahoney’s film first, or read the book first, it doesn’t matter, you will be blessed and enlightened by a God who is powerful, loving, relational, and most of all present! And so the cosmic Chess continues that started in Love’s Playbook, episode one.
Most people who believe in Him would say yes. But still they worry, and are afraid. When bad things happen, they ask "Why God?" It usually means, "Why did you let this happen?" It's a valid question. If God is all powerful and all good, why does He let bad things happen?
This question has stumped devotees of His since time began, and yet they insist that God is good. Is there a reason? Is it reasonable to believe in a good God? One that scripture describes as all good, with "no darkness in Him at all"?
If you have ever wondered why we suffer, and how suffering makes sense in the face of a loving God, this is your book--your series of books. It turns the Bible into a story for adults, a love story, but also a story of war and loss, of incredible risks and freedom. God took the risks because He believes so much in love; and only in freedom is love real. My friend calls it the back story. This series fills in the back story of the Bible, being as true to research and the Spirit of the Bible as possible.
If you've ever tried to read the Bible.and failed, this is written for you, and for anyone who would like to understand many things that don't make sense in that book. There are many things that don't seem right. Hopefully the characters will come to life and you can walk a while with them, and understand the back story.Be prepared for some surprises. This is the Bible like you've never read it!
If God is all good and all powerful, why would He
allow these? Does any of this pain and suffering have meaning? How?
Sacred writings speak of a war between good and
evil--giving insights into why it started. Love’s Playbook is a spiritual fantasy built on the
outline given--the bare bones fleshed out and given breath.
Read and fall in love with a God so good and so powerful that evil is allowed to exist and thrive. Get the big-picture perspective. Read and understand why we suffer, and draw your own conclusions. This is the first book in a new series.
As the author I think the most poignant point of the book is that most of the Israelites didn't know what they were missing. The majority never knew what God was like personally. My mind goes back to episode 2 and Abraham who has a true friendship with God, and episode 5 where Moses also has a friendship with the Mighty Adonai.
In this volume there is also Esther the orphan who God makes the Queen of Persia to save the Jews, and Ezra who wants to understand God's law and falls in love with Them. Also Nehemiah the steady, skilled and faith-filled project manager for Ruach who loses it on the people when they turn from God. They all had strong friendships with Elohim.
Their people could have had it all: love, friendship, protection. But we have to want it. They didn't as a whole. God tried so hard. Were they scared of God? Or did they just want what they wanted?
What we want is never as good as what God wants for us! And if this series makes anyone want that intimate friendship with the all-good Abba, Adonai, and Ruach, writing this Bible with backstory has been worth all the effort! Enjoy.
David the main character in this book and the greatest king of Israel. He wasn't perfect--in fact he was very human, and made some huge mistakes, but he knew God as few others have.
Being a king taxes even the purest commitment to God. The things men desire--wealth, power, ease--are the biggest test of character. And of course Satan asks for that test. The difference trusting God makes is vividly seen in the stories of Saul and David. One continually justified himself; the other immediately saw himself and admitted his faults. And that teachability allowed God to bless David with honor and success. But the blessings along with peace almost took him out. He became complacent, perhaps jaded.
Walk a while with the first two kings of Israel complete with emotion and backstory filled in, yet true to the history and to the heart of a God who is all good. See for yourself the cosmic difference God makes.
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