Satan is using THIS tactic to make your marriage UNHAPPY… In this video, Todd Friel reviews several key points from Paul Tripp’s book “What Did You Expect?”, and gives his perspective on the topic as a Bible-believing Christian. 🤔

hi, does anyone have any advice on how not to feel like the whole worlds completely corrupt and hopeless?

like i really really really want to make a difference and to help people but i really don’t know how.

also is there a job where you like do something about climate change? is that a thing?

Ok time for confession before I’m too chicken to say it.

When I first started reading Ennead in high school I remember being oddly disappointed that Bakura was a woman. In retrospect I think it might have been because I had never seen a lesbian couple in Yu-Gi-Oh before and really wanted to see some kind of romance between the two that had a good chemistry I liked. I had never seen that kind of relationship before in the other female Yugi stories and writing.

I remember my surprise when the chemistry I was hoping for started to reveal itself as the story progressed and finding myself almost surprised by the romantic history later on. But at the same time not as surprised as I should have been if I wasn’t expecting it.

Now, nearly a decade, many many stories, and self exploration later, Ennead has been a source that had helped me understand a lot about myself and my own personal sexual orientation.

Thank you for that.

Your writing has always influenced me in ways that I can’t always explain. And I just wanted to share that with you.

Thank you for such awesome stories. Please know you have helped me understand myself better with your writing and I am happier for it.

Thank you!

I am honored to have been able to help you and that you have been with me for this ride as long as you have. I know it's been a long journey, and we're only about halfway through, so the fact you're still here makes me so happy.

Hearing stories like yours and knowing that im making a difference is the only thing that's kept me going for the last 12 years.

There have been many times when I've been tempted to give up. Just leave it where the last written chapter lies and walk away. I promise I will do my very best to finish so I can keep helping people.

I watched this movie tonight and though I had seen it before, years ago, this time I appreciated it a lot more. Maybe because I am a different person now for many reasons. The story was powerful, meaningful, with parts that were heartbreaking and others much the opposite. Hopeful. Happy. It follows the genre of movies like, 'To Sir with Love' and 'Blackboard Jungle.' Since probably no one here would remember those, it is about a caring teacher in a rough school that made a difference. True story.

It grabbed me for a couple reasons I guess. The title of course, about writers but more than that. Years ago my girlfriend was a high school teacher in the Bronx, New York. She was an amazing woman, much like the one in this movie.

Pepa what was it like acting in the movie the movie Encanto? I know you and your family acted in it and it’s based off of the generational trauma of your family, but we’re there any parts of the movie that you had a hard time acting in because it was too emotional?

Filming the movie was pretty hard for all of us. It was especially hard for me because I have so many emotional triggers. I needed to think about all those triggers to even get the emotional reaction the production team wanted from me that I would often have to take several breaks from filming a day. One of the hardest scenes for me was the fall of Casita and having to see Mirabel reenact risking her life for the candle. It was already hard to watch the first time and having to watch my youngest niece reenact it was too much for me. Julieta and Felix had to take me to the side after filming to calm me down when they noticed I was getting pale and was about to faint. After we were finished filming the movie, I was feeling a little bit better and I cried when the family and I watched it over for the first time. I also got so many messages from fans about how much they related to me and how I made them feel better about their own mental and emotional issues that I felt better about my own issues after that. I still remember, there was this one girl at a fan meetup that told me about how she has been infantilized, shamed, and desexualized because she was autistic, and how she never had an actually autistic role model and developed internalized ableism throughout her adolescence and college years, but after seeing the movie and seeing me onscreen she said she started healing her relationship with her disability, along with her sexuality after seeing Felix and me act super affectionate onscreen and reminding her of her own relationship. What mattered in the end was that I made a difference in a fan's life.

I don't post my singing here much... Or anywhere much currently. I've recently found my voice again though and I sometimes get discouraged because I know most people don't like it... But then there's these comments and people and it keeps me going and makes me so exuberant. My biggest dream is to make music and sing songs that help others to heal and so hearing I'm doing it even from one person is enough for me to keep going and doing what I enjoy.

https://chng.it/tT2RvWkykT

God’s People Make a Difference

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. — Matthew 5:13 | English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Cross References: Job 6:6; mark 9:50; Luke 14:34; Hebrews 10:29

2023 / 02

Aperçu of the Week:

“What you do makes a difference. And you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

(Dr. Jane Goodall, Scientist & Animal rights activist)

Bad News of the Week:

In Kriebethal, Saxony, young refugees who came to Germany without parents - so-called "unaccompanied minor refugees" - are to be housed. It's ideal that a foster home is currently empty, because it's only a transitional period of six months and just 10 to 12 children and adolescents plus caregivers. No big deal. Actually. And yet there is tremendous resistance.

Spurred on by the right-wing populist AfD ("Alternative for Germany") and the far-right (officially categorized as such by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution!) movement "Free Saxons", citizens from the region took to the streets to protest. Basically against refugee housing in their perfect world. Basta. That these old familiar ringleaders pounce with enthusiasm on every new topic with which they can march against "the regime" from Berlin and the state capital Dresden is standard. That so many of the population after "Against the Euro", "Against Corona measures", "Against the European Union", "Against Russia sanctions" etc. but now also against the weakest of the weak can be instrumentalized - or worse: actually think like that - makes me but a little stunned.

It is important to know that refugees are also distributed throughout Germany according to the "Königstein Key," which takes into account both population and economic strength at the district level. So that it remains fair. And not overburden anyone. In this respect, this dwarf revolt is also undemocratic. But unfortunately this is not really surprising, especially in Saxony, where some parts of the population have a tradition of xenophobia (I am allowed to say this, since with a father from the East I can hardly be accused of bias). After all, at the time, tens of thousands of "Pegida" ("Patriots against the Islamization of the Occident") took to the streets of Dresden to demonstrate against Islamic foreign infiltration - with just 0.2% Muslims in the entire state.

The whole thing reminds me of a statement made by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015, when the right-wing peddled the argument that a million refugees (out of a population of 83 million) would "overcrowd" Germany: If there are already 83 people in a hall, it is not suddenly overcrowded if just one more enters. This calculation would result in an increase of 1.2%. In Kriebstein, to whose municipality Kriebethal belongs, there are a good 2,000 inhabitants. And we are talking about a maximum of 12 minors, i.e. 0.6% - that's just about half of it.

I am particularly annoyed by the whole thing, since it was precisely the new federal states that benefited disproportionately from the solidarity of others after the reunification of Germany. From economic development, which favored the East for decades, to the social safety net, which, for example, secured pensions for which no one had paid even a cent (or penny at the time) into the system. No one expects thanks for this. Because it was and is a matter of course of openness and kindness of heart. Which should also apply in this case. "Unaccompanied", "minor" and "refugee" - this triad is a horror for those affected. To this must not be added the feeling of being excluded, of being unwelcome, of having to fear.

Good News of the Week:

According to various experts, the ozone layer is well on its way to complete recovery. The atmospheric layer that protects humans and nature from ultraviolet solar radiation was extremely endangered in the 1980s. Initial effects were measurable in the southern hemisphere in particular, e.g. increased skin cancer rates in Australia.

Now, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and various researchers in the USA and Europe agree that a complete regeneration can be expected by about 2066, starting with the Arctic and ending with the Antarctic. And fortunately without geoengineering such as the introduction of aerosols into the atmosphere with feared incalculable effects on the world climate.

Crucial to this success is the implementation of the 1987 Montréal Protocol, which banned chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). This substance, formerly commonly used in sprays or refrigerators, was clearly identified as the primary source of damage to the ozone layer. And it worked. It can be that simple. Downright exemplary.

Exactly: an example. For CO2 abatement that is. If it was possible almost half a century ago to reach agreement on acting together to ban a substance that is clearly damaging to the basis of life, I don't see why it shouldn't work again. Come on!

Personal happy moment of the week:

What does "happy" actually mean exactly? Does it have to be the opposite of "sad" or can it also be seen as a kind of emotional fulfillment? Yesterday I went to the funeral of the mother of an old school friend. Along with a dozen others who sat together in the classroom nearly forty years ago. A sad occasion, actually, of course. But to experience how old comrades, who don't see each other too often (especially in the last years), embrace each other without big words, to feel a familiarity that has nothing to do with gloating buddiness, but simply with friendship, just gave me a good feeling.

I couldn't care less...

Fear of the possibly evil mother-in-law. Stupid jokes from dad. Fights with the older brother. Bad taste in costumes. First drug experience at 17. Family reservations about the partner. Self-distancing from war traumas. A groom drinking at his wedding. Did I forget one of the sensational revelations from the House of Windsor? Yes, I meant that ironically. For me, the most remarkable thing about this hard-to-follow hype about Harry & Meghan is the lucrative self-promotion, with which the two certainly take in no less than working royals. And all the media are playing along. And not just the ones on display at the hairdresser's.

As I write this...

...I once again resolve never to fall for Netflix hype again. While "Kaleidoscope" didn't turn out to be as big a waste of time as "Squid Game", it didn't live up to any great expectations. Let's see what new series we'll start tonight. Maybe "Wednesday" - nobody really seems to have that on their mind ;-)

Post Scriptum

Crises everywhere are not enough for the US Republicans. No, they want to use their majority in the House of Representatives, which started off with a rumble, primarily to attack Joe Biden. "The Biden family's business dealings involve a wide range of crimes, from human trafficking to possible violation of the Constitution," claims, for example, James Comer, freshly minted chairman of the Oversight Committee. Or Jim Jordan, chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, who announced in all seriousness that Biden had ordered the FBI to bribe Twitter to censor conservatives. Of course, one of the duties of Parliament is to control the government. However, you should have learned in your school days that you don't go out to play until your homework is done.

This 👇 is what it lööks like to make a difference.

If you're determined to be victorious you have to give it your all. 🤔

What that other anon said. Twitter isn’t activism. This is such a good opportunity to shine a light on colonial struggles and discuss whether a monarchy is still relevant but it always turns into “which fandom man had the correct response”. Most of these celebs have no real idea what the issues are about anyways. Most of the people yelling don’t either, they just want attention and that’s fine, it’s twitter, that’s what it’s for. But please stop pretending this is activism.

I saw a couple of educational posts that I really liked regarding colonialism (and would have reblogged, except I like to keep politics and fandom separate), but they can be hard to find when you have to sift through mountains of people using SM to get attention for themselves instead of whatever cause they claim to support. As for celebrities and the activist causes they claim to support... do you have the next three hours available? LOL! (There should be a class on how to discern which celebs actually care and which ones are just promoting causes for their image.)

In the interest of promoting actual activism, I'm going to break my 'only fandom' guideline. If anyone is interested in making a difference, check out the following article for ideas. (Basically, any article that advocates learning from Fred Rogers is a win in my book. LOL!)

Footprints were you tobelieve, could you trustenough to know you’reloved in ways no oneelse hasbeen, and though you’ve shoulderedlife’s pain the marks you’veleft on themap are notcoffee stains. pixabay

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Making a Difference

“I shall pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, let me do it now; Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” (Stephen Grellet 1773 – 1855) Is it possible to make the community where we live just a little better place? What can we do to make a difference in the lives of others? As Grellet suggested,…

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Love is a nutrient that can never be lost in life. Life is because of love, it becomes colorful; in the family, it is because of love, it becomes happy; in school, because of love, it becomes full of laughter and laughter of children; my life, it will become more exciting because of you.

A list of business that have taken the global shark pledge. Since 2011 consumption of shark fin soup has decreased by 80%. The Chinese word for shark fin soup literally translates to ‘fish wing soup’ and 90% of consumers had no idea it involved sharks at all. Through education, change is happening.