Tag: Faith

Wisdom from the Past: Psalms 94:19

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Once again we are going to harken back to the past to extract wisdom to help us through the present. Today we are going to lean on our Christian friends for some wisdom from the book of psalms. It is a remarkable resource for inspiration, in context. Keeping in mind it is a religious text/doctrine that celebrates god. Now some of my pagan friends would say “You mean A God” right? I’m not entirely sure, I suspect that god has manifested itself in multiple ways to spread the same message but that’s not what this post is about.

It is about faith and how faith can help you in great times of anxiety.

The Psalm – “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” 94:19

This psalm gives you insight in to the great value religion brings. Faith allows for remarkable outcomes for the spirit as you allow a higher power (real or imagined) to govern how events unfold. For those of us with Anxiety? This is an extremely potent tool. “It is gods will” is a remarkably empowering phrase. It allows you, the believer, to absolve yourself of the negative (or positive) outcome to nearly anything that happens.

Do you believe?

This is the hidden power of faith, now I concede that many who are not believers look at these notions and cringe. It is very simplistic and allows for many to absolve themselves of responsibility of their actions. I get that, this isn’t a post about religion and its value but more of how faith can empower you to overcome negative outcomes in your life.

The choice of faith, or deity is irrelevant really as when something happens in your life and its impactful you can ascribe it to said faith. This doesn’t work for the non-devout, make no mistake you can’t just turn this on tomorrow and expect to have great results. Faith is built through years of practice and being in the life. IF you are a person of faith, perhaps Psalms 94:19 will help you to get through your next bout with anxiety.

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Requested blog post: How can Christianity help me with Anxiety?

Posted on by Karac Avalron

This is not a sponsored blog; I am not being paid to do this. A reader whom I don’t know if they are subscribed or not asked me to give my thoughts on how, and why Christianity can help with Anxiety. I explained to them I was not a Christian and thus my opinion would not be based on credible experience. I don’t dislike Christians; I simply don’t believe in the notion that Christ was divine. We got past that large obstacle and the request stood, so here is the post.

I could scour the internet for witty quotes or sermons given by devout Christians but whenever I need an answer about Christianity or need to understand how things are rationalized in that faith, I find myself looking at the book of psalms.

Psalm 43.1

Vindicate me, my God,
    and plead my cause
    against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
    deceitful and wicked.

Faith is a strength, not a weakness

Faith in the Christian god is a great gateway to self-improvement. We have to acknowledge faith first, the concept of life, your life, being in the hands of a supreme being must be comforting. That doesn’t mean it is without trepidation. The same god gave you these emotions which, to many Christians is part of the larger test of life. In the end it’s been my humble experience that Christianity and its doctrine has an answer for everything that could possibly be troubling you.

As with Psalm 43.1 above, god understands there are those who are deceitful and wicked he has heard the prayers. The word “those” is the pivotal point of the psalm here as one normally assumes that it pertains to people or peoples but the breadth of faith allows us to extrapolate this to anything. The brick that is off color on your wall at work that sets off your anxiety might fall into this category.

God knows this, he understands you and it’s okay. It’s okay to be anxious, it is okay to feel abnormal, it is okay to not understand emotional responses you have that others don’t over similar events. God understands, and he understands you. To the person who asked me to write this thank you. For you specifically, the answers are in the scripture and your devotion to prayer and your quest to extract from said scripture as much comfort as you can. It’s all there for you, this is your faith, your god, these words are written for you to help you.

Me? You don’t need to worry about me, I appreciate your offers of prayers thank you. Serve your god and his will. Take care of yourself and yours and place yourself in a better position to help others as a result. In times of weakness or anxiety? Go back to the scripture, the book of psalms has so many answers for you, you will be fine.

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Quick post today: A rare commodity that everyone has

Posted on by Karac Avalron

One of the rarest commodities in the world is a second chance. Everyone has the ability to give this precious commodity but so few do. Should you? I don’t know, I don’t know the circumstances of your situation. Just remember that this commodity can be one of the greatest gifts you can give and could lead to fantastic future outcomes.

It can also be a huge mistake as it may be squandered and you might feel like a fool. Take a minute today and think about the 5 most important people in your life. I mean the people whom you absolutely would be in pain without. For me? It’s my wife, my 2 kids, my mother and my friend Shane. If something happened (and it has) in life where I was wronged by these people, I would extend to them this extremely rare commodity.

How about you? Is there someone on your list you haven’t extended this commodity to? It’s not easy is it? It’s something only you can give them, are they worth it? Is what they did to the point where they are no longer on your list?

The Human condition is a curious thing and how we cultivate our relationships have dramatic impacts on us throughout our lives. Giving a second chance is a priceless commodity, and you have it to give, are they worth it?

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Religion/Faith helps your anxiety

Posted on by Karac Avalron

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know I am not very religious. Monotheism is a relatively new notion in the human experience, one god who over sees everything. I believe that spirituality is derived from communion with god, or gods, or the spirit of god, or gods through faith. I don’t know if there is one god or a hundred. When I look at the billions of stars in the sky and wonder about other worlds and species I wonder if it’s the same god there etc.

A little bit of a tangent there so back to the topic. Regardless of your religion or faith most people who practice an organized religion have a remarkable resource to help with anxiety. I found a good article here. This article is specific to Christianity but the sentiment is really applicable to most monotheistic/temple oriented religions.

Faith is a pathway to hope

From the article:  “It’s giving people a sign of hope, not just through our words, but the church has an opportunity to give people a sign of hope by how we live,” she said. Jamie Aten, director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, told Religion News Service that congregations now are helping people deal with a wide range of mental health challenges. And the challenges that existed before the coronavirus haven’t just gone away, according to Aten.”

This really is a universal truth. Meaning first, the mental health challenges people had BEFORE covid still exist. Second, a group support network is a valuable, to be cherished resource to help you through hard times. It is perhaps the greatest benefit of organized religion, to have a group of likeminded people supporting one another. I know all religions have their own social dynamics, I know it’s not perfect. That said it’s more than a lot of us do have. You can be extremely spiritual and still be alone.

Faith is powerful, it helps in so many areas of life it’s hard to measure. It doesn’t really matter what faith you practice either. In my experience most of the major faiths we have today have similar doctrines which espouse helping others. You should use this resource if you belong to a church, a mosque, a temple. Given the breadth of mental health issues in our society the chances are that someone in your place of worship has similar experiences or is going through what you are right now.

Count your blessing and take advantage of this resource. As a wise Christian woman once told me “god is watching”. If that’s true, he (or she) is probably waiting for you to accept the gift of others generosity. Will you take it?

Interested in more posts like this one? Check out my post here.

Time = WYRD, WYRD = TIME

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Which do you prescribe too? “Well what does Wyrd mean?” Wyrd is roughly translated to old English as fate. The word in of itself is specific but the concept behind the word is a bit more vast. The theory of fate, in relation to time is that all things that happen in the course of your life is fate. Fate is an interesting concept. It is the belief that occurrences happen via the will of a super natural being.

Therefore, many pagan’s have odd relationships with time. Its not easy to explain but if you are someone who has given over to fate, you realize that events that occur today are intertwined with things that have happened in the past and WILL happen in the future. This leads to a lot of anxiety because you truly are cognizant of the moment. You know that what is happening now is part of a larger predetermined series of events.

You begin to extrapolate out what each event means and what it could mean going forward, or, even worse, you look back to see if you did something prior to lead to this outcome. It is a maddening cycle because as time goes on, the more you subscribe to this belief system it becomes a black hole of anxiety. I envy people of faith, whatever the discipline, because it requires a portion of yourself and mind to “give yourself over” to outcomes beyond your control.

So, is time even real? Is it all a predetermined series of events that you are just a participant in? Your will is irrelevant, you’re desire an aside, I don’t know…. Here is a link for you to look at If you are interested in more

From the link: “The procession of events in the world, and in any person’s life, could only be understood with reference to fate, but fate itself could not be understood. Those who practiced the magical art of seidr could sometimes see what fate had in store, but there was no particular rhyme or reason in why some particular outcome was fated when an alternative outcome was not. Fate had no moral significance, and there were no caring or cruel motives behind it.”

Is this all folly? Have I wasted all my time worrying about things I can’t control? Or is my fate to worry about it?