Lifestyle Archives - Dr. Brenda Rambo Author

Clothes of Defilement

April 7, 2023 Filed Under: Lifestyle

A few nights ago, I had a dream.

The message of the dream was to get rid of clothes of defilement.

In the dream, I was going through boxes of old clothes and throwing away most of them. The message was to get rid of clothes that didn’t bring glory to the Lord.

At the end of the dream, boxes of orange prison dresses were brought in. Clothes of bondage. Clothes of rebellion. All of them were to be thrown out.

Clothes can symbolically represent a spiritual anointing, mantle of God’s glory, or gifts and talents. Clothing represents your public image. New clothes can reveal a hidden dimension of one’s personality so people can see us in a new light.

Changing of clothes can represent letting go of the old you, old defilement and being cleansed.

Ask the Lord to take you through your closet and show you what needs to go—the old, the worn out, the ugly, colors that don’t work for you. The old depressing garb you need to shed.

Break soul ties with some of your clothes and get rid of them.

You know colors you look great in. Wear those colors. Add color to your life. Throw out drab depressing clothes and colors. Lighten and brighten up your life. Look alive. Shed clothes of your depression.

Change your clothes—change your life. RETHINK YOURSELF.

Let God help you figure out what you need to change. Let Him show you your clothes of defilement. Two years ago, the Lord told me to get out of blue jeans and dress myself up every day. Not fancy—just decent and respectable. I started wearing old nice clothes that I didn’t wear much and it was amazing the change that made.

Get out of those disgusting stretch pants that are absolutely defiling for you and everyone who sees you wear them.

“Walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” (Ephesians 4:1)

—this certainly includes your clothes and how you present yourself to the world.

If you have enjoyed this writing, please share with family and friends, and go to my blog site and subscribe at Home – Dr. Brenda Rambo Author (drbrendaramboauthor.com). Comments and conversation are welcome.

The Magic of Productivity

March 25, 2022 Filed Under: Lifestyle

Good, old-fashioned work and productivity can take care of a multitude of grief and problems.

Thinking too much and having too much idle time on your hands can create a less than healthy emotional, psychological, and intellectual climate. When we are not productively engaged in work, intellectual pursuits, and taking care of life’s responsibilities, we can self-destruct.

As a psychologist, I have watched people who were suffering with depression, anxiety, regret, grief, and a multitude of other maladies common to mankind overcome and go beyond their issue into health and well-being simply by becoming productive—by finding something to do. Granted, sometimes the condition is very complicated and “good, old-fashioned work” will not solve the problem (because some psychological disorders are very complex and serious), but for most of us, becoming externally focused and busy doing things that keep our minds productively engaged helps us to stop internalizing all of our woes.

All of us have regrets about our past, concerns for our present, and fears about our future; but those thoughts need not cause a state of anxiety and depression.

So many people live in a constant state of worry and anxiety. Most of the people who walked through my door seeking counseling had a problem with anxiety, which comes from fear and worry. Sometimes people have had an anxiety state or depression since childhood, so their condition is not simple and may be hereditary.

But many people who are struggling through their lives could feel remarkably better simply by becoming productively engaged in a job or activities that are challenging or intellectually stimulating.

As a young woman, I went through a divorce I did not seek. I was devastated by this loss and was depressed and hopeless. I had just completed my master’s degree in psychology and wanted no part of going back to school, but I decided that in order to keep my sanity and keep my mind fully and completely engaged in productive endeavor, I would work on a doctorate. Perhaps by the time I completed the degree I would be beyond the divorce and would have retained and maintained my sanity; furthermore, I’d have a degree that would change my life.

All of the above was accomplished. The divorce ended up being one of the best things that happened in my life and earning my doctorate and becoming a psychologist was the best professional move I could have made. I came through my crisis without emotional devastation and grew professionally and educationally beyond my dreams.

Productive endeavor and challenge played an important role in turning a nightmare into God’s best for my life.

The more you are productively engaged in intellectual, stimulating pursuits and working hard every day to take care of your personal responsibilities, the less emotional stress and turmoil you will experience.

The result of good, old-fashioned work and productive endeavor works magic for your emotional and physical health.

If you have enjoyed this writing, please go to my blog site and subscribe at drbrendaramboauthor.com. Comments and conversation are welcome. You can also purchase Whispers of the Spirit, a devotional book, at this website.

Move Beyond Your Mold

March 19, 2022 Filed Under: Lifestyle

So much of life is spent doing the same thing the same way for decades.

We get so mired in status quo and the same ole same ole, that we put our lives on autopilot and blindly meander toward nothingness. We dress like we did years ago. Some have the same hair style they did thirty or forty years ago and we live life by ROTE.

Do we not want anything more?

Why are we so locked down in a life that’s not satisfying and fulfilling?

If you are perfectly content with your life, that’s awesome.

But for those who would like to experience something more, then you must make some changes. Start simple!

Change your hair. Change the style of clothes you wear. Find things that reflect who you are today. Get rid of what you wore decades ago and meaningless things that reflect the old you. Change up your home. Move the furniture around. If you have had the same furniture for years and you can’t stand it, give it to someone who needs it and buy yourself something new. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make some refreshing changes!

Take a look at your lifestyle. What’s working—what’s not. Change something. Change a lot of things!

Take a look at your health. What do you need to do to improve your health? Become a wellness seeker and try to eliminate or modify unhealthy habits.

The purpose of my writings is to help you choose abundant life and to live in a more fulfilled way. If I can motivate anyone to long for more and live life to the fullest, then I will have accomplished my purpose.

Move beyond…………………………

If you have enjoyed this writing, please go to my blog site and subscribe at drbrendaramboauthor.com . Comments and conversation are welcome. You can also purchase Whispers of the Spirit, a devotional book, at this website.

Stay Off Memory Lane

October 2, 2021 Filed Under: Emotional Health, Lifestyle, Spiritual

Today I am sharing one of the Whispers from my latest book. The post contains affiliate links.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which

God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

~Philippians 3:13–14

Wandering down memory lane seldom takes you to a good destination; rather, you end up on a dead-end street. Meandering through the mire of your past only gets you stuck in your regrets. You detach from My presence and lose your peace and sweetness of spirit. Your joy wanes and your spirit becomes deflated.

You will never understand why certain people were allowed to cross your path.

Some of those people were mean-spirited, backstabbers, betrayers, and deceivers. When you remember those relationships and painful experiences, nothing good comes from the process. Shake off their memory, forgive them, and pray for them. You can never anguish over or despise someone for whom you are sincerely praying. When possible, extend acts of kindness to them. When you love them in spite of the way they treat you, your obedience to Me blesses your life and theirs.

Thinking about the past and worrying about the future prevents living in the present.

You are given today to enjoy and be a blessing to others. You can only learn to live in the present as you forget about the past and trust Me for tomorrow. Glory in the moment and learn to see joy in all things. Readjust your attitude. See your life from My perspective. Do not hold back in any area of life. Laugh and rejoice, for you are a child of the King.

You are given today to enjoy and be a blessing to others.

You can only learn to live in the present as you forget about the past and trust Me for tomorrow. Glory in the moment and learn to see joy in all things. Readjust your attitude. See your life from My perspective. Do not hold back in any area of life. Laugh and rejoice, for you are a child of the King. Rejoice, I say rejoice and let bygones be bygones! Water under the bridge should no longer be your concern.

Take My hand and let us walk up the path to high ground together.

Keep your eyes fixed on Me, your heart attuned to My heartbeat, and let us scale the heights. Memory lane takes you nowhere, but My path will always take you to peace and joy unspeakable. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Your job is to press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you.

Do you find it hard to move beyond the past? What prevents you from living in the present?

If you would like to read more Whispers, you can find my book at www.drbrendaramboauthor.com.

Stopped to Smell the Roses

October 24, 2020 Filed Under: Lifestyle

Everyone I have talked to lately expressed weariness due to the misery of COVID overlay in all of our lives. Even for those of us who have tried to ignore it to the degree we can, we are all worn out with it.

Wednesday morning was a beautiful fall day, so I decided to go for a walk and take our dog Riley for his morning stroll. My dear friend Nola returned home the night before from a long overdue stay in Maine. I headed to her front porch for a visit.

Along the path, I stumbled upon some beautiful roses with heavenly fragrance. I actually stopped, knelt down and smelled the roses. The intoxicating fragrance drew me into a deep place away from the maddening reality of politics, COVID and all other craziness. Smelling the fragrance felt like a transfusion of joy and light.

How tender and sweet those moments were as I stopped to smell the roses.

In the Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron says, “stand knee deep in life and pay close attention to the detail. Survival lies in sanity and sanity lies in paying attention. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. Paying attention is an act of connection” (53).

Maybe if we took some time to “stand knee deep in life and pay close attention to detail,” and delight in little things, we would find much needed solace.

Let us press into the act of connection and pay attention to the details.

Ignorance is a Choice

September 20, 2020 Filed Under: Lifestyle

It amazes me how educated people can be uninformed about current events.

I thought one of the purposes of education was to encourage seeking of knowledge and information about the world in which we live.

I am constantly amazed how some educated people have no desire to know anything about the reality of America, politics, religion, and general information about what is happening in this country and around the world.

My dad gave me a passion for watching the nightly news and being informed about what was happening in our nation and around the world. I remember sitting with him watching the news on a black and white TV.

As a teenager, I remember sitting on the floor in front the television during the nightly news watching footage from the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the civil rights marches in Alabama, the assassinations of President Kennedy, Dr. King, and then Robert Kennedy.

There was a desire to know about current events and the history of the times in which I lived when I was young. It was a tremendous gift from my dad to instill in me the desire to be aware of current events nationally and internationally!

I have always watched the nightly news (unfortunately today we have to try to sort out the lies from the truth) and had a desire to know what is going on around the world. I do not understand not caring about our present or our past.

We need to be well-informed about many things. Do we live in such a daze that we are not concerned enough to know about what is going on around us?

I think the truth is many of us live under so much stress trying to survive daily struggles we don’t have much energy or strength left to care about anything else.

Stand Up and Be Heard

August 2, 2020 Filed Under: Lifestyle

It’s time for the silent majority to stand up and be heard!

Politics and people on the far left or far right have always been delusional, but I have never seen a time in America history when people are more wicked and destructive in their schemes and plans for destroying America.

Most hard-working Americans have taken care of their families and responsibilities and voted when the time came! We didn’t have time to engage in community, state, and national politics because we were too busy meeting the demands of life.

Because the silent majority has not been involved in governmental affairs, we have allowed the haters of American to rise up and shove down our throats their sick ideology. They care nothing about freedom of speech unless it is their speech. The pretend to care about life, but that’s a joke. It’s all a farce to cover up the real intentions and agendas.

All of us need to find ways to “stand up and be heard” while there is still an opportunity to do so.

By the way, I had a wonderful early voting experience recently. I showed my voting card and my picture drivers license to verify my identity. What a concept—show some identification! Then, I voted and printed off a copy of the results of my vote; thus, a hard copy. Not complicated! Then I scanned the results into a machine that tallies the vote. Should machines break down, there is a hard copy of the vote. How brilliant! No voter suppression, no stealing votes and turning in mail-in ballots from who knows who, just common-sense voting in a state that has been preparing for four years to make the voting process better. No chaos, no fraud, no stupidity!

Don’t you find it interesting that some states can’t seem to figure that out?

Be discerning about what you believe about anything these days. It’s hard to determine truth. Pray about everything and allow God to show you the truth and the lie. You will just know in your spirit when someone is lying.

If you have enjoyed this writing, please go to my blog site and subscribe at drbrendaramboauthor.com. Comments and conversation are welcome.

You can also purchase Whispers of the Spirit, a devotional book, at this website or you can find the book on Amazon. A Kindle version is also available on Amazon. Did you know that even if you do not have a Kindle, you can download a Kindle app for your PC, smartphone or tablet? Go to Amazon and search Kindle app and download the appropriate one for you.

First Meal from the Garden

June 13, 2020 Filed Under: Lifestyle

For all the gardeners who read my writings, I am here today to report we have just enjoyed our first meal from the garden. The other day my grandson Drew and I went to the garden to check it out and to plant okra. During our visit, I discovered some of the greens were ready to pick and radishes were popping out of the soil everywhere.

I picked radishes, red and green lettuce, purple cabbage leaves, and rainbow chard, and made a delicious salad. No need to go to a grocery store or farmer’s market to buy lettuce and greens for a salad. I have what I need for the summer.

Now the fun will be watching the carrots, spinach, kale, arugula, and various other lettuces become ready for harvest–not to mention beets, peas, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and various herbs.

When I have had all the TV “news” I can stomach, it is always refreshing to go to the garden and play in the dirt.

The smell of the soil and the growth of the plants always gives me hope for a new day. Tending to the garden in the early hours of the day helps me hit the reset button. Lately, I have needed to hit the reset button about every fifteen minutes.

When you have had all the current events you can stand, find a happy place to go and remove yourself from the insanity of our national trauma. I have never been so ready for baseball and sports to restart than now, and I’m not a sports fan. Maybe it would actually get people off the streets.

Better yet, open up the states and let people go back to work. States can let thousands of people roam the streets of America and burn businesses, yet they cannot go back to work. What have we become?

Maybe we all need to have a happy place to escape, to regroup, to refocus, and regain our sanity and a God-perspective. I don’t know about you, but I am so over COVID-19 and these protests that have evolved into violent acts of destruction and death.

Playing in the dirt, painting, and working on these posts keep me somewhat contained, but there has never been a time when I have felt this demoralized and enraged with civil disobedience as I do now.

My disdain for what is going on in America will probably permeate everything I write until I work through my rage as I watch our hardworking citizens lose everything they have worked for all of their lives go up in smoke at the hands of rioters. How does this honor the memory of George Floyd?

I am not sure how I started out in the garden making a delicious salad to discussing my rage over the business owners who have been destroyed by senseless acts of violence and those who have died, but here I am trying to tone down my rhetoric, yet ready to scream from the rooftop over all the injustice about which the media and others do not seem to care.

I am sure if I am this enraged by all of “this,” then many of you probably feel the same way.

Let’s march onward through another day looking for God in the midst of the chaos, ultimately knowing He sees and knows all things, and is in control. He is the only place we can find any peace.

If you have enjoyed this writing, please go to my blog site and subscribe at drbrendaramboauthor.com . Comments and conversation are welcome. You can also purchase Whispers of the Spirit, a devotional book, at this website.

What Is a Weekend?

June 4, 2020 Filed Under: Lifestyle

If you are a Downton Abbey watcher, you will remember the memorable line of Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) when she asked, “What is a weekend?”

Since COVID-19 (COVID), it seems like it is hard to know the day of the week, much less if it is the weekend. I have always lived with a calendar/planner with goals for the week and every day, and the month, and now—I don’t even know the day of the week!!

How many of you feel the same way? Does anybody really know what time it is. Does anyone really care?

(Chicago—Does Anybody Really Know What Time It is?)

I never thought I would crawl out of bed and not know the day of the week. This has been an amazing phenomenon to me. My husband doesn’t know what day it is either. My friends are asking, “What day is this?” This question is coming from people who know nothing but discipline and hard work, and yet, COVID has upended our world to the point most of us are wandering around asking, “What day is this?”

Every day feels like a weekend since COVID!!

COVID has given us an opportunity to stay home with no agenda, nothing “to do,” and certainly no place to go. For a workaholic, it has been wonderful to have no agenda for any particular day. It doesn’t matter when I get up or when I go to bed. It doesn’t matter when the day starts or when the day ends.

It has been awesome to pray and ask the Lord to direct my day, and THEN LET HIM TAKE CHARGE. For I have no plans.

For someone who has been a control freak, it has been so refreshing to learn a new way to live. I have learned to FLOW with the Lord and the day. To let the hours and activities UNFOLD before me.

Learning to flow through the day and not micromanage every minute has been refreshing.

Learning to live in the moment and enjoy every breath of life that God gives us is a wonderful new way to live. I regret that it took so many years to learn this marvelous lesson.

Let us all strive to live like every day is a weekend and enjoy life to the fullest. There is no need for self-imposed stress and anxiety.

Life is too short for stress and strain.

If you have enjoyed this writing, please go to my blog site and subscribe at drbrendaramboauthor.com . Comments and conversation are welcome. You can also purchase Whispers of the Spirit, a devotional book, at this website.

Search for Significance in Retirement

June 2, 2020 Filed Under: Lifestyle

My first few months after retirement, I wandered around amazed at how wonderful it was to have no clinical responsibilities and no overhead for the first time in 35 years. It was a marvelous feeling. I retired in April and headed to France in September with my daughter, and the trip renewed my love for travel.

We develop a new world view when we travel and see life with a new set of eyes.

After the wonder of the trip wore off, I was faced with a quest for significance in retirement. After months of regrouping, cleaning out the house, and purging all things irrelevant, it was time to figure out the purpose of my new life.

Finding significance in retirement has not been easy for me. For an overachiever, workaholic, and Type A personality, not having purpose and direction in retirement was not an option.

I published my last book at the end of 2016, and I paid for a WordPress website to be built with the intent of writing. The publishing of Whispers of the Spirit was such a devastating experience, that I froze up and refused to write until COVID. I heard God clearly in the past few months say, “Write.”

In France, I discovered I had a strong bent toward art and painting, but didn’t know I had any talent until I returned home and started taking art lessons. I was almost 70 years old before God uncovered the artistic gift of painting. It took a trip to France and strolling through Monet’s gardens and Impressionistic art museums in Paris before the gift of painting was extended to me. This gift had been lying dormant all of my life, and I didn’t even know it.

After three years of searching for significance in retirement, I have finally found myself. The plan and direction of the Lord finally makes sense to me.

What has God gifted and called you to do? It seems I ask you that question in some form every day, but I guess it is important.

Teaching Bible studies is probably the most important thing I do, but writing and talking with each of you everyday is the next most important thing. From the email and comments, I receive from so many of you, it seems like we are on a life journey of discovery together.

The more I write, the more I find my true self and my significance in retirement.

I don’t know what role painting plays in terms of significance, but I know I love the learning and discovery process. Maybe one day, after training with wonderful teachers, I will be able to truly capture the glory of God in the landscape and seascape with oil and canvas. But for now, I am a long way from that goal. But, nonetheless, it….

Gives me significance as I discover the joy of becoming an artist and venture into an unknown realm.

Search for your significance and fine your true self on the journey.

If you have enjoyed this writing, please go to my blog site and subscribe at drbrendaramboauthor.com . Comments and conversation are welcome. You can also purchase Whispers of the Spirit, a devotional book, at this website.

Clothes of Defilement

The Magic of Productivity

Move Beyond Your Mold

Move beyond…………………………

Stay Off Memory Lane

You will never understand why certain people were allowed to cross your path.

Thinking about the past and worrying about the future prevents living in the present.

You are given today to enjoy and be a blessing to others.

Take My hand and let us walk up the path to high ground together.

Stopped to Smell the Roses

Ignorance is a Choice

Stand Up and Be Heard

First Meal from the Garden

What Is a Weekend?

Search for Significance in Retirement

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