#december 26 2022

[dogstomp]

Dogstomp #2917 - December 26th

Patreon / Discord Server / Itaku / Bluesky

[summerlimeismethebrony]

@sullystar I finally did the thing!!

[mermaidinthecity]

December 26, 2022

[yahooanswersblog]

Derika James: Whos up ?

Me: For better or for worse (likely worse), I am.

[music-asylum]

December 26, 2022

[nymph1e]

It's that time again

[littlemixdaily]

December 26, 2022

[tv-moments]

Treason

“Episode 3”

Director: Louise Hooper

DoP: Balazs Bolygo

[alyandajsource]

December 26, 2022

[mildew-mop]

Can people like stfu about the myth that exercise is the cure to everything? Like no?? It is not???

I grew up thinking that constant pain when walking around is 100% normal and that the cure is just “exercise.” I was fat shamed (mostly by my parents) since I was barely 10 years old because I would complain that mild exercise would cause intense pain. I was consistently told that if I just exercised, it would go away. I was always described as “out-of-shape” growing up, because moving around on my feet hurt me.

I went through a phase where I exercised regularly (mostly running) and that didn’t do fucking shit. Exercise does not cure pain. It doesn’t make it easier to walk. It doesn’t un-fuck-up knees. At this point, I just cannot move around much and more people than ever want to drop “oh just exercise” garbage.

[crjupdates]

carlyraejepsen: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT! A not so accidental sunset kiss for Christmas. A stranger directed us. Luckily I like kissing him so I kept at it til voila! JOY to the world indeed.

[xaviergalatis]

[mermaidinthecity]

elliegoulding: 🌹🌼🌚🍻

[praisetothemosthigh]

How to Suffer... like a Christian

The concept "Good things happen to good people" and bad things happen to bad people, due to karma, or divine judgment is turned on it's head completely by the story of Job, Joseph and even Jesus.

The Story of Joseph is an example of someone who has done nothing wrong, yet he suffers at the hands of his brothers (sold into slavery) and Potipher (wrongful imprisonment). We know that God does not leave, no matter how dire his situation became, instead redeeming each evil, to elevate Joseph higher every time. He continues to make Joseph successful. As a slave and a prisoner, he is afforded responsibility and power, eventually ending up being one of the most powerful men in Egypt.

While Joseph was sold into slavery, he avoided being murdered by his brothers. While he was wrongfully imprisonment he avoided execution by Potipher. God was showing him grace,he didn't even know about at the time. And all of these awful events led to his ultimate ascension to power. He got a success story both in the spiritual and natural, but only becuase his success in the natural was necessary for him to fulfill his assignment. This isn't always the case, and we will explore that below.

Joseph again chose to live and serve others with integrity as a man who was blessed, not cursed, by his Lord.

The story of Job is my favorite in the bible. Job was a righteous man. God himself recognised this, and so did Satan. It is actually because of his righteousness that Job was hand-picked to have his life tested by Satan. His faith, trust, and reliance in God were put to the test.

Based on my own sense of morality and justice, I really struggled with this concept. That God would allow Satan to come into a righteous person's life and wreak havoc. It doesn't seem fair. Isn't God supposed to protect his children from Satan? And especially the good ones, right?

I have come to understand that human concepts of justice and morality will likely differ from that of God. God has a 360 view of the situation in comparison to our limited understanding of situations. We know Him to be just a fair judge and are advised not to lean on our own understanding.

In the end, good doesn't necessarily happen to good people and bad things happening in someone's life is not necessarily God's punishment. In Job's situation, he was put forward as one of God's strongest soldiers.

When looking at the lives of others, success doesn't necessarily mean they are experiencing God's favor. Hardship doesn't necessarily mean they are experiencing God's wrath. Sometimes God has chosen to give people over to their 'desires' as a sign of his displeasure, and to the world they may appear blessed and favored. This is why it is important we don't ascribe human standards of morality to God. In the end, God does set the record straight and advocates for Job when his friends are convinced he has done wrong. While Job's friends condemned Him, God was proud of him. It's a challenging story to read from all perspectives, but totally blows the Good vs Bad concept out of the water.

The story of Jesus also demonstrates this concept. By societies standards, Jesus himself was a social pariah. He was a foreigner wherever he went, he came from Nazareth which was a city with negative connotations, no real career, no monetary assets and wealth to speak of, unmarried and no children. In his day and age, he totally went against societies expectations of what it meant to be a successful man. It looked like his life was a failure. Yet we know, and Jesus knew that God was wholly pleased with the life of Jesus, despite the hardships he endured, God was pleased with the way Jesus endured these hardships. While the world jeered at Jesus, God was proud of him.

In the world's eyes, God had passed judgment on Jesus and he was to die a horrible death; it appeared that Jesus was forsaken. But Jesus and God knew that this was far from the truth. Jesus knew this because of the close proximity he had to God and didn't let the wordly standards and views, doubt his standing with the Lord. He knew his assignment and purpose, which included wordly condemnation and humiliation.

All of these men endured suffering and the disdain of society, not by their own strength but by leaning on God in their darkest hour. They're relationship with God was strong and strengthened by their situations, even when their relationships with people failed. It highlights the importance to be in close proximity to God as a Christian so we don't go running at the first sign of hardship and speaking to Him consistently. Another important take, is to not be judgmental of those around us. In the day of social media it is so easy to see the success of others - the new job, car, house, child and think Lord why am I not being blessed in this way. It is important to understand these things which we ascribe as "blessings" may not even be a blessing from God. Success and failure in the world and in the spirit, can look very different. Hopefully this challenges us to think about the way we view the success and failures of others in relation to ourselves.

Interesting spiritual side note: God and satan meet to discuss people. Satan is allowed to roam earth (ref) and is allowed to exercise power over us. The Bible tells us what to do, "Resist the devil, and he must flee." Ultimately, "Greater is he that is within me, than he who is in the world".

26 December 2022

[canylmazz]