5 soul care tips for a daily blast of fresh air

It's an old habit, but a good one. When I wake up early in the morning, I keep my eyes closed and check the weather in my soul.One morning recently my soul was foggy and gray.So I put on my soul-scientist robe and analyzed the foggy, gray cloud-cover hanging over me.It turns out it was the result of a blizzard of negative political controversy, winds of international doom-and-gloom swirling through the news, and a partially watched, late night movie serving up a storm of violent scenes.

You and I were never created to deal with evil

God had a good reason for telling Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their souls weren't designed to handle garbage.Neither are ours.Even though our souls are being restored, we do live in a world full of evil and can't escape the impact it has on the atmosphere around us. (Not to mention our own sins that can stain our souls if we don't bring those sins to Jesus.)To protect us, God has given us the cleansing water of His word, spiritual armor, promises to use in spiritual warfare, and will go before us and be our rearguard.And, YES, we do need to know something about evil if we are going to be a redemptive force in our world. If you fight sex-trafficking, you need to know the kind of evil systems in place that promote that type of evil. (Be wise about your research and be prepared spiritually.)Evil is one of the reasons you need soul care!You have to choose restorative soul care. Ya gotta clean up the atmosphere within.

5 soul care tips for a daily blast of fresh air

1. Be purposeful about setting time aside for soul care such as 30 minutes a day for a nature walk or quiet worship. Schedule it on your day planner. Otherwise, you'll wait too long and begin leaking negativity out on others.

2. Before you fall asleep at night, clean your soul through repentance, prayer, and Scripture reading.

3. When you first wake up in the morning, tune into the weather report in your soul. Based on what you find, be proactive and deal with the negative stuff through prayer and aligning your heart with God's.

4. Limit how much time you invest in watching or listening to news reports, people's problems, or the whining and critical attitudes often found on social media.

Being in full-time ministry for over 43 years taught me that helping people can be messy. Though you don't want to bail on people, you do need to balance the negativity with your own soul care if you want to have anything helpful to share.

5. Throughout the day, guard your heart will all diligence. Tune into your self-talk and mood to determine if you need a soul care blast of fresh air.

NOW... go out there and change those weather reports in your soul that tend to want to dictate your day. You've got this, girl!Hugs, Susan

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