I received this in an e-mail today and it talks a lot about blessings. Which is always something to think about when you stressed. I don't think about this nearly enough.

WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN
I dream't that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.'

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them. 'I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. 'This is the Acknowledgment Section,' my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed 'How is it that there is no work going on here?', I asked.

'So sad,' the angel sighed. 'After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.'

'How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.

'Simple,' the angel answered. Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'

'What blessings should they acknowledge?' I asked.

'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.'

'And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.'

'If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.'

'If you have never experienced the fear of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.'

'If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.'

'If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare.'

'If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.'

Ok, what now? How can I start?

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

A Day Off

As I was talking about yesterday stress is something that I've come to decide is a part of everyday adult life. The stress started in college and then is a part of my everyday life and then last night as I was trying to go to sleep my mind started thinking about everything I have to do this week. My business has a booth at the Regional Business Expo so I was thinking about all of the things that are not done for that. Then I started thinking about some things I have to order for other appointments. That got me worrying. I have always been a worrier so I started to think about Matthew 6:25-34. This passage talks about not worrying.

I can tell you from my experience that worrying only makes things much worse. I have spent my life worrying and every time I do what I worry about never happens and it makes me more upset.

So I hope today when most people had a day off they spent it trying to be stress free and not worrying about what you have to do or about your life.

I know this, but it is an everyday challenge for me to not worry.

Stress

As many of you know I run my own business, Garcea Computers, LLC. One of the things I've been dealing with lately is a lot of stress. Running your own business isn't for the faint of heart. I was trying to think of ways to cut down on stress and I thought that writing a blog may be a good idea. So here I am. I thought I would talk about my business, and my life with this blog.

One of the ways that I've found to deal with stress is to sit down figure out what you're stressed about and then figure out solutions to the problems. My whole job is problem solving so for me it is easier to come up with solutions. Another thing that I've found that works pretty good is to make a list of these problems and even if you don't have solutions pray about them. Whenever I get stressed or am down I always think about the story of Job. Boy did this guy have a bad life. God allowed Satan to tempt him and he was afflicted with sores, his whole family was killed. That's a bad day right there.

The other thing that always helps me is to count my blessings. I am a truly blessed individual I have a wonderful wife and a great family and for that I am thankful.

So if you're stressed just think back and count all of your blessings. Also I have included a picture from Niagara Falls. Spending some time looking at God's creation always helps me too.