Vol. 4 Issue 17: Rain is a good thing too...

All too often, our news, social media feeds, and even our conversations with friends and family are centered around anxiety-filling and rage-inducing content. It can be so difficult to believe good things happen every day when the things reported or shared are examples of the worst humanity has to offer.

That’s why we started Real Positive Vibes. We wanted to create a haven inside your inbox to share some good news with you. We hope that while you read our newsletter, you can recharge and feel refreshed.

In His service,

Chaplain Michelle

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About Us

The mission of Real Positive Vibes, RPV, is to help society move toward goodness, finding it within themselves by seeing it in others. RPV is a service of Church Builders Bible Training Center whose mission is to help each person discover their vision for life, find their passion, and focus their purpose. Our beliefs are interdenominational. We are unapologetic about our non-religious Christ-centeredness. Find out more: bibletc.com/vision

Let's prepare for good rain

When we discuss rain, we often think of it like a bad thing. But it isn't, rain like most things isn't bad or good in and of itself. It just is and how we respond to it or the circumstances that we meet it in color our perspective. So this week I want to talk about preparing for good rain.

When farmers pray and wish for rain, they don't just sit on their hands and wait for it to happen. They want rain to help their crops grow. So before they start hoping for rain, they prepare their fields: till the land, plant the seed, cover it if need need, erect a scarecrow to keep birds from eating it before the plants can take root. (Any actual farmers out there, forgive me, if I have oversimplified. I welcome your loving corrections.)

All of that before we water or look for rain, and remember this is rain we want, good rain that we need to make the seeds we've planted grow big and strong. So let's translate that principle to our daily lives. Often times when don't realize the difference between goals and dreams. A goal is desire that you have that you plan and prepare for. If we want our goals to become reality, we need to prepare for the rain. A dream on the other hand, is a wish that we don't actively pursue. We long for it, we want it but we don't do any to make it happen. We don't prepare for the rain.

A recent desire of mine is to take my vitamins more regularly. For months, it was more of a dream. I talked about it, I thought about it and I told myself hour great it would be if I did. But I took no action to pursue it. So recently, I decided to turn my dream into a goal. I moved my vitamins to my bedside because the calmest part of my day is the morning or right before I go to sleep. I still miss taking my vitamins some days and I have a long way to go to reach a daily and consistent habit but now I have prepared my fields for rain. My vitamins are at the top of my mind when I get up and if I miss them in the morning, I've made it easy for myself to have a 2nd chance before bed. Soon I hope to be taking them regularly, at the same time every day. When I do, my rain will have come.

Email us and let us know how you bring a little positivity to your life. We would love to hear it and we may feature you in a future issue.

Outreach

My Sister's Closet

My Sister’s Closet of West Michigan, is a service of Church Builders Bible Training Center to survivors of domestic violence, former incarceration, or other devastating tragedy to meet the need of one of the three basic needs of survival, clothing. Find out more and how to volunteer here.

Colorful Mumbai Overpass Goes Viral After Being Converted into Sporting Complex for Community

In the urban sprawl of Mumbai, kids have an awesome and surprising new place to play cricket and badminton—under a highway overpass.

Built beneath the Sector 15 Sanpada overpass in Navi Mumbai, a video of the kids playing went viral and drew the attention of other city administrators who celebrated the clever transformation of an unhappy space into one of real joy.

WWII-era love letters returned to family 80 years later: Good news

Tuesday marks the first Valentine’s Day Carol Bohlin, 76, will spend with her parents’ long-lost World War II-era love letters, thanks to the work of a dedicated heirloom investigator.

Chelsey Brown, a New York-based genealogist who returns priceless treasures to families, used her knowledge of tracing family histories to track down a descendant of Claude Marsten Smythe and Marie Borgal Smythe, a couple married in the 1940s. The letters were written from 1943 to 1944.

Baking helped her overcome addiction, so now she's using her bakery to help others

Just a few years ago, Janie Deegan was homeless and recovering from addiction. She found peace in baking and decided to open her own bakery. Now, she uses that business, Janie's Life-Changing Baked Goods, to help others — with an "open door hiring policy."

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