When I was a teenager growing up in Alvin, we attended the Apostolic Faith Church on Adoue Street.  I was active in our youth group and really loved our youth leaders, Gail & Tina MacLeod.  They spent a great deal of time sharing their faith with us and I’m grateful for that.  Gail was so funny, and I remember one of his sayings very clearly:  “Garbage in, garbage out.”  He really tried to impart the wisdom that we had the ability to control what we filled our hearts and minds with, and whatever we chose would surely show in our actions later.

My cousin posted this image on her Facebook page and it reminded me of the old youth group days and Gail’s wisdom.  I’m not familiar with the ministry from which the image came, but regardless, there’s a lot of truth here!  If you constantly feed on negative influences, it can’t help but affect your attitudes, your actions, and so forth.  But there’s hope in the fact that choosing to pursue a real relationship with Jesus Christ will do the exact same thing.  You’ll find yourself living a much more loving and peaceful life as you try to walk in His steps.  There will be challenges, for sure, but knowing that you don’t face them alone makes it so much better.