God blesses those who work for peace,
for ​they will be called the children of God.
​

What does it mean to be called a child of God?
Think about your own children or what it means to be your parent's child. 
Is there any greater comparison for us to understand the love of Christ?
There is nothing like the love of a parent for their child.
​

​"Blessed are those who mourn 
​for they shall be comforted."

Understanding this cognitive distortion is usually fairly simple to comprehend. 
We all know someone that is rigid in their thinking. 
It's their way or the highway. 
If you don't know someone like that - it may be that you are that someone. 
​

Labor Day Dad Joke:

A father said to his son, "You know, most people don't have to work today,
​ because it's Labor Day."

His son replied, "Then shouldn't it be called No-Labor Day?" 
​

​If you are working today, we at Your Praying Friend want to say a special thank you!
Thank you to our healthcare workers, law enforcement, military, retail employees, and so many more!
We need more hard working, dedicated employees, especially in today's society, when the government would prefer to incentivize you to stay home. 
​Nothing in life is free.
​Thank you! 
​

​"No matter how much you want something, laziness won't help you achieve it, 
but hard work will reward you with more than enough."

"You should grow as believers in all these ways, more and more. When you live in that way, it will show that you really know our Lord Jesus Christ. People will see that your life has good results."

What are the ways in which Simon Peter is telling us we should grow?
If we read all of chapter one, which is a very short chapter, we will see that he tells us to add faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, patience, devotion to God, kindness, and love. 
​

Pet therapy is a trending topic these days.
What started out as emotional support dogs has grown to encompass 
a whole array of animals. 
For the strangest support animals you can think of check out this article by Mariel Loveland
"10 Weirdest Emotional Support Animals that People have Actually Owned"
​

Aren't you grateful that God doesn't just tell us to figure life out on our own? 
Unlike any other religion, Christians have a personal relationship with a loving and helpful Father. One who is intrinsically interested in the innermost desires of his creation. 
He is invested in us. 
​

Catastrophizing is a common thought distortion. 
Catastrophizing simply means thinking irrationally about the worst possible outcome of an action or event. It can also involve making a very big deal out of something minor. 
​

For example: You overslept this morning.
Your automatic thought is "The whole day is ruined! My boss is going to write me up. I'm definitely going to lose my job. I might as well not even go into work today."
​

Which is a common indication of catastrophizing. If you catch yourself going from zero to ten, take a step back and question if you may be making a bigger deal than what is warranted. 

​Catastrophizing, like all other thinking errors, tends to ignore a lot of the facts. 
But that's why they're an error. And like any other error, they can be corrected. 
​