Author: Dalanel

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Blog Cleanup Complete

To date, Dante’s Optimism (formerly known as Dante’s Opinion and DALANEL), has produced over 1400 posts. Well, I decided that I want the posts that are published to better reflect this blog’s mission. This meant unpublishing over 400 posts. They are not deleted.

Instead, for a lot of these posts, they will find new homes in other blogs I have (but took down).

There are a few more tweaks I need to make, but most of the damage is done. This was an easy decision, quite honestly. I did this move, knowing fully that I was going to lose viewership. A lot of the posts I took down are some top ranking views (and even likes) in the blog’s history. But, ya know what, I want this blog to be what it’s named for. Some of the posts on here didn’t reflect that.

In the near future, I will announce where the other posts are going. I’ll be bringing back some old projects so I can still write those kinds of posts from time to time. My focus currently is getting the next newsletter ready so by July I might move on to those old projects.

Tuesday Testimony: Family United

This testimony is from CARM.

My name is Ada and this is my testimony as to what Jesus has done to better my life. Approx. 1 year ago my life was a wreck!!! I was pregnant with my second child, my husband and I were ready to give up our wedding vows. Our finances were at “0” even though we were working, and we were living at home with my husband’s parents!! I felt that things could not get any worse!!

I was raised Jehovah’s witness, so through out this time, I prayed and asked him to help me get through these troubling times. It did not help! I started to doubt that there was even a god, so I began to deny Him and depend on yourself. Things still got worse! Then my little sister and her husband, whom I had made fun of because of her beliefs, asked me to join them at their church on a Sunday. Feeling like all was lost, I gave it a shot!! That day the pastor made me realize that there was someone who did care all along, but I was denying him, Jesus!!! The people at the church were so loving, and sincere, that I began to cry my heart out!! I told my husband about what I had found, but unfortunately, he was still not willing to work things out. He was depressed, drinking heavily, and basically, did not care. So I continued to go the pastor and his wife for advice on my marriage. I felt so frustrated. They encouraged me to love my husband, even though I was angry with him; after all “Jesus is love”. So I did.

Approx. 3 weeks later I was filled with the Holy Spirit in front of the whole congregation, even though I was not baptized yet. I had been asking for forgiveness for all my sins, (trust me I have sinned!) and “he” forgave me!  I had never felt so happy in my life. I started to immediately see things in a different point of view, and I continuously prayed for my family’s salvation.

Well as of today, myself, my husband, two lovely daughters, and one baby boy one the way have been attending “First Assembly of God” church for approx. 1 year!! We are closer as a family than we ever were. We have our own home, finances are okay, and we are more active in the church than we would have ever imagined!!

I thank the lord for the opportunity to serve him. And I praise him every time I sit down at the dinner table, with my family to eat. The lord is good!! “Receive him and you shall receive power,” it is so true!!!

Tuesday Testimony: The Atheist Hears Jesus

This is from Testimony Share:

I was a church member going through the motions week after week, but in my heart God was a fictional character and the story of Jesus was nothing more than a myth. I guess you could say I was a church-attending atheist. That was, until early 1977 when I heard His voice call me by name and tell me something that jolted me into the reality that Jesus is no myth; Jesus is alive!

This may be challenging for some to believe but I can only tell you what happened that day, as honestly as I know how, and any doubt you may have, I pray, will be overshadowed by the living person of Jesus Christ. There was nothing I did to deserve this. I am by far the least likely person this should have happened to. I was not expecting it, never in a million years would I believe this could ever happen, let alone to me. I had never heard an audible voice before this and have never since that day. I still do not quite understand why it happened, but it did.

As a child I was forced into attending mass each week. It meant nothing to me but a waste of time. To me, those that believed in God were weak and ignorant people. In early 1977, 17 years old, I hit a pivotal point in my life and was in a very dark place, one in which the thoughts of suicide were frequently entertained and had been for a number of years. One day, while visiting a friend, her mom Marilyn, began telling me about Jesus and how He paid the price for my sins. She told me “for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life “John 3:16.”

But the fact was, I still struggled with the thought if God truly existed. And because of that I continued to make lots of bad decisions and hurt friends and others that were close to me by my actions. At this point I was at the end of my rope.

One day while driving home I began to weep, I felt like I had no one to turn to, so out of desperation I turned to the person Marilyn told me about. Marilyn said Jesus cared for me and loved me so much He died for me, so I began to cry out to God. As I pulled into the driveway, I began whispering “Jesus, I love you.”

I don’t know why but that is what I said. As I walked into the house and into my bedroom, I shut the door behind me, continuing to whisper, “Jesus, I love you”. I got about 2-3 steps into my room when suddenly, and as clearly as anyone speaks and as audibly as anyone hears, a voice behind me and slightly to my right, called me by my name, “Greg”, then He said, “I love you”. Startled, I quickly turned around to see who it was but no one was there. Again, with an external audible voice (I heard this with my ears), He called me by my name and said, “Greg… I love you”.

With no hesitation, I immediately opened my door and ran out of my room, took a left down the hallway, a right, a left through the kitchen, passed through the living room, and into the family room where my mom took one look at me and said, “what’s wrong with you, you look like you just saw a ghost”. I can only imagine what my facial expression looked like. In shock, I said nothing, but slightly nodded my head, no. As my mom continued to watch TV, I sat there in amazement pretending to watch TV too, but in fact, in that moment, I was jolted into the reality that there is a God and Jesus is real! There were no more questions in my mind; no doubt to His existence. But even more surprising was the fact that, at that moment, I realized it didn’t matter what I had done, how low I have stooped, how unfit I was, how underserving, how emotionally destroyed I was, or even how I felt about myself. I knew at that moment He deeply loved me, with a love that I had never heard spoken like that before. Someone who hated himself and everyone else. Someone who hurt so badly inside and terrorized by wicked memories of the past, that death seemed like the quickest way to make the pain go away. With just those words, my heart was changed and I felt hope and love for the very first time in my life. My shock and amazement suddenly turned into the most incredible love, comfort and peace, something I had never felt before.

You may be at a place in your life where I was, an atheist, or you may have doubts to the fact that God is real and Jesus is alive, or you may be hurt and crying out for help with no one else to turn to, you may have fallen and feel that God will not take you back, or what you have done in your past cannot be forgiven. Let me tell you what I can testify to. He loves you with an everlasting love, a love that gives life, peace, and comfort. A love that will pick you up out of the darkest place. Cry out to Him because He is listening, He cares, He is real, He is Alive!

Optimist’s Challenge: Be Kind, Honest, and Respectful

Optimist’s Challenge. What is it?

Well, as you should know by now, followers of this blog are Optimists. So now, this blog’s mission is to bring a positive spin to the world. You, as my fellow optimists like myself, can do something too. That’s what these challenges are all about. I’m going to challenge you and me to do better. Be better.

This particular challenge is an approach to life. I am calling us to be more kind, honest, and respectful to people.

Be kind to others. A smile. Holding the door. Letting someone into the lane on the street.

Be honest. Not necessarily brutally honest, but, take a dive and be more honest about how you feel about something. Let’s see if we can stop the white lies. Hmmmm!

Be respectful. Oh boy. People won’t see you eye to eye on everything. Nobody will. Our job is to respect that point of view. Not to bash (or be unkind) because of it. Race. Religion. Culture. Respect that. It doesn’t mean you agree with it.

You want the world to be a better place? Start with yourself. Take on this challenge.

Tuesday Testimony: Financial Stability

This testimony is from Testimony Share.

In 2012 I got fed up with my life due to two reasons, one being I was overworked with my job and the other being I could not get VISA to Canada after trying twice. So I left my job and started on a secluded life trying to make my living off my investments.

Every year passed by made it worse for me. I was already engaged in 2012 before leaving my job as well. By the end of 2015 I hit the rock bottom and I knew it was the end for me, I lost all my investments, I got so much trouble from my fiancé for delaying the wedding, I had no job, I was totally miserable. Even I have found the Lord way before in my life I did not care much even to go to Church. My mom is a devoted servant of the Lord and she kept me pushing and I realized I need to turn toward the God of Israel. I did so, I repent, read bible every day, pray to Lord, yet did not got to Church.

But Lord answered my prayers. I found a job in 2016 Jan, the job made me take a loan from a bank and I was able to do a wonderful wedding thank my Lord for that. I was able to make some new investments and now I’m having a good time with such as well. Now I’m about to leave my country and get employed in another better country. I know for sure Lord will provide me the best job ever there. I am happy, simply because of the Lord. Let this be a salvation to at least one person. Praise be to the Lord!

Optimistic News: Woman Fights for Chance to Donate Kidney

From the spicy named Sunny Skyz. We have a woman, Rebekah Ceidro, who noticed a friend of hers needed a kidney because of kidney disease. So, she simply said she would donate her kidney. She and her friend, Chris, were a match.

One problem. She was too fat.

I mean, you can try to sugarcoat it, but the reality was that, from a medical perspective, she had to lose weight in order to go through surgery. So, that’s what Rebekah did. Her motivation, beyond saving a friend’s life, was to be able to run a marathon.

By spring, Ceidro had lost 40 pounds. On May 7, she finished the UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh Half Marathon in three hours 14 minutes.
Great stuff. This was a double impact. She got herself in shape. She got herself in a healthier place. And now, she is in the preparation process to donate her kidney to save a life. Ain’t that somethin’?