Tag: Karol Ladd
Finding Courage to Move Forward
Fear tends to grip all of us in different areas and at different times in our lives. When we allow it to get the upper hand, it captures us in its net and keeps us from experiencing the abundant and fulfilling life God intends for us. “Where fear is,” the philosopher Seneca said, “happiness is not.”
The story is told of an old farmer who was sitting on the steps of his rickety shack when a stranger approached. Trying to initiate conversation, the stranger asked, “How’s your wheat coming along?” “Didn’t plant none,” the farmer replied. “Really?” said the stranger. “I thought this was good wheat country.” “I was afraid it would rain,” the farmer said. “How is your corn crop?” the stranger persisted. “Ain’t got none. Afraid of corn blight.” “Well, sir, how are your potatoes?” “Didn’t plant no potatoes either. Afraid of the potato bugs.” “Well, then, what in the world did you plant?” the exasperated stranger asked. “Nothin,” said the farmer. “I just played it safe.”
Oh, the stifling effect fear can have on our lives! Take a moment to stop, think and pray about an areas in your life where you are allowing fear to rob you of your joy – or worse, rob you of your desire to use your gifts and talents. It has often been said, “Courage is not the absence of fear; rather it is the ability to take action in the face of fear.”
This week, take an honest look at your fears and make a decision that you will not allow them to control your life. Instead turn your eyes upward and remember that you are not alone. Ask God to guide you and give you strength as you use the gifts and talents He has given you. Step forward one courageous step at a time.
For more positive insights check out: The Power of a Positive Woman
Make a Positive Impact Today!
Does your heart bleed like mine when you think of children caught in the cycle of poverty? Several years ago I started Engage Positive Parenting Initiative, an outreach that is making a difference in the lives of parents and children in areas affected by poverty or adversity. Today, (North Texas Giving Day) we have you have the opportunity to help.
- $25 provides 25 Engage Parenting booklets
- $50 provides a class flip chart and certificates for parents
- $100 trains 4 volunteers or provides snacks for an entire session
- $275 provides for all the needs of an entire 8-week class
We invite you to participate. Engage Positive Parenting is part of the Women’s Non-profit Alliance, so the link you will use will be slightly different than the other links for North Texas Giving Day. Here’s the link to use:
http://womensnpa.wpengine.com/donate/north-texas-giving-day
Be sure to enter Engage Positive Parenting for the organization.
Thank you for your generosity and your commitment to Engage. We would be honored if you shared this info with your friends and family to let them know about our program. Please visit www.engageparenting.com for more info about this wonderful organization.
If given the opportunity to choose our path in life, most of us would pick the easier road with less bumps, pot holes and challenges. I know I would. Simply put, few of us would deliberately choose a difficult journey in life, one riddled with heart ache, pain and loss. Yet in a way, if we choose to be compassionate people, we are choosing to join into someone else’s pain. The word compassion actually means “with suffering.” The root word passion comes from the Latin word “suffering.” If we want to be compassionate people, then in a way, we are inviting suffering into our lives – the suffering of another person. How far are we willing to go to reach out and touch the life of someone else?
Recently I heard the results of a study by the Cato Institute stating, “Poverty is perpetuated through poor parenting.” That statement stuck with me. I must admit, my heart grieves for “at risk” kids who have little hope of breaking through the cycle of poverty. As I began thinking about what I could do to make a difference, My mind was flooded with the thought, “Karol, you go all over the nation teaching men and women how to be positive parents, why aren’t you going to the impoverished communities in your own city?”
That prompting led me to write a discussion-style curriculum for parents. The lessons enable moms and dads to recognize their responsibilities in raising their families, and guide them to positive action steps. With the concept in place, my next step was to figure out where to implement this unique parenting class. I didn’t know where to go, so I prayed and asked the Lord to show me. Funny thing, I opened up the newspaper and saw an article about Buckner Children and Family Services of North Texas. Buckner has an outreach program in one of the housing developments in Dallas. With a little bit of fear and trembling, I emailed them and asked if they were interested in parenting classes.
They said yes! Oh my, now I had to take a step of faith and step out of my comfort zone and into the lives of men and women that I had never met. I knew that I didn’t understand what their lives were like, but God did. So I prayed for God to love through me and make this a fruitful and meaningful time together with the parents. He answered that prayer! Since our start 4 years ago, God has done an amazing work and has allowed me to build bridges through loving relationships with the parents in the community. I call the program ENGAGE Positive Parenting Initiative, and we have trained over 60 volunteers and have touched lives in 12 different locations around Dallas and Fort Worth.
It’s time to build back the strength of the family in communities across the nation. I feel like a woman on a mission! Where is God calling you to take a step of faith and step out of your comfort zone?
If you would like to join in our mission through volunteering or praying, we invite you to join us:
We are participating in North Texas Giving Day on Sept 22. Here is the link and be sure to choose Engage Parenting in the Organization box. http://womensnpa.wpengine.com/donate/north-texas-giving-day/
When we walk in a room and switch on a light, we can be thankful for an unlikely genius named Thomas Alva Edison. Moving pictures and audio recordings are also a result of this one man’s perseverance. With very little formal schooling, and numerous mishaps and failures, few people expected young Thomas to amount to anything at all. But…he had a mother who looked past his shortcomings and saw his potential. He spoke with affection about her, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”
Thomas was a curious boy and his mother had every reason to be discouraged about his actions. He burned down the family stable and was kicked out of school, yet his mother Nancy, a devout Presbyterian with a formal education ,was able to put her education to good use by teaching “young Al.” Thomas was an ambitious entrepreneur and started a small business selling newspapers on a local train, but he lost his job because he nearly blew up one of the train cars with his science experiments. His life was marked by many other failures and mishaps, but oddly that’s not what we remember about him. We remember him for his successes. Aren’t you thankful for the influence and leadership of his mother who taught him to look at each failure as an opportunity to learn and grow and discover new things.
Edison had a unique drive and perseverance that kept him learning and growing despite his mistakes. He didn’t allow discouragements to linger, rather he pushed forward with curiosity and commitment. On the 50th anniversary of the electric light bulb, Henry Ford organized a celebration of his dear friend Edison. President Herbert Hoover spoke about the variety of ways that the electric light had made life better, “It enables our towns and cities to clothe themselves in gaiety by night, no matter how sad their appearance may be by day. And by all its multiple uses it has lengthened the hours of our active lives, decreased our fears, replaced the dark with good cheer, increased our safety, decreased our toil, and enabled us to read the type in the telephone book.”*
The light bulb represent countless hours in the laboratory filled with failed experiments and frustrations. When asked by a reporter with the New York Times about the seemingly incredible difficulties associated with developing the light bulb, Edison responded, “I have not failed 700 times. I’ve succeeded in proving 700 ways how not to build a light bulb.” What an extraordinary perspective! Can we look at our mistakes as successes, or are we so caught up in the disappointments and frustrations that we can’t see the positive aspects of our failures? As leaders, let’s determine to look at life with and attitude that includes the joy of learning and the opportunity to discover the lesson behind each challenge and mistake.
*Herbert Hoover: “Address on the 50th Anniversary of Thomas Edison’s Invention of the Incandescent Electric Lamp.,” October 21, 1929.
This is an excerpt from Positive Leadership Principles for Women.
Positive Woman Connection 