True Positive: Day Seven – Prayer

July 13, 2017Leave a comment

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Prayer can be the most powerful and positive moments of our day. It is in this quiet time of solitude when we turn our hearts toward God, that we gain strength and direction for the day. E. M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty.”

What could be more joyful than coming before the High King of Heaven each morning and spending sweet time with Him! I encourage you to find a place and a time each day when you can be alone with God. David offers a wonderful example of a man after God’s own heart – a true man of prayer. He cried out to God when he was in anguish; he cast his cares on God when he was in need. He praised God for his attributes and thanked Him for his blessings. He sought God for direction, guidance and help. Truly prayer was a fundamental part of King David’s life and the secret to his success.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6,7

True Positive – Day One

July 7, 2017Leave a comment

True Positive - day one

FOCUS

Solomon said, “As a man thinks, so is he.” What consumes your thinking? If we dwell on fears and worries, we will most certainly become an anxious person. If we focus on hurts or frustrations, we soon become bitter and angry. Perhaps this is why the Bible encourages us to direct our minds and hearts toward what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. The apostle Paul encouraged believers to set their hearts and minds on things above. When we turn our focus toward the God who loves us, we begin to see life from a different angle and discover hope and peace in the process. Isaiah wrote:

“You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3,4

Today, consider what you are allowing your mind to dwell on and turn your heart and mind toward the God who is bigger than your worries.

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Are You Flexible?

June 20, 2017June 20, 2017Leave a comment

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A friend once told me, “A flexible woman rarely gets bent out of shape.” I like that! Plans change, challenges arise and mistakes happen. We must remain flexible in the process. A flexible woman looks for alternative plans and wise options. A flexible woman doesn’t sit back and say, “This is the way we have always done it.” She recognizes the opportunity to jump into action instead of stewing in anger or fear. An old Japanese proverbs states, “The bamboo which bends is stronger than the oak that resists.”

How do we grow to be flexible in God’s hands? It begins in our belief system. If we believe that God is sovereign and that He loves us, we can look to Him as the winds of change or challenge blow through our lives. Our faith changes the way we respond to circumstances. Knowing He is the God who sees all, keeps us from despair. We can respond to situations with the calm assurance that God will never leave us and that His hand will guide us. We can say to ourselves, “Although this is not what I planned, I can trust God will bring something good out of this situation.”

We can learn to be flexible and respond with grace when our eyes are on the Lord and our trust is in His plan. There are no guarantees about what tomorrow will bring, but we do know we are not alone in the battles we face. We can put our faith into action and move forward to make a difference in a seemingly impossible situation. The following poem reminds us of the difference our faith makes in how we view our circumstances.

My Father’s way may twist and turn,

My heart my throb and ache.

But in my soul I’m glad I know,

He maketh no mistake.

My cherished plans may go astraiy,

My hopes may fade away,

But still I’ll trust my Lord to lead,

For He doth know the way,

Tho’night be dark and it may seem

That day will never break,

I’ll pin my faith, my all in Him,

He maketh no mistake.

There’s so much I cannot see,

My eyesight far too dim,

But come what may, I’ll simply trust

And leave it all to Him.

For bye and bye the mist will lift,

And plain it all He’ll make.

Through all the way, tho’ dark to me,

He maketh not one mistake!

Author Unknown

We can trust God’s sovereign grace in whatever comes our way, and live with assurance that He will walk with us. We don’t need to fret or complain, just advance with a humble trust in the God who loves us and has a big and beautiful plan. Step forward, my friend, with your eyes on Him and your faith in the work He has yet to do in your life.

This is an excerpt from Positive Life Principles for Women. On sale now for $5. Click here for more info:

Pick a Few and Get Started!

May 30, 2017May 30, 2017Leave a comment

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When I was a young girl, my parents took us to Barnhill’s Restaurant in Akron, Ohio. It was our favorite place to eat dinner because the entrance of the store was filled with barrels and bins of every kind of candy you can imagine. After dinner, our parents would give us a little money to spend on candy, and we had a blast figuring out how we wanted to spend our money. It was overwhelming! How do you choose when there are so many options? Well, that’s the way you may feel about choosing Bible verses and passages you want to memorize. There’s so many good rich passages that it’s hard to know where to start. Yet if we want our minds to be filled with the beautiful truths of God’s Word, we need to choose a few passages and begin the process of committing them to memory.

Last week, as we examined healthy self-talk, I mentioned I would share with you some of my favorite verses. These are verses that I recite by memory every morning. I encourage you to begin keeping your own personal list of passages that will help you replace negative thoughts with positive truths from God’s Word. You will see that I use different translations for different passages. Generally, I like to memorize in New International Version, but sometimes I will memorize in New Living Translation or English Standard Version. Here’s the list of my daily seven:

Psalm 37:23-24 (nlt)

The Lord directs the steps of the godly.

He delights in every detail of their lives.

Though they stumble, they will never fall,

for the Lord holds them by the hand.

Psalm 62:5-8

Let all that I am wait quietly before God,

for my hope is in him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will not be shaken.

My victory and honor come from God alone.

He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.

O my people, trust in him at all times.

Pour out your heart to him,

for God is our refuge.

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Ephesians 3:16-21

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Psalm 23 (nlt)

The Lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows;

he leads me beside peaceful streams.

He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths,

bringing honor to his name.

Even when I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.

Your rod and your staff

protect and comfort me.

You prepare a feast for me

in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessings.

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the Lord

forever.

Hebrews 10:23-25

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (nlt)

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Perhaps you liked some of these verses. I know they make a difference in my thinking – changing defeat into hope and fear into strength. I encourage you to find verses that will encourage you and commit them to memory. For practical tips on memorizing Bible verses, check out Becoming a Woman of the Word.

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Healthy Self Talk

May 22, 2017May 22, 2017Leave a comment

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What are the voices that tend to creep into your mind? Maybe it’s the voice of fear that whispers, “What if ……happens?” Or perhaps it’s the voice of self-doubt which scolds you and says, “You’ve made so many stupid mistakes – you can’t do anything right.” Maybe it’s the voice that continually beats you up in your brain sniveling, “You’re not smart thin enough, you’re not good enough, you never do enough.” The voices we hear come in many forms and fashions, but we don’t have to allow them to grow into weeds and overtake our minds. Instead we can pull them out by the roots and replace these thoughts with the seeds of truth.

Whether we are weeding a garden or weeding out the negative thoughts in our brains, we can apply the three R’s: Recognize, Root out and Replace. It’s amazing how quickly a weed can grow in our minds without us even realizing it. When it comes to the real flower garden in front of our house, I literally think weeds pop up overnight. Given a few days, and some of those pesky plants can grow to become the size of small trees! So we must be vigilant and alert, recognizing weeds at the point when they first appear. The apostle Peter wrote, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).”

It’s inevitable – doubts, discouragement and lies will pop into our heads. How do we recognize them? We need to take a moment to consider our own personal reoccurring thoughts – the ones that seem to grow in our own garden. For me personally, I struggled many years with self-doubt in every area of my life, from my physical appearance to my capabilities to even my relationships. I first needed to recognize that these were unhealthy and destructive thoughts. They were doing more harm than good. Often we grow comfortable with our fears and doubts, and fail to identify them as weeds. We must recognize that they are not based on God’s truth, and have a negative drain on our lives. These negative thoughts also prevent good seeds from growing.

Stop for a moment and consider, what are some of the destructive voices you are allowing to grow in your mind? Once you begin to recognize your own personal brain-weeds, then it is time to root them out at the core. If you have ever tended a garden you know that if you just whack weeds off at the surface level, then they will return. We must dig them out from the roots! For me, at the core of my self-doubt was really the doubt the God loved me. I didn’t believe that He created me for a purpose and had equipped me with gifts and talents. It was time to weed out the deep roots of doubt.

What is at the root of the negative voices that pop into your head? Dig deep for a minute and consider the core. Dealing with the root system of the weeds in your mind, allows you to dig them out and then turn in a new direction. We must replace the old ugly weeds with healthy, vibrant truth. Where do we find that truth? The Bible reveals that God is love. His very nature is love. He is good, and He is faithful. He is able to do all things. Oh what powerful and life-changing seeds we plant in our brain when we know God’s word! I recommend choosing at least one verse to memorize in order to help you crowd out the weeds that want to grow in your mind. Ask God to lead you to just the right verse to help you.

Next week, I will give you some of my favorite verses which I have memorized to help me plant seeds of faith and strength in my mind.

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