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Divine Opportunities
I'm so excited to share a brief teaching on divine opportunities (originally this appeared live on my Prayers for a Woman's Soul Facebook page). I also take time to pray about divine opportunities toward the end.
If you are reading this via email, please CLICK HERE to visit my blog and watch the video!
If you are reading this via email, please CLICK HERE to visit my blog and watch the video!
4 Tips For Being Positive When Life Is Hard {Give-Away!}
I love my sweet friend Tracie’s new book! It
encourages us to count the cost of negative thinking and to change the way we
think—and change our lives! Tracie is giving away a copy of her book along with a PDf study guide to one winner. Here’s Tracie:
We
all know life can be hard. People hurt us, the past haunts us, coworkers
mistreat us, parents don’t love us, friends don’t consider us, spouses don’t
honor us, children don’t appreciate or respect us, finances don’t support us,
and our health doesn’t sustain us. Sometimes having a positive outlook and an
optimistic attitude can seem impossible to achieve much less maintain. But even when life gets hard, we don’t have to
let our hearts get hard with it.
Whether or not our hearts and mind
stay positive in the midst of hard times is entirely up to us – but all too
often we let our negative thoughts eventually harden our hearts. Fortunately,
through the strength, peace and joy found in Christ, we are all capable of
shattering the hard shell on our hearts through intentionally choosing to think
positive. Happiness is a choice, not a by-product of a perfect life. So
regardless of what life brings, we can all choose optimism and joy if we so
choose.
The first step in pursuing a changed
mind and a changed life is believing it can actually happen for you. Below are
a few more tips to help you get started with your mind over matter
transformation.
1.
Don’t ask “why me”, ask “why not me”
Maybe
you’ve found yourself asking “why me” when life feels hard. When we feel
crushed under the weight of our problems, we can’t help but think life is
unfair, and maybe God is even unfair since He’s allowing such adversity in our
life. But John 16:33 says,
“ I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I
have overcome the world.” When I read this verse recently, I was
drawn back to the word “all”. We could assume Jesus meant “all this”, to
refer to “all this instruction I’ve told you”. Or we could interpret it to
mean, He told us ALL that we would have troubles, which we do.
But at
times we might still wonder why others aren’t taxed with the same troubles
we are, or maybe it seems we have more than our fair share, leading us to
entertain that life is indeed unfair. But the fact that we ALL have
difficult circumstances, doesn’t that actually make life fair? You see,
God doesn’t pick favorites, and it wouldn’t be fair for some people to have
trouble and others have none. So with that in mind, shouldn’t we consider “why
not me?” instead of “why me”? When we are struggling, it helps to remember God
is a fair and just God, and He loves us as much as anyone else. All of us get
an equal share of His strength to face whatever circumstances are happening in
our lives.
2.
Count your blessings.
Sometimes
the hurt or pain life inflicts seems like too much to handle and fears can
threaten to paralyze us and steal our hope. Been there, done that, and bought
the t-shirt. But during one particular season when life was more difficult than
ever due to a painful situation in my marriage, I decided to start keeping up
with little daily blessings God was giving me in my journal, as opposed just to
pouring out my thoughts and anxieties each day. I soon realized that when I
focused on my blessings, I felt more positive, even if my circumstances
remained the same. As I spent time counting my blessings, I spent less time and
energy counting my losses, which helped to boost my spirits throughout each
day. And my faith.
3.
Don’t let your fears overtake you.
I am a
worrier. I can’t help it. It’s a problem. I try not to, but I do. I love the
Lord and trust Him, but my mind still gets lost in fears from time to time. When
I can’t control a situation, I tend to think of all the worst case scenarios
that could happen, and then my fears start growing like a thick vine strangling
the life out of a fencepost. Maybe yours done too. After all, we’re only human
and life often gives us a lot of reason to worry. On days when I find myself
feeling burdened with worry and letting my mind run wild with possible worst
case scenarios, I recall the hope found in Psalm 23:4 says, “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.” It’s
such a sweet verse to tuck into our hearts when we are feeling afraid of the
unknown. The truth is … the “unknown” is probably not near as scary as we think
it might be.
4.
Commit to being positive, even if you have every
reason to be negative.
It takes as
much energy to be negative as it does to be positive, so why not put our energy
into something that will bring joy into our life instead of discouragement and
pessimism? This is one tip I forced myself to put into practice in my own life
during the most difficult season of my life, as I was spending a lot of time
being negative, obsessing over hurt and fears, and letting negative emotions
and worries and fears control my life and my happiness. I finally reached the
point where I was fed up with feeling negative and sad, and ready to start
enjoying life and being happy again. I made the choice to be positive, even
when my circumstances were so less-than-positive. It wasn’t easy, but it was
worth it, and it changed my life. When I chose to take control of my mind and
my thoughts and my own happiness, I was released from the bondage the enemy had
over my thinking patterns and my joy. The same is possible for you, my friend.
If you so choose it to be positive today, no matter what.
We can’t
change our circumstances or have control the situations or people in our lives,
and God may not change them right away either, no matter how much we pray about
them. But what we can do is stop obsessing over what we can’t change, start
focusing on what we can, and letting God handle the rest.
We can
trust God has a plan that we can’t possibly see right now – a good plan to help
us prosper, have hope and a beautiful future. We can believe He has a purpose
for the things that happen in life, and that somehow He will use it for our
good. We can ask for God’s peace, instead of letting negativity and pessimism
and worry become a toxic illness in our hearts, minds and lives. We can ask for
Him to let us feel His Presence so we know we’re not alone. We can ask for
spiritual eyes to see when He is blessing us in little and big ways, and we can
always ask for a thank-full heart.
There’s a
lot we can’t control, but what we can control is our thoughts, which in turn
controls our emotions, giving us more control over our lives. Loving God in the
hard times is not always easy, but it always worth the effort. Once you begin making these 5 tips a
part of your every day life, you will be on the cusp of experiencing a true
mind over matter transformation. When you change the way you think, your life
will take a turn for the better.
Reading this via email? CLICK HERE to visit my blog and leave a comment for YOUR chance to WIN!
Give-Away Instructions: Please
leave a comment along with your email (so you can be notified if you
win!) on why you need Tracie’s new book and study guide. WINNER will be
randomly chosen and notified via email.
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