Take it or Let it go

How far you grow and how far you go is not just determined by what you believe in God, it is equally impacted by what you believe about you! 

Proverbs say it like this: as a man or woman thinks in his or her heart so are they!

You will always behave in a way that is consistent with how you see yourself. 

So it is possible that there is a gap between what God thinks about you and what you think about yourself. 

God is attempting to align what He thinks about us with what we think about us/ourselves. So that we can behave in a way that is consistent with the way He thinks about us and not just with what we believe about ourselves.

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really, I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have aTERRIFIC day and start trying to act more like what God says about you. #peacelovekindness #lifeisgood

Is the way of life that I am choosing producing the future that I want?

Tomorrow is going to come no matter what you do, but we have the power to chose the future we desire. And if you are not choosing it you are entering the wrong one.

 If you just let the future happen you will never end up with the future you wanted…
The future doesn’t just happen, humans make the future happen! We have to be intentional about where you want to go. If you are wondering why you are where you are today and your asking yourself why did this happen to me? It’s because the future happens by the choices you make and if you don’t make the choices consciously you end up defaulting to the worst choices possible.

If you don’t choose to choose, you will create a life you never wanted and you won’t know how to work your way out of it because those choices will become a pattern in your life and you won’t be able to see that the choices brought you there and what choices can get you out…

A lot of us are afraid of the future because it’s different then the past, so we don’t want to choose to move forward. The future doesn’t just happen, you make the future happen. The future doesn’t just come to you, the future waits for you. The future is waiting for the person who has the courage to create it.. You need to choose the future ever single moment of you life.

I wonder what choice God is waiting for you to make right now? What is the choice that will open up the future for you? Maybe you just didn’t know that what you are doing right now is creating your future. 

Are you aware that you are a creative being and every choice you make creates a future you will have to live in and others will be effected by.  We are not disconnected from our future and don’t think we cannot do anything about it..  God has a future planned for us and you are a creative being and your choices are your most spiritual activity and they are your power go take your future.. 

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really, I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have aTERRIFIC day and start choosing your future. #peacelovekindness #lifeisgood #bettereveryday

Have you heard this said to you or have you said it to someone? Heard Steven Furtick do a sermon on it and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I’m sure you thought of someone or yourself speaking loudly in a quiet place or even at home… Me too… But what about your inside voice, the thoughts in your head, what is that voice telling you??? This is what the point of the sermon was.. What is that inside voice saying to you?

We hear so many things in this loud world today that it sometimes is so hard to use your inside voice. We hear so many conflicting things about this virus, the election, and so many other things sometimes listening to that inside voice can be almost impossible.. What you look at on a daily, minutely basis is blocking that voice from the inside. Listen I’m not saying everything out there is bad but just take note of what you are filling you mind with so you don’t block out your inside voice.. What are you telling yourself?

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really, I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have aTERRIFIC day and fill your world with kindness… TTFN #peacelovekindness #lifeisgood #bettereveryday

Ephesians 5:20 – “Giving thanks always to God for all things….”

Thankful, the word that can change so many things in your life.  Its so easy to just go thru life not realizing all that is done for us by God and others, I did this for years as a young man..  I can only speak for myself I was just working and raising my family and not even thinking about this word thankfulness.  Not that I was doing anything bad or wrong, working and raising my family is what I was called to do.  I was working hard trying to make enough to support my family, just going thru these things and not taking time to be thankful isn’t a sin but its also not really working on being a happier and better person, husband, father, or friend.  

There are many studies about thankfulness and happiness going hand and hand.    I have heard that taking a few moments to be thankful for the things and people in your life can really change our attitude.  It seems that I have seen a lot about keeping a gratitude journal right now, taking a little time each day to write something in it you are thankful for.  In Robin Sharma’s book ‘The 5 am club’, one of his recommended morning routines is exactly that, spending a little time each morning writing something down you are thankful for (I great read by the way.).  Many studies from places like Harvard, Baylor university, Forbes magazine, and numerous others have written about this correlation and have all come to common answer that being thankful can help in so many areas of your life, some even suggest longevity is effected.  Now I am no doctor or am even saying you will live longer, but I am saying in my life I have experienced happier day when I take a little time to be thankful.

The verse I started with is this chapter say exactly what I believe we need to be doing.  There are others, 1 Thessalonians 5:18; “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”; Philippians 4:6; “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”.  These verses say it better than I could, that’s why I have put them in this chapter.  I want you to know I understand sometimes things are easy to say but sometimes much harder to execute.  I have been trying to write these things write this book for over at least 3 years and I thought for sure when we were under quarantine I would have the time to write it, well here I am 1 1/2 years from the start of this whole pandemic and I am still trying to get these words on the paper…  

We are all busy and I am the master of making excuses why I cannot start doing something, but we must just make a decision and start even if its just one thing to be thankful for each day, you will be surprised how much it can change how you feel.  

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have aTERRIFIC day and fill your world with kindness… TTFN #peacelovekindness #lifeisgood #bettereveryday

Sight a word that we probably don’t think of much unless your vision is impaired for some reason.  As in you wear glasses for any reason at all.  For me its started about the age 45 or 50 I can’t really remember, but I started to notice that while reading I couldn’t quite see the same as I use to.  I didn’t notice it all at once tho it just gradually got more difficult to read things.  And for me being who I am, I didn’t say anything I just tried to push thru and not let anyone know..  Now this sometimes created some situations that were a little uncomfortable as you can imagine because when you need to read something and you can quite make out the words you try guessing and sometimes that doesn’t go really well…

Then I noticed one time when I was holding the phone up to my wife’s face for her to see something on my phone she pushed it away and said it was too close for her to read..  Awe she was experiencing the same thing as me and she hadn’t said anything either…  Now that made for a funny conversation of us both confessing out shortcomings.  Awhile after this conversation I had realized something, I had lost a vision God had given about writing this book. 

There are quite a few verses in the bible that speak about the blind being healed.  Luke 18:35-43, this blind man was cried out to Jesus and he received his sight.  Have I lost my sight for the things above and don’t even know it?  I know when I first became a believer in God I had this clear vision of who He was and that I could go to Him for all things, has that diminished.  Have the words I have been using caused my sight to go dim.  I have notice with my natural vision that if it is brighter in the room I can make out the word even without my reading glasses.  Has my sight for God gotten dim because I have gradually stopped looking to the light?  Has events in your life, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, sickness, the pandemic, or even the social events of the world cause me to loss my sight of God or a vision He has given you.  Have I been focused on these issues instead of looking to Him?  Have you been repeating these words from these event over and over again until it’s caused you to only see and think on them?  Familiarity in our lives is how we can get so comfortable in our lives that we are not willing to see the possibilities around us.  It blocks our faith.  We can only see what we are familiar with that we cannot see the new, our sight is clouded with the past, not even aware of what is happening now. 

The good news is that we can call out to God as this man in the bible verse mentioned above did and we can to receive your sight again.  Now you may not have your natural sight restored, but you can have your heavenly sight restored.  God can and will if you ask and have faith that He can restore that sight that you once had as a child.  It says in Luke 18:42, his faith has made him well.  Yours can do the same.  I want God to restore my sight so I can have a clear vision of Him and not allow these events in the world or in my life change the story He wants me to share with the world.  Be brave and cry out to God to restore our sight so we can make an impact in this world together.

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have aTERRIFIC day and fill your world with kindness… TTFN #peacelovekindness #lifeisgood #bettereveryday

1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice always”

Rejoice always seems simple enough but not always easy.  Depending on what is going on in your life at the present moment, rejoicing might seem like the last thing you want to do.  This word isn’t very common in todays world, we just don’t hear it a lot.  It shows up a lot in the bible but I just don’t hear it spoke of very often.  Such a powerful definition; to feel joy or delight now who doesn’t want more of that?

It seems with so many things going on in the world today joy just seems to have taken a back seat.  I do understand that there are times when we don’t feel joy because of a something happened in you life that causes pain or sorrow and we must acknowledge and process that.  And it has been a long season in dealing with this COVID virus and has taken a toll on many of us causing us to loose our joy.  And I am not saying we should suppress any of our other feelings because they have to be expressed also, but we definitely don’t need to continue in them forever.  I have been dealing with this also in my life, I thought for quite awhile that we were eventual going to go back to normal.  I mean this COVID thing was going run its course just like all those other viruses did and we would be back to the way things were.  Wrong, according to scientists this virus is way different.  Now I am not here to debate the virus I am only discussing how I had miss place my joy for awhile and understand how you could have to.  

But this word rejoice has some power to it.  Let’s look at the first part of the word, re- mean; once more, afresh.  So it seems like a perfect fit for all of us that are experiencing some sort to of other emotion that we cannot seem to shake.  We can once more start to feel joy, we can rejoice..  Now as I started in the beginning of this chapter its not always easy.  One big thing that has helped me is to move my body or change the expression on my face, smile and do it with intention.  And that means do it with purpose, think about it while you are doing the movement or the expression.  This will help take your mind off whatever emotion you where stuck in.  Then as you are moving or smiling replace that old emotion with something you can laugh about, some thing good that happened or some thing you are grateful for and now how are you feeling?  Are you rejoicing?  Have you once more found your joy?

Now I am not saying we are going to be rejoicing all the time or that we should even be, but I just feel its time to start rejoicing more often or once more.  God want us to experience joy in this world and he want us to spread that to others so maybe today you can share a smile to a stranger today and it would make they’re day better. 

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have aTERRIFIC day and fill your world with kindness… TTFN #peacelovekindness #lifeisgood #bettereveryday

Direction, a word that many of us don’t like to use, can be difficult to ask for and difficult to accept.  Especially for men.  So are you asking?  God will not always make it clear but I’m sure there are many people in your lives that sure will be happy to tell you where they think you should go..

Many times God gives us a command but doesn’t give us direction.  Look at Peter, (Mathew 14:28-29) he was told to come when he asked if he it was possible bid him to come.  Jesus didn’t give him direction he just said come..  Didn’t say how just do…  Many times in my life God has given me command and I wanted a direction and confirmation.  I would ask God to give me a sign of some sort, but the command was the sign…  So what is it that you have been hearing in your heart and what are you holding back from God.  Mine has been to write this book.  I knew for quite a few years God was pushing me to write these things I have been learning in my life with others thru this book.  I just kept pushing those feelings aside having excuse after excuse, I don’t have time, I need to be spending this time with my family, I need to exercise, I need to help this person.  All good things, just not the most important thing, the thing that God was wanting me to do.  In the bible there is a story about these two sisters, Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42.  Martha is doing all kinds of good things, except “Mary has chosen what is better.”  This has been good for me as of late, I was doing good things but not the better thing which is that what God had been asking me to do.  What is it that he is putting on your heart?  Have you been pushing it aside like me?  And maybe it has been so many years ago and you have ignored it so long that you don’t even have a clue of what it is any more.  Maybe you feel you have never even heard from God before.  It’s okay, God is a patient Father waiting and wanting you to recognize what He is asking you to do.  It may take you some time, prayer and meditation but don’t beat yourself up about it.  God isn’t, he loves you the same as He has since the day your were conceived, “even before you were in the womb I knew you.” Jeremiah 1:5.  So just start today by having a simple conversation with God asking him to reveal to you that which He wants you to be doing.  Sometimes it’s just a come like what Peter heard in the boat, and that is all he expects of you.  Many times it’s a very simple command.  I am not saying it’s going to be easy, but simple isn’t always easy.  Simple things don’t always feel easy because we haven’t ever done them or done them much.  Many times we allow our excuses get in the way from doing these simple things God has asked us to do.  Just like me, I procrastinated for a long time before I started to put pen to paper.  It’s all okay, if you are still breathing you still have time.  God is still counting on you and will help you all along the way if you let Him.  What is God asking of you and more important are you hearing what He is telling you.  It may not always be a clear direction, but if obedient to His command the direction will come once we start following His command.  So let’s be brave and take action  towards where God is calling you to go or do..  Together with God we can be the change this world needs..

Multiply a word that we only think of when we are doing math equations, but it is a Godly word that He wants us to think of on a daily basis.  A parable in Mathew 25:22-28, Jesus talks about a master that leaves his talents with some servants for them to take care of for him, after he returns, he check in on them for a report of how they did and the ones that increased (multiplied) what was left to them were called good and faithful servants.  Wow multiply isn’t just for math, it’s for our faith and service.  Now I must tell you this was a real eye opener for me because I really like math and really understand multiplication from that stand point, but in the spiritual realm it is new to me.  Now God has been showing me somethings lately about this.

I have been working with my family for quite awhile and have really learned a lot about what we do.  My father took me under his wing and showed me how to be successful in the business we are in, now I am not saying I was able to learn and do all things that my father did to make the business a success, but he did share with me some of his talent.  I have recently taken over the business and and trying to follow in my fathers footsteps but as I mentioned in one of the other chapters I was made aware of my sight being dimmed or clouded. This is one of the big areas that I was made aware of it.  I have been trying to just float along not even realizing I had been doing it.  No increase..  In the parable above, I didn’t mention about the one servant that didn’t increase..  He was called a ‘wicked and slothful servant’.  He hadn’t lost any of the talent, but he didn’t increase it either..  Now that was quite an eyeopener, I was made aware I hadn’t been working for increase.

Good thing is I still have time, and God is a graceful, patient and loving God.  In Phillippians 3:13 ‘forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before’.  I am working on moving forward, not looking back and working towards using these things that I have learned from my father working for an increase so I can be a faithful servant.

So what is it that you do?  Have you been drifting, floating, or just getting by not giving your all?  Maybe you’re feeling extra stressed because these are difficult times or something terrible has happened in your life. What areas in your life can you work for an increase.  Please remember God is not expecting you to do this on your own, He is their for you anytime. You just need to ask..  Let’s be brave together and ask God for anything we feel we need to help us multiply.

 Reflect and Call to action:

Reflect on where drifting, floating, or procrastination has happened in your life?  Think about what’s one thing you can do to start moving forward. Set a time when you can start doing that one thing towards multiplying in this area of your life. And then, Just do it…

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have aTERRIFIC day and fill your world with kindness… TTFN #peacelovekindness #lifeisgood #bettereveryday

James 1:22 says “But be doers of the word, not hears only, deceiving yourselves.”

This word Action is the cornerstone of accomplishing anything.  If we never act on any of our words we speak nothing will ever happen.   Its so easy to just say things and then never do them because of fear, thinking we are unable to do them, or even just plain laziness.  Well if no movement towards the things you say, nothing will happen.

During the pandemic I attended Tony Robbins first ever virtual UPW event.  Wow was that a event to remember, it’s about 12 hrs per day of intense learning and movement.  It was my first introduction to Tony Robbins, I seen him in a movie and heard a little about him but never experienced any of his teachings.  The best way for me to explain it is INTENSE…  But very powerful too.  I had just never looked at things the way Tony was explaining them, I have never even thought of learning the way he does.  See Tony likes to learn and teach things as fast as he can, not to waste anytime, just get it done and start using what he learn as soon as possible even before he has completed the training or learning of that which he is studying.  He believes in taking massive action…  Action is a great way to overcome fear and get better at what you are trying to do..  This was my biggest takeaway, now there is so much more to it and I highly recommend you try it.

Now action for me was a something I felt I was put good at, I mean I had always been one who hasn’t ran away from work or getting something done that has needed to be, but I have noticed that those things I am a doer of are the things I am already good at… I find for myself action doesn’t happen when I feel I am not good at whatever it is I am to do.  Action takes a backseat to fear.  Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.  For me this is an area where I tend to live in especially if it is something I am uncomfortable at.  Now as the acronym says its false evidence because I am uncomfortable with it mostly because I haven’t done these items at all or enough to get comfortable with them.  It doesn’t mean I cannot get comfortable or even good at these things if I do or even try them.  I mean we are not good at anything when we first start, even as a baby starting to walk, we fall many times before we walk and now we do it with out thinking or even fearing we will fall.  But it took lots of practice and time.  We over came this fear with action…

What words have you been using lately that have just been that.  Words and not actions.  I am not saying you should act on everything you think or say that is for a whole other book, but what kind and loving words are you using that you are not doing?  As for me, I have caught myself as I said in chapter 2 not giving praise or compliments when I think of them.  Lets be brave together and put into action “Love thy neighbor”.

Galatians 6:10 ”As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,”

Opportunities to say the right thing or say a word of encouragement come and go all the time and do we take advantage of it or just let it pass by and ignore this prompting.  Or are you like me and I let fear stop me from blessing another.  I let these opportunities slip away time after time because I am so fearful of what others will think of me or take my words the wrong way.  Sometimes these opportunities are a prompting from above, opportunities that can are put in our path not just to help another but to also help us grow.  

 It says in. Colossians 4:5 NIV  “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” these are times where we can choose to encourage others with our words or our actions and sometimes that maybe the only encouragement or vision of Christ that these people see.  But it is so easy at these times of opportunity that we just feel that we are not that kind of person; don’t have the right words to say; we are embarrassed that we may say the wrong thing; or the big one, we are afraid…  This opportunity wouldn’t have come to you if it wasn’t for you.  We are giving opportunities so that we can encourage or help another with our talents and gifts.  God believes in us and has given us these talents and gifts so we use them to glorify Him not hide them or keep them to ourselves.  

That’s what it means in Mathew 25:22-28 KJV where the one who had two talents increased his by using them and the one man with one talent hid his and was called a vs. 26 “a wicked and slothful servant”.  We don’t want to get to the end of our lives and realize that’s what we have become because of our fear or some other reason.  We must be brave and step out on faith believing we can do this, we have what it take in us.. And with Gods help all things are possible..

Well again, thanks so so much for stopping by we really I mean really appreciate your time. So now we ask, are you going to….. Take it or let it go? Hope you have a TERRIFIC day and show kindness to all.. TTFN