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"The most important person you ever talk to is yourself, so be careful what you say."

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2013-10-08) from his book, Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn:Life's Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses (Kindle Locations 245-246). Center Street. Kindle Edition. That is so true. What we say to ourselves go a long way to determine our response and our action or lack of action. John continues, “I believe that in times of loss, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking about how we could have or should have done things differently. Our self-talk can become very negative. The more negative it becomes, the larger our losses appear to be to us. If our self-talk is angry, destructive, or guilt producing, we become even less capable of breaking free of the negative cycle.” I was always one who would naturally beat up myself after some negative thing happened to me until one day I decided to stop. I saw that I was my own worst enemy so I determined to become my biggest supporter. Even when something negative happened...

"The quality that distinguishes a successful person from an unsuccessful one who is otherwise like him is the capacity to manage disappointment and loss."

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2013-10-08) from his book , Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn:Life's Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses (Kindle Locations 208-209). Center Street. Kindle Edition. He goes on to say, “Too often losing goes to our heads. It defeats us, and we have trouble coming up with solutions to our challenges. As the losses build up, they become more of a burden. We regret the losses of yesterday. We fear the losses of tomorrow. Regret saps our energy. We can’t build on regret. Fear for the future distracts us and fills us with apprehension.” But if we can learn from them we will have surmounted one of the great obstacles in living life. We will all make mistakes, dumb mistakes. It goes with living but they can be our friends instead of our enemies. Yes it can be embarrassing but it can also be a time of growth and confidence. There is always an answer if we search for it. It may be humbling but there is an ...

"The more difficult thing is to listen and love in spite of others' actions."

A thought by Dr. Kevin Leman (2013-02-01) from his book, Way of the Wise, The: Simple Truths forLiving Well (Kindle Location 230). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Now that is very true. I am dealing with this right now. It is so easy to stop caring when you don’t like what someone is doing but it would be easy for Jesus to do the same with us. I have a person at one of my Coffee shops who told me of something he is doing in relation to a child and when he told me about it I really gave him grief. Now people doing something toward children or abusing women really gets to me. I am not too accepting of that but I know that God has put this person in my life and rejecting him will do no good but showing love will. But it is so hard sometimes. Well I haven’t seen them since Friday and tomorrow I will see him. I think I really needed this. Thanks God for reinforcing my task. I will need you to help me not to accept...

"The older we are, the more responsible we are for our situation."

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live them and Reach Your Potential (p. 164). Center Street. Kindle Edition. I listen to people almost every day tell me why they are in the situation they are in and a big part of it is because of something else not them. They play the blame game. . Now if I am young and still at home and I don’t have a lot of control over my life then I am not totally responsible for where I am but if I am 65+ which I am, I can’t blame anyone else but me. I am responsible for my life. You see for the most part in my life I am where I am because of the choices I have made. Someone said, “It’s my wife’s fault” but you chose to marry her. “But it’s my boss, it’s his fault. He’s holding me back.” But you were not forced to work for him or to continue to work for him. Now granted there are some things that are beyond our control but our attitude toward them is our choice a...

"It’s not the destination that makes the trip, but the person you’re with."

A thought by Craig Groeschel (2012-04-24) from his book, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World (p. 166). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. That is so true. Craig made this statement dealing with young couples going into deep debt to go on an expensive honeymoon. Again I say, what he says is so true. Back some 39 years ago when Margaret and I got married I knew that one of the major marriage problems was finances. Money problems hurt marriages. I had a new car that had payments and Margaret had an older car that didn’t. My dad also had an older car that was paid for so we switched cars. My dad took over the payments on my new Plymouth Duster and I took his old Oldsmobile. A big switch but it was worth it. Our marriage was worth it. I was thinking during my time of connection with God this morning about how very fortunate I am. I love my family. I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world....

"We have to face our greatest fears in order to reach our greatest potential."

A thought by Craig Groeschel (2012-04-24) from his book, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World (p. 148). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. What is it in your life that has the most “what-ifs” attached to it? As you identify it you will probably see it is that which you value the most. You are afraid of what would happen to you if you lost it and that terrifies you. So identifying it is important. But you also can see can’t you that you will do everything you can to protect it. It probably is the thing that you haven’t really given over to God because you’re afraid of what He will do with it. It becomes your god, your highest priority and of course there goes your potential because of your fear of losing it and that shows your lack of trust in God. Why is it that we think we know best? I mean do you give gifts to your kids and then take them away from them. Of course not and they know you won’t because they know you...

"When human babies are born, we have only two natural fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises."

A thought by Craig Groeschel (2012-04-24) from his book, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World (p. 143). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. We only have two fears from birth so where did all those other fears that hold us back come from? That’s a good question, a very good question. Determining that could go a long way to conquering your fears and potentially those that you influence around you. For instance, if you are a parent your kids may take on those same fears. Craig says that our adult fears basically fall into four categories: The fears of loss, of failure, of rejection and the fear of the unknown. I’m sure you can see how each one of those could limit what you do in life. Some would say that fear is the opposite of faith but Craig disagrees with that. He says, “The way I see it, fear actually relies on faith — it’s simply faith in the wrong things. Fear is placing your faith in ‘what-ifs’ rather than in ‘God is.’ It’s allowing yo...