Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Max Lucedo, from his book, God Will Carry You Through (p. 9). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Look at this verse in Genesis 50:20 NASB, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” Max says, “Joseph tied himself to the pillar of this promise and held on for dear life. Nothing in his story glosses over the presence of evil. Quite the contrary. Bloodstains and tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him. “God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the vel...

A thought by Max Lucedo, from his book, God Will Carry You Through (p. vii).  Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.   (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) And we need this today, don’t we? Max reminds us, “Isaac’s last-minute reprieve from certain death at the hand of obedient Abraham. The children of Israel rescued from the brick-pits of Egypt. Saul became Paul, liberated from a path of hatred and violence. And all the redeemed, delivered from destruction by the gift of a Savior. “Again and again, stories of heavenly oversight and divine rescue capture our imagination and help build our trust that the same God will do the same for us. In stories of old, our heavenly Father demonstrated his might with divided seas, guiding clouds, blinding lights, miraculous healings, unquenchable fires. “The same God who stepped in and rerouted history cares about our own struggles, fears, tears, and hopes. Facing financial woes, relationship dead end...

A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Necessary Endings (p. 64). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) They really are. Henry says, “In fact, our earliest mappings of the world come from our relationships. This is probably not news to you, but it is very important in terms of endings. You have software that tells you how to negotiate virtually every aspect of life as it plays out in relationships, and the maps order how you think, feel, and behave. “If these rules come into conflict with any particular ending, then you will be stuck. I worked with a business owner one time who began under a mentor who launched him and brought him up in the business. This mentor was a great gift to him, and without him he probably would not have even gotten started. They worked together in the business for about a decade. ” Henry goes on, “But then, the student grew past the teacher, and it was time for a launch....

A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Necessary Endings (p. 63). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) And that is a good thing, isn’t it? Henry says, “It is one of the most fundamental character strengths in the human repertoire. Life and success depend on it, in every area, from performance success to relationship success to even our physical health and well-being. Especially with winners and high performers, quitting is never an option. “But there is a toxic version of not quitting. It happens when the label of ‘quitting’ in the big sense is equated with stopping a particular goal or endeavor. In other words, if you quit any one thing, you are a quitter instead of being wise. For example, the map says that ending a particular business strategy means you are a quitter. Or giving up on a relationship means being a quitter. ‘If you shut down this project, or quit trying with this individual person, y...

A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Necessary Endings (p. 61). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) And is this a problem? Henry says, “‘So what is my problem?’ asked Dennis, a CEO in tech. ‘Do I just have an abnormally high threshold for pain? Do I just by nature put up with too much?’ “‘Glad you asked,’ I said. “The answer is yes, and the bad news is that your board of directors and your P&L don’t. So, we have got to get to work on it so you begin to feel the heartburn as deeply as they do.’ Henry goes on, “Dennis was exactly right. He had learned to put up with a lot of misery and was almost numb to it. He knew there were problems, and he was working on them, but if he had not gotten so used to putting up with people’s problems, he would have acted much sooner. He had some internal software that said to him, just like what some parents say to kids when they hurt themselves: ‘Oh, stop...

A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Necessary Endings (p. 58). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) And that is a very good thing. Henry says, “Your brain exercises something psychologists call conflict-free aggression. (Not bad aggression, as we normally cast it, like violence), conflict-free aggression is energy that is free to take action, not hampered, so you can function. If you have ever been depressed or anxious while you tried to concentrate or reach a goal, you know what it is like when this ability is missing or unavailable to you. “If aggression, initiative, or energy is without conflict, it is free to move you to perform functions like these: •       To sense what is really going on around you; •       To think logically; •       To think abstractly; •       To exercise good judgm...

A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Necessary Endings (p. 55). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Henry was writing this book after 9/11 and the impact it had on people and the economy.  Something good to look at with what we are going through now. Henry says, “First of all, those who were not stuck had a different map of the world. Some did not assume that ‘there are no buyers right now.’ They thought instead that in the chaos, there were many, many potential customers who needed to be shepherded through the challenging environment and were being ignored. So they got even busier and contacted them. This was true in several industries that I observed, even the ‘deadest’ ones, like real estate. “Second, their focus was different. They did not spend their time and energy focusing on all of the things that were falling apart that they could do nothing about. Instead, they thought hard and fast ...