Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient: Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.55). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) The key thing to see is that there are so many voices striving to get your attention.   And many of them have the potential to get you off track.   They can discourage you and cause you to lose hope.   Have you found that true? Ray says, “I once heard a story about an experienced spelunker who invited his friend Danny to explore a cave with him. ‘It’s a little tough to get there,’ he said, ‘but would you like to come?’ Danny, always open for a little adventure, agreed. “They entered the cavern and the passageway got smaller and smaller until both men had to walk hunched over. Pretty soon they had to get down and crawl. Then, to Danny’s horror, it got even too cramped for that. To get through a small fissure in the rock, they had to lie on their backs,

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient: Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.15). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Hope breaks people’s chains to their past that are holding them back.   Ray says, “It sets them free from past failures and hurts, dysfunctional family patterns, guilt, low expectations, and even crippling lack of confidence.” And then he tells his story, “I grew up in something of an executive, jet-set family, where divorce ruled. Everybody got divorced. We cannot find a lasting marriage in 150 years of our family tree. Add to that my family’s raging alcoholism and explosive anger, and maybe you can see why divorce was epidemic and how I grew up convinced that my life probably wouldn’t feature a lasting marriage. At no time did I ever think, I can have a fulfilling family life. “That belief got a major makeover after a bunch of terrific couples put th

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient: Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.13). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is a great thought.   Do you have something in your life that you think is impossible?   Ray says that with the smallest increase in hope, anything is possible. He says, “A few years ago, I had the privilege of meeting with a leading psychologist who told me something amazing. He had built his career around working with deeply troubled married couples who had been damaging their relationships for decades. He enjoyed remarkable success in getting these warring spouses to turn the corner toward health. Counseling is not my greatest gift, so his obvious skill sparked my curiosity. How did he do it? ‘I just try to get 10 percent improvement,’ he said. ‘When couples get that 10 percent improvement, they get hope. And when someone gets hope, anything is pos