Be Happy with Who You Are

Happy New Year! May God bless us richly in 2008! I hope we spend this coming year happy with who we are and accepting ourselves, faults and all. Loving ourselves as wonderful creations of God will help us to grow socially, physically, and emotionally according to Joel Osteen in Chapter 11 of Your Best Life Now. He also admonishes us to quit wishing we were something different and not to compare ourselves with other people. Hopefully, this is the year that we will choose to no longer see any value in comparing ourselves to others. When we find ourselves comparing who we are with who someone else is, we can now recognize that not only are we being unloving to ourselves, but we are setting the other person up as our enemy. Admiring someone's abilities and aspiring to them as a positive role model is quite different from drawing comparisons and judging ourselves or the other person. As we look for and find everyone's uniqueness and support them where they are, we can also appreciate and enhance ourselves. God made each of us an original. Joel says, "We should not feel badly because our personality, tastes, hobbies, or even spiritual tendencies are not the same as another person's......Be happy with who God make you to be." We need to be determined to be the best we can be. "Let each one examine his own work," says Galatians 6:4.

Developing a Prosperous Mind-Set

Joel asks us to "step up to God's dining table" and enjoy the fabulous banquet of "joy, forgiveness, restoration, peace, healing----whatever you need". That's where I will be for my Christmas dinner. As we read chapter 10 this holiday week, may we tap into the holiday spirit and realize our abundance and prosperity with great gratitude.

The link below has the beautiful Christmas song: Mary, Did You Know?

http://www.andiesisle.com/didsheknow.html

Become What You Believe

This chapter starts out with a story about a man who froze to death in a boxcar because he THOUGHT the temperature was below freezing....when in reality, it was 61 degrees! Jerry Jampolsky, a psychologist whom I quote a lot, says that as you change your mind, you change your life. He says that no matter what the problem, love is the answer. He also says it is our own thoughts that create the world we are experiencing so by changing our thoughts, we can change what we are experiencing, which means we can choose peace over conflict and love over fear. We can become love givers instead of love seekers, and love finders instead of fault finders. That's pretty powerful. Joel Osteen says that when we encounter tough times, we need to expect that we will come out of those situations on top. He says not to plan for failure and give up in frustration, but rather believe in victory and let your faith help you overcome any obstacles that come in your path. This last week before Christmas, let's remember that Christ came to earth so we can have a good life, a life filled with love, joy, peace, and fulfillment. Joel says, "That doesn't mean it will always be easy, but it does mean it will always be GOOD." Awesome!

Understanding Your Value

The following is a story by Eckhart Tolle that I think illustrates our intrinsic value:

A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old
baseball cap. “I have nothing to give you,” said the stranger. Then he asked: “What’s that you are sitting on?” “Nothing,” replied the beggar. “Just an old box. I have been
sitting on it for as long as I can remember.” “Ever looked inside?” asked the stranger. “No,” said the beggar. “What’s the point? There’s nothing there.” “Have a look inside,” insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation,
he saw that the box was filled with gold.

We have everything we need to walk favor-minded and do great things with our life. It's all INSIDE! My granddaughter is about ready to see what is inside her Christmas package in this picture. Let's see what is inside us! I bet we will find pure gold b/c God created us.

Who do you think you are?

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

But he told me: "My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak." So I will brag even more about my weaknesses in order that Christ's power will live in me.

Therefore, I accept weakness, mistreatment, hardship, persecution, and difficulties suffered for Christ. It's clear that when I'm weak, I'm strong.

I like the analogy of you are the portrait that you paint. I have a hard time with this one and I need to work on this but I do believe it is true. Losing weight has always been a struggle for me and the times that I have lost weight have improved this self image a lot. Now I know that God is on my side and doesn't care how big or small I am. Improve your self image and move the bar up for your expectations and good things will happen - I'm sure and I'm going to work on it!

Want to hear an inspirational message from Joel on this topic? Click Here

Living Favor-Minded

Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Chapter 6, Living Favor-Minded, emphasized the meaning of PATIENCE. We sometimes forget the old saying, Patience is a virtue. My posts would be incomplete without a quote (I just love quotes!) from Mark Twain. He said, "A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes."

We sometimes forget that not only does God know what is best for us but he also knows when it it best for us (if it ever is!). Live favor-minded, expect the best and if it comes be sure to thank God for blessing you. If it doesn't come then exercise patience knowing when the time is right God will indeed answer in whatever way is best for you. I don't know who said it but the true blessings are the things that you wanted and didn't get! (Kinda like the hard luck stories of people that win lotteries) Hard to imagine but with our narrow minds and lacking the vision that our Lord has for us we must have faith that he knows what is best for us.

On a personal note I am taking the theme living favor-minded quite literally and have pre-purchased my birthday present to myself (have to give God the credit on that one)! Joel Osteen is coming to KC on Feb. 22 at Kemper Arena and I purchased tickets for Patty and myself for this eveving. Ticket prices were not too bad at $16 a pop but by the time the rip -off Ticketmaster takes their mickey mouse fees it was closer to $24 a pop. Still not too bad as compared to Madonna or Elton John tickets! I think I will feel better after several hours listening to Joel versus watching Madonna - just a hunch! Hope all of you are having a great and glorious Holiday Season. Take it easy and don't stress and remember, live favor-minded!