Have Confidence in Yourself

It is so important that we think positive thoughts and say positive words to ourselves and others. There is so much destructive potency in condemnatory words or thoughts. We need to lift ourselves and others up rather than condemn. Discouragement is so limiting to how high we can go in life. We are made in the image of the Almighty God. In order to enjoy our life, it is imperative that we stay in an attitude of gratitude and optimism. We need to encourage those around us as well, especially our children. Our children, as well as ourselves, are full of potential. We can do all things through Christ. God gives us strength, courage, and ability. We have these attributes inside. We just need to realize our God-given favor, which surrounds us wherever we go. Don't let one negative remark bring you down. We have a tendency to shut out all the positive stuff if we hear even one negative voice. Why is that? Sometimes we obsess about our offenses instead of basking in the praises we hear. We just need to get up every morning with gratitude in our hearts, energized by God's blessings and affirming our destiny as children of the Most High God, so we can get ready for a glorious day. We might want to spend a little time in stillness to hear God's voice, and then flow with His blessing down the river of life to our marvelous destiny without letting any obstacle get in our path! Happy Halloween!!

Becoming....

Patty and Frank! I have been out of town so much and no time to be on here, I apologize! As I went to write this entry, I saw the note from John Kennedy, "When written in Chinese the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity." and at that moment, my son called from Iraq! I read that to him! He was very, very quiet, and said, "That is good!" It has been really hard to have him over there this time.
I really, really have enjoyed this book by Joel Osteen, and the word "Becoming" is beginning to really be a 'stop and think about it' word for me. I purchased the book on CD, to listen to on my way back from the Nebraska Junk Jaunt, www.junkjaunt.com and I didn't get to listen till I got home. As we are doing this Chapter by Chapter, I thought I would only do catch up and then slow down to CxC. However... I listened to it all in two days while working! I LOVE it. There are points in it that just hit me like a hammer. I loaned it to my daughter who has had a recent life changing experience, and she is going to listen to it. Grant and I listened to part of it on the way back from North Carolina last spring, and we don't know where that CD set went, whether he has it or we do! LOL! But I will be sending that to him now, it is an awesome, inspiring book. Becoming. What a new beginning to some old thought processes for me that one word represents. Thank you, Patty, for the recent blog notes. You have caused me to think outside my own little box!

Learning to Like Yourself

Jesus said in Matthew 22:39, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Joel Osteen says, "The prerequisite of loving others is to love yourself. If you don't have a healthy respect for who you are, and if you don't learn to accept yourself...faults and all, you will never be able to properly love other people....you can't give away what you don't have. If you don't love yourself, you're not going to be able to love others. If you're at strife on the inside, feeling angry and insecure about yourself, feeling unattractive, feeling condemned, then that's all you can give away. On the other hand, if you'll recognize that God is working on you, and in spite of your flaws and weaknesses, you can learn to accept yourself, then you can give that love away and have healthy relationships. This basic principle could change your relationships with people around you." When we aren't loving toward ourselves, we have a tendency to think that it only affects our own selves, when, in reality, it affects every one around us. It even affects how we feel toward God. God created us so it is not very respectful of Him to criticize what He made!

If you are challenged with achieving and maintaining a healthy weight like I am, it is helpful to remember that God approves us unconditionally and is our advocate on our weight loss journey. He helps us and guides us. He is our best friend!! Hebrews 12:1-2 says "to look away from everything that distracts." Criticism of ourselves is a distraction from enjoying God's wonderful plan for our lives. We should wake up daily with a grateful heart that God has given us a marvelous home for our eternal spirit....our body!

Weight is my personal challenge. Yours might be something else, but whatever our challenges in life are, we need to realize that we have God's stamp of approval. We need to add our own stamp of approval to who we are!

Love and Light,
Patty

Stop Listening to Accusing Voices

This is a very important topic because most of our accusations do NOT come from other people; they come from our OWN selves. Most of them come about because when we are critical of ourselves, it spills over to others. One way to get past accusing voices is to practice forgiving ourselves and others. God forgives us so why do we like to place so much blame and guilt on ourselves and others?

We need to look at ourselves in a new way and tell ourselves positive things. We can be our own best friends and look in the mirror without fault-finding. I looked in the mirror today and said, "You don't look half bad for being fifty-six." I usually laugh a little at some of my flaws but thank God for a wonderfully functioning body at the same time. Romans 14:19 says, "Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."

Let's not beat ourselves up. Let's have full confidence and press forward with no regrets. We can always look at ourselves and say, "Well, if I had done such-and-such, my life would be so much better."

My accusing voice is usually pointing a finger at me, telling me that if I had been a better mother, such-and-such wouldn't be happening to my kids. Joel Osteen says, "Let the past be past. You cannot change it, and if you make the mistake of living in guilt today because of something that happened yesterday, you won't have the strength you need to live this day in victory.

Take the pressure off yourself; give yourself the right to have some weaknesses and not to perform 100 percent of the time." By the grace of God, we are worthy. God is not an angry, condemning God. Quite the contrary. He is a loving and merciful God. We just need to change our attitude and stop being negative toward ourselves and other people. We need to see ourselves and others through the eyes of God. We are His beautiful creations!!!

Love & Light,
Patty