Every morning tell yourself these positive thoughts:
1. I am a winner.
2. I can do this.
3. God loves me just as I am, sins and all.
4. Everything is going to be ok.
5. No matter what, God is always with me.
6. There is beauty and love all around me.
7. Today is my day.
Reflect on yourself, your potential, and your special day ahead. God has great things in store for you! Let all worries go and enjoy the day.
This morning, I read from the Marc and Angel Hack Life blog this great article, on things you should do to enrich and succeed in your life, and one of the 30 points was to take small steps.
“Keep on stepping. – Focus on the small things you can do right now, not the big things you can’t. SMALL changes can make a BIG difference in the end. When in doubt just take the next small step. Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.”
I think this is a great tip to follow everyday, even for small things. What small things?
Well, I think of being fit for one. I’ve been trying to build up some arm muscle, and at first I started with 5 lb weights, but gradually once I built strength for that, I moved one step up to 8 lb weights. Same with cardio exercise – I stepped up from 30 to 1 hour walks, to exercising for 45 minutes on the treadmill or 1 1/2 hours outside on a hike.
Another step-by-step plan for me is crocheting. You can’t be good at something like crocheting or painting or sewing without first learning the basics and then the intermediate steps until you advance. I want to sell high quality handmade crochet items on Etsy, but until I do, I thought I’d perfect what I can do, and I’ve been reading more crochet books to perfect the stitches and patterns.
What are you doing to take small steps to the next big thing? What would you like to do to step back and learn the small steps in order to succeed?
We are special -We have God’s DNA! We are all connected and bound to Him. That is worth celebrating.
May we grow closer to Him and call Him Father. Thank God today for making you His child.
Joel Osteen’s reflection on DNA is uplifting:
“Who’s Your Daddy?
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“…the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ ” (Romans 8:15, NIV)
TODAY’S WORD
There used to be a billboard that asked the question, “Who’s the father?” It was advertising DNA testing. They can take a child’s DNA and test another person’s DNA to see if it matches in order to scientifically prove if two people are related. Out of the billions of people on earth, the chances of your DNA matching someone that’s not your family is so small that it’s inconceivable.
When you gave your life to Christ, the Scripture talks about how you became a new creation. You were born into a new family. You entered into a new bloodline. Now imagine that somehow we could do spiritual DNA testing. They took a sample DNA from your Heavenly Father and then a sample DNA from you. They ran all the tests. The good news is, it would come back a perfect match. Proven beyond all doubt that you are His child! You have His DNA. You come from a royal blood line.
Now don’t you dare go around thinking that you’re average. “I could never accomplish my dreams.” “I’ll never get out of debt.” Are you kidding? Do you know who your Father is? You have His DNA. He created worlds. There’s nothing too much for you!
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Father, thank You for choosing me and making me Your own. Thank You for adopting me into Your family. Help me to truly understand what it means to be an heir of Your Kingdom in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
I like making up acrostics and thought to make one on my family. I love my family and enjoy their visits!
FAMILY
Friendship
Admirable
Marvelous
Incomparable
Lifelong
Yours always
This Lenten season is about coming closer to God, following His will, reflecting on the Christian life, and becoming better.
One of my goals this Lent is to pray morning and evening. I recently found this nice website that goes through each day of Lent with prayers, reflections, and Bible verses.
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/
Tuesday’s reflection was on desire for God. What a great thing! God wants our emotions, everything about us. We don’t have to be serious, non-passionate Christians in order to follow Him. We can put our heart and emotions into being a child of God!
May we grow in desire for God and let Him guide us in all that we do, even have Him guide us in channeling our emotions for good.
“Father of my soul, Mother of my heart, I know Your love for me is limitless beyond imaging. You care for me as a loving parent. Through my smallest Lenten sacrifices, help me to become less selfish and more aware of Your ways. Fan the flame of my desire to draw ever closer to You. Guide me to seek Your love. Amen.”
Have a passion for something that makes you feel so happy when you do it? Dreaming about something special? Hoping to “someday” make it happen?
Getting started with something new can take time, planning, and effort. But that shouldn’t let you give up. Instead, why not start it now? Even if it’s baby steps, a little planning and doing now will then make you soar and succeed fully later.
What are your goals for this Lenten season?
For me, Lent is about focusing on your need for God in your life, and aiming to simplify or enrich your life. Whether that means fasting or giving up something, or whether that means adding something to your life. How about trying something new or reading daily devotionals? How about giving gifts or your time to help the needy? How about praying more or listening to hymns?
A little something can make a positive impact. I notice that when I’m volunteering or listening to Christian hymns, I’m feeling good! So really make an effort (it doesn’t take much) to enrich your life this Lent. Do it for yourself, for your community, and for Jesus. He gave himself for you!
I love listening to music and their lyrics. Especially when it’s lyrics that inspire me or portray a message. Here are some lyrics below on hope and life and happiness!
“When the love spills over and music fills the night, And when you can’t contain the joy inside, Then dance for Jesus, dance for Jesus, dance for Jesus And live.” – Chris Rice
“Every moment matters in the end, Smile at what used to be, The glory and the agony, Smile at a memory, Smile at your enemies, yeah. A smile finally saved me, found me, and repaid me, For all the time that I’ve put in And now I’m smiling back again. Just smile for a while.” – Hootie and the Blowfish
“Believe in what your heart is saying, Hear the melody that’s playing, There’s no time to waste, There’s so much to celebrate. Believe in what you feel inside, And give your dreams the wings to fly, You have everything you need, If you just believe.” – Josh Groban
“I’ll be there someday, I can go the distance. I will find my way, if I can be strong. I know every mile will be worth my while, When I go the distance, I’ll be right where I belong.” – Michael Bolton
“I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams, And that faith gives you the courage to dare to do great things. I’m here for you whatever this life brings. So let my lvoe give you roots and help you find your wings.” – Mark Harris
“You will fail because you are human. You will fall because the path is rough. But know that your failures too are part of the gift of life, so put them to their highest use. Don’t stop, mate. Give everything a go!” - Nick Vujicic
We make mistakes. We suffer through hard times. We have our struggles. Despite those, we should take them and go beyond.
As Nick mentions throughout his book, Life Without Limits, our struggles and challenges are here to help us. Failures are a gift from God, teaching us to be more successful and stronger, building our character, motivating us to achieve new heights, and giving us an appreciation for success.
So, next time you are struggling through a challenge, just think to yourself that you are growing and preparing yourself for good things to come! Stay in the game and continue to give your all.
Yesterday the Oscars were on television and many people around the country were tuned in to watch the lovely and comedic Ellen Degeneres. I didn’t happen to watch the Oscars, because I don’t have cable, and I have not watched many of the movies that were up for an award, but I was glad to hear that Frozen one for Best Animated Feature and Let It Go won for Best Original Song in a Feature Film.
For me, yesterday was Oscar Day for a different reason. In remembrance of Oscar, the black cat that we found outside last year and took it in our home to feed and take care of. Yesterday, we brought Oscar to an adoption agency to be adopted out to another loving family. Oscar was sweet, fun, playful, and a stinker, but he was aggressive to our two other cats, so after much effort to try to keep him, we decided he’d be best in another household.
It’s always hard losing a loved one, and this was something we’ve never experienced with a pet, to lose not by death but by having someone else adopt him.
For Oscar Day, I pray for all cats that are in need of a loving home, that they may be adopted out to a loving kind family. And I thank God for the short time that Oscar was with us. We are blessed with pets to be our companion and bring some joy into the home!
