Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Attitude
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
--Charles R. Swindoll
Wow...its true. Yet, often times I do not choose a good attitude. It is hard to describe the thought process I have on this issue....It is defintely like a war going on in my mind...I focus on the bad things and then I realize I cant change it so why be upset? but then I think ..but I dont wanna live with this or that ....(speaking in general terms)....it goes back and forth...
I dont know where I am going with this...but I was just thinking about it...I feel terrible when I think of people who are struggling with soooo much worse than I deal with and they have a smile on their face and have a good attitude, when I do not have anything like that and I am upset about it....
As Jesus says in 1 Thess. 5:16 says "Be joyful always." I want to do that.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Encouraging
A devotional blog from Joel Osteen:
One of the battles that everyone faces at some time or another is the battle of discouragement. Our dreams don't always happen on our timetable. We go through disappointments and adversities. With so much coming against us, it can be easy to loose enthusiasm and zeal for life. It's good to have family and friends who encourage you. It's good to have a coach, a teacher, or a pastor to cheer you on. But one thing I've learned is that other people cannot keep us encouraged. They may give us a boost. They may help us from time to time. But if you're really going to live in victory, that encouragement has to come from the inside. You've got to learn to encourage yourself.
When times get tough and things aren't going your way and you feel like giving up on your dreams, deep down in your spirit there has to be a resolve, strength on the inside that says, "I refuse to settle where I am. I know God has a great plan for my life, and I'm going to keep pressing forward to become everything that He's created me to be."
In the Bible, that's what David had to do. At one point, he had suffered a major setback. It was one of the most difficult times of his life. His city had been destroyed, his family was kidnapped, and finally his own men turned against him. It looked like an impossible situation. David could have easily just given up and faded off into the sunset, defeated and depressed. But the scripture says in I Samuel 3:6, "David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." See, David wasn't depending on his family, his friends, or his colleagues to get him through. He knew how to draw strength and encouragement from within. How did he do it? He began to replay the victories that God gave him in the past. He remembered how God chose him from His other brothers when he was just a shepherd boy. He remembered how he killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands. He remembered how God helped him defeat Goliath and how He protected him when King Saul was trying to kill him. As David rehearsed the goodness and faithfulness of God, strength began to fill his heart. He got a new vision of victory. As he thanked God for all that He had done, David went from being depressed and defeated to rising up with that warrior mentality!
Friend, sometimes when you need it the most, the people you're counting on to cheer you up, unfortunately, won't be there for you. That friend that normally calls is out of town. Your spouse is having a tough month. Your co–workers, your parents, they're preoccupied with their own challenges. But when you learn to dig down deep and encourage yourself in the Lord, there is real freedom.
That is encouraging to me because I tend to depend on others to encourage me about things that I am going thru or struggling with. I need to find hope and joy in God alone because as much as I want to and as much as the people are great and faithful, people are people and they have potential of letting you down. Not necessarily on purpose but they might be dealing with issues as well. I say that like its easy to understand but I am telling myself that :)
Well, those are my thoughts on that today :D
One of the battles that everyone faces at some time or another is the battle of discouragement. Our dreams don't always happen on our timetable. We go through disappointments and adversities. With so much coming against us, it can be easy to loose enthusiasm and zeal for life. It's good to have family and friends who encourage you. It's good to have a coach, a teacher, or a pastor to cheer you on. But one thing I've learned is that other people cannot keep us encouraged. They may give us a boost. They may help us from time to time. But if you're really going to live in victory, that encouragement has to come from the inside. You've got to learn to encourage yourself.
When times get tough and things aren't going your way and you feel like giving up on your dreams, deep down in your spirit there has to be a resolve, strength on the inside that says, "I refuse to settle where I am. I know God has a great plan for my life, and I'm going to keep pressing forward to become everything that He's created me to be."
In the Bible, that's what David had to do. At one point, he had suffered a major setback. It was one of the most difficult times of his life. His city had been destroyed, his family was kidnapped, and finally his own men turned against him. It looked like an impossible situation. David could have easily just given up and faded off into the sunset, defeated and depressed. But the scripture says in I Samuel 3:6, "David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." See, David wasn't depending on his family, his friends, or his colleagues to get him through. He knew how to draw strength and encouragement from within. How did he do it? He began to replay the victories that God gave him in the past. He remembered how God chose him from His other brothers when he was just a shepherd boy. He remembered how he killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands. He remembered how God helped him defeat Goliath and how He protected him when King Saul was trying to kill him. As David rehearsed the goodness and faithfulness of God, strength began to fill his heart. He got a new vision of victory. As he thanked God for all that He had done, David went from being depressed and defeated to rising up with that warrior mentality!
Friend, sometimes when you need it the most, the people you're counting on to cheer you up, unfortunately, won't be there for you. That friend that normally calls is out of town. Your spouse is having a tough month. Your co–workers, your parents, they're preoccupied with their own challenges. But when you learn to dig down deep and encourage yourself in the Lord, there is real freedom.
That is encouraging to me because I tend to depend on others to encourage me about things that I am going thru or struggling with. I need to find hope and joy in God alone because as much as I want to and as much as the people are great and faithful, people are people and they have potential of letting you down. Not necessarily on purpose but they might be dealing with issues as well. I say that like its easy to understand but I am telling myself that :)
Well, those are my thoughts on that today :D
Saturday, July 11, 2009
New Blog/New Email
I decided to change my email address to a_barney3@yahoo.com.
I decided to have a different one besides SAU now that I am graduated haha so anyways I made a whole new blog.
I decided to have a different one besides SAU now that I am graduated haha so anyways I made a whole new blog.
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