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If God did speak to you, what would it sound like? I think some people believe it will be super obvious when God speaks to them, and, it may be. However, God often speaks in a whisper. Here’s the problem: all of the noise in life often crowds out the voice of God in our lives. For some, the noise of critics and the voices of others drowns out the voice of God. You are too busy listening to the opinions of others that you aren’t making time to hear the truth of God. For others of you, you live constantly distracted by media. You can’t seem to still your mind because every time you have a quiet minute, you pull out your phone to fill the time. What is the noise in your life? Today, how can you quiet that noise and eliminate distractions in order to be still and listen to God?

Everyday there are so many things that we take for granted. We can walk, hear, see, talk, eat, drink, bathe as we may, but we don’t think about how many people don’t have these basic but important essentials that we don’t give a second thought. So, we have to remember to be grateful and thankful and know that it is a blessing to have these small, forgettable things that we take for granted and sometimes even complain about. There is always someone in a worse situation than you are. The next time you find yourself attempting to complain about some of life’s luxuries, just say to yourself, “Imagine a day without water.” Because someone goes longer than that without the basics that we take for granted.

A puppy thinks: “Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a warm, dry home, pet me and take good care of me…… . . .THEY MUST BE GODS!” A kitten thinks: “Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a warm, dry home, pet me and take good care of me… . . . I MUST BE A GOD!” Same situation, different thinking. To a great extent, we make our own life stories by our thoughts. The reality we ultimately create is a process of our daily thinking. And when our daily thinking is right, our daily actions can’t be wrong in the long run.

“Careful” might not be a word you want to define your life. Maybe to you it sounds like the opposite of courageous, daring, and bold. But think of it this way: Careful living simply means caring about whether or not your decisions are wise. We’ve all made bold and courageous decisions that aren’t very wise. These choices often lead to pain, heartache, and regret. You can live differently. Be bold and courageous by carefully making wise choices. This week, when faced with decisions, take the time to think through the way your little choices can impact your life in big way.

5 Tips for Spring Cleaning Your Life Spring cleaning. The time when people all over start cleaning out closets, washing baseboards, and organizing pantries. The minimalist movement has intensified our urge to declutter. We’re determined to give ourselves room to breathe, create, and simply be. It’s a great thing, really, and certainly helpful. But while we vacuum under furniture, flip mattresses, and rearrange junk drawers—are we forgetting to take inventory on our souls? Which is more important: having a clean home or a clean heart? An organized closet or an organized mind? Here’s the deal. Spring cleaning isn’t just about removing the mess but renewing our minds. Here are 5 tips for spring cleaning your spiritual life: 1. Remove. When something is harmful in our lives, like mold or sin, we should work hard to get rid of it. We must stop the negative chatter, toss our stubborn pride, and refuse to salvage pain from the past. 2. Replace. Out with the old; in with the new! But how? As God rescues us from toxic addictions, habits, relationships, or even legalism, we must give Him permission to completely reconstruct our perspectives. 3. Revive. What buried treasure needs to be dusted off and brought out for everyone to see? What’s hiding in the darkness that should be shining in the light? Revive what was meant to be redeemed. 4. Refresh. Whether it’s your marriage, a friendship, or even a work relationship, we all need second chances from time to time. Who needs to hear that you’re sorry? Who needs to know you forgive them? It’s time to refresh what you want to thrive. 5. Restore. You are never too bad or too far for God to turn your ashes into something magnificent. It’s what He does; it’s who He is. If your life is currently in need of desperate restoration, I encourage you to pray these simple yet powerful words: Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.

As you read these words, you are breathing. Stop for a moment and notice this breath. You can control this breath, and make it faster or slower, or make it behave as you like. Or you can simply let yourself inhale and exhale naturally. There is peace in just letting your lungs breathe, without having to control the situation or do anything about it. Now imagine letting other parts of your body breathe, like your tense shoulders. Just let them be, without having to tense them or control them. Now look around the room or place you’re in and notice the objects around you. Pick one, and let it breathe. There are likely people in the room with you too, or in the same house or building, or in nearby houses or buildings. Visualize them in your mind, and let them breathe. When you let everything and everyone breathe, you just let them be, exactly as they are. You don’t need to control them, worry about them, or change them. You just let them breathe, in peace, and you accept them as they are. This is what letting go is all about. It can be a life-changing practice. Truth be told, inner peace begins the moment you take a new breath and choose not to allow an uncontrollable event to dominate you in the long-term. You are not what happened to you. You are what you choose to become in this moment. Let go, breathe, and begin again.

Loyalty, Is it important? “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” The greatest test of friendship is loyalty. A friend loves at all times, no matter what happens. In the best of times and the worst of times, through thick and thin, a friend will be there for you. Above all else, a friend is loyal. A loyal friend will never betray you or undermine you. A loyal friend will never gossip about you, for a friend loves at all times. If you lose your job and go through all your savings, a real friend will offer to help or anonymously get you money, for a friend loves at all times. If you get a serious disease, your friend will be there. If you lose your marriage, your friend will be there. If a loved one dies, your friend will be there. They will call you, reach out to you, and come to be with you, for a friend loves at all times. If you get too big for your britches, if you begin to wander from God, if you have a blind spot that is hurting you, your friend will be the one to confront you and challenge you, for a friend loves at all times, and your welfare is more important than their comfort. If something wonderful happens to you, your friend will be glad with you. Genuinely, deeply glad, for a friend loves at all times. If you are discouraged, worried, or hurting, and you need someone who will just listen to you without being judgmental, even if it is 2 a.m., then you know you can call your friend, for a friend loves at all times. This kind of friend, a loyal friend, a friend who loves at all times, is an incredible gift of God. The question is not: Do I have friends like this? The question is rather: Am I a friend like this?

If somebody is working on themselves and changing for the better, it’s unnecessary to keep bringing up their past. People can change and grow. You know this is true. But, have you given yourself a fair chance to change and grow, too? Have you consciously loosened your grip on everything that’s behind you, so you can step forward again with grace? If you’re shaking your head, you aren’t alone. I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been there myself, and I know dozens of others in the same boat. At times, we all fall victim to our attachments. And sometimes we don’t even realize we’re blocking our own present blessings by holding on to the past. Do your best to realize this right now… Growth is painful. Change is painful. But in the end, nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere in the past. Remind yourself of a powerful lesson … a vital truth: You can have a heartbreaking story from the past, without letting it rule your present. In the present moment, we all have some kind of pain: anger, sadness, frustration, disappointment, regret, etc. Notice this pain within yourself, watch it closely, and see that it’s caused by whatever story you have in your head about what happened in the past (either in the recent past or in the distant past). Your mind might insist that the pain you feel is caused by what happened (not by the story in your head about it), but what happened in the past is NOT happening right now. It’s over. It has passed. But the pain is still happening right now because of the story you’ve been subconsciously telling yourself about that past incident. Note that “story” does not mean “fake story.” It also does not mean “true story.” The word “story” in the context of your self-evaluation doesn’t have to imply true or false, positive or negative, or any other kind of forceful judgment call. It’s simply a process that’s happening inside your head: You are remembering something that happened. You subconsciously perceive yourself as a victim of this incident. Your memory of what happened causes a strong emotion in you. So just notice what story you have, without judging it, and without judging yourself. It’s natural to have a story; we all have stories. See yours for what it is. And see that it’s causing you pain. Then take a deep breath, and another… Inner peace begins the moment you take these deep breaths and choose not to allow the past to rule your present thoughts and emotions.

Breathing room is the space between your pace and your limit. It’s an unhurried conversation with your best friend. It’s dinner around the table instead of the drive-thru. It’s being able to give generously because you haven’t spent every dollar that you’ve made. Breathing room is an intentionally slower, smaller, reprioritized life. I know you’d agree that living that way sounds better than the frantic, frazzled feeling of being overcommitted and overwhelmed. And yet, a glance at your to do list or calendar probably shows that—like the rest of us—you struggle to slow down. So what’s pushing you to live beyond your limits? It’s hard to recognize and a little bit hard to admit, but usually it’s fear. You’re afraid of missing out, so you try to squeeze in time with the kids even though your day’s been exhausting. You’re afraid of falling behind everyone else, so you browse online for a new car even though yours is perfectly fine. You’re afraid of disappointing people, so you agree to join the committee even though you’re not passionate about the project . . . do these sound familiar? Fear whispers the lies that we’re being left out and left behind, so we load our calendars and drain our bank accounts. Fear steals our breathing room. But do you know the most repeated command in the entire Bible? Do not be afraid. God tells us that we don’t have to let fear bully us around. He offers us a surprising simple way to overcome it. Look at your calendar and ask: What’s one thing I agreed to attend just because I was afraid of missing out or disappointing someone by saying no?

Stop managing your time. Start managing your focus. Anytime you catch yourself wasting time for the sake of wasting it, remember…The quality of your life in the long run directly depends upon how you set and respect your priorities today. At times, you have to say “no” to good things to be able to say “yes” to important things. You can’t do it all. Be mindful and choose wisely. “I don’t have time,” is really just another, perhaps politer, or perhaps naive, way of saying, “It is not that important to me.” Don’t waste your time and energy fighting against where you are. Invest your time and energy into getting to where you want to go. And even if you have a good reason to be upset and resentful, let it go. Channel your energy into thoughts and actions that actually benefit your life right now. Be present with what matters most. There are few joys in life that equal a good conversation, a good story, a good laugh, a good hug, or a good friend. Overcommitting is the biggest mistake most people make against living a happier, simpler life. It’s tempting to fill in every waking minute of the day with to-do list tasks or distractions. Don’t do this to yourself. Leave space. You should sit quietly for fifteen minutes today to gather your thoughts and review your priorities, unless you’re too busy, in which case you should sit for an hour. Remember this... The world is as you are inside.

Who’s sharpening you? Who has your back? Who‘s in your circle? Who‘s in your accountability circle? Who‘s on your team? Who has your blindspot? Friends sharpen one another. Friends develop one another. Friends are not stumbling blocks. Friends are not obstacles. Friends help accelerate destiny. Friends are not competitive. Friends help you grow and develop. Friends are not an hindrance — they help you build. An iron-sharpening friend is a gift from God. They are godly and wise counsel. They will correct you — in love. They will build you up. An iron-sharpening friend will strengthen and sharpen you. Notice, Proverbs‬ ‭27:17‬ ‭KJV‬‬ declares, “Iron sharpeneth iron”. Iron-sharpening friendships are two-sided. Friends support one another. Iron-sharpening relationships are strategically placed in your life to help develop, strengthen, and sharpen you. Don’t build alone. Don’t construct alone. Sharpen together. Build together. Grow together.

There is a big difference between inspiration and motivation. When someone says that they are motivated by something, they are usually talking about something that makes them feel good.They read a self-help book. They hear an uplifting story. Maybe they see a video on social media that gets them excited. Motivation is good. It gives you the feeling that you need to get up and do something, which is important. But inspiration is what makes you get up and do it. To me, motivation is good, but lasting inspiration is better. Motivation is often based on feeling, while inspiration is based on doing. To be truly inspired, you have to have a reason behind your actions, a purpose for doing whatever it is that you do. Your reason has to be strong enough to overcome anything that life is going to throw at you. When I think about inspiration, I think about my family. I think about the members in my organization who rely on me for guidance and leadership. My inspiration is to bring everybody in the room to the next level. Ultimately, my inspiration is to help those around me find out their inspiration. When you feel truly inspired to do something, you gain a sense of fulfillment once you’ve done it. You feel a strong sense of purpose. Before I found my footing in life, I did a lot of random odd jobs. They paid the bills, but they didn’t fulfill me. They kept the lights on in the house but not in my heart. I didn’t feel like I had a purpose. I hadn’t yet uncovered my calling. But God had a plan for my life. When you began to walk the path that God has put out before you, you began to reach your potential. You start to find your footing, to find your motivation. You find the reason behind why you have gone what you have gone through, and why you are still here. Today is my day to inspire. What inspires you?

If you want something in life, you also have to want the costs of getting it. Most people want the reward without the risk. The shine without the grind. But you can’t have a destination without a journey. And a journey always has costs... So instead of thinking about what you want, first ask yourself: “What am I willing to give up to get it?” Or, for those inevitably hard days: “What is worth suffering for?” Seriously, think about it… If you want the six-pack abs, you have to want the sore muscles, the sweaty clothes, the morning or afternoon workouts, and the healthy meals. If you want the successful business, you have to also want the long days, the stressful business decisions, and the possibility of failing several times to learn what you need to know to succeed. And the same general philosophy holds true for HEALING any source of pain in your life – you have to want to WORK through the pain, step by step. Regardless of what you want the next chapter of your life to look like, you have to consistently DO things that support this idea. An idea, after all, isn’t going to do anything for you until you do something productive with it. In fact, as long as that great idea is just sitting around in your head, it’s doing far more harm than good. Your subconscious mind knows you’re procrastinating on something that’s important to you. The required work that you keep postponing causes stress, anxiety, fear, and usually more procrastination – a vicious cycle that continues to worsen until you interrupt it with positive ACTION. That's the brutal truth! The best action you can take right now, though, is changing how you THINK about the actions you need to take.

Today, let's remind ourselves to let GO... So how can we stop holding on? By realizing that there’s nothing to hold on to in the first place. Most of the things we desperately try to hold on to, as if they’re real, solid, everlasting fixtures in our lives, aren’t really there. Or if they are there in some form, they’re changing, fluid, impermanent, or simply imagined in our minds. Life gets a lot easier to deal with when we understand this. Imagine you’re blindfolded and treading water in the center of a large swimming pool, and you’re struggling desperately to grab the edge of the pool that you think is nearby, but really it’s not—it’s far away. Trying to grab that imaginary edge is stressing you out, and tiring you out, as you splash around aimlessly trying to holding on to something that isn’t there. Now imagine you pause, take a deep breath, and realize that there’s nothing nearby to hold on to. Just water around you. You can continue to struggle with grabbing at something that doesn’t exist... or you can accept that there’s only water around you, and relax, and float. This is the process of letting GO. It can be liberating. Truth be told, inner peace begins the moment you take a new breath and choose not to allow an uncontrollable circumstance to dominate you in the present. You are not what happened to you. You are what you choose to become in this moment. Let go, breathe, and begin.

Opportunity is only ever found in the present. Some people wait all day for 5pm, all week for Friday, all year for the holidays, all their lives for happiness and peace. Don’t be one of them. Life is too short. Time is running out. Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how good it has been. The secret to happiness and peace is letting this moment be what it is, instead of what you think it should be, and then making the very best of it. Realize this: What you do now matters more than what happened yesterday. Your entire life can be customized from day to day. There are hundreds of people in every town on Earth who live their entire lives on the default settings, never realizing they can customize everything. Don’t be one of them. Don’t settle for the default settings in life. Find your loves, your talents, your passions, and embrace them. Don’t hide behind other people’s decisions. Don’t let others tell you what you want, or what you are capable of. Explore the unknown! Test the limits! Design YOUR journey every step of the way. The life you create from doing something that moves and excites you is far better than the life you get from sitting around wishing you were doing it. The willingness to do hard things makes life worth living. If you want a job, be ready to work. If you want a relationship, be ready to work. If you want a family, be ready to work. If you want happiness, be ready… To learn and earn and give and grow, NOT just want and have and take and show. Truth be told, one of the most important abilities you can develop in life is the will to accept and grow through life’s challenges and discomforts. Because the best things are often hard to come by, at least initially. And if you shy away from hard work and discomfort, you’ll miss out on them entirely. Mastering a new skill is hard. Building a business is hard. Writing a book is hard. A marriage is hard. Friendship is hard. Parenting is hard. Staying healthy is hard. But all are amazing and worth every bit of effort you can muster. Daily kindness is a beautiful legacy to leave behind. Some people will be kind to you. Some won’t. Be kind anyway. Through kindness you have the ability to make a profound difference in every life you touch, including your own. When you guide somebody who is lost and confused, when you hold somebody who is sad and grieving, when you hug somebody who has lost all their hope, you too will feel yourself healing and growing stronger. So just keep reminding yourself that you will end up terribly disappointed if you expect people will always do for you as you do for them. Not everyone has the same heart, strength and inner resolve as you. No matter what has happened, or what happens today, let kindness be your superpower. Being kind to people is a peaceful way to live in each moment, and a beautiful legacy to leave behind in the long run. Everything will change again, faster and sooner than expected. Nothing lasts. Everything changes. Day to day is a winding journey. As human beings we are constantly outgrowing what we once thought we couldn’t live without, and falling in love with what we didn’t even know we wanted. Life literally keeps leading us on journeys we would never go on if it were up to us. Don’t be afraid. Have faith. Find the lessons. Trust the journey. You will gradually learn that nobody gets too far without losing someone they love, something they need, or something they thought was meant to be. But it is these very losses that make us stronger and eventually move us toward future opportunities. Embrace these opportunities. Enter new relationships and new situations, knowing that you are venturing into unfamiliar territory. Be ready to learn, be ready for a challenge, and be ready to experience something or meet somebody that just might change your life forever.

Too often we let the little frustrations of each day blind us to the beauty in front of us. We get caught up in our own heads, and literally don’t know our lives to be any better than the few things that aren’t going our way. We call people to complain or we post our gripes on social media. “Life is so unfair!” we yell. And everyone agrees and throws their two cents into the gossip pool. Other times we talk a big talk about a lot of stuff that really doesn’t matter that much. We scrutinize and dramatize the insignificant until we’re blue in the face, and then we sit back and scratch our heads in confusion of how unfulfilling life feels. But the older we grow, the quieter we become and the less pointless drama and chaos we engage in. Life humbles us gradually as we age. We realize how much nonsense we’ve wasted time on. Truth be told, the afternoon always understands what the morning never even suspected. Here are some things we tend to expend lots of mental and physical energy on when we’re younger, that we eventually realize matter a lot less than we originally thought… The inevitable frustrations of an average day. – 99.9% of what’s stressing you out today won’t matter a month from now. Sooner or later you will know this for certain. So just do your best to let go of the nonsense, stay positive, and move forward with your life. The little failures you often feel self-conscious about. – When you set goals and take calculated risks in life, you eventually learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important in the long run. How “perfect” everything could be, or should be. – Understanding the difference between reasonable striving and perfectionism is critical to letting go of fantasies and picking up your life. Perfectionism not only causes you unnecessary stress and anxiety from the superficial need to always “get it right,” it actually prevents you from getting anything worthwhile done at all. Having complete confidence before taking the first step. – Confidence is that inner inertia that propels us to bypass our empty fears and self-doubts. On the road of life, we come to realize that we rarely have confidence when we begin som new, but as we move forward and tap into our inner and outer resources, our confidence gradually builds. A common mistake many young people make is wanting to feel confident before they start something, whether it’s a new job, a new relationship, living in a new city, etc. But it doesn’t happen like that. You have to step out of your comfort zone, and risk your pride, to earn the reward of finding your confidence. The intricacies of what’s in it for you. – Time teaches us that we keep nothing in this life until we first give it away. This is true of knowledge, forgiveness, service, love, tolerance, acceptance, and so forth. You have to give to receive. Such a simple point, and yet it’s so easy to forget that the giving of ourselves, without a price tag, has to come FIRST! It’s the giving that opens us up to grace. Being an online-only activist for good causes. – Online is fine, but sooner or later you realize that if you truly want to make a difference you have to walk the walk, too. So don’t just rant online for a better world. Love your family. Be a good neighbor. Practice kindness. Build bridges. Embody what you preach. The pressures of making a big difference all at once. – When we’re young it seems like faster is better, but in time we witness the power of ‘slow and steady’ at work. We come to learn that no act of love, kindness or generosity, no matter how small, is ever wasted. The fact that you can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, is proof that YOU can make a big difference in life and business, even it can’t be done all at once. The temptation of quick fixes. – The older your eyes grow, the more clearly they can see through the smoke and mirrors of every quick fix. Anything worth achieving takes dedicated daily effort. Period! Honestly, I used to believe that making wishes and saying prayers alone changed things, but now I know that wishes and prayers change us, and WE change things. All details aside, when it comes to making a substantial change in your life – building a business, earning a degree, fostering a new relationship, starting a family, becoming more mindful, or any other personal journey that takes time and commitment – one thing you have to ask yourself is, “Am I willing to spend a little time every day like many people won’t, so I can spend the better part of my life like many people can’t?” Think about that for a moment. We ultimately become what we repeatedly do. The acquisition of knowledge doesn’t mean you’re growing – growing happens when what you know changes how you live on a daily basis. Having a calendar jam-packed with exciting, elaborate plans. – Don’t jam your life with plans. Leave space. Over time you will learn that many great things happen unplanned, and some big regrets happen by not reaching exactly what was planned. So keep your life ordered and your schedule under-booked. Create a foundation with a soft place to land, a wide margin of error, and room to think and breathe every step of the way. Being in constant control of everything. – The older we get the more we realize how little we actually control. And there’s no good reason to hold yourself down with things you can’t control. Learn to trust the journey, even when you do not understand it. Oftentimes what you never wanted or expected turns out to be what you need. Blaming others. – Have you ever met a happy person who regularly evades responsibility, blames and points fingers and makes excuses for their unsatisfying life? Me either. Happy people accept responsibility for how their lives unfold. They believe their own happiness is a byproduct of their own thinking, beliefs, attitudes, character and behavior. And although it takes time to fully grasp this, it’s a lesson worth learning. Winning everyone’s approval. – It’s the strength of your conviction that determines your level of personal success in the long run, not the number of people who agree with every little thing you do. Ultimately, you will know that you’ve made the right decisions and followed the proper path when there is genuine peace in your heart. The idea of saving certain (overly dramatic) people from themselves. – Honestly, you can’t save some people from themselves, so don’t get sucked too deep into their drama. Those who make perpetual chaos of their lives won’t appreciate you interfering with the commotion they’ve created, anyway. They want your “poor baby” sympathy, but they don’t want to change. They don’t want their lives fixed by you. They don’t want their problems solved, their emotional addictions and distractions taken away, their stories resolved, or their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? They don’t know and they aren’t ready to know yet. And it’s not your job to tell them. The selfish and disparaging things others say and do. – If you take everything personally, you will inevitably be offended for the rest of your life. And that just isn’t worth it! At some point it becomes crystal clear that the way people treat you is their problem, and how you react is yours. Start taking full advantage of the amazing freedom that comes to you when you detach from other people’s antics. Winning arguments. – Not much is worth fighting about for long. And if you can avoid it, don’t fight at all. It really doesn’t matter that much. Don’t define your intelligence or self-worth by the number of arguments you have won, but by the number of times you have silently told yourself, “This nonsense is just not worth it!” Judging others for their shortcomings.– We all have days when we’re not our best. And the older we grow, the more we realize how important it is to give others the break we hope the world will give us on our own bad days. Truly, you never know what someone has been through in their life, or what they’re going through today. Just be kind, generous and respectful… and then be on your way. Society’s obsession with outer beauty.– As you grow older, what you look like on the outside becomes less and less of an issue, and who you are on the inside becomes the primary point of interest. You eventually realize that beauty has almost nothing to do with looks – it’s who you are as a person, how you make others feel about themselves, and most importantly, how you feel about yourself. Fancy and expensive physical possessions. – Later in life, your personal wish list for ‘big ticket’ physical possessions tends to get smaller and smaller, because the things you really want and need are the little things that can’t be bought. All the shallow relationships that just make you feel more popular. – It’s nice to have acquaintances. Be friendly. Just don’t get carried away and spread yourself too thin. Leave plenty of time for those who matter most. Your time is extremely limited, and sooner or later you just want to be around the few people who make you smile for all the right reasons. Distant future possibilities. – As time passes, you naturally have more of it behind you and less of it in front of you. The distant future, then, gradually has less value to you personally. But that doesn’t really matter, because the good life always begins right now, when you stop waiting for a better one. Some people wait all day for 5pm, all week for Friday, all year for the holidays, all their lives for happiness. Don’t be one of them. Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how good it has been. The secret to happiness and peace is letting this moment be what it is, instead of what you think it should be, and then making the very best of it. Afterthoughts on Making the Best of the Next 20 Years As you continue to travel the road of life, do your best to avoid letting anyone or anything get in the way of your joy. Live a life that sizzles and pops and makes you laugh out loud every day. Because you don’t want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that your life is a collection of meetings and “somedays” and errands and receipts and empty promises. Go ahead and sing out loud in the car with the windows down, and dance in your living room, and stay up late laughing, and paint your walls any color you want, and enjoy some sweet wine and chocolate cake. Yes, and go ahead and sleep in on clean white sheets, and throw parties, and paint, and write poetry, and read books so good they make you lose track of time. And just keep living and making God glad that he gave life to someone who loves and cherishes the gift… Think deeply. Speak gently. Love lots. Laugh often. Work hard. Give back. Expect less. Be present. Be kind. Be honest. Be true to yourself.

If you don’t allow yourself to move past what happened, what was said, what was felt, you will look at your present and future through that same dirty lens. You can never change things by holding on to the existing reality. To get ahead in life, you have to leave some things behind and build a new model for living that makes the existing model obsolete. You must make a firm decision that you’re going to make a change, too. It won’t always happen naturally or automatically. Sometimes you will have to rise up against the wind and say, “I don’t care how hard this is! I don’t care how disappointed I am! I’m not going to let this get the best of me! I’m leaving this behind and moving forward with my life!” Ready? Starting today, it’s time to leave behind… 1. The idea of what could have been (or what should have happened, but didn’t). Before you can truly live today a part of you has to die first. You must completely let go of what could have been, how you should have behaved and what you wish you would have done differently. You must accept the fact that you can’t change your past experiences, the opinions others once had of you, or the immediate outcomes from their choices or yours. When you embrace the present truth then you will begin to understand and feel the true power of forgiveness as it relates to others and yourself. From this new awareness you will be free to take the next best step forward. 2. The idea that making another excuse makes sense. There is always a lie embedded between a promise you made to yourself and the excuses for why you haven’t followed through. To rush into explanations of any kind is always a sign of weakness. Stand strong! Life is a continuous exercise in creative problem solving. A mistake or a delay doesn’t become a failure until you refuse to correct it. Thus, most long-term failures are simply the outcomes from people who make continuous excuses instead of decisions, even though they know better. Don’t be one of them. Decide to do what you have to do, for yourself. Trust me, in a year from now, you will wish you had started today. 3. The idea that you must shrink to be in some relationships. You have to admit, to a certain extent, you have spent too much of your life trying to shrink yourself. Trying to bend in half. Trying to become smaller. Quieter. Less sensitive. Less opinionated. Less YOU. Because you didn’t want to be too much or push people away. You wanted to fit in. You wanted people to like you. You wanted to make a good impression. You wanted to be wanted. So for years, you sacrificed yourself for the sake of making other people happy. And for years, you suffered. Let this be your wake-up call… The primary reason that a toxic relationship situation holds you back has little to do with what the other person does directly to you; instead, it’s about how you have to constantly shrink yourself to conform to the situation. The pain and toxicity festers when you choose to shrink. When you choose to pull back, say less, or restrain your magnificence in any way out of fear, out of logic, or out of the cleverness to survive in a relationship, this spells trouble. So it’s not about them, really, it’s about your response to them. The next opportunity you have to spend time with this person (no matter how necessary, obligatory or comfortable it may seem), ask yourself: Will I have to shrink to make this work, or is this a situation where I can grow? Call on your courage and logic when you answer this question. And give yourself some space if that’s what you need to grow. 4. The idea that it’s too late to come clean and be completely honest. There are absolutely no guarantees when you finally come clean and practice honesty with people. Sometimes you lose what you once had. Sometimes you don’t win love and trust back. Sometimes your mistakes cut ties. Sometimes you break your own heart in the process. Sometimes you lose your footing and your way. Sometimes you end up feeling worse off than you did before. But even a step or two backward, after making a wrong turn, is a step in the right direction. You walk away from every act of honesty with a heart free from lies and regret. You have closure, one way or the other, and this helps you in the long run. Over time, you heal and find yourself living a life that’s far from the mental torture chamber you once lived in. This path to freedom and happiness is the scariest one you will ever navigate. However, it is the path that ultimately saves your life. 5. The idea that you have to be perfectly OK all the time. Even if it’s true that you’re growing and healing, and that it will be OK… it’s not always OK right now, and sometimes that’s all we can see and feel when we’re in the midst of a difficult life event. Sometimes NOT being OK is all we can register inside our tired minds and aching hearts. This feeling is normal. This emotion is human. The truth is, it’s not OK when someone you love is no longer living and breathing and giving their gifts to the world. It’s not OK when everything falls apart and you’re buried deep in the debris of a life you had planned for. It’s not OK when the bank accounts are nearly at zero, with no sign of a promising income opportunity. It’s not OK when someone you trust betrays you and breaks your heart. It’s not OK when you’re exhausted to the point you can’t get yourself out of bed in the morning. It’s not okay when you’re swimming in failure or shame or a grief like you’ve never known. Whatever your challenges are, sometimes it’s simply NOT OK right now. And that, above all, is more than OK. Yes, be OK with not being OK all the time. Those with the strength to succeed in the long run are the ones who lay a firm foundation of growth with the bricks that life has thrown at them. Don’t be afraid to fall apart for a little while, because when it happens, the situation will open an opportunity for you to grow and rebuild yourself into the brilliant human being you are capable of being. Your turn… What would you add to the list? What, specifically, do you know YOU need to leave behind to get ahead in life?

As you sit here reading these words, pause for a moment and take a quick assessment of your life. Chances are, you have access to food, shelter, and other basic necessities. You might also have family and friends who care about you. For the most part, you live a comfortable life. And the truth is, most of us who have access to internet to read this blog post share these same good fortunes with you. However, as busy human beings, we rarely see life this way – we are often disappointed by what we have, and so we think we need more… more comfort, more validation, more certainty, more possessions, more food, more excitement, more money, etc. I’m not criticizing anybody – I’m just being honest. Our collective problem is this: If we always want more, more, more… we’ll never believe we have enough. And that’s not the truth. The truth is, life is a continual journey, constantly evolving and changing, and the resources we possess at any given moment are exactly what we need to take the next step forward. In other words, we always have enough (even if it’s just barely enough). But we have to be aware of this – we must be grateful for where we are and what we have – to make the best of it. That, of course, is easier said than done. Being grateful seems simple enough, but this state of mind is incredibly difficult to maintain when life upsets or disappoints us. But, when we’re feeling upset or disappointed, that’s actually when a dose of gratitude is most beneficial. So what can we do? In the haste of our busy, stressful lives we neglect many of the fundamentals of gratitude, and then miss out entirely on gratitude’s most positive benefits. So, the mantras below can serve as good refreshers for all of us. Just pick one and repeat it silently to yourself for 60 seconds whenever you catch yourself thinking you need something more than what you have at the moment. When life is good, enjoy it. Don’t go looking for something better. Happiness never comes to those who don’t appreciate what they have. The richest person isn’t the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least. Wealth is a mindset. Want less and appreciate more today. Happiness comes a lot quicker when you stop complaining about your problems and you start being grateful for all the problems you don’t have. The greatest secret to peace of mind is letting every life situation be what it is, instead of what you think it should be, and then making the very best of it. Happiness does not start when “this, that or the other thing” is resolved. Happiness is what happens now, when you appreciate what you have. When life gives you every reason to be negative, think of one good reason to be positive. There’s always something to be grateful for. No, you won’t always get what you want. But remember this: There are lots of people who will never have what you have right now. Be grateful for your life. For your health, your family, your friends, and your home. Many people don’t have these things. Remind yourself how fortunate you are to be experiencing this moment right here, right now. The more you appreciate it, the better it’ll be. Choose to smile today by taking life moment by moment, complaining very little, and being thankful for the little things that mean a lot.

You don’t need to have it all figured out to take the next step. But you do need to take the next step to figure it out. You know the thing you’ve been putting off the longest? That thing you’ve been procrastinating on for the last several weeks? That’s the thing you need to start doing, with passion! Remind yourself that passion is not something you find in life; it’s something you do. When you want to find the passion and inner strength needed to change your situation, you have to force yourself to step forward. Too many of us are still hopelessly trying to “find our passion”—something we believe will ultimately lead us closer to happiness, success, or the life situation we ultimately want. And I say “hopelessly” primarily because passion can’t really be found. When we say we’re trying to find our passion, it implies that our passion is somehow hiding behind a tree or under a rock somewhere. But that’s far from the truth. The truth is, our passion comes from doing things right. If you’re waiting to somehow “find your passion” somewhere outside yourself, so you finally have a reason to put your whole heart and soul into your life and the changes you need to make, you’ll likely be waiting around for an eternity. On the other hand, if you’re tired of waiting, and you’d rather live more passionately starting today and experience small positive changes, it’s time to proactively inject passion into the very next thing you do. Think about it: When was the last time you sat down and had a conversation with someone nearby, with zero distractions and 100 percent focus? When was the last time you exercised and put every bit of effort you could muster into it? When was the last time you truly tried—truly tried—to do your very best? Like most of us, you’re likely putting a halfhearted effort into most of the things you do on a daily basis. Because you’re still waiting. You’re still waiting to “find” something to be passionate about—some magical reason to step into the life you want to create for yourself. But you need to do the exact opposite! Start doing the hard and necessary things, with your whole heart and soul fully invested.

Why is it that over 50% of people say they feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted in their personal and professional lives? The answer may surprise you: It’s not the number of minutes they spend awake and working hard each day that’s the issue—it’s that they often spend 99% of those minutes juggling too many things at once. Be honest… Do you check social media apps on your phone when you’re sitting in meetings, or when you’re spending time with family and friends? Do you eat lunch at your desk, or while you’re on the run? Is the TV often on in your home, even when you’re busy doing other things? Do you send the occasional text message while driving? The biggest cost of doing multiple things at once like this (assuming you don’t crash from the texting and driving) is a gradual, long-term decline in your productivity and happiness. When you get in the habit of persistently dividing your attention, you’re partially engaged in every activity, but rarely focused on any one. And this dizzying lack of focus eventually trips you up and brings you down to your knees. FOCUS. FOCUS. FOCUS. On one thing at a time. Then give yourself a short break, and repeat. Doing so will change your life! No seriously, it WILL! Remember this… If you hold a magnifying glass over a small pile of dry leaves as the sun shines bright on the hottest afternoon of the whole year, NOTHING will happen… …as long as you keep moving the magnifying glass quickly from one leaf to the next. But as soon as you hold the magnifying glass still and FOCUS the sun’s rays on one single leaf, the whole pile of leaves will ignite into flames. That’s the power of focusing on one thing at a time. Your opportunity right now is to realize that you are the magnifying glass in your own life, and that you can intentionally focus the energy you get from the world on one single leaf at a time. When you do so, you will ignite incredible “flames” that move your projects, your dreams, your relationships and even the world around you, forward.

Far too often, against our better judgment, we make the wrong choices. Our pride has us holding on when we need to let go. Pressure from peers sway us left when we mean to go right. Negative thoughts provoke frowning on otherwise beautiful days. And so it goes… One choice at a time, one moment at a time, we ruin the most promising days of our lives. If you can relate at all, it’s time to answer your wake-up call! How many times have you thought “this isn’t working” or “something is not right” or “things have to change”? – those thoughts and words are from your inner voice. It's your wake-up call calling. You really don't need some scary, life-threatening diagnosis or major crisis to wake you up. And no one needs to tell you because you already know. Your inner voice has been trying to tell you for awhile now, but incase it's been a challenge to find time and space to listen through the chaos, maybe you'll resonate with one of these situations: If your life is on auto-pilot and you're always feeling worn down, beat up, stressed out, and completely depleted, this is your wake-up call. If you never put yourself first, this is your wake-up call. If you are constantly numbing out with food, shopping, alcohol, TV, or other distractions, this is your wake-up call. If you've become someone you don't recognize to please other people or to chase some version of success that doesn't resonate with you, this is your wake-up call. Getting your wake-up call is not the hard part. Answering the call is. Choosing to answer the call instead of ignoring it is HARD! Right now, it may feel much easier to keep going, and going, and going. But you know if you don’t find a way out of the endless cycle you’re in, it’s going to get worse... Remind yourself that a big part of your life is a result of the choices you make. And if you don’t like your life, it’s time to start making changes and better choices. How do we start to make changes and better choice? Decide YOU ARE STUCK! Take a moment to reflect on evidence of this in your own life... Think about ONE self-limiting belief you have—one area of your life where you believe you absolutely CANNOT make progress. It can be about any part of your life you hope to change—your health, your weight, your career, your relationships – anything at all. What’s one thing you’ve essentially decided is a fact about your place on Earth? And then I want you to shift gears and think about ONE time, one fleeting moment, in which the opposite of that ‘fact’ was true for you. I don’t care how tiny of a victory it was, or even if it was a partial victory. What’s one moment in time you can look back on and say, “Hey, that was totally unlike ‘me’—but I did it!”? Because once you identify the cracks in the wall of a self-limiting belief, you can start attacking it. You can start taking steps forward every day that go against it—positive daily rituals that create tiny victories, more confidence, gradual momentum, bigger victories, even more confidence, and so on. And yes, I also understand that we all face our share of incredibly difficult circumstances, many of which are not the results of anything we’ve done. But we still have choices when it comes to how we’ll respond to these seemingly-random tragedies that afflict us. The choice is as simple as it is universal: Grit our teeth and try to move the immovable object, and become frustrated and bitter when we realize we can’t. Answer our wake-up call. Let it be. Let go. Surprisingly, the first choice is easier because it’s our default action. We want full control because feeling out of control is very terrifying. Empowering yourself to relinquish control of the wrong attachments is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself—the ability to exist peacefully and productively in the midst of the chaos of life.

The ability to not overreact or take things personally keeps your mind clear and your heart at peace. YOU CAN get rid of all the stress inside you created by others, the past, and uncontrollable events… How…? By being a conscious witness of your thoughts. It’s about sitting quietly and witnessing the thoughts passing through you. Just witnessing at first, not judging, because by judging too quickly, you have lost the pure witness. The moment you rush to say, “this is good” or “this is bad,” you have already jumped head first into the stress. Of course, it takes a little time to create a gap between the witnessing of thoughts and your reaction to them. Once the gap is there, though, you are in for a great surprise—that you are not the thoughts themselves, nor the stress influencing them. You are the witness, a watcher, who’s superpower is changing your mind and rising above the turmoil. This process of thought-watching is the very alchemy of true mindfulness. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, the stressful thoughts start disappearing. You are thinking, but the mind is empty of senseless chatter. It's a moment of enlightenment—a moment that you become, perhaps for the first time, an unconditioned, sane, truly free human being. So today, let this be your reminder to let all the small annoyances go. Move through your day consciously. Notice at least one insignificant little frustration that you would normally get frustrated about, then do yourself a favor and simply let it go. Experience, in this little way, the freedom of being in control of the way you feel. And realize that you can extend this same level of control to every situation you encounter in life. At almost any given moment, the way you feel is the way you choose to feel, and the way you respond is the way you choose to respond. When you think better, you live better...

Every night when the clock strikes midnight, you don't turn into a pumpkin but you are the recipient of a brand new, shining gift. We all receive the same amount of this gift regardless of weight, age, education, beauty, job description or marital status. When each new day raises its sleepy head, you are the sole owner of 1440 of the most powerful commodity ever known in the history of mankind. At precisely one second after midnight, every single day of your life, heaven opens its windows and gives to you 1440 untouched and valuable minutes to spend. How you spend your minutes is entirely up to you! Time is free, but it is priceless! You can gossip or you can worship - you can be filled with anger or with gratitude - you can jog five miles or watch television all day long - you can read a book or go to the mall. You and you alone choose how you will capitalize on this extravagant and priceless gift. You can choose to laugh or to cry - to whine or rejoice - to be negative or to be positive - to be bitter or to be better. These 1440 pieces of time belong to you and to no one else but you! It is true that there are things that we have to do. Most of us must work, but we choose how we work. We can either go to work with a chip on our shoulder, filled with anxiety and negativity or we can walk in with a happy heart, a solid work ethic and pray for those in our workplace. You can hate every minute that you are at work and waste time by gossiping, playing games and sneaking out the door five minutes early. Or you can know that God has set you in this particular place to be a blessing and to bring the excellence and character of God into your workplace. It is true, you may have to take care of aging parents, raise your children and take out that trash. Nevertheless, you choose how to do your have-to's. You can march through life with heavy steps and a frustrated heart or you can perform all of the necessities of life with patience, love, and joy.

You can do more damage with your words than you can with any other part of your body or any other thing you have control over. With technology and word-of-mouth potential, you can destroy a person with words and not even be in the same room with them. There’s good news on the flip side of that, though: Your words have the power to build others up. The tongue really is a miraculous thing. We don’t see anything else in all of nature where two opposing things can come from the same source. The tongue has the power to destroy and the power to build up. Most of us had a teacher whose words encouraged us or a coach whose words inspired us. Maybe your grandma changed the way you see yourself with her kind words, or you still carry around a note your dad wrote you years ago. People choose hobbies, careers, and even spouses because of what someone else said to them. Words are free and always available. They have the power to change your life. And every day, in every conversation, you have the power to speak life-changing words to those around you. This is not a mandate to avoid saying hard things. In fact, it’s the opposite. Sometimes you are required to say hard things in a kind way—to tap into the emotions of those around you and to speak words that are helpful. Can you imagine what would happen in your family, your relationships, your marriage, or your workplace if you leaned into the power of words that build up? The words you say matter. Who needs to hear them today?

That's a lie many of us hold on to until the bitter end. The idea of starting over being a bad thing is baked right into the fabric of our society’s education system. Kids are sent off to a university when they’re 17 or 18, and basically told to choose a career path they’ll be happy with for the next 40 years. “But, what if I choose wrong?” I remember thinking to myself. And that’s exactly what I did, in more ways than one. Over the years, however, through bouts of failure and hardship, I’ve learned the truth through experience: you can change paths quite often in life. Yes, starting over is almost always feasible, and it’s oftentimes a pretty good choice, too. Of course, it won’t be easy, but neither is being stuck with a lifelong career you naively chose when you were a teenager. And neither is holding on to something that’s not meant to be, or something that’s already gone. The truth is, almost no one wins a game of chess by only moving forward; sometimes you have to move backward to put yourself in a position to win. And this is a perfect metaphor for life. Sometimes when it feels like you’re running into one dead end after another, it might actually be a sign that you’re not on the right path. Maybe you were meant to turn left back when you took a right, and that’s perfectly fine... Let go of what's been done and grow from it! Of course, that's much easier said than done. One of the absolute hardest lessons in life is letting go – whether it’s guilt, anger, love or loss. Change is never easy – you fight to hold on and you fight to let go. But letting go is generally the healthiest path forward. It clears out toxic thoughts and choices from the past and paves the way to make the most positive use of the present. You’ve got to emotionally free yourself from some of the things that once meant a lot to you, so you can move beyond the past and the pain it brings you. Again, it takes hard work to let go and refocus yourself, but it’s worth every bit of the effort that you put forth! Truth be told, inner peace begins the moment you take a new breath and choose not to allow uncontrollable past events or decisions to dominate you in the present. You are what you choose to become in this moment. Let go, breathe, and begin...again as many times as you need to.

There are many things in life that we have little to no control over. Life happens. Things come up. Plans can sometimes vary. Whether you can control an event, or not, doesn’t matter. One thing is always certain: In life, change is inevitable. You can try to prolong the process, you can complain, you can attempt to fight it, or you can learn how to adapt. I’ve said before that everything in life is either growing or dying. When you avoid or refuse to accept change, then you are choosing stagnancy. You are making the refusal to transform into that which God has planned for you to become. But when you make the decision to welcome change into your life and you begin to make conscious decisions to better yourself, then you are choosing life. You cannot fear change. You can only do your best to prepare for it, and to learn through the process. It doesn’t always come when you expect it. It doesn’t wait until you are ready. Changes come swiftly and abruptly. All we can do is learn to roll with it. If you know that you need a change in your life right now, then don’t shy away from it. Take the steps necessary to begin the process that God has set out before you. Change isn’t always easy, it isn’t always a quick process, but it is a necessary process to take you to the next level. If you don’t like where you are at right now, change. If you want to reach your goals, change. If you want to realize the potential that God has placed within you, change. Today is my day to change. What is a change that you need to make in order to reach your potential?

Are you struggling to forgive someone who hurt you? Or are you struggling to forgive yourself? Maybe you are curious about God’s forgiveness and even wondering if He could forgive you for something you regret. If you struggle with forgiving others or yourself, then you are not alone. We are not in charge of the behavior of others, but we are in charge of how we respond. It is only the through receiving the grace and forgiveness of God that we can extend the same to others. The pain and hurt others cause us is a reality for many. But the pain of living with bitterness and unforgiveness can poison your soul and destroy you. When we forgive others, we are not saying what they did was OK, but we are letting go of their hold on us. Forgiving ourselves and others can be one of the hardest things we face in life, but it will lead to the greatest blessings and freedom as a result. Despite the prevalence of unforgiveness in our lives, it seems that many of us have a mistaken understanding of forgiveness and its impact, not only spiritually and emotionally, but also physically. In fact, according to John Hopkins Medicine, forgiveness has a huge impact on your health: “Whether it’s a simple spat with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict can go deeper than you may realize—it may be affecting your physical health. The good news: Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress. And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.” Do not live with the burden of unforgiveness any longer. Find freedom through God’s word. Choose to let go and let God and walk in freedom. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32 NIV). What keeps you from choosing freedom through forgiveness?

The blame game never works as we are ultimately responsible for the choices we make no matter what may have provoked us. We all have a perspective…a lens through which we see life and events. So, how do you “SEE” your life? Do you see it through the eyes of a victim living in a wretched world? Or do you see through the eyes of trusting a faithful God working all things together? Do you hold a positive or a negative worldview? There are as many answers to the question of perspective as there are people. Some would say that life is like a circus with varied performers. Other say that life is like a symphony with many parts, a puzzle with many pieces, a minefield to navigate. And lastly, some say that life is like a carousel: sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down and sometimes you are just going around and around. Stop and ponder just how you picture life as it truly influences how you live. Your perspective is key to HOW your see life. It shapes your responses to life. Reframing our perspective allows us to create a different way of looking at a situation, person, circumstance or relationship. What if you could look at problems, mistakes or challenges as your greatest resource for learning? Instead of stumbling blocks, you could look at them as stepping stones. The best thing about any mistake is that you get a chance to learn from it. Let the learning begin! What if you believed that everything could add some value to your life, that nothing is wasted? What if you believed that God’s promises were actually true and trusted the good Shepard to work all things together for our good? We cannot control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond, how we frame it and our perspective of it. You can choose your focus at every turn. The apostle Paul was a great “reframer” of his perspective. His filter of faith and trust allowed him to see differently. When he was in prison in Rome, instead of choosing the perspective of a prisoner, he chose the lens and perspective of preacher and encourager. Read the story in Philippians 1. Remember, as with Paul, you will find whatever you are looking for. Your perspective will lead you. That can be a scary proposition. Choose to see through the lens of faith. Choose to trust the Trustworthy One and focus on “all that is praiseworthy.” God can use your trials to bring about the perfecting of your character. He can turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones for future usefulness and greater glory. But we must cooperate and allow Him to do so. Choosing His eternal perspective in my life has been a great game-changer for me. How can you reframe your perspective to produce greater life-giving results? How could you go from being a victim to being a victor?

Even if it wasn’t your kid, I’m sure you’ve at least heard this in a store: “Can I have that? Please? Pllleeeeaaaaaase?” And if the parent doesn’t respond, you hear it again, and again! It’s irritating, right? Why do kids do that? Because it works. Today, let’s talk about being Persistent. Sometimes people pray about something one time, and they think that should be enough. They throw a quick prayer over their shoulder, and then they move on. The truth of the matter is that we actually have some lessons we can learn about persistence from the kid at the store. (Not to be whiny and annoying, but to be persistent—to ask and keep on asking, in faith.) See, what happens when we ask and we don’t get it? We get discouraged. Sometimes, so much so we quit asking—or think God is being mean or doesn’t hear us because He didn’t do it for us right then. I want to propose an idea to you. What if when you don’t get it right away God’s answer isn’t, “No, you can’t have it” but instead is, “No, it’s not ready yet.” Or what if you’re not ready for it yet? Or what if it’s, “I have something better for you”? Would it change the way you pray if you realized it may not be the right way, the right time, or the right thing for Him to say yes to that prayer? I think it might. Jesus tells us that we are to pray—and keep on praying. Because those who pray and keep doing it, in faith, without getting discouraged, receive answers from God. God is not our magic genie in a bottle just waiting for us to rub His magic Bible with a few choice Christian-sounding words. God is so much beyond that, even thinking of Him like a spiritual waiter taking our order is a grave insult. But when you have submitted your will to His humbly, you’ve learned what He says in His Word and you’re asking specifically according to what the Bible says, you can ask persistently without losing heart until you get His answer. So I’m obviously not telling you to throw a fit at God like the kid in the store, but next time you’re praying, remember that persistence is a key to powerful prayers.

Comparison is the thief of joy. Oftentimes, comparing ourselves to others also leads us into making poor choices. Each of us is unique. God created each of us fearfully and wonderfully and then signed us with our own unique thumbprint. We are not like other people. We were not designed to be them. Not to look like them or live like them. Not to carry their load. We have a unique call upon our lives to be totally and completely who He created us to be. Don’t get distracted by unnecessary and unwanted comparisons. Stay on your own path. Comparing ourselves to others is an ugly game that we all have played, and it leads to the death of our happiness. Envy can often be the result of this comparison game, and God does not like envy. There is no win in this game. No finish line. No final satisfaction. Keep your eyes to yourself, your giftings and your call. Live for the audience of ONE. Listen to only His voice. Do not carry more than what you are called to do. Unload your backpack from the unwanted comparisons in your life. The internet and social media can amp up comparison to either discourage you or encourage you all in the same breath. It’s so easy to scroll and scroll and have disappointment and jealousy grow with every thumb swipe as we over-analyze and scrutinize the lives of others. Our peace of mind only comes with trusting the Knitter and the Knower for our perfectly imperfect individual design. He gifted each of us uniquely to bless and serve others. Do not be an “elbow” trying to be a “foot” in the body of Christ. We are all geniuses at something, but if a fish spent his lifetime trying to climb a tree, he would feel stupid. Stay in your lane. Shine on as you, and you alone, were uniquely created to do. How is comparison a “thief of your joy"? Prayer: O Lord, blind me to comparing myself to others and help me to understand exactly who You created me to be. Lead me into my unique purpose that You designed just for me.

Happiness can be defined in many ways. People place value on different things. Some people place value in money and material goods while others value time, family, and the smaller more simpler things in life. Where you place value can determine where your happiness lies. It is said that money can't make people happy. Is this true? People with money are both happy and unhappy. Likewise, people with excessive amounts time are the same. I don't think that there is a clear cut answer in this. It depends on the person and the situation and what they value. Some can work all the time and have so much money saved and are able to afford whatever they want. On the other hand , some can have very little money and struggle on a day to day basis and are not able to afford even enough food for the week. The funny thing about this is that these two types of people may feel the exact same way. The individual with money may feel happiness because they have a lot of it and financial worries or monetary issues are not a problem. But with the money comes much time, sacrifice, and hard work. The individual with not as much money could feel happiness because they get to spend more time with family and enjoy the simple pleasures of life even though life is a struggle financially. Since the two values are placed on different aspects, it shows what brings them happiness while showing that they both feel essentially the same emotion: HAPPINESS. In my opinion, it's not a clear cut thing that can bring anyone happiness. It is contingent upon what is important to you and what you value.

The good thing about life is that you get another chance at it. Unless it's your time to go, you live to see another day. No matter what happened the day before or the week or month before, you always get a new day to try to change what you want. That's a beautiful thing and everyday is a blessing. It allows you to take a look at the past, see some decisions that you made, and decide how to move forward. Some may have been good. Some may have been bad. But the beauty is that you get another crack at it. Everyday....

Two very important components in life. They essentially go hand in hand. Having patience is waiting for the right time to make the right move. Moving too early could be just as bad as moving too late. Patience is, as cliche' as it may be, a virtue. It's a great attribute to possess. If things are not going the way you want them to at a particular time, or things are not happening as quickly as you like, practice patience. It's all about timing. I bet that as long as you continue to have faith in yourself and whatever you are doing, everything will work out just the way you want. Just don't give up. Keep striving and reaching for what it is you want. Keep working and believing. NEVER STOP! Rest but don't stop. You have to believe in yourself. If you don't, then who will. How can you expect someone to believe in you and have confidence in you if they can't see that you believe and are confident in yourself and whatever you are trying to accomplish. Remember: It all starts with YOU! IT STARTS WITH YOU! YOU make it HAPPEN. Always believe in yourself and never stop.....

With Wix Blog, you’re not only sharing your voice with the world, you can also grow an active online community. That’s why the Wix blog comes with a built-in members area - so that readers can easily sign easily up to become members of your blog. What can members do? Members can follow each other, write and reply to comments and receive blog notifications. Each member gets their own personal profile page that they can customize. Tip: You can make any member of your blog a writer so they can write posts for your blog. Adding multiple writers is a great way to grow your content and keep it fresh and diversified. Here’s how to do it: Head to your Member’s Page Search for the member you want to make a writer Click on the member’s profile Click the 3 dot icon ( ⠇) on the Follow button Select Set as Writer

When it comes to design, the Wix blog has everything you need to create beautiful posts that will grab your reader's attention. Check out our essential design features. Choose from 8 stunning layouts Your Wix Blog comes with 8 beautiful layouts. From your blog's settings, choose the layout that’s right for you. For example, a tiled layout is popular for helping visitors discover more posts that interest them. Or, choose a classic single column layout that lets readers scroll down and see your post topics one by one. Every layout comes with the latest social features built in. Readers can easily share posts on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and view how many people have liked a post, made comments and more. Add media to your posts When creating your posts you can: Upload images or GIFs Embed videos and music Create galleries to showcase a media collection Customize the look of your media by making it widescreen or small and easily align media inside your posts. Hashtag your posts Love to #hashtag? Good news! You can add tags (#vacation #dream #summer) throughout your posts to reach more people. Why hashtag? People can use your hashtags to search through content on your blog and find the content that matters to them. So go ahead and #hashtag away!

We’ve made it quick and convenient for you to manage your blog from anywhere. In this blog post we’ll share the ways you can post to your Wix Blog. Blogging from Your Wix Blog Dashboard On the dashboard, you have everything you need to manage your blog in one place. You can create new posts, set categories and more. To head to your Dashboard, open the Wix Editor and click on Blog > Posts. Blogging from Your Published Site Did you know that you can blog right from your published website? After you publish your site, go to your website’s URL and login with your Wix account. There you can write and edit posts, manage comments, pin posts and more! Just click on the 3 dot icon ( ⠇) to see all the things you can do. #bloggingtips #WixBlog