I know frustration comes from focusing on what you cannot control or what you cannot understand or know.  Most of the time it is all three bound into one dart from the enemy. Being productive and staying positive leads to achievement which comes from focusing on all the useful and valuable things you CAN do.  Why do we as Christians, who know better, allow Satan to bombard our thoughts into the negative to create chaos, bad moods and stinking thinking?  We must renew our mind daily with God’s word and train ourselves to be positive.  Our focus needs to be Godly, righteous, holy, pure and the things God wants us to think.

Resentment comes from seeing yourself as a victim. Bitterness creeps in because you feel like you have been treated wrongly, but if you are positive, effectiveness comes from stepping up and taking responsibility which isn’t always easy to do when change is involved. I find myself in the pit at times feeling bitter or unhappy in relationships, but now I stop the negative thoughts and reroute my thinking.  This is a learned process and it has taken me years of correction.   Many people say they can change but when it comes down to it, excuses are made therefore it is easier to be the victim to focus on self and the negative.

If we constantly complain that life is unfair (and we all have said that), you’ll blind yourself to the best opportunities.  Why?  It is because of the focus on the negative. We must accept life as a journey of good things and bad and know we cannot control the past or even hold on to it to bring revenge or deserved reward .  We must be balanced!  Being positive means you’ll find a way to make the most of it regardless of how we feel or what emotions are tied to it.

We shouldn’t waste our time arguing and fighting or focusing on the past or with the things in life. Instead, we should invest our time and resources in inspiring and encouraging others and to be the best.  We should all be mentors and be an example of true life Christians.  There is good, positive, fulfilling value to be lived every day, in any situation. Choose to be the person who shines a light on that potential value and who brings that value fully to life.

Learn to let go of the frustration, resentment and despair by letting the positive possibilities be imparted into your thinking.  Learn to let the Spirit of God fill you with the power and His strength.  We cannot rely on our own strength to do this life, for if we do we live in fear and we fail miserably.  I choose to see the positive.

In this process of changing my lifestyle in eating habits and exercising I have learned a couple of things.  It is hard to change but exciting to see the results.  I feel better and enjoy having time exercising with friends.  Knowing that you are eating the right food and trying to improve your health is rewarding in itself.  Jeff continues to praise me for my effort.  If we are to do God’s work, I believe He wants us to set an example and be healthy so that we can be all that we are called to do and be.  I want to be healthy, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial.

If you want to follow me in my losing weight journal you can click on this link and sign up in the right hand corner at the top of the page.

thinkpinkgirl.wordpress.com/

As we venture into another year expecting to see more of God’s working miracles and adding to the Kingdom, let us prepare ourselves to this oncoming wave of His movement!

1.  Career and Ministry:  Continue to train people in helping them move forward in their relationship with God.  What values can we give to others that have been naturally been given to others that follow us?  Dedication, Hunger, Passion, Commitment, Excellence in Ministry, Marketplace.  We develop as a family as we our to enhance creativity, character and hold classes for developmental programs, bible college, Leaders Advance Conference, church staff meetings etc.  Our mission this year is to start a family blog in social media where each one of us will post twice a month.  This will include video or wording and we will all participate as administrators.

2.  Financial: Support and give to missions.  We have chosen 2 missionaries we know personally.  We as a family will give $15 each, a month to total more than over $500 each for the year.  These two women missionaries have our  same vision, work diligently for the Kingdom and remarkably teach others to love Jesus to the fullest with a humble spirit.  The continue to work to bless others, so we in turn will sow into their mission.  This may not seem like much but each family member will do their best to give to causes we are not directly related to.  I am going to make a box to put the money in.

3.  Spiritual:  We as a family will read the Bible Daily Plan so that we will all read the Bible through within one year.  We also plan to fast for 6 days as a family.  Attend Bible College classes and have Family Home Group once a quarter.

4.  Physical:  We are going to focus on staying healthy, eating and exercising.  We are planning to either run a half of a marathon in the fall or do a three-day getaway in doing a ropes course, white water rafting and rock climbing, or a Warrior Dash (the boys would have to carry me though..lol)

5.  Intellectual:  Read 2 Books.  We will have discussions throughout the year pertaining to the books and at family meetings.

6.  Family:  Once a quarter family meeting to discuss personal goals, successes as well as motivational structure.  Holding each other accountable and staying positive, encouraging one another through texting, phone calls etc.

7.  Social:  The Family blog and attend events as a family during the year.

The Wheel of Life is a way of showing us how we need to distribute our time, our focus, and where we need to set goals. Most of  us can focus heavily in one or a few areas. The issue with that is we leave the others unattended. When we do that, we miss out on important areas of life. If we spend too much time in a certain area, our wheel is out of round. If we don’t spend anytime in some areas, our wheel is flat.  As you look at the wheel, note what areas you’re strong in, but really take a hard look at the areas where you suffer. Here is where you need to start paying attention. If you do a great job with the career, but you suffer in the social, you’ll have a very stress filled boring life. If you knock it out of the park intellectually, but you don’t focus on your family, there won’t be much of one some day.

Well now you have it!  I hope that in some way I have encouraged you to do the same with your family!  Mine is on paper and in this blog so I can time to time go back and make sure we are staying on track.  If you don’t set goals then you never reach them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

For more information on goal setting: http://www.goals2go.com/articles/zig-ziglar-goal-setting.htm

As the new year approaches many people will make new year’s resolution and by the time March rolls around the list is usually still hanging on the fridge with only a few things worked on.  We must understand it all starts with a made up mind.  It starts with a renewing of the mind that comes only from Jesus and allowing His Spirit take control.  When we are trying to control things it only makes matters worse.  So with that said, I again am looking forward to getting this year behind us, but for now I am not going to get to stressed out and stay focused on the reason for the season with renewing my mind daily.  Let us not forget and be thankful.

What happens is I see people who build walls all around them, closing off the very people they love.  If we try to control our children too much, (even though we know what is best for them) they lay bricks day after day until a wall is built.  This usually happens as teens.  The walls shut us out and prevents us from speaking into their lives.  Balance, time and effective communication is really hard during those years.  As my youngest, Spencer is turning 21 this upcoming year, I reflect back when I was 21 having my first baby.  Wow, I thought I knew everything then but my how time plays an important factor of wisdom as experiences come.   Spencer just had his first wreck last night.  He now faces pulling out some of his money out of savings to pay for the damages.  Yes, its life and life bring blessings as well as frustrations.

This week starts yet another chapter in my life.  My sons struggle with who they want to become, jobs and wanting relationships that matter. They struggle with pleasing their dad and wanting their life to be a reflection of what we stand for.   It is life we endure, a process that sometimes brings hurts and pains that don’t easily go through, however as parents, we can love our children through it all.  It is time I show and do what I wish I had done when they were toddlers.  Continue to show unconditional love, lead and guide them, hug them and help them through the pain as they allow me to as their mother.

I was reading the first chapter of Galatians and as I was reading I felt the Spirit of God really move upon my heart in keeping my focus and staying on track.  As Paul was writing to a group of people who had somewhat strayed away from either doctrinal teaching or living a holy lifestyle.  So many times we set up idols in our lives without even realizing it.  Of course we don’t actually make graven images and set them up in our house and bow down and worship them but what we do is put things of life before God.  We stay conscience of God yet many times we spend more time in front of a computer, television, our job, addictions or other things that consume our time. I’ve have been guilty!  It’s a way the enemy can make us lose focus in a subtle way.  Then when we are feeling the effects of bad mood, children acting up, marriage falling apart or any other chaotic whirlwind we tend to blame other people for our crazy world.  Many times people then seem to wake up and run back into His arms and dive in giving God 110% or they run in the other direction in a downward spiral.  Running never solves the problem.  Although there may be a temporary fix of feelings when there is a change maybe in churches, living quarters or jobs the behavior patterns often surface again because of heart issues.  Out heart needs to be focused on loving God in a way where He comes first in our lives, in our marriage and in our family.  I have seen a many of families that put such an emphasis on sports in their children’s lives it becomes a second God in their household.  Now before you judge me with that statement let me tell you of our experience.

All our boys played sports and there is nothing wrong with that.  However what I believe was wrong is that we made such an issue with using sports as such importance in life when it wasn’t.  Don’t get me wrong, sports teaches children many aspects of life, keeping them healthy, promotes self-esteem, goal setting, teamwork and how to deal with adversity, however it shouldn’t be such as an emphasis that it requires more time or takes time away from God.  More and more I see where teams are requiring church service times as either a practice or game time. This included traveling on Sundays.We refused to follow this and kindly told the coach that we couldn’t abide by this schedule.  Usually the coach was very understanding. Could this be a distraction in our family values of importance? Some say it is only for a season and it won’t hurt missing a few Sundays but when you miss it is much easier to miss again and again without motivation to return to the regular routine of family Sunday worship.  We justified all this by stating we were having family time and yes we spent thousands of dollars in uniforms, fees, games and traveling.  Of the entire school years we spent more money on sports than what the average Christian gives yearly in tithes. My point is most people are willing to give to the now satisfaction for their children rather than investing into the Kingdom where eternity is the factor for all generations.  Lyle later told us he felt stressed out, much pressure from the games and felt as though he had to please his dad instead of enjoying the games.  We were clueless.  All the money, all the time spent was not good enough to prevent Lyle developing habits of a lifestyle of running from God in his teens.  Basketball was his God.  This idol was what he had a relationship with, not God.  He had the knowledge of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit but he didn’t have a tangible relationship with them.  Basketball was practiced almost seven days a week, God only twice.  I hope you get my point.

Children may not always learn what the parent teaches but what the parent allows to be practiced!

Jeff and I were talking about how many people want God to come in and fix their problems and make their pain go away yet they are unwilling to have a heart or behavior pattern change.  Blame games comes into full force in this.  Who do we blame?  We tend to blame those we are close to, or to those we rarely see that may have hurt are feelings or haven’t shown us much attention in which we demanded of them.  It is easy to point fingers instead of change our family values, our heart or give God the 110%.  This is where idols surface.

If you find yourself giving more time to other things than thinking or thanking God, then look for idols in your life.  If you are getting negative and more negative with life, then idols are present.  If you are living from chaos to chaos and your household is crazy without any peace, there are idols.  Don’t be fooled by the enemy and don’t fool yourself.  Ask God to take blinders off your eyes and expose the enemies tactics.  Start giving God your all and watch the idols crumble.

The other night I got the privilege to sit in on an Inner Healing Session called Sozo.  Sozo means saved, delivered and healed.  When people met Jesus, they got sozo.  During the session I started thinking on how I would respond to some of the questions asked.  I hurt and cried for the person who was being ministered to but also cried inside of looking into my own soul of my past.  Although I tried to control my emotions I knew God was trying to tell me something.  I am a Christian and I know that I am forgiven, but it has taken me years to get to the point that I know who my identity is in Christ.  I now understand through this sozo session why I have struggled so many years with this issue and why at times I feel like I can’t be perfect enough for everyone around me.  It starts with my father.  Our father determines our Identity, provision and protection.  Each person in the Godhead reflects on each issue with your life and what you struggle with.  It all makes sense now.  I now am recommending everyone to go through a session especially if you struggle with a particular area in your life.  I am now scheduling class for others.

Thinking, doing and expecting to see miracles in my life.  I already have.

As I was reading this morning in Psalms 71 I am reminded of how God is for me. I sometimes forget how loving and protective He is over me and our relationship.  When I start to be in lack of spending time with Him, He woos me back and with a sweet voice prompts me to pick up His Word and be thankful.  He reminds me that He is my resource.

He is my refuge and He won’t let me down.  He saves me from my enemies, He rescues me, protects me and hears me when I cry out to Him.  He keeps me safe.  He is with me as I grow older and it is Him who gives me success.  My expectations of Him never go unanswered.  He has faithfully rescued me from all plans of the enemy and from those who want to harm me.  I must tell others about Him and His miracles.   Even when I have problems and start to dwell on them, He comforts me and gives me hope.  I will continue to seek Him, praise Him and honor Him.  Amen!

I have had a young 23 year old come and be my accountability and motivational partner along with a 21 year old.  Am I a glutton for punishment?  They pushed me yesterday to the max where I did exhaust all my muscles.  Training, moving, stretching and sweating, is really hard work! Getting out of bed was quite a struggle because my muscles didn’t want to cooperate.  However I will be moved to continue.

This made me think of the term “running the race”  2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  When Paul was writing this is wasn’t something that he thought about or accomplished in one day, a week or even a month in that matter.  There was much training and daily consistency going on.  It was a lifestyle change and a life long commitment.  I fight the good fight of faith, I must be strong with my daily walk with God and I must continue to reach others and I must be healthy to continue doing just that.  Mind, soul and body all healthy.  If my mind is not healthy I would be of no good constantly focusing on myself, my problems, my issues in my own world instead of others.  If my body is not healthy I will constantly be worried, down, enabled and trapped to go and do the things I must do for His Work, again my focus would be on myself.  If my soul is not healthy I would be lost and consumed by the thinking of the world with no peace, no true joy with only temporal pleasures.  I must use all three of these in effort to promote healthiness in all areas of my life.  

Today is a new day for you and I challenge you to do the same.  Are you ready for new adventures God has for you?  Don’t only make a statement about changing but actually do something about it.  It may take a partner to motivate you and encourage you daily.  It may take someone who believes in you.  It may take faith on your part.  Nevertheless, if you make plans and follow through, you might seem a “little sore” by changing your old ways, and your body may scream with the pain, but with consistency and fighting the good fight of faith keep running the race your rewards will be given.  It’s more than just a healthy heart, or lifestyle, it’s an eternity of happiness with the Savior Jesus Christ.

Getting back to my story another opportunity opened up recently where we could have a local cable show on WTSN.  We had our first meeting about it this week. Our vision is to have a program like “The View” where we sit and discuss several issues.  We also went and looked at the sets that were available here in town where taping of local shows take place.   As we walked in this warehouse room setting,  we saw a set with a zebra chair, just like the one she saw in her mind as she was pondering the thought of  television.  (Of course we will have to come up with our own furniture and such.)   Meeting the producer and the technician that takes care of running the show and editing told us we didn’t have a problem with talking, (which made me laugh.)  He then told us how several people love the thought of having a show but tend to freeze once the lights and camera are in your face.

I would love to know from my readers what topics do you think would be interesting in discussing.

What is the name of the show?  Stay tuned for the revealing name, but our tag line will be something like “Real life, real issues, real people”.  Christy Anglin will be joining us on set who is a 12 year veteran on radio. Our program will air on Saturday mornings at 11 and also on Sunday mornings.  Our topics will include an array of what most people deal with in life.  From marriage, parenting and self-help we will discuss and have sound advice not only of our opinions of life issues but also Biblical advice.  We are stepping out in faith when it comes to funding.  Hopefully we will be getting help financially from sponsors, friends, family, business owners.  I am asking for prayers also, cause when we tape, I have the tendency to say dumb things some times but yet when we can laugh at ourselves that is “real life”.

I want to lose weight so I have started yet another blog site to entertain myself or better yet get supporters or keep me accountable for my actions of eating doughnuts or whatever else sweet in the house on a daily basis.  I also signed up with a company called Plexus.  I know and have been involved with network marketing so I do know how much work and time is involved.  This girl has been around that mountain before!  What made me decide to be a Plexus Ambassador?  There are none in Kentucky…. so the field is wide open to sell this pink drink to lose weight and I also love the Breast Kit. So we will see how this goes…. you can join me if you are a risk taker! haha.

If you would like to know more about all this in what I am doing, just click my links below or comment.  I don’t know what results I will have BUT I do know that I like what I see so far with this company.  Not too many products to sell, cancel at anytime, no pressure in sales, no stock etc.  I will let all you know how it goes, or better yet click this link to follow my “fat” track in lifestyle change, eating habits and weight, along with tips to lose it!

Check out the company I’m working for:  http://www.plexusslim.com/44678

Support me in my blogging and progress in losing weight: http://thinkpinkgirl.wordpress.com/ OR just click on one of the buttons under Read This to the right of this page.