I came across this..."If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?"

 

Regret of the past and dread of the future are both "thieves of joy." Begin right now to say, "I've got a future, and there's hope for me. God is on my side. No matter how many disappointments I have had in the past, this is a new day. Goodness and mercy are following me today."-JM

 

"Maybe you haven't had a great beginning, but make a choice to have a good finish."-JM

 

I came across this..."I love pictures because the best thing about them is they never change...even when the people in them do."

 

I like this..."I'm not saying I'm perfect. In fact, I'm far from it. I'm just saying I'm worth it."

 

"Jesus is calling you away from your situation to a new opportunity. He has more for you than what you are currently experiencing, but you have to say goodbye to this in order to say hello to that. If you could think of how much more life God has for you, and how Jesus died and shed His blood so that you can have abundant life, you will not be comfortable sitting and rocking the boat while you are thirsty, rocking in your forties, rocking away your fifties, and you are about to mess up your sixties. When are you going to get out of the boat and walk towards the opportunity God is calling you to? God is not finished with you yet. God has more for you, but fear is holding you back!"-TDJ

 

"Jesus was walking on the water towards the disciples, but they did not recognize Him, because God is hard to recognize in the storm. Although the disciples had been with Jesus a few minutes before the storm broke out, it was hard for them to see God in their storm. When you are faced with fear, don’t stand there and refuse to do anything. Don’t stay on the boat because you are familiar with it. You might be rocking on the boat of mediocrity when God is calling you to an opportunity. You will get stuck on the boat of mediocrity, if you lack the courage to step out and walk towards the opportunity to do what God has called you to do."-TDJ

 

"Maybe you have had some doors close in your life. In spite of everything, know that God is stirring you to accomplish His purpose in your life. God knows what it takes to bring order back to your life. Trust Him. He’s working on something and when He’s done, everything around you will be made better."-TDJ

"The less you have, the more you value it." -- I know of a homeless man I get to visit with, from time-to-time, at the clinic I volunteer at. This reminds me of him, when he told me of his "new girlfriend." She was a stray bit-bull mixed dog. He was so happy to have her.

"Smile. Let everyone know that today you're a lot stronger than you were yesterday."

Today, my youngest son, Drew, called to let me know that he passed his test for Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist! This is a huge accomplishment for Drew. He now adds this certification to his certifications as a Personal Trainer, Personal Trainer for Special Populations (Disease and Disability), Precision Nutrition Level 1, and USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance. Anyone who knows Drew, knows he is an Overcomer. He has overcome a great amount of adversity in his life, adversity that began at the age of 11. He is certainly one of my greatest heroes. I am so proud of him! Thank you, God, for blessing Drew the way You do. Thank you for helping him get this certification. And, THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for Drew. :)

"Can you see God’s will in who you didn’t get? Can you see God’s will in who you cried over not getting? Got depressed and thought your life was over because you didn’t get them? Can you see God’s will in the job you didn’t get? In the door that wasn’t opened? God moved you and fastened you through the things that you struggled. Sometimes, it's people telling you that you're stupid that makes you study. It's people that tell you that you're dumb that makes you smart. It's people that put their foot on your throat that makes you fight back like you did."- TDJ

"Stop having an affair with where you've been, so you can fall in love with where you're going."-TDJ

"When someone said she would have a baby, Sara laughed. “If I am going to get a miracle, God had better hurry.” I want to warn you about setting your own watch. God’s time is not your time. He may not come when you want Him to, but He will come right on time."-TDJ

"Your have an appointment with God that has been set from the foundations of the earth, and that appointment isn’t over until God says it’s over. You may think that all of your good days are gone, but the very fact that you are alive says God wants you to be alive. He is not through with you yet. Start looking ahead, there’s something coming up on God’s calendar and it’s got your name on it. There’s something good just over the horizon of tomorrow -something good for your life. Where you are right now is not where you are going. If you are not on your deathbed, God still has an appointment task for you for finish. He has called you with an eternal purpose."-TDJ

"Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use."-Charles M. Schulz

"Just because something isn't happening for you right now doesn't mean that it will never happen."

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."-C.S. Lewis

"When you fail, God keeps loving you...because His love is not based on you...but on Him."-JM

This is my encouraging word for today..."It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure." 2 Samuel 22:33

I came across this..."Peace is the deliberate adjustment of my life to the will of God."-Anonymous

I so get this..."Sometimes, God has to get you by yourself, to get you to come to your self. Any time God wants to multiply your life, He has to reduce you to the lowest common denominator, because, when your numbers were real big, you wouldn't listen to Him. But, when He reduces you to a workable size, you'll be ready to listen to what He has to say."-TDJ

"Your past life is too small to fit you as you grow into the fullness of all you were meant to be."-TDJ

"Because God is seeking quality in our character, time is not His concern. Masterpieces take a lot of time!"–JM

Today's Encouraging Word - I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him. Psalm 39:7

"If we are to enjoy a brighter tomorrow, we must rid ourselves of the grave clothes of where we have been and stitch a new garment for where we are going."-TDJ

"See, you can’t get what God has for you until you LOOK UP. If you look down, you’ll always see what limps in you, what hurts in you, what aches in you. But, if you LOOK UP, you will see what God has in store for you."-TDJ

"Sometimes you have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting. Have faith that things will work out, maybe not how you planned, but just how it's meant to."

I heard this on the K-Love radio station..."Just because things aren't going according to your plan, doesn't mean that they aren't going according to The Plan."

I came across this..."It's never too late for you to turn to God. No matter how far you've fallen away from God, no matter how big you've failed, it's never too late to humble yourself and depend on God. If you've been given a second chance, take it."

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. - Isaiah 42:16

"You can’t change what you did, and you can’t change where you’ve been, and you're embarrassed about the choices that you made. But you're wiser now, and you're smarter now, and you're stronger now. And, when you praise God, you're praising God that He didn’t give up on you, that He didn’t destroy you, that He didn’t walk away from you. You’re not praising God because you got a new dress or a new house or a cute man. You're praising God because you didn’t lose your mind. You're praising God that you survived the storm. You're praising God that you're STILL HERE!"-TDJ

February 19, 2012, at church and in small group, 1 Peter 5:5-7 was discussed. While the primary focus was humility, it was verse 7 that really challenged me. It says..."Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." I realized this...*You can tell how humble you are by what you worry about.* I came to the conclusion that the development of humility includes casting ALL my worries on God because God cares for me, and God cares for my boys. God cares.

"Your mess can be your ministry if you’ll have a positive attitude and let everything you go through prepare you for what’s ahead."-JM

"Faith does not exempt you from tragedy and adversity. You will never know that you have faith until you're in a good fight. Real faith is proven in the furnace of affliction...in the time of adversity. You will know that you believed God...not because you didn’t go through anything...but because you went through something and maintained your integrity while you persevered."-TDJ

"Don’t waste your time being upset about something you can’t change! Begin again and do it better this time.–JM

One of my Facebook friends posted this..."I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys. I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. For if I'd never had a problem, I wouldn't know God could solve them. I'd never know what faith in God could do."

"You are greater than your past. You are stronger than any moment of failure. You can rise like smoke up a chimney. You were meant to spiral to the sky. All the chilling drafts of broken promises should not deny you the gift of life. Never forget that you are alive--sometimes weak, sometimes strong, but alive. You will be right some days and wrong some nights, but don’t stop waking up in the morning. The morning is God’s gift of another chance to pass the exam."-TDJ

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."-Christopher Robin to Pooh

"Let's choose today to quench our thirst for the 'good life' we think others lead by acknowledging the good that already exists in our lives. We can then offer the universe the gift of our grateful hearts."-Sarah Ban Breathnach

I just came across this picture, and it made me smile. :)

For me, I am finding that this is absolutely true..."Everything God promised you will meet you in the place of your pain. Show me the place of your greatest pain, and I’ll show you the place of your greatest promotion. Show me the place that tried you to the breaking point, and I’ll show you the place of your prophetic destiny."-TDJ

I just came across this..."Why is life so hard sometimes, and why does it seem like nothing ever works out the way we want? Maybe it's because we're trying too hard to make our own plan work, instead of asking God what His plan is."

"ONE THOUGHT" delivers you from hoping around in the failures of your yesterday to standing up like a man and say that I'm going to be defined by what's in front of me and not what is behind me. What is behind me will not control me. I will break the chains of my yesterday, so that I can fly into my tomorrow."-TDJ

"Sometimes, I think there is so much noise around us, that we cannot hear God. And, how can we walk with a god that we cannot hear? How can He talk to us when the first thing we do is grab a telephone and start talking to all kinds of people about what we're going through, about what's happening in our lives, and what's happening with our children? And, we're watching TV, and we're listening to music, and all kinds of god stuff going on...people singing about God, talking about God, preaching about God...and yet, all the while, God is saying, "If you cut off all that stuff for a minute, I wanna talk to you!"-TDJ

"Are you trying to make what used to happen, happen at a time it's not supposed to happen? Are you asking God to restore something that is inappropriate for where you are, rather than seeking the beauty of where you are right now? Are you praying for something that is out of perspective with what God has in mind for you at this time in your life? Because you are His, He has ordered your steps. That means your steps are tailor-made, cut to the continuity of His divine purpose. He knows exactly who you are, He knows exactly where you are, He knows exactly how to bless you from where you are, and He wants you to trust Him to take you through the seasons."-TDJ

"Let peace be your umpire today. Know that your decision is “in” when you have peace and “out” when you don’t."-JM

I love this..."Sometimes, you have to be your own hero." :)

This is a word I needed, because I have a tendency to wait around too long to see how something turns out..."Trust God and do the next thing."-Oswald Chambers

"Sometimes we tend to be in despair when the person we love leaves us, but the truth is it’s not our loss but theirs. For they left the only person who wouldn’t give up on them."-Unknown