Don't Let This Fall Out of Your Mouth!

Negativity, that is...

Over the next ten days, I will be sharing some declarations to encourage you and keep the momentum going. You can catch the declarations on my Facebook page or Instagram.

Declaration number one is: 

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK.

Say it out loud. How did it make you feel?

I had someone tell me that it filled them with hope. Just saying this one phrase, this one sentence declaration, moved their feelings in a positive direction.  

Write it down or put it in your phone as a reminder and say it throughout the day. 

These days, nothing goes like we think it should go, and life feels out of control. Every day there is something new to think about, a new rule to follow, a place we can't go, a new way to do things. It can be really frustrating, but one thing that we can control is how we respond to these situations.

We get to CHOOSE how we respond!

It's easy to become stressed and overwhelmed, but if we are...

I love water and I do drink a lot of it but you really have to be intentional about it! Here are some benefits to drinking water. You can also watch the Facebook Live that I did about it here!

Did you know that more than half of our body weight is composed of water?

75% of your brain is water

83% of your blood and carries nutrients to your cells

22% of your bones

75% of your muscles

How much water should you drink? It is recommended for each of us to drink half your body weight in ounces. If you drink coffee or caffeinated drinks, you need to add 8 oz per caffeinated drink.  

An easy way to get your daily water requirement is to measure it out first in the morning. You can get one large container and fill it up with the amount of water you need and then pour it into a glass and drink until it is empty. Or you can get 3 or 4 water bottles (or however many it takes to get the amount you need), fill them up, and when all the bottles are empty, you're done!

I...

UGH! I can't get anything done. I feel like I am all over the place! 

Have you ever said this? If so, you can do these 5 things to increase your productivity! 

Without vision, people perish. Make the vision plain, or I like to say simple, easy, and obvious. Write the vision down so you can run with it.    

Now, you do need a vision for your life, but we are going to dial down and focus on having productive days and weeks that will lead to productive months and years. 

I made a video that you can watch on FB or IGTV. 

I like to do these 5 things on Sunday night to prepare for the coming week, but you can also review them every evening as a touch base.

1.  Brain Dump

Get a notebook or a piece of paper and write down everything you can think of that needs to be done. I like to walk around my house and open up closet doors and cabinets to find those things that are always lurking that need to be completed.

Look at...

Let’s discuss the 8 Fundamental Human Needs, how they operate in our lives, and how we can meet these needs.  

I did a Facebook live on the 8 Greatest Human Needs.  You can watch it here.

1. Physical Needs - We need shelter, food, and clothing
2. Safety Needs -We want to be protected and taken care of
3. Love Needs - We want to feel cared about, feel apart of someone's life, and have a meaningful connection with them.
4. Esteem Needs - We want to feel valued and to be complimented for our accomplishments. 
5. Cognitive Needs - We want to learn, to grow, become a better person, improve our skills, learn, stretch, and excel in our lives
6. Aesthetic Needs - We have a need for beauty
7. Self - Actualization Needs - We want to realize our full potential 
8. Transcendence Needs - We want to impact somebody else's life for the better (the highest need of the human heart to live your best life)

The first four needs are considered deficiency needs and they will never...

Being thankful is very powerful. I once heard someone say, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.” 

If we practice an attitude of gratitude every day instead of basing it on our circumstances, we will see that gratitude can change your perspective and life.

In this season of COVID-19 and all that is happening in our country right now, we could be angry about all that we could not or cannot do, but I have to CHOOSE to find ways to be thankful for how God is moving right now. It may not look how I thought, but God knew how it would all play out, and He knows best.

Luke 17:11-19 (TPT)

Jesus traveled on toward Jerusalem and passed through the border region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered one village, ten men approached him, but they kept their distance, for they were lepers. 13 They shouted to him, “Mighty Lord, our wonderful Master! Won’t you...

It's not how you start; it's how you finish.

What would you want the end to look like, or what do you want people to say about you?

In Chip Gaines' book, Capital Gaines, he did an interesting exercise towards the end that has stuck with me. He wrote out his obituary as if he had lived his life selfishly and made poor choices. He stated how it affected his marriage (ended in divorce), his relationship with his kids (strained), and his reputation in the community (not good).

He then wrote out his obituary as he lived his life selflessly. He wrote of how he thought of others, worked on himself, failed forward, took risks, kept his priorities in order (God, Joanna, his kids, family, business) and made a significant impact on Waco for good and all of the things he did to help others. (I would encourage you to read the book)

Start with the end in mind. How do you want to end? Then make choices that will get you there.

Two stories got me to thinking about this....

I recently spoke about how so many people are living offended these days.

A few weeks ago, a book I wrote, Moving Forward, was released. I wrote the book because if there were one thing I could share with you, it would be the principle in this book. One thing that can keep you stuck is unforgiveness, carrying an offense.

We live in the age of offense.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an offense as something that outrages the moral or physical senses.

It is an emotional response – one that initially we can’t help but feel. Someone may have said or done something to hurt us or perhaps neglected us somehow, and we got offended.  

Sometimes, if we don’t have anything to be offended at, we will be offended on behalf of other people.

 Luke 17:1 (NKJV)  

Then He (Jesus) said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!

Jesus knows we will all get offended, but we get to...

One thing I can say about being home a lot; you cannot ignore the things you have put off any longer.

For me, I had all of these little projects, things needed to be moved, cleaned out, cleaned off, and rearranged. I could no longer walk by, procrastinate and say, “I’ll do that later." I had to live in it all day, and it started driving me crazy.

If every time you walk into your office, it's a mess and chaotic, or you open a drawer or closet, and your mind goes to what you need to do to clean it up, and it stresses you out, your peace is being stolen.

A cluttered house is a cluttered mind.

Barbara Hemphill says, “Clutter is postponed decisions.”

So I did a brain dump. That is when you write down everything you have ever thought needed to be done. You then prioritize these projects. Which one do you want to be done first? Maybe you pick one that is easy to get done, so you have quick success. Then you can check it off the list. I love doing that!

Here are the...

Don’t Miss the Videos at the End!

How do you connect with your kids?  It doesn’t happen automatically. You have to be intentional to make it happen.

Proverbs 22:6  

Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

Another version says to train up. 

Covid-19 has us in our homes with our families and for many of you, homeschooling your kids.

With that in mind, a question I have for you is, how are you directing or training up your children?  

Are you training them to laugh and have fun or to be stressed out?

Are you directing them to be fearful or to trust God?

Are you teaching them the Word of God or the world’s ways?

Are you blessing them or cursing them?

Do you speak life and potential over them or do you speak death?

None of us are perfect parents. Matt and I are not, but we can stand on the truth that we gave them Jesus.  And he is pursuing them,...

Do you feel like life is never going to get back to normal? 

I know it won't go back to exactly like it was before because we can't go back and undo COVID-19.   However, I am ready to see friends and be able to go places. I'm ready to go to church again and meet people in person for a coffee.  I'm ready for family get-togethers and trips to the mall.  You get the picture!

In the Bible, there is a prophet Habakkuk who was complaining and questioning God because He was allowing the Babylonian army to take over God's people.   Things were changing and chaotic.  

Habakkuk doesn't like how things are going, but in the end, he affirms that even though life is hard and getting harder - he will choose to rejoice in the Lord. 

This verse is Habakkuk's prayer and reminds me that even when life doesn't go my way, I can choose to keep my joy. No person or situation can take that from me.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Even though the fig trees...