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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It’s a new year--time for a clean slate, a new beginning, a fresh start!!! With this fresh start it’s important to realize that we need a positive perspective. Did your Mama ever tell you that Attitude is Everything? My mother-in-law told me that attitude was mind over matter. “If you don’t mind, it don’t matter!” So the key is to realize what really matters. In this tentative economy, we need to make a list of our blessings and focus on what we have--not what we don’t have. It’s not so much what we have, but how we view what we have that makes all the difference. We can view the cup of life half empty, or we can view it half full. It’s a choice we make everyday.
The importance of viewpoint was brought home to me in an interview I watched with two World War II survivors. The narrator talked with two older gentlemen who actually participated in the D-day invasion. The first man was part of the Army--the land troops who were transported onto the beach from destroyers. “The enemy was ready for us,” he related. “Somebody must have tipped them off. Henderson boats deposited hundreds of soldiers onto the beach and as soon as they reached the shore they were mowed down by the enemy.” All these years later his face still belied the fear he felt facing the Germans that day. I looked around at all the carnage and said, “We’re gonna lose this thing.”
A second soldier who was interviewed had been a member of the Army Air Corps, the predecessor of our current Air Force. As he was flying in, he could see all the other planes surrounding him. Then he looked down and saw the USS Thomas Jefferson and other ships sending out hundreds of Henderson boats that were depositing thousands of soldiers ready to fight onto the beach and he said to himself, “We’re gonna win this thing!” The difference between the two men was their vantage point. The way we view things makes all the difference. Many times we’re like the first soldier, and we don’t have the benefit of seeing the whole picture. That’s when we anchor to God and trust Him to work all things out for good.
If we believe what God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, we can look for the welfare even if the calamity seems to be staring us in the face. That’s why making a Blessed List works. It’s not enough to just think of what is working in our lives; we have to take the time to write those things down. Writing an actual list programs the positive into our hard drive, and makes it a part of our internal dialog. More importantly, it gives us something to refer to. We need to review our list for at least fifteen minutes every day, recognize how blessed we really are, and realize how much worse off we could be. An old proverb says, “I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” No matter what our circumstances, things could always be worse! What we choose to focus on, makes all the difference. My question to you is, “What’s in your cup?”
You can read more about the Power of a Positive Perspective in my book~
Twelve Ways to Turn Your Pain Into Praise available now from Warner Press explores~
From Chapter 2, Perspective: Honey, Let Me Tell Ya, you will see how to~
Stay focused on what is working rather than what is not.
Include God in each day to help you do that.
Make your story-even your pain--a triumph not a trail.
Read these concepts and more.
If you or anyone you know is struggling to get past their painful past, or to trust God with their insecure future, there are tools to build trust in a caring God in the pages of this book.
Buy today!
Click on Store to purchase. If you don't have a PayPal account, please email me at sierrapines-linda@sti.net to purchase.
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Twelve Ways to Turn Your Pain Into Praise:
Biblical Steps to Wholeness in Christ
With candor, vulnerability, and stories of how she survived her own painful past, Linda Newton walks with
you through the healing process. Twelve proven biblical strategies provide a template to take the reader from
broken down faith to empowered belief in God’s goodness.
Whether you are seeking tools to strengthen those you are helping or needing the tools to transform yourself,
you will walk away from this book spiritually stronger as you learn to
• remove your offender’s face from God and stop blaming Him for life’s pain
• stop renting space in your head to bad memories and offenses
• relinquish the stinkin’ thinkin’ that causes you to emotionally circle the drain
• stay constantly connected to Christ with time-tested tools to process your pain
• realize your full potential as you seek God’s divine purpose for your life.
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IN 2009, FOCUS ON THE WORD NOT YOUR WORRIES! My verse for 2009~
"Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you" Deuteronomy 31:8. CAN I GET AN AMEN!!!!!
More Scriptures~
COMFORT
2 Thessalonians 2:16, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.”
Isaiah 51:3, “The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.”
Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
PEACE
Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” NLT
2 Thessalonians 3:16, “Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!”
John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
HOPE
Joel 2:25, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.” NKJV
Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”
Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
FEAR
Isaiah 41:10, “So Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.
I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you” The Message.
2Tim. 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Isaiah 51:12 I, “I’m the One comforting you. What are you afraid of—or who? Some man or woman who’ll soon be dead? Some poor wretch destined for dust?” The Message.
PROVISION
Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 121:3, “He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber.”
Hebrews 6:18, “God cannot tell lies! And so his promises and vows are two things that can never be changed. We have run to God for safety. Now his promises should greatly encourage us to take hold of the hope that is right in front of us” CEV.
SECURITY
Psalm 125:1, “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.”
Nahum 1:7, “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.”
Psalm 62:1-2, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”
Chicken Soup for the Tea Lover's Soul with one of my stories in it,GIRLS GONE MILD (I love that title!) and
Chicken Soup for the Chocolate Lover's Soul with two of my stories in it, CARDS AND KISSES and SOMEBODY'S SWEETHEART. .
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