My Monday Map to Success

Blessings

"However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberty will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts."

John Calvin

    Many times, we hear ministers talk about blessings from God. This is especially talked about during offering time. A lot of times, people think of blessings as money. There are several different types of blessings, though.

    Some blessings are money or possession related, but this is not always true. One of the most common blessings is health. God wants His people to have health and wellness. If we are not getting healed, there is a reason. We usually do not know the reason, but, if we have faith in healing, we will receive our healing.

"When thou has truly thanked the Lord for every blessing sent, But little time will then remain for murmur or lament."

Hannah Moore

    For years, I have dealt with severe pain throughout my body. This is difficult for me, because I am a very goal-oriented person. When I don't feel good and I can't work on my goals, I feel frustrated and depressed. This is not good for me or my family.

    In the last three months, this pain has increased. Just getting out of bed has been is painful. This is difficult with three children. In addition, my Aunt Ellen got two compression fractures. These compression fractures limited her mobility. Trying to take care of her was even more difficult due to the pain I was going through.

    Although I did not want to go to the doctor, it got to the point where I knew I had to see a doctor. When I saw my doctor is was like any other visit. She asked me a multitude of questions and typed on her computer. I visit was almost done when she looked up at me with a look of discovery and said, "Take vitamin D!"

    The next day, I took vitamin D with my dinner. That night, I went to sleep and slept through the whole night. When I woke up, I had no pain at all! It was amazing, and a feeling that I had never felt before. Since I was a teenager, I felt some sort of pain, and here I was feeling like a new woman.

    This is my blessing. When my doctor said that I needed vitamin D, it was God giving me what I needed. He knew I was at the end of what I could handle. It wasn't money, but it was far great. It was not possessions, but I will never take for granted how I feel right now. God's blessings, no matter what they are, are so special and precious to each of His believers.

"Count your blessings."

Proverb

Challenge for the Week

    We need to believe with all our hearts that God will bless us, and he will. It may not be riches or great possessions, but it will be amazing. We don't ever need to take his blessings for granted, whether they are big or small. Even the little things that make us happy are blessings from our Father.

"Life holds so many simple blessings, each day bringing its own individual wonder."

John McLeod

Failures of Imbalance

"It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

Epictetus

Moving toward success and reaching our goals is important to everyone. We all have a desire to fulfill our purpose in life. This can be done through balance and persistence. Working on our goals daily is vital to life success. Of course, there are some barriers to balance and success in life.

    Last week, we discussed balance. This week, I want to explain that one of the most important aspects of pursuing balance is how we react to failure. How we react to others' failures is also important to our success in any area of our life.

    First, let's talk about how we react to our failures of imbalance. When most of us fail, we struggle with our confidence. Some of us even go through depression that causes us to sink even further, and we wallow in our failure and self-pity. It becomes even more difficult to move forward.

    To counteract these pessimistic thoughts and actions, we need to accept our failures. Every time we fail, we are one step closer to success no one fails forever. Eventually, if we continue to try, we will reach our goals. The more we try, the bigger the success.

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it."

Charles Swindoll

    Many times, if we accept our failures, we are more likely to stay calm and find a solution to the problem. When we get upset and quit, we never find the solution and we never succeed. After a while, we become haunted by the failure that was left unsolved.

    Next, we need to check how we respond to other people and their failures. A lot of times, we are highly critical and rude about how another people is living their life. This can cause us to be more paranoid about trying new things, because we don't other people to criticize us like we criticize them.

    This is true for how we respond to our enemies, too. There is one piece of advice that I give to my fourteen year old daughter, Snow that makes her look at me with disgust. I tell her to take a person that is annoying her or bullying her and find one good them about them. When we look for good, the person usually gets less annoying. In addition, I tell Snow to seek to understand them. Many times, the person is going through a rough time and is reacting to the problem in their life and not Snow.

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies- or else? The chain reaction of evil- hate, wars, producing more wars- must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Challenge for the Week

    This week, we need to watch how we react to our imbalance and failure. When we stop and look at our failure without reacting, we can see where we went wrong or what can be fixed. In addition, we need to look at other people and their failures in the same way. We need to show forgiveness to ourselves and then to others. This kind of action is important to moving forward and reaching our life goals.

    Before we close for the week, I want to tell you something I do to help take action instead of reacting to everything I go through. First, I understand that I have a God who loves me and will not fail me. Second, I talk with people who are willing to listen to my problems. Third, I read books that encourage me and motivate me; especially, personal development books. Fourth, I write my problems in a journal, and then I read them to get a fresh perspective on my situation. It is almost as if I am reading about someone else's problems.

"Have the courage to act instead of react."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

Epictetus

A Balanced Life

"You will never feel truly satisfied by work until you are satisfied by life."

Heather Schuck

The Working Mom Manifesto

 

For the last few months, I have not post very many blogs. There is a reason for the lack of writing and posting. To help others understand my reasoning, I want to tell a story. As those of you who know me can testify to, I love to make a point with a story.

    When I was a little girl, I would work out by playing in my yard or at the park. In addition, I absolutely loved to ride my bike. It was fun to break a sweat, and I was active and didn't need to worry about my diet too much. Actually, my favorite foods were sweets.

    Due to abuse by my father, my mom and I had to move out of our home. Once I moved from the house with the yard and the park across the street, I began to struggle with inactivity and emotional eating. Even when I was not hungry, I would eat, which caused me to gain weight. Through the years, I have gained weight, went on a diet, and lost weight numerous times.

    This fluctuation in weight proves that I really never learned a healthy lifestyle and balance. Instead, I merely learned how to diet. Believe me; dieting is not the same as living a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle deals with every area of life. It includes spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical. If any of these areas are out of balance, it can negatively affect the success of other areas. Due to my unresolved emotional problems, I struggled with my weight and my grades in school plummeted and I struggled to trust anyone. The mistrust that I experienced affected my spiritual life, too.

    After my mom died, I struggled with my weight, again. Now, I know it is time to tackle my weight problem by also getting my spiritual, emotional, and mental areas balanced along with my physical area.

    Why now? In the last few months, I have struggled with my health. Almost every day was a struggle to get out of bed. I struggle to put one foot in front of the other. Finally, I said enough is enough. This year I need to get my life balanced and start my healthy lifestyle. I'm balancing my spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical areas in my life.

    First, I will start with the spiritual area. Next, I will deal with my emotional area, and then my mental area. Finally, I will focus on the physical area of my life. What I have figured out as I work on each area is that they will also merge together. This means that there will be times when I must work on two areas at a time. For instance, there are a lot of emotions that are tied into the spiritual area. Dealing with the emotions about faith and trust in God will help me to build a spiritual foundation for my life. There are also a lot of emotions tied to my physical health.

    This week's challenge is to make a list of issues that we are going through and decide which area they belong to, so that we can decide which area we need to work on. Diligently working on each area of our lives will help us become balanced. A balanced life brings productivity and success. It is vital to happiness and longevity. During this process, we may feel overwhelmed and frustrated with our problems. During these times, we need to remember that we are not alone. We are all going through this process together.

"Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward."

Maxwell Maltz