All Things Are Possible

Most of us like our world to operate in a predictable way that we can control. We know what’s important to us, and we accept our own limitations. Day felt by, and it’s all quite agreeable until suddenly everything changes and we can barely recognize our lives at all. It can feel as though we have fallen into no-man’s-land. We have no grid for understanding how we got there.

It’s similar to Alice as she tumbled into a world where the Red queen lived in Through the Looking-Glass and she responds to her new situation when she is asked to believe impossible things. “Alice laughed: There’s no use in trying,’ she said one can’t believe impossible things.’

The queens says ‘to her you haven’t much practice.‘ the queen told her “when I was younger. I always did it half an hour a day. She states that sometimes she believed as many as 6 impossibilities before breakfast.

As we begin to shine a little light on the bigger issues in our experiences. We can see that the reality of the world and why how things are even possible.

What keeps us from believing impossible things? What causes us to imagine the world is rolling along almost without hope?

What is we believed what Jesus told us? “with man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27) We would begin to trust that no matter how things look. God still reigns.

When we experience the bleak moments of life, look up and see the One who offers you His grace. Reach out to our Creator, the One who makes all things possible. God knows all that is possible for us, and He wants you to know it, too. Jesus said it out loud “All things are possible with God.

Self-Fulfilled Prophecy

Have you ever made a prediction about yourself that came true?

You may not think it can be possible. But, we find that we can some times can make accurate predictions about ourselves.

For example, you might predict that a project you are working on will turn out exceedingly well or feel confident in your ability to for see the future when your hard work pays off or your work receives positive feedback.

Alternatively, you might expect that a presentation at work will go terribly, and to no surprise you will stutter, mumble and frequently forget your next point while speaking.

Although you could take these instances as evidence that you know yourself and your abilities quite well ( and this might me true), you might not think about the effects your expectations have on your behavior.

When our beliefs and expectations influence our behavior at the subject level, we are enacting what is known as self-fulfilling prophecies are, how they play a role in psychology and sociology, and how they can worsen mental health disorders like depression.

There are science based exercises that e plots the fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance your well-being.

What is Self-Prophecy?

A self-fulfilling prophecy is when a prediction about the future comes true. The prediction of the future is what drives self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s because the individual believe in the future outcome that is being a asserted self-fulfilling prophecy happened when the individual ultra behavior either consciously or unconsciously to make a prediction come true. Self-fulfilling prophecy used in film and literature when a character tells how the situation will turn out. And example of self-fulfilling prophecy can be found in the movie Jerry Maguire or Gary really don’t publicly and says he’s going to create a much better company of his own. By the end of the movie he does, and his belief in himself can create a better company that helps him modify his behavior and fulfill his self for filling prophecy.

Self-fulfilling prophecy is cynical. A self-fulfilling prophecy starts with a belief about something. This belief then influences the individual to alter their behavior consciously or unconsciously. The new actions of the individual while believing in the prophecy change the originally false idea into a true occurrence.

How Do Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Work?

Self-fulfilling prophecy follow something called the Pygmalion effect. This effect comes from a Greek poem Metamorphous about a sculptor that prayed or one of his sculptures to come to life and become his wife. The sculpture influences how his own reality by how he interacts with the sculpture.

Let’s review the example about the presentation above. When a person completes a presentation and is not success at it, it was probably because they were nervous and they didn’t believe In themselves. The self-fulfilling prophecy will have come to fruition. The embarrassment they feel and any negative feedback they receive will fulfill their belief that they do poorly in public speaking.

In other words, an Expectation about a subject such as a person or event can affect our behavior towards that subject which causes the expectation to be realized. For example a high school volleyball coach expect freshman to be less skilled, so she does not put them into play very often. When she puts them in, they are rusty and don’t do well, therefore fulfilling her expectations.

You can think of self-fulfilling prophecy as a circular pattern. Our actions toward others impact or beliefs about us, Which dictates they were actions towards us, which then reinforces their believes about ourselves. This in turn, Influences our actions towards others which brings us back to the beginning of the cycle. This pattern can be negative like the volleyball players, but it can also be positive.

Our actions and our thoughts whether positive or negative bring us to self-fulfilling prophecy. What we and others are expect from us. In turn changes who we are. If we expect positive things we will get positive results.

When God Withholds Sleep

How To Handle Restless Nights

It’s 2:40 AM. The red numbers glare at me through the darkness of the room. Taunting me to try to get back to sleep. As I toss the turn, trying to get comfortable, my mind clicks on like a rooster that just crowed. Before I know it my though are racing, trying to figure out the daily schedule, thinking about my children “are they okay?” “What I’m I going to cook for dinner?” Do I have time to finish a task.” or the difficult conversation I have with someone yesterday.

Eventually I’m left feeling exhausted and frustrated at the same time. Doesn’t God give sleep to his beloved? (Psalm 127:2) Why has this become a routine trial for me?

“One day our sleeplessness will be in exchanged for perfect rest in eternity.”

Sleeplessness has been the thorn in my flash for a handful of years. Somewhere in the midst of waking up in the night to nurse babies or care for my sick child or tend to my daughter who had a nightmare, my sleep cycles was altered. Being a parent trained my ear to wake up at the slightest noise. Once I’m up my mind turns on, and it’s hard to shut it back off.

Awake In The Night

Whether the cause is children, evening work shifts, or anxiety, the battle with sleeplessness is a common trial. Maybe you’ve tried natural remedies, exercise, limited screen reading, reading, and even prescription sleeping medicine to try to solve the problem. But most of the time it seems, nothing has a long-lasting effect. A frequent prayer of mine is or peaceful sleep, some nights that prayer is answered and I feel like a new woman when I sleep continuously for six or more hours. I’ve grown to be grateful for the good nights. But a majority of the time it’s a struggle that leaves me feeling exhausted and discouraged.

The words of Psalm 127:2 sting: “it is in vain that you rise up early and go to bed late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil: for He gives to His beloved sleep.” In my worst moments, I’ve questioned God’s love for me. Why would He make this promise and then allow me so many restless nights?

But what if God shows His love for us not on,y through the gift of sleep, but through the gift of sleeplessness? Would if He uses sleepless nights to draw us closer to Him? To depend on Him each moment of the day?

When Nighttime Falls

If you’ve struggled with setting your mind to rest and falling asleep at night, you’ve likely experienced some pre-bedtime anxiety. Another restless night could make it difficult to go about your day with clarity of mind for a meeting at work, or driving to the grocery store. Sometimes we might think is it ever worth going to bed at all.

But as nighttime falls, God already knows our needs. Jesus reminds us not to be anxious about our life (Matthew 6:25-34) and that includes the next eight hours. If God cares for the tiniest creatures around us, how much more will He care for us! Worrying profits nothing, but robs us of peace, joy, and often more sleep.

“Our hope isn’t in a perfect eight hours of sleep, but in a faithful God who we can trust to sustain us the next day,”

God already knows how many hours of sleep we need in order to function the next day. He is our good and faithful Father. We can trust Him with our sleep, or lack thereof. We can lie down to rest, entrusting ourselves to the One who never slumbers nor sleeps Psalm 131:4), and asking Him to fulfill for is the words of David, “ In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, I Lord, make me dwell in safety.

The Midnight Battle

If you’re like me. We usually have no trouble falling asleep. The events of the day leave me completely exhausted at bedtime. It’s those middle-of-the-night noises that rouse me awake and get my mind running like an engine of a car. What can we do in such moments? We’ve played for a good night rest, but here we are again, awake.

It’s easy to wake up and begin to try solving our biggest problems, or at least the dinner menu for the next week. Why not instead pray and ask for help? Rather than letting our minds carry us away from our much-needed sleep, perhaps praying that Od would help us entrust our worries to Him. And whether sleep comes or not, we can meditate on His promises instead of dwelling on our problems.

Psalm 121:1-2 says “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? When we open our eyes in the middle of the night, we might ask the same question. From where does our help come from in the darkest hours of the night? Our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Our hope isn’t in the perfect eight hours sleep but a faithful God who we can trust to sustain us the next day. He promises to give us strength in our weakness and provide us with His all-sufficient grace (1 Corinthians 12.9).

The Dangers Of Crisis-Mode Living

There are no easy answers to the problem that stress poses to our lives, just difficult decisions. Many of us are experiencing what I like to call “Overload syndrome.” There is a space called “margin” that exists between our load and and our limits. Margin is the space between vitality and exhaustion. It’s our breathing room, our reserve, our leeway. Unfortunately, few people have much room for their margin in their overcommitted crisis-mode lives. We work hard, play yard and crash hard.

You probably already know if the overload syndrome is plaguing your life and your family, but just in case, answer these questions,:

  • Have you stopped enjoying your life because your too busy?
  • Have you stopped developing new friendships!
  • Are you exhausted most of the time?
  • Do you and your partner have a regular date night?
  • Does you family have an enjoyable dinner together on a regular basis?
  • Do you get enough hours of sleep?
  • Do you take a restful day off?
  • Do you have regular proactive family time?
  • Do you have credit problems or a large debt load?
  • Are your children showing signs of stress?

If you struggle with many of these questions, then you are among the majority of individuals who are living in crisis mode. Being blunt: you are flirting with disaster. The disaster is either yours, your partners, or your children’s. Crisis-mode living can paralyzed you.

Crisis-mode living is when you spend every waking moment of almost every day trying to figure out how to keep running fast and faster, if you stop you fear you will crash. But if you don’t stop soon, your physical, emotional, and spiritual health of you and your family. Healthy individuals and families have figured out how to live with balance and margin.

Crisis-mode living is dangerous to your health. Here’s what happens when we live in crisis-mode for too long. We begin to skim relationally . If you are married, your bond with your spouse that was once strong and intimate becomes weak and distant. Virtually all our relationships are damaged by hurry. We starve because of over-commitment and fatigue. Sometimes our children are wounded because they are run over by our high speed intentions. We skim rarationally friendships slip away. We quit spending time with people who support us the most, we miss family outings. We find our relationships fading. Friendships that were deep and meaningful are now shallow. Casual relationships hardly exist. Pretty soon no one has access to our souls.

Crisis-mode even causes us to skin spiritually. What was once a burning desire to serve God has become regulated to a few prayers and a dull faith the kind of faith we said that we would never have.

In Romans 9:32 Paul is talking about you and me. “They were so absorbed in God projects that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling.”

Crisis-mode living also causes us to skim emotionally. When we are too busy, we tend to ignore the emotional side of our lives. You may find your anger flares up more than it used to, and you don’t take time to figure out why. Our patience with others around us wears thin. When we are in crisis-mode, we quit paying attention to feelings like hurt, sadness, or guilt. We become mechanical soldiers marching through our days just maintaining, doing what’s necessary, and stuffing our feelings deeper and deeper into ourselves. We are emotionally depleted, but we keep on pushing. The results aren’t pretty.

“If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy”

Most individuals are so busy doing good things that they miss doing what’s important. We seldom take the time to deal with our life issues and problems, instead we just keep on pushing, hoping that things will get better or that the subtle negative signs were seeing will disappear.

Overcoming overload syndrome takes work and that work starts with making some difficult decisions. What kind of decisions? Here are a few to get you thinking:

1. Deciding what will be your top priority. Family, business or career? If you done have a family them yourself.

2. Deciding on which commitments and activities to cut back in efforts to regain the margin in your life.

3. Deciding whether or not to pursue solitude and time with God to refresh our souls.

4. Deciding on which commitments and activities to cut back in your children’s lives or others to protect them from overload.

Removing stress from your life and building margins begins with choices. The sacrifices are real, but the payoff relationally, emotionally, and spiritually are well worth it.

Jesus First Came As A Lamb, But He’s Returning As A Lion

This time he comes as a Conquering King as bold as a Lion not to choose sides but to take over.

The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He will stir up jealousy like a man of war: He shall cry, yea shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies

Isaiah 42:13

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the Throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will preform this.

Isaiah 9:7

Steps To Your Personal Path

Losing, or lacking, a sense of direction can feel like being stranded in the forest of life without a compass.

Maybe you want to leave a positive impact on the world, but aren’t sure how to channel your boundless compassion into reality. Maybe you’re just feeling Stu k on cruise control, both a work and your personal life – and can’t shake a looming sense that you’ve lost touch with who you are. Maybe you’re realizing that the career path you’ve been pursuing isn’t what you wanted at all – and those unknown alternatives feel too overwhelming to face.

When you’re feeling lost like this, taking dedicating time to reflect and reconnect with yourself can help own true North.

Here are a few steps to get you started:

1. Get into the right frame of mind for contemplation. The tricky part to unveil our purpose is that we keep our mind so busy that we rarely have enough time to complete a thought before we are off to the next task.

Which is why Step 1 is simply… stop doing. Sit with yourself, and get to know who you are.

Having a bit of an awkward introduction. Try this mindfulness-based exercise, which can connect you with your body through breathing.

  • Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
  • Keep both feet on the ground and you hands in your lap.
  • Breathe in through you nose for four seconds. Focus on the breath and the air coming in.
  • Breathe out through your mouth for six seconds. Focus on the air coming out

Repeat as necessary until you feel in the moment, aware of yourself, and ready to clearly define your outlook.

2, Answer these 6 “get to know me” questions. Below are a few questions to ask yourself as you get to know the awesome person you truly are.

Q1. What brings a smile to your face?

In other words: When you think about…..you cannot help but smile.

This can be more than one thing, of course, but try to identify as best you can. For example, maybe it’s planning get-togethers, attending theater or dance performances, or listening to podcasts on a topic that – up until recently you didn’t know you were interested in. Or as simple as going for a drive, or taking a walk.

Q2. What Improves your mood?

When you are feeling down or cranky, which activates or things help quickly elevate your mood?

This might be helping out other people, picking up a book at poetry, attended an exercise class, or getting out of town for weekend trips.

Knowing what types of activities boost your mood can help you prioritize them in your life.

Q3. When you were younger, did you see yourself doing something in particular?

What did you dream of when you were younger! What drew you to that position or field?

For example, maybe you wanted to be a veterinarian because you loved animals, or a politician to improve the world around you.

Does any of that initial attraction still remain?

Write down those dreams and the motives behind them, however vague or specific. There may be ways to incorporate them into your current life through a hobby, class, involvement in local organizations, or career change.

Q4. Is there a career or job that someone in you life talked you out of doing?

Often, we have career interests that either overly or subconsciously get rejected, either by those around us, societal norms, or our own biases and expectations.

Reflecting back on those can give us hints into our passions and what excites us.

Why were you drawn to those roles in the past?

What can you study or learn today that will bring you closer to the field?

Q4. What is your spiritual belief and Are you practicing it?

Religious or not, it’s often important for us to feel connected to someone greater than ourselves.

This can be a force like karma, universal energy, or God; or as loosely framed as practicing kindness and unto others.

Are you implementing your beliefs in your every day lives? What volunteer work can you do, or community can you join (or revisit, That will help you practice those fundamentals?

Q5. Close your eyes and visualize your ideal self Years from now. What are you doing?

Once you open your eyes ask yourself:

Are you on a more or less after you get there?

Is there anything you can do today to make it a smoother journey? What about next week, or next month?

If you can think of one answer to one of the questions go ahead and write it down now. Make a note to notice the answers as they arise in your day-to-day experience.

1. Reflect On your responses

The question you answered yes the start of finding your path. The next step is to wait and reflect on the answer if you wrote down.

It may take a few minutes, hours, days, or even weeks before you connect the dots between your answers. Your answers may also evolve are you remember more about your history, And how it ties to your now.

There are many ways to get your brain neurons firing and create new synapses to get your are creativity flowing.

2. Mindfully acknowledge any anxieties

Does anxiety about the future Tend to cloud your thinking process? Rather than letting it overwhelm your progress mindfully acknowledge it with deep breathing so you can move on.

3. Get out of your comfort zone

I tend you be habitual creatures and follow the same habits and routines: We drive the same route to work, Eat the same foods and buy the same type of clothing.

Break out of this and Do something that makes you feel uncomfortable, ride a bike or take a different route to work, take a cooking class to learn a totally new cuisine, or ask a trusted friend to style your outfit for a party. You may discover a part of yourself you haven’t embraced before.

4. Get moving with invigorating exercise

Creativity is at its peak when you get your endorphins moving. The endorphins make you feel balanced and at peace with the world.

This is when you are more likely to make great decisions and think clearly. You do not have to join a Boot Camp down the street. Simply by walking you can get those feel-good chemicals going.

5. Meet at totally new group I’m friends

Socializing And having new experiences open up new possibilities, weather is as simple as going to the gallery together or a complex and we introduced to a new Friend’s culture.

Remember, even the act of thinking about what you want to do in your life and encourage you to start acting in a way that’s true to your goals. In the meantime, enjoy exploring what arises an is brought to you.

6. Identify and accept, The fundamental what are you’ve uncovered

When you reached a point where you start noticing a pattern and what makes you feel fulfilled? That’s when you started to identify your path (or at least some resemblance of it).

Come a moment to accept and celebrate this discovery. Whether is as vague as pursuing a creative career, or as specific as becoming a horticulturist, Go on your way towards the authentic version of self employment.

Right now, you might fill your path is to do good in the world through your job. At another time your path might be to care for a loved one.

Your overarching path can change, and sometimes you just need to find a small immediate sense of yourself to get inspired. Note that you do not need to have your life mapped out entirely – finding peace with ambiguity and a gendered direction is okay.