ACT IN FAITH

Principle: Act in Faith

Begin to expect great things. Faith is born of gratitude. The grateful mind continually expects good things, and expectation becomes faith.

Scriptures: Matthew 9:28 - Two blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you," and their sight was restored.

As The Message says, "Become what you believe."

I think Christians are often very good at praying - asking, pleading, begging - but not so good at believing and acting in faith. Remember, as Hebrews teaches us, faith is that which is not seen or heard, but when we act in faith, we begin to act as if it's true. Probably we struggle with this because we're in the "McDonald's generation" which expects instant - or at least within a few minutes, hours, or days - gratification. When our dream, prayer or wish takes longer to come to fruition, we lose hope, give up and acting in faith is no longer an option.

When I began to act in faith that I could walk normally on my injured leg - which has had 8 surgeries and much scar tissue formation, the first thing I did was put my full weight on that leg. Surprise! Surprise! It didn't hurt. My body had gotten acclimated to favoring that leg because of course after each surgery it hurt so I didn't put any demands on that part of my body. However, after 15 years of doing so, my brain got the message and sent out regular commands to "go easy on the right leg." It's no wonder I was limping.

Often, we do that with all kinds of pain - physical or emotional. We begin to do things to survive, then they become a habit, and finally a lifestyle we don't question. Is there some area of your life you need to question?

As I began to put weight on my leg and walk in faith, the muscles actually began to build back up so I can walk more normally. It's been quite a while now, and I'm still "acting as if" until the new way of walking becomes my new normal.

One of my clients believed her mother hated her and they had a horrible relationship, but she really wanted that to change. It was scary because she felt very vulnerable when she let herself begin to notice good things about her mother, being grateful for things her mother did. What if mom didn't love her back? Sometimes it's just as important to think through the "worse case scenario" and then say we're doing something just because it's the right thing to do. Since she felt this was the right thing to do, she began treating her mother as if she believed her mother loved her. I believe unless you really have someone who's deliberately abusive, people respond to positive interactions with them, and this mother was no different. They're still working on the relationship, but what a powerful beginning! "Dorothy" said, "I can't believe we're actually talking to each other without yelling and her putting me down all the time." She felt kind of like Abraham when we read, "Against all hope, Abraham believed..." Good things happen when we act in faith.

Join me next time when I talk about Part 5, - What we Say is Powerful

GRATITUDE AND GIVING

Principle: The Power of Gratitude and Giving

As soon as you start to feel grateful for what you already have, you will start to attract more good things.

Scriptures: Psalms 118:24 - This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 - Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Deborah Norville of the Today show quoted a study from the University of California in her new book on the effectiveness of gratitude. This study revealed that people who are grateful are:

----- More optimistic
----- More apt to help others
----- More joyful
----- Genuinely healthier
----- More resilient (healthier immune system for physical & emotional "come-backs."
----- Less stressed
----- Better strategic thinkers

All because they focus on what's right in their lives. Remember, what we focus on gets bigger! As we acknowledge Him, He directs our paths. Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances.

This scripture doesn't, of course, mean to suppress our normal emotions. We all experience anger, anxiety, depression, fear and many other feelings from time to time. And these emotions are unhealthy only if they remain buried inside, unexpressed and not dealt with. When you value yourself, you express your feelings and then you let them go. That's the key - we attend to our emotions, just as we do our problems, but we don't dwell on them.

The accompanying principle, "giving," is just as powerful. Have you ever wondered why? Because not giving is based in fear; fear we won't have enough; fear we'll not be given to in return; fear, fear, fear. In the movie, "Facing the Giants," the coach pointed out that "fear not" and its variations was the most often repeated commandment in the Bible, occurring 365 times - that's enough "fear nots" to say once a day for a year!

I think not giving also denotes lack of trust in God. We have a hard time really believing that God has plans for us, plans to prosper and not harm us. My husband and I recently began to really focus on blessing others with material things - it's a great feeling! And what a way to clean things out - that always makes room for you to receive more good things.

Look for my next blog - Part 4, when I will discuss the principle of "acting in faith," or "fake it 'till you make it!" Barb

Best Advice I Ever Got - Fortune Magazine

First, always ask for the order and second, when the customer says yes, stop talking.
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of NYC
Look for an out-of-your-intellectual-comfort-zone experience
Gen. David Petraeus quoting Maj. Gen. Jack Galvin
Don't spend your time on things you can't control. Instead, spend your time thinking about what you can.
Benjamin Selekman, quoted by Thomas Murphy, former CEO, Capital Cities/ABC
In order to do something well, you have to keep practicing and preparing.
Eddie Lampert - CEO ESL Investments & Sears Holding, quoting his dad
Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent.... When you assume negative intent, you're angry.
Indra Nooyi - CEO, Pepsico
Be grateful. It's something that I learned by getting the stuffing knocked out of me a couple of times. A phrase I love says, "A grateful heart a garden is."
Felicity Huffman

INTENTION - WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Principles: What you resists, persists.
Say what you want instead of what you don't want.
Live by intention, not default.

Scriptures: Proverbs 15:15 - "All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Romans 12:12 - Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

"The more you complain, the more you'll have to complain about." Have you seen this happen in your life? When you get up and spill the coffee, then trip over the rug and start to exclaim, "Why does this always happen to me?" When you drive to work, encounter every red light along the way, run late and have to deal with all the rude drivers in the world, you know what this means! At one time, I remember thinking I needed the bumper sticker which said, "I'm the only person in the world who knows how to drive right!"

We truly need the Holy Spirit's help to renew our minds to a different way of thinking -- we're bombarded with images, conversations and news which tells us to worry, be afraid and our old human nature which wants us to focus on that which is wrong, thinking we'll be protected somehow. Recently, Dear Abby's column featured a young wife who was fearful to have children, saying this world is so terrible, she'd hate to expose them to all its depravity. Abby's response was to remind the young woman of the media's proclivity to cover everything that's wrong because, in fact, it's unusual and therefore "news." One cub reporter was told, "Son, if a dog bites a boy, that's not news because it happens all the time. However, if a boy bites a dog, that's news!" Abby's advice was to avoid all TV news, public radio and newspapers and occupy her time with enjoying nature and other things for 2 weeks. She guaranteed the young wife would feel differently -- I agree.

If we can remember the 90%-10% ratio which says that 90% of our world, our home, our relationships are good and stop focusing on the 10% which needs to be different, we can begin to change our corner of the world. When we state our intention, our goal, who we want to be, we begin to concentrate on adding to the 90%. As I work toward being the best counselor I can be; as I daily state my intention to "encourage, challenge, motivate and inspire people by counseling, speaking, writing and by personal interaction," I get excited and am too busy looking for ways to do just that to be worried, depressed or afraid.

I shared the above statistic with a client who said, "Barbra, I think I have a 95:5% life - and I've been focusing on the 5%!" Sometimes, to change our habits to set intentions instead of complaints, we need to go about it backwards. That is, we identify what we don't like and then use the "instead" bridge to identify what we want that's opposite. Then, we can begin to live as Jesus says in John 10:10, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly!"

Join me in my next blog when I discuss more specifically how we can enjoy that life by employing the gift of gratitude and giving; Part 3.

Thought for the Day

What you focus on gets BIGGER