When someone surrenders to someone or something, it means they have ceased resisting an enemy or opponent, and have submitted to their authority. That is what God requires of us.

Above all:

When we truly surrender to God, we are surrendering our instinctual interests, which can be selfish and destructive by nature. Surrendering ourselves to God is to pursue truth and righteousness above all else. This means to pursue His word (the Bible), and put it first in our lives. It means to put the word of God into practice in our lives — purposing to do what it teaches above all else — putting His thoughts, His ways of thinking and doing things, above all else.

Every aspect:

In order to surrender our lives to God, we must quit resisting Him, and submit every aspect of our lives to Him. Once we surrender our lives to Him, that’s when we will begin to experience His help and His blessings in our lives. So, I encourage you to surrender every area of your life to Him.

Don’t wait:

Examine your life today, and if there is an area you have not surrendered to Him, do it today. Don’t wait another moment. It’s not surrender unless you have unconditionally surrendered everything to His will. Stop resisting God and His word in your life.

Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Just a thought,

PSS

Who’s in Control?

Resilience is defined as: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties : toughness : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Resilience is a skill that can and should be developed. It will improve your ability to deal with life’s setbacks.

Characteristics of resilience:

Resilient people are aware of situations, their own emotional reactions, and the behavior of those around them.

Another characteristic of resilience is the understanding that life is full of challenges. This is one skill that will help us move forward and succeed in life.

Resilience gives you a sense of control. Do you perceive yourself as having control over your own life, or are you constantly blaming outside sources for failures and problems? What we need to understand is that all of us have the ability to make choices that will affect our situation, our ability to cope, and our future.

Resilient people are able to find solutions to life’s setbacks — they never give up or quit. They take the hit and then see the solution and move forward. They will identify as a survivor, not a victim.

Inflexibility:

The opposite of being resilient is being depressed or constantly unhappy, being hard, inflexible, rigid. We are developing skills, characteristics, whether we realize it or not. The question is, “Are we developing the skill of being depressed, the skill of unhappiness, or the skill of being resilient?” The choice is yours. Are you rigid, or do you roll with the punches? Are you inflexible or flexible, willing to change? Your call.

I pray you make the right decision.

Just a thought,

PSS

We live in a world where we have so many options.

Choices:

If you want a soda, does that mean Coke, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Sprite, etc.? If you want a restaurant, do you want steak, Italian food, Mexican food, Chinese food, etc.?  It’s the same thing with buying shoes or clothes. We are presented with so many options that at times it is difficult to make a decision.

Indecision:

Indecision means: the inability to make decisions quickly : a wavering between two or more possible courses of action.

Indecision is paralyzing, and our decisions do determine our destiny. So, we had better make the right ones. There is so much pressure that every decision seems to be life or death. It’s just not true. Sure, some decisions are more important than others, and we won’t get them all right. When we blow it, we are to learn from it and grow. But we have to make decisions every day, and the worst place, most frustrating place, to be is in the place of indecision.

Decision:

So, what are we to do? Firstly, let’s realize as Christians we have the word of God to help lead and guide us, to go to for direction. It is our map to lead us to the right path. It will help us make decisions. Secondly, don’t attempt to make a lot of decisions at once. Deal with one thing at a time and begin limiting your options. This will help you make decisions.

Along with the Bible, believing it enough to do it, act on it, will always be the best guide in making sound decisions — decisions that will bless us.

Just a thought,

PSS

At some point in our lives, we will all have to deal with disappointment. Disappointment is defined as: sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations : unhappiness from the failure of something hoped for or expected to happen.

Low expectations:

At times, if we are not careful when we experience disappointment, we will be tempted to lower our expectations. People might even tell you that you need to lower your expectations, or that you expect too much. This is not a solution: it’s just an avoidance technique. There are better ways of dealing with it.

Unreal expectations:

In a day and age when we expect things to happen fast, we are seeing more and more people dealing with disappointment. Sometimes people do set unrealistic goals that cannot be met. Then there is disappointment that comes from unspoken expectations. We expect someone to do something that we have never spoken about.

Managing disappointment:

There are times when we set ourselves up for disappointment. No matter how it comes, we need to manage this emotion of disappointment. We can do this by having a backup plan if whatever we desire to happen does not happen. We can also realize that failure is not permanent, and that not everything will work out in our timing. We need to learn from our failures and grow from them. So, don’t allow setbacks to keep you from your dreams and desires.

We can overcome disappointment with faith — believing God’s word is true, and that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.

Just a thought,

PSS

Humility is a life extender:

1. Healthy perspective — This can help you face difficult truths about weaknesses in your life, identify and build on strengths, and force growth and change.
2. Understanding Who really did it — James 1:17a: Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.

3. Mention others often — If life is only about us, it becomes very self-serving. We need to serve others.
4. Invest in others — When you help others, God will help you.
5. Love makes you relevant. Always put the word of God first.
6. Integrity is the key — Keep your word.
7. Take your eyes off the scoreboard — Keep serving, no matter what.
8. Yield to the Holy Spirit — He is our teacher; He leads and guides us; He comforts us; He knows exactly what we should do.

Let’s all work on yielding and obeying God and His word. He gives grace to the humble.

Just A thought,

PSS