Banish “I'm Sorry” From Your Vocab In 4 Easy Steps

In polite society, missing an appointment, stepping on someone’s foot or other wrongdoing warrants a pardon. As for stating your opinion or speaking up? #SorryIaintsorrySorry 
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Being a Woman of Your Word

Being a Woman of Your Word


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From the more casual, "I promise I'll drive the next time" to bigger things like "I'll pay you back next month", I'm continually amazed at how easy it is for people to forget about a commitment or promise as soon as the words have left their lips.

Promises, Promises.

The truth is that there is a lot of lip service in this world. We know this to be true when it comes to politicians, companies and governmental agencies. However, when it comes to friends and close relationships with others we expect and hope for something more. At the end of the day, we are only as good as our word.

It's so easy to downplay even the most simple of promises by saying, "I really meant to call you but I just lost track of time", but I think our nearest and dearest in particular deserve so much more than these simple off-the-cuff replies.

For some people it's about a lack of organization. The day slips away and then the realization comes that something or someone got overlooked. Like valuing other people's time, it too comes down to respect and following through. It's important to write down the commitments we make, with iPhones, blackberries and regular agenda books, it's easy to capture the info but there must be consistency in doing so for it to work.

If you cannot follow through with a promise, be sure to let someone know well in advance but try to avoid breaking promises altogether. In every instance, try to see how you're lack of commitment could affect the other person and those around them. One of the greatest blessings in life are loving and responsible friends that we trust, can count on and who follow through with what they say they'll do, even if it's an inconvenience to them after they've promised it.

There have certainly been times where I've been excited about an idea and promised to go somewhere or do something for/with someone and then other events fall into place and the timing just seems bad but I force myself to do what I said I'd do because that is the promise I made and I try my best to do it with a smile and a grateful heart. In both business and pleasure, integrity is very important to me. We all have 'off' days where things couldn't be avoided, nobody is perfect, but I believe your word is so important in the makeup of your character. If people cannot trust you, count on you or believe that you'll be a woman of your word and follow through, you don't have much of a relationship with them at all.

Sometimes it's necessary to confront someone when something has gone on too long and promises are continually made and being broken. In the case of the workplace, there is no way that an employer could tolerate an employee continually making promises on sales numbers or reports that they couldn't deliver upon. Likewise, friendships can only last so long when one feels taken advantage of, let down, disrespected and lied to, because that it what promising and then not following up essentially is.

I recently had to confront a friend who started to create a pattern of not keeping her promises, and letting me down. While it would have been easier to brush it under the rug and not rock the boat and potentially upset a friend I enjoy spending time with, I chose to honor myselfand not be disrespected by this person.

How about you? Have you ever had to confront someone who couldn't keep their word? How did it go?

Keeping Power

Everyday , as I go forth to my task, I have been conscious of the truth that My life is Kept & Preserved By The Power Of God. It may be a simple faith but it has proved adequate and sustaining. I have found no substitute for it. I would not part with it for all the wisdom I have found in the great books that men have written. If we live by this word of comfort and assurance, we can with sure confidence face all the trials of life.
There is no other power, no other strength equal to it. Live by it and you will know that life has meaning and purpose, and that no matter what comes to you, you are Kept by the power of God! I know it for I have tested it.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, may I begin this day of life as THY presence. In all my ways may I acknowledge Thee, and do thou direct my paths. Keep me ever true to Thee, increase my faith and guide me in every thought and word and act.
Prepare me that I may be ready to meet each trial and temptation  that may come  to me, and make me worthy of your protecting care. In humility and unfailing  trust,  I make this, my daily prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, my Redeemer. Amen

How Great Our Joy!

https://youtu.be/ymG-BIf1leg

The (KASH) KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE SKILLS and HABITS needed to persevere

The (KASH) KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE SKILLS and HABITS needed to persevere

Knowledge

English word perseverance and the biblical word perseverance are very similar in meaning. Webster's Dictionary defines it this way: "To persist in a state, enterprise or undertaking in spite of counter influence, opposition or discouragement."

From the definition we can see that perseverance involves more than persistence.

ATTITUDE

A person perseveres when they stick to something in spite of opposition or counter influences.

I once heard the following statement: "You don't determine a person's greatness by what they do or have done, but by what it takes to stop them." This saying should inspire us to persevere.

Do we want to be remembered as someone who quit over this or that small matter? We persevere when we keep picking up one foot and putting it down in front of the other one. We must keep moving forward despite difficulties.

Now, let us look at perseverance as a personal trait. Just what is a "trait?" It is a distinguishing quality or personal characteristic.

Do you possess perseverance?

SKILLS

The Apostle Peter said we should "Make every effort to add to our faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self control, and to self control, perseverance …" (2 Peter 1:5-6) Remember that the apostle went on to say (v. 8) that we should not only have these qualities but possess them "in increasing measure" so we can be "effective" and "productive" Christians.

Well how do I develop perseverance?

HABITS

I'm glad you asked. I have some good and bad news.

The Bible tells us how we can grow in this virtue but you are probably not going to like what the Scriptures says:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

(James 1:2-4) "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

(James 1:12) "As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." (James 5:11) The Apostle Paul tells us something very similar in the Book of Romans (see 5: 2-4). The point made by these Biblical texts are proven in life. We experience the most personal growth during difficult and hard times. No one ever grew when they were on "easy street."

Why do You need to implement The (KASH) KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE SKILLS and HABITS  needed to persevere?

Because we need perseverance in life!

I once noticed a motivational poster in the guidance counselor's office.

It stated, "perseverance propels you over the finish line."

There are many goals and objectives to be achieved during the course of our lives. WE NEED PERSEVERANCE. To help us "keep on keeping on,"

remember this verse: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every thing that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1) The messenger said of the Christians in the Church at Ephesus, "I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be Apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary." (Revelation 2:2-3; see also 2 Thess. 3:5 and Rev. 2:19)

Perseverance will carry us through life and will enable us to complete God's will for our lives. The writer of Hebrews said, "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:36) Paul wrote this to Timothy, "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and hearers." (1 Tim. 4:16; also see 2 Tim 4: 7-8)

Why I think you should set a goal.

Though I have had many areas of opportunity in my life the more frustrating area of my life has been my career.

While it appeared that there were tremendous career opportunities within reach, there was an invisible barrier that I just could not seem to get past.

After spending year after year trying and failing, I began to lose hope.

What was so frustrating to me was that I knew I had certain giftings and skill sets, but in the job I had, they were completely unnecessary and even looked down upon.

Looking back on the whole experience, it is clear to me that God actually spared me – because had I gotten one of the promotions there that I wanted, I likely wouldn’t have had the motivation to take the leap to start my own business.

It was the desperation and the thought of having to spend another 20-30 years in a job I hated that made it pretty easy to embrace the “risk” of starting my own business.

So after listening to many audio recordings "at work" by Earl Nightingale, Will Smith TD Jakes, then as I searched for more audios to listen to I found "normal people" were repeating these words and achieving results. If They Could do it I KNEW I COULD. SO I just aksed myself, What do I Want?

I had thought about a lot of things Ididn’t want in life.  A job I hated, a dead-end career path were all at the top of my list, but I hadn’t really spent much time thinking about things I wanted.

Once I was able to decide on specific things that I wanted in life (particularly in the next 5 years), I wrote them down.

This list is what became my 5-year goals.

At the time of writing them, I knew that God could do anything. I mean, looking at the transformation that took place in Joseph’s life, I knew that God could cause me to reach those goals but it seemed like it would be the same caliber of miracle as it was for Joseph.

It is a weird feeling writing down goals that you have no possible idea of how they could ever manifest in your life.

Part of the challenge for me was my fear of failure. It was easier for me NOT to set a goal because that way I would avoid any failures.

I knew this wasn’t the way I should be living my life, but I was doing it anyway. Looking back I realize that I was kind of living the opposite of a life of faith – if I couldn’t see it or at least figure out how it was possible, I didn’t truly believe that it was possible.

One early Morning God, I swear I heard the voice of God asking me, Why are living like you are scared?

I had these goals and God was working on them on my behalf but my faith was shhhhort. However 3 years later it dawned on me that almost all of the goals I had written down had come to pass – and I had lots of reasons to believe that all of them would come to pass by the 5 year mark.

Remembering what I was thinking at the time is what amazes me about this. From my vantage point, the goals I wrote seemed equally as unlikely as if I had written that I wanted to walk on Mars or become the president of the U.S..

Where Is God In All This?

Looking back, I know without a shadow of doubt that it was the Lord. I expended all of my energy and know-how trying to reach some of these goals on my own, to no avail.

While I had a part in all of this, by being diligent, working hard, etc, I could have never reached these goals on my own.

For most of my Christian life, I was somewhat hesitant about goal-setting because I didn’t want to get caught up in “my plans” rather than God’s plans.

I always want to do His will over my own and never want to get caught up in just doing a bunch of “works” for God that weren’t what He had in mind for me.

But what I think happened was that even though I was writing those goals from my own interests and desires, they were actually God’s plans for me. John 15:7 says,

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Looking at that verse, we can see that this whole writing-goals-down thing isn’t a formula that we can use to manipulate God. It starts with us abiding in Him and getting in the Bible so that our wills better align with His. And apparently, as that happens, the natural result is that the things we ask have a better chance of being in line with His will.

Even still, I don’t make the assumption that any goals I set are automatically God’s will, but now when I set goals, I prayerfully seek after them submitting to whatever God has in mind.

The Role Of Faith

Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. That is a big and bold statement.

I interpret it like this: if I want to please God, I need to believe in something that I can’t figure out how it will happen.

Like I mentioned before, when I was writing that original set of goals, I knew that I could not reach them on my own. I had tried and failed. Again and again.

I knew that the only way they would be reached was if God was at work behind the scenes. Personally, I didn’t at all feel like I had the faith to believe that they could come to pass.

But it seems to me that the act of just writing the goals down and opening up to the possibility of failure was a huge step of faith – perhaps just a mustard-seed sized amount – but faith nonetheless, that God honored.

If You Haven’t Already, Give It A Try

I have a feeling that God has some awesome things He wants to do in our lives that He is just waiting for us to believe are possible. If you have some desires, dreams, or things that you are longing to see changed in your life or in the world around you, I encourage you to write them down.

Make a list of how you would like your world to be different 5 years from now. Don’t worry about the “how”. Our job isn’t to figure out how everything will happen, rather to trust that God knows how to make it happen.

Once you have your list, don’t stop there. Put it on your desk, fridge, or by your bed. Pray about the things listed and be honest with God. Look at it often and think about the things on your list.

When our minds are confronted with a question, they seek to find an answer.

Ask yourself how you can take the first step towards reaching the goal. What is one single thing I can do today (no matter how small) to reach this goal?

Continue to keep the goals in the forefront of your mind and if you are anything like me, you might just be surprised to see where you are in a few years.

Disclosure of Material Connection: In order for me to maintain this content , some of the links in the post above may be affiliate links. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and/or believe will add value to readers.

Let Go and Let GOD!

Let go and let God’ is an oft-repeated phrase. What does it mean? It refers to the abandonment of the self. When you decide to hold on to your beliefs and continue through the paths of this world without discernment and without even questioning why you do what you do, you will continue being tied to the partiality of your viewpoint. There comes a time when if you truly desire to rise beyond the person you are today, you will have to abandon many things. 

“This idea has caused lots of confusion to many for so long. Some among you have left behind your material goods to live a life of misery without making any significant improvement. Others have abandoned their families and loved ones to embark on useless adventures — basically searching outside for that which can only be found within their own hearts. 

“The things that need to be abandoned are always personal and depend on the person’s situation. You must abandon everything that distracts you and represents an obstacle to a more intimate relationship with your Divine Spark. For some it may be money, for others it may be intolerance, fanaticism or even some long-desired goals. This is truly a victory of faith when you finally dare to say ‘Father, show me the way because you know what is truly best for me’. It is not letting your Father take control because you will forever be in charge of your own destiny. Instead it is just learning to listen to the advice and the guidance of your Inner Master to provide information for your decisions. 

“You are the clay by which your Father intends to create a magnificent work of art, but you are also the artist creating artwork with His help. Let the masks you must show to your siblings fall one by one so everyone can appreciate the beauty of your true face — the one that reflects the light that shines within. Give priority tobeing instead of doing. 

“How many times have you ignored the gifts from above with your insistence on following your own agenda? With time you will notice that on those occasions in which you let go, you will discover many things that life offers — those opportunities that the Father puts in your path every day to help you along the way toward achieving your true goal: to be the best you can be, to strive for perfection and achieve the likeness of God.”