Use Your Power of Resistance

The other day I treated myself to an afternoon of shopping the winter sales and found myself having a terrific time selecting some amazing bargains. I don’t get opportunities to do this often. I actually was looking for a couple of personal items for an upcoming photo shoot when I found myself in a maze of sales and bargains I couldn’t resist.

While browsing around other departments of this store I noticed a lady making a purchase, or, I should say, trying to make a purchase. As she handed the cashier a credit card I heard her say, “See if this one will work.”

I suddenly had flashbacks of when I would overextend myself and say, “I just have to have this.” Then, I would try not to succumb to the embarrassment of a declined sale by my credit card company. Like me many years ago, the lady in the store obviously couldn’t resist her insatiable appetite for over-spending. So she kept trying different credit cards hoping to make her purchase. Thank God I have overcome this and no longer have credit cards.

This article isn’t as much about over-pending and shopping as it is about the virtue of resisting.

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Get Victory Over Fear & Discouragement

That morning as my daughter walked upstairs to my bedroom, with sounds of a thousand pounds of weight in every step, holding what appeared to be a life-less body of her newborn son in her arms, I could hear him choking while gasping for breath. My daughter’s face looked hopeless; she walked towards my bed like a zombie saying nothing and handed the precious bundle to me.

At that moment my faith surged into super-charge position. I said, “Call the hospital while I get dressed and tell them we are on our way!”  I know my daughter thought I was a woman gone mad as I began quoting every scripture I could think of as I was putting on my clothes while still holding the baby in my arms, telling the devil he was not taking my grandson’s life! That child was given to God in his mother’s womb and would be used of God as his name declares!

I had no time to become fearful and discouraged because of what I was seeing.

That was fourteen years ago. My grandson, Isaiah David, today is a healthy, competitive wrestler, and is on his school’s wrestling team. Though the symptoms of asthma have attacked him during his growing years, he is focused-forward on his academics, extra-curricular activities, healthy living and God.

That day marked victory over fear and discouragement for my family.

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Get Comfortable being Uncomfortable

Have you ever slipped into a fog needing just a hint of encouragement to lift your spirit? I felt that way this morning. Later on I met my girlfriend who wore a t-shirt that read, “DOING IT!” Now that immediately caught my attention. The one thing I needed today was a forward shove.  We hear all the time the other Nike slogan, “Just Do It” but how many of us are actually “Doing It?” (This by the way is one of Nike’s slogans too).

I looked my girlfriend in the eye and said, “I’m doing it!” Immediately an upwelling release and upsurge of relief literally came over me. Reminiscing this morning’s quiet time reading of God’s commission to Joshua in chapter 1 of that book, God says to Joshua in verse 9:

 ” Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

It’s a win-win, so, I’m “DOING IT!”  What about you?

Doing what?

Getting comfortable at being uncomfortable!

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