Talk To Yourself!

My son Joel is an absolute character. His entire life he has been equipped with sarcasm and quick wit. He says the most hysterical things delivered in absolute matter of fact stoic way. When he was maybe 8 yrs. old we were driving home from school. He calls out to me from the back of the car that one day he’s going to get his drivers license and he will buy a motorcycle and a sports car. He believed it like it were already a given fact. He also believed he was going to have to give his sister a ride everywhere (that was the funny part—she is about 8 years older than him).

You have to think you’re successful to be successful.

A successful person has many attributes that set them apart from the unsuccessful person.

There have been countless books, seminars, motivational speeches and even more motivational speakers who will share with their own creative flair how you can be successful. It’s been done over and over again. As I think of it now I’m reminded of something. One of the great blessings of my life is that God has put me in positions over and over again where I am exposed to and receive abundant leadership and character development training. I’ve heard so many phenomenal and famous presenters over the decades that they all began to sound familiar because they, in essence, were saying the same thing.

It’s like when I was in school. In college you have to take all these electives and support and general electives to “help make you a more well rounded individual” in addition to the classes you need to study to earn that degree in a specialized area. But as I progressed through the program and got to the end of my college career it got easier not harder. Why? Because I was receiving the same information over and over applied in various ways to the point of mastery. I didn’t have to study as much for exams because I knew the content. I was proficient in what I went to school to learn. The same is true with any kind of teaching or training or skill set. The same thing is true for our spiritual trials. Just like the Israelites, how many laps do we really want to take anyway?

The more you practice, study, use the knowledge or ability via application, the better you become. You leave the training wheels behind and before long you are no longer a novice, but maybe even a bit of wisdom revolves around you.

So why talk about it here in my little blog? So many books, blogs, podcasts, seminars, etc. on the subject. Why here? Why now? Well, partly because I woke up thinking about it and it’s the word in my heart this morning. Because here is something else I know...

“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

All the words in the world won’t matter until it is the right word in the right season.

So for you who read what I pen, just maybe God leaned this into my soul with His Holy Coal this morning just for you?

What makes one person apply it and do it and another stay stuck in old mindsets, patterns and habits? What defines the “I can’t” and “I won’t” crowd from the “I can” and “I will” crowd?

Belief. Always.

Last night I had a client who had to do something very hard the next day following a workout that left her very sore. It was something physical. She’s on the beginning leg of radical change on her health journey. The physical taxation was so hard all she could focus on was how difficult it was that she couldn’t do it well. I, on the other hand was elated with her. I told her how proud I was and how wonderful she had to dig deep because she did it! I felt God was really working in that situation for her. She just looked at me with a “really?” Kind of expression. I later told her:

All of us do better when we speak to ourselves instead of listening to ourselves.

You will always only be the sum of your most dominant thoughts. Because your thoughts shape your opinions and patterns and your patterns shape your words and your words shape your choices and your choices shape your life.

I was told the entire first half or more of my life that I wasn’t doing it right. Whether intentional or not, that was what I heard over and over again. And I believed it. But once God truly got a hold of me I shook off unbelief. It didn’t go away right away, but little by little over time it began to lose its grip and I kept going despite the pinch. I knew if it pinched, it meant he (the Enemy of my soul who comes straight from Sheol ) was losing his grip and I was gaining mine.

God’s got you in His Grip.

I have come to realize that how I do things may not be your way, it may not even be my preferred way, but if it’s God’s way then I’m ok. Everything will shake out alright for me. God’s got a special way of blessing us in spite of us! Because it’s not possible for us to do everything right. How refreshing!

So what do you believe?

Do you know your worth?

Do you know what your capable of?

Do you have any in-cling of an idea how powerful and uniquely specialized you are? You've got a DNA born special assignment from heaven. So shake off the nay saying self talk, critics and those who say you can’t, you won’t, or that you don’t do it right. Heavens got a different protocol and it looks out of sight. Ignite! I see Passion and Purpose all over you. That’s what I would say to you if I could!

Hold tight! Your future is mighty bright if you’d just believe it and step into the Light!

Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!

Showers of Blessings—

Nicole