By Bindu Adai Mathew

Do you ever feel inadequate? Like you don’t have the talents to do anything great?  That you could never accomplish your dreams? Like you will never lose that weight? That you will never get that higher educational degree?

Then you won’t.

Ouch! That was harsh, you say. But you will most likely never achieve things you feel are impossible. The statistics aren’t in your favor.  Interview any top professional—be it a top entrepreneur, lettered professor, surgeon, or inventor. They may have looked at a task that seemed impossible. But they never thought they couldn’t do it. In fact, they thought the reverse. They knew they could… they persevered despite the impossibility of it. They persevered even though they, too, had their days of doubt and days of discouragement. They persevered when the going got tough. When they themselves were tempted to give up. They persevered and didn’t stop until they completed their task.

What you accomplish in your life is in direct relation to what you believe you can achieve. If you don’t believe it, then you most likely won’t.

So what do you believe about yourself today?

By Bindu Adai Mathew

 

As long as you are alive, you have not failed. You have the chance to make right what you have done wrong. You have the chance to complete what you have left unfinished.

Completing a goal is challenging. It requires planning. It requires effort, consistency, and perseverance. But sometimes it’s easier to beat ourselves up and feel sorry for ourselves rather than do what needs to get done. Sometime it’s easier to just stop trying.

But that’s not what God has intended. He created you for a purpose. The fact that you’re still breathing means that you still have work to do. You have a goal to reach… a project to complete. You still have a purpose to fulfill.

Rather than looking at your past as a series of failures, realize that those efforts were just incomplete. You didn’t finish, but you still can.

One of the most powerful words that were spoken in history were by Jesus as He was hanging on the cross and said, “It is finished.” He completed what He had set out to do.

And you can, too. In Christ, you will.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

 

By Bindu Adai Mathew

How many years have you promised to lose that weight, learn that new language, to be more organized, to read your Bible more? I think the hardest part of trying to make changes is the letdown we feel when we don’t complete what we set out to do.  We feel like a failure. And whether it’s a new year’s resolution or a goal we make at any time of the year, we are reminded of all the times we made them before and failed.

Well, today is the day when you just look forward.

 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.  2 Corinthians 5:17

Today is the day when you say, I can… and I will.

Because today is the day when you realize you are a new creation. But there is a caveat to that statement. IN CHRIST, you are a new creation. IN CHRIST, the old things have passed away. IN CHRIST, new things have come.

I want you to be aware of your power IN CHRIST. I don’t want you to feel powerless in light of your past failures. I want to you to feel powerful in light of our Savior.  You are not alone.

Easier said than done. I get it. It’s hard for me to forget my past mistakes, too. My inner voice is like a heckler in my head. Sure you’ll do that… like you did so many times before (Snort!) Yes, my inner heckler snorts with sarcasm! Or maybe your inner heckler says nothing to you but just laughs and shakes her head as you then cringe in shame and give up before even starting.

It’s hard to think you can do anything when your inner heckler is telling you that you can’t do it. When she or he is reminding you of all the times you didn’t succeed in the past.

But when that inner heckler speaks, snorts, or shakes her head, I want you to repeat the following: “In Christ, I am a new creature. In Christ, the old things have passed away. In Christ, new things have come.”

That inner heckler will speak at all times of the day. When you wake up in the morning. When you’re drinking your morning tea/coffee. When you’re deciding whether to do something productive or just spending another evening in front of the tv. When you get on the weight scale and don’t see any changes and are tempted to give up.

Each time the heckler speaks, you repeat:  “In Christ, I am a new creature. In Christ, the old things have passed away. In Christ, new things have come.”

Yes, every year is a new year to start again. But so is every day. So is every minute.  Even if you slip, don’t beat yourself with shame. Start again. You are a new creation. The old has passed.

We have much to accomplish this year. You are not alone. You are IN CHRIST.

By Bindu Adai Mathew

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.  2 Corinthians 5:17

It is the dawn of a new year. In Christ I am a new creation. You are a new creation. The old things have passed. Now let them go.

Thank you, Lord for where I’ve been. For what you have done, for how you’ve provided, for how you are going to use everything from my past–the good, the bad, and the ugly–for Your good. For Your glory.

It is time. Time to put away the excuses. Time to use my (our) gifts to glorify You. Time to put into practice every Truth you’ve imparted. Time to forgive others. Time to forgive myself. Time to stop being negative. Time to stop complaining. Time to look forward.  And time to stop talking. It is time to be still. To listen… to hear… Your voice. To meditate on Your words. Your Truth. Until that is the only Truth I measure my life by. Until Your Voice drowns out my own.

It is time.

Let’s do this together, FemmeFuel readers!  The journey begins.

 

 

Chris Sweet

leadership training guru, life-is-awesome consultant, and oh-so-cool parent

Ride the Storm Month

Happy Friday Monday Femme Fuelers!

I am excited to be a guest contributor to Femme Fuel this month.  This month, I will be talking about how to ride the storms of life with God.

I know that today is not Friday and “Fun” should not be part of this conversation on a Monday.  But, what if we did live Monday like it’s Friday.  Like it’s the day before THE Weekend!!  Let’s turn our Friday party jam during Monday.  That’s right.  Let’s play with our minds to see what they will do, if we actually went through Monday with a Friday confidence.

Here’s the deal.  I too have gone through my share of anxious workdays like you.  And, it has caused my body, spirit and mind to be impacted.  That high amount of stress is just not good for you. That’s why it is so important to take care of your entire self: mind, body and spirit.

So what can you do?

1. Figure out what is causing your dread on Monday.  If you love what you do at work, you are less likely to feel the Monday Blues.  But if you aren’t passionate about what you do, then it’s easy to feel the dread.  Sometimes, it may be just the season to bear through the angst of work for the time being or this might really be the moment to leave your job.

I believe that we have to live our days intentionally grateful and with positivity.  Sometimes that may seem difficult when it seems that at almost every minute your world seems to be crashing on multiple and different levels (work, health, family).  I understand.  I have been there.  I have asked myself that question like you, “Ok am I carrying an internal magnet which is attracting all of this negativity?”

2. Acknowledge that the moment you are going through is difficult. But know that God, your Creator and Father, pays attention to every single detail of your life including the ones that you are going through that seem too difficult.  And, He loves you and He is holding you.  Sometimes that seems doubtful, when your part of the planet seems to be under perpetual darkness.  Get these verses through your spirit to stand on your identity (God’s view of you):

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

 Psalm 139:13-16 ESV

 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

3. Realize that there is a purpose behind the traumatic event. It is easy to get upset with God that many of our traumatic events are happening successively or simultaneously.  Sometimes, I have the tendency to think that there is something wrong with me to attract the dark cloud over my head.  There are times, I want to hide from the cloud when it storms.  Sometimes, I have had to just allow the rain to pour on me.  Standing in the rain is a cold, spiritually stripping experience for me.  It makes me uncomfortable to allow myself to voluntarily expose myself to the elements for a long period of time.  But that rain, like the circumstance we are going through is necessary for getting rid of all that we hold onto that is not good for us.  And, after the rain (because there is always a respite period of after), the sun shines bright on our back healing our wounds.  But, we have to stand in the rain and we have to choose to accept the sun’s gift of healing. And, the hard thing to do, is to thank your Creator for the stormy cold rain as well as the bright life restoring sun.

4. Change your mindset from the victim to warrior. This will require time with God and getting your armor of God on.  You can’t achieve peace and contentedness without having that spirit and soul-lifting pursuit as you go through your journey of pain.  That would be like a tree trying to sprout without the life giving seed.

Let your warrior mind influence your words and actions through your trial.  Sometimes, you have to be professional and calm through the worst of attacks.  Staying calm through the assault is important for you to not only to survive but to succeed.

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” ― Carlos Castaneda.  I so love this statement because taking everything as a challenge is a mindset I too am trying to have no matter the situation.

We will talk about this during the next few weeks on how to accomplish this warrior mindset.

5. Express gratitude to God for 1) this time in your life even if it is really bad 2) be transparent with God on your feelings of loss and lack of clarity about why the events are happening and 3) then express, “But, God, I trust you. I lean into You.”  When I go through these tough periods, I have prayed to God, “I am so painfully human Lord God and please forgive me when my heart feels despair for the weight of the tragedies that I am going through.  And, I praise you through these circumstances with my mouth even though my heart is not yet there.  Please forgive me.”

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things”  Matthew 12:34-35.

At some point, your heart will catch up with your mouth.  So, thank God for everything in your life.

6. Have fun!

Your season will pass. And when it does how will you serve? Encourage your friends, family and associates on what has happened to you in your life.  Also, have fun and live fully in the moment.  Laugh with someone.  Tell that joke.  Dance with your kids or dare I say it- by yourself!  Put your arms around your family and hug.  Love.  Love.  Love.

There is no question that this life is hard.  But for some reason, God has appointed us to live here on this earth for whatever season.   And, I have gone through experiences in life that revealed to me the dark side of humanity.  But, here is what I have learned. We are all created intentionally and uniquely not to live our part of life solo, but to work with others to engage our world and leave a successful blue print for the next generation of what we’ve done so that they learn from our mistakes and do better.  We also have an opportunity to help hurting people around us when their hurts are similar to ours.

So, let’s together live our life each day like its Friday.  Here are things I have been reading that help me ride storms.

Tim Storey, The Comeback and Beyond

Gretchen Rubin, Happiness Project

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/02/25/11-ways-to-beat-the-monday-blues/.

Read about the Warrior’s Mind Training, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27072979/ns/health-mental_health/t/warrior-mind-training-helps-troops-stay-calm/#.VkYQtfmrTjY

Art image:  http://cliparts.co/cliparts/5iR/Ko5/5iRKo586T.jpg