How is your thinking in the morning? If you’re like me, you need time to get it together! The Lord has brought me such a long way with my morning mental state. I used to wake up mad, literally looking for things to take the anger out on. If we don’t get it together early, it’s easy for our entire day to be a mess. It’s imperative for us to take control of our thoughts in the morning. Take Control of Your Thoughts in the Morning: 5 Tips 1. Wake up Early. It can be hard to get yourself together if you wake up rushed. It’s key to give yourself…

If we take an honest look at society, we’re able to see that most people are fighting overwhelm. The pace of life, the constant activity, the demanding schedules is enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed. Instead of succumbing to overwhelm, which will likely lead to hopelessness and depression; I’m going to share 10 tips that will help you to fight overwhelm! Fighting Overwhelm: 10 Tips 1. Slow down. If you are feeling overwhelmed, slow down. The overwhelming feelings may be simply communicating that you are moving too fast. 2. Consider your priorities. Take some time to consider your priorities. Review them. Are you tending to them? Living in balance? Do…

Have you already settled into new routines this new year, or are you still working on finding your groove in 2020? If you’re like me, you’re still working on it. We tend to think that once a new year hits, we automatically experience newness. That’s not the case. Once a new year comes, we then have to work at creating our newness. Finding Your Groove in 2020 1. Sit & Dream. A new year provides the perfect opportunity to sit & dream. You should analyze your current situation and compare it to the life that you’d like to live. Look at your relationships, your home, your family, but most importantly…

Everyday we’re challenged to make Spirit-led decisions.  Our lives today are simply the results of the decisions we made yesterday.   As we grow in Christ, we must grow in our ability to make Spirit-led decisions. When we don’t rely on the Spirit to make decisions, we mostly rely on emotions or intellect.  Both of these are undependable.  Let’s address emotions first.   (1) Emotions are unstable and constantly changing, so it’s no wonder why our decisions don’t stick when we rely on emotions to make them.  When we make emotional-based decisions, we will often regret our decisions because we will soon feel differently than we did before.   It’s common to grieve over…

Though at times it can be difficult to pray because we like to do things our own way, it can be even more difficult to wait after praying.  We must learn to pray & wait.   Praying is humbling in itself.  It acknowledges the fact that we can’t do it on our own.  When we pray, we are essentially saying: I need help.  I’m incapable of handling this on my own.  I’m in need.   Oh how hard it can be to admit that we need help. As hard as praying and asking can be, it can be even more difficult to wait.  Waiting requires patience, and in our society we have…

Every single day we all have apples (temptations) that are dangled in front of us.  Temptation started with Eve in Genesis 3, and it is still working on us today.  Often, with the same old tricks.   Don’t bite the apple. Temptation is often subtle- sometimes the apple itself doesn’t even appear to be sinful.  It may start as simply a distraction, but underneath the distraction is an evil attempt to deter us from God’s best for us. Everyday we have to fight to do God’s will in our lives.   Doing His will today will set us up for more of His will and blessings tomorrow.  If we succumb…

Doing the right thing can be hard.  In life, we are constantly challenged to do the right thing.  Let’s go back to the beginning: Satan enticed Eve to do wrong (Genesis 3).  His whole aim was to get her to disobey God.  He hasn’t changed.  Still today, every single day actually, we are tested and tempted.  Our days are filled with many opportunities to give in and do what we feel like doing (which is often wrong), or we can fight to do what’s right.   We have to fight to do the right thing. Doing right requires humility.  Humility will cause us to treat others right even when they…

There are some things that I’m able to learn and apply somewhat quickly as I follow Christ, but then there are other things that really take time.  What do you do when you seem to keep running into the same issues over and over? Keep at it. I love the Lord for many, many reasons- one of them being His ability to understand.  He is so patient, so gracious, so understanding.  Yes, He does judge our actions, convict us, and discipline us; but He walks us through a process- not expecting perfection from us overnight. God understands why we do what we do. I love the Lord because He is…

There are so many things in life that will push us around if we don’t stand up & take control.  Our flesh will push us to do what we want to do, fulfilling our own selfish desires, doing what is contrary to the will of God.  Other people will push us around, pushing us to please them and keep them happy- allowing them to have a level of control over us.  The cares of this world try to push us around, pushing us to constantly gain this, achieve that- controlling our emotions, energy, and our time.   There comes a time when we have to stand up & take control.…