Giving Up - Our Greatest Weakness?

 It can be easy to want to give up. We naturally are not attracted to doing something hard. Granted, some people enjoy a good workout that is extremely hard and pushes your body to the limit. However, that same person my not want to clean their car because it appears too difficult.

When I instruct my son to clean his room, he usually responds by saying that it is "too hard." Part of his whining is because he doesn't want to do it and part of it is due to how messy his room has become over time. Once he begins, he will often times find something to play with that has been uncovered in his cleaning.

Again, he doesn't want to keep going for he would rather just give up. Maybe you are a "cleaner" and not the "workout" person. For working out would be too difficult for you and you would want to give up. That brings us to this week's quote about giving up.

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up...the most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time," Thomas Edison

It is said that Thomas Edison had 10,000 failures. Imagine somewhere in the 2,500th and 7,500th try of an invention if he would have given up. Take a minute after reading this and look up all the inventions that are given credit to Thomas Edison. After that, consider if he would have given up on any of those. Some we may have never had the opportunity to see. Though some of his inventions have been modified from the original, they are still something that have brought happiness to many of us.

Let's take it back to us. How much do we want to give up...on life? your marriage? yourself? your kids? your job? your schooling? your church?

If you give up now, you will never know the possibilities that may come about if you keep going! DON'T GIVE UP! Keep going! You will never know the end of the story if you give up now! Stick it out to the end!

Have a blessed day!

Don't Play Small

Strengths are found in all of us. We have strengths that are valuable. Some of these may be categorized as a talent, but some are simply just a strength. We also have weaknesses. Some weaknesses should stay as a weakness and focus on our strengths.

When you have a strength, it should be used. It should be exercised. When you use things that are beneficial or a strength of yours, you enjoy doing it and look forward to the next opportunity.

I remember not liking to read as a student in school. The more I was told to read the more I wasn't desiring to do it. It wasn't that I hated it, but just wasn't inclined to do it if I was given "free time."

We tend to settle too often because we feel we must focus on our weaknesses and not our strengths. That brings us to this week's quote...

There is no passion to be found playing small in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. ~ Nelson Mandela

If you simply continue to settle for less, you are not going to get anymore. What is something you want out of life that hasn't been able to be achieved?

I learned to develop a "you never know" kind of approach to many things in life. When you talk yourself out of something, you never will achieve it. But when you just go for it, because "you never know" then you you'd be amazed at what can come of it.

Go for it!

Now it's your turn...what do you wish you could have not "played small" with in the past?

Awareness of Weaknesses - Judges 16:15-21

In sports, when you become aware of a weakness of the other team or opponent, you want to try to take advantage of that weakness. When your team has a weakness, you want to try to avoid that weakness being exposed. The awareness of a weakness will take on a different strategic move depending on which side you are sitting. However, when the weakness is on your team, you still try to accomplish your goal. Teams are made up of individuals, but to reach the goal takes everyone working together and committed to each other.

Yesterday, we continued with discussing Samson (Judges 14, 15, &16). Samson was one who had a known weakness. He was ignorant to think that after three times of Delilah trying to find out his weakness and showing that she can't be trusted, he told her on the fourth time. Samson told her it was his hair. She cut it off and God left him, thus becoming weak. He was captured. Later to "bring down the house" and kill 3,000 men and women. He allowed his knowledge of his weakness to interfere with his quest to serve God. As a church, in any given area, someone is going to be weaker. When we know that, we cannot turn on our own brethren, but to not allow that to interfere with our quest to serve God and expand the Kingdom.

As we reflect back on that, here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

Pray that you will not fall into temptations - knowing, already, you're susceptible in those areas. (Luke 22:39-45)
Be conscious of times when you're critical of others and ask God to turn you from that thought
Be conscious of times when you're self-righteous and ask God to turn you from that thought
Be conscious of times when you're tempted to either spread rumors or listen to gossip, and ask God to turn you from that situation.
Be conscious of times when you're ___________ (you fill in the blank) and ask God to turn you from that thought/situation.
Ask God to strengthen you with your weaknesses, that it will not inhibit your church/work/team
Ask God to strengthen those you are associated with through church/work/team so you can accomplish the task.
Ask God to keep the Enemy away from you as to make it easier to accomplish the goals you are striving toward (presuming the goals are helpful to your walk with Him).
Praise God that we're a family!

Keep in mind...Rule #1...We are family! That is so important when it comes to trying to accomplish goals.

We have weaknesses, about ourselves and within a group, but we need to be aware of those so that we can do everything we can to serve Him better.

Being aware...

E-mail Encouragement: Strength

I hope you've had a good week, thus far. With last week being so busy, it has nice to have a "less busy" week.

We've all had our share of struggles. From the smallest to the biggest, the least frustrating to the most, struggles are struggles. However, most struggles help us learn lessons, which help us cope with life. Think about this as you read this week's quote...

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

You simply cannot be strong all the time. You might be able to appear strong, but you will wear yourself out trying to be strong. In order to become strong in muscular strength you must perform some type of exercise which exerts tension on muscles. This causes the muscle to actually tear, but is replaced by more muscle cells. When we go through hardships and don't give up we may "tear" but it is replaced by more "cells" to enable us to get through the situation and/or learn from it for the next time.

Our hope is not hardship, but not surrendering to the inevitable will develop strength.

Having a hardship this week? May God bless you as you seek Him through it all and become "stronger" in the end!

Blessed by Him ~