Going 'NO' Place Without Self-discipline.

Well that month went by like a blip!!!! I hope you enjoyed it. I am certainly choosing joy each day. It helps my face.

In this month I discovered so much that my head hurts but one thing I want to pass on to you is the next step to preparation. We talked last month about preparing for your future. We never get anything zapped to us by anyone or anything especially God. Although sometimes we wish that He would. Like I wouldn’t mind Him zapping $50,000.00 into my bank account to pay off my debt but day after day there is no loot in my account just soot. I digress.

We were talking about, wait a minute, I haven’t told you yet. The next step to preparation is self-discipline. Yes that’s right. How are we going to get to where we want to go (our prepared goal) if we do not discipline ourselves to reach that goal? Simple, we follow our plan until we reach our goal. It is as simple as that.

You probably say, “That is easier said than done.” No it isn’t. We are living in an age where everything gets done quickly but there is a price to be paid for that. Only you will pay the price for your lack of discipline. It will be your dreams, your goals and your future that will pay the price. God will get someone else, your friends will get someone else, your boss will get someone else, your kids, spouse, parents will get someone else to do what you were supposed to do BUT YOU will pay the price.

Let’s get into this a little deeper. We are all gifted to do something but we also are required to do something. Our requirements may involve housework (which I despise), caring for sick family members, changing dirty diapers – you catch the drift. There will always be things that we are required to do that we do not like doing but still we must complete them. Now, there are also things that we are gifted to do which make us very happy while we are doing them. For instance, I love to help women by sharing my experiences with them. God is leading me to become a public speaker so I am preparing myself for that. I would love to speak full time and never go back to designing cars but unfortunately that is impossible right now. My financial foolishness put me her; talk about paying the price! Now we have two potential scenarios here – one, I could get depressed because I am not speaking as much as I would like and give up or I could be mad as all get out that I have to go work in the automotive again. Neither one of those scenarios are happening because I am using my self-discipline skills to hunt down a desirable design job (which I have by the way, thanks for all your prayers) to make the money to pay my bills and continue to prepare myself to become the most awesome public speaker I can be.

God is in control of what is happeing in my life but I am in control of my own self-discipline. I am not a minuet that God pulls the strings on – he has given me choice, to be or not to be. I choose to BE. Therefore I have to invoke my self-discipline to do that. No, it is not easy and some days I want to give up but God is now beginning to surround me with people who lift up my spirits and is showing me the ones who are not. It is a lonely trek learning self-discipline but no one can do it but YOU.

So I want you to get the totally ironic point here – no one will pay the price for your lack of self-discipline, only you AND no one can help you gain self-discipline, only you. If you rely on other people to pump you up when they are gone so is your pump sending you right back to where you started from - at the bottom of the well.

Create a well of disciplinary devices that work for you and make sure you put God’s Word on top. The first thing you should get out of your well is God and the Bible, then a good friend, a quote that gets your blood pumping or anything else that helps to motivate you. I have a picture in my office the has a beautiful view of a lighthouse beside the ocean. Written on it 'Vision' Light tomorrow with today. Elizabeth Barrett Browning I also keep my workspace clean because there is nothing that demotivates me more than clutter. I work at self-discipline everyday so expect to have to motivate yourself every day. This is a process that goes on forever and ever and ever.

Okay, so now to this month’s challenge. This is only going to be difficult if you let it be.
Discipline yourself this month to serve others with joy. Open your eyes in the morning and choose joy before you put your feet on the cold floor. Do your job with joy, do your dishes with joy, wash your clothes with joy, and so on and so on. Remember it is all about people so if you discipline yourself to choose a joyful attitude while getting to where you are going it will be contagious and other will want to know what has happened to you. Before you know it you have a habit you won’t ever have to break or work hard at.

Have a great Easter and thank Jesus for His gift of life to us.
Choosing joy with you,Kathleen

Preparing for the Future

Hello everyone,
I pray that you were successful with the January challenge.
For February we are going to learn about preparation. As much as we think we are prepared we most certainly are not. One thing that gets the hair on my back standing straight up is people who say, "God will take care of the details if he wants me to do it." He will not do that unless it is impossible for you to do it such as a little miracle or the need for money not readily available or the need for someone to give that information like a prophet or someone who knows the job at hand. Other than the spiritual needs He will not provide anything that you can do on your own like research or school or reading or studying.
When you believe that God is sending you to do something he will give you the wisdom to do it but he will not prepare you for it; you must do that on your own. Although the saying 'God helps those who help themselves' is not in the Bible it should not to be ignored. Do not take this literally because God wants you to know that 'you can do all things through Him' but you have to do some prep work on your own.
Prep work is exactly what it is. You cannot teach without learning how to be a good teacher, you cannot be a leader without knowing how to be a good leader, you cannot build unless you know how to build, you cannot preach unless you know the Word of God. Knowing what to do and doing it are two different things. God may tell you what he wants you to do but it is your responsibility to learn how to do it well and being fully prepared to do it properly.
More people fail from lack of preparation than for any other reason so to avoid failure get yourself prepared. Do your homework and get the knowledge you need to do the deed. One of the things that you might want to prepare yourself with is the Word of God and the Love of Man. These two things are the most important prep work you will ever do. If you have not Love than everything else you have is nothing.
So the February challenge is think about preparation. How do you need to prepare each day for life? How have you failed due to lack of preparation and how can you avoid it next time?
This is a way of life for me. Preparing for the future is imperative to having a fruitful future. When you are unprepared you will react badly to any situation that pops up.
Let me know how it goes for you and any area of your life that you discovered you are not prepared in. Show us how you are getting yourself prepared and how it makes you feel to be more prepared.
God bless your journey
Kathleen