Sometimes, especially at ‘down’ times, it’s very important we remember all the things that are going right for us — instead of focusing on what is going wrong.
I’m not having a ‘down’ time now but I figured I would list 10 things I’m grateful for today anyway. If it helps when we’re down, it can’t hurt us when we’re well. So here we go — 10 things I’m grateful for in my life right now:
- God’s love and His endless mercy for me. I’ve let Him down many times but He’s always been patient with me.
- My beautiful, intelligent, God-fearing wife. I couldn’t have asked for more.
- My incredibly helpful, fun-loving, recently-baptized son Filipe, who will turn 16 soon.
- The privilege of holding the most important job in the world — the job of saving souls.
- All my family are in very good health.
- I’ve been blessed with some very genuine, dedicated, hard-working colleagues.
- All the people who have been praying for me, all over the world. You know who you are, even if I don’t. May God bless you even more.
- Getting three square meals a day (and sometimes a snack in between... :-)
- All the times I was misunderstood, misjudged, misinterpreted, and criticized — you keep me striving to get better every time.
- The new place we got where we’ll build the home of the new Succeed in Life Center in Houston. Watch this space!
Just going through that list, I feel better already!
What about you? Do you want to feel better? Want to change the focus in your life from the bad to the good? Come on, take a few minutes now and write down your own Grateful List. Maybe you can write them down in the comments below, and inspire others who’ll read it, or just get a piece of paper and do it. Whatever you do, don’t miss this opportunity. What are the 10 things you’re grateful for today?
Someone asked me recently, “Is it a sin to divorce my husband?” I sensed that her main concern was whether God would be angry with her if she did that. I think that’s the wrong way of understanding ‘sin’.
People often, mistakenly, associate sin with religion and God’s wrath and denying yourself some pleasure. But sin, put simply, is anything you do that hurts yourself, others, or God. In other words, to commit sin is to make a mistake.
In the Bible, the word ‘sin’ comes from the same root word in Hebrew that is used to express the verb ‘to miss the target’. If you think about that for a moment, it will completely change your concept of sin. You’ll understand that every time you sin, you’re missing a target.
So, in the above example, what if that lady rephrased her question and asked instead: “Will I miss the target if I divorce my husband?” Asking the question this way would immediately force her to ask herself, ‘What is my target? What am I trying to accomplish?” She’d then realize that the target in a marriage is not divorce. Rather, it’s to find happiness and purpose in sharing your life with someone else. So that lady’s target, in fact, was to solve her marriage problems and regain the happiness and purpose they had when they first got married.
But she mistakenly thought of divorce as a way out of her marriage problems. If she did that, she might have ‘solved’ one set of problems but immediately run into another one — being alone, disputes over the custody of her children, a financial mess, scarring the children for life, etc. In other words, she’d have missed the target BIG TIME.
Never again think of sin as a burden God has put upon you just to kill your joy and freedom. Remember that when you sin, or miss the target, you are the first victim. Yes, God may be sad you did it, others may also get hurt, but you’re the one who’ll pay the highest price. Nobody else.
Be smart. Hit your targets.
After a full-year writing sabbatical, I’ve decided it’s now time to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, that is) back again.
As most of you know, I moved to Houston, Texas on Christmas Day 2007 and have since been working to set up the church here. With the move, new routines, new people, new places, new responsibilities, new challenges... I just couldn’t stop to sit down and write. But a year has gone by fast (I can’t believe it’s January 2009 already!) and though work has anything but decreased, I know it’s time I get back to my writing routine again.
Thank you who have been emailing and asking about the messages you were used to reading. I’m sure most of you know now that we have a new website — www.SucceedinLife.org — where you can find some resources and the latest news. Do check it out and bookmark it with your browser. This site is still in its infancy but get ready for a re-launch soon, with many new features and a fresh, new design.
So, again, thank you for hanging in there and please spread the word to your friends that this blog is now active again. And as always, you’ll get messages and insights here that I won’t post anywhere else.
2009 will be fun.
