Tag: positivity

Take Time to Insert Positivity into Your Day

Posted on by Evangeline

Infertility stressed me out when I dealt with it. Some days there seemed to be no positivity in my thoughts or my words. Are you experiencing the same thing? The absolute best thing I can offer you during the stressful season of infertility is God’s Word. It really is the ultimate source of peace, comfort, guidance, and positivity that you’re looking for. You’re not alone! God hears you. His heart aches when you feel like you don’t hear Him. He’s right there in His Word. All the answers you’re looking for are there.

Are you willing to commit to look for them and then use them?

positivityTake time to insert some positivity into you day–every day. Start by printing this blog post and reading the scriptures below out loud many times each day. Add to them as you look for and find other Scripture verses that apply to your situation.

Positivity from Scripture

“Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn.” – Deuteronomy 7:8

“I am in them and You are in me… You love them as much as You love me.” – John 17:23

“Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” – Matthew 19:26

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!” – Isaiah 26:3

“LORD, sustain me as you promised, that I may live! Do not let my hope be crushed.” – Psalm 119:116

“That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.” – Romans 4:17

“Praise the LORD who has given rest to His people… just as He promised. Not one word has failed of all His wonderful promises.” – 1 Kings 8:56

“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again–my Savior and my God!” – Psalm 42:11

“He will love you and bless you, and He will give you many children.” – Deuteronomy 7:13

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” – James 1:5

“It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.“ – Hebrews 11:11

Stay in God’s Word and I know that you’ll begin to experience the lifting and the peace that you’re craving for.

When will you insert positivity into your day? Set an appointment with yourself to do it and then follow through.

Strike Out the Negative Thoughts So That You Live With More Hope and Power

Posted on by Evangeline

Kamilah Giraud - Thought StoppingIt’s my pleasure to provide a “rerun” of Kamilah Browning Giraud’s guest blog post from 2015. She shares with us how she used “thought stopping” to get through her mother’s illnesses as well as her own struggle with infertility/miscarriages. Kamilah made the decision that she could depend more on God’s Word than she did on the doctors’ diagnoses. I hope her words encourage you to use the “STRIKE” method to turn away your negative thoughts and live with the hope, positivity, and power that God’s Word brings!

Be sure to read the 2018 Update below! 🙂 

Strike ‘Em Out by Kamilah Giraud

How many times do you go through a day and have “random” thoughts that are completely unrelated to your job, or to the task at hand? I’m sure there are some statistics that give an average, but I can even share with you that in the few minutes it has taken me to sit down and share the first few sentences with you, I have already thought about; how cute my co-worker’s shirt is (as she walked by my door), whether or not I will eat the salad I brought to work, or go to the cafeteria (as my stomach growled), and I even thought about what color I should get my nails painted next (as I looked down at the keyboard while typing). Now as trivial and harmless as these “random” thoughts may be, they all still served the same purpose–taking my focus away from what it is I have set out to do.

TOXIC THOUGHTS

While some may perceive these “mental vacations” as healthy breaks, others might find them as nuisances. I tend to ignore them most of the time because if I gave those thoughts much thought, then I would not have time for anything else. This scenario can be a little entertaining, but what about more disturbing thoughts that sound like, “Why bother running, you’ll always be fat”, or “It’s too hard to save money and pay my bills, so I’m probably never going to buy a house.” And what about the thought that comes up that sounds like, “Why keep trying? It hasn’t happened yet. I am fooling myself.”?

These  less trivial, less mundane, and certainly less entertaining thoughts can so easily surface throughout the course of the day and yes… they too serve the same purpose of taking your focus off that which you have set out to do. So then what type of recourse do we have against these thoughts? Well a good friend of mine name Paul, (whom I have actually never met) was imprisoned and wrote some most amazing letters that reflected how in spite of being in a place of true suffering, we can still choose joy. Even though I never met my friend Paul, and although his letters might originally been written in about 62 A.D, you cannot tell me that he didn’t address me directly in his letters too!

Philippians 4:8  says, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”  Paul understood how these “random” thoughts can come to steal your peace. I can bet while he was imprisoned he had more than a few thoughts that popped up serving the sole purpose of stealing his focus off of spreading the gospel.

Paul said to fix your thoughts, which to me implies the need to replace “broken” thoughts. Broken thoughts are the ones that shatter your dreams, and distort your promises. Broken thoughts are lies from the enemy, and broken thoughts are contrary to the truth. So let’s do what my friend Paul urges. Let’s fix those broken thoughts by using thought-stopping, or what I call the STRIKE method.

S.T.R.I.K.E. Method

Stop the Thought
Replace it with God’s Word
Imagine what it looks like
Keep seeing it
Embrace the truth

As the broken thoughts begin to surface you can stop the thought. Many times that is an internal stop, but I have had to audibly say “Stop” in order to refrain from repeating the broken thought in my head.

As soon as you “stop the thought”, you need to replace it with God’s Word. Replace it with the truth–those thoughts that are honorable, right and pure. Replace it by thinking of things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

As you think on those things, imagine it and see yourself in the manifestation of it.

Keep visualizing the thoughts and keep seeing it. This is a faith walk, and we cannot be moved by what we see in the natural, so allow yourself to keep seeing through the eyes of Christ, and know that He sees His promises.

Embrace the truth! God’s word is true. As believers, we are not exempt from the suffering that’s inherent to human existence, but the good news is our faith gives us a different and hopeful perspective that is based on the truth. God is forever faithful and the truth is that He has plans for you to prosper and not to harm you. He has plans to give you hope and a future. That is the truth and you can embrace it.

S.T.R.I.K.E. out your negative thoughts: Stop the Thought. Replace it with God’s Word. Imagine what it looks like. Keep seeing it. Embrace the truth. Click To Tweet

Our thoughts may or may not respond to 3 STRIKES and be “out”, but if the negative thought comes to bat again, just as sure as a pitcher’s form and speed improves with practice, yours can too. All you need to do is throw another STRIKE.

Thought Stopping - Philippians 4:8

 

2018 UPDATE:

Kamilah is an overcomer! She consistently replaced the negative thoughts with Word-based positive thoughts. She meditated on the best, not the worst. Knowing that the power of life and death were in the words she spoke, she made her conversations align with God’s promises (Proverbs 18:21). Kamilah acknowledged that her miracle was in God’s hands AND her mouth!

She is now the mother of a beautiful baby girl! 

Thought Stopping :: Guest Post by Kamilah Giraud

Posted on by Evangeline

Kamilah Giraud - Thought StoppingIt’s my pleasure to have Kamilah Browning Giraud as a guest on my blog today. I’ve known Kamilah a long time– since she was a baby! Recently, she has experienced a very challenging time with the illness of her mother. She shared with our church how she had to use “thought stopping” to get through that life-threatening time so that she could depend more on God’s Word than she did on the doctors’ diagnoses of her  mother’s condition. I hope her words encourage you to “STRIKE” out your negative thoughts and live with the hope, positivity, and power that God’s Word brings!

Strike ‘Em Out by Kamilah Giraud

How many times do you go through a day and have “random” thoughts that are completely unrelated to your job, or to the task at hand? I’m sure there are some statistics that give an average, but I can even share with you that in the few minutes it has taken me to sit down and share the first few sentences with you, I have already thought about; how cute my co-worker’s shirt is (as she walked by my door), whether or not I will eat the salad I brought to work, or go to the cafeteria (as my stomach growled), and I even thought about what color I should get my nails painted next (as I looked down at the keyboard while typing). Now as trivial and harmless as these “random” thoughts may be, they all still served the same purpose–taking my focus away from what it is I have set out to do.

While some may perceive these “mental vacations” as healthy breaks, others might find them as nuisances. I tend to ignore them most of the time because if I gave those thoughts much thought, then I would not have time for anything else. This scenario can be a little entertaining, but what about more disturbing thoughts that sound like, “Why bother running, you’ll always be fat”, or “It’s too hard to save money and pay my bills, so I’m probably never going to buy a house.” And what about the thought that comes up that sounds like “Why keep trying? It hasn’t happened yet. I am fooling myself.”

These  less trivial, less mundane, and certainly less entertaining thought can so easily surface throughout the course of the day and yes… they too serve the same purpose of taking your focus off that which you have set out to do. So then what type of recourse do we have against these thoughts? Well a good friend of mine name Paul, (whom I have actually never met) was imprisoned and wrote some most amazing letters that reflected how in spite of being in a place of true suffering, we can still choose joy. Even though I never met my friend Paul, and although his letters might originally been written in about 62 A.D, you cannot tell me that he didn’t address me directly in his letters too!

Thought Stopping - Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8  says “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”  Paul understood how these “random” thoughts can come to steal your peace. See, I can bet while he was imprisoned he had more than a few thoughts that popped up serving the sole purpose of stealing his focus off of spreading the gospel.

Paul said to fix your thoughts, which to me implies the need to replace “broken” thoughts. Broken thoughts are the ones that shatter your dreams, and distort your promises. Broken thoughts are lies from the enemy, and broken thoughts are contrary to the truth. So let’s do what my friend Paul urges. Let’s fix those broken thoughts by using thought stopping, or what I call the STRIKE method.

Stop the Thought
Replace it with God’s word
Imagine what it looks like
Keep seeing it
Embrace the truth

As the broken thoughts begin to surface you can stop the thought. Many times that is an internal stop, but I have had to audibly say “Stop” in order to refrain from repeating the broken thought in my head.

As soon as you “stop the thought”, you need to replace it with God’s word. The truth–those thoughts that are honorable, right and pure. Replace it with things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

As you think on those things, imagine it and see yourself in the manifestation of it.

Keep visualizing the thoughts and keep seeing it. This is a faith walk, and we cannot be moved by what we see in the natural, so allow yourself to keep seeing through the eyes of Christ, and know that He sees His promises.

Embrace the truth! God’s word is true. As believers, we are not exempt from the suffering that’s inherent to human existence, but the good news is our faith gives us a Truthdifferent and hopeful perspective that is based on the truth. God is forever faithful and the truth is that He has plans for you to prosper and not to harm you. He has plans to give you hope and a future. That is the truth and you can embrace it.

Our thoughts may or may not respond to 3 STRIKES and be “out”, but if the negative thought comes to bat again, just as sure as a pitcher’s form and speed improves with practice, yours can too. All you need to do is throw another STRIKE.

 

 

 

 

The Harvest From Your Lips

Posted on by Evangeline
Photo courtesy of Dreamstime.com | Dominik Damaziak
Photo courtesy of Dreamstime.com | Dominik Damaziak

The beginning of 2013 is just around the corner. What are you expecting from opportunities and challenges in the New Year? More importantly, what are you saying about the things that will come your way in the New Year?

Maintain a positive outlook and attitude. Start now by speaking what God has already said in the Bible that corresponds to what you desire to experience in your life. Speak it with confidence and expectancy, assured of God’s love for you!

Expect a bountiful harvest from the seeds (words) you sow each day.

What will be the harvest from your lips?

“From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”  ~Proverbs 18: 20, 21 NIV

“As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”  ~Romans 4:17 NIV