Tag: focus

Focus

3 Ways to Enhance Your Focus

Posted on by Evangeline

Have you heard the  saying, “What you focus on grows”?

Focus is defined in the Webster’s dictionary as a central point of concentration. What you focus on–what you concentrate on and put your attention to–grows in its importance and impact in your life.

Scripture encourages us to focus on Jesus. Hebrews 12:2 AMP instructs us on this:

“Looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus.“

We focus by looking away from the things that distract us in the natural realm and then fixing our gaze on Jesus, keeping our eyes on His love for us. He gave us a great example of how to focus during the closing days of His life here on earth. As our Savior, he paid no attention to the shame of the cross– He looked away from it. He fixed His gaze on the joy he was destined to experience. The joy grew as He remained focused on it!

An important thing to remember: DISTRACTIONS are the enemy of focus.

Consider your focus as if it was a camera lens that zooms in on one particular item.  You get to see that item very clearly. But, if you spread your camera’s “attention” over multiple items (distractions), you don’t get to see that one thing clearly.

3 Ways to Enhance Your Focus

  1. EXPECT HEALING – Instead of focusing on the symptoms, put your attention on God’s healing Word. Find Scriptures that are specifically related to healing and begin consistently speak them over your life. This will help you to expect healing.
  2. DEAL WITH FEAR – Make a decision to not be distracted by and dominated by fear. Recognize that fear activates the devil’s power. Know who you are in Christ and put on His armor. Be courageous and speak the Word to the “mountain” (Mark 11:23).
  3. EXERCISE YOUR FAITH – Be truth-minded, focused on what God has said about your situation. Take actions that align with the specific scriptures that apply to the circumstances that need to change. Have an active faith!

When we get our heart in line with the Word and put our attention on the Word’s power, we are able to more fully concentrate on the positive instead of the negative.

And as we focus on the positive, life gets better! 🙂

Make a decision to not be distracted by and dominated by fear. Click To Tweet

 

 

5 day fertility challenge

5 Days to Focus on the Spiritual Aspect of Your Fertility

Posted on by Evangeline

When dealing with the challenge of infertility, women often only address the physical aspect of the struggle. But what about the spiritual?

I am happy to give you the opportunity to focus on the spiritual aspect of your fertility through a 5-day Challenge on Facebook, starting this Monday, 2/10/20. If you are a member of A Seed of Hope Fertility Group, you can easily participate. If you haven’t joined our group, I’ll be happy to approve your request to join.

For 5 days, I’ll share how to powerfully address the spiritual aspect of infertility.

Get ready to receive great tips about how to enhance your fertility journey– less stress and anxiety, more peace and hope.

Sign up for the challenge  and invite a friend to join you so you both can get the FREE goodies I’ll share!

feeling hopeless choose hope

Here’s Help if You’re Feeling Hopeless About Your Fertility (or Anything Else)

Posted on by Evangeline

If you’re feeling hopeless about the status of your fertility, you can find help in many ways and from many sources. Sources like your gynecologist, a fertility doctor, a close friend, your parents, books, online forums, etc. But one thing I’m sure of (from personal experience)– the best help will come from God. When you address the spiritual aspect of infertility, you are increasing your opportunity to overcome infertility. And that’s reason to be hopeful!

If you feel hopeless, it’s not because there’s no hope available in your life. It’s because you feel there’s none.

Put an End to Feeling Hopeless

When it feels hard to find hope, look for ways to change things. In the Bible’s account of Abraham and Sarah’s infertility, we see how in spite of hopeless circumstances, Abraham chose to maintain hope.

When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. Romans 4:18 MSG

There are always actions we can take to move past hopelessness and feel better.

  • If a hopeless thought comes to your mind that things are never going to get better, remember a situation in your life when things looked hopeless but did improve. Doing this simple exercise will remind you how feelings will typically pass over time.
  • Express gratitude regularly. Appreciating the present moment will take your attention off of feeling hopeless.

So it boils down to making a choice. You can choose to pay attention to your feelings and have an attitude of hopelessness or, you can choose to focus on God’s love for you and what He has said in His Word. Yes! God has spoken about infertility. He’s even made promises about fertility. Here’s a good one to know:

And He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your body…there shall not be male or female barren among you. Deuteronomy 7:13-14 AMPC

Therefore, choose to remember these thoughts when you are feeling hopeless: You are deeply loved. You are empowered by God’s Word. In Jesus, you are a recipient of the outcome of His promises.

Those are all reasons to be hopeFULL! 🙂

Feeling hopeless about your fertility? Focus on God's love for you and what He has said in His Word. Yes, God has spoken about fertility! Click To Tweet
God says - prayer - stand firm

A Prayer To Help You Through the Season of Infertility

Posted on by Evangeline

You can always decide to have a new prayer season, one in which you stand firm on a Scripture that addresses your current problem. Here’s another Scripture-based prayer for you to use during the season of infertility:

Heavenly Father, I know You see me. I know You love me. But it’s difficult to see Your purpose in this season of infertility. Despite that, I know that You’re working, even when I don’t feel like You are. Thank You for that.

Would You please comfort me right now? Open my eyes and my heart so that I can see and receive Your love. Help me to remain focused on the solution (Jesus) and not on the problem (infertility). Show me how to speak Your Word to this mountain. I need wisdom and instruction about how to rest in Your willingness and ability to change my circumstances.

Help me to remain focused on the solution (Jesus) and not on the problem (infertility). Click To Tweet

I pray that I’ll walk in Love daily so that I can see the supernatural take place. Help me live each day in faith, being confident in Your power and in Your love for me. Please give me insight about how to mix faith with patience, so that I will stand strong in Christ for the blessing of children to be manifested in my life. I desire a fresh vision, to see myself with the child(ren) You have planned for me and my husband.  

I ask that You help me dwell in Your presence and that You will show Yourself strong on our behalf.

In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

If you decide to have a new prayer season, how will you use this prayer? Please share in the comments below.

#Don’tStopBelieving! 

Christian Meditation

5 of God’s Tools You Need to Use to Improve Your Health (Part 3)

Posted on by Evangeline

Christian Meditation. Does that sound like an oxymoron to you? I’ll show you why it’s not. Even though you may connect the word “meditation” with eastern mysticism and New Age practices,  in its proper form, it’s actually something that is God-approved.

In this series of posts on health, we’re exploring five tools God has given us to use to affect healing in our lives. Last week, we looked at communion.

Here are 5 of His tools that can bring restoration to our health:

  1. His Word (The Bible)
  2. Communion
  3. Meditation
  4. Scriptural Affirmations
  5. Praying in Tongues

Today, we’ll focus on Meditation.

Meditation

You may be surprised that meditation is actually something God has called His people to do. During the time of the Hebrew’s Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, Moses died. Joshua was to become the new leader of the people. God called Joshua aside for a little pep talk. He told him that he was strong and courageous. He told Joshua that He would equip him for the task ahead of him as leader of God’s people. The way that Joshua would get equipped would be through meditation:

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”  ~Joshua 1:8 (NIV)

This passage gives us great insight into what biblical meditation is. It is a means of focusing your thoughts on the goodness of God by using His Word. It is different from Transcendental Meditation or any other type of meditation. In the original language, the word for meditate is “hagah”. It means to ruminate, to speak (utter sound), to imagine, to speak with oneself (muttering) in a low voice (whisper). It is not simply reading the Word, thinking about it for a brief moment then quickly forgetting it. Biblical meditation is not about emptying your mind. It involves using your voice to affirm God’s Word for your life. It is an action you take repeatedly throughout the day. In this verse, God is instructing Joshua about how to succeed as the new leader of Israel. But we can also glean from this scripture about how to be successful in life today, especially as we look forward to the new year.

Notice that God didn’t tell Joshua to say anything and everything that came to his mind. He instructed him to meditate on the Book of the Law. God wanted Joshua to read, think about, and mutter God’s words! He wanted Joshua ruminate about the goodness of God and about His love for the people of Israel.

God-Approved Meditation in 2016

So how do we take advantage of this tool and use  it to improve our health? By reading healing Scripture aloud, speaking it as an affirmation, and thinking about it repeatedly throughout the day and before going to bed at night. You can break down one sentence at a time, concentrating on one word at time.

For instance, Psalm 23:1 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” One way of meditating on this could mean that you say it many more times placing emphasis on a different word each time and giving it some thought. Here’s an example of emphasizing a word and a possible related thought:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [He’s the One Who never changes.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [Presently, definitely, without question.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [I have a personal relationship with Him.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [He tends to me, cares for me, and is always with me.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [This is about me–it’s personal!]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [This is definite. something I can count on.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [Lack is not His way. I don’t have a need He won’t meet.]

Use this process employing scriptures that specifically relate to improved health.

Peace of Mind

Meditation can help you adjust your mindset.  It can keep you going even when the going gets tough. It can be an important aid along your path to success in life.

This process will bring great peace of mind as promised in Isaiah 26:3—God will keep in perfect peace all whose thoughts are fixed on Him.

“Focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.” ~Philippians 4:8 (CJB)

Meditation of God’s Word is a means of focusing your thoughts on the goodness of God by using HIS words. It is a way of being dependent on God and He will view that as an expression of trusting Him.

Give it a try. Be sure to let me know what your results are!

 

Why Distractions Invade Your Life

Posted on by Evangeline

There’s a very simple reason distractions invade our lives.

 

Distractions

What do you do to help yourself remain focused on what and Who brings light and life?

Monday’s Marinade – Good Health Checklist

Posted on by Evangeline

I love checklists!

Lists can be powerfully helpful and satisfying. Making a list helps me to stay focused. It increases the chances that I will get things done. Can you relate to this?

God is a list-maker too. In the Bible, He gives us lists of things to do to Help us live a life filled with the good things He planned for us. Here’s one of His lists. It’s a good health checklist. Marinate your week with thoughts about your entire body being healthy by using God’s Word!

Health checklist - Proverbs 4

 

Why You Need to Have a HOPE-FILLED Focus During Infertility

Posted on by Evangeline

Hope Filled FocusGod said He wants men and women to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). His desire is for humanity to produce godly, prosperous families. He loves us all so much and He wants to bless us abundantly. One of His many blessings includes having children.

Many times, when infertility (“barrenness” as it is called in the Bible) strikes a husband and wife, the couple’s focus tends to only be on their inability to reproduce. Proverbs 23:7 declares that what a person continually thinks about is what he/she becomes. This means what we put our attention to, or what we focus on the most will expand in our lives. What you think about, over and over and over again is what will manifest in your life. This suggests that focusing on your present inability to conceive will not change it.

That’s why it’s imperative that you focus on God and not on the problem of infertility. In the Bible’s account of Abraham and Sarah, Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred year old body could never father a child.” Nor was he discouraged by Sarah’s decades of infertility and completely give up on the hope of having a child with her. He focused on God’s promise to him, confident that God would make good on what He had said.

Think and meditate with confidence on His promise in Deuteronomy 7:14. Have confidence in God’s unconditional love for you. Barrenness is not what God desires for His children. Trust His Word and His love for you. Have confidence that He wants you to be fruitful. Focus on that!

“You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle.” Deuteronomy 7:14 NASB

 

Monday’s Marinade – PRAISE

Posted on by Evangeline

As you begin this week by “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God, meditate about the importance and power of praise. Praising God gives you strength! Praise is powerful enough to silence the enemy and the negativity that he brings into your thoughts.   

Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!

 

Here’s your spiritual marinade about Praise:

Praise

Monday’s Marinade – Distractions

Posted on by Evangeline

Your marinade for this week builds upon last week’s challenge. Distractions serve to hinder us from making decisions and taking action. As you begin this week by “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God, decide to not be distracted from the important things. Hebrews 12:2 encourages us to stay focused on Jesus, the One who wants nothing but the best for us and who empowers us to live our best life. Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!

Distractions