Karin M. Thompson's Blog, page 8

YOUR 2020 PEP TALK

At the beginning of the year sometimes we find it hard to set goals and we can feel like it’s another year just rolling over. I want to ignite some passion into you by asking you some questions to fire you up to get you to move ahead and get you going… 1. Are you going to maintain or pursue? 2. Are you dry docked or launching out into the deep? 3. Are you holding the fort or going to take new ground? 4. Are you settling with status quo or are you going to the next level? 5. Have you thrown in the towel or are you going to take new ground? 6. Are you being passive or pressing in? 7. Are you surviving or thriving? 8. Are you circling the wagons or leading the charge? 9. Are you behind the eight ball or staying ahead of the curve? 10. Are you protecting what little you have or are you aggressively possessing all that is rightfully yours? So, what is it? Are you going to back down and lose, or are you going to get back up on your faith and win? I want you to get more aggressive about taking what is rightfully yours in Christ this year. I want you to aggressively reach out with your faith and take what you need, command it to come in Jesus name. I want you to become more aggressive with your faith. So put your helmet back on, get back on the field and GO, FIGHT, WIN! Wow, it’s going to be a great year – Go 2020!

CARRY ON IN 2020

Happy New Year. I pray that this will be your best year ever. Now that it is a New Year, this does not mean that because you didn’t achieve some of your goals or had your prayers answered yet, that it’s too late now. Even though the clock turns over to a new year, it doesn’t have to be a mark of failure for you because you haven’t seen the results you wanted. Yes, it’s good to have deadlines but we also need to be realistic with them. God works on a different timetable to us and if a year turns over it doesn’t mean He has to stop working because the year is now done. Yes, it’s a new year and maybe time for new goals to be made, but keeping a focus on the here and now is also important. Focusing on your daily believing and expecting, not letting go of your hopes and dreams are important as well. Make them a part of this year again and carry on believing for great things with God. Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Looking backward you will never see your future

7 Steps to Help You Set Your New Year’s Goals

1. Write your goals down on paper What do you want? Where would you like to be in 1-3 years time? What would your life look like then? Where would you be living? What would you be doing with your life? Take these ideas and work out what you would need to do to get there, what steps would you have to take to arrive at these destinations. I.e. if in 3 years time you want to have a degree in teaching, work out the steps that you would have to take now to make this possible. Plan the goals out in a week by week step routine. 2. Goals must be measurable To say I want to save some money is not a goal, but to say I want to save $15,000.00 by 31st December 2020. Now that’s a goal you can focus on and work towards. 3. Goals must have specific details How are you going to do this? I am going to save $15,000.00 by 31st December 2020 by saving $500.00 every month and cutting down on my spending. You now have an action plan to achieve this goal. 4. Goals must be realistic In other words, if you want to save $15,000.00 by 31st December 2020 and you only earn $40,000.00 a year, you can see that this is going to be very hard to maintain; which could lead to you being discouraged. Work within your boundaries. Be realistic with your timelines. 5. Goals must stretch you Goals make you work harder and stay focus. If they are too easy, then you will lose interest. We all need something to drive us and give us dreams and vision. But remember the other points here too. 6. Goals must have a deadline Deadlines keep it motivating. I want to lose 5Kg by 30th September 2020. Now you can work a plan on that and see what you will need to do weekly to achieve this. Goals are dreams with deadlines. 7. Goals must be viewed so you can see them. Write them down and look at them daily. Make a vision board with pictures of your goals. This way you can focus on them and not have to guess what they are if you can’t remember them. Habakkuk 2:2-3. IF YOU AIM FOR NOTHING YOU WILL HIT IT EVERY TIME

Overwhelmed at Christmas time

Merry Christmas to you all. Often what is supposed to be a time of joy and love turns out to be just the opposite. You are stressed out, pushed way past your comfort zone and walking in love seems like a joke. Christmas can come with a lot of high expectations and anxiety. It's time to take a few deep breaths and breathe. Take a moment to focus on the bigger picture. Set realistic expectations for yourself. The family may not be a typical movie family, but they are your family and you should try to deal with them the best way you can. Put aside any conflicts and disagreements you may have and let this be a time to build beautiful memories with your kids about Christmas and getting together. Avoid the triggers that set you off. Don't let things get to you. Remember this is only for a day or two so relax - or at least try and enjoy the moments. Ask God for supernatural strength to deal with the difficult people that you might have to deal with. Don't start any unnecessary conversations that would be best avoided. Don't spend money you don't have. Really this will only add to your stress. It’s the thought that counts - well at least that's what it supposed to be. Today people have such high expectations of gifts. A gift comes from the heart no matter how big or small. Give from you heart not from your wish you had bank account. Remember to enjoy the moments with your family and friends. Focus on gratitude and all that you should be thankful for. I would like to wish you all a beautiful Christmas as you remember Christ's birth and his gift of life to us. Merry Christmas everyone!

LET’S GO TO THE OTHER SIDE

Jesus Calms the Storm – Luke 8:22-25 (NIV) One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So, they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement, they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” When you are in a storm in your life, you are not alone. Jesus doesn’t say to you that He would meet you on the other side; no, he goes with you through the storm to the other side. He takes your hand, guides and directs you, till you get safely to the other side. Even when he was asleep in the boat, he was still in the storm with the disciples, yes, but he was asleep because he was at peace, but when the storm became too much for the disciples, he dealt with it. He helped them to get out of the storm. No matter what you are facing today, what situation you find yourself in you are not alone; you are never, ever alone. Jesus never ever leaves your side. He is your constant companion even if you don’t recognize it. Once you invite Jesus into your heart, His Spirit stays with you always. If you will allow His Spirit to lead you, you will get insight into the storms of your life and get direction how to get out of them. Become aware of His continual presence and allow it to comfort you and direct your life. Fear shows forgetfulness of who God is.

FORGIVE YOURSELF

Through our journey in life, we come to realise that we may have made some wrong decisions, wrong choices, and consequently wrong actions. But hindsight can teach us one thing, that we must learn from our mistakes and glean the wisdom we need from them to have a brighter and better future. We need to forgive ourselves for mistakes that we may have made that took us on a path that we would rather not have been on. Maybe you had a heap of plans for your life and it has turned out quite the opposite to what you wanted. Know that every decision you made in the past was made with the information you currently had at the time. It was made with all the “light” you had on the situation then. Now you may have more information and more wisdom as you have matured and changed, but at the time, it was the best you knew to do. So, forgive yourself if you think you did wrong. You were doing the best you could with what you had. Surely if you knew it would be so wrong, you would not have done it. Being hard on yourself only hinders your self-respect and the confidence you need to make future decisions. Learn from your mistakes and be bold to step forward, knowing that the Holy Spirit is leading you and directing you as you move ahead. Trust God with the decisions you make in the future and don’t be in a hurry to make sudden decisions. Don’t look back like Lot’s wife did at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah but keep looking and moving forward. Forgive yourself, allow the hurts to heal, be bold and full of confidence that you are stronger and wiser now. Manage the decision you have made and believe God to turn them out for your best. God is not holding your past against you, so why should you? If you need to repent, do so and know that God forgives you and you should forgive yourself too. Scripture references 1 John 1:9 Psalm 32:5 Colossians 2:13-14 Romans 4:7-8 2 Chronicles 30:9 Your choices are the only thing you can control

DISTRACTIONS

Living in this world there will always be distractions, things that try to take you away from your goals, away from your heart’s desires. The devil will try to take you off your course by distracting you. These distractions don’t necessarily have to be bad things, they may even look like a good idea at the time. But taking the distraction on- board will take you on a detour from your journey set out before you. Therefore, we need to have our goals written out and our course plotted. Then when the distraction comes you can clearly see if it will take you off course. There will always be someone or something that will want your attention, something that you will always need to do, but you must be convinced in your heart where your focus is and stand firm in that. These distractions may come with a lot of pressure for you to do something. Always remember this, God does not put pressure on you. He doesn’t force you to do anything. He leads you and guides you by peace. This pressure is not peace and if you follow the pressure you will soon feel your peace go. So, remember your goals, keep them before you and stay focused on them. They will come to pass if you don’t let the distraction take you from them. Scripture Reference: Isaiah 30:18 Habakkuk 2:3 (TLB) Psalms 1:1 Colossians 3:2 KEEP YOUR GOALS IN SIGHT SO YOU CAN HAVE THEM IMPRINTED ON YOUR MIND

DON’T LET YOUR CRISIS BECOME YOUR DESTINY

Often when we face problems that overwhelm us, we allow them to overtake us too. They control our emotions, our moods, our days and nights (sleep) and our lives!! We eat, breath and think about our problems all day and every day. We allow our problems to lead us. We become so problem focus, God can’t get the answer to us because we aren’t listening and in peace to hear his voice. We are to cast all cares onto Jesus - Philippians 4:6-7. Giving our problem to Him allows God to move on our behalf. The key is to leave the problem with Him and not keep taking it back. Surely if we could do anything about it, we would??? So, we are to trust Him that He will take care of it and live each day in the joy of our salvation. God can take care of it and solve it for you. He is your Father and loves you more then you could ever imagine. He only wants the best for you. Psalm 55:22 - Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you (He will sustain you); He will NOT permit the godly to slip and fall. Isn’t that awesome! Hey God’s, got your back, your front and your sides!!! So lay your crisis at His feet and trust Him to show you the answers. God bless you; you worry-free person!!! THINKING FAITH THOUGHTS AND SPEAKING FAITH WORDS, LEADS THE HEART OUT OF DEFEAT AND INTO VICTORY

Choose Life

DEUT 30:19-20: Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessing and cursing. Now I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. In every area of your life, we are advised to always choose life and not death. So whatever situations you are currently facing choose life in that situation. Speak life to the problem, not death. Think life-giving thoughts about the situation and not negative ones. You are the one who must choose, you are the one who must decide what will happen next. By choosing life, you allow God to operate on your behalf. Choose to believe that the person you are praying for is receiving and hearing from God. With your healing, choose to believe that you are healed and whole. With your finances, choose to believe that they are overflowing in abundance. Proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power of our tongue - so speak life into your situation and watch it change around. No matter how bad the situation is the Word of God can turn it around if you choose life. Choose to believe that!!! Confess - this is going to change; I choose to believe it!!!

CAN’T IS NOT PART OF GOD’S VOCABULARY

Maybe you are facing a situation or circumstance where you have been told that you can’t. A doctor said he can’t help you, a friend can’t help, something you need can’t seem to come to pass, and a situation can’t seem to get better. But with God, it’s all CAN. Can’t isn’t part of His vocabulary. Philippians 4:13 – I CAN do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Yes, maybe in yourself you can’t, but through Christ, you can!! The greater one living in you CAN, He CAN help you to overcome and rise above every situation. He CAN help you through it and get you safely to the other side. NO negative report is too great for God. He CAN change it to a positive report. With God living in you, you have the ability and the power to talk to the situation and see it turn around. Our God is a turnaround, God. So, don’t let the situation and circumstance you are currently facing get you down, just know that they are on their way out because God said HE CAN change them. Keep close to the greater one in you and allow Him to strengthen you as you see the problem go!! Misery is proof that your focus is on something that is draining you rather than sustaining you.