🚶🏾No Quitting 🚶🏽‍♀️

Traits of Happy people: 

• Don’t seek approvals 
• Eat well
• Wake up the same time every morning 
• They live only in what’s happening now 
• Don’t sweat the small stuff
• Accept whatever cannot change 
• They exercise 
• They don’t do comparisons
• They don’t hold grudges 
• Stay positive
• Handle criticism well
• Kind to unkind people 
• They smile more
• They accept failure and parachutes right on to another great idea
• They don’t worry about stupid things

Now, I could have made a longer list, but I need to get to my next points. How many of us can go over the above list and honestly confess that ALL the traits of happiness reflect who we are? If anyone truthfully believes that they own ALL the ‘happy traits’, please leave a comment acknowledging you’ve got it “ALL.”

Now that happy people will be always happy …let me move on to those like myself who can truthfully say, ‘If it wasn’t for the Lord, my life would have been a mess.’

I’m confident that over the last 336 days  – there were many who may have felt like quitting their  jobs, marriages, relationships, families, church, God, and many other important aspects of life. 

Let’s reflect on the last 336 days …

We may have faced one or more of the following list:

• financial difficulties 
• health challenges
• family emergencies 
• career changes
• marital problems
• job losses
• accidents
• children’s health scares 
• evil plots of the enemy that came against us and our families
• closed doors of opportunities 
• foreclosure of homes 
• relationships issues 
• creditors  
• restless nights
• crime
• unexpected  death in the family 

Like the ‘happy list’ – this ‘sorrow list’ can certainly go on and on, but I need to get on to my message 🤦🏼‍♀️🤷‍♀️

The fact we are alive this morning speaks volumes of our awesome spirit of resiliency that God had deposited within us at the time of our birth. It’s been said – ‘children are resilient ‘ …but children grow up and become adults. 

Resilience is knowing that YOU are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up.

Life is tough, but so are you. Our lives are in God’s hands whether you believe in God or you don’t believe in Him. If you made it from birth until today, it means God played a major role in sustaining you even if you were not aware of His presence. 

Don’t be tempted to quit just like that. One bad day doesn’t mean your life is bad. Refuse to allow anything or anyone to throw you off the rail.  There’s no premature death hidden in God’s plan for your life even if you feel defeated or depressed. God promises to stick with us in all seasons of our lives. Life gets rough but God is just one prayer away. Prayer is using the same words you would use to speak to a friend. There’s NO magic or special code to pray. 

God also interprets tears. Tears are a language that God can respond to when we humbly bow in reverence.

The fact you are alive today after all you’ve been through is because God has a great plan for you.

How can we know God’s plan for our lives? By reading the messages He left behind in the pages of the Holy Bible. God knows exactly when you will open His Word to check it out, and He’s waiting to speak with you about what you have read. He’s a friend, so He’s seeking a relationship with you. Just like you build relationships with your new acquaintances, He’s waiting for your personal invitation to communicate with you. He want you to tell Him what you need. He’s not impressed with fancy words, but the sincerity of your heart. How would you know if someone loves you? By their actions. God is wanting to express His love to you, but He’s not an intruder. He’s a gentleman. 

There must have been a higher power that watched over us during the course of the last 336 days – are you planning to quit just like that now? No Way my friend! That will be the ultimate new height of ingratitude. Tell the devil “he’s a liar” – we have found no fault in God. Even when we were unaware of His sustaining power – He still kept watch over us. 

We adults behave sometimes just like our kids. The very same things we yell and fight with our kids about, is the very same way we behave with God. Our kids come home – food is prepared, house is cleaned, clothes are laundered, and there’s not one inkling of anxiety in their lives to be fearful about – yet they never pause to acknowledge us, or watch us in our eyes to say, thank you. No hug, no kiss, or even a pat on the back. 

Their incredible spirit of entitlement often kick in and away they go until the next request for food or money. 

We complain about the behavior of our spoilt kids – yet, we behave the exact same way to our Heavenly Father. 

We should be ashamed, and embarrassed by our own deplorable, awful, shameful, inexcusable, unforgivable, regrettable spirit of entitlement we openly display towards God. We so often take God’s love for granted. 

We don’t even give God a meager five minutes of uninterrupted time a day to simply pause to say, “thank you God for food, my job, my home, my car, my career” … some folks if they do go to church, there’s no rush to be on time. God is not their priority. Really? Why should we expect more from our kids? It’s an embarrassment how we treat God who has been so incredibly patient and kind towards us. Our kids learn from what we do, not what we say. Let your kids hear and see you giving God thanks for keeping you the many times you felt like quitting. He deserves the Glory 🙌🏾

Make a commitment to yourself that there will be: 

• No quitting spirit or negative thoughts hovering over your lives
• Full fledged acknowledgment to God for His incredible and unbiased love towards you and your household
• You and God will be doing life together 
• Reading of God’s Word on a daily basis until you can’t go without reading 
• An ongoing relationship between God and yourself 
• A win, win relationship now that God is included in your life