SOME SITUATIONS WE GET INTO

Dear VAC readers ,Situation varies, and today,I want to show you some of these situations that you get into and wonder why you found yourself there.Happy Reading.

“It is not the situation which makes the man, but the man who makes the situation.”
– Frederick W. Robertson


1.BAD SITUATIONS

Sometimes problems are good things because they can bring growth. The situations don’t have to destroy us. We just need to evaluate them, and in the process, we grow. We can’t let situations rule us. We must rule them, but we need God’s help. When you get into a bad situation and it seems impossible to get out, remember that God says, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10). Also, “know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3). For me, that’s a huge relief.


2.GOOD SITUATIONS

God sends us into different seasons in our lives. Sometimes these are lean times, and other times they are prosperous times. The question is what do we do with what God has given us? Since we are the stewards of that which He has entrusted us, we can do much good for those who are in lean times. Even an offer of buying someone a meal can mean a lot. It might even be giving them something that will not ever be repaid because they’re not able. The fact is, “whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed” (Prov. 19:17), “and if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward” (Matt. 10:42).


3.SOWING SITUATIONS

I’ve handed out hundreds of Bible tracts in my life, and the people who read these are people I’ll probably never see again. I can sow God’s Word, and maybe someone else will come along and water it. A little later, someone else may come along and fertilize it. But we must trust God because only He gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6-7). Sowing the Word of God comes with a guarantee: “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Unleash the Word and trust God enough to leave the results up to Him.
 
I live in farming country. They always reap what they sow but much later than they sow. If the farmer sowed the seed and waited a day, a week or a month and saw nothing come up and then gave up, then he’d not make a very good farmer. Farmers know that what they sow will be exactly what they reap, but it doesn’t spring out of the ground right away. The point is what Paul wrote: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7-8). What you sow is what you’ll reap, either good or bad. Sow good and good will come out of it. Sow generously and reap a great harvest. But sowing to the flesh will reap corruption, and that never ends well.

CONCLUSION
As Mr. Robertson said, it is not the situation which makes the man, but the man who makes the situation. You have control over the outcome of your situation, if not the situation itself. You can allow bad situations to cause you to grow. You can allow situations to help others. You can allow situations to sow the Word. However, you will always reap what you sow in whatever situation you find yourself.

God Bless You.

Credit: Jack Wellman

5 Ways Adversity Creates Success

Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful.”
– Zig Ziglar

1.  ADVERSITY HUMBLES US

Paul would have never come to trust in Christ unless He first humbled him. God had to first personally encounter him and then temporarily blinded him. Only after he was humbled did Paul ask “Lord, what do You want me to do” (Acts 9:6). Is that something we ask the Lord, “Lord, what would you have me do?” God cannot use a man or woman greatly until He has first humbled them fully since God will resist every proud human and will only give His grace to those who humble themselves (James 4:6).


2.  ADVERSITY MAKES US REPENT

How many times have you read the vicious cycle of prosperity, success, idolatry, captivity and then God freeing them from captivity, only to start the cycle all over again. If God had not sent them into captivity, that adversity would have never brought about their repentance, just as Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 8:2: “… you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.”

3. ADVERSITY MAKES US STRONGER

When we experience tests and trials, they can either break us or make us stronger–that’s the purpose behind adversity. Peter writes, “… you have been grieved by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:6b-7). Adversity proves whether our faith is real or not, whether it’s genuine or just in words alone. This faith of ours is tested and refined in the fires of adversity that will “result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus ChristI don’t need a Bible verse to tell you how when we get into impossible spots in life, our only way out is for God to intervene. When we come to the end of our rope, we discover that God has been waiting there all the time. God wants us to rely on Him and not on ourselves. Adversity sometimes forces us down to the ground where the only place we can look is up.

4.ADVERSITY TEACHES US

Believe it or not, adversity teaches us that God is faithful. It is true that everything that happens to us, good or bad, will always work out for our very best (Rom. 8:28). Adversity should make us look back on our lives and remember how often God came through for us in the past to pull us out of the fires because He never forsakes us or leaves us (Heb. 13:5), even though we often forsake Him.

I can look back on my own life and remember how many times God did some pretty amazing things. When adversity comes, it teaches me to remember how many times God came through. Trust God; He is faithful.


CONCLUSION
Adversity may not feel like our friend, but it humbles us when we need it; it makes us repent if need be; it makes us stronger and strengthens our faith in God; it forces us to rely on God, for there is no other way out; and it teaches us to remember just how faithful God has been and will be yet again. Indeed, it is true–sometimes adversity is what you needs us when we need it; it makes us repent if need be; it makes us stronger and strengthens our faith in God; it forces us to rely on God, for there is no other way out; and it teaches us to remember just how faithful God has been and will be yet again. Indeed, it is true–sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to be successful.

God Bless.

Credit: Jack Wellman

3 GREAT WORKS OF DISSAPOINTMENTS

Our best successes often come after “our greatest disappointments.”-Henry Ward Beecher

Let’s take a look from a general perspective, disappointment is not something we love or would ever want to encounter, but it comes all of the time. Some of us are so lucky to waive it away and to keep moving, while some get so down to even think of getting on their toes. Let’s take a look at what disappointment can do to help us. God has a plan for your disappointments. Happy Reading.

1. DISAPPOINTMENTS PRECEDE SUCCESS

When great disappointments come–and they come to all of us–we can either ask “why Lord?” what now Lord?”, or “what do you want me to do now Lord?” Disappointments can either discourage us or make us look at what we must do now or what direction God is pointing us to. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He “called out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me” (Mark 15:34)? What a huge disappointment Jesus’ ministry appeared to be. They thought He had failed by being crucified. However, what appeared to be the greatest disappointment in their lives ended up as the greatest triumph in all of human history. Now we could be saved from the wrath of God because of Jesus’ death on the cross. Often, disappointments sometimes give birth to great successes, even if we don’t see it at the time.

2.   DISAPPOINTMENTS GLORIFY GOD

Martha was disappointed when Jesus didn’t arrive soon enough, for her at least, to keep her brother Lazarus from dying. In John 11:21, “Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23). Martha misunderstood Jesus and said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24), but Jesus was talking about raising Lazarus from the dead right then and there. Before Jesus came, He had told His disciples that this (Lazarus’ death) is “for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). The point is that Lazarus’ death appeared to be a huge disappointment to Martha and many others, but it turned out to be a Jesus-glorifying act, which turned their disappointment into a huge success for Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and also Jesus, as He was glorified in this.

3.  DISAPPOINTMENTS THROUGH AFFLICTIONS

Did you know that the more crushed you are through afflictions, the closer God is to you? That’s what Psalm 34:18 says: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Don’t you want to be nearer to God? Of course you do. Paul knew a lot about afflictions and wrote, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4: 16-17). The apostles had been arrested and flogged for presenting the Gospel of Christ as Jesus had commanded them. They could have sent out urgent prayer requests to the church for their safety, for the counsel to deliver them, and for them to escape the punishment. But listen to what the apostles said after the flogging: “They left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (Acts 5:41). How would we have reacted? Their arrest and flogging were unwarranted, and they were flogged for obeying Jesus’ command (Matt. 28:19-20). To those outside the faith, they must have thought, “Wow, what a disappointment,” but not the apostles. They considered this an honor to suffer for Christ’s name.

CONCLUSION

 God has a history of turning our disappointments into triumphs. We could never see the successes without the disappointments. We could not achieve victory without going through occasional defeats. Mr. Beecher is completely right: Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments. So make disappointments His appointments.

Credit: Jack Wellman

Negativity!

Hello,

Yesterday I shared a little part of Negativity and how to not get influenced too.

Please see more strategies you can use to take control of negativity.Happy Reading!

Focus on solutions, not problems.

Where and how you focus your attention determines your emotional state.  When you zero in on the problems you’re facing, you create and prolong negative emotions and stress.  When you shift your focus toward actions that can improve your circumstances, you create a sense of self-efficacy that yields positive emotions and reduces stress.

The same exact principle applies when dealing with negative people – fixating on how stressful and difficult they are only intensifies your suffering by giving them power over you.  Stop thinking about how troubling this person is, and focus instead on how you’re going to go about handling their behavior in a positive way.  This makes you more effective by putting you in the driver’s seat, and it will greatly reduce the amount of stress you experience when you’re interacting with them. 

Maintain a level of emotional detachment from other people’s opinions of you.

Maintaining a level of emotional detachment is vital for keeping stress at a distance.  Not allowing negative people (or anyone for that matter) to put the weight of their inadequacies on your back is vital to your emotional health and happiness.  It all comes down to how you value yourself, and thus believe in yourself.

People who manage their lives effectively are generally those who work internally – i.e. those who know that success and well-being comes from within (internal locus of control).  Negative people generally work externally – i.e. blame others or outside events for everything that does or doesn’t happen (external locus of control).

When your sense of satisfaction and self-worth are derived from the opinions of others, you are no longer in control of your own happiness.  Know this.  When emotionally strong people feel good about something they’ve done, they don’t let anyone’s shallow opinions or spiteful remarks take that away from them.

Truth be told, you’re never as good as everyone says when you win, and you’re never as terrible as they tell you when you lose.  The important thing is what you’ve learned, and what you’re doing with it.

Let go of the desire to change other people’s negative tendencies.

Some people you can help by setting a good example, others you can’t.  Recognize the difference and it’ll help maintain your equilibrium.  Don’t be taken in by the energy vampires, manipulators and emotional blackmailers by desperately trying to control what is out of your control – other people’s behavior.

With that said, if there’s a specific behavior someone you love has that you’re hoping changes over time, it probably won’t.  If you really need them to change for some substantial reason, be honest and put all the cards on the table so this person knows how you feel and why.

For the most part though, you can’t change people and you shouldn’t try.  Either you accept who they are or you choose to live without them.  It might sound a bit harsh, but it’s not.  When you try to change people, they often resist and remain the same… but when you don’t try to change them – when you support them and allow them the autonomy to be as they are – they gradually change in the most miraculous way.  Because what really changes is the way you see them.

Dedicate ample time every day to self-care.

You do not have to neglect yourself just because others do.  Seriously, if you’re forced to live or work with a negative person, then make sure you get enough alone time to rest and recuperate.  Having to play the role of a ‘focused, rational adult’ in the face of persistent negativity can be exhausting, and if you’re not careful, the negativity can consume you.

Negative people can keep you up at night as you constantly question yourself:

• “Am I doing the right thing?”
• “Am I really so terrible that they speak to me like that?”
• “I can’t BELIEVE he did that!”
• “I’m so hurt!”

Thoughts like these can keep you agonizing for weeks, months, or even years.  Sadly, sometimes this is the goal of a negative person – to drive you crazy and bring you down to their level of thinking, so they’re not wallowing alone.  And since you can’t control what they do, it’s important to take care of yourself so you can remain centered, feeling healthy and ready to live positively in the face of their negativity when you must. 

Afterthoughts

Although it can be hard to admit, sometimes the negative person is YOU.  Sometimes it’s your own negativity that hurts you more than anything else.

If your inner critic is trying it’s hardest to get the best of you, try giving up all the thoughts and contemplation that make you feel bad, or even just some of them, for the rest of the day.  See how doing that changes your life.  You don’t need these negative thoughts.  All they have ever given you is a false self that suffers for no reason.

Your turn…

Do you have a personal story you’d like to share about dealing with negative people?  What helps you stay positive when negativity surrounds you? 

Credit:Marc Chenoff

3 Ways to Protect Yourself from Other People’s Negative Energy

"It’s tough to live a positive life around negative people."

Dealing with negativity can be quite a downer.  I once had a coworker whose negative energy would wash over me on a daily basis.  In our conversations, she would complain endlessly about everything – work tasks, family, friends, health, and anything else she could think of.  She was also extremely cynical about others, often doubting their intentions and judging them harshly.  Talking to her wasn’t a pleasant experience, to say the least.

The first time we had a meeting I felt completely drained.  Even though we spoke for just 30 minutes, I barely had any energy left after our conversation.  It felt as if someone had literally sucked the life out of me, and it took a couple hours for the effects to wear off.  The same thing happened the next few times we spoke too.  I quickly realized I needed to work out an action plan to deal with this kind of negative energy.  After all, she was not going to be the only negative person I was going to encounter in my life.

I gradually developed several key strategies for dealing with negative people effectively. 

1.  Set and enforce limits.

Negative people who wallow in their problems and fail to focus on solutions are hard to deal with.  They want people to join their 24/7 pity party so they can feel better about themselves.  And you may feel pressured to listen to their complaints simply because you don’t want to be seen as callous or rude, but there’s a fine line between lending a compassionate ear and getting sucked into their negative emotional drama.

You can avoid this drama by setting limits and distancing yourself when necessary.  Think of it this way: if a negative person were chain-smoking cigarettes, would you sit beside them all day inhaling their second-hand smoke?  No, you wouldn’t – you’d distance yourself.  So go ahead and give yourself some breathing room when you must.

If distancing yourself is impossible in the near-term, another great way to set limits is to ask a negative person how they intend to fix the problem they’re complaining about.  Oftentimes they will either quiet down or redirect the conversation in a more harmonious direction, at least temporarily.

2.  Respond mindfully – don’t just react.

A reaction is a hot, thoughtless, in-the-moment eruption of emotion that’s usually driven by your ego (as human beings, we’re more likely to react when we’re disconnected from our logical mind).  It might last just a split second before your intuition kicks in and offers some perspective, or it might take over to the point that you act on it.  When you feel angry or flustered after dealing with a negative person, that’s a sign you’ve reacted rather than responded mindfully.  Responding mindfully will leave you feeling like you handled things with integrity and poise.

Bottom line: When you encounter someone with a negative attitude, don’t respond by throwing insults back at them.  Keep your dignity and don’t lower yourself to their level.  True strength is being bold enough to walk away from the nonsense with your head held high.

3.  Introduce lighter topics of discussion.

Some people’s negative attitudes are triggered by specific, seemingly harmless topics.  For example, one of my friends turns into a very toxic self-victimizer whenever we talk about her job.  No matter what I say, she’ll complain about everything related to her job, and when I try to interject with positive comments, she just rolls right over them with more negativity.  Obviously this becomes quite a conversation dampener.

If you find yourself in a similar conversational situation, and the person you’re talking with is stuck on a topic that’s bringing you down, realize their negative emotions may be too deeply rooted to address in a one-off conversation.  Your best bet is to introduce a new topic to lighten the mood.  Simple things like funny memories, mutual friendships, personal success stories, and other kinds of happy news make for light conversation.  Keep it to areas the person feels positive about.

Reflect on these  three,let it guide you to know who to associate with.Other key strategies to come tomorrow.

SOW GENEROUSLY...REAP GENEROUSLY...

“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8 NIV) When it comes to your giving, there are two principles you need to remember, and they’re based on 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (NIV). This is the principle of harvest: What you sow, you’re going to reap — for good or for bad. Whatever you plant, that’s what you’re going to get back. That’s true about money, but it’s true about everything else. If you sow criticism, people are going to criticize you. If you sow gossip, guess what? Others are going to gossip about you. If you plant resentment, people are going to resent you. Whatever you need more of, give it away, and you’ll get more back. Do you need more energy? Then you have to exercise. Do you need more affirmation in your life? Give it away. Start affirming other people. If you take a kernel of corn and plant it in the ground, do you get one kernel back? No! I’ve actually planted corn in my yard before. When you plant one kernel in the ground, you don’t get one kernel back. You get a stalk with a bunch of ears and thousands of kernels. When you plant an avocado pit, it grows a tree. Do you get one avocado back? No. You get hundreds back. You always get back more than you put in. The second principle is that there’s always a delay between planting and harvest. When you plant a seed in the ground, do you get an ear of corn the next day? Of course not. You plant in one season, and you harvest in another. The same is true in giving. You give to other people. You give to God. You give your life away, but do you reap the results the next day? No. There is a season of waiting before God gives you the harvest. Why? He’s testing your faith to see if you’ll trust him while there’s a delay between planting and harvesting. While you’re waiting and planting, you can trust that God will provide grace so that “having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

Can You Miss God’s Will for Your Life?

HELLO There, I stumbled on this very interesting devotional and decided to share. Your comments will be appreciated.Read below:

Decision making can be a paralyzing experience. Say, for example, that you have been offered a new job in a different state? Should you take it? Well, it depends. What are the schools like in the area? What is the traffic like? Are there any nuclear power plants nearby? Is the increased salary worth the emotional cost of moving your family? Will you be forced to root for the Dallas Cowboys? All these different factors can make it difficult to decide. Now, throw the whole issue of God’s will into the mix? Is it really God’s will for you to move? It seems like it’s God’s will, but maybe it’s not. What if you make a terrible mistake and somehow miss the will of God? Are you going to end up in some purgatorial situation because you accidentally missed God’s will? The fear of missing God’s will is enough to paralyze any Christian. But here’s the question: can a Christian miss the will of God for their life? Could you somehow go your entire life being outside of God’s good plan for you? It seems that the Bible teaches that, yes, you can miss God’s will. It also teaches that no, you can’t miss God’s will. The way to miss God’s will is really simple: ignore the Bible. In the Bible, God has told us exactly what we should do when it comes to making decisions.  First, we should determine if our decision goes against anything clearly spelled out in the Bible. The Bible is clear that fellowship with other believers is necessary for our Christian growth. If taking a job will cut you off from fellowship with others, it’s not God’s will for you to take the job. Second, we should ask God to give us wisdom. James 1:5–6 says: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting… Getting wisdom from God isn’t a mystical, super-spiritual experience. It means asking God to help us think clearly and biblically about the decision in front of us. When we ask for wisdom we should believe God is going to give it to us. God isn’t trying to hide his good will from us. He wants to help us understand the right way to walk. Third, we should ask the opinion of others. Proverbs 15:22 says,  “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” This is so gloriously simple. Finding God’s will for your life is as simple as asking the opinion of other, godly Christians. Lay the situation out before them, and then let God speak to you through their counsel. If we heed the counsel of scripture, we won’t miss God’s will. God isn’t hiding his will, or trying to trick us into making a bad decision. If we evaluate our decision by scripture, ask for wisdom, and then ask the opinion of others, we are doing what God requires of us. He promises to guide us through that process. We don’t need to seek a subjective, mystical, spiritual feeling when it comes to decision making. Don’t get me wrong; sometimes God gives us peace about a decision, and that’s a blessing. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes we might not feel one way or another about a decision. In general, feelings are a very bad barometer of the truth. A feeling of peace can come from God, but it can also come from a lot of other things, like a glass of wine or a good nap. Plus, what exactly constitutes the “right” feeling when it comes to a decision? Is it peace? Or maybe joy? Or a sense of rightness? The Bible doesn’t tell us what we’re supposed to feel about our decisions. Instead, it tells us how to make biblical, God-honoring decisions. So, if you have a big decision to make, don’t freak out. Instead, go to the Word, ask for wisdom, and get others involved. Credit: Stephen Altrogge