Your weekly collection of positive tips, hints, and advice offered with humor, inspiration, and other goodies for anyone who is inclined to read. Guidance, mentoring, inspiration, English lessons, editing, proofreading services for entrepreneurs and online marketers.
Publisher: Mary Wilkey
Volume 11 — Issue 9 — May 3, 2011
Published every other Tuesday
Greetings, one and all ... what a week! Actually, what a month! Personally, I am so blessed, and my children have made this a red-letter time for me. First, on April 9 (just after my computer went berserk with a virus), my son, Cory, insisted on buying me a brand new computer! Then my daughter, Jennifer, met me for lunch in Richmond and handed me $250 out of the blue! And the week after that, she bought me a new monitor for my second computer!
Well, of course, I was basking in the glow of all that love when my son-in-law, Rob (Jen's husband), called and told me that they were buying me a new car! As you can guess, it took a couple of days for that one to "sink in."
So last Friday afternoon, Jen drove to Ohio and picked me up. Then, on Sunday afternoon (when the dealership where Rob is general sales manager is closed, as Indiana allows no Sunday car sales), they took me to the dealership and let me pick out the one I wanted! To say I was (and still am) thrilled is a gross understatement.
Then, after Rob did all the paperwork, they took me to lunch at LongHorn before I drove home in my new 2011 Mazda! I am still euphoric and enjoying it so much. And their gift was out of concern that my old car might be unsafe! As I said, I am so very blessed, and I thank God for loving children.
At this point, I also wish to inject that Rob and Jen are not rich, and both of them work very hard and and put in many long hours to get by. They tell me it isn't, but I am sure this is a big sacrifice for them.
Anyway, as you can guess, I may be a little late getting this issue out, and the feature article is a repeat, as there just was not enough time (or creative juice) to compose a new one. Hope you enjoy. :-)
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In
Remembrance of
September 11, 2001
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If my people, which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek
my face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.
—2 Chronicles 7:14
Contents:
Top Sponsor
Weekly Contest
A Healthier You
Feature Article
Test Your Bible Knowledge
Today's Chuckle
Today's English Lesson
Guest Article
Inspiration
Etcetera
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"To live and let live, without clamour for distinction or recognition; to wait on divine love; to write truth first on the tablet of one's own heart—this is the sanity and perfection of living."
—Mary Eddy
A Healthier You
This will be short and (pardon the pun) sweet.
Briefly, if you would like to be healthier, instead of
reaching for a snack with refined sugar, grab a piece of
fruit. Yes, it does contain fructose, but that is a different
type of sugar.
Sugar becomes most detrimental to health when it is refined.
And realize that in the U.S.A., average daily refined sugar intake
is 22 teaspoons ... yes!
So make this simple change in your lifestyle, and begin to turn
your health around.
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Feature Article
Are You a True Believer? . . . Really?
Most people who purport to be Christians would answer in the affirmative.
Upon reflection, however, I wonder how accurate an affirmative response would be for many.
What I'm getting at is, those of us who claim to be believers have no trouble accepting our salvation, have no trouble believing that we shall have eternal life, and have no trouble believing most of what the Bible says.
Most? Not if you're a true believer!
We are not to have selective hearing of God's Holy Word. No!
Most of us accept, believe, and try to keep the Ten Commandments all right. But there are also other requirements that are not enumerated as distinctly as those.
Take the two additional commandments not even mentioned specifically in the original ten, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and all thy mind, and to love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:37-40) If everyone in this world kept just these two commandments, there would be no need for the others; that's why the Lord called them the greatest two.
How many Christians really believe and practice these two?
Frankly, most of us need to sit down and examine ourselves. And I haven't even gotten to the main point yet, which is belief-faith-trust-knowing.
The majority of Christians are somewhere in elementary school when it comes to their belief-faith-trust-knowing. I was going to say "kindergarten," but that would be untrue. Why? Because my eight-year-old grandson has more faith than most adults.
About a year ago he came home from school with perfect test results in a subject that doesn't come easily for him. His mother and I expressed some surprise, to which he replied, "Of course ... God helped me!" His is a matter-of-fact kind of faith. He prays and expects results ... and he gets them!
We have to become as little children. My husband had a revelation about faith a few years ago, and that is that F-A-I-T-H means "For-As-I-Trust-Him"! Isn't that neat?
When you have small problems, they require little faith. But the mountains require an extraordinary measure of belief. When you have huge financial problems, a loved one with what has been diagnosed as a terminal or debilitating illness, insurmountable marital problems, catastrophic personal illness, or any other mountain, your faith is strained, and your resolve is tested to the nth degree—to the breaking point.
It is at this point that most people fail; they start cursing God, asking "why me, Lord?" . . . crying, whining, murmuring, and complaining (which the Bible says is like witchcraft). It's a very human thing to do and fits our carnal nature.
It is at this do-or-die point that we need to keep on believing, keep on trusting, keep on holding onto our faith. Somehow we have to muster up the courage to cross over the belief threshhold. But how? It seems impossible and futile. And it's always the last thing we feel like doing. But we have to squelch our feelings and stop focussing on them. Instead, we need to focus on the Source of our delivery, our heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus.
But the evil one will attack you with everything he's got, and he uses your mind and emotions to drain you dry to the point that you just want to roll over and die. It is just at this point when you need to stand up, take a few deep breaths, and declare "Enough's enough! I can't fight you anymore on my own. I'm going to bring in the 'big guns'!"
And that's when you need to speak your victory over the situation. You need to make an out-loud verbal declaration of it. You need to stand on the promises of God; and if you don't have a little book iterating all of His promises, get yourself down to the local Christian bookstore and get one ... or order one online. Get one that gives specific promises for specific situations.
Everything that our Lord created he spoke into existence. You have that same power! Everything is created in the spiritual before it is ever manifested in the physical. And make no mistake ... you will get—sooner or later—exactly what you speak, especially when it is spoken with passion, positive or negative. So, as the old saying goes, "Be careful what you pray for ... you just might get it." (And if there's no doubt about it, you certainly will!)
I'm finally getting to the main point, which is that you either believe the whole Bible, or you don't. Plain and simple. Make no mistake, however, simple does not mean easy. Moving your hand is simple, but if you're paralyzed, it is not easy. Easy, you say? Impossible is more like it ... yes, but you're forgetting that the Bible says that "nothing is impossible with God."
Don't ever lose sight of the fact that it is our Lord who created us from the dust of the earth. Where else would common sense direct you to go to get repaired except to the Master Craftsman Himself?
Again, either you believe the Bible or you don't!
Love conquers all. The Bible says that God is Love.
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13
If you've prayed and not seen results, there could be several reasons. It may be that you are asking for selfish reasons. — James 4:2 — Or it could be that your faith is being tried to teach you patience. — James 1:3-4 — Or it simply could be because you are double minded—asking one thing but believing another! — James 1:6-8 — In fact, it would behoove everyone to read the entire book of James through several times to get it rooted deep in your spirit.
Those of us who follow Jesus usually don't have to be concerned about committing sins; no, our problem is with sins of omission. And the Bible is rife with little ways we miss, if we do not read and study the Word on a daily basis.
One of those "little" ways is that we are to develop the habit of speaking to our problems, not about them. This seems a little silly at first glance, but if you analyze your problem you will usually find our age-old enemy at the source. And it is easy to speak to him and to rebuke him in the Holy Name of Jesus. You have power and authority to do so, and you need to start exercising that authority!
Recently, I heard this analogy. Consider a police officer directing traffic. Everything goes well as long as he is wearing his uniform (his suit of authority). But let him stand out there in the middle of the intersection wearing something other than his uniform, and he'll probably get creamed!
So it is with us exercising our spiritual authority. As long as we put on the whole armor of God—as Ephesians 6 speaks about—we have the God-given power and authority to direct our lives; without it, our lives careen out of control and come to a devastating crash.
It comes down to this: We must address the problem. We must not talk about the problem. We must squelch our feelings. We must hold onto our faith. We must not speak doubt. We must get the Word into us daily. We must remember that we are created in the image of God, that we are joint heirs with Jesus, and that we have been endued with power from on High by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
Finally, we must always remember that things are manifested in the spiritual dimension as soon as we speak them, although it might take some time before we see them in the physical. But—and this is a big but—we have to realize and remember that we can knock the things we desire right out of the spiritual water if we start speaking the opposite! Conversely, the things we have planted on the spiritual plane will be watered, nurtured, and cultured by a steady diet of reinforcement.
Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified, among other reasons, for an example to us of love. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." — John 15:13 — If He did that, what reason would He have to deny us anything simpler?
a — 620 B.C
b — 33 A.D
c — When the children of Israel entered the promised land
d — When the children of Israel were still in bondage in the land of Egypt
Scroll down for the answer.
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."
—Henry David Thoreau
"When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy."
—Chinese proverb
Today's Chuckle
Idiot Story
Yet another reason to wear glasses.
After a drinking binge, a
Pennsylvania man decided to remove his contact lenses to go to sleep.
After several unsuccessful and painful tries, he decided to go to the
ER. He lumbered in, complaining of severe pain while trying to take out
his contacts. They must have been pretty busy, because a nurse tried to
help to no avail.
Finally, a doctor came in and discovered that the man
was not wearing any contacts. He had been trying to rip out the
membrane of his cornea.
"Religion is what keeps the poor man from murdering the rich."
—Napoleon Bonaparte
Today's English Lesson
Seeing the same elementary mistakes over and over again has prompted this publisher to write an English lesson each issue. Look for some of these lessons to be repeated, because the mistakes are!
This mistake is being spotted more and more frequently lately:
Some people, would you believe, do not seem to know the difference between "a part" and "apart"! (What next?)
Dear hearts, "apart" simply means distanced from. Something set aside (or set "apart" from). It also can mean that something is in pieces, as opposed to being put together, as in "he took the engine apart." I think where some people get confused is that "a part" can mean a piece of the same engine that is taken "apart."
"A part" can indicate a segment of something, sectioned off hair, an actor's role, something separated from the whole, to have "a part" (or a role) in something, or anything else that is "a part" of a whole.
Reminder: We have a reasonably priced editing/proofreading service for articles or even entire ezines. Just email: adm@elfexpressionsezine.com
"Forbid us something, and that thing we desire."
—Geoffrey Chaucer
"Bad is never good until worse happens."
—Danish proverb
Guest Article
Living Your Purpose by William Frank Diedrich
You have a purpose. You have specific gifts, talents, and
abilities that are uniquely yours. At the intersection of
"what you love to do" and "what you are good at" you will
find your purpose. Do you know your purpose? Do you know
why you are here on this planet? If not, then it's time to
ask the questions:
• What do I love to do?
• What am I good at?
• When do I feel most alive?
Once you have answered these questions, you need to gather
the courage and confidence to act upon the answers.
In my speaking and coaching work I have met thousands of
people who are on purpose. They are people who are good at
what they do, and they love what they do.
They are people in
health care, banking, manufacturing, education,
associations, and government. There are leaders, writers,
musicians, speakers, consultants, and artists. Each person
brings his unique set of gifts in service to others.
At the same time I have met thousands of people who dislike
their work. These people are not on purpose. They may
complain about their organization, their compensation, their
fellow employees, and a host of other things. Their real
problem is that they are not on purpose.
When you are not
on purpose you create stress, pain, and conflict for
yourself. Your gifts lie within you, unopened, abandoned.
Much has been said about what to do to motivate people.
Meaning and purpose motivate people. Truly successful
organizations are made up of people doing work they love
toward a meaningful purpose.
Many will say that they know what their gift is, but they
can't make any money at it. There is a way to make money
at anything. The problem isn't money. It's confidence.
They really don't believe their gifts have value, and so
they believe no one else will value them either.
Once you develop confidence, you begin to see
opportunities. The world, and possibly the organization you
work in, have abundant opportunities for you to live your
purpose. This brings up the other reason for not living on
purpose. We tell ourselves that we are not getting the
support we need from others. Our family, friends, and
colleagues are not cheering us on.
From the day you are born you will receive comments,
opinions, and criticisms from others. You must choose
whether you are living their dreams or your own. You must
decide that your purpose is too important to abdicate
responsibility for it to others.
If the biggest problem is confidence, then how do we get
the confidence? Here are some ideas for you:
1 — Listen to the still small voice within. Practice
listening to your intuition and following it. This voice
should trump all external voices when deciding how to live
your life. Access this voice through prayer, meditation, or
quiet contemplation.
2 — Study and practice to develop your gifts. Confidence
increases with knowledge and skill.
3 — Let go of the negative opinions of others. You owe it to
yourself to listen within and trust that inner voice, rather
than putting your trust in the opinions of others. Find
people who will encourage and respect your gifts, because
they will reflect back to you your growing inner
confidence.
On the other hand, listen carefully and
nonjudgmentally to criticism. Valid criticism will show you
where you need more learning and practice. Invalid
criticism will test your resolve.
4 — Don't waste your time comparing yourself to others.
Certainly others may serve as models for you, but envy and
negative comparison will not help you. Do your best with
what you have now.
5 — Make sure the purpose you are expressing is really
yours, and not one assigned to you by someone else. Also,
know that a purpose can be very simple. It isn't always
romantic or grand, but it does feel good.
I have had clerks
in stores and servers in restaurants who have made my day.
These amazing people were each living their purpose. I have
met assembly line workers, custodians, and receptionists
who were living their purpose. They brought total focus and
joy to their work.
Sometimes your purpose is not "out there
somewhere," but it's right here in front of you. Live the
purpose that feels right to you.
6 — There are no good excuses for why you can't follow your
purpose. Make time. At one point in my life I decided to
hone in on my purpose. Every night before falling asleep, I
asked the question: "What is my purpose?" I placed a notepad
and pen next to my bed. When I awoke, I wrote down the
first thing that came to mind. I did this for seven
consecutive mornings.
Once I defined my purpose, I listed
all of the things I was good at and that I enjoyed doing
down the left side of a piece of paper. Next, I listed all
of the industries I could think of across the top of the
page. I divided my paper into columns and rows, creating a
matrix. I placed X's on my matrix wherever I saw a fit
between skills/interests and industries.
I highlighted the
industries where I felt most excited about expressing my
skills and interests. I decided to focus my attention on
positions in the industries where my skills and interests
fit and where I felt the greatest enthusiasm. Within a week
I found an ad that matched my area of focus. I was hired
within two months.
Maybe you already know your purpose. Are you challenged
enough? Can you be living your purpose at a higher level?
Once you find your purpose, it is important to continue
learning and growing. Listen to the voice within and follow
it. There is a reason you are here.
Whether you see
yourself as young or old, working or retired, you have a
purpose. It is calling to you from deep within. Answer the
call. Allow it to take hold of you. It is in living your
purpose that you will find fulfillment.
"Happiness comes from fidelity to a worthy purpose." —Helen
Keller
William Frank Diedrich is a keynote speaker and the author
of "The Road Home: The Journey Beyond the Spiritual Quick
Fix," "30 Days to Prosperity: A Workbook for Well Being," and
"Beyond Blaming: Unleashing Power and Passion in People and
Organizations." William also offers a free online
newsletter, Transformation Times. To learn more about Bill,
his books, and his services, see
http://www.transformativepress.com or to
http://noblaming.com
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
—Arabian proverb
Answer to Bible trivia:
d — When the children of Israel were still in bondage in the land of Egypt
Exodus 12:1-28
Inspiration
Promise Yourself by Christian D. Larson
Promise yourself to be strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
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