Tag Archives: Believe

Open the Door

March 22, 2023 Joan Y Edwards 6 Comments

woman beside door and looking out window — Thank you Pixabay and SnapStock for letting me use this photo.

“Open the Door” by Joan Y. Edwards

This is a Lenten reflection that I wrote when Jim Alvarez from St. Matthew Catholic Church asked me to write one about faith.

Listen here on YouTube.
“Open the Door:” https://youtu.be/HWwuveeoS3E

Open the Door.

God will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Don’t be afraid. I am here with you. Isaiah 41:10

God didn’t promise a life without pain, struggles, and hardships. He said do not be afraid. He will be there with you and give you the strength to get through them.

God heard you crying out for him. God is knock, knock, knocking on your door and ring, ring, ringing your bell.

He will not go away. He comes himself! He stands there now, and waits for you. Open the door of your heart and let him in.

What is Faith? Faith is opening the door and realizing that God is going to be there for you. God personally looks after your needs…all your needs. Especially the ones you fear are not being met right now. God knows what your needs are, from the largest to the smallest item on your list. Open the door.

Swimming in a sea of negativity! God is your life preserver.

Up to your knees in bad end-of-the-world days! God changes your focus.

Unsafe in a world filled with daggers! God covers you with armor. Open the door.

Negative thoughts remind you that you are human…you make mistakes, have accidents, get angry, get sick, feel pain. You love, eat, sleep, and search for happiness! You live in a world filled with other humans.

Faith is trust, assurance and confidence that things are going to get better. Believe that God is going to help you through this stressful situation.

St. Patrick reminds us. God is in you and surrounds you. God is in your heart and the hearts of those who think of you. God is in your mouth and those who speak of you. God is in your eyes and the eyes of those who see you. God is in your ears and in the ears of those who hear you. Arise today through the mighty strength of the Lord of creation and open the door.

Take time to rest. Refocus. Open the door of your heart and take God’s hand. He will listen to you. He will stay with you and walk with you and supply you with the right thoughts, words, resources, and actions needed to help you. Believe and it shall be granted unto you. Ask and you shall receive. Peace will come to you. Open the door. Open the door. Open the door. Amen.

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Thank you for reading and/or listening. I hope you enjoyed this devotional and that it helps you realize that God loves you very much.

“What Makes Your Dreams Come True?” https://joanyedwards.com/what-makes-your-dreams-come-true/

“God’s Daily Delivery Service:” https://joanyedwards.com/gods-daily-delivery-service/

Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2009-2023 Joan Y. Edwards

Flip Flap Floodle Firebird Book Award Winner Will this little duck’s song save him from Mr. Fox?
Joan’s Elder Care Guide Practical ways to help you and your elder survive.

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Health

Expect an Abundance of Everything You Need

April 29, 2022 Joan Y Edwards 12 Comments

hundred dollar bills — “Currency” Thank you Pixabay , Paweł Szymczuka.

“Expect an Abundance of Everything You Need” by Joan Y. Edwards

Many times in life it doesn’t seem like you have enough of things you believe you need to survive. Sometimes it’s knowledge. Sometimes it’s money. Sometimes it’s things. Other times, it’s courage. All the time love and wisdom.

“Ask and you shall receive.” (John 16:24)

Kendra Cherry shares that psychologist, Carl Rogers, says to look at the stories of people who do amazing things. “When I look at the world I’m pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.”

Regardless of the facts that you face, it is very important that you expect that you will receive an abundance of what you need.

Your brain wants you to be right. If you say, “Things never work out for me,” guess what! Things will not work out for you many times.

If you say things work out great for me, then things have a better chance of working out than if you say things never work out for you.

There is power in your words, your thoughts, and your actions.

Put it in your plans to receive a good whole car. Why would you ask for a half of a car? So if you need a car, expect a good car to show up. Take action to help that belief materialize.

Save the money and put it in a special money market account so it gets more interest than a regular savings account for a car.

Keep your eyes and ears open for a good bargain when you have enough money to purchase one.

If you have trouble believing good things will happen to you, start by making a list of all the things and people you are thankful for in your life. A spirit of thankfulness brings you more of what you are thankful for.

In her article on the Writers on the Move blog post entitled, “Trick to Help You Start Writing or Finish Writing,” Suzanne Lieurance gives many ideas for lists that I believe will help you be more optimistic. Two of them I think will help change your focus: Make a list of things you enjoy doing. Another is make a list of things you want to learn how to do.

What you focus on is what you are going to get. If something bad or sad happened to you, acknowledge it, but revamp your thinking so you don’t spend days and days worrying about it or trying to change something that cannot be changed. Reset your goals. Reset your thoughts to as positive as you can get at that particular time.

Ways to Change Your Mood and Your Mind’s Focus:

1. Pray. Thank you, God. I have an abundance of everything I need today. What I need comes to me from sources known and sources unknown.
2. Watch funny movies or movies with happy endings.
3. Listen to your favorite music.
4. Take a nap.
5. Take a walk.
6. Be thankful and name the different times you have been blessed with what you needed.
7. Make a list of the things you want and need in your life right now.

Don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself *Matthew 6:34

Resources:

1. Joan Y. Edwards. “7 Ways to Move Toward Your Goals:” https://joanyedwards.com/7-ways-to-move-toward-your-goals/

2. Suzanne Lieurance. “Trick to Help You Start Writing or Finish Writing.” https://www.writersonthemove.com/2022/04/a

3. Kendra Cherry. “6 Great Psychology Quotes:”
https://www.verywellmind.com/great-psychology-quotes-2795695

Please leave a comment. Tell us what helps you get out of a slumpy, dumpy feeling.

Never Give Up

Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2009-2022 Joan Y. Edwards

Flip Flap Floodle Will this little duck’s song save him from Mr. Fox?
Joan’s Elder Care Guide

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Health, Spiritual

Believe You Can, Visualize Success, and Take Action

December 15, 2011 Joan Y Edwards 8 Comments

“Believe You Can, Visualize Success, and Take Action” by Joan Y. Edwards

The things that go through your mind can either make you or break you. They either hold you back to the old, or give you freedom to do things that you have never been done. It will give you the freedom to do things that no one has ever done.

Do you find yourself hearing a little voice on your left shoulder saying, “I can’t do it. There’s no way.”

From the right shoulder you hear a voice saying, “I can do it. I’ll find a way.”

According to the studies I’ve done and the people I’ve talked with, we all have these voices. Some from within, some reflected from our self-image out and reflected back to us the thoughts, fears, and ideas we have within us. We have to conquer these negative thoughts. We have to think above them and beyond them.

Henry Ford very wisely pointed out that your brain wants you to be right. It searches for life experiences to make us right. “Whether you think you can or can’t…you are right.”

Believe you can.

The only voice that can really stop you from achieving your goal is what you say to yourself. I think the people in history who accomplished the impossible, did so because of three factors:

#1 They kept on trying to achieve the goal even with other people’s voices or their own voice telling them they couldn’t do it. They turned it into a stronger, “Yes. I can do it. Or no matter what you say, I’m going to try. I’m going to figure out a way to do it in spite of the odds.

#2 They captured a vision of success in their minds, looking past all the obstacles that might be placed between them and their goal. They kept this vision that they could do it at the top of their minds, with pictures, with words, with recordings. They took baby steps. Each little success kept them going. Little failures may have pushed them back a couple of steps, or put them down in the dungeon for awhile. However, this belief kept them going.

#3 They took action towards the goal.

The Wright Brothers kept the vision that they could indeed make an airplane that could fly.

Eastman Kodak made a camera that could take pictures.

Gutenberg invented a printing press.

Edward Everett Hale said, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”

Remember that you are one. God sent you here for many purposes. There is one thing you can do that no other person who has ever graced this earth can do. Spend time with yourself. Discover what this is. Do it.

You can’t write all the stories that publishers want now. Write your story. Write the best you can. Believe in your story. It will find its way to the arms of a publisher who believes in your story as much as you do. Believing is contagious. Catch it like a lightning bug. Watch it glimmer and shine. Then let it go. Let go of all the negative. Empower yourself. Send it off to a critique group. Send it off to a publisher or agent.

If it’s not writing, it’s okay. If it’s sports, do it. If it’s cooking, be the best chef you can be. If it’s teaching, teach. If’ it’s caring for your elder, love yourself and your elder. Do it the best you can. If you don’t know how, learn. Empower yourself with love and education. Do it.

If you have doubts, pray, and educate yourself. If you still have doubts, draw a picture of you completing it. Stick figures are okay. Find magazine pictures. Newspaper articles, internet articles. Your brain puts pictures in your mind and puts labels with them. Draw your stick figure of you celebrating the accomplishment of your goals. Write your goals down. Write them in the present tense.

I am…

I have…

I can…

I allow myself to…

Believe in an abundance of skills, money, resources, education, and motivation to accomplish your goal(s).

If you still have doubts, then say:

God believes in me, I can do it. Joan Y. Edwards believes in me. She believes that I can do it. If I believe in me, too, the power of three will work towards my advantage.

Here are other resources to help encourage and inspire you to believe in yourself more fully than you’ve ever done before.

Clay Andrews. “4 Things that Keep You from Your Goals:” http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/4-things-that-keep-you-from-your-goals/

Liraz.com. “30 Best Anecdotes of All Time:” http://www.liraz.com/Anecdote.htm

Melonie Dodaro. “Positive-Thought Strategies to Help You Reach Your Goals:” https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/positive-thinking-strategies-to-help-you-achieve-your-goals

Wikipedia. “Edwards Everett Hale:” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Everett_Hale

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope I’ve inspired you to believe in yourself.

Thank you for sharing my blog post links with your friends. I am honored by everyone who reads my blog. Please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

Celebrate you. You’re the only human being exactly like you. Be happy. Be thankful. Be excited to be you.
Joan Y. Edwards