October 15 Looking for Hope…

Affirmation: Focus on the Good and the Good will Get Better

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Ponder, Personalize, Practice: Today, continue to ponder and memorize Proverbs 4:23. Talk to God about your heart and how to guard it. Ask Him to show you your heart. Pay attention to what flows from your mouth, and what flows through your mind. Focus on the positive. Ask God to help you guard your heart.

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

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Wholehearted Guidepost from Brené Brown

Guidepost 1: Cultivating Authenticity and Letting Go of What Other People Think

Recap:

There’s no such thing as an “authentic person” and an “inauthentic person.” Because authenticity isn’t a fixed quality. It’s a skill you PRACTICE over time.

“Authenticity” is also used so frequently that it’s lost its meaning. If you feel burned out on the term, I invite you to practice beginner’s mind and look at it from a new perspective.

Brenè Brown shares a helpful definition: “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be, and embracing who we actually are.”

You be you. 

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Mastering the 7 Decisions from Andy Andrews

The Compassionate Decision 

6. I WILL GREET THIS DAY WITH A FORGIVING SPIRIT.

By the act of forgiving, I am no longer consumed by unproductive thoughts. I will forgive those who have criticized me unjustly.

I now understand that forgiveness has value only when it is given away. I forgive their lack of vision, and I forge ahead.

I now know that criticism is part of the price paid for leaping past mediocrity. I will forgive those who do not ask for forgiveness. From this day forward, my history will cease to control my destiny. I have forgiven myself. My life has just begun.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love by Bob Goff

If You Are Waiting For Hope, Keep Looking For Jesus.

When Jesus saw him laying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “do you want to get well?”John 5:6 

In the Bible, there’s a place called the pool of Bethesda. The spring was believed to be stirred by angels every so often, and when it was stirred, those who managed to jump in the pool would be healed. Every day, a large number of disabled people would lay next to the pool, getting as close to the edge as possible so they wouldn’t miss their shot at healing.

One day Jesus walked up to the pool and met a disabled man who had been lying by the pool for 38 years. Jesus struck up a conversation with the man, wondering if he wanted to be healed. The man told him every time the water was stirred, he tried to hop in but someone always jumped in front of him and he never quite made it. When Jesus heard the story, he told the man to take up his mat and walk home because he was healed.

We might not have a condition like this guy had, but a lot of us still feel we’ve been sitting next to the pool. We see hope for a better life, but every time opportunities come, something gets in the way. Some of us know what it’s like to hope for something without seeing signs of change. It’s tempting to expect more of the same tomorrow.

But grace means tomorrow is always a friend. Grace means Jesus can step into the scene in an instant and bring the healing we started hoping for. Don’t believe hope is lost just because change it hasn’t come yet. Get back in the water.

What do you want Jesus to heal in you?