"A trusting response includes Me in your thoughts as you consider strategies to deal with a situation. Gently bring your attention back to Me, whenever it wanders away. I look for persistence- rather than perfection- in your walk with Me." (182)
As I reflect on the 'heroes of faith' that have inspired me, it's not been the ones who've lived perfectly but those who have lived persistently... who have maintained a determined mindset and lifestyle of faithfulness. Their love for God, His Word, and the family of God are inspirational examples of positive persistence, strategically making God the priority of their lives. While others may be like spiritual super-novas that burst on the scene initially and quickly fade away in the daily disciplines of spiritual maturity, these are the ones who are more "like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God... in the presence of (His) faithful people..." Ps. 51:8-9
You are needed in our midst. God is using your very presence to inspire so many of us! Thank You for your positive persistence!
I'm so grateful all the "olive trees" in my life who do not "neglect meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage each other... (so as not to) grow weary and lose heart... maintaining a clear conscience... conducting themselves honorably." (Heb. 10:25, 12:3, 13:18)
While being perfect is impossible, being persistent is inspirational...to others and to our own hearts!
Striving to be Persistent (certainly not perfect!)....dmc
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I got this email and thought it related well to positive influence and encouragement. I had to share!
ReplyDeleteA thought to share
... I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection--the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.
Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality "girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin--a neurotransmitter that helps co mbat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings?--rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.
There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged--not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very very lucky. Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health.
Wow, thanks, Melissa! We certainly are blessed to have some of the greatest gal-pals in the world!
ReplyDelete(I'm mighty thankful for my live-in guy-pal, too!)
Great info...so glad you shared it with us!
Lovin' it...dmc :)