Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen received 77 rejections for their idea Chicken Soup for the Soul. They had to make a decision each time...should they throw in the towel and say enough is enough, or should they keep trying to pursue their dreams? You know the rest of the story. The 78th publisher said "Yes" and they went on to sell over 100 million books.
Think about this for a moment...one choice, just one, can change your life forever. Simply put, your life today is what your choices have made it, but with new choices, you can change directions this very moment. This idea alone is highly motivational to me because it offers tremendous hope, regardless of circumstances, for a better tomorrow. Look in the mirror and reflect on your past experiences. You will see that you have done this before and your life changed for the better!
Sometimes it's a different kind of choice. It can be to not quit, to not give up in the face of adversity, or not to drop down the  level of negativity and hurtful actions and words. We've all been there.

Your life-changing choice may be to switch careers, to leave an abusive or negative relationship, to go back to school, to stop drinking, to start a business, to manage your weight, to start a volunteering.. just to name a few. If you have the courage to do so, you could make any one of those choices, or others, today. You can change your life today through positive, consistent actions and motives!


“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2


“When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.” 
Big Book pg 63

Onward and Upward!

Onward

Mouth is healing and I am trying to move back to solid foods. I was able to complete a full workout at gym this morning. More importantly, I am ready to serve others!

Romans 12:2

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is…”

“Material possessions will rust away, wear away, or depreciate,
but your inner resources, character, must never depreciate.
In seeking success you must also seek fulfillment.  Ask yourself
not only what you want to be, but who you want to be.”

Elizabeth Dole

"Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to

Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give

freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the

Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you

trudge the Road of Happy Destiny." Big Book pg 164

Potato soup in a blender aint bad!

Potato soup in a blender aint bad!

Back to work today! I am able to speak a bit. I have always been a 1 or 2 syllable word guy anyway; hopefully all will understand me today! I am still not able to eat solid foods, but I now sound like Elmer Fudd with education!! I am sure Tami is glad to see me out of the house for a bit! She is such a saint and I know I have pushed here tolerance meter these past 4 days!

Just know I am healing just fine and managing the pain, the liquid diet, and the speech challenges with a grateful heart and a willing mind! Thanks for your continued thoughts, prayers, emails, and texts! Have a blessed day y’all!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God” John 14:1

“ faith must be accompanied by self sacrifice and unselfish, constructive action. “ Big Book pg 93

Still a bit swollen and a whole lot more sore than I expected but I am healing!

Isaiah 35:3-6 “ He heals weak hands, feeble knees, fearful hearts, blind eyes, deaf ears, lame legs, and dumb tongues”

Still a bit swollen and a whole lot more sore than I expected but I am healing! Unlike my character, I cannot put 2 words together to speak and when I do, it’s painful and not too understandable. So return to work is delayed another day and I need to listen to my wonderful wife and the doctors and keep my mouth quiet! A concept totally opposite of my character! Thanks for your prayers, emails and texts! I am healing, just getting in my own way!!  

CANCER FREE!

Got 20 minutes at the gym this morning on elliptical machine! Now off to the Spiritual Gym! I promised Tami I would only lip synch, but no singing! Staying with liquid diet but will try to eat small bites later today. Mom made homemade potato soup last night. It was delicious!! Thinned down so I could drink it…so good!  

Thank you for letting me talking my fingers to the bone with text and emails!!

Philippians 4:13, 19 “I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength. God will meet all your needs according to HIS glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

 “Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did.” Big Book pg 52

 Have a blessed day y’all!

Saturday: Day 2

Pain is still here but manageable and with Tami’s care and direction I am up and about! Was able to do elliptical for a few minutes at the gym!! Still cant talk (much! Lol} or eat solids yet but Tami has all kinds of protein shakes and a coconut oil concoction for me. Mom will be bringing potato soup for me to try tonight.

I am healing better than expected! I appreciate all the text and emails! Please continue prayer and praising God for healing me! I am CANCER FREE!

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

Friday: Day 1

Home now. Surgeon finally agrees I am CANCER FREE! Praise GOD! Biopsies sent off to double confirm. Results next week. Pain is big but I am tougher and no talking yet but I AM GOOD!  Thank you Lord! Tami and Kai happy I am home and really enjoying the fact that I can't talk lol!  Tami says I need to rest ...I am on a liquid diet for now. 

PS:  Anyone know how to make biscuits and gravy in a blender?!?!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

Prayer request for Mark

 Hi,

I am usually one of those guys emailing you asking for prayer for someone else that God has placed in my path. Tonight I have a different request.

I am undergoing surgery Friday morning to remove some remaining squamous cell tissue from the back of my tongue. The doctors determined this to be dysplasia from a biopsy they did a month ago. They were able to remove 95% of it then, but were not able to reach this area (I know that I have a big mouth!) and wanted to see the biopsy result before proceeding.

I am confident this procedure when finished tomorrow before lunch will leave me free of any cancer or precancerous cells.  The surgeons will be looking for other affected areas, but  I  already know that I am cancer free!

May I ask that you keep the surgeons, medical staff, Tami, Kai, and the rest of my loving family in prayer?  Tami, her parents and my mom are going to be with me at Banner Desert tomorrow.

Our Lord has delivered me from alcoholism and addiction for over 19 years as well as awoke me from a coma 9 years ago, so this is a “walk in the park” for me compared to my other experiences! As I recovered from my alcoholism God told me to follow Him and I would be OK. When God awoke me from my coma He told me to be the best husband and father I could be and He would provide abundantly for us. He did and has! This time God told me back in April that I am cancer free and that I will be OK.

I want to share a verse that is near and dear to me and in my mind, appropriate for this time in my journey. 

 Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

If you still need some convincing that I am already OK, then just look at the blessings God has given me!  I have a gift He gave me to share and raise with Tami 13 years ago, its His angel, Kai. My job is far from done here! He also is allowing me to volunteer leading the Care and Support Services and Mountain Park Church helping many people.  I have a lot of work to do! Plus Tami keeps getting more beautiful every year and I still have many dates to take her on!

The surgeon has told me that I will have to be quiet for a few days. While this is a foreign concept to me, I am certain it is a blessing for Tami and Kai!

We will keep you posted.

Thank you for being in my life and for your prayers!

PRAY FOR OTHERS

This is from Pastor Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven Life series.

http://profile.purposedriven.com/dailyhope/post.html?contentid=6536

 I find this message from Rick speaking directly to my heart, perhaps you might use it in some from or fashion as well….

Thanks Pastor Rick!

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.” Philippians 1:4 (NIV)

The more specific you are in prayer, the more specific the answer will be.

The quickest way to change a relationship from bad to good is to start thanking God for people you are having difficulty getting along with.

Praying for them will do two things -- change your attitude and change them. Positive praying is much more powerful than positive thinking. People may resist our help, spurn our appeals, and reject our suggestions, but they are powerless against our prayers.

What do you pray? The more specific you are in prayer, the more specific the answer will be.

In Philippians 1:9-11, Paul spells out exactly what he’s praying for people. “And this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” (NIV)

These verses give you four things you can pray for people today –

“Abound in love …” Pray that they will grow in love.

“Discern what is best …” Pray that they make wise choices.

“Be pure and blameless …” Pray that they will do the right thing.

 “Filled with the fruit of righteousness …” Pray that they will live for God’s glory.

Big Book Quote of the day

"Those of us who have spent much time in the world of spiritual make-
believe have eventually seen the childishness of it. This dream
world has been replaced by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a
growing consciousness of the power of God in our lives. We have come
to believe He would like us to keep our heads in the clouds with Him,
but that our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where
our fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must be done.
These are the realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible
between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy
usefulness."

~Big Book, The Family Afterward, pg. 130~

Stop praying to get what you want and start praying to want what you get!

What I believe in my heart and know about prayer is that it is relationship with God. Just like human relationships, sometimes one form of communication works, sometimes another. I have 

learned that in prayer, different approaches work depending on the situation.

For me the most common and quick prayers I use are, HELP ME, HELP ME, and THANK YOU, THANK YOU.  At fist, most of my prayers were for help, but I think that the more I practiced prayer as a daily, it became a habit. Now find myself giving thanks daily for many things. Both of these prayers are legitimate and valuable, which leads me to my second point.

The words we use need to be our words because if relationship with God is what I seek, it is best to speak from my heart. I don’t feel that any structured  forms, times, content of prayer remains necessary, once a person is committed to regular prayer, and it becomes a habit. "The Lord’s Prayer," our model prayer given to us by Jesus, contains all the ‘things’ we need for a ‘full’ prayer: acknowledgement and praise of God, turning our wills over to God, petition for necessities, request for forgiveness and the ability to forgive others.

Using "The Lord’s Prayer" as a starting point, and remembering that the purpose of prayer is to be in relationship with God is what guides my prayer life. As I grow older, I have learned that silent prayer (as in NO WORDS from me) works wonders in deepening my relationship with God. Here, at last, in silence, I can begin to hear God’s voice, feel God’s presence as never before. Silence helps me know that God is with me, acknowledged or not. This is the greatest comfort I can have.

The question that usually arises about prayer, other than how to do it, is what about unanswered prayer, that is, when our specific petitions are not granted.

I have learned two things about this: One is to stop asking for specific outcomes and simply hold the person or situation up into God’s Light; the second is that prayer prepares the pray-er for the answer. Prayer opens us up and helps us receive the answer when it comes.

I  learned my best prayer advice when I was a beginner, by a more advanced beginner in my beloved 12 Step meetings.  He told me to stop praying to get what I want and start praying to want what I get! This advice still motivates me to this day to seek God’s will and not mine!

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.” Philippians 1:4

 “…with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be’”

 Big Book Pg 87 

MOTHERS: EVERY DAY is Their Day

Here is a Mother's Day prayer that comes from various sources.

Please enjoy!

Prayer for Mothers

This prayer is for new mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation,  as well as mature mothers learning to let go. It is for working mothers and stay-at-home mothers, single mothers and married mothers.

This prayer is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers saying, "It's OK honey, and Mommy’s here."

This prayer is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they may never see and the mothers who took those babies-- forever to be their own children.

This prayer is for all the mothers who attended ball games, recitals, rehearsals, etc. etc. and who said, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and meant it.

This prayer is for all the mothers of Kosovo who fled in the night and can't find their children or can’t feed their children.

Dear Lord God, what makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Firmness? A soft lap? Or is mothering what is in her heart? Is it the ache she feels when she watches her child disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

Is it he jolt that takes her from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 a.m. to put her hand on the back of a sleeping baby? The need to flee from wherever she is and hug her child when she hears news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, a baby dying?

Yes it is so.

So this prayer is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the mothers who wanted to but just couldn't.

This prayer is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store with frustration and despair.

This prayer is for the mothers who show up at work with milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

This prayer is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to speak up with pride.

This prayer is for mothers who put pinwheels, teddy bears, or flowers on their children's graves.

This prayer is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who haven’t the words to reach them, and yet have never put them from their heart.

And this prayer is for all of us who will move beyond sentiment into actions which support mothers and mothering persons in all of their life-giving and life-nurturing roles. Amen

Please don’t turn a bad moment into a bad day.

There are options to anger, and forgiveness is one of them.  Forgiving someone doesn't necessarily mean that you condone a certain action, but it does allow us all to get past it.  In my experience,  the more empathy I feel for others, the less likely I am to get angry when someone does something that I think or feel  is wrong.  Encouraging another person to find different ways of doing things can add a positive element to the lives of everyone involved, including my and my self will!

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3   

Anger isn't exactly a natural response to given situations.  In our world we may have learned that anger is appropriate, justified, and somehow inevitable at times, the fact remains that anger is a choice even though most of us have lost our ability actually to make that choice when we want or need to during that moment. Please don’t turn a bad moment into a bad day.

Anger tends to make us feel somewhat self-righteous, and that's a tempting feeling to go after.  Heck, I like to feel that I am right and someone else is wrong! My self-centered ego thrives on that sort of thing.  But the problem is that anger doesn't actually make me feel better, rather it simply makes me feel superior for the moment.  As I have learned time ant time again… it almost never helps a situation, while it often makes things worse. Please don’t turn a bad moment into a bad day.

If I look for the excuses, I usually can find reasons to be angry.  But when I try my best to understand the elements involved in an occurrence or another person's action, then I find that by practicing understanding and compassion, I can make the situation healthier by avoiding the trap of anger's invitation.

  “If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us.” Big Book pg 66