Power Of Positivity # 7 (Trina Agee Cornell)

Good evening! For the next 11 days, I will be on a mission trip to Vietnam. During that time, I will have new blogs each night from guest authors! (Also, on many nights, I will post pictures from my trip here!) For the next 26 evenings, my spot will be filled by my dear sister in Christ, Trina Agee Cornell! Trina and I went through many mission trips together and I have been a guest in Trina's and her husband, Bob's home. Please keep me in your prayers!

Power of Positivity #7

I enjoy communicating with my family and friends through social media – especially Facebook.  I follow a number of people and organizations that focus their efforts on spreading positivity to the masses.  I love reading posts from Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa TerKeurst (the founder of Proverbs 31 Ministries) – and Power of Positivity.  I came across this organization through a friend of mine – I noticed that she shared posts from them on a regular basis, and I decided I would “like” the page and check it out for myself.  Power of Positivity has spoken to me on a number of levels – the Lord allows just the right one to cross my path when it is most needed. I wanted to focus this series of blog posts on the posts that have resonated with me – and the lessons that I have learned from them. 

“You gotta train your mind to be stronger than your emotions, or else you’ll lose yourself every time.”

This post hit me right between the eyes when I first read it.  Over the last six months, I have put myself in the shop – I have been working on myself in ways I never thought I needed it.  There was a time when I thought I had it all together – little did I know, I was completely off base. I realized, through a great deal of reflection and prayer, that I was doing the opposite of what this quote said.  I allowed my emotions to dictate my thoughts – which then, dictated my actions, good or bad. As I thought back over my life, I noticed that in times of stress, the anxiety created thoughts in my mind – “Go find something to eat.  It will make you feel better”. These thoughts lead me to the pantry, looking for something to eat to make me “feel better”. We all know where this leads – the more you eat, the longer it takes for your body to catch up to you. By the time that it does, your body sends you its “full” signals, and you are stuffed to the brim.  This cycle perpetuated itself in my life more than I realized – and I was ready to put a stop to it.  

I cannot say that I “have arrived” just yet – there are still times where I retreat to the pantry – but they are becoming fewer and farther between.  I have recognized this about myself – I know what I need to do – and I make decisions each and every day in this regard. I am always one decision away from moving myself toward my health goals – or away from them.  I know I can overcome this – I know I can get better at this – because “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
E-mail me at shawley@westburychristian.org