Joel Osteen: Attitude in Adversity

Hey Peeps!

I hope all is well with you and yours!

Last week I decided that I need to start my gratitude journal this weekend....I didn't start it lol but I will this week. I was reading last night about a lady and her manifestation box and I remembered that I had saved a shoe box a year ago to use as my Creation Box that I spoke about in this post THREE years ago! LOL

I didn't follow through with it three years ago so my plan last year was to do it....I was having so many issues in my living situation last year that I never got around to tapping into my vision for my life. But I need to get more serious about it because I'm finding it difficulty these days to continue living in mediocrity as if it's okay for me. And it's not!

I figured the best way for me to maintain sanity while I wait on my blessings is to forever keep an attitude of gratitude. When I get frustrated which seems to be daily....these people in New York will test you consistently honey....I need to remind myself that this is only temporary and my break through is coming however I have to remain faithful and grateful.

Joel Osteen touched on it in his message that you can read below. Until next time.....

Stay Blessed...Stay Tuned

Attitude in Adversity TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Habakkuk 3:17–18, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria We all face challenges, difficulties and times when things don’t go our way. God doesn’t send these storms, but He will allow us to go through certain things in order to shape our character and prove our faith. Really, it’s in our times of difficulty that we grow and develop. God wants to use the tough times in our lives to do a work in us. He wants to strengthen and develop us. Our attitude in times of adversity is the evidence of our maturity. Are we going to treat people right even when we’re being mistreated? Are we going to stay full of joy even when the bottom falls out? Are we going to be faithful even in the dry seasons of our lives when we don’t see anything good happening? It may take more effort. You may have to work harder to keep a good attitude, but remember, attitude and faith in God is the key to your promotion. As you keep that positive attitude of faith and expectancy, even in times of adversity, God will deliver you and move you forward into the destiny He has prepared for you! A PRAYER FOR TODAY Father, I want to grow spiritually and be more like You. I choose to trust You in times of adversity knowing that You are working things out for my good. Renew a right attitude in me by Your Spirit in Jesus’ name. Amen. — Joel & Victoria Osteen © 2013 Joel Osteen Ministries

According to Forbes Magazine I'm not behaving like a successful person. In an article recently, 5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM they rattled on about the things you should do in the mornings before work that could lead to a successful and healthy lifestyle. I'm just going to list them 5 things below but they go into more detail in the article.

1-Exercise

2-Map Out Your Day

3-Eat A Healthy Breakfast

4-Visualization

5-Make Your Day Top Heavy

The first problem I have with this whole thing is the fact that I barely get up in time to make it to work by 9am. I am a night owl have always been a night owl and love being a night owl. The only reason why being a night owl is an issue for me is because I've always had freaking DAY jobs! ugh! I set my clock 20 minutes before I'm supposed to get up because my intentions are to spend that time praying and become alert. Well let's just say I haven't stuck to that routine in over a year. I do have to admit that when I was following that routine I felt much better starting my day.

I don't exercise at all asides from walking daily. In New York, you can do a lot of walking without even trying to. I love to walk. Absolutely....in nice walking weather of course. I actually have a walking exercise DVD that I should start back using. I plan to but I know it won't be before 8 AM during the week!

I barely eat breakfast because I normally wait until I get to work. Sometimes as soon as I walk in the door my boss has me running around fetching stuff for him that by the time I'm able to think straight it's already 10 or 11am. I normally eat fruit sometimes I may grab a muffin sometimes it's nothing sometimes it's junkfood....for awhile I was doing green smoothies but I realized that they should be drunk at home vs. traveling with it 40 minutes after making it to drink at work. The flavor wasn't the greatest by then so I 86'd that idea. I love green smoothies though but I would either have to drink them before coming to work or drink them when I get home from work.

I don't map out my day because let's face it...my day is so routine I really don't need to map it out. Get up, go to work, run errands, go home. Rinse and repeat Monday through Friday.

Visualization...I normally do this at night before bed or during my commute to work, or while I'm walking from the train to work, or while I'm at work when I'm just sitting in my boss' office while he's sorting through papers on his desk. LOL I love to pretend that I'm somewhere other than where I am. Sometimes when I'm walking to work I pretend that I'm only up that early because I have a business meeting with Tyler Perry to discuss turning one of my books into a movie. LOL hey faith it til you make it, right? :-)

Number 5 doesn't apply to me. 

If you are a morning person more power to you...if you are a night owl like me...and you want to do the things listed in that article in hopes of being more productive and successful then I'm sure you can train your body to be a morning person. We can train our minds and bodies to do just about anything we want by creating those habits. I for one would much rather create the work environment that corresponds to my body's natural way of being. And naturally my body loves sleeping in without an alarm clock so...what does that tell you...I need to create a work environment where I get up on my own schedule and allow my body to get up organically. THAT my friend will help me to be more productive and successful because I'm not being forced to behave in a way that my body naturally disagrees with. IMO.

Go read the article: 

5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM

Stay Blessed....Stay Tuned!

Joel Osteen-Choose Blessings For Your Future

Hello Everyone!

It's been a minute since I posted last. I just want to fill you in on what's been going on. Well a lot of personal drama has been going on in my family that I won't go into details about but let's say they were major distractions however we are continuing to overcome all obstacles placed before us by the Grace of God.

As far as my career, I'm still writing. The last book I published was in September. I was going over some notes that I had written down a year ago when I first started writing back before I had published my first book. I had the idea of writing my stories as webisodes in book format, what most would consider a serial however I was not planning to publish each episode weekly but publish as a season each having about seven or so episodes. I abandoned that idea and started publishing novellas.

Well about a month or two ago I was listening to the Self Publishing Podcast on YouTube and Sean Platt, one of the writers of the Yesterday's Gone Serial, mentioned that they were changing their delivery method for their serials to publish seasonally vs publishing per episode weekly. So hearing him say that and finding my notes from a year ago I decided to go back to the idea I originally had.

My idea was a good one I just didn't execute it but now I have confirmation that I should do it. So that's what I'm working on now. I found an app for my phone last week called Kingsoft Office. I absolutely love it. I can now work on my writing on my phone on the train as I commute to work and even at home when I want a break from being in front of a computer. In the 30-40 minutes that I'm on the train I can get a good 600 words done and it's so easy to drown people out because I'm so focused on my story. It's better than reading on the train because sometimes when I read with that long of a commute I'm sleepy again before I even get to work.

So my next story is called Mr. Yummy Chocolate. It's a romance serial. I think it will be about 42 episodes so approximately three seasons. I will probably do paperback versions of these books since they will be the length of short novels (40K words each).

SO that's what you can expect from me as far as my writing goes, more serial style writing. I love writing this way. I see the story in my head clearer and I think I pace myself better. My goal is to do two episodes a day, so approximately 6K words daily minimum 3K, with weekends off unless I just want to write on the weekends. If I can keep this writing schedule up weekly, I can have a good number of titles up each year. Minimum 6 new titles.

Ok...enough about me...on to why I started this blog post. I'm a little stuffy today and I rarely get a cold. So everyone is like you have a cold? I'm hesitant when I answer because I don't want to say I have a cold. I just tell them I'm a little stuffy. But even that isn't good enough. What my answer should be is, I'm getting better. I don't like to say that I'm something when I actually don't want to be that. Meaning I don't want to keep saying to everyone that asks, Yeah I have a cold. Because guess what, I will keep experiencing the effects of a cold to agree with the words that I'm speaking over my situation. This coincides with the message that I received in my inbox this morning from Joel Osteen. I will share the message below.

Stay Blessed...Stay Tuned

Choose Blessings for Your Future

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”

(Deuteronomy 30:19, NKJV)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Your words have creative power. With your words, you can either bless your future or curse your future. If you want to know what your life is going to be like five years from now, just listen to what you’re saying about yourself today. Too many people go around saying, “I’ll never get well. I’ll never get out of debt.” “It’s flu season. I’ll probably get it.” “This marriage is never going to last.” Then they wonder why they don’t see things turn around. It’s because they’re calling defeat into their future. They’re calling in mediocrity. Don’t let that be you! When you wake up in the morning, no matter how you feel or what things look like, instead of using your words to describe your situation, use your words to change your situation. Make a declaration of faith by saying, “This is going to be a great day. I have God’s favor. He’s directing my steps.” When you do that, you are choosing to bless your future. You are calling in favor, increase and opportunities. You are opening the door for God to move on your behalf so you can live the abundant life He has for you!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, thank You for the blessings You have prepared for my future. I submit my ways and my words to You. Help me to speak what You speak and keep me close to You. I give You the glory in all things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

— Joel & Victoria Osteen © 2013 Joel Osteen Ministries