How To Totally Surrender Your Life to God

I was doing my devotionals this morning when this topic came up. I figure it’s God’s way of telling me that even some of my best made plans are still subject to his will and purpose for my life. It made such an impression on me that I wanted to share it with you.

image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/macluckystar/

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of “The Purpose Driven Life”, says this:

“Surrendering your life means: 1) Following God’s lead without knowing where he’s sending you; 2) Waiting for God’s timeing without knowing when it will come; 3) Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide; 4) Trusting God’s purpose without understanding the circumstances.”

I’m a major planner. Just like some of you, I use the beginning of the year to rise above the clouds and take in a view of my life from a larger scope. I reflect on what happened last year, take stock of my victories and losses, and look to the future and where I’d like to be.

One of the most common hinderances of achieving your goals is giving up too soon. But if you know that God was in your planning, you can know that he will bring it to pass, regardless of whether you made it by your deadline.

Trust me, he can make things happen in an instant. I’d hate to think of how many times I missed a great blessing by giving up too soon.

There are times that your’e going to feel like giving up; times that you don’t think you’re seeing the results you want to see. Just remember that you don’t belong to yourself. Your life was given to the one who can handle any challenge, who isn’t pressed for time, and who already knows what strategy to use.

So relax…take a moment to pray and thank God for all he has done and is continuing to do in your life. Let him know that you really do trust him and will continue to trust him until you see it happen.

Just to drive your stake into the ground, please share with us what you’re trusting God for this year. We can pray for strength for each other.

How To Generate and Maintain A Great Attitude

Some things in life are inevitable if you want to live well: working on relationships, performing well at your job, paying bills in full and on time, and staying healthy.  The attitude that you approach each of these areas with will determine the quality of the life that you live. Here are some steps of how you can generate and maintain a great attitude and increase your quality of life.

Permission by Creative Commons stevendepolo

 

1. Accept the things you cannot change. There’s only so much that you can do. Beyond that are the things we just refer to as “life”. Stuff happens and it’s not always because of anything you did. My wife’s grandmother always said, “If you can’t change your situation, change how you think about it.”
2. Smile. For any of you who know me, you know that smiling is first nature to me. The part that suprises most people is that I fake it at times. Even when you don’t feel like smiling, it improves your outlook. Emotions are fickle and can easily be swayed. Choose to control your emotions so they don’t control you.
3. Complement publicly and criticize privately. This may seem like an unusual tip, but it really influences your vocabulary. It forces you to see the good in others. People love to be praised and recognized. When you do it with others around, you increase the chances of creating a loyal friend. Conversely, if you decide to criticize publicly, you increase the chances of creating an adament enemy. And honestly, that may not mean a lot to you, but that person has influence on others. Those are the people that you may need one day.
4. Put things in perspective. Few things are really as important as we make them out to be. In reality, most things will blow over in time. For those things that don’t, just remember that God is still in control. He’ll guide you if you’ll be open to listening.
5. Choose to influence your environment and not let the environment influence you. This is so key. Be the change that you want to see in the world. You can impact the lives of many just by remembering this simple step.

Having a good attitude is something I’ve had to guard for years. Sometimes you have to fake it until you make it. But eventually, it becomes a part of who you are. Relationships flow smoother. Your job becomes a blessing. You begin to feel blessed to be able to pay your bills. Your mental, emotional, and physical health become thinsg you don’t take for granted.

Do you have any other tips or comments regarding how to generate and maintain a great attitude? If so, let me and the others listeners hear from you!

Good News for 2014

What areas of life are you needing a fresh start? Share in the comments section and let’s pray for each other.

Why You Should Begin A Blog

Today is my six year anniversary of when I first began ChrisStevensLive.com. This has been a crazy ride of reflection, transformation, and growth for me. My posts have evolved as I try to find my “niche” in the blogging world. But I really want to encourage you to join me in sharing your thoughts with the world.

Some Rights Reserved by gepat

Maybe it has crossed your mind before. My guess is that you quickly dismissed it because you didn’t think anyone cared about what you had to say. I had many of the same thoughts. Here are a few reasons why you need to write:

1) Expertise. You are an expert at something. It may not be the thing that will draw in thousands of readers, but your thoughts could potentially be the catalyst that sparks new ideas for someone else.

2) Clarify Your Thoughts. Nothing irons out the wrinkles on your logic more than putting your thoughts down on paper or a computer screen. Disciplining yourself to be reflective is something that will take you farther faster as an individual and as a leader.

3) Potential Future Ventures. Who knows where it could lead. Look down the road five years. Maybe you could write a book. Maybe you’ll be getting requests to speak. Until you begin to go public with your thoughts, you will never discover the possibilities that are waiting for you on the other side of hitting that “publishing” button.

Don’t worry about what your blog looks like at first. Just start to write. That one step alone will generate some excitement. Let’s make a commitment together to let the world hear our voice in 2014. I use WordPress as my blogging platform. It’s totally free to get started and they have some really amazing themes to choose your blog’s design.

I purged my archives a few months ago to clean out the stuff that was just embarrassing to look back on. Here is the earliest blog post I could find: What Should Church Look Like?

So what do you say? Are you in? Leave a comment in the section below and let me know if you’re on board. I’d love to know if you want to start or if you’re resolving to write regularly this year, as I am.