Positive thinking from an unexpected source

The Master Mind group I’m in has had trouble meeting this winter, due to weather and illness. But we plan to get together very soon and make up for our long separation.

I almost felt like I was meeting with my inspirational partners yesterday in church when my pastor, Larry Sprinkle from the First Church of Christ, started talking about Expecting the Best out of life.

He based his sermon on the Bible verse: Ephesians 3:20

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

We can take 2 approaches to life:

1. Pessimistic. Job said, “What I always feared has happened to me, what I dreaded has come true.” Job 3:25

2. Or we can take the Optimistic approach.

The Apostle Paul was in prison for his belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, yet he wrote to the believers in Philippi:
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” Philippians 1:20

Paul believed that his beliefs would not be disappointed, even though he might have been what some might call “Down on his luck.”

My preacher also said, “Faith is a muscle. Exercise it.”

He then listed some ways for us to stay optimistic and exercise that muscle:

1. Start your day with faith.
We can do this by reading our Bibles each day. I do this through http://www.biblegateway.com/. It makes it handy and its large print is easier for these old eyes to see! Here’s a verse to remind us of starting the day out right:
“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3

2. Then we should look for good in every situation.
This is based on Romans 8:28, my favorite verse since I was a teen:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

This can be difficult, but our thoughts are not God’s thoughts as it says in Psalms. Who knows what good can come from the tricky situation?

Other points my pastor made were to give our problems to God (2 Corinthians 1: 9-11); eliminate negative words (Ephesians 4:29), associate with positive people (Ephesians 4:29), and to remember our future! (I Corinthians 2:9)

I hope these words will strengthen your desire to make something of yourself and to see that life can be one opportunity after another if we put our priorities in order.

Take care.

Join The Writers View

"Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble."
Psalm 119:165


It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’m still writing full-time and battled a sinus problem in most of January. The good thing is, in January I finished writing a children’s biography on a popular country music star. When I mean popular, I mean at the top! I could barely keep up with this girl’s numbers of record sales, TV interviews, and guest appearances. She is a great role model and when the book is ready to be released, I’ll let you know the name so you can be sure to get a copy for your favorite tween! It will be marketed to 8-12 year olds.

I’m thrilled with this opportunity to break into the children’s markets and look forward to working on my next assignments with the same publisher. Thankfully, the subjects of those books are not living so they won't be setting new records. J

One thing I have found helpful in my freelance writing career is to be a member of The Writer’s View, an online writing forum. It is made up of new and professional writers who post daily in response to questions brought up by the moderator.

If you want to know more about writing and meet some great people who will respond to questions, I encourage you to sign up for The Writers View.

Here is the “webfomercial”:

If you're an aspiring writer and want to get a writers conference in yourinbox, consider joining The Writer View. It's free. It's amazing. You'll learn everything you'd learn at a writer's conference sans meeting cool people face to face. And you don't have to pay airfare!How they work: Each Monday and Thursday a panelist poses a question aboutthe publishing industry, the craft of writing, or anything related to thewriting journey.

These panelists are agents, editors, writers who are well known in the Christian writing industry. Then, panelists and members write posts about the question raised. I still learn new things every week. It's a moderated loop, so there's no blatant self promotion. Word counts are limited to 250 per post.For beginning to intermediate writers, the group to join is TWV 2. Clickhe<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TWV2/> .For advanced, published writers, join The Writers View. Click here<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWritersView/> .You will be asked to fill out an application that you then send to thegroup's leadership. You'll receive an email letting you know whether you'vebeen accepted.

It’s a great opportunity to learn a lot of information on a daily basis. Let me know if you sign up. I’ll look for your post!