Encouragement Archives | Courage For Today

Dark Shadows

My wife and I just returned from a much needed vacation in the Smoky Mountains. We were able to take our camper and enjoy the great weather and the many things to see and do. I dare say that we “shopped until we dropped” on many days. The best part though was that we had the opportunity to simply take a break from our normal daily routines and just kick back our feet and enjoy the beauty of the mountains.

Another exciting part of this trip was that this was the first opportunity to take our new dog Remi with us camping. I had mentioned in a prior post that he is new to our family and has been with us almost a year now. We weren’t sure how he would do being around all the other campers with all the excitement that goes on in a normal campground, but we were pleasantly surprised. We had the opportunity to go on several hikes and we could have hiked all day with Remi and he would still keep going. He has much more energy than I do and he really enjoyed the hiking trails and streams and such.

On one particular hike, we were walking in a very shady, calm part of the forest. As we meandered down the dark trail, we could see a small ray of sunshine working it’s way through the thick tree canopy. As Remi got closer to the light, he began to see his shadow. Unknown to him, it was his own shadow. It was hilarious to see how this large shadow of himself actually scared him for a brief few seconds and caused him to run between my legs for protection.

This little episode with Remi got me thinking about those inevitable shadows that we face in life sometimes. It seems like we can be walking along just fine when, all of a sudden, we are rocked and scared by a shadow we didn’t see coming. When those shadows do come your way—-and they will—always remember a couple of things as you go through the darkness: (1) There can’t be a shadow unless there is also light nearby. Even when things may appear to be at their darkest, always remind yourself that God’s light is a close as your heartbeat and He will always see you through your journey; and (2) The shadow always appears larger than the real object. The angle of the light shining through the trees that day made it appear that Remi’s shadow was as large as a giant bear but, in reality, the real object was as small as the dog itself. Our minds have a way to make things seem worse than they really are. Our job is to stay focused on the never-changing truth of God.

Your Key to Happiness

Encouragement, Life's Priorities

I know I am not alone when I talk about this but, just last week, I was searching and searching for the keys to my car. I looked in my usual place which was on my bedside table. When they weren’t there, I looked under the bed. I looked on the bedside table on the opposite side of the bed. I looked in the kitchen. I looked in other bedrooms. I looked under couches and everywhere I could think to look. Still, no keys. With each passing moment, I got angrier and angrier. “Who took my keys?” “Why did someone move my keys,” I continued to mutter to myself. Finally, after several minutes of fuming, my wife walks in the room and says, “I have your keys.” They were in her pocket. All this time of searching and my wife had the keys the entire time.

As I thought about that funny moment, it reminded me so much of how we allow others to control our emotions and feelings. I can tell you countless times when I have allowed others to negatively impact my life. I should have cut them out of my life or confronted them, but I didn’t. Instead, I let them control how I felt. I was miserable but only because I allowed them to have control.

Over time, I learned that there are many times when we not only need to include positive people in our lives more often, but we also need to cut out negative people from our lives. It’s hard to do, but sometimes necessary. Once I learned to do just that, my roller coaster emotions changed for the good.

If you feel like your life is out of control or your “misery index” is to the max, you may be where I was. As yourself this question: “Are the keys to my happiness in someone else’s pockets?” If so, it may be time to change.

Do You Find Yourself Running From God

Encouragement, Life's Priorities

I have to admit that there are some ridiculous horror movies out today. Everything from the classics of old to the modern day slasher films. I don’t watch them very often because I just really don’t like horror flicks. To be honest, watching these movies makes me tired. It seems like someone is always running from someone or something and trying to avoid getting caught.

Just think about it for a moment. Either someone is running from a person about to slash them or trying to get away from some killer zombie. Or, better yet, trying to get away in their car that suddenly won’t start. Or, they get locked in some creepy motel room and they are being stalked by the sadistic motel clerk. I could go on and on but you get the picture. And, you’ve probably seen a lot of these movies. For once, I wish these folks in the movies would just lead a normal life and stop running into and from these killers. It sure would make their lives a lot easier.

Unfortunately, I think back in my own Christian life and, if I am honest, I have found my self doing the same thing. I don’t mean running from zombies. It’s even worse. I find myself running from God. There have been times God has clearly told me to do something or not to do something but, instead, of following his lead I run from those instructions like I am part of one of those horror movies. Why would I run from God? Why would I not want to do what he is directing me to do?

In looking back on some of those occasions when I was running from God, it really always boiled down to one thing: I thought that I was a better judge for my life than God. I felt like I knew a thing or two about what direction I should go and I didn’t really need God’s input. Call it arrogance or stupidity or anything else, but it’s wrong regardless. Even though it hurts sometimes and contradicts what I sometimes think is right, I have learned over the years to trust that sweet voice of God and trust that feeling of peace I always get when following God.

If your life seems a little out of sorts now and you just don’t have that feeling of peace that you think you should have, ask yourself a very simple question: Am I running from God? If you honestly answer “yes,” I would encourage you to try changing directions. Start running toward God instead of away from God. Embrace what HE has in store for you and your life instead of fighting it.

You’ll realize that HE has been there all along waiting for you with open arms.

Lift Your Burdens

Encouragement, God's Strength

I was watching an old Western movie the other day, which tells you that my day was not very exciting. The story involved a family of cowboys making the long trek over the mountains to get to their new homestead. As was often the case in those days, the family made the decision to leave their current home and travel to unknown places in search for a better life. I am not sure I would have the courage to make that leap of faith but it was always admirable to watch others make those journeys.

If you think about it, the journey was pretty remarkable. Just traveling by horseback for that many miles would be tough enough. The danger of climbing rocks and cliffs along with the possibilities of running into predators such as bears and cougars. Not to mention, the constant search for food and water along the way. Not fun by any stretch of the imagination.

One thing that caught my eye as I was watching this movie was that everything this family owned was basically packed on the backs of pack mules meandering down and around those winding trails. The mules carried those tremendous weights and burdens of the family’s belongings through the entire journey. Finally, at the end of each day, the packages and boxes were lifted off the backs of the mules so that they could rest for the night. It had not really hit me before watching this movie that the burdens of those mules could only be lifted by someone else.

What a wonderful analogy of our own life’s burdens and our relationship with Christ. How many times do we go through life carrying weight after weight and burden after burden. Unfortunately, we carry those burdens until we seemingly collapse and never realize that it is Christ who can remove those burdens from our life.

The next time you are feeling overwhelmed and over-burdened, just ask yourself: Are you carrying too much of a burden yourself? Try letting Christ lighten your load and your path will be much easier.

Overcoming Challenges in Your Life

Encouragement, Life's Priorities

There are thousands and thousands of books and resources about success and failure and how “to get ahead” in life. There is certainly no magic formula to succeeding and your path to success will be different than mine. Certainly, we all have different talents and abilities–and we need to develop those gifts and talents—but no amount of talent or ability will make you a success if that’s all you focus on. Over the years, it’s occurred to me that there are six common obstacles to success. So, I thought I would take a different approach and list some things I’ve learned that, if practiced, will do nothing to help you succeed. Avoid these pitfalls and you’ll see your chances of success improve greatly.

Having an Unteachable Spirit: As someone who has hired, trained, and fired employees for years, there is nothing that dooms someone more quickly then being unteachable. By unteachable, I mean the unwillingness to learn. It always amazes me of the number of people that believe they have “arrived” and have nothing to learn. When approaching a new job or new venture, you should always take the humble approach that you don’t know everything and you can always learn from those around you.
Having Unforgiven Offenses: Forgiveness is one of the most difficult things we suffer with as Christians, as people. When someone offends us or does something to harm us, our natural tendency is to fight back and seek revenge. We offer many articles in our blog about forgiveness and can help you in this area, but suffice it to say that our refusal to forgive others only hurts us in the long run and hardens our heart. You can’t be a successful leader in life with a hardened heart.
Having Un-Wise Associations: It has been said by many famous speakers, such as Zig Ziegler and others, that you are a product of the people around you and the books you read. I totally agree. In fact, it’s often said that your behavior is a reflection of the 5 people you spend the most time with. I couldn’t agree more. If you can’t seem to break through your clutter or get to the next level, check your associations. Who are you spending time with? Do you need to change your network of friends and associates?
Having a Negative Tongue: You’ve heard the old cliche that misery loves company. Leaders and successful people take steps to make themselves stand out from others. When others look at you, others should see someone different. They should see someone that they want to be like. What they shouldn’t see (or hear) is someone that constantly tears down others. If you are constantly saying something negative about others, I would encourage you to check your own self-confidence and self-image. There are only two ways to make yourself stand above others: you can work hard and do the right things to make yourself stand out, or you can knock others down. Make sure you’re not doing the latter.
Having Inconsistency in Your Actions: Speaking as a Christian, there’s nothing that sickens me more then seeing what we call “Sunday Christians.” We’ve all seen them–those that are in church and profess to be Christians on Sunday, but live otherwise during the week. As Christians, we have to be consistent in our actions. Our behaviors should be the same on Tuesday, as they are on Sunday. As leaders, we can’t treat people one way on Monday and a different way on Friday. Certainly, we are all human and make mistakes; however, when others look at you, they should see he same person on Monday as they see on Saturday.
Having an Uncommitted Heart: Committing to anything is often the fuel that sustains you during the tough times. Our journey will always be filled with pitfalls and setbacks. Without commitment, you’ll give up and turn back. Without commitment, you’ll be influenced by anything or anyone in your path that seeks to prevent your success. Remember, not everyone will want you to succeed. Committing to your goal will enable you to move past the nay-sayers.

I can promise you, from my own experiences, if you improve your life in these six areas, you’ll go a long way toward being a Godly success.

Refine Me Like Silver

Encouragement, Life's Priorities

I don’t know about you but it seems like the past several months have just been extremely trying for several people I know. I’ve seen my share of health issues and job concerns. I’ve listened to concerns about finances and relationships. All I could do in each situation is remind my friends of the goodness of God’s love and grace and encourage them to keep going on.

I suppose I have a unique perspective because I’ve certainly had my share of difficulties at various times in my life. God taught me so much through my various trials and its those hard learned lessons that I can now share with my friends and loved ones and, perhaps, give them some hope during their trials. It also helps to keep me grounded and reminds me that, as Christians, none of us are immune from trials. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

When I am at the end of my rope and don’t know what else to do, it helps to remember these things:

Recognize Gods refinement in our lives: Just like refining gold or silver, God continually molds and develops us into his image. Sometimes the refining is painful and hurtful, but it always ends in a beautiful, shiny creation. We have to trust the Lord during the refining process.
Look for righteousness more than solutions: I am preaching to the choir with this point. I know that I always tend to search constantly for a solution and worry myself beyond measure. Sometimes, I just need to stop. I need to take a breather from searching “how” and realize that God already has the solution. It’s just that HIS timing isn’t always in sync with my timing.
Remember it is not permanent: While trials are inevitable, they’re only temporary. It may seem like your trial is lasting forever and that you can’t take any more, but it will end.
Recommit to full surrender: Sometimes, what we are experiencing is a conflict between what God is directing us to do and what we stubbornly refuse to do. It often helps to surrender our full life and will to God and allow him to fully direct our paths, not fight HIM the entire way.

As difficult as it is, always remember that you are one of God’s Jewels and that God’s refining produces gems with immeasurable beauty.

For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. Psalms 66: 10 (NIV)

Encouragement

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