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It’s hard to believe Christmas is only seven days away, but even more hard to believe 2017 is right around the corner! As the old saying goes, out with the old and in with the new – but who knows what the new year will bring? Â If you’re anything like me, sometimes not knowing what the future holds can elicit a level of stress and worry. No matter how much we love Jesus, the unknown can be scary.
This is exactly what I talked about in today’s Proverbs 31 devotion, When You Can’t See The Road Head. I shared the story of a blind man who, upon hearing that Jesus was coming, ran with full vigor in His direction, unconcerned about what lie ahead that might trip him or cause him hurt. It was my studying of this story, where God truly spoke to my heart about not worrying about what lies ahead, but trusting Him to be my Guide.
You see, my life has undergone a major change this past year, and I’ll tell you more about that in just a few weeks. But no matter what life tosses our way, any kind of change can be scary. Change means that everything is new, and the old ways or what seemed normal are no longer. When we experience any type of change, especially when we have no idea what that change will mean to our future, we are all faced with a life impacting decision. A decision I dare say many of us don’t take time to ponder on – or even acknowledge  – is a choice we must make.
That choice is our conscious decision to be positive or negative. To be an optimist, or to be a pessimist. To have joy despite our circumstances, or let our circumstances dictate our joy. As for me, God has helped me to see the importance of choosing to be positive, optimistic and joy-full, despite the changes in my life. He’s also allowed me to walk through the darkness at times, and experience the consequences of not making the choice to think positive.
Maybe today you are going through a difficult time, and have been for quite a while, and honestly can’t remember the last time you felt truly happy. Or maybe your circumstances have been so hard for so long, and unasked for and unexpected changes have happened in your life, that you honestly don’t think you could ever really be happy again, no matter what. The unknown seems scary, and parked a black cloud over your attitude.
Let me tell you, sweet friend, that neither of those statements have to be true or have to remain true for you. Your happiness is up to you, not your circumstances and not other people. All you have to do is make the choice to change your mindset and learn to control your thoughts instead of letting them control you.
The woman who chooses to be an optimist today lays the foundation for a life of joy and peace tomorrow.
If you’re that woman who needs to make the choice to be positive today, leave a comment and let me know and I will personally be praying for you this week! Â #thinkpositive
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In other news …………
In  today’s devotion, I announced my upcoming new book release! I am beyond excited about getting this message into the world and I hope you’ll consider joining me in my quest to spread the message of transforming minds and adopting more positive outlooks which leads to more positive lives!
I am so excited to open up the Launch Team application for my brand new book releasing April 1, 2017, titled Unsinkable Faith: God-filled Strategies for Transforming the Way You Think, Feel and Live.  I can honestly say God has forced me to live out this message over the past year in my own life, and I am more convinced now than ever that a negative mind will never lead to a positive life.
When we allow God to transform our thoughts and minds, He in turn transforms our lives and helps us be optimistic, joyful and hopeful – even when our circumstances might dictate otherwise. Â A changed mind will always result in a positively changed life if we commit to #thinkpositive one thought, and one day, at a time.
SO WHO WANTS TO CONSIDER BEING A MEMBER OF THE OFFICIAL
UNSINKABLE FAITH LAUNCH TEAM?!
IF INTERESTED, PLEASEÂ CLICK HERE FORÂ MORE INFORMATION
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Tracie Miles is a bestselling author and the Director of COMPEL Training with Proverbs 31 Ministries. She helps women grow stronger in their faith, pursue the life of purpose God designed them for and live a life of peace, joy and happiness despite their circumstances.
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2016 has been challenging for me and those I love. My youngest son has been incarcerated as a result of his addiction and the many poor choices he has made. And in November, my precious 87-year-old Daddy went to Heaven after a short and unexpected illness.
Yet I am grateful my son is alive and has the chance to embrace Jesus and turn his life around when he is released in February. I pray every day that he will choose to use his many gifts to God’s glory and in His service.
And I am grateful that my Daddy didn’t suffer a long and lingering illness. God took him quickly, and thanks to hospice he did not suffer pain.
When I read your Proverbs 31 devotion today, Tracie, I knew exactly how you felt on that Monday morning. I just pray that I can put my complete faith in God and trust Him to guide me through the days ahead.
Anxiety reared its ugly head in my life this summer after several health concerns. All of a sudden, the days ahead became scary with uncertainty and disease lurked in every corner. I so long to have back my peace of mind from days of old. Yet, these days of fear have caused me to reach out to my Saviour. I would like to say I have felt His presence every minute of the day but that would not be truth. My mantra has been “Be still and know that I am God”. I yearn, for once and for all, to truly have God’s peace and loving assurance I am His.
Please pray He would direct my paths to do His work here on Earth, that I would feel Him at work in my life .
Wishing all of you a fearless, joyful week.
Today is my 50th birthday and tomorrow is my 29th wedding anniversary. My husband and I have been through counseling the last 3 years since learning our youngest daughter was bulumic, and that led to my admitting sexual abuse from my childhood and going through all I needed to do to work through that, with God giving me freedom from a lifertime of shame a year ago. My husband is traveling his own recovery from all of this (we met as teens, and all I could then remember of what happened to me I told him and then managed to forget, leaving it with him to anguish over) so needless to say we are here at the holidays with my husband hurt and distrustful of me and our intimacy greatly affected by my promiscuous teen years which he seems to not be able to forgive me for, which keeps trying to bring shame on me. I have felt like just giving up, he refuses to let God in, and it is so lonely living with our marriage like this, I might as well be alone. It just seems like we hurt each other with something every day. We have stopped marriage counseling because he is doing his own therapy and doesn’t have time for both. Please pray for us, especially since it’s Christmas and we are supposed to be happy in front of our kids.
Fredda,
My heart breaks for you as I read through your email. Remember, Fredda, that your WORTH and VALUE come from Jesus Christ, and not anyone on this earth — not even your husband. You are a Child of God, adopted into His family, and that means something! His grace is sufficient for you. If your husband follows Christ, he will want to remember to give you grace, just as our Messiah did the moment you repented your past. Your husband has sins of his own that Jesus has forgiven. There is no unforgivable sin, remember that Fredda. We are ALL sinners in the eyes of God, but He sent Jesus here to reconcile our sins. You are forgiven by God through Jesus Christ! Revel in that knowledge and celebrate Christmas with joy in your heart!
Karen
My son’s so to be fiance has Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, had a lung and Liver transplant, 2 strokes and now needs a kidney and pancreas transplant. Her lungs were only working at 40 percent so she went to see her Dr. in a state away ended up in the hospital for almost two weeks hopefully will be coming home Thursday. They do not know why and are trying to give her plasma treatments but shes so afraid that this is it for her. Please pray for her. She is only 25 a wonderful person who has always been full of hope but this one has her really down and scared.
This speaks to me, only God would have known how much I needed your devotional today.
Thank you for your prayers!! We have had enormous change this past 6 months. My husband’s mom passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly in her sleep in May. And then his dad passed away in November from final stages of Alzheimer’s. And on the day we buried his dad, my uncle whom we are very close to had a stroke due to a bleeding brain tumor that no one knew was there. He has been diagnosed as terminal. God is working blessing through the trials. But we all need prayer as we move forward through the grieving and through my uncle’s cancer. Praying for peace, joy, wisdom, miracles, and drawing nearer to Jesus. Thank you! I will pray for you too. Merry Christmas!
I am eager to read your upcoming book. I have been struggling with panic/anxiety disorder for a bit now and it has impacted my daily life. I know God is fully in control but as I walk through this wilderness of how and why I’m here, I realize what an impact my negative thinking as played in all this. I have always been a glass half empty person and to change my thought process and outlook has been so challenging. I daily beg God for healing but know more then anything that this wait is to benefit me and glorify him! So, please pray for strength and courage for me to continue each day with my eyes on him and not on me. The mind is a powerful thing. Truly the most challenging thing is trying to be positive and not negative in my own thoughts.
Your devotions always seem to speak to a need at just the right time. The Proverbs 31 devotion and now this blog post on #thinkpositive are so timely and needed. Praise God for your faithfulness in reaching so many women in their need, including me. Please pray for God’s will in my life and strength for me to run toward Jesus like Bartemaeus.
Thanks, great message. My son and I have been trying our best to live out today’s Proverb 3:5-6. My husband filed for divorce and wants us out of the house ASAP…we’ve only been married a year. Long story, but we’re both hurt and we don’t understand why this is happening. My husband loves kids and is/was a strong Christian of 25+ years, was a pastor, and served on a church council (before our dating years). But recently, he went after my son’s heart. He always told me not to go after a child’s heart. My husband is the only “dad” my son knows. And now he struggles and constantly asks why he doesn’t like him anymore. You see, my husband has stonewalled my son as well…doesn’t speak to him except to scold him. Anyways, this message was great and just what I was praying before I read it. Merry Christmas!!
Linda, I read your comment and wanted to encourage you. I see so many blended couples fail over the lack of love for a stepchild. It’s so, so difficult to love another person’s child, and it takes years to accomplish that. He shouldn’t have married you until he loved your son. I dated my husband for four long years before I could feel love for his boys. I wasn’t going to share a home with them until I did! And even then it has been challenging. We have been married for six years and our blended family is doing fine. The oldest of the two boys is now a freshman in college, and the youngest is a freshman in high school. We persevere! Remind your husband, who was a pastor (hmm) that he made a covenant with God when he married you; and that he needs to go into Christian counseling with you to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT for your marriage, casting out the enemy! Praying for you, Linda.
Karen
Thank you for your sweet heart Tracie Miles. You inspire me. Merry Christmas!
I try very hard to have a positive, or at least NOT negative, perspective on as many things that are thrown my, our (myself, husband, & at times, our 2 daughters) way. I still have my moments, though, as hard as I do try. Quite a lot of them, actually. I in no way, have that calm, peaceful, unburdened feeling that can only be provided by God & having faith in Him. And, as much as I, personally, attempt to be on the “glass is half full” side, my husband, on the other hand is a 100% “glass is (very much so) half empty” pessimist. This quite often can become a hinderance to my attempts at trying to be positive. So, I ask that you pray, not only for me, but for my husband, also. Thank you for this devotion. It was very inspirational, heart lifting, & needed.
Your message was one I needed to hear to keep my eyes on God and not myself. I have moved across country to be near my family and left behind a peaceful life that I loved but missed the void of family. I struggle with the decision I made daily and pray the the coming year will be one of total acclimation to this area. I love my family but I miss my old friends and life. The right words at the right time.
Hi Tracie. I enjoyed your blog today and thank you for your wisdom. I have longed my entire life to be a homemaker and stay at home mommy. That was never to be, and my children are now grown, and I have grandchildren. Two years ago I quit my job to help my husband with his at home business; and we started a Christian life coaching biz. I self published my second book as a Kindle download. My books are not selling. They were written to help others and I have prayed over them and tried to market them — an impossible task in this world of millions of authors like myself. Back to life coaching… God sent us a number of couples who were blending in marriage as we had. He also sent divorced, single moms to me, as that is my story as well. However, I have been unable to replace or even come to close to replacing my income. Health insurance costs have soared, and I am forced back to work to get some income and health insurance for our family. These last two years were phenomenal, as I have been able to cook, take care of our home, and help my husband with his two sons. His business isn’t reaping income enough to sustain us. So I am out there looking for a job again. My dreams are lost for life coaching…I just can’t work full-time and continue my life coaching business. I need to provide our family with health insurance. So saddened by this. I feel like I failed God in His purpose for me! I ask for prayers for direction, discernment, opportunity. Thank you. And whatever your life change is, I pray for you as well.
Struggling with anxiety and trusting God with the lives of my grown children.
Thank you Tracie. This is very timely. I am making the choice to be positive in the midst of my circumstances.
God bless you!
Dear Tracie, we don’t know each other but I sensed a sharing of your pain some time back, I want to say over a year ago.
Some of my own losses going back 5 years have been my husband, home and job (not by my choice), actually several job losses, More recently, I’ve struggled with broken and lost relationships with my son (my only child) and grandchildren.
I’ve learned to never think or say things couldn’t get worse, because they always can. I look forward to learning what steps you’ve taken to heal and be more optimistic and joy-full.
I would appreciate your prayers very much.
May God continue to bless you and your upcoming book.
Thank you, lc
Dear Tracie,
The past 7 and a half years have been most painful to me, especially the last three and a half, since I lost my mother to ovarian cancer. The previous because I have not been allowed to be my daughter’s mother on my own terms like all mothers all over the world. It has been a battle both emotionally and spiritually. The woman who stepped in and pushed me aside in playing lead role as mother to my child, is one I looked up to and longed to have the best relationship with for the rest of my life. But now I don’t want anything to do with her at all. A lot of negative situations in my life since my childhood, have made me bitter inside to certain aspects of life that are still affecting me and my relationships today. I’ve come to realise that its no use holding on to the hurt when nothing can be done about it. Pray that I can move forward in the hope and love and will of Jesus for my life and trust Him completely especially when everything around me is falling apart and I can’t understand why. Pray for a lifelong positive attitude, restored family relationships – marriage, motherhood, parental, restoration of everything that has been stolen from me and healing of the same. Equipping me to be capable and responsible in every way as a woman. I have known mostly negativity in my life and have grown with insecurity and lack of confidence which has been a hindrance to me all my life. I want to live right in spite of still being looked at and treated as wrong. My mental frame of mind need complete healing and restoration for my family’s sake. I love them and don’t want to lose them.
Thank you for your encouragement. I am making a decision today to change my thought pattern to being positive. Thank you!
I could definitely use prayer! I am having a really hard time being positive. I feel anger and bitter and confused! I want to make the choice not to be, but the negative feels creep back in.
Good Morning Chelsea ???? I pray that God allows the blood of Jesus to cover your heart and mind to bring you into a positive state in every area of your life. When I struggled super badly with being negative from being mistreated, rejected, talked about, neglected, abandoned, etc. I always prayed and still do today ~ Psalm 51:10 ” Create in me a clean heart O God and please renew a right Spirit deep down in me.” Allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through you one day at a time. And when you fall and slip ~ repent ~ get back up and try again ???? HUGS ????
Ms. Essex-
Thank you! This is exactly what is needed. God bless you for your obedience in serving the Lord.
Hi Tracie ????âś‹ Thank you so much for being so transparent with us. Thank you for being so obedient to God’s calling on your life. Please pray with me to be positive in every area of my life. ???? I look forward to reading your book. God has allowed me to experience many trails which only pulled me closer to Him. Although I will never understand the reason for many of the trails I put my entire trust in God because He promised that everything will work out for my good. I can surely attest He has NEVER left me or forsake me and for that I am truly grateful. ???? I love you ???? ???? HUGS ????
Thank you for your timely devotion! I have moved a couple of times in the last 5 years and it has been a struggle to keep positive when I miss my friends and places I lived. My husband always says to look at the good about the move but many times I just can’t see it like he does. I’ve had many life changes lately and I always seem to look at them with gloom and doom but you’d never know if you met me. On the outside all looks good but on the inside I’m tossing around negative through that bring me down. Praying He creates in me a new heart and perspective! Thank you again!
Tracie, thank you for you post and it is has come at the right time. God is intentional. I had been sitting on the side of my bed after taking a much-needed nap and contemplated what path God wants me to follow in the coming new year. I have been in ministry for a long time and have seen God do amazing things in my life, my husband, my stepdaughter, my adopted daughter and my immediate family. I cannot complain for our God has been merciful and mindful of us all. However, I question God concerning my church membership. I admit Tracie I no longer want to be there and I am seeking God for what should I do. I talked to my husband and he has reminded me about the importance of covering, having spiritual parents that can lead and guide. I love the people I worship with regularly it is just that I am not as committed as I have been. I have not pulled away from God. The opposite, I am moving closer to God. It is just that my efforts are outside of my church community. I know we all are part of the body of Christ, I want to know where is my place. Tracie, I do not know if I am asking the right questions? Pray for me. Thank you.