[Stay Strong] Your Mission...if you choose to accept it...

Vacation reprint... ;)  Sorry...

Enjoy!!

Doug

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "CIM" <douglas.flaherty@gmail.com>
Date: May 29, 2012 7:01 PM
Subject: [Stay Strong] Your Mission...if you choose to accept it...
To: <douglas.flaherty@gmail.com>
Cc:

Feel like you are drifting a bit through life, seeking purpose, not sure what you are here to do? 

Here is a suggestion:

"God has created me to do him some definite service.

He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. 

I have my mission.

I may never know it in this life , but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in the chain, a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good  - I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of Peace, a preacher of Truth in my own place while not intending it, if I do but keep His Commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.

If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him.

In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.

If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain.

He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends.

He may throw me among strangers.

He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -

still,

He knows what He he is about.

  - John Henry Newman
    Excerpt from "Rediscover
    Catholicism" by Matthew Kelly

Stay Strong!!!

--
Posted By CIM to Stay Strong at 5/29/2012 07:01:00 PM

[Stay Strong] Don't ask "Why me?", ask for "More please" - only through hard lessons do we grow closer to our potential and our reward...

It has been granted to you... to suffer for Him. (Philippians 1:29)
>
> "God runs a costly school, for many of His lessons are learned through tears. Richard Baxter, the seventeenth-century Puritan preacher, once said, "O God, I thank You for the discipline I have endured in this body for fifty-eight years." And he certainly is not the only person who has turned trouble into triumph.
>
> Soon the school of our heavenly Father will close for us, for the end of the school term is closer every day.
>
> May we never run from a difficult lesson or flinch from the rod of discipline. Richer will be our crown, and sweeter will heaven be, if we cheerfully endure to the end. Then we will graduate in glory. Theodore L. Cuyler
>
> The world's finest china is fired in ovens at least three times, and some many more. Dresden china is always fired three times. Why is it forced to endure such intense heat? Shouldn't once or twice be enough? No, it is necessary to fire the china three times so the gold, crimson, and other colors are brighter, more beautiful, and permanently attached.
>
> We are fashioned after the same principle!!!
>
> The human trials of life are burned into us numerous times, and through God's grace, beautiful colors are formed in us and made to shine forever."
>
> Cortland Myers
>
> From Streams in the Desert
>
> Stay Strong.....this too shall pass!!!!
>
>
>
> --
> Posted By CIM to Stay Strong at 9/04/2012 07:53:00 AM

Harness your Power!!

"Our attitudes control our lives.
Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day,
for good or bad.
It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness
and control this great force."
  - Irving Berlin

Circumstances in our lives can change daily - from good to bad to ugly and back to good!

All that matters is HOW we deal with and react to those circumstances!

Let's check our attitudes constantly as the proper attitude of Hope, Faith and Good Cheer WILL carry us through any storm in our lives!!!

Harness this power and you will never go wrong!   It is just a matter of guiding our minds and our thoughts!!

We control this!!!!

Today is as good a day as any to start!

What do we have to lose?!

Stay Strong!!

Gethsemane

Gethsemane

All those who journey, soon or late,
Must pass within the garden's gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say:
"Not mine but thine";
Who only pray:
"Let this cup pass," and cannot see
The purpose in Gethsemane."
  - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Fwd: [Stay Strong] The Power of the Mind

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy.
>
> It is what you think about."
> - Dale Carnegie
>
> How many times have we been in a fun place with all the trappings of fun and happiness, only to be thinking of something else that distracts us or makes us sad or anxious?
>
> It happens all the time!
>
> The beautiful thing about this fact and power of the mind is that it can work the other way as well!
>
> We hold the power - today -to create our own happiness and joy with our own minds, thoughts, and focus - regardless of our current circumstances!!
>
> Believe in this power because it is all that matters in our pursuit of peace and joy!!
>
> Material goods will not do it, wealth and power will not do it! 
>
> In fact, some of the most miserable people I know appear to have everything one could imagine in the material world, yet cannot buy or attain joy, peace, or happiness!!!
>
> We all know these people!!
>
> And we also know people who have been through Hell on earth, have nothing material to their name, yet are the happiest and most inspiring people on the planet!!!
>
> What more do we need to witness before we choose to change our thought patterns and improve our living???
>
> What are we using as our Goals? 
>
> What measurement are we using for our own happiness?
>
> The power to do this and change our mindsets exist in all of us today!! 
>
> Use it NOW and claim your rightful peace and joy in this very brief life!!!
>
> Stay Strong!!!!
>
Posted By CIM to Stay Strong at 7/17/2012 07:41:00 AM

Free to choose....

"We can always choose to perceive things differently.
You can focus on what's wrong in your life,
or you can focus on what's right."
- Marianne Williamson

It really is that simple - but it does take some real work!

If we can just identify those creeping negative thoughts, fears and worries as they pop in our heads, and make a conscious decision to fight them off and beat them back - we will be amazed at the results!

Identify them and choose to focus on our blessings - or on a solution to the problem instead of the problem - life would be so much easier!!

We can do this - we make hundreds of decisions every single hour of the day - we just need to resolve to take this action and control our focus!

You decide how to feel - no one else!!
You control what you think of and what you will give credence to in your daily endeavors!

Why not choose the positive and the "next steps"?

Banish the past and the worry!

Master it and life seems like a breeze!!

Stay Strong!!

Re: [Stay Strong] Live and battle just this ONE day!!

There are two days of the week about which we should not worry...two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension.
>
> One of these days is called Yesterday, with it's mistakes and cares, it's faults and its blunders, aches and pains.

Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.

> All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday.
>
> We cannot undo a single act we performed or erase a single word we said.
>
> Yesterday is GONE!
>
> The other day we should not worry about it Tomorrow, with it's possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance.
>
> Tomorrow is beyond our immediate control.
>
> Tomorrow's sun will rise, whether in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
>
> Until it does, however, we have no stake in tomorrow, for its yet unborn.
>
> This leaves only one day - TODAY!
>
> Any one of us can fight the battle of just ONE day!!
>
> It is when you and I add burdens of two awful eternities - YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW - that we break down.
>
> It is not necessarily the experiences of today that disturbs one's peace of mind. It is often times the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring!
>
> Fight the urge to dwell on the past,  and embrace tomorrow with faith, hope and courage - but do not fear what it may bring!! 
>
> Let us therefore live ONE DAY AT A TIME.
>
> Stay Strong!   Just One Day!!!

> Posted By CIM to Stay Strong at 8/29/2012 08:18:00 AM