"Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee." Psalm 119:11
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The maple tree is prized for its cool summer shade, its beautiful woodgrain, its red fall foliage, and its delightful sap. It has weathered many storms by sending its roots deep. The maple spends its days absorbing nutrients from the earth and the sun, and drinking moisture from God's bounty.
The cold winter nights are essential for the tree to be able to produce its sweet syrup in the Spring. The colder winter, the greater the sap production. But the cold winter night doesn't hurt the maple because it has stored God's nutrients in its trunk.
We could learn a lesson from the maple. We live such shallow lives, indulging our flesh but neglecting our spiritual needs. Then we wonder why our leaves are sparse, our woodgrain is blemished, our foliage is faded, and our sap is bittersweet......
Hi friend! Welcome to The Sis Live Your Best Life Podcast Show! My name is Denise Finochiaro, it's so nice to meet you! I am a success mentor, blogger, podcaster, entrepreneur, mom, mother-in-law, grandmother and dog mom! At the age of 46 year old I decided to radically change my life. And WOW, it has been the best decision and most life changing journey of my my entire life! My mission is to empower women from all walks of life to step into their success and start living their best lives!
Does God allow us to see the future? Sometimes! I remember this story so well. I was about 10 years old when mom had an odd dream one night. Little did we know that just a few days later, that dream would save all of our lives! This story below is based on a true story that happened to mom and me, my brother and several of our friends in 1984.
A dream without a plan is just a wish and your dreams will never be your reality with just hopes and wishes. You need to take ACTION.
What you've learned so far
Congratulations! You have made it to the final step! Let's take a look at a quick recap of what we have talked about so far. Evaluate Your Life-we talked about taking a look at your whole life and taking responsibility for your past and future decisions. What We Think About, We Bring About-we learned the power of our minds and how what we think about affects every area of our lives. A Decided Heart-We learned how to get our hearts in the right place and ready to move forward with our dream. You Know Your Most Important Dream, Now What?, Painting The Big Picture-in this step we discussed at length what it looks like to actually put your plan on paper and create a vision for what you want your life to look like. One Foot Forward-here we talked about taking those first steps towards our dream, even if they are just baby steps. In this last step we are going to talk about putting everything you have learned so far into motion.
Don’t give fears and hesitations the energy in your body or the space in your head. Put your blinders on and keep your focus on your plan and your dream. Keep your eyes on the prize ahead of you at the finish line when your dream is no longer just a dream.
First steps to taking action The first thing in starting to take action is you have to actually do something to move forward. You can write all the lists and make all the plans, but unless you actually start taking steps, even baby steps towards your dream, you will never get where you want to be. God has a plan and a purpose for you, (Jeremiah 29:11). And his timing is always right and on time! Even if you missed the boat in your past, you missed all the opportunities that he has given you in the past to make your dreams a reality, it's not too late! God has a way of taking all those missed opportunities that he gave us and some how making them the right time again, often times after we have gone through some "fires" in our lives that have molded us and made us ready to try again. That's called grace. We don't deserve second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or 100 chances to get this life thing right. But God loves us so much more than we deserve and he knows that we are not perfect, that we want to give us all the opportunities we deserve.Read more »
You can’t get to your destination without a road map. How soon do you want your dream to be a reality? Get a pen and a notebook and brainstorm your dream. Are there changes you can make right now? Are there financial hurdles you need to figure out how to get over or resources you need to acquire? Think about all the hurdles you need to overcome and the options you have and things you need to do to make your dream a reality? Are there several options? If not, keep thinking and brainstorming. You need at least 5-10 solid workable options that could help you propel toward your dream. Write them down. As you work through each option you will begin to learn which one will work, which ones might work and which ones won’t work.
Learn to commit to hard things. Decide that you are going to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes no matter what until you are living your dream.
Focusing on Your Number One Dream
Now that you know your number one dream and your why’s, you can start really focusing on it. You’re not trying to figure out just yet how to make it happen, you’re just focusing on it, praying about it, seeking the Lord’s wisdom and direction. How bad do you want it? What are you willing to do to make it a reality? Are you willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes until you are living your dream? If you answered yes to the last question, CONGRATULATIONS! You have a decided heart. If you answered no, either your dream and why’s aren’t big enough or you're letting your fears and hesitations paralyze you.Read more »
"In order to find God plan and purpose for you, you need to seek Him and figure out what He wants you to do with your life. And then say no to everything that isn't that."-Denise Finochiaro
Now that you have evaluated your life and written down your hopes and dreams and gotten yourself into the right mindset, it's time to start really working towards living the dream that God has put into your heart. The first thing you need to next is to have a decided heart!
What is a decided heart?
Having a decided heart means you are willing to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, NO MATTER WHAT, in order to make your dream a reality. But before you can have a decided heart, you need to know what your number one dream is (the one that is MOST important to you) and why. This is the dream that you want more than you want to breathe and that scares you the most. So get out your list of of hopes and dreams and let's get to work!
We change the people around us by changing the people around us. Instead of allowing other people's darkness to surround us, we need to be allowing our light to surround them!
What Are Dream Stealers
Have you ever had an amazing idea that lit your soul on fire and excited you and made you ready to jump all in and start working on your idea? Have you ever told someone you thought you could trust and they not only didn't share your enthusiasm for your idea, they immediately began to tell you all the reasons why your idea would never work? Dreams stealers are people who, often times we know and think we can trust their opinion, and they come in and can quickly squash any good ideas that we might have and by the time they're done, make us feel so unworthy and uncapable of achieving our dreams that we get derailed before we've ever gotten started.
"I had a vision in my mind for what I wanted my life to look like, but when I looked at where I was and ahead at my life down the road if I changed nothing, what I wanted wasn’t what I saw."
Think About What Your Life Looks Like Now
Back in October of 2020, I woke up one day, took a look around at the mess I was in and thought to myself, "How in the world did I get here? Is this really the life God has for me?" The answer was NO!!! But the reason I was where I was in life was because of the poor life decisions I had made up to that point. The first thing I did was look at my WHOLE LIFE. I took a good, long look at my past, my present and my future. I looked at every life decision I had made up to that point and it didn't take me long to figure out why I was where I was at that point in my life. Have you heard the lyric to a song that say, "It's me. Hi. I'm the problem, it's me!" Those words fit me perfectly that day. I was the problem. So often we tend to blame God when things don't go as we planned when we are the problem because we chose to persue a life of our own hope and dreams and not the ones he put in our hearts. You have to know where you’ve been and where you are in order to figure out where you want to go from here. Looking back at the past will give you an idea of why your life looks the way it does now. Evaluate your past decisions with an open heart and mind and you will soon discover why you are where you are in life.
GOD ALWAYS SAYS, “YES,” BUT HIS “YES” IS MORE THAN WE CAN COMPREHEND. WE SEE THE MOMENT, BUT GOD BIDS US WAIT IN EXPTECTATION OF HIS “YES” THAT COVERS THE WHOLE OF US.
“in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (Psalm 5:3).
God’s Answer is “Yes”
But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. –2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Jesus is “Yes.” He is not “No.” The confusion comes when we ask with wrong motives. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
There can be wrong motive even in something so noble as wanting to put a marriage back together. Motives of personal fulfillment, companionship, or security can overshadow the motive of living for Christ in whatever circumstance we are in. Living by God’s principles is not a foolproof insurance policy for marriage. The ultimate goal is not even a wholesome marriage, but rather to be obedient to Christ. When we are obedient to Christ we can find peace no matter what happens.
EXPERIENCE FAITH, LIVE IN FAITH, AND REJOICE IN THE RESULTS OF FAITH. GOD IS THE SOURCE AND GIVER OF FAITH THAT PERMEATES OUR LIVES AND BRINGS RESULTS THAT ONLY GOD CAN DO.
We cannot create faith. Through God, we can experience it.
‘Believe and receive’ is not ‘name it and claim it.’
“Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him.
For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].
And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop” {Mark 11:23-25, Amplified Bible).
Just believe and you have it? Name it and claim it? No, that is not what this Scripture teaches. The type of faith Christ is talking about was taught in the Old Testament also, long before Christ taught it in the New Testament. Of course Christ, through the Holy Spirit who inspired the Old as well as the New Testaments, is the Author of the the following passage from Proverbs as also.
A COMMITMENT TO CHARITY AND GOD’S AGAPE LOVE TO REACH OUR MATE AND MARRIAGE. TEARING DOWN WALLS OF PROTECTION AND BECOMING VULNERABLE IN SERVICE, FLEXIBILITY, COURAGE, FORGIVENESS.
from 1 Corinthians 13, the “Love Chapter.” The Greek word “agape” is translated “love.”
In times like these
I’ve heard that after the wedding bells stop ringing, marriage partners begin to reduce each other to fit their own molds. Ah, but that could never happen to us! Or so I said before we got married.
But now I’m beginning to feel uncomfortably reduced! I thought we knew each other well, but sometimes now I feel I hardly know you at all.
It seems you’re trying to squeeze me into your mold, yet at the same time you’ve smashed all the boundaries which held my cast of an ideal mate.
In times like these, my love can no longer afford to be merely an emotion. In times like these, my love must mature into a ministry, because…
OUR CHOICE: RUN TO TARSHISH, TAKING OUR HOMES INTO THE STORM, BY REFUSING TO FOLLOW GOD’S PLAN FOR WIVES IN THE HOME; OR GO TO THE NINEVEH OF SUBMISSION IN OBEDIENCE TO GOD.
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” Jonah 2:8
Running in the wrong direction
Do you ever turn and run the opposite direction from which God tells you to go? Years ago the prophet Jonah ran from God’s direction too:
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. –Jonah 1:1-3
Selfish motives
God instructed Jonah to go to Nineveh. Why did he not want to go there? Jonah answers this question in chapter 4:
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:1-2)
Jonah didn’t want to go because he knew that the people of Nineveh didn’t deserve God to forgive them. He knew if he preached to them they would repent and be forgiven.
This seems to be the ultimate of selfish excuses. Yet every time we run from God, we are doing it with selfish motives. Like Jonah, many times we are standing in the way of others coming to know Christ, and we may not even realize it.
DEALING WITH MARRIAGE AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS, MEASURING OUR LIVES BY VERSES OF THE GREAT LOVE CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE, CHANGING SELFISHNESS TO GOD’S LOVE, CHALLENGE TO SERVE FREELY.
Studies from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Lord, recreate me in your love
It’s just not fair: one brown sock peeking out from under the recliner (and who knows where the other one is?); a brown and beige striped sport shirt crumpled under the stereo; and, slumped over the corner of the dresser, a pair of brown slacks spilling out a ring of keys and thirty-two cents.
“Love is patient…”
Here comes Diane again. Since she and her family moved next door last month, she has appeared at my door at least three times a week to “borrow a cup of sugar,” or “see if you have a recipe for banana pudding.” Once inside she’ll follow me into the kitchen and ramble for two hours about her sister’s wedding, or her gall-bladder surgery (I’ve heard that four times already), or what a great pitcher little Joey is. Maybe I’ll tell her I don’t have any — no sugar, no recipes, no time.
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