Dishing Out Delays?

Here we are and New Year’s on our doorstep.  Already?  Where did the year go?  Often just days prior to welcoming in this holiday, people tend to reflect on their past year.  People usually use this time to reset their internal clocks and, wipe

the slate clean, making resolutions for change.  

As I got older, I quit making so many resolutions.  I used to write out a personal chart with goals to reach in the coming year.  I’d hang it where I would come across it several times a day.  It stayed as a constant reminder.  By the end of that year approximately 80% of what I had promised myself to do, I did.  

Somehow, I had lost sight of this great tool of encouragement and quit using it.  I became complacent about change.  Often the biggest obstacle in accomplishing goals is procrastination.  Change isn't easy.  Growth is painful.  I remember when my children were growing up complaining about certain joint pain.  Often, I would respond with, “Oh, those are just growing pains”.  And sure enough, as they matured, the pain ceased.   

Sometimes we have to go through growth spurts that hurt.

Being a mom of six, I can relate this to the birthing process.  I will never forget my first pregnancy, there were nine months of morning sickness that lasted morning, noon, and night.  Why on earth would they call it morning sickness?  

"Ugh, don't say it, don't say it, I'm warning you...
don't mention .....blahhhhhh"

Nine months of weight gain and sobbing in front of a mirror as my body morphed into unrecognizable proportions.  

Nine long months of feeling misunderstood by Hubby with the hormonal changes.

There were six months of feet swelling, and backaches. And during the last trimester had four months of insomnia tossing and turning to get comfortable.   Then the day of delivery arrives.  I spent eighteen hours in excruciating labor, exhausted, and vowing to NEVER EVER DO THIS AGAIN!  

GET IT OUT...NOW!

Yet, when that precious miracle of life made entry into this world, it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.  

At that very moment, I truly forgot the pain.  It was suddenly worth every nauseating, ankle swelling moment.  The nine months of grueling changes within my body and war scars left were worth every sting.  Worth it so much, I did it five more times!

It takes risk to be willing to change.  It takes patience in the waiting as your life morphs into something greater.  Sometimes it takes tears shed, loneliness, unpopularity, scoffers, and failure as you focus on God's plan and direction.  There will be sleepless nights, and tiresome days.  

Some weeks you may feel the thrill of approaching the top of a mountain, and then other times painfully sliding down the bumpy foothill.  But keep climbing back up that mountain one step at a time.  If you focus on how far you have to go, it will never happen.  You will become discouraged and quit. 

This is in any situation.  Whether your trying to lose weight, finish writing a novel, looking for a better job, raising a tough teen, finish college, becoming a better father, mother or starting a business .  Whatever it may be, don't set the scale so high, that when you don't see immediate results you give up.  

Success is never achieved without failure.  How do you know if you can achieve anything if you never try and try again? 

By not trying we cause our own delays, using excuses as to why we are not where we want to be.  No one has that hold on us. Except, the Almighty God himself.  It isn't because we can't, it is because we won't!

Here are just a few examples of the ones who took risk, and never gave up on their resolutions.  

 

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas."  In 1921, Walt formed his first animation company in Kansas City, where he made a deal with a distribution company in New York, in which he would ship them his cartoons and get paid six months down the road. He was forced to dissolve his company and at one point could not pay his rent and reportedly survived by eating dog food.  When Walt first tried to get MGM studios to distribute Mickey Mouse in 1927, he was told that the idea would never work because a giant mouse on the screen would terrify women.

Fred Astaire was told he "can't act." In his first screen test, the testing director of MGM noted that Astaire, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." Astaire later insisted that the report had actually read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances." David O. Selznick, who signed Astaire to RKO and commissioned the test, stated in a memo, "I am uncertain about the man, but I feel, in spite of his enormous ears and bad chin-line that his charm is so tremendous that it comes through even on this wretched test."  Astaire, who went on to become an Oscar-nominated actor, singer and dancer, reportedly kept the negative note in his Beverly Hills home to remind him of where he came from.

Sidney Poitier was told to become a dishwasher.  After his first audition, Poitier, who grew up poor in the Bahamas, was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?"  Poitier went on to win an Oscar for "Lilies of the Field" in 1964 and 1967's super successful "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

Steven Spielberg got rejected from film school ... three times.

The Beatles were dropped by their record label.  Decca Recording studios, who had recorded 15 songs with the group, said "we don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. They have no future in show business."

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.  Michael Jordan went home and cried in the privacy of his bedroom.  But Jordan didn't let this early-in-life setback stop him from playing the game and the basketball superstar has stated, "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Steve Jobs was removed from the company he started.  He was a college dropout, a fired tech executive and an unsuccessful businessman.  At 30-years-old he was left devastated after being unceremoniously removed from the company he founded.  In a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, Jobs explained, "I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."  After his return to Apple, Jobs created several iconic products, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad, which have changed the face of consumer technology forever. And Jobs became one of the richest men in the world.

Elvis Presley got fired after his first performance.  In 1954, Elvis was still a no-name performer, and Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one performance telling him, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck

Albert Einstein: Most of us take Einstein's name as synonymous with genius, but he didn't always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bit longer, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics.

Isaac Newton: Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well in school and when put in charge of running the family farm, he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.

Orville and Wilbur Wright: These brothers’ battled depression and family illness before starting the bicycle shop that would lead them to experimenting with flight. After numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and stay there.

Abraham Lincoln: While today he is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of our nation, Lincoln's life wasn't so easy. In his youth he went to war a captain and returned a private (if you're not familiar with military ranks, just know that private is as low as it goes.)

Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime, and this was to a friend for a very small amount of money. While Van Gogh was never a success during his life, he plugged on with painting, sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works. Today, they bring in hundreds of millions.

Emily Dickinson who was a recluse and poet a commonly read and loved writer. Yet in her lifetime she was all but ignored, having fewer than a dozen poems published out of her almost 1,800 completed works.

Theodor Seuss Giesel -nearly every child has read The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham, yet 27 different publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.

Charles Schultz -Schultz's Peanuts comic strip has had enduring fame, yet this cartoonist had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Even after high school, Schultz didn't have it easy, applying and being rejected for a position working with Walt Disney.

All of these individuals had one thing in common. THEY NEVER GAVE UP!  They didn’t procrastinate their way through.  They stayed focused despite the nay-sayers, rejection, and incredible odds against them.  Delay nor excuses was ever an option.

I don’t want to be a procrastinator this year.  After reading the meaning of the word “procrastinate”, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

pro•cras•ti•nate - to be slow or late about doing something that should be done: to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy, etc.

And there it is!  “Because you do not want to do it”!  I had to really chew on that for a moment, and think… “Am I procrastinating in certain areas of my life simply because I do not want to do it?”  “Am I really one of the lazy?” 

Proverbs 26:13-15

The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!" As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.

Did you notice that –“He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again” Too lazy?  

What is God asking you to do this year?  Are you hungry enough to feed yourself the knowledge it will take to complete the task HE has set before you?  Or will you starve yourself of the blessings, joy, and peace that only HE can bring to the table. This being done through HIS word, prayer, and worship?

People often fall flat choosing to never get back up due to the 'this is as good as it gets' mentality.  It’s too much work, pain, or effort.  Who wants to hurt?  Who wants to fail?  But who wants to spend a lifetime of regret because they delayed their decision to purposely work towards destiny?  Not only are you robbing yourself, but the others around you who can be blessed by you and your actions.

Move ahead in faith, and prayer.  Asking God to guide your steps throughout each day of this next year.  I challenge you to face the faith factor one step at a time.

"Faith is taking the first step… even when you don't see the whole staircase"  -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I declare this to be a year of decision, and destiny.  A year of change, and pursuing the things of God with a vengeance.

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  - Philippians 3:14

PLAYING FOR CHANGE SONG! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Brenda A. Graff
Founder
FOOD FOR SOUL MAGAZINE

WWW.FOODFORSOULMAGAZINE.COM

http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/http://www.businessinsider.com/15-people-who-failed-before-becoming-famous-2012-10?op=1#ixzz3NOXFmyjE

Something About the Name Jesus - The Rance Allen Group feat. Kirk Franklin

FA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA?

Yesterday while driving out of the parking lot of an overcrowded grocery store, I was about run over.  I was just trying to get out of the mayhem of vehicles blocking every section to get home!

"Stop texting and drive will ya!"

There were so many cars!  Everyone was in a frenzy stocking up for the holidays.  You could hear the Christmas music blaring, see some vehicles decked out like reindeer, and spot someone with a Santa hat.  Yet, there was something terribly missing.

As I worked my way through the droves of vehicles, and people walking preoccupied on cells phones... 

 "Yes, technical support, I'm still here..."

I began to notice a trend.  I witnessed people getting in and out of their vehicles with the exact same expression on their face.  I noticed drivers too had become ridden with this strange countenance.  What was going on?  It was as if their bodies had been consumed by alien life, and insanely morphing .

  

It was creepy to watch as drivers turned their surly faces towards me as a warning to not budge in their direction.  

"Don't even think about it!"

I was becoming trapped in the circle of sinister shoppers.  

Where was the joy?  Have we forgotten what Christmas is about?  Why during the most prominent giving season do people become so cynical and self-centered?  

"Hey that was MY candy cane!"

I understand the rushing about trying to get through a store, traffic, and crowds.  It can be quite the merry mood breaker.  Yet, it doesn’t have to be.  ‘Tis the season to be jolly’ is it not?

When I was dropping off items to be donated at the food pantries, and Pregnancy Help Centers this week, I was shocked to find that so few donations had been received during this month.  I was told that despite the greater need during the holidays that this is when donations fall short.  I always believed that giving would increase during Christmas.

It really doesn’t take much to buy a few extra cans of food each trip to the grocery store.  You can set up a stock pile to donate each month. Start a collection at your church. It does make a difference to families in need.  It is the reason for the season as we celebrate Christ birth.  We should be cheerful givers. 

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

This could be in the form of giving away a smile, hug, or the right of way in a crowded parking lot.  We don’t have to shop with scowling distorted faces. 

"Where's the frickin' check-out?"

There is much we can do with little by having the right attitude, and not allowing the commercialism of Christmas consume us.

I heard on the news that a child had been collecting coupons and purchasing items to resell accumulating a profit of $10,000.  He used some of that to donate.  That gave me an idea.  Even if you are not an extreme coupon clipper…and maybe you don’t want a stockpile in your kitchen, or hate grocery shopping…you can still make a difference by collecting them.  Here’s how.  

Send FOOD FOR SOUL MAGAZINE your coupons, and in turn we will gladly clip, shop, and donate!

FOOD FOR SOUL MAGAZINE has been operating since beginning as a ministry of help to those in need.  We make no profit at the present!  We are in need of funding for families in crisis, and becoming a 501C NON-PROFIT.  This can come by advertisers, or donations.  We want to continue to serve the local community and abroad, any gifts would be appreciated, even if mailing us coupons! 

Here are just a few local charities or individuals we recently served:  T.E.A.M., PREGNANCY HELP CENTER OF TOMBALL, and the homeless.  We deliver freshly cooked pizza and water to the homeless in our local community twice a month.  Abroad we are helping to fund wells worldwide through WATER FOR LIFE.   We were able to help several families this past week.  

Another way to help for those who like to shop, would be to visit your local resale stores for baby items, such as onesies, jackets, and baby blankets.  We managed to purchase 17 items at merely .77 cents or less.  These items will be handed to parents attending classes at the Pregnancy Help Centers that have chosen to raise a life rather then dismiss it through abortion.  

The food donations were enough to feed up to 7 families this week.  I would love to do so much more and with your help we can! 

Please mail any contributions and or items to:

FOOD FOR SOUL MAGAZINE

P.O. BOX 304

TOMBALL, TX 77377

If you have any questions, email us at:

inspireme@foodforsoulmagazine.com

All items and donations are tax deductible.

May God keep the ‘jolly’ in your journey out and about this Christmas!  God Bless

SPREAD THE WORD BY SHARING AND LIKING US ON FaceBooK, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google Plus!

Brenda A. Graff
Founder
Food For Soul Magazine

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO WATER FOR LIFE PROJECT

WWW.FOODFORSOULMAGAZINE.COM

got book?

It does the body good. 

                

I love to read!  Reading exercises your mind, and depending on what you fill it up with, can encourage, strengthen, and enhance your character.  This in turn can do the body good.  How?  When you are taking in content that is inspiring, or helpful, don’t you want to share it with someone?  

If it impacts your life, don’t you want to spread the good news?  If you had a long standing medical illness, and finally discovered the cure, would you hoard the information, or share it with another suffering?  In sharing it helps somebody!

Personally, when I discover something that works, I can’t get the info out quick enough.  I seek after authors that are intelligible, inspirational, and God-minded to aid in my ministry and raising of my family.  Whether the topics be on spiritual, or practical living.

I’ve stood in long lines waiting for autographs for some of the most well-known authors and speakers.  Once on crutches, sweating profusely in pain after moving most of the night, waited for hours to meet Joyce Meyers.  

Most recently had the pleasure of meeting the well-known former  atheist now pastor, speaker, journalist, apologist, and Christian author,  Lee Strobel.

I have a collection of autographed books from over the years I plan to hand down to my children, and pray they appreciate and read them.  These are books that have in so many ways, changed my life.  The words in my collection are influential.  They leave a mark of Christ on every page, but most of all an imprint on the soul.

However, I think the greatest author of all is still God.  Who but God can write pages exploding with adventure, mystery, action, romance, drama, history, and yes, even comedy.  

It is the book that has changed lives for over 1500 years.  He wrote 66 books!  There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

The Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by over 40 different authors from all walks of life: shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians, fishermen, priests, philosophers and kings. 

The bible was written over a period of some 1,500 years, from around 1450 B.C. (the time of Moses) to about 100 A.D. (following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).

It was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.

The entire New Testament as we know it today, was canonized before the year 375 A.D. The Old Testament had previously been canonized long before the advent of Christ.

"Canon" is derived front the Greek word "Kanon," signifying a measuring rod. It had been measured by the standard or test of divine inspiration and authority. 

It became the collection of books or writings accepted by the apostles and leadership of the early Christian church as a basis for Christian belief. 

The first translation of the Bible was made into English 1382 A.D., by John Wycliffe.  The Bible was printed in 1454 A.D. by Johannes Gutenberg who invented the "type mold" for the printing press. 

It was the FIRST BOOK EVER printed!

The Holy Bible has been translated into 2,018 languages, with countless more partial translations, and audio translations (for unwritten languages).  

The Bible is still the best-selling book 

in the world!

Some scholars have found indications in the scriptures, that Jesus Christ had a sense of humor. Yet, there is some that believe that humor and Christianity don’t mix.  Some look at religion so seriously, that they skip over the really good parts of this magnificent book.  Their still stuck in the legalistic chapters of ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ to further read the pages full of joy, promise, hope, redemption, and yes even laughter.

There are many episodes and dialogues in scripture where irony and sarcasm are used.  I was told once that sarcasm really had no place in Christianity, that it was not a fruit of the spirit   (Galatians 5:22-23)

This baffled me since I was created in God’s imagine, a God who experiences feelings, and emotions such as:

Anger – Psalm 7:11; Deuteronomy 9:22; Romans 1:18

Laughter – Psalm 37:13; Psalm 2:4; Proverbs 1:26

Compassion – Psalm 135:14; Judges 2:18; Deuteronomy 32:36

Grief – Genesis 6:6; Psalm 78:40; Isaiah 68:10

Love – 1 John 4:8; John 3:16; Jeremiah 31:3

Hate – Proverbs 6:16; Psalm 5:5; Psalm 11:5

Jealousy – Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14; Joshua 24:19

Joy – Zephaniah 3:17; Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 32:41

I am sure that God doesn’t want us to use sarcasm to hurt others.  It can be used in expressing a point across to an audience needing laughter.  God loves laughter, after all He created it.

A cheerful heart is good medicine. -Proverbs 17:22

A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life. -Proverbs 14:30 

The One enthroned in heaven laughs. -Psalm 2:4 

Here are just a few examples of comical episodes in the Bible:

Judges 7:13 -Gideon had a dream of a giant loaf of bread destroying the enemy camp.

Matthew 21:18-19— "Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, 'May you never bear fruit again!' Immediately the tree withered."

God upset with a tree?

Just imagine Jesus yelling at a tree while the apostles all stand about awkwardly.

Numbers 22 - When Balaam’s donkey inexplicably started talking and explained why animal cruelty is wrong.

"Dude! Have you ever seen Donkeys Gone Wild?"

Isaac's very name means laughter in Hebrew, and was chosen because of the joy his parents Abraham and Sarah experienced when he was born.

In Genesis 17- Abram was 99 years old, when God declared his new name: "Abraham" – "a father of many nations". Abraham was told that Sarah would have a son. 

Shortly after, Abraham were visited by three men and told by one that upon his return next year, Sarah would have a son. 

Sarah overheard the conversation and laughed to herself about the prospect of having a child at their ages.  Sarah was W-A-Y past child bearing years, and well Abraham at his age must have felt some pressure to perform, and we all know Viagra didn't exist back in those days. 

For Sarah, the thought of giving birth and nursing a child, at such an old age, brought her much laughter, as she declared, 

"God hath made me to laugh, [so that] all that hear will laugh with me."  -Genesis 21:6

"Pa, your going to have to baby-proof the tent"

If God didn’t have a sense of humor then how in the world would He have made Sarah laugh so hard, she named  her child after it?

If you took on the Bible like a Stephen King fiction, with anticipation, mystery solving, and action you could never get bored.  You would desire to spend time in it and discover meaning and purpose in ways you never imagined, and yes, occasionally laugh.  It would build strength, character, and joy.  You would want to share it with the whole world. 

The Bible would become your food for soul.  You would crave the stimulus it brings to the table.  You would savor every spoonful of words jumping off the page.  You would experience the presence of the greatest Author ever known as the crescendos of hope spring up in your soul.  

Read the Bible, it really does do the body good!

But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  -Matthew 4:4

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QUENCH A THIRSTY SOUL - CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW

Brenda A. Graff
Founder of Food For Soul Magazine
www.foodforsoulmagazine.com

References

American Bible Society, 1865 Broadway, New York, NY 10023

Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1927, 1965).

Maxwell, Arthur. Your Bible And You (Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1959).

Mickelson, A. Berkley and Alvera. Understanding Scripture (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1982, 1992).

Unger, Merrill F. TH.D., PH.D. Unger's Bible Handbook (Chicago: Moody Press, 1967)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/16/books.italy