First They Came

By Martin Niemoller - Martin Niemiller (1892-1984) was an ardent nationalist and prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

The Rock / P.U.S.H.

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the devil decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?

Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him.... By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves the mountains. You just P.U.S.H.!

When everything seems to go wrong,... P.U.S.H.!

When the job gets you down,... P.U.S.H.!

When people don't react the way you think they should,... P.U.S.H.!

When your money is short and the bills are due,... P.U.S.H.!

When you want to curse them out for whatever the reason,... P.U.S.H.!

When people just don't understand you,... P.U.S.H.!

P.U.S.H. = Pray Until Something Happens!

How to Make an Awesome First Impression: 6 Powerful Tips

Courtesy of the Positivity Blog at http://www.positivityblog.com/

First impressions are important.

Everyone stereotypes everyone on first impression, even if we are reluctant to do it.

We all get a first impression of a new person that creates a mental image of his or her personality in our minds.

That image of you often lasts and can affect the relationship that follows.

Another thing is that we often play different roles in relationships. With our parents we play one role, with friends another, with someone we are interested in/in love with a third, when shopping for clothes in a store a fourth. And so on.

A good or great first impression can create a positive role in the minds of the new people we meet. When we meet them again, we are often drawn back into this role. Sometimes it happens almost unconsciously until you after a few minutes notice that you have fallen into your old role - like when you meet friends you haven't seen in years - in that dynamic once again. You may not always be drawn into that role. But if you do it sure is better to have a positive than a negative role saved for you.

Here are some of the things I've learned about improving first impressions. Of course, different environments like business meetings with suits and ties or parties with colourful drinks come with different goals and expectations. So figure out what's appropriate and useful in each meeting.

1. Don't think too much.

First, perhaps the most important tip: don't think too much. This will help you let the conversation flow easily and you won't become self conscious and nervous. Try, as much as possible, to stay focused on the people you are talking to rather than focusing on yourself.

2. Act as if you are meeting a good friend.

If you just imagine that the person you will met/have just met and are talking to is one of your best friends you'll probably adjust unconsciously and start to smile, open up your body language to a very friendly and warm position and reduce any nervousness or weirdness in your tone of voice and body language. This technique is also a great help to stop over-thinking and it puts you in the present moment again. Don't overdo it though, you might not want to hug and kiss right away.

The nice thing about this is that you may also start to feel positive feelings towards this new person, just as you do with your friend when you meet him/her. This is a pretty good starting point for getting them to reciprocate and for developing a good relationship.

3. Stand and sit up straight.

Keeping a good but relaxed posture certainly improves on the impression one makes. Don't slouch. Sit or stand up straight.

4. Be positive.

Sometimes you can go in all positive in a first meeting. Sometimes it may not be the best approach to go in too positive as it can be seen as bit abrasive or feel like a bit too much for the other person. A better way to convey a positive attitude in a first meeting can then be to read the mood of person(s) before you start talking - by just watching them - and then match it for a short while. Then - when you have an emotional connection - you can let your positivity arise a bit more.

Regardless if you start out positive from the get-go or a short while into the meeting, be sure to positive. If you, for instance, start a first meeting by complaining, there's a big chance the people you meet will mentally label you as a complainer or a negative person.

5. Mentally rehearse before you even enter the room.

Visualize how great the events will unfold - see and hear it - and also how great will you feel at this meeting.

See yourself smiling, being positive, open and having a great time. See the excellent outcome in your mind. Then release by visualizing that it has already happened, that the meeting is over with the desired result. This is surprisingly effective and will get you into a great and relaxed mood before even stepping into the first, second or twentieth meeting.

You may want to not think much at all (tip #1) or act as if you are meeting a good friend (tip #2) or use a positive mental rehearsal before a meeting. Try them all and see which one - or combination - that works best for you.

6. The words you use to start the conversation with aren't always that important.

As long as you use some of the tips above it will usually not really matter too much what word or phrase you use to start the conversation. The words are only 7 percent of your communication. 93 percent is in your tone of voice and your body language. Sure, those numbers - that comes from a study that psychologist Albert Mehrabian did - may not always be completely accurate in a conversation.

But the point is; don't over-think things. A simple "Hi!" backed up by a relaxed and confident smile may do just fine.

5 Key Concepts About People

From the book, “Becoming A Person of Influence” by John Maxwell

1.Everyone wants to be someone.
2.Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
3.Everyone needs someone.
4.Everyone can be someone when somebody understands and believes in him or her.
5.Someone who helps others influences a lot of bodies.

What does hope do for mankind?

Hope shines brightest when the hour is darkest.
Hope motivates when discouragement comes.
Hope energizes when the body is tired.
Hope sweetens when the bitterness bites.
Hope sings when all melodies are gone.
Hope believes when the evidence is eliminated.
Hope listens for answers when no one is talking.
Hope climbs over obstacles when no one is helping.
Hope endures hardship when no one is caring.
Hope smiles confidently when no one is laughing.
Hope reaches for answers when no one is asking.
Hope presses toward victory when no one is encouraging.
Hope dares to give when no one is sharing.

Quotes to Live By

Success is not final, failure in not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Peace is not the absence of troubles, trials and torment, but calm in the midst of them.
Don Meyer

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
Harriet Beecher Stowe

We must become the change we want to see in the world.
Gandhi

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.
Michael Korda

The only one who can limit your possibilities is you.
Joe Gordon

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Theodore Roosevelt

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
Vince Lombardi

Success in life consists of going from one mistake to the next without losing your enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill

Be what you is because if you be what you ain't, you ain't what you is.
Don Meyer

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.
Willis R. Whitney

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
Lao Tzu

The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.
Richard M. Devos

Most men live lives of quiet desperation.
Henry David Thoreau

To me success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents 1% of your work that results from the 99% that is called failure.
Soichiro Honda

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Martin Luther King

Instead of focusing on how big your problems are, focus on how big your God is! He is everything you need. He is the Great I AM, and He is the one leading and guiding you into victory in every area of your life!
Joel Osteen

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.
Unknown

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
1 Corinthians 9:24

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
Albert Schweitzer

To have a peace that passes understanding, you must give up your right to understand.
Don Meyer

Men do not fail; they give up trying.
Elihu Root

Your hopes, dreams, and aspirations are legitimate. They are trying to take you airborne, above the clouds, above the storms, if you only let them.
William James

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.
Henry David Thoreau

Stay away from people who belittle your aspirations. Small people do that. But the truly great people in the world will make you believe that you, too, can one day become great.
Mark Twain

My advice to you is never stop believing.
Lance Armstrong

To be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing its best to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
e.e. cummings

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas Edison

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.
Ella Fitzgerald

Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
Winston Churchill

Lots of people limit their possibilities by giving up easily. Never tell yourself this is too much for me. It's no use. I can't go on. If you do you're licked, and by your own thinking too. Keep believing and keep on keeping on.
Norman Vincent Peale

But only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'Twas always thus, and always thus will be.
John Keating (Dead Poets Society)

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.
Samuel Smiles

Mind is all that counts. You can be whatever you make up your mind to be.
Robert Collier

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is not about how to achieve your dreams, it is about how you live your life. If you live the right way, the Karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.
Randy Pausch

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail
Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.
Unknown

You must be strong now. You must never give up. And when people make you cry and you are afraid of the dark, don't forget the light is always there.
Unknown

Life is not easy for any of us. We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.
Marie Curie

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.
Samuel Beckett

Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win.
Bernadette Devlin

It's not the critic that counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or whether the doer of deeds could have done them better...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and often comes up short again and again. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. And who, if at best in the end, knows the triumph of higher treatment and high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his soul shall never be with those cold and timid ones, who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

Our deepest fear is not that we are powerless. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
Marianne Williamson

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you -- gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.
Tennessee Williams

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
Ronald Reagan

Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.
Samuel Johnson

Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: It is the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any circumstances, to choose one's way.
Victor Frankl

Try and fail, but don't fail to try.
Steven Kaggwa

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
Vincent Van Gogh

If you're going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill

I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.
Frank Lloyd Wright

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie

Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.
Unknown

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
Confucius

When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, 'Try it one more time.'
Unknown

Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful.
Brian Tracy

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennedy

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough.
Randy Pausch

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow."
Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
Aristotle

Are You Going to Finish Strong with Nick Vujicic ?

Great man, great example, great lesson!

Are You Going to Finish Strong with Nick Vujicic ?, posted with vodpod

Your Good Deeds Make Their Way Back To You

Just for today find someone to encourage and inspire to reach their full potential. What you put out in the world will inevitably make its way back to you. I'm the first to admit that when we are experiencing particularly hard times this appears to be the farthest thing from the truth.

However, there are any number of reasons this is true, the simplest of which can be explained in that people as a general rule like to associate with, gravitate towards, and yes, when they're in a position to do so make the choice to work with, and hire those people who have an upbeat and positive attitude -- and who look for the good in situations.

As you move through your day today keep the following saying in mind, "life's like a boomerang, the more good you throw out, the more you receive in return."

To prove the truth in the ideas shared above, carry a little journal around, keep track of how many times your "good deeds" make their way back to you in the course of a month or two.

Don't go into this little exercise looking to prove it wrong, or more than likely that's precisely what you'll end up doing.

Remember, more often than not we get exactly what we focus on, whether that's a good thing or not depends at least to some degree on what you and I go looking for and take notice of in life.

It's your life, LIVE BIG!

By Josh Hinds

Add Up Your Securities

by Norman Vincent Peale

One reason people have weak or little faith is because they focus on insecurity. As a result, they develop a haunting feeling that something bad is going to happen. And, as a result a cloud of sinister uncertainty is looming over them. A person can't dwell on insecurity without feeling insecure. And faith has great difficulty in taking root in a soil of insecurity. A simple way to counteract all this negative thinking is to add up your “securities.”

To do this, make a list of the dependable and secure factors with which you are surrounded. Such things as the good earth, whose seed time and harvest can be depended upon. The sun never fails to come back and shine through the clouds. You have the love of your wife or husband, the love of children. Your heart still beats. You can eat and walk and think.

Go on and add to the list and over it all write the words “God” and “Jesus Christ.” As you habitually add up your securities, feelings of insecurity will diminish. Your faith will grow stronger.

Use these Bible passages to help you regain your strength and security.

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (Psalm 18:2)

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13)

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10)

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. (Psalm 46:2)

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

When You're Worried

When life seems overwhelming and you are filled with worry, this two-minute "time-out" for your soul can help.

READ: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

REFLECT: I sank into the chair in the hospital waiting room. Poor Mother! First, Dad's death and now this. If she survived this broken hip, how could she get along, living alone? The more I thought about Mother's future, the more bleak it seemed. Then I noticed a plaque on the wall with this quotation: "One act of thanksgiving made when things go wrong is worth a thousand when things go well."

All of my prayers for my mother during the long days that followed were thanksgivings, and I came to know that, no matter what happened, God was in control.

Mother did recover and was able to live in her own home for her remaining years. And that quotation has rescued me from negative thinking many times since. If there's something wrong in your life today, remember one act of thanksgiving can be worth a thousand.

By Marilyn Morgan King