In this episode, I talk about the importance of looking back through your life to examine all of the miracles that have happened in your life. By looking at what you have come through, you will find strength and encouragement to face current and future obstacles. Do you believe in miracles? You should because you are one! Listen as I unpack this important mindset.

Quotes from the show:
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. — Albert Einstein
If your life were a book and you were the author, how would you want your story to go? — Amy Purdy
Don’t let the miracles that haven’t happened yet blind you to the ones that already have! — Bruce Van Horn
Show Outline:


Are you in a rough place right now where you think only a miracle can save you?
Dr. James Dobson shared one my articles with his audience

Don’t let the miracles that haven’t happened yet blind you to the ones that already have!


Are you letting your emotions rule your choices?

It is so easy to let our emotions, particularly our fears, to dominate our thoughts and choices.
Our "negative" emotions, like anger, anxiety, fear, stress, betrayal, worry create a kind of "mental myopia"

Nearsightedness
We can't remember our past and the previous low points we've overcome
We can't see a future where all of what's happening now has been resolved favorably
We only see the present and a life filled with more of the same


In the midst of crisis, all we can see is the immediate, insurmountable need

We need to focus on the problem, but as calmly and rationally as possible
What we really need is a new perspective

a different way of seeing things
there are more options than we think!




The myopia of crisis often turns usintoparanoids


We think the world, God, universe is out to get us or punish us
We can only think of ourselves, our pain and struggle
We forget we are part of a much bigger plan; that we are loved by many and we have come so far, though so much already!




Emotional, spiritual endurance is so important! It's what this show is all about

When the hard times come, you'll have the strength, the resources, techniques to get through them
It gives you the ability to detach, in a healthy way, from the "now is all that exists" pattern of thinking
Allows you to see that the tree in front of you is part of much larger forest
Allows you to see more options, ponder and choose the best one
Can turn us into "reverseparanoids"

God, the universe, people, want us to succeed and are here to help us
This is just a challenge, a test, not a punishment




Replay the past to find your "Ebenezers"

Ebenezer means "Stone of help"
Monuments, reminders of having come through a hard time, or remind you of a place you never what to go back to
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing - Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I’ve come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.


If you have been alive for very long, you have experienced miracles in your life

So many things are unexplainable by rational thought

Bags of groceries, envelopes containing cash
Missed or changed flights
So many amazing 911 stories


Miracles/Accomplishments:

You were born
You learned to walk and talk
You've lived as long as you have in this fragile, dangerous world
Sometimesweare blinded to the miracles in our lives because we think we've produced them

Cynical: why give thanks for something I did by myself
Question: just because we did it ourselves, does that make it any less of a miracle?




Perspective: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle" — Albert Einstein

Sometimes the miracle is simply our decision to make the best of a hard circumstance