Unexpected Showers of Tenderness

By Robert H. Schuller

"I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy." - Psalm 116:1 (TNIV)

At the darkest time in life, and at the weariest moment of our existence, when it appears that God has forsake or forgotten us, when we cannot comprehend or see evidence of the goodness of God, He will come and bestow mercy and tenderness.

If, in your time of tragedy, you will cling with a childlike faith to God, He will visit you with a tender kiss of mercy.

I remember a day when I endured a weird assortment of irritations, conflicts, and tensions. I finally arrived home at five-thirty, went to my bedroom, tried in vain to relax, and prayed without any apparent relief.

Then suddenly God answered my prayer in a most remarkable way. My bedroom door opened. Slowly, cautiously, my little girl peeked through the opening of the doorway. Her big brown eyes appeared through the slot in the door and, judging that it was safe, she suddenly threw the door wide open, ran to the edge of the bed, and the next thing I knew her soft silky hair was flowing over my eyelids and caressing my lips.

Her soft cheek was on mine. She kissed and hugged me, then drew swiftly back as if she was expecting me to say, "What do you want?" And she said, "I just wanted to kiss you, because I love you, Daddy."

And abruptly she whirled out, skipping and running, and the door closed behind her. She was gone, but I found myself relaxed. I drew strength from this unexpected invasion of affection.

So God comes to us at the trying times in life with an unexpected shower of tenderness.
An unexpected shower of tenderness can soften even the hardest heart.
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My Father, thank You for hearing the silent sobs of my heart, and for knowing the unexpressed needs of my life that leave me very much in need of Your tender and loving touch. Your goodness surrounds me. I love you, Lord.

Here's today's proven step to success!

Step 4. Integrity

Not doing what's wrong is a given, most people understand this. If you're not doing this already, it's probably a good idea to start.Integrity is more than that though. It is also doing what you consider to be right.Keeping your word is an important part of integrity.

To be asuccess you will need the help of people. Who would you rather want to help? Someone who is unreliable? Makes excuses? Goes back on their word? Or, someone who reliable and trust worthy? Being known as a person of your word will get you farther than almost any thingelse on the path to success.

Take responsibility.

If you make a mistake, the right thing to do is admit it.

A person of integrity does even more; they try to fix it.

Taking responsibility does not mean making excuses. Just saying you are wrong may not be enough either. Take charge and do your best tomake it right.

Act with integrity and you will attract those with a similar mindset to your own!

Just to recap, we've discussed the following proven steps to lead you to never-ending success: Step1. Honesty

Step2. Seek Proper Advice

Step3. Enthusiasm

Step4. IntegrityStep

5. ...check your Email tomorrow!

To your success,

Gary EvansGood

To Feel Good http://www.goodtofeelgood.com/

Step 2: SEEK PROPER ADVICE

The second proven step to success is knowing where to seek GOODadvice... Everyone's got an opinion these days, but why should youlisten to their opinion?

Step 2. Seek Proper Advice

Most people feel advice is worth what it costs - nothing. This is probably true in most cases. Do you want to know the ultimate secret about seeking advice?

It is very simple, but often overlooked. Here it is. Ask the right person for the right advice. Don't let the sheer simplicity of this statement trick you. It is very powerful, but also easy to overlook. This technique works in any field - health, spiritual matters, business, finances,relationships, and so on.Let's say you are having some small problem with your spouse. Would it make sense to complain to a divorced friend and then ask for their advice? Or, would it make more sense to seek the advice of acouple who has been happily married for 30 years?

Obviously, if youwant to have a successful marriage, the latter choice makes a lot more sense, yet people tend to be care free in asking for and giving advice. Here is some advice that may actually be worth something. Starting now, try to ask yourself this question before seeking advice."What makes this person qualified to give me advice".To be fair, when someone asks you for advice that you are less than qualified to give, let them know and try to steer them in the rightdirection to someone who is well experienced with the subject.Be warned though! If you are asking someone who has "been there and done that", then you have to be willing to follow their advice.

After all they've already mapped out a route that successfully worked for them. Should you seek a second opinion? Yes! Take advice from the professionals in that field and take advice from many of them. If the response is congruent with the majority of them then you know you've just found some good advice.

It is easier to be carefree in seeking advice, but it is alwaysmore productive when you seek it from experts.

Until tomorrow...Wishing you much success,

Gary Evans

Good To Feel Good

CORRI TEN BOOM

God is Always with You

By Robert A. Schuller

"As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." -Joshua 1:5b

Even if you are traveling alone in this life, you are never really alone - God is with you. I was reminded of this one day as I sat visiting with Corrie ten Boom in her home in Southern California.

Corrie was a marvelous Dutch Christian woman whose family hid Jews and others and was imprisoned for it in a Nazi concentration camp for several years, survived and was eventually released. As we sat visiting, Corrie pulled a blade of grass from her pocket and told me this story: "There was a point in my life in the concentration camp when I didn't feel like I could go on another day. I woke up one morning and said, 'God, where are You? Are you alive or are You dead?' All day I wrestled with the existence of God.

When I went to sleep that night I was filled with anger toward Him because of all the evil and horrors of the concentration camp. When I awoke the next morning, a beam of light was shining down through a tiny crack in the ceiling. I followed the stream of light and saw it was shining on a blade of grass in the corner of my cell.

It hadn't been there the day before - or at least I hadn't noticed it. When I saw that tiny sign of life, I knew God was there with me and that He hadn't forgotten me." Corrie was the only one in her family to survive the Nazi persecutions and one of the few who lived to tell her story. But as Corrie's story demonstrates, in the deepest struggles of life and in the most hellish of circumstances, God is with you!
Just because you can't see God in your life doesn't mean He's not there.

First step to success

Success is something you have to practice and so these seven important proven steps will provide the perfect foundation for you to build upon. So, to get you started immediately, here's your first success principle!

Step 1. Honesty

Lying for personal gain always ends up being counter-productive in the long run. Why? Because truth is the foundation upon which our dealings with others are built. Being a person of your word is a vital element to success. In the words of William Shakespeare: "The good I stand on is my truth and honesty".

Success is not achieved entirely by yourself. On your way to success you will undoubtedly be aided by other people. If you are not honest with them you will only create feelings of bitterness.If you are not honest with yourself you will wonder why you are where you are. Any success you achieve using dishonesty will be artificial.

What is really surprising is that sometimes the truth is just as easy to tell. For whatever reason, people still choose to lie.

The first step to shifting to a more honesty centered self is recognizing the lie and correcting it right away. Ask yourself, "How does this impact my life?" If you are being honest with yourself, you will see that you probably have a lot of work to do. I feel it is easier to be objective than it is to be honest. You should consider adopting the approach that your words are gold.As a deliberate creator you must realise that in order to create your world just as you want it, your words and thoughts will play a huge roll in that.

If you are using your words without any real meaning behind them, then why should the universe take your words as serious requests?Statements such as:- I'll call you back tomorrow- I'm too busy to chat right now- I can't see you tonight, I have too much on All of these can cause the power of your word to weaken, if you say them without attaching any truth to them. When you give your word and don't mean or honour it, you detract from your power to deliberately create your own experiences.The concept of being truthful with others is promoted from a very young age; sometimes successfully, sometimes less so.

What about white lies? What about lies of omission? What about truth that is delivered without tact? What about truth that is intended to harm? These questions are all valid and point to the apparent difficultyof what real truth is.

The answer can be summed up with this intentionally thought provoking and vague statement: "It is always best to tell the truth, sometimes".So, your first proven step to success is to be more careful withyour words and only ever make statements that you truly believe to be true.

From Broken to Beautiful

By Robert H. Schuller

"But the pot He was shaping from the clay was marred in His hands; so the Potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to Him." - Jeremiah 18:4

I have toured royal palaces around the world, but to my knowledge the Royal Palace in Tehran, Iran, is like no other I've ever seen. The grand entrance of the palace is resplendent with glittering, sparkling glass. For a moment you think that the domed ceilings, side walls, and columns are all covered with diamonds... until you realize that these are not diamonds or even cut glass; they are small pieces of mirror. The edges of a myriad of little mirrors reflect the light, throwing off the colors of the rainbow.

It's spectacular! And you'll never believe how this was created. When the Royal Palace was planned, the architects sent an order to Paris for mirrors to cover the entrance walls. The mirrors finally arrived. But when they took the shipping crates apart, they discovered to their dismay that all of the mirrors had been smashed during travel.

The builders were going to junk the broken mirrors but one of the men spoke up and suggested, "Maybe the wall will be more beautiful because the mirrors are broken." And that man took all the small pieces of the mirrors and fit them together like an abstract mosaic. Were you to visit the Royal Palace today, you would notice the enormous distortion in reflections and how the walls sparkle with diamond-like brilliance. Broken to beautiful. Have you been hurt? Do you feel broken? God can take the broken pieces of your life and make something beautiful of them.
God can transform your broken life, but you must give Him all the pieces.
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Master Designer, like an expert craftsman You lovingly transform my shattered hopes and dreams and fit the pieces of my life back together in a way that is brilliant and beautiful. Thank you!