Fresh peaches are my FAVORITE, and they are almost done for the season. I needed one more chance to get some before the summer is over. I'm so grateful to our dear friends the Stirlands; they have this incredible orchard near us and invited Steve and I to get some. OH YA!!! Homemade peach ice cream and jam here I come!🍑😂👍
They work so hard to grow amazing fruit for the community and are the nicest, most positive couple I’ve ever met. These qualities are such a strength, and brought me to…my topic!😂
I’m always looking for something to write about for my Sunday thought. Of course, I want it to be something that everyone will hopefully find interesting. Can’t be too long. Can’t be too short, but I'd really like it to be something new and thought-provoking that I can learn from as well. My reasoning is that if I learn something, then maybe you will too.
Which brings me to something I’ve been thinking about this week. How our thoughts actually manifest in our lives. There’s an incredible book I read years ago by Masaru Emoto. It’s called The Healing Power of Water. It’s really worth looking into. Basically, it talks about how thoughts literally change the shape of water and how our body is made up of 70% water, so be careful what you think!
Going along with this same theme My dear friend Olivia Newton-John completely believed in this science. She would say that positive and negative thoughts can even determine the quality of our health. She would talk about people like Louise Hay and Karol K. Truman. They’re two authors who wrote around the belief that unresolved emotions and thought patterns affect our well-being.
My friend Donna Tagliaferri sent me a talk by a man named Robert Dial a couple of days ago, and this is the sentence that intrigued me.
Anything you say after the 2 words “I AM” is what you become.
For instance, how often does negativity get in your head?
I am lazy
I am slow
I am not careful
I am a failure
But! What if you started the day with “I am divinely guided”?
It is hard to take a wrong action after that. Right??
The absolute truth is fear lies to you. So I’m asking all of us NOT to believe our fears because something better is always coming. I am divinely guided; use this statement to settle yourself. It will lower your fear and help you to make good decisions.
Then of course, and I don’t know if you do this, but I took a deep dive into the scriptures because I love the word of God and know His truth is absolute! So the natural jump to what God says… I AM THE GREAT I AM, is where this Sunday message lands. 🥰
In Exodus 3:14, God reveals His name to Moses: “I AM hath sent me unto you.”
“Before Abraham was, I am— John 8:58,
And then Jesus uses the words “I AM” to align himself with the God of Abraham.
“I am the bread of life.” — John 6:35
“I am the light of the world.” — John 8:12
So what we allow into our minds, whether positive or negative, is up to us to decide! We have millions of thoughts every day, but which thoughts do we choose to listen to and which thoughts do we dismiss away?
There are really two beautiful sets of “I AM” statements in scripture: what God and Christ say about themselves, and what God says we are in relationship to Him.
Jesus deliberately uses the words "I AM," connecting His identity to the God of Abraham. “I am the light of the world.” — John 8:12
“He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
“I am the good shepherd.” — John 10:11
He knows, leads, protects, and gives His life for His sheep.
“I am the resurrection, and the life.” — John 11:25
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” — John 14:6
Rather than allowing fear, failure, age, criticism, or circumstances to finish the sentence “I am…”, scripture gives us a very different outlook.
But perhaps the one I’d put at the very top:
I AM a child of God!♥️
“We are the offspring of God.”
And because of that we are divinely inspired…
There’s an important distinction here from the self-help version of “whatever follows ‘I am’ is
what you become.” Scripture isn’t really teaching that our words magically create reality.
It’s teaching something deeper: our truest identity is received from God.
So instead of:
I am too old.
I am overwhelmed.
I am a failure.
I am not enough.
Scripture gives us something sturdier:
I AM a child of God.
I AM known.
I AM loved.
I AM His.
I AM not alone.
I AM being strengthened.
And that last one
I AM still becoming!
This one for me is definitely one of the most hopeful ways to finish any sentence.
#HappySunday