You are Not a Victim

These words changed and continue to change the course of my life and I pray that you would see the truth in them too. Good or bad, successful or unsuccessful, happy or sad, fair or unfair – you own your life.

“You are accountable for your life. You have always been accountable. You will always be accountable. If you don't like your job, you are accountable. If your relationships are on the rocks, you are accountable. If you are overweight, you are accountable. If you are not happy, you are accountable.” (Phillip McGraw, Life Strategies Page 56)

You are not a victim. This may not be easy to accept for some, nonetheless it is the real deal. It is a deal breaker. Responsibility begins when you accept this truth. Responsibility is about accepting that you make decisions in your life and that you own the consequences for those decisions. Good or bad.

You are not a victim

It is not the weather, neither is it your angry boss nor is it your parents' fault. It is not the government, nor is it the economy. No, your husband is not at fault, your children are also not the cause of your problems and your wife didn't ruin your life.

Maybe you went through a traumatic loss, rejection or experience such as physical rape, when you were a child. You might not have had the knowledge or power to make certain choices as a child and therefore you were not accountable then.

From the point when you had the knowledge or power to make choices, you became accountable for your life.

The past is behind us and the future is not yet with us. We deal in the present because this is where we are. Today is the present, it is God's gift to us.

You choose now how to respond to everything that happened in your life.

Here is what a victim says: “They are all out to get me.”

Here is what an accountable person says, “I am responsible.”

Are you honest about getting well or do you just want to manipulate others with your condition?

A victim seeks to draw sympathy and excuse themselves from the problems in their lives. They complain, pout, blame, everyone and everything else apart from themselves. They seem to desire change but all they draw to themselves are the circumstances they endlessly complain about.

An accountable person is the one who realizes they are responsible for every choice and every consequence in their lives. They own the problem, they accept that they are part of the problem and also own the task of finding a solution.

Do you want to get well? If yes, accept accountability for your life. If no, remember you are not a victim.

What are your thoughts? How has realizing that you are not a victim changed the course of your life?

photo credit: John Steven Fernandez via photopin cc

John 5:6-7 (Message Version)

When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
⁷ The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”

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God-sized Goals

We have talked about goals already. I am sure you have heard about them over and over. Allow me to indulge you in a AHA-moment I had recently.  I read on a blog I follow, a post titled 3 reasons why vision goals are inseparable and it got me asking - "Are my goals God-sized, can I accomplish them without God working with me?"

To give you a quick introduction:

• A vision is a mental picture of what you see your future holds. It has been said that your feet will never take you where your mind has never been. You first take the journey through your minds eye before you start walking.

• Goals are specific steps to help you attain the vision. They give you a sense of direction. You have to know where you are going (vision) to follow the right path (goals).

God gives us a vision, then He takes us through a process.

Our part to play is to hold on through the process. To let God shape us into who He desires of us. And to do that we have to set goals and work towards attaining them.

Success is what you attract by the person you become. Jim Rohn

Sometimes we let our own complacency, comfort-zones and negative attitudes get in the way of the vision God has given us.

Here are questions you need to ask:

• Have you set humanly impossible goals?
• Do your goals motivate you, do they excite you? 
• Do they force you to ask, "What was I thinking?" after reading them?

If they don't capture all the above - you could be planning to work alone at attaining them. You could be working with human probabilities and this means there is a likelihood of them not coming to fruition.

Your goals have to be centered on God's limitless possibilities.

If your vision truly comes from God, then you have to align your goals with His working through you.

You can't risk wasting precious time on probability analysis of the goals.

Think of the vision as a cake and you only need two great ingredients that must work together :-

1. Faith: This is the strong conviction that the vision is possible despite the circumstances, surroundings, dissenting voices - you will only succeed if your belief rises above seeming impossibilities.
2. Deliberate action: Take specific deliberate action to follow through on your faith. Be flexible to change the actions when you deem it necessary, just remember that the destination remains constant.

Hebrew 11:1 (Amplified Version) says, Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

James 2:17 (Amplified Version) says, So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).
 
You have to  step of the boat. Stamp out of mediocrity, wave goodbye to the masses and start being uncomfortable with safety in numbers.

Do you perceive that God called you out from the darkness (lack of knowledge) to shine light into the world?


Is it important to set God-sized goals? What do you think would be different if God backs your commitment to goals? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Habakkuk 2:2-3

Amplified Bible (AMP)

² And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.

³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.

photo credit: Krissy.Venosdale via photo pin cc

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Are You Waiting on Somebody?

Today, I watched a sad story of a lady who in less than one year has gone from a renown athlete to a deplorable state. All these questions about what happened for the situation to get to where it did, what can be done and who can help popped up in my mind.

"Understand that your current results are the direct outcome of the past. The past does not equal the future." Excerpt from the book, Born to Achieve by David Muriithi

I think more disheartening than anything is people's reaction to the story. Everybody has an opinion, an analysis about the causes for the problem or better yet a solution to offer. But like most stories, no one does anything good out of all the reactions.

Please take a few minutes to intentionally read this ancient story. It is about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

I wonder where you fall in place. Are you Everybody, Somebody, Anybody or Nobody?

There is an Acappella song that also speaks on this by the title, "Everybody said, but Nobody did", the chorus says:

Everybody said that anybody could do
The important things somebody should do
Everybody knows that anybody could do
All the good things that nobody did

Are you waiting on somebody to do the good and the important things that nobody is doing?

You are the Somebody, you are waiting on.

Here are a few points to ponder on:

• There is a lot of bad, but there is also a lot of good from the bad - depends on which end you want get in on.
• Stories open your mind up to the needs, what you are faced with after are decisions to make and actions to take.
• We can't do everything but we can do something. 
• Most times we see the humongous impossibilities, when what we need to pay attention to are the immediate needs.
• You are the Somebody Everybody is waiting on.
• You are the Somebody, you are waiting on.

I wonder what stories you listen to everyday. What story captures your heart, that you feel the push to do something?

Are you waiting on Somebody else to act?

Stop waiting. You already know what ought to be done. Realize you can do it, you have to start now using the resources you have.

Those who take action, rather than wait on Somebody find more fulfillment in life.

If you want to watch the song on YouTube please click the link below:
Everybody Said, but Nobody did

photo credit: Umang Dutt via photo pin cc

Philippians 3

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹² Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.

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