Woman looking and smiling at her reflection in a bathroom mirror
A Date With Destiny

How Patience with Yourself Leads to Spiritual Growth

We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.

(2 Corinthians 6:6)

Happy Birthday 6/6


You have an amazing ability to make others feel accepted.  You are known for creating a safe space where people can relax and be themselves.

Sometimes, it seems your patience is offered to everyone except yourself. You struggle to accept your own shortcomings. You are often very impatient with that one child of God you see in the mirror each morning.

You accept the various weaknesses and imperfections of others readily, yet you often expect perfection of yourself.

Even though God has given you an amazing ability to be patient and tolerant with others, you struggle to be consistent in applying that patience to your own shortcomings as well.

But as you practice patience with yourself, you will begin to sense a deeper awareness of the special place you hold in the heart of God.


Tetelestai Recovery

Hold That Thought

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

We had been healed and delivered by the final words of Jesus from the cross, “It is finished,” so we knew there was significance in last words.  We understood that enormous effort goes into choosing the right words to say goodbye, finish a letter, conclude a speech, or summarize a presentation. Final words are important. They leave a lasting impact and have far reaching effects.

What began with the word finally, impacted us so deeply, we were never the same.

Our cognitive distortions and faulty thought patterns were measured against the 8 descriptive words in Philippians 4:8.  With these eight guardrails in place, we could choose which thoughts to keep and which ones to set aside.  Using the acronym, PREPLANT, we could check ourselves regularly throughout the day to make sure the thoughts running through our heads lined up with at least one on the list.

PURE – RIGHT – EXCELLENT PRAISEWORTHY – LOVELY – ADMIRABLE NOBLE – TRUE

If a thought did not meet the criteria, it was deemed unhealthy and carried the potential to make us sick.  We could not level up until we let go of the thoughts that didn’t measure up.