I attended something that surprise even me: an evening with Joel Osteen. I am not a particularly religious person and attend church and spiritual gathering sparsely throughout the year. But something stirred inside of me the last couple of months, to fill my life with inspiration and hope rather than disdain and negativity. This was my second church going event since December. The first was a Christmas concert at a local church and Joel Osteen was my second.
But it's the message that initially garnered my attention, he spoke of setting your life in the direction you want, focusing on positive and leaving negativity by the wayside. Minus all references to God and Jesus, he delivered the same message that Napoleon Hill detailed in his "Think and Grow Rich." Mind you Napoleon Hill wrote about achieving success in business and finance and Joel Osteen preached success in you personal life and how that could be transformed in your professional life.
He preached scriptures from the Bible and quoted them. He spoke of his own personal dilemmas and how he overcame them. He brought out his mom who battled terminal liver cancer only living to tell of her miraculous recovering through positive intentions and prayer some 30 years later.
But the message was the same, focus on what you want. You want turmoil, focus on it. You want success, focus on it. You want financial success, focus on it. Surround yourself with positive people and positive messages.
I remember when I was a young girl being dragged along with my mom and her aunts to religious retreats and disliking them, thinking of a million other things I could be doing than watching the reverend or pastor blessing people lined up. I didn't believe he had the power to heal anybody and yawned in complete defiance at being there. I vowed never to attend such silly events when I grew up. I still do not believe he healed anyone. I have come to learn no one can be healed if they don't believe, first in themselves and second in a higher being whether it's a tree, a rock, God, the neighborhood pastor or priest or the Creator. If you have faith in yourself you are more than half way to heaven in my books. Our thoughts are the most powerful presence in your life use them choice-fully.
Have a great day!
