By: Iyo_Embong

Believe that things will work out! Follow your intuition and curiosities. Trust your heart even when it leads you off what appears to be the right path. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary!

If you do work that you love, and work that fulfills you, the rest will come. Would you do your job and not be paid for it? Your answer will tell you if you are doing the right thing. Find something that you love. Something that gets you so excited you can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning.

JOHN 20: 19-31, disciple Thomas doubted Jesus’ resurrection. “Unless I see the mark of the nails on His hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Thomas must have reaped criticisms from his fellow disciples then, but on hindsight now, it was precisely his DOUBT that erased all our doubts about the resurrection.

The pursuit of truth is never easy. I salute people who sincerely search for it, for they have an important role to play in this world searching for the truth. What role do you play? Do you expose the truth? Stifle the truth? Manipulate the truth? Spread the truth? Are you an ally or an enemy of the truth?

I can’t help but notice the emotions that swamped the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection. There was a lot of JOY, but there was also a lot of FEAR! Their doors were locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus’ greeting to them was: “Peace be with you.”We have joys, but they’re often seldom and fragile. We have fears, but they’re often unfounded, but plenty. May Jesus’ greeting of peace permeate all our joys and fears. Are you happy? Be at peace. Are you afraid? Be at peace, for God is a God who blesses all our joys and fears.

A good question to raise is why Thomas was not with the disciples on the evening of the first day of the week. Where was he? All the other disciples were together, behind closed doors. Was he the only one who braved the outside world? Was he still investigating the empty tomb? Or did the other disciples lock him out? A week later, he was already with the other disciples behind closed doors. Were the disciples able to convince him to join them? How do we treat people who are in the periphery or outside our circle of family, friends and community? Do we bring people in, or do we shut people out?

Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. If you don’t set a standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it’s easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve. A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided. The most important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to make sure that as soon as you set them, you immediately begin to create momentum. Whatever happens, take responsibility. The only thing that’s keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself! We can only see what we want to see, depending on our perception.

“God will make a way, where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see, He will make a way for me. He will be my guide, hold me closely to His side. With love and strength, for each new day…He will make a way.”

For changes to be of any true value, they’ve got to be lasting and consistent. We need to be persistence, not giving up because you have road blocks and also not giving in because other people tell you that you’re crazy or time to give up and do something else. Stick with what you believe in, sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure. You can never quit on what you truly believe in life. “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” We are most creative when our back is against the wall. “Lord, help me to come forth through the walls of my gloom and tomb.”

By: Iyo_Embong 2012©Copyright. Any distribution, reproduction or copying of any part of this article is forbidden. If you wish to use this article please only use the first 2-3 lines as an excerpt and link back directly to the article along with the Authors name.