Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

Several years ago I determined to write my own definition of success, with the intention that this definition would serve as my daily standard … and that at my life’s end it would be the standard to determine how well I had lived my life.

The definition: Success is being all the person God creates me to be and to do all that God calls me to do.

Each evening as I prayerfully go to bed, I ask, “Am I? Did I?”  Then I pray, “Lord teach me from my failures and I thank you for Your successes in which You let me share.”

What is your definition of success?  How you answer that question determines also how successful you are in releasing your God given uniqueness.  Your uniqueness is God’s provided pathway for you to be successful. Read More »

Article by Kevin L. DeWitt

Want to feel better fast?  This strategy works.  And it’s so simple.  Even better, you can do this at home, at work, with friends, family … with anyone.

There is something you can do right now that will make you feel better almost instantly and here’s how to do it…

To feel better fast, stop thinking about yourself.  Instead, turn your attention to others.  And when you do this, do something very specific … tell that other person how much you appreciate them.

Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  It works and here’s why.  When you tell someone how much you appreciate them, you make them feel better.  When you make someone else feel better, you also feel better.

That’s the secret.  Help others feel better and you’ll feel better – and what better way to make others feel better than by letting them know that you appreciate them!

Here are 3 ways to show your appreciate for others and feel better fast: Read More »

Article by Kevin L. DeWitt

Business tycoons, celebrities, “self-made” success stories, glitz, glam … we often think that our success depends on focusing on ourselves.

This simply isn’t true.

Every truly successful person knows that you become successful because of how much value you give to others.  We too often forget this.

It works the same way with our happiness, too.  When I’m overly focused on my goals and my feelings and my desires, I begin to feel frustrated, going nowhere, empty.  When I’m focused on myself, it’s easy to think that everything is about me.  But it’s not.  When I’m so focused on myself, I become easily offended by others, and I take personally all the things in the world that don’t go the way I think they should … as if the world knows who I am … when they’re really just doing those things because of themselves.

See how easy it is to become lonely, depressed, angry, empty … when you feel self-important? Read More »

“I wonder if my experience of life wouldn’t be richer if I engaged all of my senses in this process of being … eyes and heart fully open.”

Article by Mary Bea Sullivan

Jenny sees funny things the rest of us miss.  Her humor is never mean-spirited, she simply sees irony everywhere.  One time, she was in church and the fire and brimstone minister was exuberantly singing, “When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there!” … all the while, jabbing his pointed finger toward the ground. That one, it makes her laugh until she cries!

Jenny is at college now … and the other day she sent me a text message I only half understood about the guy in the cow suit for Chik-Fil-A who was waving in the wrong direction.  What I did understand was the end of her message, “Tell me this is not the funniest planet ever!“

My reply was, “It is if you live awake like you do.” Read More »

Article by Mary Bea Sullivan

In her book, The Desert Mothers, Rev. Mary C. Earle quotes Amma Syncletica as saying, “Salvation is exactly this - the two-fold love of God and of our neighbor.”

Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Many of us have heard or read Matthew 22:36-40 many times … “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and all the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Easy to read … not so easy to live. Read More »