And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”—Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

When I have a positive mindset, I find myself filled with faith and hope. On the flip side, if I view things with fear and doubt, then the result is negativity. Through the Holy Spirit I have the power (so do you) to be a positive influence to those around me. 

No matter what is going on in your life, God can bring something good out of the situation. It is up to you to find it. You may not see it at first, but over time, if you choose to see what good came out of it, your eyes will be open to it. 

Last May while checking in for a flight to Cancun, it was brought to my attention that my passport was expired. Of course, I was sick about it, but there wasn’t anything I could do in that moment to be able to board my original outbound flight. I am a firm believer that, “everything happens for a reason,” however my husband really didn’t want to hear those words. While we missed nearly a full day of our trip, I was able to get my passport expedited and on the last flight out to Cancun as well as me seeing God’s hand in that entire day.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when my husband realized that his passport was close to expiration 3 days before an international business trip where this was not acceptable. Thanks to my mishap last year, he knew exactly where to go and what he needed to do to get his passport in time for his trip. My words to him were, You’re welcome! Rather than be stressed if it could be done and how to do it, it was a relativity stress free process for him because he had been through it with me.

Having a positive perspective happens when I am more intentional about spending time in prayer and fellowship at the start of my day. Putting God at the beginning of my day, gives me peace and directs my thoughts and actions to be more like Jesus. Without a right mind, I can’t have a right attitude. I’m not saying I was full of joy when I was told my passport was expired, but I had peace that it was all going to work out.

Where do you have the opportunity to be a light to those around you? It could be you are in a season where feeding your family, doing laundry and carpooling is your sphere of influence. Embrace it! This is where God can use you. Maybe it is in your work place, or an airport after a missed flight but wherever God has placed you, think about where you can reflect His goodness to those that are put in your pathway. It could be someone you see every day or it could be someone finishing up a 12-hour shift that is exhausted and feels unappreciated that just needs a smile or simple, “Thank You.”

One of the reason’s I had memorized 1 Corinthians 16:14 Do everything in love, was because that is exactly what Jesus did, and as a Christian my goal in life is to live a life like Him…..loving others….no matter, race, religion, political affiliation or lifestyle choices. What would happen if more people chose to see the good in others rather than focus on our differences?

Lord,

Help me to think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Give me the wisdom and courage to speak positivity to those that are in need of Your light. Let Your Words through me be the glimmer of hope that someone needs to hear. I thank You in advance that You will give me the right thing to say someone this week to let him/her know that You see them, love them and that they matter in your Kingdom. It is the name of Jesus that I pray these things. Amen.

Have you been putting Philippians 4:6a into practice this month?

May Memory Verse:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.”—Philippians 4:6a

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