Our third power-phrase is this:  The difference between great and small people is that while all may fall, small people just fall but great people get up again.

You see, positive thinking is the power to look at your situation and find just one positive aspect, one positive thought that you can hold on to in order to transform your negative situation into an opportunity!

Regardless of what you may face today remember this, NEVER GIVE UP! You may be at the end of your rope but remember… one positive thought has the power to loosen the grip of impossibility and propel you forward into possibility!

The second power-phrase I want you to ponder this week is: “Great people are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.”

Standing before a large audience of farmers, Dr. Schuller recalled another family tragedy. During the great depression and several years before the tornado disaster, a drought destroyed the family crops, forcing his father to mortgage everything to survive.  Dr. Schuller recalled entering the bank and seeing a sign on the wall that stated “Great people are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.”

 Five years after the destructive tornado, Schuller’s father had completely rebuilt the farm, paid off the mortgage taken after the Great Depression drought and retired a successful man!

Have you ever considered how to generate a positive thought? Over the next three days I want to introduce 3 power-phrases for you to frequently recite, and allow them to fill your sails with the wind of positive expectation!

First, Tough times never last but tough people do. 

This phrase comes from the title of one of over 37 books authored by Dr. Robert Schuller, pioneer of the first television church service.

Living positive in a negative world, or developing positive thinking patterns in difficult situations, provides a creative energy and stamina necessary to tackle life’s biggest challenges.

You may be thinking, “If you only knew the problems I am facing!”  Well, Dr. Schuller’s family certainly had their own share of problems. His own father, at the age of 60, lost everything when a devastating tornado destroyed their livestock, their crops, the family home and their barn. Nothing was left! Ten farms were utterly destroyed by that storm. Only one man rebuilt! http://bit.ly/1EFXOOW

A man once wrote of this experience. As a small town prepared to be flooded before the building of a large dam, a unique thing happened. In the months before the flooding, all improvements and repairs stopped! Why paint a house if it will be destroyed in a few months? As week by week the town deteriorated, the man offered this conclusion, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”

Hope is the picture of the future. Without that picture there is no confidence to move forward and certainly no power by which to live!

If you need hope today, you’ll find inspiring resources at LeslieMcNulty.com—you will find stories of people just like you discovering hope for everyday life!  http://bit.ly/1EEHSMX

Recently a leading global medical research institute listed these benefits attributed to positive thinking:

• Longer life expectancy
• Increased resistance to the common cold
• Lower rates of depression
• Lower risk of heart disease and related death
• Better overall psychological health
• Lower stress levels
• Better stress management and coping skills
• Increased physical well-being

These facts alone should enthuse you about the real life benefits of thinking positively. One positive thought can indeed cultivate the dream that is in your heart!  http://bit.ly/1FcdCOj

What is hope? Is it a feeling? A force? Or could it be something as simple as the picture of a bright future?  From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire, Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Though located near the more affluent areas of New York City, East Harlem is notorious for its violent crime rates and poor education.

Mr. Lang was asked to speak to 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would surely drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him.

Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. “Stay in school, and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.” In that moment, their lives changed. For the first time they had HOPE. One student said, “I had something to look forward to. It was a golden feeling.” Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school!

For these young students, the promise of an education provided a picture of a new outcome for their lives! Instead of facing the harsh reality that they would spend their lives on the NYC streets, struggling like most of their friends, they now had opportunity to break their financial and educational barriers and to rise to a new future!  http://bit.ly/1cufu9O

One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window and saw a small girl being swept along in a rain-flooded drainage ditch. Blankenship knew that farther downstream the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road, and then emptied into the main channel.

Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the floundering child.  He hurled himself into the deep, churning water, and when he surfaced, was able to grasp her arm. They tumbled over and over until within about three feet of the deep drain, Ray’s free hand felt something—possibly a rock—protruding from the bank. He clung desperately as the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. “If I can just hang on until help comes,” he thought.  He did better than that.  By the time the fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock.

On April 12, 1989, Ray was awarded the Lifesaving Silver Medal by the US Coast Guard. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew…Ray can’t swim!

Lao Tzu said, “From caring comes courage.” I challenge you today, BE COURAGEOUS—put on the hero’s courage! What is the hero’s courage? It is knowing that you have the power to help someone else—and you have the power, or the courage to care. It is the fuel that makes a hero!

What does offering help to someone else provide? Does it provide a sense of personal fulfillment? Or perhaps a reminder that your situation may not be all that bad?

I often tell people that when you help someone else, you sense the presence of God helping people, and this in turn is a reminder that God will help you.  I recently received a letter from someone who took this to heart.  She said:

“Thank you for your message about helping somebody else when you’re going through personal problems. My younger brother is dying of brain cancer. For much of his life he has been homeless and battling alcoholism. My other sister was too drunk to properly care for him or even to talk to the hospital about his needs.  But, today I went on visitations for my sidewalk Sunday school and I was able to pray with a mom that has been fighting depression. Seeing the kids excited about Sunday school tomorrow brought me true joy. It’s so true when you’re going through something, reach out to somebody else and that’s where you find God’s strength.”

What giants are you facing in life today? Remember that as you get busy helping others, you will find the strength to defeat seemingly insurmountable problems.  Maya Angelou said, “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

Remember, helpers need wisdom, strength and resource.  God promises an abundant supply for those who are willing to go the extra mile. The scripture says, “Give and it shall be given back to you, good measure pressed down and shaken together! With the same measure you give it shall be given back to you!”

Let’s get busy helping someone today. When you add great value to someone else’s life, you will recognize just how valuable you really are!

Scripture: Luke 6:38

Four things happen when I solve problems for others:

First, I recognize that I have the ability to provide solutions.

Second, this instills a confidence which inspires me to resolve my own difficulties.

Third, I recognize that I can believe in myself because there is someone greater that also believes in me.

Lastly, my victories often open doors of victory for others.

Remember, when facing personal difficulties, you have a teammate. So, don’t be self-centered about the problems that others face.  Gordon Hinckley said, “…the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves…if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”