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5 Life Lessons I learned in 2023 that I'll be Bringing into 2024
- Kira St Pierre
- Jan 15, 2024
- 32 min read
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/javawithjen/episodes/170--5-Life-Changing-Lessons-I-Learned-in-2023-That-Im-Bringing-into-2024-wJenilee-Samuel-e2dm2m9
ABOUT TODAY'S EPISODE:
It’s the final two episodes of 2023 and I thought it appropriate to reflect on the five most significant lessons. I learned this year that I will definitely be bringing with me into 2024. Eavesdropping on other peoples lessons learned is like getting a free pass to the wisdom without the heartache. I hope this episode encourages you as you look forward to the next year. And then go check out the bonus episode which is a sixth lesson learned, and the milestones we hit this year as well!
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TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE:
And so I'm sitting out here.
My yard is covered in dead leaves from the fallen trees.
It's cold and crisp.
My breath is puffing in front of my face, and it's just a beautiful morning the day after Christmas.
So I wanted to share with you guys five life lessons that I've learned in 2023 that I will be bringing into 2024.
0:42
I love listening to these kinds of episodes from other people because listening to the lessons they've learned is kind of like, I mean, that's why we buy books, right?
That's why we do anything we do because we learn from other people's lessons that they've learned.
0:58
It's like eavesdropping on the CHEAT SHEET of life.
And it's like the shortcut to the wisdom that you didn't have to pay a price for.
And so that's why I wanted to share with you guys.
And there may be a bonus episode this week unless I can fit it into today's episode of maybe a sixth life lesson and milestones we hit this year.
1:19
And there was so many.
God, Oh my goodness.
God showed up and showed off this year and then next week you're going to want to come back.
The New Year's episode will be, I think, either the launch of Season 5 or that may come the week after.
But I'm going to be discussing the word the Lord has given me for 2024.
1:36
And I share that with you all because you guys know I love to get a word from the Lord.
Because AI see, usually it is not just something that he's giving me personally, but it's also something he's doing on a larger scale, which is why I share with you.
But he always honors those words.
And it has been such a beautiful way to pull the Lord's hand into my new season and watch for what he's doing and see him work on my behalf.
2:00
And so I wanted to share that word with you guys for 2024 to kick the year off.
So this is going to be a great episode.
And we're talking today about five life lessons I've learned in 2023 that I'll be bringing into 2024.
Let's go.
Hi, you're listening to Java with Jen with your host Jenna Lee Samuel.
2:21
On this show I bring the simplicity of hearing God's voice into everyday life in a no nonsense, authentic and super practical way.
With coffee in hand and real life in our faces.
Let's do this so.
2:39
Exciting to have this final episode of 2023 with you guys.
Before I dive into the bulk of it, I wanted to shout out a couple of things.
A if you rate and review my show, thank you so much.
If you haven't done that yet, would you consider going over to Apple Podcasts?
2:54
It's the easiest place to do it and in fact I'll put a link in the show notes to make it easier and just leave me a review and a five star rating.
Because when you guys leave those reviews, I read them, I love them, they touch my soul.
And the ratings also of course help people who are checking out the show to see if they want to listen or not.
3:12
In fact, both do that.
So would you go do that?
It just blesses my heart when you do.
We're gonna wrap 2023 on a really high note.
And then also I wanted to I wanted to direct your attention.
There's a number of freebies that I've got for you in my show notes.
Like, I love giving things to you guys, so sometimes my show notes are loaded with just links for free things.
3:34
If you're interested in starting a podcast a you should do it BI want to coach you.
C There's a discount in my show notes for $200 off.
My next round starts in January 14th.
It is a wonderful program.
I can't, I don't want to talk a whole lot about it here, but I do want to encourage you down there.
3:53
The show notes, the link will actually take you to where you can book a call with me to ask questions and find out more.
And so it's a really great way for me to kind of find out where you're at and you to find out more about the program and see if it's actually a good fit.
So it's a no pressure, just a discovery phone call.
4:08
So grab that link down the show notes.
But if you get on one of those calls with me, of course you will end up with a $200 discount.
So it's kind of a win win.
So go check that out.
And really, podcasting is for anyone who wants to help people.
I've I've done my polling and I've done my research.
4:24
Everybody who has a podcast, the common denominator is they want to help people and they help people with financial knowledge, with business knowledge, with relationship knowledge, with health knowledge, with spiritual knowledge, whatever your knowledge is that you feel like you can bring to the world that is meant to serve and help people.
4:43
Then you can have a podcast and it's actually not.
Not that hard to do I think last week I I recorded and uploaded my podcast in literally less than an hour and all I need to do is just tweak and fine tune.
So probably in two hours I get got my show done for the week.
5:00
So check it out, it's in the show notes.
But let's dive into these life lessons of 2023.
So in January in 2023, my year started off with I was in kind of a difficult work situation and I'm going to tell you the story because it really helps paint the picture of the application of this principle.
5:20
So I was in a difficult work situation.
I was working part time doing marketing.
Some of the leadership there, not some particular point person in the leadership was just a little bit difficult to work with.
And so there was just some things that were done that made me feel very devalued.
5:40
The my morale really was dropping because my pay was cut in half, just on a whim on a mood and demands were still.
It was just a lot of different things that were done that made me feel devalued as an employee.
5:55
And I and I realized that a this behavior is both unprofessional it's unkind and I have never felt so disrespected in a workplace.
And it wasn't violent.
It wasn't aggressive but it was still felt hostile because of how devaluing it was.
6:13
And I was having to go back to the Lord probably every week saying God, please help me deal with my heart, please help me deal with my heart.
And I had worked there for about two years and so finally that January morning I went to the Lord, I said God, please help me deal with my heart.
6:30
I'm really wrestling with offence because the way that I'm being treated as it feels so wrong.
And the Lord spoke to my my heart and he said generally, and this is life lesson #1, he said generally, you cannot control how others treat you, you can't control how they respect you, how they honor you, how they receive you, how they value you.
6:51
You cannot control that.
That is their decision.
But you can control whether or not you participate with it.
And while that's not rocket science, it was such a freeing idea to me because I don't know if it's my Christian thinking or just my I'm not a quitter thinking or or my just natural resilience, that I was like quitting wasn't an option because again, it wasn't outright, you know, hostile to me.
7:21
It was kind of low key constant.
And I think, I don't know, I just didn't.
I didn't feel like quitting was an option and so but the Lord, The Lord came to me and and I think it was kind of a clue like a flag for me that like if you're in a position or a situation where you are constantly having to go back to the Lord to help you get your heart right.
7:43
God, please, please.
And there are some seasons that the Lord says, hey, walk this out.
And it's not easy.
I mean I've walked through some other seasons that were like straight up hostile.
And the Lord is like, hang with me, hang with me just a little while longer, you know, So there are times and the Lord will say, hey, hang with me.
But in general, if you find yourself in a situation where you are constantly having to pull your heart back in check, God help deal with my offense.
8:06
One yes, we want the Lord to search our hearts and see if maybe there's wrong beliefs in me that are aggravating this offense, right?
Maybe the offense really is my responsibility.
But sometimes when when you're in a situation and people are just treating you poorly and wrongly, if you stay in that space for a prolonged period of time, it is going to deteriorate the quality of your heart.
8:30
Your heart eventually will grow weary of fighting a fence and and will begin to have a fence seated into your heart.
And so I think that's why the Lord was giving me an out, if you will.
It was an out based on a principle of boundaries, essentially.
And he was like you cannot control how other people treat you.
8:48
You can't.
But you can determine whether or not you will participate.
And because I respect myself, I decided you know what, the quality of my heart is important to me.
In fact, my actual, my actual thought process was, you know, I only have so much emotional energy that I have to use in my life.
9:06
I would rather use that emotional energy to tend to my marriage, tend to my kids and tend to my business rather than over here like this.
This is not my top priority.
It was a part time job.
I didn't necessarily have to be there.
And.
And so in Matthew 10, we actually see this where Jesus is talking to the disciples and he's giving them an assignment to do his work.
9:31
And in Matthew 10, nine through 15, he's telling them a very important key that we see.
He says he's telling them when you go from city to city and you're bringing the gospel to people, he says as you enter the home, give it your greeting.
9:47
In other words, show up.
Show up with your best self.
Show up with your yes and Amen.
Show up with your blessing if the home is deserving.
In other words, if they receive you, let your peace rest on it If it is not.
Let your peace return to you if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, Leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.
10:10
And I'm sure there's some cultural implications of shaking the dust off your feet.
But at a real simple pass, what we see here is he's he's reiterating this principle.
He spoke to me, which is you can't control how people receive you, and if they don't receive you, that's OK just let your let your piece return to you.
10:28
In other words, don't get all hung up on it, don't get all bent out of shape.
Just move on to the next place.
And and the beautiful thing is, in the context of this passage, he's actually teaching the disciples not only how to go about doing ministry, but how to be fruitful in their lives.
10:45
And then the very next portion of the passage, verse 10 through or 16 through 36, explains that essentially how people are responding to you is a reflection of how they're responding to the Father and not to take it personally, but to allow the Lord to deal with their behavior, including any persecution.
11:02
Now this is giving the assumption you're acting like Jesus.
Sometimes people respond difficultly to you because you are being difficult, right?
So that is on us to make sure that we're doing our part to be a peacemaker.
That's why it says bring your peace, let your peace rest on that house, if not, let your peace return to you.
11:19
In other words, come and be a peacemaker in an environment, and if they won't receive you, don't try to force peacemaking.
Let your peace return to you.
Let it guard your heart.
You can walk with peace and be like, OK, they don't receive me, I move on.
And so this was just a really beautiful passage.
11:36
And then and then right after that little section, it says whoever does receive you receives a reward.
Verse 40 says anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, the Father.
Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward.
11:54
And whoever welcomes A righteous person, that's you as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.
And if anyone gives you even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you that person will certainly not lose their reward.
So what he's saying is, listen, the way people treat you is how they're treating me.
12:15
And and they won't receive the blessing of your life if you have to just leave.
And that's OK, that's their decision.
And so in my work situation, I was able to recognize, you know what, I could be an asset to this environment.
12:31
I could, I can bring my skills, bring my knowledge.
There was a number of things that had happened that demonstrated that my skills were an advantage to them.
But I realized, you know what?
I'm not going to force someone to value me.
I'm not going to force anyone to see what I bring to the table and see it as valuable.
12:49
So I'm going to decide not to participate here anymore.
And so I let my piece return to me, but I left them with a very polite open door, like left the bridge built kind of thing.
Whereas here's my three weeks notice.
It's been a blessing to serve here.
Thank you so much for having me.
13:05
I'm going to go ahead and close the door on this season and pursue my podcast full time.
If you guys ever need marketing in the future and would like to hire me on a contractual basis, we can discuss that.
Blessings to you.
You know, I just, I left the door open.
13:20
And that's another thing.
When you do leave a season, leave the bridge built, you never know when you may need that bridge to come back to you.
So lesson #1, you cannot control how others treat you, receive you or respect you, but you can determine whether or not you'll participate.
13:36
And and the last thought on that is in Matthew 18, it says if someone sins against you, if a brother sins against you, now it's a brother.
It's a Christian believer.
In this case I was dealing with Christians, non believers, it's a little bit different.
They will sin against you, you know.
13:52
Now that doesn't mean you don't have a right to have boundaries still, but the expectation is a little bit different.
But in Matthew 18, if a brother sins against you, you're to go to him, address the issue, which I did multiple times.
And then if they don't listen, bring a witness with you and and address them politely, lovingly, whatever.
14:09
The goal is to make peace in the relationship, which I did multiple times, and if they still don't listen, then you were to leave the relationship, have nothing to do with them.
And so Matthew 18, I think the reason the Lord gives us that step one, Step 2, Step three, is because the Lord knows if we stay in an environment where we're constantly being sinned against, it will deteriorate the quality of you.
14:30
It will hurt your heart.
It will hurt the uprightness of your soul because a fence will set in and that is not something you want to play around with.
So lesson one, you can't control how others treat you, but you can determine whether or not you participate.
OK, let's move through these faster #2 The Importance Life Lesson 2023 The importance of pulling Holy Spirit into my productivity.
14:52
Like scheduling my week, my goals, and my days.
So some of you guys are go getters.
Some of you guys have side hustles, some of you are moms.
You just have a lot to manage or you're a working mom or whatever.
You just have a lot to manage.
And one of the barriers that keeps people from pursuing their dreams is actually knowing how to do all the things like how do I, how do I make this happen?
15:14
And so it became very important to me.
I have learned to pull the Holy Spirit into my productivity by partnering with him.
When I'm scheduling my week, scheduling my goals and my days out.
And So what I do.
And there's been multiple times that I have sat down and looked at my life, especially when I was running my styling business and my podcast and I was like, Lord, I don't see how I can do all of this.
15:38
There's so many tasks.
But now I've got my podcast, my coaching program, and my podcast network, and the Lord has taught me how to manage these things much more successfully.
And I have finally brought on help.
I have an intern, but what I do is I sit down and I say, OK Lord, I need you to give me an idea of how to strategize my week so everything can get done.
16:01
So one thing that he taught me to do was to take all the tasks I need to do and put them in like buckets of categories.
And so for me with running my business, I've got like 5 or 6 and that's usually what it comes down to, about 5 or 6 main buckets of things I need to take care of.
16:18
So in my business, you know, it's sales calls and interview calls.
It's the digital things like building things out on the Internet, building my website, building landing pages, e-mail sequences.
Another one is social media content and podcast creation.
16:33
And so there's multiple different there's a few others planning for my podcast network and then my coaching calls, you know, actually coaching with my students and taking their calls.
And so there's categories of tasks that I need to do and lots of little tasks that go in there.
So I delegated each day of the week.
16:51
Now I work full time, so it works this way for me.
For you, it may look different, but each day of the week I'm able to designate, OK, Monday is my content creation kind of drill deep.
I typically don't take calls on Mondays and I just really get in the gritty and the grit and the grittiness of building my business.
17:11
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I do calls.
Friday is a lighter day because I want it to be a day that I can.
Anything that didn't get done that week can kind of fall on Friday.
And so one thing that is actually really helped, and it's been such a it was a beautiful surprise, was when I found this product called Magic Mind.
17:28
And it's helped with my productivity too because when you have a lot to do and you don't have mental clarity or focus, it's kind of difficult.
And so I'm sneaking this in as a bonus thought for you.
For any of you who are like I need a boost in my productivity, this really, really helped.
17:44
And side note, I feel like it made my periods better, which was an answer to prayer in itself, but it's called Magic Mind and it's these new little actually they're not, they've been around for a while but it's like a 2 ounce drink shot that is a combination of like 12 ingredients.
It's really fabulous.
17:59
It's green tea, Matcha Matcha is green tea that's like ground up.
So it's really concentrated version of green tea.
The beauty of that is it has ingredients in it or like elements in it that cause the caffeine to be a slower release in your system.
18:15
So you have the caffeine effect for longer, but you don't have like this crazy crash.
And if you drink it in in tandem with your morning coffee, if you still want your morning coffee, then it actually causes the coffee to have a longer effect in your body as well.
It also has adaptogens like Ashwagandha and different things in it that help your system manage stress, which helps when you manage stress well.
18:40
You can stay in your creative space longer because of the the different parts of your brain that are activated when you're in stress or not in stress.
So by keeping your excuse me, by keeping your stress lower, you can actually stay focused and be more creative longer.
18:57
And then it's also got nootropics in it which are like mushrooms.
No, not the kind that gets you high, like lion's mane and Cordyceps.
They're the they're the safe mushrooms that people have been putting in their coffee and different things like that.
They help with mental clarity and focus and so magic mind I I contacted them and was like hey can you guys do me a favor with my listeners?
19:20
Can we give them a discount so they worked up the best deal ever?
If you go to magicmind.com/java with jenthatsmagicmind.com/java with Jen and use the code JWJ 20, all this is in the show notes so you can go back to the show notes to look at it.
19:37
JWJ 20 for Java with Jen JWJ 20 you can save 50% on a subscription of like monthly shipments or 20% off of a one time purchase.
And so if you want to try this stuff out, the guy who founded the company, he had developed a heart condition due to all the coffee he was drinking.
19:58
Because coffee raises your cortisol and if you drink too much it can apparently help you couldn't develop a heart condition.
I didn't know that and so he was drinking six to seven cups of coffee a day.
And so if you're one of those high performing people and you just need to be on.
20:14
On on it then, like if you're a teacher or whatever, this stuff would be worth trying.
So go to magicmind.com/java with Jen and use code JWJ 20 to get a discount.
In January they're going to be running another like there's going to be surprise special.
So I'll have a different code for you in January.
20:31
But anyways, go check that out.
And so in planning my week and my productivity, drinking that was helpful.
But primarily, pulling the Holy Spirit into my planning was the most helpful thing.
So I asked the Lord for ideas on what it will take to reach certain goals, And I'm willing to do the work.
20:49
But whenever I feel like I hit hurdles, I asked the Lord for His partnership and His grace to bring opportunities and breakthrough.
And so there's a number of goals that he's given me.
Like, for example, I felt like he told me I needed to get in front of six large audiences to make an impact on my business.
21:07
And so I just have been like, OK, Lord, bring me the opportunities or show me where to look.
Or I'm constantly praying like God give me ideas of who to pursue.
And so I partner with the Lord in my planning.
And so pulling the Lord into your productivity, like scheduling your week, your goals and your days.
21:25
And sometimes that looks like if I'm sitting down for the day and I have a lot of things kind of like floating in my head that I might need to do, I ask the Lord God, where should I put my focus today?
What are the top three tasks or what are the top tasks you want me to put my energy into?
And then he'll speak to me one, 2-3 things or just kind of things that kind of float to the surface and I'll write those things down and those become my priority.
21:48
And so pulling the Lord into your scheduling and productivity is huge.
Number three, I have learned the needle moving power of the small things.
So I saw this by studying the people that I admire and usually the difference between success and failure are the little things.
22:08
This takes a burden off and really encourages us to be more present and attentive.
And so one example was when I, for example, when I worked for Stitch Fix, I didn't realize that with each client I had to write a little note is like four or five sentences an in their note about how I styled their outfits and stuff.
22:27
Well, when I was done working for Stitch Fix for three years, just built into my routine took four or five minutes.
It didn't take long, but I realized I calculated up because all those notes were about 850 characters.
I added it up and realized that over over the three years it was the equivalent of having written 10250 page novels.
22:50
And I was like, holy crap.
So it came out to like 3 1/3 or 3 1/2, 250 page novels a year that I had written the equivalent of with those notes.
And I was like, but those notes didn't feel like they took any time because it was just built into my work schedule.
And so that was a huge example to me of how little simple, diligent tasks will bear big fruit.
23:12
Another example is Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A understands this.
That's why they say things like my pleasure.
That's why they have certain phrases that they use, certain ways they respond.
That's why they put flowers on the table and make sure things are clean and they have a great play place.
All these little things add up to a lot of success.
23:30
And so with my goals I realized, OK, to keep the needle moving, I need to keep the list short and focused.
With my kids, it's finding little ways to be present.
Like talking in the car, being at their games, chatting at bedtime, taking the time to ask tough questions, not being afraid to probe, and then like smiling when I see them, telling them often how precious that I think that they are.
23:56
With my husband, similar things, like smiling when I see him calling out his wins, telling him I'm proud of him, hugging him, touching him, looking at his eyes, things like that with other people, smiling, compliments.
I usually, and it's kind of instinctive to me, but when I see people, I usually notice something wonderful about them and so I call it out like, oh, I love that shirt.
24:19
It matches your your eyes.
Little things like that are Oh my gosh, you look beautiful today.
Oh you you're just glowing.
You know, finding ways to compliment people when I see them are little tiny ways to really move the needle in impacting people and it leaves the door open to have a deeper impact with them.
24:37
Another thing is putting my phone down when I'm around people.
Like putting it out of sight in my purse, plugging it in by my bed when people come over, things like that.
I'm not, I don't.
I can't always do that, obviously, but I do it as much as I possibly can and listening more deeply than than my hurried self might want to.
24:56
So really stopping and and focusing in on the person in front of me.
Also like personally noticing how much time is stolen by scrolling on social media or responding to everything that comes through on my phone.
So putting my phone in Do not disturb during certain moments is really really helpful.
25:15
And these are just some practical ways that I see the small things impact my larger goals, which is connection with people, success in my business, reaching my goals, protecting my time, things like that.
25:31
And So what are some little things you can do that move the needle?
Fitness.
A goal with fitness might simply be go walking every 30 minutes or after a meal, go take a 10 minute stroll or a 5 minute stroll to get some more activity into your day or incorporate stretching at the end of the day.
25:48
Little things that you can do.
In fact, they say when you're building new habits, if you can make it your goal to just have 1% improvement each day, 1% improvement in that thing, then at the end of the year you will be 37 times better at that thing simply by doing 1% improvement each day 37 times.
26:13
And so that's worth doing 1% each day.
Whether it's your fitness, eating healthy, your relationships just reach for 1% improvement.
So I'll be taking that into 2024, #4, the power of gratitude and the spoken word or decrees.
26:32
Now this is really fun and I'm going to leave the link in the show notes.
I created a New Year's planner and you guys heard about it last year.
Some of you guys used it.
I'm making it available to you guys this year.
Again, it's free.
I'm putting it on Amazon.
It's going to be for sale on Amazon, but for you guys, it is totally free.
26:49
I actually made it for myself a couple years ago.
I think last year I made it for myself as a way to process my new year, but I decided we'll make it available to my friends.
People might really appreciate this.
And people did like, I think like 90 people downloaded it last year when I put it on Facebook.
27:07
And so I was like, wow.
And and people were telling me constantly.
They're like, this was so refreshing.
This was such a beautiful way to start my year and process with the Lord.
And it was such a a refreshing twist on New Year's resolutions.
I loved it.
I want to do it every year.
One of my friends had just posted on social media this week that she was doing it again and was sharing it with people and it just encouraged my heart.
27:30
So all of that to say the spoken word and decrees I added to that planner this year.
I think it's like 5 pages of decrees for different aspects of your life.
So relationship decrees, financial wealth decrees, spirituality decrees, health decrees, and wisdom decrees.
27:52
And so I created basically statements that you can speak out loud to yourself and then they're reinforced with a scripture that you can speak over your life.
Now, is it trendy to be like affirmations and manifesting?
Yes, it is completely.
But the reason why that works, guys, is because it was God's idea in the 1st place.
28:11
God literally spoke the word world into existence, and He made you in His image, which means you have that same creative power in your spoken word.
The word of God says this, We know this, we've been told this, We forget this all the time.
Our words are very powerful.
28:27
And so incorporating spoken words and decrees into my daily life has actually shifted my life.
I started speaking decrees over my wealth increase and I started seeing financial opportunities come to me.
And here's why I think that is so powerful A your subconscious mind aligns with your spoken words and then your sub, when your subconscious mind aligns with it, you will naturally migrate towards the things that will make that thing happen.
28:58
OK, so it's really programming your heart.
As the the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, or so does he.
And so that's what you're doing.
Your spoken words program, your heart, your subconscious mind.
Secondly, which these episodes are coming in late January, so you're not going to want to miss them.
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But your spoken words, when you release the word of God from your lips, you activate angels on your behalf.
We're going to get into it.
There's three episodes coming in January about how to activate angels in your life.
Make sure you're subscribed because you don't want to miss those.
I started seeing Angels and and Sensing Angels in my home for about a week after recording these episodes with Prophet Phil.
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It was, it was crazy.
And so it's it's powerful principle.
But the principle there is angels hearken unto the word of the Lord.
Literally.
That's what they're there for.
They respond to the word of the Lord when it leaves your lips.
And so by releasing decrees out of your mouth, you are activating angels on your behalf.
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You're programming your heart.
You are aligning everything to come into alignment with those things that you're speaking.
It is not new age.
It is not voodoo.
It is literally how God has built the world and you to work.
And so gratitude.
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Along with these spoken words and decrees, Gratitude is a conduit for joy, peace, and a healthy life perspective and experience.
When I incorporate affirmations and decrees and gratitude into my quiet time and my prayer, I literally see things shift both in my mind but also in the spiritual climate in my home.
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God has commissioned us to use our words to create worlds in this life.
Your words create worlds, and you can do that in your children's lives, in your life and in your spouse's life, in your business, in your goals, in your job.
And so lesson #4, the power of gratitude and spoken words, and the reason they go together for me is because angels are activated by the word of the Lord.
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When we're speaking the language of gratitude, we are speaking the language of the Lord because he is abundant.
He is a God of blessing.
He is a God of more than enough.
You are the head and not the tail.
You are above and not beneath.
That is his language.
The language of complaining is actually the language of the enemy, because it's the language of lack, the language of fear, the language of of scarcity.
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And so when you speak the language of gratitude, that is something that activates your spirit, activates your mind and your body and angels around you.
In fact, did you know this?
That when you release gratitude and focus on gratitude, that it releases the same chemical in your brain that makes you feel in love?
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Did you know that?
And so you can literally fall in love with your own life by gratitude, by expressing gratitude and looking for the things that God is doing in your life.
This is one of the most powerful principles that I learned multiple years ago, but it continues to be reinforced in my life.
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And this year I've seen yet another reinforcing of the power of gratitude and spoken decrees.
So it's like gratitude says, thank you, Lord, for all the things that you've done.
Thank you for the things I know you will do.
And then I go a step further and bring decrees into the situation.
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I am the head and not the tail.
Everywhere I walk, everywhere I tread, the Lord will give me favor.
God's favor surrounds me as with a shield.
And the Lord goes before me, smoothing out the mountains.
Father, I thank you that you have given me peace, a sound heart and a sound mind, that you were giving me favor before.
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Behind, beneath that everyone I encounter will have favor with me, you know, And there's decrees that you can release.
Those are not actually off my papers, but those are, you know, just examples of how positive it is and how it can really shift things.
OK, so the power of gratitude and spoken decrees go down into the show notes.
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If you're interested in getting those, download the New Year Planner.
And those gratitude decrees are in that planner.
So get the New Year Planner.
The link is in the show notes, and that's a free download.
And that link that is in the show notes, you can share that with friends because it'll get emailed to them.
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So you just drop your info and it'll get emailed to you, so it'll be safe in your inbox.
OK, #5 The Fifth Life Lesson that I've learned in 2023 is that I am always meant to be the most powerful person in my life.
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This is both a responsibility and a commissioning.
So having the mentality, and This is why this is new.
It's like if you've ever been through something hard, or you've suffered abuse, or you've you've been a victim of someone's behavior, someone's actions or a situation.
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Like, we lost our home in Hurricane Harvey that our house flooded, right?
Technically, we were victims of the flooding, but I refused to align my thinking with one of a victim.
Instead, I was like, Nope, we get to be the most powerful people in our life.
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And sometimes that means by prayer.
Sometimes that means that I am powerful in my life through prayer.
The reason this principle is so important is because it eliminates the room for having a victim mentality.
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I am not a victim of my circumstances.
Is it possible that I go through things that may victimize me?
Yes, and I have.
I have.
But all things can be used for my good.
All, all things.
And once I've gone through something good, bad, my fault, not my fault.
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Whatever the impact it has on me, I am my responsibility.
So if I've gone through abuse, which I have plenty of years of it, I went through emotional and verbal and spiritual and emotional abuse, mental abuse.
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And it was as long as I was playing the victim and like, but it's their fault.
It was their actions.
And now I'm all messed up, blah, blah, blah.
As long as I thought like that, and I did for a little while, I didn't experience any kind of breakthrough, any kind of forward movement.
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I I literally was the victim of my experiences.
But when I realized, you know what?
I I can't control what happened.
I can't control what has been done in the past.
What I can control is what I do with it.
I am my responsibility, my attitude, my beliefs, my triggers, my fight or flight symptom system, my fear based thinking, all of those things are my responsibility to heal and to grow through.
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And this is one of the most distinguishing lines between people who grow in life and become powerful people in life who impact lives and people who don't.
People who constantly live in their suffering is whether you have a victim mentality or not.
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You God designed it where yes, we will all go through hardship, but you are meant to be the most powerful person in your life.
And what that means is that someone else's actions towards me don't get to determine my future.
For example, I shared this on the Sean Bowles Show when I was there a few weeks ago.
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I experienced a lot of limitations being a woman, a married woman in ministry, in pastoral positions and IA lot of limitations.
I I did not have hardly any opportunity to actually preach in the pulpit.
Literally none.
And and I was like, what is the deal?
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It was very frustrating for very many years and for a while I believed that maybe my giftings were actually subject to the the cultures and the climates around me.
But then I realized I'm standing before the Lord at the end of my life and I have to answer for my gifts.
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Nobody else.
I don't get to blame anyone.
I don't get to make excuses.
So this is my opportunity to be the most powerful person in my life and find a way to use my gifts.
And so I pivoted and said OK, then I'll start a podcast.
And so that's how Java with Jin happened.
And so Java with Jin is the result of me determining to be the most powerful person in my life.
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I refuse to let someone else's actions, words, behaviors, let their decisions determine the quality of my life.
I refuse.
And so where there is a will, there is a way.
You are the most responsible.
You are meant to be the most powerful person in your life, and this is a responsibility.
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It places an empowering responsibility on your shoulders to stop wishing for the life you want and to actively create the life you want.
This may mean that boundaries are necessary.
This may mean that habits need to change.
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This may mean that your thinking needs to change, or your circle of excuse me, your circle of influence may need to change.
But it's up to you to choose how you show up in this life.
It's up to me to choose how I show up in this life, because this is the power the Lord has placed in all of our hands.
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And it makes sense that at the end of our lives, we'll give an account for our words and our actions because He's given us the power to make changes in our lives.
This is empowering because if there's any area of my life that I don't like, I have the power to change it.
Some change is simple, some is very hard.
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But with enough grit and grace from the Lord, I can change anything that I don't like about my life.
If you don't like the health of your body, if you don't like your weight, you have the power to change it.
If you don't like the place where you work and it's toxic, you have the power to change that.
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You really do.
If you don't like how your kids are behaving, you do have the power to change that.
And and all of the.
And now can we control our kids?
No.
No, we really can't.
Especially once they're adults.
But we can do our part to feed the relationship differently and to feed your relationship to yourself differently.
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And so think about any area of your life going into 2024, any area of your life that feels like it's just struggling.
It is not full of vibrancy, it's not alive.
And ask yourself, how can I step into my power to change this area of my life?
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When I was in an that emotionally abusive relationship, the way I took back my power was drawing boundaries and creating distance and saying you're not going to treat me this way any longer.
I won't tolerate it.
I broke up with wrong thinking.
That said, just turn the other cheek, you know?
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There's scriptural thinking like you know, you know, let let your enemy slap your second cheek, you know, or turn the other cheek.
Give them your coat instead.
You know those are scriptural principles, but they're not principles.
The principles of the Word of God are never meant to endorse you, remaining in abusive environments or environments that are going to destroy you.
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That's not God's plan.
Jesus knew when he had to go to the cross, and there were many situations that tried to destroy him before that, but he got out of them.
He avoided them.
He stepped away.
He slipped out of the crowd.
He got away from hostile crowds.
People tried to throw them off the Cliff and he was like, no, and he walked away from the Cliff.
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It wasn't until it was the moment he was supposed to go to the cross that he surrendered and gave himself to it.
You are not meant to live in suffering constantly.
There will be seasons and moments where it's divinely appointed that you may have to pass through something difficult, and in those moments you cling to the Lord.
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But even in those moments, you retain the power of being the most powerful person in your life because you're choosing.
Jesus retains his power because he surrendered.
He chose to give that up.
He could have called down heaven and walked away, you know, but he didn't.
He chose.
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And so this is powerful because this principle reiterates the fruit of the Spirit, which is self-control.
God wouldn't give us the fruit of the Spirit of self-control if we weren't meant to be the most powerful person in our life.
We are meant to control ourselves and not others.
So we're at 38 minutes.
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So I'm going to do a little extra mini bonus episode.
It's going to come out on Wednesday, where I'm going to share one last life lesson I've learned in 2023 and the milestones we experienced with the podcast this year.
And so many of them are just such beautiful pictures of what the Lord has done.
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But let me let me recap these five life lessons.
One, you cannot control how others treat you, respect you, or receive you, but you can determine whether or not you participate.
Boundaries are essential, and God wants us to be in environments where we are going to be fruitful.
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So when you go to a place, if they don't receive you, let your peace come back on you.
Don't get all wound up about it.
Just leave, shake the dust off your feet, and move on to the next city.
Right #2 Pulling the Holy Spirit into my productivity?
Like scheduling my week, my goals and my days.
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Very practically letting the Lord help me build my schedule.
He has brought some.
In fact, the times when my life got pulled back together and became more fruitful and productive was because I had pulled the Holy Spirit in and said, Lord, Give me some ideas and with that check out Magic Mind Down in my show notes to get a discount If you want something that's going to help you with being focused and having energy longer through the day #3.
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The needle moving power of the small things.
Finding small ways.
Business people have discovered that the power of transforming your business is not in a big massive overhaul.
It's in tending to the little things, tending to how you greet people, tending to how things are cleaned.
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Tending to how organized the communication is in your business.
It's the small things with your kids.
Find ways to show them that you love them in little tiny ways.
The moment you see them after school, greet them with a smile.
Bring something sweet.
Don't say oh your hair is a mess you know, don't be critical.
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Be loving out the gate and with your husband, with the people around you.
Even with your time, pay attention to those little things that can add up to big results.
With your dream of writing a book or starting a podcast, it's the simple little diligence is to move the needle towards the goal that makes a difference #4 The power of gratitude in the spoken word.
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This is how you align with God's language, with the activity of angels in your life.
You program your heart to move towards these beautiful things in your life and make sure that you download the new Year planner down in the show notes to get that list of spoken words and decrees.
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I have them hanging on my fridge, I pull them out during my quiet time and release them over my life during that time.
And then #5.
You are always meant to be the most powerful person in your life, period.
It's eliminates room for a victim mentality and places a demand on you to take responsibility for yourself.
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Take responsibility for your heart, for your attitude, for your actions to grow through your challenges because you are meant to be the most powerful person in your life.
OK, those are the five life lessons I've learned in 2023 that I'll be bringing into 2024.
Make sure you are subscribed so you don't miss the bonus episode that's going to come tomorrow and I will see you next.
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