Worry Is Not Trust

Read Isaiah 7:1 through 12:6

America is a nation obsessed with worry. Because of broken homes, single parents, and a degenerate culture of rebellion and hate, the disease of worry has grown to epidemic proportions.


American citizens spend millions of dollars every year on pills and other medicines, in an attempt to arrest this painful experience, which in essence is just another form of fear. Worry can cause illness and depression, and is a major source of unhappiness, bleeding over into the atmosphere of families, homes, and even jobs.

The prophet Isaiah gave an inspired message of freedom from worry; this freedom comes only from a relationship with God: “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).


Does worry continually obsess your mind? Begin today to genuinely trust God to move in circumstances that you are totally powerless to do anything about. If you consistently fear things that have not happened, begin today to turn them over to God.

Five Keys to Realizing Your Potential

By Valorie Burton
Author and Motivational Speaker
 

1. You are here for a reason.
If you are alive, there is a purpose for your life. Your purpose answers this simple question: “How is a person’s life better because they crossed your path?” Your purpose may be to bring joy to others, provoke thought, educate, inspire, teach, or connect people with one another. Whatever it is, it uses your natural gifts, talents, passions, and experiences (both painful and joyful) to make a positive impact on the world.

2. People can change (but you can’t change them).
We all have the capacity to change, but lasting change comes from within. External pressure may effect a temporary shift, but true transformation occurs from the inside out. Out of the heart flows the issues of life. Until one’s heart changes, transformation is impossible. It requires a personal commitment to facing truth and walking through fear in order to step out of habits and behaviors inside your comfort zone. So don’t waste your time trying to change others. Focus on changing yourself and praying for others.

3. Change is a process.
Occasionally, change happens “suddenly.” There’s the cigarette smoker who stops cold turkey or the person who becomes fed up and makes a major life-changing decision. But most of the time, change does not happen overnight. Give yourself permission to fail, learn from mistakes, and try again. Eventually, just as you learned to ride a bicycle or read, change will take root and won’t take as much concentrated effort. Adjust your expectations so that you give yourself the space to improve over time.

4. Fear is inevitable.
Expect it and keep moving forward. As you may have read in my book What's Really Holding You Back?, fear is the emotion that threatens to keep us from our dreams – if we allow it. One of the keys is answering your “what if?” questions: “What if I fail?” “What if I’m wrong?” “What if they say ‘no’?” “What if I’m not good enough?” Answer the questions that conjure up fear and you’ll begin pushing through your greatest fears.

5. Baby steps will get you to the finish line.
Getting stuck is a vicious cycle. Fear keeps you from taking action. Not taking action leads to poor results. Poor results convince you that you cannot succeed.

Consider your vision for this year and identify a simple step you can take this week to move you closer to it.

Lastly, I’ve learned that happiness is a choice. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Studies have even shown that when people attain the things they believed would bring them happiness, their level of happiness increases only temporarily, then falls back to their previous level. Having more money, getting married, having a baby, landing your dream job – these are all wonderful milestones, but they are not the key to happiness. You hold that key. It is your choice to acknowledge your blessings, love fully, conquer your fears, maintain perspective, nurture relationships, and live your divinely-appointed purpose that brings happiness.
 

Hurricane season starts today. How many of us are prepared?
 

BY KEN KAYE | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 1, 2008

Save for a few minor storms, Florida has enjoyed two years of tropical tranquility, without a single hurricane.
Don't count on such good fortune to continue.

With the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season starting today, tropical meteorologists say the odds are consistently high that a hurricane will charge ashore somewhere in Florida between June 1 and Nov. 30.

Florida has more than 1,300 miles of coastline, more than any other state in the continental United States. Moreover, it juts into a patch of warm salt water, sometimes referred to as "Hurricane Alley," where tropical systems frequently rampage.

"Florida is in the middle of Interstate 95, as far as hurricane climatology goes," said Colin McAdie, a research meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.

All told, Florida has been pummeled by 113 hurricanes, including 37 major ones, between 1851 and 2006."If you look at the broad steering patterns, they tend to aim hurricanes into our vicinity when they come out of the deep tropics," McAdie said. No other state even comes close to that kind of tropical beating. In the same period, Texas came in second with 60 hurricanes. Mississippi had 52 hurricanes and North Carolina 50, according to federal records.

And South Florida is the most vulnerable part of the state, experiencing a hurricane once every four years on average, according to the hurricane center, located west of Miami.

"If you look at the broad steering patterns, they tend to aim hurricanes into our vicinity when they come out of the deep tropics," McAdie said.

Adding to Florida's tropical predicament: the Atlantic basin is in an era of heightened tropical intensity and La Niña, an atmospheric condition that promotes storm formation, is expected to last through the summer.

Because of these climatic ingredients, private and government forecasters are predicting a busier than normal storm season with up to nine hurricanes forming over the next six months.

That, in turn, has emergency managers worried that the two-year respite may have allowed complacency to set in. They are urging South Floridians to hurricane-proof their homes and have at least a three-day supply of food and water for the entire family on hand (and preferably a five-day supply).

"Every year, we have a concern that people are complacent," Vince Bonvento, Palm Beach County assistant administrator, said. "But now there's been a two-year lull — and people need to have a plan."

National polls consistently show more than 50 percent of the people living in Florida and other coastal states have no family disaster plan.

Through his own polling, Jay Baker, a professor of behavioral geography at Florida State University, has found that Florida residents are better prepared than those of other states.

Even so, many Floridians still fail to adequately prepare or evacuate, primarily because emergency managers don't always issue alerts loud enough or clear enough, Baker said.

"If public officials are aggressive about telling people what to do and why they have to do it, people shouldn't have a problem responding," he said.

Chuck Lanza, who took over as Broward County's emergency management director this year, said his agency is trying hard to revive the public's sense of urgency by working with the media, holding educational events and sprucing up its hurricane preparedness Web site at broward.org/hurricane/welcome.htm. "We're using every advantage we can," Lanza said. "People have a tendency over the years to forget, and they need to be aware of what the threats are."

While many new residents of South Florida who have no experience with hurricanes might wait for actual storms to arrive offshore before taking action, those who have lived through hurricanes are making preparations already.

Charles Stephens, a Dania Beach insurance adjuster, recently spent $500 to bolster his roof and was planning to spend $2,000 to upgrade his shutters.

"I'm ready for a Category 4," he said.

Last year, a mass of high pressure over the western Atlantic known as the Bermuda High helped keep Florida from becoming a hurricane target. It pushed hurricanes Dean and Felix south into the Caribbean, where both strengthened into top-ranked Category 5 monsters.

Whether the atmosphere will be as merciful again this year, notably in August, September and October — the most active stretch of the hurricane season — is anyone's guess, said Robert Molleda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami.

The Bermuda High never stays in one place for long. What's more, it constantly weakens and strengthens, another factor that can significantly determine where hurricanes might go, he said.

"We have an idea where it will be in a next week or so. But beyond that, we can't make any assumptions," Molleda said.

Despite being a tropical punching bag, Florida has seen long breaks from hurricanes. For instance, the state escaped a hurricane hit during the four-year period from 2000 to 2003. McAdie, of the hurricane center, said it's possible the current reprieve could stretch to three years.

"Let's just hope for best," he said.