Not "If Only" But "next Time"

Not "If Only," but "Next Time"  

·        We hear it all the time. If only I hadn't had that accident.

·        If only I'd lived in some other place. If only I were more beautiful.

·        If only he had not died so young. If only people were friendlier to me.

·        If only I had more money. If only I were younger. If only I were older.

·         If only I had a different kind of job. If only people really knew my abilities.

·        If only--& it goes on & on. If only.

·        Psychiatrist :  Counseling session with a certain patient. "After listening to patient for a Long Time, I told him, 'I noticed that there are 2 words you use all the time. They are The Cause of your Emotional Depression. Wipe them from your vocabulary& you'll never have to see me again. The words are: IF ONLY. Wipe them out. They make you SICK.                                      In their place substitute these 2 words: NEXT TIME.'"

·        There's a world of difference between "if only" & "next time."

·        "If only" looks BACKWARD;         "next time" is a look FORWARD.

·        "If only" is a word of DEFEAT;     "next time" is a word of HOPE.

·       “To create more positive results in your life,                                         replace ‘if only’ with ‘next time’.”  Albert Einstein

·         Robert Schuller: DON'T CURSE Your Hurts.  DON'T NURSE Hurts. DON'T REHEARSE Them.     DISPERSE THEM! With God’s Help

·        How? MAX CLELAND, Strong at the Broken Places, DISPERSE HURT                 by Looking For Another Open Door.                                                                          When U LOOK 4 OPEN DOOR  …        UR BACK IS 2 T CLOSED DOOR!               &      EVERY TIME 1 DOOR CLOSES,           GOD OPENS ANOTHER!!!,

·                    YOU DISPERSE YOUR HURT WHEN YOU REVERSE IT.

Reversing it =Turn It Inside Out. You Turn The Problem Into A Partner. Turn UR SCAR intoaSTAR. FRUSTRATIONintoFRUITFUL EXPERIENCE

·       Let your HOPES, NOT your HURTS, SHAPE your FUTURE.

·        God, help me to erase "IF ONLY" from my vocabulary                                                            & remember that with You there is always a "NEXT TIME."

“One has to live in the present. Whatever is past is gone beyond recall; whatever is future remains beyond one’s reach, until it becomes present. Remembering the past & giving thought to the future are important, but only to the extent that they help one deal with the present.” – S.N. Goenka

·        Jesus was constantly giving people the power to move from                                          “if only” to “next time” in relation to their failures, & hurts!                 You find him again & again encountering failing people, & he always gave them that POWER TO COPE,   that HOPE to RISE ABOVE                                 the WAY that they had been in order to BECOME something different!

·        This is dramatically lived out in the passage from John 8: 1-11.

1.                 First thing he did was NOT 2 Answer their question verbally                BUT 2 stoop over &begin 2 Write with his finger in the dust.    It was Jesus' way of saying that that person for all of her problems,                 still had worth, still ought to be treated with dignity & respect.

2.  Second thing he did was also a MASTER STROKE.                                     Men continuing Manipulative Questions, he looks up & Says,       "The One Of You Who Has No Sin,Let ThatOneCastTheFirst Stone."

Jesus did not see people solely in terms of what they had done.                              He saw back of them to Who They Were & Where They Came From. Attempting 2 Deal with the Darkness Within By Attacking An Object Without.

·        IMPULSE   to  CONDEMN                 WOULD GIVE WAY                                                                   to the IMPULSE   of   COMPASSION.       

                             There is a great sense in which we all need the same things.

·        We stand on LEVEL GROUND UNDER THE MERCY OF CHRIST                          & BEG HIM TO HEAL US & TO FORGIVE US.

·        Robert Schuller: DON'T CURSE Your Hurts.  DON'T NURSE Hurts. DON'T REHEARSE Them.     DISPERSE THEM! With God’s Help

·        YOU DISPERSE YOUR HURT WHEN YOU REVERSE IT.

Reversing it =Turn It Inside Out. You Turn The Problem Into A Partner. Turn UR SCAR intoaSTAR. FRUSTRATIONintoFRUITFUL EXPERIENCE

·        Let your HOPES, NOT your HURTS, SHAPE your FUTURE.

·        God, help me to erase "IF ONLY" from my vocabulary                                                            & remember that with You there is always a "NEXT TIME."