Episode 276-Conflicting Desires

Years ago I did an activity from a workbook where I wrote down every desire I had good or bad, healthy or unhealthy. I thought about what I really wanted in life and what my desires or passions were.

I wrote down everything that came to mind without evaluating it. I was honest with myself and didn’t judge my desires, wants, lusts, addictions, etc. I “threw up” on paper for lack of a better term.

With each desire I asked is this a true, God-given desire? Is it noble? Is it right? Is it pure. Hey right there my list got a lot shorter! Just being honest. Is it lovely, and not like new car lovely, but lovely in God’s eyes. Is it admirable? Is it excellent? Is it praiseworthy?

Many were good desires, but they were in conflict with another good desire. So I had to make some well-defined choice.

I learned that to get anywhere on my journey conflicting desires will keep me stuck. We can’t do everything, but we must do what God wants us to do.

Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/

Rebuilding Jayne Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Rebuilding-Jayne-Her-Fathers-Protection-ebook/dp/B0DGXTXR53

Episode 275-Renew Your Mind

Are you stuck? Do you want to do something to change how you feel and how you can get out of the funk you find yourself in daily? Do you want to renew your life? You can but it will take intentional effort.

Basically, you cannot renew your life unless you change your habits. Habit-change requires renewing your mind in order to renew your life.

Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers

Rebuilding Jayne Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Rebuilding-Jayne-Her-Fathers-Protection-ebook/dp/B0DGXTXR53

Episode 274-Tell a Better Story

Stories are the fabric of our lives. God loves stories. The Bible is made up of true stories of success and failure in life. God uses the stories of failures of people to show the fall of man, but also the redemption of man. He shows how those destined to create better stories follow Him to their destinies or their demise.

He also shows us how when He appears in our lives, things change. Here are some changes that happened to people in the Bible. See if you can recognize who these men are.

A former killer turned shepherd turns into one of the greatest leaders and freedom fighters for an entire nation of enslaved people.

A lowly shepherd boy is anointed king but becomes one of the greatest leaders after deep heart-felt repentance for the sin of adultery and murder.

A former head-hunter of Christians turns into the author of the majority of the New Testament.

To find the names of those individuals, listen to podcast 274.

Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers

Rebuilding Jayne Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Rebuilding-Jayne-Her-Fathers-Protection-ebook/dp/B0DGXTXR53

Episode 273-Food and Curses

Every mother knows somewhere in the back of her mind that there are two types of food. There is nutritious food every child needs in order to grow strong and healthy. And then there’s the stuff that masquerades as food that really just medicates kids. It makes them happy. It comforts them when they are sad or crying, but there is nothing nutritious in ice cream, cake, candy, and soda pop.

What does every mom say when toddlers are crying they don’t want to leave a fun place? Something similar to, “Stop crying and you can have an ice cream after you eat lunch.” Like magic, the wailing stops. What has Mom just taught that child? Food comforts. What does she also know? Ice cream has no real nutritional value, but includes 25 grams of sugar and 32 carbs.

As we will discover in this podcast, the way we eat can cause a curse that we can pass down through the generations. It definitely happened to me, but we can break these.

If you have this issue or other similar issues, I invite you right now to join us in Overcomers Academy. For more information, go to https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers.

Episode 272-Intentional Choices

We all know that if we want anything in our lives to change we have to intentionally make different choices. We have to change the way we’ve done things for years. If we continue eating the same way we always have, we will either stay the same or continue to gain weight.

If we don’t add some intentional times of exercise, we will likely not lose weight even if we are eating healthy. If we don’t forgive issues in our past that have us stuck in the cycle of eating to overcome emotional issues we won’t change our situation. If we don’t change our minds we won’t change our behaviors.

So the big question is how do we make intentional choices that lead to a permanent change in our behaviors?

God wants to help us create the intention to make the right choices so that our desires are aligned with His desires.

Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/

Rebuilding Jayne: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DGXTXR53/

Episode 271-Thoughts Have Power

What kind of mind games do you allow to take residence inside you? One of the biggest mind games I allowed was that I have to act on every directive that enters my mind. This is a lie that the evil one loves to perpetuate.

The devil and demons do have power to speak to humans, but not to read our minds. The devil and demons can speak to us. The devil can anticipate what we will do in a given because of his knowledge of humankind and of each of us. Yes, the devil knows us better than we know ourselves, luckily so does God!

Rebuilding Jayne on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rebuilding-Jayne-Her-Fathers-Protection/dp/B0DJTBJWWK/

Overcomers Academy: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/

Episode 270-Write the Vision

“Write the vision. Make it plain so that those who read it will run with it.”

Habakkuk 2:2

What is your vision? What is your message? What is the passion that grabs your heart? What do you desperately want people to know?

Make it plain.

Be sure people understand what you are saying. Use scripture. Make it real. Make it known. Don’t write something no one understands.

So those who READ. Nothing happens unless someone reads what you’ve written. Show don’t just tell. Make readers cry or laugh. Incorporate God moments.

Will Run With It

If you engage your readers they will want to tell others about your book. Provide at least one sensory detail, color, sounds, smells, textures, tastes, seasons, locations, sight, sound, smell, taste, touch in all your chapters and encounters between characters.

Make sure there is both conflict and character transformation in your book. Without these, there is no story.

In the end, writing a book is not about money, fame, or star status, it’s about the message. However, you never know when your first book just might make it to be a #1 Bestseller. Plan for it. Believe it. And then leave in God’s Hands to show you what to do next.

Rebuilding Jayne on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rebuilding-Jayne-Her-Fathers-Protection/dp/B0DJTBJWWK/

Overcomers Academy: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/

Episode 269-Listen!

I tried to avoid it. I didn’t want it to be my word for the year, but everywhere I turned it followed me. I finally gave in because it was the only word that God would give me. It was everywhere I turned.

The last straw was when I was filling my calendar in for January. And right there on Jan. 1, 2025, I had written down Listen! In reality, I had not forgotten that word. It had been following me around like a nagging three-year-old wanting a piece of candy. I had pretended listen wasn’t my word for 2025.

My word for the year is always something God gives me so I will remember to focus on that topic. Last year was rest and I was always being reminded of that by people who knew that was my word.

This year it’s listen. I went to the Bible first to see what it says about that word. I found that in the NLT version that word is mentioned 584 times. It’s a pretty important word. It doesn’t just mean to hear but also to understand, apply, and carry out whatever is being said. That’s the reason we listen.

Rebuilding Jayne by Teresa Shields Parker: https://www.amazon.com/Rebuilding-Jayne-Her-Fathers-Protection/dp/B0DJTBJWWK/

Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/