Book Club Thursday- The Confident Woman Chapter Fifteen

I have really enjoyed reading The Confident Woman, learning about myself in the process, and sharing with you my thoughts on the chapters. In all honesty, while I am reading Joyce's words I feel like my mom is talking to me. Mom was the first person I knew who loved Joyce Meyer, watched her teachings, and read her books. Joyce has such a this-is-how-it-is-and-what-you-need-to-do-to-change-it way about her that is so like Mom. I have caught myself saying, "Yes, Mom," several times. We have two more chapters to go after today. Don't forget to check out Kristi's thoughts on the chapter.

Winners Never Quit is such an appropriate title for this chapter. We are all running the race of life. Some of us run faster, some slower, some are stressed, some take it easy, but we are all running. In our world, we view the winner as the one who crosses the finish line first. But is that what makes us a winner? I think we need to change our view of winner to one who completes the course. Now don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who believe that scores should be eliminated so no one feels bad about losing a game (that is a lot of nonsense!). But life is not a game. It is a race we are all running. We can either chose to make it to the end or give up half way.

We all have goals in life. Some are easily achievable, some will take time. However, how we view our goals and our ability to meet the challenges that come with each goal determines whether we will be winners or not.

If we stare at our giants too much, the fear of them will overtake us. Keep your eyes on the prize, not the pain. In the Bible, Paul explains how they were pressed on every side and troubled and oppressed in every way. They could see no way out but they refused to give up. We have some goals here. Some are long term and some are short term. I know that for me, if I continue to look at our long term goals, they just seem so far away and out of reach from where we are today. However, if I keep my eye on the prize, the end result of reaching our goals and not the work that will take us there, the journey will not seem so long and hard.

One third of the chapter was a story by Peter Kyne called the Go-Getter. If you have not yet read the story, click on the link to download the free version so that you can read this powerful story of a man who overcame incredible circumstances.

Joyce's final point was Opposition Will Always Be There. How we handle the opposition will determine if we finish our race. Will we allow opposition to stand in our way? Or will we view opposition as strength training? What we need to remember is that God promises to never leave us or forsake us. Regardless of what the opposition is that you are facing in your life right now, our Heavenly Father is beside us and will never leave us to face the opposition on our own. We just need to ask Him to help us overcome the obstacles, the opposition, and the set backs, and know that He will.