How To Make Time For Yourself

by Olga Hermans

Nowadays you can meet people almost every day that will tell you how busy they are and have no time for other things and under how much stress they are. I remember there was a time that we could ask people, “How are you doing?”. The answer was almost always, “Fine.” Now, almost everybody answers that same question with: “Busy,” “Tired,” or “Stressed.” Have you experienced that? I have found myself telling people that I am busy and felt kind of cool with that answer and then I thought: I am not busy; I just think I am busy. I really need to make more time for myself and for other interesting things.

I told you that I made a choice to take time to exercise which I am starting to enjoy more and more. But I really know people who genuinely believe that being busy is a sign of success. They like to push themselves to the point of exhaustion and try to cram more and more activities into an already tight schedule.

It almost feels like a disease that is spreading all over the place, but then there are also people who are waking up and like to take more time for the more important things in life. We need to become aware that we don’t need to spend every hour of the day doing “something” that we perceive as productive. It really can become unhealthy.

When we want to discover the life we were born to live, we need to try to enjoy the minutes that we live. My father was like that; he was so busy with building his business that he thought he didn’t have any time to spend with us, his family. When he got close to 60, he started to make some different choices and started to plan his life a little different, but then it was too late. He died from a heavy heart attack and collapsed right on the spot. That was such a sad moment for all of us; we never knew him as our dad, we only knew him as the busy man behind his desk.

There is something that is called “margin” by Dr. Richard Swenson. This is a concept that is necessary in whatever you do; if you are a mom, you need it. If you are a businessperson, you need it. Everybody needs it. He gave this example to explain it:  if a person is flying from New York to Los Angeles with a change of planes in Dallas, would that person leave himself only five minutes to make the connection between two flights? I hope not!

No travel agent would ever allow such a connection. If the person did attempt a five-minute change, there would be a high probability that the person would miss the second leg of the flight. He would likely be very impatient, anxious, and frustrated for the first half of the trip, wondering if he was going to miss the second flight and eager to be the first off the plane in Dallas. The point is, such a traveler has not left sufficient “margin” for an enjoyable journey.

You got the picture right? Every time when I am in the car and my son is the driver, I think he is tailgating. I think there should be that margin of safety when we drive. He is not really that bad, but I rather am safer than he. If a person is tailgating a driver at sixty miles an hour in rush hour traffic, there is little margin for error! I really believe that it is a wise choice having sufficient “margin” in every area of life.

Nowhere in the Bible does it mention that Jesus was in a hurry; he always took the time to minister to everybody! He actually spoke against a “hurried” mindset. You remember while Jesus was visiting in the home of Martha and Mary, Martha was busy preparing and serving food to Jesus and those who were traveling with him. He was teaching. Martha became so frustrated that she was having to do all the kitchen work by herself that she said to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to come and help me.”

Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-41. Many people think that way, “If I don’t do it, it just won’t get done.”
When we become too busy we lose our joy. People irritate us. We become frustrated, anxious and critical. We complain too much. We need to become a better manager of our time and sometimes make tough choices, but we need to practice keeping a healthy “margin” in our lives.

Here are 7 ways to reduce stress by organizing your time:

1. Buy a calendar and put the non-negotiable dates on there like birthdays, anniversaries, and the major events that you need to attend.
2. Organize your desk at work and at home; the place where you pay all your bills and so forth; you don’t need to be looking for things that need to be done a few times a week.
3. Organize your kitchen. You don’t need to be searching for items when you need to prepare a meal.
4. Don’t pick up the nuisance phone calls; you know the ones that just want to sell something to you; unplug the phone during certain hours.
5. Make a to-do list each evening before you go to bed. This way you don’t need to continue to mull things over in your mind all night.
6. There are so many things that you can do, but the most important thing that you need to do is spend time in the presence of the Lord; throw all your cares over to Him and just relax and enjoy your time with Him. Listen to Him and when He tells you to do something; do it!
7. There are things that can help you relax when you go through some stressful times, which we all do. Stress-away is one of the best things to use; you can reduce stress at any time, and anywhere with the convenience and portability of an essential oil roll-on. You just need to shake it well and apply it generously to wrists, neck, arms, or anywhere you love experiencing essential oils.

The question that you might need to ask yourself is this: “Have I allowed enough margin so I have enough time for what I am doing?”

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Life is Not Fair

by Olga Hermans

Have you ever felt like that? I sure have. Now I know better, but I remember the times that I felt that way and almost couldn’t see any answers coming towards me. This thought can drop you into a pit in no time. We think that when we really are created equal then why am I going through all of this? You never know what people are going trough; some people are really good at covering up their issues. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have any.

How often do we question the fairness of things? I am certain that it is too often to count. God is eternally just, but there are times I’ve questioned His immediate perspective of fairness. Because He is God all knowing, omnipotent, omnipresent, I mentally know that from an eternal perspective His wisdom, justice, and sense of right and truth are above questions.

When I read my Bible, I am in awe of His perfect wisdom. I never questioned the big picture knowing that God was a good God. My question was more like why do people at an age of 60 still have their parents and I lost them when I was 20. Or why do some couples have to fight the good fight of faith for having a baby while others mistreat their children or even abort them?

These are the questions that are not mentioned in the Bible. It seems that some of us start out with more than others, as if they have a head start before I had even begun. I always felt that God could have been fairer. I remember the times that I tried to judge between fair and unfair, just to find out that I needed to change my perspective over to God’s.

There is a parable in the Bible where Jesus describes His kingdom perspective: Matt.25:14-30. The distribution of the talents was not equal; I am pretty sure that most of us have thought that this wasn’t fair. But Jesus had called his servants together to give them different amounts of money to handle, according to their abilities.

We have to find out that we do not have the same talents and abilities. We cannot all do the same things, but we can all be what God has called us individually to be. I cannot be what you are, and you cannot be what I am, but we can each be all that God wants us to be. We all need to discover the life we were born to live and do that with passion. I believe that passion will drive us to that place where we discover our talents and our gifts.

You can read this parable for yourself and see what happened; the first man went immediately and put to work the talents that were entrusted to him. The man entrusted with two talents put his to work also, and gained two more. But the man given only one talent “went off, dug a hole….and hid his master’s money”. Matth.25:14-18.

Right now we can see a problem in their attitude, because this servant didn’t even try to increase what had been entrusted to him. He was offended when he saw what the others had received. He decided in his heart not to do anything with what was given to him. The only thing he wanted to do was to keep it the same, but he didn’t plan on bringing more value to his talent.

It took some time before the master came back. Often only the course of time will reveal the true nature or character of a person. This servant had plenty of time to change his attitude, but he didn’t. His attitude revealed a deep-seeded heart-condition.

God knows our heart and He knew the heart of this servant; God has a lot of patience. He always waits for the harvest of the heart. You can read how excited the first and second servants were. Jesus called then “good and faithful”. He even blessed them with greater authority; He knew that they trusted Him and therefore He can trust them with more. Those who trust can be trusted.

The last servant with the one talent Matth.25:24-25 comes last and he is not excited about the return of the master at all. He didn’t realize that the master was weighing his heart. He had entrusted him with something good, but in the hands of a bitter, fearful and wicked servant the good talent lays dormant. It’s not how many talents you possess; it’s what you do with those talents.

This is a sad story, because that servant could be you or I; this servant was cast outside of the blessings, privileges and provisions of his master and had to live among the fearful and tormented. Matth. 25:28-30.

God is interested in our hearts; He weighs it by what He places in our hands. He measures us by what we have and not by what we lack. You and I vary in our talents and abilities. God does not compare us one to another. He deals with us as individuals and gives us at least one talent.

God entrusts us with a measure of faith. Rom.12:3. He gives it to us because we cannot please God without faith. Hebr.11:6. We always have to act in faith in whatever we do. Let’s not doubt His goodness, because when we think like this, it causes us to hold back portions of our heart and keep control over our lives.

Our faith is meant to be used. Its purpose is not to accumulate things but to receive and grow in the knowledge of God. It is given to us that we may experience Him as a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

God wants us to seek and grasp His heart. So, to discover the life you were born to live you need not to hide your talent. Don’t be afraid to step out or afraid that you might fail, afraid of criticism, afraid of people’s opinions or afraid of being misunderstood. Take the talent and use it for His glory.

Let me encourage you to use your talents to the greatest possible extent and to do your very best in every area of your life. Then you will hear the Master say, “Well done!”

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God Promises To Keep His Promises

by Olga Hermans

Have you ever heard someone say that promises are made to be broken? Have you ever experienced that people broke a promise to you? Maybe right now you feel like your life is broken because somebody broke a promise to you. If you’ve had any of these experiences, it may be difficult for you to believe that God will keep His promises. However, God has never broken a promise and He never will!

Have you ever felt that God might keep His promises to others but He would never do it for you? Or that He might keep His promises some times but not other times for some mysterious reason? Whatever your experience has been, or whatever you may think, I want to tell you that God’s Word is the most certain thing in the world.

There are thousands of promises in the Word of God, and He declares strongly that He will fulfill each and every one of them. I like to say it this way: God promises to keep His promises. Every promise in the Bible is a gift to us wrapped in love. I can assure you that He hasn’t changed His mind about any of His gifts. James 1:17

Although God has the ability and the desire to bring every promise to come to pass in our lives, we each must individually appropriate the promises by faith. It is always faith that moves God into action on our behalf. It is a fact that when we mix faith with the promise, we receive what we ask for. Rom.10:17

You can see every promise as if you would set a goal and each promise holds the potential to come into existence; isn’t that awesome? That way you can use God’s Word as a “road map” for your life; and when you take hold of the promises in the Word, the Holy Spirit supplies the energy to travel that road without failure.

Do you know anybody that did this? Our great example for this is Abraham. He followed the book of God’s Word as a map. He had been busy following his own map when one day the Lord spoke to him and gave him a different direction. That was the moment that Abraham yielded to the Lord and planned every day of his life in accordance with the promises which the Lord had given to him.

Abraham lived in a land of idol worshipers and didn’t know the true and living God, but when God spoke to him, Abraham obeyed and changed the direction of his life. Didn’t you do that when God spoke to you, when the Holy Spirit wooed you to into the direction of God? Sure, you did; that is how you got saved.

I remember as if it were yesterday when the Lord tapped me on my shoulder to leave Amsterdam. I was living in the world, more at night than during the day. I don’t have to tell you what I was doing, because everybody knows that Amsterdam is famous for all the wrong things. But here I was, 21 years of age, my parents had died within 2 years from each other and I decided to go and live my life in Amsterdam.

My life was going down the drain quite fast. I had a friend; (my husband’s sister), who had a younger brother. I always had liked him because of his morals and values, he always stood out to me for that reason but he was 2 years younger than I. But this one particular night, I was sitting at my desk and I had the impression to leave Amsterdam and go to Canada, where he was living at the time. That is what I did, and within 2 weeks I was in Canada. Although that was a whole story in itself (a beautiful love story), I just want to point out right now that I thank God that I obeyed this inclination and decided to change my life and from then on God was able to direct my steps.

Just like Abraham who stepped into the unknown, I stepped into the unknown. Leaving Amsterdam behind me for a much better way of living, I loved the prairie at that moment. People thought I had lost my mind. How could it be that a person leaves the wild lifestyle from Amsterdam to work on a tractor on the prairies of Alberta? Only God can do that!

Let’s get back to Abraham; he was no more perfect than you and I are; he made mistakes, but he always got back on course. That is what we should do.

Do you have unfulfilled dreams? Haven’t you discovered the life you were born to live yet? Are there plans you won’t make because you can’t see how they could ever come true? Your life is all about making the right choices and decisions. Look at Abraham and Sarah; they left a comfortable environment to follow God.

What God has done for anyone else, He will do for you. God created you and He has a plan for your life and He wants you to discover it and ignite it with passion. He has a plan that will bring blessing and satisfaction. God’s way is always the best way, and God has expressed that way in His Word and His promises.

You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which is a SPIRITUAL Devotion that helps you to make the right choices in your life!

What About Faithfulness?

by Olga Hermans

Somebody said: “Being faithful in the smallest things is the way to gain, maintain, and demonstrate the strength needed to accomplish something great.” Joyce Meyer said it this way: “Faithfulness is not doing something right once but doing something right over and over and over and over.” And Mother Teresa said: “I am not called to be successful; I am called to be faithful”.

What do you say? Webster defines faithful as maintaining an allegiance to someone or something; to be constant; loyal; having or showing a strong sense of duty or responsibility; conscientious. Being faithful is a good thing; it implies having an undeviating allegiance to a person, cause or institution.

What do you think the opposite of faithfulness is? It would imply failure in devotion to someone or something, being dishonest, disloyal; unreliable and undependable. God is faithful and He keeps His Word. He is constant and unchanging.

God is always faithful to keep His covenant with us, even when we are not faithful; God remains faithful to His Word. Numb.23:19.
It is so sad that in our society many people lack faithfulness and integrity and do not keep their word. This creates distrust, disappointment and hurt in others. It also causes others not to believe in them or become involved with them on many levels because they don’t want to experience pain and hurt again.

Have you ever heard the saying? Hurting people hurt people. This should motivate us enough to become faithful. How many times, myself included, have we been faithful only when it’s convenient or comfortable and not keeping promises when it is hard and reap a harvest of pain and hurt later on.

There are times when God will prove your faithfulness. He does that by placing you in seemingly unimportant positions, all the while observing your faithfulness in the little things. God will not promote a person who is unfaithful (irresponsible) in the little things. Faithful people feel responsible for the things they do and the people they serve.

They do not quit because they are tired, offended, or because there is inconvenience. They go on to complete the task they’ve been given. People who are undependable or irresponsible will not be given leadership positions. A leader must be responsible and faithful. Proverbs 25:19. People who are not dependable or faithful can be a pain to those who work or live with them.

You know Daniel in the Bible right? He was promoted to the level of being a first prime minister under King Darius. Dan.6:1-4. He had already proven faithful through the reign of two previous kings. Darius, however, had promoted him because he valued Daniel’s wisdom and character above all the other men around him.

This caused jealousy in others who wanted his position. They began to look for ways to trap him but could not find any character flaws. Daniel 6:4. Daniel was faithful to God and to his king. I truly believe that when you are faithful to God, you will be faithful to those who are in authority over you.

You know what happened to Daniel; his enemies had to find something to betray him and although Daniel ended up in the lions’ den because of doing what was right, God protected him by shutting the lion’s mouths.

Faithfulness does not always mean circumstances will be favorable, but as you are willing to walk out your commitment to God and your assignment, God will deliver you and promote you. We must learn how to stand steadfast and immovable in what we know is the right thing to do.

Here are some helpful hints for being faithful:

1. Keep your word.
2. Do all you can do to the best of your ability in the assignment you are in.
3. Do what you are assigned to do, whether others see you or not. God sees you.
4. Go the extra mile if it is necessary in order to complete an assigned task.
5. Maintain a sense of responsibility, realizing that others may be dependent on the part you do. Remove the attitude that someone else will do it from your thinking.
6. Stay put when others jump out at the first difficulty. Learn to stay until you’ve spent time and heard direction from God before considering a move.
7. Keep a good attitude and avoid listening to negative people.
8. Submit to authority and learn to follow. Then God can promote you more quickly to a leadership position.
9. Don’t look for changes to always happen in others around you. Instead, learn to look inside yourself and allow God to change you even more into His character.

There are also rewards for faithful people and they are good!!

1. “A faithful man shall abound with blessings….” Pro 28:20
2. “….The Lord preserves the faithful….” Psa 31:23
3. “… You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much….” Mat 25:21
4. “… He counted me faithful and trustworthy, appointing me to [this stewardship of] the ministry. 1Tim. 1:12
5. “… Be loyally faithful unto death [even if you must die for it], and I will give you the crown of life”. Rev 2:10

You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which is a SPIRITUAL Devotion that helps you to make the right choices in your life!

You Take Control By Your Choice

by Olga Hermans

Some people think that self-control is not important, but I’d like to prove you otherwise. One of the things you need to know is that you area  spirit being; when you are Christian your spirit is the most important part of you. You probably know that you are a three-part being, right? Spirit, soul and body. 1Thess.5:23 You are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a body. The part that everybody sees is the body. However, the real you is your spirit man.

If you do not build up your spirit, then your soul and body will dominate your life. You soul and body will then convince you to do what feels good at the moment or what looks easiest and most convenient. The soul and body will also convince you that no one will ever know, or what difference will it make to do a little of whatever you want to do.

Some people never learn to walk in self-control because they don’t take time to build up their spirit man. They learn to shove aside the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to them and instead follow their emotions or their own desires and reasoning.

Sometimes they may even put a religious coat on it and say that they felt God lead them to do what they did, when in fact, if they closely examined what they did, they would know that it goes against the principles of the Word of God.

When you desire to walk in the Spirit, you have to exercise self-control. You and I will have to learn to say “no” to that which pulls on our flesh and emotions to sin.

As Christians, we are to take control of what we see, hear and read, and whom we allow to influence our lives. We are responsible for our emotions, impulses and desires. For example, circumstances may press your emotions to respond negatively, but through the fruit of self-control, you choose to respond differently.

You choose to walk in peace while others may want to argue. You choose to forgive and show mercy when others offend, disappoint, or fail you. You choose to keep the joy of the Lord when you feel unhappy. You choose not to speak when your emotions are wanting your mouth to speak. All of these are example of self-control in operation.

Some may say, “Well, I believe you should vent your emotions.” There have been so many people today who have vented their emotions that we have destruction everywhere – destroyed marriages, destroyed family relationships, murders, and broken hearts, depressed and abused personalities, etc. Some people have vented their emotions and later regretted ever saying or doing what they said and did but cannot change it now.

Get control by submitting to God’s Word in your life personally. There are those who have learned that freedom is not doing whatever you feel at the moment. Freedom is in choosing to walk in love toward God and others. The love walk requires self-control. Gal.5:13

Jesus said in Luke 17:1 that offenses would come. He also said in John 16:33 to rejoice in the midst of tribulation. Walking in peace demands self-control! I remember somebody say once, “I have no problem walking with God. It’s just all the other Christians I have problems with!” That sounds funny, but that’s really the way some people feel.

When we become a part of the family of God, we must learn to live together as a family. God can use other brothers and sisters in the Lord to develop fruit in our lives if we allow Him to. We may not always appreciate the part they are playing in our spiritual growth, but we will realize it is a way God works the rough edges off of us.

Here are a few guidelines for helping you to strengthen the fruit of self-control in your life:

1. Take time to daily read the Word of God. Psalm 119:9-11. Hide God’s Word in your heart, so you will not sin against Him and will be able to live in His Blessings.
2. Take time daily in prayer. Matth.26:41. We need to “watch and pray” over our own lives. Watch for the attacks of the enemy in your life and then pray immediately.
3. Guard your heart with all diligence. Proverbs 4:23 We need to examine our attitudes and our thoughts on a regular basis and make adjustments as needed.
4. Be sensitive in your spirit to hear God. Hebr.3:7. When we hear from God we can choose to respond with humility and trust or
harden our hearts and ignore Him.
5. Be righteousness conscious. Remember, having an attitude of righteousness in Jesus makes you want to stay right with Him. 2Cor.5:21
6. Be quick to repent if you sin, and reckon yourself dead to sin and alive unto God. Gal.2:20.
7. Cast down wrong thoughts. Phil.4:8. Do you ever think about what you are thinking about? If you are not careful, your thought life can lead you into problems. It is important to think before you act.
8. Keep humble before God. James 4:6. We have our own ideas about what we can accomplish, but often we think more highly of
ourselves than we ought. We need humble attitudes, knowing that apart from God, we can do nothing.
9. Submit to God and to His Word, and resist the devil. We must remember that the devil is not going to just sit back and allow us to take new ground without putting up a fight, but James 4:7 says that he will flee if we submit to God and resist the enemy.
10. Set you affections upon the Lord. If you want to live the resurrection life that Jesus provides, then seek that new, powerful life by setting your mind and keeping it set on things above, not on things on the earth.

You can subscribe toThe Daily Choice which is a SPIRITUAL Devotion that helps you to make the right choices in your life!

You Are Unbeatable

by Olga Hermans

Did you know that you were designed to be unbeatable? You were created to be more than a conqueror and yes, again, UNBEATABLE! 

But, words like: winners, victory, determination, champions, legends, perseverance…are definitely words that come up, right?

All those answers are great, but the thing is that we all go through times in our lives where we feel inadequate and unqualified. Have you ever felt that way?

Sometimes you go through a week where things are really rough, you go to your job, the boss calls you into his office and tells you that you are no longer needed. Feelings of insignificance will come to you and that you are not good enough, that you do not really have what it takes. You might even feel that you have lost your reason and your purpose.

We all have had moments like this, where we feel like a defeated spirit. Things didn’t turn out the way we hoped they would. Things that we hoped would happen didn’t happen. Maybe one of your children started doing things that you had never thought would happen. Maybe things with your marriage, or a diagnosis that the doctor gave.

In those moments we have to ask ourselves if we still believe that God has a plan for us. Even when we are released from our job and the bills are stacking up and everything looks like it defeated us. Is there still something on the inside of us that is willing to believe and willing to hold on?

God has a plan for us and satan has a plan for us too, right? John 10:10 says: A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Which plan do you like best? I like the real and blessed life and I know you do too, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this post. Satan has a plan for us to stay depressed, to feel inadequate, and to feel insignificant and that we really don’t have any gifts, talents or purpose.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I see people who seem to have all the gifts and talents and I feel like God gave that person ALL the talents that exist. If we are not careful we can get in this mode and think “well, everybody has a gift and a talent, except for me. My talent is just to breathe! Everybody else can build a business, dance, or play hockey, they are good with numbers and statistics, but here I am just talented with breathing.

That is the lie of the devil!! The evil one wants you think that you don’t have a gift. That you don’t have a purpose and that there is no reason to live and that you were made by accident and that you are insignificant. Because the devil believes that if we believe that lie that we will never fulfill the purpose that God created us to fulfill.

And that lie keeps us from making a difference in our marriage and in our family’s life. The truth is that God has a plan for us, that we would live, and live our lives to the fullest.  He created us to live victorious and make a difference in the lives of others. He created you and me to be unbeatable.

Even if you would believe this right now, you still have to recognize this in your life and that you have to do something to make things happen in your life. You have to prove to yourself that you believe this. Not by comparing yourself with others but by competing with yourself, and then, there is no limit! Take the lid off your life and let the true you come out of the box. You might be surprised at all the talents and gifts that were there for such a long time, they were just dormant on the inside of you.

You might be doing things out of routine and tradition, but there is no life in it and you know it. You have to get up my friend and dust yourself off. This is a new day with a new beginning. We don’t want to do things any longer just because they are a good thing to do. We do them because we believe they are good things and that they will bring results in our lives.

We need to come to the understanding that what we believe and what we are saying will actually come to pass. Your words will bury you or they will resurrect you. They will take you over the top or they will put you under.

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