I try to watch Joyce Meyer on TV every morning at 7:30 while I am getting ready for work. She always delivers a fresh, fun Word that speaks to my spirit and challenges me. This past week, she has been ministering from her new book on habits. Today, she talked about the power of excuses and how they are the worst reasons why we shouldn’t accept responsibility. She said, “Commit to stop making excuses. When we make excuses, we lie to oursleves and continue bad habits.”I had to check myself and ask, “Am I a person who has a habit of making excuses?” Do I excuse my behavior? Do I make excuses for avoiding responsibility? Do I excuse the behavior of others because it is easier than confronting it? Wow, when you really start thinking about the role “excuses” play in your life, you can really see how they are habit forming. As a collective whole, if we would all stop making excuses and just accept responsibility and work at our responsibilities with a spirit of excellence (doing the very best with what you have) we could truly change ourselves, impact others, and change the world. Let’s attack this bad habit of EXCUSES!

1. Joyce Meyer ministry is fresh, relevant, and always challenges me.

2. Joyce has so many life experiences to share to help others in life.

3. Pastor Marcia shared one of her life experiences with me this morning. I learn more and more about this woman each day and I am so glad she is in my life.

4. I am so glad that I don’t have any dangerous addictive habits. However, I do twirl my hair. But, I love twirling my hair.

5. I can twist my hair into all kinds of funny shapes. It makes other people laugh.

6. I am becoming more aware of areas in my life where I make excuses. Got to weed out those areas.

7. Found out today that a couple more people started 10,000 reasons blogs.

8. My parents are hard working people.

9. They taught me to work hard and do my very best.

10. You get rewarded for doing your best.

11. Had a meeting this morning with an awesome group of ladies who are going to help us manage all of our disaster relief phone calls.

12. Dorothy always treats me special. She always brings me ice cold water, cheese sticks, crackers, or anything else I might want during a meeting. She spoils me big time!

13. Terry and Pam and Linda and Mary have all been painting on the new KidMotion set today. It is going to be an OFF THE RAILS experience for our kids.

14. The outside of my house is painted and it is beautiful.

15. Judah got to stay home today and play with his cousins.

16. Didn’t eat any fast food today.

17. Gary brought me a healthier food option from home today and I was able to work through lunch and get much needed items accomplished.

18. The two newest members of the KidMotion team, Flip and Zip, arrived today in a box. They look awesome and are going to fit our new puppet characters perfectly.

19. The June calendars for Kids Ministry are complete and have been sent out!

20. The response from people when they find out that we had to cancel Sports Camp has been kind and understanding.

21. I am really thankful that people are going to miss Sports Camp this year! We love that event and can’t wait to host it next year.

22. My brother Kyle worked me in for a back adjustment today.

23. I met two really neat people in the waiting room at his office. They both told me awesome survival stories from the tornado.

24. I met a really neat, sweet, young family in my new neighborhood tonight. I have already been invited to the Rockport Neighborhood Association facebook page. I guess I am official.

25. Deborah Fulton’s birthday is today! She is such a fun friend. She loves people, is very friendly, a great mom and wife, and a great writer too.

26. My sweet Paisley Stimson also has a birthday today. I can’t believe she is 14! She is a beautiful young woman! Like her mom and dad, she has a fun sense of style. She is more than responsible for her age. We love our Paisley.

27. I think the Lord is up to something. I feel something brewing in my spirit and I don’t really know what it is yet.

28. Judah loves for me to tell him bedtime stories. Not stories from a book, but rather stories that I make up on the spot. I have to admit, I enjoy telling them too. Every night I challenge myself to tell a better story than the night before. He loved tonight’s story. It involved a garden, lots of orange vegetables, and a family of bunny rabbits who ate all the carrots and strawberries. I love going on an adventure with my son every evening…