Does what you think matter‪?‬ Pat's View: Inspirational stories

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 I am so excited that you are joining me on this Think Bible Study. The way we think can fuel our dreams or sabotage our future. I was shocked, absolutely shocked when I began to see all the places God talks about our thoughts, attitudes and heart. I want to share what I see in Scripture with you, because what you think is a critical key to your success, peace and joy. This first lesson is very basic, but stay with me. I want to be sure everyone is on the same page.
Does what you think matter? Do you ever feel like your opinion doesn’t matter or that nobody cares what you think?
Your thoughts matter-especially to you.
Your thoughts shape your destiny. They can limit you, stop you or guide you. In this Bible Study we are going to look at more than positive thinking, we are going to look at biblical values that shape our thinking and beliefs

Sometime even seeing something right before our eyes doesn’t change what we think. In 1875, Martin Vivian hired some men to cut down one of the giant Sequoia’s. It took two men 9 days to topple the giant. The stump of the giant measured 24 feet in diameter. You read that right…24 FEET! He wanted to transport it to the East, but how do you transport a 24 foot irregular slice of wood? He selected a slice higher up the trunk which measured 16 feet in diameter. Had it sliced into 8 pie shaped wedges and shipped it to the East on the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Mr. Vivian reassembled the pieces and exhibited the 16-foot slice of tree at Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia. People purchased tickets and stood in long lines to see “the hugest thing ever made by Mother Nature.” But people didn’t believe what they saw. Maybe it was because the pieces were fit together like a puzzle. But people just couldn’t believe there could possibly be a tree that big. They had seen big trees, but this slab of wood was too big. They called it the “California Hoax.”
But the fact that the trees could grow that big was true. They missed the truth because what they believed was based on their personal experience.
Whether the people at that Centennial Exposition believed the truth about the Sequoia wasn’t life changing, but what you believe will shape your life.
When we base our beliefs on our personal experience and limited vision, it shapes our lives!
“Sow a thought and you reap an action;
 sow an act and you reap a habit;
then sow a habit and you reap a character;
 sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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When we trust in our human reasoning, we leave God out of the equation. We put our trust in ourselves instead of God.
Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the Lord says:
 “Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
9The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
We can trust Him, because He is worthy of us trust.
 
Albert Einstein said "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
 
Sari wanted a baby really, really bad. But when a special guest showed up in her yard and announced that she was going to have a baby, she laughed. It was ridiculous to even think that an old lady like herself that had never, I mean