7 Golden Truths That You Are An OVERCOMER

 Hey everybody! Welcome to the Bravehearted Woman Podcast. I'm Dawn Damon, your Braveheart Mentor, and your Braveheart Activator. I'm here to challenge you, to push you in the tush, to get you going, to make necessary changes in your life, to do brave things, to stretch, to grow, to whatever you do, and never stop. But to get your vision for the future to help you keep going, we're going to crush this thing called midlife that you're able to. You've got so much more in you than maybe what anyone's told you lately, or maybe what you've told yourself lately, or what you even believe that you're capable of. You got this girl!

I want to talk to you today about what to do when challenges and problems come your way. Will difficult experiences crush you? That's what I want to delve into today on our episode of The Bravehearted Woman Podcast.

You know, life can be difficult, can't it? There are hardships. I hear from women all the time experiencing something that they say, I never thought I would go through this. It happens to other people, but it doesn't happen to me. Yet here I am now, I'm faced with a very painful, difficult situation. What do I do? So we often think that when challenges come our way. We often think that we're going to be prepared, that we're going to be ready. But the truth is, is that we often are not. Now we have more control over our circumstances than we think. You have more power over negative circumstances, maybe than what you believe.

For example, how deep they impact you how intense the pain is, or the duration, how long something is going to last. You actually have more influence over it. And that is because you do. Get to decide the lens through which you're going to look to frame your problems, to talk about your difficulties, and to think about these challenges. I want to equip you today with an outlook, a philosophy on problems. So often when we face problems, we're going to answer three questions or we're going to adopt one of these mindsets. One is going to be, that I can grow from this. One might be, I'm a failure. I can't do anything right. And the other one might be, I'm a victim the world is out to get me. So what attitude do you have?

By the way, your upbringing, your training, what was modeled for you, what you observed in life, and the behaviors that you saw, that's most likely how you are today unless you've done some real deep work to say that right there. That attitude or that behavior or that philosophy or position in life or outlook, I don't want that. I'm going to work real hard not to be that way, not out of judgment and bitterness, but just out of a powerful mindset that says that's not going to serve me well. But you've learned. You've learned your mindset. You've learned your attitudes.

So I want to draw your attention to today. I want to equip you for bad times because we're going to have setbacks, tragedies, and trials. We're going to have obstacles and difficulties and rejections. So I'm going to give you 7 statements today. 7 things that will help you build a powerful philosophy. All right, are you ready? Because when you have these statements when you ingest them and really work them into your spirit and your mind, you can gain victory over whatever you face. You are an overcomer. People try to avoid pain, but there is no gain without pain. We know that you can overcome painful situations. We realize how precious life is, and we can embrace that pain. We can learn from it. Okay, we're not just being Pollyanna and putting our heads in the sand, but We are going to adopt a positive outlook. So let me give you these seven. Are you ready? Here we go.

Number one, this is so important to know you will outlive all of your problems. You will outlive your problems. Trust that God is going to bring you through. See, we already have the promise. If you are a born-again believer and a Christian, we already know that in the end, we win. So we do get the last word. God gets the last words, not problems, not hardships, not trials, not difficulties, and not depression. We get the last word and it is a word of victory. But on this earth, there is a solution. You're gonna outlive most of all of your problems. There will be a resolution. Yes, things might change, but this has come to pass, not to stay. You will be happy again. There will be joy in your life. You need that positive outlook. You need to look into the future and see yourself as victorious. See yourself as winning. See yourself as joyful and experiencing a great life.

I like what Hal Borland says. He was a writer for the New York Times and he just said, “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” Spring is coming again. Give yourself a vision of the future. Trust that you have a reservoir of wisdom inside of you Innovation you have so much know-how within you and what you don't know there is a cloud of witnesses surrounding you, people, trusted friends, advisors, and God himself, the Holy Spirit speaking to you, you will overcome your problem. You will. So arm and guard yourself with this attitude.

Here's the second statement. Your problems will make you grow. Yep, adversity causes growth. It forces you, problems, struggles, and pain, forces you to dig down deep and grab your brave and know that you are being stretched, that you are growing, that you have more capacity than what you know, and In adversity, you will find innovation, attributes, and gifts. You will find resilience and grit that you didn't know that you had before these circumstances hit. Plus you will come up with things. You will pivot, you will shift, and you will find yourself with new opportunities that would not have happened if you had not encountered these problems. We know that most inventions in life are solving problems.

I can't remember the name of the man who invented Velcro. But he went out into the brush one time to do some pheasant hunting and he was so frustrated by these burrs that kept getting in his pant legs. Until one day he said, I need to investigate what this is. He put it under the microscope and he saw that these burrs had little tentacles that stuck to fabric and thus Velcro was created. So his problems caused him to get a grip. That was funny, I think, but we discover places in our hearts that we need to rise. Where is life calling you to be more brave? Where is God calling you to come up be courageous and exercise your faith? Now, if you have pain in your life, and you're not overcoming it, then you may want to realize that this pain is calling you to discover where there's unresolved hurt, trauma, unforgiveness, some fear, or some kind of a situation that's still wounded in your life. And even if you feel that pain, your problems are calling you to grow. So you will grow because of your problems, and that's a good thing.

The third thing I want to leave you with is pain hurts, but it is a motivator. Pain is a motivator. It will cause you to move. We all know the famous quote. “If you touch a hot stove, you will move quickly.” Pain sends signals to your brain that say move, stir, stand up, get out of here, do something, but pain in a good way can motivate you. nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you only have wonderful things happening to you. But only when the pain reaches me deeply am I ready to make a change. So pain motivates me to act, to move, and to get unstuck. Pain will force you to face your fears. So let pain do its work. Let it motivate you. Are you feeling discontent? Is there some pain in your life right now? Are you trying to outrun something or avoid something? Stop, turn around, look it in the face, and let pain motivate you to grow and to change and to develop and to become the best version of yourself possible.

Number four. You learn how to take bad experiences and get positive results. Pain can be good for you because, from that pain, you can experience something beautiful. There's an energy that pain can foster.

,: 1980

Number five, when pain comes, find its source. If you can, then choose a positive outlook. A lot of times we have pain because we're focusing on the wrong thing. What do you think? Do people focus on the negative or the positive? Well, of course, 100%. We focus on the negative. We just tend to see the negative things and the pessimistic, what's wrong. I am by personality. I recognize I am a silver-lining kind of person. I do look for the positive. I quickly reframe. I might see what's wrong, but I don't like to speak it out loud for a long period of time. I don't like to dwell there. I don't like to live there. I want to reframe quickly because I am looking for a positive outlook because I do believe that God is saying that whatever's going on, it's going to work out for my good. And I'm not just Pollyanna, but I am acknowledging myself. I do want you to acknowledge your pain. Yes, this hurt, this wounded me. Now what? Now what am I going to do? So I'm ready to reframe.

There was a study of 100,000 women and it was presented at the American Psychosomatic Society in their annual meeting and they found there was a strong correlation between optimism and a person's risk for cancer-related death or heart disease and early death, especially early in women. So, can you choose a positive outlook? Are you convinced that this will work out for your good? I don't mean to quote Romans 8:28, but I guess I am. Are you believing God that all things are going to work out for your good?

I went through my divorce and: 2008

Number six. That's my point. God allowed it. So, what did he have in mind? Do you trust the intention of God's heart? You know, every attack against you is formulated by the enemy to get you to quit trusting God, to get you to turn your back on God, or to doubt God's love for you. But God didn't stop this pain. That might even make you mad. That might make you angry. That might even hurt more. It's alright. God can handle it. Go ahead and voice your objections to God. Go ahead and state your fears. Go ahead and tell Him how you feel about that. He invites all of your emotions and you don't have to be pretty about it either. You can be ugly cry and have ugly emotions. Let it out. But understand that His goodness and His heart allowed this in your life. So you can expect that He will work it out for your best. That's a great phrase to even adopt in your vocabulary. God will work it out just as I expect him to. What is your expectation of God? He's going to do it. So let God connect the dots in your life. Only he knows the grand purpose.

And number seven, experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is the best teacher. So I have an acronym. I'm going to close with this to help you ingest this principle of saying let pain work for you. When you have a difficult circumstance or when you have something in your life that's really hard for you, a hardship or a trial, I want you to say I can learn from this. I can learn from this. That is your philosophy.

LEARN means this. Ready for the acronym? Here we go. L - Lean into the pain and ask it for its wisdom. What does this pain want to teach you? What are you to learn? Acknowledge your heart, acknowledge your hurt, and embrace the change. Yes. I hurt in my heart. Yes. I have pain. What do you want to teach me? So learn from your experience, lean into the pain, and ask, what do you want me to learn?

E - Evaluate. What could you have done differently? This is evaluating you and your response. What went wrong? Is there anything that you've done? Was there a decision you made? Was there a comment you made? Did you misjudge a situation? Did you react to something in anger or in fear? Are you ashamed of how you acted and so you withdrew? But evaluate what went wrong.

A - Affirm. Affirm the positive emotions, actions, and intentions that you did have in your own heart. What good intentions did you have? What did you do that was good and right? Celebrate yourself. Did you decide to take responsibility for yourself? It doesn't mean you're at fault, it means you're responsible. In other words, no one else can decide on a great future but you. No one else can decide who you're going to become because of this. But you, so take that kind of responsibility and say, this happened to me, but I get to make it happen for me. Did you take the high road? So affirm yourself in what you did. Good job, self!

R - Reframe. Reframe the experience, gain and grow from it. Answer these questions and fill in the blank. If this hadn't happened, then I never would have ________. If this hadn't happened, I would never know this, or now I know, ________. So reframe your experience to look for that positive result that we talked about a moment ago. William Penn said, “No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.”

And N - Name your victory for next time. Never say never. Don't say I'm never doing that again. Alright, well I'm never getting those results again, but no, just name your victory. Get back up on that horse. Expect that with evaluated experience, you're gonna do better next time. You've got wisdom. You've got muscle memory. You've got knowledge. You will do better in the future. Don't quit. Stay engaged in life. Get back up. And like I like to say, you grow, girl. You keep going. All right, Kayla Mills says you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

That's what I have for you today. Stay strong, braveheart sister! I hope that you will.

So, today, if you want to grow, I invite you to jump on my website, braveheartedwoman.com/resources, and claim your FREE one-on-one 15-minute consultation with me. I'd love to help coach you, inspire you, get you moving, and help put a blueprint together for you to live your best life.

And as always, Dawn Damon, your Braveheart mentors say, find your brave and live your vision!