Deborah Smith Pegues - Choose Your Attitude, Change Your Life: …in 30 Days

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NIV are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked KJV are from the King James Version.

Cover design by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Previously published under the title 30 Days to a Great Attitude

CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE, CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Copyright 2009 by Deborah Smith Pegues

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pegues, Deborah Smith, 1950-

[30 days to a great attitude]

Choose your attitude, change your life / Deborah Smith Pegues.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-5827-1 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5828-8 (eBook)

1. Attitude changeReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. Conduct of life. I. Title.

BV4597.2.P44 2014

248.4dc23

2013015779

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This book is dedicated to every reader who would dare commit to displaying the right attitude in every situation.

Special thanks to all my friendsincluding cyber friendswho not only prayed for this project but also willingly shared their experiences and insights on the various attitudes discussed in this book.

I appreciate my entire Harvest House family for their flexibility and commitment to a quality product. Thanks especially to Bob Hawkins Jr., president, and Terry Glaspey, director of acquisitions, for always pushing me to the next level despite my protests. My editor, Rod Morris, is always a refreshing fount of wisdom as he hawks the spiritual integrity of all my biblical conclusions and assertions.

Finally, Im eternally grateful to my husband, Darnell, for his unselfish support, his willingness to sacrifice our time together, and for being the most loving and self-sufficient husband in the world.

Contents

Attitudes to Choose

Alice, I understand you were suspended from school today. What happened? Ann quizzed her niece.

My teacher disrespected me, and when people disrespect me, thats what theyre going to get back from me, Alice said.

Although only eleven years old, Alices attitude was already entrenched. How had she developed such a mindset? Ann knew that Alice was merely repeating her grandmothers mantra: People who dont respect you dont deserve your respect.

Yes, our attitude programming starts early in life. We often learn the most destructive ones from our parents, grandparents, or other authority figures we trust implicitly but who often see themselves as victims of lifes inequities. Unfortunately, Granny failed to tell Alice that such an attitude would sabotage her relationship with her teachers, other people, and her career even though it seemed eons away. Besides her grandmother, Alices attitude will be shaped by how others respond to her, her friends, the books she reads, her job, and several other factors. Every single day she will have to decide how to frame and respond to the inevitable negative experiences of life.

Thats what this book is about. It is not a pep talk on maintaining a positive attitude. Volumes of good books have already been written on that. I will not subject you to another think positively general approach to the subject. Rather, I will explore 30 specific attitudes that can make or break our personal and professional relationships. For each one discussed, I will provide practical guidelines on how you can integrate it into your daily interactions. If you need a more exhaustive treatment of a particular attitude, be proactive and search the Internet and your local library for other resources.

In this book, you will meet modern-day and biblical examples of people who did or did not model the right attitude in their responses to given situations. From intolerance to an attitude of entitlement to a controlling attitude, I will show you how to conquer them all using Scripture-based principles, thought-provoking questions, healing prayers and affirmations, and practical strategies to put into action immediately. While the strategies are simple and doable, they may not always be easy. I will be painfully transparent as I share the various wrong attitudes that challenge me even to this daydespite the fact that I have had good spiritual leaders and mentors and have invested many years in Bible study learning Gods way of living life to the fullest.

Yes, like me, you may know the way to victory. Unfortunately knowledge is not the single key to success. We Thoughts. Emotions. Attitude. Behavior. Yes, we can control every step of the process.

I finally understand that my attitude determines whether I will be mediocre or excellent, anxious or calm, intolerant or accepting, or whether I exhibit a host of other mindsets that will affect the quality of my life. Since the choice is mine, Ive decided to choose wholeness in every aspect of my liferelationally, emotionally, financially, physically, and spiritually.

I invite you to join me on my attitude journey. My hope is that we will learn to display the right attitude in every situation and to be the shining light that dispels the darkness in a negative world.

Each of us comes into this world alone and we will leave alone. However, God never intended for any man to become an island unto himself. Shortly after He created Adam, God acknowledged that His work was not yet complete. And the L ORD God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him (Genesis 2:18). So, He created Eve. While some like to cite this passage to convince single men to get married, the reality is that regardless of our gender or marital status, we were all created to be in meaningful relationships with other people. If you study the life of Jesus, you will find that He was very sociable and often attended weddings, dinners, and other social events.

The phrase one another appears 142 times in the New King James Version. It is clearly Gods divine plan that we connect and communicate with other people in a mutually beneficial, satisfying, and productive way. To behave otherwise is counter to Gods purpose for His creation. And it is our responsibility to take the initiative in connecting with others. A man who has friends must himself be friendly (Proverbs 18:24).