When Your Normal Is Upset: Living Secure in Uncertain Times

By Theresa V Wilson

Are you ready to experience
confidence and security no
matter the challenge?

No matter who you are, it only takes one physical, emotional
or financial issue to disrupt your peace, turning your world
upside down. Loss of a job, loss of a home, physical illness,
personal and family relationships, and inability t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640882683

Book preview

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When Your Normal

is Upset

Living secure in uncertain times

Theresa V. Wilson

trilogy christian publishers

Tustin, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2019 by Theresa V. Wilson

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information, address Trilogy Christian Publishing

Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, Ca 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-64088-267-6

ISBN 978-1-64088-268-3 (ebook)

Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction xi

Chapter 1: The Value of Event Planning 1

Chapter 2. Stop, Drop, and Pray: Surviving Self-Imposed Disasters 19

Chapter 3. Connecting to Our Spiritual GPS System 33

Chapter 4. Recognizing Your Power Source: Understanding the Holy Spirit’s Coaching Techniques 53

Chapter 5. Plugging the Holes 89

Chapter 6. Our Daily Choice 115

Chapter 7. Standing on God’s View of Health and Healing 129

Chapter 8. Using Power Principles When Facing End of Life Issues 143

Chapter 9. Practical Disaster Planning Strategies & Principles: Quick Reference Guide 161

About the Author 173

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband, Doug, for his unconditional love, continuous support, editorial comments, and unmovable belief in my ability to finish this work; to my mom, Ireatha, for always being there; to my mother-in-law, Arizona, for her loving prayers; to my grandchildren, Nathan, Malcolm, Brooklyn, and Joelle, that they may learn early the precious gift of living their lives in the Lord; to my daughter and best friend, Donielle.

A special salute to a precious woman of God, my friend and my daughter’s mother-in-law, Barbara Shrock, who demonstrated true bravery in the face of all odds and who has shown us all how to respond when your normal is upset. You fought the good fight with dignity and strength.

Finally, this book is also dedicated to my father-in-law, John Douglas Wilson, Sr., who first called me his daughter-in-law when I was seventeen years old and never gave up until it was so. We miss you, Dad.

Bless the Lord, who always provides what we need when we need it.

Theresa V. Wilson

Why You Should Read This Book

This book is a guide to applying emergency planning techniques in such a way that you exclude negative thinking and build resistance, so that you can rise above the fray. It’s a coaching resource for creating Christian-based emergency preparedness plans that can be applied to any situation. When Your Normal is Upset: Living Secure in Uncertain Times is a reminder to break away from beliefs that limit our capacity to be victorious in the face of adversity. This book promotes an event planning approach using Spirit-based techniques that support and encourage, while reminding believers of endless opportunities and resources available for any perceived or real danger. This is a practical, whole armor guide for succeeding in spite of what we see with our natural eyes.

When Your Normal is Upset: Living Secure in Uncertain Times is a position-shifter and a reminder that, as kingdom children, we must experience this life in the full knowledge that though we live in this world, we are not of this world (John 15:19). In the event of a disaster, the world would have us stand by our radios, await the warning sirens, or follow instructions from TV news personalities in order to learn which direction to take or which plan to follow. Our response as Christians, however, should be in conjunction with what we know from our relationship with God. It is in that eternal knowing that our strategies for success can be found.

As a training consultant and writing coach, I have offered workshops to help people understand how their emotional state can be affected by the words they speak and the messages they hear. I have continually emphasized their responsibility to take ownership of words and actions in order to control how they influence and change any situation. Our success is in using our gift of choice to take control of self in order to prevent feeling controlled. Christian responses to fear, anxiety, and other words that surround them during catastrophic events should be offset by spiritual self-control achieved through the knowledge of who they are in Christ. When Your Normal Is Upset: Living Secure in Uncertain Times will provide strategies that demonstrate how to activate and operate on this level of knowledge, thereby conquering insecurity and doubt about succeeding at whatever we set our minds to accomplish. Finally, this book includes guidelines for practical application of details for preparing your own CDRP (Christian Disaster Response Plan) and Emergency Kit.

Foreword

From the first moment of meeting Theresa, we knew it was a God ordained encounter! The connection was real and continues to this day to be one of iron sharpening iron. Upon getting to know Theresa and her husband Doug, she began sharing her powerful testimony of their journey of faith. Becoming more impressed with Theresa’s tenacity to reach beyond what others would consider the norm for certain age groups, it didn’t take long to realize that Theresa is no ordinary woman, but a true woman of faith, a woman of wisdom, a woman of courage with a true zeal towards living her best life!

It is an honor to write the foreword for this book in these days and times of uncertainty and stresses where our norms, moreover, our daily living can become upset on a regular basis. Nevertheless, Theresa has given us an antidote that reaches and will impact readers in a powerful yet relative way. This book will serve as a forever keepsake reminder of how to rise above every circumstance that attempts to upset the normalcies in our lives. We know uncertainties arise with life challenges leaving questions and perhaps despair, but this book is a roadmap to victory. When Your Normal Is Upset: Living Secure In Uncertain Times will enlighten and offer practical answers during challenging seasons in your life.

Pastors Michael and Carolyn Byrd are motivational speakers, marriage coaches, and authors of Yes, You Can Have a Happy Marriage and the novel Fuchsia. The Byrd’s are ordained pastors serving God’s people for over 18 years in various capacities. Best known for their powerful anointing that impacts the lives and marriages of those who come in contact with them.  They were ordained into ministry in 2000. In 2003 both Michael & Carolyn were ordained pastors under Bishop TD Jakes PHIPA (Potter’s House internal pastors alliance) in Dallas Texas.

Introduction

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny

matters compared to what lives within us."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

It was the end of another normal work day. The ride home was full of the same anxious, impatient drivers, but generally uneventful. My conversation with Doug, my husband, was full of all the details about the changes occurring at work and how frustrated I was with the uncertainty of leadership and program changes. He responded, as he normally does on our ride home, with questions or by simply nodding to assure me he was listening. We arrived home. Still chattering, I began preparing our dinner meal. It was only then that I noticed Doug was quieter than usual. I attributed it to his thoughts of his evening community plans.

While I was pulling items from my work case, my husband interrupted by saying, I have good news and not-so-good news. I did stop taking the allergy medication prescribed and did go to the doctor about my slurred voice. They performed the tests. I have cancer. There was an eerie silence between us in the room. We stared at one another for a few moments. I instinctively knew my next few words would set the tone for how we would manage this physical attack on our normal. I felt in my spirit a voice saying, Don’t speak; he is watching, and your response means everything now. Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10) was all that came to mind.

Disasters are unplanned events that have a catastrophic impact on your life. Disasters shift lifestyles, interrupt the natural environment, and create imbalance to your thinking, ways of doing business, and normal daily living. Disasters evoke and feed unsettling and often irrational thoughts, actions, and emotions. Disasters are life’s blood for the enemy.

While reflecting on Doug’s news, I remembered how only a few weeks earlier he had visited the doctor because we knew his speech was different. The doctor prescribed an over-the-counter allergy drug. It didn’t take long for us to realize, however, that the remedy prescribed wasn’t working. We decided to follow the next step, which was for him to see a specialist. The result was a diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma cancer. In that moment, we transitioned from a daily routine—work, care of his mom, church activities, and vacation planning—to a feeling of pending disaster. We had crossed the line from living and planning our future with confidence and security to experiencing a moment of anxiety and confusion. Our normal was upset.

Unfortunately, natural and manmade disasters are fast becoming a way of life. It takes only a review of daily news and social media reports to confirm the realities of this new existence, some of which we help create:

• Street crime and domestic violence

• Abduction and human trafficking

• Terrorist activity

• Tsunamis, earthquakes, and floods

There will always be a continual flow of news forecasting devastation, dangers, and hopelessness. The influencer of these negative reports is our enemy, who seeks to weaken, kill, and destroy our faith. For this reason, it is important for us to remember that though we are living in the natural realm (this natural world), our reality (the true essence of who we really are) is in the spiritual realm in high places with God in Christ Jesus.

It is our spiritual self that must maintain primary control as we live in this world. It is only being comfortable in the knowledge of who we are spiritually that will get us through the challenges and create, by the will of God, opportunities for us to master the often-impossible circumstances we will face. God has given us everything we need to survive and thrive in this world.

We have everything we need to overcome any circumstance of life in this world that exists in our natural habitat, the spiritual realm. If we accept and believe this fact, none of the negative plans of the principalities (the negative forces) of this world will influence or affect our completion of our ultimate assignment or destiny. Therefore, we must learn to live from the inside out.

Generally, we experience several stages when processing information we receive. We take steps to clarify, analyze, and confirm its accuracy and validity using our natural carnal thinking processes. The initial stage in this process is resistance. Our minds will search for an exception to what we see and hear. Since our brains only process what is placed before them, we begin the next transition by exploring, testing, and rechecking the facts as we know them for accuracy. Next, we evaluate what we hear, which is our way of clarifying details. Finally, following the I’ll do it myself self-imposed process, we make decisions about how we will respond to what we’ve heard. All of these stages, in and of themselves, can create anxiety.

It’s All About Choice

A word about anxiety. I once read that we should take a moment to study the spelling of this word. If you notice, the center of this word is the letter i. One of our warnings when faced with a challenge is to beware the temptation to try to resolve it on our own, depending totally on our own resources, mental capacities, strategies, and strengths. Doing so shuts doors to hearing from our Source for guidance and strength, and opens doors to chaos,