Fourteen Days To Light, Hope, and Healing

By Alicia Banta

You know what they say about change: "Nothing is ever going to change until something changes." We are all looking for the change that makes us a little better. That change starts on the inside, in our hearts and in our minds. Fourteen Days to Light, Hope, and Healing is the tool that you need to begin making those changes possible. Most successful people who discover light, hope, and healing in their lives follow similar patterns, many without realizing it. With years of study and personal experiences, Alicia has discovered what many of these proven patterns are. The Fourteen-day course is comprised of fourteen principles and steps to get you thinking and feeling in a different way. It is designed to help you overcome the things that are holding you back from seeing real changes in your life. God wants us to be happy, healthy, and successful in all we do. When we use his power to change on the inside, we will be sure to see change take place on the outside. People who have Godly success know how to choose happiness; they recognize the battle between trust and control and understand how to give power to trust. People who have Godly success know how to truly pray and feel grateful in all aspects of their lives. People who have Godly success are able tap into the power of their minds and understand that they are valuable and worthy to receive God's choicest blessings. You are a child of God. It is time for you to start experiencing the change and success that you have been longing for. It is time for you to set your feet in the direction of your goals and dreams that have seemed so far out of reach. Begin our journey today with these proven patterns!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781642998115

Book preview

God Doesn’t Forget Us; We Forget God

A trail in the woods can seem quiet and lonely at times. The sound of wind, trees, birds, and branches may be the only sound we hear. We look around and see no one. We are deep in the woods with no sign of other travelers. We wonder why everyone has left us, but then the sun peeks out from a cloud and shines down right in front of us, and all of a sudden, we feel warm and tingly. We remember, "Oh, yes! I am never alone. The light is always there."

As long as we do not veer off into the dark trails, the light always shines on our path. Sometimes it is hiding behind a cloud and we may not be able to see it directly, but it is still there lighting the sky and lighting our way. God is our light, and he is always there. We are never alone; we are never forgotten. There are times, though, when we choose to walk down dark trails, and then in anger cry out, Where are you God? You forgot me! When we make it back to the lighted trail, though, we discover, Oh, God didn’t forget me . . . I forgot God!

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalms 27:1)

Often, God reminds us of his love through other people. When my husband was in technical training for the Air Force, he was stationed in Missouri. I took my twenty-three-month-old daughter, and we flew out to visit him. I packed a large suitcase, a carry-on, her car seat, and pushed her in her stroller to the gate of the airplane. I had one layover, and when I finally made it to St. Louis, we had to walk to the Greyhound bus station and then ride for two hours on a bus to get to the small town by the air force base. At our final destination, my husband had left our rental car and keys in the care of the Greyhound bus station personnel. I had to load the car and drive to our hotel. It was nearly impossible for me to carry everything at each destination, but I knew God was watching out for me, because every stop and every step of the way, there were strangers who offered to help me carry things and get me to places. The help came at such perfect timings, that it was as if God had organized the chain of people ahead of time. Does God remember us? Do we matter to him? Yes!

When God matters to us as much as we matter to him, we will discover an abundance of blessings flow into our lives. We will put ourselves in line to receive more joy, peace, and prosperity. We all want to be good; we all want to do great things. We have so much power within us to change. God waits for us first, and then as we come to him with willing and humble hearts, we can, with confidence, wait for him to guide us, to bless us, and to unlock hidden treasures for us.

As we choose to walk back to the path that is full of light and warmth, we will be showing God our willingness to follow him and remember him. Some of us will need to get up and learn how to spiritually walk again and be reminded of what it is our spirits know and yearn for.

One of the hardest things in my life was to learn how to physically walk all over again. Something so instinctive and natural became the one thing taken from me and the thing that I came to fear the most. After the doctors had debrided my leg and stripped much of the blood vessels, I was left with a bandaged, bare leg with only muscles and tendons showing. Movement was still important, but so painful! The therapists entered my room, and fear ran through my whole body. As I dangled my leg down toward the floor, all the pressure and blood flowed down and left a heavy, achy feeling all through my leg, and then I was to attempt walking with a walker to keep movement in my leg. When skin grafts were placed on my leg, I was on bed rest for over a week without movement, and when it was time for the therapists to pay me a visit again, I was even more full of fear. I was afraid of ruining the skin graft. Again, the moment my leg was dropped down toward the floor, painful pressure filled my whole leg. As I held on to the walker to attempt walking, I found that I had forgotten how to walk! Amidst the fear of not wanting to hurt myself and all the drugs that clouded my head, I spent weeks not knowing how to walk with my damaged leg. It felt swollen, heavy, and awkward. I wondered when I would ever be normal again. Even though my mind was saying, I can’t do this! This is too hard, I knew that I needed therapists and the doctors to help me. I had to let them lift me up, carry me, guide me, and cheer me on.

After six weeks, I finally learned how to walk again. Something in my mind finally clicked, and that day, I slowly walked into my house and picked up my little girl and held her close for the first time in six weeks. My flexibility and ability to walk continued to get better and better, and the day that I did a cartwheel in my yard and danced around the house was a miracle that I had always taken for granted.

God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are our doctors, our therapists, and our counselors. As long as we walk with them and stay on Their path, we will always have Their help. They will always be there to pick us up and teach us how to walk again. There will be times of waiting upon the Lord, but "the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust" (Hales, Robert D). We will have greater hope as we trust that God wants to give us great things; He wants us to be safe, happy, and prosperous. The question is: Do we trust that He wants those things for us? We should eagerly anticipate miracles and blessings flowing into our lives every day, for if we lack a sense of hope and anticipation in our lives, then we are not trusting God with the desires in our hearts.

We see examples every day in our lives and in the lives of those around us that God remembers us and is sending us His help and His guidance. We know He loves us, and the more we begin to see that He truly is there lighting our paths, the more lighted our paths will become and the more proof we will see that we can trust Him with every little thing! It is in our own forgetting that we feel forgotten, but God patiently waits for us because instilled within each of us is the desire to step into the light and follow him.

Take Action

One of the first steps to healing is taking responsibility for where you are at in your life. Without blaming anyone, anything, any diagnosis, or even God, take responsibility for your choices, your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions. Entertain the idea that you are where you are at because of your choices and because God has given you more power in your life than you can imagine.

Where is God in your life? Is He first? Is He last? Are you on the path that is full of light, or are you hiding from the light while God is waiting for you to join Him? Day 1 is all about evaluating your relationship with God and remembering that you need Him. Come unto Him and let Him heal you.

What can I do to come closer to God?

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What things am I participating in on a regular basis that could be keeping me from being more in tune with God?

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Now . . . pick one or two things that you can work on, and start today!

Declaration: Touch your heart and say,

"Thank you