Oprah’s Lifeclass with Pastor Rick Warren titled, Winning the Hand You’re Dealt, offered advice worth sharing. Rick compared life to a game of poker. He talked about the five poker cards we each possess. He also talked about how someone who plays a poker game well, can win even with a weak hand. This is the premise for anyone who feels they’ve been dealt a bad hand.
He named the five cards:
1. Chemistry- Anything dealing with the body; health, biology etc. Be grateful for what you have instead of what you don’t have. Work to improve your health.
2. Connections- Life is about learning to love through these connections; your circle.
3. Circumstances- This is the things that life throws at you. And, he said we give this card too much power.
4. Consciousness- This is how you talk to yourself; the story you tell yourself. Rick communicated, “Do not resist a temptation. What you resist persists. Transform through the renewal of your mind. Break your habit through refocus.”
5. Choices- He said this card makes or breaks the entire hand, which he called the wildcard. The freedom of choice. For example, you didn’t choose your chemistry but you can work to become healthier. These are the choices that determine what you are going to do with what God gave you.
His closing words or homework as he called it, “You’re a product of your past but not a prisoner of your past. It has influence on you but it’s just one of the cards. Here is what I encourage you to do. Go get a bible and read the book of John. Just start reading through that book. And say, ‘Dear God make yourself real to me, I want to know you.’ He will not say no to that request. And then say, ‘God here’s the stuff I’d like to change in me.’ And He’ll say, ‘Well let’s get to work.’ And He’ll start making those changes in you through the renewing of your mind and the power of his Son in your life. God bless you.”
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