I spent most of my Air Force career as a pessimist. I’ll admit it. If you know me now that may be a surprise. It was a comfortable way to live because it didn’t allow me to get my hopes up. It was a defense mechanism that kept me at the ready. After Jesus restored me to a relationship with Him I began to realize that my pessimistic way of living kept my hopes down, kept me living guarded and honestly robbed me of many things. So here are some reasons I found to ask God to begin to make me a “Half Full” thinker. 1. Hope is important! Hebrews 10:23 So now we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Why would we want to stifle something that God wants us to have? 2. Letting down the walls is important! 1 Peter 4:10-11 Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God’s grace. For example, if you have a speaking gift, speak as though God were speaking his words through you. If you have the gift of serving, do it passionately with the strength God gives you, so that in everything God alone will be glorified through Jesus Christ. For to him belong the power and the glory forever throughout all ages! Amen. It’s hard sometimes to be vulnerable but we can’t exercise our all our gifts in seclusion. 3. Last but not least our peace of mind is important and God gave us a recipe to live unguarded and still have peace. Philippians 4:8 So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. It’s a difficult change and honestly my old pessimism still rears its ugly head from time to time, but the fight is worth it. Living in the positive and loving grace of God with a hope grounded in Him is true freedom and it allows us to forgive freely, ditch bitterness and live in a hope for the better we know He promised things. #LLK #OTIC #HalfFull https://www.instagram.com/p/CG9_lI9p-ZU/?igshid=4fuj60ldq0zy