Positive Thinking: Cinderella Stick Your Feet In The Air!

One of my favorite movies, the Princess Protection Program, starring Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez, is the story of an average teenage girl whose life gets flipped upside down when a royal princess comes to live with her. Princess Rosie (Demi) thinks quite differently than Cater (Selena). Rosie walks, thinks, and talks like she's from another planet. She has a queenly confidence, huge dreams for her country, and a powerful purpose.

Carter is simply trying to survive high school. The contrast between these characters is like a cupcake with sprinkles verses a bowl of artichokes.

Princess Rosie has a very positive mind set. Carter has a suspicious, timid, melancholy attitude.

Princess Rosie expects nothing but the best out of life. Carter expects nothing more than the pathetic existence she's known, always feeling invisible.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Carter brings Rosie to the bowl alley, in efforts to turn Rosie into a "normal" teenager. She desires that Rosie blend in and not draw any attention to herself. But when a princess enters the room, it's hard not to notice.

The girls request bowling shoe's in their size, and Carter leaves Rosie to find a bowling ball. When she looks up, she can't believe her eyes - Rosie is sitting on the counter with her feet in the air! She looks like Cinderella, awaiting her prince charming to come serve her.
Carter is horrified...she's definitely not blending in!

Ed, the handsome bowling alley employee, is more than happy to serve Rosie. He gives her the VIP service she quietly expected, and Carter scolds the princess for drawing so much attention to herself. The evil cheerleaders in this story frown and wrinkle their snotty noses,
"Who does she think she is?"


Cinderella's Slipper  

It's a cute scene, but I believe there are some princess principles we can learn from this story and apply to our lives.

Princess Rosie expected good things to happen to her. Why? Because she was royalty. Yes, she was going through a hard time...her Mother and her country were in danger...but she still had faith that everything was going to work out for her best. Princess Rosie had a positive mindset.

I believe most of us can relate with Carter in this story. We are more realistic than perky Princess Rosie. We are more suspicious of people and their motives. Less trusting. Worried about what other people will think of us, and afraid that if we act differently we might get hurt. Many of us, like Carter, are too afraid to set our hopes up because they eventually end up crashing to the ground. It's hard to hope in a good thing because this life is so unpredictable. Why should we love something if we might lose it?

I used to think a lot like Carter. I never wanted to believe in someone - or something - until I knew it was an absolute. I hated making plans and getting excited about something, because a little voice told me that it might not work out. That things might fall apart. That I would be crushingly disappointed.

Then one day the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, "Cinderella, put your feet in the air, and your shoes are going to meet you there."

I immediately knew what He was talking about. My mind returned to the bowling scene and I remembered how confident Rosie was. She wasn't worried about getting laughed at...she simply tossed her feet into the air in full faith, that someone was going to be there with her shoes!

I knew what the Lord was asking me. He was asking me to trust Him. He was asking me to hope. He was asking me to dream bigger than I was comfortable with. He was asking me to expect good things to happen to me.

He wanted me to start thinking more like a Princess and less like Carter.

Whenever I feel the Holy Spirit speak to me about something, I go straight to His word and make sure that it lines up. I don't want to follow my imagination or any strange voices, so it's important to test my "feelings" with God's secure Word.

As I started reading, I discovered what I was feeling was right...God wants His daughters to live an amazing life, think positively, and expect the best.

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

Romans 8: 32

Many girls believe that as Christians, we should expect terrible things to happen to us. We shouldn't plan on living the good life and cruising through with absolute ease. This is partially true, Jesus said we would have troubles and tribulations in this world, but sometimes we forget the last part of His message... "I have overcome the world."

We often forget that we are overcomers. That we're victorious...not victims. That we're royalty, not average teenage girls struggling to fit in and survive.

"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

James 1:16-17

To be deceived is to see God in a distorted form. To be deceived is to see God as holding something back from us. The root of all deception comes from not believing that God has and IS every good and perfect gift...and to go chasing it somewhere else. Why did Eve eat off that tree? Because she thought God was holding something back from her, that there was something GOOD she couldn't have.

Dear sister, let me tell you, there is nothing good for you outside the will of God. If the Lord asked you to give something up...it's only because He's got something better in exchange. You must have an empty hand to receive something from heaven.

If God has asked you to give something up, like pleasurable sin, an activity with your friends, or a popularity status...it's because He's got something better. If you sacrifice thirty minutes of sleep so that you can spend time with God before school...it's a beautiful exchange. Anything that you trade with God...I promise, you always get the better end of the deal! He trades ashes for roses, tears for diamonds, pain for glory, sadness for joy, and anxiousness for peace.

He also trades negative mindsets for positive ones! He trades average teenage girl mindsets, for princess mindsets! The truth is, God loves you and wants amazing things to happen to you and for you. He loves to give you gifts!

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Matthew 11:7

The Lord wants to bless you and make your soul prosper. He wants you to love and enjoy your life! This may come as a shock to some, but God isn't the frowning referee in heaven who blows the whistle and frowns on our fun. He invented fun. He crafted the word "pleasure". He carved the first smile, and the Bible says that He is joy!

"You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:11

The Lord always desires the best for you. He wants to encourage you. He wants you to be an overcomer! He wants you to live life with a positive mindset, expecting that He is going to take care of you. He wants you to know that if you stick your feet in the air in total faith---He is not going to disappoint you. Your shoes will meet you there. He will provide you with everything you need and then some. Just because He loves you and His name is Faithful and True!

"And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!"

Isaiah 30:18 AMP

Positive Thinking: Change Your Mind

Girls have been known to change their minds. What are you thinking about? Did you know that your thoughts today will effect who you are in the future? Positive thinking will create a positive life! 

My heart is like a white piece of paper. From the moment I entered this world, I have been influenced by life and the people around me.
We are all like pieces of white paper ready to learn, live, and become. Through the years, many people try to write on us.

Our parents sketch things onto us with black ink, our friends make colorful Crayola designs, the movies we watch dump glitter, the music we listen to scribbles with markers, and the books we read embellish cursive words onto our souls.

The positive (and not so positive) influences in our lives made us who we are today. Like pliable clay, they assisted in shaping our personalities and our minds.

It’s All In Your Head!
Have you ever thought about your brain before? It’s like the control center, or the master computer of everything we do. It tells us to breathe, when to catch a football before it hits us in the head, and how to type.

Our brains are pretty amazing, huh?

Our minds are powerful.

They are like the fueling stations of our entire beings. Whatever we pour in there eventually comes pouring out in our words and actions.

Proverbs 23:7 says:
“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he...”

We know this to be true, because Jesus echoed those words in the New Testament.

“Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

It's pretty mind blowing to think about...

Whoever we hang out with, the movies we watch, the books we read, and the music we listen to, effect the thoughts we think.

And those thoughts? They directly effect our words, our actions, and ultimately our destiny!

Princess or Pauper?
Once upon a time there lived a young maiden who worked as a servant girl in a glorious castle. Every morning she was greeted with an endless list of chores.
Sweep the chimneys, scrub the floors, wash the clothes, make the beds, walk the dogs, do the dishes...

She worked from sunrise until sunset. She was never paid for her labor and knew nothing but work. Her thoughts were full of all the tasks she needed to get done. She had never been outside the castle and knew little of the world outside. All she knew was what she had been told.
She was a maid who wasn't worth a dime.

One day, the Master Housekeeper approached the young girl and offered life changing news.

She discovered she was the Princess of the kingdom. Beginning tomorrow morning, she would ditch her chores for a glorious ballgown and a life of luxury.

The girl was shocked.

This secret had been hidden from her for years as she worked like a dog, never aware of her royal identity.

Her parents were the King and Queen?

They kept this news hidden so that the girl would not grow up prideful about her royal status.

The next morning, the young girl arose early to fix breakfast and boil tea for the royal family.

The Head Housekeeper scolded her! Why was the princess working so hard? She was supposed to have breakfast with the King and Queen in the dining room. She would never need to lift a finger again.

But the new Princess didn't know how to behave like a princess. How could she do what was expected of her, when all her life she had been told that she was nothing more than a worthless maid?
It would take years for her mind to change before she started thinking like a princess.

Sure, she could wear the fancy dresses, sip tea and eat scones with all the handsome princes in the Kingdom...but it would take time to begin thinking like the royal girl she was.

Who Are You Anyway?
Just like the princess in this story, we've all grown up thinking definite thoughts about ourselves.

Our parents, friends, and the media have told us things that shaped and defined our self definitions.
What words are written next to your name? How would you describe yourself? How do you think about yourself?

Thousands of words have been written our our hearts. Some of them are true and some of them are not.

Maybe someone wrote with a thick black sharpie, “You are ugly.”
Has a teacher laughed at your grades and told you that you'll never amount to much?
Do your friends say that you can't be a successful soccer player?
Do the movies you watch and magazines you read tell you that you have to be a superstar that looks like Barbie?

Just like the princess, we all have an understanding of who we are, based on what others say about us.

But who really defines us? How do we know what words are truth?

Minding Changing News!
Imagine again that you are that Princess. In shock, because you never knew who you truly were.
She believed what appeared to be true instead of the absolute truth. She was deceived.

What if your parents woke you up tomorrow morning and proclaimed with trumpets and roses that you are a princess?

How would you feel? Amazed, bewildered, afraid?

Would it change the way that you think about yourself? Or would you ignore the truth and continue living the way you did before?

This young Princesses story is actually your story.

Just like her, you have an identity that ;you are unaware of. A person inside of you that's so beautiful, bold, fearless, free, and kind. A girl who can be anyone she wants to be. That person, the real you, the original girl that God created you to be, is always looking for a way out. She appears in your deepest hopes, secret dreams, and wild ways you wish to change this world.

If you've been thinking like a worthless maid or a pathetic pauper, it's time to change your mind!

Perhaps you've taken those words spoken from the enemy, those written lies on your heart, that keep you living in fear and thinking small. Have you been exercising those things in your mind?

Do you feel like you're ugly, a failure, average, boring, bland or unlovable?

Sister, I've got amazing news for you.

You are not who they say you are!

You are a unique, tenderly made, well-thought out, deeply loved, one of a kind, beautiful princess!

If you're having trouble believing these words....don't take my word for it. Hear them whispered and shouted from your Maker. God believes you are His finest piece of art work, inside and out.

Don't believe the lies that say you're anything less than fabulous. You're not flawless, but you're a work in progress. God is crafting you into something stunning and runway worthy.

Let Him erase what everybody else has written, and rewrite the truth on the tablet of your heart. He knows who you really are, and who you're going to be.
Let Him erase all other words and reprogram your master computer. Your mind.

Learn to think about yourself the way He does and you will find yourself on an amazing journey. Something beautiful, exhilarating and storybook worthy!

Change Your Mind
Romans 12:2 says:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

The pattern of this world has etched words and mindsets onto our hearts. The only way to reprogram our master computer is to renew our minds.

But how can you begin thinking differently about yourself? How can you know the truth?

The only way that a girl can know who she truly is, is to ask the One who made her.

Reading God's word everyday will change your mind, your life, and your future!

What if we dared to believe that we can be everything God created us to be?

Don't keep your true royal identity locked up and hidden. Fear will tell you that you can never be that girl. All those words, those false definitions of who you are...try to keep you chained up.

Everyone tells you that you're just a worthless maid. But you have a true, royal identity that, if believed and embraced...will change this world.