What My Mom's Cancer Taught Me: How Seeing Things Positively Will Open New Doors | Jonathan Evans

and so the only way that you turn your negativity into positivity is that you start purposefully practicing seeing the cup half full instead of half empty it doesn't change what you're looking at it change how you're looking at it and then it opens the door it opens the door to positivity when positivity hits and when gratitude hits you start creating things what's up everybody this is Jonathan Evans and listen I'm excited because we are here to talk and I've got a good one for you today one that's dear to my heart and I've learned from uh both with my mom my children uh just my wife as we've learned together and so I just want to Muse with you today and talk to you today and so uh let's get going so my mom I'll start there the story with my mom is uh many of you know if you've been following this channel uh that she passed away in 2019 uh from cancer and what they said was is that the cancer was a a rare form of cancer gallbladder cancer um but it had spread metastasize is the verbage they use it had spread and they let us know that we have 8 to 9 months left with our mom because um you know basically it only takes a little bit of cancer to affect the whole body like once once the cancer spreads you know if it's contained in one spot okay we can uh try to mitigate that we can work on that we have medication for that uh but once it spreads then it takes out um all the living things things and so uh 8 or 9 months after we heard the news uh she passed away and it reminded me of another story that I had uh in my life when my mom passed away back when I was in high school playing football I was I was getting coached by a coach who had leukemia and so he would teach the team hey it only takes a little bit of cancer to affect the whole body and what he was saying was uh very similar to what the doctor said with my mom but he was talking talking practically to the team and he was saying you know the negativity that we have on this team is cancerous the laziness that we have on this team uh is cancerous the bad verbage that we speak on this team is cancerous like those things that you have on this team and that I've been hearing and experiencing are just like my leukemia um and when it spreads you die when it spreads it's uh negative uh for the body in other words the body of Christ the the body of the team all the individuals the goals that have been set to win a state championship that year and I'll never forget he was teaching that lesson um and we had a game against do stto high school I played for Duncanville High School here in Texas and and we had a game against doto and we lost and there were two players on the team who were talking negatively on the sideline while we were losing they were talking negatively on the sideline and our captain Jeremy herd who's my guy to this day he heard the negative talk on the side sideline so our captain goes after the game to our coach and just says hey coach you've always been teaching us that uh through your leukemia that uh a little bit of cancer can affect the whole body and if it spreads then you die like we can't reach our goals like we can't be a team like we can't become the state championship team that you're you're asking us to be and that we want to be and so he went into the meeting with the coach and he said I'd like to do coach what you've asked us to do and that is to U mitigate the cancer or pluck out or do surgical procedure and make sure it's removed so that we can live and reach our goals um and basically what he asked our coach to do that day is to cut two senior players so here he goes uh from the locker room I mean from the meeting with the coach into the locker room and he looks at those two guys and say I just want to let you know that you're no longer on the team so so you got to understand this now this is coming from high school players so he was such a leader um that he made that decision and the players were like yeah we're not doing that but the coach came out and backed him up cuz he's been teaching us all season uh that a little bit of cancer can affect the whole body and many of you know this many of you have family members or people you know um and we all understand this um concept um so when my mom when we heard that from my doctor in 2019 it took me back to when I was in high school and long story short we won the state championship that year after losing a district game we then went and won the state championship that year and we look back and say if we had not plucked out the cancers on the team we would not be able to get the other sea which is a championship so I want to let you know something I want to uh read you something from Proverbs 1722 it says uh a joyful heart is good medicine but a broken Spirit dries up the bones I mean the it actually says that it affects your body negatively when you're broken um that it affects you positively when you have joy in other words uh positivity and negativity uh can work in two different ways so one of the cancers that a lot of us have is we're negative uh that negativity um is like a cancer that affects you getting to your calling um you can't be negative and creative at the same time um a lot of people that are negative I have kids many of you have kids and my kids are like I'm bored you know my kids are like there's nothing to do you know what I mean my kids are like and I'm like wait a minute haven't we had Christmas like 10 years straight like you don't still you don't still have any of those gifts left you don't still have any of those toys don't we have a toy room don't we have all these other options but you have this mentality and then it starts to spread to the other kids so everybody's saying they're bored everybody saying there's nothing to do um and really what they're doing is is killing the opportunity for positivity and creativity to be expounded through uh through and to uh their experience in the home and so a lot of us are have cancers in our life negativity is a cancer cuz it squashes creativity without creativity you can't experience what God wants to do in your life uh laziness is a cancer uh speaking negatively um is a cancer having an Outlook um on the world that's pessimistic instead of optimistic if I put a a glass in front of you and the glass was um filled up to halfway the question is would you say it's half full or would you say it's half empty either way it doesn't change what's in the glass but it changes your perspective uh there were two kids um one kid was a positive kid the other kid was a negative kid they put the negative kid in a room full of toys um they put the positive kid in a room full of uh horse manure in a shovel so the positive kid was with horse manure in a shovel the negative kid was in a room full of toys two hours later in this study they came back and they found the negative kid just sitting there just kind of knocking toys over and they said what's wrong they said I'm bored I mean I played with everything there's nothing to do he's just complaining they went to the positive kid the positive kid uh was in a room full of horse manure with a shovel and the positive kid is shoveling uh the horse manure so they went in there he's shoveling I mean he's working hard and he's shoveling he's shoveling and they were like why are you shoveling in a room full of horse manure he said well if there's all this manure there must be a pony somewhere I mean you have these two extreme examples and a lot of people don't recognize that they're one of those two kids uh it's not that God hasn't done a whole lot for you it's not that you're not in a room full of blessing it's not that you're not in a room full of toys so to speak or Treasures time talents um and treasures and things that God has done in your life it's just your perspective is bad and your perspective is so bad that your uh lack of uh competency uh when it comes to your perspective is killing your calling like God is you're building a resume you're you're building a resume that God is looking at and like nope like the PE like the people of Israel were building a resume as they were on the way to the Promised Land something God promised them they didn't get because they were building a resume that wasn't worthy of the calling you know the Bible says live as worthy of the calling by which you have been called and a lot of our resumés just don't match up like another cancer is your attitude like people just have bad attitudes you know what I mean we're Christians supposed to be living uh the fruits of the spirit but your attitude on your resume is not worthy of the calling by which you have been called so we're praying for a calling and we got bad character our competenc is bad like you know what competency is it's like you're good at something you have great compet or you're bad at something you don't have you're not knowledgeable you don't have good competency and some Christians or people in general um just have a bad competency when it comes to their character they have a bad competency when it comes to their perspective a bad competency when it comes to their attitude they have a bad compet competency on the application of God's word they just hear it um at church or they're just hearers of the word but not doers of the word and then God looks at the resume and you're like employ me like give give me um give me this calling give me this thing this is where I want to go this is where I want to be um but no I mean I just like the people of Israel I got to move to the next Generation because this generation just showed me that they're going to complain like that's their competency is they're they're they're high complainers they have a high competency and complaining and not seeing what what God is doing and it's actually wearying to your bones like the verse that are like when you're broken spirited and it's not necessarily because something has happened to you it's just that you happen to you and what many people try to do is they they try to they try to find a different husband or wife like they try to find a different uh scenario a different vocation it's not that uh finding a different you know vocation is wrong maybe finding a different husband and wife is depending on the biblical circumstances of it but sometimes we're just looking for something different and don't realize we're the one that needs to be the change right so you're you're you wherever you are you're going to be there but our competency is bad in being able to take responsibility so we don't take responsibility and and and we're trying to figure out what the next thing is that can help me change no you need to change and you need to look at yourself in the mirror and until you look at yourself in the mirror and the mirror being God's word you're not going to be able to see all the things on your face um what people are really good at is pointing at the other person and so as you're changing people or changing uh situations um or changing jobs or changing this and you change all the time like your resume is like every year you're changing um not only is that weary to the bones but it means that you don't have the competency in order to see yourself clearly take responsibility um because you're calling is still sitting up there but God is holding it tight and he's saying no no you're still not ready like you're still changing things instead of changing you um and until we get to us um we won't be able to experience you know things will die things will die like back to my original Point like back to my mom um you know passing away it wasn't a lack of faith like we pray we walked around the house like Jericho it wasn't like a lack of of of those things obviously it was God's timing and this is what you know God wanted to do when he's bringing her home um and so we know that uh the glory to see you know the glory that's to come you know is not to be compared with my present circumstance so I understand all that but the reality is it spread and if you think about that in your life you think about Jeremy herd he's like nope I'm not going to let it spread I'm not going to let it keep spreading um what are you going to do um figuring out what that cancer is um is it negativity is it your bad attitude is it just low competency and taking responsibility are you just lazy um what is it fear I'm too scared because I'm thinking about myself and myself is the reason why I'm not going to do because I'm scared or or I'm afraid forget about the toys the talent that God has given me I'm not going to use it because I'm I'm just going to let the fear spread and then your calling dies your calling dies um and that's what cancer does and so what is your cancer like what is the thing that's spreading um in your family in your mind um in your emotions um and what do we need to do to pluck it out uh because it's weary it it's wearing to you moving towards your calling it's wearing to your body it's not even healthy to not to just be negative and not carry uh Joy which is not dependent upon external circumstances that's the difference we've talked about that before it's not dependent upon external circumstances it's dependent upon uh an internal reality that I'm grateful I'm just I'm grateful for what God has done so let's look at the cup half full for a second look at your uh family um uh look at your singlehood um look at how God can use you remember I told you um I need to go back to this that that negativity CR like you you can't be negative and creative you're like you're your negative mindset is is squashing your creativity it it's blocking you from being able to experience what you could do or what you could be or what God wants to do um um it's blocking you and so the only way that you turn your negativity into positivity is that you start purposefully practicing seeing the cup half full and instead of half empty it doesn't change what you're looking at it change how you're looking at it and then it opens the door it opens the door to positivity when positivity hits and when gratitude hits you start creating things um what's the difference between someone who's successful and someone who's not successful you may think in your mind well they work harder or they um you know they just have more ambition or they just have more determination they just are um you they're not lazy all of those different things and all those things are good but it's a it's very thin line the difference between uh positivity I mean excuse me success and unsuccessful people is that unsuccessful people see the problem successful people see the problem and create the solution man I wish I could talk to that person they're far away everybody complained about it but one person created a phone and then everybody paid them to get a phone like if it's always the person who sees the negative like you see the negative but the negative doesn't make them Negative they create a positive that is the that is the primary difference between someone who God can use for a calling someone who creates someone who's successful and I'm not just talking about financially but they they're not stuck they're able to go and they're able to give and they're able to serve um is that that thin line that thin line is I see it too I see it just like you see it but I don't see it how you see it I'm I'm about to create something like I'm I'm about to make this not be a problem anymore I'm not just going to pray about it but I'm going to partner with God in it so that we all can see it so I wanted to encourage you about those cancers in your life because they're blocking you they're killing your creativity they're killing your calling um uh the competencies that we have um put us in position to experience what God wants to do or not um it's a partnership it's a partnership and so don't let the cancer spread because things will definitely start dying okay listen be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord and know that it will not go in vain like share subscribe ring the bell share this video because you know a lot of people in your life who see things in the negative but they don't create uh they're they're seeing it the wrong way and they're letting it uh be in them the wrong way and so we need to share this video so that we live our calling lives our purpose lives our destiny Lives why we live and it doesn't die all right till next time all right everybody you just heard it are you half full are you half empty well how do you look at it are you letting the cancer spread do you know what the cancer is what is your competency like let's talk about it in the comments I want to see where you're at um so that we can continue to grow together listen share like uh subscribe ring the bell make sure you're a part of the family so that we can grow together let's go