(laughing)
- Hey, I was listening to a story about a guy
who was having dinner with his friends one night,
and they were carrying on conversations,
and one lady at the table, she was telling a story
about something she heard earlier that day at the bookstore.
She said she overheard this woman ask the bookstore clerk,
she said, do you have any books on Microsoft DOS?
Something like DOS for dummies?
Well, everybody at the table's laughing,
thinking this is such a funny thing she heard
at the bookstore.
However, there was one guy sitting at the table
named John Kilcullen, and John didn't just think of it
as a passing comment.
He thought about it and he thought about it
and he went home later
and spent some more time thinking about it.
He was practicing the power of silence.
Well, all of a sudden, what everybody else thought
was a passing comment he turned
into an idea called DOS for Dummies.
He launched the whole Dummies brand,
and I'm sure you've heard of it today.
Well, I'm Terri Savelle Foy, the cheerleader of dreams,
and I want to talk to you today about the power of silence.
(upbeat music)
They say if you copy the techniques of champions,
you too can become a champion.
You know, you've heard the phrase success leaves clues.
Well, every successful person I've studied takes time
to think, to dream, imagine, visualize quietly.
You know, they understand the power of silence.
You probably have heard someone say,
don't just sit there, do something.
I always say, don't just do something, sit there and think.
Think about what you're doing.
Think about what God has placed you here to do.
Think about where you're headed.
You know, when was the last time you went somewhere
by yourself and did nothing but think?
Think about your future,
think about what you want to achieve.
What does God want you to do?
Is what you're thinking really what God has for you?
Are you living the life you imagined?
If not, why not?
You know, what's stopping you?
In fact, in this week's free download,
I've listed the seven indicators you have a dream from God.
Now, I want you to get that list and read over each one,
one-by-one, because I can tell you
it's gonna clear up some things for you.
Some doubts, some uncertainties
of whether or not you're hearing from God.
I know it did for me.
So I want you to click the link in the description
to get that free list, but back to the power of silence.
Now, when you start setting time aside to just think,
you'll begin to ask yourself things like,
why can't I go back and get that college degree?
Why can't I take flying lessons or sign up
for an evening class on the weekend?
Why can't I pay off the mortgage
and live a debt-free life in a debt-free house?
You know, why can't you travel to that country?
Why can't you start that business
or ministry that's in your heart?
What's stopping you?
See, if you can conceive it in your mind first,
you will receive it in your life.
Everything gets its start in the mind,
but if you never take time to think,
you'll never even get it in your mind.
You know, Proverbs 23:7 says,
as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
So you are what you think, but that's just it.
You've gotta start making time to think.
Now, when I first began to learn this, it wasn't easy.
I was not used to being alone quietly
and just hearing nothing, you know?
So I just kept myself busy all the time thinking
I was making progress, but being busy
and being productive aren't the same things, but I remember
when I sat at my guest bedroom with my laptop
and I just thought, I imagined my life five years
from right then, you know, five years
into the future, what do I see?
What do I feel God wants me to do?
And I got my notebook and I just started imagining
it was five years later and I was writing about my life
as if it had already happened,
and I began wondering things like, why did I even go
to Texas Tech University and get a degree in French?
I'm from Texas, nobody speaks French here.
Was that a big waste of four years of my life going
to classes, studying the language of French?
Or does God want me to do something with it?
Well, the more I thought about it,
the more I began to wonder, imagine, dream.
I started writing as if it were five years later,
and I wrote, like in the past tense, I wrote,
who knew that a little redhead from Texas
speaking rusty French would make such an impact on a nation?
And then I wrote, Terri made a difference
in France with the love of Jesus.
Now, keep in mind, when I wrote this,
I didn't even know a soul in Paris, France.
I didn't even have anybody asking me to speak there.
I didn't have any material in French,
I didn't have any plans to go to France,
or the money to go there, but I wrote it anyway.
Then I went to Michael's and I bought a big map
of France and I framed it in my office.
What was I doing?
I was putting the vision in front of me.
Not to mention, I have Eiffel Towers all over the place,
all over my office and all over my house.
My husband's like, if you buy one more Eiffel Tower,
but again, what was I doing?
I was causing that thought to get bigger
and bigger in my mind, and the more I thought about it,
the bigger the dream became.
I don't know what I'm saying, but I began to not only think,
but to pray about what God wanted me to do.
Then the idea just came to me.
What if I write a little book, like a little mini book
in French and pass it out all over France?
So I decided to start where I was and I began writing a book
for the people of France called "You're Valuable to God."
Here it is.
(speaking French)
I shared my vision with friends, and they got behind it.
They supported it.
Remember this, vision always comes first,
provision comes second.
Well, instead of waiting for someone to call me and say,
can you speak in Paris this year?
No, I began preparing for the dream.
I wrote this little book in less than two weeks,
and I believed God for an opportunity to speak in Paris
so I could distribute the book all over the city.
Well, since writing the book, I received donations
from people who believed in my vision
and they paid for the printing of the books.
We got the books printed and ready to go,
and you can imagine what happened next.
I received two invitations to speak in the city of Paris.
In other words, as John Maxwell says,
thinking precedes achievement.
Nobody just stumbles upon success
and says, how did I get here?
No, the greater your thinking, the greater your achievement.
Proverbs says, as a man thinks
in his heart, so does he become.
Well, do you know today we have given away 40,000
of these little books all over Paris?
I've ministered now all over the nation.
I now have seven books translated in French.
In fact, on September 30th of this year,
which is my birthday, I'll be launching another book
in French and doing a book signing at a bookstore in Paris.
In fact, I just received a message on Instagram last week
from a French guy who is teaching teenagers
how to make vision boards using our book
"Dream It, Pin It, Live It."
Now think about this,
what if I had never made myself practice silence?
What if I had never sat in the guest bedroom
and just thought?
Or what if I sat there thinking, this is stupid,
it's a pipe dream, how could I ever do something
on the other side of the world, I'm from Texas?
Think of the lives that would have never been reached
because of my own thoughts.
See, successful people understand the power of silence.
So your life is constantly moving
towards the dominating images in your mind.
Now, according to Romans 8:37,
you are more than a conqueror.
You are capable of doing anything you set your mind to
as long as God is on your side.
So you could absolutely change the course of your life
in five minutes a day of just thinking.
So if you were to set aside five minutes of quiet time alone
to just think, visualize, imagine your life five years
from now, it could open up doors of opportunities,
relationships, resources,
ideas that you never thought possible.
In fact, Henry Ford said, thinking is the hardest work
there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.
So don't let anything stop you
from doing what God is nudging you to do.
You know, I think so many times we only pray
for those things that we believe are actually possible.
Well, let me tell you, anything God's telling you
to do is gonna seem impossible.
I've never had one dream look possible
when God first gave it to me.
That's why I want you to download this checklist,
so to speak, of seven indicators that you have a dream
from God because I know it's gonna help you so much
as God starts rekindling those dreams on the inside of you,
and I have to be honest, my goal
of reaching 250,000 subscribers this year, honestly,
it looks impossible, but it's an indicator for me
to trust God and keep going.
So here's the way I see it.
When you subscribe to our channel,
it shows YouTube that you believe
we need Christian motivation, Christian inspiration.
We need people not only teaching us how to achieve our goals
but teaching us how to do it straight from God's word.
So I want YouTube to know that success is found
in the word of God.
So would you help me get that message out
by pushing the subscribe button right there?
And that's all there is to it, and hey,
let me close out by saying, don't forget,
I'm here to cheer you on to live your dreams.
Hey, YouTube, don't forget to subscribe to my channel,
and to get more inspirational content,
click one of these videos right here, and remember,
I'm cheering you on to live your dreams.