(lively music)
- You probably know the story of the man
on the copper penny,
but I want you to think about him differently
every time you toss some change in your wallet.
You know, Abraham Lincoln was faced
with so many opportunities to give up on his dream
of being the president of the United States.
At 22 years old, he failed in business.
One year later, he ran for legislature and lost.
At 24 years old, he had a second business failure.
At 26 years old, the woman he loved suddenly died.
The next year, he suffered from a nervous breakdown.
At 29 years old, he lost another political race.
At 34, he made an unsuccessful run for Congress.
I mean, it just keeps going.
At 37, he did get elected to Congress
only to be defeated again two years later.
At 46 years old, he lost his bid for the Senate.
And then next year,
he failed in his attempt to become vice president.
Wouldn't you just give up?
Well, at 49, he was defeated for the Senate again.
And if that's not enough to derail your dreams
and cause you to just say,
"Okay, I've clearly got the wrong dream
or this wouldn't be happening to me."
It gets worse.
He had four sons and three of them died.
Only one lived to adulthood.
Can you imagine this?
You know, when most of us
would have understandably lost our motivation,
somehow he got back on track and he fought for his dream.
At 51 years old, Abraham Lincoln was elected president
of the United States. (laughs)
So every time you see a penny,
remember to fight for your dreams.
By the way, I'm Terri Savelle Foy,
your cheerleader of dreams.
And I put together a very special download this week
for my subscribers to help you stay focused
and motivated on the dreams you have in your heart.
So I wanna ask you real quick to do a favor for me.
Would you take one second
and push that little arrow below that says, subscribe?
That means so much to us because it just lets me know
that you want me to continue putting out
these videos every week.
And it also lets YouTube know
that you wanna hear Christian motivation
from the word of God.
Ain't that amazing?
Just pushing that arrow means more than you even realize.
So thank you so much for doing that for me.
And I wanna give you this special download
that I've never given away before.
It's my personal notes from a message I shared
at a success conference
and the message was called "Fight For Your Dreams."
Now, I actually gave this talk, standing in a boxing ring.
It was amazing.
In fact, people kept telling me afterwards,
"That was a knockout!" (laughs)
We were using all kinds of boxing terms.
But I want you to have these so much.
So all you have to do is click the link
in the description below
to access these notes absolutely free.
But I want you to refer to them
every time you feel like giving up,
you feel like you're drained of motivation
and you just need a little pep talk, okay?
So download these notes and you can get them right now.
Okay, back to our discussion.
Ecclesiastes 5:3 says,
"A dream comes about with much business and painful effort."
Now, I personally don't like that verse, but it's there.
Here's the thing.
We can't ever get in our heads that success will be easy.
If it were easy, everyone would be successful, right?
Well, I wanna share with you five ways
to get you back on track when you've lost your way.
You know, sometimes we just need a little shift
in our perspective to use what we've got to work for us
instead of against us.
So number one is your time.
I want you to use time as a wake-up call.
In other words, instead of focusing
on how many years have gone by
and it looks like it'll never happen
so you might as well give up,
maybe he feels so behind already,
instead, I always say, "Don't look at the years you've lost.
Let's look at the years you've got left
and live your dreams."
Right?
Well, maybe you've lost sight of your dreams
because of how much time has passed.
You know, other people are moving at a quicker pace.
It's taken so much longer than anyone else
to get to the next level.
Hey, even the snail made it to the arc, right?
In other words, don't stop moving
just because you're moving a little slower.
In fact, I wanna tell you this story
about James Dyson.
He went through 5,126 prototypes
and his 15 years of life savings.
Well, the 501,
5,127th prototype worked
and now the Dyson vacuum
is the best-selling vacuum in America.
Use time as your wake-up call
to not waste another year of your life.
Use it to inspire you to get moving.
It's all part of your testimony.
See, your story is gonna inspire so many people
because of the time it took, if you use it.
Number two, your age.
Use your age as part of your story.
How old are you now?
Have you lived more of your life than you have left?
Is your mind telling you
that you've missed your golden opportunities
to fulfill your dreams?
You're getting old.
It's too late now.
Just forget it.
Are you wishing you'd gotten started a long time ago?
Are you comparing yourself to other people
and look at what all they've accomplished
and they're younger than you, or maybe they're your age
but they've done so much more than you?
Stop comparing and stop complaining.
Think about this.
Joyce Meyer was 42 years old
when she got started in her ministry.
I was 38 when I started my ministry.
I was one month away from being 45
when I opened my first office.
Now I'll look at my age as inspiration.
I'm 51 right now and I just started renting auditoriums
and arenas across America to host my ICING Women's Event.
But you know what?
That's part of my story, my age.
Winston Churchill, he was 62
when he became prime minister of England.
Colonel Sanders was 66 when he started KFC.
Vera Wang, she failed to make
the US Olympic figure skating team,
so she started designing wedding gowns at 40 years old.
Now it's a multi-billion dollar business.
So don't fall for the lies that you're too old,
you're too young to have those dreams.
It's a distraction, remove it.
Your age is a part of your story
that's gonna inspire others.
Number three, words.
Use other people's negative words
as just motivation to go harder.
You know, negative words,
they can distract you from your dreams if you let it.
So are you allowing someone else's words spoken over you
determine whether or not you're gonna do
what God called you to do?
You know, there was a guy who sang
at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.
And afterwards, the concert halls manager told the singer,
he said, "You won't be singing here again."
And then he even told him,
"You'd be better off going back to Memphis
and driving trucks."
That guy was Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll.
So what have people been saying to you?
You know, I heard a story about a wannabe actor
who was totally by movie executives,
they said, "You simply do not have what it takes
to be a star."
He Rose to being the third highest grossing actor
of all time.
That was Harrison Ford.
So I don't know what others have done spoken over you,
but here's the thing.
You know, I like what Justin Timberlake said.
He said, "Their words will fade, yours won't."
So what are you speaking over yourself?
Your words matter more than anyone else's.
Joel Osteen says, "Whatever you put after the words, I am,
become your reality."
So start to declare him where you want your life to go.
Start saying, "I am successful.
I am highly favored of God.
I am prosperous.
I am confident.
I am gifted and talented and chosen by God."
Use your words to benefit your life.
Okay, number four, your past.
Use your past to inspire others.
You know, it's amazing how as soon as you start
to get a little hope again on the inside of you,
the enemy and others people start bringing up your past.
You're reminded of how bad you've been,
how much you don't deserve anything, and on and on.
I say, use it.
Don't waste your pain.
In other words, did you know
that some of your friends best experiences
come wrapped in sandpaper?
What do I mean by that?
The times you were hurting, you were in pain,
you were rubbed the wrong way, you struggled, you cried,
you wanted to give up, you were treated wrong,
your best stories come wrapped in sandpaper.
Your struggles are what connects you with other people.
In fact, Rick Warren, he said this,
he said, "Your most effective ministry
will come from your deepest hurts."
He said, "Other people are gonna find healing
in your wounds.
Your greatest life message,
your most effective ministry will come
from your deepest hurts."
He even said,
"The things that you're most embarrassed about,
most ashamed of, and most reluctant to share,
those are the very tools
that God can use most powerfully to heal others."
You've heard the phrase,
"Let your mess become your message," right?
Or, "Let your misery become your ministry."
In fact, I remember the first time I spoke to young people
I was so scared.
I didn't wanna do it.
And my mom told me beforehand,
she said, "Terry, just tell 'em how you were a cheerleader,
you were the homecoming queen, you love God,
you were on the National Honor Society.
You were such a good example."
And I said, "Mom, did you forget?
I got pregnant my last semester of college before marriage."
(Terry laughs)
She said, "Well, then tell 'em that."
So I told them how it was all these amazing things.
And then I said, "I got pregnant.
And I felt like a failure.
And I felt like a disgrace to the family."
And I was crying through the whole story.
And I was telling them how, you know,
apologizing to my dad over the phone
when he found out that I was pregnant.
I mean, you could feel the pain as I was sharing my story.
Well, as soon as I shared my sandpaper story,
the altar was filled with young women crying
and making decisions to change their lives and stay pure.
In fact, they told me later,
they said, "We sold more audios of that message
than anybody else's."
Well, what is it about your past that will inspire others?
Don't let them the enemy intimidate you
with guilt over your past.
Use it as fuel to overcome him and go further.
Okay, number five,
my last point is your lack of money.
Use your lack of money indicator you're on the right track.
What do I mean by this?
Vision always comes first.
Pro-vision comes second.
See, nobody's ever had the money before the dream.
So don't let a lack of money stop you from dreaming.
You know, Henry Ford, who invented the automobile,
he went broke five times before he succeeded in business.
Walt Disney went bankrupt seven times
before he built Disneyland.
Halle Berry, this girl was struggling to make it.
She ran out of money.
She stayed in homeless shelters.
She even said,
"This taught me how to take care of her myself
and that I could make it through any situation."
Well, don't let a lack of money stop you.
Now, I hope this helps you today
to stay focused on your dreams no matter what.
Again, I want you to have my personal notes
from this talk I gave from a boxing ring
called "Fight For Your Dreams."
So all you have to do to get this free download
is just click the link in the description below
and read them, read them today.
So every time you get tempted to give up on your dream,
you look over these notes and you say,
"If they can do it, I can do it.
God is on my side and I will not quit."
I hope you enjoyed this today.
And remember, I'm cheering you on to live your dreams.
(lively music)
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And remember, I'm cheering you on to live your dreams.
(lively music fades)