And so back to our original question. Are you rich?

When you look at your life do you expect things to work out? Do you focus all your energy on things working out? Or do you sit back and hope that somehow they will? If your answer to last question is, “Yes,” then I’d be willing to bet your answer to first is, “No.” It’s simple—if all you focus on is how “poor” you are, no matter how great things may be, you will find a way to feel “poor.”

Sarah Ban Breathnach, best-selling author of Simple Abundance and Something More, suggests keeping a gratitude journal where every day you write down five things for which you are grateful. This is an excellent way to force your mind to focus on answering a resounding, “Yes!” to “Are you rich?” Take a moment, right now, and list ten things in your life for which you would not take a million dollars.

Having trouble thinking of something? Then start with your health—that’s an asset most of us take for granted. “But I have a bad back and migraine headaches and PMS,” you say. Maybe, but I have an uncle who is stricken with MS, and he literally cannot reliably move any muscle in his entire body. Not only is he in a wheelchair, he must be strapped to that wheelchair so he won’t fall out. He cannot feed himself, dress himself, or go to bathroom by himself. He cannot drive, hold a pencil, type, or even roll over in bed at night under his own power.

Now, how thankful are you for your health? More importantly, are you rich?

In book Princess, by Jean Sasson, a Saudi Arabian princess who on outside lives a life of luxury and opulence that most of us could only dream about, describes life for women that closely resembles absolute hell. Women locked in lightless rooms for years on end because they brought “dishonor” to family. Women drowned by their fathers in their family’s swimming pool while their mothers and sisters look on helplessly. Young girls sold by their parents, stripped naked, and then bought at auctions by men who want to increase their harems.

And we complain about a bad hair day.

Think about opportunities and options you have stretched before you. Yes, you may be in a dead end job or in a dead end relationship, but you don’t have to stay there. You can get out. So ask yourself right now, what do you want to do with your life? What is your dream? If you could be anywhere in this life, where would you be? Picture that place in detail. What does it look like? Breathe. Close your eyes, and see it.

If you believe you are rich; if in your soul your answer is a solid, no-questions-asked, resounding “Yes!”, then you can achieve that dream and any other dream you focus on. Nothing can stop you.

Now, I can hear some of you saying, “But I’m not rich. Look at all these bad things that have happened to me.” Then I say, start a grateful journal today—this very minute. You don’t have a second to waste.

Motivational speaker, Marianne Williamson says, “There is nothing holy about poverty.” God, maker of all things, has given you greatest gift of all—life, but what do most of us do? Sit around complaining about every little thing that has ever gone wrong and whining about how hard this life is.

Let this be your warning: Do not tell your brain you are poor, for when you do, no amount of riches—monetary or otherwise—will ever be enough to make you rich. Believe you are rich, feel you are rich, focus on how you are rich every single moment of every single day. For when you feel you are rich and believe you are rich, more riches will be granted to you.

So, now, let me ask you once more, are you rich? Be careful. The answer is shaping more than you think!

The amazing thing to me when I really started thinking about this statement is that what that coach told his team is exactly what Jesus tells each one of us: “Go out there. Play game. Have fun. Do your best, and I’ll win it for you.”

We think it’s all on us—that we have to get everything right, do everything perfectly, or our “win” will never materialize. In fact, we get sucked into this mentality that Heaven may be just out of our reach no matter what we do. However, I think reality is that Jesus is coach standing on sideline having full faith that we can do everything He’s trained us to do. We can love just like He’s shown us. We can give; we can live—not because we can do it on our own but because He’s right there, and He has faith that we have been given everything we need to win through Him.

I’m sure you know end of story. When buzzer sounded, team who had just gone out, had fun, and done their best was victorious.

One day final buzzer of your life will sound, and question at that moment will be this: Did you allow Jesus to be your coach? Did you have faith that He would win game for you—or are you still trying to win it yourself? It’s a question worth contemplating.