Talking Donkey Press

12/15/2025

Excerpt from 30 Days of Peace:

In God’s terms, safety isn’t the guarantee that all risks have been eliminated. Safety in God’s terms is knowing that no matter what happens, you are safe in the middle of His care. There is nothing that happens to you that hasn’t been known by God. With this thought, God creates within you the ability to stand up to pressure and storms because He is always with you.

If you had safety guaranteed simply by eliminating all risks of disease, financial trouble, or interpersonal strife, you would trust in your own ability to make these things happen. Truth is, you don’t have control over a lot of what you think you have control over. But God’s peace is greater than the things you can’t control, and creates tranquility in the middle of the storm.

Go to the 30 Days of Peace page on Talking Donkey Press to download a few chapters, see videos, link to purchase.

30 DAYS OF PEACE 30 Days of Peace will help you find peace with God, peace with yourself, and peace with others. Every day reveals a scripture of peace accompanied by writings of reflection and observation. Visuals (infographics) and personal status questions complete each reading, providing you the...

12/12/2025

It may be the Christmas season but this can apply in any season where struggles are real. It's especially taxing when the seasons seem like an eternity. Take heart though, God is working.

Excerpt from Compass Devotional - East Volume:

Jon Linnell, living in Minnesota, had to wrestle with a deer that had broken into his house. Linnell said, "So the first thing that came to mind was I had to stop this deer from thrashing and busting everything up. When I came down the steps I saw that it had turned so I tried to tackle it, of course I was wrestling it, seemed like an eternity, but it may have been 15 minutes from beginning to end." (bold mine)

Tough situations feel like an eternity when you're in the middle of them.

During my brief college wrestling career, my coach said something during a practice that I'll never forget. Two of my teammates were wrestling when one of them began to lose his composure. A fight was close to breaking out when Coach Milo yelled from across the room, "Don't get mad, take it out on technique!"

He was telling my teammate to focus on the technique of wrestling to win the match. Don't lose your mind because of your emotions. Focus on what will bring your opponent down.

We don't always wrestle with things we can see. Other people aren't always the problem. Sometimes, there are forces working against us that require spiritual technique to win. Exercising willpower and positive thinking will deliver us from many things, but not everything. To get through the tough things, we have to trust God in the middle of the fire and exercise the patience of the Holy Spirit.

Patience is a spiritual technique that can facilitate victory. Patience is not the same as doing nothing. Patience is the process it takes for God's work to be accomplished in you. It's not that God is slow about doing things, it's usually that we're slow in trusting Him.

Take a 30 day journey with The Compass Devotional: East Volume and see how God can work in your circumstances. He's working in ways we normally don't realize. In this volume, you will see ways to increase your patience, (yay, can't wait for that) and increase your ability to follow what God is do...

01/24/2024

New, not new, The Paradox Leader Video Series is available again. Due to some website issues (that no one really cares about but is interesting to me, so I'll assume it may be interesting to someone else) the PDF Participant Guide is easily available along with five video sessions.
The Paradox Leader video series helps a person embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in his/her life so that their influence to the world, for good, is magnified.
In this series, you will:
Design your personal life statement
Incorporate Jesus' model of leadership into your own
Build new thought patterns to begin new habits
Practical Bonus: learn how to lead a Bible study
Integrate best practices of increasing your trust in the work of the Holy Spirit
Remove obstacles that keep you from fully trusting God
Apply your testimony, your action and your calling to opportunities of meeting needs in the world.

This is available right here: https://talkingdonkeypress.com/theparadoxleader/

And, it is SO free you don't even need to leave an email address. Blessings on your spiritual journey of working with the Holy Spirit to build your spiritual influence, build trust inside of you, and meet the needs of others.

THE PARADOX LEADER – VIDEO SERIES What if you could change the world through your surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit? What if you could remove personal obstacles so the Holy Spirit could work mightily in you? This video series will help you create a space for the Holy Spirit’s work in your...

01/02/2024

One thing I've learned about forecasting the future is that if your mindset leans towards the positive, your outcome has a much better chance of being successful.

I knew this to be true as a high school wrestler in that I knew if I was going to win a match before I even stepped out on the mat. The result of the contest was usually decided in my head before the whistle blew to start the first period.

This article gives you some tips to practicing a positive mindset as you plan your weeks, look forward to your future, and make the most of every situation.

From Talking Donkey Press, here's hoping your year is as good as it can possibly be.

The Month in Preview: Positivity Matters Posted on January 2, 2024January 2, 2024 by talkingdonkeypress Tagged daily schedule, monthly planner, motivation, tasks Surveys. If you’re not getting a survey in your inbox a few times a week, you may be living under a rock. Every company wants to know ho...

12/27/2023

What will you do to manage and define your priorities for 2024? Do you want to do more of the things you want to do instead of have to do? What if you could minimize the things you hate to do?

Making slight changes to attitude and alignment might make the biggest difference for you in 2024.

Prioritize Your Priorities: Stop Doing The Things You Hate Posted on December 27, 2023December 27, 2023 by talkingdonkeypress Tagged daily planner, daily schedule, priorities, schedule alignment, task management Ever notice how a small thing, ignored, can turn into a big thing?  This naturally appl...

12/18/2023

You’ve heard of organizational core values but do you use them personally?
It may be the difference between getting to the future you want or tolerating the mediocrity of what others do to shape your future.

How Are You Arriving To The Future You Want? Posted on December 18, 2023December 18, 2023 by talkingdonkeypress Tagged Core Values, Decision Making, ORGANIZER, Planning My Future, SCHEDULER If you’ve been in the workplace for a minute, you’ve probably heard of, read about, or participated in som...

12/15/2023

If you’re wondering where your time went this week, or worse, what did I even do, this article may be a helpful resource as you navigate busy seasons.

I can speak from experience when I say that you need a time management roadmap prior to trying to manage your minutes.

In the past 10+ years, I’ve crisscrossed the country to direct community events, I’ve written five different books, graduated with an online MBA, all while strengthening healthy boundaries in my marriage, health, and personal life.

None of this could have been done in balance without having a built in thought system and principles to keep me moving straight.

This series of articles, related to The Vision Planner release, is how I think towards time management and direction of life pursuit. I hope it helps you in whatever journey of life management you’re in. And, I hope that you can gain a stronger grip on the moments that matter to you and the people around you.

Check out the latest article, under Articles and Resources. Or, just click this link.
https://talkingdonkeypress.com/spend-your-time-with-purpose-in-mind/

12/13/2023

The new year is just around the corner. Do you have a theme or vision for 2024?
Indicators can help you define vision if it is right, needs help, or flawed.
Check out the newest article at Talking Donkey Press:

HOW ARE YOU PLANNING THE VISION OF YOUR LIFE? Posted on December 13, 2023December 13, 2023 by talkingdonkeypress Tagged ORGANIZER, PLANNING AID, SCHEDULER, YEARLY PLANNER Do you know what you want to do with your life? Are you confident you’re heading the right direction? What if you think you’r...

07/15/2023

Introducing The Vision Planner with a DRAMATIC book commercial :)

DON'T JUST PLAN YOUR MINUTES, SHAPE YOUR LIFE'S DIRECTION.We all have the equal amount of hours, minutes, and seconds in any given day we are alive. How are...

07/08/2023

A new planner is available through Talking Donkey Press. The Vision Planner will help you shape the direction of your life by going beyond just managing your minutes. Components of this planner will help you lock in goals for every month, streamline your most important "to-do" items for that month and schedule those action items.

The Vision Planner is one book (planner) with nine different covers. Choose your favorite cover and begin planning the direction of your life.

The Vision Planner is not date specific so you can begin planning mid-year. Consider it your personal fiscal year.

Don't wait for the calendar to flip, or for the right moment to shape your direction. Start today!

https://talkingdonkeypress.com/the-vision-planner/

01/26/2023

If you've ever wondered how you could lead like Jesus, you can see how Jesus led in Day 21 of 30 Days of Peace.
30 Days of Peace is available at talkingdonkeypress.com
30 Days of Peace is sold through Amazon.

Day 21: Lead in Peace excerpt:

Jesus turned many from iniquity and sin. He showed people how to live with an eternal perspective. He caused people to look at their lives and choose to follow Him. Jesus is good at helping us turn towards good things even when we are uncertain of how to do it. He helps us in our weaknesses, loves us through our sin, and regenerates our lives through the power of His resurrection.

Jesus is the best leader.

You can lead with peace if you imitate Christ’s methods of leadership. God will work through you in ways you’ve never imagined to reach people you’ve never met, in places you haven’t been.

Anything is possible with God.

Anything is possible with the person willing to lead in God’s ways.

12/15/2022

30 DAYS OF PEACE - SAMPLE CHAPTER

Day 13
PEACE BEYOND CHRISTMAS

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. - Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)

You’ve probably heard this verse spoken during the Christmas season, illustrating the prophecy written years before the birth of Christ. It is an apt description of the Savior of the world, and the supreme leader of peace.

Men and women have tried to create peace on earth by using words like “unity”, “greater good”, “sake of humanity”, and the best one yet… “mankind must remember that peace is not God’s gift to his creatures, it is our gift to each other.”

If I read this verse correctly, Jesus is God’s actual gift of peace to humanity. Jesus is the creator of peace, He is the broker of peace, He is the captain of peace, He is the final authority on peace. There is no peace without knowing Jesus.

Knowing Jesus will help you apply peace directly to every situation in your life. Don’t think there are details in your life that Jesus doesn’t know about, or care about. He cares about it all. It’s sometimes hard to believe, especially when it feels like everyone else around you doesn’t consider your feelings or your worth.

How can you apply the elements of peace to situations in your life? Applying peace to every element of your life is much easier when you’ve committed every area of your life into the care of Christ. You experience the Prince of Peace in areas of your life that are completely surrendered to Him.

That’s the thing about the Prince of Peace, it is an all or nothing proposition. If I surrender my life to Christ and keep nothing back, I get to experience all the peace available for every situation in my life.

If I surrender some of my life to Christ and fight Him for the things I want to control, the peace I wish to experience will always be fleeting and never permanent.

If you struggle with trusting the Prince of Peace, I will testify that trusting Jesus is worth everything I think I have control over. Trusting Jesus is also worth forsaking my own dreams for His plan.

Here are a few things you can do to practice trusting Jesus. First, decide what things you can control and what things you need to allow God to control. You can get stressed out over things you try to create when it’s actually God’s job to create. Role alignment matters in your relationship with Jesus. The Holy Spirit will give you wisdom to know what you should be doing, and what you should be trusting God to do for you.

Second, practice eliminating fear from your life. You’ll have to accept negative outcomes that happen in your life. With those potential negative outcomes, you need to establish this thought in your mind; God works everything for good in your life. God may be working a grand plan that you don’t see yet. If you adopt this mindset, you’ll have peace even in the middle of fearful circumstances.

Third, extend your vision. This goes beyond corrective eye procedures, your vision is how you live your life. Your vision affects your calling. You can extend your vision by caring about what God cares about most. Start extending your vision by being a student of the Bible. See how God cares for people and goes to great lengths to save us and restore us. Align your priorities with God’s priorities and you’ll see aspects of your future defined.

If you begin to align your role, secure a new perspective, and establish vision, you will experience peace from the Prince of Peace. The things of this fearful, confusing, contentious, old world will pale in comparison to the magnificence of Jesus’ work of peace.

You really can have peace beyond Christmas. The Prince of Peace is God’s absolute best gift to mankind.