This Is The Moment

I was having a conversation with a younger gentleman a few days ago and I was so excited and proud about his commitment to be a full-time student and fully pursuing his dream actively working to create a difference in the world. I remember when I was his age at nineteen, I truly believed I made it I finished school with good grades I was working a full-time job with benefits there was nothing else I needed to do. I learned along the way just how wrong I was and that my whole concept of life was wrong we never arrive we experience things and different levels in life, and our goal should always be mastering this level to get to the next. No matter how much we excel in life there is always something new to learn there is always more to learn and new victories to win. Once I went through that phase of my life where I was counting each day down looking forward to Friday and dreading Sunday, I knew I have not arrived, and this was not it for me. I now look back and I recognize that that was a moment in my life that was necessary I learned a valuable lesson and I knew the decisions I make had to be about what is best for me over what looks good to everyone on the outside looking in.

To everyone else I had it going on  but behind my smile I was angry each day I would wish for Friday  Monday morning I felt like I was being held into a corner with no way out because I was struggling with what every one would think about me if I decided to quit. I was worried about what should be my next move if this is not it what am I going to do, I did not want to be judged or be perceived as a quitter , but I also did not want to spend my life looking like I had it all together when I was slowly fading inside.  I share this because I know that there a lot of people living their lives where their existence and value is based on what other people think of them or expect from them. They are committed to giving their all for nothing in return, they waste a lot of time seeking validation and acceptance from the world that they begin to lose sight of what they want, how are they feeling, and most importantly they forget to accept themselves. Who we are has a lot to do with the stories we tell ourselves and the blue print of our life that we have been following? The only thing that separates us all from accepting our purpose and knowing our worth is our need to please and impress men and not God.

The moment we can respect and accept that our life belongs to God is the moment we will begin to live for only His acceptance and love, we are better equipped find our true self and worth in life. When we were born it is our parent’s responsibility to guide us and provide us with love and teachings to go through life. Parenting does not come with a manual or script, but the word of God teaches us how to live a blessed and purpose filled life, honoring our parents being respectful and kind to others is necessary but living your life for their approval and acceptance is a choice. What is for us will be for us there is nothing that any one  can say or do to can change what God has promised, we are the only ones that can affect or delay when we begin to walk in faith and purpose is when we begin to truly live. I want to encourage everyone reading today to choose to live your life in living color be vibrant, be free, and be on purpose, it costs everything to compromise your life and you lose nothing by choosing to live the life you desire and deserve. Each day you rise repeat these words to yourself out loud “today I allow my steps to be ordered by God I will follow his directions and allow my mind to present to experience each moment I am blessed with today.”  Thank you, God, in advance for your love, your grace and mercy.

“The Unapologetic Walk With Confidence.”

Rely On God , Do Not Gamble With Your Purpose

“There Is More to Lose When You Settle In Fear , There Is Blessings To Receive When You Walk With God Fearlessly.”

The one thing I have found very  common in many people when I engage in a conversation about making their dreams a reality is always the excuse of  “ I do not have enough time or money , and I need security what if I fail?[‘ With those concerns in mind the obvious choice is to settle  for just enough because it gives them a sense of safety. The irony  is choosing to settle with less than you deserve for the rest of your life is actually a huge risk , you risk living in your purpose , you risk experiencing pure joy and fulfilment , and most importantly you miss out on enjoying life to the fullest. When you settle you have a lot more to lose than you do trusting God and taking a leap of faith, the problem is most can only trust and believe only in what they can see, hear, and touch. My question is how many times have the people you relied on and trusted that you can see let you down, how many times has a job laid off  workers that trusted and relied on them for their lively hood ? which leads me to my second questions how many times have you been in a circumstance that there was no sign of a break through happening but somehow the very thing that seemed to be impossible became possible in your life?

I want to tell everyone reading today that in those moments that was God showing up even when you were too fearful and weary to pray and trust in him. God loves us even when we are not deserving of his grace, he is a very forgiving God. I want you to close your eyes and imagine what your life would look like if you chose to allow God to be the driver and the vehicle you rely on.  The real risk and gamble in life is not choosing to build a relationship with God and being selfless to live a life of purpose to serve and lead. If we already know what being stressed feels, what barely making things happen feel like, why not gift ourselves the feeling of freedom and abundance. I remember when I had a full-time job with benefits and paid vacation and days off available, at first, I can remember being so excited and, in my mind, I arrived this was it. I was going to be making what I thought at the time to be good money and everything would be great. I can also vividly remember how quickly that feeling died when each day I was learning that there is never any amount of money or benefits that can compensate me for compromising my time and peace of mind. The more I experienced this daily I had to make a change, so  I began to pray for something new but while I was praying change, I was not applying change to my mind or life, and I missed moments to hear God’s directions by praying but not setting my focus on God.  The moment I changed my mind my prayer changed, and my actions began to align and when the moment was present, I was ready to trust God and take a leap of faith.

I share this to say that was two and a half years ago June 16, 2016 was the day I divorced my limits and got married to faith which was a big commitment and there were a lot of times where my faith was tested. There were days I struggled with  showing up  and there were definitely days that I just did not know what to do next , what I did rely on was a song I loved since I was ten years old by Mary Mary  titled  I just can’t give up now. This song would often remind me of God’s love and promise and I believed that God would never bring me this far to leave me, with that promise I was open to trust God and showed up even during my storms.  My purpose was too great to risk and the life I desire was what I deserved , I am not here to encourage anyone to do exactly what I did but I am encouraging everyone to marry faith to start taking baby steps to put yourself in the right place and the right time to receive God’s instructions . It is my prayer that everyone reading today will look at where they are today and be grateful for this moment called life and begin to take   the first of many steps into the direction of your purpose. The journey will be long, the challenges will be hard, but the rewards will be worth it if we never give up and keep going. There is no challenge in settling which means there is no growth or rewards in settling, rise and choose to take a risk worth living for.

Taking Inventory

How often do you take inventory of your life? how often do you do a self-check? and most importantly how often are we checking our circle of influence? These three things are very important tasks that we should all implement into our life. why?  Because just like a store owner must always keep track of what they have in stock, what needs to be replaced and who needs to be promoted or demoted for their operation to be a success. The same concept applies to our life we have to make sure that we are hands on to what is present in our life what is serving us and what isn’t, who needs to be promoted and who needs to be demoted for our vision to come together successfully. The thing that most of us struggle with is letting go of things or people that does not serve for our own good, we get so emotionally invested and attached and, in most cases, care too much about everyone else’s feelings above their own. The real questions are do you believe keeping connections, relations, and holding on to things that does not serve you are more important than living and creating the life you desire?  My answer is no, and I would hope that would be the same for everyone reading today, there is nothing in this life worth sacrificing your joy and your purpose for.

Everything and everyone are not meant to be on your journey forever there is an expiration date, the hardest part is knowing when that time is, or choosing what is important and best for you. I have met a lot of people my mother is one of them when it comes to taking care of others and making sure that everyone else is okay, they are professionals at that. The area they struggle with is being a professional at self- care and choosing themselves first, most people feel guilty and allow others to label them as selfish when they choose to commit to their needs. There is a time to be selfless but there is also a time to be selfish with your time, protecting your peace, and doing things that rejuvenates your souls. We are only as good to others as we are to ourselves, doing for others what we are unable to do for ourselves is a disservice and confirmation of a battle we are fighting with ourselves.  Some of us struggle with lacking self-love. lacking confidence, and faith, and so we drain ourselves doing all the things that we think will gain us recognition and make us look good to others.  The secret to living in purpose and being in service to other’s is being in service to yourself first to learn who we are and what is our true intentions.  Doing things for the praise of others is for a short time today they love you and tomorrow they can be your biggest enemy, but God’s love and rewards are unlimited and unconditional.

Life is not about doing or attaining all the finer things in life, life is about doing things that are pleasing to God first, yourself second and lastly creates impact in the life of others. It is about using this precious time to make a difference by living free and unapologetic in life, living in the present moments having pure gratitude for everything and everyone you are blessed to experience. There are no coincidences everything is the way it should be, must refrain from distractions and always make sure we are taking inventory of our life. Tracking your own growth and progress can be measured by who you are being, what your circle of influence is about and what you represent. The desire for most is wanting to be happy but the problem is most are missing a very important point that living a happy and peaceful life is a choice. How do you choose it? is by overseeing the type of energy you are putting out there, the thoughts you have, conversations you entertain and making sure your inventory of your life is up to date? The only person responsible for our happiness is us, the first step is always taking care of your first before you can take care of others and lastly when you have the chance to choose between letting go to be great or holding on and remaining the same choose to let go. All though the decision can be difficult it is necessary there is always good, better, and best don’t stop at just enough believe in your worth and what you deserve.

“Taking Inventory Of Our Lives, Is To Reconsider Priorities , And To Determine New Directions.”

Live With Excitement

“A Little Bread Is Much When God Is In It. ”

Every day that I rise I am filled with more excitement for a new day and all the new possibilities that await me, I set my intentions on giving and receiving good vibrations as I go through the day. In every moment I focus on seeing the miracle in every moment in life, I have been learning that the more I focus on giving thanks for everything is the more I learn and the more I learn is the more I am able to connect and align myself according to God’s plan. This has been a very long and challenging process but learning to control my mind has changed my life in more ways than I ever imagined. I find it amazing how much you never know what you were capable of until tapping into your magic became your only option. Once I experienced that feeling, I knew I could never go back to playing safe or better yet living within the guidelines of everyone’s expectation for my life.  There is a sense of freedom and a feeling of joy that happens when you learned the true meaning and value of your life, you get protective of your time and your peace. There are a lot of things that people can take from us but our happiness, our purpose and mission in life is up to us the choices we make is what will either take us higher or keep us down.                                        

One of the most important things I have learned and found it to be an important tool in my life is to always protect my peace, to avoid compromising that for anything or anyone is a challenge but is rewarding.  I look at who I am today, and I will not say that I do not have events and experiences that touches me in ways that challenges me to react and when we are reacting out of emotions the actions are irrational and out of character. The question I must ask myself during my trials is, is this worth it, will I rise above or throw in the towel, the more I focus on the cost of risking all that I love and my purpose I declare it is never worth it. The journey is long, and it is hard at times, but it takes one day or a moment of test to fail and risk it all. We all have made mistakes that we are not proud of and some we even wish we could take back even those moments are a valuable piece of our story. Life is always happening    changes are constantly happening the ability to adapt and remain in peace is where we have strength.   Our true strength is not our physical strength it is about our mental strength, our ability to choose our battles wisely and choose to walk in peace.

I have learned that fighting every battle we are faced with is simply a distraction the real battle is within ourselves learning to be obedient to your purpose and remaining calm even when in the middle of heat and fire. It is not about what you have been through it is how you come out on the other side of your storms when God is in it you will be left without physical proof but a story that only you can write after to bless many. The struggle we all face daily is trusting God many will panic first worry after then turn to God last, I encourage you to turn to God first, believe that it is already done. thank him in advance and keep going.  I would like to share this message with everyone reading today “a little bread is much when God is I it “, when you feel you do not have much always remember that what you have right now is a blessing from God. Trust in him always live in gratitude and the rewards of the patient believer will be more than you can handle. Waking up each day and choosing to live in complete excitement and peace is the most rewarding feeling you can give to yourself, let go of anxiety, learn to walk away to stay focus on the real mission.

Pray About It & Just Do It

The mind is a powerful tool that can either help us or defeat us it is all about how productive we choose to be, in the same moment we make a choice it only takes a second to begin to procrastinate and delay. All in our mind we can have positive thoughts and we can have negative thoughts, we create stories that are self-defeating, and we also create stories that are elevating it is all a choice. The thing that most struggle with is self-discipline, being self-motivated, and having integrity with ourselves. For most it is easier to commit to things when we are under another person’s supervision, but it becomes difficult to commit simply because it is your dream. Why is the question that I used to ask, and it is simple there are a lot of people that lack the ability to manage their own time or be self-motivated to get things done? If the only motivating factor or reason in your life is money then you are living every day without purpose, your purpose cannot be bought your vision is something you have to commit to create. Money can motivate us but only for a short time because eventually we will learn that our time is priceless and doing things, we don’t love there is no amount of money that will fill that void. Money can also be the reason we never get started the first thing most will say when asked about their dreams is, they do not have the money to get started.

Why is it so common that most people will always say things like I do not know how, I do not have the right support system, I do not have the funds, and last and most popular one we do not have time. I used to sing a lot of those same songs that was the stories I created in my mind I allowed myself to see limits instead of possibilities. I believe that there comes a very defining moment in everyone’s life that can either make or break us, the choice in what we do when we get to that point in life where making a choice is a must. I can testify to how hard it was to be a new mother , a new wife , and unemployed at the same time with one income in my  home , the traditional way to think which sounds more realistic to most would be to continue to look for a job  and take the first thing we are offered which sometimes does not make much of a difference.  The reality for me was I had a choice to make I could sit and keep waiting for call or take something for little or I could get comfortable with being uncomfortable and create a life changing solution I chose to create a solution which came with a lot of sacrifices. I had to grow up and become a person that  had integrity with my words and to myself I had to learn to manage my time as well as I did when I was building someone else’s dreams , I had to commit to making time instead of waiting for the right moment I made every moment the perfect opportunity. Is it easy? no and it never gets easier because once I have mastered a level I am eager to take on new challenges to grow.

The question to everyone reading today is how much is your freedom and happiness worth? are you willing to settle for a price or be willing to sacrifice little now to grow and earn in purpose later.  I encourage everyone to get clear on what experiencing life and what it really   means to you live every moment like it is your last. Meditate and visualize on the life that you desire to live and how it would feel, and I want you to wake up everyday choosing to feel that excitement while you commit everyday to creating the life you dream of. The idea that you will be happy or excited when you get there does not encourage you to focus and commit, the choice to be excited right now and choosing to live in gratitude is what will guide us. Choosing happiness and gratitude now is the secret to true success being in a state of contentment with the drive to create something that is bigger than just you, is a blessing and a responsibility we all have. Be obedient to God’s calling for our life but most importantly be prepared to be tested, experience growth, overcome obstacles, win victories, learn from the lessons, and taking action to JUST DO IT.  Pray first get in motion, be happy now, work with purpose and gratitude.

“You Must Do The Things You Think You Cannot Do. - Eleanor Roosevelt ”