Feeling victorious...

Picture taken from here.

So i'm a couple of days behind on blogging. I'm going to catch up today. Let's start with Wednesday, which is when I began to feel victorious and it has spilled over into today, which is a GREAT thing! Why did I/do I feel victorious, you ask? Great question and I'm delighted to tell you. I feel victorious because I win. This may not be the explanation you were looking for... thought it was going to be an elaborate tale of victory over some obstacle. The truth of the matter is that it's a declaration of a factual statement. I win. In all things....Eventually. Winning is a choice and I choose to win, therefore, I AM victorious. Not to mention, my FAVORITE being in the whole wide world said that I'm victorious. As matter of fact I am ALWAYS victorious through Christ Jesus. So, I accept that fact. I suggest you accept it, too. Even when things are ugly, you can still choose to win. When it doesn't feel good...you're stuck between a rock and a bigger rock, you can still choose to win. Eventually, we attain the crown. So even right now when I'm not the best I'll ever be, I'm winning because I know that the crown of life awaits me. Be encouraged today! I want you to win...and more importantly, God wants you to win. 

Feeling selfish...

Picture taken from here.

Sooo...this isn't new, necessarily. Recently I received the revelation that I'm selfish, among other things. It's not a good thing either. Lately it's been me, me, me, me. I've made a lot of decision based on how it would make ME feel and what I-I-I wanted and what I thought I-I-I needed...and I've been out of order. That's not to say that we should never take a little time out for ourselves. We all need a reprieve every now and again, but in the grand scheme of things, everything is not always about us. There are others around us who need to be considered. To be completely transparent for a moment, in my home right now I've been almost solely focused on what would make me happy. I'm a married woman and I've only been thinking about how I'm being affected by our current situation. Not once have I asked my husband how he's doing. Not once have I offered to rub his back, hold his hand, nothing...nada. I've only been thinking about how I'm feeling and how I'm affected. THAT, is selfishness at its ugliest and it has no place in ANY relationship, but especially not a marriage. I realize, though, that I'm fighting the wrong the enemy. My husband isn't my enemy. I'm well aware of the enemy at work. Now, I have to focus my attention to God and allow God to fight the actual enemy on my behalf. The thoughts I've been having, the actions they've been producing...none of that has been of God, and if it's not of God then it's of Satan. I rebuke selfishness today. I will not continue to tear down my home when a wise woman would be building it up. This has honestly been an extremely difficult season, but the revelation that has come from it has been nothing short of a blessing; even though I don't like much of what I'm seeing. I'm glad that God is showing me myself so that I can give myself totally to God to remove the ugliness that has been hiding in the dark places of my being. No. More. Selfishness.

Feeling inspired...

Happy Monday!! 

The weekend FLEW by! As the saying goes, "time flies when you're having fun!" It's a new week and I am delighted to be in a good place mentally as the week has begun. I tend to spend my Sundays in church because I really like gathering for corporate worship, and it's in this place that I soak up all that the atmosphere has to offer. Yesterday was no different. My pastor's message was right on time for me and my situation, not to mention, the text he used for the basis of his sermon aligned with a Word that was spoken to me some weeks ago. In addition to THAT, as I sang with the praise team, God ministered to me through my thoughts. SO, today I am refreshed, renewed, and inspired! Here's the high level summary of the message: What ever it is that we're going through, it's being allowed so that ultimately God is glorified. Lord knows I feel like I'm going through a good bit, but if this is the path that will bring me closer to God and allow God to be glorified through me, then I pray for strength to endure and wisdom to learn whatever lessons God intends for me to learn so that I come out better equipped for Kingdom work. I hope you have an INSPIRED week! Find something that gives you energy, propels you forward, and makes you smile and think about that something when life throws itself at you this week. Once YOU'RE inspired you're empowered to BE inspiring to someone else! 

Picture taken from here. 

Feeling grateful...

Two posts in one day!!! That's cause to celebrate...and even more cause to be grateful. To many it may seem like an insignificant thing, but to me it's HUGE! My blogger bio reads "consistently, inconsistent blogger..." and for this reason I'm celebrating this small bit of consistency. I've posted four posts this week; one for each day since my return to the blogging world (see "Feeling determined..."). So even though it's a small victory, it's a victory! I'm thankful that God has caused me to be determined in this area. Do you ever take time to celebrate the "small" victory? Your goal may be to drink a gallon of water a day, when you typically drink none. Do you celebrate the fact that you drank two glasses before you even make it to 10 a.m? You should. That might help to boost you on to get the whole gallon down. Don't we beat ourselves up enough?! It's time you start, i start, we start celebrating the small things that lead us to accomplishing the big thing. After all, if you learn to celebrate the small things, how much more will you be able to celebrate the large? So...I'm throwing myself a party right now. I'm role playing all by myself...I am Charlie Brown and I am also the Peanuts Gang and right now the Peanuts Gang is telling Charlie Brown "Yay!! You did it, Charlie Brown!" Find something "small" to celebrate and tell me if it doesn't make you feel like you do even more. Have a GREAT evening!

Photo taken from here.

Feeling faint...

Do you ever have those moments when you are just T-I-R-E-D?! *whew* I have been in that "moment" for several weeks now...maybe even months. I'm just tired. Of so many things. And even being tired is exhausting!

Or, should I say, I WAS tired...I FELT faint..because now I'm feeling pretty good!! There comes a time in all of our lives when I'm sure the pressures of life can cause us to just get  a little down, a little discouraged, feel a little faint. Feeling faint isn't an unnatural occurrence. It happens to the best of us. When we feel faint, though, we have to find a place of rest so that we can be rejuvenated. For me, that place of rest is in God. I start talking to my Heavenly Father and I meditate on some of His promises to us in scripture. That helps me. Sometimes it takes more than a little talk with Jesus. Sometimes are conversations carry on for weeks. I can say with certainty that not once has God allowed me TO faint even when I FEEL faint. I know it has been the grace of God carrying me through some of these difficult seasons. There is no other explanation for why I've been able to maintain SOME composure when it feels like I keep going through the same seasons of famine and lack and just uuuggghhhh! Today, though, I'm good. God reminded me that I'm under His wing. So i'm trudging along my path, not begrudgingly, but thankfully and patiently. If you find yourself feeling faint, come in from the heat for a while by resting under the shadow of The Almighty.

Photo taken from here.

Feeling introspective...

This morning during my commute I decided to listen to TED Talks. The speaker of choice was Tony Robbins and the title of the video was "Why We Do What We Do." As intended, the message was successful in providing a few nuggets to mull over. I took away three jewels and I'm going to share them with you:

1) "Decision is the ultimate power."
2) "The defining factor is never resources, it's resourcefulness." (sic)
3) "Decisions shape destiny."

Each of these caused me to do some introspection to figure out what my focus really is. Let me just share my thoughts on each one...a little thinking out loud, if you will.

1) "Decision is the ultimate power."
Okay. This may seem like an obvious statement and concept. Have you ever really internalized this statement though? Have you really considered what this means? At the most surface level, this statement implies that you, me, we have power. We ALL get to make decisions...all day, every day. In that respect we DO have power. If decision is the ULTIMATE POWER, then decision is the "greatest or most extreme" "ability to act or produce an effect" (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 2015). So this empowered me to reclaim the power over my decisions. I'll be more intentional in the decisions I make. For example, with my lunch hour I COULD be surfing the internet for stuff OR I could be sitting here working on my craft...writing. I've decided to write. With each good, productive decision I make, I'm feeling more and more content rather than haphazardly wasting this power and regretting my choices. Reclaim your power...start now!

2) "The defining factor is never resources, it's resourcefulness." 
I'm paraphrasing, but Tony Robbins basically said that people often offer a lack of resources as the reason why they haven't done some 'thing'. I, now, subscribe to his premise that it's not resources that are the nail in the coffin for our ventures, but the resourcefulness or the creative prowess, if you will, of the one wanting to do the 'thing'. If we want something bad enough, we'll find a way to get it. We're only limited by our thoughts. Use EVERY thing that is available because there's always SOMETHING available, but we have to be creative in our thinking. I know that the right hemisphere of everyone's brain is not their dominant side, but I'm willing to bet that most "left brain" people know some "right brain" people that they could bring into the fold to present the possibilities that aren't considered by the "left brain" people. You know what I'm saying..us non creative minds have some creative minds in our circle! Use THEM! Aaaaahhhh, so resourcefulness IS the key. You see?

3) "Decisions shape destiny."
Three questions were asked in relation to this statement:
What are you going to focus on? Decide right now what you're going to focus on.

What does it mean? Establish the meaning. What emotion will you assign to it?

How will you act? Now that you know what it means, what will your actions be?

The questions aren't the EASIEST to answer, but they're worth the consideration. So, I've decided what I'm focusing on; financial freedom. I've established what that means; the ability to operate with limited restriction in that area AND the ability to help others attain financial freedom. The immediate actions I'm taking toward that thing I'm focusing on is reading as much literature on debt cancellation and finances as I can get my hands on/eyes on!

Anyway, I hope one of these nuggets is useful to you. If not, pick out your own nugget from the talk! Let me warn you, there are a few choice words in the video so if you're easily offended you may want to find something else to watch. Enjoy!

Why We Do What We Do | Tony Robbins | TED Talks
https://youtu.be/Cpc-t-Uwv1I

Feeling determined...

Photo taken from: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IB8lKt25oNk/maxresdefault.jpg

Well, it's been almost two years since my last post so I remain the consistently inconsistent blogger! I am trying it yet again...but this time, it's for me. If people read my musings, great! If no one reads my musings, that's okay, too! It seems a recurring theme for me to delve into this project around this time of year each time that I start this trek along the path of blogging. I can't pinpoint the reason, but I am really praying that this time I can stick to the commitment because I enjoy writing and I want to improve my writing and sometimes I just need to vent! I feel better when I get my thoughts out and what better way to do it than via the internet?! So I'm here again...beginning again...hoping to finally muster up enough determination and discipline to stick with this! So this is my announcement to the virtual atmosphere that I. am. back! #TheReturnofFlo