JOURNEY... DAY 27

Hey Everyone, Hope all is well with you and your family; my family is well. Today I woke up feeling some “kind of way”… I sort of touched on it in yesterday’s post… about living with expectancy in our hearts for Jesus. I don’t know, maybe it’s anxiety or an anxiousness that something good is about to happen, it may not be today, but perhaps some time down the road… I feel really good and I haven’t had any caffeine.

The other day I received a Father’s Blessing from John Paul Jackson who passed away on February 18^th, it is a beautiful blessing spoken over whosoever and as of yesterday I reminded myself to speak blessings over myself (family and others), I need this in my life and I’ve been feeling inspired and loved by God. 

A Father's Blessing from John Paul Jackson

A few things stand out… When I prayed, I prayed over this blog; I had to catch myself because I called it a “little blog” and I want to be careful not to downplay anything that God is doing, I also prayed over my crochet business and for the first time I called it a “business"… if I’m expecting God to do “exceedingly and abundantly above all I can ask or think”, I should not be minimizing what He can do in my life.

I’ve also asked Father God to help me write these books that are in my heart, to give me that creative writing ability that will hold the people’s attention, make them think and in turn give God the glory… I know that I cannot do this without Him, what would be the point in that… He makes everything better. 

My life is full of possibilities and opportunities and I want to take advantage of them all, it was also my prayer for Him to surround me with people who want God’s best for me; and to surround me with people that He can use to position me to be, where I need to be. I even asked Him to restore the mindless, restless, wasted years I spent relying on my own abilities instead of seeking after His Kingdom and His righteousness. It is also my desire to be a blessing to others, in what ever way I can. When it comes to the Kingdom of God, no effort is too small. If you haven't been speaking the word and promises of God over your life, I hope you will begin to do so. 

This week I will be in the Book of John and 1st 2nd and 3rd John. Until next time...

Love & Blessings xo

JOURNEY... DAY 26

Hey Everyone, This is day 26 of my 40 Day Journey. What I like about this quest is that it forces me to live in the moment, be more aware of things, people, my surroundings, my thoughts. There have been times that I’ve been inspired for what is to come, even if it’s a few weeks, months or even years down the road; and yes, I know that I can’t predict if I will be here by the end of the day, but we never stop moving forward with aspirations of doing great things for our Lord, living out dreams we didn’t even know we had, or harnessing the gifts that have been placed inside of us… living with expectancy in our hearts while following after Jesus.

This summation comes after reading the Book of Ecclesiastes and Ruth. If you don’t read Solomon’s writings with and an understanding Spirit (Holy Spirit), it would send anyone into a downward spiral of depression and a whole lotta “woe is me”. He goes on to tell us how life is meaningless, there is nothing new under the sun, how everything you have worked for goes to someone else. The most optimistic person would quickly become a pessimist, so you may as well eat, drink and be merry; well, that’s what Solomon said, and I totally get it.

If we are living this God-given life to satisfy ourselves, it is meaningless because this life is so much bigger than one’s self. Just look into the heavens: the sun, moon, stars, clouds, rain, snow, lightning, thunder, wind, seasons, trees, animals, babies… none of this is happening on its own, this is not an accident. There is a magnificent God who is THE CREATOR of if all, every Believer who comes to Him through Jesus knows this.

The Book of Ruth, showed me a servants heart, a willingness to put someone above her own needs. She told Naomi, "your God will become my God and your people will become my people", it was the God that Naomi served that compelled her to stay with her and dwell among her people even though she could have been shunned by them, it took faith for Ruth to leave behind her family and all that was familiar to her. By her being a Moabite there was no guarantee that any man would want to marry her, the Moabite people were looked down upon by the Israelites. Ruth gave up her own desires to follow after God, our Father honored her display of faith. Ruth is one of four women mentioned in the lineage of Christ, the others are Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba (Matthew 1:1-16) Lineage of Jesus 

Ruth honored God with her life and in doing so, God honored her; isn't that wonderful. We should all want to live a meaningful life and the only way to do that is to live for God. Mother Teresa comes to mind, she gave up everything to do as Christ commanded and that was to look after the poor and downtrodden and we still speak favorable of her today. 

We are all living on borrowed time, our time here is short-lived and we waste so much of that valuable time doing nothing or pursuing everything without clear direction. Chasing after what is supposedly “The American Dream” instead of chasing after the one who is the “giver of dreams”. We want our plans and purpose for life to trump God’s plan and purpose for us, it’s only when we stop trying to have and do things our way that we truly find happiness and that happiness is not in what the world can give us, but in what God wants to do in us.

Do you want a "Meaningless" life or an "Honorable" life? Make Christ Lord of your life, until next time...

Love & Blessings xo

JOURNEY... DAY 19

Hey Everyone, It is another day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad! Do you ever wonder why He tells us to rejoice and be glad? Every day is not filled will joy and happiness. If we were to be honest with ourselves; we would see that most of our days are filled with stress, worries, fears, anxieties, mixed emotions, confusion, disappointment, sadness, disillusions, heartache, sorrow… but not much joy. In retrospect I guess He’s not really telling us to rejoice but to choose to rejoice in-spite of our current circumstances, whether it is, permanent or temporary. Life is hard… and it’s difficult, things change in a moment’s time… just like that our lives are altered by some event.

Young girl riding her bike.

Last night I was watching a documentary “Half the sky” by Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof. It’s about young girls throughout the world who are restricted from the most basic common things that we take for granted… such as education and women’s rights. There whole life they have been taught that they are worthless, that they have no value, yet these young girls grow to become women who birth a nation, a nation of men who say, “you’re worthless.” That’s why it angers me when I see people, especially girls and women demeaning themselves, calling one another B****** like it’s a term of endearment, it’s stupidity at its highest form.

Our women are watching what I call RATCHED TV  and they find this entertaining… its degradation. You know I can understand the world partaking in stuff like this, but not Christians… not when Christ has called us to be like Him… not when He has paid such a high price for our freedom. We are to warn others of these pitfalls in life, these “little snares” that cause people to stumble. They (the world) are watching us, they are watching our behaviors as Christians, we’re supposed to stand out, because He’s called us out of the world (live in the world, but do not be a part of the world). There's this quotation by Mahatma Ghandi, he said "I would have become a Christian if I hadn't met one." I hope he changed his mind.

It was not my intent to go there, my point was; one of these girls lived in poverty, she looked to be about 14 or 15, her father would beat her, she was out on the streets selling lottery tickets to make money for the family and if she didn’t sell enough; he would sometimes beat her and if she sold enough… maybe just maybe he would give her some of the money and she would use it for her education, so that she could go to school. She was living in conditions that we wouldn’t choose for ourselves or anyone else… but this girl had the most beautiful smile; she chose to smile even though her eyes were sad, she chose to be happy; with the hope that things will not always be this way.

What choices are you making today? Are they the kinds of choices that reflect Christ? Are they the kinds of choices that put others above yourself? Have you encouraged someone along the way? Are you having a pity party for yourself? Are you using your difficulties in life to strengthen someone else? Are you being Light in dark places? Are you being Salt that brings healing?

Sometimes we get so caught up in what we want to do, we never take the time to ask Christ, what it is He wants us to do. After all He’s the one with the Plan, right. He’s the one who holds our Purpose. He’s got all the answers for our lives. Yet, we don’t always acknowledge Him in our day to day existence. Make a choice to rejoice (the joy of the Lord is our strength), it’s in our rejoicing that He reveals Himself more and more.

During this journey, I find myself becoming even more tender-hearted and I don’t want this feeling to end… well, I know it doesn’t have to end. His presence has become clear so me and I want more of Him, I want to be His hands and feet, I want my touch to bring healing to someone’s soul, I want to be like Christ. Do you want to be like Christ?

Love & Blessings xo

*Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I would have been a Christian if I hadn’t met one.” Before leading the revolution in India, he was exiled in Africa. There, he was seeking the Lord, reading the New Testament. He had become convinced that Christianity was the true religion and that Jesus was the Christ. He decided to attend a Presbyterian church service for the purpose of confessing Jesus as his Lord. But, because of the color of his skin, they wouldn’t let him in. Those people who were so determined to evangelize did not have enough of the nature of God on the inside to look past his color. He then led 750 million people into a pagan religion. On a trip to India some years ago, I learned there were 12,000 Methodists in the city of Ahmedabad, the result of a great revival in the 1890s. When I asked the head of the church in that city how many were truly born again, he responded by saying it was only two or three families. The rest were still worshiping other gods. All they had done was add Jesus to their list of gods to make sure they didn’t miss one. They were obviously not disciples. To those in India, Jesus was just another of the thousands of gods. That is not God’s idea of evangelism.

You can read entire article here: Discipleship vs. Evangelism

Find out more about "Half the sky" and Half the sky movement

JOURNEY... DAY 18

Hey Everyone! I'm finally over this sinus cold, praise God, almost two weeks dealing with that... still have a little cough but not as bad. It seems like this cold weather is wreaking havoc on my body, everything wants to ache or hurt... what is up with that? Sorry, for not posting consistently, just didn't feel up to it and then I also-kinda fell into lazy mode... again. We all have those moments right...but they shouldn't last long. So... here's what's going on with me.

Well, I said this would be a journey right… trying to figure things out takes a little time and a whole lot of determination. It was my plan to start the liquid fast on Day 7, which was a Friday… so that Friday and Saturday I felt really good, I’ve got this in the bag because everyone knows the first day is the hardest and I made it over that hurdle, yay me! Now, Sunday roles around and the inevitable question was asked, “What do you want for dinner”, in my head I was saying, “nothing, I’m fasting” what came out of my mouth was, “Chinese food”… so begins my demise. What can I say?... it was good though.

This is how I feel.

But, I try not to let little setbacks be the end all… I'm trying to focus on what has been accomplished, there is so much more that I want to apply during the course of this journey, fasting is just a part of it. Let’s face it, I pretty much bombed at the liquid fast, but I excelled at fasting from evening to evening… I would go all day with only liquids and eat a meal between 5 & 7pm, which is working pretty well, so I’m probably going to stick with that.

There are some other things that I’m pleased about… my prayer life has become better, I’m staying on budget; I’ve completed the Book of Ecclesiastes and will start on the Book of Ruth... TODAY. Another thing is, I’ve begun keeping a “To Do List” AGAIN. A list really helps me to stay on track and besides, it fun checking off the little things I was able to finish during the day and we know that, it’s the little things that pile up to a big overwhelming mess, that's what makes us not want to do anything… well me anyway.

Oh! Before I forget, I am so proud of myself. I cleaned my room this past weekend, yay! Normally my room is a tidy mess, you probably can’t relate J I’m not into Feng Sui or anything, but I do believe that every room has an energy and it’s the energy that I or someone brings into it. Since, I’m the only person in my room and spend about 95% of my time in there; it was my own energy that needed fixing.

I really don’t like for stuff to be in the corners of my room, yet every corner of my room had something in it. My club chair had crocheted scarves on it, there was fabric on the side wall and at the foot of my bed, my nightstand, vanity, and desk were all cluttered, junk drawers were full, there were shoes under the bed and my closet was packed with clothes that I haven’t worn in a very long time. Did you notice I described my room in past tense, I completely purged my bedroom… and now I can EXHALE! The flow is amazing! I’m actually sitting at my desk typing up this post. EXHALE!

There is so much that I want to tell you, but I will share more on tomorrow. Until then...

Love & Blessings xo

JOURNEY... DAY 4

Hey Everyone, This is going to be a long 40 days, but I shall prevail. Today I would like to share with you the other reason for my fast… My mind… my mind is so cluttered, well… no not really cluttered... it's just taken up residency in LaLa Land. I’m such a big daydreamer and it’s because of that I prefer to be by myself 90% of the time. As a child I was very quiet and shy, pretty reserved; I wish I could say I was thinking on really deep theological or psychological things or brainstorming, problem solving, being a creative thinker, but I wasn’t… if I had I probably could of came up with a few inventions of my own. (PAUSE)

NOW IT’S… DAY 5

So sorry about that, this sinus cold was really getting to me yesterday, it’s still a little irritating but I’m going to work through it. Back to the journey, what I’ve come to realize is, maybe my daydreaming is a form of gift or blessing because we all have some kind of talent. 

It was in December of 2013 that I decided to use daydreaming to my advantage and write a book of my own. I bet that most authors are daydreamers with a vast vivid imagination. Well, my book is not complete as of yet; it’s still a work in progress. My own intimidation is what brought my book to a halt, I lost focus, now its time to re-focus and press my way through, there are two more books locked up in this brain of mine and I want to get it on paper. It’s not my goal to be a bestselling author, although I would not mind it coming to pass, my only desire is for it to be a good read; blessed by God and for His glory.

Ecclesiastes 1 Living Bible (TLB) “LIFE IS MEANINGLESS”

1 The author: Solomon[a] of Jerusalem, King David’s son, “The Preacher.” 2 In my opinion, nothing is worthwhile; everything is futile. 3-7 For what does a man get for all his hard work? Generations come and go, but it makes no difference.[b] The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south and north, here and there, twisting back and forth, getting nowhere.* The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full, and the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea . . . 8-11 everything is unutterably weary and tiresome. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied; no matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. Nothing is truly new; it has all been done or said before. What can you point to that is new? How do you know it didn’t exist long ages ago? We don’t remember what happened in those former times, and in the future generations no one will remember what we have done back here. 12-15 I, the Preacher, was king of Israel, living in Jerusalem. And I applied myself to search for understanding about everything in the universe. I discovered that the lot of man, which God has dealt to him, is not a happy one. It is all foolishness, chasing the wind. What is wrong cannot be righted; it is water over the dam; and there is no use thinking of what might have been. 16-18 I said to myself, “Look, I am better educated than any of the kings before me in Jerusalem. I have greater wisdom and knowledge.” So I worked hard to be wise instead of foolish[c]—but now I realize that even this was like chasing the wind. For the more my wisdom, the more my grief; to increase knowledge only increases distress.

Solomon pretty much summed it up. That's all for now, still not at my best; but thank God I'm not at my worst. Until next time...

Love & Blessings xo

JOURNEY... DAY 3

Well, I told you about the kind of FAST that will work for me. My main objective is to have a successful fast and to grow in knowledge, wisdom and understanding of our Lord and God’s ways. I also mentioned the purpose of the fast; Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, Financial, Physical, and Family Wellness. Today, I would like to expound upon the physical portion of my fast; it is my goal to be physically active and healthy in the Kingdom of God. Praise God; I’ve never had to go into the hospital for anything other than give birth, my overall health has always been good; my blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol has always been good and I would like for it to stay that way. I am anemic, but that’s fixable; eat more iron and take iron pills… definitely doable.

Now, I’ve always struggled with my weight and that’s because I made it a struggle by not eating properly, the first change has to begin in the mind and we know what a battlefield that can be. There are a number of things that will send us back into an unhealthy comfort zone; stress being at the very top of the list, some of us eat our emotions; we eat when we’re depressed, grieving, happy, sad, any occasion is an occasion to eat, and a lot of us eat unconsciously, we eat junk food that leaves us unsatisfied so we keep eating consistently throughout the day which is our bodies way of saying, ‘you’re not giving me the nutrients that I need to be satisfied. Another thing, we eat until we’re full and we don’t have to be full (have that full/ miserable sensation), to know that we’ve had enough.

My weight is a concern because, since graduation umpteen years ago; I’ve managed to put on 100 pounds. I’ve lost and gained throughout the years, but as I get older it’s gets a little harder and difficult to lose, but it can be done… I just have to work a tad bit harder than some others. In order to keep the weight off I’m going to have to maintain a healthy lifestyle… that’s it, no going back and this fast will help me jumpstart this new lifestyle.

Another reason is, my right knee bothers me from time to time, but as of lately it has been more bothersome. It started giving me trouble in February of 2012, I either twisted it or strained it…it was done in such a way that it has never healed completely, so I want to get as much weight off of it as possible. I’m fasting for healing in my knee as well, so I’ve got to do my part, so my Lord can do His.

Now, the type of fast I’m doing will eventually be an all liquid fast, which will includes juice (sugar free), broth (low-sodium), tea and coffee (caffeine free), veggie and fruit smoothies (that I make with my nutribullet), and of course water. But right now, for the first 5-7 days I’m eating really soft, easily digestible foods (similar to baby food). Yesterday, I ate sweet potatoes (which I seasoned for flavor), instant grits, rice, Skinny Cow Vanilla Latte (8 oz, 120 cal, 2.5 fat, 18g sugar) and water (59 oz).

HOW AM I FEELING? As of right now, I’m feeling very satisfied, my mind is clear and more focused on what I’m doing. I’m not feeling tempted; no cravings as of yet (I do expect the craving to hit at some point). I feel my energy coming back (In the mornings I usually lay around until the last possible minute, but this morning I got on up and did what I needed to do, with no hesitation). SO FAR, SO GOOD. I will keep you posted.

WHAT AM I DOING SPIRITUALLY? I will be reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, John (all of the John’s) and Ruth. I chose these books because it deals with Wisdom, Love, and Service. I will be reading from a certain book of chapters in the morning and different book of chapters in the evening and I will try to share with you what I gleaned from the chapters.

If any of you decide to embark on your own 40 Day Journey, please feel free to share with me what you’re doing and the outcome of your daily journey.

Oh, one more thing. I will be making others post periodically separately from the 40 Day posts, as to not make those posts too long. There are some things that our Lord has placed on my heart and I would like to share it with you, I would also like your thoughts and feedback, whether we agree or disagree, God's Word is the only TRUE WORD. Until next time.

Love & Blessings xo

JOURNEY... DAY 2

Why am I doing this? Spiritual Growth-to be closer to Jesus… Mental Stability-to be focused on what God would have me to do… Physical Wellbeing-to be healthy and used by God for a long time… Financial Stewardship-manage my money better and pay off a debt… Emotionally Thoughtful-be more attentive towards others and a better listener… Giftings-know my purpose and use my gifts for Gods glory.

How am I doing this fast, prayer, meditation? There are lots of books on fasting, I have one or two myself, but I’m not using it as a guide; I’m letting Holy Spirit guide me. The one thing I don’t want to do is get caught up in a set of rules of how to fast because then for me, it becomes too stressful. You have the veggie fast, the water fast, the fruits and veggie fast, the morning fast, the evening fast, 3-day fast, 7-day fast, 40-day fast, 80-day fast; and so on and so on.

In my opinion there is no set way to fast, you just have to figure out what works for you because the main objective is to spend quality time with God, listening more than talking and to do it successfully so you will want to do it again. Who wants to do a fast if it’s difficult; I know you may be thinking “isn’t that the point of doing it, because it’s hard and you want to bring your flesh under submission”. Well my flesh may have been submitting but my mind hadn’t. In the past I’ve done 3-7 day fasts (no food, just water) after the first two days it got easier, but it wasn’t something I would be willing to do for 40 days and truthfully; I was just ready for it to be over with, my mind was consumed with thoughts of hamburgers. The last few months of 2014 and January of this year, I failed miserably at my fasts; the “traditional” way was not working for me.

What am I doing differently? I’m listening to my body… YES, I said listening to my body and allowing Holy Spirit to lead this fast. Basically, I’m just easing into my fast… It is still a 40-Day Journey and Fast, but I decided not to do it “cold-turkey” because that turkey will turn into some Popeye’s Chicken real quick. I’m doing it this way so that by the 5^th-7^th day, I should be totally and completely on all liquids. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion only, this may not work for you. 

Yesterday, I had about 59 oz. of water, skinny cow latte (coffee), 8 oz. of Chai Tea, and a 10 oz. can of cream of chicken soup (add water to it and it makes 2 servings). I read scripture verses from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (The Events of Life), I also put together 3 Christian playlists for a friend, and I did a little crocheting.

That night, around 1:45 am, I began to feel some anxiety and had to get up; my hips were hurting and my breathing seemed a little off (just a little bit). I quickly realized, I need a new mattress for sure and that the sodium content for the soup was 420 per serving, so if I eat anymore can soup, it will only be one serving. So, that's how things went yesterday... talk to you tomorrow.

Love & Blessings