Learning to live Intentionally.

What's up everyone?!?! So the first day of Spring was yesterday (March 20th) and I am already feeling the winter blues going far far away. Winters are always sooooo long, dreary, and gloomy. Now that Spring has arrived it is time to do the usual Spring cleaning and get rid of the old to replace with new! What are your goals for Spring? Is there anything you may want to accomplish by Summer? Since the beginning of January at the church I attend, there has been teachings on living your life intentionally.  I thought about this type of living a little further and I started to reflect on whether I have been living life intentionally. The answer to that was a big fat no! I realized that I have been just pretty much going through life planning some things here and there, but not really trying as hard as I can to live intentionally. There are plenty of things I would like to do such as traveling, arts and crafts, etc., but have I really been trying to coordinate these various things in my life INTENTIONALLY? The word intentional means done on purpose. When we are living on purpose instead of for just winging it through life, I feel that a lot of the things we've hoped and prayed for will fall into place. We are all on this earth for a purpose so why not live life on purpose? We are almost done with the first quarter of 2016. Time seems to be going by faster and faster, but if you are living life intentionally maybe, juuuust maybe time will start to be on your side.

Faith Driven.

The faith concept has been something that I have struggled with a long time until recently. Yesterday I had a powerful conversation about how we as people are not the authors of our life, but it is really in God's hand to write our story. We live in a world where everyone has statuses and quotes on social media making you believe that you are the only person that creates your own life. When we take matters in our own hands it makes it way more difficult to live an abundant life because you are trying to do everything yourself and keep up with everyone. We are so busy trying to find our gifts alone, find creativity within us alone, or figure out life in general alone. Once you start trying to do everything on your own you end up burning yourself out and being depressed and oppressed. You see us humans are not strong enough to live our lives on our own, especially with all of the trials and tribulations that we may go through. There is only one person that can help you with EVERYTHING YOU NEED and that is GOD!

I have been around people that have been practicing faith for years and never really understood how powerful faith is, but the closest example to my life is my Mother. My mother is the only person that I know that really loves her career and what she does which is being an elementary school Teacher. She gets up happy everyday to go to work no joke. I always wondered how did she end up finding something just right for her that she genuinely loves. My mother did not grow up saying she wanted to be a teacher nor did she grow up in an environment where she was encouraged to be in that field. God, destiny, and faith literally placed my mother in her career. She was a mom before she went to college and my grandmother helped raise my brother. After graduating college she got a teaching job immediately in an area she was not familiar with. She didn't let that stop her as she drove almost 4 hours from where she grew up to start her new journey.While on her journey she ended up meeting my father and getting married, adding two new additions to her family (My sister and I).  The best part about this story is that she grew saying she just wanted to work in a factory and live a simple life. She didn't see herself teaching and and that is the beauty of faith. It is not supposed to be seen and it is not what is within your physical sight. Your circumstances does not control your destiny.

Our plans are not God plans and we do not have control of our life. Everyday consists of new beginnings and it consists of different things and situations. If you have a plan that you have been trying to go by that you created yourself and it is not working out, take that plan and throw it out the window. Consult with God about what HE would like for you to do and the answers will come. Also you have to learn to be patient in order to hear from God because it is not always right when you ask him that you will receive the answer. I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed and wanted an answer so bad, but didn't get the answer until well after.  In meantime you have to teach yourself to continue to practice having faith and drill it within yourself. Faith consists of works and it will be dead if there is no work done.

Your body is a temple, treat it as such.

Have you ever felt like you were disgusted with a habit you may not be able to quit easily? Or maybe you feel like you want to change something about yourself that can easily be done, but you have been procrastinating heavily (as I raise my hand). Well....I am going to be brutally honest and open about mines. Right now in my life I am not at a weight that I am used to and yes I know some may have noticed, but a lot of people have not. I tend to be able to hide how I feel about certain things and what I weigh well. You may be thinking to yourself, she takes a lot of pictures and she seems to be so confident? Let me tell you I am my hardest critic for myself. Ever since I had my son it has been hard to break the habit of eating what I want and proportioning my meals. Since I am short I really need to be careful of how much weight I actually put on because it can become dangerous and come with many health risks. It also does not help that I have a job where I sit all day in front of computers and sometimes I forget about getting up out of my chair. I'm very thankful for being able to sit, but it can be a gift and a curse at the same time. Before I had my son weight was not an issue for me, I could eat Chipotle all day and not gain anything. When you have a child or children your body changes and very rarely goes back to being the same. It is harder sometimes to lose weight and it may have slowed your metabolism down. There are some mothers that "snap back" per say, but they can probably tell you that they feel different as well if you ask them.

I don't want some quick so called health plan that ends up making you gain more weight back when you stop. I really want to change my whole eating habits for the better completely. Meaning more vegetables, fruits, and healthy proteins. The reason for my weight loss not being as successful as I would like are because I am procrastinating and I LOOOOVE Food! Especially food that are considered carbs and starches which I am definitely not supposed to be eating to lose weight and it does not help speed up the process. When someone has a goal they are determined and procrastination is no where within their motivation. I've decided to take control of what is going on and make my body feel better and make myself feel better as a whole. The bible teaches us that our body is a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19) in which I have not been following. I have been reflecting over my life for the past couple of months and evaluating myself from the inside, out. I feel like I should take better care of my body for myself and my family. This journey also does not only consists of working on my body, but on the inside of my body also. Coming from a family background of heart disease, diabetes, and strokes I need to be more conscious about the decisions I make towards my future. I will be on a new journey to find healthier alternatives to eat and also learn how to portion my meals again. Eating food is important for the nourishment of my body, but it should not be an obsession or constantly on my mind. I honestly want to get to the point of food being less complicated than I have made it. God did not create us so beautifully for us to harm what he fearfully and wonderfully made. It is time to do better!

Thanks for the support in advance and I will be keeping you all updated! My only hope out of this is that I am able to be transparent with my struggles I am having and it could maybe help or inspire someone else.

Until next time :)

Secrets to Life.

Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

Yesterday on my lunch break I heard a coworker of mines talk about taking a personality test and his results. I found this very interesting and I decided to take the test for myself. My personality results were ENFP. Some of the celebrities with this trait were Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.

ENFPs are warm, enthusiastic people, typically very bright and full of potential. They live in the world of possibilities, and can become very passionate and excited about things. Their enthusiasm lends them the ability to inspire and motivate others, more so than we see in other types.

Lately I have been doing a a lot of soul searching on possibly how I can change the world with a career that would let me do so. Now when I seen the results for career choices I really asked myself a question. Why am I working hard to be normal?

In life we as people work so hard to be normal that we don't even realize we are doing this to ourselves. Think about it, we get stuck into a routine of going to work and then coming home and going to bed. Have we changed anything within the world by having the same routine? Of course it is not wise to abruptly quit your job and try to figure out things without a plan. By asking myself that question it unlocked a lot of answers I've been waiting for.

On my drive home I was thinking about that test and it led to me having a personal conversation with God asking him what is next in my life? I'm tired of the same routine...what is next? Finally I heard the words loud and clear. "Your life is not yours, it is mines". When I heard those words it finally clicked that I am in the position of doing what I don't want to do because I have tried to control my life by myself instead of letting God take the lead. If I remove myself and let him take the steps ahead of me I will make my life 100 percent easier.

I thank god for this confirmation that took place on yesterday. I am excited about the journey that I have ahead in my life. You should be excited as well because God does not want our lives to be a routine. He wants us to do things that people notice and things that will change people's perspective of life.

The secret things belong to God and if he was to give us everything that would happen in our lives then it would defeat our purpose. We all have to have a journey for a reason. The more we let our journey happen the wiser we become in the Lord.

If you would like to take the personality test I took the website link is below:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Sound Mind/Peace

Philippians 4:8 Begin to think on the Word or begin to sing a praise song to God. Make a conscious effort to fill your mind with good, pure, wholesome, and lovely thoughts.

When I get angry or feel like there is too much noise in my life, prayer or singing to God are not the first things that come to mind. At first I want to stay mad or have a whining session and stay to myself for the majority of the day. Everyday there are situations that I don't like and throw my positivity off.

I have been working hard to become better with trying to release the anger at that moment and not let it carry over. The scripture says to fill our minds with good, pure, wholesome, and lovely thoughts. The more I practice this principle, the better I am able to express how I feel and not keep it within me, even though I still have my moments. There is also a bigger battle that is being fought with my flesh and spirit because of the effort I am putting in to make myself a better person.

When I keep negativity and anger within me about certain situations it starts to feel like poison is taking control. It feels as if there is a thorn going right through my heart. The light that I have starts to dim and everything I practice in order to be positive has been thrown out the window.

God wants us to enjoy life no matter what circumstances come our way. It feels a whole lot better to wake up everyday knowing that I have not carried over any negativity that has happened yesterday to the current day. I have learned to be more thankful to rise out of my bed and go to work or anywhere else I choose no matter what I am facing. All of the bad things I could think about are the last things that begin to take control of my mind. The devil tries to control your mind, but you have the power to take your mind back with Gods help.

People don't realize that starting their day off with a simple thank you to God with a scripture or two actually works. It prepares your day to be positive and free. It also prepares them to be open to blessings whether they are big or small. No blessing should be overlooked and the word prepares you to take on the daily challenges life brings.

Remember to always make a conscious effort to fill your mind with good, pure, wholesome, and lovely thoughts.

Purpose.

Proverbs 20:5 - The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.

Definition of Purpose within the dictionary - 

 

1. the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.

 

2. an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.

 

3. determination; resoluteness.

 

4. the subject in hand; the point at issue.

 

5. practical result, effect, or advantage: to act to good purpose.

VERB (USED WITH OBJECT) [PUR·POSED, PUR·POS·ING.]

6.

to set as an aim, intention, or goal for oneself.

7.

to intend; design.

8.

to resolve (to do something): He purposed to change his way of life radically.

VERB (USED WITHOUT OBJECT) [PUR·POSED, PUR·POS·ING.]

9.

to have a purpose.

IDIOMS

10.

on purpose by design; intentionally: How could you do such a thing on purpose?

11.

to the purpose relevant; to the point: Her objections were not to the purpose.

Taking a deeper look into the definition of purpose, the key words that stuck out to me were exists, result, aim, goal, and determination.

Exists - When I think about my purpose I always wonder does it even exists out there? Sometimes I feel as if one day I know what I would like to do in life, then the next day I feel as if I have no clue what direction my life is going in. Somehow I always tend to bring myself back on track with the help of God. He always lets me know that even though my purpose may not be as clear to my eyes, I do exist for a reason.

Result - In my life I may not have received the results that I have expected to receive from certain situations, but the results are not in vein.

Aim - It is always important for me to shoot for a high level of performance for duties that I need to complete in life on a daily basis. This all comes along with being a mother, an employee (no matter where I work), girlfriend, student, and member of a church.

Goal - My opinion on goals are to have a list of goals for each week, even though I am still learning to make a habit of this.  The goals should be pertaining to what path I have consulted with God to take. This list could be as simple as writing down healthy foods to buy at the grocery store or writing down to clean up my room. I feel like sometimes people make their goals unrealistic, meaning they make their goals to big for them to handle in one day. I have recently decided to write down my goals and separate the major ones from the small ones. This is not as difficult tasks if I go into it with an open mind.

Determination - When figuring out what my purpose is in life, I have learned that it takes determination to want to have and maintain a relationship with God in order to know what path I need to take. With my schedule I am exhausted by the time I get home so this is a struggle to do so and maintain. Recently I have not been able to just go to sleep, I literally have to read my bible and pray in order to have a comfortable night of sleep.  

The next verse Proverbs 20:6 states - Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find?

Are there people out there that are willing to be faithful to God to find themselves? To tell you the truth there is no way that you will be able to find out who you are without having a true relationship with God, the higher power, whatever name you prefer to call him. I can't comprehend how people can not even acknowledge God by at least blessing their food. How could you ask God to love, protect, and shelter you if you are not faithful yourself? Luckily for us God will love, protect, and shelter us regardless of the situation.

When becoming faithful in Christ I am learning to remain humble within the journey. I have to give back as much if not more as he continues to be faithful to me in spite of. Of course this is easier than it sounds and no it is not easy at all. This journey comes with sacrifice, blood, sweat, and tears. In the end remaining faithful will all be worth it, which is a daily reminder for myself. I have to trust in the Lord with all my heart to guide me in the right direction no matter how imperfect I may be he will guide with daily repentance.

In conclusion learn how to be faithful, stay true to yourself, and remain humble. God promises an abundant life for each and every individual no matter the circumstance or situation.