At the beginning of this year, I decided to participate in an online bible study of Experiencing God. I participated in a bible study of the same book over 15 years ago. The study is about experiencing a real and practical relationship with God and joining Him where he is working. I truly believe that God has brought me back to this study so that I can reconnect and revitalize my relationship with Him in a new season.
There are several tenets discussed in the book on how our interaction with God moves us into the will of God. The will of God has alot to do with the how our purpose is lived out here on Earth. I remember after the first study was when I began to seek God about where He was calling me to join Him in my professional life and also in my spiritual life. There was a shift from attending the church that I grew up in to where I am currently. He also spoke to me about going back to school after I submitted to His will. My transition from the business arena to the counseling profession was orchestrated by God. He did not lay the plan out 1..2...3. He spoke and I moved.
It started out with taking a course at Nashville Tech in Adjustment Psychology and being asked to complete my 5 year goals. A young man in class said that he was going to Trevecca to get his Masters in Counseling. It was like...that is where I am calling you. Now mind you I could not stand Psychology when I was in my undergraduate program. I followed each step through the process of applying and taking the appropriate test. I could see God's hand through this process. In February 2003, during my time at the bank they announced that my department was moving to Jacksonville, FL. I graduated in May 2003 and stayed at the bank until January 2004.
When I left the bank, I was able to complete my additional hours for licensure and my internship. God provided for me during this time. I received my first job offer in September 2004 as a counselor. God has continued to direct my path and favored me with promotion.
I am currently in a season of wanting to experiencing God and seeking His will and direction on where He is calling me now. God has reminded me that the same faith that got me where I am is the same faith that will take me into the next season. When I started the study this time, I was not really thinking about the last transition until God spoke to me on Friday and then He confirmed it with His Word. He is transitioning me to the next level in this season.
The call on my life is to empower others to live their best life in the area of professional endeavors. So I want to offer complimentary coaching sessions to help you to live your best life if you are stuck in a place and feel God calling you to the next level.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Freedom....Freedom....Freedom
Freedom is a gift from God but it must be secured by the people here today. - President Barack Obama - 2nd Inagural Speech 2013
Today is a historic day and a day of rememberance of those who fought and fight to maintain our freedom. We honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and watch the coverage of the second inagural ceremony of President Barack Obama. We also celebrate this year, the 150th anniversary of the Emmancipation Proclaimation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and 100 years of the greatest sorority...Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. I am so grateful for being alive at such a time as this.
Initally, I thought my word for the year was going to be PURPOSE but as I continue in prayer seeking God's will He has made it plain that my focus word is FREEDOM. Freedom is derived from the root word of Free. Webster defines Free and Freedom as "not under the control or power of another; having liberty; independent. (2) to move in any direction (3) to release from bondage or arbitrary power, obligation, etc. (4) a right or priviledge." Freedom is a mindset and it comes with a cost. The call to be authentic in who I be and not what I do is part of the cost of freedom.
The quest for what your purpose is and what you are passionate is rooted in the desire to be free. We desire to be who were created to be. Freedom will allow you to align yourself with your values, heart's desire, purpose, etc. One of the first things we must do is get our mindset right because the greatest battle is in your mind. Those thoughts, scripts and beliefs that keep us locked in prison cost us the price of our freedom.
Yesterday, we had a guest psalmist that sung a song called Freedom by Eddie James. The lyrics of the song included "No more shackles, No more chains, No more bondage, I am FREE. This will become my song of praise and encourage. I want each of my readers to walk in freedom and be who they are called to be.
Today is a historic day and a day of rememberance of those who fought and fight to maintain our freedom. We honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and watch the coverage of the second inagural ceremony of President Barack Obama. We also celebrate this year, the 150th anniversary of the Emmancipation Proclaimation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and 100 years of the greatest sorority...Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. I am so grateful for being alive at such a time as this.
Initally, I thought my word for the year was going to be PURPOSE but as I continue in prayer seeking God's will He has made it plain that my focus word is FREEDOM. Freedom is derived from the root word of Free. Webster defines Free and Freedom as "not under the control or power of another; having liberty; independent. (2) to move in any direction (3) to release from bondage or arbitrary power, obligation, etc. (4) a right or priviledge." Freedom is a mindset and it comes with a cost. The call to be authentic in who I be and not what I do is part of the cost of freedom.
The quest for what your purpose is and what you are passionate is rooted in the desire to be free. We desire to be who were created to be. Freedom will allow you to align yourself with your values, heart's desire, purpose, etc. One of the first things we must do is get our mindset right because the greatest battle is in your mind. Those thoughts, scripts and beliefs that keep us locked in prison cost us the price of our freedom.
Yesterday, we had a guest psalmist that sung a song called Freedom by Eddie James. The lyrics of the song included "No more shackles, No more chains, No more bondage, I am FREE. This will become my song of praise and encourage. I want each of my readers to walk in freedom and be who they are called to be.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Failure Is Not An Option
On one of the groups that I follow on Facebook, the question was posed, "What is one thing you would do if you knew you would not fail?" There were over 1,000 responses and the top three answers were follow my purpose, start a business and lose weight. It is interesting that these are part of the areas of improvement that I am seeking.
My response was to turn in my resignation and start my coaching and leadership academy. So I began to think about why the fear of failure keeps us stuck in a place of uncomfortability. The fear of failure or the unknown stifles us from reaching our greatest potential and causes the world to miss out on what we have to bring to the world.
Who is to say that we would fail anyway? Successful individuals may have not made it on the first try but they continue to press forward and we end up seeing their success. I made the decision not to allow the fear of failure to keep me stuck, I will begin working on getting my coaching and leadership academy up and going so that I can release my current position to the next person to carry the torch.
How many times does a toddler stumble and fall before they are up and walking? If we did not get up and try again, we would all be sitting and waiting for someone to carry us or we would be crawling on our hands and knees. Failure is not an option is you plan to be successful.
So What is the One thing you would do if you knew you would not fail? Make a committment to yourself to take the first step and if you stumble take another step. You will soon be walking in your purpose, desire and destiny.
My response was to turn in my resignation and start my coaching and leadership academy. So I began to think about why the fear of failure keeps us stuck in a place of uncomfortability. The fear of failure or the unknown stifles us from reaching our greatest potential and causes the world to miss out on what we have to bring to the world.
Who is to say that we would fail anyway? Successful individuals may have not made it on the first try but they continue to press forward and we end up seeing their success. I made the decision not to allow the fear of failure to keep me stuck, I will begin working on getting my coaching and leadership academy up and going so that I can release my current position to the next person to carry the torch.
How many times does a toddler stumble and fall before they are up and walking? If we did not get up and try again, we would all be sitting and waiting for someone to carry us or we would be crawling on our hands and knees. Failure is not an option is you plan to be successful.
So What is the One thing you would do if you knew you would not fail? Make a committment to yourself to take the first step and if you stumble take another step. You will soon be walking in your purpose, desire and destiny.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Reality Has Set In
We are on the 6th day of the new year and reality has set in. I experienced disappointment yesterday as I stepped on the scale at my Weight Watchers meeting. The scale showed that I was up 2 pounds even though I had tracked my points to the most part and did some activity. Initially, I was frustrated because and experienced a moment of negative self talk that included it is not worth it, you are too old to be trying to lose weight and you are going backwards. Then reality set in and I asked myself a couple of questions, has it really been a week- no just a couple of days of serious committment and are you a failure - no because you have 51 more weeks until the end of the year.
Initially, I joined Weight Watchers with my aunt just to go with her on her journey and she had lost 15 pounds. I was not really committed to the program but was just showing up because I wanted her to be a success. As I was sitting in the meeting on yesterday, I met a 58 year old lady that has lost over 100 pounds and has maintained her loss for almost a year. She told me it is all about your mind set...so get your mind right. Instead of leaving the meeting and doing the usual, I ate my oatmeal, got in 30 minutes of exercise and made better choices most of the day.
I have also made the decision to track everything good or bad and committ to getting in my exercise. I realized that going to the Y is not my favorite thing but I enjoy doing Walk Away The Pounds DVD's at home and I am going to add a line dance class. I have also challenged myself to pack my lunch and eat it at work instead of going out to lunch all the time. It is these microactions that will get me closer to my goal.
What are your goals and what microaction(s) can you take this week to get you closer to your goal?
Initially, I joined Weight Watchers with my aunt just to go with her on her journey and she had lost 15 pounds. I was not really committed to the program but was just showing up because I wanted her to be a success. As I was sitting in the meeting on yesterday, I met a 58 year old lady that has lost over 100 pounds and has maintained her loss for almost a year. She told me it is all about your mind set...so get your mind right. Instead of leaving the meeting and doing the usual, I ate my oatmeal, got in 30 minutes of exercise and made better choices most of the day.
I have also made the decision to track everything good or bad and committ to getting in my exercise. I realized that going to the Y is not my favorite thing but I enjoy doing Walk Away The Pounds DVD's at home and I am going to add a line dance class. I have also challenged myself to pack my lunch and eat it at work instead of going out to lunch all the time. It is these microactions that will get me closer to my goal.
What are your goals and what microaction(s) can you take this week to get you closer to your goal?
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Day New Year 2013
Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As we embrace a new day along with a new year, I want to first say that my prayer for you is that 2013 is your best year yet.
Alot of people take this time to think about goals that they would like to accomplish in the new year because it is like having a new beginning. We can wipe the old slate clear and begin again. Well, as I was purging some things at the end of 2012, I decided to get rid of my old journals ( a need because I have hoarder tendencies). I was flipping through a few and realized that each year, I had been living a similar life. I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhogs Day. In this movie, Phil (Bill Murray) is a weatherman that found himself living the same day over and over again. This can describe life sometimes because we get caught up in the day to day routine and the years pass by.
So as I purged these journals and had a conversation with God....it was spoken into my spirit that to have a different life, I must make a change. Which means that I have to do some things differently. If I want to defend my dissertation by October 2013, I have to set aside time to read, write and research on a daily basis. If I want to be healthy and stop the threat of diabetes, I have to make better choices in what I eat and be committed to more activity. How many times have you heard that the definition of insantity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"? This rings true in so many situations. So what are you going to do differently this day and this year?
I was listening to Brian Tracey discuss goal setting and he stated that most people will select one goal in each of the following areas: health, relationship and finance. Are these categories that your goals for the year fit in?
Let's break the year into quarters....so what can you do for the next 90 days to either accomplish your goal or get your closer to the accomplishment of the goal? I would love to hear from you.
May this be our best year yet!!!!!!
As we embrace a new day along with a new year, I want to first say that my prayer for you is that 2013 is your best year yet.
Alot of people take this time to think about goals that they would like to accomplish in the new year because it is like having a new beginning. We can wipe the old slate clear and begin again. Well, as I was purging some things at the end of 2012, I decided to get rid of my old journals ( a need because I have hoarder tendencies). I was flipping through a few and realized that each year, I had been living a similar life. I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhogs Day. In this movie, Phil (Bill Murray) is a weatherman that found himself living the same day over and over again. This can describe life sometimes because we get caught up in the day to day routine and the years pass by.
So as I purged these journals and had a conversation with God....it was spoken into my spirit that to have a different life, I must make a change. Which means that I have to do some things differently. If I want to defend my dissertation by October 2013, I have to set aside time to read, write and research on a daily basis. If I want to be healthy and stop the threat of diabetes, I have to make better choices in what I eat and be committed to more activity. How many times have you heard that the definition of insantity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"? This rings true in so many situations. So what are you going to do differently this day and this year?
I was listening to Brian Tracey discuss goal setting and he stated that most people will select one goal in each of the following areas: health, relationship and finance. Are these categories that your goals for the year fit in?
Let's break the year into quarters....so what can you do for the next 90 days to either accomplish your goal or get your closer to the accomplishment of the goal? I would love to hear from you.
May this be our best year yet!!!!!!
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