Journey of a Thousand Miles

I decided that I need to get out and serve more, and I love disaster relief, so I was thrilled when my pastor announced today that they needed volunteers to help with flood victims. I have been praying to get more involved in my community and to spend more time with Christian fellowship, so this was an answered prayer. I raced home to change clothes after church and was the first one to the host family home. It's sad to see how much the flood really affected some people. They got 27" in their home, and we gutted the entire kitchen today, ripping apart their cabinetry, and the work isn't even done yet. I can't imagine seeing your home ripped to shreds like that. I would wince every time I saw rain if that happened to me. But anyway, it was good for me to get out and do some manual labor, rather than sit at home all depressed because I'm all alone. I was going to go to singles group tonight, but all the dust from that house made me tired, and I have been napping si...

My show today went GREAT! I was very proud of my band, and we had a great scenery around us. There was a river and boat behind the stage, a green lawn in front of us, and tons of people and vendors. It was a sunny day with no rain (thank God), and we had amazing burgers afterwards. The sound guy could've done a better job, but as a musician, you get used to bad sound guys. I am just glad we got through our first performance! And even though we didn't do perfectly, I am still proud of us. With that said, I am now at home chilling all alone, still trying to recuperate from the hot sun today. I am busily posting pictures and videos of our performance, trying to stay on top of the social media game. Even though I'm single, I feel okay with it, and I am okay with spending the rest of my Saturday alone. I already had a pretty successful day, and I am satisfied. I don't need a million people to hang out with, and I'm trying to reconstruct my friendship base anyway. You...

I spent my Friday night alone with God, and I am perfectly fine with it. Things have been going exceptionally well. Is my life perfect? No way. I still struggle with loneliness and depression. I am still grieving over my breakup from a couple months ago. I am still trying to get used to doing life alone. I wanted to spend time with people today, but nobody was available. So I spent time in the Word. And I found that God is totally enough. I'd rather spend time with Him any day than spend it with the wrong people. I found satisfaction in my loneliness today because I realized I am not alone at all. God is always with me, and He's always available, even if our friends aren't. I can rest in that. Tomorrow I have a show, and I am excited. God has been opening lots of doors in the music world, and it's crazy how it's all happening all at once. It's like God had to get rid of my negative relationship in order to open the flood gates in my career. I am still ...

I was reading through the New Testament and realizing how hard it is to live out Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. How often do I want to bless those who hurt me or pray for my enemies? Um, NEVER! I have a hard enough time "turning the other cheek" when my own friends hurt me. So on the drive home today, I just had to pray for God's guidance and answers because a lot of His Word just doesn't make sense. Instead of focusing on Shine , I would focus on God today and get right with my thinking. I guess today I'm struggling mostly to understand God's plan for my life. Why does He bless those who hurt me, while I have to wait for His promises in my life? Why does it feel that I am the only one struggling? I know this isn't true. Everyone has their own struggles. But some people are better at putting on a smiling face than others are. Something I have learned about pursuing my dreams is that not everybody is going to support you, even your friends and family...

God will use my dreams and talents in ways that I never planned. God is for my dreams. I am not pursuing them in vain.  God will use my testimony in ways that I never imagined. People in indigenous tribes are just like us. They like TV too, and they still do daily life.  God works in the details.  God opens doors.  God has a good plan for my life. He can still use me even if my life didn't work out how I wanted.  God has a process, and sometimes it works slower than we'd like.  God loves the indigenous too.  People are people wherever you go.  I can survive the jungle.  Prayer works! Angels are watching over us and carrying us through the hard times, when we're out of control and feel like we may slip off the road. 

A few of my notes from the book "A Confident Woman." When we know we are loved for ourselves and not just our accomplishments or performance, we no longer need to fear failure. 4 Secrets of a Confident Woman A confident woman knows that she is loved - she does not fear being unloved because she knows first and foremost that God loves her unconditionally. To be whole and complete, we need to know that we are loved. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in choosing with whom you want to associate closely. You need to be around safe people, not people who continue to wound you. God will help you learn to recognize those people if you listen to His wisdom. The first place to start if you need to be loved is with God. A confident woman refuses to live in fear- Fear is not from God; it is the devil's tool to keep people from enjoying their lives and making progress. Fear causes people to bury their talents due to fear of failure, judgment, or criticism. It ...

What does true confidence look like? This is a question I've been asking myself lately. In my 30s, I've decided that I'm done with feeling unsure about myself. On this side of heaven, I know I will always have to fight with Satan's lies of who I am, but it's possible to feel more confident and to better understand God's love for me. A confident woman knows who she is, why she is and what she’s supposed to do. She's not afraid to be herself. She understands her purpose, and her gifts. She knows that there are certain things only she can contribute to this world, at this time, in this place. It is a knowing that you are valuable. It is knowing that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, loving and just. Self-confidence is no confidence at all. To achieve anything or take any action consistent with God’s plan for your life, you must first surrender your Self, and placing your confidence in God , knowing that He works all things for goo...

"I am not defined by who I am not. And understanding this truth is a huge part of becoming whole. I had to stop living in reaction and start letting a vision for what lies ahead pull me forward." What is my vision for what lies ahead? "My life work is fundamentally creative in nature. And creating has its own rhythms, its own pace. Inspiration comes at strange times when you create. And inspiration comes because of discipline. And discipline comes when you organize your life in specific, intentional ways. It means saying yes to certain things and no to other things. And sticking with it." Organize your life in specific, intentional ways Then comes inspiration Then comes creation "If we don't know who we are or where we're trying to go, we put the people around us in an uncomfortable position. And when we begin to pursue becoming the people God made us to be, we give them more and more to go on." Kill your superwhatever. ...

Prune the following: healthy buds or branches that are not the best ones (good but not best) sick branches that are not going to get well dead branches that are taking up space for the healthy ones to thrive We have to know what outcome we want and prune towards that. We have to determine if our efforts to make a person improve will work. Doing the same thing over and over again is a way to get stuck. Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is give up hope in what they are currently trying. In Ecclesiastes, there is a time to give up. Wise people know when to quit. Pain that should not be embraced is misery that goes nowhere.

Jealousy will have a farmer sitting at his breakfast table till noon, checking Twitter and Facebook and Amazon rankings, all the while the professional farmer is out tilling his field, only thinking about his portion.

by Joel Osteen Most criticism is based out of jealousy and a competitive spirit. The more successful you are, the more criticism you encounter. Not everyone will celebrate your successes with you. Our successes draw out their jealousy. This isn't about you; it's on the inside of them. Until they deal with it, it will keep them from rising higher. God sends us tests to see if we can be happy for others' successes. Learn to celebrate others' victories. If God did it for them, God can do it for you. There are going to be people who try to bring us down with their words. Don't seek revenge or stoop to their level. Shake them off. You never win by sinking to their level. Rise above them! Don't let their jealous spirit bring you down. Don't live to please everyone. It's impossible to please everyone. Some people will always find fault no matter what you do.  Love those negative people from a distance! Accept that not everybody is going to like...

by Joel Osteen God has already lined up the people you need to achieve your dreams.  God has your mate lined up.  You don't have to try to make things happen. Just stay in faith! He knows who you will need 10 years from now.  You don't have to worry if you're single bc God will bring the right people in your path.  He caused you to be at the right place at the right time.  Stop trying to make things happen and stay in faith. God will give you the desires of your heart.  If God wants something to happen in our lives, God will make it happen. Trust God to bring you divine connections.  You don't need people to help you get where you need to be; God will help you get there.  Everything is beautiful in its time.  God has someone better for you in a mate.  When God wants you to be promoted, He will make sure the right people come along.  God will bring people who will further your dreams.  Be cautiou...

“Life only has meaning/I only have worth if… I have power and influence over others.” (Power Idolatry) I am loved and respected by _____.” (Approval Idolatry) I have this kind of pleasure experience, a particular quality of life.” (Comfort idolatry) I am able to get mastery over my life in the area of _____.” (Control idolatry) people are dependent on me and need me.” (Helping Idolatry) someone is there to protect me and keep me safe.” (Dependence idolatry) I am completely free from obligations or responsibilities to take care of someone.” (Independence idolatry) I am highly productive and getting a lot done.” (Work idolatry) I am being recognized for my accomplishments, and I am excelling in my work.” (Achievement idolatry) I have a certain level of wealth, financial freedom, and very nice possessions.” (Materialism idolatry) I am adhering to my religion’s moral codes and accomplished in its activities.” (Religion idolatry) This one person is in my life and happy to be t...

If you refuse to give controllers the power they seek, they will almost always turn to punishing you in some way. You'll never break free and attain real contentment until you're true to yourself and find the courage to be who you really are. Sometimes you have to take enormous risks to discover who you really are and, more important, live out who you really are. To be the person you truly are, you have to be willing to face tremendous loss.   When you are authentic, you set yourself up for the deepest kind of enduring contentment. You discover the profound peace that accompanies a set of free and effective choices, the feeling of fulfillment and inner calm you have when you confidently know that you are fully capable of representing and standing by your deepest desires and your best judgment. The ground may be very rocky on the way to genuineness, but the ultimate reward for getting there is unbelievably satisfying. She was trying to do the impossible- find co...

Sovereignty means that God sees the end from the beginning and everything in between. He sees the path our lives take through the landscape, including the deep gorges and the high peaks. His hand directs the bend in the river and He pieces out the patchwork of colors and shadows. He is in control. That difficult season you are enduring today? He has determined where it ends. That painful relationship that has led your heart away? He traces the route out for your return. That career path that’s hit a brick wall?—from God’s perspective that wall is a walkway into the next scene. You may not see it, but God is working His character in you in a way you would not believe . . . even if you did see it. Shift your focus from your circumstances to Jesus.  No matter how hard you may try to control your circumstances, you accept the fact that you can never make them turn out perfectly. Stop bringing disappointment and frustration into your life by focusing on circumstances that you ca...

The reason a relationship feels difficult is that the person has become the living embodiment of the voices in your head. She taps into insecurities already roosting within. Her lack of approval or validation triggers a chorus line of inner complaint- it disturbs the little girl in you who uses any excuse to remind you what she deeply believes: If you were just smarter, thinner, prettier, holier or at least a better mother... you'd feel like Somebody. You'd meet with more applause. Your parking ticket would be stamped, and then you could make your way onto the freeway of life with all the other grown-ups. That may sound a bit strong. But honestly, when you peel back the layers of a person you find difficult to love- of a relationship that feels intolerable- this is the white noise in the background of your soul. It's true for all of us. We can be paralyzed by the power we give someone to name us. For a long time, the human tendency is to try harder- to perform o...

People-pleasers, so dependent on being approved and accepted by others, are incapable of validating themselves independent of others’ confirmation. The longing to feel secure, prompting behaviors of compliance and conformity, necessarily had to prevail over the not-quite-so powerful yearning to hold onto their true selves. When people-pleasers grow up, they do so with a fully crystallized program to be good enough they must comply with the wishes and demands of others. As with so many other personality dysfunctions, they're unable to validate themselves from within so must depend on others to confirm their value from without. Not having developed any sense that they're inherently worth caring for--i.e., lovable for themselves --they strive to make themselves lovable by becoming for others whatever they think might be wanted from them. It is a resentment that over time has accumulated so much mass that inevitably it's begun to leak out in the form of passive-ag...

 How others act does not need to affect how we think or act. There is a difference between letting the reactions of others take over our life and respecting others' opinions while maintaining our own perspective and integrity. Letting someone else decide who we will be, how we will act, and what we will feel implies that we have given up our own life in exchange for whatever the other person wants us to be. When we adopt opinions that aren't consistent with our personal values, we are not living our own lives. We are not free. Even our Higher Power can't do much with us until we have detached. We have to detach from others in order to attach ourselves to God! If we're focusing all our energies on people and problems we have little left for the business of living our own lives. Worrying and obsessing keep us so tangled in our heads we can't solve our problems. Whenever we become attached in these ways to someone or something, we become detached...