Resilience

What does it mean to be resilient? Over the course of approximately, 2 to 3 years, I have heard people complain about the economy, lose houses to foreclosure (some on purpose, others by default, and some by unforeseen circumstances), lose jobs and some actually walk away from one.  Nonetheless, there have been still many more to buy houses and land at amazing prices, get jobs that they didn't think they would get, others get in the best shape of their lives (mentally, spiritually, physically, financially, and relationally).  Still yet, others lose businesses while many more start ones and others grow in leaps and bounds.  So, what does it mean to be RESILIENT?

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from unforeseen, unformidable, and some form of destruction, misfortune and/or challenging experiences.  I have had a rather challenging schedule and way of life for the past several years myself.  People who observe my life many times say "You are busy" or "You are always on the go" or "You need to rest" or "I don't see how you do it." To all of them, I understand why they think the way they do and how their perception is what it is.  It actually reminds me of Nehemiah.  He was this guy in the Bible who was diligent about the call, task and mission God had him on.  He didn't have time to stop and take in what the people were saying, though at times he did hear of it...yet he remained diligent!

So, while others may describe my life as aforementioned, I ascribe it as diligent for good and not evil, productive, building a legacy, preparing to leave a mark that cannot and will not be erased, and fulfilling the call that God through Christ Jesus has for me.  I am fueled by His love and His grace because it wasn't so long ago that I could only wish I could go back to school, get my business off the ground and doubtful of myself because I thought that because I had failed previously in the same business that I have now in a different location even with the same name, I wasn't certain that I could do it again.  I remember needing food stamps and praying to have the money to pay my bills.  God is great and His mercy endures forever! So, while the onlookers are saying what they are saying, I pray God is saying, "Oh, I am so proud of you!". He sees I am using the energy, wisdom and talents in such a way, that He will have a return on His investment when He returns.  This is what resilience really mean and look like.  Be encouraged and get on to doing the thing(s) that you have in your heart to do that will make God smile and you know that your life matter.

Energy

Wow! I got so much out of this week, though I will not share it all in this one post because I don't intend to turn this blog post into a book (LOL!)

1. In observing, caring and advocating for a friend that I learned had been in an accident, I learned why it is not worth getting angry to the point of yelling and screaming. She has encountered some severe injuries...but when things get her upset it is as though she cannot speak, hyperventilates and comes very close (if not going all the way) to having an anxiety attack. However, when she is stable in her emotions, one can easily understand her. MY AHA!: My energy is MINE! It is more healthy for me to respond in ways that compliment me rather than harm me. For those that I repeated encounter that are draining and I find myself spending energy that cost me too much to rebuild, it is my responsibility to respond and to decide whether they should remain in my life and if so, in what capacity.

2. It felt good to not sabotage myself. I submitted a report today that I would have otherwise waited until Monday to complete and submit. Though it would've still been on time, I made a declaration several weeks ago that all of my reports will be in at least 24-48 hours ahead of time and they have been. MY AHA!: I create the energy that requires me to hurry and scurry as though the adrenaline has become a coping mechanism to make me feel worthy of having the property assignments. I disassociate with this agreement. "I give myself permission to flourish, to accept and have endless property assignments and have more closings in shorter and shorter periods of time."

May you be enriched by the things that I have learned about myself and choose to share so that your learning curve can be shorter than mine. I learned this from Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor in her book, My Stroke of Insight, while on the Oprah Winfrey show years ago, "Please take responsibility for the ENERGY you bring into the room." Thanks for reading! Feel free to share with others.

New Roads

I love it when I approach an area that I was previously so familiar only to learn that there is a new road recently completed and I get to drive on the new pavement! This occurred today. It is in these moments that I realize that God truly has my life in His hands. Taking the same path but approaching the new and it having no resemblance to the old is so refreshing! This is what God does with our lives. People who are familiar with us come in contact with us at a later date thinking we are the person they last interacted not realizing the transformation that have and is underway. They are sometimes secretly surprised or even baffled that the freshness of our response or way of being is nothing what they imagined.  It is a sweet fragrance to some and at the same time a stinch to others.  However, the one you are most interested in pleasing is your Heavenly Father. Stay the course and glorify Him even when it requires you to say, "No" to others.

Anything Worth Having is Worth Fighting For...

I sit in the van waiting for my daughter to tie up loose ends regarding her dorm and I am elated! I have diligently been appealing with the administration at my university to allow me to register for both my Education and Psychology Interns for Fall 2012. While this should have been pretty easy to do as registering for the rest of my classes were over the years, it wasn't. Why? Because the education intern requires a clearance which I began May 2012 and improper guidance was given for one of the background checks.  As for the Psychology intern, after attaining approval for serving with Gwinnett County CASA, I was told I didn't have sufficient Psyc classes specificly not including my life coaching one completed. However, my advisor had a different understanding. Nonetheless both classes were very important to me because they mark the end of my undergraduate studies as of December 14, 2012! So, calling, writing and appealing I did with department heads and administration to get special approvals for both! Now, there are some people who would have made comments to the likes of "maybe now is not the time" and putting God in it in a way that makes God out to be some passive person.  I was certain in both what I was supposed to do...does that mean if I didn't get the approvals I was disobedient or something, no.  However, it sure feels good for that to have been the results though!  In both situations, I know I have made a difference with my university and future students will not experience the things I did.  Anything worth having is worth fighting for. Fighting isn't a "bad" or "off" thing, rather an experience many times to see to what degree you say you really want something.  I am not sorry for the experience.  I am better. It showed me that I have matured and that I really do know how to assert myself in a manner that honors God and me.  Today, I am so proud of myself and the challenges that I have overcome.  I still have 2 classes to finish this summer ending on 8/17/2012 before I get to start the Fall classes 8/20/12, so I have in no way "arrived".  Law school looks more in view than it ever has and I'm so glad about it! What is it standing in your way to your achieving the results you are certain you are to have? Before you throw in the towel and discredit yourself for the prize and justify that "now may not be the time for it", have you exhausted your resources and demonstrated it by the energy you were willing to expend for it?  If not, pray and see how you are to proceed.  You never know you may be the difference that the world is waiting for! Who knows?!

P.A.U.S.E.D.

There is something to be said when you cannot pause. I just finished a pretty extensive run of classes. I know it was the Lord that awakened me this morning and I had to get out of bed at 545a on a day that should've been a "down day" due to it being the 4th of July. The short story version is I had not finished my major assignment for my Marriage Coaching class (which was now late) and took the late penalty for the Psychology Research assignment the night before. Unbeknownst to me, I was tired. I had not "paused" to purposefully assess my own behavior which were tell-tale signs first and foremost.  Nonetheless, when you read this research paper, let me tell you, I know God gave me the Abstract which in turn gave me direction.  Yes, I had an idea of what the topic was supposed to be, but nothing else. I was so busy dreading and not doing the work and acting like I had all the time in the world to get it done. This is so out of character for me. Now, with all my work in except the last last research assignment (its in to my professor to review just not on the assignment link), and my real estate work that I met the deadline for, I had a headache but was thinking it was the half cup of coffee I had at about 730am just for taste and warmth. I was still ignoring the signs. After my quiet time, I decided to lay down...its now 3 or 4 hours later and I just awakened realizing now how tired I must have been and the additional things I wanted to get done.  All I can say is that I'm glad I laid down and feeling the headache subsiding as I type this. P.A.U.S.E.D<:

Pray & Purposely
Assess & Adjust
yoU, yoUr, oUr
Situation(s)
Effectively &
Deliberately Decide to obey the call.

Your very life depends on it.

The 4 Letter Word...I Just Found This Post I Never Published from 5/2/12

The 4 letter word I love and hate when I can't get my way and take full advantage of the quality of saying it and doing it. Wonder what it is? REST! (Uh huh...where was your mind?)

So appropriate considering the previous post just published.

Letting Go...Free Up

It's amazing how we pray for things to get lighter, easier, better, less stressful just feel the space of our own beingness if nothing else.  This week is my week to get up early, get the pre-teen and adolescents off the school which involves me previously me driving, then me riding with my oldest to school as her school is just outside the school district where we live and making sure they get on their respective buses. Well, today, to experience my daughter kiss me and tell me she would see me later as she got in the car to drive herself after I took pictures of her in her outfit for Senior Week was very emotional. The joy and sadness of letting go. My goodness, my little girl has grown up.  As we count down to prom, then graduation, and then college (and all things in between), I'm sure this will not be the last time tears will fall.  I thank God in this little corner of the earth I get to experience the life that I once dreamed about.  Although on one hand I am freed to do something else with myself, yet on another I feel out of control.  Freedom is something else.  Today, I saw the Lord! What does "letting go" mean to you? What can you let go of in order to free yourself up even in a small way? Think about that & choose to enjoy your day!

Too Much of Anything...

There was a time that I loved ladybugs. Oh, how I thought they were ssssooooo cute! Well, since having them periodically finding entry into our home via our bedroom bath, I don't love those little insects as much anymore. I have found them even annoying at times and at others making me go ballistic into a cleaning frenzy to rid my presence of theirs. Well, that reminds me of the statement, "Too much of anything is not a good thing." However, there are those things that come to show me areas in my life that I need to work on & grow. I'm so glad the season has officially changed and they have begun migrating back to their normal territory. At some point in the near future, I will enjoy seeing a ladybug or 2, just can they PLEASE stay outside (LOL!)

Sometimes our best teachers....

Sometime our best teachers are those that rub us the "wrong" way or in a manner that makes us uncomfortable. Pray and press through it, is what I am continually learning to do.

Smell Your Roses....

How well do you enjoy your accomplishments before you are on to the next thing? I experienced many great feats this past week and had it not been that my assistant's daughter got really sick I would've kept on going. I had created a list between that night and morning of the next things. I was on to the next tasks without pausing to experience the deeper gratitude that I felt for the strength, energy and will that I know God had given me to finish strong and meet many deadlines by doing first things first. What will it cost you to stop and recharge? Or to simply enjoy the moment of being free of the thing you just finished? Let me tell you...when we don't stop we are robbed of the re-charge that comes with rest, creativity re-energized, jubilant praise we give our God, deep gratitude and appreciation for ourselves and renewed hope to say the least. After your next accomplishment, take time to "smell your roses" before they die and you have to wait for the next bloom, or smell someone else's.

"Never, Never, Never Give Up" - from the words of Winston Churchill

I hear the words of Winston Churchill, "Never, never, never give up!" Tonight well now this morning marks the end of another term and I am 6 terms to graduating from Liberty University! However, this one didn't come easy. To think, I almost quit! I was fed up with my professor's comments to write in 3rd person professional. No matter what I did, he still gave me that comment amid others. I got decent grades...a B average, yet feel I didn't measure up. Well, not only am I glad I didn't give up, I'm glad I gave it my all in my final paper even to the extent of asking others to talk to me in 3rd person professional. I just turned the paper in so I don't know what my grade is, but it feels ssssssoooooo good knowing I FINISHED STRONG! After turning in my final paper, I looked at my grades to find an even comment from my professor for the paper I almost didn't turn it. It reads,

"Definitely don't quit - you are almost finished...Lashone - I admit that I do grade hard, but it is to help you become the best communicator (educator) that you can be. When you begin to educate young minds - you will expect their best - and you will need to push them to achieve it. I constantly pray for my students. I am looking for a strong finish."

Now, I know what David meant when he said in Psalms that his foot almost slipped. I haven't felt those feelings of quitting like that since my high school days, but back then it wasn't quitting, I just didn't do papers and projects. I'm glad that whatever got me on the other side of that attitude God put in place so that I didn't pass that down to my children's generations, as a result they do great papers and projects. So, in closing, this morning I say thank you to my 50,000 coaches and 2 of them stand best, you know who you are!

:-)

Matthew 6:31-34 MSG

31 What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving.32 People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Trusting God...Dreams Do Come True

As I sit here...well really stand here waiting on my car, I peruse the books. Anyone who knows me knows I love books. As I looked at Tim Tebow's book it struck me, "I'm going to go ahead and TRUST God." I don't know Tebow from anybody, but there was something about his book after getting that feeling made me embrace that quiet truth knowing there are going to still be challenges and triumphs.  It's a steadfastness that must regain and hold on to that I let go.  It's like being "ride or die" for Jesus! I'm so thankful for the things God give me when I least expect it. 

Anyway, as I see all the books beyond Tim Tebow, like Jennifer Hudson, Joyce Meyers, Jentezen Franklin, Billy Graham, Dr. Ben Carson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid guy, and so many others...it struck me that dreams do come true, but not without hard work, dedication, sticktoitiveness and trusting God.  For whatever this is worth, what are you losing by not trusting Him? I'm not talking about a natural man, I'm talking about God, Alpha & Omega, King of kings and Lord of lords! Oh, happy day!

Oh, God IS ABLE!

God IS able! He is in no way slack in performing His promises! He is waiting for us to turn to Him in complete worship without being distracted by bells and whistles, books and journals just to BE with Him. He still performs miracles! He hasn't died off from what He's "able" to do. So, I hear this resounding cry, "then why hasn't He done "XYZ" in my life?" To that I say, "Why not start the conversation with Him from right there?" Ask Him.  He's waiting to hear from you. You no longer need for anyone to go before you in prayer.  Jesus ripped down the curtain that separated us from God. It's time for us to go beyond the veil! Yes, books, journals, and all that is good, however they don't take the place of BEing with Him. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what you are even capable of asking or imagining. However, there are conditions.  You don't believe me? Check out Ephesians 3:20. Be encouraged! Chase after Him. Watch "Chasing After You (The Morning Song)- Tye Tribbett & GA" on YouTube

Not Before It's Time

A knock at the door revealed my car was sticking all the way out of its parking space. It had literally removed itself from the parking space!!! I had the emergency brake on. I remembered hearing that sound that I used to when it had done this in the pass, but ignored the sound because its been years since I heard it. Nonetheless, I went out there and put the car back in its space and put the clutch into 1st gear to make sure it didn't move before its time or on its own again!

Lord, give me and everyone the reads this post the safeguards that we need to ensure we don't move before You say it's time or out on our own. However, when you say, "Go!", let us go forth in the power and passion You've placed in us. Set us ablaze for You; fulfill the purpose you have us in the earth. Thank You for listening and using something so simple (in the natural) to give me new words of prayer (proceed the spirit). Amen!

Delayed Decisions

I am amazed at how long I can just "think" about doing something that is in my power to do rather than acting on what I know to be true.  In this respect, I am referring to my hair as just one facet of this realization.  Tonight I had my husband to cut my locs. Now, before you think they are gone, they are NOT. I have been "thinking" about having him even them up for at least 6 months. I don't know why I took so long making the decision. Tonight, my neck feels lighter. Many people do not know, but my neck has been bothering me.  The pain has subsided.  However, I didn't realize the weight of my hair until it was gone.  My head feels so light and my neck feels even better! Oh how I wish it didn't take me so long to do what I knew I wanted to do. The fear of not making the best, best decision must go! I lay this one down now because I can see it is a dangerous place to be and leaving a doorway for the enemy to work in my life.