Category Archives: Inspirational

Sure Foundation

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As someone who has had a first hand experience in building a home I now know the importance of a sure foundation.  Before a house or any can be built the foundation has to first be established. The height and depth of the foundation is based upon the size of the building, the level of the land and the location so it will be able to hold it’s structure.  Also it has to be at a certain height in case of any weather emergencies within that area that it wouldn’t bring more damage to the home itself.  The foundation was laid and the cement was poured. Once it had dried they then placed anchors around the foundation to help secure the frame of the home.We first started by building the outside walls which were the lining the foundation of the home. Each wall had to be put up individually as their measurements were different and we also had to make sure that they were level before securing them into the cement.  In doing so this will insure that everything is  level and it doesn’t throw everything else off as we are building the rest of the home.  What an amazing feeling to put up that first wall of my home.  As we progressed on there were times that some where we were off in our measurements and our levels. Depending on how major it was either we had to take some of it down and replace it or we had to improvise to make it level out.   What really helped us along the way was the fact that we had a blue print to follow by which gave us the measurements. The some what disadvantage to us is that we don’t have access to the blue print of our lives.  The only one who has access to that is God, which is not always easy to follow.  Sometimes in life we want to go our on way, do our own thing that we loose our vision, stray away from God’s plan for our lives which then causes us to make a wrong turn or get lost within our travels. There are times when we may have to start over because of our wrong choices and decisions, but I found out right before the start of this New Year that we don’t always have to start over but we can take all of our hurt, pain and our life experiences good and bad to use as a foundation to build upon and start right where we are.  With every experience in our life it is teaching us something that will help us in our next season.  The good news for those that are God’s children is that even when we get off track  he has left us instructions which is his word and it he has left the Holy Spirit that will lead us along the way.  It is up to us to continue to follow his plan even when we can’t fully see our way or understand what he is doing.  Just like in building that home we had to trust and follow the blue print and even when we would get off track the contractors were there to steer us back into the right direction.  “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand”  Any relationship that we are building in life we have to make sure that our foundation is sure so that when the storms of life come, which they will that it isn’t easily moved or destroyed.  Even when everything around us seems to be falling apart we are still standing because our foundation is sure.

Push Past The Pain

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I was at the hospital getting ready to give birth to my first child. My plan was to try and have her natural with out any medication, but after 11 hours the pain began to increase and I could no longer stand it without some assistance. My sister had been begging for me to get some medicine for hours because she was afraid that I was going to go off on someone. Anyone who has given birth or witnessed someone giving birth knows that it is very intense. Although the medicine only helped subdue the pain and not alleviate
the pain it was better than nothing at all. It was getting closer to the time for me to get ready to deliver the baby. At this point in time I was ready to go, but I understood the reason why I had to wait. When it was time they said push. I had to quickly gather up every little ounce of strength that I had to help me push past the pain that I was experiencing at the moment. This didn’t feel good at all, but I kept my focus on the end result which was to deliver this baby. After the 1st push they told me not to push again until they told me to no matter how ready I thought that I was. They had to check and see where the baby was and didn’t want to put any extra stress on me or the baby. I found myself back in the waiting position again trying get through the pain. They said that they could see the baby’s head which meant that we were very closer to delivering a baby. The Doctor said on this next push we need you to give all that you have. When they said push I let out this tremendous scream because the pain was so great, but no matter how great the pain I had to push past it  in order for the baby to come out. I felt great relief as the pain was starting to subside and I heard her cry for the first time. Tears of joy came streaming down my face because of the end result of the pain that I had to push through was worth it. I have experienced and am experiencing something’s in my life that I am having to push through the pain. Some pain had been caused because I came out of my waiting position to soon thinking  that it was time or that I was ready. Although I was very close to what God had promised for me it wasn’t quiet time for me to proceed forward. A holding or waiting position is not a time where we are being punished, but where God is grooming us and preparing us for what is to come.  There are sometimes in life that we may not have caused the pain it may have been inflected upon us, but for everything that God allows there is a reason. It’s not meant to destroy us nor harm us although at the times it feels like it might. If you find yourself in the waiting position don’t move before it is time. If we go before our timing it can delay, abort or cause us to go through it again. Timing is everything. Maybe you are having to push past the pain. Not matter the intensity of your pain it is not the time to give up or give in. It is through the pain that God is producing great things through you and you want see the end result until you push past the pain.

You Can Begin Again

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A little over a year now the Lord allowed me to build my very first home.  The process began in 7/2012.  I had just finalized my divorce in Oct/2011 that left me as a single parent to raise 3 kids living in a 2 bedroom apartment with very little room.  When I was presented with this opportunity to build the first thing I did was go pray about it and the Lord said, yes.  As a single mother I still had reservations, “Can I really do this”, but God said that I could so I moved forward.  They explained the process that we would have to go through in order to build the home and even though they explained the process in detail nothing prepared me for the experience that I would have to endure.  It wasn’t the fact of me just building one home, but building 6 from the ground up. Though the process was long and very painful I would question my decision as I found myself wanting to give up because at time it was unbearable, but I kept thinking about why I was doing it.  It was to be able to provide something better for my girls and it made me continue in the process. When the process was over and I was handed the keys to move into my new home it made me appreciate my experience after going through the process not only because of what I learned, but the end result was more than I could have ever imagined. In life there are processes that we have to endure that don’t feel good at all, but it is necessary for our making. Think of what you have become after going through what you have gone through. Imagine had I quit in the middle of the process of me building the homes and then trying to start over again. It wouldn’t have been as easy the second time around and it probably would have been much harder for me to endure the process. As the New Year begins I have realized that I don’t need a New Beginning. Simply take everything that I have experienced and everything that I have learned up until this point and us it as a foundation to BEGIN AGAIN right where I am. No matter how hurtful, how painful or how harsh it maybe you can use it for your advantage and turn your negatives into positives that will launch you further into your destiny. So my New Years Resolution is not to start a new or to start over but to simply BEGAN AGAIN

LOST AND FOUND

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Your looking for someone to respect you, yet you don’t even respect yourself. Giving yourself out like your some cheap piece of clothing you find on a clearance rack that can be put back if they don’t want it. He doesn’t value who you are because you don’t even value your own self-worth. As you continue to put yourself on a lay away plan and give yourself to the next man who can buy you instead of treating yourself as someone who has to be earned and not bought. You keep crying out to God where is my Boaz, yet you haven’t even prepared yourself to be his Ruth. Do you even know who Ruth is? You learn all the tricks and the trades, you put yourself on a hook like your bait and though you maybe able to hook the fish, but at the end of the day the bait you offered was good to taste, but not enough to make him stay. Your looking for love in all the wrong places trying to fill avoid, but you go unfilled because you keep filling that void with the wrong thing. Do you even know who you are, do you know who you belong to, do you really even know what love is? Come a little closer can you lend me your ear. There is someone who is just the perfect match for you and this love he will give to you no one else can compare my dear. See I use to be that girl who was lost and didn’t know my worth. My daddy never validated who I was as a little girl so as I became older I was on a search. Thought I had to have a man to tell me who I am and that with his touch it would make me have some self-worth, but instead it made me feel much worse. It wasn’t until I came across the great I am, you know that man they call Jesus who showed me who I really am. It wasn’t until I got lost in him that I found who I was. It wasn’t until I got lost in his love that I truly then knew how to love and how to be loved. I found out just how special I really am. That I am worth it, I am worth the wait. I use to be that girl who was lost, but now I’m found. It took me sometime, but I finally know who I am and to whom I belong.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE

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When there are two individuals who happen to view something differently, in which most cases you will it doesn’t make one of you wrong or the other one right. It is just that you are two individuals that happen to see something differently. The true test of love is when you are able to work through your differences and not make the other person feel lesser than you because their process or way of thinking is different than yours. Don’t be so willing to pack up your bags and call it quits. I promise you it won’t be the last time that it will happen and even if you decide to move on there will be differences that you will have to work through there too. It’s not that your are loosing who you are, but your are gaining a greater in sight to who they are. It should be because of your differences that you find a greater love for each other. It’s not just about “Me or I”, but about “Us and We” and as you learn each other, the more that you will grow together. Instead of seeing through the eyes of two you will begin to see through the eyes of one while yet being an individual and staying true to who you are as a person. #truelovewaits

Don’t Count Out The Things You Can’t See

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About 1 1/2 months ago I was given some Rose of Sharon’s to plant. When I counted them there was a total of 15. I thought where am I going to put all of these. So I began to look where I might be able to plant them. They needed to get planted in the ground so its roots would settle and be firm enough to survive the winter. Once I planted them I made sure to water them every other day unless we had a good rain where I didn’t have to go water them. I would continue to look and see if there were any signs of new life. As long as I saw the evidence of new leaves growing, there was a good chance that they would survive. There were two of them that shriveled up and looked dead. No evidence or sign of life at all. I thought about uprooting them, then throwing them away and planting something else in it’s place, but I kept hearing the Lord say don’t give up on them just yet. In my mind I’m like God do you not see the condition of these plants? There would be times that I would be making my rounds to water my plants and wouldn’t even bother watering those two at all. My thoughts were what is the use. I was only looking at them in their present condition. It’s amazing where our frame of mind is at times and how we treat each other and are so ready to disregard and throw each other away because we can’t see past where someone is today. God told me to start watering them again and to not give up on them just yet. So I did as He had instructed. It had rained all day yesterday and when I came home I looked around at all of my plants and was amazed how they were growing. I saw signs of new life from things that I didn’t even plant and they were beautiful. God said go look at the plant. I had to bend down in order to see it because it was much smaller than the other ones. Sure enough there were some new leaves starting to grow on it. There were signs of new life and to think I almost go rid of them. A lot of times we will give up on our dreams, our visions, our desires and each other because we can’t see any evidence of life. We are only looking at them in their present condition. There are some things God has said don’t give up on IT just yet. Though you can’t see any evidence doesn’t mean that it isn’t working, that something isn’t growing underneath the ground, that He isn’t working in the back ground scenes of your life. Faith sees when there is no evidence, because it looks beyond what it sees now and believes. #CLEANTHISHOUSE

Shining Through

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I had a patient who came in yesterday and she complimented me on how pretty I looked and about my hair. She started asking me all these random questions like: Do you have a new boyfriend? No ma’am I wouldn’t really consider him new. I didn’t even 1st think to ask are you married? No ma’am I am not married. Are you getting ready to get married? No ma’am not at the moment. Well there has been something different about you lately. You’ve just been looking so pretty and very beautiful lately. I said did I not before? I’m thinking in my head I have on scrubs and my hair is in a pony tail. She said no I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just something about you. We just laughed and when she walked off my co-worker looked at me like what was that all about. Me with my hands in the air I DO NOT KNOW. I didn’t even feel that bubbly yesterday. I was tired, feeling some kinda way. By the end of the day that same patient had checked out and was inquiring again about me to another co-worker. You would have thought she was trying to find out this big secret that I was keeping. I have had several people say different things about noticing a difference and this glow about me. If they only knew what I was really feeling and am experiencing behind this smile. There are times I am struggling, battling, trying to keep my self from crying or having a nervous break down, I don’t feel like I have it all together or even feel like being strong. The only thing I can sum up is the fact that I am happy, free and at peace and in spite of what I might be experiencing and what’s inside me supersedes it all. “Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world” 1 John 4:4 #CLEANTHISHOUSE

Beyond The Grave

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Love Never Felt So Good by Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake

I came across this song tonight and it reminded me of some of his classic songs like “I wanna rock with you and PYT petty young thing” With technology now it allows us to do so many different things that we never thought were possible. I thought to myself how he is dead and gone, but yet his legacy which was his music still lives on beyond the grave. No matter what he did in his life he will always be known for his great music because it speaks the loudest. Nothing ever stopped him from achieving his greatest goal which I think was to touch others with his music. He is by far and will ever be one of the greatest music geniuses of our time. I then thought about my life and what will it speak once I am gone? What will I leave as my legacy and will I still be remembered when my life here is through? No matter how many mistakes you make, how many times that you may fall because NONE of us are perfect, but above all what does your life represent? I don’t seek to be famous, I don’t care to own millions of dollars, I don’t even care to be known all over the world as nice as all of that sounds. None of that matters if I live that type of life style or live my life and haven’t touched anyone. What I want my life to show more than anything in this world is that I loved God and that in my life He was glorified and shinned bright. Sometimes we live for the moment and never think down the road about what I do today will affect my tomorrow. If we can’t see beyond today we will get stuck in our tomorrow. Live out loud #CLEANTHISHOUSE

What’s In Your Garden

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Mary, Mary quite contrary, tell me how does your garden grow?

I’m finally starting to see some life being produced from my garden. Something’s were planted last year and something’s a couple of months ago. Every seed that is sown doesn’t produce at the same time. They each have their own time in which you will see evidence. Some of them I never noticed they had grown until oneday I happened to look in that direction and said, “Now where did that come from all of a sudden”. I never even watered it, but it still has grown and is strong. Some of them I have had to water every other day so the roots can set beneath the soil. The fact that the buds are beginning to blossom means that it’s working. It’s going to take a lot of work, but anything worth having is worth the time, energy and investment in order for it to grow and then doing what it takes to maintain it so it will stay healthy and continue to grow strong.In your garden you will sometimes produce seeds that you didn’t sow for. I realized that when cutting my grass there are some weeds that are constantly growing. Though some of them are beautiful because they actually look like flowers if not cut off at the root they will spread and can be deadly to other things that I am growing. There are some seeds that have been planted that you need to keep, but you need to let it grow to maturity before uprooting and replanting so that it will survive. Good seeds produced in it’s proper season can be benefical. My daddy said that I have a couple of cherry trees growning. I said, “Well how do you know?” I can tell by it’s leaves. His advice was to keep watering and let them grow a little before replanting them. One plants, one waters, but God gives the increase. #CLEANTHISHOUSE

The Merry Go Round

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From time to time, I occasionally go help out at another one of our offices. It seems like every time I go there is a red robin that constantly runs into the window. It’s been almost a year since I’ve been there and as I was sitting there I heard a loud thump. There was that red robin again running himself into the window. You would think that after that long period of time, he would have learned by now, but they say that he does it every day. I said to myself, doesn’t that hurt. I’m surprised he hasn’t broken something because he would hit the glass so hard that it would startle you. After awhile, you would ignore it. But you would notice when he stopped and when he started again. We would all say there goes that red robin again. Have you ever found yourself going in circles as if on a Merry Go Round? You seem to end up in the same place, but only a new scenery. Seems like the same relationship but only a different face. You kicked the last habit, but only to pick up another one that put you back in the same place of the habit that you just kicked. What about when you get into a particular place and it feels like deja vu. It seems like I have been here before. Round and round you go…Where you end up nobody knows. The fact of the matter is, you don’t have to continue in those repeated cycles of your life. Only you can stop the cycle. Sometimes we have to get sick and tired of being sick and tired. You can’t shift the blame on others, the change begins in us. They say we attract what we are, so what is in you that keeps attracting negative energy or keeps you going through those same patterns. We have to be willing to do some soul-searching and some self-evaluation and see what in us do we need to change or stop. The power is within us to determine how to stop the merry-go-round, but we have to be willing to get off and not get back on again. #CLEANTHISHOUSE