Rain and Sunshine

Some people do not like the rain but, rain is equally important as the sunshine. The sun comes out after the rain. The combination of the sun and the rain produces the crops that have been planted. The rain is a necessary step in the process of growth. Let’s focus on three steps that are needed for things to grow. First, a seed has to be planted. Second, rain will fall. Lastly, the sun will shine. Now, let’s take a deeper look at each step individually.

A Seed Has To Be Planted
Before things can grow in our lives we must prepare the ground and plant the seeds of our desired crop we would like to reap. You will not get apples if you plant orange seeds. This is also true when it comes to our personal growth. If you want to become a lawyer you have to plant law seeds in order to get the desired outcome. We also have to study the conditions that the seed needs so that it will grow. Today we live in an age that we have infinite information available to us. If anyone really wants a specific type of growth in their life it is possible to learn all that is needed to achieve that growth. There are plenty of people that have already grown to the point that we may want to reach and it is documented what they did to get there.

Rain Will Fall
The rain is needed to water the seeds that we planted. We must learn how to be grateful for the rain when it comes into our lives. It might not always feel the best when the rain is falling on us but, the rain is doing a job on us. The rain washes away impurities that may keep us from growing. The rain allows what we have planted to receive the nutrients from the soil surrounding it. The rain also is what helps what we have planted stand tall. This is the reason why we are in need of rain from time to time in our lives.

The Sun Will Shine
Almost everyone loves the sunshine and for good reason. The sun shines its light on the things we have planted. The sun provides the necessary energy that is needed for things to grow. The sunshine is what helps our desires to produce the fruit that we wanted.

In conclusion, we all desire some type of growth in our lives. Three things that are necessary for that growth to happen is a seed must be planted, rain will fall, and the sun will shine. Once we have planted our desired seed the right combination of rain and sunshine is needed in order for us to reap what we have sown. Too much rain and no sun will drown the crop. Too much sun and, no rain will dry and burn the crop. It definitely takes time for the growth to occur but it will be worth it in the end.

Our Steps Have Been Ordered

Each and every one of us is on a journey. This journey we are traveling is called life. Every step that we take while traveling on our journey has been ordered by God. We may have to take detours along the way. We will have to take pit stops to regroup from time to time. We will cross paths with people by chance that will have an impact us. God is lighting the path for each step that we take during our life.

While traveling on our journey things will not seem to go exactly how we think they should. When this happens we have to go a different route than expected and take a detour to get where we are going. Sometimes we self-impose the detour because we do not want to go down the path that we have been lead. Sometimes God will impose the detour for us to get back on the path that we should be on to keep us moving forward in a positive direction. God will allow us to detour ourselves for some time because he blessed us with our own free will. While on our self-imposed detour we may become so uncomfortable and uneasy that God reroutes us in the way that we ought to be going.

We all have to make pit stops or visit rest areas when we are on this journey. We have to take the time to refuel and perform maintenance at these pit stops and get our rest to rejuvenate ourselves so that we ensure safe travels. If we neglect to take these necessary pit stops  we will break down and be on the side of the road stranded not going anywhere. The rest areas are also just as important because we can become weary and that is unsafe to travel in this state. We need to be at our best at all time while we are moving through our journey. We have to make sure we are aware of our surroundings and make sure that we are staying in our own lane. We do not want to cause harm to ourselves or to others while traveling.

When we are traveling we will most definitely cross the paths of others that will impact the way that we move. We may encounter people that may speed us up, slow us down, or try to turn us around. We travel with the speed of the traffic we are in. We will cross the paths of individuals that are going to help us out on our journey and they are some of the greatest blessings we can receive. We will also cross the paths of individuals that are not helping us and they are not really hurting us either. Lastly, we will cross the paths of individuals that do not like the progress we are making on our journey and they attempt to turn us around. We have to be conscious of the flow of traffic we are in and evaluate the progress we may or may not be making. All of these paths we cross can be very brief or last for a while. No matter how long these individuals are sharing the road with us we can learn from each and every one of them.

Through it all, God has blessed the paths that we will take along our journey. He already knows what we will encounter while we are traveling. He will always protect us and light the way. It is ok to take detours because sometimes they are necessary to get where we are going. Make sure that pit stops and rest areas are used to keep us moving effectively and efficiently. Learning from everyone we cross paths with will help us handle new situations and conditions when they arise. God has already ordered all of our steps because He wants us to get where we are going safely.

Order of Operations – Thought, Speech, Action

Thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits.

There is an order of operations that we must follow to reach our goals that we set for ourselves. First, we must fix our thoughts on our goals. Second, we must use our mouths to thank God. Third, we must take action to move toward our goals. Following the order of operations adds efficiency and makes reaching our goals a little bit easier.

Fixing our thoughts on our goals is the first step in the order of operations. It helps to write down our goals the moment we think of them. Writing our goals down allows us to remember our goal as well as allows us to review our goal continuously. A lot of successful people write their goals down and keep it on their person. Keeping our goals on our person allows us to pull it out at any time that we need a reminder of the reasons we are taking the actions that we are taking.

Using our mouths to speak gratitude to our creator is the second step in the order of operations. The thoughts that made us set our goals were given to us by God. We must thank God for all that he has done in our lives that led the thoughts to our brains and made us choose to head in a new direction toward our goals. We must stay in a constant state of gratitude. We must be thankful for the process. Without the process, we would not be able to make significant progress.

Taking action to reach our goals is the third step in the order of operations. We must execute the proper actions in order to reach our goals. After the thought has been sparked, and we express gratitude to God we have to put in the required work to complete our goals. We can not just sit still and think that things will happen without doing something to move toward our goals. So, we must never let anything keep us from always moving forward. If we are not moving forward we are not going in the right direction.

It is important to keep the order of operations in mind when we have goals. Following these operational steps will make the obstacles that we come across when we are working toward our goals not seem as bad. As long as we keep in mind that trouble does not last always and that we will get past every obstacle that is placed before us. Fixing our minds on our goals will help us focus. Expressing gratitude to God will give us the strength to keep going toward our goals. Taking the proper actions will have us reaching our goals quicker than nonaction or taking improper actions. Everyone deserves to reach their God-given destiny. Let’s follow the order of operations and reach our goals sooner than later.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

There will be times in our lives that we will be surrounded by what we perceive as evil. When we find ourselves in these situations, we have to find comfort that God is with us every step that we take. He is there and will not allow anything to cause us harm.
When we are grounded in righteousness we are able to travel to the darkest of places. We can come face to face with the opposition and have the confidence that we will be victors. We are not victims of anything or anyone.
On our personal journey through life, there will be enemies that will attempt to cause us harm. Those enemies want to derail us from fulfilling our purpose. God will give us the strength to conquer everything that is going against us. We have to be willing to recognize the strength that we have and use our strength.
In the midst of our journey, we will also come across things that will confirm that we are doing what is right. When we encounter these confirmations, they add to our strength. The not only add to our strength but they also increase our confidence.
God will remove all fear and give us everything that we need to fulfill our purpose when we become conscious of our purpose. Let us find our purpose and walk with our heads held high with confidence that we will accomplish all that we have set out to do. No harm can come upon us when God has ordained our purpose. Find comfort in knowing that whatever your purpose is it was given by God.

Making Believers out of Doubters

Everyone has dreams or goals that they want to accomplish. If you do not hopefully one day you will. Sometimes we may have dreams or goals that are so big that we are the only ones that can see ourselves reaching them. There will be times in our lives that people will doubt the things that we say we can and will do. This is normal. The doubters are not aware of the power that we possess in our minds and hearts that have been placed in us by God.

The only person that needs to believe in our dreams is us. We are the ones that are going to make our dreams come true. Keeping the faith that we will accomplish each and every goal that we have set for ourselves. God put the dream in us for a reason. We may not have everything that we need to make our dreams come true when we are first given the dream. We do not have to worry about that. God will provide all that we need when the time comes for us to have it.

Let the doubters doubt all that they want to. There will be many doubters in our lives. They will come in the form of enemies, friends, and family. When our enemies doubt us it does not bother us one bit because we already know from the start they are not for us. When our friends doubt us it is a little disappointing because we think that they are for us. What hurts the most is when our family doubts us because they have known us for the longest and we feel that they should always be for us. This is not always the case. No matter where the doubt comes from we must stay the course and do all the work to make our dreams come true with the help of God.

When we feel like we are all alone we are not. God is there with us as well as in us to make sure that all of our dreams come true. We have to keep this in mind to keep us strong and not let our dreams die. Do not let the dreams that God has given us be in vain by not doing the work that we have to do to make them come true. Once we make our dreams come true all of the doubters will become believers. Let’s start living our dreams today and let the doubters become spectators on the sidelines while we are winning at this game called life.

My Family Hardly Know Me

“I will walk tall among men and they will know me not, for today I am a new man, with a new life.” -Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World

I have been working on a very important project lately. That project is me. I have been reading more and getting rid of old bad habits by replacing them with new good habits. I am proud of the progress I am making. As I grow into the person that I see myself as I have noticed that some people seem uncomfortable with the personal changes I have made. I will admit that I am a little more outspoken and confident than I have been in the past.

I recently attended an event where there were quite a bit of family members were gathered. While at the event I engaged in conversation with friends and family that have known me my entire life. They all noticed the personal growth that I have made. That made me feel good to receive confirmation that my growth is noticeable to others. Some liked the growth that I have made and wanted to converse to see how they could make changes for themselves while others were not as enthusiastic about my personal growth.

We all should be on a journey of personal growth each and every day. We must become aware of our habits and take note of which habits help us and which habits hurt us. Once we have our habits separated into a good and a bad list, it is our duty to eliminate the bad list by replacing them with more good habits that will propel us in our journey of personal growth. When we are on our journey our closest friends and family may become distant because of some of their habits that are not aligned with our new good habits. And this is completely fine. We don’t love them any less than we did before. We just have to limit our time with them to prevent ourselves from slipping back into some of our old bad habits that they may still be partaking in.

 

What’s up doG, I mean God

I had a conversation with my mother recently. She told me that my niece, who turned six yesterday, (Happy Birthday Jessie, Uncle loves you) was struggling with her reading. I asked if she could be dyslexic. And this is what sparked this thought today.

Do you know how people call each other dogs? People say it in both friendly and not so friendly ways depending on 1. Who they are talking to and/or what situation the person is encountering.

Example 1: Friends greet one another by saying, “What’s up, dog? How have you been?”

Example 2: There is a conflict between two strangers then one stranger warns the other by saying, “Dog, your messing with the wrong one today!”

Let me get to the point, now that you have context. If you didn’t before.

Dog in reverse spells God. God is the creator of everything. We were made in the image and likeness of God. That means all the power that God possesses we possess. Because we are made by God, God is always present with us and in us.

If I want to be like anybody, I want to be like God. So, when you see me and say, “What’s up dog?” I will thank you for recognizing the God in me and return the return the love.

Words from Les Brown

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Focus on positive choices that move you closer to your dream. Make a conscious and deliberate effort to do at least one thing everyday that represents the highest and the best in you. Keep in mind, this is going to be your greatest year ever!

Do not allow yourself or anyone else to sabotage you. Stay on track. Refuse to lower your guard or to be pulled off course. Keep the main thing the main thing. Honor yourself by keeping your word to yourself. Everything matters. It is your time to achieve your dream. You have the POWER! You have GREATNESS within you!

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