Day 13: Mind Connection-People Can Change❤️

Mind Connection: People Do Change.

Change is possible for each and every one of us. God can renew and restore our hearts. Do you believe that change is possible? For everyone? There are two sayings in this world: “A leopard never changes his spots” and “A zebra never changes his stripes”. People use those statements to describe a person that has a constant pattern of behavior that they disapprove of. We often give up on people, no one wants to be surrounded by a constant pattern of negativity. Any form of negativity can really bring a person down, especially when you are trying to keep your own life up. It is truly an unfair statement to make because we are deeming a person hopeless, before we allow God to work through them. Thankfully, God continues to work in us and he never gives up as fast as people do! We always have the option to pray for each other even if that is the only option at the time. I am living proof that people can change. It is a change within my heart that I can feel. The way that I think now, and my outlook on life is so very different. For example, I have always wanted to write books and be an author. I had several projects that I worked on but nothing was ever complete, and when I started a blog it remained blank. I would post, then grow discouraged because I did not have any material. I did not have the determination; therefore I did not work hard to pursue my goals. In a different life I would be a journalist or editor of a major magazine! Well, I have this life, and while I made many, many bad decisions the best decision I ever made was turning my heart over to God. So maybe in that other life, I was a person who had it all BUT did not acknowledge God. Who knows? What I am certain of is the change in me now, which allows me to dream and pursue my goals. The work ethic in me now understands that dreams without action will stay just that….A dream. It will pass me by as a memory. Amen to new beginnings. Praise God for change!

I will not pretend like there are people amongst us who have never changed. My personal belief is we must allow God to work in our hearts for renewal. I think for the most part we can discipline ourselves to change certain behaviors, but total and complete change comes from the heart. When your heart is sick, even your discipline will be limited. With a sick heart comes a bad thinking pattern, which ultimately leads to how we treat ourselves and other people. How are you treating people around you? Would you be friends with you? I wonder how many of us actually will take a look and answer that question honest. 

I think it is so horrible to take a look at anyone and determine they will never change. We can look at the situation different and full of love. We can simply pray for them to open there hearts up for God to lead them to the best life they have ever known. That life is salvation from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a personal decision. It is frustrating to see someone you love experience these hardships in life. I can only imagine what people thought about me at one time. If it weren’t for the many, many praying people in my life I probably would not be sitting here today able to type up this blog. When I say I have been on both end of the fence, just trust me. Recently a loved one came to me extremely worried about his daughter, and I simply said, “She will be all right. Let us just keep praying because we can’t do anything else”. I truly believe she WILL be all right, nothing is impossible for God. Not even your deliverance is impossible for God. 

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” I got this quote out of my Bible when I was reading one day, I find it applicable to many life situations, especially when we are dealing with other people. Any one of us can currently be in a situation where we feel we will never be changed, or we can be on the outside looking in and feel our loved one may be doomed. According to the Bible, God can renew your heart. You have to make a decision that you are going to allow him to do his work. The type of love God provides is called agape, we will have his love when all other types vanish. We have to endure to outlast our trials and tribulations, through Gods love we are able to love others. 

I had to learn that I was not responsible for making sure that people change, I cant do it. As a matter of fact, I cannot even change my own heart. We have to make a decision to endure. I believe many people miss out because they receive the words of the enemy and other people. They are told you will always be the same, and then it is manifested and receive. If you accept the lies of Satan you will fall for them. For example, I remember when I was 17 years old, a relative told me I was never going to amount to anything. Instead of me proving them wrong, I allowed it to become reality for too long. My feelings were so hurt, instead of taking that pain and moving forward I just accepted it. Thankfully, God is proving many people wrong about me and what I am here to offer to the world. Thank God he showed me who I was, and I accept his truth even when people still come against me. I figure you cant with them all. 

God is going to deal with you one day at a time, and even one issue at a time. My prayer for myself was to be aware of my strongholds, bad habits and areas of opportunity! Now I see exactly when I need to really discipline or go to him (my strength) for help. I have been a witness to some amazing changes in myself, friends, and family. You do not have to sit around and watch a person self destruct but I do believe we are require to always show love and remain in prayer for everyone.

People can and do change.

Thanks for reading, Love & Light💕💞

V-

Day 12 Mind Connection *Praise*

Mind Connection: When you begin to use words that can defeat you; take out a pen and write down all you have to be grateful for. I promise you will get tired before that list can ever end. `Vita

Sunday I was driving home back from the grocery store, I knew I needed to write this post but I have been struggling so hard with my own Mind connection. It’s not that I am not practicing it, or that I do not believe it. I am struggling with being confident about dreams and goals. Satan is saying to me that I am out of my league when trying to write books, blogs, and such. Nobody is reading, he says. So as I said my morning prayers, I ask God to help me. I have to believe I am the best at what I want to do, while using my own authentic voice. I have to practice, study, research…..pretty much I have to do my part. Thinking positive and speaking those power words have to be on the top of the list. Ask. Believe. Receive. 

As I got quiet, I was enlighten. I was actually reminded, I define these moments as when God is using the Holy Spirit to help me move forward. I took out my voice memo so that I would remember my message. It was very clear that I needed to focus on my praise. Yup, regardless to how I was feeling. I must speak positive and be thankful. Absolutely there has been times when I did not “feel” like it. I literally forced myself and when I did at that moment I was able to speak to the power within myself. It sure beats complaining about any situation that I cannot change or control. 

I literally had to praise and be raised up! It is not that I’ve forgotten this concept; life is just hard! Everyday it is a new stumbling block. Reminders are necessary in life, especially when you are new to this positive Mind connection concept like me. It has been only a few years back that I was existing in a negative mind. The fact that I can actively choose what I think about and believe in the promises of God is so liberating to me. I pray, hope and stand in faith with many people and know that lives can be transformed. I feel honored to be able to share my experiences. I stay humble and remind everyone that I am flesh, I still struggle. What this journey has given me is enlightenment, I now know that this will forever be a journey! The beauty is that God is not requiring us to be perfect and he knows through Jesus that we have a struggle. 

Truly thankful people do not complain and if they do its not very often. I have been ungrateful most of my life, and when I decided to allow God to take over my life, I had to face some truth about myself in order to realize my negativity and overcome. It has taken a lot of work and honestly I find it difficult at times. I do not always make the best decisions, and I sometimes just choose not to deal with it. Even through all of that I can feel Gods love for me. I keep the faith on a bad day, and speak with a positive tone or remain quiet. At night this is what we can do: Go to sleep realizing that we have gotten through this day. May God have mercy as we sleep, and if we are given the privilege to rise in the morning; we have the opportunity to start again. 

I learned awhile back to from Joyce Meyer, that the practice of “Think about what you’re thinking about.” I am going to be 100% honest with you. When you are in practice of actually thinking about you’re thoughts it can become draining. However, it will help with what comes out of our mouths. The reason we need to be conscious of our thinking is because we learned thoughts affect every part of our mood, and how we treat each other, how we treat ourselves, & our overall happiness. Every single thought that the enemy puts in your head you do not have to let it in. I will quickly redirect my mind and think of anything else first! It is starting to come naturally to me, but it took awhile to get in a routine of dismissing thoughts. I figure if it is bad and defeating then it did not come from God and is not the truth! I would lose focus so easily then I would neglect what needs to be done or my emotions would run high until I got sick physically or enraged. That was no way to live. I began to also practice my praise (going back there!) My praise reminded me that I have so much to be thankful for and should not stress. My praise helped me to remember what I learned in the Bible from studying it. My praise reminded me that the devil has already lost! I am victorious through Jesus. 

Nothing on earth is perfect. As I have said many, many days-it is hard living this life. It is impossible to live it peaceful without my faith and belief. We are all not the same, so the struggle will be different. Stay compassionate to others and what they are going through. Remain a source in someones life that can build them up and not tear them down. Be honest and loving at the same times. God does not want us to focus on the bad, but praise him and pay attention to all that is good.

 
No matter what you face in this life, always remember the promises of God. Activate your faith, your faith will keep you when it seems dim.

Be Well,

From my heart to yours,

Vita

Day 11-Mind Connection/Friendships

Mind Connection: The only way to have a friend is to be one. `Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friendship is very important to me; I adore my friends and the variety they bring in my life. I have had some exciting adventures with friends, and some occasions that were sad. Through it all we remain friends and provided support to each other in any form needed for that time. On occasion there times when we get angry, irritated or mad at each other, but the key is to remember we will not always agree, or see eye-to-eye. I can love you, and still disagree easily. At the end of it all you love each other and get over it! Then there will be friendships that also are not design to last. We grow in separate ways. We do not remain friends with everyone that we have known since we were babies, and sometimes we do. I have people that I thought would be my friends forever leave my life. I have also been hurtful to people, and pushed some folks out. I have no problem admitting that at one time, I did not know how to be a friend. I did not even know how to pick a friend! Fortunately, God intervened in that area of my life and renewed my heart. I am able to receive, recognize, and maintain health relationships with people now. I have a special place in my heart for the people that loved me when I was at my worst. Truth is sometimes I did not even know I was at my worst! Those people loved me despite it all. I also do not forget the ones who treated me horrible. I show grace because I am a child of God; however it is impossible to forget. Honestly, I just focus on the awesome people I have not the others. My friends seem to think I am pretty awesome! Who has time for naysayers? This area of my life I want to share with you all, and give some perspective I learned from God only. I had to learn how to be a true friend in order to receive a true friend. Yes, it is part of Mind Connection. When we are attempting to maintain friendships, it really is an inside process. It is impossible to be a healthy friend when you are not investing in how to be a better person; a person that thinks and acts healthy. I refer to it as “mental wellness.”

Would you want to be friends with you?

What a question to ponder. I can imagine people saying now, “accept me as I am, or do not deal with me!’’ There is some truth and logic to that statement; and I agree to a certain point. People absolutely have the right to accept or decline you, as you share the same right. Let’s be real, no one actively chooses to be alone. We are designed to communicate with each other. I am a perfect example of introvert, over the years my friends have learned this fact about me. Even with me being an introvert, I still want my friends around and to communicate with people on a regular basis. None of my friends live in my state! I miss them so. It took me awhile to become a great friend but it started with my thought process. I was an extremely negative person, and who really wants to be around that draining energy? Only other negative people that is who; I doubt that many of us who are stuck in the trap of being negative really even realize how it affects others. Even though we know we are not happy, people can feel that energy. 

In my case I was miserable and extremely broken inside, and I did not even realize I was a bad friend. In my psyche, I loved them but because my thoughts were so unhappy I did not reciprocate friendship appropriately. I also attracted exactly what was in my heart; it is like Satan knows when you feel defeated. Satan will send people that are similar to you, so be careful. We think. “Oh this person gets me!” and that may be true, but you have to watch that because it can easily be a trick from Satan. He (Satan) knows that misery loves company and if he can get an entire broken group together then they will feed off each other. That makes room for no productivity, no love, no healing, a ton of conflict and drama! A huge, hot, stinky, and dirty mess! I survived it. That could mean a lover, friend, coworkers, family, and school mates. Often people make some bad decisions to avoid being lonely, but reality is you end up alone anyhow left to deal with the mess we created from the bad choice. I had to learn to let God become involved when choosing my friendships and it has been the best decision ever! I no longer have broken relationships and toxic situationships! 

If you are the type of person who wants to be positive, and take your life up levels, I love those kinds of associates. I had to learn that begins when we are positive I decided to actively work on myself; I needed to be aware of my behaviors. Give to others what you want in friendship, a spiritual law is that we have to reap what we sow. Sow seeds of love and your get an abundance of it back. Give away what you hope to receive—laughter, joy, encouragement, and love. 

When people are around me I want them to feel great. I want them to be able to trust me, and feel loved. One life turning thought of my life was “I just do not want anyone to ever feel like I do now.” I have no clue what made me think that way. It pushed me towards working on myself and allowing God to renew my life. I am still such a work in progress. 

I want to end this with saying to my friends (you know who you are) Thank you for remaining. To my new friends, thank you for allowing me in your life. To future friends, I cannot wait to see the impact you have on my life and vice versa! I hope and pray I always bring joy to all I encounter.

Love & Light!

V-

Day 10: Mind Connection –Perspective

Day 10-Mind connection: “I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that remains” `Anne Frank

That Ann Frank quote shows a young girl determination to have a perspective that joy remains despite any situation. I could not even imagine being in her situation. What I see as beautiful, you many not consider beauty at all. It is also that perspective that we have to also check and keep under control. Some people can see all the beauty in the world, and some people can see everything that is wrong with it.

People need hope. People need to be aggressively choosing to do what is right. That is part of our mind connection, power words and faith. It starts there. We passively sit back and wait for something “good’ to happen. I decided to view life this way—yes we have problems, the world is cold and dark sometimes. God is so much greater. He doesn’t fail us, WE fail ourselves. No we cannot ignore what is going on around us, because this life we live is hard. The injustice, violence, and evil are real. I promise that I do understand this is so difficult. My current situation is struggling with this concept (Godly perspective) through hard situations. My God can turn any situation around; we do not have to replay the issues in our heads. People need hope. In John 16:33—He lets us know he has overcome the world. All we can see is pain, while God sees spiritual growth. God needs us, other people need us. We need to be able to bring hope to one another for change.
Growing pains, when we level up, who said the process was easy? Maybe that first level was breeze, even the second. The more you want and are required of from God….the process becomes real. I rather go through it than ever give up again. I have learned that God is all the strength I need. I remind him of that too. Each time I feel like I cannot go further, I remind God of his words. Occasionally, I do not feel better right away…BUT I promise you this, I feel better and gain the strength not to give up.

Call me crazy but I truly believe that God has such a plan for believers, so I am trying my best to stay in tune with his perspective! I truly believe that God has placed this word in my heart so I decided to place it in my 21-day writing journey blog. God is moving and is changing situations around for his people. His perspective is the only perspective we should follow.

Feelings

We all have a soul and spirit. According to the Bible it is our soul that allows our human emotion to overtake the spirit (if we are weak in this area), and the spirit gives us the capability to have the faith walk and know that everything will be ok. I am dealing with a broken heart, wounded soul myself. In the past because my spirit was overtaken I could not see beyond that. I prayed and prayed for God to help me see the connection, it did not change overnight but I was tired and willing to keep going. I’m sure the issue with us is we give up because we want it handed to us easy. God is not going to force us he gave us the power of choice. Let’s be frank, would you want to force your love on someone? If we are willing to take on Gods perspective we can keep that joy. Often, the way we see things is not the full picture, and MANY lurking variables apply to the circumstance. We just never know. We can only control our reaction to any situation.

Power along with Perspective

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but longing fulfilled is a tree of life”—Proverbs 13:12.
We can tap into some real power when we allow God to mold us. God has given each and every one of us power to live above our circumstances. He has blessed us with Ministers, Life Coaches, Doctors, and plenty of resources to help us along the way. When we are hopeless, we get tired, lazy, sad, and the events will replay in our minds until it just wears us down. We become negative, and set in our ways. We refuse to change; we have accepted that this is it! Sadly, if you accepted that perspective; it will be. I want more, and I want anyone I come across to want more. That is one of the reasons I share my story. I admit my faults, and broad cast them. I need God to cleanse me. We should not deny our circumstance but we cannot give into them as well. Maybe you can’t pray it away, tell God that. I spent many hours and days just telling him that I felt like this was not working, the Bible was boring etc.… I can assure you that those authentic prayers help him shift me. The desire became real, and the knowledge & wisdom of He’s ways I yearned for. The beauty of faith is it keeps us moving and full of hope! I put my trust in God like the Bible has instructed me, so even when a storm hits me I can maintain my peace and joy. He has worked situations out in many of our lives in ways we could not even imagine.

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed”—2 Corinthians 4:8, Back on topic…

Like today for example, when I see what has my heart tender or in sorrow. I choose to run to God. It may be prayer, reading, listening to music, or calling one of my good friends and letting know what is troubling my heart. We pray, laugh and put things back to Gods perspective.

So I leave you with this: It is your choice, you can choose to watch life from a negative perspective and magnify everything that is wrong. You can make the decision to press forward, and ask God to help you make the connection. We can minimize the situation and look at the beauty of people, life, and everything that is right. Despite it all, I choose to have everything God says I can. So it may hurt often and it has; giving up is not an option for Vita. I sincerely hope it is not for you either.

Enjoy your Tuesday Night!
V-

Day 9- Mind Connection–Communication

Mind Connection: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” —–Amen❤️Psalms 19:14

I made the commitment to study power thoughts and words, and start this 21-day writing journey. I have come in contact with even more annoyances. My original thought was Satan is attacking me because I am trying to level up and share with everyone. I realize the more we pray on a particular area it is revealed to us more! God gives us an opportunity to really see and to deal with it. We have to use the wisdom we have attained and do our work. Annoying issues that keep trying to stir me, are actually areas I need to improve in. I am okay with admitting that; I yearn to be all that God has created for me to be—for Him and for others! So let the challenge begin.

Straight forward— No chaser.

That was me, and on some days it still is. People should just accept that about me, I am real and straight forward. Period. How many of you can relate to that statement? Or how many times do we say, “Maybe they are just too sensitive, and you cannot take my truth?” I guess at some point we all think we are right huh? Well, darlings, on this journey I have learned “thinking” or “speaking” that way is not how God designed us to act with each other. Some of us do naturally have a firm , straight forward personality and I would never suggest that you be anyone but you. I understand this about myself as well. The key here is balance, and having a loving nature like God instructed us to do. A brief paraphrase of one of my meditation scriptures Ephesians 4:29: Make sure when you speak to each other it is in a helpful matter, not to tear someone apart. Delivery is very important! We need to be kind and gentle or pray about how to work on it. 

It is wrong for us all to be harsh and excuse it as being “uncut” or “real speaking”. Well, I say that is a common excuse to refuse to change and work on yourself. The great deceiver (Satan) has you convinced that you are not rude and just being 100%. What a great excuse Satan has persuaded you to believe just to win your mind. It is hard to change when you are so prideful and haughty enough to think nothing is wrong with you. People want acceptance and encouragement, gentleness. There is a way to communicate and be firmly honest, sometimes you do not even need to deal with it, but offer a prayer. 

Complain and stay the same!!!

For someone who use to complain about everything, I have such a zero tolerance for it now. Let me clarify. I am not talking about venting your frustrations to your friends or whatever outlet you use. I am speaking about the person who NEVER has anything to say but complain. Writing about this is one of those times I have to be firm and loving (*smiles*). I speak from experience; I mastered this unfortunately. God had to show me how to speak out of my mouth praise and thanksgiving. I always have a reason to be grateful, even in the very difficult moment. I sadly run into more believers of God doing the complaining than non-believers. As believers we know complaining is a sin ( See Philippians 2:14). I understand why too. Not only is it annoying, is not what God is doing enough? He can stop right now and I think he has done over and beyond for us all. When you complain it is self-centered and very prideful. Complaining steals all the joy from any person in the atmosphere. The main reason we complain is because we do not get our way. God gave me a person lesson about this, and it was not nice, but he loves me and could have let me remain in my sin. So I count it all Joy! We have to work hard against the temptation to grumble and complain. Refocus your mind to thinking about ALL the small things we take for granted. I do this on a daily basis. It does not move God faster when we complain, he moves when we praise and tell about all his greatness, and express thanksgiving. I have plenty of stories about this, if you ever want to hear. I am not speaking what I think, or read…I learned from life and God was the teacher. I know it is going to be challenging but nothing is impossible for our God!

Let us resist cruel and angry speaking.

Ephesians 4:31 says we should get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander. It goes on to say…… that those actions should disappear along with all types of evil behavior. I found it serious that all of these actions were group right along with evil behaviors. I had them all. I suffered from rage, anger, and resentment the most. I still struggle with anger because I have not mastered being “slow to anger”(see James 1:9) Truthfully, I am mostly slow to anger, but there are times that I have to really check myself. My temper never bothered me. I felt like it made people know not to mess with me. What was growing inside was bitterness, and resentment? The closer I became to God, I no longer wanted to be angry, or even speak and think about being angry. I developed faith that God would handle it. He did just that too. I have mentioned it several times—but the Holy spirit will deliver us from these traits if we seriously want help. Satan has some people content with their behaviors. sad truth-is if You allow Satan to deceive you; eventually when you look up after Satan has made you destroy your life, he is going to leave you to destruction. Alone you will be sitting there wondering “How did this get so bad?” Guess what? Been there as well, writing the book. I finally learned that all of the anger, unhelpful, and very unnecessary mean-spirited responses were not going to change anything that had happen. It goes back to a previous post about choosing joy, I learned to go with the flow of the day. I also had my children watching me, and I wanted them to live the best life they could, but children mimic what they see.

No one is perfect, and no person will have a perfect attitude and behavior all the time. We are going to always be on this journey, but we have to let God come in and work his miracle, and believe that he can do it. He is creating something great in us all!
Leaving you today with plenty of LOVE!

Blessings, Vita

Day 8- Mind Connection: Dangers of Stress

Day 8 Mind Connection: Instead of worrying about things we cannot control, we should control our worry!!

Yesterday I was not practicing what I preach. I allowed a really petty, annoyance take me out of my element. As a matter of fact, I am still annoyed. I have regrouped since then. Yesterday I allowed incorrect thinking and all types of situations just aggravate me to the point I knew it was affecting the quality of my work, relationships, and I went home. I was in the bed by 7pm. If I write about what it was then you would shake your head. LOL, it just proves that this mind journey is really an everyday practice. Sometimes we will not always succeed, but God is always going to love us and help us along the way. I realize how silly I was acting, and truthfully no matter the outcome, I am not losing anything. I allowed it to stress me for no reason. Our thinking pattern and stress go together. I am much today. Just in time for Day 8!

A few years back I can remember always shaking my head in agreement while at church. I thought I trusted God. Obviously that was not the truth because I lived in fear, anxiety, and more fear. I really did not know the correct way to love God, nor did I have the desire like many people I would see. I just knew that had to change. My thoughts caused me to be in such stress that I was literally killing myself. I have not shared all of my issues with people, but this is the season of transparency because someone needs to hear. I take full responsibility for the choices I made that put me in stressful situations. Some issues could have been prevented, while others just were not fair. My body was so beat down due to stress, over the past 16 years I managed to put on 100 lbs. ( thank God it is leaving now), the usual issues like depression, anxiety , and panic attacks. I have been diagnosed with an enlarged heart, in other words—heart failure. All due to stress and extremely high blood pressure, and one doctor said he detected Lupus (I haven’t has a second, or third opinion yet). At one time I was taking about 10 prescriptions to maintain. I ended up in ICU two years ago. Stress messed me up. I went to the hospital this past summer for a routine heart ultrasound, and literally broke down in tears. I am in such a much better place now, but I think the sadness of it all has literally broken my heart. I allowed stress and stressful people to put me in this position when I did not have to live this way. I know my God is faithful, so I do not stress over my “diagnosis” but I do take better care of myself. When you think better you feel better, and you want MORE for yourself and everyone else too! The power-draining habits of worry, fear, and anxiety does not serve me anymore. I have actively put in practice deciding how I am going to think! I have to lean on God; I realized my own strength does not work at all. Worrying (which is pretty much what I did yesterday) is a form of meditation over our problems. This is a lot different than thinking our way through situations, which is wise. It is the stress that has those destructive side effects, and can cause serious problems. 

I gave up. I needed to change; it was not my “life” that was robbing me of peace it was giving in to the wrong mind patterns. My feelings of hopelessness, and feeling unloved or disliked all the time. Satan really had me going. Putting my life in the hands of God made me realize that I needed to make several lifestyle changes. I had to learn how to fall in love with my creator. So I prayed that he would show me how. I was seriously shortening my life span because of the excessive worrying. I caused damaged to my body that cannot be repaired. 

If you suffer from any form of stress related thinking; please make a list and pray over it daily. They say we should recognize the triggers and purposely relax. I have not mastered this yet. I will be the first to admit before I even recognize a trigger I have already overreacted. I will say that I am noticing lately how God is helping me improve that trait. 

Romans 8:37 lets us know that we have all the victory! Despite any overwhelming situation. The truth is we have to learn how to look through the eyes of faith, believing that you already have the victory! Every day before I walk through the door at work; I sit in my car and say in my loud voice “TODAY WILL BE A GREAT DAY”. I rarely have stressful days at work anymore. The only time I am stressed is when I have neglected prayer, study and time with God. Then I get all agitated back to back. I may not have any of the answers to my current situations, but what I do know is how to call out in the name of Jesus and leave it. All satan does all day is plot on each and every one of us, using his hater techniques to make us live in regret, whispering depressing lies in our ears. That is why it is important to know the truth and study the word. So when the lie comes you can cast it aside. Not today devil, or any day going forth.

We all will encounter difficulties in life. We may even feel like Jesus should have stepped in before things got too difficult. Hold on to your faith and hope, they are not the same but very close relatives and we need them both.

I wish you a peaceful night, and let the stress and pressure of the world go. Get alone and in solitude. It is nothing like alone time in the morning, so I can prepare for people. Then alone time in the evening, so I can get over people. You learn a lot about yourself being alone and it is a stress reliever. I use to get stressed and restless during the quiet. I was so addicted to noise and activity. Even if it is just a few minutes it brings me such peace. I really dislike when I have to cover the late shift and get off work at 8pm. Since I have learned to stop being annoyed about situations I cannot change anyway; I realized this was such a quiet time because it is not really much to do. I get to sit by myself for three hours in silence. Doing whatever it is I need to do for just me!  

Wonderful quote:

I never found the companion that was as companionable as solitude.

~Henry David Thoreau

Do not go down the same path I did with allowing stress, or stress thoughts, and living affect your mental and physical. I had a moment yesterday, but before I went to bed I ask God to help me refocus on everything I have. I am good. Blessed. Healthy. Renewed. So, so much more. 

I know there are situations in your life to stay positive about. It is worth the work. You will always come out on top!

Love & Light

V-

Day 7 *Mind Connection* #TeamYou!

Mind connection: When life is most difficult, speak power over yourself. Sometimes you have to cheer for yourself! Often people may not be around to encourage you. They may not even know the correct words, but you can always be the source of powerful thinking and speaking. 

I think more than any other topic I have ever written about; being kind to yourself is my most harped on subject. I really had to learn how to treat myself with kindness. With all the people that will come against me in the world, I just feel like I need to treat myself like the best person I’ve ever known. Studying Psychology has been a turning point in my life because it taught me different coping mechanism to assist with my human nature. Learning about God, changed my life. I learned my true identity. I became brave, and excited about the future. I had to learn how to treat myself with respect, dignity, and love. It started start by actually “speaking to myself” and affirming what I wanted in my life everyday. You can curse and bless your own future. 

Difficulties will come in life and feeling and speaking positive to yourself will be hard sometimes. This is especially difficult when we have made a very poor choice in life. We reap what we sow. I was always mad at myself because of what I either was doing or not doing. Not allowing myself to receive Gods mercy. Once I learned what mercy was through studying, I begin to accept it. I also became a much happier person. My relationships with people improved because I begin to be a much more positive, loving person. I no longer had to live in condemnation. People can feel the light you put off when it’s truly authentic.

Being a single mother was never the plan, and I found myself very recently having what I call a “Mommy melt-down” (That is when we lose it to tears and feel like we cannot go on, then we pick ourselves up and continue like it never happened. #MOMPOWER) I was upset about my children’s father. I told God “ Well this isn’t fair. I do understand it was my choice, why is it I have to suffer with this responsibility ALONE!” Should we not both be reaping what we BOTH sowed? Not fair. So it has been hard not to be down on myself, or say defeating words to myself when it comes to this subject. I feel like I not only failed myself but my children as well. It is going to be ok, but I still struggle, and that makes me “say” defeating words. Well, it is time to stop and look at the bigger picture. If we never separated, I believe I still would be that lost little girl. Even after that I put myself in a relationship that was extremely toxic. God saved me from that too. It is time to stop the cycle and be all God created me to be! That is why my 21 day writing journey, which I named Mind Connection is so important to me, and I wanted to share. God has given me a lot of wisdom with my experiences, however every single word I write is a lesson I work on myself. 

Speaking to myself—
I had to learn to speak power, instead of defeat. I constantly do. I use to become so discouraged when I would go through a trial and it seem no one was around to just say the right thing, or they would drive me crazy adding MORE negativity to the situation. My favorite one was telling how they would handle it! Now I realize some of those times I was looking towards another human to make me happy. As I wrote in the beginning of Mind Connection, that cannot happen. I would become angry about the situation too. I found early in my life I began to sink into a pit of resentment for everyone. God taught me that until I could have a good relationship with myself, there was no way I could have a positive relationship with anyone. It all started with how bad I spoke and thought about myself. Mind Connection, my thoughts about myself was connected to how I also treated others. 

Learning about how my thoughts and mind working together connecting all the areas of my life was so wonderful and it still amazes me. 

It is our creators desire for us to love ourselves, I did not know that. I cant even say that I ever gave it a real thought. He wants us to love ourselves in a healthy-balance way, not full of pride. I use to dislike and speak so harshly about myself, I was surrounded by negativity because of what I spoke and thought about. My thoughts and words had a negative outcome in my life entirely, especially my spiritual growth. We will have moments of weakness but never should hate ourselves and truthfully we have to learn to provide the very same mercy God shows us to other people. We need to fall in love with the person God created us to be, the person that he is molding us to be through him, by living on purpose for a purpose. 

Learning to believe and encourage myself took a lot of work, but it was worth it. People say others cannot change who they really are! Correct, I did not change who I really was. I found myself based on the salvation of Christ. I changed the enemies influence. I had to develop a belief for my life, and realized that God has created in me a purpose and he will finish! I have to take every burden to him. Once I truly learned how to do that, he put in place people that uplifted me. God also taught me that sometimes I have to do that for myself, even when it is the most difficult situations. The first thing you do when you yearn for encouragement and feel no on is in your corner is pray. Then you can sow encouragement to others! Just because you feel a lack of encouragement does not mean you still cannot be supportive, remember it all comes full circle. *Reaping what you sow*. 

Life may not treat everyone fair, but what I will testify to is how he is a God that brings justice. I am not just writing what I have heard before, I am speaking from true experience! He has taken over so many battles for me because I refused to deal with it. No one can handle it better. 

Do not focus on all of your faults, because God does not.There is more that is right with you than wrong! I never want to be the type of person that ignore my faults and refuse to take responsibility. However, I will make sure that I do not speak or think down on myself when I mess up. i will no longer be discouraged about myself. 

God loves you, he has proven us to be wonderful in his sight even when we flaw! He has filled our lives with so many possibilities!
Love & Light

V-

Day 6 Mind Connection

Mind Connection: Ponder… Would you be willing to make some changes in your approach to life and start new habits if it would activate joy, and peace? 

I remember reading a book by Joyce Meyers, one of the chapters I came across was “Anyone Can Be Happy”. I remember thinking just kind of scrolling pass it. Sure anyone can be happy, but how is that possible when tragedy hits you? There is such a huge amount of sadness in this world and everyday it seems to be something new. Our happiness is not measure by this world anyway. If we learn to think how God instruct us, we can actually live in a mindset to be happy through tough situations too. A wonderful quote to back up my statement is from Henri Nouwen, he says “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day”. So you actually have to be determined that no matter what comes your way—JOY is the option. As I have written in a previous post; joy is not always walking around in delusion that everything is great all the time. Joy is simply decided that no matter what comes your way, you will choose to think and act positive. How about this: Even if you don’t handle circumstances correct all the time, you can still maintain a joyful attitude. God has forgiven and forgotten, when we ask for forgiveness. So keep going and do better next time! Keep your joy. 

I do not mean be unrealistic about life and facts are facts! However, you have to be grounded in some truth. I have learned the most about me by establishing the foundation of how God views me. We were created so he could love us! That right there is enough to begin building a foundation. Unlovable and unworthy as I felt for most of my life, God actually created me for his love. That is how the enemy gets us every time. The feeling of not being enough for people! Well excuse me if I sound harsh but who cares what any human feels about me!? I learned not to care for too long. I know firsthand how people can wound us. Get some truth in your life, and realize who you are in Jehovah. Period. So when the hurtful people come up against you, it will be easier to dismiss. It’s so much for you to do in this life. No person is your end. Good riddance! 

Back to Joy…I tend to slide off the subject when I feel so passionate about something. One way to begin a healing process is to ask yourself, am I looking to people and circumstances to find joy in my life? It is unfair to a person to give them the responsibility of making sure you have joy, and as human beings they are incapable. Well, I will be the first to raise my hand. I wanted to be accepted by anyone so much that I did not even know who I was. I molded myself to be whoever; I was with at the moment. I cannot tell you how free I feel from that. I cannot recall when it first began to happen, but I was such a people pleaser. It was such joy to finally be released from that bondage, no longer having to hide behind the real me. Now I have a slogan. “Love me or leave me alone, I am ok with either option” and it is not that I feel like people are disposable. My peace is priceless (Thanks, Erica for teaching me that), and I have so much to do to please God. As the old song says “This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me, and the world can’t take it away”. I am feeling that. This world tried to destroy me! As the world will attempt to destroy you if you are expecting joy and happiness to come from the world. It’s just not going to happen. Joy is a gift from God, and yes it can be blocked and hindered by life difficulties. However, you still choose what you decided to focus on, and I think we can all admit the more we think about a situation….it can get us steaming over and over again. I do it all the time before I even realize it. Hardships are never enjoyable, but the right thinking in the midst of it can cheer you up, and help you maintain your strength. How we approach life is so imperative, let’s simplify it. 

✓ If you are tired…rest!

✓ If your schedule is too busy….make some changes! (I constantly have to do this one.)

✓ Be YOU, unapologetically!! Do not compare yourself to others. Many people claim they have this capability. They do not. I see it all the time, because I WAS the great pretender! 

✓ No need to waste energy over things you can never change. Let go, Let God….tuff stuff. BUT not impossible.

✓ When your way does not work out, better trust that God is in control.

✓ Forgive. (whew! It really is for your peace and joy, even though many people do not see it that way).

✓ Do not be too quick to anger. It makes you look ugly anyway ☺ do not ever go to sleep angry.

✓ If a person does not like you that issue is with them. You cannot win everybody, and sometimes people just don’t like you. I am ok with that.

✓ Believe the best will work out in ANY situation.

✓ Do not get too angry at people, no expectations are supposed to be on humans anyway. Learn that God is the only source that will never let you down. The ONLY source! Better believe that!

✓ Accept your forgiveness when you repent, it’s over. Do better next time. UH…Grace and Mercy!! (Doesn’t give you a free pass to sin as you please however).

Sadly, I witness a lot of miserable people with not much joy. It is the line of work I do and some of the family or friendships I have. It is time to remember to pray often and ask our creator to show you what can be shifted to bring more joy in your life.

Pick one from the list and focus on tonight. 

FYI: God strength is all you need; you can feel weak as you journey through. There will be days like that. I constantly believe in what Paul says 2 Corinthians 12:9—Paul goes on to quote what Jesus said. “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness”.

So when I feel like my joy is depleting, I do not stay down for long. I have a source I can lean on anyway.

Be Well,

From my heart to yours, V-