The idea of you precedes your conception. You were known before you were knit together. The Master Creator envisioned all that you would be, and He spared nothing, from the inside out, designing you perfectly.
When the Master Creator completed You, His Exquiste Masterpiece, He marveled at His own expertise, and with a loud voice He declared, “It is Good”. And just like that, You were complete. Whole. Lacking nothing. You were, as Perfect and Beautifully you, as you would ever be!
There was only one thing The Master Creator would leave up to you and me, and that is the faith to believe that this could even be. He designed you with the ability to choose what to believe and what to reject, and He determined that your belief would be the fuel to guide your steps. Continue reading
Christian
Hope for the 4th Quarter
Welcome to the 4th Quarter of 2017! I don’t know about you, but I have spent a good portion of this year being shocked by its pace. At the beginning of each month, I have found myself stating, “Is it [insert month] already?!” Only to discover the same definitive answer each time, “Yes it is“! I can’t count the number of conversations I have had with loved ones, friends, coworkers, and others in passing, who have not only confirmed by sentiments about the pace of this year, but who have also shared in my anxiety laced fear that, THERE’S JUST NOT ENOUGH TIME!!!!!.
But, What if I told you that there IS enough time? Will you accept that? What if I told you that the culprit of your anxiety is something you and I have full control over? Will you, for the sake of this discussion, entertain the notion that the deficit has not been in seconds, minutes, hours, and days, but instead, that the true deficit, has been in your FOCUS? Does that encourage or discourage you? Continue reading
Don’t Focus on Your Haters, Pray For Them…
If you know me personally, you’d be surprised that I am even entertaining the topic of “Haters.” I am known by my friends for despising this entire discussion. I think people have a lot less haters than they think, and I also think people cheat themselves out of meaningful relationships because they are fearful of , or assume people are “hating.” 
Yet, as I read and wrote tonight’s Scripture passage, found in Luke 23: 33-38, I was inspired to dedicate this one discussion to the “Haters”, after all, they do exist, and I’ve never argued that.
In the text, we find Jesus being Crucified. In the midst of being tortured and mocked, He isn’t feeling sorry for Himself, and He is not angry at the people who are responsible for His Crucifixion . Instead, He concerns Himself with their well-being. And instead of cursing them, He prays,
Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).
Be Prepared to Carry Your Cross…
Have you watched the movie The Passion of Christ? I have only seen it once at the movie theater when it was first released. I found myself crying and burying my face in my hands so many times during the graphic depiction of the Crucifixion. I can remember thinking to myself, “You need to face this,” but no amount of “self-coaching” would allow me to keep from turning away periodically. It was so difficult to watch , and I can 
only imagine that it was much worse than what was depicted on the screen. Tonight’s passage is from Luke 23:26-30. I read it several times focusing on each verse. I kept coming back to verse 26,
As they led Jesus away a man named Simon who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.
God is IN the Details…
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can be a little abrupt and disorganized. Don’t get me wrong, I have the capacity to be extremely organized and strategic, but it’s definitely in doses. The thing is, I am just not naturally “wired” that way. If I want to be well-organized, I have to really put in the effort because my organization and meticulous skills come and go in phases. Since this is something that I am actively working on, I was truly enlightened and inspired by Jesus’ attention to detail in today’s passage, found in 
Matthew 21: 1-11. Continue reading
Comparison = Joylessness + Neglect
By now most of us have heard the popular saying, “Comparison is the thief of joy,” and many of us can testify that there is truth to those words. But, Did you know that comparison is a choice? Did you know that we can choose to admire, congratulate, cheer on, and even be inspired by others, WITHOUT comparing? Continue reading
Tuesday’s Transformative Thought By D Ready, Set, Aim Your Focus
Happy Transformation Tuesday! Today, I want to encourage you to take back your FOCUS!
Did you know that your focus is the area of your life that you have the greatest influence ON and control OVER? A common acronym for the word Focus is
F (follow). O (one) . C (course). U (until) . S (successful) ,
yet how many of you can attest that this is easier said than done? I don’t know about you, but I find myself discouraged when I am following a particular course, and it seems like my desired results are far out of reach. When this happens I am tempted to give up and start searching for a new “course” to follow that will give me faster results. The problem with this mindset is, as soon as I take a detour and start “Recalibrating” my course, I am losing time, and likely lengthening my path to success! Continue reading
Progress over Perfection!
I recently read a quote that said, “Writing is somewhere between torture and fun.” I chuckled to myself because my initial thought was, “Ain’t that the truth!” I have been challenged to the max this year with actually PUBLISHING blog posts! Over the past 77 days, I have been pretty consistent with writing privately. I have even created complete outlines for blog posts, but the challenge has been actually getting those ideas from paper to a published blog! What I have realized is, I have been putting unnecessary pressure on myself to be “PERFECT.” Continue reading
Hope Notes 
