Opened Heart

Hazrat Inayat Khan once said, “God breaks the heart again and again and again until it stays open.”

This year did not go remotely as I had planned. When I started this year, I was on a mission to gain wisdom and do a bunch of great things. I dreamed big and made bold declarations… but a lot of those dreams and declarations did not come true.

I spent a lot of months just beating myself up. I considered myself a failure. I was angry about everything that went wrong and how other people wronged me. I was frustrated that nothing I did seemed to work. My life kept falling apart. I had lost control or so I thought.

In October, I started a new job. I thought the new job would give me a sense of purpose and meaning for my life. No shocker, it did not. What I do and who I be are very different. I can bring who I be to what I do, but my career path does not define me.

November was a pivotal month! I did three new things.

The first thing I did was a float tank. This experience is the opportunity to float in a tank full of salt water. It is an enclosed tank so you’re in the dark for an hour and thirty minutes. At first, I tried to be solemn and introspective. That was not working. I started to hate the experience but told myself I was going to get my money’s worth. I then started to have fun. I bounced around from wall to wall. I pretended I was a captured mermaid by pirates. I laughed at myself. I made silly noises. I then began to sing. I started singing the verse and chorus of my song called Change Me. This experience was momentous in my preparation for Heart of the Samurai.

The second thing I did, I got my Human Design reading by Reena Sifer. I had a lot of resistance towards myself, so I wanted her guidance and coaching to see things about myself that I was missing. She gave me a lot of awesome clarity about me. I love learning about myself. If you are in conflict with yourself, I highly recommend hiring her for a reading. I know I’m not saying too much about this, but what I learned about me would take up too much. Maybe I’ll do another post about it. Her link is below if you are interested. Also, feel free to message me directly for more information.  

Last thing I did! Drum roll, please… I went to San Diego to attend Heart of the Samurai (Heart) which is the third seminar through Klemmer. They have four. At first, I was mostly looking forward to spending time with my best friend Eileen whom I had met at my second Klemmer seminar Advance Leadership. She and I have been connected since day one of Advance and have both made the effort to text every day since. She is incredible and I love her so much.

Being with her was the highlight of the whole trip, but there were also a lot of life-changing events that happened during the seminar too. Klemmer does not disappoint. The biggest takeaway I got and the value I created was choosing me. Other people can see greatness in me or think I’m worthy of good things, but until I choose that for myself, I am always going to choose death.

There is so much more I could write, but something that really struck me at Heart was the possibility of love. I created a hypothetical husband as an assignment from my Wealth Activator coach Lisa Drennon before I went to Heart. For the longest while, I thought my ideal husband did not exist. I have raised my standards pretty high. The most important characteristic of my future husband is that he is on fire for Jesus and that his faith will lead and grow mine. I will not settle for anything less.

At this seminar, I met someone who fit every important trait of my hypothetical husband. To put the cherry on top, he pursued me. From my Human Design reading, I learned that I am not designed to chase. I decided to trust what God has for me will come to me. It took him the whole week to ask for my number, but I was over the moon when he did.

Only God knows if he is truly my future husband or not, but keeping my heart open to possibilities has changed me. I am choosing me because I want to be chosen. I have started a new eating plan to be healthy. I am releasing my first professionally recorded song on Spotify, iTunes, and Apple Music on December 25^th! I am being bold, strong, and courageous because that is what my favorite Bible verse has always told me to do.

Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Pre-Save my song coming out December 25th on Spotify: Pre-Save Plan For Me

Song I wrote in the float tank: Change Me

Reena Sifer Link: Human Design Reading 

Lisa Drennon: Wealth Activator

If you’re feeling generous this holiday season, please donate to Divine Timing Ministries: Donate Here

Observations on Fear

As I allow myself to explore my past with curiosity instead of judgment, I notice things to learn. It doesn’t matter how off course I may feel, there is always the choice to get back on track.

I had a crazy dream last night about being out in the middle of the ocean at night in a little donut floaty. I was trying to find my way back to the ship. It was so dark that I lost the group I was with. To make matters worse, I saw the shark fin. That’s when fear woke me.

I wish I could face the fears in real life the way I do in dreams. Wake up from them. Still feeling my physical heart racing, but knowing the reality of getting eaten by a shark in my bed isn’t there. No real danger. It’s just pretend.

I have learned a lot of facts about sharks just to be up to date on my worst nightmare. The greatest comfort to me though is knowing that I am nowhere near an ocean. Even when I have visited the ocean, I still go in the water.

Why is my fear of sharks manageable? Because of the story I created around it. Instead of being so focused on my fear, I go down a path reminding me why I don’t have to fear.

Can this work for other fears in my life? Absolutely! I just have to face those fears.
Sometimes naming the fear is half the battle. Fear likes to hide in the darkness. It keeps everyone at a distance.

It is easy to name being afraid of a thing, but what if the fear is the fear of failing? Fear of never finding love? Fear of not finding purpose? Fear that things aren’t going to get any better? Fear of judgment? Fear of change?

Who likes to talk about those fears? I know I don’t because of the fear of being misunderstood.

I have been promoting the Personal Mastery seminar for a few months now. No one has asked me about it. My expectation was that a lot of people would be interested because of how much it inspired me, but then I began to have fear.

I love Jesus. I’ve been working on getting to know Him more by reading my Bible, praying, and volunteering at church. I don’t talk about it though because of fear.

How can I expect other people to want to change and face their fears when I’ve been living in the shadows?

Living in fear does not get to be my story. Just like waking from my dream, I am waking up from this fear. It doesn’t have the right to own me. A fearful person is not a loving person. I choose to be loving to myself in order to give love to others.

If you’re feeling fearful, here are some options:

> Cry out to Jesus. Even at my lowest, I know Jesus hears me. He is faithful and loving. He has kept me going and gotten me through many storms.

> Invest in the weekend for the Personal Mastery Seminar. September 15-17. The seminar is a combination of exercises and games that allow you to create positive change in your life. Information & Enroll Here

> Name the fears. Take time to create a new story around those fears. Create stories that inspire hope, bring comfort, and are conclusive.

Reach out and let me know how I can pray for you!

Thanks for reading. Love you! 

Where I'm At

It is hard for me to believe it has already been a year since I made the commitment to write a blog every month since my last birthday. Wow! Time goes by fast.

I admit, I’m not the best at planning. I have had many goals and aspirations. I’ve allowed fear to dictate my actions. I’ve been the hardest and meanest towards myself when I’ve only had cheerleaders externally. It has not been the year I expected.

Life is delicate. It is not guaranteed, and it does not always last. It feels like forever, but all of what’s known is past. I am constantly learning, but the lessons I thought learned keep repeating. What am I doing? Where am I going? How did I get here?

My word for this year was wisdom. That was to be my one-word focus, but does anyone else feel like it is a challenge to focus on one thing? I am bombarded with so much information, there is too much that holds my focus even if it doesn’t serve me.

I’ll call myself out, I’ve been living in resentment, resistance, and withholding because my focus is on my problems. I may think I know what I know, but am I doing what I know? There is a huge disconnect. To think I’d be perfect at something on the first try is foolish. I’ve been doing everything the hard way. It is easy to assume the worst in the middle of a storm, but the only way out of a storm is through.

One thing I am really looking forward to in September is the Klemmer Personal Mastery Seminar that is coming Friday the 15^th through the 17^th. In order to have lasting change, you have to believe you’re worth investing in. This seminar is an opportunity to invest in yourself and grow your personal and professional skills. It is a combination of exercises and games that give you a chance to recognize the ways you’re showing up that are not serving you.  

The epiphany I had the first time I took the seminar was that I don’t play if I don’t think I will win. This is still true for me. I’ve seen where it is showing up in my life. It does not serve me. Sure, there are things I may not be successful at, but if I don’t try, I’ll never win that way either.

It is easy to get stuck in the same rut or limiting beliefs. This seminar is a chance to break out! I know I need it. The seminar is a lifetime tuition and money-back guarantee. If you follow my link, you can get a discount on the tuition. Enroll Here

Life is about creating yourself. Where are you at? 

An Invitation

I am not perfect. It’s just a fact. As hard as I try and as much as I’d like things to come easily, I still struggle to want everything to be perfect. Perfectionism is more of an illness than a strength. It’s a trap because it puts me in a place of freeze. If it’s not perfect then it’s not good, so hold production. 

So what moves me? What gets me out of freeze?

A Sicilian sunrise over Mt Etna gets me moving at 5am. There is just something so moving about nature. It moved my mom and I to worship the way Heaven declares the glory of God daily. Without an audience, the beauty of nature sings praises to God.

Music moves me. Some songs will get my foot tapping or my hips swaying no matter what mood I was in before the song came on. I’ll feel the rhythm take over me until every part of my body moves. Even the Italians know singing and dancing make everything better.

The cross moves me. My parents and I walked up the mountain to visit La Santa Croce. It is a big metal cross with Jesus on it that looks over Valguarnera. The reminder of how wonderful the cross is moved me to tears. God loved me so much, He didn’t want me to live this life or the next without Him. Jesus made the way for me to have a relationship with God. I’m so thankful for the power of the cross. 

Movies move me. I get so into them. Even on an airplane, I’ll laugh out loud and pump my fists in the air with excitement. I was in the middle seat, and I told the guy at the window, “I get really into my movies. Make sure you give me a good tap for my attention.” I love getting swept into the action. A good plot will suck me in until I participate like I’m part of it.

A good coaching session moves me. Sometimes it’ll be tears. I just have to get what’s on my chest off. Sometimes it’ll be inspiration for a doable action step. Sometimes it will be a good laugh. Just taking a moment to not take everything so seriously.

So what moves you? What inspires you to move forward when you’re in a state of freeze?

I have an invitation for you, an opportunity to move per se. If you want to know what’s getting in your way of achieving your goals and you want something more, better, or different for your life, then this is for you. 

Klemmer’s Personal Mastery seminar is coming to Rochester September 15-17. Klemmer’s seminar is a collection of exercises and games that help uncover subconscious thoughts. The training provides you with a lot of change in a short amount of time. 

I have a link below to get more information and to enroll. There’s a special discount code that’s embedded in the link. If you use the link, the code will be there when you commit to enrolling. 

I want to connect with you. I could share a testimony of how this seminar changed my life, but this is all about you. What does it take to invest in yourself? Do you want to grow personally, professionally, and even spiritually? Why would you want to go? Tell me about it. I look forward to seeing you there. 

Personal Mastery Seminar

Hope, Faith, Love

I am in awe of the great things that are happening in my life and in the lives of people around me. Every day, I get to anticipate what God is going to teach me or show me that will amaze me.

June was a pivotal month for me in 2021. It was when my reality was based on fear, scarcity, anxiety, depression, recklessness, false carelessness, and selfish behavior. I found out I had created life inside of me and instead of joy it brought me pain. The choice was set before me: life or death. I chose death because that is what I wanted for my life. I wish I had never been born. I wished I never had to suffer the way I felt I did. Emotionally helpless and physically paying for it. My focus was on me, me, me. No one else and nothing else mattered. That was the pit I dug for myself. The hole I crawled into.

God did not leave me even when I was in my darkest moments. As much as I wanted to believe I could run away from Him, nothing was ever going to snatch me from His hands. In my darkest days, God gave me hope. A Bible study called The Healing Journey that was starting in September. My mom even offering this opportunity to me sparked hope in me. I was desperate for something to save me. I had tried counseling, medication, meditation, and self-help books, but nothing changed me. I still felt depression lingering over me like a dark cloud. I still wished to not exist when things got hard. I reverted always to self-sabotaging and self-destructive behaviors. BUT maybe this Bible study. BUT maybe God could save me. That was hope.

As I did the hard work to search after God and understand my beliefs about Him, layers of healing began. It was slow. I even wrote a song during this time called Slowly because God was slowly working on my heart. As my hope in God grew, so did my faith.

Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. When I truly put my faith in God, that’s when true change happened. I started taking God seriously at His word and because of that I live a more bold, courageous, and favored life. Don’t get me wrong, my life is not perfect. Bad things still happen to me, but I have a new outlook on every situation.

Instead of wallowing in defeat when something bad happens, I get to fall into love. Love learns. Love grows. Love nurtures. Love hopes. Sometimes I love so much, it makes me blind. I fall for cons when it looks like helping someone in need. This recently happened to me at an ESL atm in the city. I want to share awareness because they were just a couple of kids not much older than me. They hang around ATMs to prey on kind people to steal from them. Part of my mistake was ignorance of how the ATMs and the check depositing process work. I have definitely learned an expensive life lesson.

It is ironic because I started this blog post before that event happened, but now I get to put what I’m writing into practice. I was beating myself up about this for two days. The day I found out I was scammed and the day after. I could have chosen to linger in my self-hatred and beat myself up about how stupid I feel for not just leaving when I could have. I can waste head space on the what if’s and the should have’s, but I just accept reality. I choose to believe that God has something better for me. I choose to love myself.

I am not lesser because I make mistakes. I make mistakes and I learn from them. Only when I choose to love myself can I choose to see the lesson I’m learning.

 Stay safe, everyone! Love you!

Careful What You Pray For

I’ve been intentional about making goals for myself that are attainable. My experience with making big declarations and not being able to follow through doesn’t serve me. One of my personal and attainable goals was to read two or more books. I let audible books count. One of the first audiobooks I listened to was by Andy Andrews called “The Little Things.” Great read/listen, and I highly recommend it. We’ve all heard the phrase “Don’t sweat the little things.” In this book, Andy uncovers why the little things do matter. I’ve seen the little things matter in my life too. Here’s an example. 

A little thing like how I word my prayers.

I hadn’t been working very long at CPL, but my ability to connect with my boss was lacking. I felt a lot of stress and pressure absorbing work that was not supposed to be mine, I could not juggle all the different undecided policies that no one would put into place, and I felt like I was not improving in the role I was hired for. I was trying to figure out what my end goal was with my boss. I did not want to work for him, but I felt obligated to do the best job I could and not quit. I kept praying about it. “God, help me with my boss. Let me know what the end game is.”

On May 3^rd, I finished the chapter from Andy’s book “a little thing like not quitting.” I told myself I wouldn’t quit. No matter how difficult the situation was, no matter unhappy I was, and no matter how unappreciated I felt, I was not going to quit. On May 4^th at the end of the day, I was terminated from CPL. I was not given a reason. It came as a shock to me somewhat. I cried. I got angry. But I did not stay there.

Another prayer I started praying was “Stretch my faith.” I started praying this because my church went through a series called Mountain Mover. Learning that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. I have been so grateful for the way my relationship with God has changed. I notice Him working instead of it just being background noise.

It was not in my plan to be unemployed, but God was just answering my prayers. He showed me the end game with that boss. I was not made to work with him. I don’t need to have that mean anything bad about me or him. Also, what a great way to stretch my faith. My God will provide all that I need. I may not have my regular flow of income, but I have all that I need and then some.

I had the opportunity last week to serve as kitchen staff during an Advance Leadership Seminar through Klemmer. I got to see God do miracles because of the way I chose to pray.

The first miracle was multiplying food. These students could eat. They were hungry, hungry men and some women too. One of the breakfast items was 180 scrambled eggs. We’d run out before. I chose to pray over the food to multiply. I know that God cares about people eating. That’s why He let Jesus feed the crowds of people listening to His message. I prayed that everyone would have more than enough. That morning, we had leftovers.

The second miracle I got to be a part of is healing. The whole week had been long hours of being on my feet, picking up heavy dishes, and moving around with a sense of urgency to make sure everything was accomplished and accomplished well. Friday night, I kept trying to get back to my cabin to go to sleep, but I would get caught up in new conversations with every attempt I made. Eventually, I was on my way back with my kitchen staff buddy Patty. I thought, ‘Finally, we are both on the same road to the cabin.’ Alas, we sat down at a medal picnic table almost halfway to the cabin.

Instead of getting upset, I allowed myself to enjoy the rest too. A student was walking down the path toward his cabin and ended up sitting across from me at the picnic table. Patty seemed to know more about him than I did. He shared with us how much the seminar has been helping him. He mentioned he had a head injury. I felt God tug at me to pray for his healing. “I’m tired, God. I don’t want to.” That was my initial thought. Then I remembered the promise I made him after my Personal Mastery seminar. “I won’t say no to Your tugging.”

I asked the man if I could pray for him. He got up and took my seat so I could lay my hands on his head. I felt the way God was moving in this man’s life so strongly. I prayed boldly for his healing. I prayed for God to equip him for the spiritual battles that awaited him back home. I held nothing back from what I felt God was telling me to speak even when it made little sense to me.

He told me the next day that he is healed. His head felt clear.

The third miracle was flying home. In my excitement for staffing at the Advance Leadership Seminar my parents were attending and getting the flights at the same time to get there, I overlooked a detail about the flights coming home. Our flights to our destination were the same, but my layover flight home was different. My parents were going to leave at 1:30pm and arrive home at 6pm. My flight didn’t leave until 7pm and I wouldn’t have gotten home until midnight. I was not pleased with myself when I noticed the detail checking in on Saturday (leaving Sunday). I was sitting at a table with Patty when I prayed this terrible prayer, “God, please help me get onto the earlier flight, or if I can’t let me be okay with staying forever at the airport.” Patty then asked if she could give me some feedback. I said yes. Not word for word, but she basically said this, “What kind of prayer is that? What are you really asking for?” I changed my prayer. “God, let me change flights to the earlier flight home.”

The next day, I specified my prayer even more, “Change my flight for free.” Though Connie did not have the best attitude, she did get me on standby for the earlier flight for free. My next prayer was “I am on that flight.” When we arrived at the gate, the emergency window seats were available. I got my miracle seat.

I have a daily prayer list. I made sure to edit some of my requests to be more specific because I’m going to be careful what I pray for. God is listening. I still have on my list to stretch my faith. I like seeing mountains move.

One of my prayer requests is for finances for Divine Timing Ministries. Divine Timing Ministries is a safe place for women post-abortion to be heard without judgment so they can prosper and grow. Abortion is a lie told by society that it is an easy fix to a problem. There is a wake of hurt that comes with believing this lie. Our board would like to create an in-person retreat center for these women who are post-abortion to come and receive healing. Only by receiving healing can these women rise up against the lie that abortion is.  

Diving Timing Ministries has officially become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. If you’d like to be an answer to prayer, please donate to our cause. I’ll be getting more information about how to donate soon. Every dollar counts. I serve a God who multiplies, heals, and cares about the details of my life and those around me.

I’d love to hear what you are praying for, hear your miracle stories, and connect with you. Love you! 

   

April's Post

Creating a blog was something I started a while ago. I can’t even tell you exactly what it was that inspired me to start blogging. I’m sure it was some kind of Disney show or movie. I was easily inspired by things. I would passionately take up a hobby only to eventually stop doing it regularly.

Sometimes I panic when people ask me what my hobbies are. There are lots of things I am passionate about, but that doesn’t mean I make the time to do them all. A dear friend of mine named Eileen said to me, “You can do things well, you just can’t do all things well at once.” Sometimes I feel like if I’m not doing everything right in every area of my life then the bad cancels out any of the good.

I got to wrestle with my thoughts this weekend. Everything that has happened over the past few weeks has brought me back to my choice. As much as I’d like to blame circumstances for my problems, I am always brought back to the power of my choice. There will always be things that happen out of my control. How I respond to those events is my choice. I do not always like to believe this, and I definitely don’t always live it out perfectly, but I’m working towards progress, not perfection.

My timeline is past due for some of the declarations of goals I made for myself. They were personal goals and professional goals. I find that when I declare my goals and don’t accomplish them, my reaction toward myself is self-destructive. I go into beating myself up mode, throw in my towel, and declare my surrender. I quit because things stopped being easy.

I worked with my coach, Patty, who reminded me of the tools I have from the Klemmer seminars I’ve attended. The work I do with Patty is so important to me. She asks me questions to challenge and disrupt my way of thinking. I get to choose. How am I thinking about my results? I did not accomplish my goals. What did I learn? What do I know about myself that I didn’t know before this experience?

I believe that God has a calling on my life that gives me hope and a future. He told me in Jeremiah 29:11. I believe that God works all things out for good. Romans 8:28 I know that when I need wisdom, I should ask God who gives me generously. James 1:5

At the end of the day, I have to remind myself daily that my thoughts control my feelings, and my feelings control my actions. I get to choose my thoughts.

How I move on from this point is up to me. The choice is mine. I can either give up on what I believe God is calling me to or I can celebrate the steps I'm taking to get me there. Sometimes the door closes on things I thought were part of the plan. There is a win when the door closes just as much as there is a win when a door opens. The choice is mine how I want to see it. 

Thank you to all who read. Love you! Connect soon <3  

The March of Madness

This month has been a roller coaster. When I reflect over the past three years, I realized that some pivotal life changes happened in March. 

Feel free to join me down memory lane. I’m going to share the event, the original meaning I gave it, and the new meaning I’m giving it to move me forward.

March of 2020- Covid started. Living in NY, Covid shut down my whole world. There was a lot of discomfort, anxiety, and adjusting. I thought Covid was the “universe’s way to keep me a hermit”. My new meaning of the Covid is that I am an overcomer. Even during uncertain times, I was posting on my Youtube channel. Thanks to Covid, I actually have YouTube videos online. 

March of 2021- I let circumstances dictate my choices. I chose anger to communicate my needs. In the wake of my anger, I hurt someone I love very much and pushed them away. I let that mean that I was a monster unworthy of love. Today, I see that moment as a reminder that I communicate my needs in love. Love is stronger than anger. My relationship with that person is healing and mending. 

March of 2022- I would have potentially given birth to my first child. The reason I did not is because I chose on June 16, 2021 to have an abortion. My secret is out. The support group I am in is called Divine Timing Ministries. It is a support group for post abortion women to heal and grow. I let my abortion mean that I was a murderer, heartless, and unworthy of being a mother. I believed that since I knew better, I didn’t deserve to feel anything about my abortion. What I choose today what my abortion means is that God (being all loving and good) can use ALL THINGS (and I mean all things) for His glory and good for those who love God. Romans 8:28. I believe with all my heart that God is a God of healing. My abortion was the pivotal shift I needed to come back to my Heavenly Father. I felt much like the prodigal son as I ran back to my forgiving, loving, and generous God.

March of 2023- I felt everything. For awhile, I have been numb to the connection of my body and my emotions. I knew that there was a connection between them, but I didn’t understand the gravity of that until this month. This month, this year, I physically felt awful. I wasn’t even sick. I had more headaches, felt sluggish, and just wanted to give up. At first I thought that meant all my hard work up until this point was meaningless. After working with my life coach and my wealth activation coach, I realize the meaning of this month is actually just that there is a season for everything. 

I’m really proud of myself for not giving up and catching myself before throwing all my work out the window. Just because things are not going the way I think they “should”, doesn’t negate the value of reality. 

I know the basketball season of March is called March Madness. I enjoy the sport of basketball. You don’t want to watch a predictable game. The madness is in the excitement of not knowing which team is going to win because both are playing with their hearts on the court.

I don’t need to predict the outcome of my life. I trust that Jesus has a purpose and plan for me. Even in the madness, I can commit my heart fully to His plan. I’m playing the game. I’m on a mission to bring God’s kingdom to earth just like how He tells us to pray. 

I hope the month of March brought you good things. Thank you for reading. Blessings to you. 

Creating Myself

As you may know already, one of my favorite quotes is “Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” By George Bernard Shaw. I am discovering the power in creating.

Something I learned from the Klemmer seminars I’ve been to is “what I think is what I create.” The crazy thing is that hasn’t been the first time I’ve heard that before. I am part of a support group and we’ve talked about the same concept. Taking captive of our thoughts. (I’ll share what support group I’m in, in another blog post. So stay tuned).

On top of learning these concepts from two places, I took a free class given by a life coach. She talks all about our thoughts and their impact. One thing she said, I found very profound, “If we think something, we will find evidence to prove it.” -Katie Chavez

Gasp! I had been creating an awful version of myself. I thought I was unworthy of connection. I thought I was an outcast. I thought something was wrong with me because I did not know how to connect with other people. People would love me and I felt a lack.

These thoughts of mine created my reality. I found evidence everywhere of how I was unworthy of true connection. One of my worst childhood memories involved feeling abandoned and rejected. I held onto that memory because it was evidence that everything wrong that happened in my life was deserved. Every rejection, every ended friendship, every time I was left out or forgotten was evidence of what I thought.

But what if I thought differently? I heard the concept of the importance of thoughts from a fourth source. In fact, this concept is so valuable the Bible talks about it.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV
Take captive every thought? Not take captive every feeling. Not take captive the situation.
Our thoughts are so powerful that they need to be taken captive and made obedient to Christ.

Another verse comes to mind when I think about how powerful our minds and thoughts are. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 NIV
This renewing of the mind. What would that look like?

By thinking of my life differently, I have created friendships. I have created connection. I have created opportunities. I think that I am worthy of love and good things. I find evidence of worth and good things.

Our minds cannot hold two thoughts simultaneously. We can only truly give our focus to one thought. Why not choose thoughts? Why not take captive what we’re thinking?

I am creating myself one captive thought at a time.

Here is a beautiful portrait that a Sunday school student drew of me. I love her art.

My New World

It was easy for me to lead. Growing up in a household of all leaders, I saw what leadership looked like. Having parents who were intentional about celebrating our strengths, I knew I could do anything. I wanted to do a million different careers. I wanted to be the center of attention. I knew I was talented. I knew I was pretty. I didn’t care what the obstacle was in my way! I wanted to take over the world!

And then I got older.

It got a lot easier to shrink back into my seat when people didn’t like the way I led. It became easier to just sit back on the sidelines and let other people make decisions for me when life did not go my way. It became easier to look at my reflection and hate what I saw because it didn’t look like someone else. It was easier to say my talent was not impressive because someone could do it better.

What happened?

I learned on Sunday in church that my enemy uses repetition to get me to believe the lies he loves to feed me. From a Personal Mastery Seminar by Klemmer, I learned that these lies could become programs of how I see the world. Over a weekend, I did a considerable amount of changing in a short amount of time.

I have one word that I focus on for a year. I got the idea from Lisa Drennon who is an amazing life coach. My word for 2023 is wisdom. I have been meditating on the verse “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” James 1:5. God is faithful. He has given me a lot of revelations and wisdom.

Okay, so circling back to the question of what happened. I can think of specific and vivid memories of times when people discouraged me from chasing my dreams. I remember having obstacles in my way, and I believed that I couldn’t overcome them because that’s just not who I am. I’d give up before I even began because if I don’t play, I cannot lose.

I can speak to those things now because I had revelations at the Klemmer seminar. Prior to Klemmer, I did not even know I was doing that. I did not think I had a choice. I definitely did not think of anyone else when I was making my choices. I believed the lie that what I do does not impact other people I was limiting myself because I did not think there were enough spotlights for everyone. I had a scarcity mindset. I felt I had to belittle myself in order to make someone else great. I know all these things are lies.

I am living intentionally now. I want to be the world changer that this world needs me to be. I want to love limitlessly. I want to raise up world changers who will take the world by storm. I want everyone to win including myself. I want everyone to be lifted up. 

You don’t have to take my word for it. I’ve made big declarations of change without true results in the past, This time, I want you to take me at my results. I will share the things I have accomplished in my new world. I hope you continue to stay along for the adventure and rise up to your true calling.

Here are my plugs for this blog post:

https://www.klemmer.com/share

I plan on bringing this seminar to my hometown Rochester. If you are interested, please send me a DM on FB. Once I have more details, I’ll be sure to send you the information. This seminar changed my life. I want everyone I love and care about to experience it. This includes you. I love you and I’m thankful that you’ve taken the time to read my blog.

If you are looking for a life coach, I am friends with and highly recommend Katie Chavez.

Here are her links: Katie's Coaching Katie's Podcast Instagram @katie.rtblifecoaching

If you are looking for a wealth activation coach and are a courageous business owner, I highly recommend Lisa Drennon.

Here are her links: https://www.idatemoney.com/ https://www.idatemoney.com/podcast