Destroy Negativity + Free Printable

This week I had an interesting and very real conversation with one of my high school seniors.  She is quite accomplished as a vocalist and will be attending and very prestigious fine arts school in the fall.  More than anything she wants to be on the stage.  And maybe, someday, she will be.  But until then she has determined to put out of her mind all other option.  For her, there is only one option--the stage--and if anybody else says anything else she refuses to listen.

Parent types will say that idea is ridiculous or naïve, and truthfully it is.  But I would rather be ridiculous and naïve than to never reach my dreams.  

There is but one dream and because there is only one there can only be one solution.  Squash all negativity and listen to the voice within.

I hope you enjoy this printable.  And remember go for it.  Go for the dream.

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Let Us No Grow Weary

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Pregnancy is an experience that can be described as both enjoyable and utterly disgusting.   Mind you, I don't know this from experience.  I've never been pregnant.  But I've had many friends that have been blessed with the responsibility of child birth.

I've heard it many times...the excitement in her voice when she tells me she's expecting.  I've heard hours worth of discussion on how being pregnant is the best feeling in the world.

I've also seen and heard the misery as that ever looming due date draws close.  I've heard about the heart burn, the miserable discomfort, the sleepless nights, the restroom stops, the phantom contractions, the waiting.  Oh, the waiting.  Waiting on the dream to come.

And, I've been there at the bedsides of life when my friends have lost their sweet gifts.  The lives they looked forward to holding and loving in the real world slips from their hands.  I've lived their agony with them and done my best to carry them through.  My heart still breaks now as I think of those God inspired lives lost from their mothers' arms until eternity's peace brings them back again.

I've never been pregnant with a child.  I've never had that privilege.   In same ways that gift seems almost illusive.  But I have been pregnant with a dream.  In my mind this invisible pregnancy is just as real.  The joy is real.  The pain is every so real.

I've felt the agony of that dream being ripped from my soul.  I've laid on floors with my heart bare before God.  I waited up for hours in the night.  I've
burned with deep passion.  Hoping.  Praying.  Waiting.  Waiting on the dream to be birthed, hoping no more, but experiencing the actualization of my dream.

You've been there too.  I feel that from you.

I'm still there now.  Pregnant with a promise, hoping on a dream.

Waiting sometimes seems to be all there is to do, but thank God there is more.  Much more.

First, we must grow our relationship with Christ.  We will have to sacrifice some of our own wants to get closer to Him.  We have to make room for Him in our life.  Jesus must be #1 above anything or anyone else.  Yes, he must be before our kids.  He must be before our husband (or boyfriends or dogs).

We grow in our relationship with God by getting back to the basics.  Reading our Bibles.  Praying everyday.  Fasting to kill our sinful nature.  Fellowshipping with other godly believers who will help us grow.  

I guess we could call these elements our Lamaze coaches.  They help regulate our breathing and they help us know when to push.  We need the presence of Christ, the wisdom of His Word, and the sanctuary of His people to see our birthing season through.

We need each other and we need Christ.

Second, we must start somewhere.  Do something.  Quit waiting on God to magically open the one door in front of you and look for another door that is open.  When God gives you a dream, start talking about it.  Get it in our mind and in your mouth.  See it start to happen.  It won't be long until you find your dream is right in front of you.

Last, we must never, ever give up.

In Galatians 6:9 Paul wrote, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."  Waiting is difficult, but that doesn't mean we just give up.  Maybe the reason your dream hasn't shown up in our life is because God is using the hardships, the trials, the waiting to produce character in you.

Does labor hurt?  Yes.  It's supposed to hurt.  But remember, "pain may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

Don't let the waiting and pain and hurt keep you from the joy of a dream fully birthed.

Linking Up With

Holly Gerth

Unite Link Up

Titus 2 Tuesday
Into the Word Wednesday

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Dreams Are a Curious Thing

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Dreams are a curious thing.

These gifts...these visions...these hopes have the ability to push us forward, moving us from on place to the next.  I'm sure you've heard the phrase "living on a dream."

Still, these same aberrations can paralyze us with fear.  They have an immobilizing effect.  Stand still too long and you'll find that you've taken root in the very place you planned never to live.

Or perhaps, sometimes you might find yourself in a deep night...unable to see the stars for the clouds...living in doubt fearing that the next step is your last.  Only calamity could lie ahead.

Yes, dreams are a very curious thing.

I'm what some people call a dreamer.  I have dreams--big dreams--dreams that could never happen on their own.  But for all my dreaming, I'm not a planner and far too often I find myself planted, unable to move, looking for little stars of hope, just paralyzed.

I think more than anything it's the fear that does me in.  Fear that God's dreams in my heart won't come true.  Fear that I've made it up.  Fear that I'm living a lie.  My fear that I will fail and fail miserably.

But that all is of the past.

God's word is insistently clear.  God's perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).  So why am I afraid?  Why do I fear?  I know that "He who began a good work in [me] will be faithful to complete it" (Philippians 1:6).  His Word is light to my path.  He guides me in all things, even my dreams, and He orders my steps as I dwell in His Word (Psalm 37:23).

I've started making my plans, ever so small.  It seems these small shifts are just enough movement to shake me from my slumber and to help move me forward.  It all starts with one small step...doing what I can do and believe that God will do the rest.

I challenge you with this.  Dream big and plan small.  Start today.  Never let fear be the cause for delay.

Linking up today with Holly Garth for the 21 Days to Change Your Life Challenge.  I encourage you to read this ebook.  It's really challenging me.

Also linking up here:Upward Not Inward: Into the Word WednesdaysRethinking My Thinking: This Really Got Me

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naked

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Three different things happened today that led me to this post. (here, here, & here.)  This is not something I want to write about.  In fact, writing about it puts me in an extremely vulnerable place.  I've chosen to live my life always keeping one thing in mind.  "Never let them see you sweat."

Tonight I'm going to.  I'm taking the veil down of the proud, strong, feministic lady (hopefully you think of me as that) and be open and insanely real.

I've always felt that the real test of friendship is when you can be completely naked with someone--not physically, but emotionally.  As a culture, clothing has become, in some ways, optional.  But those private places...the places that have to be revealed by choice...the internal dimensions of our mind, soul, and spirit are locked away behind the closed door of our own will.

In my life, I think I've only been completely transparent with maybe one person.  Even then, I'm certain there were thoughts that were left unrevealed.  Maybe because of wrong motives that just seemed too ugly.  Maybe just because...

But all that aside.  Here's goes nothing.

I love my life and I love being me, but I hate being judge for being fat.
I love my life and I love being me, but I hate being single.
I love my life and I love being me, but I hate the internal clicker inside my head.
I love my life and I love being me, but I hate being underestimated and overlooked because of my gender, weight, facial beauty and hair color especially in my profession.
I love my life and I love being me, but I hate feeling small, insignificant, unimportant.
I love my life and I love being me, but I hate all the financial debt I incurred in college and even after.

My parents taught me that there were no limitations and that God's plan for my life is bigger than I can imagine or think.  I believe they are right.  God's plan for me is bigger than I can imagine or think, but the limitations...they had that wrong.

When I look at that list of insecurities above, all I see are limitations.  All of them are keeping me from being completely who God wants me to be.
It's almost as if every single one of those limitations are staring, putting their long, nasty finger, and laughing in my face.

Truthfully, we do have limitations.  Some we put on ourselves.  Others are perceived limitations.  Still, others are limitations projected onto us by others.  The key here is not let the limitations limit us.  Oxymoronic?  Yes, but true nonetheless.

I'm reminded of the story of Moses, sitting in the hot, rocky hills of the desert.  It was there that God called him to go back to Egypt and be the deliver of God's chosen people--the Israelites   Moses had many limitations, that in his mind, should have prevented him from being the one to go.

But God had been preparing Moses.  He had spared his life from the mass execution of thousands of Hebrew baby boys.  He miraculous provided for Moses to be raised and educated in the palace.  He helped him safely escape Egypt after he had killed an Egyptian guard.  He had cared for Moses in that desert.  He even made a way for Moses, who had a speech impediment, to not have to speak!  (Who knows.  Maybe Moses was also fat, blonde, and handsome too.  Now that'd be ironic.)

All of these things seemed like limitations to Moses, but to God it was his preparation.

As I'm preparing to begin this new year (that's assuming that the world doesn't end on Friday), I'm prayerful considering what New Years Resolutions I'm going to take own.  There are a few that I'm certain, 100%, adding to the list, but then there are others that are a little more complex.  They are more complex because I feel like God is using them to lead me to into my destiny.  Those are not goals to take lightly.

More than I want anything, I want need the presence and power of God working in my everyday life.  I've got to have Him with me.

But besides that, I feel like I've got to remove the limitations.  (Maybe I should dye my hair brown...Just kidding.)  My insecurities are not an excuse for my destiny to be limited.

Will you join me?  I'm choosing to love life and to love the journey.  And to work desperately, as if my life depended on it, to not live in the limitations.

Funny thing...my life, the life I really want, does depend on it.

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the arrow of direction

Don't be mediocre.  Strive for excellence.  You're better than the middle and you're capable of more.  You have a purpose and God has a plan, so aim your arrow at the mark.  Stare the target straight in the eye.  Shoot strong and shoot long and win.

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a Note to You, Woman

Printable 

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To the women of the world

     To the ladies of the present

     To the females of tomorrow

Value who you are.

Remember your past, yes, but remember that it is this: your past.  

Learn from it.  

Grow from it.  

Avoid repeating it.  

       But leave it...Leave it all in your past.

Step up

Step out

Step forward

     For yourself

          For those who are paralyzed

               For those left in the bondage of self doubt

You can do this.

Be bold.

Be strong.

Classy.

Loving.

Compassionate.

       Be more than the women of the past.

Have passion and always act in wisdom

Respond always in faith.

Be more, because you are more.

14

Blog Star: Hi, I'm Danette

You want to know a secret?  I've always wanted to be a star.  A real one.  Like on stage or on the screen.  At one time I thought I might actually make it.  As a child my parents enlisted me in acting classes.  (I've always had a flair for the dramatic.)  I was in band and choir and took voice lesson.  I was destined.  That moment, for me, never came.

Until now.

Last night while working at a church firework stand my big moment came.

Tulsa Fox 23 came out to the tent to do a segment on firework shooting safety.  Deep inside my heart, I knew this was my chance...the one opportunity that may only come this one time in my life.  I flew into action directing the scene.  After all, it was late.  Most of the customers of the day had came and gone.  But an empty fireworks tent?  What's interesting about that?  Nothing.  People had to be working.  People had to be buying.  People had to help me shine.

After a brief Rachel-Berry-melt-down/outburst/storm-out, I succeed in arranging the other volunteers allowing myself prime camera exposure.  Unfortunately, my outfit of choice, worn only to swear off the hot blistering heat, turned into an epic failure.  My white shirt blinded into the tent background and even with the flower details I looked like nothing more than a white blob with blonde hair.

The grief--the horror--the sickening madness of my failure!  This was the one chance afforded to me to be, truly be, a star.

Dramatic much?  Maybe so, but it was all sure fun.

If you live in the Tulsa area you should totally come buy fireworks from me tomorrow.  We're at the Jake's tent in the old Reasor's parking lot in Jenks.  (That's not confusing at all.)  And if you come see me, Danette, and say that you read this post, I'll give you something extra special.

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Parentally Advice

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