Month: April 2012

Faith, God, Joy, the butterfly journey

Can’t Steal My Joy!

livingwholecoaching

Trying to remain in a positive state everyday is challenging to say the least.  We are often faced with bad vibes, bad attitudes and just plain unruly people and situations.  But I am learning to be patient with myself and with others.  It is hard sometimes!

I woke up this morning having slept through the night peacefully.  I have insomnia and sleep is one thing that I do not get enough of normally.  So you can imagine how relaxed and refreshed I was feeling when I woke up to the sun shining and my body feeling oh so good.  At that very moment nothing could have spoiled my mood.  I was praising God for a good nights sleep and started thanking Him for all the blessing He has given me and others.  I was praying for my friends and family and all was well.

As soon as I got logged onto my workstation to begin my many hours of making calls to clients, an emailed popped up.  Still smiling I opened it up and my whole demeanor changed.  What in the world is this?  I felt myself begin to get tense and my whole body started to feel stressed.  So I closed the email, took a deep breath and walked into my living room.  I started to allow the words in that email take my joy, but I said no wait a minute Lisa, stop right where you are and pray.

And pray I did for about 15 minutes before I went back into my home office to resume the daily tasks before me.  Then after about and hour I decided to address the email, I was positive and professional in every sense.  I started to feel good again, because one thing I know about myself I am a great worker, knowledgeable about what I do and always, always have the client’s best interest in mind.  So I sent the response with confidence in my abilities and hope for a better future.  A future that would allow me to flourish in my own business doing things that I love!

Later in the day the Lord began to show me things in my favor and I had to smile and say; “thank you Father”!  He restored my joy for the rest of the day and only a short moment was I displaced in my spirit.

It just goes to show you that praying in all situations, at all times is important.  But what I think was more important was my realization to my actions right from the start.  I can’t allow every thing that comes my way steal my joy, I have a right to have joy that God gives me even in the little accomplishments.  And the thought that I have learned a valuable lesson is icing on the cake.

Well chalk one up for me that I am one step closer to understanding how to live in a world that is not so nice and still have my joy and faith in God.

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

change, God, Healing, Mirror, self-discovery

Are You Okay?

livingwholecoaching

As we embark on our emotional and spiritual wellness journey, one thing is evident.  We have to recognize that we are not well in some areas of our lives in order to get to a place of wellness.  We have to understand that our life as we know it may not be the best place for us.  During this journey we will need to really lean on God to show us, to reveal to us the areas in which we need help.

I look around at different people, mainly myself because that is who I know the best, and I see so much hurt and pain.  How can I recognize it in others?  Because I have been there myself, maybe not in the same manner but in some way.  It wasn’t until God allowed something to stop me in my busy life to really see where I was (in a pit of hell).

I would admit that I would never have stopped living like I was if something wouldn’t have come along to get my attention to what my life really looked like especially from God’s perspective.  I had to surrender to the idea that my life was very troubled and I needed help.

But my healing didn’t begin until I asked for help.  I wanted to know exactly what was wrong with me and more importantly how I ended up in such a dismal state of being.  If I didn’t know how I got to the place that I had ended up,  I would never know how to avoid going back.  It is easy to place the blame for what others have done to us, but at the end of the day we can only change ourselves.

Let’s decide today that we will ask God to show us ourselves and be willing to make a change.  Michael Jackson said it best in his song: The Man in the Mirror.

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

 

the butterfly journey

Finding the Real You

livingwholecoaching

I have come to the realization that writing is therapy for me.  The things I can’t say, I can write.  I can be my original self through words, words that are deep in my heart, but words that sometimes I can’t express in speech.

I guess that is why God had me write my first book; The Butterfly’s Journey.  It allowed me to share my journey in the most personal way that I could.  It allowed me the freedom to spill my deepest hurts and pain onto the page without worrying about judgement of others.

Like today, as I lay on my couch in deep thought about my life and where I am, where I desire to be, and where I have been the thought of talking to anyone about it made me recoil inside.  I have a lot of scars from my past that some people won’t understand, some won’t care, and others don’t really matter.  I continue on my “butterfly” journey every day.  It is a process that will never end until my life is over here on earth.

Each day reveals a new challenge, a new knowledge and wisdom into allowing God to direct me to the place in my heart that He wants me to be.  I go over in my mind all the time about why God loves me so much and I can only figure out because He made me and I am His child that His love for me is eternal.

When I go back to the place that I was in over 3 years ago (depression), I remember that God was there for me. No one in this entire world was there, but God.  He loved me in my deepest unstableness.  He wiped every tear of pain away and cleaned away the dark parts of my heart so that I could live again!

It is easy to allow yourself to think that people, relationships, careers. . .things could ever replace or be like God is in your life, but there is no comparison.

I don’t know when it starts, but in most of our lives we have grown up with the notion that we must fit in, or be a certain way in order to receive the love, admiration, success, and popularity that we all gravitate to.  And in our quest to get those things we become lost in who we really are, who God made us to be.  If we never make a “shift” in our own thinking we will never know the full purpose of our lives.  If you never get tired of being everything to everybody and seeking to find your purpose in life, the real you;  you will end up dying with your purpose still inside of you.

Well, I don’t know about you but I don’t want that.  I don’t want to have to perform to have the love I feel I deserve from my family and friends.  I don’t want to be just like everyone else, because that is what is expected of me.  I want to be me. . .Lisa. . .the woman who God created to fulfill a purpose with my life.  I want to feel liberated to stretch my creativity, live my life on purpose and make a difference in someone elses life.

Is it too much to ask for you to love me for who I am in my most original self?  Can I ask you to help me navigate this thing called life in the most marvelous way that I can, which is being me with all of my faults, my unstableness, my quirkyness and everything that makes me me?

That’s what The Butterfly Journey Ministry is striving to do, just being there for women to help them find their place in life, to find that “real” you who is stuck behind the walls of pain and disappointment.  We want to celebrate you just for how God made you!  Will the real you please stand up?!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa