Tag: The Butterfly’s Journey

depression, Healing, healing and deliverance

I Am Healed! No Weapon!

livingwholecoaching

Isaiah 54:17

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. KJV

More times than I care to admit, I have felt weary and tired and ready to give up! Fiery darts flying, false accusations, scary situations, and health issues just to name a few of the seasonsim healed no weapon of my life that I have faced.

I was reminded recently that I am healed and no weapon formed against me shall prosper, because God is my Redeemer! Why do I need to keep being reminded of the fact that my God is awesome, gracious and able to do all that I need for my life? Why do I keep falling back into the snares that I know are being set for me by the enemy? I learned a valuable lesson, be consistent in following and believing God for everything that He did for me and all of His promises!

Another strong lesson that I learned was that every situation, although it may appear different stems from the same source, the enemy. The enemy trying to take me off the path of life that God had created for me. He doesn’t want me to reach my full potential in God, to serve and encourage women! He rather me be deep in stress, negativity and pessimism. Why would he want me to grow closer to God and learn more of His word and promises? Why would he want me to have the courage and confidence to move forward in the gift(s) that gave me to use in this dying world?

So I have to go back a few steps to recover the strength in God that was so evident in my life. Be consistent in my prayer and praise. Lastly, I need to remember who is against me in life. Not people, although the enemy can use them as part of his schemes. Situations that seem to be a blessing when looked at after the enemy has told you lies begin to look like a plantation, a place of discontented, a place where I would lose my creativity and energy. But wait a minute it really is a blessing, an opportunity that God allowed to happen to help me.

Stay focused and remind yourself every day until it becomes a part of your spirit that God will not withhold any good thing from me. He wouldn’t give me stones for bread! Stop in the moment that your thinking becomes opposite of who you know God to be. Remain faithful to the One who is faithful!

Prayer: Father, we thank you because even when we get off track you send ministering angels to pray for us and to us and remind us that we are the daughters of a God that is good and holy! Thank you Father that you care enough for me that you would restore and strengthen my inner man for the journey ahead! Keep our minds stayed on you Father, the author and finisher of our faith. Make our lives renewed in you. Give us a spirit of consistency to stay grounded, focused, and faithful to only YOU! We thank you God for who you are in our lives. In the precious name of Jesus, amen.

Blessings, Lisa

encouragement, God, golden nuggets, hope, Lessons, prayer, the butterfly journey

7 Lessons I’ve Learned While Going Through My Storm

livingwholecoaching

I’ve learned over many years of life that each storm of life holds “golden nuggets” of wisdom that God wants me to learn.  But like most people I couldn’t see the lessons while I was embedded in the pain of facing tough life situations.  Most recent years I have begun to dig a little deeper to understand just what God was trying to show me about myself during these times.

7 lessonsOnce I began to hunger for the truth, God was gracious enough to uncover the treasures that were hidden in the waves of my storms.

1. My relationship with God is the most important relationship of my life.

There is no one in this world that loves me more or with a more perfect love.  Don’t compromise who you are for the world.

2.  Seek God for direction before making decisions for my life.

I realize that my understanding is limited to what I know and see.  God is all-knowing and He is the best one to give me direction for my life.  Sometimes our decisions can have an adverse affect on our lives and the lives of those we love.

3. Know and believe God’s promises for my life.

Studying God’s word gives us understanding of who we are and what God has promised to do in us and through us, but how do we know if we do not delve into His glorious word?  The trials become unbearable if we have no hope that things can or will get better.  His word is the blueprint that gives us everything we need to live our best lives. Jeremiah 29:11

4. Search for the lessons in each situation.

I began to ask God questions.  What is it that you want me to learn Lord?  How do you want me to wait while in the storm?  Every trial has a something that be for your good; build your faith, increase your trust, restore or turn you away from sin.  Romans 8:28

5. Be grateful in all seasons of my life.

Sometimes this part is hard especially when you are experiencing pain.  This is the time when you really have to dig deep and remind yourself of the wonderful blessings that still are surrounding you.  Look for them, make it a point to seek them, they are there!  There is a greater glory after each storm.

6. Tell my story to others.

There is always someone who may be going through a similar storm in their life.  By sharing your testimony you are giving them hope and encouragement that things will get better.

7.  Pray without ceasing.

I can’t say enough about prayer!  I have learned early in my Christian walk that prayer changes things, situations and hearts.  There is no greater gift than to be able to talk to the Father about all your heart issues.  There are some things that will only come by prayer.  Learn to pray and continue to develop your communication with the Father.  He will never fail you, that I know for sure!

Blessings

Lisa

brokenness, encouragement, God, health, the butterfly journey, women

Heart Healthy

livingwholecoaching

brokenheartFebruary is heart health month.  During this month you can find helpful information about how to have a healthy heart, or about warning signs when something is wrong with your heart.  It is all about the well-being of your physical heart.

February is also the month of Valentine’s Day.  A day set aside to show love to your significant other and others you love in a special way.  Usually we adorn each other with chocolates and roses.  Valentine’s Day is one of the most celebrated and lucrative holidays that we engage in.

What about your spiritual heart?  Is it healthy, do you know the warning signs that something may be going wrong with it?  Do you have the information on how to keep it healthy?  Or have the arteries of life circumstances caused plaque to build up and the flow of love and joy are having a hard time reaching your heart to keep it healthy?

Have you been exercising your heart muscles by showing love to keep your heart strong and in a position to receive love?  Your spiritual heart is just as important as your physical heart.  It warrants your every effort to make sure that nothing foreign comes in to make your heart beat irregularly or cause damage.

We place things in our heart from experiences that we have encountered in our lifetime.  Some things are good, others are bad, but God wants us to make sure that what we put in our hearts are things that will help us live life to its fullest.  Good things that will catapult us into a relationship with Him and others.  When we have experienced something that was not good and we place it in our hearts, it stays there until we release it.  As long as it stays there the more miserable you may become.  You will live your life not fully being free to love or receive love.

That’s why God said in His word: Proverbs 4: 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. NIV

The good news today is that God can help you release the bad things that you have placed in your heart.  The things that will keep you from experiencing a true flow of love and joy, but you have to give God all the pieces of your brokenness.  He will replace those things with wisdom and love.  Trust Him, I do!

Blessings Lisa

 

friends, make a difference in someone's life, relationships, the butterfly journey

Are You Investing in Your Relationships?

livingwholecoaching

A new year, a new you, a better version of you!  One of my goals for 2015 is to invest in the relationships that I hold dear to my heart.  I would admit that I have not really taken a close look at my relationships until my husband said, “in order to have a friend, you have to be a friend.”  Wow, ok that made me look deep within myself for the answer to that statement.  Had I really been a friend?

I searched over the relationships in my life and concluded that yes maybe I hadn’t been such a good friend.  At my age, I don’t believe that I would be making many new friends, acquaintances maybe, but real friends no.  So I looked back over the years for those who had been positive, encouraging, influences in my life.  Yep, I found them all in the history of my life.  Those who never were far away during the real struggles on my journey.

relationships

I thought back to the milestones that we had shared with each other; the good ones and the bad.  We never missed a beat.  We may have missed birthdays or anniversaries, but we never failed to reconnect at the most important times.  So I searched my heart and knew right away that I had to do something different.  I wanted to make the next leg of my life’s journey with them by my side.

I wanted to celebrate them, let them know how incredibly important they were to me and the world.  I decided that I would invest my time, money, and life to these few folks who God had so meticulously placed in the path of my life.  I work in the funeral industry and all too often I see people regret missed opportunities to cherish those who were important to them.  But once they are in our office it’s too late to change the pattern of the life that is now gone.

So I vowed that I am going to be the best friend, wife, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, and person that I can be.  I want to give each of my relationships their flowers while they are living to enjoy them.  I will invest my time, money, and talent to bless their lives.  I want them to know without a shadow of a doubt that they matter to me!  And I want my life to reflect that I loved those dear to me and that I gave all that I could to make this world a better place.

Here are some of my ideas in blessing others:

  1. Send a card with flowers just to say “I love you and you matter to me”
  2. Take a day off work to spend the afternoon with my grandchildren just to laugh
  3. Buy a Valentine’s gift for my sister
  4. Take my mother to get a mani/pedi
  5. Have lunch and facial with my best friend

These are just some small things that you can do for someone special in your life.  You would be amazed of how something small becomes a “big” deal to someone who deserves it!  It’s time to invest!

Blessings,

Lisa

encouragement, self-discovery, self-examination, the butterfly journey

Worry About Yourself

livingwholecoaching

I had to share this funny video with you.  It was one of the cutest videos I had seen in a long time posted on Facebook!  Although the message was sweet and innocent coming from a 3-year-old little girl, it had some profound content that I thought worthy of blogging about.

The scene is a sweet, cute little girl in the backseat of the family car trying desperately to hook the belts to her car seat.  (This is a daunting task as I have tried many times and failed to buckle my grandchildren in).  Her dad says, “you want me to help you?”  And with the sweet small voice she says, “no I can do it myself.”  As she continues to struggle with it her dad asks again, “what do you want me to do?”  She so innocently says, “worry bout yo self!”  Well you could have bought me for a wooden nickel!  It was too cute!

But how much message is really in those little words?  Worry about yourself, could be a nice way of saying mind your business, but I didn’t take it that way.  I look at it as saying we can always find something wrong or we know how to correct someone else’s issues but we can’t even see our own issues.  Isn’t that the truth?  It is always easier it seems to let someone know what they are doing wrong or not addressing in their lives, than it is to understand our own shortcomings or bad choices.

That is why I am learning (you see that I’m learning) to ask God to show me my own issues so that I can work on me and then I can come along side of someone who may be dealing with similar issues and help not hinder.  I never want to be in a position that I can’t see my own stuff, my own issues or where I fall short.  None of us are perfect so there is always something to work on.  I believe staying humble is the best ingredient for being in a position to help people when they need you.

So don’t stop “worrying about people”, but make sure you have the right attitude when you are trying to help them.  Make sure your reasons are pure and if they aren’t then “worry bout yo self and let God do the rest.

Blessings

Lisa

31 Day Butterfly Journey

31 Day Butterfly Journey: Refresh!

livingwholecoaching

refreshWow what a challenging day!  Every where I turned there was some situation that was rearing its ugly head trying to sap the life out of those that I care about and love, even me!  I started to get frustrated, like why God not one more thing?!  But in my journey of learning from life’s lessons, I stopped myself and my mind from going any place other than to the one I know can change our future.

I often wondered how people that face a life altering threat can withstand the uncertainty of their situation.  It amazes me how some face their challenges head on, never wavering to consider “why me”; they just keep on moving forward to see what lies ahead of them.  I have witnessed people that have held on so tightly to their faith that nothing that came would shake them.  How do they do it?  What motivates them to face health issues, and sometimes death everyday and not get tired of the pain, the changes, or the limitations?

Well I tell you what one friend told me; she said “I do get tired, sad, and even wanting to give up”, but she said “I can’t”.  I said, “what makes you keep going then”?  She said “it’s the love of God”.  Explain I said, well she began it’s like this, “every time I can’t take anymore of my situation God comes and refreshes me”.  I asked; “how does He do that”? “By taking the pain away or making the situation better for a day or so”? She said, “no not really, it’s more internal (more to do with my heart and spirit)”.  Wow! ” You are telling me that by God refreshing your heart and spirit allows you to go on another day?!”  She said, “yes”!

I took her wisdom and placed it in my heart for such a day like today.  I was even able to pour into someone else that was going through and we both shared a tear or two, but our spirits were okay. . . they were refreshed!

So no matter the circumstance ask God to refresh your heart and spirit.  Begin to praise Him in the midst of your storm and see if He will not only refresh you, but He will restore you to a place in Him that nothing can touch, not even the negative reports or feelings that you may have.  He is greater than anything that we face.  Yet we still may have to face our challenges and sometimes they may seem daunting to us, just know for sure that God will refresh you!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

31 Day Butterfly Journey

31 Day Butterfly Journey: Go for It!

livingwholecoaching

Go For It!Well it’s no secret (or maybe it is) that I have a problem with procrastination!  It really is almost like a disease.  You get stuck in a place of not doing anything and you can’t or won’t move forward.  That’s me!  I hate to really admit my shortcomings before the world, but this is what this journey is all about, sharing my life’s struggles and triumphs so it gives wings to someone else.

I have a HUGE opportunity coming up in the next couple of weeks.  I really want to do it, but I am a little afraid of the outcome.  I feel so passionate about it that I can’t let it just go by the wayside.  Oh my what should I do?  I have weighed the pros and cons and I think I am going to GO FOR IT!  If I have nothing to lose (maybe a few dollars), but a LOT to gain, then why not?

What do you all think?  If you were given an opportunity to do something that you have dreamed of doing or trying then would you go for it?  Why or why not?  And how would you come to your conclusion for the choice that you make?

I think in everyone’s lifetime we are offered some sort of alternative or solution to our situation and for some it is a hard decision, even though, we know it just might be the booster that we have been looking for.  Fear gives way to our logically thinking and the heart and mind sometimes don’t agree, then what?  We lose the opportunity that may not present itself again or not for a long time?  Will we have regrets that will haunt us the rest of our lives?  Something to ponder.

Well, I think I just talked myself into going for it!  I hope that I can share the outcome either way it comes out! I want to be open about my progress of learning how to let go and yes, let God!

If you are in a situation where you are contemplating what to do, share and let our community help you.  SHARE!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

31 Day Butterfly Journey, the butterfly journey

31 Day Butterfly Journey: In the Meantime

livingwholecoaching

newdayWhen I finally realized what my purpose in life was I was so excited!  I had waited all my life to understand who God wanted me to be and do while I was on this earth.  Year after year, I worked and went about my daily life struggles just like everyone else and just summed it all up to this is all there is.

But since God has a bigger and better plan for my life I was overwhelmed with emotion when it all started to click!  Yay, but not so fast, I haven’t been able to work fully in my purpose just yet.  Bills have to be paid, responsibilities taken care of; and I can’t just skip to the loo my darling off into purpose land.

However, in the meantime, I have been praying and listening to the instructions of God to catapult me into my purpose full-time.  I am not just sitting here waiting and complaining (well I admit sometimes I do), but God has been so wonderful to teach me things in everyday life and my walk with Him that is preparing me for my transition into my destiny.

I have worked for a large insurance company for 20 years, 10 of those years I have been doing the same job.  Even though most jobs have left me feeling under challenged and unmotivated after like 2 years, this one has kept me going.  Truly it is the people that I interact with each day that makes it all worthwhile.  If I didn’t have them I would probably grow into a dust ball in the corner of my desk and roll away at around age 65!

Today God proved to me that even though this is not my life’s purpose, but in the meantime I can use the skills, technology, and oh yes the many wonderful people that I get to meet everyday for my ministry.  I could go on for days telling you story after story about how wonderful some of the relationships have been through my job.  There have been times when I was feeling low and client’s would come in (some I knew, some I didn’t) and they would end up ministering to me about the goodness of the Lord!  Now talk about God sending angels to meet your needs!  He has never failed.

Hmmm, that just might be my next book. . .Angels in Our Midst (don’t steal my idea)!

Anyway, I just want to encourage you that where you are today is not where you will always have to be, but in the meantime do your best to find the opportunity in whatever you are doing to add to you destiny.  Try to find that spark of opportunity in your everyday life.

I read a post this evening from a high school friend that has been suffering with cancer and she said and I quote; “The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived.” – Sherry Smith Luttrell  Sherry’s words speak volume to me and hopefully to you to live your life every blessed second of it with zeal and purpose!

Seize the new opportunity and new grace with every new day!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

31 Day Butterfly Journey, the butterfly journey

31 Day Butterfly Journey: Do Something!

livingwholecoaching

Do SomethingHave you ever had a grand idea or dream that you find yourself daydreaming about often?  Well I do and everyday I spend time and effort just visualizing the details and getting excited about the possibilities!

Unfortunately, I haven’t made any strides in making that vision/dream into reality.  But why you say; well I don’t know my friend.  I have this overwhelming feeling that I must have all my ducks in a row, every detail in place and most importantly all the disposable income that I need to get started.  But if that is truly the case then guess what, I will always be in dream mode, never actually realizing my dreams!

My mother and brother were having a visit yesterday, and they have so many dreams and aspirations of things they would love to do, ideas for business ventures that would sure be super successful. . .however, they have yet to make a move on anything.  There it is again dreams being wasted, life being unfulfilled all because of why?  We failed to “do something”!

Well, I don’t know about you, but I have decided that I will “do something” anything towards making my dreams and desires a reality.  I want to live my life to the fullest God-given potential that I can.  I don’t want to waste my life away dreaming of dreams and never bringing any of them to fruition.

What’s your story?  Do you have a dream, an idea, or a desire that you have kept hidden in your heart and mind?  What is the real reason that you have not done anything to make it a reality yet?  Is it you?  Is it others? Have you decided, without even trying that you can’t do it?  Or like many people are you afraid to fail or are you afraid that you might just actually succeed?

Well today I am giving you permission to “do something”!  Anything is better than nothing!

  • Step one – Ask yourself the question: “What is my dream?” (pray: conversations with God come highly recommend)
  • Step two – Write it down!  Start with the final goal, describe your dream in such vivid details that you can even feel every emotion that it will cause once it becomes a reality!
  • Step three – “Do something!” Create small goals (small steps). Accomplishing just one thing will ignite the passion and energy that you need to go the next step and before you know it. . .BOOM your dream is being realized!

I’ll be here cheering you on and screaming from the top of my voice – “DO SOMETHING!”

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

*Please, please, please share, your sharing can help someone else “do something”!

31 Day Butterfly Journey

31 Day Butterfly Journey: The Journey Begins. . .

livingwholecoaching

I’ve told part of my life’s story (or at least one of the most significant parts) to you a few times via my blog and introduction on my website www.thebutterflyjourney.com.  Today I want to give you a more elaborate meaning of The Butterfly Journey Ministry.

Without being too lengthy I will attempt to share with you my story and how The Butterfly Journey came to be. . . About 5 years ago now, I suffered with depression (a seriously depressed spirit) and once I was delivered and healed (by God), I began to ask questions about my journey into depression.  Through that process God illustrated what had went terribly wrong and why! You will have to buy the book to find out all the details! (The Butterfly’s Journey – coming very soon. . .please pray!)  And through this process a ministry was born!  Ultimately, through my pain came my purpose and from my test came my testimony.  This season of my life truly was the pivotal point in which God revealed my purpose. . .to share my life with other women in such a way that allows them to be open for healing and deliverance from the pains of their life and catapult them into their God-given destiny, with the ability to live their lives in an extraordinary way!

As I have continued on my journey, God has revealed more and more about this thing called LIFE.  And so with this 31 Day Butterflythejourney Journey, I will be using my life as an open book, sharing the magnificent love of God, and sharing the wonderful discoveries about life as it unfolds right before our eyes!  My prayer is that as you walk along side of me during this journey you will be inspired, encouraged, and yes find some direction and healing for your own lives.  I believe as we share with one another and allow ourselves to be vulnerable before a mighty God we can help each other find that perfect place of peace, joy, and abundant life that we all desire to have.

I would love to hear your stories of “living life” as we go through this journey together!  Share your comments here and also join us over on Facebook www.facebook.com/thebutterflysjourney!

It’s time to spread your wings little butterfly and soar!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa